Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Making Change, Part 4: Tomorrow Matters

Episode Date: October 2, 2016

Do your finances bring you fear or freedom? Whether you’re digging out of debt or planning for your future, now’s the time to build a foundation that endures. Investing in a brighter tomorrow starts by Making Change today. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We are Life Church, one church meeting in multiple locations and reaching around the world with the help of church online. If you have any questions or you'd like to learn more about us as a church, you can always check us out online simply by going to life.com. Another great way to stay connected throughout your weekend everywhere you go is by downloading the all new and updated Life Church app available today on all of your favorite mobile devices. You know, in today's world, it's easy for us to get sucked up into this Me First culture. But today we'll see how investing in your future will not only change your life, but the lives of those that depend on you as well. And our senior pastor, Craig Rochelle, will show us how and why in the final part of making change. I am super thankful for all that God has been doing in the last four weeks in the message series called making change. Let's be honest.

So many of us need to make some significant changes when it comes to our finances. We're sick and tired of struggling. and the good news is that God has powerful, life-changing truth. And we've been applying four big thoughts over the last four weeks into our lives in order to make changes. I want to review the big four, and then I'm going to ask you to help me out because we're driving these thoughts deep into our hearts. Week number one, we talked about less is more. Everybody say less is more. Yes, is more. You'll remember that better is one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil.

a chasing after the win. Week number two, we talked about stress is bad. Everybody say financial stress is bad. Week number three, we talked about giving is good. It's more blessed to give than it is to receive. Giving is good. And today we're going to talk about tomorrow. Tomorrow matters. Our big themes, let's say them aloud. What do we know? We know that less is more, stress is bad. Giving is good, tomorrow matters. Again, all of our churches, what do we know? We know that less is more, stress is bad, giving is good, tomorrow matters. One more time, because we're driving this in. All of our churches, what do we know?

Everybody say it allowed us no fun without you. Less is more, stress is bad, giving is good, and tomorrow matters. Today, I want to talk about the very important theme that tomorrow matters. I was meeting with a group of young adults from our church, and we were doing kind of a Q&A, and one of the questions they asked, I thought was really important. Someone asked, what is the biggest challenge you see in our generation? They're asking me, the older guy, what's the biggest challenge I see in the emerging generation? And you can read a lot of articles saying a lot of bad stuff about the millennials.

I happen to be one that has more optimism in the emerging generation than you could ever imagine. I see so many things that are so exciting to me, that it just gives me great faith in our future. If, though there's one issue that's kind of concerning, and it's not just for the millennials, it's really permeated all generations, but it's native to the younger generation, and that is they have been so conditioned to instant gratification

that it's really difficult to think about the future. I mean, all of us have been spoiled with the now. I want it now. Gotta have it. Now. And especially the emerging generation because you had everything so rapidly poured into your life.

For example, in my life, if you're a good friend and I send you a text, honestly, I expect to see bubbles relatively quickly on my phone. I want to know you're texting me back quickly. Why?

Because we're good friends. If I'm streaming a video on Netflix, I don't want it to buffer. I want it now. If I'm watching my favorite show, guess what? I don't want to wait until next week for my show to come on. I want it to roll immediately into my next show. I want it now. If I'm ordering something on my phone on Amazon, I want free shipping and I want it in two days. It would be better if it'd be here. Now, we've been so conditioned to want things now that it's really difficult for so many people to actually think about tomorrow. In fact, one of the places

that we see this show up, and we see it in so many places in our relationships and the way we take care of our bodies or don't take care of our bodies, but perhaps one of the most obvious places we see this today-centered mindset is when it comes to our finances, when it comes to money. In fact, according to an article I read on CNN, 70%, 76% of Americans are living. paying paycheck to paycheck. 76%. So if you're sitting with four people on your row, that means three of them,

if they lost their job today, wouldn't make rent in the upcoming month. Three out of four people living paycheck to paycheck. And I just want to say for a moment that I do understand for some people, I mean, it's almost an accomplishment to do that. I know there's so many people that, you know, a single parent raising three or four kids,

I mean, with a college degree and no one's hiring in their field and, you know, they're in a job that doesn't pay very much. And you're actually doing pretty good just to put food on the table. So I don't want to heap guilt on so many people who really are working hard, sometimes two jobs. There's a lot of people like that. But let's be really honest. Can we be honest for a moment? The vast majority of people listening to this message, the vast majority of people do not have to live that way. The problem is we have a today-centered mindset and we're not actually being wise. And I'm going to talk into that today because what do we know? We know that, help me out, all of our churches, we know that tomorrow matters.

Tomorrow matters. When we recognize that tomorrow matters, what will it do? It will change the way we live today. When we recognize that tomorrow matters, it will change the way we handle money today. when we recognize tomorrow matters, it'll change the way we live today. In fact, let me show you a couple of verses and then tell you one parable that really illustrates the principle that tomorrow matters. Proverbs 21, verse 20, says this, the wise have wealth and luxury.

But what do fools do? Let's all say it aloud. But fools spend whatever they get. In the Hebrew language, you know how that's literally translated? It says this. In the Hebrew language, it means they live paycheck to pay. paycheck. Not really. I just made that up, but work with me, okay? They spend everything that they get. The wise have some, the fools spend it all. Then in Proverbs 6 versus 6 through 8, this verse

kind of makes me laugh. It's almost like Solomon's being a little bit of a smart ale. He's got a little edge to him. Here's what he says. I love this. He says, go to the ant, you sluggard? I just love that word sluggard. Like, I just want to call somebody a slugger, okay? I don't want to be, I don't want to call this. Like, go to the ant, you sluggard. You sluggard. I just love that word. I just love that. I just love it. I just Lagerd, consider its ways and be wise. And then it says, it has no commander, no overseer, no ruler. But what does the aunt know? What does the aunt know?

What is the aunt know? The aunt knows that winter is coming. The aunt knows that tomorrow is coming. The aunt knows that tomorrow matters. So go to the end, he says. What does the aunt do? It stores its provision in summer and it gathers its food at the harvest. What is the ant know?

The aunt knows that tomorrow matters. I also want to talk about a parable that's found in Matthew 25. This is a well-known parable, but I don't think a lot of us think through exactly what Jesus said at the end of this parable. It's known as the parable of the talents. The talent is actually a measure of money. Some versions would say, you know, this master gave out five bags of gold to one guy, two bags of gold to another, and one bag of gold to another. whatever it is, it's a measurement of money.

This guy got five, two, and one. And then the master went away. And when he came back, the one with five bags multiplied the money by investing it wisely. The guy with two bags multiplied the money by investing it wisely. The guy with one bag, though, buried, didn't do anything with it,

didn't have any concern for tomorrow, played it safe, and just put it aside. What did the master say? the master said, take that thing from the one and give it to someone else. And here's what the master said. Jesus said, whoever is faithful with a little will be blessed with more. Whoever is faithful with a little. And what was faithful to Jesus? Those who multiplied what they had. Whoever is faithful with a little will be blessed with more. Now, don't miss this. Then the master said to the guy that only did. They had one that lost this one.

You know what he called him? He called him a wicked and lazy servant. Now, not just lazy, but wicked. Wicked. You didn't think about tomorrow. You weren't wise with what I trusted you with. You're not only a sluggard. Just got my word in there, okay?

You're not only lazy, but you're wicked. The faithful one multiplies what they have and can be trusted. with more. So I want to talk about something that some people like, I can't believe we're talking about this in church. If it's important to Jesus, I think it should be important to us in church to make grow what God trusts to us. So let's talk about it today. And I want to give you two thoughts about ways to make money. The first is obvious. The second is not as obvious to some. How can you make money? The first way is people making money. And this is the way we typically do it. You have talents, you have a gift, you go to work, you work 40 hours a week, or you work 60 hours a week,

or whatever, and then every two weeks or whenever, you get paid for your work, people making money. The second way to make money is actually putting your money to work, and that is your money making money. And this is something that some people never, ever think about. In fact, this is exactly what happened in the parable I told you about. In Matthew 25, verse 16, Jesus essentially said the two guys put their money to work and their money made money. This is what he said. The man who received five bags of gold went at once and what does he do? Let's all say it allowed.

It's right here. He put his money to work and gained five bags more. So when God trusts you with something, you have a choice of what you can do with it. What you can do is what many people do and that is they spend all they have. And when you spend all you have, then it's gone. On the other hand, you can spend some, you can give some, and perhaps you can invest some. And if you invest wisely, you might actually multiply what you have,

and then you have more. And God may look at that and say, oh, you've been faithful, I can trust you with even more than that. How do you do that? You can work for money, and you can push your money to work and have it make money as well. I want to talk to you today about, help me, help me, help me, about tomorrow matters. How do we maximize what we have today in order to change tomorrow?

When we realize that tomorrow matters, it'll change what we do with resources today. I want to talk to you about investing. Now, a lot of you will say, oh, man, I got no idea how to invest. Okay. I remember exactly thinking this years and years ago. You know, I was in my 20s and like, where do you invest and how do you do it? and how do you learn? Because let's be honest,

you're not teaching this in high school. Virtually every major in college, you're not going to learn this. You get out in life, and you're just trying to pay your bills, how in the world are we going to learn. So, I'm going to say, state the obvious, and that is, I am not an investing specialist.

I'm not a financial planner. What I am? Am I? I'm a pastor. And so I'm not going to tell you how to invest because that could be dangerous for both of us, right? I'm not an investing specialist. Okay?

But what I've been doing, if you'll notice, for weeks and weeks, is I've been trying and begging and pleading with you to get in financial peace university. And the reason is because Amy and I have been through this class six or seven times, okay? And what happens is we learn a little more every time. And what you do is you learn to get out of debt. You learn what kind of insurance to buy. You learn how to plan for retirement. And you learn really solid principles about investing,

and it gives you enough to get the ball rolling. And once you get the ball rolling, to grow some more. Now, as a pastor, what can I do? I can actually show you some biblical principles that apply broadly that are kind of principles we all need to apply when investing. So that's what I want to do today. Give you three thoughts from scripture that I believe are really important. The first one is this, investing principle number one, we need to remember never to invest in things we don't understand. Thought number one, don't invest in things you don't understand. Proverbs 24 verses 3 and 4 says by wisdom, a house is built.

And through understanding, it's established. In other words, you want to build a house, you need wisdom. You want to build your wealth. You need wisdom. You want to build anything. We want wisdom and understanding. Through knowledge, its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. We want to understand before we invest in anything.

I'll give you an example of a bad investment I made in my early years of learning to invest. I was in my early, maybe mid-20s, and I decided I needed to invest in stocks. Why? Because that's what people who know how to invest to, they invest in stocks. The problem is, I didn't know how to invest in stocks, but boy, it sounded sexy. What are you investing in? Well, I invest in stocks, okay? And so I bought my first individual stock, and it was one that I got on a tip from somebody

who said, you need to buy lucent stock. Now, some of you would say, I remember lucent. that was one of the most widely held stocks in the U.S. And it had really done really, really well. And when something does really, really well, people like me tend to buy it at the top, which is exactly what I did. And so I put some money into Lucent,

and then I watched it go down, down, down, down, down. I've sold somewhere along the way. I have no idea how much I lost, but I didn't understand them. I'm investing in Lucent stock. That sounded so good. Here's all I know. If I had put $1,000 in Lucent stock back in the 90s,

I would have a few dollars today. If I bought a thousand dollars worth of mountain dew back in the 90s and kept the aluminum cans, I might have more money in the aluminum cans than I would have in lucent stock. Why? I didn't know what I was doing. If you can't explain it, don't do it.

And that's why some people say sometimes the best investments are the ones that you don't make. Let me say it again. This will save some of you hoarding. Sometimes the best investments are the ones that you do not make. By wisdom and understanding, you build things. Therefore, we will not invest in things that we do not understand. The second principle, if you're taking notice, is this.

We're going to never put our eggs in one basket. Number two, don't put all your eggs in one basket. Did you know that your grandma said that and the Bible says it too? Grandma's pretty smart. Thanks, Nana. Okay, she knew what she was saying. This is what Ecclesiastes says. Ecclesiastes 112.

The Bible says to do what, let's all say it loud. We're told to do what? To divide your investments among many places. Why? For you do not know what risks might lie ahead. We're going to spread out our investments over time. What does that mean? We're not putting all of our money into lucent stock.

We're not putting all of our money into the market, all of our money into bonds, all of our money into real estate, all over money into commodities or whatever. As we learn, we'll put a little bit here, we'll get a little experience, we'll grow, we'll get better, we'll make some mistakes, then we're going to put a little bit over here,

and then we'll put a little bit over here, and we're going to be diversified so we don't end up getting hurt when one industry or one sector tends to go down. Investing is a little bit like, this is going to be kind of fun and gross, all at the same time. Where else can you get this, but at Life Church?

Investing is a little bit like manure. That's right. manure. If you put a bunch of manure in one place, what happens? It's stanky. It smells bad. Okay? But if you spread it out in the field, you got to work with me. You got to work with me, okay? If you spread it out, what happens? It's actually like fertilizer and it makes things grow. See what I did there, okay? If you put too many eggs in one basket, it's like manure, it's going to stink over time. So what do we know? We're not going to invest in things that we don't understand. If we don't understand it, we're not investing in it. And we're not going to put all our investment

in one place. The third thing, and I'm going to spend a little more time here because this is what we need, and honestly, this is what I need. The third principle from Scripture is this. The Bible teaches us this. Don't try to get rich quick. Don't try to get rich quick. This is one of the biggest dangers that so many of us have, and Paul was discipling young Timothy, and he told him this in 1st Timothy, 6'9. He said, those who want to get rich, what happens? They fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. What happens? When you get greedy, man, you're not objective.

When you're self-centered and you want to just, I want it all now, and that's where so many people are, you don't make wise decisions and you end up falling into a trap. You're really vulnerable to the evil one to lure you off of the path. of pursuing Christ, we wrongly pursue only money, and then we get ourselves in really, really big trouble. A couple of illustrations of this. One is I had a friend that was so excited. He said, I got the investment of a lifetime. You want to invest in this.

I said, well, tell me what it is. Explain it to me. He said, well, I can't really explain it. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, warning number one. But it's an international investment, ding, ding, ding, warning number two. And it's going to pay every single month, ding Deng Dini warning number three. He said, I'm borrowing $50,000 from my dad. I'm taking a home equity loan to $50,000 on my house.

And this is going to pay me $20,000 a month. I said, for how long? He said, for the rest of my life. And I'm going to please don't do this. I'm begging you don't do this. I said, can you explain it? Well, no, I can't explain it, but I've seen it. It's real.

I promise. What do we know? What do we know? When something's, you don't have to help me on this because I know you all know this. When something seems too good to be true, it probably is, right? And I said, please don't do this. Oh, Pastor Craig, this is God's blessings on my life. I'm going to be rich.

I'm going to be a little tired through this. church, it's going to be awesome. We're going to Cancun. It's going to be amazing. Six months later, you know what happened. He was crying, and I'm trying to console him. And I didn't say I told you so, but I was thinking I told you so. Okay. Don't invest in things you don't understand. Don't try to get rich quick. I made a massive mistake. Pastor Jerry, in the early years, we used to do a building fund, and it's kind of cool. We don't even do that now. We just trust people to give. And we would give the tithe, and then we would give above the time. tied for like a three-year commitment. And so Amy and I made what was a massive commitment to

the building fund for our size income. And we were having a hard time meeting that. And there was this guy from the church who was a day trader and he was kind of really enthusiastic. A lot of day traders are. And he said, man, I got this deal and it's going to be awesome. Man. He said, I think you can multiply your money times 10 in about two weeks. And he told me about this deal. I didn't really understand it, but I thought if I can multiply my money in two weeks like that, this is really good. So I told Amy about it, and what do you think she said? Don't do it, don't do it. But you know how women are?

They're like smart and wise and stuff like that. And how are guys? You don't understand. It's a good deal. And so I took what was a lot of money to me at the time, and I effectively turned it into zero dollars in less than two weeks, to zero dollars. Why? I was greedy, man.

I didn't understand it. Couldn't explain it. I wanted to get the hit now. And here's the problem. And I want to say, especially to the men, because men, I think we're more vulnerable to this. We tend to be sprinters, okay? Our identity is that we want to provide, we want to give, we want to win, we want the hit. And what we have to remember is we are not sprinting investors.

We are marathon investors. We're not in this for the quick hit. We're thinking long term. And this is actually very scriptural too. In fact, the Bible says in Proverbs 1311 that dishonest money dwindles away. but whoever gathers it how, whoever gathers it little by little makes it grow. Little by little, little by little, little by little, little by little makes it grow.

In fact, if you'll look in your notes, I put down just kind of a little formula that is pretty much guaranteed over time. And that's this, that you want to create wealth, you want to be faithful. And let me tell you what, wealth's not bad when you use it to do good things, right? Let me say it again, wealth is not bad. when you use it to do good things. It's really tragic that in our country today, people hate wealthy people.

Listen, it's a lot easier to do good when you have something to do good with, when you don't have anything to do good with. Do I need to say it again? Okay? And here's the little formula. Money plus consistency, plus time equals wealth.

Money plus consistency plus time equals wealth. If we put a little bit aside, we invest a little bit, consistently over time in even a marginal investment, just a decent one. Money plus consistency plus time equals wealth. And so we don't have to be like rocket scientists. Some people teach a real simple principle. 10, 10, 80. What do we do? We're blessed with 100 percent, the first 10 percent we give to God. Then we put 10 percent aside. We're either saving it or we're investing it over time. And then the other 80 percent, we live off of ourselves. In fact, I had my kids read this book

called the compound effect. And it doesn't just talk about compounding interest. It talks about just how little things done consistency over time change your life. And there's a cool illustration that Buki, my 13-year-old, loved. And he quotes it all the time. And he'll come up to you and say, what would you rather have? Would you rather have a million dollars today

or a penny that doubles every single day? What would you rather have? A million dollars today or a penny that doubles every day for 30 days. And if you're like, 90% of the people in this survey, you're going to say, I want the million dollars now. Because a penny today, two tomorrow, then four, then eight, then 16, then 32. I want the million dollars now. And then Buki will say, well, if you did that, you sold yourself way short. Because if you'd taken the pity the doubles every day, you'd have had $5.3 million,

and all you settled for was a million dollars. That's why you need to be consistent and faithful over time, says a 13-year-old Buki. Why? It's a great principle that illustrates where so many people are. I want it now, I want it now. Money plus time plus consistency equals wealth. Okay? I'll take a little bit of my story because I like to be transparent and honest.

Years ago, I would say it this way, God gave me two talents and an opportunity. Two talents. I was 19, and I tied for the first time. I told you that last week. and my grandmother blessed me with a car. I had money set aside to buy a car. I was going to buy a used car, and I had some money set aside.

19 years of age, and an older fraternity brother, an alumna, came to me and said, man, my mom's got a house that no one's living in. Would you want to buy her house? 19 years of age. Like, I can't afford a house. He said, this is a really inexpensive house. It's close to the university. You could put some guys in there.

I actually think it could be really good for you. And so, you know, I got my parents to help me look at it, and it was a very inexpensive two-bedroom house. This is 29 years ago. And we agreed on a price of $14,900 for this little bitty, two-bedroom house, and he agreed to carry the note. I put some money down, put it on a 10-year note. And my payment, I still remember, was $151.66 a month,

which was less than the rent that I was paying in my fraternity house. And so I thought, I'll move in one room, and then I'll rent the other room, and I'll be way out ahead. Then I got really smart and realized, no, no, no, I'll just tell my fraternity brothers, it's $100 a pop. As many guys can live in there as they want for $100. And you know how college guys are. They're nasty.

Seven or eight guys would pile into this house for $100 a pop. All of a sudden I was going, my payment is this. I got $700 a month. My payment sold $151. This is good. I was an investor in real estate at 19 and didn't even know what I was doing. Then a little house came up for sale down the street, and I went to an auction and ended up buying this house for $11,900, the second house. So now I'm 19, maybe 20, and I've got two houses, okay?

Then I met Amy, and oh, I fell in love, so hard, so fast, okay? We're dating. We're going to walk one day, and she sees this house, and she's like, oh, if we ever get married, I'd love to live in that house. It was an expensive house, crazy expensive. It was $30,000, okay? This is way out of my league, and it had a garage apartment. And so I thought, well, she wants to live there one day. I'm buying that one.

Okay, so now I'm 21, and I've got four rental units. I've got three houses and a garage apartment, okay? And so what happened? I was given two talents and an opportunity and took a risk and made all sorts of mistakes along the way. But over 29 years, I've been doing real estate. and some people say, well, pastor shouldn't, listen to me.

I started before I was a pastor, and as far as I can tell, that when you're faith with a little and you grow it, that's actually pleasing to God. So today, we take what we make off that. We give an extravagant amount. We take some of it and invest it in other places with help from experts,

because I understand real estate, but I don't know other things. And so just to be real transparent, we were able to live very comfortably, and we were able to give massively extravagantly. Why? Because years ago, we recognized tomorrow matters. And when we understand that tomorrow matters, it will change what we do today. Tomorrow matters.

Before I preach, here's a little behind-the-scenes stuff, I always go over the message with people on my staff, and I always want to get their feedback. I was talking to this one girl, and she just kind of got emotional, and she said, but I was a single mom, and, you know, I barely could do anything, and, you know, it was so tough, and I was paycheck to paycheck, and, you know, now it's years later, and I'm married, and we're able to invest in our retirement and all this kind of stuff.

I just, I feel so bad because of then. And I said, here's what I want you to understand. Don't forget this. That was then, and this is now. Some of you right now, you're in the then. You're in that season where you can't do hardly anything. But it doesn't mean that you're going to be there forever. And I help this girl see, you're married now,

you're putting money away every single month into retirement. The only debt that you have is your car and your house. Your car is going to be paid off for the next nine months. Look where you are now. Look where you are now. If you feel discouraged, maybe one day you're going to look back and say, that was just the then. And when you recognize that less is more, financial stress is bad, giving is good, and tomorrow

matters, and consistently over time, you start doing the right thing. Guess what happens? God meets you in your faith. And little by little, you start doing better. Little by little, you start learning. Little by little, you pay something off. Little by little, you're even more generous. Then you make your first investment.

Then you're putting some aside for retirement. And years go by, 29 years for me, 29 years in real estate for me. And I didn't get rich quick, but little by little, we've been extraordinarily blessed by following these principles. So, as your pastor, let me tell you what I want for you. I hope every single one of you, you become incredible investors, incredible investors, incredible investors, but don't think for a moment, I'm just talking money.

The best investment Jesus made was in some men and some women who ended up giving their lives for the cause of Christ and we are here today because of the relational investment he made in them. My prayer for you is that you become an incredible investor, and you get rich in every way. I pray that you invest in your marriage and you are rich with the blessings of intimacy in your marriage. I pray you invest in your children and you are blessed in overwhelming with a rich

relationship with Jesus following kids that go into serving God with all that they do. I pray you invest in your friendships and you're rich in spiritual community, friends who would lay down their life for you as you would for them. I pray you invest in your church and suddenly you realize you just don't go to church but you are the church and as you pour your gifts and your resource, into the church. You recognize the church is making a difference all over the world. And I pray that you would also steward wisely your resources, recognizing that less is more, stress is bad, giving is good, and tomorrow matters. And one day you wake up and realize, I had never thought I could be this blessed. And when you are that blessed, you recognize it is from God and it's not all for me.

I will enjoy some of it and use much of it to be a blessing in this world. Why? Because it is truly more blessed to give than it is to receive. So if you're hurting today, recognize years from now, today will only be a memory. And if you recognize that tomorrow matters, it will change what you do today. Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit would speak life into us, encourage us, God, that the truth from your word would transform us, lead us to make change as God in our life, that we could glorify you with what you trust to us.

All of our churches today, I want to ask a little broader questions. We wrap up this message series. We've talked about a lot, less is more, the simplicity. We've talked about getting out of debt. We've talked about generosity. Today we've talked about investing. And I want to ask just really a big question and hope you'll take it seriously. If God is showing you something, it could be very specific in any one of these areas.

And you say, I really want the power of the Holy Spirit to make a change in me. I want to be different. Listen, if you apply what God is showing you today, years and years from now, you can be significantly different. If God is ministering to you, showing you something, say, yes, I want to apply it. It's not going to be overnight. It's not going to be tomorrow. You can't run a marathon after training one day. you know, it may take some time, but you recognize, God, I want to do today what will honor you

and make a difference in the years to come. God, as you're showing me something, I want to be faithful to respond and be obedient to what you're showing to me. All of our churches, if that's you, would you lift up your hands right now? Does all the churches say, yes, God is showing me something, something to do in our lives. God, I thank you today that you're a speaking God, that every time we come into your presence, God, you minister to us. Your word is living and active. And God, we come ready to give every single week, ready to use our gifts, ready to worship you, and believing God, you have something to say to every single one of us. God, lead us step by step. Help us to recognize that tomorrow matters. And because we know that tomorrow matters, God, empower us to change today.

Give us wisdom, God. For those who are hurting significantly, even financially today, I pray that years from now it would be a memory and they would look back and say, see how God was faithful, see how he began to heal and to change me, see how he miraculously provided. God, we trust you, empower us, lead us to follow your principles that we can honor you with what you trust us with. Now, God, we pray that we would be faithful with whatever you give us today. And God, as we're faithful, you trust us with even more, not just for us, but to use it for you and to use it to impact others. As you keep praying today at all of our church, the biggest spiritual principle about tomorrow matters is this,

is that tomorrow matters eternally. One day, our life is going to be over on this earth. We are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. And so often we're simply living for today and not recognizing that eternity matters more than we could ever, ever imagine. And the truth is this, you will spend eternity somewhere. You will spend it either in the presence of God or you will spend it separated from God eternally

in a very real place the Bible calls hell. Heaven, eternally, hell. What determines where we go? Well, the reality is, every single one of us, we have all sinned against God. If you're honest, no, we've all sinned. We've done things wrong. And many of you, you're going to recognize,

you feel guilty for that. Oh, my gosh. How do I ever qualify for God? Maybe I better try harder. Be better, not be as bad as so-and-so. And the truth is that any type of sin separates us from God. And this is why God did something for us that we could never do for ourselves. God became one of us. He sent his son, Jesus, who was without sin, to die in our place to forgive

our sins. On the third day, the stone was rolled away. Jesus was not there. Why? So that anyone, and this includes you, who calls on his name, would be saved. When you call on Jesus, he will not only change your today, but he will change your eternity for giving every sin that you've ever committed, you become brand new. At all of our churches, there are those of you, that this is the very reason you're here. You recognize tomorrow and eternity matters, so you're turning to Jesus to surrender to him at all of our churches. Those who say, yes, I need his grace. Yes, I need his forgiveness. Today, by faith, I give my life to him. That's your prayer. Would you lift your hands high right now? All of our churches and say, yes, Jesus, I surrender to you. Those of you at church online,

if you can simply click right below me, as we have people at church online and all of our church is crying out for the mercy and goodness of God. I would love to lead you in a simple prayer as we celebrate your new birth. All of our churches, if you'll pray together, just pray, Heavenly Father, today I turn to you, asking you to forgive me and to make me new. I believe Jesus died for me and he rose again so I could live for you. Fill me with your spirit so I could follow you every day of my life. My life is not mine. I give it to you.

Help me to live in a way that would glorify you. Thank you for new life. I give you mine. In Jesus' name I pray, would you all celebrate big today? Worship God and welcome those born into God's family today. It's our honor as a church to play a small part in all that God is doing in and through your life and we would love to continue with you on that journey to find out what your next step to be in your relationship with Christ. All you have to do is go to life.com slash next.

Earlier this year, the all-new Craig O'Shell Leadership Podcast launched and it is already helping thousands of people grow in their leadership and their potential. But I wanted to learn more. So I sat down with Pastor Craig and heard a little bit more about his heart behind the podcast and how it all started. Take a look. Well, Craig, thanks for letting us kind of come behind the scenes on set of your podcast and your new space. Love it. I know that this has been a long time coming for a lot of people. Tell me, why did you decide to start the Craig Rochelle Leadership Podcast?

Well, I love learning leadership. I love teaching leadership. And we always teach and train our team here. And I wanted the avenue to start teaching and training leadership to the church family. And then I recognize, well, why would we even limit it to that? And so years ago, we decided not to do conferences here. we don't do a lot of things. We're not going to do a lot of things so we can do some things nobody else is doing. And so since we don't really have an avenue, I just kind of looked around

thought the podcast makes great sense. And so it's been fun and I think it's off to a good start. Yeah, absolutely. We've seen a lot of people engage with it. A lot of content, though, that goes into a podcast. How do you develop the content that you teach? Well, I teach leadership often here. And so every time I meet with our campus pastors, we do a leadership teaching. And I always write something new. I teach the staff different times. And honestly, I spend way more time preparing a leadership message than I do even do a weekend. I might read four books on one idea, listen to a lot. I'm always taking notes. And so right now I've got maybe four different big themes I'm studying as I go along, and it may take me six months or so to develop four talks

out of that. But it's just, I'm an ongoing student of leadership, and so I'm always trying to learn and organize thoughts in a way that might move people. Sure. I know a lot. of leaders have already been influenced by you. I'm curious, is there a leader that has made a significant difference in your life? Tons of leaders. The one that impacted me first in the big significant way was Bill Heibles, who's a pastor. I was in his church and he was talking about the gift of leadership. This was 24 years ago, and I never thought of leadership as a gift that God gifts. I thought it was something that business leaders did, not church leaders. And then I recognized that Jesus was the greatest leader of all time.

And suddenly, you know, it was like, you know, the stars aligned. We can in the church teach leadership in a way to push the message forward. And so it was Bill Heibles that kind of gave me that revelation and he's been a great hero to me amongst many others. That's cool. I know leadership in the church is so significant and so needed. And we appreciate all the effort that you put in to your leadership podcast. For episodes and additional content, you can find all of that and so much more. Just go to life.church slash leadership podcast.

For all past episodes and resources to the Craig Rochelle Leadership Podcast, you can find all of that or submit a question for something you'd like to hear Craig talk about. Just go to life.church slash leadership podcast. You know, it's our mission here at Life Church to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. That statement drives every single thing that we do. And we do all of it because we believe. Whoever finds God, finds life.