Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - God Never Said That, Part 2: God Won’t Give You More Than You Can Handle

Episode Date: February 14, 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.

I just can't do it anymore. I am nothing left. Between the divorce, the cancer, your mom dying and being laid off, I know it feels like you're going through a lot. Believe me, I have been there. Just remember, when God closes a door, he opens a window. And never forget, God never gives you more than you can handle. God never said that.

It is great to have all of you with us today at all of our life churches and our network churches and those of you in countries around the world on the other side of computer screens at church online. We're actually in part two of a four-part message series called God Never Said That. We're looking at four cultural beliefs about God that God actually never said. For example, if you missed last week, we dove into the controversial belief system that above all else, God wants us happy. God actually never said that. Next week, part three, is probably my personal favorite of all four of the messages.

We're going to deal with the very popular cultural belief that it doesn't matter what you do as long as you don't hurt anyone. The reality is God never said that, and our actions matter a lot. We're going to dive into that next week. And then week number four, maybe the most important of all the four messages as we deal with the belief that it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere. God never said that. What you believe matters and makes a big difference,

and we're going to dive into that in week number four. Today, though, we're going to look at what may be one of the biggest misbeliefs about God, and I'm going to walk into it with a little introduction, then I'll tell you what it is. My pastor, Pastor Nick Harris, used to always say something that I really didn't like, but I think it was really true. Pastor Nick would always say that chances are pretty good, that you're either about to go into a difficult season in your life,

or you're in the middle of a difficult season in your life, or you're just now coming out of a difficult season in your life. Not very encouraging, but how many of you would say, that kind of seems like it's pretty close to the truth. I mean, every time you turn around, either for you or for somebody you love that's close to you, life can get kind of complicated rather quickly. And whenever that happens to me,

it seems like whenever life starts spilering downward, it's amazing how fast it seems like there's more than we can handle. Some of you right now, you're going through a lot. It could be financial burden, could be you got a bad report from the doctor for you or someone you love. Could be like relationships are blowing up. Maybe your job is not stable as it once was. It could be you're battling with depression, any number of different things. And then the weight just gets heavier and heavier and heavier and heavier and heavier. And finally you think I just can't take any more of this. It never fails. When you get to that place where you just feel like I cannot take any more, along comes some well-meaning Christian with annoying Christian advice. I don't know if this ever

happens to you where you live, but it seems like I see it all the time. You're about to your hair out because you can't take it and someone comes up and says, oh, don't worry, don't worry, whenever God closes a door, he always opens a window. What the heck does that mean anyway? Open what opens a window? I mean, if you're on the 12th floor, that sounds like bad news to me, right? I don't even know what that means, but they say, or they'll say, well, remember, remember, God helps those who helps themselves, okay? God never said that too, but that's a whole other subject. The one I want to deal with today is what they say, don't worry, don't worry, hey, don't

worry, don't worry, it's all going to be okay. Remember, God will never give you more than you can handle. It's all going to be okay because God will never give you more than you can handle. We need to embrace the reality that God never said that. In fact, the truth is often the opposite of that misbelief. Now, why do so many people believe, and they'll even say, the Bible says God will never give you more than you can handle? I believe that this belief system comes from a misunderstanding or a misquote

of a very powerful verse of Scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. In the 13th verse of this chapter, Paul was talking to the Corinthians about temptation, and we're going to deal with this verse and even more detail next week. But here's what Paul said. He said, God is faithful. This is good news. and he will not let you what? All of our churches, let's work together.

He said, he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you're tempted, here's the good news. God will also provide a way out. Scripture never says that God will not let you endure more than you can handle. It does say he won't let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but it never says that he won't give you more than you can handle. In fact, when you just kind of survey the entirety of the Bible, You will see story after story of people who had more than they can handle.

You look in the book of judges. There's Gideon who says, I'm the weakest in my clan. I'm the least in my family. God, I don't have what it takes to do what you want me to do. Moses. Now, I'm slow of speech. I'm not a good speaker. I'm not a good leader.

These people are wearing me out. I can't do it all. I don't have what it takes. Esther, I'm very, very afraid. David, King David, when the weight of his sin caught up to him. He said this in Psalm 38, verses 4 and 8. He said, my guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. I can't take it all. He said, I'm exhausted and completely crushed. Listen to his words. He says, my groans come from an anguished heart. I don't have what it takes to

handle this. Even Jesus in the New Testament, Mark's gospel tells us this, Mark 14, 33, and 35. that when Jesus was looking ahead to what he would endure on the cross, Mark said Jesus began to be deeply distressed and troubled. And Jesus said this, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to what? Say it aloud. To the point of death. As he's sweating drops of blood,

he says, physically, my soul is overwhelmed to the point of death. God never said that he wouldn't give you more than you can hand. In fact, today, for those of you that are under weight and pressure in your life right now, and you feel like you don't have what it takes, I want to show you two reasons why God will occasionally allow you to have more than you can handle. Here's the question. Why would God allow us to have more than we can handle?

The first response, if you're taking notes, is this, because I believe there are times that he wants to teach us to depend on his presence. He wants to teach us to depend on his presence. For example, how many of you've noticed that when things start going really well, it's actually easy to forget about God. Be honest, be honest, right? When life's going the way you want it to, you're like, yeah, God, I know you're still there, and I know I kind of need you, but right now not so much because everything's working

great, and I hope you keep it working great, but you just don't feel the urgent need for God when things are going well. But oh, my goodness, when things start going down, you know, you start remembering God because, oh, God, I need you, God, I need you, God, I need you. It's a little bit like a lady that I met on an airplane trip. It was funny. Every time I sit next to someone, I almost want to lie about my occupation because every time, one of the first questions they ask is, so what do you do for a living?

And every time I say, I'm a pastor, the conversation goes one of two ways. Either, you're like, we, p, you know, oh, you're a pastor. Well, that's really neat. Never talk again. or they turn into like religious freak. You know, for five minutes we had a normal conversation. What do you do for a little? I'm a pastor.

Oh, well, praise the Lord, brother. Hallelujah. Thank you. Jesus. Glory to God. I'm so thankful that God preordained me to sit next to a man of a cloth because in a moment this airplane is going to take up. And we're going to soar on wings like eagles.

We're going to fly and not be fain. Hallelujah. Where did that come from? You were normal a minute ago now. You're a religious man, you know? And so I've never lied, but I want to lie. Well, one lady, she said, you know, what do you do for a living? He said, well, I'm actually a pastor of a church.

And she said, well, that's fine as long as you remember two things. Number one, I am not a Christian. And number two, I do not want you to convert me on this flight. Fair enough. Let's just start right there. You know, that's great. I won't try to convert you. Let's just enjoy the flight together.

And so we actually started developing kind of a good conversation together. And midway through the flight, man, we hit turbular. from hell. Now, I don't know how many of you have been in turbulence from hell. There's turbulence and some kind of novice fly, like, oh, it's bumpy, you know. And then there's like, rededicate your life to Jesus just in case turbulence. You know, your theology may not even call for that, but at that point you don't care. You know, you're confessing sins just in case, you know. And it was that kind of gut-wrenching turbulence. Well, since she wasn't a Christian, she had no reason not to cuss. So she was just, like, she had the gift of cussing. It was like an art

for him. She's like, bleep. I mean, she said every cuss word I've ever heard. She created new combinations. I didn't even know where possible. She's letting it, it's just going, you know, and she's like, I'm sorry, bastard, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep. And so, midway through, as she's cussing, I just leaned over for fun. I said, still don't believe in God. And she's like, bleep, you, no, I don't, all this kind of stuff. And she's still going for it. And then about five minutes later, it's still, we still hadn't gotten out of it. And she said, I don't believe in your bleak, bleep God, but while you're praying, you might as well pray for me too.

Okay, there you go. Okay, there you go. I don't believe in God, but you might as well pray for me too. It's amazing when life gets difficult how suddenly you're drawn to the presence of God. Now, why would God allow us to go through something? that is more than we can handle. One of the reasons might be to teach us to depend on his presence. You can see the reality of this in the Old Testament story of Jonah. If you know his story, basically God said, hey, go preach to the Ninevites. And Jonah's like, nah, not happening. Heck, no,

I won't go. I don't like them and I'm not doing it. And so he started to rebel, much like what some of you might be doing right now. And after time when you rebel, your life starts to spiral downward, and that's what was happening to Jonah. Through an odd series of events, he was thrown off of a ship into the water, and a giant fish swallows him up. We pick up the story in Jonah 2, verse 2, verse 2, and verse 7. And here's what Jonah said.

He said, in my what? Let's say it aloud, all of our churches. He said, in my... Let's do it again. Fort Worth, I need you guys to help me out. All of our churches, in my what? In my distress, I called to the Lord, and he answered me.

Notice what Jonah didn't say. Jonah didn't say, in my success, I called to the Lord, but in my distress. It's amazing how much more we crave God, notice that we need him during our distress and often overlook him in our success. In my distress, I called to the Lord. He said, when my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord. Oh, my goodness, I remember God. Oh, I should run to God. I should call on God.

I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you. In my distress, I called on the Lord. Here's the challenge for some people is they get in the middle of the storm, and they start to wonder about God. Life isn't going the way I thought it should. I wish this weren't happening. Why is this happening? If God were with me, this would not be happening.

I don't understand why God is allowing this. I prayed for one thing, and I'm getting the opposite, so God must not be with me. If God were good, this wouldn't be happening. If God were powerful, this wouldn't be happening. I don't believe God is with me. I came to tell somebody this. Never let the presence of a storm cause you to doubt the presence of God.

Oh, I'm going to say that again, and somebody's going to get excited before long, and you're going to start working with me, because every now and then, the winds will blow and the waves will crash, and you never let the presence of a storm cause you to doubt the presence of God, because he will never leave you,

he will never forsake you. Why would God allow you to experience more than you can handle? Sometimes it's to teach you to depend on him, to draw you to call on him. In my distress, I remember the Lord and I call on him. David said this about calling on God. Psalm 145, verse 18. The Lord is near to all who do what? The Lord is near to all who call on him, to those who call on him in truth.

Some of you right now, you may be in the presence of a storm, and you're going to remember to call on him to seek him. When you seek him, he will reveal himself to you. When you draw near to him, he draws near to you. Never let the presence of a storm cause you to doubt the presence of God. Why would our God allow you to experience more than you can handle? Sometimes it's so that you will be drawn to his presence, to remember his goodness, and to lure you into calling on the name of the Lord.

I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt. that God allowed me to get to a place that I had more than I could handle in college, to draw me to his goodness. I am convinced he let me get deep in the valley. So I would recognize who he was and call on his name. I made more stupid decisions early in college than you could imagine. I made some stupid decisions last week, but in college, whew, I excelled in stupid decisions. My first year of college, I got arrested for shoplifting.

I got in trouble for partying and my scholarship was on the line in questions as to whether I could stay at the university. This is all in a real short period of time. Four of my fraternity brothers got busted for grand larceny and they were considering removing our charter and kicking our fraternity off of campus. And then I cheated on my girlfriend with one of my fraternity brothers' girlfriends. Yes, I was that guy horrible and I'm embarrassed to say that, but that's what I did. And I was so low. I mean, potentially losing the scholarship, been arrested now. And weeks before, I was popular, well-respected and liked,

and then I betrayed a fraternity brother, and everyone had kind of turned on me, and rightfully so. And I just remember sitting in my room crying my brains out and going, I don't know where to turn. And so the only place I needed to turn was to God, and I didn't even know God personally. I started reading the Bible for the first time. I didn't even know where to start.

I didn't really know how to understand it. But I had nowhere else to go. and so I turned to God. And here's what I've noticed. I mean, God used that time to draw me to himself. And I am who I am today because he allowed me, I believe, to get to the place where I'd nowhere else to turn but to him. And life can be like that, man.

It's like you can be in the valley and then you can be on the mountaintop. And then you can be in the valley and you can be on the mountain top. And I know you can experience God on the mountaintop, but I'm telling you what, I best experience him in the valley. I really do. I'm most aware of my need for him. yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why?

Because thou art with me. You are with me. I best experience the present. I'm most aware of his goodness in the valley. And I can tell you with all sincerity that I would rather be in the valley with Jesus than on the mountaintop without him. I would rather be hurting in his presence with his goodness than on the mountainous. than on the mountaintop and unaware of who he is and what he's doing.

I don't know who needs this, but you're hurting right now. You are not alone. Never let the presence of a storm cause you to doubt the presence of God. Why would our God allow you to experience more than you can handle? Maybe to teach you to depend on his presence. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. The second reason if you're taking notes is this.

Why would God allow you to experience more than you can handle? One is to teach you to depend on his presence. Two is to teach you to experience his power. To help you experience his super natural power. Because too many of us are doing life on our own. For example, when I was growing up as a kid, my parents didn't have the luxury that we as parents have today on road trips.

Some of you know what I'm talking about. Parents today, you got it so easy. You got iPods, iPads, video games, DVD. I mean, you had so many ways to keep your kids quiet. It's not even fair, okay? When we were growing up, man, we had to entertain ourselves in the back seat of the car. The only thing that I remember that was really cool back then was the back seat of the car, back behind the seat by the rear window. They had a flat thing back there where the speakers would come out. Who remembers what I'm talking about? And what could you do up there? You could

get up there and take a nap. Oh, that was so cool to get up there and take a nap. And if your dad was really cool or your mom, you could take your race cars and put them back there and the back and then when they turn really fast, it'd make your race cars go from one side to the other. You may not have had a childhood as good as mine, but that was pretty awesome when your cars could race across the flat plastic back of a Buick century back in 1975 or so. You know, the glory days. The problem was that they didn't have air conditioner, like cars have them out of the ceiling now and out of the front and so you had to sit between the two seats. There was a little V thing there. You need to edge off your brother or sister to be like a dog, you know, just to get

the air conditioner. And then you, you know, you had to sit down. And then you had to sit down. You You'd fight with your brother and sister, and your mom or dad would reach back there with the death grip with one hand. They could claw you and paralyze you to where you couldn't move until Tuesday. And then they would tell you, stay on your side. There's an imaginary line. Don't cross the line. Of course, you're rebellious. You pierced the line with your finger.

You know, anyway, I don't know how I got off on that. So back to where I was going with the story. There wasn't anything to do. So my dad came up with this game. He said, Craig, I bet. you, you can't hold a handkerchief out the window on the whole road trip from our house to grandmas. Two hours.

Now, here's what's stupid about this, okay? There was no payoff. It wasn't like I bet you $5. There wasn't like you can stay up 30 minutes late. There wasn't like a lollipop or a donut. All he said was, I bet you can't. And that's not fair to ever do to a guy because we are programmed to take a little. that bet. I bet you can't. I bet you can't. I bet you can't run through that brick wall

with nothing but your bare head. Oh, do you think I can't? Watch this. I'll run through that brick wall by. It's like, we're guys. We're stupid like that. And all he did was that, I bet you can't. Give me that handkerchief. And watch this. And so he gave me his handkerchief. I rolled down the window. We're driving down the road, 65, 70 miles an hour. And he's like, you can't do it. like, bless God, I'll show you. I'm going down and I'm going to want to handkerchief. I'm holding on until I can't hold on anything wrong. I didn't know I had two hands, did you?

Watch this. And then when they get time, I do the double hand. My hands are free, and I get off. There's like, handkerchief blisters. I can't, couldn't hold a pencil till November. And I was like, I won. I won. And my dad was like, wow, you won.

I can't believe you won. You won the bet. It was like two days. decades later, when I had my own kids, to suddenly realize, I didn't win. Dad was smoking my butt the whole time. I didn't win. But, anyway, all that to say, I just remember that holding on the hanky, holding on the hanky, holding on the hanky. And that, to me, is an exact picture of what so many of you are doing.

Your strength, your strength. I can do this. I can do this. It's more than I can handle. But the reason you hang on with your own strength is you've been programmed, to believe the lie that God will never give you more than you can handle. And if you won't give you more than you can handle, then you have to hold on, and you have to have the strength, and you have to have the power. But that's simply not true, because you were not created to have all the power to do it yourself. You were created to need God, to be desperate for him.

And when you recognize that he didn't expect you to handle everything, that's when you experience his power. The Apostle Paul, he lived this like some of you might learn to live it. In Corinthians, he talks about a thorn in his flesh, and this thing, it plagued his life. He wanted it to go away. You may say, what was the thorn? It's most likely a metaphor for something. We don't know exactly what the thorn is. Scholars have speculated for centuries. Maybe it was this failing eyesight because we think he couldn't see well. We don't know what it was. but he pleaded with God three different times. Take this away.

Now, when you read it, while I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away, you may think he prayed for three days, three times. What this means is there were three significant seasons of seeking, begging, pleading, probably fasting, maybe having churches that he planted praying. It was an ongoing process like my wife Amos. She's dealt with ongoing chronic infections, and they really, they'll put her down for days, and it's gone on for years and years and years. And I don't know how many seasons of prayer were six months, nine months, we're fasting a big majority of the time.

We've got all of our life group praying. We've got campuses praying. We're believing this is the time God is going to heal her, and we continue to see. Please, dear God, take this away. That's what Paul is doing. Now, I'm going to look at this from my perspective, and I'm thinking to myself, okay, if God is going to heal somebody, I'm kind of thinking Paul is a good candidate. Right?

I mean, just based on my human side of, you know, some people deserve more than others, based on what Paul did, I'm thinking if there is any scale that merits deserving it, I'm thinking Paul deserved it. I'm thinking if anybody had faith for it, Paul probably had faith for it. And there will come a time, I promise you, if you walk with God long enough and live in the sin-filled world long enough where you're going to find your own thorn that just doesn't go away. And you're going to ask, God, why don't you remove this? Can't you answer my prayer?

Can't you just help the depression go away? Can't you just heal my child of these headaches? I hate seeing someone I love suffer so much. Can't you just fix this marriage? Can't you just turn my team back towards you? Can't you just help me for one month not to be behind financially? God, can't you just do this one thing? And you know he can, and he doesn't. And you think, why would God allow me to have more than I can handle? Why didn't he just do it when he could? And this is exactly where Paul was. And God actually spoke to Paul and said something that is so powerful, and it ministers to me at such a deep level, and I hope it does to you as well. Paul's like, why didn't you do this? And God said to him, My grace is sufficient for you.

For my what? Somebody say it aloud. For my power is made perfect how? In weakness. My grace is what you need, Paul. My power is made perfect in your weakness. Then Paul starts saying what at face values like crazy talk. I want you to watch the power in what he says.

He says, okay, if that's the case, then I'm going to boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses. In other words, hey, I'm weak here. Why? so that Christ's power may rest on me. Now watch what Paul says. That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses. In other words, thank God I'm weak here. I delight in insults. Thank you, God, that people are insulting me for serving you. I delight in hardships. What do he experience? He was beaten, whipped, left for dead, shipwrecked, snake bitten. I delight in all these hardships. I delight in persecutions when there are spiritual opposition against me. I delight

in difficulties. Why? Somebody help me out. For when I am weak, then I am what? Then I am strong. I want you to everybody to say this aloud with you. For when I am weak, then I am again, everybody, come on, I'm preaching my brains out. Don't leave me up here by myself. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Again, for when I am weak, then I am strong. He says, I delight in this hard stuff because when I don't have what it takes, I tap into a power that goes beyond my human ability to understand. I have the supernatural power of God, you see. I have the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwelling within me. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Oh, how I know this truth in speaking. I just ask myself this week, how many days a week on average do I speak?

probably four or five days a week. How many times a week? Nine to 15, different times a week. I'll tell you real honestly. I don't always feel like speaking. I don't always wake up 300 days a year and go, oh, I feel like standing up today. I feel sometimes I get in a fight with my wife before I speak.

I'm going to go talk on marriage right after a fight. Glory to God, this is going to be fun, right? Sometimes I don't feel, I don't wake up and go, hey, I want to be critiqued today. So you guys can go to lunch or dinner and say, I'd give him a four on that. Oh, it was better than that. Now I was a four. He didn't dance this week.

I'd give him a four, not a five, okay? I didn't like what he said about this. You know, I don't wake up with that. Sometimes I feel sick. I've never missed a day of preaching for being sick. I just pray, take some medicine. I've had, I'm not going to get gross. I've had tummy bugs.

Really bad. I just take some medicine, put a plug in it, and preach my brains out. I'm telling you, that's what I do. I figure for 30 minutes, you know, if I just run, if something happens, you won't know, and we'll just, we go with it, you know. And I don't always feel like it, but here's what I found out, is when I have the least to bring, honestly, when I'm exhausted, when I'm physically depleted, when I'm discouraged, that's when God's power works best.

That's why every time I speak, I take a little step. It means a lot to me. Right before I start, I take a step forward. And in my mind symbolically, what I'm doing is I'm stepping out of myself into the power of God. I'm stepping out of myself into the power of God. You see, I'm sailing, not rowing. Some of you're rowing right now. You get in a boat, you're going to row.

God won't give me more than I can handle. So bless God, I can get there. I can get there. And you can do it for a while until one day you just can't row anymore. I've learned to put the sail up and let the wind of the spirit bring movement. because instead of trying to do it myself, I serve a God that when I cannot get it done, he gets it done through me. For when I am weak, then he is strong.

I don't know who's hurting today, but I pray this minister's to you. You may get to know him better in the valley than you ever do on the mountaintop. You may experience his power even more real right now because when you are weak, he is strong. Oh, but God will never give you more than you can handle. That's why you're trying to hold on to it because you think it's yours to hold on to. it's not yours. You were created to need him. He will give you more than you can handle. When he calls you to do something outside yourself, he will give you more than you can handle. If you're going to be a foster parent, there will be more than you can handle.

If you're going to raise teenagers, there will be more than you can handle. If you're going to be invested in ministry, there will be more than you can handle. If you're a man married to a woman, or a woman married to a man, there will be more than you can handle. were not created to do life on your own. So instead of saying, oh, I've got to be strong, oh, I've got to be strong, oh, I've got to be strong, because God will never give me more than I can handle. Instead of saying, I have to be strong, you say, I have to be weak, I have to be broken, I have to be dependent on him, I can't get it all done myself. I was not created to do it myself for when I am weak, then his strength is made perfect through me.

So I don't know who it is right now that you feel like life is giving you more than you can handle. And there's something you wish that God would do to change it, but yet he hadn't changed it. And you're asking why, and you don't understand. I'm going to tell you right now, it may be so you can get to know his presence because you often better experience him in the valley than you do on the mountaintop. And it's because when you delight in your weaknesses, his strength is made perfect. Somebody needs to stop rowing and start sailing.

Let the wind of his spirit be exactly what you need. My grace is sufficient for you, God says, because my power is made perfect in weakness. Why would God allow you to have more than you can handle? maybe it's because he wants to draw you close and to reveal his presence to you and maybe he wants to give you his supernatural power because his power is made perfect in your weakness. Father, I pray today that the power of your Holy Spirit

would be real to your children as we seek you right now. All of our churches, I want to just talk to those of you that you may be in that difficult season right now. or I've found that sometimes it's even more difficult to watch someone you love going through a really hard season. All of our churches, if maybe right now you're facing some significant challenges or somebody that you really care about is and you need specific prayer, would you lift up your hands right now? Just lift them up in an attitude of faith right now, all of our churches. All of our churches, just please do this and say yes as you reach out to God.

Father, I just, I hurt knowing there are so many people right now that are in a season of pain. and I thank you, God, that you're a compassionate God who hurts with us and hurts for us. And, God, I thank you that you care about every single detail of the lives of all of your children. So right now I ask, God, that your presence would minister to those who are hurting. God, I pray that as we call on you,

that you would draw close to us according to your word. I pray, God, for those who are in the valley right now, that even though they walk through the valley, that they would not fear, God, because you are truly with them. God, I thank you that they get to a place and they realize that you are all that they have. At that moment, they're going to recognize, God, that you are all that they really need.

I pray, God, that in our brokenness, in our weakness, in our vulnerability, that your strength is made perfect. Build the faith of your children today to continue to seek you, that even though the thorn may still be there, that your grace, is sufficient, that your power is made perfect in weakness. God, I pray for the single mom who feels like she cannot go on, give her that strength and power. For the marriage that's hanging on by a thread,

give them faith to continue to believe. God, for those who've heard bad news from a doctor, God, we thank you that you are a healer, and even more importantly, God, you are always with us. God, give us faith to continue to press into you as you reveal yourself to us. As you keep praying today at all of our churches, nobody looking around. I read a verse early in the message from David when he said, my guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. I told a part of my story that I rarely tell today about what happened in college, some of the stuff that I did, and I'm just not, I was so ashamed.

My life was so dark, and I remember thinking, could God ever forgive me of this? I thought to myself, maybe if I tried really, really hard, and I was really, really good. I could, like, work my way to God, but I didn't realize that I was created to need God, that my sin is too great for me to overcome, that your sin is too great for you to overcome.

That's why God sent Jesus. That's why the message of God's love is such good news. Some people say it's too good to be true. I'm going to tell you right now. It's too good not to be true. That God loved you so much that he became one of you in the person of Jesus, who never ever sinned so that he could become the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.

He died and rose again. Why? So that anyone who calls on his name will be saved. So that anyone who calls on his name and that anyone includes you, doesn't matter how dark your life is, doesn't matter how low you feel, doesn't matter how bad you've been, doesn't matter how messed up you are, anyone in a moment when you call on him, you will be saved. every sin you've ever committed washed away, made completely new.

Honestly, some of you recognize that's why you're here at this moment, because it's more than you can handle, and you are not created to deal with it on your own. You recognize your need for a Savior. What do you do? You call on him. Jesus save me. When you do, he separates your sins as far as the east is from the west. You become a new creation in Christ, Jesus.

The old is gone, and everything becomes new spiritually, and that's why you're here today, and you know it. Now is your time. Now is your moment. You say, yes, I'm ready to surrender my life completely to him. It is more that I can handle. I need Jesus, his grace, his forgiveness. I give my life to him. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now all over the place and say, yes, that's my prayer. Right up here, God bless you, both of you guys, right over here, right over here, say yes. I want to see you. Just lift it up for me alone right here. Sweetheart, and in this middle section, God bless you guys. Three, four, five of you right back over here, up here close to you. to me, others who say yes, right down here, bless both of you, say yes to Jesus. Sir, right here,

a man of God being born into the kingdom of God. Say yes, I surrender way back here toward the back. In a moment, you're going to want to go a little crazy because we're in the middle of New Testament miracles by God, right back over here. Others of you today, you're leaning into it, you're thinking about it. It's too much for you. You can't do it on your own. You say, yes, Jesus, I give my life to you right now. Lift up your hand and say, yes, I surrender completely to him. Would you all pray right back over here? God bless you as well. We're going to pray together.

Everybody allow aloud. Pray Heavenly Father, by faith, I believe Jesus died for me, and he rose again so I could live for you. Forgive me of all my sins. Make me brand new. Fill me with your spirit. So I could know you, so I could serve you, and so I could follow you.

you. Today 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. Would you all worship big, worship loud, welcome those born into God's family today.