Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Jesus and We, Part 1: Faith-Filled, Big-Thinking

Episode Date: January 3, 2015

Seven billion people occupy this tiny slice of history. And it's not by accident. God chose our generation to make a difference–but He doesn’t want us to do it alone. Find out how in Jesus and We. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We know that without faith, it is impossible to please God. That's why we live by faith and not by sight. What are we? As a church, as God's church, we are faith-filled, big thinking, bet the farm, risk-takers. We'll never insult God with small thinking or safe living. It is great to have all of you with us as we launch into a new year. We are starting a brand new four-part message series called Jesus and We. so often in kind of our Western world.

When we talk about Christianity, people talk about Jesus and me, Jesus and me, which is a good thing. People talk about a personal relationship with Jesus. Again, very good. But I believe as we look at Scripture, you can make an argument that not only should we have a personal relationship with Jesus, but maybe even more important, we should have a shared relationship with Jesus. And so over the next few weeks, I want to look at what God is calling us to be about, and to stand for as a local church, and I believe God is going to inspire you. In fact, I've been praying very specifically this week for you that God would build your faith.

And as God builds your faith, he would build our faith. There's something powerful that happens when we come together as the church. For example, if you pray alone, you know that can be very powerful. But when you pray with others, I'm telling you there's something that happens when you join your faith with others. and you feel like you're really touching the heart of God. Same with worship. You can worship in your car. Some of you do.

I've seen you. You worship like crazy in your car. The reason you do that is the same reason you pick your boogers in your car. You think there's an invisible shield. You think nobody's watching. Isn't that crazy? How, for whatever reason, you feel safe to pick your boogers in a car. Like, I got one.

I'm just going to dig it out right now. Everybody can see you, but you do it anyway. Same with worship. You're worship in a way. You know, Jesus take the wheel. I don't know what you're singing. You know, whatever. But that can be powerful, right?

But what's even more powerful is when we come together and we worship. I don't know how many of you were here during the Come to Worship series when our whole church lifted hands to God. There's something powerful about doing this together in worship. And so I want to look over the next four weeks at what we call four value statements or four vision statements for our church. In fact, if you walk through the lobbies of our churches or the hallways, you'll see these signs on the wall that say some different things that we value or we believe.

And I want to look at four of those, one per week, and this week really deals with building big faith. Like I said, I've been praying that God would build faith in our church, in your life, and quite honestly, I want to just tell you, for some of you, this message is going to stir you to take a step of faith. And very literally, months or years from now, you may look at all that God has done and trace that back to this moment when God inspired you to take a step of faith and believe him for something that could not happen without his presence and his power. So let's dive into our first we statement that we're going to study. Our first one is on big faith, and it goes like this. What are we? We are faith-filled, big-thinking, bet-the-farm, risk-takers.

We will never insult God with small-thinking or safe living. I need a few big-thinking risk-takers that all of our churches to say this aloud with me like you mean it. What are we? We are faith-filled, big-thinking, bet-the-farm, risk-takers. We will never insult God with small-thinking or think-to-thinkers. safe living. We want to seek God for the impossible, believe God for miracles, dream that God would do exceedingly and abundantly more in our lives, through our church, for his glory,

that generations would know who he is. We will be faith-filled in all that we do. I want to start off this message by laying a quick foundation and looking at two different stories about Jesus. And what's really interesting in these stories is you're going to see that Jesus was amazed two different times. And he was amazed for two different reasons. In fact, he was amazed on opposite ends of the spectrum. The first story is when Jesus was in his hometown and he was teaching and some people were offended like, who does he think he is? He's a son of a carpenter.

He shouldn't be saying these kind of things. And he was amazed at something in Mark's Gospel, Chapter 6. Versus five and six says this. Jesus could not do any miracles there, except lay hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was what? Let's all say it loud. Everybody helped me out.

He was what? He was amazed at. Say it with me. He was amazed at their lack of faith. Jesus was amazed, blown away, shocked, stunned, that they didn't believe he had the power to do what he said. could do that he was who he said he was they were amazed he was amazed at their lack of faith that the second story we're going to look at is in luke's gospel and there was a centurion um who the jewish people

would have surely hated because of all the cruel things the centurians were known to do and the centurion had a sick servant that was dying and so the centurion sent someone to go to jesus and say hey jesus come to this guy and whenever jesus met up with the centurion the centurion simply said this He said, you don't need to go to my house to pray for the servant. At your very word, I believe my servant will be healed. At your very word, you just say it, and my servant will be healed. Verse 9 of Luke 7, when Jesus heard this, what was Jesus? He was what?

Everybody, all of our churches. He was amazed at him. And turning to the crowd following, and he said, I tell you the truth, I have not found such what? I have not found such great faith even in Israel. Two different times, Jesus was amazed. He was amazed at lack of faith, and he was amazed at great faith. Here's a question.

As you launch into a new year, if Jesus looked at your faith level, those things you're attempting for his glory, those things you're believing that he will do. Would he be amazed at how big and audacious and how bold your faith is? Or would he be amazed at your lack of faith? Think about it. It's a great question to wrestle with.

In fact, what I want to do is I want to just kind of help you really be honest. And I want to ask you in a moment to rank your faith somewhere between one, which would be the lowest, or 10, which be the highest. And in order to be kind of semi-accurate, what I want you to do is simply think about the last week of your life. Just the last week, that's easy to remember, and think about what great faith steps did you take

in the last week? Did you attempt something that was so bold, so daring that if God didn't come through for you, there's no way it would have ever happened. If so, you're going to be up on the higher end of the spectrum. If not, you're going to be on the lower. Think about your prayer life.

What did you pray for? Imagine this. Imagine if God answered every single prayer that you prayed last week with a yes and it was immediate. I mean, you prayed it and God was like, boom, there it is. You asked what? Yep, yep, yep, yep, yes, yes, yes, yes. Everything you prayed for. If God answered yes and immediately to every prayer, ask yourself this, what would be different in the world?

Okay. For some of you, if you had like an eight or a nine, I mean, there would have been like a lot of people healed of cancer. and there might have been a child that was adopted into a family, and your life group might have had a relationship, a marriage healed. And all these really cool things would have been different because you were praying great prayers. Some of you, if you look back over last week, your food would have been blessed, right?

You would have made it to Grandma's house safely, which is always funny. God give us traveling mercy. Help us to get there safely. Which is about 99.9% of the time you get there anyway safely. Oh, God. Put angels around us as we travel. And what else?

I don't know. Your thigh dimples would be gone to the glory of God because he answered every prayer you prayed. What would be different in the world if God answered every single prayer you prayed with a yes and it was immediate? For some people, there would be nothing different in the world at all because you didn't pray a single prayer

and you didn't attempt anything that was bold and daring for the kingdom and the glory of God. would God be amazed at your great faith or would he be blown away that you didn't attempt anything or pray for anything significant in the last week? As a church, I believe God is calling us to be faith-filled, big thinking, bet the farm risk-takers to never insult God with small thinking or safe living. And so in order to inspire us to take bold faith steps, what I want to do is look at three faith-filled facts that will help build your faith and encourage you to follow God's direction for your life. The first one if you're taking notes is something that is very important to understand, and that is you cannot play it safe and please God.

You cannot play it safe and please God. In fact, the author of Hebrews said this in the great faith chapter, Hebrews 11 verse 6. He said this, he said, and without faith, what is it? It is impossible to please God. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. In other words, if you can do everything within your own power and you never need the power of God, then you are living without faith. And without faith, it is impossible to please God.

The challenge is, I think sometimes in our part of the world, people kind of almost glorify faith. They think, okay, if you've got great faith, you're always going to have the faith face. You're never going to doubt. You're never going to have a bad day. You're always just going to be floating on this eternal faith. And the reality is, faith is sometimes messy. It's not always constant. It's not incredibly clean.

There may be some moments where you've got, like, great faith. and then the next minute you're like, you're overwhelmed with doubt. And sometimes you feel like, you know, God really spoke to me and I know it. And you're like, ah, I'm not so sure. And it's just, it's hard to follow sometimes that God you don't see and you take these faith steps and it can be very, very messy. That's why it's called faith because it's not proven what's going to happen. Like I went to this family camp where they had a, they called it a faith step.

It was like an exercise that you would do that's supposed to be kind of fun and would build your faith. They built this tower that went like halfway to heaven. You walked up these stairs all the way up there. And then you're supposed to get on the top. It's this little bitty, little square with rails, and there's room for you and the safety guy. And the safety guy puts a harness on you, hooks it up there. And you're just supposed to step off the ledge and fall, like free fall,

literally, fall, fall, fall, fall, fall. And then the safety harness and it's supposed to like catch you and let you slowly land on earth all in one piece. Well, I had a lot of people from church there, and I went first to do it because it looked kind of easy from the ground. When you got up there, how many you know things are higher when you're up there than when you're looking at them on the ground? You know, I'm talking about, like a diving one, oh, Jesus, you know.

So I'm up there, I'm talking to this guy. I'm like, has anyone ever died doing this? And he said, not yet. Thank you very much. Next thing, he latches me up, and I'm staring over the edge. and I was like literally really, really scared. Doubts in my mind. Okay, no one's ever died on this.

You know, this is totally safe. This is a family camp. This is all fine. God is my witness. I'm rededicating my life to God. I'm praying for forgiveness of sins. I'm making up sins. I might have committed.

I'm confessing them to God. I'm covering the basis just in case. I don't even believe I need to do that, but you never know. So just to make it right. And so finally, they're all laughing at me. I just said, I got to do this. So I took a step. Now, when I did, it's like the rush. I mean, it was like, it was part fun, part terrifying. My heart stayed up there and I'm sinking down. It was so scary. I am 87% sure. I didn't scream a cuss word. Okay. But I'm 100% sure I thought one, and I hate to tell you that as a pastor. But, I mean, it's just like, it's like, ah, you know, and that's kind of what faith is like. There's like, you know, I believe God you're calling me to do this. And here God. You know, and you just, you cannot play it safe and please God.

But one of the greatest examples of this is Peter, when all the disciples were in the boat, and Jesus walks up on water, he's like, hey, anybody want to come out and see me? And Peter, the crazy guy, gets out of the boat, I mean, and starts walking on water. And everybody criticized him like, Peter failed. He looked at the wind and the wave, and he said, there were 11 guys that didn't get out of the boat. He walked on water before he failed. And so often our fear of failure keeps us from taking a step of faith. Because people often think that failing means missing God.

I've discovered that failing is often the first step to discovering God. Never let the fear of failure stop you from taking a step of faith. What's going to happen if I get out of the boat? I don't know. All I know is you have to step out. to find out. I don't know who this is going to speak to, but some of you, you're playing it safe.

And you cannot play it safe and please God. I would even argue if you're not failing every now and then, you're playing it way too safe. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Would God be amazed at your great faith? or to be amazed at your lack of faith. Principle number one is simply this. You cannot play it safe and please God.

The second thing if you're taking notes is this. As long as you have a guarantee, you don't have faith. As long as you have a guarantee, you don't have faith. The writer to the Hebrews said this in Hebrews 11-1. Faith is the what? Somebody said it. Faith is the confidence. that what we hope for.

Notice this is not like what's guaranteed, but what we hope for. We're still in the hoping. I hope this is God. I hope this works. It's the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen. It gives us an assurance of things we cannot see. The problem for many of us is we want a guarantee.

I want a guarantee. Is this going to work? I want a guarantee. I need a guarantee. I was like this in the second grade back when we would go with girls. Anybody remember, like, years ago when we'd go with people? Anybody ever go with people? Will you go with me?

Anybody do that at all? Was that just like our school? Will you go with me? Here's a weird thing. We would go with girls, but we'd never go anywhere with them. What was that all about? What was that all about? Will you go with me?

We didn't even go to recess together because it was a girl, but we'd go together. And so before I would ever ask a girl to go with me, I would pre-ask the guarantee question. Okay? The pre-ask. The pre-ask was a note. dear so-and-so, if I were to ask you to go with me, would you go with me? Check yes or check no. And then I give it to a friend to give to that friend because I wanted a guarantee.

One time my note came back with a new box that said, maybe, and that box was checked. And that's not fair. That's not one of the options, right? But the reality is when we're dealing with God, sometimes the box is a maybe. God, I think you're calling me to do this, but I'm not sure. Is it you, God? How do I know? How do I know?

How do I know? Listen, you can have faith or you can have control, but you can't have both. Oh, that's so good. I don't know how you're being so quiet today. You can have faith or you can have control, but you can't have both. Sometimes you just have to say, I think God's calling me to do this. I hope God's calling me to this. I believe God's calling me to do this.

But she said maybe, you know, they're a box. This check maybe, which by the way, that's actually how I met Amy was on a blind date. You want to know how much faith I had? I went out with Amy on a girl's recommendation. And every guy knows you can't trust a girl because any girl they like is cute. Right? Oh, she's cute, she's cute, she's cute, she's cute. Listen to me, they're not all cute, and I don't mean to be rude, but I'm just calling it like I is.

That's the truth and the truth will set you free. I know that wasn't a part of the sermon, but I just had to say it. The truth will set you free. Anyway, I don't know how I got off on that, but I was talking about you can have faith or you can have control, but you can have both. Some of you, you're going to have to let go of control to take a step of faith. As a church this year, we're going to do some things, and I don't know how they're going to turn out, honestly. When we started the U-Version Bible app, let me tell you what, it wasn't a U-Version Bible app. At first it was a website, and it failed.

It failed. Sometimes failing is the first step to succeeding. The first website failed. Then suddenly we created this app and all of a sudden we realized this was something God could bless. I have a vision to see one billion people download the free U-Version Bible app. That's a big number. That's a big number. Thank you for that polite golf clap because either you don't care or you don't believe it's possible.

And I don't care which it is because I believe that God's word changed his lives. And I believe God has trusted our church with the greatest resource to get the word of God out that exists on the planet today. And I have a vision for one billion people to experience the free Word of God on the Bible lap. Faith-filled, big thinking, bet the farm risk takers. I said that several years ago. Everybody laughed. A billion, a billion, a billion, a billion, a billion with a bee, a billion with a bee. This year will be 20% there, and there's only 80% to go.

And I'm still in my 40s. It will happen in our lifetime. You watch one billion people, the free Bible. This year, I believe we're going to start four new campuses all in one year. I'm crazy enough to believe we're going to pay for them. cash. I believe that our God is a God who works through people, and I don't like a lot of debt, and I think debt hurts a lot of churches. I'm just crazy enough to believe this. I'm so crazy to believe this. We're going to start one in Kansas City. And we went to Kansas City, and we bought a

piece of land before we have any people. That's not the right order, but sometimes you don't do it in the right order. Sometimes you just have faith to step out and say, God, I've got to step out to find out. And I don't know who I'm talking to, but someone's going to start a business, or someone's going to start a ministry and you want to guarantee, God, what's step three, four, and five going to look like? God's not going to show you three, four, and five until you take step one and two. There are no, you follow God. The only guarantee is that God will prove himself faithful. Someone here, you've been praying about asking somebody out.

You've got to ask her out to get married. And when you do, because God used me, when you get married and have a son, name him Craig, because I help get you some action. I built your faith, all right? You have to take some faith risk. You cannot play it safe and please God. You can have control or you can have faith, but you can't have both.

It's a little bit like when I went to Colorado years ago, we were out in this park, and there were these guys. They were slack roping. I don't know if you know what that is. You know what a tight rope is? You know, some idiot walks across a tight rope. Well, there's bigger idiots.

There's people that walk across one that's not tight. slack, okay? And they had this slack rope tied between two trees. I was looking at it going, that looks so cool. I said, can I try? And they're like, have you ever done any kind of balancing work? I'm like, no, but, you know, I played college sports. They just laughed even louder.

Like, you know, I think I can do this. Like, no one can do this. It takes years of training. You won't, I guarantee you won't make one full step. I said, all right, let's try this. And so I got up there. And again, it was one of those things. From the ground, it looks easy.

It was only this high. But when you're standing that high, holding on to a tree, and your legs are doing this beneath you, suddenly it got scary. And they're like, okay, come on, big boy from Oklahoma. Let's try it. And I wouldn't let go of the tree because the tree was holding me his table. You got to let go with a tree in order to walk on the rope. So I managed to get my arm around this way. I'm holding on like this to the tree.

And I let go of the tree just barely. And the rope swung out and threw me so violently to the ground. I couldn't breathe for several minutes. And they laugh like, I told you, I told you, I told you, no, no, no, let me do it again. Let me do it again. I don't think you're a rib broken. I got back up there again. And again, I'm holding on the day. I got to let go of the tree.

And they said, here's one secret. It's not going to help, but the secret is. You're looking down. You can't look down. You have to keep your eyes focused on the other tree. When you focus on the tree, then you have to just kind of feel where your feet will land. So finally, I pray like God, give me power, strength, wisdom, and balance in Jesus' name. And I let go of this thing.

I'm doing this kind of stuff. And I mean, they're like, I can't even believe you're doing that. And I took a step. God is my witness. And I landed it. They're like, whoa! And people started coming around. There's a crowd.

They were like starting a video like, this is this first time. I can't believe this. I took another step. I took another step. And then boom! It threw me to the ground so violently. I thought I had to go to the emergency room. But they said, I've never seen someone do it.

Now, I am bragging about that part about it. taking four actual live steps on a slack rope for the very first time. I know you really don't care, but oh, dear God, it was so faith-filled and powerful. And that leads me, I'm going somewhere with this. There's actually a plan, okay? That leads me to the third principle, and that is this. If you're taking notes, to step toward your destiny, you have to step away from your security. Somebody here, you're going to have to let go with a tree.

Here's your problem. You're a tree hugger. How's that for some Colorado humor? I just snuck that in. You see what I did there? Don't miss it. If you're not paying attention, you'll miss them. Good stuff.

You're a tree hugger. You've got to let go of the tree, okay? To step toward your destiny. You've got to step away from your security. But what's going to happen? How's it going to end up? If you knew all that, it wouldn't be called faith. This is exactly what Abraham did.

And one of the crazy faith-filled stories in the Old Testament, It's actually reflected in the New Testament in verse 8 of Hebrews 11 that says, by what? Everybody say it aloud. By say it. By faith. By faith. Abraham, when called to go to a place where he would later receive his inheritance, he obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

Even though he didn't have a clue, he let go of the tree. and took the first step. And when you take that step, you keep your eyes focused on the author and the perfector of your faith. And suddenly, by his power, now you're not walking by sight anymore, but you're actually walking by faith.

And without faith, it's impossible to please God. But great faith pleases God in a great way. Would our God be amazed at your amazing, faith? Or would he be amazed that you have access to his power, his throne room? If you're a follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwells within you, the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. You have access to go before God and ask him and he hears your prayer. Would he be amazed at your lack of faith? How will this play out in our lives? I believe it will play out individually. and I believe it will play out corporately.

I believe that God is going to speak to some of you, and you're going to take your faith step. And I believe that God is going to speak to us as a church, and we're going to take some faith steps together. For you, as a follower of Jesus, you may take a faith step to share your faith with someone that doesn't know Christ. Maybe a family member, maybe a boss, someone you work out with, and you know they really need the truth that you know.

But you're not sure what's going to happen. you have to take a step of faith. And when you do, the box may say maybe. Are they going to respond positively? You don't know. But your faith will be built when you obey what God puts on your heart. Some of you, you're going to tithe

for the first time in your life. You've heard it and you've thought about it and you've made excuses. And suddenly you're going to do something that makes no rational sense but return 10% of what God blesses you with back to him through his church. And suddenly,

If your number was a two, you're going to see God provide and recognize that 90% with his blessings actually is more than 100% without. And your faith grows to a five or a six or a seven when you take that act of faith. Some of you, you're going to step out and start a life group. And in the back of your mind, am I good enough? Do I know enough? What's going to happen? And you don't know. And several months later, you're going to sit back and say, this is my favorite thing in life, that I'm pouring my life into others, that we're sharing life.

around God's word that were growing spiritually together. Oh, I'm so glad. I took the step of faith. Some of you, you're gonna serve in youth ministry or in life kids. You may serve in youth ministry and think, well, I'm not cool enough and can I connect with them? And suddenly you're gonna get in there

and you're gonna realize, oh my gosh, these kids have so much potential and some of them have so much passion for Christ and some of them are so messed up, cutting themselves and sexually confused and depressed and coming from broken home, and you're going to wake up six months from now and go, this is the best part of my life

that God is using me to impact the next generation. Some of you, God's going to call you to serve in life kids, and you're going to serve in the two-year-old room, and you're going to be with tiny crazy crackheads, and it's going to take great faith because they're in there and they're everywhere, and there's more of them than you, and you need God's help. Okay, some of you, you're going to start a business,

and you don't know what's going to happen. You've got to take the step of faith. Some of you, you're going to write, you feel called to tell your story in a book and you're wondering, will anybody read it? And I'm here to tell you, maybe not. Honestly, who knows? There's no guarantees. You have to step out to find out. Some of you, there's a ministry inside.

There's something that's been burning inside of you for a long time. And when you take a step of faith, your faith is not in the outcome that you want. Your faith is in the faithfulness of God. And suddenly, as you grow in your faith, we grow in your faith. in our faith. And all of a sudden we start to see, we are the church. And when we gather together, our faith can touch God. And we have faith to fast together. Thousands of you are fasting with me right now. We're crazy enough to believe that denying ourselves physical nutrition somehow connects us more spiritually with God. And suddenly, as a church, our faith grows. And all of a sudden,

we realize that we now are faith-filled. Big thinking, bet the farm risk-takers. It's a church, we're not going to sit back. Listen to me. Listen to me. We are thinking big. You need to hear me. We are thinking big. Our God did not give us a small commission, but a great commission that everyone would know him, that the gospel would be preached around the world. Don't you ever, ever? Let me hear you say, the church is too big. The church is too big. Listen, if you think the church is too big, your love for people is too small. As long as there is someone who does not know Christ, the church is not too big.

I do not see our church as big. I see the need in the world as big. I see us as a startup church. We're just getting started. We are a micro church, not a mega church. We have a mega vision. And I believe that God wants us individually and corporately to think big because faith pleases the heart of God.

And when God looks at you, I want him to be amazed at your faith. When God looks at our church, I want him to be amazed at our faith because I believe with all my heart in the next year, our God wants to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we can ask, think, or imagine according to his power at work in the church

so that he would be glorified for generations to come. So, what are we? We are faith-filled, big thinking, bet the farm risk-takers. We will never insult God with small-thinking or safe living. Father, I pray that in your presence, you would do a work in your church, and I thank you in advance for all the faith steps that may come out of this moment. God, I thank you for those parents that have three children that are thinking about four. God, I thank you that if you speak to them, they'll have the faith to say yes to what your will

might be for their family. I thank you, God, for those who might be considering adopting or fostering, and they're all the questions. God, I thank you in advance that on the other side of that faith step, they're going to find your perfect will. God, I thank you for those who will start something, follow you, venture out, share their faith. I thank you that, God, as we step out, we'll find out.

God help us to be full of faith to follow you. All of our churches, as you're taking a moment to pray, I just want to ask one question to start off. Don't respond just yet, but think about it. How many of you would love to have God be amazed by your big faith? It doesn't matter what it was like last week, but you want big faith. You want amazing faith. You want to live bold dreams.

You want to live in such a way that you couldn't do what's on your heart without the power in the presence of God. You want to pray for big prayers. See people healed of cancer. See marriages restored. See people freed from sexual bondage. See families brought back together. See churches overflowing.

See people around the world that go without. Be blessed with the things they need for everyday life. You want to be a person of big faith. All of our churches you say, yes, God, stretch my faith. I want you to be amazed by my great faith. I want to be a person of great faith. Lift your hands, if that's your prayer today. all of our churches, hands high all over the place. God, thank you so much for a church full of people

that want to honor you. I thank you in advance, God, that in their individual lives, there are going to be some massive faith steps taken, launching out to follow your voice, follow your will, follow direction, recognizing you won't show us step three, four, and five until we have the faith to take step one and two. I thank you, God, there will be many people who take those faith steps. And God, as you grow our faith individually, grow our faith corporately, that we as a church, God, would have great faith, that we would recognize that you want to do more through your church to reach people than we can even imagine. God, make us a bold church.

Help us to dream bigger dreams. God, help us to reach people all over the world with your word through a free Bible app. And God, I pray that you would give provision to start churches all over the world that would lead people to become fully devoted followers of your soul. Son, Jesus Christ. As you keep praying today, many of you, you're going to recognize right now that spiritually, you're not in sync with God. Some of you right now, you look at your life and the weight of your sinfulness is very heavy

upon you. I remember this feeling so distinctly back in college, all the things that I'd done wrong. I didn't understand the power of the gospel. I tended to think like every other world religion that if I did enough good, then maybe God would love me. If I didn't do so many bad things, then maybe God would love me. But I didn't realize that Christianity is different. Christianity isn't about what we do, as much as about what we believe, where we put our faith, faith matters. In fact, because of what Jesus did for us, dying for our sins, and nobody disputes that Jesus lived, rose again, and there were literally first century

followers of Jesus who were martyrs because they saw him. They gave their life because of that when we put our faith in the perfect work of Jesus. We're saved not by good works, but by God's grace through faith in believing that what Jesus did is enough. Some people say that's too good to be true. I say that's too good not to be true. That's why it's called the gospel. That's why it's good news. And that is why some of you are here today and you know it.

It's time for you to say, yes, I believe. I trust my life in God's hands. I ask Jesus to save me and to forgive me of my sins. Today, I surrender my life to him by faith. And all of our churches, those of you who say, that's my prayer. I'm ready. This is it. And now, I trust him.

By faith, I give my life to him. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now, all over the place and say, yes, I surrender, right? Here in this section, right back over here as well. Right up here, God bless you guys. Others of you raise them high. I want to see you. Eye to eye, right back over here.

Both hands right here in the middle. God bless you guys. Right back over here, all three of you together right here, sweetheart, say yes to Jesus. Church's online. You click right below me here in this other section. Call on him. I surrender right back over here on this side. Sir, big guy, big arm, big follower of Jesus being born into his kingdom.

Others today who say yes, I surrender to him. Pray with those around you. Everybody praying aloud. Pray Heavenly Father, forgive me of all my sins. Make me brand new. today by faith I give my life to you I believe

Jesus died for me so I could live for you fill me with your spirit that I would know you serve you and follow you for the rest of my life my life is not my own

today I give it to you thank you for new life now you have mine in Jesus name I pray would you worship big worship loud Welcome those born into God's family, new life in Christ.