 Okay, so Philippians chapter 3 verse 10 Paul says I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. Now we're gonna jump to another scripture Luke chapter 1 verse 34. Before this I'm not gonna read it the angels announcing to Mary the Virgin that she's gonna be conceived by the Holy Spirit and have a and have a child who's gonna be the Messiah. Mary responds saying this how will this be since I don't know a man. Can we pray? Okay God we thank you so much. We thank you so much for your presence in this place. We thank you for your word and God right now we just pray. Pray this with me. We open our hearts to you God. We open our hearts to you Holy Spirit. Speak to us through your word. We thank you so much for what you want to do today. Bring light to every area in our life that is that is hindering us that you want to deal with tonight. We thank you so much that sickness, that sin, that bondage has no place in the presence of God. And tonight we pray shine your light on every heart on every life. We thank you God so much for the power of your word. We thank you Holy Spirit. We ask you to have your way in this service. We want to leave this place change. We want to leave this place coming to know you in a greater way. We don't want to just hear stuff. We want to experience your presence tonight and everybody who agrees said Paul Paul being a very educated man he actually you know I don't know if you brag about your resume but Paul in the Bible brags about his resume. He tells him that I've been taught by the greatest teacher. I'm a I'm of the tribe of Benjamin and this and this and that and I know the law and I fulfill the law but all of this I count in our words as garbage and I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. Now you think what is the story of Mary have anything to do with this? Well the story of Mary is very interesting because when Mary responds to the angel she says how was this going to happen? I don't even know a man. Now the connection with these two verses though they're completely opposite it seems like the word know is the same exact know in both of these verses. Now what this word know means is a Greek word I'm not going to mess this up a Greek word that says that means if I were to pronounce Lord help me genusco if I got it wrong whatever genusco now before I explain what this word means can I tell you that today we have too many people that just have head knowledge maybe this side will react we got too many people that just have head knowledge now Mary when the angel spoke to her he said you're going to give birth to a child she responds and says how is this going to happen I don't even know a man now can I say that before before we try to understand sometimes how God works what God wants to do is he wants us to experience him do you know you know you were never made just to know about God you were made to experience him and something that the angel couldn't explain to Mary in detail and something Mary couldn't understand herself she just needed to experience now Paul saying in the same in a different verse Lord I want to know you and I want to know you more and what he's saying is I don't I don't want to just be informed about you or know you got like I know Michael Jordan or know you got like I know peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but God I want to know you personally what the word Janosco means is to be is to have knowledge that's grounded on personal experience see there's some things that pertain to the things of God that you can't just figure out in your mind I don't know about you but I took some time one time took some time one time to think about how God has always been that God has no beginning and no end that he's always existed and he said before the beginning and the foundations of the earth I've always been now I don't know about you but when I begin to think about those things I wanted to sit down because my head started getting too busy are you with me that's because there's some things I just can't understand with my mind comprehend with my mind and the reason is God doesn't want me just to be a mindful person he wants me to experience him that's why in the in Genesis in chapter one God placed Adam and Eve in the garden and guess what it says God in the cool of the day walked the garden see you and I we were made for experience and I think maybe some of you are having a hard time if you've been coming here or maybe this is your first time maybe you have a maybe you've had a hard history with the church is that you've been trying to figure everything thing out in your mind and that's just not going to happen there's a lot of things that mentally and me trying to figure everything out that's in the scripture me trying to figure everything out that I'm seeing in services that I'm seeing at conference that I'm seeing that I'm hearing it's just not going to make sense God wants me to experience what I'm seeing I think like never before we have believers that are so full of knowledge they're leaving the church they know everything so much the Bible says in 1st Corinthians chapter 8 verse 1 that knowledge actually puffs you up love builds you up love cannot be explained Paul didn't even waste his time he said I'm gonna get on my knees and pray that you would experience the power of love you know one thing I think is so funny you know those guys those guys that work out like crazy everyone's looking at somebody my brother I love you big he's got here but they don't just work out because they're trying to be healthy they work out it's those guys that do the muscle stuff you know the muscle shows they spent so much time working out and it's just for a minute to come on to a stage and just do a little and I show everybody what they got but most of you that maybe don't even work out that much could probably do more with your body than that person and not only that you could probably run faster than him be more effective in life but he looks good see what we need today is not people that know it all and are puffed up with knowledge but people that are effective people that are grounded people that maybe don't make sense with everything they're saying but they have an experience that they're standing on some of the things maybe that you're you're trying to figure out with your mind just ask God God I want to experience what I'm seeing but I'm not understanding and maybe the reason you're not understanding is because God wants to raise up a hunger and a desire in you to experience what you don't understand we were made to experience God we were not made to just be informed you know I almost sometimes almost every person you ask on the street do you know Jesus yeah I know what do you really know him or are you just informed of him because to know him according to my Bible is a transformed life to know him is a transformed attitude is a transformed character is a transformed is a transformed appearance is a transformed language is a transformed walk a talk an action there's a transformed life when we come to know Jesus because the word know is to experience him in our life how will this happen Mary says I don't says since I don't know a man first Corinthians 2 2 Paul says again I resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified can we talk about two people we're gonna talk about a few people in the Bible and we're gonna see the difference of somebody that has been grounded in experience Janosco and somebody that just has some head knowledge of who God is and what he can do you know there's a story about Saul with a life of Saul will say the life of Saul the latter part of his life things kind of start falling apart but have you noticed when you look at the life of Saul one thing that begins to happen I'm gonna make this easy there's three P's that he has possessions a lot of it power a lot of it and position he's the king of Israel he owns more than you and I could fathom or count and he has been given power by God to be the king but when things start falling apart in his life what I noticed is that he began to chase the possessions in the power and the position instead of the presence of God have there been seasons in your life as a believer where there is stuff there is position there is something you're running after that begins to distract you from the presence of God in your life see Saul was this man when things start falling apart he felt it slipping through his fingers and what he began to do is this instead of chasing God in his presence he begin to chase his possessions he begin to chase his power he begin to change his position and he even chased the future king man he knew about God but David in his life when we know he commits sin and has probably a very dark time in his life there's a phrase that David says that blew me away he says Lord you can do anything you want to me but don't take away your presence somebody had knowledge of God but that knowledge was grounded in experience and that experience of the knowledge that he had of God drove him to want more of God's presence and even when he began to lose his kingdom when he began when he understood God right now because of what I've done could take everything away he was okay with it being taken away because the presence of God was more important than the other peace but for Saul it wasn't see Saul maybe knew God we see Saul was blessed by God in the beginning of his life but there was some stuff that got more important than the presence and sometimes when that happens you begin to chase those things instead of the presence of God in your life and that becomes dangerous our next person is Job Job man when I read Job I want to cry no joke having a kid now having a little bit more than I had before I left my parents house you know amen having my own stuff and we read the story of Job I don't know if he've ever ever got a phone call and got some bad news yeah or nobody here wow the city of angels but Job he wouldn't believe didn't have an iPhone or emailing but he had messengers that came his way and in one moment in one moment of his life he had a messengers that showed up to his house and said hey Job he's probably you know he's probably barely breathing he was just running a long distance he's sweating he looks scary and he's saying Job all your servants were killed and the Bible says before he even got done telling the message of bad news to Job the next messenger already came it's like you know you're on the phone some something just happened and then a call waiting something happened again and then a text message something happened and then an email and then an Instagram post something just kept happening to him and before the second guy was done talking about him losing all of his all of his stuff like his cattle and his sheep the third messenger comes and says hey I got more bad news over here the rest of your stuff also got taken some army broke in they they killed everybody and they took all your stuff and they dragged it away and before that person was done talking the next messenger came in said hey your family they all got together for a party in the and there was a there was a some kind of wind or something happened in the roof of the place Lord keep this roof up the roof of the place came down and it killed every every all your kids and the Bible says when the first messenger came that he already was he already was about to start tearing his clothes and asking God why and then the second and then the third and then the fourth now when all his peas get taken away we go to the next step maybe you've been in this kind of season in your life where sickness came into his life now when sickness came came into his life the Bible says that it was kind of hard to look at him he had he had sores and and pretty scary stuff all over his body now it gets even worse husbands all he had by his side was his wife but his wife in that breaking point of his of his journey his wife instead of speaking life and encouraging him his wife says you foolish man won't you just curse God and die look what God did to you in our family and you know what he says no husbands don't do this he says foolish woman don't say that do not do that I try it and I'm kidding that's why she's not here and I'm kidding you foolish woman God can give hello and God can take away you cannot begin to comprehend with your mind what is going on in my life and why see it shows me that Job was not just on the level of his mindset of I know of God and I know who God is but he was grounded in something personal in something intimate in something Mary's talking about I've never been with a man I've never had intimacy with a man well Job had some kind of intimacy with his God and when he was going through hell and back in the hell of probably getting back and he was losing everything even his health he stayed faithful he wasn't moved by everything that was happening in his life and saying God that's it man I'm done with you I was faithful to you I served you I've been in church for so long and look what happened to me no if God can give me God can take away from me somebody was Janosco somebody was grounded in some serious personal experience with God to say God can take away we have a fairy tale ending he gets double everything he had but how often and we're in that moment going through half as much a tenth as much just a percent of much and saying God where are you at what's going on Lord is it supposed to happen to me would you allow those moments not to drive you away but to drive you closer would you allow those moments in your life maybe you have sickness in this place and God's gonna heal you would you allow that not to push you away from him to push you to him man I got a repeating problem in my life I can't get over this addiction I can't would it would it allow you please to drive you to know him more not to say God why God why God why often when we're pushed away by the things that are happening in our life it just a symbol to us a sign to us a warning sign you got to know him more you know I visited the earlier part of this year I had to be at a funeral of a very good friend man I had a hard season beginning of this year I was in price and I just imagine this bro I pull up I pull up to speak to our interns pull up pull up to the church to speak our interns I get I get a phone call I get bad news and my my sister says hey did you hear I'm like oh you know that everything just starts happening in your mind I'm like what happened so I keep Stephen I'm like Stephen who Stephen Reed and it didn't click to me I knew him but it didn't click to me that actually something would happen to him he's the craziest passionate off the wall guy I'm like there's no there's no way he's dead he's that guy that guy flies she's like hey he he passed away last last night and I'm like what I'm like sent me a picture that you are not mistaken on who this is because there's no way he's dead and I just want to make sure you're you don't got it mixed up she sent me a picture and sure enough it was him you know the crazy thing is I had to end up teaching it was really hard I wanted to cry like seven times during my teaching when I went to the viewing of his body his body was wrapped up he died in a motorcycle accident you couldn't they didn't want you to look at his body because it was too beat up they just had his hand out so you could touch his hand if you wanted to but the rest of his body was was messed up and his dad shared something at the end of that service and I'm like I'm like I'm like I'm all over the place I'm crying I'm wondering why this happened he was passionate about God he was faithful to God he was an example to so many believers he was an example to me and his dad begins to share at the end of the funeral service he says my wife and I have been praying it's been a hard time for us of course he said my wife and I've been praying and we both received the same thing from God and we shared to each other and I'm waiting to hear what he's gonna say he says my wife and I came to this conclusion if the death of our son Steven we can't get through it's just a sign to us we don't know him enough and the father his son this gets worse don't hope there's not if you need to shed some tears you go ahead his son turned 30 the next day he had a he had a girl from the area of no crying he was a man of God so we knew if he was if he was seeing a girl or talking to a girl that it was serious there's no way no girl is gonna waste his time postal Paul bro I'm like if he found somebody he found somebody and that weekend he was gonna have a birthday party Friday night this happened on Wednesday he's gonna have a birthday party on Friday night he was gonna show this girl that he meant that he was for sure wanted to marry and he was gonna show her to his parents now when you hear that from a dad if we can't get through this it's simply because we don't know him enough you understand that knowing him is not just something you have here isn't it interesting that Adam and Eve ate of the tree of what knowledge of good and evil and were separated from the presence of God hmm see in the presence of God you have all that you need and when the craziest things happen in your life that don't make sense his presence will make sense to you Apostle Paul and it's gonna be our last guy Apostle Paul who we quoted in the beginning actually I will read the scripture he says man I knew so much and isn't it interesting that before Apostle Paul who was Saul encountered Christ he was actually working against God see sometimes we know so much that the knowledge we have actually doesn't push us to know God more it pushes us away and it doesn't actually work for our benefit to knowing God it actually works against God himself Paul says who was Saul said he said I know more than most of you but we see Saul before his encounter with Christ actually what persecuting Christ it says he was zealous for the Lord but he was killing believers because he was so zealous about following the law he encounters he encounters Jesus on the road to interns interns on the road to Damascus come on you learn this this week on the road to Damascus Saul is encountered by Jesus after his encounter with Jesus here we go Janesco happened because his knowledge which was pushing him away from God turned into an encounter where he got grounded where he had personal experience where he came to know just not who he is but who he is right in front of me I see him I have heard his voice I have experienced his presence his presence was actually so bright and strong it knocked me down and I was blinded because it was so bright something happened to me because of the presence of God and after that moment it says he goes to the city he receives his sight and he begins to preach the gospel the very next day he experienced what he thought he knew for so long and because of his experience not because of his knowledge because of his experience it propelled him to now live for the Lord and to be probably one of the greatest instruments that the first era saw writing majority of the New Testament not because he knew it all but because he had an encounter and that encounter gave him a platform to now begin to do something for God Ephesians chapter 3 verse 14 this is what Paul says and it's a prayer for us he says for this reason I kneel before the Father what is he gonna kneel for watch this from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and look what he begins to pray I pray that you all of you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love and that's the same know that we've been talking about Janesco to have a personal experience and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God there's something that happens when we experience it in my life I knew about God growing up all my life I grew up in church but when I was 18 far from God living a worldly life I was in the back during worship and God began to encounter me with his love and for the first time in my life I had an experience that I heard often that I knew about I hadn't experienced and that experience changed and wrecked and transformed my life as we close we're gonna pray there's something incredible to happen when I married my wife well something incredible to happen to her when she said yes to me and married me just like a year later I finally got a revelation you know when she said yes and became my wife she took upon my last name without doing anything but saying yes you know that you are a step away from receiving everything God has for you by saying yes tonight maybe your last name is sickness maybe the last name you've been carrying is guilt regret fear one of the first things Adam said to God when he was separated from the presence is God I'm hiding because I'm afraid I'm afraid for my presence we're made for this guys girls all of you you are made to experience God in your life you are made not just to have something right here saying yeah I've heard of him I know about him Pastor Vlad and Ilya and everybody talk about him you can encounter him by saying yes and his name can become your name tonight his healing that he has for you can be your healing his breakthrough can be your breakthrough his deliverance can be your deliverance you can be grounded tonight if you felt like you've been tossed back and forth by life you can be grounded not because everything's making sense and coming together but God I just know I need your presence right now God I need to know your presence my life is not making sense my situation is not making sense this week didn't make sense but God right now like Job and God like Saul who became Paul and God like David