Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Love Like Jesus, Part 2: Washes Feet

Episode Date: April 10, 2016

There’s so much pain and hurt in the world, sometimes it's hard to see anything else. But what if, when we looked around, all we saw was love? The greatest sacrifice in history shows us how to make it happen. Let’s learn to Love Like Jesus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thanks for joining us here at Life Church, where we are one church meeting in multiple locations across the United States and reaching worldwide through network churches and church online. If you have any questions or you'd like to learn more, you can always visit us online by going to life.church. Today, we'll see how Jesus set the example for one of the best ways that we can love each other, and it's through living a life of service. And our senior pastor Craig Rochelle will teach us how. In part two of his message, love like Jesus. Really exciting to me that all of you have taken time today to join your hearts with others to worship our God and to hear his word taught in community. We are in a message series called Love Like Jesus. I want to start out with a story today about a guy that recognized there was something really going wrong in his body.

Went to the doctor. They referred him to specialists and they ran all sorts of tests after running all sorts of tests. they came up with the diagnosis, and it was rather serious, and they actually asked to talk to his wife first. The lead doctor said to this guy's wife, we're very sad to tell you, but your husband has a very rare disease, and if left untreated, he will die, and he'll die very quickly. The doctor said there's good news with chemo and a lot of help from you that we actually believe that he can be healed. The challenge is, though, he will need a very strict diet, and that means you will have to cook for him every single meal, three meals a day. He's got to have an

environment that's kept completely clean, and that means you'll need to be available to him nonstop. It'll take more from you than you could ever imagine, but if you'll cook for him, clean for him, be there to serve him, and do this over an extended period of time, your husband will live. She walked out, and the husband was obviously nervous and said, well, what do the doctor say? And the lady said to her husband, the doctor had bad news and said, you're going to die. you're going to die because I ain't doing that. I ain't got no time for that, right? I'm not doing that.

And it's kind of a little bit of a cheesy story, but a lot of times we will see a need in somebody's life, and we're thinking, you know what, I'm not doing that. I'm not going to do that, and I'll be transparent. I hope you don't hate me for it, but sometimes I'll even have an attitude about it. I'll be like, I'm not doing that. I mean, I'm too cool for that.

I'm not doing that. Help me out with that. Would you just touch the person next to you and say, I'm not doing that? Just do that, will you? See, a lot of you're going, I'm not doing that. Forget I'm not touching my neighbor.

That's stupid. I'm not doing that, right? You see? You see? In the message series, we're looking at the love of Jesus that he continually shocked people with irrational acts of serving love.

Last week we saw Jesus forgive sinners, and I was very thankful and personally touched by all the feedback from so many of you that said that message really helped to bring you to a place of forgiving other people. Jesus forgives sinners. Next week we're going to look at the imagery that Jesus breaks bread. And next week's message is very personal to me. It really illustrates the power of celebrating the goodness of God in community, fellowship, loving one another. in a way that many of us simply do not have that type of community today. Today I want to look at the image of Jesus washing feet, the picture of him serving those around him.

And we're going to look in John's gospel, John Chapter 13. We'll start in verse 1 and 2 and let this set the context for the image of loving like Jesus. How do we do it? One of the ways is we wash feet. John chapter 13, verse 1 says this. It was just before the Passover festival, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. So if you can get in your mind, Jesus has been living all up to this one point that he would actually give his life.

This is the day before his crucifixion, and so you can imagine the emotion he's feeling. The text goes on to say, having loved his own who are in the world, what did he do? Let's all say it aloud. What did he do? He loved them till the end. Let's try that again. I need some help from Keller, Texas. What did he do? Jesus, he loved them till the end.

We're going to love like Jesus. The next verse, verse 2 says, The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iskariot, to betray Jesus. So let's unpack this and kind of get our minds into what's going on. Jesus is about to give his life.

If you want to look at his week, you can imagine how incredibly difficult the week was. On Monday, he cleansed the temple. He went in and turned over the tables and said, you will not turn my father's house into a place for profit. This will be a house of worship. On Tuesday, he has a massive fight with religious leaders.

Wednesday, there's no record of what happens. It's Thursday night. He's gathered in a secret room with his closest friends, ready to give his final speech to share with them the body and the blood, the bread and the wine, in this historic, heartfelt moment. He knows one of his disciples is going to betray him. The very next day he's going to be beating.

betrayed, tortured, hung on a cross to die, and according to Luke's gospel, a fight breaks out amongst the disciples. He's having dinner, and the disciples are acting like two-year-olds, okay? One of them says, I wonder who's the greatest. And another one says, well, probably me. And all of a sudden there's a dispute, who's the best, who ranks highest, who's the favorite, who's the best of the best? We don't know what happened exactly, but I can imagine John going, well, I'm the one he loved.

He said that, I'm the greatest because I'm the one he loves. Peter probably says, and I walked on water. All you other guys just stood in the boat, I walked on water. Then somebody said, Peter, and yeah, you sank, right? There. Then Bartholomew maybe speaks up, well, what about me? And everybody says, nobody will remember you one day, Bartholomew. Was he even one of the disciples?

No one will even know your name. And so there's this dispute going on. Who's the greatest? Who's the greatest? And you can imagine Jesus thinking to himself, I already told you. If you remember, this was in Matthew's Gospel, he said, the greatest is the one who will be your servant. Jesus had told them that I did not come to be served by others, but I came to serve you,

to lay down my life as a ransom for many. He looks around the room at his final meal with his closest friends, and what does he see? He sees proud hearts, and he sees dirty feet. He sees proud hearts and dirty feet. And so Jesus most likely thinks to himself, well, I can wash feet. This one is mine. And watch what Jesus does. Verse four says, so Jesus got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.

After that, he poured water into a basin and began to do what? What did he do? Let's all say it loud. Jesus began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. Now, why did he wash their feet? This was common courtesy when someone came to your home. For example, if you came to my home today, if it's cold outside, I might say, may I take your coat,

and then could I get you something to drink? It's common courtesy. If you were to come to a home in the time when Jesus was living, the first thing they would do is they would greet you with a kiss on the cheek. The second thing they would do is say, would you like your feet washed? Now, it's important to understand

that the host would never, ever wash the feet of the gist because that was too much of a humiliating task. Essentially, the host was saying, I'm going to show you how important I am because I've got someone here who will do it for you. I would never do this because, let's be honest, feet are kind of disgusting. I mean, imagine if I came to your house here,

hey, Pastor Craig, we're glad you're here. Can we get you a drink? And would you like a pedicure? I'll be happy to give you a pedicure. You would never say that. I mean, you're not going to touch my feet, especially if you saw them. They are ape feet, totally the most disgusting feet ever.

In fact, I'm not kidding about this. If I'm sitting at my house, sometimes I'm just hanging out with like a pair of shorts, no shirt on, nothing else on. If you knocked on our front door, Amy would never scream, quick, put on a shirt. Okay, she'd never do that. What she says is put on socks, don't let them see your feet. That's true story, dead true story, dead true story, dead true story. In fact, she says, and she says, I love everything about you.

I love you, you're my dream guy, I love everything about you. I love everything about you. From the top of your head to the bottom of your ankles, I love everything about you. You know, so feet are kind of nasty, and this was the job that was reserved, quite honestly, to the servant, or if we can be really truthful, to the one who was a slave. And so, hey, let me show you how important I am. Would you like your feet washed? And someone else will do this because I would never, ever do this. Jesus is at the final meal.

The night before he's going to give his life. He looks around the room, and he sees proud hearts, who's the greatest, and dirty feet? And so what does he do? He goes up and he puts on a slave's apron. He picks up a bucket, fills it with water. And when he does this, everybody's gasping. They're like, uh-uh. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

It's impossible to describe. I went through my mind. I tried to come up with a scenario, kind of like, you know, the Queen of England comes to your house and says, may I wash your toilets? I mean, it's even lower than that. It's like this is, you need to understand who this is. We're talking about Jesus, the son of God, okay?

The Lamb of God, the prince of peace, the living water, the bread of life. He is our redeemer. He is our righteousness. He is the light of the world. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the king of kings and the Lord of Lord, stoops down and does something that is reserved for the lowest of the low in the society. and says, I see a need. The feet are dirty.

I can do that. And Jesus loved them to the end by doing something that everyone else was thought too low to be done. The greatest is the one who will be your servant. And Jesus, the son of God, knelt down and washed feet. I'm not doing that.

I'm not doing that. I'm too important for that. That's beneath me. I'm too busy for that. Here's something I'm trying to train myself to do. And that is whenever I see a need that I can meet, I try to ask myself, God, is this an assignment that you have for me to do?

I dare you to do that. Just to wake up every day and to say, God, give me eyes to see needs that would otherwise overlook. give me ears to hear those who are heard and give me a heart to care. God, if there is a need that I can meet, cause me to pause and stop and say, God, is that an assignment from you for me to meet? And here's what I've found.

Most often when it really is something I believe God wants me to do, it's those times when I feel like it's beneath me. I have too much going. I'm too important for this. someone else can do it. I am Pastor Craig, after all, okay? It's in those times of pride that I really believe God wants me to stop and to meet a need.

I'll tell you, one of the times that I got to do this, it was a time that snuck up on me, and it's a story I'm particularly thankful for, not because I did the right thing, but because of who I got to help. I went into a home improvement store and was trying to get some stuff, and there was a little lady, a sweet lady, that, you know, sometimes people get shorter.

I think she'd gotten shorter and smaller over time. And a frail lady, maybe in her upper 70s, maybe 80 or so. And this gal was trying to reach up and grab the biggest hedge clippers you've ever seen. I mean, we're talking like they were probably her size. And she's like, oh, you know, there's no one there from the store. So I just said, man, may I help you? You know, may I help you? And she's like, oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.

And I'm lifting these things out and said, do you want them in your basket? He's like, yes, put them in my, and I put them in her basket. And then she's looking at these other big hedge tremors. And I said, what are you trying to accomplish? And she said, well, my bushes are high and I just can't see out the window in my yard, need some work. And I was like, do you have family in town or anybody that can help you? She's like, well, most of them are out of town.

They're really, really busy. And if you could just help me get this in my cart, that'll be enough. And so I did that and put it in the cart. That was pretty nice. I'm walking away, and I'm thinking to myself, I could help her, but I don't have time for that. I don't really want to do that. And I tried to walk away, but the more I tried to walk away,

the more there was something pulling me back. And I think what it might have been was the fact that for years I was heartbroken over my grandma who died alone in Houston, Texas, and into her 70s mowed her own yard every day. And I always thought, if I could have found somebody to trade with, I would have done his grandmonds, he could have done mine,

and she wouldn't have to have been 70 whatever years old out there pushing her yard. Why didn't somebody, spend 15 minutes, little yard, and help this lady? I can do that. This one's mine. I walked back, and I said, ma'am, I know this is going to sound weird and all, but would you mind if I helped you get this done? And she looked at me, she said, young man, are you a yard boy? And I said, you know what?

Today I am. I am a yard boy and I am here to help you get this done because I can do that. This one's mine. This one's mine. And I tell you, when you get outside of yourself and have eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart to care, you're going to find those opportunities

where suddenly you go, you know what? I can do that. This one's mine. You're going to see your friend's going to be moving and she needs help, but you're kind of busy. But you think, you know what? People have helped me before. I can help her move.

This one's mine. I'm in the game. You'll be at church one week and there's a garbage can overflowing because no one's gotten to it yet. Well, somebody needs to do that. Somebody ought to clean out. You know what?

I can carry out of garbage can. Nobody asks, but I can do that. This one's mine. They need help in the baby room. And you're thinking, you know what? I had babies before. I know how to wipe a bottom. I can do that.

This one's mine. Hey, hey, hey. Are you a mover? I mean, are you a mover? Today I am. Are you a garbage person? You know what? Today I am.

Are you a baby butt wiper? Today I am. In fact, I'm one of the best baby butt wipers. I do everything as unto the glory of the Lord. There's no poop in those cracks. I scrub those things clean. It is a dingleberry free baby butt because I am doing this for the glory. Can you do that?

I can do that. This one's mine. This one's mine. I've got eyes to see because the greatest is the one who serves. And whenever you go and wash feet, it's actually pretty good. You don't need someone to get the Instagram shot

of you serving. Hashtag, honored to serve. Honor to serve. Honored to make a difference. Look at what I'm doing. I'm serving the poor. I'm helping the needy. Look what I did for her.

Okay. When you're serving with the right heart, nobody needs to know. When you're serving with the right heart, it's not about you. When you're serving with the right heart, it's not about your gifts. When you're serving with the right heart, it's not about you getting recognition. It's about you making others meeting their needs, serving God for His glory. I can do that.

This one's mine. I can do that. It's not just about actions, but it's about the attitude. I was created and gifted by God. I get to show the love of Jesus today. And when you have the right attitude, the right action starts. to follow, even if you don't initially feel it. I'll illustrate this. It's not just actions, it's attitude. It's an attitude. Serving's not what I do. A servant is who I am. Don't miss that.

Serving is not what I do. A servant is who I am. Serving's not what I do. A servant is who I am. 17 years ago. 17 years ago, and we know this because Amy was pregnant with Anna. Number three, we were just getting started halfway to six. There's a lot of love in our. house. Okay. She bumped into a car that she thought was turning. It started to turn and then it stopped and she bumped them. Well, good news is it was a little bump. She went out and looked. The driver got out and looked. The dad, he looked. There was, Amy saw nothing on our car, nothing on his car. He wanted to call the police. She was like, well, there's nothing there. He called the police. The police came out and said, there's nothing there. I'm not giving a

ticket. You go, you go, just go. Well, she gave him our information. And he called and said, there are several hundred dollars worth of damage. And she's like, there wasn't, I promise, I promise the police said there wasn't. And so I'm talking to this guy. He knows who we are, you know, and the whole thing. And so we're like, what do we do? What do we do? Okay.

Several hundred dollars is a lot of money today. 17 years ago, oh, there's a lot of money back then, okay? And so we prayed about it. And we recognized. Jesus said, if someone asked for your shirt, give him your coat to. So, all right, we're going to serve this guy. And we gave him the money. and tried to be just a good example and be a blessing.

Okay. Time went by. Year, two, three, 17 years went by. I would have totally even forgotten about this because 17 years went by if a young girl in her 20s hadn't come up to Amy just a few weeks ago. And this girl came up to Amy and said, I just want to tell you thank you because your life actually changed my life. And Amy said, what do you mean?

She said, years ago I was six years old and you rear-ended my dad. and my dad asked for some money from your family and the way you treated our family was so full of love that we remembered it, we eventually came to your church and our whole family has been changed by the grace of God. He said, I want to thank you for the way you treated our family.

17 years later, okay? We could have never have heard that and you may never, ever hear or know the difference you make. But when you have the right attitude, the right actions will follow. Serving is not just what we do. A servant is who we are. It's who we are.

It's who we are. It's who we are. It's the attitude. In fact, I've had parents ask me because our children are, especially our older kids, when they're young, I don't take a lot of credit

for like if you get them to do the right thing because you can still scare them and stuff. You know, when they're older, they make choices. You know, and so my older daughters are all faithfully serving Jesus. passion, sold out. So parents say, what's your trick? What's your secret? And for years, like, I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. The more I've thought about it, I've got two big theories, and I really believe these things are true. If you want your kids to be passionate about serving Jesus, number one, they have to see you serve Jesus

and have an intimate relationship with him in your home and who you are. That's number one. It has to be modeled. It has to be modeled. It's not religious. We go to church. We go, blah, blah.

No, it's like we want to, which we get to, which we're passionate, we're, they see them. Number one, most important thing. Number two, and I believe this with all my heart, and this will surprise you, that you want them to see you. Number two, you want them to serve God in their church. That's what I believe is number two. Let me tell you why. When they serve, they're in the sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade, what happens is they're not just going to church. They are the church. Suddenly, they are needed, and they belong. When they're making a contribution, guess what? They want. They want. They want. They want to be there because they're valued.

When they're there, their friendships start to form around it, and then it's not something they do as who they are. Then they fall so in love with being at the church, you can do what we do. We use not going to church as a discipline if they misbehave. Who would have ever thought that? Hey, if you don't cut that out, you don't get to go serve. No!

I want to serve! I want to serve! I want to serve! Like my youngest daughter said, I'm going to tell on you one day, Dad, When I'm old enough, I'm going to tell them, my daddy, punish me by not letting me go to church. What kind of pastor is that? When they see you serving outside of yourself, living, intimate, passionate, when they plug in and use their gifts, suddenly they don't go to church. They are the church.

They are followers of Jesus, and it transforms who they are. That's why one of the things that drive me crazy is when I meet people, and I have weird conversations with them when they find I'm a pastor. We have a normal, perfectly good conversations. You know, what are you for a living? Well, I'm a pastor. Oh, praise Lord, brother. Hallelujah.

Thank you, Jesus. We were having a regular conversation a moment ago. Then you turned into religious weirdos. You know, one guy at the gym this last week, he said, you know, we're having fun conversation. What do you do? I'm a pastor. He's, oh, yeah. I've been washed by the grace and saying.

by the, you know, that stuff and all that stuff. Like, what are you saying? Like, you don't even know what's you saying? I'm sorry. Be real. Okay, anyway, back to the point. One of the most common things I hear, most common things I hear. Oh, you're a pastor.

Well, we've been looking for a church for a long time, but we just can't find one that meets our needs. I just can't find a church that meets my needs. We've been to 14 churches here in town, there's not just one that meets my needs. I'm looking for a church, I just, I can't find a church that meets my needs. I just can't find a church that meets my needs.

We just can't find a church that meets our needs. And I just want to scream out, please, if you're a follower of Jesus, we are not spiritual consumers. We are spiritual contributors. The church does not exist for us. We are the church and we exist for the world. We exist for the world. We exist for the world.

We're not looking for a church to meet our needs. We are the church and we meet the needs of other people. And so, therefore, If this is your church, this is where you worship, this is where you grow. If you're not using your gifts, guess what? You're selling yourself way short. Because Paul said we're a part of the body of Christ. We all have gifts and we all need each other.

So if you're only going to church but not serving in the church as the church, then there's something that God wants to be done that is not being done. And when you serve others, God changes lives, and the first life he usually changes is yours. Let me say it again. When you serve others,

God changes lives, and the first life he changes is yours. What do you get? You get the thrill of being used by God. I just listened to somebody and prayed for them, and it made a difference. Thank you, God, that I made a difference today. I took time out of my schedule and I served someone.

Thank you, God, that I made a difference today. Someone is in need and I can pray for them. I'm a prayer warrant and they don't even know it, but I'm going to take them to heart and pray for them all the time. Oh, you just thought I was a school teacher. You had no idea. I'm a secret agent prayer warrior put by God into school. I'm praying for this place.

Oh, you just thought I mowed yards. You have no idea. I'm a witness. Every time I'm here mowing this yard, I'm praying for you and sharing my faith with you over and over and over again, doing this with excellence as unto the Lord. Oh, you just thought that I worked at the bank. I'm here loving people to Jesus.

Every single day I'm serving, I'm serving, I'm serving. Serving's not just what I do. A servant is who I am. I have the thrill of being used by God when you go to bed at the end of the day and you look back and say, you know what? God used me today. That was a good day. You spend your day on yourself and you will be empty for the rest of your life. You invest your life in others and you will be great.

The greatest is the one who is a servant. If you are not using your gifts somewhere in this church, you are robbing yourself of the blessing of making a difference in somebody else's life and being used by God. I will not sit in a seat someone else paid for and let someone else take care of my kids every week and not give back. Let someone else drive me up on a golf court. I want to drive that golf court because that looks like fun to me. I want to give back because that's what the great servants do. Let me tell you about just a few of them from our church and we'll wrap this baby up. Lee from Albany.

Lee is the gal on the left from Life Church Albany. And I love her story. She says she was not proud of her younger life. The decisions she made were very destructive. And so she decided to take what the enemy meant for evil and use it for good. And so now her great calling is to serve teenage girls in our ministry called Switch. And she says she lives to help them make good decisions. the decisions that she didn't make at that point of life. And I love that. It's the thrill of being

used by God and helping young girls. Let me tell you about Bill. Bill is from Life Church Stillwater, and he drove a golf cart for years before he passed away. And before Bill died, he put in writing and asked his campus pastor to share this at his funeral. And I quote, Bill said, my greatest joy in life outside of my family, my greatest joy in life outside of my family was the opportunity to serve my Lord at Life Church. I lived to drive the golf cart and bring people from the parking lot to the front door of the church where they could meet the Jesus that changed my life. The greatest thrill of my life, the greatest joy of my life was serving God in my church. Let me tell you about Lori. Lori is from the South Broken Arrow Life Church. She is blind

and she serves on the host team. And Lori said there is no excuse that would ever keep her from helping people feel loved and welcome into her church. If you want to clap for Lori Belt right now, it's a good time to do it. I'm telling you what. Serving's not just what we do. A servant is who we are. The last one I'll tell you about is Paco.

Paco is my workout partner. It's not his real name. His real name is John. But when you're close to another guy, you never call him by a real name. He always got a nickname. Paco, okay? Paco's John.

And if you were here months back, I told you that John got tinnitus just came on. I didn't know much about tinnitus before, but it's one of the most horribly, it's an excruciating pain where there's a noise in your head that doesn't go away. He has the extreme kind, which means it sounds like there's a train going through your head nonstop.

And so, you know, you can't, it's just, it's gut-wrenching and it's horrible. Well, it's so bad. And I will tell you, he's followed. many of your recommendations, gone and seen experts and making progress and thanks the church for prayers and support. And so he's doing everything that is humanly possible and seeking God for what's divinely possible. But he's in so much pain that he said, I've got to get outside of myself. So he said to his wife, Jennifer, here's a picture of John and Jennifer. He said, let's serve on our campus at Broadway and Britain, which is close to where I actually preach.

And he said, let's serve there. And maybe that'll help things get better. Well, he started serving, and he said, when he was serving people, the pain wasn't as bad. Suddenly, he started loving these people, and he developed these really close, intimate relationships, and he said, would you guys like to form a life group? He said, okay, this. He said, Craig, we're at the gym. He's working out. He's starting to cry, which is really awkward.

Two bros in a gym crying. Happened again. How'd that happen? He's crying. He said, I will never not serve, and I will never not be in a life group. He said, it's completely changed my life. It's completely changed my life. I was going to ask him this question, but then I thought, no, this is just not a polite question to ask.

I didn't ask the question in my mind, but he answered the question that I was going to ask. And what he said next was this. He said, you know what? He said, tonight's has been the worst thing that I could ever imagine. It's more horrible than anything I could have ever pictured. He said, but if I had to get it all over again to find my place in the church and to find these friends of my life group, I would get tinnitus all over again to move me outside of myself and to make a difference the way God is using me now.

It's exactly what he said to me. And I sat there and we just cried and we pray together because his life has been changed for the better. When what? When he got outside of himself and he made a difference. I'm telling you what, I don't use this as a plea like, hey, come and help, blah, blah, blah. You know, what I'm saying is you do this and it will change your life.

It'll change those around you. change your marriage, start serving your spouse. Serve your spouse. You want to change your friendships? Serve your friends. You want to change your community? Serve your community. You want to change your relationship with God. Serve people in the church as the church. You want to see your life change. Serve other people. Because when you serve others, God changes lives. And the first life he changes is yours. You want to see your children be passionate about Jesus. You be passionate about Jesus.

You live it in the home. You serve God outside of yourself, and you get them engaged using their gifts, and then they're not consumers. They are spiritual contributors, and they will own it, and they will be incredibly passionate. Because Jesus did not come to be served by others.

He was the king of kings. He could have had everybody serve him. He said, I came. to be your servant. The greatest, the greatest, the greatest, who's the greatest? Who's the greatest? The greatest is your servant. Jesus looked around the room.

He saw proud hearts and dirty feet. I can do that. This one's mine. And when you have eyes to see, spiritual eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to care, you will see needs, and you will never be the same. You know what? I can do that.

This one's mine. You see a need and you meet it because that's what servants do. And that is another way that we can love like Jesus. So, Father, help us to do that today. Help us to be a church full of people that doesn't just serve, but that we are servants looking for ways to meet needs and to show your love in this world. As you pray today at all of our churches, nobody looking around. going to ask some questions. First of all, those of you who are followers of Jesus and you want to be

even more sensitive than you've ever been, looking for ways to meet needs, eyes open, ears, peaked, hearts, ready, uncalled. Is this one mine? Yeah, this one's mine. I can do it. This one's mine. All of our churches, you are a follower of Jesus and you want to be even more faithful and passionate about serving others. Lift your hands right now. Thank you, God, for hands all over the place. If you'll put them down for a moment. Those of you who would say, I am a Jesus follower, and this is my church, but I'm not using my gifts to make a difference, and I'm just not going to, that's no longer acceptable to me. I am a part of the family of God, and as a part of the family of God, I give, I serve, I pray, I contribute. I will find my place to use the gifts God gave me to make a difference

in the church as the church. If that's you, would you lift up your hands right now? Just lift them up, lift them up, lift them up, lift them up, leave them up for a moment, all of our churches, leave them up for a moment, God, now may you open up the doors for these people to make a difference in other people's lives, may they experience the thrill of you using them to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. Now God, for everybody who said they want eyes to see, I pray there are people that would not walk out of the building that they are in. At church online, they couldn't turn off their computer without reaching out to someone, that even today, before the end of the day, God, you give us a chance to serve. I pray that every single day we would wake up and offer our

whole lives to you, living sacrifices, looking for ways to make a difference, recognizing the greatest are those who serve. We want to be great for your kingdom, God, not about us, not about recognition, but about doing what you've called us to do for your glory showing the love of Jesus to people around the world. Now, as you continue to pray, there are those of you today. You recognize, man, I really do. I want to make a difference in this world, but you don't really know where you stand with God. You don't really know where you stand with God. Many of you right now, you may feel, hey, I'd like to do something, but I still, I know I've got all these things I'm doing wrong. I need to clean up first. Let me tell you right now, that's not how we do it, man. You just come to God right as you

are. You come to him right as you are because he came to you as you were in the person of his son, Jesus, the Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God, who came not to be served, but to serve you by laying down his life. The night before Jesus gave his life, he washed feet. Peter said, no, no, you can't do that. You can't do that. Jesus said, hey, Peter, if you don't let me wash your feet, you can have no part of me.

Peter said, wash all of me. This was a picture of what Jesus would do for us. He would wash all of us. We would be completely forgiven. No matter what you've done, your sins forgiven. Gone. Never to be held against you when you call on the name of Jesus. You don't become a better version of you.

You become new. The old life is gone. gone and everything is new and that's why many of you are here today and you know it today is the day today is the day you turn to him and say because you gave your life for me i give my life for you i turn from my sins i call on you jesus save me i surrender completely to you all of our churches you recognize that something's drawing you to god what is that that is his loving kindness the power of his spirit you're not here by accident today is the day you surrender him i need your forgiveness I need your grace.

Jesus, I give my life to you. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high now, all over the place and say yes. That's my prayer right here in the middle. God bless you, sir. I see the passion in your eyes back here all the way back toward the back.

Right over here. God bless you guys. Over on this side, right over here saying, yes, Jesus, I surrender to you. Right back over here on the far side. Others of you today, standing up handheld high.

Oh, watch what God does with her. Others to say yes. Jesus, I surrender. Right back over here, I belong to you. the church online, you click right below me. Is there anybody else because we're about to pray? You're leaning into it right back over there.

I surrender to Jesus, I give them all. Pray with those around you pray, Heavenly Father, today I give you my life. I ask for you to save me, to forgive me of all of my sins. Make me brand new. Fill me with your spirit so I could know you and so I could serve you for the right. rest of my life. My life is not my own. I give it to you. Thank you for new life. Now you have mine.

In Jesus name I pray. Would you worship big, worship loud, celebrate because we just saw some service of the most high God born into his family. Thank God today for his goodness and life in Christ. We are honored to play a very small part in all that God is doing in and through your life and we would love to continue with you on that journey. To find out what your next steps could be in your relationship with Christ, just go to life.church slash next. We believe that the next generation are not just leaders of tomorrow, but rather leaders of today with the power to make an eternal difference. And one of those amazing student leaders is Georgia from Life Church, South Tulsa. I'm extroverted. I tell myself I am. Okay. Scratch cut. Okay. Hey guys, my name is Georgia and I

I'm a spiritual contributor. I think honestly one of the biggest steps in my faith was realizing there's a difference between relationship and religion. Relationship is truly understanding what Jesus did for us. And honestly, that is the secret to happiness. I can't help but give everything I have to him. My mission field is in my backyard.

It's wherever I go, I have the opportunity to show the light. When you finally realize the secret to happiness, you can't help but go out and tell the whole world. Hey guys, I'm here at my school. This is the biggest mission field that I have. A ton of people and a lot of people. and a lot of different groups of people we're trying to reach. I'm at Switch.

We have 20 seconds left. I'm so excited. I think some of the ways that I love out my faith is serving on the weekends, serving life kids in the loop, host team and Switch, and even in our local community outside of church. Hey guys, we're getting ready for Life Group. This is Spencer and Jeffrey and Savannah.

Hi! The people in my life group have become my best friend. We meet at a coffee shop and we just talk about life, talk about the message, just we're really there for each other through the good and the back. Once you finally realize what Jesus has done for us, it's just a logical response. You can't do anything else but show his love and show up. Thanks to God's work through Life Church, I've learned my purpose,

and it's to bring people together and help them love each other as God is first loved us. Guys, that's it for me today, so I'm out. We believe that our faith is not meant to be kept to ourselves, but rather to be lived out. If you'd like to be a part of all that God is doing here at Life Church to find out how, just go to life.church slash serving. see if there's a Life Church location in your area, you can find out by going to life.com slash locations, and you can always join us for one of our live worship experiences at church online. You see it's our mission and our passion to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ.

And we do it because we believe whoever finds God truly finds life.