Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - I Want to Believe, But..., Part 1: On-Demand God

Episode Date: January 8, 2017

It’s often difficult to believe in a God we cannot see. We wonder why God didn’t answer our prayers, why God allows suffering, or why we can’t feel His presence. God may not meet all your expectations—but that’s good news! Find out why in a new se... 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 with the help of church online. If you have any questions or you'd ever like to learn more about us as a church, you can always check us out online simply by going to life.church. Or you can stay connected throughout your week and everywhere you go with the Life Church app available today wherever you download your apps from. Coming up today, we start an all-new message series called I Want to Believe, but a series that helps so many of us that rest,

with believing in a God we cannot see. And today we'll address a question many of us ask, and that is, if God cares about me, why doesn't he seem to answer or listen to my prayers? It's a great question to ask, and one will address today as we join our senior pastor, Craig O'Shell. I'm really thankful to have all of you with us today as we're launching into a brand new message series. It's called I Want to Believe, but, and as we dive in, I want to tell you a little bit of the heart behind this message series. It's a little bit cool to me that this is the exact weekend 21 years ago. We actually launched the church. So this is the 21st birthday of our church. I'm really thankful for it. And what that means is that we are now old enough to have real

wine in our communion. That's what it means. So whatever that's worth. And a little bit interesting to look at what's changed in 21 years. 21 years ago where I live, which is kind of called the Bible Belt, it seemed like the general population generally believed in God. Over a 21 year period, I would say there are a significant number of people who now would say, I don't believe in God. I'm an atheist. I don't believe God exist at all. But there's a newer category. There's always kind of been, I believe in God, I don't believe in God. There's a little bit in my opinion just as a pastor, a newer category of people that are saying, I want to believe in God, but I'm struggling to. It could be someone that grew up in church and then had what I might

call a crisis of faith. You know, I prayed for something and it didn't happen. I want to believe in God, but I'm having a hard time because that didn't happen. Or it could be some religious figure really let me down, hurt me, someone did something that was really hypocritical, all different types of reasons that there are people that genuinely want to believe in God but there's something that's making it more difficult for them to believe. Here's my thought. I believe that there are a lot of people that think they're rejecting God, but they're not really rejecting the true God.

What they're doing is they're rejecting a distorted view of who God really is. Let me say it again. They're not rejecting the true God, but they're rejecting a distorted view of who they think God is, but God is not really that God at all. And so in this message series over the next four weeks, what I want to do is talk about four distorted views of God. I've come up with little names for them.

And the reason I'm telling you these is because some of you are going to think, oh, I know someone like that. And then what I want you to do is do the best you can just to invite them to join you, or at least to watch it online. And so let me tell you where we're going to go. Next week we're going to talk about what I call goose bump God. This would be the person or people would say, I want to believe in God, but I don't feel anything.

I tried to read the Bible. I didn't feel anything. I came to worship. Everybody else is all weird and stuff. I didn't feel anything. How do you believe in a God that you can't see? You don't hear and you don't feel. I'd love to believe in God, but I don't feel him.

Week three, we're going to talk about what I call heartless God. I want to believe in God, but have you seen all the horrible things in the world? How can you believe in a God who would allow that? And then fill in the blanks. It's a, you know, five people are dead in the airport when some shooter comes in there. and shoots them. You've got hungry kids all over the world that are dying of starvation. There's preventable diseases, you know, and such, and these kids are dying. How can you believe in a God that doesn't seem to care at all? Heartless God.

Week four, I want to talk about what I call a killjoy God. I want to believe in God, but there are just too many rules. And I'm not going to do all those rules. I want to have a good life that hold no sex before marriage. Forget that. You know, I want to have fun. I want to believe in God, but I can't follow all those rules. Now, today, before I introduced to you, the distorted view of God, I want to have a little bit of fun because it's a 21st birthday, and I like to have a little fun. 21 years ago, I was 28 when I started the church, and the majority of the people that were there were in their 20s, we had some people in their 30s. If you were in your 40s, you were kind of an old timer back then. Thankfully, today, we've got multiple generations, and it's really, really cool,

What's interesting is 68% of our staff members today are millennials, 68%. So a lot of what we do, and I'm really excited about that, a lot of what we do, cheats or leans kind of young. And sometimes my older crowd says, where's the music for our age group? You know, where's the illustration for our age group? So what I want to do on the 21st birthday is I want to give the older crowd a little love today. I want to give you a little love. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to throw out some TV shows.

that chances are if you're a Gen X or maybe a boomer, you probably know these. Now, what I need back from you is a little love back, a little interaction, and if you don't, I'm going to blow you off next week and go straight to my millennials because they're really fun. So let's see how you do, and this is for my little older crowd.

If you recognize any of these shows, just kind of give me a little shout out. You might cheer, you can raise your hand, whatever you want to do, give us some love. And I'm going to introduce these different, TV shows and in pairs, because what's interesting, back in the day, the good shows often came in pairs. So how many of you remember, give me a little love, work with me, I need some help, how many

you remember the combination of the love boat or the fantasy island? Anybody remember that? Right? There you go. The plane, the plane, right? Okay, if you're into Snapchat, you don't know what I'm talking about. Just hang with me. I'll be back to you.

Just hang tight there, man. Just hang tight, right. How about a little happy days in Laverne and Shirley? Anybody watch that? Yeah. Okay. There was no better combination than the $6 million man and a biotic woman, right? Lee Majors and Lindsey Wagner.

Now, this one didn't need a parallel. There wasn't like a, there wasn't like this one and another one because this one stood all by itself. I had to sneak and watch this one because the girls were so good looking. Anybody watch Charlie's Angels, Charlie's Angels? Woo! That was the predecessor to Baywatch we took it to a whole other level. I never watched Baywatch ever.

I read the book or something like that. I don't even know what it was about, but I've heard anyway. So if you know these shows, then you know what I'm about to say is absolutely true. And for those of you that are younger, this may blow your mind.

It's like mind-boggling. But in order to watch your favorite show, you actually had to be in front of the television at the exact moment the show came on. I know. It's like, what? I don't even know what you're talking about. I mean, how is that even possible?

You know, like, if your show was on Friday night at 7 o'clock, you had to be there Friday at 7 o'clock. And you had to watch it all the way through, like the commercials and everything. I mean, you had to watch the commercials. And so, you know, you don't have to do that today. Now you can binge watch your five. favorite episodes of whatever, how many binge watch something even this week, right?

I mean, this is, we live in now what people would call an on-demand society. We want everything and we want it now. I know I do, man. I mean, I like my prime Amazon, but I want it same-day delivery. And my city's too small, but one of these days that's coming to me today. We want it now. And because we live in an on-demand society, I believe many people are now transferring that value to our God. I want an on-demand God.

I want to pray for it and I want what I want and I want it delivered to me now. I want exactly what I ask for. I want, and here's our distorted view of God. I want an on-demand God. And this works great until it doesn't. And this is where many of you might be

or know someone who is. You were maybe a teenager and you prayed and prayed and prayed for your parents' marriage to make it and your parents divorced. And you're like, God? What's with that? Where are you, God?

You give to people, you give to the church, you do good things, and you're still struggling financially. Now, come on, God. Where's my break? Everybody else gets one. Where's mine? Your life group prayed for someone and really believed that God would heal this person and God didn't heal this person. God, where are you?

You would be great parents. You really want to have a child. There's all these other women that get pregnant. They didn't even want to get pregnant and you pray and you can't get pregnant. Why is this God? It doesn't make any sense. And so many people end up concluding, if God didn't do what I know he could have done, when I ask him to do it, then God either isn't real, he isn't powerful, or he isn't good.

Maybe he doesn't even care. Where is my on-demand God? And the answer to that question is this, on-demand God does not exist. On-demand God does not exist. This is a distorted view of who God really is. And what I want to do is give you a couple of thoughts to set the stage for our message today. And that says, we have to determine where we fit in the grand narrative of creator God, creation, and all of eternity. If you're taking notes, this is the big thought.

We need to recognize and embrace that God doesn't exist to serve us. We exist to serve him. Let me say it again. Our God does not exist to serve us. We exist to serve him. We are not the main character in the Bible. God is the main character in the Bible. Our God is not our celestial sugar daddy who delivers exactly what we want.

when we want. He's not the genie in the sky that if you rub him just right, he gives you three wishes. He's not some kind of cosmic Coke machine that if you, you know, put your money in and do something good and push the button and poof, your answered prayer pops out immediately. We exist to serve God. He does not exist to serve us. And we start to recognize that, that dethrones the improper view that God is our on-demand God. Who is he? He is the creator, we are the created. He is the potter, we are the clay.

He is the Lord of all, we are his servants. Let me say it again. Our God does not exist to serve us. We exist to serve and bring him glory. So that leads us to the main point of this message and every message in this series. And my, I'm just going to state, it's not an underlying goal.

My goal is to help all of us, to get to know the true God of the Bible, the Father of Jesus. If God is not on-demand God, then who is He? If he's not here to do whatever I want him to do, whenever I want to do it, then who is God? And I want to give you three thoughts about him that I hope will minister to you in a way that would build your faith.

The first thing, if you're taking notice is this. We need to understand that God's heart is always loving. God's heart is always, always loving. Let me explain it to you this way. how many of your parents, all of our churches, you've got little kids, right? Let me know, I'll tell you two things I know about you. Two things I guarantee about every single parent.

Number one is there is never a time when you don't love your children, right? There are times when you like them, maybe. You want to trade them in, you know, but you can't do that. But you always love them. There's never a time when you don't love them. The second thing I can promise you is true for all of you, and that is this,

that there are times when you do not do what they want you to do even though you have the power to do it. Right? There are times when they're asking to do something that you have the power to do. And even though you still love them, you do not do it.

And it could be any number of examples. Like, hey, kid, don't forget your lunch. Don't forget your lunch. Don't forget your lunch. And then, hey, text, mom, bring me my lunch. No, you forgot your lunch three times. Go hungry today. You won't forget your lunch tomorrow.

You could do it, but you don't. Hey, you know, kid, do your homework. Do your homework. Do your homework. Do your homework. 10 o'clock at night. Dad, help me do your homework. homework. No, I could, but I'm not because I love you. I could do something for you, but instead

I'm developing something in you. You never don't love your children, but there are times when you have the power to do what they want, but you don't do what they want even because you love them and have a higher plan for them. And I want to look at scripture that helps really illustrate this powerful thought that God's heart is always loving. No matter what happens, when you don't understand it, when you wish it weren't so, when you know God could do something different, remember his heart, remember his character, remember his nature, he is always loving. Romans chapter 8, in fact, Amy is memorizing Romans 8 this year, which I think is cool, super powerful. Verse 35 says this. Paul asked the question, who shall separate us from what?

Let's all say it aloud. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And then he lists some things shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword. Now, let's just bring this to where we live today because chances are pretty good. None of you are going to be naked this week with a sword in your face. Right? If you are, I want to hear the story because I'm sure it's really interesting. So let's modernize this because this would be the way Paul would probably say it today. He might say, what shall separate you from the love of Christ?

Shall financial trouble? Shall relational hardships? Shall cancer? Shall unemployment? Shall depression? He answers it this way. Verse 37. He says, no.

In all these things, we are more than conquerors. Through what? Through him who loved us. He says, for I'm convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, nor any height or depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ, Jesus, our Lord. God's heart is always loving, and we need to recognize that God does not prove his love for us

when he does what we want. He proved his love for us when he sent his son Jesus to die for our sins. Internalize this. God doesn't prove his love. He goes, oh, poof, okay, there you go, you have it. God proved his love for us. Then while we were yet sinners, Scripture says, Christ gave his life for us. God's heart is always loving.

When you don't understand, when you wish it were different, remember, God's heart is always loving. The second thing, if you're taking notes, we need to embrace is this, that God's ways are always higher. His ways are always higher. In fact, there are so many things that happen that people ask me as a pastor, what is God thinking? Why is God allowing this? And I don't mean to disappoint you, but I'm never going to lie, never going to make something up and just try to give you some explanation. There are so many times where I have to say, you know what, I don't know. I don't understand.

This one's above my pay grade. I wouldn't try to bring an explanation. I think it would be insulting to the person. It would be totally unfair. It would be me assuming something that is beyond my finite ability to comprehend. A child is born with a handicap. Why did this happen? I don't know.

Don't know. A great person is taken in the prime of their life. And you know how the story goes. The drunk driver hits the greener. great person, the drunk driver lives and the great person dies. Why did God allow that? Don't know. Some kind of terrorism attack and all these innocent people are hurt and some of them are killed. Why did God allow this? Cannot explain it. Won't even attempt to. Don't, I'm not qualified to do that. I have to embrace the truth. I have to hold on to the fact that God's

ways are higher than my ways. In fact, that's what Isaiah 55, verse 8 and 9 tells us so clearly. God says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are my ways, your ways, your ways, my ways declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, God says, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. There are those times when we just have to recognize, I don't understand that.

Can't bring an explanation. If I were God, I probably wouldn't have done it that way, but thankfully I'm not God. He knows the end from the beginning. He's already in tomorrow. He has a divine purpose in the end, in mind, and oftentimes God takes the things that we would never, ever want, and uses them to do something in us. He's conforming us to the image of Christ. His ways are higher. Sometimes the very thing that's interesting, you really think you want now, ends up years later you look back and go,

if I had had that, that would have been so much less than, and God had something so much better. I'll explain it to you like this, and it's a little bit cheesy, but this was really cool. I've always flown economy until one year I flew so much. I had several international trips. I started getting upgraded, bumped up. And if you've never flown first class before on a direct flight domestic, it's not that big a deal. You know, like the seat's this much bigger and you get your drink early or whatever. Not that big a deal. But when you're international, let me just tell you,

Dear God in heaven, it's so, I mean, so every international flight, we always booked economy. You walk on the flight and to the left is where the rich people go, right? And to the right is where we would always go, to the economy seats. Well, one year, Amy and I were flying to Australia and I guess we'd been to Germany and Korea and we had enough miles, we got there expecting to turn right and they said, you've been upgraded, you get to turn left. When we came into the left, there's a little curtain thing. If you've never been on the other side of the curtain, let me tell you about it.

You don't have a seat. You have a private world. Seriously, it's a little world. It's like a little, it's like a little house. And you come in there and they give you pajamas. Pajamas, like literally pajamas. Like you take off your clothes and you put on pajamas for the 17-hour flight. And then you're getting this little seat that's kind of like those things at the movie where the, you know, the recliner ones.

So this one goes all the way down to a bed, a bed. So you sleep in a bed and your pajamas while everybody else is doing this in the back. And then the food is like crazy grower. They brought out a wash cloth. Like, what's that for? Like it's like warm and stuff. And I had to look around to see what they're doing. And they're like washing their face in their pajamas.

They're washing their face. They brought out warm nuts. Warm nuts. I didn't even know you warmed your nuts. That didn't sound right at all. Sorry. But I'm 21, so I can drink. You dirty people.

Warm cashews and peanuts. I'll say it like that next time. Warm nuts. Who's ever had warm nuts? Their nuts are warm. You've got this all that kind of stuff. When we landed and I'm like, can we stay? I don't want to get off.

I want to live here. All this to say. All this to say, sometimes you go to the airport thinking you're going to turn wrong. right, God has you turn left. I don't know who it is right now, but I hope this will speak to you. Maybe you're a little devastated right now because your boyfriend's ghosting you. He's not there for it. He's pulling back on it.

You're like, but I wanted him. I wanted him. I wanted him. Let me tell you what, years later, guess what? You're going to recognize he was an economy class boy. God's got you a business class man with real pajamas. And who knows what else might be warm when you're in business class. I mean, you know, I'm telling you.

And just work with me here because you know, this is true. God's ways are higher. God's ways are better. You know, you wanted the house, and then that you didn't get the house. Oh, and then six months later, there's a better house at a better price. Oh, I see. And sometimes it's not that real big, better, massive, like, oh, that's an amazing, you know, analysis. Sometimes it's more subtle and it takes more years that go by. The child that was born with something that wasn't quite right. And seven years in, you're embracing this child, thanking God. This child is perfect in every way.

I never could imagine how much love and joy that this could have brought me. And I thank you, God, for this child and worship you for who my child is. It could be the person that's taken early in life. And again, you would never do it over that way again. You wouldn't want it to happen to anybody. But years go by and you say, God really used that. God really used that. And yes, in my temporary view of earth, I hate it,

but in the eternal view of who God is in his grand scheme, I can see the beauty and how his ways are higher and his thoughts are different. Whenever you bump up against that, why didn't God, why didn't God? Where's my on-demand God? Just remember, on-demand God does not exist. But when he doesn't do what you want him to do,

remember he is always loving. There's never a moment that he doesn't love you, but he won't always do what you want him to do. Remember and embrace. His ways are always higher. He is so good. He is infinite in wisdom. He knows the end from the beginning

and always has a divine purpose in mind. His ways are always higher. And the third thing I hope you'll embrace is this truth, that his presence is always enough. His presence is always enough. and this is where I really hope, especially this year, if you're what I would call more of a marginal Christian, you know, kind of you come to church when you can

and you know you believe in God, what I hope you'll do is I hope you'll recognize you're settling for way less than God wants you to have, that there is so much more, that when you become a fully devoted follower of Christ, and that means that you're truly seeking him first, that you're pursuing him, that you want to, that you want to be, you want your life to count eternally

for something more than is just temporary. And you press into God and you talk to him and you feed on his word and you worship him. What happens is you get to know his presence and he starts to recognize that he's always with you, he'll never leave you, he'll never forsake you. Then one day something bad happens. And because you know him so well,

you can honestly say, I don't have to worry about what will happen to me because I know my God is with me. I don't have to worry about what will happen to me because I know my God is with me. And this is where David, you may know David from the Old Testament, a little shepherd boy who became king, he got to this intimate place with God.

And before you just say, well, that was David, a man after God's on heart. You have to understand, David was a guy that threw more questions at God, then most three of us will combine together. If you read His cries to God in the Psalms, it's like, God, where are you? Why are my enemies after me, God?

Why is Saul pursuing me? This isn't fair, God. Why don't you hear my cries, God? On and on and on and on. Again, he was hurting, hurting, hurting and hurting. But as he grew in intimacy with God, he started to recognize that God would never leave him. God was always with them.

And the same God that asked those very pressing and real questions eventually penned this in Psalm 23, verse 4. David said this, he said, even though I walk through the darkest valley, even though I hate it, even though I don't understand it, even though this could take my life, even though, even though hell is breaking loose, even though I walk through the darkest valley, he said, I will fear no evil. Why? God, because you are with me. Because you are with me. Because you are with me. Because you are with me. God, because you are with me. I don't have to worry about what might happen to me because my God is with me, even though I walk to the darkest valley.

And here's something that I've learned that I didn't know, really in my 20s, I hadn't walked with God long enough. I always thought I experienced God best on the mountaintops, but I'll tell you what, I experience God most intimately in the valleys. It's when I need him and when I'm broken, that he becomes most real to me. On the mountain tombs, I'm tempted to forget about him. And in God's sovereign will, he may even allow me, or even lead me through the valleys so I can learn to trust in him more intimately.

And I'm going to tell you a real transparent story. I think I've only talked about this one time before. It was probably 10 years ago or so. And just to put it in as plain as terms as I can, I think what had happened is the church had outgrown me. In other words, the church was bigger than my faith, my leadership capacity. and what happened is I started having anxiety and I had physical issues kind of creeping up

and I didn't know what to do with it. Well, one week I was preaching back then. I preached six times every weekend and I would actually travel even between locations and I was doing the 830 service and everything started to go fuzzy and I was about 20 minutes in, I had about 10 minutes to go and I just had to stop and say to our pastor,

would you come finish it? and I walked off and went back and then just things went really weird. We had a small group people come back and pray and I went to doctor, all this kind of stuff. And it was real terror and fear and such. And I didn't know what to do with it. About that season, I preached one weekend. I told Amy afterwards that I just have to go get along with God.

And we have quite a bit of land. And then my neighbor has a lot more land. And so where I live, there's like land, land, land, land. And so I'm going to just go out into the woods. spend time with God. Probably 1.30 in the afternoon, maybe two, and I went out quite a distance into it, and I found this rock that was almost as big as a person,

and I climbed up on the rock, and I just started crying out to God. And it was fear, anxiety, can I keep this up? You know, what's going to happen? And about an hour or so into it, it just into, and this didn't, you know, I don't do this, you know, I'd never done that before, about an hour into it,

I really started to sense what I would just call the soothing, very real presence of God. About two hours into it, the tears turned from tears of fear into tears of joy. About three hours or so, I called Amy, I think it was even before text. I called her and said,

I'm just, don't worry about me. I'm out here praying, and it's good. Four or five hours. Sun goes down. It's finally dark out there, and I didn't want to come in. Why? I'm telling you,

God was doing something in my heart that the doctors couldn't do God was doing something in my heart that a sabbatical couldn't do God was refilling me touching me encouraging me building my faith

and when I came back from that moment what had been a long downhill slide was over over hadn't had not even a moment of that type of anxiety since it was the presence of God it was the presence of God. It was the presence of God. It was the presence of God. There are times I'm convinced that God may allow you to get to a

place where he's all you have. Because until he's all you have, you may never recognize that he's all you really need. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil. For my God is with me. God's ways are always loving. His ways are always higher. He's ways are always higher. He's is always, always, always, good and always with you, and his presence is always enough. You say, believe in a minute, Craig, God is a powerful God, and he can do what I want him to do. Yeah, sometimes he does. Sometimes he hears your prayer, moves in faith and does miracles, and you say, that's undeniably God, and you worship him when that happens. And there are other times when he doesn't, and guess what? You worship him when that happens. Why? Because he's still good.

You say, but Craig, can't I pray and get God to do whatever I want? No, my God is way too big. He's way too glorious. He's way too supreme to be a puppet to men. He is the sovereign creator, God of the universe who does not exist to serve us. We exist to serve him. And when we come into our right place and put him into his right place, suddenly we worship him not for just what he does, but we worship him for who he is, his heart, his character, his nature. He is the God working in all things to bring about good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose because that's who he is. His heart is always loving. His ways are always higher. His presence is always enough. So whenever you're tempted to say, God, why didn't you? Where are you?

Aren't you there? Are you not good? Are you not real? You're not powerful. Do you not care? That's on-demand God. And on-demand God does not exist. The true God is so much greater. And because of who he is, our only reasonable response is, God, here I am my whole life. Take it. Use me, God, to serve and glorify you.

All of our churches, let's pray. Father, we thank you for your goodness, your presence. We ask God that in this moment, you would do a healing work in hearts just as you did in mine. We need you, God. All of our churches, as you're reflecting in prayer today, I wonder how many of you would say quite honestly that there's something in your life right now

that you may not really want. You don't understand. And it might be creating a bit of a challenge for you. Would you lift up your hands right now? All of our churches, just lift up your hands. Just lift up your hands. So many hands going up right now. Father, I pray for those who are hurting, confused, and have something they don't want.

God, and I tell you right now, that is me. My hand is lifted as well. We need you, God. Give us the grace to understand that your ways are higher. Give us the faith to trust. God, we know you hear our prayers and you often respond and do miracles. But, God, sometimes your miracle is revealed in a way that we don't. understand. God, we do ask and believe for miracles. I pray for healed marriages. God, I pray for

financial provision. I pray, God, for restoration in broken relationships. We pray for physical miracles, God. We know that you can heal bodies, that the name of Jesus is above every name, and we speak the name of Jesus asking for healing. And God, when you hear our prayers and you respond and do what we want, we'll worship you. And God, because we love you, we're submitted to you and because we trust you. even when you don't do what we want. We will love you, God. We'll always worship you because you're always good. I pray, God, I pray that by the power of your presence,

you administer to those who are struggling to believe, that they could still embrace you, even when life doesn't go the way they want, knowing you're an eternal God. You're working in all things to conform us to the image of your son and to bring about good, God, those who love you and are called according to your purpose. Keep praying today at all of our churches, nobody looking around. If there's ever a time that God is an on-demand God, let me tell you when it is.

It's when you cry out to him for forgiveness. His answer is always yes. Every single time, he's always available to you. And we talked about the loving heart of God, and I hope you'll feel this. There is no more loving act in the history of the world than what God did for us. through his son Jesus. He doesn't prove his love for us when he does what we want. He proved his love for us when he sent his son.

When God became flesh in the person of his son, Jesus, who lived without sin, who died the most brutal death on a cross but didn't stay dead. Three days later, the tomb was empty. He was raised from the dead. Jesus was no longer there.

Why? He was raised so that anyone, and this includes you, who calls on him the name of Jesus, would be completely forgiven. your sins erased. You'd become a new creation in all of our churches there are those of you. You recognize you've done some things wrong.

You feel guilty. You wonder where you stand with God. When you call in the name of Jesus, God, here's your prayers, he forgives your sins, and in a moment he makes you new. And all of our churches there are those of you you recognize. I need his grace. I need his forgiveness.

I need his mercy. You simply look at what he's done. And say, my only reasonable response is to turn from my sin, turn towards you and call on you. Jesus. be the Savior of my life, be my Lord to all of our churches, those who say yes, I need his grace. Yes, I need his forgiveness today. By faith, I trust in him.

I give my life to him. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now all over the place and say yes. Right back over here, both of you, God bless you guys, way back over here as well. Others are you today in this section right back here. Thank you, God. Back over here. Say yes, Jesus, I surrender.

I need you. Church online, you click right below me. We're all going to pray together. celebrating new life in Christ. Pray aloud, pray Heavenly Father. Today I surrender my life to you, trusting you to save me, to forgive my sins, and to make me new. Fill me with your spirit so I could follow you and serve you every single day. My life is not my own. I give it to you. thank you for new life. Now you have mine.

In Jesus' name I pray. All of our churches, would you worship? Would you celebrate? Would you welcome those born into God's family? We're honored 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.

You know, in all of our life church locations and at church online, everything we do boils down to one thing, and that's leading people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. You see, we know that every person has a name and every person has a story. And one of my favorite stories is John Abaka, who had assumptions about the church, but as soon as he stepped into a life church, those assumptions were changed, and so was his life. I always knew there was a God. You know, my mom had taken me to church growing up, but I didn't really really. know the basic principles of what it means to know God, what it means to have a real relationship

with them. I actually lived right across the street from Life Church and I would see all the cars coming in. To me, the average Christian was a hypocrite. So even before I knew anyone that even went to the church already had these thoughts of this is how it is. So I'm going to put that label on Life Church. As soon as you pull up in the parking lot, you see young people, people smiling, people excited

to go to church. Everyone was clapping, hands, bumping. Growing up, I never saw that. I never saw anybody excited to go to church. Craig got on and he starts talking. I don't know even what the sermon was about that day, but I remember how it affected me. It was everything that God's been trying to tell me.

And I left that place feeling like a completely different person. I didn't change immediately. It took some time. It took some reoccurring attendance. It took some digging into the scripture. It took me going into a life group. Having people sharpened me, having people invest in my life. My verbiage, my want-toes, my drive, my passions in life are completely different. I feel like it's embedded into my soul and my being now. And I think God wanted me there at that moment. And I think that God had been calling me for a long time. And, uh, I think that God had been calling me for a long time. And, uh, He used Life Church to get to me. And, yeah. If you have a great life change story you'd like to share with us, we would love to hear about it. All you have to do is send us an email to Stories atlife.church. You know, once again, it's our mission here to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ.

Like I said, that statement drives everything that we do, all because we believe whoever finds God finds life.