Be the Logo: Know Your God

There is a reason Dead Men Collective doesn’t begin with a conference.  It doesn’t begin with a sermon.  It doesn’t begin with a mission.  It begins with a chair…(See my book Dead man Randy)

Because before God asks for your hands… He asks for your heart.  Before He sends you to men…

He calls you to himself.

This is why I often say I am a relationist.

I believe everything in the Kingdom begins and ends with relationship. 

Not activity.

Not gifting.

Not talent.

Relationship.

The Pattern

When Moses was instructed to build the tabernacle, God repeated one phrase over and over:

“See that you make everything according to the pattern…” (Exodus 25:40)

The pattern mattered because the Presence was coming.

Throughout Scripture, whenever God’s order is honored, His glory follows.

When the foundation is right…

The fire falls.

Paul would later say,

“For no one can lay foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”  (1 Corinthians 3:11)

The Kingdom has never been built from the outside in.

It is always built from the inside out.

The pattern is the Chair.

The First Relationship

Have you ever noticed the order of the Ten Commandments?

The first commands are all vertical.

Love God.

Honor Him alone.

Reject idols.

Honor His name.

Keep His days holy.

Only then does God turn our attention toward one another.

Honor your father and mother.

Do not murder.

Do not steal.

Do not lie.

Do not covet.

Why?  Because heaven always teaches us that horizontal health is born from vertical intimacy.

You will never consistently love people more than you know God.

The strength of every earthly relationship is determined by your heavenly one.

If you have issues with the people around you… fix your relationship with the Lord, this will lead to healing horizontally…

Know Your God

One of my favorite verses has become a compass for my life:

“The people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.”  (Daniel 11:32)

Notice what the verse does not say.

It does not say the gifted. 

It does not say the educated.

It does not say the charismatic.

It does not say the busiest.

It says…

Those who know their God

The exploits are not the miracle.

The relationship is.

The exploits are simply what relationship looks like when it overflows.

The Kingdom has never been powered by impressive people.

It has always been carried by people who know him.

We Decrease

Our logo tells this story.

The apple… My desires.

The crown… My plans.

The skeleton… My Flesh.

Every morning I sit in the Chair and lift all three toward heaven.

“Lord… Not my will.  Not my kingdom.  Not my appetite.  Yours.”

John the Baptist captured it in one sentence:

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”  (John 3:30)

That is what becoming the logo looks like.

Not trying harder.

Surrendering deeper.

When Relationship Dies

One of the saddest realities in Scripture is that it is possible to keep doing religious things while no longer knowing God.

The sons of Eli ministered in the temple…

Yet “they did not know the Lord.”  (1 Samuel 2:12)

Imagine that.

Working in His house…

Without knowing His heart.

Jesus gave an even more sobering warning.

“I never knew you.”  (Matthew 7:23)

Notice He didn’t say,  

“I never saw your ministry.”

“I never saw your miracles.”

“I never saw your sacrifices.”

He said, “I never knew you.”

Heaven measures success differently than earth.

Relationship before responsibility.

Presence before performance.

Knowing before doing.

What is Greater?

Jesus promised,

“Whoever believes in Me… will also do the works that I do;  and greater works than these will he do…”. (John 14:12)

For years I’ve heard people debate what the “greater works” are.

More miracles?

More influence?

Larger Ministries?

Perhaps.

But maybe the greater miracle is this:

That ordinary men can actually know God.

That through Christ, the veil has been torn.

That the Holy Spirit now dwells within us.

That sons and daughters have access to the Father every day.

The greatest work has always been reconciliation…

The invitation to know Him.  

Everything else flows from that relationship.

Introducing Men to the God They Worship

Paul walked into Athens and found an altar inscribed,

“To the Unknown God.”

He said,

What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.”  (Acts 17:23)

I’ve often wondered if the Church sometimes finds itself in the same place.

We sing to Him.

We preach about Him.

We work for Him.

Yet many haver never truly learned to sit with Him.

Dead Men Collective exists for that reason.

Not simply to build stronger men.

Not simply to create leaders.

But to introduce men to the God they have heard about…

So they can actually KNOW Him.

Out of the Cave

David found broken men in the cave of Adullam.

Men drowning in debt.

Distress.

Disabled.

Disappointed.

Outcast.

Their story was written in pain.

David gave them something different.

A king worth following.

A purpose worth living for.

Years later, those same men were no longer known by their wounds.

Scripture remembers them as David’s mighty men.

That is what happens when people truly know God.

Caves become classrooms.  

Outcasts become warriors.

Dead men become living testimonies.

Let’s Find Some Dead Men!

So what does it mean to Be the Logo?

It means surrender your apple.

Lay down your crown.

Die to your flesh.

Sit in the Chair.

Know your God.

Then stand up…

Pull another chair to the table.

Walk into someone else’s cave.

Introduce them to the Father.

Because movements don’t begin with famous men.

They begin with dead men…

Who discovered that the greatest treasure in this life wasn’t building something for God…

It was finally knowing Him.

Let’s go find some dead men!