In this Gospel-centered message, Pastor Tony Marra reminds us that we cannot truly know God apart from Jesus Christ. God is not someone humanity discovers through its own wisdom or effort. God makes Himself known to us. And He has revealed Himself most fully and personally in His Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus is not merely someone who tells us about God. In Jesus, we encounter God as He truly is. He is “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature.” The Father has made Himself known through the Son, and through the Holy Spirit we are brought into a living, heart-to-heart relationship with Him. And this is the heart of John 17:3: eternal life is knowing God.  Pastor Tony takes us deeper into what that means. Through Jesus, we are reconciled to the Father, made new in Christ, and given our true identity as God’s children. The Spirit strengthens us within, Christ dwells in our hearts, and we are being conformed to the image of the Son. The Christian life, then, is not merely knowing doctrines about God, it is knowing Him, trusting Him, participating in His life, and growing in the relationship He has already opened to us in Jesus. Like Paul, we are invited to discover that nothing compares with “the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Our accomplishments, status, self-righteousness, and everything else we might depend upon pale in comparison with knowing the One in Whom our life is found.  Pastor Tony concludes in Ephesians 3 with a beautiful picture of the length, width, height, and depth of Christ’s love. A love reaching through all eternity, embracing humanity, lifting us into life with Him, and descending even into our suffering and death through the cross. The good news is not simply that we are trying to find our way to God. The Father has come to us in His Son and, through the Holy Spirit, has drawn us into His own life and love. Our life is in Him. Our identity is in Him. And nothing can separate us from His love.  Watch the full message as Pastor Tony explores what it means to truly know God by knowing Jesus and why knowing Him changes how we understand eternal life, our identity, our suffering, and the immeasurable love in which we have been included.  Reflective Moment When you think about “knowing God,” are you mainly thinking about what you know about Him or are you learning to know the Father personally through Jesus, in the Spirit?