A few years back, I had the opportunity to go down to Shreveport with my good friend, Sam, and shoot a college football bowl-game. It turned out to be quite a day as I found myself standing next to a familiar face there in the end zone prior to the kickoff. This guy was also shooting the game but not because he was a professional photographer on assignment. His son played for one of the teams and that is how I met Ken Griffey Jr. There we stood, side by side throughout the whole game taking pictures, chatting and whatnot. When his son scored a touchdown, the ESPN cameras could not get enough of airing footage of the proud and rather famous dad down there in the end zone. For some reason, I don’t think they mentioned my name even though I was getting all the same air time with Junior since I was standing right next to him. 

 It was a fun and memorable afternoon for sure. 

 Let me say here that I really did ‘meet’ Ken Griffey Jr. We had pleasant conversation there for a few hours during the game. May I also confess here to you ...I do not ‘know’ Ken Griffey Jr. I have no relationship with him. And truth be told, he probably does not even remember the experience and if you asked him, I’m certain he would tell you that he does not know me. 

 Now haven’t we all at one point or another, known someone who had a brief ‘brush with fame’ or a ‘famous person’ similar to what I did...and they go on and on and on leading you to believe they are best friends with that famous person? I mean, they may have ridden in an elevator with someone and never said two words, but to hear them tell it...you’d think they have each other on ‘speed dial’ now. 

 You think it’s possible we can do that with God? 

 He’s pretty famous too, you know. Paul told Titus there would be many who would “profess to know God,” but their actions would suggest otherwise. (1:16) 

 Can’t you see those skeptical looks on faces when people start ‘talking’ and others can’t help but wonder if they are blowing a bunch of smoke because...well...if they ‘really knew so and so, or even God for that matter, then how come they do ‘such and such’? As I’ve heard others say in the past, the reason much of the world (lost folk) don’t want anything to do with church is because they live next door to folks who go to church. Ouch. 

 I can tell you this...it’s one thing to meet a famous person. It’s another thing to meet God, the creator of the universe. I know...sounds rather boastful. But just like the guy at the bar that wants to convince anyone who will listen to him that he knows ‘so and so’, the real question remains...does that person know him? And the greater question that needs to be asked and has even more significance is the one for those who claim to ‘know God’...Does. He. Know. You.? 

 There are plenty of people sitting on pews today who will tell you they have ‘met God’ or ‘accepted Christ’ or ‘made a decision for Christ’ as we addressed yesterday. We can sing songs and read books that are all about ‘knowing God’. Why, we even toss out that cute phrase to people frequently...”Do you know Jesus?” But again, there is even a more significant question that needs to be addressed and that is...”Does Jesus know you?” 

 I only mention this because of a passage I cite regularly here that was shared by Jesus in Matt. 7:21-23. The very first sentence should stop us in our tracks and do some very serious soul searching... 

 “Not everyone who says... to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My father in heaven.” (21) 

 Could that possibly include people who have ‘made public decisions’ or who have ‘professed to know God’...or even ‘confessed with their mouths’ (Rom. 10:9)? 

 And just that phrase “does the will of My Father” really mixes things up for many of our man-made doctrines. ( I hear folks scrambling, looking for those thick commentaries written by smart men) But we’ll come back to this later and examine further what ‘the will of God’ actually is. (I’m going out on a limb here to suggest it has more to do with than just making some verbal acknowledgement’ that someone ‘believes in God’) 

 Let’s read on...Jesus tell us that ‘in that day’ (most likely when He appears for his holy and spotless bride to take in to a wedding banquet...or the day of judgment when we all stand before Him and give an account of our lives)...that “Many will say...’Lord...did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many wonderful works in Your name?” 

 Lets’ be clear here...He’s not talking about all those ‘other false religions’ of the world. There is going to be ‘many’ people who have been doing things in His Name (Jesus’s name you think?) who were convinced they were right in the middle of it -doing God’s will and all. Again, I am reminded of Paul’s warning to the Corinthians where he expressed great concern that we could end up following ‘another Jesus’ or embracing ‘another gospel’ and even receiving ‘another spirit’. Jesus Himself gave plenty of warning to the same concerns in Matt. 24. 

 But here comes the hard truth that should shake us to our very core: “Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness (sin)”. (23) 

 I. Never. Knew. You. I....never....knew....you. Do you suppose that was a fluke on Jesus’s part using that phrase? Maybe the translators got it wrong. Surely it’s not used anywhere else, is it? 

 You might want to flip over to Matt. 25 where we read the parable of the Ten Virgins...the wise and foolish ones who all ‘fell asleep’. Lots of activity begins to unfold at midnight when the warning cry went out and they all began to scramble for oil and light so they could continue getting ready to meet the bridegroom. It was the ‘foolish ones’ who somehow missed getting ready and going in to the banquet when the door was shut. (10). We then read “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!” But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.” (11-12) 

 There it is again. Which makes a line written by Paul in his letter to the Galatians that more interesting. It’s almost like he ‘catches himself’ and wants to set the record straight where he was addressing a group of Jewish believers who were prone to drifting back into their old ways of thinking. Look what he says there in 4:9 – “But now after you have known God,...or rather...are known By God...” 

 Maybe instead of us always asking the question “do you know Jesus?”...perhaps we should be asking: “Does Jesus know us?” Because there is no mistaking here...there is a clear and distinct difference. 

 Listen to what Jesus expressed in John 10:27 – “My sheep hear My voice...and I know them...and they follow Me.” I know them...and they follow Me....I know them and they follow me…. (That might be a good verse to post on the fridge and even memorize!) 

 So where am I going with all this today? Consider this possibility....It seems plausible that we could ‘think we knew God’ much like the examples I just shared only to hear those harrowing words in response of “I don’t know you!” And if that was the case, then it would also lead us to question “if I thought I knew who God was only to find out I did not and had somehow met that ‘other Jesus’...then who really is God/Jesus? And what is He really like? Which brings me to the subject I alluded to a few days ago that much like the Israelites who found themselves in bondage for hundreds of years were set free...they still had a date with destiny in which they would finally meet and be re-introduced to the God of their fathers. And if they found themselves being released from captivity...just maybe we may have a similar date with destiny and need to be re-introduced as well? 

 Imagine that…all this time of ‘thinking’ we knew Him…only to find out…maybe we didn’t? IF the very idea of such a suggestion offends you…, you might want to stop right there and ask you why that is? First of all, Ps. 119:165 says that ‘great peace have they who love Thy Law, and nothing shall offend you.” You may also want to visit John 8 and look how another group of folks were deeply offended by the same suggestion…that Jesus Himself addressed. He just flat out told them…”If you knew God…you would hear me and love me” (42-43). And this was the religious leaders of the day who were well versed in scripture that were offended by such an accusation. Do you know what that is that rise up? Pride. A spirit of pride, to be exact. And if those folks could have it and react in such a way…don’t be so quick to say it could not happen to you. 

 Believe me, I know talk like this can be unsettling and downright disturbing for some. I have no control on who all reads these postings nor how they respond to them. But I am confident that if your heart is in the right place, the Holy Spirit is right there to walk you through this as well. You should consider this ‘good news’ if God is awaking you from a deep spiritual slumber. It’s no time for being offended. I mean, Paul does admonish us to examine ourselves to see if Jesus is even really in us. ( 2 Cor. 13:5). And if we respond accordingly, then that would also indicate God has good things in store for you...where you may experience some of the greatest freedom and peace and joy you have ever known. Remember...even the ‘wise virgins’ fell asleep as well. When woken, they simply got about the business of “doing the will of God”...which was to ‘get ready’. (Matt. 25:10; 1 Thess. 4:3) 

I still remember an old tag line for a TV commercial for Corn Flakes. It went something like this: “Corn Flakes…try them again…for the first time.” I wonder what that might be like to ‘meet God again…for the first time’? Or maybe for some, if not being ‘re-introduced’ it is simply being ‘reminded’ of a few things. Either way…If God is in the middle of it, it will be good.