Matt Chandler - Fulfilled and Finished

Hey, I had no fewer than 20 people say you cannot run around and hug everybody and touch everyone past her. I literally thought, «I’m going to be good.» I woke up this morning early and just prayed, «Be good. You’re going to be fine; you’ll see these people for another 20 years.» Then, some sort of weird spiritual golden retriever sprang up in me when I started. I literally had to sequester myself while talking, saying, «Stop!» I had to run and hide in the green room until now. So, in the coming weeks, if you’re wondering, «Where’s Pastor Chandler?» He’s back in his green room, learning to contain and control himself. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and grab those; that will be our passage today. I must say, to say that I’m glad to be back would be a massive understatement. It is good to know that if I really want you to sing and get excited about Jesus corporately, I just need to cancel services for six months. Then we gather, and we can have some gusto toward the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I made a note of that on my iPad before I came out.

Now, we will add another service next weekend, and we will have Little Village and Kids Village back online early in November. We can move a little more quickly now, so I’m eager for that. We are inching toward some semblance of normalcy, and yet I find two things in my heart. One, I find a great deal of gladness around that, and there’s another part of me that doesn’t want certain things to return to normal. Are you tracking with me on that? There are things I want for you; there are things I want for me, and things I want for us. This means we’re going to have to leave behind the old way of doing things, the old way of thinking. Now, maybe for the first time ever, step into what the invitation has been all along. Here is what I would love for you to embrace: as things get back to normal, whatever that will look like, I want you to know the joy and life found in walking in the light. Are you tracking with me there?

To be 100 percent known, and I’ve said this a lot, is essential. To be 99 percent known is to be unknown. The drift, the press, the movement of this area is to look pretty and put together, and I desperately want you to know the freedom of being truly known. At every level of your life, being known. Let me introduce this to you; it might be cheesy. I don’t care. We’re back! Here’s something: I absolutely hate the mask; I hate it. But when you have to strap that thing on, does anybody else get a whiff of their own breath? Is that just me? I didn’t know that about myself, and then I think, «Man, I will never pray for anyone again at close quarters!» When you feel constrained and smell the stank of your own face, I want you to consider this: This is what spiritually wearing a mask is like for you. When your marriage is on the rocks, and you put on a face; when you’re struggling with addiction, and you put on the mask; when you feel far from the Lord and don’t want anyone to notice, you keep pretending. I want you to know and walk in the freedom of being able to take it off and breathe. Some of you right now, God help you; you’re just cheating. I just want you to know the freedom that comes from taking off that spiritual mask and saying, «Here’s where I am with the Lord. Here’s where I am in my relationships. Here’s where my heart longs to be.» I don’t want us to go back to being spectators instead of participants. Are you tracking with me?

The whole drift—think about it. I’m watching us come in today, and there’s a pre-thing for the kids; it feels like we’re at the movies. I want you to know we’re not at the movies! I want you to genuinely believe that you’ve been called into this. This isn’t just my role; what’s living in me is available to you. The joy you see in godly people isn’t just reserved for an elite group; it’s offered to all who will believe, come, and surrender. I want you to believe that for yourself in bigger ways. I want you to believe that for yourselves in ways that actually move the needle in your spirit and your life: more surrender, more gladness, more faith that God’s got a call on your life—not just on mine. I know I’ve got a calling from God, and I’m trying to step into it. You have to step into yours. I don’t want us to go back to a great majority.