Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Hope in Action, Part 1: Hope in Action

Episode Date: December 31, 2017

Hope will point you in the right direction, but there’s only one way to reach your goal. Let’s learn what happens when we combine our dreams with dedication. Join us for a new message, Hope in Action! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, Life Church, a big happy new year to all of you. I want to tell you that next week, we're starting a brand new message series. In our very self-centered and self-saturated world, we're going to talk about something entirely different than being selfish. Jesus calls us to a selfless life. And as we launch into 2018, I believe Jesus is going to inspire us to be selfless as we show his love. Today, I want to introduce you to our guest speaker. We're incredibly blessed to hear from one of the best pastors and leaders in our whole organization, reigning out of Life Church South Tulsa, Oklahoma, the founding and campus pastor from South Tulsa, one of the best servant leaders in our whole organization, Pastor Tommy Dawson, oversees all of the Life Church Tulsa cluster. Big shout out to

all of our Life Church Tulsa locations. You guys are a amazing, you're all under amazing campus pastors, but Pastor Tommy, your influence in Tulsa is fantastic. Could you please help me welcome today for the first time ever teaching all life church locations, Pastor Tommy Dawson. Well, good evening. I mean, it is quite an honor to be here tonight. And speaking of honor, I believe in showing honor where honor is due. And I want to take a moment to honor our leader, Pastor Craig Groschelle. I've been on staff. Yes, thank you. I've been on staff over 11 and a half years, and in that time, I've had several opportunities to travel with him, and here's what I need you to know. He is the real deal. He's the same person

offstage as he is on stage. He's a man of character and integrity. He loves Jesus. He loves Amy, his children, and he loves this church, and we are fortunate to have him leading us day in and day out life church. One more time, let's honor our leader, Pastor Craig. Now, to tell you a little bit about me. I was born in Seoul, South Korea, but I grew up in West Virginia. That makes me what's known as a Korean hillbilly. There's not many of me. I'm a very rare breed. I'm like the human version of a unicorn. If you see one, take a picture, because there's not many of them. And when I was younger, I just found myself in sales, whether it was working in retail or being in direct sales. And I was actually pretty good at it. Matter of fact, let me give an example of me

being good at sales. I'm going to show you a picture of my beautiful wife, Nicole, and our three kids, Zachary, Canaan, and Zander. I mean, talk about good at sales. How in the world did I pull that off? Thank you, Jesus, from whom all blessings flow. And I actually came to Life Church in 2001 via an invitation from a co-worker, and I walked to the doors of this location, the Oklahoma City location, for the very first time. And let me tell you, it was like a breath of fresh air. Seeing church done in the way, I had never seen before, absolutely loved it. After a year, I moved to Baltimore, Maryland, which is where I met and married my wife, Nicole. But for years, we talked about how great would it be if we could be a part of something as amazing as Life Church? And in 2006, I had the opportunity

to join the Life Church staff at our Fort Worth, Texas location, had an amazing experience there. And 10 years ago, next month, January of 2008, my wife, Nicole and I had the privilege of launching the South Tulsa location. Now, we launched portable, which means we met in a school gymnasium, and we had two 54-foot tractor trailers full of stuff, front to back, top to bottom. Every week, I felt like I was on the road with Bon Jovi, loading in and loading out. Some of you all know what I'm talking about down in Texas, the early days of Fort Worth and Keller. You know what it's like to be portable. Up in Kansas, Overland Park in Wichita, you experienced that. And way down in South Florida, Wellington, you were portable longer than any location in the history of life church. You were portable longer than any location in the history of life church. you feel what I'm saying here today. And as you recall, I said we launched in January, which means it's winter, which means it's like today. It's cold.

And one Saturday night, it had iced all night long. So the staff and I, we got there at 4.30 in the morning with a couple of volunteers. And I go to put the key in one of the locks. It's frozen, solid. So I was like, well, I'll go try the other one. Let that one fall out. I put the key in the other one.

Nothing. I put it in my hands. I start breathing on it. and I'm thinking if we don't get this open, we literally will not have church today. I looked over at one of our set-up volunteers. His name's Steve Crabtree. He serves at our Jenks, Oklahoma location now. And he brought a travel mug from home full of Folgers coffee.

I didn't say anything to him, but I looked at him, and I looked at his cup, I looked at him, and I saw the steam coming out of the vent hole, and he just popped the lid off, walked over to the first lock, dumped half his cup on that lock, walked over to the second lock, and emptied it to the last drop. Walked over, put the key in. It pops open. Hallelujah.

Thank you, Jesus. We unloaded. And when he started to set up, and about an hour and a half later, I went by and found Steve. I said, Steve, thank you for sacrificing your coffee, especially on a day like today. And real matter of factly, here's what he said to me.

Tommy, don't thank me. Good thing that was Folgers and not Starbucks, or we wouldn't be having church today. It's that type of dedication. And matter of fact, for those of you that serve at all of our locations and especially those that serve around the clock at church online, thank you for being a part of leading people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. And now all these years later, I have the privilege of overseeing our six, soon to be seven Tulsa area locations and every day wake up just so amazed that we get to be a part of what God is doing. Now, as we go into the new year, we all hope that our life is going to get better, right? It could be in multiple categories.

Maybe we're hoping relationally our life will be better with family, with friends. Maybe your marriage is good. Maybe it's not, but you're hoping it's better next year. It could be from a financial standpoint. You're hoping next year that you make more money or you eliminate some debt. It could be from a physical standpoint. You want to be healthier in 2018 than you were in 2017. Most importantly, perhaps you're hoping that spiritually you walk with Christ will be stronger

next year than it was this year. As I went through those categories, how many of you would say that you hope that one, several, all those will be better next year? Lift your hand, my hand is up. I hope all of those will be better for me next year. So, right, we want things to get better. Rarely, if ever, have I ever met someone that hoped things would get worse. Like, I'm really hoping to gain 40 extra and unnecessary pounds to drive my blood pressure sky high

to put me at a higher risk of a heart attack said no one ever. I never met someone that said, I'm really hoping to blow my emergency fund next year and add $20,000 to $30,000 of debt to my family. I've never come through a year and thought, man, me and Nikki, our marriage is so strong this year. Next year, I hope it gets decimated. No, we're hoping things get better. So as we come to the end of this year and look toward next year, how would you finish this statement? This year, I hope to what? Perhaps you're hoping. to pay off student debt or strengthen your marriage. Maybe you're hoping to finally start serving at church or be stronger spiritually. Matter of fact, in all of your talk notes, the very first line,

I want you to finish that statement right now. In your notes, this year, I hope to what? As you're writing that down, here's what you want to realize about hope. Hope in and of itself changes nothing. Actions do that. Hope can be able to be. Hope can be able to realize about hope. Hope can be the cattle is for change, but actions are what is going to get us there. I mean, think about it. How many of us have had resolutions in the past, and they never happen? I know I have. I'm not talking about hope as a passive wish, but rather an active pursuit. This is what we are going to do. We are going to put hope in action. We're putting hope in action. The Bible actually talks about this. It's not a New Year's resolution or a motivational message. God's word says the

put hope in action. We see this in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 13 and 14. I'm going to start halfway through verse 13. It says this. It says put all of your what? Say it out loud with me. Put all of your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God's obedient children. Don't slip back into your old ways of living. You satisfy your own desires. You didn't know any better then than go to the beginning of verse 13. Prepare your minds for what? Say it out loud for action. We're talking about putting hope and action and exercise self-discipline. One version says self-control, but I'm going to park on the one that says self-discipline. What is discipline? When you put hope in action, it is going to take

discipline to do that. And I love the way Pastor Craig defined discipline in a message series about a year ago. Here's what he said. He said, discipline is. is choosing what you want most over what you want now. That's in your notes, so you can write it down, and I'm going to say it again because it is that good. Discipline is choosing what you want most over what you want now. I want to play softball three days a week now, but what I want most is a relationship with my kids,

so I'm going to choose what I want most over what I want now. I want to go out to lunch five days a week with everybody from the office now, but what I want most is to be out from under the... this weight of debt that keeps me awake at night. I'm going to choose what I want most over what I want now. At our church over the years, we have seen thousands of people come to know Christ and put hope in action. And today, by looking at the story of Nehemiah in the Old Testament,

we're going to share three ways that all of us can put hope in action in 2018. Number one, write this down. But hope and action, you need to define. the problem. We have to define the problem. We see this in the life of Nehemiah, but let me tell you a little bit about who he was. Nehemiah was a Jewish man in the service of the Persian king artist Xerxes. He was the cup bearer, which meant not only did he bring the king wine, but more importantly, he tasted it first to make sure it wasn't poison and would kill him. It was a very important role in the court of the king. And he was anxious to hear about the Jewish people that were returning to the province of

Judah because the Jews have been in exile for decades. And when he had some friends show up, he'd find the problem in chapter 1, verse 3. This is what it says. They said to me, things are not going well for those who return to the province of Judah. They are in what? Say it out loud with them that they are in great trouble and say this with me in disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down and the gates have been destroyed by fire. Now, it's important to note the significance of a wall in this time frame. The wall was the greatest source of protection for that city, and it was security from their enemies. The people that were living there because there was no wall, they were vulnerable and at risk because their enemy could come in and attack them any time they wanted to.

You see, Nehemiah didn't just hope things would get better. He defined the problem. Years ago, I had a problem. My wife would tell you, I've had lots of problems. But when I was younger, I had a problem with bitterness and unforgiveness. I'll get into that a little bit later. For you, you may be thinking about a problem you've had for a really long time. This was the case for Nehemiah. You see, the walls of Jerusalem had been broken down for nearly 150 years, and no one was rebuilding them. No doubt you've tried something for years, and you've not been successful. As much as you don't want to admit it, perhaps your marriage isn't where it needs to be. For some of you, you never thought a substance would have so much

control over your life. There's some of you in this room. You need to reach out for help with your depression. You've got to define the problem. Here's the deal. You cannot defeat what you do not define. Call it out, make it clear, this is the problem. Then one day, just like when I read in the book of Nehemiah,

you turn the page and you read, we must rebuild the wall. From this point forward, things are going to be different. Because back on this page, it was a nation in disgrace, but on this new page, there's a man that stands up by faith to put hope in action. Who knows how long you've been stuck on this page?

But God, by his power, he helps you to turn the page of your life. You turn the page and you realize, I need to pursue my spouse. You turn the page and you realize that you struggle with looking at inappropriate images and videos, and you can't stop. So you decide you're going to put filters on every connected online device that you have. You turn the page and say for the first time in my life, I'm going to attend church on a regular basis and make it a priority for me. I'm going to engage in God's word on a daily basis. This has gone on long enough. I'm on a new page now. God, by his power,

helps me to turn the page of my life. You see, sometimes things can be so bad, painful, and unstable for so long that it becomes our new normal. We don't realize that we are in great trouble, in ruins, even in disgrace. The walls of our lives have been broken down, and we're vulnerable and at risk. And our spiritual enemy can come in at any time and attack us. But be encouraged. It's through our greatest and largest problems that we can show. show God the greatest glory.

How do you put hope in action? Number one, you have to define the problem. Number two, write this down, you diligently seek God. Nehemiah did this in verse four of chapter one. He said, when I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days, I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. You see, there's a reality of sadness here when you read this verse. You see how he sits down to cry and then he kneels to pray.

the moment he defined the problem Jerusalem is in great trouble and disgrace what did he do he diligently took it to the one that could help him when you have a vision to do something in your life you're going to need the god of heaven to help you i experienced this in my life remember when i just told you that i struggled with bitterness and unforgiveness man did i ever i deserved to be bitter and I held tightly to unforgiveness. You see, when I was a little boy, I was the victim of significant abuse at the hands of someone that had authority in my life.

And it went on for years. That person never admitted that they did anything wrong. They never apologized. Said they were sorry. It just went on for years. Then one day, I got saved. And I experienced what true forgiveness was. And I realized that I was in a prison. I was in the bondage of unforgiveness and bitterness.

Because if Jesus could forgive me, my goodness, I need to be able to extend forgiveness to somebody else. So I diligently sought God. And in doing that, here's what I realized, that forgiveness was giving up the hope of a better past. All this time when I was bitter, I was wishing the past was different, but that wasn't going to change. And I had to explain. And I had to extend. in forgiveness, and I did that, and what I did is I experienced freedom. That person, it wasn't for them. Me choosing to forgive was for me, because when you're bitter, when you're unforgiving, that emulates out of your character. That affects people around you. And through seeking God diligently, it changed how I thought. The motivations of my heart changed. So did my actions,

and I was able to forgive. Maybe you've had to have. is your similar experience in your life. Maybe it's when you hold your firstborn baby girl for the first time and you think to yourself, I want to walk her down the aisle one day. Maybe it's when you get an eviction or a late notice and you say, enough is enough. I refuse to allow this to happen again.

You're determining that this is the problem. You're seeking God for his help and his power to make the changes in your life. We saw this begin to happen when Nehemiah starts to pray and fast after hearing the news that the walls of Jerusalem were down. We then saw how he spoke to the king to get permission to go rebuild the wall and how God gave him favor to do all of that. Now, it would have been easy for Nehemiah to think when he heard the news. That's terrible.

And then even go on the Facebook and write a detailed post complaining about the walls being broken down and then go on gone with his life. I mean, he wasn't a Mason or a builder. He was a professional drinker, literally. That's what he did, a job some of you want, but none of you should have ever. And just think how doubt would flood into his mind that he could not accomplish this great work. No doubt you can connect with that. Maybe you've thought, well, I could try again, but I'll fail again.

I don't have what it takes. I'm not qualified to do this. That's why it is imperative that we diligently seek God, because God does not always call the equipped. Hear me out, this is so important, but he always equips those that he calls. And the only way we know we are called is by diligently seeking him. Nehemiah diligently sought God and took ownership of the problem so that he could also own the solution with God's help. think about your current habits. What is one change you could make today

that would put you on the path that God has called and intended for you? Imagine what you could do for the kingdom if you were physically healthier. Imagine who you could bless and how you could not only honor God by returning to tithe, be generous and give above that to offerings

if you were financially free. If your relationship with Christ was stronger, imagine how much bolder we could be with our witness. When we realize that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength, that is when our life begins to change. So how do we put hope in action? Number one, you define the problem. Number two, you diligently seek God. And number three, write this down in your notes. You do the work. You've got to do the work. Year after year, January's come and go, and we find ourselves in the same place, year after year after year. What we need to realize is all that God wants to do in any area of our

lives will be limited by the work that we are unwilling to do. Whatever you're thinking about the problem in your life, you've thought about it before. I mean, let's get honest, people. You've thought about it before. You know what the problem is. I know what my problems are. We've even come up with solutions on how to solve those things, but you know what the difference is between good intentions and actually changing, it's doing the work with God's help. This is where the real change happens. Because you can join a gym.

You can even hire a trainer. But when your alarm goes off at 5 a.m. in the morning, you've got a decision to make. You either turn it off, roll over in bed, and stay in the same rut you've been in for years, or at that moment you ask God, please help me because in our weakness, we are made strong through him and you roll out of bed and you change your life. You have to declare

this year will be different. We're not talking about a New Year's resolution that's going to be dead in three weeks. We're talking about putting hope in action, empowered by God to change the trajectory of our lives. You're on a new page now. This year's going to be different than every year before this one. It's not a New Year's resolution. We are putting hope in a action. Nehemiah did this when he got to Jerusalem. You see, he personally inspected the wall to see the extent of the damage. Then he gathered all the leaders together, the nobles, the priests, the officials. And this is what he said to them. We pick it up in Nehemiah chapter 2, verse 17 through 18. You know very well what trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed

by fire. Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and end this disgrace, then I told them about how the gracious hand of God had been on me. They replied at once, yes, let's rebuild the wall so they began the good work. Now, the good news is you're going to do the work. But the great news is you're not going to do it alone. God is with you. His power is there to help you. And others can and should be a part of that process as well. But don't think for a minute that your great work, that your hope and action goes without opposition. You need to anticipate it. You got to expect it. Nehemiah experienced this. When there was two guys named Sam Balot and Tobiah, they constantly ridiculed him. They said things like, do you really think you're going to

rebuild the wall with stones from a garbage heap? They even said, if a fox was to run across that wall, it would crumble and fall down. But I love Nehemiah's resolute, steadfast mindset as he replied in chapter six, verse three. He said, I'm doing a great work and I cannot come down. When you face resistance, you just got to shake it off and say, I'm doing a great work. I can't come down because you'll hear a voice inside of your head. Satan will whisper to you. What do you think you're doing? Do you really think going to meetings every single week will get you clean? You love how this stuff makes you feel. You'll hear that voice say, what do you think you're doing? If something doesn't go just the way you want, you will always fly off the handle. Do you really think you'll be able to control your anger and temper when you've struggled with it

your whole life? When you face resistance, when you hear that voice, you just need to shake it off. Matter of fact, right now, I want everyone in every room that wherever you are, say this out loud, say, shake it off. You need to shake it off and say, that was the old me, this is the new me. I'm on a new page now. What was is over. Last year was a different page. This year's going to be different. By God's power, by His spirit working in me. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead resides in me.

You shake it off and you do the work. You're building this great wall of your life. You cannot come down. Remember, you don't just have hope. You have hope in action, inspired by God, by diligently seeking him looking for his guidance and his help. And as you do the work,

become resolute in your determination. In the Amaya's case, the results stunned and shocked everyone watching. The wall that had been in ruins for nearly 150 years, the wall that everyone said would never be rebuilt, was rebuilt and completed in only 52 days. God did exceedingly and abundantly beyond all that they could imagine,

or expect. And he can do the same for you. When you'd find the problem, when you diligently seek him, and when you do the work, God will turn the page of your life. So, what tangible steps will you take? Do you need accountability like a mentor or a trainer?

Do you need a life group? I'll answer that question for you. Yes, everybody needs a life group. go back to that statement at the very beginning of your notes this year i hope to know that god and we as a church we're to be here with you to help you put hope in action now years ago i met a young lady at a different church whose life exemplified hope and action and this is her story she was actually from another country different cultures speaking a different language she met a U.S. servicemen in the army, they fell in love, got married, had a couple of kids. When his duty

and the service was done, they moved back to the States. And she, like so many other people that have moved to our great nation, was hoping and looking for the American dream. But what she experienced was more like the American nightmare. Any type of abuse you can imagine. Physical abuse. You name it. She lived it. until years later she found herself out of that relationship. And here's the problem she defined. I've got these two little kids with no one to help me support them. So what does she do if she defined the problem?

She diligently salt God on what she should do. Because the easy thing would have been to move back to where she came from. She's got family there. She's got support there. But as she looked at her kids, she realized, I think they'll have a better future if I stay here. But that's going to be the more difficult. path, but that's what she realized she needed to do. So she began to do this sacrificial hard work

for years. She was a waitress. Anybody ever waited tables? I know I did. If you don't work, you don't make money. She would tell me stories about coming home going straight to the bathroom and beginning to vomit. But she had to work to provide for her family. She would talk about when she would clear the tables after lunchtime. Rather than taking her own money, to buy herself something to eat because she needed that money to buy clothes for her kids. When she clear a table

rather than taking the leftovers and wiping it off in the trash, she grabbed a fork and she began to eat her lunch. Year after year, that's what she did. Now, what would I say to a woman who did all of that?

I'd say, thanks, Mom. Thank you, Mom. I'm not sure, but when I just said thank you to my mother, imagine years from now, someone saying thank you to you. Thank you for facing your addiction to pornography and allowing God to heal you. You're such a man or woman of integrity. Thank you for being honest about your substance abuse. Seeing the way that you've become free from that is an inspiration to all of us and our family

is stronger now. or thank you for slowing down and taking time to spend with me. My life is better because you are the mom or dad that I always want it. What can we do? We can define the problem. We can diligently seek God and then we can do the work. Because as of today, as of this moment, you're on a new page. Father, right now in the name of Jesus, we come to you. We're so grateful how we can look in

scripture and see how Nehemiah put hope in action. God help us to see hope not as a passive wish, but an active pursuit. As we continue to pray together with no one looking around, as you've sat in any one of our locations or around the world at church online, as you've heard this message, how many of you would say that there's some area in your life who as we go into 2018, that you want to put hope in action. If that's you at all locations and around the world, you just lift your hand right now saying you want to put hope in action. Father, hands going up everywhere.

Father, right now, we come to you. And I pray for every single person that has their hands lifted up. God, that you, in your power will equip us when things get difficult to stay the course, that we won't fall off the wagon, that we won't stop pursuing and doing what you've called us to do. you've called us to be a part of the great things. Great things are not easy. If great was easy, everyone would do great things. But God, we know that through your power and our weakness, we are made strong through you and help us to look back on this day a year from now and see

and marvel and thank you for the changes that have been made because we put hope and action fully trusting you to help us get there. As we continue to pray together with absolutely no one looking around. As I look throughout all of history, the greatest example of someone putting hope in action was Jesus. You see, he defined the problem. There's a sinned issue with the world. Humanity owed a debt of sin. It was incapable of paying. So he came, born of a virgin as we just celebrated last week at Christmas, lived a sinless life. But he also diligently sought God his father because the night before he was crucified in the Garden of Gisemone, he was fully God, yet fully human. He knew what suffering he was about to endure, so he prayed. Can this cup of suffering

pass from me? In other words, is there any way I can get out of going through what I'm about to go through? But then he finished with this statement, nevertheless, not my will, God, but yours be done. And then the next day, Jesus did the work on the cross, shedding his blood as the perfect sacrifice of every sin all of us would ever commit. And here's what his word says. It says if we confess our sins, he being Jesus, is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It says if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God raised in from the dead, we shall be. Not maybe, not I hope so. We shall be saved. For many of you in this room on church online at all of our locations, God has brought you here for this moment, for

this time that the last weekend in 2017 will be the first weekend of the rest of your life, walking and living in the grace, mercy, and the love of our Savior, Jesus. If that's you and you're ready to experience the grace that only comes from him, he's brought you here for this moment. I want you to boldly. Lift your hand right now and say, yes, God, come into my life all across this room. Raise those hands. I got you right over here on the left hand side.

Yes, ma'am, welcome to the family of God. Others of you to say, yes, Jesus, come into my life. If you're at church online, click right below me to say yes and receive Christ as your Lord and Savior. Life Church, we are a family, and no one prays alone. So I want everyone to pray this out loud after me. Say Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me. Jesus, thank you for coming to this world and laying down your life to save mine. I admit that I've made mistakes. But today, I ask you to come into my heart. Forgive me in my sins. Save me. Change me. God, make me new. It's in your name, Jesus, we pray. And everyone said out loud, amen, Life Church.

Let's make some noise.