The thing you think you would die for, that's what you should be living for. Fill in the blank: What is that “thing” that you genuinely believe that you would be willing to die for today, right now?

"I'd be happy to die for ______." That's what you should be living for.

If your answer was not spiritual, you're out. Please sit down.

If your answer was something for self, that's not going to work.

If your answer was the gospel, please remain standing.

How can I demonstrate that I'm genuinely motivated enough to die for the gospel, and its promotion, its spread, its synergy, and its syndication, sending forth, carrying, multiplying, training, standing up, fresh delivery troops?

How can I participate in the deliverance of rescuing people from decay, sickness, disease, sin, death, destruction, separation, misery, pain, sorrow, darkness, war, disease, depression, confusion, self-harm, the raging, out-of-bounds cravings of the belly and the bones, self-protection, fear, dread, pride, misperception, exaggerations, all of the ills of humanity?

How can we help deliver our fellow brothers and sisters out of this mess and into the new world?

Did you know that we're actually entering the third world? In a good way, there's a third Earth.

The first Earth was flooded with water, if we believe, according to Scripture. And if we examine science genuinely, we can see that the pockets of the deep were opened up and the mountains shot up and the crevices and the caves and the darkness and the deep gave that the tectonic plates shifted and the continents drifted and the heavens opened and let down the water and torrential and it was massive for the terrain.

The first world perished except for few—that is eight souls were saved on the ark—and now we're living in the second earth.

According to Peter, all of this will be burnt. The surface specifically, the surface of earth will be cooked with the fervent heat such that all the water is in danger of evaporation.

The foundation of the earth standeth sure, which means it's a foundation. It does not say the core, it says the foundation.

And the surface will be cooked off, everything, melt, fervent heat, everything that can burn will burn.

Our God is a consuming fire. In hell, the fire, the worm perisheth not. It's eaten away but it doesn't die. It just continues to writhe in pain.

But our God is a consuming fire, which means He consumes away the dross. He alleviates, He eradicates the lesser so that He can replace with the better.

And what is the better? A new heaven and a new earth.

Although we get a glorified body and although we can probably be recognized, a lot of people believe according to scripture we shine like the stars and we have an ethereal glow and an essence and an aura and we have vibrations and we probably have extra senses and we still eat, we still walk, we can probably move faster and we don't get weary and tired and our emotions are different.

I don't want to argue on this point but I still think we have a full spectrum of emotions and God just says He will wipe away our tears. You know, you can't wipe away what's not there.

It doesn't say He'll evaporate our tear ducts or He'll remove our ducts. Like, we'll still be able to smile and cry for joy. I probably release more tears for joy than I do for sorrow. Tears are good for the eyes. But we have someone who can wipe away, comfort.

I think there's a depth of spiritual language there that he can remove the memory of sorrows. The former things are passed away. All things are become new.

A new heaven and a new earth, which means a lot of things. Our desire for transition and travel and pack the camper and go on the road and do RV trips and go visit the Grand Canyon and go see the extremities of America and go cross country and check out all the states and fly across the ocean and go see other worlds and visit different demographics and developing countries and go on missions trips—this desire to just spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and go see the world—that can be fulfilled, not in this lifetime, but in the next one.

How many miles did Jesus travel? Only once in early childhood did He travel to Egypt. He came back and He stayed and He served and He cared locally. He wasn't enamored with going all over.

What is the Gospel?

It's the personality of God.

What is the gospel? It's God revealing His truth: "The earth shall be covered with the knowledge of God as the seas cover the earth." You know, the sea covers 70% of earth's surface. Only 30% is solid dirt and rock.

The knowledge of God, pervasive, available—there's water everywhere. You can drill down to the water table. You can access water. You don't have to live in the desert willingly.

What is the gospel? It is who God says He is.

Many people have a contorted perception of the identity of the one true God. They want their kind of God. They want a God who talks at their level, at their tone, who accommodates their needs, and their wants, and their wishes, and their birthday wish list.

But did you know that God was God before I was ever me? And that I'm just young, and I'm here like a blink, a blip, a wisp in the wind, and I'm gone again.

"But God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. Our God is eternal from everlasting to everlasting. Thou art God."

Before the world was ever formed, there was the self-existing, self-empowering, triune, perfectly at ease, content, conversational, omnidirectional, triple vocational, super soothing, amazing, self-sufficient, self-sustaining, needs nothing, is everything Creator.

He then did not get bored, but just decided "I should express my nature" and He did it with significant risk of being rejected, despised, sped upon, ripped, punched, gouged, pierced, poked, hung, strong, stripped, scoured, scavenged, shredded.

Mocked, ridiculed, plunged into darkness, separated from myself, from the Father, facing all the pain of the first death and the second death, who tasted death for every man.

Sufficient. Satisfier. The complete substitute.

He steps in, takes the place of Barabbas, carries the weight, carried all of our griefs, our sorrows, our penalty, our pain, our guilt, our shame, our shortcomings, our lack of motivation, our lethargy, our sloth, our procrastination, our unwillingness to conform, our rebellion, our childish antics, our emotional confusion, our outlandish outrage over tiny interferences with our expectations.

What are the sins that makes God most repulsed?

Obviously, pride is what kicked Lucifer out of paradise—was ascending to be equal to, to be like the most high. "I will elevate myself and proclaim myself equal, similar."

Secondly, his lack of trust. God really doesn't like it when we don't believe. He thinks that He's very believable. God believes that it's unbelievable that we find Him unbelievable.

God is aghast. His jaw drops. He is stunned by the fact that we cannot act upon all the abundant evidence. "Have not," He says, "Have not I done enough?"

"Is not the sun, the moon, the stars, the atmosphere, the firmament, the protection, the sky, the birds—is that not sufficient evidence that I can be your God and you would just relax and be My people? What about the turtles and the fish and the frogs? The grasshoppers. Can't you just trust Me?"

"I take care of the sparrows, the eagles, the birds, the rabbits, the squirrels. I make the grass, regrow the trees. I give the right balance of oxygen and nitrogen and air. I provide fertilizer for the garden."

Why is it difficult to trust Someone bigger than you and stronger than you and smarter than you? It's just so obvious.

So what is the gospel? The gospel is God himself.

The reason why people resist the Good News is they don't like the Good News Maker. They don't like the core, the heart, the identity of the Father. They don't want Him. They want a twisted version of Him. They want to rewrite the definition.

"Hand me that editing pen. I will write my own dictionary. I want a sugary God. I want a marshmallow bunny with massive ears. I want a hilarious God that lets me do anything and I don't want to feel guilty."

Oh, so if your dictionary definition of God starts with the singular pronoun of self, "I declare that I want a God that's..."

Are you the maker of molecules and substance? How would your definition carry any weight meaning in eternity?

Are you not, quite obviously, formed by the Hand of Someone significantly superior? Can you keep your own soul together in life? Can you speak one word and turn your hair white, gray, or make it grow?

Can you change your stature, your size, your speed, your strength, your bone density, your muscle tension, and your twitches, by your thoughts?

Which of you, by taking thought, can do anything? We tend to worship our own intentions. "Ooh, intentionality creates the future"—no it doesn't.

"I think I have the..." No, you can't even finish the sentence.

So self-declaration now becomes the main power. Who did we just evict? Who did we eviscerate and replace to retain the power of His throne? Who is it that we are casting out of Heaven? Are we elevating self?

It says in Romans 1, "they glorified Him not as God." They would not give Him proper attribution. It's like they stole a social media post and wouldn't even reference the author.

What is the gospel? It's the Good News that God is God. That's the core of the gospel. It's the eternal nature of the Divine in all of His splendor.

Every one of His 100 attributes in Scripture resonating frequently at the right frequency, the right adaptability, magnified, explored, enjoyed, received.

When we receive the attributes of God, we receive the definition of who He is. Only then do we see ourselves as the non-God. Only non-Gods need salvation.

Until we see God, we cannot see ourselves. Isaiah said, "Then said I, 'Woe is me'" when I saw the Lord high and lifted up, His train filled the temple. I saw the real God, then I knew that I was not Him.

Job thought he was a man of integrity and wealth and he had spectacular position and that he had earned some right to enjoy life. And when all of the joys, the enjoyment, the ice cream, gone, the twinkle of the eye of all of his kids, gone. All of his wealth, his resources, his reputation, his name, his friends, his family, gone.

Only then he whined and complained for several chapters, self-elevated. He groaned, he refused to relinquish his integrity, his self-perception.

But then God asked him 77 unrelinquishing bullet-point, straight-shot, fire, shoot, military-style, machine gun, 77 singular questions, all of them articulate and not able to be answered.

"Where was thou when I made the treasures of the snow? Do you know where I store each snowflake before it's released?"

"Well, no, I've never been to the snowbank in the sky."

"Yeah. Do you know why you've never been there Job?"

"No, I don't really know."

"Because you're not God."

Abraham is the father of faith. He's the father of transferred confidence. He's the father of walking with God. He's the father of "Leave thy kindred. Leave your home. Travel. Go find. Explore. Go with Me. I'll lead you. I'll guide you. You're gonna be a life in transition. It's gonna be a crazy life, but I'll be there."

Abraham messed up. Abraham got confused. Abraham made bad choices, but he believed God. And he trained his children well, at least when it came to believing. They didn't act perfect.

The gospel is receiving God for who God says He is. It starts with "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." He's going to create a new heaven and a new earth. He's timeless. He's powerful. He's amazing. He's unchanging.

He's worthy of exploration. He's considerable. Worthy to be considered. He wrote a book. He's a good Author. He's the Author of eternal salvation. He's the Author of the instruction manual for life.

He's the Preserver. He not only gives life, but He keeps and maintains life. He's the one who retains my soul inside my skin bag. He keeps my spirit strong. He lights the candle: "For Thou will light my candle, the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness."

He gives resurrection power after a decision to cut off the desires of the flesh. It's spiritual to crucify the flesh. "I am crucified with Christ" to reduce and reject the base lesser nature, to embrace the greater, to be filled with all the fullness of God.

To experience the light, the glow, the effervescence, the bubbles, the overflow, "out of his belly shall flow," to be both filled with the Spirit and lit on fire, walking in the light, basking in His presence, hearing His voice, sensing His smile, letting HIs spirit influence my tonality, timing, delivery, word choice, every breath, every heartbeat, trusting, leaning, not my own, but on His.

On His heart, not my heart. Giving Him my heart. Asking Him to rearrange it. Give me fresh desires, fresh alignment.

"Dear God, I trust you. I acknowledge You. I welcome You. “In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy marrow, thy bones and to thy belly, to thy navel."

What is the gospel? The gospel is God.

People skip. I think God is sad when He hears a partial gospel. People say, "Well the gospel, you know, is our sin nature." No, no, no. That's not where the Gospel starts and it's not where the Gospel ends. That's not point one.

Point one is God. Point two is man fell.

Man fell from fellowship with God. Man fell away from. But originally, the Gospel begins with God.

You know it's true and every soul winner I talk to, they start with sin and I'm telling you you're never gonna have a fight like that fight when you suggest that there's a possible improvement of delivery.

"Say what if your gospel started with articulating the essence, the names, the identities, the attributes of who God claims to be."

"I don't have all day to do a Bible study with them. What are you talking about? I can't. There's no way I could talk about the identity of God."

Well then, what? Why do we start the conversation? Our very first handshake is, "You know, we're all very dark, tainted, dismal, abysmal, shriveled creatures. We're really like cave dwelling bats, just nasty. There's no goodness. We are just the most evil, wicked, vile, vulgar people. We fall short of the glory of God. We have no light in ourselves. We are abandoned, we are destined for destruction."

All that is true, of course. But why does it matter at all if there's no God first?

It's like people walk up to the canvas and just start dumping garbage on it, just garbage after garbage. Why not start with something agreeable, beautiful, gorgeous, clear, a canvas that has God, great intentions, His power, His strength, His love, His communication, His style, His linguistic dexterity, His elucidation, His eloquence, His vibrance, His beauty, His rolling thunder, His mighty voice, His fatherly figure, His desire, His power to save, His rescue, His eternal persona.

What's wrong with God being point one of the movie, being the star of His own documentary?

John starts afresh. "In the beginning was the word." Notice he doesn't mention "In the beginning, “Everyone was a sinner."

I'm perfectly happy with you delivering the book of Romans to the lost. However, can I ask one question right before you kick me out the door? Can we start in chapter one with who God is?

Why do we have to skip ahead anyway? That's a whole nother chapter. It's a whole nother book. "Point one, we're all sinners." Yeah, against who? Why does it matter?

Point one, God. Point two, I'm not God.

The distance between God and man, that is the missing of the mark. That is the definition of sin.

The fact that He's worthy of being believed and I still choose not to believe Him. Probably the greatest sin of all time is unbelief. Not exercising faith—faithless, foolish, and faithless.

We're asking people to place their faith in the Christ of God, the being of God, the identity of God, the person of God, God expressed in the flesh.

"He that believeth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting life." We're trying to get them to believe in the Godhead, Romans 1, "even His eternal power and Godhead."

Why is it that we have to delete God from the gospel?

God is the beginning of the gospel and He's the end of the gospel. He's the invitation. He is the prompter, the prodder, the provoker, the inviter. He's the connector, the conviction, the cause, the inspiration, the motivator, the magnet. He draws all men unto the Father.

"I," said Christ, "if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." And then He said, "The Father draws men." It's an overlap of the offices. The Holy Spirit persuades and encourages people to consider and look upon the Son.

So the Gospel is the very nature of God. It's receiving and believing who God claims to be.

I am a sinner, sin deserves separation. The separation can only be solved by the significant Savior who must be righteous and that righteousness needs exchanged through simple faith so we can be reconciled to God.

It is the reception, the placing full confidence of my faith outside myself unto the unseen hand believing that I was falling and I needed a great hand of a great Savior to swoop and to catch, to hold and to keep, secure and safe.

"My Father which gave them Me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of My father's hand, I and My Father are one."

"I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth on Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth, and believeth in Me shall never die."

Long pause, "Believest thou this?" Question mark. Invitation extended.

"Yea, Lord, I believe."

We're asking people to believe in a God that they don't know, that they haven't met. People don't resist the gospel, they're resisting the God of the gospel. They're resisting the identity of the person that's genuinely extending the opportunity. The King of the party, the One who throws the great banquet in heaven.

"Call the halt, the lame, the blind, the poor, the destitute, the street dwellers, call them in, bring everybody that my house may be filled."

Why would they say no? Unless they just don't know the Person behind the invitation.

Yes, obviously man's nature is fallen. Yes, we are dark abysmal weary shallow creatures, small, cannot speak the entire truth. We exaggerate, our hearts are simultaneously total chaos in every direction. Our biological impulses are ravaging, just rabid.

Can't hardly stick to a diet. Can't say no to ourselves. Can't hardly stick to an exercise schedule, a rhythm, a cadence, even a work-life balance. We can't, we just, we need so much help. So much coaching.

Very limited walking in victory. Of course, we need salvation—from ourselves, sure, but from an eternity of chaos—and the only rescue plan is a person.

It's the person of God sent forth in the form of His Son, God, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made after a woman, clothed in flesh, to be the solution, the salvation, the Savior.

Let's deliver the Light. Let's get to know God well enough that we can talk about Him.

Communicate His essence, His glow, His glory, His names, His identities, His actions, His offices, His operations, how He thinks, how He breathes, how He speaks, how He moves, what he expects, what He wants, what the outcomes are. Is He a rewarder? Is He positive? Is He powerful?

The people who say, "It's no benefit to serve God." Well, give it a whirl. Try it a while. Have you worked there? Have you submitted your application for employment in the King's service?

Gospel delivery is a great vocation. It has eternal impact in the lives of others, it's significantly satisfying.

You get to co-labor together with the great team. There's a great corporate culture. There's significant support. You have a great supply line.

You have access to an Operator who can fill and infuse and motivate and work through you mightily. You have the glow of God. You have the countenance. You have His smile. You have His presence. You have His promise. You have His purity. You have alleviation.

It's a great life career to be involved and thinking, loving God for at least an hour a day. Minimum. How many hours does He let you live? You can't give one back?

Think. Think about Him. Push the button. Talk about Him. Tell Him. Read, write, talk, tell.