Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Overcomer, Part 2: Overcoming the Epidemic of Apathy

Episode Date: May 21, 2017

Stare down your fears, shatter your insecurities, and shake off the apathy that tries to hold you back. You’re not a prisoner—you’re an Overcomer. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thanks for hanging out with 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 or we'd love for you to stay connected throughout your week and everywhere you go with the Life Church app. It's free and it's available wherever you download your apps from. You know, it's so easy for us to be aware of the problems in the world thanks to news and social media. But whenever we look at it, it, we can become overwhelmed and think what can we do about it, or we may even become numb to

the issues going on. And as Christians, we care about a lot, but what we care about may not perfectly align with what God cares about. And today, our senior pastor, Craig Rochelle, will help us not only become aware, but take action on the things that matter most in part two of Overcomer. I'm an Overcomer. Hey, welcome everybody today at all of our churches across the United stays on the other side of computer screens all over the world. I want to tell you that we're actually in part two of a four-part message series called Overcomer. And as we ease into this, let me just tell you something I believe is going to happen.

This week, I've been praying very diligently that God would speak to a few of you in a way that would significantly impact your life. And the reason I say a few is because I'm not naive enough to believe that everybody is going to be rocked by the message I'm about to share. But I do honestly believe that there are some of you that you're going to hear from God in a way today that's going to awaken something on the inside of you and move you out of your comfort zone into a place of faith and impact you've never ever known before. So I just want you to know, a few of you, be ready for this. If it impacts you in this way and you want to let me know some way, it would mean a lot to me, but I've really, really been praying

that it would speak to some of you in a really, really powerful way. way. Let me introduce the message this way. We're talking about overcoming different things. I'll introduce it with a story that I'm not proud to tell, but it's the truth. Let me give you context first. Sunday afternoon is hands down the most, my favorite time of the week, always, always, always. And the reason is because the message is finished. My family's usually together. And there's a little window between my work was complete for the week and my Monday morning at 7.30 a.m. when it all starts over again. And so for me, it's that, ah, okay, I'm thankful it's done, and there's this little window of, um, it's just, it's bliss.

So a few Sundays ago, I was actually, uh, in the afternoon and, uh, had some, it was a beautiful day and usually beautiful for the season. And so I was sitting by my pool, reading a book, just looking, going, oh, life is so good right now. A few minutes into it, I received a text from somebody that said, did you hear about the church bombings in Egypt? And I was like, I hadn't because I'd been working all day long. And I thought, what is this? And I looked it up online. And I saw this just horrific news, most of you to remember it, that our brothers and sisters, other Christians were killed while worshiping in church on a Sunday morning. And my heart just, I mean, just, it sank, became so heavy. And so I stopped and I prayed a real faithful prayer, not just

a little, you know, but a real sincere going before God prayer. And then I took a moment, as silly as it sounds, but I posted about it, hoping that it would bring attention to others that may not know about it and they could pray as well. And then a red bird flew over the back of my yard and landed in a tree. I looked over at the bird. Wow, cool bird. Looked back down into my book and forgot about everything that happened this fast, that fast. I immediately went back to my incredibly comfortable life in my nice, safe backyard,

enjoying a beautiful Sunday afternoon by the pool. And some time went by before I realized that I'd forgotten about the tragedy. And suddenly I kind of awoke out of my stooped and I was like, what in the world is wrong with me? Why in the world can I not care and hurt about something for more than a few? minutes before I drift back into my own comfortable self-centered world. The subject I want to talk to you today about is overcoming the epidemic of apathy. Some have said that we are the apathetic generation. Don't care a whole lot. Don't want to get involved very much. It's not worth the effort. Lack of concern, lack of compassion. How do we overcome this epidemic of apathy? to introduce this message to you, I want to share with you a portion of a parable that Jesus told in response to a question from a religious expert. This religious expert did what a lot of us do,

and he kind of wanted to know, what do I need to do to get by? He said, what do I need to do to an inherit eternal life? And Jesus said, well, he answered the question with a question, what does the law say? And the guy said, well, the law says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Then the guy did exactly what many of us do, like if we're having a, taking a chemistry class. What exactly do I need to do to pass the class? Or what do I need to do to make an A? Whatever it is. I want to do the least possible to get my desired result. He said, the guy looks back and says, so Jesus says, do likewise? And the guy said, okay, if I have to love, who's my neighbor? Who do I have to love? Do I have to love them?

Do I have to love everybody? Who do I have to love? And so Jesus told this parable. He said there was a man going from Jerusalem down to Jericho. He was beaten and left half dead. So there's this guy bleeding and perhaps almost dying in a ditch. And Jesus tells this story to speak to this guy who wanted to know who he had to love. In Luke 10, verse 30, this is what Jesus said.

A priest happened to be going down the same road. And when he saw the man, what did the priest do? say it with me. What did he do? He passed on the other side. He saw the guy over there and instead of going and helping, he just kind of widened his stance, maybe looked at his phone, act like he didn't know what was going on, you know, and he passed on the other side. Jesus goes on with the parable and says in verse 32, so a Levite, when he came to the place and saw the injured man, what did he do? He passed on the other side. What a powerful image. of apathy. I see the guy, but I don't want to get involved. There's too much risk. I've got too

much going on. They need me back at the temple anyway. I've got a busy life. It could be dangerous for me. I know he's in bad shape, but I don't really want to get along. It's not worth the effort. Some have called our generation. You know what they call it? The, meh, generation. How do you feel about things? May. Did you want to get involved? What are you passionate about? Eh. Why is it, do you think, that so many of us find it difficult to care the way Jesus calls us to care? Why is it that a pastor, not just a Christian, but a pastor can be really, really, really, really wrecked for three minutes by a tragedy in the church and go back to my comfortable life?

I want to answer this with three different theories. I did a lot of research on this, and there's all sorts of reasons why maybe we don't care like Jesus called us to care, but here, in my opinion, are three ideas worth talking about. The first is this. Why don't we care like Jesus called us to care? Number one, the volume of information we're exposed to is overwhelming, isn't it?

The volume of information is overwhelming. For example, if you're going through your feet at any given time on your phone, You might read about an earthquake in Nepal, a cat in Iowa falls into a hole, there's a car bombing in Syria, your friend is doing a GoFundMe account for a 12-year-old that needs surgery, and somebody saw the face of Jesus in their French toast. There's so many different things that we're exposed to. It's difficult to care when there are so many things to care about. We're exposed to tragedies all the time. It's just another tragedy, another earthquake, another tornado, another bombing, and it's so difficult to care.

Why don't we always care? One reason is because the volume of information we're exposed to is overwhelming. Second reason is because we feel helpless to make a change. The truth is, many of you do kind of care about what you see, and you'd like to do something, but you're thinking, who am I? I'm only one person. I mean, I don't have a lot of money. I can't get to that place. how can I make a difference? Besides, I'm just trying to get my own degree. You know, I'm just trying to pass the class. I'm just trying to pay the bills and keep my job. I'm just trying to get my two-year-old potty train for the sake of God. Please go into the bathroom and get it done on your own. You know, whatever it is, I really do care, but I just, I don't think I can make that big of a difference. Why don't we care like Jesus called us to care? The volume of what we're exposed to

is overwhelming. We feel like we can't really make a difference. Perhaps the most relevant and painful thought, if you're taking notice, is this. We're blessed and cursed with comfort. Think about it. We are so incredibly blessed with comfort. Every now and then you just have to acknowledge that. You have to embrace it. Virtually everybody listening to this message right now, the vast majority of us are incredibly blessed with comfort and cursed. We're blessed with comfort in that most of you can push an app and have a pizza delivered to you right now where you are within 30 minutes or so. Don't ever take that for granted. That is cocky. Right? A pizza comes to you. You can, I talked to Alexa yesterday and ordered a pair of shoes.

Alexa, send me shoes. Based on your ordering preference, you like these. Do you like? Yes. And within two days, Amazon Prime will deliver them to my door. That's amazing. You can binge watch your favorite show on Netflix and enjoy it up until the moment your television buffers. Then you are offended beyond measure and need the work of God to stop the demon of buffering. It's not fair. Life is so hard. I can't watch Walking Dead because it's buffering. Forty-five percent, 45 percent, 45 percent, We're blessed and cursed with comfort. Because what's so difficult is the more comfortable our lives become, the more life tends to be about us.

The more self-centered we are, the more focused we are. Comfort is like a drug. When we get a little bit of it, we want a little bit more of it and a little more of it. And before long as Christians, we're actually trying to leverage God as the God who gets, us what we want. I want to go to a church that I like and I'm comfortable where I don't have to do too much where they don't make me feel guilty. I want a God who makes my headaches go away and makes my bank account go up. I don't want to hurt. I don't want to suffer. God, I want you to do whatever it takes to make me more comfortable because we're blessed and cursed with comfort.

life is all about me. So how do we overcome this incredibly repulsive attitude of apathy? How do we break out of being the generation? What I want to do is give you a big thought and then a couple of directing thoughts that I believe can really spark something in a few of you in a way that will make a lasting difference. How do we overcome apathy? I'd love for you to write this down. What do we do?

I want to suggest that we consistently, that you should consistently expose yourself to something that creates a righteous discomfort. Let me say it again. Consistently expose yourself to something that creates a righteous discomfort. There's a lot of words there, but every word is important. Consistently.

If there is a lack of consistency, there will be a lack of interest. Consistently exposed yourself to something that pushes you. Consistently, for example, every single one of you who have hurt at any time in your life, you know you can hurt for a little while, but if you're not consistently exposed to that which hurts you, immediately your interest goes back to yourself. Any one of you who've ever been to a developing nation,

and you walked into just abject poverty, and the first day you were wrecked by it. How do they live like this? They don't have all this kind of stuff, and it just, it tears you up. And then at some point, your mind shifts and you start to realize, but they seem so much more satisfied than I am. What is that all about? And then you want to give them everything you can to help them.

And then you realize that will actually hurt them rather than help them. And so you devote yourself to say, from this point forward, I'll never be the same. When I go back to where I came from, I'll be different. I'm going to care like I've never cared before. I'm not going to get upset about the things that upset me before, because it wrecks. you in a really good way. But if you don't consistently expose yourself to that which moves your heart, the moment you get back, what happens? Life happens. It takes back over, right? And the next thing you know, trying to pay the bills, how to keep my job, how to get my cat to the vet, and then, you,

oh, whoa, I broke a finger now. And I scuffed my new Jordans. Oh, dear God, I stuffed my new Jordans. and just drift back because we're not consistently exposed to that which gives us a righteous discomfort. Let me talk about righteous discomfort. What do I mean by that? I mean that put yourself around some things that move you on behalf of God.

Some things that you know break the heart of God. You're rounded enough to where it starts to break your heart as well. Where you sit and you look on and say, no, hmm, I'm not okay with that. I know my God cares and put me on earth to make a difference, not on my watch. I'm not going to allow this to happen. And when you consistently expose yourself to something that creates a righteous discomfort, suddenly apathy cannot exist in your heart.

Apathy starts to change to a righteously fierce passion to make a difference in this world. How do we overcome this ugly spirit of apathy? We consistently expose ourselves to something that would give us a righteous discomfort. In fact, this is what the Apostle Paul did. And I want to show you one of the most moving verses to me in Scripture. But first, let me give you the context of, if you don't know about Paul. Paul was not always named Paul. Paul was previously Saul.

Saul hated Christians. If there are those of you here say, I'm not a Christian, and I really hate. hate Christians, you would love Saul. This guy, he would kill Christians. That's how much he hated them. Then Saul had this radical encounter with the presence of the risen Christ. And immediately, this guy is totally and completely changed. He went from a Christian hater to one of the boldest Jesus sharing, gospel-moving people who've lived in the history of the world. And Paul consistently exposed himself to a group of people that created with him a righteous discomfort. And what I want you to do is I want you to watch what he says.

It's one of the boldest, most other-centered statements in all the New Testament. And watch how he sets it up. Three different times, he essentially says, you're not going to believe me, but I promise you this is true. And he's really trying to set this up because this is how much he ate on behalf of God for another group of people. He said this, Romans 9, verses 1 and 2. said with Christ as my witness. Number one, notice this, Jesus is my witness. I speak with utter

truthfulness. Number two, I promise you I'm not exaggerating a bit. He says, my conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it three times. He wants you to know, he is not exaggerating. This is the dead honest truth. And here's what he says. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I have a righteous discise. There is no end to the anguish that I feel in my heart. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. Then he says this, and I would be willing to be forever cursed, cut off from Christ.

In other words, I'd be willing to be damned to hell if it would save them. What is that? That is the complete opposite. of someone who doesn't care. That is, I am fully invested to the deepest measure. You see, I've been around them and around them, around them, around them,

and my heart aches and breaks and breaks and is in sheer anguish on their behalf because they don't understand the truth of the grace of Jesus Christ, and I would do whatever it takes. This is the kind of passion, I believe that God wants every single one of us to have. When you care like that,

you can't do nothing. Life is no longer about it. You. Life is about pleasing God by using what he gave you to make a difference in this world. You consistently expose yourself to something that creates in you a righteous discomfort that moves you out of your comfort zone into making such a big difference. What do we do when we start to have that? What do we do when we start to move in the direction of making a difference? Let me encourage you how to channel your passion with two big thoughts.

The first one is this. Focus on something. Focus on something. Focus on something. Because let's just be honest. The number of different causes in this world that could grab your attention are far too many to count, right?

What could we be upset about? I made a very, very short list of the first thing that came to my mind. I know some of you are moved deeply on behalf of the unborn. We must represent and help protect the lives of those not yet born. Some of you, it's racial injustice.

Somebody has to do something, it might as well be me. I know many of you care about human trafficking or helping get clean drinking water to people around the world that one simple well would change a whole village. Some of you, it's cancer research. You lost somebody that you love, and now you want to help them out. Some of you, it's fostering or adopting,

helping children find good and strong homes. Some of you, those in student ministry, your heart leaps for those that are teenagers to help them find the fullness of life in Christ. Some of you, it may be an overseas mission. You've been to some part of the world and you can name the place, the community, the village, that your heart drifts toward them over and over and over again. It may be life groups by discipling and helping believers grow deeper in Jesus. It might be mental illness or helping people find freedom from pornography or addiction, alcohol. meth, whatever it is. And that's just the beginning.

There's so many different things that we could be passionate about. And that's why we have to understand that there are so many different things again and again and again that will catch your attention. But only a few things will capture your heart. Many things will catch your attention.

But there are a few things that catch your heart. Focus on those things. focus on those things. It's no accident that you are righteously angry about a few things on behalf of God because God gave you those values to make a difference in this world. Focus on something. Focus on something. And then when you get passionate, this is just a little side note.

Don't feel like you have to start something. You don't have to start something. A better plan often is to join someone who's already done. doing it. Partnering with others is one of the most valuable things. In fact, this is the forefront of our strategy as a church. In our communities, every single life church has local mission partners rather than us starting what someone else is already doing. We take resources in the form of money and people and partner with those who are experts in doing what is already on our hearts. You don't have to always start something. You can join those who are doing it. And then stay

focus, stay focus, stay focus. This is what Jesus did. Think about it. Why did Jesus come? Again and again, he said why he came. He said the same thing in different ways. This is what a good leader does. A good leader says over and over again, the same thing in different ways. Why did Jesus come? He came to seek and save the lost. He didn't come for the righteous, but he came for sinners. He came that they may have life and life more abundantly. He didn't come for the healthy, he came for the sick. Why did he come? Jesus came to set the captives free. Over and over and over and over again, it was the same thing said in different ways. He was incredibly focused. He was so focused that what was he able to do? He was able to attract the attention of other followers who would then

become leaders of his cause moving forward the kingdom of God. Why? Because focused passion attracts. And apathy is one of the most repulsive emotions on planet Earth. Passion attracts. There were other men who are willing to leave everything to follow Jesus. Why? He had a focused passion. I'm here to show them the love of my father. I'm here to set them free. Focus on something. Listen, you can make a little bitty difference. in a lot of places, or if you let the Holy Spirit focus your passion, you can make a really, really, really big difference in a place or two. And this is my driving passion. What am I passionate about? Have the idea? Let me just give you a little clue. I grew up going to church, but didn't

understand the gospel. I thought because I believed in God and because I went to church seven or eight times a year that made me a Christian. What am I passionate about? I'm passionate about helping people who don't know Christ, find life in Christ, and not just go to church. That's just such a beginning point, but to become the church. Because that's what we are as Jesus followers. We're not looking for a church that meets my needs. We are the church and we meet the needs of the world. We don't just go to church. We are the church. We are the church. That's who we're. That's who we we are. And that's my passion. Now, can I make a difference in a bazillion different places in the world? Not a big one. But if I channel my focus in this direction, I can, with the help of God,

spark tens of thousands of people to follow their passion. And guess what? I've just made a really big difference in the world by being focused. By being focused. My wife Amy, she's very focused as the church, as the church, as the church, you know what she cares about? She cares about women so much coming out of abusive situations and helping children get in good homes. And so she actually ended up partnering with an organization and launched her first ministry home to help women. And then it outgrew that one and bought a bigger one, a 10-bedroom house. And now it's become full. And now there's a second house.

And she's got a team of people who are helping dozens of women coming out of human trafficking and out of prison and coming off of meth and all these other things. Why? She could do little things in lots of different places, but when you channel your focus, when you're focused in one direction, you can make a really, really big difference. Immediately as you start, and this is what's going to talk some of you out of this, the enemy is going to tell you, you can't make a difference. You don't have those kind of resources. You're not good enough. You'll never make a difference. Listen, apathy makes excuses. Passion finds a way. Apathy makes excuses.

Passion finds a way. When you channel your focus, suddenly you're going to see the Holy Spirit moving in you through, you're gathering people. Passion attracts others. Apathy is the most repulsive, disgusting emotion, and I will not tolerate our generation being characterized by something so ungodly.

Focus on something. Focus on something. I don't know who this is, but there's somebody. You're hearing this. It's for you. You'll never be the same. Focus on something. The second thing is this.

I want to encourage you to embrace what hurts. Embrace what hurts. Embrace it. This is what Paul said about his people. He said, my heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief. My heart is breaking for these people. And notice he pressed into that which was hurting. Here's the problem.

This is so important. This is the lie that so many of us believe. It's easier not to care. It's easier not to get involved. It's too risky for me. I mean, if I do something, I could get my feelings hurt. If I do something, it could cost me. It's going to take my time, and my time is so valuable. It's easier not to care. I would submit to you, that I would rather hurt with a purpose than exist without one. I would rather hurt with a divine calling than exist without one. I would rather cry myself to sleep sometime at nights because we're not making the difference that we want to make.

Instead of binge-watch myself to sleep, wasting my life doing nothing. Man, it's quiet here today. I think I'll just keep preaching until it gets so quiet. You think there's a funeral going on. Maybe it's talking to a few of you. I'm telling you, I would rather ache with a calling, with a passion, something I care about, than to sit by the pool and enjoy my good book all the time. Embrace what hurts.

Embrace it. If our version of Christianity is all about our comfort, we're following a false God. If I never give sacrificially anywhere, if I never say, serve, when others are serving me, whenever I never pray for an hour at a time over something that's so moving my heart, if I never fast, because I need to deny myself something to seek God and maybe tap into his power in a new way. If I never just sit around and just cry and cry and cry and cry over somebody, over something, I'm missing one of the greatest blessings in life.

Because so many things blessings is more of the stuff we want. Every now and then you just need to be blessed with a burden. Blessed with a burden. Bless with a burden.

Moses was blessed with a burden. It's not right that my people are treated this way until at some point he's moved and goes in before. Let my people go. Rather hurt with a purpose than exists without one.

David was blessed with a burden. A little shepherd boy, little boy. What can he do? Whole army is afraid to fight Goliath. David, little shepherd boy, walks up and looks at Goliath. And who are you to come against the armies of my living God? Blessed with a burden.

Nehemiah, serving a king in the palace, is brokenhearted over the walls of his home city, 800 miles away. Instead of staying in the comfort zone, he goes back, searches, organizes, and rallies some people. Fight! Let's fight. Let's get it done. Fight for your brothers and your sisters and your sons and your daughters. Fight for your families.

Blessed with a burden. Jesus walks up and overlooks Jerusalem and breaks down crying, weeping. Cries out unto God. These people are sheep without a shepherd. I am the good shepherd and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I would rather hurt with a purpose that exists without one. Sadly, there are some of you who will hear this and go, yeah, let's go eat.

But I have a lot of confidence that God's going to speak to a few of you. And he's going to stir something in you. I need to warn you, I'll be back. I'm not going away because I got a passion. and is to move people out of their comfort zone to become fully devoted followers of Christ in the church as the church and I believe we're going to make ground up every single day.

I want to close out with this prayer. This is my prayer for you. I did not write this prayer. I wish I did. It's a Franciscan blessing. And this is my prayer for our church, for the church. May God bless you with discomfort and easy answers. Half-truths,

and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so you may work for justice, freedom, and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so you may reach out to your hand to comfort them

and turn their pain into joy. And may God bless you with enough, foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world so you can do what others claim cannot be done. May God bless you. This is my part. May God bless you with a burden. May God bless you with the blessing of being out of your comfort zone consistently exposing yourself to something that creates a righteous discomfort so you can never, ever be the same. Because when so many believe it's easier not to get involved, you know that you would rather hurt with a purpose than exist without one. So, Father, we ask that you would stir us up this portion of your church out of our

comfort zone, God, to please you in all that we do. As you're reflecting in prayer today at all of our different churches, those of you who would say, I am a Jesus follower, and I want the help of God to spark within me a divine passion to make a difference. Would you lift your hands? Would you lift your right now, all of our churches, just lift your hands. Man, I praise God for that. Put your hands down, if you will. For those of you, and do not raise your hands if this is not true and sincere, for those of you who would say, Craig, I'm one of the few that you are praying for. This hit me. I will not be the same. This is an anchor message. This will spur me out of my comfort zone to seek God on his behalf to make a difference in some portion of this world. I'm one of the few.

Would you lift up your hand? I want to pray for you. Father, I thank you. much that you heard my prayer and you're speaking to a few today to move them out of their comfort zone. God, I pray you give them clarity. Passion that would attract others to help do something on this earth that would bring you glory and make your love known. God, for all who say, I want to be more passionate. We pray, God, that as we spend time in your word, you would spur us on to good works. God, that your Holy Spirit would convict us whenever we're self-centered. God, make us other-centered, living in such a way that makes your name known. God, move us out of our comfort zone,

even in the smallest way, that rather than being addicted to comfort God, we're addicted to obedience, doing what you call us to do to make a difference in this world. And God, I thank you that today you've spoken to a few people who will obey a call on their life and make such a difference in their part of the world that people will give you glory

because you are at work through your church. Spur us, God. Bless us with the blessing of a burden to serve you and make a difference in this world. As you keep praying today at all of our different churches, let's just talk about God for a minute. Where do you stand with God? Where do you stand with God?

Some of you, you're like I was. You're like, yeah, I go to church every now and then, you know, yeah, I try to be a good person. Can I just say to you that following Jesus is so much more than that? It is so much more than that. It is so much more than that. There are some of you say, well, I'm not really sure what I believe with God.

Can I just respectfully say to you, I honestly would do some investigating. There's not a more. There's going to be a time in your life, somewhere real close to the end, that you're going to want to know. And I would urge you to do some investigating. Let me just tell you what I believe with all my heart. I believe this world was not here by accident. I don't think there was an explosion bomb, and everything just works. I believe God spoke and created.

I believe that the first people sinned against the Holy God, that we're all born with the sin nature. You don't ever have to teach someone to sin. We just sin. How do we even know we sin? Why do we feel guilty? Again, I believe there is a standard of truth, absolute truth. And we know when we break that code,

there's something in us that I believe a God put in us, a conscience that shows us we're driveting. from a standard. When we recognize that we sin, suddenly we recognize we need a savior. And I believe in a God he was so good that he didn't shout his love from heaven, but he sent his love to earth. And the person of his son, Jesus, who was born without sin, lived the perfect life, came with the mission to set the captives free. Didn't come for the religious, but he came for the broken, didn't come for the healthy, but he came for the sick. He came for people like you, and he came for people like me. And Jesus was the Lamb of God who gave his

life for the sheep without a shepherd. He died and rose again. Why? So that anyone, and this includes you, who calls on his name, would be forgiven, saved, and made new. And I do believe with all my heart that there are a few of you and every single church that God brought here for this moment because you need life in Christ, not based on your good works, but based on his perfect work. And all of our churches, those who say, I see it now. It's more than just going to church, more than being a good person. It's full on submission to the Lordship of Christ. I need his forgiveness. I give my life to him. That's your prayer today. Lift your hands high right now. All of our churches and say yes, I give my life to him. Right here, both of you guys,

God bless you guys. Right back here and say yes, others today, right back here in this section over here as well. Others who say, yes, Jesus, I need your grace. I surrender to you. Lift up your hands and trust you as my Savior and Lord. Church online, you click right below me. Together, let's all our voices and pray aloud. Pray Heavenly Father, I surrender to you. Asking you to save me, forgive me of all my sins, make me brand new. Fill me with your spirit so I could follow you every day 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.

Light Church worship big today, worship loud. Welcome those born into God's family. 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 as you take those next steps. After hearing a message like this, I'm reminded of one of our core values here at Life Church, and that is that we are spiritual contributors, not spiritual consumers, meaning our faith doesn't change just who we are inside. It changes who we are on the outside, how we act. and what we do. And when you look at the world and look at the problems in your community,

you might think to yourself, I can't do everything. And you're right, you can't do everything, but you can do something. And to find out what your something is, I'd encourage you, if you go to one of our life church locations, talk to your campus staff, talk to your campus pastor, about what you can do to be a part of the change that's going on to your community. And if you live outside of the area of one of our local campuses, all you have to do is go to life.com church slash next to find out what your next steps could be. You know, when I think about, Being a spiritual contributor, one person that embodies that just as good as anybody is named Georgia. She's a student at one of our life church locations in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and she has a great story.

Check it out. I'm extroverted. I tell myself I am. Okay. Scratch cut. Okay. Hey guys, my name is Georgia, and 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 a 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 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. The people in my life group have become my best friend. We met 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 bad. 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. Thanks again for joining us here at Life Church, where our mission is to leave people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. You are the ones that help us live that out through your generosity, through your serving, and through your prayers, as you help people all around the world. Find God and find life.