From the sermon preached on June 14, 2026
True hunger for God is not about doing more for Jesus; it is about knowing Him so personally that everything else flows from that place. When devotion to Jesus becomes the foundation of your faith, you stop performing and start abiding, and that shift is what prepares the way for God’s glory to move in your life and through you. This post unpacks what guest speaker Andrew shared with Generation Church, and why it may be exactly what your heart has been searching for.
What Does Sincere Devotion to Jesus Actually Look Like?
Sincere devotion to Jesus does not look like the person with the most impressive ministry résumé. It looks like someone so genuinely consumed with knowing Him that they cannot help but share what they have found. Andrew opened the message with a sobering verse: Matthew 7:22, in which Jesus speaks to those who prophesied, cast out demons, and performed mighty works in His name, only to hear the words, “I never knew you.”
That passage is not meant to terrify; it is meant to reorient. Jesus is not looking for your output. He is looking for sincere devotion to Jesus that runs deeper than public performance. He wants the authentic version of you, nothing held back, no facade in place.
Andrew told the story of a factory worker from Iran who had come to faith just three or four months earlier. This man was already leading coworkers and family members to Jesus, meeting after work to study scripture, and he had been doing it all from a single screenshot of one of the Gospels on his phone. No commentary, no Bible app, no library of translations. Just that one fragment of the Word and a sincere devotion to Jesus that made him willing to risk smuggling a physical Bible back across the border.
That story raises an honest question: what are we doing with the access we have? Sincere devotion to Jesus is not measured by what you know; it is measured by how real He is to you. The actionable step here is simple and uncomfortable: sit with Jesus today before you do anything for Him. Open the Word not to prepare a lesson or to check a box, but just to be with Him.
Why Knowing Jesus Personally Changes Everything About Your Faith
It is possible to be active in church for years and still not be knowing Jesus personally in the way the New Testament describes. Andrew’s own story is a clear example. He grew up going to church, trying to find fulfillment through engineering degrees and paychecks, convinced that one day he would feel content, and he never did. It was not until he stopped performing and started surrendering that knowing Jesus personally became a reality.
John 15 puts it plainly: without abiding in the vine, there is no lasting fruit. You can do all the right things (attend services, give generously, volunteer) and still be running on disconnected religion rather than knowing Jesus personally. The Hebrew word yada (intimate, relational, experiential knowledge) is what distinguishes a life of genuine fruit from a life of spiritual activity. Knowing Jesus personally through experience is what the whole New Testament is pointing toward.
Andrew pointed to Jeremiah 29:13 as the promise underneath all of this: seek Him with your whole heart and you will find Him. That is not a metaphor; it is a contract. God is not hiding, and the invitation to knowing Jesus personally is always open.
The practical step: before you scroll your phone tomorrow morning, give the first five minutes to simply talking to Jesus. Not a formal prayer, not a devotional app; just honest conversation. Knowing Jesus personally starts in the unglamorous ordinary moments, not in special services.
How Preparing the Way for God Begins With You
Preparing the way for God is not a church program; it is an internal posture. Isaiah 40:3–5 describes valleys being lifted and mountains being made low so that the glory of the Lord can be revealed. The landscape being prepared is not topography; it is the terrain of a human heart.
Andrew described believers in northern Iraq who, in the middle of ISIS-era persecution, had no sound system, no platform, no strategy. What they had was desperation and devotion. They gathered in a basement and worshiped for approximately one hundred hours straight, not because they had heard of the Azusa Street Revival, but because Jesus was all they had and that was enough. That is what preparing the way for God looks like from the inside out.
The sermon also carried a pointed challenge about the missionary life as a daily reality. Preparing the way for God does not require a plane ticket to the Middle East. Andrew described starting a Zoom Bible study before work at his engineering consulting firm during COVID; he put an email out with no guarantees, watched a handful of people trickle in, and years later received a tearful message from his former boss saying Jesus was doing something in his life and he did not know what to do. The seeds Andrew planted in that ordinary workplace were still working years after he left the country.
That is the logic of preparing the way for God: you plant in faithfulness and trust God with the harvest. You do not need a platform. You need a yielded heart. The practical step: identify one person in your immediate sphere (a coworker, a neighbor, a family member) and pray for them by name every day this week. That is preparing the way.
What Does Isaiah 40 Say About Who Actually Does the Clearing?
One of the most important things Isaiah 40:3–5 reveals is that the preparation of the way is not entirely on us. God is the one making valleys rise and mountains low. The passage describes an active, intervening God who is clearing the path because He wants His glory revealed, and His desire to move is not contingent on our perfection; it is contingent on our willingness.
That distinction matters enormously for anyone who feels too far gone, too inconsistent, or too ordinary to be used. Andrew said it plainly: God is not looking for the qualified; He is looking for the willing. The fastest-growing churches in the world right now are not in the most resourced nations; they are in Iran, Afghanistan, and Indonesia, places where the conditions are the hardest.
What We Bring | What God Does |
Whole-hearted surrender | Makes the crooked paths straight |
Sincere devotion to Jesus | Reveals His glory through us |
Hunger for more of Him | Fills us to overflowing |
Willingness to plant seeds | Brings the harvest in His timing |
The full Bible verse reference, Isaiah 40:3–5, belongs at the center of this season at Generation Church. Prepare the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. This is the invitation of the whole “Prepare the Way” series: not to manufacture a revival, but to position hearts to receive one.
Where Miami Fits Into a Story That Is Bigger Than Any of Us
There is a longing that does not fit neatly into any category — a quiet sense that there has to be more to this life than what you are currently living. It does not matter how busy your week is, how put-together things look from the outside, or how long it has been since you last thought about faith; that question has a way of surfacing when everything else goes quiet. It is as old as Isaiah, and the answer has always been the same: seek Him with your whole heart and He will be found.
If that resonates with you, Generation Church exists in the heart of Coral Gables for exactly this reason. Whether you are in Brickell, Coconut Grove, South Kendall, or anywhere across Miami-Dade County, you do not have to figure this out alone. Pastor Rich and Tina Romero planted this church because they believe God’s glory is for this city, and the doors are open to everyone, wherever you are in your journey.
The One Thing That Outlasts Everything Else
Hunger for God is not a feeling you manufacture; it is a response to seeing who Jesus actually is. Andrew closed the message by inviting people into consecration, not condemnation; a fresh “yes” to the God who has been pursuing them all along. If you walked away from faith, if you have been going through the motions, or if you have simply never understood what real devotion to Jesus could look like in your actual life, this is the moment He has been preparing.
The most important step you can take is not a program or a plan. It is simply saying “yes” to knowing Him, to making space for Him, to letting hunger for God reshape the ordinary days of your week.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know Jesus personally rather than just knowing about Him?
Knowing Jesus personally is less about information and more about relationship. Start by talking to Him honestly in prayer, reading the Gospels to see who He actually is, and putting yourself in community with others who are genuinely pursuing Him. Over time, what begins as a discipline becomes a lived experience of His presence.
How can I hunger for God more deeply when I feel spiritually dry?
Spiritual dryness is not disqualifying; it is often the starting point of deeper hunger. Tell God honestly that you are dry and ask Him, as Hosea 6:3 puts it, to let you press on to know Him. Even a small, consistent act of seeking (a few minutes of prayer before your day starts) can rekindle what feels extinguished.
How do I develop sincere devotion to Jesus in the middle of a busy, ordinary life?
Sincere devotion to Jesus does not require a monastery; it requires deciding that Jesus gets the first moment of your attention each day before your schedule does. The Iranian factory worker in this sermon built an entire community of faith out of a screenshot of scripture on his phone. You do not need more resources; you need a willing heart.
What is the "Prepare the Way" series at Generation Church about?
“Prepare the Way” is a sermon series grounded in Isaiah 40 exploring what it looks like for a church and its people to consecrate themselves so that God’s glory can be revealed in their city and beyond. Each message in the series addresses a different posture of the heart, and this opening message focused on devotion and hunger as the foundation.
Can I experience revival-level faith without being a missionary or a pastor?
Absolutely. The sermon’s most powerful illustration came from a factory worker in Iran who had been a believer for only three or four months and was already leading dozens of people to Jesus. Andrew’s own breakthrough came through a simple Zoom Bible study at a consulting firm. God’s glory is not reserved for professionals; it is released through any willing, consecrated person in their everyday sphere of influence.
