Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - I Want to Believe, But..., Part 4: Heartless God

Episode Date: January 29, 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. 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 a Life Church app available wherever you download your apps from. Coming up today, we conclude our message we're calling, I want to believe, but tackling

many of the questions that make it so difficult for us to believe in a God. see. And today, we'll be asking the question, why does God let so many bad things happen in the world if he truly loves us? It's a great question to ask, and one will tackle today as we join our senior pastor, Craig Rochelle. Well, I'm really excited to have all of you with us today at all of our life churches, our open network churches, our family all over the world at church online. We're in the final part of a four-part message series called I Want to Believe, but if you're just joining us, what we've been talking about is the really big issue that there are so many people today that want to believe in God, but there's some type of a hurdle, some type of an obstacle.

Now, if you've been at Life Church for any amount of time, you know, I love to have a good time and I love to really even tell a lot of fun stories. But I want to tell you today, I may be just a little bit more serious because this to me is one of the biggest and most important issues, and for so many people, it's the biggest hurdle that keeps them from fully believing in God. If you've been with us in previous weeks, what I've talked about is a reality that so many people are rejecting God, but I've made the argument they're not rejecting the true God, but they're rejecting a distorted image of God. In other words, week number one, we talked about what I called on-demand God. God's got to do what

I want. That God does not exist. Week number two, we talked about kill joy, God. I want to believe in God, but there are too many rules. And we found out that religion complicates Jesus makes simple with love. Week number three, we talked about goose bump God. I want to believe in God, but I don't feel him. And we showed how that's actually a distorted view, always having to feel God, isn't who God really is. Today I want to talk about what may be the most commonly embraced distorted view of God,

and that's what I call heartless God. I want to believe in God, but he doesn't seem to care. In fact, I had a conversation at a soccer game. I was watching one of my son's play, and I was sitting next to a gentleman who was watching his son play, and we kind of started having a conversation back and forth, and it was kind of casual. We'd talk for a minute. We'd watch the game for a minute, talk for a minute, and midway through, I saw him kind of

looking over at me with a different type of look, and I think he was, and obviously was recognizing me as a pastor, because he said, by any chance, are you a pastor? of a church. And I said, yes, I am. He said, I thought I kind of recognized you. I thought maybe he went to the church and he didn't. He said, very sincerely, and you could tell he was actually hurting, sometimes when people are hurting, they can have a little edge. This guy didn't have an edge. He was incredibly sincere. He said, I'm just curious, how do you believe in a God when he doesn't even care? That's what he asked. And I knew this guy wanted to talk, so I kind of said, you know, tell me why you're asking that. And man, it just rolled out of them.

And the hurt was just pouring out. And he told me about how he grew up in a Catholic church. He always went to Mass. He married a Catholic girl. They always went to Mass. Got married in the church. I had a son and wanted a daughter. Then had another son and then wanted a daughter.

And they finally had a daughter. And unfortunately, his daughter had a very severe heart issue he told me about. And he said, my daughter had to go in for an incredibly high risk surgery. So the priest prayed. They lit candles. And they prayed and prayed and believed that his, that his daughter would be okay and make it through the surgery, and his daughter didn't make it through the surgery.

And my heart just sank for this guy, because here I'm a dad who loves my kids, and the guy's asking a very fair question, how can you believe in a God who didn't answer that type of a prayer? And chances are pretty good that many of you have had your own moment like that. Some of you even right now, you know, I'm praying, I'm trying to believe, but then there's all these things happening. How can I believe in a God that doesn't seem to care?

And it can even be just as simple as you open up a news app and you see something going on in the world. You're like another terrorist attack and innocent people are killed a ridiculously senseless, racist shooting. How could somebody do that to another human being? It doesn't seem fair. It could be some kind of a natural disaster and hundreds of people are killed.

It could be something that's very personal. In fact, even like right now, If you just look down the aisle that you're sitting on, you know, or in the chat room at church online, down the aisle, there's very likely one or two or three people who've been abused in a very significant way. And if you are that person, if you love that person, and you're like, how'd that happen? Why did that happen? It doesn't seem to be fair. It could be something simple. You're praying for God to do something. You know he can. And he doesn't do it. He doesn't take the headaches away. Or he doesn't answer the prayer for your child. Or you're trying your. best. You're doing good and you're helping people and you're working hard. And everybody else seems to be getting ahead. And no matter how hard you try, you don't seem to get any breaks. And whatever it is, you start to ask yourself, God, are you there? Are you good? I want to believe in you, but you don't even seem to care. I want to believe, God, but you seem so heartless. If you've ever

felt like that, let me just tell you right now, you're not the only person. You're not the only person. you're not the only one at all. In fact, a lot of times when people read stories in the Bible, they look at these Bible characters and think, wow, they're like bigger than life and don't even realize that they were very real people that experienced very real emotions just like all of us. I mean, you can go down the list.

David in the Old Testament, a man after God's own heart, cries out again and again. Where are you, God? Why don't you hear my prayers? Why don't you do something? My enemies are after me. God, are you even listening? read Job, man, that'll mess with your mind.

Really righteous guy. And, you know, Satan wants to attack him and takes his livestock, takes his career, takes his health, his family's a wreck. He's got boils all over his body. His friends turn into jerks. His wife looks at him and says, well, Job, why don't you just curse God and die? How's that for needing some marriage therapy at your lowest moment?

hell honey just die be so much better where are you god this doesn't seem fair the one to me though that for whatever reason it hits me in the most personal way is when i read in the new testament about a guy named john the baptist and if you're not a church person you may not know the history of john the baptist but this guy is the cousin of jesus and he recognizes he has a very important purpose and his purpose is to prepare the way for Jesus. That's his purpose. So this is what he's going to do. He devotes his life to saying, Jesus is coming. Everybody get ready. Repent of your sins. Be baptized. Jesus is coming. And people start to follow him. Don't follow me. Follow Jesus. And he's humble. He says, I'm unworthy to untie his shoes. I can't even do, you know, he's the one.

Then John the Baptist gets arrested for doing the right thing. He's in prison and you know what he's thinking, I'm the cousin of Jesus. I've been serving Jesus. I've seen his power. He's healed the sick. He's raised the dead. He's opened blind eyes. He's done party tricks. He turned water into wine. A party trick. So he's going to so come and, you know, he's fantasizing about it. I would be. Anyway, Jesus is going to come in there and send 10 angels and they're going to be big and they're going to go poof and all the bad guys are going to get hemorrhoids, you know. And then he's going to, I don't know, I'm making this up as I go, just worked with me, right? You know, and an angel's going to go sooth the sword and lightning is going to flash

and the door is going to come open and the music's going to swell and he's going to step out and smokes everywhere and Jesus is going to be there and they're going to knuckle bump. Right? And he waits. Jesus, are you coming? And he waits. This is what he did at one point. He asked one of the other guys, hey, hey, go find Jesus.

He's in prison and ask him. are you really the one that we were expecting or should we look for someone else? What happened? God? Jesus? You can and you're not. Do you even care if you've ever been at the place where you wanted to believe? But it didn't seem like God cared.

You're not the only one. And in the next 25 minutes or so, let me make you two promises. Number one, I will not be able to answer every question that you have. I cannot do it. But I will point you to the one who one day will do just that. One day, he will. So what I want to do is show you two big thoughts, things to embrace, truth to remember whenever God doesn't seem fair.

All of our churches, if you're taking notes, the first big thought is this. When God doesn't seem fair, remember number one, that God always has a purpose in your pain. God has a purpose. He is good. Even when you're hurting,

God is still working. And I don't know what it might be. Someone right now may have let you down. there may be someone here that you've recently lost someone important to you. It could have been a broken relationship. It could have been someone that was sick and didn't make it. It could be that there's someone that lied to you, took advantage of you, gossiped about you.

It might be that life's not going the way you want. It could be something as big as cancer. It might be something as inconvenient as a sore throat on a big day where you have a presentation at work. It could be that you're praying for someone that you love that's under hospice care right now. it could be that you got a flat tire on the way to a meeting and was late, and you just don't know where got it. It could be any number of different things. And whenever you're hurting, whatever level it is, however personal it feels,

remember that God has a purpose. God has a purpose. He's using the difficult times to do something in you. In fact, I love the way Peter, who went through a lot of difficult times, described it in 1.1, verses 6 and 7. He said this about suffering and trials. He said, there is a wonderful joy ahead. When you're suffering, remember, there's a wonderful joy ahead,

even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials, these things you don't understand, these difficult seasons, they will show that your faith is genuine. God's planting, taking your roots even deeper, he says. It is being tested as a fire, tests and purifies gold, though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

God has a purpose. God is doing something. God is in the middle of it. even though you don't understand it, God is using it to strengthen you when you run toward him. Your spiritual roots grow even deeper. God doesn't cause the pain every single time, but God can use the pain every single time. He has a purpose and the pain. And I'll explain it to you this way.

A little over a year ago, maybe a year and four months ago or so, I told you about my workout partner Paco. Now, a lot of people pray for Paco. I need to tell you, Paco's not his real name. His real name is John, but everybody knows whenever two dudes work out together, both dudes have nicknames. If I'm telling the truth, do, say amen. Anytime he got a good friend, he's got a nickname. His name is Paco, his nickname.

Oddly enough, my nickname is Paco. I don't know how that happened. But it's only for him. So, if you come up and call me Paco, I'm going to look at you weird. Like, you're not Paco. I'm only Paco to Paco. So I'm just saying, don't try to be cool. Hey, Paco.

What are you talking about? Paco's my workout partner. He's a big old, he's a lot bigger than I am. He's a construction guy. He's a, he's a, you know, he's a tough guy. That's what I'm going to say it. He's a tough guy. And Paco, maybe a year and four or five months ago, got tinnitus.

A lot of people don't know what this is. It's a ringing, a buzzing. It's kind of like a freight train is. going through your head all the time. It's what it's like. People who have it say it's unbearable, indescribably painful. Paco's a tough guy, tough guy. And weekend, two weeks in, three weeks in, a month in, two months and three months in,

he's looking at me with this very hollow, distant, far away, and scary look in his eyes. And I know this guy, we've been working out for over 20 years saying, Panko, I don't know if I'm going to make it. I don't know if I'm going to make it. I don't know if I'm going to make it. And so, I mean, we got like full court love on this guy surrounding him because it's like, it's scary because the pain is so real.

So everybody chips in, everybody prays, we're getting into the best doctor, specialist, this, that, the other. Natural stuff, specialist, everything you can think of, everything you can think of. And it doesn't get any better. It doesn't get any better. And finally he meets this guy who has, level 10 like he does, it's like the worst of the worst of the worst. And the guy with level 10

said, just said, I'm going to tell you, the only way to get through this is to serve people like crazy. Get out of yourself and devote your life to serving other people. But he's like, he's serving oriented, so he's like, well, I'll do anything. And so the very first thing that he and his wife did is they started serving at their local campus. And they got so much fulfillment out of it, they started serving more at the local campus. And that wasn't enough. They actually picked two life church locations. He started serving at both of them.

Then he started a life group. And every Wednesday night when his group comes over, he said the pain would go away when I was ministering to them. And then he and his wife found a single lady that had just had her life wrecked upside down, couldn't afford anything, helped her get a job, helped her kids out, helped her get transportation, devoted their time to her.

And he said, when I'm helping her, the pain goes away. And so he just got addicted to helping people. Now he does lunches all the time. We call him ministry lunches where he sits across from people who are hurting not as bad as he is, but he pours his life into them. And so I can't tell you how many times he said this. I'll ask him, how's the pain?

How's the pain? It's like the pain is just as bad. But my life has never, ever been better. My marriage has never been better. I've never been closer to Jesus. He said the very worst thing that I could ever imagine became the best thing that I could ever imagine because in the middle of his pain, in the middle of his pain, God still had a purpose. Now, someone here going, well, good for him, but it still hurts me. Let me tell you what,

month two, month three, month four, month five, there was a scary look. You don't always sense it immediately, but when you continue to walk with God, you can you sense that he's with you, he's good, he's doing something in it as you continue to walk with them. God has a purpose and your pain. The second thing that I hope you'll remember is this, that God is always present in your pain. He has a purpose and he is present when you are hurting. In fact, Psalm 46, verse 1 says that God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble. And ever-present, he is with you, he is with you, he is with you. So often we want God to give us what we want.

God give me what I want. And God wants to show us that He is. what we need. God, I want you to do this. And God says, I am the source of that which you need. And there's no better example to me of this in all of Scripture in the Apostle Paul. If you don't know a lot about Paul, he was a guy that used to hate Christians. Some of you say, I hate Christians, you would like Paul. He hated them more than you did. He killed them. He's radically transformed. This guy did more for the gospel than maybe anybody since Jesus. I mean, Billy Graham, Paul, Jesus.

I mean, you count them on one hand. This guy's starting churches. He wrote a big portion in the New Testament. And when he gets this thing that he called a thorn, we don't know what the thorn was, but it was massively painful, massively destructive in his life. And he pleads with God three different times. He pleads with God like I've pled with God

for one of my children's health issues. Pleads with God. Please. Seasons of Seasons. speaking God. And you know if God's going to heal anybody. He's going to heal the guy who's suffered, who's been beaten and left for dead, who's in shipwrecked for Jesus, snake-bitten, whip so many times that his back is scarred beyond measure. A guy who's stoned for Jesus, and I'm not talking about recreationalist speaking. I just need to say that because at Life Church, everybody is welcome.

I had one guy actually tell me, he said that you're the funniest guy I ever heard. And And then I stopped getting high and coming to church and now you're kind of cheesy. True story. Come on and as you are, but you will not leave as you are. I think I'm kind of funny and hopefully you're not stone. So, early, God's going to heal Paul. He'll me, heal me, heal me. But God says to him this, 2 Corinthians 12, 9, God said,

my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. heal me, change my circumstances, fix my problems, reveal my pain, and God says, no, my grace is enough. This is what I need, God, and God says, no, I am what you need. This is something that you cannot explain. It's something that you can only experience. It's something that you can never, ever tell someone else. This is how God helped me through. You can't put words on it.

when you've been there and you've experienced his presence, when he's carried you when you couldn't make it on your own, when he lifted you through your doubts, when he sustains you when you were aching in pain, when he comforted you when you didn't want to get up another day, when he gave you the hope to move forward when you didn't know if you could go on, you can testify.

There are times what he is enough. There are times what his grace is enough. And Paul went on to say this was actually a good thing. Here's what he said. He said in verse 9 and 10, he said, therefore I'll boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. That's why for Christ's sake, now watch him.

He talks crazy talk. Get ready. He says, I delight in weaknesses. I delight in insults. I delight in hardships. I delight in persecutions. I delight in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

When I am weak, his strength is made perfect in me. When I can't get on another day, he is there to carry me. He is always present in your pain. Some of you, you'll embrace this. Paco would say, I delight in my tinnitus because it has drawn me closer to Jesus and helped me to serve others. You may say, I delight in my migraines because they've drawn me closer to Christ. I delight in this lonely season because I've experienced Emmanuel,

God with us like I never ever have before. I delight in my job search because my God is truly my provider. I delight in this difficult season because God is breaking me of self-sufficiency and training me to depend on him. Here's the bottom line. Some of you right now, you take the Instagram moment. It's the shot. It's the single moment.

and you look at your life right where you are now, you may have every right to say, I don't like it. I don't understand it. This moment in time, this doesn't seem fair. You take any 10-year season of your life and you pursue and walk with Jesus over that 10-year period. Here's what you'll have.

I don't get that. Didn't choose that. Would have never wanted that. In the moment, I don't get it. Over a 10-year period, you look back and say, God was with me during that. He was strong for me during that. And what he did through this, I could have never done on my own,

would never choose it, would never want to go through it again. But he was there for me if you walk through the faithfulness. So here's what a lot of people will say. A lot of people will ask this question, how can you believe in a God who doesn't seem to care? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do bad things happen to good people? Here's another question you could ask, but I don't hear many people ask this.

Why do good things happen to bad people? Because I don't know about you. I'm not proud to say this, but I'm kind of a bad person. You say, you're a pastor. I'm still a sinful pastor. I don't get it right all the time. In fact, just a little while ago, I was trying to get into a neighborhood, one of those gate neighborhoods.

It wasn't mine, but this car pulled in ahead of me, so I was trying to follow them in, and they wouldn't let me in. And so they stopped. And so I just waited. I thought, I'll outweigh them. Eventually they'll move. They didn't move. So I gave them a polite horn honk, and they wouldn't move.

So Amy, godly Amy, she reached over and gave him on my horn. That's what she did. It's true story. He still wouldn't move. So finally I gave in. I mean, I gave in. It's hard for me to give in. And so I backed up so he would pull forward, let the gate close.

Then I'd call my friends they'd get me in. You know, he still wouldn't do it. Still wouldn't do it. I'm backed up. I'm like, move, move. And so I'm yelling out. Amy's honking. And so I looked at her and she nodded.

I just wanted permission. I got out on the car and I charged his truck. And in my mind, I'm thinking, I hope he doesn't go to Life Church. I hope he doesn't go. But at this point, I did not care. I'm not going to tell you how it ended. But if you are here today, truck guy, I sincerely apologize. Do just let me in next time and we won't have a problem.

Okay? Just let me in. Why do good things happen to bad people? I'm not always a good person. I'm here to tell you right now. Listen to me. If you were here week number two, we talked about the fact that we're all sinners. If anything's good's ever happened to you, sometimes you have to sit back and say, well, why did God do something good for me when I'm a bad person?

You may say, my life's not incredibly blessed. Oh, I beg to differ. I honestly do. If you've got the health to be here, I think I'd be thankful for that. If you've got people around you that love you, I'd be thankful for that. If you drove somewhere in a car, that puts you in the top 5% richest people in planet Earth. You've got a toilet that flushes. That's a really, really good thing.

You get to worship God freely. There are a lot of things to thank God for when you recognize God does a lot of really good things for a lot of really bad people. So you may say, well, is God fair? And I'm going to tell you right now, no, he's not. Did a pastor just say that? Absolutely. God is not fair. He's not always fair.

God is not fair. God is just, but he's not always fair. If God was always fair, he would give us what our sins deserve. But because he is just, he sent Jesus who paid the price, and Scripture says this. In Psalm 103, I hope you feel this. God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Every now and then you have to thank God that he is not always fair. He doesn't give us what our sins deserve. So whenever you're tempted to look at whatever it is, the crazy stuff in the world or the personal thing that feels unjust, God, why would you allow this? Here's something that I challenge you to do. Don't just think about it from your perspective, but think about it from your Heavenly Father's perspective. A father who loves you,

who has a purpose in your pain, and who's with you when you're hurting. Joy, my youngest daughter is here, and I'll tell you a story that still chokes me up to this day. When she was a little girl, I'm talking like this big or so. We were at a friend's house, big party, and our friend had like the biggest zip line west of the Mississippi. Really cool zip line.

You know what the zip line is? You hold on it, you go, it's really cool if you're a big kid. If you're a little kid, you have no way to stop yourself with your feet before you run into the tree. Someone put a little joy up there, and she grabbed a hold of this thing. And for those who were looking,

they said it was the cutest thing you've ever seen, that she had her eyes big or ponytail flying back, for those who weren't looking they heard the splat the smack heard it everyone there heard it and turned face first into a tree at who knows how many miles an hour and she's out her face is busted open blood is splurting everywhere amy is unable to handle herself i had to take joy to the emergency room she's buckled in her little car seat in the back don't i don't know if she's she's alive or not. I get in, I'm so beside myself. They said, what's her full name? I can't remember. It's joy something. I can't remember. What's her birthday? I can't remember. I'm like, I promise you,

I'm her dad. I can't remember. They take us back in there and they got to go to work on her immediately to close it up before it's too late. The doctor says, you hold her down. I'm going to do a layer of stitches to close the inside, then one on the outside. I got up on my little daughter and I put my knees, put my knees on her little tiny arms and pinned her down and then reached out with my hands and held her face still. She just looked up at me and screamed,

no, daddy, I love you, go outside and play, I want to play, I want to play, I want to play. And the father, who loved his child, couldn't explain to her at her age why I had to hold her down and why I had to put my weight on her while she screamed, no, no, no, no, no.

Tears just pouring down my face. She's screaming. I'm holding her so strong because I loved her. But I had a purpose, and I wasn't ever going to leave her. And when you hurt, God hurts with you. And there are times when he wants to tell you, but you cannot quite understand, I'm going to do something through this. There's a reason.

There's a reason. There's a reason. I'm working, and I'm still here. And guess what? He knows what it's like. more than anybody else to hurt because he loved you. So much so that he did something that wasn't fair. He sent his son, his son to die.

And when Jesus became sin, Jesus looked up at the Father and said, my God, my God, why? Did you turn away? And the Father knew he could not look upon sin. But because the Father loved you, he said, He sent his son to die in her place. And that is a love beyond anything that we can ever imagine. Our God is not a heartless God.

Our God doesn't even just love you. He is love. It's not what he does. It's who he is. So Father, today we ask that you would show your love, God, especially for those who are hurting. And all of our churches, as you reflect in prayer, I know that there are a ton of you,

that you've got questions like the friend that I met at the soccer field. Some of you, it may not be something that big. It could be something that feels very big to you in the moment. It might not even be you, but it might be something that's happening to you. There's something going on that you don't quite understand, and you've got that barrier that hurt, and you need, you need God's presence. You need his comfort. At all of our churches, if you say, yeah, there's something like that in my life that's very, very difficult for me right now.

Would you simply raise your hand? And I want to take a moment and pray for you. all of our churches right now. God, I hurt with all of these people that are enduring difficult trials right now. And God, I know as much as I hurt, you hurt a million times more, infinitely more, because they are your children and you love them, God.

I pray, Father, that when we endure trials that our faith would be proven before you, that our spiritual roots would grow even deeper and in a snapshot of time when we don't understand, We would hang on to you, God, and we would trust that over a season of walking with you, we would see you are always with us and you are always good. Father, I pray that by the power of your spirit, you would comfort those who are hurting and needs your presence even today.

As you keep praying today at all of our churches, nobody looking around. Let me just call it out, because many of you will recognize this as you. There are some of you right now. The weight of your sin is very, very real. just like I told you, I am not a good person. I do things wrong. I have bad thoughts. I can be critical.

I can be jealous. I can gossip. I can still sin. I'm so thankful for the grace of Jesus, which forgives my sins. But there are those of you you recognize. I've done things wrong. And if I ask you, where do you stand with God? You might stutter.

You might stumble. You might say, well, I hope I'm okay. I hope I didn't do too much wrong. And I got to tell you right now, without faith in Jesus, all of us have fallen way short of God's standard. And there are those of you that God brought here for this very moment because you're never made right with God by being good enough. The only way that we're made right with God is by the grace of God through his son, Jesus,

that God loved us so much that he did something that wasn't fair. It was just, it wasn't fair. He sent Jesus, his son, who was without sin, to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Jesus died in our place. When we put our faith in Him, all of our sins are forgiven. At all of our churches, there are those of you. You carry a secret.

You've got a dark spot in your life. You've got shame over something that you did, and it burdens you when you think about it. When you call on Him, Jesus separates your sins as far as the east is from the West. He forgives your sins and will remember them no more. At all of our churches, there are those of you you recognize. You need him. You need his grace.

You need his forgiveness. You say yes, today by faith, I trust in him. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now. All of our church and say yes, I surrender to him. God bless you right here and right here as well. I'm back over here. And right over here, and right back here.

Praise God for you right over here and over this side as well. Oh my goodness, others today who say yes, Jesus. I trust you. Lift up your hands and say yes. Church online, you click right below me. All of our churches. Pray aloud. pray Heavenly Father, today I trust you and give you my life.

Jesus save me, forgive me of my sins, and make me brand new. Fill me with your spirit so I could know you, trust you, and follow you for the rest of my life. My life is not my own. Today I give it to you. In Jesus' name, I pray. Everybody worship God in the big way. Thank you for you. As a church, it's our honor to play a small part in how God is working through this ministry to make a difference in 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 Top Church slash next. Since October of 2016, a large military coalition has been liberating towns around the city of Mosul. But progress inside the city limits has been met with adversity from ISIS brutality. More than 100,000 people have been displaced as a result of the fighting, many with only the clothes on their back and in desperate need of medical and emergency care. As a church, we rally to support those who find themselves in crisis situations. And with the hope of one of our global mission partners, Samaritans Purse, we find ourselves on the front lines and being able to provide support to those who need it most. On December 25, 2016, Samaritans Purge chartered a 747 to airlift equipment and service.

supplies to establish an emergency field hospital to treat civilians fleeing the city and the surrounding areas of Mosul. Most of our medical professionals are now on the ground here. We've got nurses, doctors, pharmacists that are here helping. The hospital spans over five acres and he's equipped with an emergency room, two operating rooms of pharmacy and nearly 50 beds. It's opportunity for us. A great chance for us to talk about Jesus. They are asking now about God and we have the answers and the gospel of the good chance. To continue to support the work of our global mission partners around the world,

all you have to do is go to life.comchurch slash giving. It's one more way that you can help us live out our mission of leading people to become fully devoted followers of Christ.