Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - I’m In, Part 3: I’m Influential

Episode Date: September 29, 2019

You have a God-given purpose waiting to be discovered. You have people around you ready to encourage you. And you may not know it yet, but you have everything you need to chase your passion. We just h...ave one question: Are you in? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:19 Well, today is a great day to be together with all of you to celebrate the goodness of God and to share in His Word today. If you're new with us, we're in a message series called I'm In. And before I show you the four big qualities that we're trying to help all of God's people embrace, I'll tell you something kind of cool happened recently. How many of you were here for the message series, Anxious for Nothing? Was anybody here for that? Excellent.
Starting point is 00:00:45 So what our team will often do, we'll have. people from our video team that will take little clips of the messages, edit it down, and then we'll post it on Life Church's social media account or on my social media account. During one of the weeks, the team gave me a clip and said, here's the one we chose. Interestingly enough, I honestly didn't like it. I said, can we come up with something better? And they said, this is the best we have, which is evidently my fault because it was my content. And so I signed off on it.
Starting point is 00:01:17 It said, okay, go ahead and post it. and I thought it would be a bit of a dud. Well, little did I know that on Facebook it caught wind. I don't go on Facebook much at all, so I really wasn't paying attention, but I had a student from Switch come up to me and say, Pastor, Pastor, Pastor, Pastor, you're like, you're a massive influencer.
Starting point is 00:01:33 You're a massive influencer. I said, what do you mean? And she said, well, the clip on Facebook got almost 13 million views. This is the little clip, and it's just shy of 13 million views, and she was so excited. She said, Pastor, you're an influencer. You're an influencer. My pastor's an influencer.
Starting point is 00:01:52 I'm curious how many of you would say that you are an influencer? Raise your hands. Raise your hand? A couple of you would say that. My goal is to change your opinion of your assessment about yourself today and help you to see that you are an influencer. What are we? I'm in.
Starting point is 00:02:12 Four big themes we're looking at in this message series. Week number one, we discovered that I'm invited. Week number two, I'm invaluable to God's work. Today, I want to show you, I am, you are influential for God's glory, and next week we're going to see that I am and you are invested in God's work. Today, what I want to do is, I've been praying all week long, I really believe that you need to see yourself as God sees you, that you are an influencer.
Starting point is 00:02:45 I believe you're called to be a light in this world and to show the love of God day in and day out. I give you one statement that we'll look at again and again, and I pray that this really sinks into your heart, that you will embrace the reality of this truth, that you have no idea how one conversation, one word of encouragement, or one expression of love might change someone's life. You have no idea how God might use one word, one moment, one generous expression in the life of another person to love them toward the grace of Jesus. When I asked you earlier, how many of you see yourself as an influencer and most of you didn't raise your hand. One reason is because I gave you an anchor of 13 million and I did that intentionally. another reason I believe truly is because that culture has hijacked the term influencer.
Starting point is 00:03:49 I'll tell you what I mean by this. I did some research and just went online to try to figure out what different articles and writers would say about influencers. And when I typed in, what is an influencer? The very first definition that came up online was this. Here's what an influencer is. An influencer is an individual who has the power to affect purchase decisions, of others because of their authority, knowledge, or relationship with their audience.
Starting point is 00:04:17 Really? That's what an influencer is? Someone who influences purchase decisions because of the number of followers they have on a social media account. I'm so confused because when I was growing up, an influencer was often a teacher. It was a coach. A good parent was an influence or a good friend was an influence. Someone who led a Sunday school class was an influencer. And today, unfortunately, culture has hijacked the term,
Starting point is 00:04:49 and many people say, well, an influencer is a celebrity. It is a content creator. Is someone who's amassed a great number of followers on social media. In fact, I gave up looking for an article online that talked about an influencer as anything beyond social media because honestly, I could not find anyone anywhere. What I want to try to do today is I want to try to reclaim the word influencer. And I want you to see yourself as an influencer because you have no idea how our God could use one word of encouragement that you give to someone else.
Starting point is 00:05:29 One moment or one expression of faith to change someone else's life. For those of you that are disciples of Jesus, I know not everybody is at this point. and no matter where you are on your spiritual journey or you may not even be on one, you're absolutely welcome here. But for those of you that are disciples of Jesus, I want to show you exactly what Jesus says you are. He uses two metaphors in Matthew's Gospel, Matthew Chapter 5.
Starting point is 00:05:55 He says, you are the salt of the earth. What does salt do? Salt purifies. Salt preserves. Salt adds flavor. Nudge your neighbor and say, you're kind of salty. You're kind of salty.
Starting point is 00:06:11 Nudge your other neighbor, your second choice, and tell him, but you're kind of shiny. He said, you're salt. And then Jesus says, you're also the light of the world. You're shiny. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. It just shines.
Starting point is 00:06:38 Darkness never overcomes the light, and Jesus says you are light. In the same way, Jesus says, let your light shine before others. Let your love influence people toward Jesus. Let your light shine that they may see your good deeds, and glorify your father in heaven. Let's reclaim the true meaning of what it is to be an influencer. And I'm not against influencers in culture. I want to be one on social media. I hope that some of you could be as well.
Starting point is 00:07:09 But the problem with our current view of influence is that it typically starts with platform. Platform. The size of your platform determines the scope of your influence. I think truthfully it starts with something different. I believe that true and lasting influence always starts with people before platform. It always starts with people. And the good news is that all of you have people in your sense. sphere of influence that you come into contact with every single day. You are called to be an
Starting point is 00:07:43 influencer. For example, we'll play a little game and I'll ask you a question. Who do you think influenced the start of Life Church? Who do you think influenced the beginning of this movement of God called Life Church? If you've been with us for a while, you would probably say, well, Craig, you and your bride, Amy, did almost 24 years ago, obviously, you started with just a few people in your home. If you were creative, you might say, well, I also know there were 40 people who were there on the first week gathered in a little two-car garage. And so it was probably you two and maybe those 40 people who were there on the ground floor. You influenced the start of Life Church, which is absolutely true, but incredibly incomplete. Because who was it that helped influence me
Starting point is 00:08:34 to believe that God could use me as a pastor. And the answer to that question is, one of my heroes in the faith, my pastor, Pastor Nick Harris, who saw something in me when no one else did because when I got saved in college, I was a business major, and it never dawned on me to change my major,
Starting point is 00:08:52 and I felt called in ministry, but when I graduated, I said, I'm a business major who wants to be a pastor. And all the pastors said, we don't hire business majors. And so I just found a great church and got plugged in, had never met pastor,
Starting point is 00:09:04 Harris before, but he said, bring your friends as many people as you could to church on Sunday. And so I went back to my fraternity and I said to all these wild guys, you're going to church with me on Sunday. And they said to bleep we are. And I said, yes, you are without a bleep. But I would have had a bleep if it had been a year before. But there was no bleep because now I was changed. And so I said, yes, you are. And I managed to get 17 hungover guys to go with me to First United Methodist Church, downtown Oklahoma City. Two rows. Oh, I just feel good today. You're helping me preach, and I love it when you help me preach. I had two rows of hungover guys at First Methodist Church, and so my pastor said, stand up if you brought somebody with you. And so I
Starting point is 00:09:45 stood up with two rows of hungover guys. And the whole church was like, we've never seen as many people, young people in church before. And so my pastor, you could see the wheels returning. He said, remain standing if you brought someone and everybody else sit down. And so he was trying to out who brought them. And so he went over to another pastor at that moment. And you could hear him because he had a lob mic on. And he said, just whispered, but you could hear him. He said, find that guy that brought all those guys to hire him. And that's how I became a pastor. And when they approached me, I felt insecure. I was a new Christian. But do I know enough? And my pastor said, if you can get that many guys to come to church, God can do something with you.
Starting point is 00:10:32 Who influenced the start of life church? Well, certainly Amy did and I did and those 40 people did, but my pastor also influenced the start of life church. But who influenced me, if you go back in time, to come to faith in Christ? Because without that, there would not be a life church. If you were here last week, you heard me talk about Mike the Gideon. Mike the Gideon was the guy, most likely,
Starting point is 00:10:58 who gave me a Bible when I was in college that helped me come to faith in Christ. So who influenced the start of Life Church? You could say also Mike the Gideon who gave me the Bible, because if that hadn't happened, then I wouldn't have come to faith in Christ. If you want to go back in time, you might even say the people who financially gave toward the Gideons and the people who printed the Bible, and there were actually a lot of them. But what was it that helped me be prepared to come to faith in Christ?
Starting point is 00:11:25 Well, I could also tell you about three of the nerdiest guys I've ever known in my life. and after I became a Christian, these three nerdy guys introduced themselves to me, and they said that on the first weekend at the first party, the first week in college, I was the drunkest, most obnoxious guy there. And so those three nerdy guys chose me to be their prayer project. And they prayed for me every day, day after day, week after week, month after month, until I came to faith in Christ. and I was so happy to meet my three favorite nerdy guys ever who helped pray me into faith in Christ.
Starting point is 00:12:08 Who influenced the start of life church? I'd say those three people played a pretty important role in it. And then there was this guy I met when I wanted to go out with this girl one time, but she said, I had to meet with her dad, and I met with her dad, who was a very pleasant and endearing Christian for a dad, which was intimidating. And he very lovingly, not in a weird way, said, before you go out with my daughter, I just want to make sure that you know Jesus.
Starting point is 00:12:38 And the way he said it was unlike anything that I'd ever heard in my church growing up because we wouldn't use that kind of phrase. I mean, like we kind of believed in God, but hey, we did whatever we wanted on the weekends because that's what we did, you know? And he said, I just want to make sure that you had the opportunity to really know Jesus.
Starting point is 00:12:53 And he said, do you know Jesus? And I realized I didn't, but I didn't want to say it because I wanted to go out with his daughter. So I said yes. and I think he knew that I didn't and he said, can I just pray with you that if you don't one day you will and that stuck with me
Starting point is 00:13:08 that stuck with me that was a seed planted in the soil of my heart so who influenced the start of Life Church I would say this girl I don't even remember her name or dad I don't even remember his name but he influenced me then there was this guy that I really looked up to at some schools there will be an athlete that stands out
Starting point is 00:13:27 This guy stood out not because he was just a great athlete, but also because he was a great person. I wasn't a Christian at all, but one time I was close to him behind him in line, and I said, hey, man, I like your bracelets because he had on a cool bracelet. And he said, oh, I'll show it to you. And it said, the Lord is my strength and my shield. And I just remember thinking, bro, that's like bold. And none of my friends wearing a Lord bracelet, you know. And it was just cool looking.
Starting point is 00:13:57 This was in awe of who he was as a person, what he represented, and that he wore a God bracelet. And I said, that's so cool. And he said, do you like it? And I said, yeah, I like it. And the guy that didn't even know me took his bracelet off and he said, I really feel like I'm supposed to give this to you. And that was another seed planted. Who started Life Church? Who influenced the start?
Starting point is 00:14:23 Well, you could say, Amy, and I did. And that would be true. but that would be incredibly incomplete because there were people along the way that didn't even realize that a moment with me was incredibly important and influential that was a small piece in a big puzzle
Starting point is 00:14:44 that influenced the fact that we're all gathered together today in cities around the nation and countries around the world. There were people who influenced this. You have no idea what one word of incredible encouragement might do to influence someone. Here's what I hope you'll understand. Influence isn't always obvious. Influence isn't always instant.
Starting point is 00:15:12 Just because you don't see a harvest doesn't mean that your seed didn't take root. You have no idea how God might use you in one moment to, to plant a seed that will grow into real and lasting influence in the life of somebody that you love. In fact, I want to show you a story today, perhaps my favorite story in all the scripture, of the most unlikely influencer, perhaps in the New Testament. The story takes place in John Chapter 4, and it's about a woman that ain't nobody ever thought would have influence. The context of this story is Jesus was on a trip. And on his journey, he was going to pass through Samaria, which was an unusual choice.
Starting point is 00:16:04 The disciples wouldn't have expected him to do so because Jews didn't interact with Samaritans because Samaritans were half Jewish, half Gentile, and the Jews hated the Samaritans, believed that they were less than human and worse than docks. You would never interact with a Samaritan if you were a Jew, especially a Samaritan woman. Well, Jesus once again shocks everybody, and he says, sat down by a well in the middle of the day in order to rest, and a Samaritan woman comes up to him and Jesus asks her for a drink. He dignifies her by starting a conversation and she's thrown completely off guard. Scripture says in verse 9, the woman was surprised. She's shocked. She's overwhelmed.
Starting point is 00:16:48 She's beside herself. She never expected this. This is unheard of. No Jewish man would ever approach a Samaritan woman. This is weird, bizarre, and she's surprised. She's shocked. or Jews refused to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, you're a Jew, and I'm a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink? Jesus replied with love. You could sense his love if you only knew the gift that God has for you and who you're speaking to. You would ask me and I would give you living water.
Starting point is 00:17:20 She's intrigued but confused. She says, sorry, but you don't have a bucket in the well is deep. How can I get you water? And Jesus replies in verse 13, Anyone who drinks of this water, this natural water, will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink of the water I give will never be thirsty again. This woman notices something is different about this man. And she says, please, sir, may I have some living water?
Starting point is 00:17:50 Jesus says in verse 16, go and get your husband. Jesus told her, I don't have a husband, the woman replied. And Jesus said, you're right. You don't have a husband. For you've had five husbands, and you aren't even married to the man that you're living with now. You certainly spoke the truth. Sir, the woman said, you must be a prophet. There wasn't a Jewish man anywhere who would have interacted with this woman. But Jesus approaches her with love in his heart and dignifies her. and honors her all the time knowing that she was an outcast in her own community. Divorced five times and shacking up. In this day and age, that would raise eyebrows. In that day and age, she would have been shunned. She would have been the woman that everybody whispered with,
Starting point is 00:18:48 stay away from her, keep her husband away from her. She is nothing but bad news. And Jesus, knowing all that, doesn't look at her as the amoral. woman, but instead as a miracle waiting to happen, knowing that a touch from heaven could completely change her heart. And it dawns on her. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. We've heard that there would be a Messiah coming. I've heard perhaps about this man that's doing miracles and raising the dead and opening blind eyes. Why would a Jewish man speak to me? Show me honor and respect and know everything about my life.
Starting point is 00:19:34 Perhaps this is the one that we've been waiting for. This is the one that we've been praying for. Perhaps this is the Messiah. And she leaves her water and runs back to the village. The Bible says it directly. The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village telling everybody, come and see a man who told me everything I've ever done.
Starting point is 00:19:55 Could he possibly be the Messiah? So what happened? The people came streaming from the village to see Jesus. What do we see in this powerful story? First of all, no matter how bad your life is messed up, you're not too far gone for the love of Jesus to reach into your life. Then we see the town outcast, the one that everybody else would have whispered about,
Starting point is 00:20:28 going in and enthusiastically telling people, this may be the one. The broken woman, the messed up woman, the woman everybody whispers about, the one that has been called the immoral woman, immediately becomes an influencer. Her story shows us that you don't have to have it all together. to influence someone else toward Jesus. You don't have to know it all. You don't have to have a seminary degree. You don't have to pray powerful prayers
Starting point is 00:21:09 and be able to quote the exact place in the Bible. It says in there somewhere, I wish I could tell you where. You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to have it all together. You don't have to have all the things fixed in your life to be an influence. You just have to know who Jesus is. and care about the people around you.
Starting point is 00:21:31 And you can immediately be a light in this world and salt to those around you. You just have to care about people. You don't need 4,000 followers to have a platform. You need to care about one person who's in front of you. You're an influencer. You're an influencer. We had a worship night a few weeks ago
Starting point is 00:22:03 when our church released the album, God's So Good. And Amy and I stood up to pray for our church. And I wanted to help everybody see that worship can be a witness. Worship can be a witness. You can influence, even by the way you worship. I showed this picture of my daughter Joy and her friend, Brianna, they went to a worship conference and they posted this afterwards. Worship is like breathing, Joy said.
Starting point is 00:22:26 You're created to do it all the time. It's a lifestyle. Worship can be a witness. I got this letter that came to my office this week from a student at Oklahoma State University talking about how worship was a witness to him. And he said, I recently attended the Hillsong United Conference in Oklahoma City, and there was this little girl beside me, and the entire time I noticed there was something different about her. Something about her worship was different.
Starting point is 00:22:54 I was in awe of how she represented God. After that night, I took away the idea that I have to become closer to God, so I could have something special like she did. Something that draws me closer to God, where it's represented through me, where others can see it. Later that week, I attended the night of worship at Life Church, Stillwater,
Starting point is 00:23:18 and you had posted the picture of your daughter Joy on the screen, and I was like, wow, I was next to my pastor's daughter that entire night that explains so much. He says, It was your daughter that was so connected with God that it was contagious. He went on to say, I want what she has. Worship.
Starting point is 00:23:43 Just the way you worship. Just the way you carry yourself. Just the way you interact with people. Joy that night noticed another girl that seemed really uncomfortable. And Joy said, can I pray with you? And the girl said, you can, but I don't want to be here. My friend made me come. And Joy said, I'd love to pray with you.
Starting point is 00:24:06 And she did. And afterwards, she talked a little more to the girl, and she realized the girl was not anywhere close to following Jesus, but something was happened. And so Joy took her outside, and Joy helped the little girl come to know Jesus that night. Listen to me. Listen to me. 14-year-old kid.
Starting point is 00:24:22 You don't have to know it all. You just let your light shine. You just let Saul do what Saul does. Listen, you have no idea how one word of encouragement, one word of hope, one expression of love might influence someone toward Jesus. This woman goes back to the village and tells everybody, and the disciples came back to Jesus, and they were hungry. That's funny to me, because I'm always hungry. He said, have you eaten Jesus and Jesus goes spiritual on him? He said, my food is to do the will of God.
Starting point is 00:25:09 I like that. He's like, ah, in your face. You want food. I'm doing God's work. Jesus juke. Okay. So, anyway, then he said this. Then he said, the field is ripe for harvest.
Starting point is 00:25:24 He uses a farming metaphor. And harvest was always about change lives. He said, the field is ripe for harvest. He said, but the laborers are few. For our purpose, we could say it this way, listen, church, the field is ripe for harvest, but the influencers are flu or few. Don't let culture rob you from your calling by categorizing influencers as someone only on social media. It doesn't start with platform.
Starting point is 00:25:53 It always starts with the person right in front of you. You're an influencer. You're an influencer. This woman goes back to her town. tells everybody. Next part of the story says this, verse 39, says many Samaritans, that statement alone would have been so shocking that anybody believed that one Samaritan alone could come to faith in Christ, but many Samaritans from their village believed in Jesus. Why? Because of one woman who had influence. One unlikely woman who said,
Starting point is 00:26:28 Jesus told me everything I did. When they came out to see Jesus, they begged them to stay in their village. And so he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. Who did God use? Not an Instagram star, not a professional athlete, not a celebrity, not a content creator, a regular, ordinary, everyday, broken, sinful woman who had been transformed by Jesus. You have influence exactly where you are. You don't have to have your whole life together to have influence. So right after I became a Christian, I was on fire for God. I would preach Jesus to my friends and then honestly, sometimes I'd go and still get drunk. God was still working on me. I wasn't all there yet. I heard a message about tithing that you give ten
Starting point is 00:27:29 to God. I didn't listen carefully. I didn't realize that we give 10% to God back to the church. I just thought we give 10% to God. So I went to my favorite Christian bookstore, Mardell, and I gave 10% of my income to them in exchange for some cassette tapes, really rocking T-shirts, cool hats. I didn't understand. And a cross pin that looked about like this. It was actually smaller than this, but this is the closest I could find. And I put the little pin on, and I wore it proudly for about 30 minutes before this guy that I didn't know said, hey, whoa, whoa, that's bold. I like that pen.
Starting point is 00:28:13 And then, just like the athlete I looked up to, I felt like I was supposed to give it to him. Without any pre-planning, I think, you like this? I feel like I'm supposed to give it to you. And he was so shocked, so blown away. why you don't even know me. Why? I just, I feel like I'm supposed to give you this cross. So I went and bought another one.
Starting point is 00:28:33 I didn't even get home before someone else complimented. I gave it away again. So I got smarter. I went and bought 20 crosses and would put one on and would put two in my pocket and just made a rule. Anytime someone says anything about it, I'd give it to them. There was one lady I remember in particular. We have a convenience. where I live known as 7-Eleven. Some of you may have that in your cities and such. And there was a
Starting point is 00:29:00 lady working behind the counter who commented on it. And so I said, oh, wow. And I took it off and said, I'd like for you to have this. And she said, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I can't. I can't. I said, no, really, I believe you're supposed to have it. And she said, no, if you only knew what I was doing in my life, you would not give me that cross. And I said, no, this is why I'm supposed to be here because God knows what you're doing in your life and he wants you to come to this cross. And I prayed with her at the 7-Eleven and I went on about my life. Years later, who influenced the start of life church? A lot of people did. I preached at Life Church. I was greeting people out in the lobby and this lady came up to me and she said, I knew you'd become a pastor.
Starting point is 00:29:49 I said, what do you mean? She said, you probably don't remember me, but I used to work at 7-Eleven and I said, and you liked the cross and she gave me a big hug and she said, yes, I did and I love it even more today. You have no idea, she told me, you have no idea what that gift did for me. Please feel this church. You are an influencer. You have no idea what one word of encouragement, one expression of love can mean to someone who needs a very small touch. of God's love. So when you greet people when they come in church and help someone who's uncomfortable and nervous, just feel love, you're an influencer. When you listen to someone who's hurting at work and you represent the love of Jesus by not judging where they are but
Starting point is 00:30:56 loving them simply because they are. You're an influencer. When you post a scripture, repost a sermon clip. You could influence someone on the other side that you don't even know. Just by the way that you worship, by the way you carry yourself, by who you are and whose you are, you can be an influence.
Starting point is 00:31:22 Do not let culture's definition rob you from God's calling. If you know Jesus, you are salt and you are light, let your salt do what it does and let your light shine because God has created you to influence others to the love of Jesus. All of our churches praying today, would you just join your faith with those around you? Father, we ask that by the power of your son, Jesus, that we would see ourselves, God, as you see us. As you're praying today at all of our different churches, those of you who are disciples
Starting point is 00:31:58 of Jesus, you would say, yes, I am committed to following Jesus and I want to be even more influential. I want to be more salty. I want my light to be even brighter. Would you lift up your hands right now? Just all over the place, all over the place. I pray that every hand of every Christ followers lifted toward heaven. Father, we pray today that the salt would do what salt does, that our lights would shine brightly, God, that we would never put it under a bowl, but we would let our good works reflecting your love for us and our love for you shine all over this world. God, I pray today that there are those who couldn't walk out of the building they're in or shut the computer. They're watching on whatever it is, God.
Starting point is 00:32:40 They couldn't even move to their next step without being an influence to someone else. Without a word of encouragement, without an expression of hope. God, I pray that we would be incredibly sensitive to the gentle nudges of your spirit that would interrupt us. And we would gladly be interrupted to let the light. shine into a place of darkness. God, every moment of every day, we're available to you. We want to influence God.
Starting point is 00:33:11 Just because we don't see the immediate result doesn't mean, God, that you didn't use the seed that was planted. Help us, oh God, to be faithful to you. We don't have to have it all together. We just have to love the people in front of us. God, use us, use us as your church. invited, invaluable, invested, and influential God, all for your glory. As you keep praying today at all of our different churches, there are those of you that
Starting point is 00:33:43 you're going to recognize kind of like I did years ago when the dad asked me, do you know Jesus? And I was like, ah, I know I go to church, but me and God, we don't have that kind of thing. I don't know him. hope you'll understand is this, that God sent Jesus that we could know in a relational sense the love of the Father. Our Heavenly Father is a loving relational God. He's not a dominant master. We try to please with the way we live. He's a father who loves us. In response to his love, we choose to obey and live for him. Maybe today you're going to recognize.
Starting point is 00:34:30 there have been some influencers in your life. And you're going to decide, just like I did, I want to give my life to Jesus. Who influenced you? Well, maybe it was this message. Maybe it was a song. Maybe it was someone that made you feel welcome or someone that invited you to church.
Starting point is 00:34:48 Maybe it was your grandma that you know has been praying for you for years and years and years. Maybe it's a friend from work that you look to and they're different and they have something and you've always admired what they have and you kind of know what it is, but you know you don't have it as well. Maybe it was years ago someone who cared for you,
Starting point is 00:35:09 and you knew they followed Jesus, and you wanted that, but you've never pursued it. Today, maybe, there may be a series of influences that help you realize, I want to follow Jesus. I want to follow Jesus. I need His grace. there may be a hesitation inside because you feel like I'm not good enough.
Starting point is 00:35:33 I'm not ready yet. And I want to tell you, that's exactly the way you come to him. Just like that woman in the store, you come to him as you are. And when you call on him, Jesus, the son of God, who died for our sins and rose again when you call on him, God hears your prayers. He forgives your sins and he makes you new. That's the reason some of you are here today and you know it at all of our church.
Starting point is 00:35:57 as those who say, yes, I want his grace. Yes, by faith, I want to give my life to him. Yes, I need his forgiveness. I want to follow Jesus. I want his joy. I want that living water. I want the water that satisfies my soul today by faith. I give my life to Jesus.
Starting point is 00:36:13 That's your prayer. Lift your hands high now all over the place and say, yes, that's my prayer. Right back here and here in the middle section. And up over here, my goodness, right back over here. Others of you today right here. Praise God for you. Right back over here. Others, call on his name right now.
Starting point is 00:36:26 here in this section, yes, Jesus, I need you. Church online, you quit right below me as we give God some praise in this house for His goodness and His grace. All of our churches, would you just join your voices together as we pray aloud? Pray Heavenly Father, forgive my sins, change my life, make me new. Jesus, I believe. You died. You died. for me and you rose again so I could know your father fill me with your spirit that I could follow you know you and be a light in a dark world my life is not my own I give it all to you thank you for new life now you have mine in Jesus name I pray I hope somebody will celebrate big somebody worship loud. Welcome those poured into God's family. Thanks again for joining us. You know, it's always
Starting point is 00:37:31 our heart to see you continue to take your next steps in your relationship with Christ. We have a great resource to help you do that. It's called life.church slash next. There you can find all kinds of different ways to help you take your next step in your faith journey. And if you enjoy today's message, we'd love you to check out our YouTube page or all of our messages inside of our free Life Church app. It's available today wherever you download your apps from. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time. You know,

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