Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Different, Part 2: Different Values in an Unholy Culture

Episode Date: August 13, 2017

In this world, you’ll have struggles. You’ll face opposition. You’ll be challenged. And there’s a reason for that: this world is not your home. So answer hate with love, find joy in the midst of trials, and rely on a strength beyond yourself. You’... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thanks again for joining us here at Life Church, where we are one church meeting in multiple locations and reaching around the world thanks to what God is doing at Church online. If you ever have any questions or you want to learn more about us as a church, you can always check us out online simply by going to life.church. Or we'd love for you to stay connected throughout your weekend everywhere you go with the Life Church app. It's free and available wherever you download your apps from. You know, in today's world, it can become very easy for us to become who the world says we

should be or who others say we should be. But we know as we read the scriptures and as we listen to the teachings of Jesus, we're called to live for a higher purpose. And today, our senior pastor, Craig Rochelle, will help us understand how to maintain a high level of values in a very ungodly culture in part two of his message, different. Hey, I came ready to preach today. I'm wondering if anybody's ready to help me out a little bit today. All of our life churches, we are thrilled to have you with us. We are in part two of a message series in the book of First Peter. I love this book so much, and we're picking out some high points in the book of First Peter. If you missed last week, we learned that Peter was writing into a group of people that were severely persecuted.

Somewhere between the year 60 and 65 AD, Peter wrote this book during a time when a very evil emperor named Nero was causing all sorts of problems, not just for Jesus followers, but for others. And whenever Nero most likely burned the city, his own city, he actually blamed the Jesus followers and said it was those people that did it. And so what was already a bad environment became so much worse. Peter wrote to them and he essentially was trying to give them hope. And he gave them the idea again and again and again that this world is not your home. You're just passing through your sojourners. This world is not your home. And because this world is not your home, Peter said, God is calling you to be different. God is calling you to be different.

If you're a follower of Jesus, you're called to be different. You'll have different values, different passions, different use of your time, different use of your resources. You'll be different as a parent. You'll be different as a spouse. You'll be different in the way that you work. God is calling us to be different. And all of our churches today, just to set the tone for this week's message, I want to do something a little bit different. Would you mind standing to your feet just to honor the reading of God's word today? Stand to your feet all of our churches.

I want to read to you from Scripture. First Peter chapter 1, verses 13 and following, feel the power, feel the weight of these words. Peter said, therefore with minds that are alert and fully sober set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming as obedient children do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance but just as he who called you as holy, so be holy in all that you do. For it is written.

God says, be holy because I am holy. Since you call on a father who judges each person's work impartially, Peter says, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. Another version says, live out your time as temperament. In other words, this world is not your home. You have a different home. You're just passing through. You have a higher calling.

God is calling you to be different. The problem for so many people in our culture today, and if I can just say it, the problem for many of you is this. The biggest obstacle to you fully following Christ is your desire to fit in. The biggest obstacle for so many to be faithful to God's call, to be different is the longing to look like everyone else, to belong to this world, to fit in, but I hope you'll understand Jesus followers.

God did not call you to fit in, but he called you to stand out. He never said that we are to blend in to the things of this world. We're told not to conform to the patterns of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Peter said, do not conform to the things. the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.

Now you've been transformed. We're never called to blend in. As Jesus followers, we are called by God to stand out, to be set apart, to be different in the way that we live. Why do we want to be normal anyway? Have you looked around to see what normal is? Normal is broke. Normal is in bondage.

normal is fear, normal is divorce, normal is tension, normal as sleepless nights, normal is anxiety, normal is not liking the job, fighting depression, that's what normal is. I don't want anything to do with normal. I went off the normal road. Jesus said there is a normal road. He said, there is a path that is broad and wide and many people are on it. But he said there is a different road And this one is much more narrow And the gate is smaller He said only a few people are on this road

For broad is the road And wide is the path that leads toward destruction But narrow is the one that leads to life And only a few people find it It's my prayer that we would be amongst those few And because of the passion of those few, that there would be more and more and more and more and more that would find the path that leads to life. It is not the normal path on which most travel. God is calling us to be

set apart, to be different. So Father, today I pray and ask that you would do what I don't have the power to do, that you would personalize this message into the hearts of every single person here, God. For those who are far from God, I pray that you're spirit would draw them close. For those who know you, God, we open up our hearts for you to show us any areas in our own life that would be displeasing to you. Sur up within us, God, the desire to be holy, to be different, to be set apart in all that we do that we could love you faithfully, please you by living honorably and be a light into a very dark world, God. Help us to be different for your glory and all we do.

this in Jesus' name and everybody said. Amen and amen at all of our churches. Why don't you a high-five about five people around you and say, you look different, you look different. You look really, really different. Go ahead and have a seat if you would today. Hey, as we dive in today, I just want to say, if there are any of you who are perfect, this message is not for you. You've got to buy. You can just kind of like kick. but you can even sneak out if you need to. If you're perfect, this message is not for you. In case you're new and you're wondering,

is the pastor perfect? You can ask the person who's not new and they'll tell you, no, he's not. And just to give you a little idea of one of the more imperfect moments of my life, I'll tell a story I've told before, but there's an ending that I've never talked about in the way that I will today.

Back when I was dating Amy, we were on a walk one day, and we saw this house for sale, and she looked at it and said, that's my dream house. It was two-bedroom, one bath, and so I went and bought it before we were even engaged. That's how much I loved that girl. That's how smart I was. That helped close the deal, and I'm not as dumb as I look, okay?

I'll show you a picture. This is the only picture I have of the house. This was her helping me move in. Yes, we were matching, and no, I don't care at all what you think. Okay? So we're moving into this house, and we're kind of newlywere. So I probably shouldn't show that picture the rest of the weekend because I could tell.

Maybe it's too embarrassing. But anyway, we're in this little house and it's built in, this house is built in 1910. It only has one closet in the whole two-bedroom, one bath house. And honest to goodness, Amy, the closet is about this big. So we didn't have room for stuff. It thankfully had a basement. So we put our stuff in the basement, including her, Amy's wedding dress and all the, you know, valuable stuff. One day, the day before I was going to preach, I think it was my first sermon ever.

I'm filling in for my pastor, First United Methodist Church, this big rainstorm hits. We had no idea that the basement would flood. Amy looked down there, and our basement with our most valuable stuff was flooded, flooded, flooded, and she's like, save my dress, save the day, get down there. And so lo and the whole young, my strong husband, man, we'll save the day. And I went down to the basement. I'm standing in about waste-deep water, remembering that there was a sunk pump there that evidently the people before knew to plug in before it rained.

And so I found the sump pump down in the water, reached out, pull up the cord, and thought, where do I plug this in? I looked up and just above me was a rafter with another extension cord hanging down. And I thought, voila, this is the magic juice. And so I was smart enough to know that it's probably risky to be way steep in water. and to plug something in. But I thought to myself, I am unusually fast. And this is an extreme moment,

and I must save my wife's dress. So I thought, if I just take these quads and plug them in like really fast, I mean, like, faster than the speed of electricity fast, that I can do this and get away with it, and it will be just fine. And so I just took the cord, looked at Amy, she looked at me kind of like this with it.

Don't, don't. And I did this. And that's the last thing I remember before I started seeing smoke come out of my hair. There was a vibration that was unlike anything I can describe. It started down at the bottom of my body, and it went up the top so fast. There was a bad word that formed. in the back of my mind.

And when that current hit the bad word, it pushed it up through my brain down into my mouth and out with more force than you could imagine. It didn't just come out, but it came out loud and long. You may be wondering right now, Pastor Craig, what was that bad word?

Was it one of the lower ranking words on the profanity scale? And the answer is I'm not going to tell you what it was, but it's probably about on the upper end of what you can think is bad. My wife looks on at her pastor husband, who just declared the mother of all words, down the basement thinking this is the last thing he's going to say before he stands before Jesus in heaven. And she'll get to know at his funeral that he said,

the word that rhymes with duck, right there in the basement before he died. And her eyes are big and my eyes are big and I can't stop it from coming out. And finally, the current let off and I let go. And she looked at me and she said, are you alive? And I said, I think I'd rather be dead. And I'm so glad we laugh about this 26 years later because at the time I didn't laugh at all. At the time it dawned on me that the same mouth designed by God to proclaim his life-changing word in less than 24 hours just said something that would be very displeasing to God.

And most of you might say with grace, well, I would have done the same thing, okay? And that's just kind of a normal response. The problem is God did not call us to be normal. as Jesus followers were called to be different. The good news is, I trained myself to stop saying those words outwardly. The problem is, for a long time, I did not stop thinking them inwardly. And just because the outward behavior changed did not mean that the inner source had been transformed yet by the grace of Jesus.

And with that, I want to look again today at the words of Peter speaking to a group of very hurting Christians, and perhaps today the Spirit of God might speak to some of you in a way that would stir you, prompt you, move you, lead you to be set apart. Because God has not called us to blend in,

but he's called us to be different from this world. and I want to look and see what he teaches us in His Word in 1 Peter chapter 1. We'll go and look again at verse 14. This is what Peter said. He said, as obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. In other words, there was a time when you didn't know any better. And quite honestly, that's where some of you are right now. You're doing some things that, you know, as a pastor I might say, that's not the wisest thing,

but you haven't yet learned. you haven't yet grown, you haven't been yet transformed by Jesus. There was a time when you weren't really accountable as much because you didn't know, but now you know so much better. He said, but just as He, just as God, who has called you as what, let's say it aloud, just as he who called you as holy, so be holy in all that you do. Then it goes on to say, for it is written be holy because I am holy. be holy because I am holy be holy in all that you do what I hope you'll notice is what this text does not say

which is what so many people want to believe that it says and how they want to live it does not say be happy in all you do because I am happy you're called to be happy do you notice that because for so many people today especially in the western version of Christianity so many people believe that God's highest calling and purpose for us is our happiness. The problem is happiness is based on happenings, and happenings don't always make us happy. Sometimes happenings may be unhappy, and there is something greater that is a joy that can come

from a deep and abiding relationship with Christ, but I hope you'll understand this. God's happiness is not your highest calling. God's holiness for you is a higher priority than your happiness. Let me say it again. You need to hear this and feel this. God's highest calling for Jesus' followers

is not their happiness. His highest calling is their holiness, and he's called us to be set apart. The problem with what I call the theology of happiness, in other words, well, God wants me happy above all else. The problem with the theology of happiness is it empowers what I call personal justification. We think, well, if God wants me,

happy that I am able to do something that otherwise would be wrong or unwise. If God wants me happy and I'm not happy in my marriage, then by all means I can walk out the door even though we're in a covenant because I'm no longer happy. If I'm not happy because I don't have this thing, then I can get this thing if I have to beg, borrow, steal, or to go massively in debt, because I want this thing and I believe this thing will make me happy. I'm dating someone, and I know that I should wait until that I'm married before we engage in God's gift of love making reserve for marriage, but I got my needs, you know, I'm a man, I got my knees, you know, and it's going to make me happy. And after all,

we're in love, you know, and we're engaged in our hearts. We're married in our hearts. So that's going to make me happy. So, you know, so what it does is, is it empowers you to personally justify something that otherwise would be wrong or unwise. When we believe above all else that God wants us happy, suddenly discomfort, delay, risk, and inconvenience couldn't possibly be God's will. And suddenly, without even knowing it, we begin to worship the false gods of comfort, money, pleasure, and things.

God is supposed to get me what I want. God is supposed to make me happy. We need to understand. God does not exist to serve us. We exist to serve him. And he calls us to be set apart. He calls us to be holy. What does the word holy mean?

If you look in your notes, it comes from the Greek word, and the Greek word hagios. The word hagios, it's translated as holy. It means different, or it means, apart, it means pure. God is calling us to be different. Do not conform to the patterns of this world. He's calling us to be set apart. He's calling us to be different. So if you're ever different in the way that you live, you might be following Christ. Let me say this. If you're not any different from the rest of the world, I promise you, you are not following Christ. God calls us to be

different and set apart. And let me just kind of explain a personal philosophy and strategy that our family had. I'd love to learn from all of you because I know everybody else would have a different strategy, but this is one of our strategies. For example, we tried to teach our children to follow Christ and have the courage to be different from this world. I'll tell you how different they are. My oldest two daughters are married now. When they got married, let me tell you how different they were. They were actually virgins when they got married. You have to agree, that's probably a little bit different in this world today. Would you agree? That's a little bit different. That's different. Not only were they virgins, but they hadn't been touched and they

hadn't been touching anything else. In fact, they only kissed one man, and that is the man that they married. And every time I see those two young men, I remind them of what a gift that they have gotten and make sure that they know it in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and Pastor Craig. Okay, and I love the guys,

but I do remind them, you got a pretty good thing going there. Okay, they kiss one guy. Now, I've had parents say to me, now, Craig, how did you train them to do that? What I want you to know is, we did not. How did you put those veils? values in them. We did not. If I can just be real honest, don't tell my other kids,

but that's like more than I expected. Honestly, I wouldn't, I wasn't shooting for that. I mean, I was like, Virgin, that's pretty cool, but the whole, you didn't kiss anybody. I was like, that was their value. And it's not because they're ugly, okay? I'll just say that. That was their, I'm just saying, I'm not meaning if anybody, but I'm just saying, that, that was their value. Now, how did they get like that? Again, let me just tell you, our strategy. Teach them to follow Christ and give them the courage to be different. Teach them to follow Christ and to give them a courage to be different.

These two girls in particular, they used to go through them all going, we are weird and that's okay. God's going to love us anyway. They'd actually sing that song. That's how much courage they had to be different. Now, how did we bring that about? What I'm about to tell you could be a little controversial, and I don't want it to be. I'm going to try to set this straight.

what I'm not going to make is a theological statement about a holiday. What I am going to make is a practical statement about how to be different. So if you want to throw stones that you can, I really don't care. I've got an email address just for you. It's at Craig and I don't give a rip.com. It is a real email address. You can email it and it's got a return that comes back that says, see, it's real and I really don't give a rip.

So what we did as kids with our kids is we were going to teach them how to be different. We looked at Halloween, and again, I'm not making a statement about a, holiday, but we looked at Halloween years ago, and we realized it actually has roots in darkness, and you can do the research, and you'll see it too. And so we just decided, you know, is there anything wrong with kids dressing up like Scooby-Doo and, you know, begging for candy, door-to-door. No, no, innocent, fun, nothing wrong with that. But we decided to take that holiday and say to our kids, we as a family are going to be different. We're not going to do that like everyone else does, but we're going to actually, and this was our idea, we're going to

replaced it with something even better. Our kids' favorite restaurant back then was Chuckie Cheese. And I didn't spend a lot of money back then, because we didn't have a lot. So we didn't, Chuckie Cheese was a rare treat. The least busy day of the year at Chuckie Cheese, guess what day it is? Halloween.

So we go to Chuckie Cheese on a Halloween, and I'd drop a pretty penny, and they'd go crazy. They felt so sorry for all your kids out there in the rain and the cold, dragging costumes, begging for candy, when they got the best of the best of the best of the best, okay? And they loved this. So for what we, our strategy was, let's just pick some different things.

And that was one of many different things in our family that said, everyone else may do such and such, but we're actually going to be different in this particular area. And not only are we going to be different, but we're going to show you the value behind it, and this is why that difference sometimes is often better. All this to say, parents, I hope you'll understand, is if you want to raise different kids, at some point in your life,

you need to be different. If you're not different in any way, how in the world can you expect your children to see the value in following Christ? If you are not different in how you live, how can you expect your children to have any tolerance to being set apart or different? God is calling us to be holy in all that we do. The way we are holy may be a little bit different. than you are holy.

The standards that we set in our family, maybe a little bit different than the standards you set. But the bottom line is, we're seeking God for standards that we believe would be pleasing to him. In fact, Peter goes on to say this. I want to look at it in a different version.

I love the way the New Living translates it. He says this. He says, so you must live as God's obedient children. And then he says, in this version, he says, don't slip back into your old ways to satisfy your own desires. slip back. I like that. Don't slip back. Don't fall into trouble. Don't slip back. Because how many of you know you can slip into trouble, but you never slip into righteousness? Do you? Yeah, I've heard

people say, I fell into sin. I never said, I fell into holiness. I didn't mean to. I'm just holy. How'd that happened? I didn't mean to. Oh, I'm just so holy. I'm just right. Didn't even mean to you. I just got up and I was trying to sin, but holiness caught up with me. And I know I'm perfect. Doesn't it happen that way. But we have an enemy who will cause you to slip up, to trip, and to fall. You need to understand your enemy is subtle. He's sneaky. He is real. His name is the devil, the father of lies, the prince of darkness.

He is the liar of all. His mission is to steal, kill, and destroy. Let me tell you, because he's sneaky, because he's subtle. He didn't come up to you. Hey, hey, hey, why don't you be a devil worshiper? don't you sacrifice chickens in your garage? He never does that, does he? He doesn't do that.

What he does is the very same thing he did all the way back in the first book of the Bible in the Garden of Eden when he said to Adam and he, did God really say? Don't eat of the fruit of that tree? Did God really say? And this is how he's going to attack, and this is one of the greatest deceiving,

questions that's taking people off of the standards of holiness today, even in the church of Jesus Christ, and it can come across in any different way. Did God really say, fill in the blanks, you're supposed to wait until you're married? Did God really say that you have to go to church and pray? Surely it's okay to post half-naked photos on Instagram, right? Because everybody else does it. do you not have Instagram? Do you not want to know what I'm talking about? Everybody does it. Everybody.

It gets more likes, doesn't it? Right? Come on, everybody does it? Did God really say not to watch that Netflix or HBO show, you know? I mean, I mean, I know it's got some bad stuff in it, but, I mean, did God really say? Did God really say not to listen to the music with those kind of bad lyrics? I mean, you know, it doesn't bother me, you know, whatever it is. And this is what makes this message challenging is I don't want to get hung up on one or two things.

Did God really say, whatever it is? I'm a lot better than a lot of people, Pastor Craig. I'm like, listen, I'm a lot better than a lot of people. I'm a lot better in a lot of people. A lot of people are not the standard. Do you understand this? A lot of people are not the standard. God calls us as Jesus followers to be different and to be set.

apart. In fact, I want to just show you for a moment some of the questions that we're going to look at in life groups. And what I hope you'll understand is I talked about it last week. We do life together. Life groups, it's not just, that's not like an add-on. This is something that we do. It represents the purest form of the church. This is what you saw in the book of Acts. This is what kept the first century Christians and people strong throughout history. It's doing life together. with other believers, strengthening one another in the power of God's word, praying together and being united in strength. These are the questions that I'm going to lead you through on video in your small group

in the upcoming week, but I want to give them to you just to kind of prime the pump to get you thinking and maybe you can even talk about it today over your next meal. What are the three areas I struggle most trying to fit in? think about it and be really honest. What are the three areas I struggle most trying to fit in? When is the time I put my happiness above God's call for holiness? We're going to call it what it is. Next question.

What are the biggest ways that I'm different from the world? If you're a follower of Jesus, there are going to be some ways. We're going to celebrate those ways. And then this is probably the biggest point of application. What is the area that God wants me to be different? What is the biggest area that God is showing me that He wants me to be different? We don't just come to church and listen. We're not just hearers of the words.

We're doers of the words. We're letting God's spirit speak to us, to convict us, to show us, to lead us into all righteousness. What is the biggest area that God wants me to be different? You might say, why does it even matter? Let me try to close it out with some scripture, and hopefully you'll see why it matters.

First Peter chapter 1, verses 18 through 21. Peter goes on to say this. He says to these hurting Christians, he says, you need to remember, for you know, it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from this empty way of life handed down from your ancestors it wasn't with these things that you were set free from the longing for more he says but it was with the precious blood of christ a lamb without blemish or defect it was the sinless son of god who sent you free it was jesus that pointed you towards life. It was the risen son who forgave your sins and made you new. He was chosen before the creation

of the world, but was revealed in these last days for your sake. Through him, you believe in God. Through Christ you believe in God. Through Christ you believe in God. Who raised him from the dead and glorified him so your faith and hope are in God. It's through Christ. It's through Christ. we need to understand that living holy is not the path to knowing Christ. Living holy, we can't be good enough on our own to please Him. Living holy is not the path to knowing Christ. Knowing Christ is the pathway to holiness. And this is so important.

Suddenly when we know Christ, it's not that I have to do that and I don't get to do that and I wish I could do that wild thing that's kind of fun, but our heart on the inside starts to change. Instead of, oh, I don't want, I wish I could. Instead, it's like, I don't want to do anything displeasing to God. I want to live a life that brings glory to him. I don't care what everybody else thinks.

I don't care if they laugh. I don't care if it's different. I don't care if they criticize. I'm living for an audience of one because of who Jesus is and because of what he did, I am different. I am proud to be different. I'm not ashamed to confess. I am different because of who he is.

And this is the key, and do not miss it. What I am not talking about is outward behavior modification. What I am talking about is inward spiritual transformation. It's not, hey, look, look, I don't say bad words anymore. is, hey, look, look, look, look, look. I've been changed from the inside. Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks, and I have a new heart, my heart is different.

It's not that I'm trying, oh, I'm trying to be holy, oh, I'm trying to be holy. What it is, is there are fruits of the spirit coming out of me because my roots are deep in Christ, because I'm dwelling in His Word, because daily I'm seeking him in his presence, and I'm not trying not to do those things, but from the inside, he's making me more life.

Christ and because I'm becoming more like Christ, not naturally, but supernaturally, supernaturally, by his power, I'm starting to live a life worthy of the calling that he set apart for me. And all of our churches today is my prayer, that the Spirit of God would do what I cannot do, and that is show you any area of your life that would be displeasing to God. and not out of obligation I got to try harder, but out of inward spiritual transformation, we would be changed from the inside toward the out. And recognizing living holy is not the pathway to knowing Christ,

but knowing Christ is the pathway to living holy. And so with everything in us, we seek him and ask him to change our hearts. All of our churches, let's pray, Father, do a work in us now we ask, everybody praying, nobody looking around. I'm just going to trust that the Spirit is speaking to some of you. I don't even know what it is. Some of you may come out later in your life groups as you're processing. Some of you may know it right now, but you recognize there's some area of your life

that God is calling you to raise the standard to make a change to be different. You're not like everybody else. You're called to be holy because he is holy. And all of our churches, those who say yes, that's me. I recognize God is showing me something. and I need his help. Not outward behavior modification, but God, change me from the inside, spiritual transformation. Holy Spirit, do your work in me.

If that's you today and you see it, would you lift your hands high right now? Just lift them up. Lift them up. I pray almost every hand would be lifted. Father, I ask today that you would do what only you can do, God. Show us. Show me, God. I recognize the closer we get to you, the more we're aware of our own shortcomings and sinfulness.

So, God, show us. And God, I know we cannot do it on our own. We don't have the power or the ability. So we thank you for your spirit that changes us from the inside out. Give us the grace, God. May we grow closer to you in every way. And God, would you change our hearts? God, renew our minds. Make us different on the inside, God, so the outside actions start to change. God help us to fall so in love with you that we cannot stay the same. God, God, I pray for the power to break addictions. God, I pray for the power in the name of Jesus to break addictions. Change our mindsets. Break us from the strongholds. We ask and believe by faith you will.

As you keep praying today at all of our different churches, there are some of you right now. There is a weight or a heaviness on you when we think about spiritual things. What is that? You may be doing something right now that you feel really bad about. There may be something from your past. You think could God ever forgive this? You may, in an honest moment, say, I really don't know where I stand with God because of how I've lived. Could God love me after what I've done? And the answer is, not only does he love you, but there's nothing you could do to cause him to love you less. I hope you'll hear that. There's also nothing you could do to cause God to love you more. He loves you, not because of how you've lived,

but because of who he is. He is love. And the reason you're here is because his love is drawing in all of our churches. There are those of you, you may recognize that you're You're not right with God right now. The good news is that you're here or watching online because God wanted you here. Let me tell you the good news that Peter would share. It's because of Jesus that you're redeemed from this empty way of life. You can search and search and search for anything to find meaning and you'll continue to be empty. Why?

Because there is a spiritual void in your life that can only be filled by the Son of God. Here is the truth. We're all sinners. We've all fallen short of God's perfect standard. We've all sinned and fallen away from God. But because of God's goodness, he sent Jesus who was without sin. Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. He was raised from the dead so that anyone, and this concludes you, who calls on his name,

would be saved to all of our churches. There are those of you, you need new life in Christ. Today, you are one prayer away from being changed forever. All of our churches, those who say, I need his forgiveness. I give my life to Christ. Would you lift your hands high right now? All of our churches and say, yes, that's my prayer. Lift up your hands and say, Jesus, I surrender right.

Back over here in this section, God bless you guys. Others today who say yes, Jesus, I surrender to you. Right back over here as well. Church online, you click right below me. And everybody pray aloud together. Pray Heavenly Father, I surrender my life and invite you to forgive my sins, to make me new, to 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. Life Church, would you worship big? Would you worship loud? Would you welcome those born into God's family? As a church, it's our honor 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 steps could be in your relationship with Christ, all you have to do is go to life. church slash next. One of the biggest honors we've had as a church is being able to be a part of the U-Version Bible app, an app that's been downloaded 280 million times worldwide, helping people around the world connect with God's word on a daily basis. And we're not only seeing them connect with God's word, we're seeing lives changed. One of those lives is Andy Cullen from Gold Coast, Australia,

who used the audio Bible feature of the Bible app to find healing in a very difficult time. Here's a story. I deployed to Afghanistan in 2008, 2011 and 2012. Coming home from my last deployment was really tough. I was suffering from PTSD and that really wears down the spirit. I was basically being tormented every night through vivid hallucinations and reliving events that had occurred in Afghanistan. The whole self-worth as a man, as a husband and a father was completely deteriorating. completely deteriorated.

I was looking for a way out. My mind was completely broken. And in those dark days, I couldn't see a way out. There was no light. My brain just wasn't functioning properly. It was incredibly frustrating. You know, it was just one of the symptoms of PTSD and TBI. I couldn't actually read.

I'd read the same sentence, four or five, Six times, the words just weren't making sense. I had this app on my phone, the Bible app. I was like, okay, this is great, but I know I need God's word, but I can't read it. But you can listen to it. And I did. I started listening to it, and it was amazing.

You know, you can't hear God's word and not be affected. Nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who And it was amazing. That journey through hearing the Word of God was growing my faith. And it was amazing through that I found Healy. So I got into a habit. I just put on a chapter and I pressed play. Every night I'd go to bed and I'd press play

and I'd listen to another chapter until I fell asleep. Sometimes I'd listen to two, three chapters. If I couldn't sleep, I was just to just, up so I may as well be listening to God's Word. And my faith just drew closer, drew stronger. There was like an anchor tying me back to reality. All right, we're going to do the old army crawl? You want to do that one? Because I've listened to God's word. I've listened to the whole Bible over and over again. And as a result, he's ignited my spirit in ways that continue to blow me away every day.

I feel like he's turned my entire life around. I've had physical healing. emotional healing, I've got real purpose in my life again. A glimmer of light right at the bottom when I had nowhere else to go. He showed up in a real way. To download the Bible app to your mobile device, you'll want to go to bible.com slash app. And for those of you connected to Life Church, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for the way that you give of your time and of your

resources. God truly is using you in a very big way to help fulfill our mission. of leading people to become fully devoted followers of Christ.