Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Christmas 2016, Part 1: Change of Plans

Episode Date: December 25, 2016

Even when they've been on the calendar all year, the holidays can sometimes take us by surprise. In fact, even the first Christmas started with a change of plans. No matter what you're facing, you can approach it full of peace, hope, and love. Joi... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Merry Christmas and thanks for joining us here at Life Church, where we are one church meeting in multiple locations and reaching around the world with the help of church online. If you have any questions or you'd like to learn more about us as a church, you can always check us out online simply by going to life.church. And we'd love for you to stay connected throughout your weekend everywhere you go with the all-new Life Church app available wherever you download your apps from. You know, Christmas has been on the calendar all year long, but it still finds a way to creep up on us and mess with our plans.

In fact, the first Christmas even went a little unexpected. Well, today, our senior pastor Craig Rochelle has a very special Christmas message that will help us understand no matter what we're facing. We can face it with faith, hope, and love. In a message we're calling a change of plans. Get a little excited and celebrate. Can you believe we get to be a part of something so special. We're not just praying for revival.

We're living in the middle of one right now. now, and I want to wish you all very Merry Christmas, all 26 life churches, all the open network churches all over the world. Those of you on the other side of computer screens at church online, you are a part of our family. And what I want to do today is, quite honestly, tell you what I've been praying for. And I've been praying very specifically that this time together would really, really minister to those of you who maybe have had a change of plans. Let me talk about this. What I want to do today is real, real simple. I'm going to read a few verses and kind of expand your thinking on these verses from Matthew chapter one. Then I'm going to give you one big

thought, just one simple and big thought that I hope that you will remember. And as I said, I am dedicating this message to those of you who may be facing something that you didn't plan. Something's gone a little bit different than maybe you thought it would, and you've had what I call a change of plans. I'm curious, all of our churches, how many of you are naturally planners? Raise your hands up. You're kind of a planner, right? If you had your Christmas shopping done by the end of summertime,

you are officially a planner, right? I mean, you're in there. If you have not started your Christmas shopping yet, not only are you not a planner, but you shouldn't even be in church right now. you are so in trouble. It's almost too late to get anything done about it. Whether you're a planner or not,

whenever life goes in a different direction than you had planned, it can be a little bit rattling at times. And I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that's simply based on the number of people that I'm talking to, there are many of you right now that you're facing something that you didn't plan.

It hurts me, how many people I know, that are now job hunting, that never plan to be job hunting at this time in their life. I know so many people that are close to me, and I know that you do as well. You might be one of them who say, I didn't plan on having a medical battle at this point in my life. There are some of you that unfortunately, as you go into the Christmas time, it's supposed to be like the best time of the year, and you're thinking, I didn't plan on being separated at this time. This wasn't what I thought would happen. We could even say, like, symbolically, I call it the empty chair,

whether there's a real empty chair at your table or not, but there are many of you that you thought somebody would be there with you this Christmas time, and they're not here. And you'll have the symbolic empty chair, and you're thinking, this isn't what I had planned. And again, whenever we face things that we didn't plan for some, it can really kind of jar you or rattle your faith, and you're wondering, okay, God, where are you?

Why are you allowing this to happen, God? This isn't what I had planned. God, what's going on? This isn't what I had planned. Like I said, what I want to do today is look at some verses from Matthew chapter 1. And I want to talk about the mother and the father of Jesus, their physical parents on earth. Their names are Mary and Joseph. And if you're not like real familiar with the Bible, you may want to read a little more about the birth of Jesus.

You can read in Matthew chapter 1 or in Luke chapter 1. or in Luke chapter 1 and Luke 2, Matthew 1, Luke 1, and Luke 2. And what you'll find is there are several paragraphs describing what took place over months and months. And so if you think about it, we know a little bit, but there are so many things that happened in this story that we don't know about. Right. For example, if you summarized last year, 2016 in your life with three paragraphs, you'd hit the high points, but there'd be detail after detail after detail after detail after detail that we're not in the high points. And what I want to do is kind of just imagine together about some of the details that we don't have access to,

but something like this probably happened. Does that make sense to you? For example, how did Mary and Joseph meet? We don't have that recorded in the Gospels, but they met somehow. And so I want to kind of make up a story and read between the lines. And certainly this isn't exactly what happened. but if you use your imagination, you know, something like this happens. How do they meet? How did Mary and Joseph meet?

Let's just pretend. It's Wednesday night, and Mary goes to the synagogue for youth group, because she's a teenage girl, and that's what she would have done because she loves God. And there was a youth leader teaching that night named Joey. You with me? Okay. And Joey is charismatic. He's passionate.

He's teaching from the book of Isaiah about the coming of the Messiah, and Mary and her friends are kind of looking on. They're trying to like focus on God, but they kind of can't help but notice he's really, really cute, you know? And when he teaches his face does this kind of funny thing, and he's really, really into it. And she's like, oh, he's amazing. I wonder what he's like. Well, after he's through teaching, they're kind of hanging out in a group, and Joey walks

over to her group, and the next thing you know, they're talking. And she kind of thinks she might be interested, but there's no way. I mean, she's a couple years younger, you know. And he starts asking her questions, and she finds out a little bit about it. and oh my gosh, he's got a job. This guy, he makes furniture. The last guy she liked was unemployed, still lived with his parents, and was addicted to his PS4.

But Joey, this guy's got potential, you know. And so the evening's over, and she kind of's thinking about him, and she wonders, is he interested? Probably not. Well, he was interested. In fact, all week long, he's praying and thinking about it. And the next week, he gets his nerve up. He puts on an extra couple squirts of cologne,

and afterwards he asks her out for coffee. And she's like, oh, is this like a friend coffee thing or is this like a something else coffee thing? And so they agree to meet at the Nazareth coffee shop because they're going to keep it local, you know, and they're sitting across from each other and they're hitting off and they're enjoying it all. And they go and do something again. And before long, she meets his parents and he meets her parents and they like each other. And they're spending more time together. And then one day, every love song on the radio starts to make sense.

sense. She can tell this is going somewhere. When he buys her a stuffed walrus, she knows he's totally lost it. He's into her. It's amazing. She has no idea. He's saving up his furniture money, and he eventually goes and puts down a bunch of change on a nice rock, and he takes her on a walk one night out on this, the sun is setting, and they walk across this bridge, and she's thinking, could this be, oh, I don't know. And the next thing you know, he's got his photographer with a distance lens hiding to catch the Instagram moment, you know, and he kneels down. on one knee and he says, will you marry me? And she kind of acts surprise, but she's beside herself with excitement. And she cries and says, yes, yes, of course I will. They tell the parents, her mom

starts planning the wedding. Her mom makes everybody crazy. Her mom is a control freak. Can you, can you see this happening? Just imagine with me. Okay, we don't know exactly what happened, but something like this certainly happened. Something like this. Then what did they do? they're a young couple. They are crazy about each other in love. They did the exact same thing that you would do that Amy and I did, and that is they started to plan their future. You know they did this.

Everybody does this. We don't know the details of their plan, but we do know that they decided to wait before sharing intimacy until they were married. We do know that about them, and I'm kind of reading into it, you know, maybe they're planning to buy a house, one day. They're going to go through Financial Peace University because they don't want to be

in debt, you know, and maybe Mary could stay at home with the kids if she wanted to. And they've decided they're going to have children one day. They want to have a boy first and then a girl. And they're going to name the boy Blade and the girl Ladasha. Ladasha. If you're not laughing, you just told us you weren't here at church last week. Because if you were here at church, you know what La Dasha is. If you miss a week of church, you miss a lot. just saying, La Dasha. They're making plans. Then one day, Mary's off by herself. And she has the most special and holy encounter with God of her whole life. An angel appears to Mary. She loves God. She cannot believe this. And the angel tells her, you've been chosen. You're going to

to give birth to a son. And she's like, ah, haven't you heard Joey and I aren't, you know, we're not married yet. And, you know, we're not, you know, and the angels say, no, no, no, no, no, no, you will conceive this child by the Holy Spirit. And you can only imagine this little girl loves God, is in love with Joseph. She's getting married, and her God has chosen them to be a part of history. She's thinking to herself, I can't wait to tell Joseph he's going to be beside himself with excitement, God has chosen us. She goes and tells Joseph she's pregnant. Let's take a vote. Is Joseph excited or is he freaking out? Excited? Freaking out. You're right, he's freaking out. He's a regular guy. Pregnant by the Holy Ghost, I'll kill him. Show me where

this guy is. These are real people. And we don't know how it came about, but we know that between verse 18 and 19, the polite way to say it is that everything hit the fan. Let's just look at this and we're reading between the lines because we don't know exactly what happened, but we can kind of imagine. Verse 18 of Matthew 1 says this. This is how the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, came about. His mother, Mary, was pledged to be married to Joseph, but all of our churches say, but he was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, they had a plan, but Before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. She goes off and tells Joseph, hey, I'm pregnant with the Holy Spirit.

And we don't know how he responds, but we know he gets really, really hurt and upset. And we see the results in verse 19. Because Joseph, her husband, was faithful to the law and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace. He had in mind to divorce her quietly. What do we know? The dude is devastated. He's crushed. He's humiliated. He's brokenhearted. Read between the lines. You know, he's already put down a non-refundable deposit on the Garden Chapel Inn, right? The wedding invitations maybe have already gone out. Somehow he's got to tell his mom and his dad, so he's got to tell his friends. He's going to be so publicly humiliated. But worse than the public humiliation is the fact that he loved her. He trusted her. He told her things that he'd never told anybody before. He believed that God had brought them together.

He was saving himself for her, and now she's done this. She's cheated. He's like, he's half mad, half torn. He cannot believe this. If you'll notice in the text, it said, he planned to divorce her quietly. If you were paying real careful attention, you might say, wait a minute, they weren't married yet. Why divorce?

Well, at this time in history, if you were engaged, the only way you could break off in engagement was to get an official divorce. And culturally, then, a divorce was much more serious and frowned upon. If you're divorced, you're kind of like almost pushed out completely. And Joseph is like, I'm trying to serve God. Now I'm going to be divorced. Think about Mary's perspective. Think about her. When the angel of the Lord appeared to her according to Luke 138, this is what Mary said. She said this. She said to the angel, may it be done unto me according to your word. That's what she said. If she were living today, she would have said something like, I love God with all my heart and I will do whatever he wants me to do. She said yes to what God

asked. Now, her life is totally over. She's pregnant, without a husband. She's going to be a divorced single mom in a culture where she can't get any type of a real job to support herself. She's going to be begging for the rest of her life, trying to raise this kid. You can only imagine the rumors. Oh, Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary. Joseph hates her. Her life is over, and you know what she's thinking. God, this isn't what I had planned.

God, I said yes to you. I did everything you wanted me to do. God, why are you allowing this to happen? God, I only tried to do what you asked. This isn't fair, God. This isn't what I had planned. Right? And this is exactly where some of you are right now.

This isn't what I had planned. And I don't know what it may be for you, but you are finally getting ahead financially. And we're going to have a great Christmas for our kids. And then the car breaks down, and there's hundreds of dollars. No! This isn't what I had planned. You poured your life into your kids.

They were your life. Everything you did was for your kids. and now they're making decisions. You're looking, going, what are you doing? This isn't what I had plans. You took a job when you did it for your family. You knew it would be a better job, a chance for promotion, a chance to move up and you were moving up.

And then the economy kind of turned, and your company downsized, and you were last in, first out. You were one of the casualties. This isn't what I had plans. There are so many of you, too many of you, and I hurt with every single one of you, who thought you would live happy. ever after with him or with her.

And the happily is not there and neither is the ever after. And you're thinking, this isn't what I had planned. God, where are you? And the list could go on and on. I didn't plan on having migraines. I didn't plan on battling depression. I didn't plan on fighting cancer. I didn't plan on losing my scholarship.

God, what are you doing? This isn't what I had planned. I told you at the beginning of the message that I was going to give you one thought. one big thought, one truth to embrace, and this is for every one of you who've had a change of plans. If you're taking notes, I hope you'll write this down, and more importantly, you'll plant this truth in your heart. And that is this, if you had a change of plans and you don't have to understand, embrace this truth, you don't have to understand the plan to trust God has a purpose. Let me say it again.

I want you to feel this and believe this. You don't have to understand the plan to trust God has a purpose. In fact, Proverbs 1921 is one of the first verses that I memorized years and years ago. And it goes like this. Many are the what? Let's say it aloud, all of our churches. Many are the plans. Say it again.

All of our churches, somebody in Florida, somebody in Arkansas, somebody in Texas, say it aloud. Many are the plans in a person's heart. But even though we have so many plans, what happens? It is the Lord's purpose that prevails. Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. You don't have to understand the plan to trust God has a purpose. Mary and Joseph's plans were wrecked, shattered. Joseph to determine I have no choice but to divorce her.

So he considers that. And then in verse 20, we read this. But after Joseph had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. Because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Wait, wait, wait, wait, everything she said is true? The angel says yes in the dream. Verse 21 shows us the purpose. Verse 21, she will give birth to a son. and you're to give him the name Jesus. Why? Why? Because he will save his people from their sins. You can almost imagine Joseph going, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

You're telling me God is in on this? You're telling me the last thing that I ever wanted is exactly what God wanted to happen? You mean there is a purpose in the middle of my pain and you could almost hear God whispering to him? My thoughts are so much different than your thoughts. And my ways are higher than your ways. And even though you may not feel I'm working in all things to bring about good to those who love me and are called according to my purpose,

sometimes God may even redirect our plans when he has a different purpose. You don't have to understand the plan to trust that God has a purpose. Let me unpack this for just a minute and tell you a few times in my own life that things didn't turn out as I had planned. And maybe you can see and think about how this would be true in your life as well. My dad played professional baseball, and so I was born and bred to be a professional baseball player. Everything was baseball from the time I was born. And I'm not going to say that I was guaranteed to go to the pros at all, but I will say that I had good genes and a lot of good coaching, and things did look decent. I was the starting pitcher in the championship game in the eighth grade, big time, eighth grade, you know.

And the night before I was going to pitch, we went out to the batting cage to take a few cuts. And normally we'd get in the age-appropriate one, but we got in the fastest one, kind of like the college level, because I thought I could handle it. The first pitch jammed me on the inside and crushed my pitching hand up against the bat, broke it, shattered it into all sorts of pieces. And I was out for a long, long, long time. Not that big a deal here. You're like, yeah, what's the big deal?

the eighth grade in your life is baseball and your pitching hand is crushed the world is falling apart god where are you why did this happen at the time we moved uh from beaumont texas to ardmore oklahoma i actually loved being to ardmore oklahoma those of you around the world you never heard of ardmore is known for if you're driving from dallas texas to oklahoma city ardmore is where you stop to go to the bathroom that's where i lived in the bathroom place and i love this little town but that's what it's known for, you know? And so I, back then, we didn't play sports year around like kids do. Then we played a bunch of different sports. And I played football and I ran track and I played baseball and I played soccer. Well, I came there and it wasn't baseball season and there's this cute girl that was on the

tennis team. So I thought, hey, I'm off for a semester. Let's play some tennis, you know. I didn't like tennis. Well, I ended up making the team. I was the last guy on the team and baseball season came and I thought, I'm not ready. I still feel much pressure. I'm going to take a year off. It'll be good for me. I'm going to play tennis. We ended up taking second in state that year. The next year, when the season started again, a couple of guys graduated. And I actually ended up playing number one on the team the second year. And I thought, maybe I should give this a go. We ended up winning the state championship that second year. And because I played a different sport, I got a full ride to go to a school I never would have gone to otherwise, which is exactly where

I fell deepened to sin and met Jesus in a life-changing way, which led people to make fun of me. And one day a girl said, you are so weird for Jesus. There's a girl in another school that's weird for Jesus like you. Her name is Amy. You guys should meet and get married. Boom. And that's exactly how we met. And we just got really, really weird together and ended up starting Life Church 21 years ago.

And the fact that I'm teaching today at this moment, is a reflection of a time when life didn't go according to my plan and God had a different purpose. We had plans when we met. We decided we were going to have two kids. We were going to have a boy first and then a girl. We were going to have a Josh and a joy. Well, instead, we had a Katie, Mandy, and Anna, Sam and Stephen, and a joy. We got the joy in.

Who knows what happened to Josh? We were drunk with six kids, didn't know how to get through it, you know. We didn't have cable, couldn't afford cable, so we had six kids. And that's, you know, what we did. And whenever Sam was born, I was supposed to preach Saturday night and Sunday morning. Amy was pregnant with Sam at 5 a.m. before Sunday services, Sam came out. Well, I obviously couldn't preach. And so we're like, what are we going to do?

The plan was for me to preach. We can't get anybody ready fast enough. And so we said, let's just run the video from Saturday night and hope they forgive us. It won't, you know, they'll understand. We just had a baby. So we ran the video, and people didn't even notice that I wasn't there. there were more people that came to Christ, which I just scratched our head,

I wonder if this would actually work in other places. Then I'm actually preaching in a building that the vast majority of you cannot see, which doesn't upset me at all, because I don't love this building. And the reason is, because this wasn't supposed to be the building that I preach it for the rest of my life,

but it is, okay? This is a double gymnasium. It's long, narrow, is boxy, and it was simply a middle phase before we built the big permanent phase with the risers and the balcony and all that kind of stuff, and then this would become a gym later on. But somewhere along the way, even though we had a plan, got it to purpose,

we thought if we did video teaching, instead of building bigger, what if we built more, in more places, and tried to reach more people that way? And I want to declare and tell you that I'm incredibly excited about this, that at 26 Life Church locations in eight different states, this week alone there will be 186 Christmas worship services. 186 Christmas worship services. you would be sitting in one and there will be 185 more than the one that you're in. Think about the lives that will be impacted because things didn't go according to my plan.

I'm glad that every now and then God interrupts my plans to bring about a different purpose. Even in those times where I may not understand it, don't like it and confused by it. I'm hurting in the middle of it. Years later, you can almost always look back and you might say, I'd never choose it. I'd never want to go through it again. But I can see how God used it. You don't have to understand the plan to trust that God has a purpose.

And this would have been so true of Mary and Joseph. Think about this. Mary's pregnant with the son of God. If I'm like in this, I'm Joseph, I'm thinking, well, we're doing this for God. We got connections. This is going to be smooth, right? Heavenly epidural, no pain, totally free. She sneezes.

Baby comes out. We got a baby. This thing's easy. No, no, no, no, no, no. Instead, she's in labor and guess where she is? Ladies, on the back of a donkey. On a donkey. She's in labor.

Joseph is so dead. He's pulling that donkey through red lights. Come on, donkey. Come on, come on. Running red lights. They get to the town and guess what? He's even deader. He didn't make reservations.

There's no hotel there. So where does she give birth? Ladies, in your dream place. in a cave next to farm animals. That's where she gives birth to the Son of God. And if you kind of go through it, eventually she's, you know, no epidural, no like soft music,

and she's got a baby. They're going to live happily ever after, right? Guess what she finds out? This is true. King Herod wants to kill her son. Think about that. Internalize it. This is a real mom.

This is a real dad. The ruler of your universe once, your kid dead. How does that feel? What do you think she's thinking? But God, I said yes to you. And they're on the run. They're hooking it to Egypt. They're hiding out in houses. Don't tell anybody we're here. Like in the movies, they're on the run. Fast forward. 33 years. Mary, the mom who said yes, may it be done unto me according to your word. God, you know I love you. I'll do whatever you ask me to do. She's standing on. looking at her son, her son, stripped down naked, hanging on a cross, only supported by spikes

through his wrists and through his heels. His back is so cut open by being whipped again and again. It's likely his vital organs are exposed. The only way that he can breathe is to push up as the spikes drive through his feet and pull up on his hands to get a breath on his brow, is a crown of thorns. His face is so bruised and bloody that he doesn't even look like a human being. And the mother who said yes looks on. And it's not recorded, but you know what she's thinking.

God! This isn't fair. He didn't do anything wrong. He did everything right. We did everything you asked us to do. Make it stop. No mom should ever have to say. see that. What does Jesus do? They're spitting on him. They are spitting on him.

Hail, hell, king of the Jews, you call yourself that. You saved others save yourself. Jesus looks up to heaven and he prays. Father, please forgive them. They don't even know what they're doing. And she looks on her son is righteous in every way. And then Jesus declares with faith and with passion. Through the pain, through the agony, he says, it is finished. And then he breathes one last breath and says, into your hands, I commit my spirit. And the earth goes dark. And everything shakes. And this is not recorded in scripture, but let me tell you, this did happen. Mary's legs could not contain the weight of her grief. And she falls to the ground. and she wails and sobs.

No, my baby, right? Put yourself there. Real people, real agony. This isn't what I had planned. Mary and Joseph had a plan. God had a purpose. Mary and Joseph had a plan. God had a purpose.

Mary and Joseph had a plan God had a purpose What was that purpose you asked? What was the purpose? Let me tell you what the purpose was The purpose was you The purpose was you Mary and Joseph had a plan

God had a purpose People say all the time Jesus is the reason for the season Jesus is the reason for the season Yeah yeah yeah yeah Jesus is the reason for the season But do you ask God what the reason for the season was in his heart

It was you that was the reason for the season. That was the reason Jesus came. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. For God so loved you that he became one of us. You couldn't make up the Christmas story.

Man had a plan of how the Messiah would come. God had a purpose that he would be stripped of his righteousness in heaven and become a person in Jesus who was born of a virgin. Why does a virgin matter? Because he didn't inherit the sin nature from an earthly father,

but instead the divine nature from a heavenly father, therefore he could be perfect in every way, never sitting, dying on the cross. For who? For you, for me, for us. We were the purpose. Mary and Joseph had a plan, but God had a purpose, and you were that purpose.

And it was right there in scripture. And yet so many people missed it. Verse 21, Mary will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name. Jesus, why? Here's the purpose. Mary and Joseph had a plan, but God had a purpose. What was this purpose?

You were that purpose because Jesus will save his people from their sins. So, if you are one of those who've had a change in plants, and maybe right now things are really difficult, and I'm not going to tell you for a moment that your pain's not real, because sometimes it just hurts, and sometimes you just don't understand, and sometimes you ache, and you just want to cry out, God, what's going on?

I'm going to tell you right now, because of the goodness of God, because of his sovereignty, because of who he is, you don't have to understand the plan to trust God has a purpose. Many of the plans in a man's heart, but it's the Lord's purpose that prevails. And on this Christmas, as we talk about the birth of Jesus, please understand, Mary and Joseph were people just like you and me who had a plan, but I thank God that he had a purpose. and his purpose was you. So Father, today I pray especially for those who are hurting, confused, and grieving, that we would put our faith in you and recognize God you have a greater purpose than anything

that we could ever imagine. We trust in you. And all of our churches, as you continue praying, nobody looking around. There are many of you right now, if I simply ask you, maybe just, we're sitting down over a cup of coffee, and I said, hey, how are you doing spiritually? what a lot of you would do is say what I've heard a million times over and again. You say, hey, you know, I don't know, I'm doing okay. And I'd say, well, tell me about it.

And you'd say one version or another of some conversation I've had too many times to count. You'd say, well, you know, I try to be a good person and I'm better than some and maybe not as good as others. And, you know, I sure I've done some things wrong, but, you know, I go to church at Christmas time. And, you know, I gave money to help some guy out. and, you know, I try to be a nice person, and, you know, I'm doing the best I can. I hope that's good enough. And if we knew each other well enough, what I would do is just look at you squarely and tell, you know what, sorry, but that's not good enough.

It's simply not. No matter how hard you try, you can't try hard enough to be good enough for God. And if we were talking openly, you would admit, as I have to, you've done some things wrong and I've done some things wrong. And let's call it what it is. We've sinned. We've done some horrible things. And the truth is that our sin separates us from God.

Our sin separates us from God. And that's why this Christmas story matters. The story of Jesus is called the gospel. And gospel means good news. This is the good news. God had a purpose. God loves you so much that he sent his son, Jesus, who was born and lived without sin

so that he could become the perfect sacrifice on the cross for us. He died for our sins. On the third day, the stone was rolled away. It wasn't there. Why? Because Jesus rose from the dead. Why? Because God had a purpose. So that anyone, and this includes you,

no matter who you are, no matter what you've done, no matter how dark your life has been, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord would be saved and forgiven. And all of our churches, there are many of you, you had a plan. I'll do the little church thing, I'll watch this deal on the computer,

you had a plan, but you recognize, oh my goodness, I think I may be a part of a bigger purpose. I'm supposed to be here because God wants me, he wants all of me, and you have a choice. Just like Mary, she said, yes, may it be done unto me according to your word. Yes, I give you my life.

Yes, I want your will. And all of our churches, there are those of you, you recognize. You need his grace. You need his salvation. You need his forgiveness. Simply say, yes, Jesus, I turn from my sins. I turn toward you. That's my prayer today.

And all of our churches, those who say, yes, I recognize. I'm part of a bigger purpose. I'm here to say yes, Jesus. I need your grace. I give my life to you. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now. All over the place and say yes.

back over there. God blessed you. Others of you way back here toward the back. Say yes. Both of you right here. Lift them up high. Both of you over here. Third person over here say yes, Jesus. I surrender to you. Church online, you click right below me. We're all going to pray together. Pray aloud. Pray Heavenly

Father. Today I trust you. To save me. To make me new. Jesus be first in my life. Fill me with your spirit so I could follow. you for the rest of my life my life is not my own I give it to you thank you for new life now you have

mine in Jesus name I pray all of our churches would you worship bid worship loud welcome those born into God's family today it's our honor as a church to play a small part in all that God is doing in and through your life and we would love to continue with you on that journey to find out what your next step to be in your relationship with Christ, all you have to do is go to life. dot church slash next. You know, at the end of the year upon us, it's a great time to look ahead at what's to come, but it's also a great time to pause and reflect on what we were a part of. And we would love to do that right now as we reflect on all that God did in 2016 with the year in review. I couldn't even begin to express the difference that Life Church has made to the global

church around the world. This community started in Oklahoma has now changed the landscape of church around the world. You guys have left a mark for a lifetime. When they write the history of the church in America, when they talk about the spread of the word of God in the modern age, when they talk about multi-site church, when they talk about reaching people others weren't reaching, they'll have to start the article with Life Church and Pastor Craig and Amy Groshell. Massive rescue and recovery operation is underway in Ecuador. I move a category four wins reaching 140 miles an hour. I just want to say thank you to everyone at Life Church for your support of Samaritan's purse.

I think church online is a big step for Saudi Arabia. There's so many people there that don't know about Christ. By working with the local church here in Uganda and across the world in poor communities. We feel like the resources that are given to us are some of the best resources around. Thank you for being a part of that church that launched one of the most powerful communication tools ever made. I'd like to think that this app saved my life. We'll continue to launch churches because we believe that God works in his church, through his church, to lead people to become. That Satan couldn't stop.

We're putting to the purposes of God. We don't just go to church. We are the church. Our mission unite us. We stand together to lead people to become. fully devoted followers of Christ. Thank you for being a church sold out to our mission of leading people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. Your consistent giving, serving, and praying is allowing God to work

through us to truly make a difference in the lives of people around the world as we help people find God and truly find life.