Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Don’t Forget to Remember, Part 1: “Don’t Forget To Remember” with Robert Madu

Episode Date: July 26, 2020

ABOUT PASTOR ROBERT MADURobert is passionately in love with Jesus. For 10 years he has crisscrossed the globe, preaching the Gospel and taking every opportunity to tell people about the love of Jesus Christ. Robert is compelled to make aware to every individual that God is for them and that He has a specific plan and purpose for every life. Robert serves on the teaching team at Trinity Church in Cedar Hill, TX. He and his wife Taylor have three children.CONNECT WITH PASTOR ROBERTWeb: https://robertmadu.com/Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/robertmaduFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/robert.maduTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/robertmaduABOUT DON’T FORGET TO REMEMBERUncertainty can drive you to fear, worry, and doubt. But it’s also an invitation to hope. When you’re faced with something you can’t handle on your own, Don’t Forget to Remember who worked miracles in the past—and that He can do it again. Learn more about the Don’t Forget to Remember message series: https://www.life.church/dontforget  REOPENINGTo ensure safety at all of our Life.Church locations, our weekend services have been redesigned to create a sanitary, touchless environment that allows for physical distancing. Learn more about everything we're doing to keep you safe and how you can help by using hand sanitizer, washing your hands often, and more:: https://www.life.church/updatesNEXT STEPSHave you made a decision to follow Jesus? You may be wondering what’s next on your journey. We want to help! Let us guide you to your next steps in your walk with Christ: https://www.life.church/nextABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.church. Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/app. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/life.churchTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/lifechurchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIIdiIO-Y20hRW9niR0CA8AFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/craiggroeschel Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Life Church, would you please help me welcome my good friend, Pastor Robert Maddo. Hello, Life Church. Come on wherever you are. Can you give Jesus some praise? You may be seated here in the room and wherever you are. Hey, all the locations or whether you're just at home in your bathrobe. I want to welcome you to church today. I am not just excited to be at Life Church.

I am Red Bull excited. and express-o-elated. I've been waiting for this moment because for years, for years, I've been stalking y'all. I've been stalking y'all and have been so impacted by this ministry and by your pastor. So to be able to come to a church that has impacted my life is quite an honor. So before I say anything, I want to give honor to where honors do and thank God for the pastor of a life church. Can you help me thank God for Pastor Craig and Amy Groshell. hear me. Pastor Craig is the creme de la crem of leaders. And I'm just glad that he would let me stand in this

pulpit and preach today. And I hope y'all ready to hear the words. Because I feel like preaching. I'm here with my beautiful bride Taylor. We are from the great country of Texas and live there my whole life. We have three little humans. And I cannot wait to get into the word. Go with me to Mark chapter 8. Mark chapter eight i want to look at verses 14 through 21 the gospel according to mark chapter eight we'll start at verse 14 and we'll land at verse number 21 and this is a word that i believe is going to change your life in times like this we need good news and this is good news and look at what it says it says the disciples had forgotten to bring bread except for one loaf they had with them in the boat be king

careful, Jesus warned them. Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod. They discussed this with one another and said, is it because we have no bread? Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them, why are you talking about having no bread? How many know when Jesus asks a question, it is not for him? It's for you. He says, why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see? And ears but failed to hear. Don't you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up? Twelve, they replied. And when I broke the seven

lows for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up? They answered seven. He said to them, do you still not understand? I'm going to preach today not long, probably about six and a half hours. Just using this as a title, don't forget. to remember. Don't forget to remember. Wherever you're watching across all the locations, even at home, would you say that? Say don't forget to remember. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Speak to us today. Amen. Don't forget to remember. Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that the year 2020 is only halfway over. Is it just me or does it feel like this year has been going on for half a century?

I don't think it's an exaggeration or even hyperbole to say that in just six months, this has been the year that has changed the world. I mean, come on, every year has its challenges. Every year has its defining moments. Every year has its problems. But not every year has such a shift in the atmosphere, such a paradigm shift where you are left with more questions than you have answers. more complexity than you have clarity. And all of us are having to learn the art of adaptability. And if you're like me this year, I was having an intense prayer with God, aka complaining. And I said, hold on, man. This year is crazy. I did not envision this. And I felt like God

whispered something to me that I want to share with you. He said, Robert, don't forget to remember you prayed for this year. I said, God, hold up. Wait a minute. No, I'm not. I I did not pray for any of this. He said, oh, no, no, you did. He said, don't forget to remember. You're the one that said in January, I want you to change my life this year. You're the one that said, Lord, whatever it takes for me to go deeper this year, I will go deeper. You're the one that said, Lord, I want more of you.

I said, God, I said no such thing. You know it's bad. You know it's bad when God goes to your Instagram and reminds you of a clip of the first sermon you preached in 2020. Can you roll that real quick? In 2020, you must in all you're desperate enough in 2020. For me to get more, I want more. Oh, Lord, I didn't want this right here. But isn't it interesting? Hear me, the disconnect between what we want God to do in our lives and what is going to take for that to happen. Oh, come on somebody. Isn't it funny how we want

to be changed, but we don't want to be challenged? We say, God, I want to go deeper, but I don't want to be disrupted. But can I announce at Life Church? God will disrupt you. He will do whatever it takes to make you become who he is called and created you to be. I'm telling you, you serve a God that will disrupt you. He will disturb you. He knows how to do it. He always did it. That's what Jesus did on earth. You know, he was just waking up every morning. Every morning he woke up. He's like, who can I disrupt? Who can I disturb today? He was always disturbing the comfortable and comforting the disturbed. That's what's happening in my text today. Jesus is on a boat with his disciples. He's fed 4,000 people. He's on the boat with his disciples and

the disciples. Come on the boat and say, Lord, we forgot to bring bread. And Jesus looks at them and goes, be careful. I'm like, what? Be careful of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod. And so I was like, Jesus, you don't mind on the boat, but you and us and the loaf of bread of Pharisees and the hair is not on the boat. Be careful of the yeast of Pharisees and of Herod. Now, this is classic Jesus. This is classic Jesus. Because some of y'all like, ooh, it would have been cool to hang out with Jesus and talk to Jesus? No, it would not. You would have been confused, just like the disciples, because Jesus was fully God and fully man. He wasn't a good man. He was a God man. He was God in flesh. And when you are fully God and fully man,

and you're having conversations with people. Sometimes those conversations are hard to understand. I'll give you one example. You remember at a wedding, his mama comes up to him and says, Jesus, they're out of whining. Wine. And what does he say? A woman, it's not my time.

What in the world does time have to do with wine? She's talking about wine, but Jesus being God understood that wine is a metaphor of his blood that is going to be shed. And they ran out of wine, but they came out of wine. cannot run out of the blood that's going to cover our sins. That's where he's thinking with it. And he went ahead and turned the water in the wine, but he said, it's not my time to go to the cross yet.

It's hard to have these conversations. So back to the boat, when they're talking about the loaf of bread, he's like, I ain't talking about that bread. You're on the boat with bread. Like, you've got a loaf of bread, but you're looking at bread. And Brad said, be careful of the yeast of the Pharisees. and of Herod. What is yeast? Yeast is a fungi. If you put it in the dough, just a little bit of yeast, it will affect and contaminate all of the bread. The bread, just a little bit of it. The yeast is a

metaphor for unbelief. It's a metaphor for pride. It's a metaphor for sin. He said, just a little bit of that can contaminate the bread. Then he says, be careful of the yeast of the Pharisees' religion. And inherit politics. He said, don't start mixing that fungi in me, the bread, because I am the only one that can transform your soul. I'm the only one that can change your life. So don't start mixing things in the purity of the bread. Oh, it's crazy how the Bible is for it today. And they still got confused. They were like, wait a minute. See, you should have brought more bread. That's what he's talking about. He's like, no, I'm not talking about, I'm talking about the bread. Okay, I'm talking about this not that loaf of bread, but since you want to talk about that loaf of bread, okay, let's go deeper and talk about that loaf of bread.

You're worried about one piece of bread when it's 12 of you on the boat? He said, when we fed 5,000, how many loaves did you have? Five, how many did you take up? Twelve baskets full? Okay, he said, when we fed the 4,000, how many lows did you have? Seven? How many did you take up? We took up a lot more after that. Okay, I think we're good if we only got one because I'm on the boat with you. It's going to be all right. The disciples completely forgotten. Now, I want to pause right here because, you know, I was raised in church. I was raised in church, and I want to file a complaint with the Sunday school committee. Because nobody ever told me that the miracle of feeding the multitudes happened twice. I grew up in church. I don't remember hearing that.

I was in a lot of Sunday school classes, and I don't remember anybody telling me that the miracle of the feeding of the multitudes happened twice, once with the 5,000, once with the 4,000. I wish they would have told me that. you know how many times I could have got extra goldfish and graham crackers? If I would have known the miracle happened twice, he first fed the 5,000, and then a few months later, he feeds the 4,000. Why is that important? Let me take a little break and drink some water and tell you why it's important. The feeding of the 5,000, and then the feeding of the 4,000,

it should speak to us today because it lets me know that God did that miraculous work once, and then he turned around a few months later, And he did it again. Oh, that's good news for somebody today. That if God did something miraculous once, how many know he has the power to do it again? That if God healed you once, he can heal you again. That if God opened up a door once, he can open up a door again. He can do it again.

Oh, come on. Please do not let this pandemic make you nervous and question the power of your God. because if he did it once, he can do it again. Some of you need to rehearse the history of all the things that God has brought you from and all the things that he's done. And it is your history with God that should give you strength and faith for what you're facing right now. Because if he did it once, he can do it again. Oh, look at the God that we serve.

This miracle of the multitudes, I think it has to be looked at not only because he did it twice, but because it is in every single gospel. Matthew Mark, Luke, and John, all of them talk about the feeding of the multitude. All of them talk about it. This is the only miracle that is mentioned besides the resurrection. That means it's important. It also means that Jesus is not just concerned with my soul. He's also concerned with my need.

What a wonderful thing to know. That Jesus is not just concerned with the condition of my soul, but he's also concerned about my circumstance. What you're facing, what you're going through. You need to know that Jesus is concerned about it. Can I tell you something? If it matters to you, it matters to God. Actually, scratch that.

If it matters to you, it matters more to God because he is concerned about the condition of your soul, but he's also concerned about your circumstance. He's concerned about the bills you're trying to figure out how I'm going to pay. He's concerned about your anxiety and your depression. He cares about your soul and he cares about your need. Look at Jesus, who has the power to captivate thousands of people, Thousands of people forgot to eat. He was preaching so good. You know you're preaching good when people forget to eat.

Okay, that's the litmus test for good preach. And they're like, oh, I don't need to eat. Let me just listen to you. But even while he's preaching, he realized they need to eat. They're hungry. That is a message that God cares. Not only is it a message that God cares. It is a mandate to the church that we must reflect the character of Jesus. And thank God for life church that doesn't just preach the gospel around the world. but we also care about the condition of the needs that you have. Come on, that's why you've paid medical debt. That's why you've done so much during COVID-19 to help people. And you've preached the gospel because it's both. And I love what the great theologian Howard Thurman says. He says something that I love. He said, the power of prayer is directly connected to your

willingness to be a part of the answer. In other words, God is just looking for somebody to partner with him to care about the condition of the soul and the condition of people's circumstance. I want to do something real quick. I want to look at these two miracles. Are you bored yet? I hope not. Because I want to look at the feeding of the 5,000. I want to look at the feeding of the 4,000. I want to kind of treat it like those pictures in the magazine. You ever seen whether they would have two pictures together and you would have to notice the differences between the picture? I want us to look at these two miraculous moments in the life of Jesus so we can understand what we need to remember.

First thing I noticed that happened in both miracles is that there was a lot of people, so there was a problem. It says 5,000 and 4,000, but that's not counting the women and children. It's possibly 15 or 20,000 people, a lot of people and a problem. Because how do you know if you got people, you're going to have some problems. Don't forget to remember that we are called to people. That means we are called to problems. There was a lot of people and there were, you cannot separate problems from people. They go together.

And all of you don't say, I'm sick of people right now. I just want to be by myself. You still have you. Come on. That's what somebody's shelter in place order showed us. I'm sick of myself right now. I'm telling you, you cannot forget to remember we are called to people. And that means we're called to problems.

And thank God that you have the vaccine. You have the answer. Don't forget to remember that we're called to people. and people come with problems. In both miracles, compassion was the catalyst for the miracle. Compassion. In the feeding of the 5000, Jesus was moved with compassion because he saw them as sheep without a shepherd.

In the feeding of the 4,000, he says to his disciples, I have compassion on these people. It's one of the only times in the Bible that Jesus verbally says, I have compassion. So in one moment, the compassion calls him to move his life. life. The next moment the compassion calls on the move his lips and say it. But how many know, if you have compassion, you must take action. God is calling you to do something. In fact, compassion is when care and action collide. Yes, that's when you see compassion. And in both miracles,

compassion was the catalyst for the miracle. How many know, we have got to be a people that have compassion, that have care, but we also take action. I also found it. I also found it. intriguing that in both miracles, watch this, the disciples were asking the wrong questions. Asking the wrong questions. Asking the wrong questions. Hear me, worry is often the byproduct of asking the wrong questions. Worry is often the byproduct of asking the wrong questions. They looked down, they said, how can we get enough money to buy a bread for all these people? They looked down and said, how can we even find bread in this desolate place? Wrong questions. And why? And worry is the byproduct of asking the wrong questions.

Someone like, Robert, give us the scripture for it. I'll give you the scripture. Matthew chapter six, look at what it says. Jesus says, so do not worry, saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink? Here come the questions. What shall we wear? He said, for the pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them, but seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, then all these things

will be added to you. I wonder if the reason you are worried is because, you need them. you're asking the wrong questions. What if there's another lockdown? What if the kids can't go back to school and I got to be the homeschool teacher? Oh, somebody just sneezed. What if I have it? Or what am I going to do about the bills? What if I lose my 401K? What if I lose my pension? What if I lose my job? What if I lose that? Wrong questions. Those are the wrong questions. I'm not saying don't have wisdom, but worry is often the byproducts of asking the wrong questions. And in both feedings, they ask the wrong question. But Jesus gave a better question. Here's the question Jesus asked,

in both of the miracles, he said, how many loaves do you have? That's a good question. That is a good question. I'm glad Jesus asked that question. How many loaves do you have? Do you know the power of that question? That means stop worrying and focusing on what you do not have. How about you focus on what you do have at your disposal?

Oh, how many loaves do you have? Somebody across every location. Just go, how many loaves do you have? That's the question to be asking yourself, what do you have at your disposal? What has God given you? When you say, how many loaves do you have? That doesn't lead to worry. That leads to work.

That makes me go, where am I going to find what God is put on the inside of me? If I got to hijack a little lunch from a boy, I'll do it. That he wouldn't be asking for loaves if the loaves weren't somewhere. How many loaves do you have? That means you have to do inventory as to what God has given you. Don't let the enemy make you focus on what you. have lost. Look at how many loaves you have left. You might have lost your job, but you still have your mind. You still have your body. You still have your creativity and you're still here.

How many loaves do you have? Can you bring out my bread real quick? I came with some bread from the house. Where's my bread? Thank you, sir. Yeah. Thank you. I like this. I brought this. Now, don't judge my bread. Don't judge my loaves. I brought this from the house. I know it's not much. It's not gluten-free. but it's mine. It's what I have. What do you have? See, it's easy to just look on Instagram and Facebook and like the picture of other people's loaves without considering what God is giving you. But this is what I got. I brought this bread today. And some of y'all are judging my illustration. I feel you judged my illustration. He's like, well, Robert, you ain't got no fish. There were fish, too.

We didn't have any fish at the house. And by the way, Jesus never asked for fish. Read it when you get home. He never asked for fish. In both miracles, never asked for fish. He only asked for loaves. It was in the process of looking for the loaves that they found that they had some fish, too. It was in the process of taking inventory on what God had given them that they found. We got something extra. Oh, I'm telling you, if you'll stop complaining about what you don't have and start giving God thanks and be grateful for what you do have, you're going to find some. fish. The fish was extra. He didn't even ask for fish. That was just extra. And both of the miracles,

watch this. It was too little in their hands. In both of the miracles, in their hands, it wasn't enough. And isn't that what all of us feel like? I'm not the only one. Have you ever looked at the demand in front of you and looked at what was in your hands and just had this feeling of it's not enough. It's not enough. I'm not enough to be the husband I've been called to be.

I'm not enough to be the mom I'm supposed to be. I'm not enough to be the leader or the business person I'm supposed to be. I found that even successful people have this gnawing in their soul of it's not enough. What are you doing when it's not enough? Can I tell you it will never be enough?

You will never be enough as long as it's in your hands. But God is calling you to take what is not enough and to put it in his hands. And once you get it out of your hands, then something miraculous can happen. But as long as it's in your hands, it will never be enough. It'll never be enough in your hands. Because in your hands, you're trying to control it. And if 2020 has not taught you anything, it ought to taught you that you are not in control. You've got to get it out of your hands and put it in his hands.

And he took it. And he blessed it. And he broke it. And then gave it right back to him. Interesting that the miracle and the multiplication didn't happen in Jesus' hands. It couldn't have. Because that doesn't take faith. Come on, if it started multiplying in his hands, they'd be like, oh, we're good, we're good.

Yeah, give it to him. You know, he just blessed it, broke it. So there you go. Now pass it out. So that means multiplication and both miracles happen through interaction. Multiplication happened through interaction. Think with me, think with me. This is the most inefficient miracle ever.

You got thousands of people. You got 12 dudes to disperse to thousands of people. Come on, Jesus, you got all the power. You could have just blinked and snapped your fingers and everybody would have been full. You could have created like a portable in and out. you know, fishing bread spot and just had everybody drive through? Why in the world are 12 dudes

passing out bread to possibly 15,000 people? How long is this miracle taken? No matter how long it takes. Because the multiplication happened in the interaction. Can you see them passing?

And nervous because it's not multiplying yet. But they're passing and trying to keep it cool and have conversations like, hey, how are you doing? Take a piece. Don't have that big a piece. Come on, we ain't got that much. Passing. Hey, is that your son? Oh, he's cute. Yeah. Here you go. Pass interaction. And as they interacted, it started multiplying. Hey, where are you from? Oh, yeah. I used to live over there. There you go. Oh, we're almost at. Oh, there's more.

Here you go. Multiplication happened through the interaction. They passed it out. Before you know it, they had leftovers. They had leftovers. Here's my issue with the disciples. Jesus did this miracle twice. Feeding of the 5,000, I give you a pass. I give you a pass. I'll let you be nervous. I'm sure you busted a sweat going, this is not going to be enough.

Then finally I realized, okay, we're good. But months later, you're in the same scenario, And you don't notice the need. Jesus noticed the need and says, hey, I have compassion on these people, and they need to eat too. You should have gone, been here, done that. Come on, where's the loves? Come on, let's get it going. We've been here before.

Don't we know what you. Why in the world are you stressing? You already forgot? That's one component because how many know we're just like them. God's come through for you before. In the middle of this pandemic, you're stressing. Come on, God's come through before. He'll come through again. Sometimes we forget the goodness and the faithfulness of God. We forget to remember. But I think it's actually a little bit deeper

than that. It's a little bit deeper because don't forget, in the feeding of the 5,000, the real issue was not the crowd. It was the price. They looked out and said, where can we get enough? I think this would take half a year's wages. It was the price. The feeding of the 4,000, if you really look at it, it was the place and the people. Because remember what Jesus said, I have compassion on these people. And the disciples answer and say, where can we find enough bread to feed these people in this place? Which ought to make you ask, where was this? this place. Feeding of the 5,000 happened near Beth Seda by the Sea of Galilee in Jewish territory. The feeding of the 4,000 happened near the region of the decapolis in Gentile territory. A place that they didn't hardly go, ever go, and with people they never really hung out with. And Jesus says, hey, I have. have compassion on these people too. Imagine how that interaction was. Here, here, take the bread,

here, here, here, here. But the feeding of the 4,000 was a field trip to show the disciples that I am the bread of life. And I'm not just for you. I'm for the entire world. And everybody needs bread. Everybody is hungry. And I'm going to use you to give bread to the entire. entire world. Oh, if you're going to be my witness to Jerusalem, I know you like that, Judea or Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, I've got to help you see people that you don't normally see. The feeding of the 4,000 was a field trip to help them see people they didn't normally see. You know what you ought to pray during this season of craziness and chaos is, Lord, help me see people I don't usually see because they need bread too.

Isn't it amazing how you can see people with addictions a certain way until somebody in your family has an addiction? Isn't it crazy how sometimes you can walk to a place and not even be concerned about whether they have elevators or whether there's too many stairs until your child has a disability? Isn't it funny how we can look at things in certain situations and not really have compassion, I understand, because we don't see what we need to see. Thank God for the feeding of the 5,000 and the 4,000, because you know what he was trying to do with the disciples? What he did with the bread. He took it. He blessed it. He broke it. And then he multiplied it. That's what God wants to do with your life. He wants to take you, bless you. Bless you.

you, break you, so that ultimately your life can touch somebody else's. And sometimes it's in the breaking. He'll make you see people you don't usually see. If somebody comes to play, can I tell you this season, this pandemic has been, it's been very difficult to say the least. This has been a season of breaking for me personally. I had no point of context for people that said I struggle with depression or anxiety until this pandemic hit. It's been such a breaking.

Got so bad, I was like, God, looking at what's in the world. I'm like, I don't even want to preach anymore. Can a preacher say that? It's a breaking season. When Father's Day, I had an aunt that had a birthday in East Texas, Mount Pleasant, Texas, where I was born, that great metropolis. And after a birthday, I told my mom to drive me to the church. I'd never been there before. I heard my mom tell stories about this church that my grandfather started in Pittsburgh, Texas, population, 4,000 people.

I said, Mom, I want to go to the church. And I went in that little church. I think we have a picture of the church. That's the church. My grandfather started, built that church, never had more than 50 people in that church. I went in that little church on Father's Day, and I sat down on that pew wrestling with anxiety and depression and seeing what's going on in the world and wanting to give up and saying, God, do you still have a plan and a purpose for my life with all that's going on?

I said, I've never felt like this before. It feels so heavy. It feels so weighty. And I sat in that little bit of church, and I reminded myself of the stories that my mom used to tell me of how many people would come in that place and experience the power of God, how my grandmother, when I was three years old, used to say, ooh, God's going to use him. He's going to use him mightily.

That's my little preacher right there. I had to remember that. You don't know my grandfather's name. He didn't have a big Instagram account. There was never more than 50 people in that church. But I need to go there and remember my spiritual heritage. I need to go there and remember that God can take a little bit and multiply it. And my grandfather probably never knew.

when he was pastoring 50 people that his grandson would be preaching at Life Church around the world, but prayers never expire. And how many know, some of the things that you don't see in your lifetime, you will see in your blood, you don't see in your life time, it'll happen in your bloodline, and people will be transformed. That's why you can't quit and you can't give up, because there are people and generations coming after you. That's why you can't give up in the breaking.

don't forget to remember the provision of your God. Don't forget to remember that God wants to take you, bless you, and break you, and multiply you so that you will share who he is the bread of life to the entire world who is hungry, hungry for him. Do you bow your heads? Can I pray with you? Father, thank you for your word. Father, thank you that you are the bread of life.

Lord, thank you that when we're hungry, no matter who we are, we can come to you, and our soul can be fed. Thank you that you care about our soul, but you also care about our circumstance. Lord, I pray that we would not forget to remember. If you did it once, you can do it again. You are great and you are good.

Lord, I pray that you would take our lives. Lord, I pray we would trust you even in the breaking so that ultimately our lives could touch somebody else. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, I know you could feel the presence of God in this place, and I just want to talk directly to you and just all of our churches online. Those of you who feel right now,

you know you're being broken, you're hurting, you're struggling, and you want to remember, would you just lift up your hands? Let's just be real honest right now. My hand is up. My hand is up. This is not an illustration. This is my hand saying I need to remember. I need the presence of God.

Father, I do. I pray for so many people who have lost so much. Lost joy. Lost jobs. Lost peace. Lost their health. Lost a sense of security as so many things have changed in this world. God, help us not just to see what we've lost, but help us to look at what is left.

We still have you, your power, your goodness, your grace, your provision, a peace that does come from heaven. Father, help us to keep our eyes on you. God, when we feel like we're broken, bless your people, bless your church. Multiply us, God, with a faith to believe that you're working in all things to bring about good to those who loved you and are called according to. to your purpose. God, with your peace that goes beyond human understanding, would it guard our hearts, our minds, our souls in Christ Jesus. We look to you. We remember you.

We remember your faithfulness. As you keep praying today at all of our different churches, those of you online, some of you may recognize you, you're not walking intimately with God. You don't know what peace with God, even looks like in your life. Who is God? What is God? What is God? What does God have? God has love for you. What does God not have?

Maybe he doesn't have your heart. Maybe you've never cried out to him. Who is Jesus? He was the perfect, sinless son of God. Who gave his life on a cross and rose again? He defeated death, hell, sin, sin in the grave. so that anyone, and this includes you, no matter what you've done, no matter how dark your life feels,

anyone who calls on the name of Jesus, your sins would be forgiven, and you could be made completely brand new. Today, if you're watching online or all of our churches, some of you, you're going to recognize, I need that grace, I need his forgiveness. I want to know him. If that's you today, I'm simply going to ask you just right now

to say, yes, I'm turning from my sins, I'm turning toward Jesus, want to give my life to him. If that's you, just lift your hands right now at our churches. You can type in the chat, I'm giving my life to Jesus. Just lift up your hands and say, yes, I want to surrender my life to Jesus. Would you pray with those around you today? Just pray a lot.

Pray Heavenly Father, forgive me of all of my sins. Jesus, save me, change me, make me new. Fill me with your spirit so I could walk with you. you and know you and be multiplied to show your love. My life is not my own. I give it all to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Could somebody celebrate big today? Those of you at church online, we welcome you into God's family.