Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - I Want to Believe, But..., Part 3: Goosebumps God

Episode Date: January 22, 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 like to learn more about us as a church, you can always check us out online simply by going to life.church. We'd love for you to stay connected throughout your week and everywhere you go with the Life Church app available today wherever you download your apps from. Coming up, we're in the middle of a message series we're calling I want to believe, but tackling a lot of the questions and the issues that make it difficult for many of us

to believe in a God we cannot see. And today we'll talk about the question, why can't I feel God at times I think I should? It's a great question many of us ask and one will tackle today as we join our senior pastor, Craig Rochelle. It's awesome to have all of you with us today at all of our churches.

And before we dive into this week's message, I just have to tell you, I'm in the mood to celebrate. I'm wondering if I can have anybody in any of our churches kind of help me celebrate some good news. I've been preaching all weekend. I kind of feel like this is going to be my favorite crowd of the weekend.

I can feel it. I can feel it. Let me celebrate two things. One is with the church. One is personal. This is really cool. Because of your faithfulness, because of your generosity, we were able to move our Life Church, Albany, New York location from a little bit of building

into this amazing new facility just a few weeks ago. You can see tons and tons of people worshiping in this building. And let me tell you this, Albany and New York is considered the number one most post-Christian city in America. The number one most post-Christian city in America. Let me tell you about the last two weeks. Two weeks ago, we had 71 people. Last weekend, 74 people surrender their lives to Christ at Life Church, Albany, New York. Somebody do a little bit better than that.

I want you to imagine this is in two services. So we're talking like 40 plus. people or so coming to Christ in a single service. This is an amazing move of God. We love you guys. Amy and I can't wait to come visit you all. We're coming to South Tulsa. We're coming to Life Church Albany.

We're coming to Hendersonville, Tennessee, just in the next quarter. Can't wait to see you guys on a personal note. A personal note? This Thursday, I was teaching our campus pastors doing some training, and I got a text. Come to the hospital immediately. And my daughter, Katie, and my son-in-law, Andrew, gave birth six weeks early, emergency C-section to little David Cole. Notice the power in his hand. He's already got supernatural powers.

His hand glows in the dark. And so I'll tell you what, man, we're overwhelmed with gratitude to God. And I'm a Bop-Ball now. Call me Pops. Not Pops, call me Pops. Just call me Pops. And I'm celebrating this. The baby will be in the hospital just for a week or two weeks.

or so because he's a preemie, but you ought to see him with his shirt off, man. Dude's. The dude is ripped. The dude is ripped. He got game. I'm just saying. All right. So anyway, if you are just joining us, we're actually in part three of a four-part

message series. It's called I want to believe, but. And we're talking about some of the hurdles or challenges that people have in their faith. There are a lot of people that want to believe in God, but there's something that happened, some reason, some hurdle that keeps them from completely believing. And the argument that I've made the last few weeks is that there are so many people that are not rejecting the true God, but what they're doing is they're rejecting a distorted view of who they think God is.

It's a wrong view of God. Week number one, we talked about on-demand God, the God who does everything we want. That God does not exist. Last week we talked about Kill Joy God, the God who robs us of all of our fun. Next week, let me tell you about it because it's really important. I saved the most common objection to the very last week. I'm calling it heartless God. And listen, all of you, all of our churches,

you know somebody who would like to believe in God, but can't because they would say God doesn't seem to care. How can I believe in a God who allows this to happen or that to happen or allowed this to happen in my life? Heartless God. That's next week. All I can do is tell you, I promise you, it will speak to a lot of people in a very real way.

Today, I want to talk about what I call a goose bump God. I want to believe in God, but I don't feel Him. How do you believe in a God? You can't see, you don't hear him speak audibly, and you don't feel. I want to believe in God, but I don't feel Him. In fact, I had a conversation with the sweetest little 16-year-old girl who almost verbatim said that exact statement. I want to believe in God, but I don't feel him.

It was after church one week, and Amy and I were meeting people, and this precious girl came up and just her eyes were full of tears, and she just said immediately, she said, Pastor Craig, my dad died of brain cancer, and I was so close to my daddy, and my mom is not a believer in God, and I'm hurting, so I'm driving myself to church every single week because I need something spiritually. And she said, but it's just not happening for me.

And then she went on to say, I tried to read the Bible, and I don't understand it. I tried to sing the songs, and everyone else seems to feel something. I feel numb. She said, when I pray, it's just like I'm talking and I don't feel like anyone's listening. and you could just sense this longing out of this precious little girl driving herself to church because she wants to believe something,

but she's not feeling it. I guarantee this is many of you, either at some point in your life or even right now or you know somebody that wants to believe in God but doesn't feel them. And then, you know, if you're a part of a life group, you've always got that annoying person in life that feels God everywhere. You know, like I was talking to God and God said this to me. I was driving here and my favorite song was on.

I could sense God in it, and I went to the mall, and I prayed and God gave me the perfect part. and my husband got a raise and my son got accepted to a prestigious universe on a full ride. Oh, God is so good. And you're like, I was driving here. I hated all the songs. I went to the mall and couldn't get a parking space and walked a half a mile in the rain. My husband got fired and my son got rejected to the community college.

Where is God in my life right? I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't feel God. I don't feel God. If you've ever wondered where is God, I want to talk about that today. And just for fun to get a show of hands, of you that are Jesus followers, how many of you would say that you ever think you did feel

the presence of God? All of our church had lived them up. How many would say maybe you think you felt God's presence in church today? Felt God's his presence in church today. Interesting. I'd ask you this, how do you know you felt God? Think about it. How do you know you felt God? What are you saying? Like, I got goosebumps, tingly, wingly, wingly, wingly. Maybe you were crying during the worship or something. Maybe you had a peaceful, easy feeling. You know, I don't know. How do you know? And I want to push you a little bit because you might have a tingly feeling with God. You can actually get a tingly feeling sitting across from someone the opposite sex that really smells good and looks good. Right? Right? Don't look at me like that never

happened to you. You know, you cried. You know, an emotional YouTube video can make you cry. Did you feel God? I don't know. You got a peaceful feeling. You can put light some candles, get in a bubble bath and put on some Kenny G. You get a peaceful feeling. I don't know. You know. And I'm kind of being sarcastic, but how do you know? How do you know? You felt God. And let me ask you this. If you didn't feel God today in church, whose fault was it?

Think about that. Was it God's fault? Like, God's looking at you going, I didn't like your attitude this week. So I'm giving myself to everybody else, but not you. Like, ooh, I'm missing you. Next week, maybe, if you're better. Is it God's fault, right? Is it your fault?

Like your spiritual antenna wasn't up? or was it your worship pastor's fault? Because he didn't play your favorite song. Who's fault is it? What do you do? You don't feel God. What I want to do today, hopefully, is show you that the presence of God is so much bigger

than our feelings. The presence of God is so much bigger than our feelings. And to introduce this talk, you could write this down if you want. If you don't always feel God's presence, you are not alone. If you don't always feel God, God's presence, you're not alone.

In fact, I'll share with you a couple of personal stories today and show you from scripture and even from an amazing Christian author that not everybody always feels the presence of God. Look at Psalm 88 for a moment, if you will, verse 13 and 14. The psalmist, you can feel the frustration as he cries out and says, but God, I cry to you for help, Lord. In the morning, my prayer goes before you. Why?

Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me? God, I need your help. I want to feel your presence, but it's like heaven is silent. There's a ceiling blocking me from knowing you, God. I need your presence, but you're not even there. Why do you reject me? You look at some of the spiritual grates in the Bible. David, I mean, he had very intimate times with God,

a man after God's own heart. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil. Why? for you are with me, he said. But at other times, he cried out to God, where are you? I can't feel you. Why aren't you answering my prayers?

Why are you allowing my enemies to do this? God, where are you? Wasn't always I feel you with me. Paul in the New Testament, this guy experiences the risen Christ. I mean, he has a heavenly experience one time so glorious, he's not even allowed to talk about it. And yet, you know what he did for the first 17 years of his life? after he became a follower of Jesus wanting to preach, waited, waited, waited, making tense.

God, give me a chance. Where are you? Where are you, God? I don't feel you. Jesus, even think about this. Jesus, who walked in the most intimate fellowship moment by moment with God is on a cross, and he becomes sin for us. And I can't fully explain this because I don't know what exactly God did or didn't do. Scripture's not totally clear, but evidently, when Jesus became sin, and died for our sins. God is so holy, he couldn't look upon this. So whatever happens, the world is going dark as Jesus gives his life. And he looks up in his most desperate moment and cries down.

Eli, Eli, Lama Sabatni. My God, my God, where are you? Why have you forsaken me? Jesus. God's son. In his greatest moment of brokenness. God, I felt you my whole life, and I can't feel you now. Where are you?

God. I don't know if any of you have read some of C.S. Lewis's works. He's kind of, if you're not a Christian or don't know of him, he's like a literary giant in Christian writing. You certainly know of the Chronicles of Narnia. He also wrote mere Christianity and tons of other screw tape letters, amazing books. This spiritual giant actually wrote this at one time in his life when he didn't sense and feel the presence of God. Here's what he wrote during one of the painful times in his life.

He cried out to God and he said this. He said, I got a door slammed in my face and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. And after that, silence. C.S. Lewis. He went on to say that this caused him to doubt the presence of God and he said this in a metaphorical way. He said, there are no lights in the windows.

It might be an empty house. In other words, is God even there? Was it ever inhabited? It seems so once. Why is God so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble? If you don't always feel the presence of God, you are not alone.

What I want to do today is I want to suggest three possible reasons why some of you may say, you know, I want to believe in God, but I don't feel him right now. And there would certainly be more, but I want to start with three that may give you a longing just to pursue God and the chance of finding him even in a more intimate way. A thought number one, if you're taking notes, why don't we always feel God? Well, number one, maybe, perhaps some of you, you're oversensationalizing it. You're over sensationalizing it. You're doing exactly what the disciples did that was recorded in John chapter 6,

verse 30. They're like, give us some kind of a big, bold, clear sign. We want something that proves, da-da, there is God. And so they asked Jesus, what sign then will you give that we may see it and believe in you? What are you going to do, Jesus? And then they start using the past to increase their argument. Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness. It's written that God gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Hey, you know, God did this. God did this miracle, but there's bread from heaven. Do something like that. Give us some sense that God is really with us. There are some of you, you may be over sensationalizing it. You want to know God's with, you want to feel it, but yet you're looking for the audible voice. You're dating some guy.

You're considering breaking up with him, but you're not sure. He might be the one, but he might not be the one. And you don't want to throw him by the side. If there's not something better coming along, but there's something better coming along. You don't want to stick with him. You're like, I want God to speak to me. Say, thou shall breaketh up with that banist,

for he is only an economy class man. And I have for thou a business class man. There's actually a joke in there. If you've been with this in this series, you get it. If you weren't here, you don't get it. God, you want that. You want, you know, you want an angel to appear. Which way do I go?

And the angel's got one of those pieces spinning arrow signs. And the angel goes, this. You know, you're over sensationalizing. Let me just tell you this, God doesn't always reveal himself that way. There are times when you may feel him, there are times when you may not. And from my own life, I'll just tell you about some of the most important spiritual moments of my life. I haven't feel anything. One, I was 12 years of age growing up in church, and I grew up in a church where we had this thing called confirmation.

You turn 12 years of age, you take this class, and then you become a full-blown adult member, and you get to take your first communion. And I remember my confirmation teacher saying it's going to be the most holy moment of your life. you're going to experience the presence of Christ in the body and the blood and the bread and the juice. It's going to be holy and I knelt down. The pastor came in this robe and he said, and this is the body broken for you. And I took this little piece of cardboard thing. I was like, I didn't feel anything.

And then I took this little swig of grape juice. Like I couldn't even barely get the thing down. It was like, and that was it. Where was God in that? And it was so disappointed. Why did I feel you God? I became a Christian in college. I met and married Amy.

We've been married, I don't know, a couple of weeks, and there was this retreat that everybody talked about. They said, this is the most like heaven of anything you'll experience on earth. This spiritual retreat. You've got to go on this retreat. You've got to go on this retreat. I went on the most glorious, incredible spiritual retreat.

I hated every single minute of it. Despised it. I went with all these dudes and like, get the dudes away from me. I want to be with my wife, you know. And at the end, you're supposed to stand up in front of everybody, all this church full of people, and stand up and cry and talk about how you're,

life was changed in the last three days. So I was forced to stand up and lie in a church. Oh, I loved it. I hated it. I'm a liar. I hate it. I just want to see my life. I didn't feel anything. The worst was my ordination. I told you before, I had the craziest time getting ordained. I was a Methodist pastor, and I flunked the first round. I got put on probation. Finally, a year later, I got ordained as what's known as a deacon, and it's not a full ordination. The full ordination was an elder. So I was like a half pastor. Only half of me glowed in the dark. The other half still didn't, right? You know, I'm a half pastor. Well, then I started a life church. I already had a Masters of Divinity. It's a 90-hour master's degree. So now I have to do seven more graduate

classes while I'm starting life here. Seven more classes. So it took me several years to get it all done. So I'm like seven or eight years into this thing, finally getting ordained. Flew to this place. All these people there, there's like seven or eight of us. And we're up in our robes were getting ordained. Most holy, I've been waiting this for this years and years and years and years and years. And of all days, I got the worst case of diarrhea you have ever seen. I mean, it's just like nasty stuff. Like, they're praying and I'm pinching. That's all I can tell you. They're like, I have my ordination moment. Pop! I've just hollowed it. And, you know, some of you're looking grossed down. Don't act like you never had diarrhea. You know, I didn't feel a thing, which was partially good,

because if I'd felt something, it might have been what I didn't want to feel. You know, and my order, I didn't feel a thing. I'm going, what is wrong with me, God? I don't feel this. I don't feel, I want to feel this God. We have to understand that feelings are not evidence of the presence of God. Feelings are not the only evidence that God is with us. If you always felt God, you wouldn't need faith. Let me say it again. If you always felt the presence of God, you wouldn't need faith. And without faith, it's impossible to please God. There's some of you, if I can just say, you're over sensationalizing it. You're looking for the goose bump feeling that the audible voice when sometimes it's a quiet whisper.

Perhaps there are some of you that you're looking for something that's not there because God is with you always. The second thing if you're taking notes, then I don't want to use this to scare you. But as your pastor, I do feel obligated to share this with you. There are some of you, you may not feel God because maybe your heart has hardened. Maybe your heart has hardened. You are close to God at one point, and now your heart. is not soft to the things of God. And this was Jesus quoting the prophet Isaiah in Matthew 13, verse 14 and 15 when Jesus said this, he said, you'll be ever hearing but never understanding.

You'll be ever seeing but never perceiving. And then he said for these people's heart has become calloused. They hardly hear with their ears and they have their eyes closed. They've closed their eyes. What would happen? They were close perhaps to God at once, but over time their heart grew harder. And now spiritually, they didn't see like they used to see. Spiritually, they didn't hear like they used to hear. And there are perhaps, and again, I don't want to be, you know, it's to scare you, but there are perhaps some of you that you've allowed your heart to grow hard to the things of God. And you need to understand the number one cause of a hard heart is sin in our life that separates us from God. And let me explain it to you this way.

If you sin against God, does that mean God doesn't love you? You're not a Christian. Obviously not. You sin against God and you're a follower of Jesus. You're still a follower of Jesus. But what happens is the sin breaks the intimacy with God. For example, let's say you've got a husband and a wife, and the husband or the wife commits adultery. What happens? Are they still married?

Are they still married? Are they still married? Are they as intimate as they were before? No, intimacy, trust is broken. That sin separates and breaks the fellowship that was there. And this is what happens with God. Whenever we live with ongoing sin, okay? We all mess up.

I'll mess up today, you'll mess up today. But when we continue to live in it and we're not repenting of it before God, we're not confessing saying, God, help cleanse me of this, remove this. When we're not dealing with it over time, it's like plaque on our heart. It grows hard. And suddenly, we can't sense that God is there. You guys are looking confused. Let me unpack this.

Imagine this, it's super, super cold out. Let's say it's 15 degrees below. I mean, it's freezing out. If you get bundled up in the best gear, you've got an amazing hat, you've got earmuffs, you've got one of those ski-masks things, you put a scarf around your neck, you put on full-body long underwear,

you got the best coat, you got big, thick ski pants, you got wool socks, you got great boots with little heaters in them, you got the best gloves in all, and you walk out. What do you not feel? You don't feel cold.

It is cold, but you don't feel cold. Why do you not feel cold? Because something is separating you from what's really there. If you continue to let sin rule in your life, it's not that God's not there, but there's something that's separating and blocking you from feeling the intimacy and the goodness of God that is still there.

You simply don't feel him. And some of you may say, well, you know, I'm not doing some of the big sins, and that's really good. congratulations, you know, not whatever the big ones are. The problem is so many of us learn to live with what I call sanitized sins. Culture just kind of says, well, everybody does it. It's not that big of a deal. But you go on living with it, living with it, living with it. I don't know what it might be, but it might be envy. You can't go on Instagram without going, I want that purse,

and I want to go on that trip, and I wish I had that guy, I hate them, and I hate her, and I hate her, I hate all my friends. I don't know why they're my friends. I hate them all. envy and you live with it it could be gossip can i tell you about so on so we need to pray for her right could be lust ah you know it's like loo loo ooh right you need to kind of live with it i don't want to be harsh again but it could be gluttony could be laziness could be some sanitized sin that just kind of lives there. Every now and then you kind of have to do a gut check. And the reason I know this is because there are so many times in my life where I've let some, something unrighteous live in my heart. And I've had to say, God, I am so sorry. I'm not sensing you now. I confess this is wrong.

Forgive me. God cleanse me. And this is what David prayed in the Old Testament after he sins and did a lot of sin. He prayed out to God, created me a, pure heart. Maybe your heart's hardened. Creating me a pure heart. Renew within me a right spirit. Restore to me the joy of my salvation. There may be some of you, and again, I don't want this to be like, you know, like a heap condemnation on you because you already feel bad. That's not my heart. But maybe you don't feel the presence of God because you've got sin that's blocking the reality that he's already there. He's still with you. Why don't I always feel God?

Some could be your over sensationalizing it. Some that might be your heart has grown harder. Number three, if you're taking notes, and I hope this is many of us, is this. Maybe God wants to draw you closer. Why don't I always feel God? Maybe because God wants to draw you closer. I love in Acts chapter 17, verse 26, when Paul was preaching in Athens, he preached this way, and he said this, like in imagine, he said, from one man, God made all.

all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth. And he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. And then he said the why behind it. He said, God did this so that what? All of our churches helped me out. He said, God did this so that they would seek him. Why did God do this? Somebody help me.

He did it so they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. What did God do? God did this. God created. God showed the glory of who he was. And he did this so that people would reach out and say, I want that God. I want to know him.

I want to pursue him. There may be those times, and this is just me suggesting it, that you may not feel God because God wants to bring you to a place where you have more of a desire for him. What does deprivation do? Deprivation draws out desire. Deprivation draws out desire. If I don't eat, what do I get? I get hungry.

If I don't drink, what do I get? I get thirsty. If I don't sense the presence of God, I might just start hungering and thirsting for God. What happens? Familiarity, what does it breed? It breeds contempt. What happens?

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. What if God, what if God, what if God in his glory? draws you out to seek him, where you start to long for more of him. Anytime, and I'll just tell you right now, our lives get crazy with six kids, no, grandkids, the church, all the activities. Sometimes I get so busy that Amy and I don't have the time together,

and guess what happens? I long for intimacy with her. I long for relational intimacy. And so what happens? When we don't have that, I crave it even more. What if God, even today, right now, is bringing you to a place where you say, oh, I am missing that. I want more of him.

I thirst for him in a dry and a weary land. I need more of him. You see, God is a jealous God. Do you understand this? He wants to be number one in your life. He wants to be the greatest object of your desire. He wants you to pursue him. but I don't feel them. I don't feel them. Feelings are not faith.

Feelings are not faith. Just because God feels silent does not mean that he's absent. Let me say it again. Just because God feels silent does not mean that he is absent. We pursue him. And the good news is this according to Jeremiah 29. If you seek me, God says you will find me. God says when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the Lord. When you seek me, God says, you will find him. Perhaps there are some of you, God is going to create a longing in your heart. So when you wake up, you say, God, I want to experience you today. I want to know that you're with me and you press into him. You seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and then seek

first his kingdom and his right. And then everything is added unto you. So here's the deal. Anytime you truly sense in a powerful, even supernatural way that God is with you, embrace it because he is. You get goosebumps, you get feeling. I mean, there are times when you just take off your, take off your shoes and say, I'm standing on holy ground. And you get down on your face and say, God, I sense you're with me and I worship you and I want to give you all the glory in the world. And when that happens, let the tears flow. Embrace it because it's real. And he's with you. But never forget that he is with you always. And don't. Don't ever forget to embrace him in the everyday moments.

When you're driving to work early and you see the sun rise and the colors are splashed across the sky and you say, I see you there, God. You're just displaying your glory in the heavens, sense your presence. And when you go to work and you do something you're pretty good at, and you say, I feel you with me, God, because I was created to do this.

And when you pray for someone during the day and you make a difference or you reach you, out to someone or you give something to someone to need. God, I just felt your presence as you used me to represent your love in this way. When you come home like I did the other day and my daughter Joy came running up to me, daddy, daddy, threw her arms around me. Just look down at your child and say, I see the presence of God in this moment as you're with me. When my son scored just crazy, sick, awesome, off the charts, unbelievable goal the other day and pointed up to heaven and said, thank you Jesus after that.

I was like, not only is a good soccer player, but he knows where it came from. He's given glory to God, and I felt the presence of God in that moment, in that moment. Working out with my son the other day, just together, father and son, felt the presence of God in that moment, sitting on a couch, rubbing Amy's feet.

She's rubbing my feet. I felt the presence of God in my feet. Looking at my best friends, say, we've been rubbing each other's feet. 26 years, I felt God in that. moment. Watching my daughter, my baby girl, hold her baby boy, the glory of creation. I sensed the presence of God in that moment. It wasn't always goosebumps, wasn't audible, wasn't lightning from the sky. There's an ongoing awareness that my God is always with me.

my God is always with me my God is always with me don't trust your feelings feelings aren't facts the fact is your God will never leave you forsake you so 16 year old girl I told you about the beginning

she's looking up at me just broken her daddy and you love whenever you see a daddy daughter relationship with intimacy because you often don't see that she lost her daddy and she's searching for

God and she's not feeling anything. And I'm looking at this little girl and you can just tell she's not going to give up. She's driving herself to church because she needs something from God. She doesn't feel it, but she's still driving herself back. And I looked at her like I would have one of my own daughters because I felt that kind of love for her. And I said, listen, I promise you, I promise you, I give you my word. You will find God. You will find God.

And she looked up at me like she wanted to believe. I said, I promise you, you will find him. Because when you draw near to him, he draws near to you. Anytime a child lifts their hands to a parent, the parent responds to the child. Anytime you lift your heart toward God, he responds to you. I said, I promise you, you will find him. I said, besides, I can tell you're the most determined girl I've ever seen. And she stopped. She said, what did you call me?

I said, you're sick determined. I can see it in your eyes. And all of a sudden she just started crying. She said, I can't believe what you just said. I can't believe what you just said. I said, what did I say? I said, what did I say? She said, my daddy used to call me his determined little angel. And I can't believe you just called me that. And I looked at her and I smiled. I said, by any chance, do you sense that God may

be with us right now? And she broke down and she hugged me for the longest time as we prayed. And she said, I absolutely do since that he's with me right now. When you seek him, you will find him because he loves to reveal himself to those who pursue him. So Father, today we pray that is a church full of people long to be in your presence, that we would be increasingly aware God, whether we feel it or not, that you will never leave us and you will never forsake us. You are always with us. You are always good. And all of our churches, as you're reflecting today, I wonder how many of you would say,

I am a follower of Jesus, and I want to be even more aware of the ongoing, ever-present goodness of God in my life. I want to know these with me and sense him so I can represent him and glorify him. That's you today. Would you lift up your hands right now, just all of our churches? because I want to even be more aware of his presence. Father, I thank you for people whose hands are lifted toward heaven as your heart moves toward them, God. I pray, Father, if we're ever over sensationalizing it,

give us the power to see your goodness in the everyday moments. Sure, you may speak audibly, there may be riding on a wall, there may be an angel from heaven, or we may simply see you in the glory of creation and the power of new birth and new life on this earth. God, help us to sense you are with us. God, I pray today a very heartfelt prayer for those who may be missing you because of the buffer of sin. And, God, I'm aware of this because of my own life, the sin that's blocked my intimacy with you.

I pray today, God, that there be no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but out of the purity of heart, we deal with us. We confess it to you, God. We confess it to our life group. God, we'd find forgiveness, and we'd find healing. and God, I thank you that in a moment as you forgive our sins, that intimacy can be restored. Restore to us, God, the joy of our salvation. Create a pure heart anywhere that our hearts have grown hard.

And Father, today I pray that there may be those that you are drawing even closer, creating a hunger and a thirst, that we may pursue you, God, because you love to be pursued, and you love to reveal yourself to us. As you continue praying today at all of our churches, there may be some of you that something's going on inside of you spiritually. Let me say it really clearly. You may feel something. You may not. I don't really care what you feel, but something's happening spiritually.

You may be aware, I've done a lot of things wrong. You may feel some guilt for this. Oh my gosh, where do I stand with God? Let me give you the facts, the facts, the facts. No matter what you feel, the fact, is that God is crazy about you. He sent his son. who was without sin to die in your place. Jesus died and rose again.

Why? So that whoever, and this includes you, who calls on his name, would be saved, forgiven, transformed, and made new. There are those of you, maybe you're since you're being drawn to God. Let me take what that is. That's no accident.

That is the power of the Holy Spirit doing what he's done since the beginning of creation, drawing people to God. You're not here by accident. You're not watching church online. By accident, you're here because you recognize. You sense you need Jesus. Jesus, what do you do? You call on him. You say, I am a sinner and I need a savior. When you do,

he will forgive every sin you've ever committed and you'll be completely brand new. Some of you will feel a spiritual euphoria. Others of you may not feel anything. It doesn't matter what you feel. The fact is, you're a new creation. The old is gone. Everything has become new and many of you are here for this exact reason. And you know it. All of our churches, those who say, yes, I need his grace. Yes, I need his forgiveness. Yes, today, I turn from my sin. I turn toward Jesus. And I surrender my life completely to him. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now. All of our churches say yes. That's my prayer. Both of you here together. What a day for you guys. Right back over here. God bless you. Here in this section say yes. Others today say Jesus, I call on you. I surrender.

Church online, you click right below me. All of our churches, let's pray together. Pray Heavenly Father. I surrender my life completely to you. Jesus saved me. Make me new. me with your spirit so I could follow you and serve you for the rest of my life. My life is not my own. I give it to you. Thank you for a new life. Now you have mine. In Jesus' name I pray. All of our churches, would you worship big, worship loud? Worship big, worship loud. Thank you, God, for new life in Christ. 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. You know, here at Life Church, we believe the church isn't about a building. It's about the people, people coming together, doing life together to learn what it means to become a fully devoted follower of Christ. And one of my favorite examples of this taking place comes from Nashville, Tennessee, and the story of Jamie Pickle, who saw a need in her community to connect with people like her and found a way to meet that need. Here's her story. I'm from the Nashville area, and I saw a lot of people my age with things to do, but nothing to be a part of.

For the longest time, I didn't want to start a life group because I thought someone else can do that. That's not my job. Then Cod put on me that, Jamie, you need to start this life group. And it was one of the best decisions that I ever made. So on a Sunday night, when everybody gets to church, and right before we sit down, I finally get to see my life group after a long week, and we get to worship together. Like, I just forget about any stress that I had before.

And we hang out on more than just Sunday, because these are the people I want to do life with. Even though I played a small role in starting the life group, the people in the life group are changing me more than I ever thought they would before. Like we might just be on a life group on Sundays, but we are a group doing life together. Thanks again for joining us here at Life Church, where it's our mission to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. Everything we do, and I mean everything, centers around that statement as we do everything we can to help people find God and find life.