Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - How to Neighbor, Part 2: Orphans Embraced

Episode Date: May 9, 2016

As the world grows more connected, our neighbors are closer than ever. But how close are we to our neighbors? You might not share a fence, but you can still share their burdens and joys. Now’s the time to show the world How to Neighbor. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thanks for joining us here at Life Church, where we are one church meeting in multiple locations and reaching around the world through church online. If you have any questions or you'd like to learn more about us, you can always check us out online by going to life.church. As followers of Christ, we know that children are close to the heart of God. And today, our senior pastor Craig Rochelle will teach us how we can embrace and care for the orphans in our community in part two of his message, How to Neighbor. Well, I am very excited to share a message with all of you today that I believe is going to impact a lot of hearts.

We're in part number two of a message series called How to Neighbor. Where does that phrase come from? The great command is to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love our whom. Say it with me, to love our neighbor as ourselves. What we're going to do today is talk about another way to love our neighbors. Last week we talked about races reconciled. Next week, we're going to talk about something that I know all of you will care about and want to get right. We're going to talk about the poor empowered.

How do we help those up, not just get your hand out to those who are in need? Today, I want to talk about orphans embraced. What better weekend to talk about helping children than on? Mother's Day, big special happy Mother's Day to all of the moms. I'm honoring my mom today. and the mom of my six children, Amy, today, had to make sure I said that right. And people always say, six kids, you must really love kids.

I kind of love their mama. Kids are okay. I love their mama a lot. So anyway, it's always funny. Amy, when she's talking to mom, I'm rabbit trailing, just bear with me. She's always like, you know, before you have kids, you have total freedom, okay?

You can do whatever you want. Like, go to the bathroom when you want to. You know, eat whenever you want to. When you have kids, you don't eat a warm meal. You only get like five minutes of alone time every two days. You've got to choose wisely. Do you take a shower or do you fall down on the floor and cry? You know, she came in one time and she just had this, this like dazed look on her face.

And she said, both of my legs are shaved at the same time. It's like this. Anyway, so to all the moms who've been through that, we wish you a very blessed day. In fact, I've got just for fun, some cards from little children that were to their moms. This might help you feel warm and tingly on the inside. Let me show you a couple of these cards. This one says, thank you, Mom,

for making me food so I don't die, okay? I hope you like that. This one is a riot. This one says, I love you with all my butt. I would say heart, but my butt's bigger. And I'm not sure what that's a drawing of, but use your a mask. imagination. And then this one, I hope you get a lot of presents. And you are fat.

Nothing like teaching our children to tell the truth. So there it is, Mom, you're fat. I hope you have a great Mother's Day. Anyway, so you got to love it when kids just tell the truth, right? As we talk about Mother's Day, I want to just pause for a moment and acknowledge also at the same time. this can be a really challenging day for so many people, those who are unable to conceive, those who have a strained relationship with a mom, lost a mom, lost a child, and so on. And so at the same time, I know that many are celebrating, I also know that there are many that are hurting today. And I just acknowledge that and I want you to know that I prayed, especially today, for those

who are hurting before preaching today. And it was really interesting as we talk about parenting and about moms. just because a woman gets pregnant doesn't necessarily mean that she's ready to be a mom, right? There are a lot of unfortunate circumstances today, women who are massively addicted, those who've been abused and mistreated and don't yet know how to show love, those who suffer mental illnesses, and the list could go on and on why some people are not properly equipped yet to be a great caregiver for a child. The same is true with a guy, just because you can run a girl down and get her pregnant.

doesn't mean you're ready to be a dad, right? There's a lot of examples of this, far too many, and it's the reality in the world that we live in. Because of this today, in my country alone, there's approximately 400,000 children that are in need of a home. 400,000 kids that right now do not have a family. In my state alone, my home state, there's about 10,500 children that need a home.

What's interesting about my state, is that we actually have the second highest rate per capita of children who are in foster care, the second highest rate of all the states per capita of children who are in need of a home. When we hear these stats, they can be rather overwhelming. Like, oh my gosh, there are so many, there are so many, there are so many. But we have to remember,

there are far more Christians in the world today than children who need homes. Let me say it again, because there's a good place for you to get into this. I'm hoping that somebody will help me out today because God is gonna stir some hearts in a significant way. There are far more followers of Jesus in the world today than children who need homes.

And I'm believing with all of my heart that we as the church can make a difference because I wanna show you that the church is God's plan A to help children who are in need. The church is God's plan A to help, help children who are in need. In fact, I want to look at the words of James, the brother of Jesus in James chapter 1, verse 27,

as he defines what pure religion is. What is the purest form of religion? James says religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this. Let's all say it aloud. What is the purest form of religion that God accepts? It is to do what? It is to look after orphans.

it is what, and to look after widows in their distress, and to do what else, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world? What is the purest form of religion that God accepts? It is to look after orphans, to care for widows, and to keep ourselves separated from the impurities of this world and live a holy life that would please God. What is the purest form of religion that our God accepts?

to care for the orphans, to care for the widows, and to keep ourselves pure from the temptations of sin in this world. Let me just say it again because I want to make sure you're getting this. What is the purest form of religion? To look after and care for the orphans, to take care of the widows, those who are in need, and to keep ourselves pure from being tempted by all the sin in this world. I want to just say, and it should be very clear,

that caring for those in need are so close to the heart of God. In fact, this is so true, this is born in your spirit. In fact, if I did this right now, if I showed you some pictures of children and told you their stories, I know that there are many of you that immediately would say,

how can I help? What can we do? I'm in. I want to help. Let me give you an example. If I showed you a picture of three-month-old Sylvia and explain to you that Sylvia's mom is in, in rehab trying to get off of oxycotton

and she doesn't know who the dad is, and I showed you this adorable little three month old child, what would many of you do? How can I help? I'm in. If I showed you pictures of Michael and Jordan, two nine-year-old twins that explained to you that their dad is in prison and their mom overdosed and died

and they wanna stay together but they can't find anyone to take them in, I can guarantee you, there are many of you who would say, what do I need to do? How can we help? And why would you do this? Why would you do this? Because you saw faces,

you heard names, and you heard a story, right? And to face the name and the story makes you care of the 400,000 children needing homes in our country, guess what? Every single one of them has a face. Every single one of them has a name

and every single one of them has a story. and I believe that God calls us as the church to care about those who are in need. In fact, I made a list, just put in my notes of what are some of the big problems in the world today, just some of the big problems that are facing families and society. And then I asked myself the question, who pays the highest price for these problems? Let me read you the problems and just think with me. Who pays the highest price for these? Okay. Broken families.

Fatherlessness. Divorce. Poverty. Substance abuse. Incarceration. Homelessness. Domestic abuse. Gang violence.

Racism. Teenage pregnancy. Human trafficking. And the list goes on and on and on. Who do you think pays the highest price for these problems? What's the answer? Children. Children, right?

Those who didn't cause these problems, and those who do not have the ability to solve those problems. Who pays the highest price? Children do. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why God told us this in Psalm 82, verses 3 and 4. God told us the church, God's plan A, to do what? God told us to say it with me. All of our churches will say it loud.

What are we to do? God told us to defend the weak and the fatherless. We are to defend the weak and the fatherless. To uphold the cause of the poor. We're going to talk more about that next week and the oppressed. We're told to do what? Let's say it aloud. We're told to rescue the weak and the needy

and to deliver them from the hand of the wicked. We're told to defend the weak and the fatherless. Rescue the weak and the needy. In fact, all of us, we have this sense. I bet any of you, you're a good human being and you care about those who are in need. You see someone in trouble. someone in need and your heart goes out to them, right? For example, my dog, Sadie, got into a

nest full of baby bunnies, okay? What did my kids do? Oh man, it's a full court press. Everybody move out of the way. Save the bunnies. In fact, you know, we even took pictures of the bunnies. You know, you know what baby bunnies look like, but there's baby bunnies. Listen to you, just, oh, okay, save the baby bunny, save the baby bunny, okay? So what you are you? So what What did we do? We got Sadie out of the way, we moved everything, we took the baby bunnies in. Now, years ago, we tried to save the bunnies and we put them in a bathtub with no water, of course, just thought I'd tell you that, so you didn't think we drowned the bunnies.

Put the bunnies in there and we fed them carrots, okay? Because that's what bunnies eat, right? Not baby bunnies, okay? They can't digest carrots. So the first time we tried to save the bunnies, we killed the bunnies. Whoops, won't do that again. The next time is save the bunnies, save the bunnies, save the bunnies, save the bunnies. Why?

Because they're cute. And they're defenseless, and they're helpless. And we should save the bunnies. And save the whales. And save the spotted owls. And of course, save the children. Right? Right?

Save the children, right? Rescue the needy. Defend the weak. Care for the fatherless. And yet it's so easy in our world, and I'm just like you, to be out of sight, out of mind. I mean, I got my own kids, they got my own problems, you know my own bills to pay,

I got my own stuff going on. I don't really have time to care about somebody else, okay? But our God cares about these children more than we can imagine, and I believe that he's calling us his church to care about them as well. In fact, Psalm 68 versus 5 and 6 tells us who God is. I love this imagery.

Who is God? Psalm says this, He is a father to the fatherless. He is a defender of widows. Is God in his holy dwelling? Now, what does God do? Say this aloud with me. What does God do?

God does what? He sets the lonely in families. That's what God does. God sets the lonely in families. In fact, God may be looking today, and he's looking out and they're going, okay, there's a kid who's praying who needs a home. That kid is lonely. That 16-year-old need help.

That four-month-old need help. And what does he do? He looks for a family who's willing to say yes. and God orchestrates and brings the lonely into families. Why? So they can experience health and love and compassion and care. And in many cases, be exposed to those who know the grace of Jesus, who can share the love of Jesus.

What does God do? God picks up the lonely and he puts them into families. Here's a question. What if God's got his eye on your family? what if God is thinking about your home? What if for some of you you became the answer to a child's deepest prayer? God, give me a family, give me someone to love me,

give me a place to belong. And what if, what if some of you were the answer to that prayer? What does God do? Our God sets the lonely in families. Now, a lot of you hear this, it's really kind of almost uncomfortable because we got so much going,

I know I'm not supposed to care, but I'm not called to foster or adopt. I'm not called to foster or adopt. And let me just say, you know what, for most of you, you're probably right. I mean, you really aren't. In fact, some of you are like, don't do it. You got to do a better job at your house right now.

Don't do it, okay? You're like, oh, okay, I can relax. So, okay, don't, please, okay? For the sake of the kids, don't, right? You're not all called to do that. But before you say no, I'm not, we're not, whatever, I would just encourage you to pray. Just pray.

God, would you have us to be involved? Would you have me to do something? God, is there something you're going to call our family to be a blessing to someone who's, in need. Before you just say, no, no, no, no, okay, pray and ask God if he might do something. In fact, I want to show you just a few examples of people from our church family who prayed, and God minister to them and led them to be involved in blessing and helping and serving some kids who were in significant need. Let me show you David and Patty. This family's crazy.

They fostered 46 children over a 14-year period, and they're still involved in the lives of the kids. In fact, there's two of them. Let me show you this sibling set of three. This was a massive success story. They actually were able to get these three children back and to care with their biological dad, which is a massive success story. Then when a fourth child came along and the dad recognized he wasn't equipped to care for the baby, their children, their adult children actually adopted that the fourth child.

And so now they all have the same grandparents, which is kind of amazing to see how God used this family in the lives of 46 kids, and in that family in particular. This story is, man, it's amazing. Corey and Lana, they couldn't have their own biological children. And so they thought, well, maybe this is God directing us to adopt. They thought about it, prayed about it. and they wanted to maybe be open to adopting a sibling set, which is a high calling.

And so they said, we would even take a set of up to three, which is a massive calling. Well, there happened to be a sibling set of five. And so God stretched their faith. And here's this amazing couple who brought five, a basketball team, into their family. And what a blessing that is. I quote Lana, she said this in an email.

She said, our calling. That's what God put us on earth to do, to become a family to the children who have no family. What does God do? God picks up the lonely and he puts them into families. Let me tell you one more, and this is how God uses the church, Plan A, this is really cool, that God use four different groups of people from four different life churches. That's how much God cares about these two sisters. God used four different groups of people from four different life churches to care for these two little sisters. Let me show you Ella and Jaley. They entered the foster system in 2009.

They first stayed with the Golden family who were honored to foster them for two years. They brought the girls to church every week where they met Jill. Jill was their life kids teacher who became an alternative caregiver. Then while in life kids, Jaley, one of the girls met Georgia. her little new best friend. George's mom, who now is a part of the Life Church Keller location, Brooke, became a respite home to help give the foster parents some relief as well. When it became clear that these girls would never go back to their biological family,

then a fourth family, this one from Life Church, Northwest Oklahoma City, actually said yes to adopt these two sisters and brought them into the home. That, my friends, is how God uses Plan A, the church when different people say, yes, I'll do my part to rescue the needy and to care for the children. In fact, when you think about it, if you ever let a child into your home, if you ever say yes to this, you may never be more like God than the moment you do that. Think about it. You may never be more like God. That may be the most Godlike thing you do when you invite someone into your family. Why? Because if you're a follower of Jesus, that's exactly what God did to you. You know what?

I was a spiritual orphan, separated from God by my sin. But because of Jesus, what did God do? God adopted me into his family. God gave me his name. Now I am not on my own. I am in God's family. He is my heavenly father. I am a son of God, a child of God. When you call on the name of Jesus, what are you? You're adopted into the family of God. You're not there because, you're good, not because you deserve it. You're there because he's good because he delights and reaching out to you and drawing you into his family.

This is the picture of salvation. This is the goodness of God. This is why Jesus came, that you might be spiritually born into the family of God. You bear his name. You are no longer on your own, but you, when you call on Jesus,

are adopted into the spiritual family of God. You can be a son or a daughter of God by faith in Jesus Christ. And when you do this with someone else, You are just like God inviting someone into your family to show them the very love that God has shown you. I was adopted into the family of God. In fact, I love the way Paul said it to the believers in Ephesus, Ephesians 1-5. He said this, God decided in advance to do what?

God decided in advance to do what? To adopt us, where? into his own family. I'm going to need a little more help. Someone in Wellington, Florida, my crowd is kind of quiet today. Someone out there helped me out, okay? What did God do?

He decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what God wanted to do and what did it do? It brought him great pleasure. It gave God great pleasure

and it will do the same for us. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Well, I could never. I could never foster. I could never foster. I would be so hard, I mean, to bring a child into my home and the greatest goal is to get them back into their biological family,

and it would just rip my heart out. And guess what? You're absolutely right. It will. It absolutely will. I had one foster family say, if it doesn't hurt, you're not doing it right. Boom, tweet that, okay?

That's, that's, if it doesn't hurt, you're not doing it right. So my goal, is not to like, I mean, I promise you this. I don't want to guilt anybody into this at all. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever. I just want our church to recognize, we are God's plan A. And if the Holy Spirit speaks to you and nudges you,

and just a little hint, those who resist the most are often called the most. Nah! Just saying, okay, it's like, you're a, oh crap. Okay, so, and if you say, if the Holy Spirit leads you, And you say yes, I want you to know two promises. Number one, it'll be hard beyond imagine. It'll be one of the most difficult things you ever do.

There'll be more complications, more tears. I mean, you have your own biological kids. They're hard, hard, hard, hard. Okay, you bring in a child who's been through a lot of stuff, a lot of complications. It's going to be harder than you can imagine. And just want you to know that, okay, harder than you can imagine. Second promise is the child is worth it. The children are worth it.

the children are worth it. They're absolutely and completely worth it. And all of us can't do everything, but I believe that all of us can do something, okay? So what can I do? Well, I can speak on behalf. I can lend my influence to help those who are in need. We've never actually fostered or adopted in our home. But Amy, we can do something. She speaks regularly on behalf of the orphan. We've raised help raise tens of thousands of dollars to fund adoptions using our influence to help those who are in need. We have provided as a family respite care to help out foster families and taking the children in for extended periods of time just to help those who are fostering to give them a little bit of a break. On a very unofficial level, God has really called our family

to help single moms. In fact, over the 20 years of the church, there have been four families. and this is one of the most dear callings that I have in my heart. There were two widows whose husbands obviously died and two other ladies whose husbands spun out and went to live other lives. And so there were these four single moms over a period of 20 years that we just felt significantly called to invest in, to be a care, to show the love of Jesus too to help them get transportation, place to live. to be involved in their lives.

I have a real passion for helping manage finances. A few of these ladies didn't know how to do it, so walked him through everything. Here's how you balance a checkbook, and here's how paid the bills and helped him do all that kind of stuff and such. And then a couple of them said, would I consider being a father figure to the children

so they would have a male influence that would go on for years? And what a great, I mean, what a meaningful, meaningful thing to be a father figure. And so two of these ladies have now remarried, incredible guys, and what blows me away is that several of the kids still call me dad to this day. And I'm a second dad to them. And that's unofficial, but in the kingdom of God, that's very official.

You can be like that. You can be available. You don't even have to work within a system. You can work within God's system and say, when I see a need with someone, God can use me to make a difference. And here's something I want you to understand. This is really, really important to me. I want you to hear this because this really matters to God, and it should matter to us.

Because we believe in the sanctity of life, we value all life. Listen to me. We deeply value the life of the unborn child. We deeply value the life of the baby. We deeply value the life of the teenage girl who, ends up pregnant and is scared to death because she feels ill-equipped and might be rejected by those around her. We deeply value the parents who at one point or another were not adequately equipped to

take care of their children. And those of you who are even here today, your heart's breaking because you do not have the access to your children. We care about all life. And all life doesn't just need a family. all life needs a spiritual family. These lives need the church, the love of God in the church.

And because we value the sanctity of life, we value all life. People do not just need a family. They need a spiritual family. And that's what's so amazing is that you can be this spiritual family. You can help out. Something as simple as giving a child

a hug. In fact, to me, maybe the most meaningful story I've ever had in helping a child who was in significant need. I sit in the same place when I worship every single week. And years ago, there was this young girl that I'd see, and I went up to try to give her a hug, and she were called back, and she was like scared to death. And I was really confused by this. And her foster mom explained to me that she'd been abused sexually by so many men that she won't let any men get anywhere and near to her. And so my heart just broke for her. So every week I'd see her. I kind of wave at her. And, you know, I'm trying to be a pastor to her. And she'd let me get a little bit closer to her. And finally she'd give me a high five. And then I said, hey, hey, I know you don't hug,

but one day you're going to be in a mood for a hug. Okay. And on that day, can I be the first guy to give you that hug? And she didn't quite know what to do with that. Then every week, I say, I know one day, one day you're going to be in the mood. And when you are, would you give me the honor of giving you that first hug, week after week after week after week after week. One day I came in, she said, I think I'm in the mood for that hug, okay? And I reached out and gave her the most gentle kind of side, tender hug as I could, and just very, very short. Next week, a little bit longer.

Then guess what? Every single week, this girl would run up to me and wrap her arms around me and hold and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze. and she said later on to her foster mom, she said, well, I know I can trust one man, and that's Pastor Craig. And if I can trust him, maybe God will help me trust another man one day. Hey, listen to me. Doesn't have to be something big. It can be something that small.

It can be serving in life kids because there are so many children who are coming from foster homes and life kids, so many who are being adopted. So many kids that are in their homes today that don't have a godly male figure. Gentlemen, men, step up. Let's be men. Step up. One of the greatest things you can do is be a positive male godly influence in the life of a child. You can serve and switch. You can invest in children.

You can make such a difference. You can, what can you do? You can, you can throw a baby shower for a family who's adopting. You can help a caseworker who's overloaded and underpaid. You can provide needs for those who are going through something. You can be a respite care giver and help out. You can do any number of different things. You can't do everything, but you can do something.

And here's a promise. If you make a difference in the life of a child, you will not change the world, but you will change his or her world. Okay? Let me say it again. If you make a difference in the life of a child, you will not change the world,

but you will change his or her world. And I want to show you a few images just from you all, just recently from our church, of those who changed the life of a little child's world. So dream with me for just a moment. What if in our church every single parent, every single mom, every single dad, felt the love of God in support through his or her church

caring for him or her and ministering to their children. What if there was a waiting list for people to serve and life kids and switch? Why? Because we were so passionate about showing the love of God to children that we had to wait in order for there to be an opening in order to make a difference in the lives of kids. What if when a teenage girl or some lady

had an untimely pregnancy and felt ill-equipped to take care? take care of their baby, that before running away from the church, feeling they might be rejected, said at least I'm a part of a church that will love me, embrace me, and help me find a great family for my child. What if, instead of in my state, 10,500 children waiting for a family today, there were families waiting for children to be in need.

Why? Because the church rose up and lived as the church. The church is plan A. and I believe that what if could be true if we as God's church would simply pray and when he leads us, we say yes. Even though it may cost us,

even though it will be difficult, it will be worth it. You, the church, are plan A, and God calls all of us to care. Father, help us to be a good neighbor to those who cannot defend themselves. I pray God today that you speak to some hearts and you would move us, God, out of our comfort zone

to take a step of faith. God, I pray that you would speak to everybody that we can all do something. God, give us a heart. God, I pray that our life kids, our switch leaders are overwhelmed with people begging to get in and say, I want to make a difference. I'm not going to pass up an opportunity like this

to love, to embrace, to nurture, and to point some kids to know Jesus. All of our churches today, let's just make this simple. You're not all called to foster or adopt, but all of us can do something. If you would simply say, I am open to whatever God calls me to do, I want eyes to see, ears to hear,

and a heart to care. If God prompts me, moves me, my answer to him will be yes. All of our churches, if you say yes, I want to be open to what God would call me to do. Would you lift your hands high right now? Just lift them up. up. Father, I thank you so much for a church full of people that want to care and show your love.

God, I thank you in advance that you're going to speak to hearts. I thank you that there are children that have been praying for a long time that their prayers are going to be answered today. God, I pray that no one would act out of guilt, that we would only act out of obedience to what you call us to do. And God, I know that you call all of us to care. I pray, God, that over the next few weeks and months that you would give all of us an opportunity to show love in some way. And God, when we can do that, empower us to recognize it for what it is. We just fulfilled a small part of your calling for us, God, to show love to someone who needs it. Empower us, God, as your church. Empower us, God, as your church. Empower us, God, as your church to show the love of Jesus.

Jesus to those who needed most. As you keep praying today at all of our churches, here's the amazing news. There are those of you today watching online, walked into a life church location, walked into a network church, and you felt spiritually alone. If we sat down and talked to one another and said, hey, you know, where do you stand with God? You might say, well, I kind of probably believe in God and such. And I said, well, where do you stand with them? You might say, well, you know, I'm not really sure.

I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I try to be a good person. I try not to do bad things. I'm certainly better than a lot of people, so I hope I'm okay, I hope I'm okay. I hope I'm okay. Here's the reality, if I can just be blunt with you,

all of us are born with the sin nature. I was, you were. Our sin nature separates us from a holy God. Not because that we are good, but because God is good. He became one of us in the person of Jesus who lived without sin. Therefore, he could become the perfect sacrifice

for the forgiveness of our sins. On the cross, Jesus became sin for us, died on the third day he rose again, so that anyone who calls on him, and this includes you, no matter what you've done, no matter how dark your world seems right now, no matter how alone you feel, no matter how bad you've been, when you call on the name of the Lord, your sins are forgiven, you are made brand new. Let me tell you what happens. You are adopted into God's family. You bear his name. You become one of his. He becomes your father. You become his child. There are those of you, you recognize you are apart from God today.

When you call on Jesus, everything will change in a moment. All of your sins forgiven and everything becomes new. And all of our churches, those who say, yes, that's me, I'm ready. I want to be spiritually born into God's family. I want him to be my father. I turn for my sins. I turn toward him today by faith. I surrender my life to Jesus.

I want to be a child of God. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now. All of our churches and say yes. Back here, God bless you. you both hands here right over here. God bless you as well. Others today who say yes, Jesus, right back over here. Praise God for you. Lift up your hands and say yes, I surrender here back toward the back. Others today. Right back over here, three of you on this section. Praise God

for all of you. Church online, you click right below me. Way back here toward the back. Others today. You're leaning into it. Say yes, Jesus. I surrender and give my life completely to you. Would all of you pray aloud with those around you pray, Heavenly Father? today I surrender my life to you. Jesus forgive me of all of my sins. Make me brand new. I believe you died for me and you rose again so I could live for you. Fill me with your spirit so I could know you and serve you for the rest of my life.

You are my father. I am your child. Now use me to show your love because my life belongs to you. In Jesus' name I pray, would you all worship big, worship loud. Welcome to born into God's family today.

As a church, it's our honor to play a small part in all that God is doing in and through your life. And we would love to continue with you on that journey to find out what your next steps could be in your relationship with Christ. All you have to do is go to life.church slash next. Here at Life Church, we have values that drive the why behind everything that we do. And one of those is that we get to lead the way with a rational generosity.

And we get to live that out by giving away all of our resources completely for free to thousands of churches and church leaders around the world. And one of those churches is the current from Fresno, California, who uses Life Church's resources to reach people in their community further and faster. We knew that we wanted people to be passionately in love with Christ, and we just weren't seeing that all over our city. So we started praying and asking God how he wanted to use us. We knew Life Church gave away a lot of free resources,

so we thought, well, why don't we give them a call and see if they could help us start a church? If we can partner with people with the same like mind and the same heart that we can do so much more and go so much further in what we're trying to do and accomplish. Since launching in 2008, the current has helped hundreds of people come to know Christ and the same is happening around the world as more than 300,000 churches and church leaders

have taken advantage of Life Church's free resources to help further their mission and share the gospel. We wanted to be a part of something global, something bigger than ourselves because we knew we could do more together than we could apart. We get to partner with so many different people and see the impact that is happening here and across our country and across the seas. It's great to see, and I know together we can move further and faster. If you're a church leader looking for resources to help further your ministry, you can find videos, transcripts, graphics, sermons, and so much more simply by going to open.com. And the best part is they're all completely free. You know, here at Life Church, it's our mission to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ.

And we do it all because we truly believe whoever finds God finds life.