Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - My Big Fat Mouth, Part 4: Gossiping

Episode Date: October 1, 2017

Words are powerful. They can beat us down and lift us up. They wound and they heal. And the right words at the right time can be exactly what we need to hear—or what we need to say. Let’s find the right words in a new message series, My Big Fat Mo... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, thanks for joining us here at Life Church, where we are one church meeting in multiple locations and reaching around the world thanks to what God is doing at Church online. If you ever have any questions or you want to learn more about us as a church, you can always check us out online simply by going to life.church. We'd love for you to stay connected throughout your week and everywhere you go with the Life Church app. It's free and available wherever you download your apps from. Well, today we wrap up our four-part message series talking about the power of our words.

And today, we'll see how sharing information can quickly turn into gossip, and that gossip may be damaging our relationships. As we wrap up, our message series called My Big Fat Mouth. Hey, Life Church, before we dive into part four of my Big Fat Mouth, let me tell you what's going to happen next week. This is the perfect week to bring someone to church who may have never been to church or may be distant from God. We're doing something called trending truth. Everybody loves viral videos. we're going to do is we're going to look at some of the most popular videos and let them illustrate truth from scripture. Now, you have to be here next week in order to hear it because we cannot

archive these. It's the perfect week to bring someone who normally doesn't go to church. Trending Truth is next week. Today, I want to introduce our speaker. Pastor Sam Roberts has been on our staff for 19 of the 21 years that Life Church has been a church. He oversees all of our 27 life churches. He's a phenomenal leader. He's an amazing dad to his kids, a fantastic husband to his wife, Jamie. He's one of my best friends. You know him. You love him. Could you please help me welcome Pastor Sam Roberts. All right, it is awesome to be with you all today. Now, I know. I know what some of you were thinking. You're like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Come back, Craig. Come on. Right. And here's the deal. I understand acutely what's going on, right? Because two weeks ago, I was, I

I get a phone call from my mama. My mama attends the Fort Worth campus down in Texas. Howdy all, y'all in Fort Worth? And she says, you've been watching this series? I'm like, my big fat mouth. Yes, ma'am, I've been watching. And she says, Craig's preaching out of his mind right now. He is on fire.

He is on fire. I tell you what, I hope the weekend you preach, you got something up your sleeve. Because my goodness, he is killing it. Right? I couldn't help but laugh out loud because it's so funny. But she's absolutely right. Craig has been preaching out of his mind during this series. But the thing that sticks out to me is

it's not just my big fat mouth, right? It's like every week, this guy brings this amazing, transformative truth of God's word into our lives. And we are, I don't know about you, I feel gifted every week for me, for the past 19 years to sit and listen to him, preach God's word. It's absolutely fantastic. And I love our pastor, my pastor, Pastor Craig. I'm so thankful for his leadership. And speaking of my big fat mouth and him preaching on fire, if this is your first weekend with us

and you're just jumping into this series, man, you owe it to yourself to go back and take a listen to the first week. We talked about complaining, and he talked about criticizing in week two. And then last week, he talked about lying, right? This week in week four, we're going to talk about gossip.

Okay, so we're going to hit the subject matter of gossip a little bit. Now, in regards to gossip, all of us could say that we know somebody who gossips, don't we? I bet you know somebody who gossips. Look, don't be elbowing him. That's just like not right. It's like a party file at church, right? Don't elbow anybody. Or maybe you've heard gossip recently, right? You heard a little gossip? Or maybe for you, you have a problem with your mouth and you speak gossip a little too much. And whatever the case, it's rampant, is it not? It happens all the time. We hear it all the time. And the question is why? Well, the Bible speaks to this, actually, in Proverbs chapter 18, verse 8, where the Bible says that rumors are like dainty little morsels

that sink deep into a person's heart. Dainty little morsels, aren't they? It's so true. I mean, you could be in a conversation, just a regular old conversation talking to people, and somebody says something like, hey, did you hear about? And you're like, what? What happened? Then what they do, right? And did this so-and-so know? And we should go tell somebody, we should do something about this, right? It's like, isn't it true? It's like dainty little morsels. Like, for me, a good way to illustrate this is these little things right here. These little peanut M&Ms, they're like straight from the devil for me. If I ate, I can't eat this right now. Because if I did, you would literally watch me eat peanut M&M's for the next 25 minutes. It would be horrible.

Once I start, I can't stop. They're like dainty little morsels to me. And that's exactly what gossip is, isn't it? It's like, so really? They did that and did what they do? And did they tell anybody? And who did? And oh my gosh, no, no, right? Gossip, it's just all the time. I heard it said that gossip can actually travel around the world and back before the truth can get out of bed and put its pants on. Pretty true, especially today in our advent of social media, right? It takes nothing more than a snap of the fingers or a push of the post button and all of a sudden everybody knows and it shared and this and that. And the funny thing about gossip is that the more that it shared, the more times it's shared in different iterations, the further it actually becomes from the truth, right? It's like it starts

over here as one thing and ends up as something completely different. A great way to illustrate this is something called the telephone game. Now, what that is, if you've never heard, is it's where you whisper a sentence into somebody's ear and you go to the next person, the next, the next, the next, the next, and then by the time the last person says the sentence, it's nowhere near the same. I invited a few of my friends to illustrate the point. It's time for the whisper game. I said this one

about this budget meeting stinky trash can. I love it, right? Isn't that so true? Now, some of you were like, hey, he didn't get that last one wrong, right? Because I was in a budget meeting recent. It was a stinky trash can, right? it's so funny how different things can begin to sound as they get spread. And in fact,

sometimes you can look on and think, well, isn't gossip, you know, as a kind of childish, isn't that something that people do like back in middle school or high school? It's not like a current problem. The fact of the matter is, when you've been stung by gossip, regardless of your age, you know the pain that it can inflict. Right. Maybe for you, you lost a friendship over some gossip that somebody shared, maybe you were really, really embarrassed by something or whatever the case may be. Gossip is no laughing matter. It can sting because those rumors sink deep into a person's heart, right? The problem with gossip many times is it's very difficult to see in the mirror when we're sharing something, right? We do a lot of different things. In fact, sometimes people disguise it as a prayer request, right?

You've ever heard any of this nonsense going on. Hey, we need to pray for so-and-so, what? And all of a sudden it turns, doesn't? It's like, we need to pray for Michael. I mean, I don't know if y'all have noticed, but he's been hanging around with Karen, the new hire at work. And, well, you know, she's little, you know. And they've been working late a lot together,

and I don't really think they're working late unless they're working late, if you know what I mean. And I just think we need to pray and we need to lift their marriage up to the Lord. It's like, what in the world are you doing right now? You're doing nothing but gossiping, right? We disguise things, or sometimes people will say, well, but it's true.

It's true, therefore it's not gossip. Listen, the best thing I know to do is to repeat something. Pastor Craig said several series back where he said, everything that is said must be true, but not everything that is true must be said, right? Everything that is said must be true, but not everything that is true must be said. That is so true. And for some of you, it's like, that's the word you needed to hear this weekend, right?

Because not everything that is true must be said. What we realize and we have to understand is that in the power of our mouths, in our tongue, the Bible says, we have the power of both life and death. The question becomes, what do you want to be known for? Speaking life, encouragement, and building someone up, or tearing someone down, and bringing death to that individual, right? Well, the answer is actually really easy, right? Well, of course, we want to speak life over people, because we realize that speaking death actually hurts people and nobody ever intends to hurt people.

but the gossip can hurt so many different people. And what we're going to do is look at a few of the different people that gossip can actually hurt. So if you're taking notes, the first point is that gossip hurts the person it's spoken about. Gossip hurts the person it's spoken about. Proverbs chapter 16, verse 28, a troublemaker plants seeds of strife. Gossip separates the best of frieft. friends. And man, may I say there's some of you who you know exactly what that verse is talking about. You've been separated from a really close friendship or maybe even a family member because of gossip,

somebody's sharing something they shouldn't have. Maybe for you, they shared something that was simple in your world as like a secret crush you had on somebody. And you know what? And the death of that and the fact that all of a sudden that crush isn't going to come to realization is not as painful as the betrayal of the trust of a friend, right? Or maybe it's something even more significant, like maybe you confided in someone that you had an addiction, maybe to a substance, maybe to pornography, I don't know, but you know what? Somebody shared something about that, and it got around, and you know what, they shared, and all of a sudden that has actually set you back, and you're being able to overcome that addiction because you feel guilty and struggle so

deeply with this. Maybe it's somebody shared about a struggle that you're having in your marriage. You shared that with a confidant and a friend, and they just couldn't help it. They shared it with somebody else, and then it became a prayer request. And the next thing you know, your spouse finds out about it, and the thing just blew up in your face. And you feel the pain of gossip. And may I say, if somebody has gossiped about you and you have felt or been a victim of their bitterness, their small-mindedness, or their insecurities, just remember it could be worse. You could be them.

Right? Gossip hurts the person it's spoken about. Gossip, if you're taking notes, point two, also hurts the listener. Gossip hurts the listener. I know some of you're like, no, did I just hear that right? Listener? Yes. Look at what the Bible says in Proverbs 17.4. Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip. Liars pay close attention to slander. Wrongdoers eagerly listen to. to gossip. Or you could say, if you listen to gossip, you're wrong. Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip, the Bible says. So if you listen to gossip, you are wrong. And do not think for a moment. If once they stop talking to you, they won't start talking about you, right? Craig says it this way. He says, what you permit, you promote. If you are going to allow someone to run down your friend, to run down your family member or whoever it is, even an acquaintance, you are promoting what they're saying by your inaction. The Bible is clear. It is wrong to listen to gossip. Therefore, we know that gossip also hurts the listener. So, who does gossip hurt? First,

gossip hurts the person that's spoken about. Gossip also hurts the listener. And then point three there is that gossip hurts the speaker. Right? Gossip hurts the speaker. When arguing, Proverbs 25, when arguing with your neighbor, don't betray another person's secret. Others may accuse you of gossip and you will never regain your good reputation. Whoa. You could spend a lifetime building a good reputation. The Bible says you go on and start gossiping and you, somebody could accuse you of and you will never regain your good reputation again. Think about it. When you listen or you're hearing someone speak gossip. Nobody ever looks on at the person speaking gossip and tearing somebody down and think, man, I'd love to be like you one day, tearing people down with your words, destroying them. I'd love to be like you. That's not what you think, right? You think like I do. I think about, when I look at a person talking gossip, I think just a few things. I think, number one, I think you've got constipation of the mind and diarrhea of the mouth. That's your

problem. Number two, I think to myself, I wonder what you say about me when I'm not around you. And I also wonder, I better be careful of what I say right now, because they may share it with who knows who, right? You don't look on and think, oh my goodness, they're so great. No, and in fact, when you talk badly about people who are not around, it says a whole lot more about you than the person you're speaking about. Right? You don't know. You You do not need to invent things with your small mind and then share them with your big mouth. Okay? Right? I mean, listen, Mama, are we preaching good now? We got this going, right? Everybody's with me? Gossip hurts the person that's spoken about. Gossip hurts the listener and gossip hurts the speaker.

Nobody looks on at you because you're sharing a dainty little morsel and thinks, I want to be like you. They actually want to stay away from you, right? Gossip hurts the speaker. So, in other words, if you're going to have it hurt, the person that's spoken about, the listener and the speaker, guess what? Gossip hurts everybody, right? So the goal then would be very simple. We can conclude, well, we don't want to gossip. So the question then becomes, how do we do that? Well, if you're taking notes, there's two different things we're going to talk about. And my goal with these two things is to share things that are so simple and give you very, very easy, very tactile things that you can actually walk away with from, church today, whether you're at one of our locations, whether you're at church online, you can walk away and have immediate tools to help you stop gossiping, some very tactile things.

The first thing, if you're taking notes, is that we're going to guard your ears. We're going to guard your ears. When I was preparing for this message, I was doing some research, and I came across an article in a psychology magazine. And in this magazine, it said that they could stop gossip with one question. Now, when I read that, I, like you now, was quite intrigued. What's the question? Well, the question was this. Why are you telling me this? Why are you telling me this? Now, listen, you don't have to get all sassy about it. Be like, hey, why are you telling me this? You don't have to do that. You don't have to come up somebody like grill like that. You just say, hey, so why are you telling me this? The article went on to say that it causes the person to stop

to take a mental inventory of, well, why am I choosing to say this right now? Right? It's a good question. Now, some of you, I know, you're like, that's a great question, but that feels a little competitive. I can't do that. I could never do that. I could never just be like, why are you telling me this?

So let me give you a little softer approach with a little different question. Just simply ask this. Ask, hey, have you had a chance to talk to so-and-so about this? A little softer approach, right? Have you had a chance to talk to so-and-so about this? Because 98% of the time they're going to be like, um, no. Well, then maybe you need to talk to them about this matter. Case close. Change subject, right? Where does this amazing question come from? Have you talked to so-and-so about this? Guess what? It comes from Jesus. Jesus came up with this, right? In Matthew 18, 18,

Jesus actually in context, he's talking about conflict between the two believers. And he says, listen, what you need to do is to go privately and speak to the person who you have a problem with. And once you do this, maybe they'll listen to you and confess it. And then guess what? You've won them back, the Bible says. So this actually is something that Jesus taught us to do. So when you ask the question, have you had a chance to talk to so-and-so about this? You are actually helping them to do what Jesus tells them to do, which is a great thing. So look at it that way. You're helping somebody be more like Jesus. And stop gossip. and go and talk to the individual in question, right?

So what are we going to do? We're going to guard our ears. And when we do that, ultimately sometimes, no matter how many great questions we ask, people just won't shut their big, fat mouth, right? And you're like, oh my gosh, this is crazy. They just keep gossiping. And in that case, it may come to the point

where you have to distance yourself from that relationship or maybe completely sever the relationship. This is a biblical principle found in Proverbs chapter 20. When the Bible says, a gossip goes around telling secrets. So don't hang around with chatterers, right? Very simple, very clear instruction from the book of Proverbs. We're going to, first thing, guard our ears, guard our ears. The second thing is close your mouth.

Okay? Close your mouth. It's very simple, but it's very effective. Now, I'm going to need help from all of our locations. I need help from you out in Rio Rancho, from those of you down in Wellington, from those of you at all of our Tulsa locations, and of course, from those of you up in Albany, I know the leaves are changing color and the apples are in season, but I need your help nonetheless. Okay?

We are going to learn a Bible verse today. I'm going to read it, and then we're going to repeat it. Okay, it is Proverbs, chapter 21, verse 23. The Bible says, watch your tongue, keep your mouth shut, and you'll stay out of trouble. watch your tongue keep your mouth shut to stay out of trouble all right it's your turn everybody all of our locations help me out what are we going to do watch your tongue keep your mouth shut stay out of trouble help me out watch your tongue keep your mouth shut stay out of trouble help me out of trouble help me out south broken arrow watch your tongue keep your mouth shut stay out of trouble one more time watch your tongue keep your mouth shut stay out of trouble right guess what congratulations some of you just memorization you just memorization your first Bible verse. And that may have been the Bible verse you needed to memorize today, right?

Watch your tongue. Keep your mouth shut. Stay out of trouble. If you find yourself feeling like I need to share this with this person, just ask yourself a question. The question is, would I want someone sharing similar information about me? if I were not around. In other words,

it's yet another principle from scripture that Jesus teaches. The Bible, it's amazing. You should read it, seriously. Luke 631. Jesus teaches you want to do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. So the question becomes, when you're about to speak something about another person

who is not around, would you want someone speaking the same kind of information about you if you were not around? right? And in these questions, we can begin to understand ways that we can kill some gossip. What are we going to do? We're going to guard our ears and we're going to close our mouths. Watch your tongue. Keep your mouth shut and stay out of trouble, right? Now, I got to tell you guys, this is crazy. I was prepping for this message. And as I do, a lot of times when I'm prepping a message, I will go, and many times I go to a coffee shop, and I go and I hang out,

and the reason for that is because my office up at the church, it's like sometimes I feel like I need to just install a revolving door on the thing. It's just like people coming in and out all the time. So if I've got to like buckle down, I go out to a coffee shop. And I went out to this coffee shop, and I was sitting there working, and these two girls walked in who seemed to be probably early 20s or so. and they came into the coffee shop and they went in, they ordered up a nice iced latte. I'm sure it was probably some sort of an organic single origin fair traded coffee that they ordered

up. I'm just keeping it millennial right now. You know what I'm saying? So they order up their ice latte and their lovely little pastry and they go sit down and they open up their little MacBook pros back to back and they're getting all geared up for their study session. And I'm sitting there kind of watching this scene transpire. And all of a sudden, I kid you not. We're sitting there, and this girl, whenever the barista comes and brings the ice latte and the pastry, she kind of had this, like, surprise reaction, like, oh, my gosh. And I'm like, like, you're surprised. You ordered that, like, five minutes ago, and it's now showing up.

And so she's like, oh, my goodness. And she goes like this. It's like, oh, and she gets all flustered, and she starts looking at things, and all of a sudden. And then it happened. She picked up her phone, and it was like, this is perfect. And she starts looking. She's like, this is the perfect Pinterest moment. And this, I could share this with the world.

Look at this ice latte. Hold on, the actual, I got to get my straw just right. And then my pastry, I need to push it up so it's in screen. Oh, and I can flip the fork over because that looks better. And, oh, I got to move my clutch right there up on the corner. Now, some of you ladies are actually really impressed that I knew what a clutch was. And some of you guys are slightly concerned. Perhaps you should be.

I don't know. So, and she's sitting here like this, and she's like, oh, my goodness, and she's like flipping her keys over. And she's getting the scene just perfect, right? And then, then she goes like this. Oh, my gosh. Oh, this isn't working. Hold on. Oh, yes.

So much better. I'm not even kidding. People, we're in a coffee shop. She is on a chair taking a picture of her study session with her bestie. I'm like, oh, my gosh. Like, seriously, like, how self-absorbed do you have to be? right now to be like, hey, I got to get the perfect shot. How crazy was it? I'm sitting there like, are you kidding me right now? I sat on and I was like, oh my gosh, can you believe how obsessed she is

about trying to get this perfect little shot with their thing? Because I'm telling you what? No joke. Five minutes later, that ice latte was nothing but drained straight dry. This pastry looked like somebody let a dog loosen the thing. And there was crumbed. everywhere. It was all over the place. I was like, there ain't nothing Instagram worthy about that. Now, is there? And it was just like, crazy. Now, this begs a question. Why are we so enthralled about a story of some girl we don't even know at a coffee shop taking a picture? It's because we're gossiping. You saw that coming, eh? We're gossiping. And here's the thing.

The problem with gossip, the problem with complaining, with criticizing, with lying, you could say the problem with our big fat mouth isn't really our big fat mouth. It's our broken and sin-stained heart. That's the problem. Because Jesus said,

out of the overflow of the heart, mouth speaks. Right? Just for seriously. I mean, when we're listening to gossip, here's what happens. This is why this is why this stuff is like dainty little morsels that just sink deep into a person's heart. They are so deceptive.

And why, this is why, seriously. And all seriously, we're sitting there, me included when I was watching it play out. I'm like, that's ridiculous. Because, like, I wouldn't be doing all that. I mean, I might get, you know, a little high, but I ain't going to stand on a chair at a coffee shop because I'm like, hashtag real life, hashtag no filter.

You know what I'm saying? I mean, I don't know about her. Right? It's seriously, we laugh about it. And it is funny. But you know why it's funny? It's because it's got truth embedded in it. That's what makes it funny.

Because we recognize that it's actually kind of like us. Because the reason we gossip is found in this statement is that gossip claims, I am strong because they are weak. But the gospel proclaims, I am weak, but he is strong. You see, we share gossip because if I can, just simply take for a moment. And I can talk about somebody else's lack of fashion sense. If I can talk about somebody else's problems on social media with their obsession, if I can talk about somebody else's addiction, somebody else's porn problem, I can talk about somebody else's bad marriage,

then I don't have to talk about mine. Right? And if I can just push somebody down, I can step over them just a little bit to make myself feel just a little better. Gossip claims that I can step over them. I am strong because they are weak, but the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, proclaims, I am weak, but he, he is strong. Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

When we recognize who we are, when we recognize whose we are, it begins to change our heart. You see, all of a sudden, when we begin to understand and realize that, you know what, I'm actually fearfully and wonderfully made according to the Psalms. And in the book of Ephesians tells me that, you know what, I'm God's workmanship. I'm created in Christ Jesus to do good works. And in fact, some of those works that God says, you know what? I started a good work in you and I will be faithful and just complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. That's what I'm going to do.

And I'm going to do something special inside of you. And you realize I was designed and created with a purpose and a plan and that God has a good plan for my life. plans to, not to harm me, but to prosper me, to help me to move forward, to give him glory. And in that knowledge, and in the knowledge of that in my very weakness, he is strong. What we find is our heart becomes transformed, right? And when our heart starts to become transformed and we recognize, I don't have to try to work to put others down to feel like I'm accepted or that I'm loved, but that I understand that in God's economy, I am unconditionally loved and accepted by the creator of the universe,

not by just what people say about me on social media, but rather about what the God, the creator, and sustainer of this universe says about and speaks over me. And when my heart gets a hold of my heart, he gets a hold of my big, fat mouth. And my mouth goes from complaining and criticizing and lying and gossiping to I start to speak life over people. I start to speak truth and love because I don't need to be better than you. I need to help point you to the one who made me better. And that's Jesus.

And I begin to see that I can now speak life. The Bible says encourage one another daily so long as it is called today. We begin to realize I can be a vessel used by God to speak life and truth over somebody else and to help them have, you know what, a day where they realize, you know what, I can make it. I can do this, and I can fall on Jesus and be transformed as well. What if, what if you got caught? Not gossiping. What if you got caught encouraging somebody? What would that even look like? Maybe it looked like this. Hey, did you hear what John said about you? No, what did he say? Well, he said that he has never seen somebody that.

your age have the leadership gifts and the wisdom that you possess. He said that? Yeah, he did. Maybe it sounds like, did you hear what Rachel said about you? No, what she said? Well, she said that the way you serve other people, that it's caused her to realize she needs to serve other people the way Jesus did. And when she sees your example and the way you serve others, the way Jesus did, it's inspired her to be more like Christ. Really? She said that? Yeah. What if you got caught encouraging somebody?

We begin to recognize as we understand who Jesus is. Jesus is the way he is the truth and he is the life. He brings life. Then all of a sudden our words begin to emulate those of our creator, the one who sustains, who renews, who transforms our heart. And in that transformation process, our mouths cannot help but be transformed as well. The gossip claims, I am strong because they're weak, but the gospel proclaims. I'm weak, but he is strong.

At all of our locations, let's all pray together today. Father, I thank you for this series. I thank you for your word and your truth that does. truly transform our hearts. And God, I pray that you just help us to always have ears to hear and eyes to see that what you put in front of us so that we can use words to speak life. Praying today, man, there's those of you at many of our locations at church online who would say, you know, man, that I want to be a person who speaks life. It's that simple. I want to speak life and truth and love over one over people. I want to be able to guard my ears to close my mouth

when necessary, and I want to open my mouth when necessary to speak love and truth over people. And you want that, and you want God's help to have you do that this week. Just raise up your hand. I'd be honored to pray for you. Yeah, hands up all across all of our locations. Father, thank you for just your truth today. We thank you for your transformation. And I pray, God, that this week that each one of us would have, just be aware, keenly aware of

situations that you put in front of us where we can speak life. and truth over someone. And I pray that we would not hold those words back, but we would let them go and just continue to encourage and just continue to spell encouragement and life over people. Because I think that when we do, Lord, we know that, oh, my goodness, people will be transformed by your love and by your power. Still praying today, there's those of you whom God has brought here, maybe at one of our locations or maybe at church online, he's brought you to hear this simple truth. You see, in that statement, gossip claims that I am strong because they are weak. Sums up really a worldview that is just one that Satan has been speaking lies about since the

beginning of time. And that is simply this. It's just, you know what, if I can be better than you, then I'm better, right? But the problem is that that's actually not the case. And you know that, I know that, just because we make more money or that we have, you know, some relationship that we've been going after, or we find something, or we try to satisfy this deep desire for love and acceptance inside of us and find purpose and meaning. When we try to do that, we just do it over and over, but we recognize that, you know what,

no matter how strong we try to make ourselves, we're never strong enough. And that's because we were never created to be strong enough. That's not part of the plan. The Bible says, actually, that in our weakness, he's made strong. What does that mean? It means in our weakness. Guess what? We have a sinful nature.

We have all sinned, the Bible says, and fallen short of God's standard. But the good news, the gospel proclaims in that weakness, he didn't just leave us there. He is strong. He, in his strength, he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place so that we could be made new, that we could be made right, so that we can have hearts that are being transformed by his love. What is the, what do you do? The Bible says, if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, you will be saved, you will be transformed. There are those of you today who, that's why you're here. You're here to hear that wonderful, good, good news called the gospel, that Jesus loves you, that he came for you, that he died

in your place with the cross, and now he stands ready to transform your life. All right. All right, Jesus, come in and receive his forgiveness and his newness. Those of you, at all of our locations, at church online who say, yes, that is me. Lift your hands boldly right now and say, yes, that is me. Come into my life, Jesus, take over, make me new. Yes, over here in the back, right, yes. Welcome into God's family. Others of you who say, that's me.

Yes, those of you at church online, click right below me and say yes to a relationship with Jesus. As people are coming into a relationship with Jesus, let's do this. Let's all pray this prayer aloud with those making this decision today. Pray along with me, all of you say, Jesus, thank you for Don. For me, forgive me in my sin. Transform my heart. Transform my mouth. Help me to speak life over others.

Help me to walk in your ways daily. Thank you, Jesus, for dying for me. It's in your name I pray. And everyone said, amen. Let's give it up for what God's doing here. It's a light church. Awesome stuff. As a church, it's our honor 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 steps could be in your relationship with Christ, all you have to do is go to life. church slash next. Now coming up next week, we have a very special sermon. It was such a big hit last year. We brought it back. It's called Trending Truth. It's where Pastor Craig takes popular viral videos and pulls biblical truth right out of them.

Now, here's the thing. It's an exclusive message that can only be found at a Life Church location or at one of our many services taking place throughout the week at Church Online. To find a location near you, just go to life.church slash locations or visit us at Church online. You know, it's our mission here at Life Church to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. That statement as a church drives everything we do, all because we believe whoever finds God finds life.