Q: Tony, you have described a time in your journey when, during graduate school, your conceptual or intellectual knowledge of God was not matched with an experiential, loving knowledge of God. What are some ways we can avoid this split between our heads and our hearts when it comes to knowing God better?

A: When it comes to knowing God, there is this tendency to accumulate data in the brain that’s not changing the life. And in seminary, because I was being overwhelmed with not only information but tests I had to prepare for, and all these classes that were giving me all this data, I found myself drying out because it was just knowledge upon knowledge, upon knowledge.

The secret to experiencing the God you are learning about is to identify something you wish to apply based on the information that you have learned. The moment application is connected to information, then there is the transfer of the information into our experience. When we keep application and information separate from each other, we can accumulate data without any effect on us. So you may be able to quote the Bible and quote theology, but it’s not doing anything for you, to you, through you or in you. You’ll need to do something about that if you want to find out that the information is really true, and it does really work.

Q: Tony, Philippians 2:7 notes that in Christ’s incarnation, He “emptied himself, taking the form of a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of men.” Why is understanding Christ’s kenosis, His self-emptying, important to understanding what He came to accomplish for us?

A: Jesus’ kenosis or His emptying is critical for understanding His purpose and His work. He did not stop being God; He just poured or emptied all of deity into a container called humanity. And as deity was poured into humanity, a human body had God resident within it, in the full expression of deity. And because of that union of deity and humanity, Jesus can reach out one hand and touch the Father, and He can reach out the other hand and touch man. Therefore, the Bible says that He can sympathize with our infirmities, but He can also sit as our High Priest before God. The High Priest presented God to men and men to God. Jesus can do both because He can relate to both, because He has natures of both residing in Him. That connecting point allows Him to die as a sacrifice, but allows God to be that sacrifice. So it can be said of Jesus’ birth that He is God with us. Because of this, Jesus has humanity as part of His identification, and eternity will keep Him in that union so that forever He will be the connecting point between people and the Father.

Q: Tony, if you had to pick one, which name of God is most meaningful to you at this stage of your Christian journey?

A: The name of God that really draws my attention in this stage of life is Adonai because Adonai means boss. He’s the one who tells you what to do. So much of our ministry is centered around a worldview kingdom agenda: “the visual manifestation of the comprehensive rule of God over every area of life.” That means, coming under His authority and submitting to His will in every area of your life, which makes Him Adonai over your life; He is your boss. So no matter what you think, how you feel, how you were raised, what your experiences were, He expects you to salute His authority over you. And so, because that really dovetails so well with this worldview, it gets my extra attention because that’s what He wants to do. He wants to be our boss.

Q: Tony, Jesus came proclaiming “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). Why was this so important in Jesus’ preaching, and why should it still play an important role in our proclamation of the gospel?

A: When Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God is at hand, it meant that the King was in their midst, and He was offering them the kingdom that He had come to bring about, which would be “the visual, physical rule of God through Christ on earth.” So that proclamation was letting them know it was time to make a decision to receive the Messiah the King so that they could experience the kingdom. But of course, that was rejected, and as a result, the church age came into being. So the physical kingdom of God has been delayed until Jesus’ return to earth. But, the spiritual presence of the King via the Holy Spirit is very much operating today. Jesus is still King; He’s just not King on earth. He is King from heaven through His church on earth. So the kingdom of God is still near because Jesus is still near; it’s just not physical yet.

Why We Do What We Do

"My name is Tatiana, and I am 31 years old with three kids. Lately, I was just kind of doing my own thing day to day. I haven't really been on fire for the Lord.

For the past month or so, I have been listening to Christian radio a lot more often than I normally do. I just took my 13-year-old to Ontario, California so that we could go visit my sister, and on my way back, I was listening to your sermon called ‘Grace.’

I was on fire! I even welled up with tears. What really got to me was when you were talking about grace saying that it is the thing that is in us which allows us to say yes to the things that are trying to get us to say no and say no to the things that are trying to get us to say yes.

An hour prior to hearing this sermon, I was just talking to my friend about these things, and I couldn't believe that you were on the radio speaking of what was going through my mind. God knew that I needed to hear this. He spoke through you right to me, and I wanted you to know. I don't ever reach out like this, but I just had to let you know I could not have been more thankful!

Keep doing what you're doing!

It is something that you do all the time, but I thought I would show my gratitude because I was so thankful to hear it."

—Tatiana