Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - I Choose, Part 1: Purpose Over Popularity

Episode Date: August 8, 2016

We are the result of our decisions. While we agonize over little things like what to wear and what to eat, are we glossing over the big choices? There might be more on the line than you thought when you say “I Choose.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Good evening. What may I get started for you? I'm thinking about getting the approval of others. Should I? Oh, definitely. I'll have that. Excellent choice. It comes with 2,000 Facebook likes. And for you, madam? Well, I will also have the approval of others, but on a bigger, much nicer play than hers. Oh, can I get the likes and followers? Of course. Two popularity specials, one with comparison and one without. I'll get that started for you and also bring out a basket of selfie sticks. Yes, please. Well, I want to welcome all of our churches today.

I want to especially welcome our open network churches. And before we dive in today, I think it's only appropriate that we take a moment to give honor to our Savior Jesus on this weekend as we celebrate over 1,500 people being baptized. The old is gone. The new has come to every single one. one of you being baptized, we praise God for you. We thank Jesus for what he's done in your life. May we never, ever, ever take it for granted that we get to be a part of a church where the spirit of God is moving in a massive way. We celebrate that many lives transformed by the grace of Jesus. I thank God. I thank all of you for everything you do, serving, praying, giving.

You're making a difference and we're seeing it every single week. Today we're starting a brand new message series and it's called I Choose. I want you to think about this for a moment. What are we now? Essentially, we are the sum total of the choices that we've made. Who are we today? We're a result of the choices that we've made in the past. Who will we be tomorrow? Essentially, the decisions that we're making today will determine who we become and what we're able to do tomorrow. our choices matter. For the next four weeks, we're going to be making four very specific choices.

Let me tell you about next week. All of our churches, how many of you would be honest and say you're a little bit of a control freak? Raise your hands. Raise the person next to your hand if you want to because that's what you love to do. You're a control freak.

Next week, we're going to talk about choosing surrender over control. You may want to control it, get in here early, get in the front row, because we're going to choose surrender over control. Today, in order to introduce our choice, let me just ask you to imagine something. Are you ready?

Everybody ready to imagine this? Okay, work with me. Imagine this for just a moment. Imagine that everyone likes you. Everyone approves of you. No matter what you do, everyone thinks you're awesome. Did you enjoy that? Because it'll never happen.

Never, ever happen. impossible. No matter what you do, you cannot please everyone, right? Now, I want you to imagine something that not only can happen, but I believe with all my heart that God wants this to happen. For those of you who are Jesus followers, imagine being so consumed with pleasing Christ that the approval of other people doesn't mean so much to you. Imagine waking up every single day with passion and purpose in your life, knowing deep down, you're doing what you were created to do, it drives you, and the approval of others does not distract you. Can you imagine that? Not only is that possible, but I believe that's what God wants for every single one of us. It's the

choice that I'm going to encourage you to make, and that is this. I choose purpose over popularity. Let's all say it, all of our churches. Everybody say, I choose. Say it again. I need some more help from somebody in Albany, somebody in Wichita, somebody in South Oklahoma City. Say I choose. I choose purpose over popularity. Say it again. I choose purpose over popularity. The problem is so many of us, by default, choose the opposite. We choose the opposite. What do you think of me? Do you like me? The problem is, if we don't know the purpose of a thing, all we can do is misuse the thing. Think about it. If we don't know the purpose of our lives, we end up experimenting with it, and we never really do what we were created to do. If you don't know the purpose of a thing,

all you can do is misuse the thing, kind of like when I was in the fourth grade or so, and Missy, my next-door neighbor that I had a crush on who was an older woman, much older woman, probably, and you're ahead of me, came over to my house, and she found my dad's athletic cup. Who knows what an athletic cup is? A protector? If you don't know what it is, it's shaped about like this. His had like a blue foam cup to, like, you know, soften the blow, and it has little holes in it. why? So the thing can breathe. I don't know why. I mean, so whatever can, you know, so it's like, work with me, okay? So Missy walks into my house and she sees my dad's athletic cup sitting out, and so what did she do? She went over and picked it up and said, well, what is this?

I'm horrified, terrified, I freeze, I choke, I tank, I can't say anything. I'm like, can't even get a word out. Then she says without hesitating, oh, I know what it is. It's an oxygen mask. How many of you can see where this is going? She brings it to her face and starts breathing in and out. Raise your hand if you just vomited in your mouth. I did. If you don't know the purpose of a thing,

all you can do is misuse the thing. Here's the problem. So many of us don't know the purpose of our lives. If you don't know the purpose of a thing, don't ask the thing. Ask the one who created the thing. Let me say it again. somebody's going to work with me a little bit.

If you don't know the purpose of a thing, you don't ask the thing, you ask the one who created the thing. But what we do so often is we go to other people and say, we go to the thing, I'm a thing, you're a thing, hey, thing, what do you think my thing is? Okay? Tell me my purpose. Do you like me? Do you like my clothes?

Do you like my hair do? Do you like what I'm doing? Am I important enough? Do we fit in? Are we buddies? You know, are you following me on Instagram? I mean, do we like each other? Do you like my new belt?

Do you like my car? Do you like what I'm studying in school? Do you like my job? Do you like my house? Do you like the picture I just hanging in there? Do you like the picture I posted with the perfect, I mean, I worked a long time on the filter in the caption, do you like it? Do you like it? Do you like it? Do you like it? Do you like it? Am I valuable, right? And before long, so many of us, without even knowing it, we literally, we're living for the approval of people. Do I fit in? Am I good enough? Do I measure up? Do you approve? of me. And we're trying to find our meaning and what other people think, and we're forgetting that God created us for a divine purpose. If you want to the purpose of a thing, don't ask the thing, ask the one who created the thing. And here's the big thought if you're taking notes. Write this

down. The problem is this. Living for the approval of people keeps you from the purposes of God. Any time we're consumed with what people think about us, we tend to forget what God thinks about us. The fastest way to forget what God thinks about us is to be obsessed with what people think about us. And as long as we're consumed with the approval of people, we won't be living for the purposes of God. I want to challenge you today to make a choice because we are the sum total of the choices that we make to choose purpose over popularity. And I want to give you an example of a guy who did this. He lived in Old Testament times, but the writer, the author of the Hebrews wrote about him in Hebrews 11. His name is Moses.

Let me give you the context. Moses was a guy who was born a Hebrew slave, but he was adopted essentially into Pharaoh's family, a guy who was born in poverty and in slavery, ended up living in lavish royalty and extravagance. But even though he could have chosen a life of comfort, instead he chose calling over comfort. Even though he could have very easily given into popular opinion,

this is a guy that shows purpose over comfort. popularity. And here's how it stated in Hebrews, Hebrews 1124, says this, by faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. What did he do? Let's all say it. Here's our word. What did he do? He what? He chose, say it again. What did he do? He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt. Why? Because he was looking ahead to his reward.

He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value. Why? Because he was looking ahead to his reward. What did he do? He chose purpose over popularity. He chose calling over comfort. Now, let me take a moment and just kind of disarm and demystify the word purpose, because I think just as a pastor, working with people for years, a lot of times people get all like freaked out, wigged out, like,

what is my purpose? Capital P, big, P purpose. Like, why am I here the big reason? Like, I think maybe it's to be a missionary somewhere. Maybe I'm supposed to cure cancer. Whatever. Okay. What I want you to do for a moment is don't think just like capital P purpose. What I want you to do is think what I call lowercase P purpose.

Not just like the big one thing, but what I want you to do is think about day after day, moment after moment, you serve God's lowercase P purpose for that time, for that person. You're talking to someone and you recognize, well, my purpose is to be an encouragement to them. My purpose is to be a voice of hope for someone. You may see someone who has a need and you recognize, well, I could actually meet that need. Wow, God's purpose for me in this moment is to meet that need. You may have a boss. It's like, psycho boss.

Well, I'm here in the office to pray for psycho boss. That's my purpose in the moment. And so what I want you to do is don't just think like, oh, purpose. I don't know why I'm here. I mean, like, I'm 15, you know, I'm just trying to pass algebra. You know, I don't know what my big purpose is. What I want you to do is think about lowercase P purpose in the moment. And what you'll do is you'll recognize over and over again, the more you, what Paul calls

walking by the spirit, the more you're in tune with God and prayer, you're going to see God wants me to be involved here. God wants me to be a help here. God wants to use me in this situation. And then one day when you're faithful in enough lowercase P moments, suddenly you recognize God as trusting you the way more. Why? Because if you're faithful in the small things, God trust you with the big things.

And over time, you start to grow into, wow, now God is using me in more significant ways. This looks like a medium P purpose. And over time, suddenly you recognize, wow, for this, I was created. You see, what I want you to understand is there's power and purpose. There's power and purpose. There's power in recognizing for this moment, for this person, by my God, I'm called to make a difference. There's power and purpose. I want to give you three thoughts today about power and purpose, all of our children.

churches, if you're ready, say I'm ready. Are you ready? Let me try again. Are you ready? Thought number one, purpose diminishes distractions. There's power and purpose. What does it do? One of the things that purpose does is it diminishes distractions. You see, for so many of us, one of the biggest distractions that we have is what? Comparing. What do they think? What's she doing? Why am I not where they are? And before long, we compare, compare, compare. she's already finished college. I'm on the 11-year plan. I may never finish college. You know, he's got a better paying job than I do. All my friends are already married. You know, they already own a home. I don't even own a home. I'm so far behind the curse of comparing.

Purpose diminishes that. Purpose diminishes all of those different distractions. In fact, probably my favorite example in the Bible is Nehemiah in the Old Testament. And if you don't know his story, Neomile was heartbroken in anguish that the walls of this city were broken down. Here's a little key. Anytime you find yourself really upset about something like righteously angry, that's a key that could be purpose, purpose, purpose. Neumai's, I can't stand as somebody has got to do something about this. It might as well be me. So he rallies the people to do something impossible.

And he's a great leader. He's up on the wall. He's got a ladder. He's climbed up to ladder. stones in place. He's working away, doing the job, and suddenly two enemies of God's plan named Sam Balat and Tobiah come up and start shouting insults at him. Hey, this isn't going to happen. You're never going to get it done. You've got to stop. We're going to crush your people. This is stupid. It's an impossible dream. How many of you know that whenever you start doing something

for God, distractions tend to show up, right? Right? And what does Nehemiah do? He's working away. He's got the voices of doubt and discouragement screaming at him. He's up on top, placing stones in place, and he looks down, I love what he says. Basically, he says, I ain't got time for that, okay? It's kind of what he said. I got time for that. Here's what he says. He says, sorry, guys, I'm doing a great work, and I can't come down.

I love that. I'm doing a great work, and I can't come down. I'm fulfilling God's purpose in this moment, and I can't be discharging. by your opinions? I'm doing what I was created to do. And your voice is not going to stop me from doing this. I'm doing a great work. I can't come down.

Some of you, you need to internalize that and just almost let it become a part of your inner talk. I'm doing a great work. This is what God's called me to do. It may not seem big now, but I'm being faithful in this thing. And over time, God is going to reward it. I'm doing a great work. I can't come down.

All of us will be distracted. All of us will be distracted. My journey toward ministry, towards starting this church, even doing what I'm doing today. Distractions all over trying to pull me away. Pull me away. I was a business major in college when I became a Jesus follower, and I just felt called to ministry. But I finished my business degree, and you wouldn't believe. There was hardly anybody who said, yes, you should go into ministry.

Everybody, like, why would you waste your life doing that when you've got a good mind for business? Distraction. Hey, now, I feel called to this. This is purpose. I'm doing a great work. Can't come down. Then when I went to start Life Church, you would not believe. I mean, I'm telling you, besides, like, my wife and my family, I don't think anybody else

supported it. Well, that's stupid. Why another church? Why another church? Why another church? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, I'm doing a great work. Can't come down. I remember going to my high school reunion, my 10-year reunion, and I bumped into the guy that

was, we were kind of like rivals back in high school a little bit. We liked each other, but we liked to compete. And he says, so Groshell. what are you doing nowadays? I said, well, I just started a church. And he kind of scoff like, whew. He started a church.

He said, well, how big is your church? We had 125 people coming at the time. So I said, well, about 130 people. Because pastors always exaggerate. About 130 people. And he looked at me, well, and to think, you were voted most likely to see. succeed and then he just walked off. Hey, I got time for that. I got time for that. I'm doing a great

work. I don't care what you think about this. Hey, I don't care if there's 12 people, 125 people, 12,000 people, 12 million people. I'm doing a great work. I'm right where God called me to be. I'm going to be faithful in the moment. And you have to tell yourself that because sometimes it doesn't feel very big. It's a lowercase P. I'm just stacking up the lowercase P's. I'm a student right now. I'm just plowing away, man. I'm getting it done, getting it done, getting it done. I'm faithful to God with the little things. One day he'll trust me in the big things. So whatever it is, I don't know what it'll be for you. You're getting out of debt. I mean, you got to, it's a calling. I don't want to be in debt anymore. You're getting out of debt. Everybody's making funny, why are you bringing a

brown bag to lunch every day? Why are you driving that old jalopy junker? Time for that. You're doing a great work. You can't come down. You're, you're staying pure until you're married. Everybody's like, that's so old-fashioned, you dummy, why don't you go get some? Like everybody else.

What are you thinking? Like, you old-fashioned, I got a higher calling. I got a vision for something special, something different. You want something normal? I'm looking for something better, something different.

I'm doing a great work. I can't come down. I don't know what it would be. You might feel called to be a stay-at-home parent and raise your kid. Why are you doing that? You can make so much money.

You get so much time. I'm doing a great work. Doing something special. I'm in the middle of where God called me to be. I'm doing a great work. I can't come. Purpose diminishes distractions. This is what I was called to do in this moment.

I'm doing a great work. I can't come down. There's power and purpose. There's power and purpose. I'm not living for the approval of people. I'm living for the purposes of God. Number one, power diminishes distractions. Second thing is this.

Someone needs to hear this. Purpose pushes you through the pain. Whenever you have purpose, it gives you a motivation to keep going even when things start. How many of you know that it will be painful toward your purpose, right? The pathway to your purpose is always paved with pain every single time. Don't think you're an exception. It was for Moses. It was for David.

It was for Esther. It was for Mary. It certainly was for Jesus. It will be for us. Because whenever you're doing what God calls you to do, your spiritual enemy will resist you. I don't worry about whenever I'm resisted. You know what I worry? When there is no resistance.

I know when I'm doing the will of God, there will be resistance. I know when I'm doing what God called me to do, people will not understand. They can't understand because I'm doing something that is higher than our ability to understand. And so you just kind of recognize with your purpose there will come pain. And along the way, you just recognize I'm doing this for the reward. There's a greater value in serving God's purpose than living for the approval of people. It's kind of like watching Amy give birth six times. Some of you ladies, I mean, you might be pregnant right now.

And I don't mean to, like, freak you out or anything, but it's freaky. It's freaky. That whole baby thing is freaky. I mean, like, how does a woman do that? You know, how do you, why do you do that? Well, it's for the payoff at the end, right? It's for that little baby thing, right? I got two married daughters.

I might be like, pops before long. Who knows? Don't know anything officially, but who knows? Pops, not pop-paw. not pappy, pops, just so you'll know. So I actually, the first time Amy went natural was on our third child. We have six kids on the third one. She was getting the epidural, and it was too late, and the baby started coming,

and she started screaming, the baby's coming, the baby's coming. They took that needle out of her back. It was like panic. Get the doctor, get the doctor. The doctor was nowhere to be found. I actually delivered Anna, which, yeah, I know. technically what that means is I was the closest human being to the incident. This is what it means technically.

Because I was like nailing. I had Anna by the head as she was coming out. Like I was nailed. Then I choked. I panicked and I dropped her. I know. That's why she's like, if you ever meet Anna. Oh, your dad drops you.

Right. She's like this. And so, I hope Anna doesn't see this one. But she is. And so Amy went natural on number three. And here's those crazy. And like, ladies, I don't want you feeling any pressure because I'm just telling you right now,

this is like, ooh, Amy's like she's solid, cool. But in this area, she went natural the next three times, maybe four or five and six. She goes, I like going natural. Which honestly, from my opinion, you do whatever you want. I consider that unnatural. Like, if there's drugs, give them to me. Okay, I've seen that baby come out.

Give me drugs now, okay? Anyway, she liked it. She said, I actually don't. mind the pain because it helps me feel closer to the child. And she's kind of weird. And there's this weird sort of sense, I know, it's weird, I'm just telling you, but there's this weird, there's a certain sense of, yeah,

every now and then I do suffer for my purpose. Every now and then people do take shots at you when you're serving God. Every now and then it costs me something. You know what? I kind of like it. I kind of like it. Because what Jesus paid for me,

what it cost him, was more than I can imagine. So every now and then, I don't mind a little resistance. I don't mind a little pain. Purpose pushes me through it. I've got a higher calling. That whole pushes, I'm thinking about that baby thing. Push. Anyway, I'm going back to my mind. It pushes you through the pain. It pushes you through the pain. And so when you recognize, this is what I'm supposed to do, critics can't stop you. Critics can't stop you. Opposition doesn't deter you. Pain doesn't slow you. I was created for this. This is a little P-purpose moment.

This is something God has called me to do. I'm going to be faithful to God in that moment. What does purpose do? Well, purpose diminishes distractions. The second thing purpose does is it pushes you through the pain. And then the third thing is this, is that purpose empowers you to please God. Purpose empowers you, empowers you to please God.

And this is what Moses tapped into because as he was serving God, there was all sorts of opposition. He faced it, I mean, he faced it from his enemies, he faced it from Pharaoh. He faced it from his own people who complained like nobody's business. But the purpose empowered him to keep going. Why? I'm pleasing God.

This is what God called me to do. This is what I was created to do. You cannot talk me out of doing what God has called me to do. It's a little bit like in the New Testament when Peter and John and some of the other apostles were preaching Christ, some of the religious leaders came up and said, you guys can't do this anymore. They'd already been beaten, they'd already been put in prison a couple times, and you have to stop preaching in that name. It's interesting to me that they were talking about that name.

What's so funny to me is that 2,000 years ago, you can't teach them that name. What name were they talking about, the name of Jesus? 2,000 years later, what's the name that riles everybody up? You can talk about God, higher power, supreme being, spirituality. You can do all that long on daytime talk television. When you bring up the name of Jesus, ah! Okay?

Why? Why? Because that name is above every other name. There is no other name by which people would be saved. One day every knee will bow, every tongue will confess at the name of Jesus. You can't talk in that name. You can't preach in that name. You can't tell them about that name. And what do they say? They essentially said, we can't help but talking about it. In other words, when you've been so transformed as we've been transformed, when you've been transformed, when you've been for forgiven as we've been forgiven. When you've seen what we've seen, you can't stop us from talking in that name. You can beat us and we'll come back. You can put us in prison. Last time you did that, an angel broke us out. How are you like that? You can try to kill us. And if you do, we're going

to continue to speak that name. Why? They said it this way. It's printed in your notes. They replied back and they said, we must obey God rather than human beings. I love this. Let's all say that together. Who must we obey? We must obey. Who must obey? Who must obey? Who must obey? We must obey God. Help me again. Who do we obey? We obey God rather than human beings. We obey God rather than men.

We obey God rather than men. We obey God rather than men. Why? Check this out. Because we can't please men. We can't please everybody. Oh, but we'll try, we'll try so hard. I mean, some of us, it's like we're so consumed with it.

Do you realize how incredibly pathetic the people pleasing life is? Think about it. Do you like me? You like my hairstyle? Do you like my hairstyle? I got it done. You like it? Did you notice it?

Why didn't you comment on? Do these jeans make me look fat? You don't think I look good anymore, do you? You don't like me. Do you like my dinner? Do you like my dinner? Hey, do you like the car that I drive? I mean, do you like, I'm like, I cool because I drive the kind of cool car?

Hey, do you like where I go? Hey, hey, hey, look at the restaurant. I mean, I can afford that restaurant. I mean, look at me. Hey, do you like my picture? I worked really hard on the caption. Do you like it? Do you like it?

Why don't you follow me? I follow you on Instagram. Why don't you follow me? I thought we were close. I texted you, why didn't you respond? It's been like 17 minutes. Why didn't you respond? 17 minutes. Okay, it's actually I saw the bubbles. I saw the bubbles. Now there's no response. There were bubbles. I saw the bubbles. Okay. Don't you like me? Don't you like me? Don't you like me? Can we like me? Can we hang? Can we hang? Can we hang? Are we okay? We okay? We're okay? You like me? You like me? I'm a Christian? What am I? Oh, oh. Oh, now you? I think I'm a Christian? Oh, well, well, I'll just be kind of a Christian just every now and then. Okay. You like me? Do you like me? Do you like me? You like me? You think my jokes are funny? You like that part about the oxymaskask? I worked hard. on it. Living to please people keeps you from the purposes of God. Keeps from the purposes of God. Here's the deal. You can't please everybody. Can you? I had to do a little exercise earlier.

Imagine everybody likes you. That's like the stupidest waste of your imagination capacity ever. You can't please everybody, but get this. You can't please everybody, but get this. We can't please everybody, but we can't please God. We can't please everybody. We can't please everybody. But we can please God. Let it get in your soul. We can't please everybody, but we can please God. We can't please everyone, but we can please God. How do we please God?

Whenever we live by faith, we please God. Whenever we're obedient to the little P-purpose moment and we're faithful in the small things, we please God. Whenever we die to ourselves and let Christ live through us, we please God. And it's one of the most freeing moments to recognize. We cannot please everybody else.

So why are we consumed with doing it? Ultimately, what is their opinion matter anyway? But we can please God. We can please God. We can please God. And when we recognize that, suddenly we are set free from the opinions of other because why?

We are called to live according to the purposes of God. I'm doing a great work. I can't come down. Your opinion of me doesn't matter that much. You can make fun of me all day long. You can laugh behind my back. You can call me on whatever you want to. You can say, I'm never going to amount to anything.

You can say, but I'm doing what God called me to do. There's power in that. There's purpose in that. Serving something. Serving someone who I can, please. And I'm devoting my life to that. This is what I want to look at the verse again, Moses. This is so powerful.

So powerful. So powerful. Moses regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ. As of what? Say it with me. As of what? As of greater value than all the treasures in Egypt. Why?

Because he was looking ahead to his reward. It was a greater value, a greater value, a greater value because he was looking ahead to his reward. There is value in being liked by people. Who knows there's a greater value in being loved by God? that there is a value in our comfort. There's a greater value in God's calling. That there's a value in fun with friends.

But there's a greater value in faithfulness to God. There's value in starting something important. There's greater value in finishing something important for the glory of God. There is value in being popular. There's greater value in serving God's purpose. So you just tell yourself, being faithful in the moment, being faithful in the moment, They can say what they want, they can do what they do. I can't please all of them, but I can please God.

So if you're raising little kids and you're up to your neck in diapers, wiping butts is all you do and you think I'll never see an adult. And you just tell yourself, I'm being faithful in the moment. This is a big thing that will pay off later. I'm serving God, little pee, little pee, lots of pee, pee, pee and poop, and poop, little pee, little pee, every now and then a medium-sized poop. And that's what I always call for help. That's a whole other story.

I'm being faithful to God in the moment. I'm being faithful to God in the moment. When you're getting out of debt and making sacrifices every day, people calling you stupid. Why are you doing that? Why are you doing that? Why are you doing that? It's for the reward. It's for the reward.

It's for the reward. Let no debt remain outstanding except the continual debt to love. I'm doing this with a purpose. I'm driven. God has called us to do this. When you're fostering a child, and it's the most rewarding and most challenging thing you've ever done. You love it and it's grueling.

purpose pushes you through the pain. Purpose pushes you through the pain. For in this moment, God has equipped us to make a difference in this child's life and that purpose pushes you through the pain. When you serve Jesus and your friends make fun of you, why are you doing that? Why are you that? Why won't you come and party your brains out with us? They're going to laugh and they're not going to understand.

You just tell yourself, I can't please everyone, but I can't please God. I'm doing what He has uniquely created me to do. And day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, you make choices. You make choices. And you are today the sum total of the choices that you've made in the past. And the decisions that you make today determine who you become and what you can do tomorrow. So you'll have a choice to make over and over and over again. Am I living for others?

Am I trying to please people? Am I trying to do something that I will never, ever achieve win the approval of others? or am I living from the approval of God according to his purpose? We can't please everybody, but we can please God. So, we choose. We choose God's purpose over popularity of people. We choose his calling over our comfort. We lay down our lives to serve him,

being faithful in the little purpose moments because we're faithful in the little things. What does God do? You trust us with the big things. God help us to choose purpose over popularity. Father, we pray today that your Holy Spirit would speak to us, empower us to serve you and be faithful in every way. All of our churches, as you're reflecting in prayer today,

let me talk first to those of you who are committed Jesus followers. You've decided to surrender to Jesus, to follow him in every way. If you recognize like I do that pleasing people can really be a distraction, in fact, for me, I'll be honest, it can probably be up at the top, number one or number two, biggest distractions of my whole life. What do they think? What do they think?

What do they think? What do they think? If you recognize that's a reality, and yet you want to be so driven by the purposes of God. When you wake up every day, whatever the task is in front of you, you will serve God with all of your heart. You will do with excellence.

You will recognize, even though it may not feel bigger, significant today, I'm being faithful in the lowercase P-purpose moments, believing that God will honor. and trust me with even more. God, help me to choose purpose over popularity. If you'd like to pray that today, all of our churches, would you lift your hands high right now? Just lift them up high. Father, I thank you so much. God, I thank you for people who want to serve you in every way. And God, I'm going to ask now that you give them opportunity after opportunity. God, may your Holy Spirit remind them, even today of all the different times when we're going to try to manage our image to do something for

other people. And God, we always want to be others minded, but we want to be Christ-centered. Help us above anything else, God, to serve Jesus. I pray, God, that any time we're tempted to compromise our values, your truth, your word, to please other people, God, that we would recognize we cannot please all of them, but we can please you. Give us the faith, God, to be obedient to you in the moment, whatever you call us to do. God, I pray there are people in the building that couldn't get out today without doing something to be a blessing to others. Why? Because you've called them to do it, and they'll be faithful to their purpose in the moment.

God help us to choose your purpose over being liked by people, that we could glorify you, and ultimately, God, serve people and love them toward you. As you keep praying today at all of our churches, nobody looking around. Some of you, you're going to come to the realization about right now, very similar to what I did years ago, if there were two things that drove me, one was what do other people think? And the other thing was,

can I do whatever I want. Hey, hey, I want to live for me, but I want you to like me. And this is a very dangerous cocktail that only leads to destruction. I recognized that I was completely living for others and living for myself and not anywhere close to living for the one who created me. If you want to know the purpose of a thing, don't ask the thing. Ask the one who created the thing. Ask the one who created And I recognized I needed to go back to the one who created me and get to know him. As I got to know a little bit about my creator, I recognized that he was incredibly loving, loving beyond measure, that he loved me so much that he sent his son Jesus. He became one of us in the person of Jesus, who was born without sin, lived an absolutely

perfect and sinless life. Therefore, Jesus could be the sacrifice for all of my sinfulness, for all of your sins. Jesus on a cross became sin for us. He died in our place to pay the price for our sins on the third day. He rose from the dead. He was no longer there. Why? He defeated death, hell, sin and the grave, so that anyone, and this includes you,

that anyone who calls on his name would be saved and forgiven, anyone. Doesn't matter what you've done. Doesn't matter how alone you feel. Doesn't matter how much you doubted God or hated God or rejected God, no matter how many people that you've heard, anyone who calls on his name would be saved. What does that mean? That means the old is gone, the new has come when I prayed and surrendered to Jesus. I didn't become a better version of me.

I became a new person. The old was gone and new was here. All of our churches there are those of you. You recognize it's time to stop living for yourself. It's time to stop living for others. It's time to turn from your sin and say, Jesus, I want to know you, I want to serve you, I want to follow you, I want to live your purposes. I want to make a difference in this world.

Jesus, make me new. I surrender today by faith. I recognize I cannot please everyone, but I can please you. Therefore, I give you my life. That's your prayer. Lift up your hands right now. All of our church and say, yes, I surrender. I surrender.

Right back there, both of you. God bless you guys. Others today say me too. Here in this middle section, right back over here on this side. God bless you as well. Others of you right here. Hand lifted high toward heaven. Others of you calling them all the way back here toward the back.

Church Online, you all click right below me. and I would love everybody to pray aloud with those around you. Nobody prays alone. Pray Heavenly Father, I give you my life, turning from my sin and calling on Jesus. Save me. Forgive me. Make me brand new.

Fill me with your spirit so I could know you, serve you, follow you, live according to your purpose. My life is not my own. Today I give it to you. Thank you for new life. Now you have mine. In Jesus' name, I pray. Life Church, would you worship big, worship loud today.

Welcome those born into the family of God.