This week I was thinking about things that, over time, have kind of lost their authenticity—their genuineness. I got thinking about some of the things that, if you could almost put yourself in the person's shoes maybe 100 years ago, maybe however long it was, you’d see that things were maybe just a little bit more authentic back then.

I began to think about things we deal with today, like something as simple as a wedding. As great as a wedding might be, it's kind of come far from where it originally was. I think about a man and woman coming together, and maybe they didn't have rings—they tied a piece of string around their finger, whatever they had—but it was meaningful to those two, and they would come together to spend the rest of their lives together. And then I look at it now and there's doves and there's balloons and there's pink Hummers. I watch on the news and there are these extravagant weddings. And to me, it kind of almost takes away a little bit from the authenticity of what it was originally supposed to be.

Or we look at holidays. We look at what Christmas was supposed to be—maybe a hundred years ago, what it was like. It's not the Christmas season; it was the Holy Spirit. Everybody says it's the spirit of the season, right? No, it was the Holy Spirit back then. And the Spirit was active in that time. People's hearts were touched. They were celebrating as families. Families would get together and exchange gifts out of an excitement that this is the time our Savior was born and how exciting that was. And now it's like you don't even have to know Christ or acknowledge Christ. You can be an atheist, but no, it's no longer a Christian thing. It's lost it over time.

And I even think about sports, right? I love sports. I love watching sports. But if you think about what it was originally like, it was a community thing. They'd have a ballpark inside their community, and that was something a father and a son could go to and spend time together. It was a really closed community type of thing, and it was exciting. Today, athletes have billion-dollar contracts and they're upset when they don't get a Lamborghini in their contract and they quit, and it becomes a huge thing. You have to be a multi-million dollar person just to sit in the nosebleed seats these days. You see, it's lost what it was originally meant to be. It's kind of lost it over time and become something else.

I was thinking about that, and I began to think about the church. I began to try to put myself in the shoes of a Jewish man living so long ago—before Christ, before the new covenant came. I imagined a guy in the country, a farmer, a Jewish guy who really just had a heart to serve God and wanted to do right by Him. In my head, I named him Larry. That's how I named him—Larry.

And Larry was a guy just in the country who just wanted to honor God. He wasn't in Jerusalem. He was a little bit far out, and he had a heart that said, “God, I want to do right by You.” Let's say Larry was going about his day and he did something and he sinned. We know that the law required that Larry would then have to pack his stuff up, get an offering, and go and make a pilgrimage all the way to Jerusalem to present himself in the temple of God.

I began thinking about that. Larry just had a heart that wanted to honor God, and he said, “God, I messed up right now. I did something. I sinned. There's a weight upon my shoulder.” And he began to walk and say, “I gotta stop my whole life. Everything's got to stop. My children's lives got to stop. I got to take something off of my table. I got to get an offering.” And he stops everything, no matter what's going on, and makes a pilgrimage into the temple of God.

You see, I think about that, and I think about the faith involved. What is an animal to God? It's nothing. He invented them. He could wipe them from the planet tomorrow. But then Larry picked up that animal and believed in his heart that there was sin upon him. And the only way to make it right was to go and present himself in the house of God and make an offering and say, “God, here I am. I've sinned against You. Lord, I want to make it right.”

And I look at that, and I look at what we have today. So often, especially in this country, I think, man, it's not what it's supposed to be. So often we treat God like a forgiveness factory. “God, I messed up. Sorry for my sins.” And then we never think about it again. It's a two-second thing, and there's never any heart involved with it. But I'm telling you today, God is requiring a heart that wants to make a pilgrimage into His temple, into His presence, saying, “God, here I am.”

The title of my sermon today is: “Set your heart on a pilgrimage to find God.” Set your heart on a pilgrimage, because we always say that the new covenant was better than the first. So how much more should we be seeking God? How much more should our hearts be on a pilgrimage to find Him? How much more should our hearts be seeking out the very presence of God? I look at Larry and everything he went through to get to the temple, and I say, “how much more so today should our hearts be set on the pilgrimage to find God?”

We can't—as great as it is to be able—God died on the cross and we have this ability to ask forgiveness and it's amazing and it's an awesome freedom. But what I'm saying today is: don't allow your freedom to become an excuse not to seek after God. It was supposed to be something so much more. So many times we've lost the authenticity, the eagerness, the earnestness to want to go and be in God's presence, to seek after Him, to not settle for less, to set your heart on a pilgrimage to find Him.

"Don't allow your freedom to become an excuse not to seek after God."

And I'm telling you today, God made a better way, and it's time that we came into it in a whole new way than we ever have before. And I believe the church, and what God is doing in the church, is a new thing. And I believe this is right in line with that—where God is calling us to set our hearts on a pilgrimage to find Him. Amen.

We're going to be reading from Hebrews 9:13–14. So the first thing we need to set our hearts on a pilgrimage for is we need to set our hearts on a pilgrimage for redemption. Hebrews 9:13–14 says, “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more then will the blood of Christ, who through eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our hearts from acts that lead to death so that we might serve the living God.”

What it's saying is, if the blood of animals cleansed somebody on the outside, how much more then will the blood of Christ—who gave Himself willingly—He was innocent, He was unblemished, He had no sin upon Him, He gave Himself up—how much more so will that cleanse our hearts from sin and acts that lead to death so that we might serve God?

We know the law required that they had to make that offering, and the sin offering they had to do was dependent on how big their sin was, and dependent on their family. So they would go and take that sin offering and make the journey looking for redemption. Jews were very much focused on being clean or unclean. That was a big thing in Jewish culture—clean or unclean.

So Larry is clean. He's doing his thing. The blessings of God are upon him. He does something, he sins, and all of a sudden he knows, “Oh, I'm outside of God. There's an uncleanliness upon me that I need to make right.” They knew that uncleanliness— that sin—was like a curse upon not only him, but his family and his fields, how he made money, the food on his table. It was a blight upon his whole entire life that he needed to get rid of. And redemption only came when you present yourself before God.

He knew in his heart there was only one way to make it right. He needed redemption. So at that moment, he stopped everything. We sometimes get so busy we can't even stop for five seconds, but Larry stopped his whole life. The fields needed to be plowed, the kids needed to eat; they needed to be taught, there was worship to be done. But he stopped it all and he said, “No, there's something wrong right now and we have to make it right.” He knew he needed redemption. There was faith—I think about the faith involved. He knew that only redemption was found in God's house, and he made that journey.

And I think, what does that cause inside of a person? You can't be prideful when you're living like that. You can't live and be like, “Oh God, I deserve this, and I deserve that, I deserve more money, I deserve more fame, I deserve an easier life,” when you're living in a reality that says, “God, there's sin upon me and I have to make the pilgrimage—all the way, miles and miles—to Your temple. God, I have to make it right.” It causes a heart to say, “God, I am underneath You. God, You are the One that rules over my life.” It causes a heart to bow down to God.

And I think about how amazing that is. We look at the old way and say, “Oh, it was so messed up and it was so wrong.” But I look at how amazing it was because it prepped the heart for what God wanted to do. They sought after their redemption.

And I look at this verse that says, “How much more then will the blood of Christ who offered Himself unblemished to God cleanse our hearts from acts that lead to death so that we might serve the living God?” How much more should the blood of Christ be setting your heart to make things right with God? How much more should your heart be on a path to redemption—to say, “God, I know there's something over my life. I know there's sin over my house. God, I need to make it right and I know redemption is only found in Your house.”

I know you've been taught so often that it's about a prayer. You hear that so often: “Just say a prayer and you're saved and you’re forgiven forever and it's all good.” And it never really examines the heart. The verse says, “believe in your heart and confess with your mouth and you will be saved.” Believe in your heart. Believe the way Larry believed—believe in a way that sets your feet on a path to find God. Believe in your heart and have faith to say, “God, there is sin over my head, but I will find redemption in Your House.” Believe in a way that makes your feet move. Believe in a way that makes your spirit feel heavy until you find God. Believe in a way that keeps moving until you find God.

And then confess with your mouth. People like to skip over the heart and go straight to the lips. But let me tell you, God is not a reader of lips; He is a reader of hearts.

"God is not a reader of lips; He is a reader of hearts."

I open up my Bible and read about these men and women in the Bible. I read about Jacob who wrestled with God and refused to leave until he received his blessing. I read about Peter running out onto the water to get to Jesus. We even just got done reading Ruth—how she didn't just sit back. Naomi wasn't like, “Hey, you're a woman, it's okay, just hang out in the house and he'll come to you.” That's not what Naomi said. Naomi said, “Ruth, get off your butt. Go find your kinsman-redeemer. Go find him.” And what happened? Boaz woke up, and who was at his feet? Ruth was there saying, “I need to be redeemed.” Ruth is the picture of what the Christian is supposed to look like—running to the Redeemer, running to the feet of the Redeemer, knowing redemption is found in the house of God.

The Jewish religion—their forgiveness—isn't an American forgiveness. They actually have three steps, and there are words for each one, but pretty much what they mean is: one is acknowledging your sin before God and saying, “God, I've sinned against You.” The second step is atoning for your sin—making it right. The third step is dwelling on your sin, thinking about it, and then turning from it. You see, there's a process involved. We've missed that so often. There's a process involved in redemption.

And Larry, he's going—he gets his offering—he's bringing it before God, and he's thinking about it the whole time. He's saying, “God, this is against You and You only.” That weight is upon his shoulders as he's making his pilgrimage into the house of God.

You know, I look at us and I say, “What are the offerings that we're bringing before God?” He's not looking for burnt offerings anymore. He's not looking for presents, but a broken and contrite heart He will not turn away.

Set your heart on a pilgrimage this day to find redemption. Set your heart after God to say, “God, I will not relent until I find You.” Set your heart on a pilgrimage to say, “God, wherever You dwell—wherever Your presence is—there I will find You. Wait for me, God, because I'm on my way, and I'm coming to You for my redemption, Jesus.”

But there will be a day, and that day will be Judgment Day. A lot of people will look to God and say, “God, didn't I say a prayer? Wasn't I a good person? Didn't I really have a nice heart? I helped a lot of people.” And God will say, “You don't get it.” God's a reader of hearts. He'll say, “Your heart—it never sought after Me. It never sought after redemption. It never looked and said, ‘God, redemption is only held in Your hands and God wherever You are, I will find it.’”

We like to pat people on the back and say, “It's going to be all right.” But let me tell you today: God is calling us to seek Him and to find Him. And that's an amazing thing. God has opened up the way for us this day. We need to be relentless in our pursuit of God—relentless this day in your pursuit of righteousness.

And secondly, we have to set our hearts on a pilgrimage to know Jesus Christ. There were three festivals—three pilgrim festivals—that were mandatory that Jews, by the law, had to present themselves: Passover, Sukkot, and Shavuot. I think of Larry in the Old Testament, man—he would get his whole family and he'd say, “It's that time. It's September. Get up. We need to go.” He’d get his whole family and begin to prepare. He’d get the food ready, get the carriage ready, get the bags ready, to make this journey—to make this pilgrimage into the house of God—because three times a year, you had to go.

If you look today, it's funny. If you look at Jewish historical archaeology, it's amazing. It's a hilly, rocky country, and there is still stone that is just worn smooth in long roads—worn smooth leading all the way to Jerusalem. What was it smoothed by? It was smoothed by the feet of the pilgrims, the feet of those who walked three times a year, every single year to the house of God, that wore the stone smooth. And when the Romans wanted to expand their territory—and roads were a big deal for them—they didn't know where to build. So they built along these roads that had already been made by the feet of the Jewish people making a pilgrimage into the house of God.

I think about Larry getting his family up and being so excited and saying, “Come on, we're going. It's time to go to the house of God.” And I can imagine little kids looking at him and saying, “Dad, why do we have to do this? Why do we have to go to the house? Why do we have to make this long journey? My feet hurt. I'm tired. Why do we have to do this?”

And Larry says, “You don't get it. You're special. You've been set apart. Let me tell you about how God parted the Red Sea. Let me tell you about how we walked in the desert for 40 years, but our sandals never wore out. Let me tell you about the blood over the doorpost.”

You see, that's amazing. It's amazing to think of the journey—the pilgrimage into the house of God—and Larry explaining it to his kids. And what does that do inside of a heart? It makes identity. It develops an identity inside of a person.

What if today we had a pilgrimage you had to make every year with your kids? What if once a year you had to go through your house and pick out every little crumb of yeast around your house? And when your kids turn to you and say, “Why are we doing this? I don't feel like cleaning,” you say, “No, you don't understand. You are set apart. You are different. You are special. God chose you from among people who are not a people so that you could be His.”

So often we have a hard time even keeping the Sabbath holy—getting up for church. I read the news the other day: the Pope said, “You can play all the sports you want. It's great on a Sunday as long as you make mass.” Not that they have a problem with sports, but it shows you how the Sabbath is being watered down and separated from the holy time it was supposed to be. We've lost our identity of who we are in Christ.

To set your heart on a pilgrimage this day to find God sets an identity in who you are to know Christ—that you no longer make an identity of yourself, but you're saying, “I am God's child.”

That's what happened so many years ago. That's what happened with the Jewish people—so much so that thousands of years later, they still look different, they still dress different, they do business different. Their hair is different, their hat's different. Why? Because their identity is not in who they are as a family member, not in who they are as their father's child, but who they are in God—in Yahweh.

You see, that was enough. That was enough to separate them for eternity—to be different, to be okay. And I look at us today, and I see schools filled with Christians who have no idea who Christ is. I see a country filled with Christians who have no identity in Christ, and I'm saying we've watered it down—we've missed it.

How much more so will the blood of Christ transform you? How much more so will you set your heart on a pilgrimage to know God? How much more so will you set your heart to say, “God, I want to know You,” so much so that my very identity has changed—so much so that I'm no longer Kris, I'm no longer a Burke, I'm no longer a Santiago, I'm no longer a Case, but God, now I am counted as Your child everywhere I walk, in the purest sense as Your child.

God wants to transform you. God wants your heart to be on a pilgrimage. God wants you to not accept the old, but to set your heart and un-relent until you meet Him—un-relent until you come to know Him. Un-relent until you know Jesus Christ—the Person. The Person.

I think about the disciples who went and they followed God, right? They dropped everything. You see, no one drops everything and gives up their entire lives because it's what they're supposed to do. No one gives up and drops everything because they think it's a nice thing to do. They dropped everything. They left it all to follow Jesus Christ—the Person.

I'm telling you today, if you come to know Jesus Christ—the Person—your life will never be the same. You will be transformed, because that's what it means to know Christ. Proverbs 8:17 says, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.” It's time today that we set our hearts on a pilgrimage to know Him.

When you look at Jesus with the Father, it was such an intimate relationship. The way He worshiped was so intimate. The way He prayed—there was such familiarity when He prayed. Even when He heard the voice come over and there was thunder, He said, “Look, that wasn't for my benefit. That was for yours, because I know God. I hear God. I know Him as my father knows a child. I know Him.”

You see, even His obedience—it wasn't because it was what He was supposed to do. He did it in such intimacy, not out of obligation, but out of love. You see, we are called to know Jesus Christ the same way.

If we are opening up our Bibles, if we are going to church, if we are reading our Word or praying because that is what you're supposed to do, then you're back with Larry. You're stuck way back all those years ago. God is calling you to come into the new—to know Christ, to know His power, to know His love, to know His goodness.

And one thing I can tell you—I was counting my years the other day that I've kind of been in the church; it's been 15 years—one thing I can tell you definitely, in concrete, that I've learned after these years: it will not just happen. We so often sit with our hands open, kind of sitting in the chair, waiting for it to fall into our laps. That's not how it works.

God did not come to abolish the law and the prophets; He came to fulfill it. And I look at the pilgrimage that took place so often. I look at how Larry and his family went and sought after God. And then I look at this verse that says, “How much more then will the blood of Christ, who offered Himself unblemished, cleanse our conscience from acts that lead to death, that we might serve the living God?” How much more so should our hearts be knowing God?

The door has been opened. He died on the cross. How much more should our hearts say, “God, I will not accept religion. I will not accept the past. I will not accept routine. But God, I will find You.” Larry knew his need of God. He knew there was no choice. There was no option.

Part of being a Jew—what kept you being a Jew, the thread that connected you to God—was following the law. To turn away from that, to turn away from the law and say, “I don't feel like making a pilgrimage today. I got stuff going on,” is to renounce your entire religion. It's to say, “I'm no longer a Jew,” because the law is what connected them to God.

Do we know today that Jesus Christ is the only thread that connects us to God? Do we know today that He is the branch that connects us to the tree? Do we know today that apart from Him we can do no good thing? Do we know today that He is the branch, and that we can bear no fruit without Him? Do we know today that He is our only connection to God?

Because if we did, we would be seeking after Him. If we did, we would be unrelenting. If we did, we would go to Him every day. Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. None come to the Father except through Me. If you really know Me, then you know My Father as well.”

The problem is we seek redemption without the Redeemer. We say a prayer, we go to church, we raise our hands—and those are all amazing things. But if our hearts aren't on a pilgrimage to find God, we're missing it. If our hearts aren't unrelenting in the things of God, if our hearts aren't on a path to say, “God, I will find You wherever You are,” then we're missing it. We're still in the old. God wants us to come into the new.

Do whatever it takes. Don't stop. When you come into His presence, don't relent. There are distractions. Things are going on in our lives—I get it. But stop it all. Say, “God, I will not allow anything to stop me. God, I will continue on. God, I will push through because I want to come into Your presence. I want to know You. I want to know Your power. I want to know Your resurrection, God.”

"Do whatever it takes. Don't stop. When you come into His presence, don't relent."

God wants our hearts on a pilgrimage this day to come to know Him—to come to see Him—to come and find Him. He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. None come to the Father except through Me.” And today, by His sacrifice, the door has been opened to us. Amen.

And finally, we need to set our hearts on a pilgrimage to see God face to face—to see God the Father face to face. You guys ever see those Amazon buttons they have out now? They're like little plastic buttons on your wall, and they're the coolest thing ever, right? You're running out of paper towels, you assign paper towels to the one button, and you walk up and press it, and the next day you have paper towels on your porch. It's awesome, right?

To me, it's like the coolest thing in the world because I hate shopping and I hate going online. So you just walk up and you press the button: dog food—“boop”—hit it. Toilet paper—“boop”—there. And you have a whole wall of these things, and you just pick whatever it is that you want, that you need, and they show up on your doorstep the next day. It's amazing to me. I see that and my eyes glow, right? I pay more money for something like that. I don't care if they're on sale or not—just for the convenience. Stuff like that is amazing.

You know, we have this thing as Americans where we like to get the most out of something with the least amount of effort. I do it myself. I just went through my house and replaced all my light bulbs with Wi-Fi light bulbs so I don't have to get up out of bed to shut my lights off. I can just do it from my phone. We want to get the most out of something doing the least amount of work.

But the problem is we try to treat God like that—when we say, “God, I want to get the most out of it with the least amount of effort. I want to get the most out of You. Where's that line that I can kind of walk where I'll put some effort in, but just enough to get the most out of it that I can?” You see, that doesn't work with God. It doesn't work with God. It works with light bulbs. It works with shopping. It does not work with God.

You see, God wants you to set your heart on a pilgrimage. Let me tell you today that setting your heart on a pilgrimage is no small thing. It's a decision that each of us has to make. It's a thing you have to come to—a decision you have to make in your heart that says, “God, I will continue on. I will push on. I will break through, and I will find You, and nothing will stop me.”

He died on the cross so that we could find Him. There have been pilgrimages for thousands of years, but where did they end up? In a brick-and-mortar building. They ended up in a temple that was a shadow of the real thing. They ended up in just a house. But Jesus Christ died on the cross so that you would set your heart on a pilgrimage, and at the end of the way—when you're looking forward to the temple—you’re not walking into a brick-and-mortar building; you're walking into His very presence. You're walking in next to Him. You see Him face to face.

Nothing else suffices.God died on the cross so that you could come to know Him and see Him face to face this day.

I think about the Jewish priest who was in the temple the day Jesus died. Imagine him—he's walking around, he's sweeping or whatever, and all of a sudden he hears a loud tearing noise. Unbeknownst to him, Jesus just died on the cross. He turns the corner and looks and sees that the curtain—these weren't drapes; these were really thick curtains—was torn in two, and the way to the Holy of Holies was opened before him. Now, if you know your Bible history, that's death. To be in the presence of God—to have the way opened up—these guys knew nobody went in there except one guy once a year. And if anybody did, they would die because the glory of God was so strong.

"Nothing else suffices. God died on the cross so that you could come to know Him and see Him face to face this day."

And this priest turns the corner and sees the way opened up to the Holy of Holies, and he's probably like, “Am I alive?” He's pinching himself thinking, “I should be dead right now.” You see, the curtain was torn. The way was open for you and for me.

He went to the cross with my name on His lips. He went to the cross thinking of me and thinking of you so that the way would be open. It's opened up for you. It's opened up for me. It's opened up so that we could enter into the very presence of God—to see Him face to face.

Jesus Christ died to become the gate. He died to become the entrance. But I think about His ministry, and I think about everything He went through, and constantly what was He saying? “I'm going to lead you back to the Father. I do My Father's will. You've met Me, you've met the Father.” He was constantly talking about reconnecting the Father with His people. He died on the cross so the curtain would be torn. He died so it would be opened up so that we could enter in.

If we're not entering in—if we're not coming into His presence—then we're back with Larry. We're back in the old days. And I look at the old days and I say, how much more so should the blood of Christ be cleansing us, be moving us? How much more should the blood of Christ be upon your shoulders and upon your heart that says, “God, I will not relent until I find You. God, I will not stop until I come into Your presence. God, I will walk through the curtain. I will enter the Holy of Holies. God, take the coal and put it to my lips. Cleanse me of all sin because I'm walking into Your presence this day.”

People walk into church all the time and say, “How can I be delivered?” People come to church looking for deliverance all the time. “I'm having a hard time. My heart's really hurt. My whole life I've dealt with this thing that's been following me around. There's this darkness over my life. I want to be delivered.” And people say, “Well, how can I be delivered?”

You see, it's not that hard. It's not that confusing. The answer isn't long. It's be in the presence of God. Walk in and be in the presence of God. And I'll tell you, if you come into the presence of God this day—walk into His presence—be face to face with Him—no darkness can stand, no heartache can remain, no pain can stay. All things must leave.

People look for deliverance. “Now how do I get it? What can I say? Is there a special prayer I have to do? What do I have to do to be delivered?” And the answer is: be in the presence of God. Be in the presence of God this day.

God is light. God is love. God is truth. To enter into His presence this day is to be in front of Him—where all darkness must leave. It must bow down. It must flee. It must go out the window because it can't stand in front of a holy God.

We say all the time—and one of the things this church stands on—is “Be holy as I am holy.” And people say, “No, in that verse, that just means you try to do your best. He was trying to give you something to really look up to. You can't be holy as God is holy.” Let me tell you today: if you live your life in the presence of a holy God, nothing unholy can stay. If you live your life every day in His presence, all unholiness is washed away.

Second Corinthians 3:16 says, “But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is Spirit.”

I look and I say, “Why are we opening up our Bibles? Why do we worship? Why do we pray if it's not to enter into the very presence of God and see Him face to face? If we don't take advantage of the blood that was shed for us?” If we don't say, “God, You died for me—why? So I could enter into the Father's presence,” then we’re missing what it was all for.

You see, every time we walk into this building, every time you pray, every time you worship, it is an opportunity to meet with God. It is an opportunity to come face to face with God. It is an opportunity, and it is up to us whether we take advantage of it or whether we waste it away. God has opened up the way. He died on the cross. The curtain is torn in two. The way is open for us today to come into the same intimacy that Jesus Christ had with the Father.

God is calling for us to be reunited with Him as Adam and Eve walked with Him in the garden, that we would walk with God hand in hand. Everybody says you're going to be reunited with God in heaven, that you'll die one day and just pop open your eyes and you'll be in His presence and you guys will live together forever. That’s not how it works. You are in God's presence today. You meet God's eyes today. Take advantage of the blood that was shed for you today.

Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day that you come into His presence. Today is the day that you set your heart on a pilgrimage to come into His presence. Today He's looking for someone who's willing to step out.

I look at the Jewish people and how amazing it is that they are so okay and so good with being separate and being set apart. They do business differently. They look differently. They act differently. They think differently. They don't allow their minds to go wherever they want. There’s such a difference, and they're okay with it. And I look at us today and say, “God, I want to be like that. I want to be so separate. Maybe I won’t be wearing black clothes or whatever it is, but God, I want to be so separate from the rest of the world because of what You have done inside of me.”

”I want to live my life inside of Your presence, that I would not look like the person to the left of me and I would not look like the person to the right of me. I want to go into work and have somebody feel something different because Your very presence is on me, because I have set my heart on a pilgrimage to be next to You every single day.”

Psalms 84 says, “Blessed are those whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on a pilgrimage. As they pass through the valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs.” Baca means “weeping.” It was a dry and arid place on the last leg of the journey before you entered into Jerusalem. It was like the last push they had to go through. It was really hard and it was really rough. But what does it say? As they pass through the valley of Baca, they will make it a place of springs.

What could cause that journey to become a place of springs for us if it were not for meeting your God face to face? You see, we have an opportunity today that Jewish people have been seeking after for thousands of years. Do you realize that today? Does your mind understand that there have been a people of God who have been searching for Him for thousands of years, and today the gate has been opened to us? Today the curtain has been torn in two. Today we get to have that heart that seeks after God. Although they entered into a temple, we enter into the very presence of God.

Is your heart on a pilgrimage today? Is your heart on a pilgrimage to find Him and to know Him? Is your heart set, saying, “God, nothing else will suffice. God, nothing else matters. God, I don't care how I look. It doesn't matter. God, my heart is on a pilgrimage to You today.”

How can we be transformed? How can we stop our minds from going all over the place? How can we stop our feet from treading in the ways of sin? How can a man stop himself from sin if not by saying, “God, Your blood was shed for me, that I can find You, Jesus?”

I think about Larry and the faith he had to go into God's house. He knew that going into God's house meant there was an excitement to be in the presence of God. There was a pilgrimage that took place for him and his family to travel all those miles to get to the temple of God. Today, are our hearts set on a pilgrimage? Are our hearts set to do whatever it takes to enter into the presence of God?

Are we willing to say, “God, I’ll stop it all. It doesn’t matter what’s going on in my personal life. Everybody's got stuff going on. But God, the only thing that matters is entering into Your presence this day. God, the only thing that matters is that I would walk in and meet You face to face. God, I know that there’s a heaviness upon me. There is a sin that is weighing me down. But God, I know redemption is found in Your hands. Wherever You go, wherever You are, I will look for You. I’ll look for You at the cross. I’ll go to the grave. I’ll open it up. I’ll look inside. I’ll look up to heaven. God, wherever You are, I will find You. Wherever You go, I will go.”

I pray today that you would set your heart on a pilgrimage to find God. I pray today that you would make the decision to unrelentingly chase after God. I pray today that you would not stop. You would not accept the old. You would not think it’s good enough. I pray today that you would have a heart to want to be set apart.

If the blood of goats and bulls cleaned somebody so they were outwardly clean, just on the outside, how much more so will the very blood of Christ, who offered Himself unblemished to God by the eternal Spirit, cleanse our hearts from acts that lead to death so that we might serve the living God?

God wants our hearts on a pilgrimage today. He wants to bring you into His temple. He wants to bring you in through the outer courts into His holy place. He wants to bring you in, that your heart might be cleansed, that you might be transformed, that you might look different, that you might be cleansed from acts that lead to death, that you might be able to serve the living God today.

So we pray. Lord, I thank You, God. I thank You, Lord, because as crazy as it is to look at the old way, You saw a better way. You saw something better. You sent Your Son to die on the cross because there was a better way. You had Him in heaven. He was in Your arms. He was sitting with You. He was next to You. You were in His presence, and He was in Yours. And You sent Him away. You sent Him to the earth. You sent Him to die a sinner’s death. You put Him on a cross next to thieves and murderers, and You let Him give up His life all because You saw a better way.

You thought of me. You said that person can enter in, if their heart is on a pilgrimage. So many have sought You and not been able to find You. So many have been looking forward to the promise yet never obtaining it. So many people have looked and looked and searched. But You sent Your Son to die on the cross so that when we search, when we look, we find; when we knock, the door is opened to us, God.

You have made the way, Jesus. I praise Your holy name God. I praise You this day for dying for me, for opening up the way for me. I thank You—a broken and contrite heart You will not turn away. I set my heart on a pilgrimage to find You this day. I set my heart on a pilgrimage to enter in. I will be unrelenting. I will not stop. The old isn’t good enough anymore, God. Bring me in, Jesus, this day. Bring me in this day God.

I wanted to end today with “See His Love.” When we were singing it before, I was thinking about God's love for us, that He died on the cross this day so that when you seek after Him, you would find Him. I pray today that your hearts would be set on a pilgrimage. I pray today that even when you're home during the week, you would cry out to God, saying, “God, I’m going to find You. God, I’m seeking after You. God, I want more. God, it’s not enough. Bring more on me right now, Lord. Hallelujah. Praise You Jesus.”

Thank You God. Glory to Your name. Heaven beckons us today. He beckons you today to set your heart to find Him. I pray that as you leave, your hearts would be made up, your minds would be made up, that you would lead your children into it, that you would begin to set an identity not only in you, but in your families. Amen. Amen.