Most of us have routines that shape who we become. The foods we eat, the people we spend time with, the habits we build over years. There is a saying that goes something like this: if you want to be successful in life, find someone who is successful and do what they do. Spend time with them. Watch their patterns. Adopt their discipline. The same principle holds for the Christian life.
When we look at the early church in Acts 2:42, we see a community defined by what it practiced. They met together regularly. They prayed. They fellowshipped. They gathered around the Lord’s table. These were not occasional acts. They were the rhythms of people who understood that following Jesus requires showing up consistently. And those habits have carried the church through every generation since.
So the question worth sitting with is not just whether we call ourselves Christians, but whether our daily habits reflect a genuine, growing relationship with God. That is what this sermon is really getting at. Not church attendance as a box to check, but a living, breathing connection with the one who made us.
There Is Only One Way
It is worth starting here because the culture we live in wants to blur this line. We hear it often: there are many paths to God, many ways to get to heaven, many valid spiritual options. But Jesus was not ambiguous about it. In John 14:6, He said plainly, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”
This is one reason we encourage memorizing scripture. A verse like John 14:6 is not just something to recite at a Bible trivia night. It is a foundation you can stand on when someone tells you that Jesus is just one option among many, or that He is essentially the same figure as the God of another religion. These are popular ideas, and they need a grounded response. Knowing this verse keeps you anchored.
Salvation is not about your track record. It is not about weighing your good deeds against your bad ones, or comparing yourself favorably to someone else. There is only one way to God, and it is through what Jesus Christ has done for us. Nothing we have done. That truth is the starting point for everything else.
Neglect Is the Silent Killer of Every Relationship
Augustine wrote in his Confessions,
“You have made us for yourself and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
There is something in that line that most people recognize even if they have never read it before, because most of us have lived it. We have chased things we thought would satisfy. We have filled our time, our schedules, our minds with stuff that promised more than it delivered. All while the one thing that could actually satisfy us was available the entire time.
Neglect is the silent killer of relationships. That is a strong phrase, and it is true. You can still live under the same roof with someone. You can still go through all the motions. You can still show up to Sunday worship, drop into a Bible study, and check the boxes. But if you are not communicating, not spending real time together, not genuinely present with the other person, the relationship will quietly deteriorate. It does not die loudly. It fades.
The same is true of our walk with God. A Christian life that looks functional on the outside can be starving on the inside. The fix is not complicated: spend time with God every day. Communicate with Him. Invite Him into the ordinary moments of your life. Acknowledge that He is present wherever you go.
There is a practical image from the sermon worth holding onto. When people who work in security walk into a building, they automatically look for the exits. They are not anxious about it. It is just a trained awareness. In the same way, we can train ourselves to walk into any room and acknowledge that God is there. That kind of awareness is not something that happens by accident. It is a habit built over time through consistent, intentional relationship.
Knowing God by Name
In Jeremiah 9, God says, “Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me.” The word translated as “knows” there carries the weight of intimate, personal knowledge. And the name used for God in that passage is Yahweh, His holy name. God is not asking for casual familiarity. He is asking to be known personally, by who He really is.
This is worth pausing on. A lot of people treat God like a cool friend in the background, someone you like having around but do not really engage with deeply. Someone you call on when things get hard but otherwise leave out of the daily conversation. God’s response to that posture, as reflected in Jeremiah, is essentially: no. Know me by my name. Know me for who I am.
When Moses asked God to identify Himself before the Israelites, God said, “I AM that I AM.” The only true God. Holy. Set apart. That is who we are in relationship with when we pray, when we open scripture, when we gather for church near me or anywhere else. And that reality should shape how we come to Him.
We are children of God. We can come boldly into His presence. Paul tells us we can even cry out “Abba Father,” a word reserved for the closest family bond. We have that access. The sermon does not minimize that. What it does say is: do not let familiarity erode reverence. Long-time Christians can quietly lose their awe. If you have been a believer for years, do not let the length of your relationship cause you to forget that God is still your Creator, still holy, still worthy of your full attention and respect.
Your Personal Theology: How Do You Treat God?
How are you treating your relationship with God? Not how would you describe it, not what would you say about it if someone asked. How are you actually treating it?
Every relationship requires work. That is not a complaint; it is just the reality of any connection worth having. Even the best of friendships hit friction sometimes. Two people who genuinely care about each other will still have moments that require humility, apology, and repair. A marriage requires consistent investment. A friendship requires showing up. And a relationship with God is no different. It is not going to maintain itself.
There is something clarifying about framing it this way. Our personal theology is not just what we believe in theory. It is what we live out in practice. The way we actually treat our relationship with God tells us what we really believe about who He is and what that relationship is worth to us.
Honest Next Steps
If you want your relationship with God to grow, here are two concrete starting points drawn directly from this message.
First, memorize one verse. Not a list, just one. John 14:6 is a great place to start. Write it on something you see every day. Say it out loud. Let it become yours. Scripture memory is not a spiritual performance exercise. It is a way of carrying truth into the moments when you need it most.
Second, build the habit of acknowledging God throughout your day. When you walk into a room, a meeting, a conversation, practice a brief, simple awareness: God is here. This is not complicated. It does not require extra time carved out of a packed schedule. It is a quiet, ongoing act of communion that trains your heart to stay connected even when life is loud.
Do not neglect what matters most. You were made for relationship with God, and that relationship is available to you right now. The question is whether you are going to treat it like it is worth protecting.
Come Worship With Us at New Vision Church
If you are looking for a church near you in the Fayetteville area where you can grow in your faith, study the Bible, and find community, we would love to have you at New Vision Church. Sunday services are at 9:45 AM at 479 Inman Road, Fayetteville, GA. Special events are held at 193 Johnson Avenue. Come as you are. There is a seat for you here.