Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - God Never Said That, Part 1: God Wants You Happy

Episode Date: February 7, 2015

We love offering little nuggets of advice, support, or sympathy. They come in handy when we want people to feel better. But what if the guidance you’re giving or receiving just isn’t true? What if God Never Said That? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Couldn't have picked a better one myself. It's top of the line. All the options. The only thing it can't do is fly. I'm just licking. This one is way out of my price range. Oh, see, now there's your problem. Price range is really just a frame of mind.

The facts are that you work hard. You deserve this. And God wants you to be happy. Yeah, appreciate your enthusiasm. But God never said that. It is fantastic to have all of you with us today at all of our life churches across the country. Those of you at our partnering network churches all over the world and on the other side of computer screens at church online. Before we dive into starting a brand new message series, I need to take a moment and just thank our God and celebrate with you that our church has the extraordinary blessing of celebrating over 2,000 people being baptized in one single weekend.

And it's hard to get our minds around that. But at your campus, you can just feel the emotion. And I know some of the stories, the behind-the-scenes stories of those who are baptized at my particular location. And it just makes me very emotional to know that every single life has been transformed by Christ made new. And we can never take it for granted that we get to be a part of a place seeing so many people find new life in Christ. We're going to see more of that today. I'm excited to tell you we're launching into a brand new four-part message series today called God Never Said That.

Let me tell you what we're going to do. We're going to talk about four different cultural belief systems that people have for years attributed to God. But the reality is God never said these things. For example, next week is a very important week. We're going to talk about what so many people believe is actually in the Bible, but it is not. People say all the time, God will be. never give you more than you can handle. God never said that. Week number three, we're going to talk about a very dangerous cultural lie that many people believe, and that is it doesn't matter what you

do as long as you don't hurt anyone. Week number four may be the most important one in the whole four weeks, and that is people believe it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere. God never said that. Today, we're going to talk about. about what may be the most popular misbelief about God in our Western version of Christianity. And that is that God wants you happy. Above all else, God wants you happy. And I would love with all my heart to be able to tell you,

above all else, God wants you happy. Above all else, God wants you to enjoy your life. Above all else, God only wants good things to happen in your life. And God never wants anything bad to happen in your life. because for you, the bottom line is God wants you to be happy. In fact, I could even quote scripture to try to convince you that this is true. Psalm 97 verse 12 says, may all who are godly with a smile on your face. Everybody say it.

May all who are godly be what, be happy. In fact, that verse simply makes me want to dance. All right. Just making sure you're all happy and having fun in church. And I got to do more cardio at the gym. Okay. I don't know where that came from. Glad you're happy because my wife was not happy about that the first time.

She saw it. This is one of the big cultural mistakes in what people believe about God. They believe above all else. God wants you happy. And if you believe that, it starts you down the road of other misbeliefs. Let me show you what I call the theology of happiness. If you believe that God's supreme goal for you is your happiness, here's what eventually you start to do.

Number one, if you're taking notes, you believe that if God wants me happy above all else, then whatever makes me happy must be right, and whatever makes me happy. and whatever makes me unhappy must be wrong. Cheryl Crowe even saying about this when she's saying, if it makes you happy, it can't be that bad. Okay, if we believe that God wants us happy above all else, the number one, whatever makes me happy must be right and whatever makes me unhappy must be wrong.

Number two, we start to believe that discomfort, delay, risk, suffering, inconveniences, and obstacles can't possibly be God's will. In other words, if something isn't going right, then this must not be God working in my life. And number three, without knowing it, I begin to worship the false gods of comfort, money, pleasure, and things. If I believe, above all else, God wants me happy, one day I will worship the false gods of comfort, money, pleasure, and things. Here is the point. Here is the problem. When we believe that above all else, God wants us happy, suddenly we are forced to believe that God exists to serve us. And we have to understand, do not miss this, God does not exist to serve

us. We exist to serve God. Let me say it again. God does not exist to serve us. We exist to serve him. If God is there to make me happy, suddenly we've reduced the great creator and sustainer of the universe, the holy one, down to a cosmic coke machine, right? Basically, if I put my money in the machine, press the button, I've done my part. Contractually, the machine must give me exactly what I ask for. And literally, without knowing it, this is what we would do. We reduced God down to some kind of formula. God, I said my prayers.

I went to church. I tried to do good things. I tried not to do bad things. I gave a little money in the offering. I helped a little lady across the street. I dodged my neighbor's cat and didn't run into it. I've done all these good things, God, therefore my headaches should go away, the girl should go out with me, I should get the job, and I should get the dream house. Because I put the money in,

press the button, therefore, God, you should do what I want you to do. And here's the tragedy of this misbelief. So many people end up walking away from God for totally completely wrong reasons because of wrong beliefs. They'll say things like, I tried church and it didn't make me any happier. I tried religion and it didn't work. I tried the God thing. I even went to a life group. I read the Bible for a while and I still have cancer. My kids are still rebelling.

I'm still not better, any better off financially. I tried religion and it didn't work. If you believe that God exists to make you happy and then you're not happy, it forces you to believe that God failed. But God didn't fail. We started with the wrong presupposition which led you into a very very simple.

dangerous place. Now, I will tell you right now, after depressing the whole world saying, hey, you know, God didn't want you happy. I do believe that God delights in your happiness, that when you're happy, I believe it brings him joy, just as any parent is delighted when a child has joy or happiness. For example, after church, I'm going to go and watch one of my sons play soccer. I've got two sons that play competitive soccer. One is a forward, the other is a goalie. They're both quite good. If my son scores a winning goal and he's like elated or my other son makes a great save and he's a late, ah, okay? And they're really happy.

I am happy that they're happy. But their happiness is not my highest priority. For example, if my son kicks the winning goal today and he's happy and he goes by and flips off the opposing team, suddenly his happiness is not my highest priority. Does that make sense? And yet many of us treat God like, hey, he should be happy for it no matter what, blah, blah, blah, blah, and we flip everybody off. And that's why I'm going to argue with all my heart that God does not want us to pursue happiness. God wants us to pursue him.

Let me say it again. God does not want us to pursue happiness. God wants us to pursue him. And we don't pursue him for the byproduct of happiness. We're not pursuing him, so therefore, he'll give us what we want. We're pursuing him for who he is and that alone. And so today, what I want to do is I really want to dispel one of the biggest and most dangerous cultural myths about God. And I want to show you two specific reasons that God does not want you happy. Number one, if you're taking notes, this is so important. God doesn't want you happy when it causes you to do something wrong or unwise. God doesn't want you happy when it causes you to do something stupid or sinful, wrong or unwise. I give you an example.

So many people do something that they believe is going to make them happy. We're going to enjoy this, yet it's wrong or it is unwise. Our friends got together for a life group party, and I've got one friend. He made the coolest backyard zip line in the world. I mean, I'm telling you, there couldn't be a better backyard zip line anywhere. Guys, I'm telling you, you saw this thing, you'd be like, let me at that thing now in Jesus' name. It was, like, massively cool. And the challenge was it was such a big zip line that went across the yard, down this hill.

I mean, you could go, who knows how fast. The problem was there was no padding on the stop side. And if you weren't tall enough, you had no way to save yourself. And so what we had to do is say, you had to be a certain age, kids, in order to do this zip line. Well, my daughter at the time was like four, Joy. She didn't quite understand the rules, or maybe she did, and she asked someone. Anyway, a kid put her on the zip line, lifted her up, and I looked up, and Joy was just screaming down this thing. Shear delight.

Pigtails flying back, creases in her face. I mean, she had the time of her life until there was the best. There was the biggest crack you've ever seen, and she went face first into the tree. Blood exploded. Her chin just went into, I mean, it was horrible. Amy was off sick and crying and, you know, praying, and all the girls were comforting her. I had to take Joy to the emergency room. She was unconscious.

I got there. It was so bad. They were like, what's her full name? Okay. I call her Joy or Jojo. Her full name is Rebecca Joy. I couldn't think of it. Like, what's her full name?

I don't know. I'm like, I don't know, just take care of my daughter. Like, what's her birth date? I'm like, I've got six kids, I don't know, I can't remember. I'm like, I promise you, I'm the father, I promise you, I promise you, I promise you, I promise you. But I was so, so, so upset. I couldn't even remember. Now, for the record, I want you to know that Joy lived.

I talked yesterday, and Joy was in the service, and after her, she's like, dad, now the whole church thinks I'm dead. Tell him I live. So joy, keeping my work. So anyway, joy live. But this is the perfect example of what so many people do in their life. Like, this is going to be fun, and this is going to make me happy. And it may make maybe fun for a little while. There's a way that seems right to a man, scripture says, but in the end, it leads to death.

Here's the fundamental problem that so many people believe. Scripture says this. Scripture teaches us to be holy, but many people translate it this way. First Peter 1.15. But just as he called you is happy, so be happy in all you do. That's not what it says, but yet practically, that's how so many of us want to live. The Bible teaches us that just as God who called you is holy, we're to be holy and set apart in all we do. But yet when we believe, above all else, God wants us to be happy, then we end up doing things that are wrong or unwise in the pursuit of happiness.

I give you an example. years ago I did a wedding for a friend of mine and we went through an extended premarital counseling. I did all the counseling of myself and we covered lots of deep and what I believe was valuable preparation material. Well, I bumped into the guy several years after his marriage and I said, hey, how's it going in your marriage? And he said, oh, we're not married anymore. And I was like, my heart just like, oh, you know. And I just asked him, what happened? And he said to me the same thing I've heard, who knows how many times.

He said, well, you know, it wasn't going good, and she wasn't happy, and I wasn't happy, and so we divorced. We weren't happy, so we divorced. Now, I'm a pastor. I care about people. I don't want to make people feel bad. I don't want to induce guilt. But I did the premarital counseling, and so I explained to the guy, said, don't you remember, man, we talked about this is a covenant. This is a holy covenant.

This is an eternal. You agreed, not to me, but. before God that is for better or for worse till death do you part. Remember we talked about it. It's not about happiness. This is about a covenant. It's a yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but we weren't happy. Okay? This happens all the time. And by telling you this, what I'm not trying to do is make those of you who've been through this and experience the pain of divorce, you know how much it hurts and how much devastation. It's not to make you feel guilty. It's to talk to those of you right now who are in the worst part, okay, for better or for worse. That's a part of marriage.

God's highest calling is not your happiness. You create a covenant. You work through the worst and you work toward the better. You work toward it. God's highest calling is not your happiness. Be holy in all you do. And yet so many of us, when we wrongly believe that above all else. God wants us happy. Then that belief system empowers us to do what is actually wrong and justify it in our minds. And it happens all the time. God does not want you happy when it causes you to do something wrong or unwise. For example, you know, the list could go on and on how it plays out in our lives. You decide you want to eat cake. Now, notice I didn't say a piece of cake, but I said you want to eat cake, okay? It makes you happy to have the whole cake. That would be wrong or unwise,

and yet we do it sometimes because it would make me happy. You hate your job. You can't stand your job. You've got three kids, maybe under the age of five, you really need a job. But, oh, it would make you so happy to go in and tell your boss off. You just take this job and that'd make you so happy. And people do this all the time. They quit their job before they have another job because their job makes them unhappy. I'm going to be stupid. You've got little birds to feed at home. And they go and justify doing something stupid

because this makes me happy. The list goes on and on. My spouse isn't meeting my needs. And so, you know, I've got needs. And so I'm just going to look at this stuff. And I know some people think it's wrong. But, you know, I'm just not happy. And so I'm doing this to make me happier to meet my needs.

Pre-marital sex. For those of you that are followers of Jesus, I hope you understand. that the gift of lovemaking is a gift from God meant for the covenant of marriage. And yet even though so many Christians know that, they're like, oh, I don't care. I mean, you know, it feels good. And I'm a man, and I've got my needs. I'm like a dog.

I can't control myself, you know. And we're in love. I mean, we're so in love. And after all, we're married in our hearts. This makes our bodies happy. It's all about our bodies being happy. Right? I mean, am I right? We justify doing the wrong thing because this makes me happy. I mean, and the list goes on and on and on. Our entertainment, think about this.

So many people, they go to the movies and they watch movies that they're basically entertained by sin. Like pure filth. Now, funny, but filthy. I mean, filthy funny. And so I was like, well, it's probably not honoring to God. but it's so funny so funny okay funny doesn't make wrong right right but oh but it's so funny it's so funny so funny and you know there's a movie coming out 50 shades of gray you know a lot of you will go see it you've already read the book you might as well might you read the mommy porn you know and so you're gonna go out and and no matter what I say you're gonna see it because it doesn't matter that they're and I'm being sort of sarcastic but not complete.

It doesn't matter that there shouldn't be a hint of sexual immorality in our lives, not a hint, and yet we're going to go be entertained by watching unmarried couples engage in violent sex. If you want to go see it, go see it. If you're not a Christian, make fun of me all day long, because if I weren't a Christian, I make fun of what I'm saying as well. If you're a follower of Jesus, you have to understand we have a higher standard.

So if you want to go see it, go see it. But I'm going to pray to God that when you're watching it, you imagine me sitting right next to you, right next to you, and leaning over going, can I have some popcorn? And you share your popcorn with me. And when you do, I'm going to look at you, say, are you happy? You can go see it, but I just ruined it for you.

Save you ten bucks. I just ruined it for you. You will not enjoy it. You're going to picture my big nose in your face asking you for popcorn and asking you if you're happy. Because God does not want you happy when it causes you to do something wrong or unwise. Just as he who called you as holy. be holy in all that you do. The second time that God doesn't want you happy is when it's only based on the things of this world. It doesn't want you happy when it's only based on the things of

this world. If you watch kind of secular advertising, it's stunning what you need to be happy. In one late night setting of television, I learned there are three things I need to be happy. I need a blanket with holes in it. Snuggy. Okay. I need miracle lotion to make me look 22 again. And I need a shake weight, which I'm not even going to make the motion for that, because whoever created a shakeweight is laughing their buns off every time someone does it. Somebody don't know what I'm talking about. I'm just going to put my hands back behind my back while I'm talking about it because the moment I make a shake weight motion, that'll be on YouTube forever and ever and ever.

And I know whoever made that thing just laugh and go on. People are paying to buy a shake weight. And you don't think it's funny, but I think it's ridiculous. Okay. So here is the formula that culture tells us is true. If you look at your notes, basically better possessions, newer, faster, shinier, bigger, whatever, plus peaceful circumstances, the absence of all conflict, plus thrilling experiences, the perfect vacation, the fun experience, the big hit, the big thrill,

plus the right relationship. If you're not right, I'll trade you in for someone different. newer, younger, whatever, plus the perfect appearance, tuck it, lift it, puff it, smooth it, shave it, whatever. If you have all these things, better possessions, people's circumstances, thrilling experiences, the right relationship of the perfect appearance, that equals what? Happiness. That equals happiness.

If you have all that, you'll be happy. The problem is all these things are based on happenings and happenings change. That's why no one is really happy all the time in the things of this world. because they are simply counterfeits. They are not the real thing. It's like when I went to the grocery store, Amy sent me to buy one thing. Anytime a man goes to the grocery store, there's two rules. Number one, you have to get the wrong thing.

That's what we do. Number two, you have to get something that wasn't on the list because we are hunters and that's what we do. And so I got the wrong thing. The extra thing I got was this crab dip because it was $3.99 at this front table. I'm thinking, that's like $9.99 at a restaurant. This is dirt cheap, so I bought two. I'm going to wow my life group.

They think I'm cheap. Watch this. Crab dip for Life Group. Well, the problem is when they ate it, it tasted like nine-month-old mayonnaise and spam. They're like, what is this stuff? They're like, 399. This isn't crab dip. Well, if you read the label carefully, it says imitation crab meat.

Dear God, I have no idea what imitation crab meat would be. But, oh, I can't make anything worse than imitation crab meat. and this is exactly what the world does. If you get this, if you buy this, if you have this, if you trade this in, if you get this, then you're going to be happy, and yet you're still not happy because God does not want you to be happy when it's only based on the things of this world. In fact, I love what John says. I mean, it's so pointed and direct.

He says this in 1 John 2, 15 through 17. He says, listen to this, do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them. Let me just pause there for a moment. If that doesn't convict you, my gosh, it convicts me. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, comes not from the Father, but from the world.

The world and his desires that pass away, they're gone. But whoever does the will of God lives. forever. God does not want you above all else to be happy when it causes you to do the wrong thing or something unwise. God does not want you happy when it's only based on the things of this world. Above all else, God's highest calling for you is not your happiness because I'm going to argue with all my heart. God does not want you happy as much as God wants you blessed. God has something far better than your happiness, he wants you to be blessed. Happiness is based on happenings. Blessed life is based on his goodness and his presence. In fact, the Greek word that's

translated as blessed is the word macareos, and it means supremely blessed, or it can literally be translated more than happy, more than happy. God wants you more than happy. The problem is, if I tell you, God wants you blessed, most people think that means more money, perfect health, and so on, but that's not what the blessed life is. When God wants you blessed, it doesn't mean that you won't have a bad day. It doesn't mean your kids won't fight. Doesn't mean your car won't break down. Doesn't mean you won't get a zip before prom.

These things happen. What means is you will experience the goodness of God in the middle of some of the difficulties of life. Your happiness and the blessings are not based on the perfect pain-free life. God never promises that. Jesus, in fact, said, in this world, you will have trouble. You want to see a promise? That's a promise.

But he says, but take heart. I've overcome this world. So the problem is we're looking for this pain-free, perfect life. And if we don't have it, then we start to blame God when the reality is God wants to be active in our pain-filled life because we live in a sinful and broken world. Just because you're blessed doesn't mean you're not going to have trials. Doesn't mean you're not going to feel weak. doesn't mean there's not going to be storms in your life.

In the middle of the storm, you can have a blessing. What is that blessing? The supernatural peace of God that goes beyond your human ability to ever understand or even comprehend. That peace will guard your heart and your mind and your soul in Christ Jesus. Some of you, even today, you are in the middle of a storm. And in a moment, the peace of God can move in your hearts. and suddenly you recognize I trust him even though I'm in the middle of the storm.

You can be in the middle of a trial. You'd never choose what you're going through right now. You feel like you don't even have what it takes to go on. And yet for some reason, in the presence of God, you can have joy unspeakable. That's what the Bible calls it. This joy that wells up from deep within side. People are how do you have that?

And you're like, it only comes from God. Because those who are mature in Christ recognize that you can actually rejoice in your soul, sufferings in your trials because you know that they're developing perseverance in you and perseverance must finish its work so you may be mature and complete in Christ not lacking anything and you've been through enough trials that you recognize I'd never choose them again but I am who I am today because God conform me to the image of Christ when I walked through this I knew him more intimately and I walked with him more faithfully and I experienced the goodness of God in a way that I couldn't have had on a good day

but I found his goodness on a day that I would not have chosen. It's the blessings of God. In fact, Psalm 374, David said this. He said, we are to delight in the Lord. Delight in the Lord. And he will give you the desires of your heart. Delight. I love that word delight.

It comes from a Hebrew word, the word is Anag. Hebrew words, they're almost like story word. There's depth and texture to it. And this word, it means to delight. it means to enjoy, it carries with it the idea of being made soft and pliable. In other words, as we seek God, as we enjoy God, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousnesses, and then everything will be added unto you, as we pursue God, as he is the object of our affection, as we're not pursuing happiness, but we're pursuing God, as we're pursuing God,

suddenly we enjoy his presence, we're delighting in him, and then he gives us not like, hey, everything I want humanly, he gives me the desires of my heart. What he does is he gives us his desires. Our desires become his desires. Then when we pray according to his will, he gives us what we pray for because we're praying specifically for his will. Suddenly, I'm enjoying God. I'm soft and pliable.

I'm being conform to the image. He is giving me his desires. I'm now praying not my will, but I'm praying his will. And suddenly, I'm living the very blessed life. The blessed life. not the perfect life, not the pain-free life, but something that is better than happiness. It's joy unspeakable.

It's peace. It's his supernatural strength when I am completely weak. It is a supernatural life. It's his super, meeting our natural, and suddenly his power, his presence, carries us. I'll explain it like this and we'll close out. Max Lakato told a story I'm going to make it my own. He basically said, if you took a fish out of water

and put it on the beach, would the fish be happy? Yes or no? This is not a rhetorical question. I need all of you at all over. I'm like asking you this, okay? Work with me. You guys in Wellington, Florida, work with me, okay?

Take a fish down the water, put them on the beach. Is the fish happy? Yes or no? No, why? The fish can be go, so let's say we give the fish a big wad of cash. $100,000. Is the fish happy?

Yes or no? No. What if we give the fish like a lounge chair? a Corona beer and a playfish magazine. Is the fish happy? Yes or no. Some of you are hesitating. You're like you're not sure, okay?

Like, ooh, look at the tail on that fish. Are those gills real or fake? Who cares? I don't know. Okay, anyway. So, is the fish happy? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Why?

Because the fish was not created for the sand. The fish was created for the ocean. Okay, case in point. if you have everything this world has to offer, will you be ultimately and lastingly happy? The answer is no. Why? Because you were not created for earth. You were created for heaven. You were created for eternity. This earth is a blip. You're here for a little while. And then you're God. You were created to glorify the God of the universe. He is not here to serve us. We are here to serve him. Therefore, lower your expectations of earth.

No new car, no new house, no new job, no new person. It's going to satisfy the cravings of your heart because inside your heart you have a Christ-shaped void. Some of you know it. You've tried everything out there you can. You've parted your brains out. You've consumed everything you could. You've rearranged your body. You've traded in girlfriend or boyfriend for others.

You've got this job, this city, that city, and nothing fulfills. Why? Because you are not created to be satisfied for this world. It's all accountable. that there's something so much more, and that it's a life solely submitted to God, I belong to you. Lead me, guide me, take me. My gifts are yours. My heart is yours.

My passion's yours. My life is yours. Help me to walk by faith and not by sight. Give me the words to say to make a difference today. My hands are your hands. Use them. My feet are your feet. My feet are your mouth is your mouth.

My mouth is your mouth. Give me words to be a blessing in this world. And suddenly you're delighting yourself in the Lord. and he's given the desires of your heart, your desires are his desires, you're praying, and you're living a very blessed life. It doesn't mean it's perfect, doesn't mean it's pain-free, but it's blessed by the presence of God. I started off and said, God wants you happy.

I even use scripture to kind of support that. But what I did intentionally is I didn't give you the whole verse. And I want to give you the whole verse today because this brings the message together. Psalm 9712 says this. May all who are godly be happy what? Say it with me all of our churches. Be happy how? In the Lord. And what do you do? And you praise his holy name. Happiness is never going to be found in the happenings of this earth. Happiness is only found in the Lord. And it's deeper than happiness. It's blessings. It's joy unspeakable. It's peace. It's his power. It's his presence. It's an eternal calling. So therefore, lower your expectations of earth. You're not creative for earth. You're created for heaven. Above all else, God doesn't want you happy when it causes you to do something sinful or unwise. God doesn't want you happy when it's only based on the things of this world.

God has something far better for you. God wants you blessed. God wants you more than happy tapping into his goodness that no matter what and in everything, God is working them together for good for those who loved him and are called according to his purpose. All of our churches, let's pray. Father, we thank you for your true. that sets us free from the cultural myths that bring bondage in our hearts. We pray, God, that you would do a work in your people, that we would be blessed by you to be a blessing in this world.

All of our churches, as you take a moment, let me just ask very simply this, I would think everybody would say yes to this. How many of you want to truly be blessed by God more than you could ever imagine? Would you lift up your hands right now? Just all of our churches say, yes, that's me. Your hands going up everywhere. Father, I pray that we, that we, we would not pursue happiness, but we would pursue you. And the byproduct of pursuing you would be knowing you intimately and enjoying your blessings, not just for us, but that we could be a blessing to those in this world.

Father, I pray right now for those who are doing what I've done too many times in my life to count, where I've justified doing the wrong thing because it made me feel good, because it made me happy, because it was a temporary whatever. God, I pray that you would convict us all of any area of sin and compromise in our lives right now. God, I pray for those who may be contemplating divorce

because they're simply not happy. God, I pray at this moment that you would give them hope. God, that you would bring healing, forgiveness. God, in those who think there is no way, we thank you, God, that with you, there's always a way. We pray for restoration. God, I pray that our happiness would not ever be based on the temperament

things of this world, the happenings that come and they go. God, that we would never settle for a counterfeit. God, I pray you'd supernaturally give us the ability not to be lured into loving this world, but because of the love of the Father is in us, we will not love the world. But God, we're going to pursue you with all of our hearts. And I pray, God, that our church should be full of people that are blessed, not blessed with the perfect life, but blessed with the presence of the perfect God. God bless your church that we could be more than happy, showing your love into a dark world that needs the light and love of your son, Jesus. As you keep praying today at all over different churches,

there's some of you right now, man, you recognize you've been on a pursuit for your whole life. You've tried everything you can try. You tried the party scene. You tried the material stuff. You tried the outfits. You tried the car. You tried the different job. You tried the different relationship.

And another person, another person. You moved to a different city. You tried the vacation. You tried to save enough money to make you happy. You tried everything you can, and there's still a void. Why is that? Because you are trying to fill a spiritual void with material things, and there are not enough material things to fill that void.

You have a Christ-shaped void, and that's why you're here at this moment, and somehow, guess what? You know it, you know it. You may be a church person, you may not be a religious person, but you recognize you have not been pursuing God. Here's the good news. God is pursuing you, and He loves you so much

that he did something for you and did something for me that we could never earn or never deserve. He became one of us in the person of Jesus who was without sin, who died on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins so that whoever calls on his name would be forgiven and made new, just like the thousands who were baptized this weekend, made new in Christ. And that's why some of you are here today.

It's time for you to call. follow on him and say, I'm ready to pursue you. I turn from my sin and I turn toward you. And when you do, he will forgive every sin you've ever committed and he will make you brand new. And I'm not going to promise you a better or a perfect life, but I am going to promise you a better and a perfect God who will love you, comfort you and strengthen you and forgive you. And he is here to meet you today, and there are those of you, you know you need to give your life to him. All of our churches, that's your prayer, say yes, I surrender my life by faith to Jesus today. Lift your hands high right now all over the place to say, I give my life to him. Lift them up right back over here, all three,

four, five of your hands over here, right over there, ma'am, big, bold hand right here saying yes. Both of you back here toward the back. Sir right here in the middle section, I surrender to you. Both of you three right back over here, both of you together, bless you guys. Others who say yes, back over here toward the back in this section. I surrender. I give my life to Christ. Church online, you click right below me. Others of you, someone, you're leaning into it. You're leaning into it. There's something holding you back. Take the step of faith and say yes, right here in this section. God bless you. Would you all pray with those around you? Pray Heavenly Father, forgive me of my sins. Make me brand new. By faith, I surrender to you. Believing Jesus died for my sins.

to make me new. Fill me with your spirit so I could follow you. My life is not my own. I give it to you. Thank you for new life. In Jesus' name I pray. Church worship big, worship loud, worship God. Welcome those born into the family of God made new by life in Christ.