Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Playlist, Part 3: Something Just Like This

Episode Date: April 30, 2017

Your life has a soundtrack. Every peak, every low note, and every rhythm make up a part of who you are. Don’t just shuffle through your days—create a Playlist worth listening to. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thanks for joining us here at Life Church, where we are one church meeting in multiple locations and reaching around the world thanks to the help of what God is doing at Church online. If you're new to Life Church or want to learn more about us or what we believe, you can always check us out online simply by going to Life.Church, or we'd love you to stay connected throughout your weekend everywhere you go with the Life Church app available for free wherever you download your apps from. You know, coming up today, we continue in a unique message series that takes a look at popular music and pulls biblical truth right out of them.

And today's song will help us understand that all of us have a calling, a purpose and a plan to be used by God. No matter what, God can use you. And today we'll see why as we join Pastor Sam Roberts in part three of Playlist. A Life Church in our network churches

who's ready for a little bit of church today. It's great to have you guys with us. We're in part three of a four-part message series called Playlist. We're actually looking at very popular songs. and we're pulling spiritual truth out of these songs. Let me tell you about next week because you're going to want to bring your friends like crazy.

Do we have any country music fans anywhere at all? Anybody love country music? Rascal Flats is a world-class group, and Gary LaVox and Tara, they're actually good friends of Amy and me. And Gary is actually going to let me interview him and share a spiritual story with you. I'd love to show you that interview.

and Gary will also perform, bless the broken road. This is a perfect time to bring somebody. His spiritual journey is incredibly powerful and it will impact you an amazing way. Today I've invited Pastor Sam Roberts to share the word with you and I would want to tell you, Pastor Sam has been with me for 19 of the 21 years.

He's on the directional leadership team. He's one of the finest leaders in the entire world. He's an amazing husband to his wife, Jamie, he's a fantastic dad. It's one of my good friends. So, honor, show love. Help me welcome today, Pastor Sam Roberts. Oh, all right.

I don't know if y'all caught that or not. You'll see that little top gun high five over there? Those of you under the age of 25, just Google it. You'll figure it out. That would make him Maverick, and that'd make me. Goose. Yeah, that's a great way to get going. Hey, my name is Sam Roberts.

Have been here 19 years, as Pastor Craig said, which means that I know all of the stories that he won't tell you, right? So I might as well just tell you one right now. That'll be a good way to get started today. I'll tell you what, I used to back in the day, actually had what we call our creative media team here at Life Church. So that's the team that oversees all the graphics and videos and all that kind of stuff.

And so years ago, we were always sending out these little mailers that would go out in the mail to let you know about what was going on at the church. But they were always black and white, little, and it didn't really stand out real well. And I decided that we needed to do a full-color one, a really beautiful one, work it up, make the graphics just pop, and then expand our territory into new zip codes. Well, to put a little extra zing in this mailer, it costs a little bit of bling. So we were talking one day, Craig and I, and he's like, man, I don't know.

That's going to be pretty expensive. And I'm like, we could do it. We can do it. It'd be great. And finally, he's like, all right, listen, hey, to reach nobody. To reach people nobody's reaching, you got to do things nobody's doing, right? So we decide to do it. Now, here's what you need to know.

that mailer needed to hit on a very specific day in order to maximize its impact. And it's difficult trying to make sure when do I get it released to the postal service to get it there at the exact day. And so the day comes for this mailer that costs so much money to arrive in the mail, and it showed up just like it was supposed to. And I'm like, fantastic, this is great. And all of a sudden I get this phone call from Craig that day. And I'm like, oh, here comes the congratulatory call.

I pick up the phone. Hey boss, what's going on? He said, man, I got my mailer. And I was like, yes. And he goes, love the graphics. What you guys did on that? Absolutely fantastic. The copy that you guys did, captivating. Really good. Great work. I just want to let you know. I'm like, man, hey, thank you. I appreciate that. He said, hey, before I let you go, I do have one question for you about the mailer. What's the question? He said, what church is it for? I'm like, what kind of dumb question is that? I grabbed the mail. I look at it. I forgot to put the name of the church on the mailer. I can't make up stuff that stupid. I did that. I did not put the name of the church on the mailer. There's two things that I need you all to know about this story. Number one, in that

moment, Pastor Craig, as my boss handled that situation with grace, with truth, but with a posture and leadership that helped this young 20-some-odd-year-old kid at the time be able to fail forward rather than to feel like a failure and to help develop me. And for 19 years, he has been my boss. But at the same time, in that 19 years, he's been my pastor. So just like you, I sit in one of our seats at our locations or our open network churches, or maybe I'm watching him at church online, and he's pastoring me. And the one thing I know in that regard, and just the same as you would say, Each week, he presents God's truth with grace and with truth and with integrity. And because of that, man, I tell you what, I have grown and you have grown in our relationship with Christ in an exponential way because of his steadfastness, his faithfulness.

And I appreciate him for all that he has done as pastor here at Life Church. It's absolutely fantastic. The second thing that I need you to know about that story is that I no longer lead the creative media team. You reap what you sow, my friend. We are, as Pastor Craig talked about, we're in a series called Playlist. And you may, if you're new with us, be like, what in the world is that?

I know what a playlist is, but not in the context of church. Well, here's the thing. Jesus used to teach out of parables many times, and parables were simply put, looking on at ordinary life and extracting a biblical truth out of it so that it's sticky, it's memorable when you think about that thing.

And you could make an argument that today, modern parables are found in our music. So what we're doing is taking music that permeates our society in so many ways are popular, and we're taking some of those lyrics and extracting a biblical truth from them. In week one, Pastor Craig talked about million reasons. You may have a million reasons why you want to give up, why you want to stop and quit, but you just need one good reason to stay the course. Great message to go back and listen to. Week two, we heard Scars to Your Beautiful, and who doesn't have something that we wouldn't like to tweak?

about our bodies and our image becomes distorted in the way that we look at ourselves, but what we need to do is to look at the way that God sees us. And that is in week two. I encourage you to go back and listen to that. Today, we're going to be teaching out of the song something just like this. It's a song that was recently released. It's actually, you probably heard it potentially on the way to church today or on the way home. A very popular song. And we're going to look at God's truth out of this text. And I'm going to today this message is for those of us who feel like we're just simply not enough, that we don't quite measure up to the standard that we have,

that we're not enough at home, we're not enough at work, we're not enough as a coach or as a parent or as a teacher, or we're not enough as a coworker, and we just don't ever really measure up. And the truth is that we all have a spiritual enemy, Satan, who the Bible says goes around like a roaring, lying, seeking someone to devour. In fact, it calls him the father of lies,

and that he comes to steal, to kill, and destroy. It's our enemy, and he would love for you to begin to think that you just simply are not enough. And when we hear these lies over and over again, put into our minds, what really happens is we end up finding that we're just not enough for ourselves many times. We create a standard for ourselves because we look on at the highlight reels of social media,

of those around us, and we compare it to our behind-the-scenes stuff, and we recognize, man, we're not like that. we don't measure up to some mark, and we create this idea of perfection and a standard that we simply can't obtain in ourselves. And if we're honest with ourselves, what we realize is that every single one of us at some level would say, man, we just don't feel like we're enough. But today, through God's word, you're going to find out that you're exactly who you need to be for God. And so with that, we're going to read, I'm going to read for you real quick, the lyrics to this song. I do want to read them because trust me, you don't want me to sing them.

I'm going to read for you the lyrics to this song. It says, I've been reading books of old, the legends and the myths, Achilles and his gold, and Hercules and his gifts, Spider-Man's control, and Batman with his fist. And clearly, I don't see myself upon that list. But she said, where'd you want to go? How much you want to risk. I'm not looking for somebody with some superhuman gifts, some superhero, some fairy tale bliss, just something I can turn to somebody I can kiss. I want something just like this. Don't those lyrics kind of resonate? And the reason I feel like they do is because we want somebody to believe in us, to want something just like this. We want someone to believe in us. And the reason many times that we want that

is because we just simply don't believe in ourselves. And a lot of times we don't believe in ourselves because we do not realize how much God believes in us. You see, many times through God's word, he has various scriptures who just speak to how much he loves us, how much he, what he thinks of us, but many times we can't even hear those verses because of the way that we think about ourselves. But I want you to pause for a moment and to hear from God's word what he says for just a couple of verses. Listen, in Psalm 139, for you created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully. and I am wonderfully made.

You are fearfully. You're wonderfully made by your creator. Your works are wonderful, and I know that full well. The book of Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 10, we are God's handiwork. Many translations say masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for you to do.

Last week, Pastor Craig did a fantastic job, eloquently talking about this scripture and how it applies to us that you, your God's masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God's prepared in advance for you to do. And it doesn't matter who you are. Whether it be, man, isn't it amazing to stop and think about that verse and to realize that at some point, God said, okay, what do I want to put into Chris or to Keith or to John or to Jeremy? What are the gifts I want to put into Rachel and Allison? Listen, what are the things that I think that they need in order to accomplish the good works

and he knit you together in your mother's womb from your inmost being, the gifts, the talents, the things he put them in you, you're fearfully, you're wonderfully made. And many times we have a real hard time hearing a verse like this. Like, in fact, I would suspect that many of you are arguing with me right now in your head. Like, yeah, I don't know, but you don't know me. I'm not really fearful and wonderful. I don't really, I'm not a masterpiece. Listen, here's the deal.

You're not arguing with me, you're arguing with God. That's his word, not mine. Okay? And here's the thing. Hear this. Many times, the reason that we can't hear things like this and see them, because you see all of the things that you are not. But God sees all the things that you are,

and more importantly, can be in Christ. Today, Pastor Chris Coody from the Oklahoma City campus as our worship pastor at the Oklahoma City location, is going to perform this song for you. And this week, as I was talking to Chris, it was really interesting. We were talking about this song, and he said, you know, it's kind of funny

that I'm performing this song because when I was 18, I got put into a position, a significant position of leadership at my church. And he goes, as an 18-year-old, I was looking on, and as many young leaders do, I began to look at people around me for their approval to see if I was doing good.

He said, the problem was, though, that this didn't just become a one-time deal. It became a chronic situation in my life. where I looked on all the time and would try to live from the approval of other people and try to figure out, am I okay, am I enough? And it became chronic. And then he said this, but as I walked in Christ and I began to understand more about what God thinks about me, Chris said, I no longer begin to live for the approval of other people, but rather from the approval I have in Christ. It's as if Chris began to realize that God, he wanted something just like this.

gifts, some superhero, some fairy tale bliss, just something I can turn to, somebody I can kiss, I want something just like this. Do-da-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. I'm not looking for somebody with some superhuman gifts, some superhero, some fairy tale bliss, just somebody I can miss. Chris, a song like that resonates with us, not just necessarily because of the cool beats. And trust me, I saw a few of you out there. Y'all were getting your groove on in your chair. I saw it, especially those of you at Midtown, Tulsa.

I saw you, and then Fort Worth, Texas. I saw you guys doing that. That's what you're wondering. I will neither confirm nor deny my ability to see you right now. So here's the thing. It's not just that cool beat that gets thrown down or the amazing vocal work that you hear, although it was great. here's the thing the truth be known that song resonates with us at a really deep level because we realize that we want somebody to want something just like this to want something just like

you not that you that you many times would project to your friends into social media and all that stuff not that you i mean the you that you actually look at in the mirror every morning that one the you that you lay your head down on the pillow at night and the thoughts that go that you you You want somebody to want something just like that. It resonates very, very, very deep within us. But many times our enemy will whisper lies. No one wants something like you, if they just knew this, if they just knew that, right? You're not enough.

But there is a transformative truth today that we're going to hang our hats on, and that is this if you are taking notes. Understand this. You may not be who you want to be. but because of Christ, you're exactly who God needs you to be. You may not be who you want to be just yet, right? You've got your failure resume that you'll toss up here and begin to try to convince yourself of why you can't be used

and all these different things, but the truth be known, because of Christ, you are exactly who God needs you to be. In the book of 1st Corinthians, chapter 1, 26 and 28, we see a beautiful truth. It says this, that, brothers, and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. In fact, a few of you I hear left the name of the church off the mailer. It should be

all right. You weren't wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth, but God. Everybody say, but God. The reason I love it when I see that in the scripture is it means it usually it's going to get a little bit better for us, right? But God. Everybody, but God. I love it. I, chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly things of this world and the despise things, the things that are not to nullify the things that are. A scripture like this we love, because we recognize the scripture like this speaks to the underdog, and who doesn't like a good underdog story? Everybody loves the story of the young shepherd boy, David, taking down

Goliath, right? We love an underdog type situation, and we many times see ourselves as that underdog. And so we kind of love it when all of a sudden, but God shows up and empowers somebody whom everybody else overlooks. In the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, many times in the Christian world, they'll refer to this chapter as the Hall of Faith or the Hall of Heroes, if you will, because this is where they, many times there's all these biblical characters that get talked about, specifically from the Old Testament. So you have people, just to name a few, like Noah, Noah who built the ark.

You've got Abraham, who became the father of many, many nations. Had a great song written about him. Remember? Father Abraham and many sons. No, we're not actually doing that song today. I'm going to keep going. I told you all I wasn't supposed to sing. Okay, Abraham, right?

Great man of God. We've got Moses, who, yes, God used to split the sea and lead Israel out of the bondage in Egypt. you've got David who the Bible says is a man after God's own heart. Who would not want that as their epitaph? Right? Okay? And we look on and you hear me talk about these people

and some of you may be familiar with those individual characters and you think to yourself, oh, they were awesome. They belong in Hebrews 11. They're like superheroes. Really? How about we expand that just a little bit? And look at the totality of their life through the scripture. And one of the things I love about the Bible

is that it doesn't set its hero. and its leaders up on a pedestal, like there's some kind of unattainable thing that you could never get to. Listen to this. You want to talk about Noah? Okay. Did you realize Noah, in the scriptures,

actually had a moment where he became so drunk he passed out in front of his children, naked? Abraham? Let's talk about Abraham. Abraham had a time when he was supposed to get so worried about Pharaoh going to kill him that Abraham actually lied about his relationship with his wife and said that she was his sister just to save his own skin.

But what about Moses, Sam? Okay, let's talk about Moses. Moses killed a guy and then ran off and hid for 40 years in the desert before he was used by God. Oh, and David, the man after God's own heart, he committed adultery with a lady and then had her husband killed to try to cover it up. Right?

All of a sudden, you're like, what? You see, understand this truth. God honors them for their faith, not for their perfection. God honors them for their faith, not for their perfection. Yet, many times in our little world, we think to ourselves, when we hear their names originally, we're like, oh, yeah, they probably never messed up. They were amazing.

They're here. Or you look on it just people around you, and you put this image up there that you begin to think that they must be kind of like up here. They're elevated, right? For some reason. It's like an unattainable standard. But God doesn't honor people. He's honoring them for their faith, not for.

for their perfection. And what I love is when Christ gets involved in your life and all of a sudden faith steps in, it empowers you to act and you have those but God moments. You know, maybe you're not who you need to be just to. You're not, you know who you are and you're not where you want to be just yet. But because of Jesus, you're exactly who God needs you to be. When faith steps in, things change. I saw a Bible study that was written and it recently, and I love the way they put it. they said that faith in Christ makes extraordinary heroes out of ordinary people. Faith in Christ makes extraordinary heroes out of ordinary people. Imagine Moses. Imagine Moses standing at the banks of the Red Sea.

He's got the Israelite people behind him, and behind them are the Egyptians, descending with chariots to come and capture them and take them back to slavery or kill them. what is he going to do? And God tells him, take your staff, and he puts it in the water, and the water's part. Could you imagine the awe and the wonder that he must have felt in the moment to be used by God in such a way that a sea parts, and they walk through on dry ground? It's pretty amazing, right? But at the same moment that he had that thought, I can't help, but he also had another thought. And that thought is, who am I to be doing this right now?

I mean, really, to have this staff and to be parting this sea and to be used by God in such a way, because Moses was so acutely aware that he was so, so ordinary, just ordinary. You see, you could say it like this. Moses, you know what? He may not have been who he really wanted to be in that moment, but, right, because of Christ, when we engage our faith, we're exactly who God needs us. to be. So then comes a question. If God's going to use this, how do we find ourselves at a place where to be used by God? Right? Because that's the thing that we would really want today. And even for those

of you who are here, and maybe you don't believe in God, maybe you don't, you're just kicking the tires on this Christianity thing. Let me just say it this way. You know what? You don't want to walk through life and to be known as the person who is a selfish sucker that just always were out for you, right? You don't. What you want to be known as is a person who made this world a better place, who pushed people around you to be better. And for us, for those of us who follow Christ, we say to ourselves, you know what, we do that by God's spirit, empowering us and prompting us to lead us step by step in our journey, right? Now, here's the thing. Many times we'll take this concept and we make it so mysterious and so nebulous that you just don't even know.

I don't really know to start. It's like people will say, I don't know, God's will for my life. I don't know. And I'll tell you, here's the deal. Let me just make it really, really simple for you. It's in your notes. You can write it down, but you're not going to have to because you're going to remember this for the rest of your life. There's a very simplistic way. How do you know you're going to be in the middle of God's will? How do you're going to be going to be used by God? It's real simple. Be available, be obedient. That's it. That's all I I got to do. Be available, be obedient. You don't have to be a celebrity. You don't have to be a preacher. You don't have to be in full-time ministry. You don't have to have every book in the

Bible memorized. You don't even have to know where John 316 is in the Bible. I mean, for goodness, sakes. You can look out up on your You version app for all I care, right? You can find it. You don't have to do that. But you may not be who you want to be just yet. But because of Christ, you're exactly who God needs you to be. Available? Obedient. All you got to understand, I'm here, God, I'm available, I'm obedient. There's a scripture in the Old Testament in Isaiah, chapter 6, where the prophet Isaiah is having a vision and he sees God in his temple, and his God's robes are filling the temple. And it's so holy and so amazing for me he's like woe is me who am i i'm like an unclean man unclean lips what am i doing here it's just kind of thought and then you hear god say uh man who will go for us whom shall we send and

isaiah says this quintessential thing everybody talking here i am lord send me i'm here i may not be who i want to be just yet but man i'm here i'm available i'm obedient i'll do it it, right? It's all you've got to be available and obedient. Recently, I was in Washington, D.C., and we had a good friend of mine, Pastor Lane Shrans, who is one of the pastors of a great church down in Birmingham, Alabama, called Church of the Highlands. And he had a friend of his named Peter. And Peter is the executive assistant to the retired Justice Stevens. And he was going to hook us up with a behind-the-scenes tour of the Supreme Court of the United States. Now, Justice Stevens is retired now, but was the third longest serving justice in

Supreme Court history in the United States. Pretty amazing. And Peter was going to give us a tour. In fact, I got a picture here for you. Here's a picture of us standing in the office there. The guy with his arms crossed over there. That's Pastor Bobby Grunwald. If you use you version, like you version, he's the guy that created the darn thing. Amazing man of God serves on our directional leadership team. There over there next to me is Pastor Jerry Hurley. You may not know Jerry, but trust me, if you like Life Church, you like Jerry, because he is the wizard behind the scenes that makes this thing run and hum the way it does.

I've served along both side of those men for a long, long time. And then there is Peter. And Peter's telling us a little story. And here's what he's saying. He's saying, guys, listen, here's the deal. I got to D.C. and, man, I had a lot of young, and I had a lot of aspiration things that I wanted to do because when people go to Washington, D.C., typically they want to make a name for themselves.

They want to kind of be the person with the title, but not in the title of executive assistant. Not quite what was on his radar, but Peter was praying, and all of a sudden he got this phone call. And it was somebody saying, hey, do you want to interview for this position as an executive assistant to Justice Stevens? And he's like, hey, maybe this is where God's leading me. I don't know, I've been praying about trying to figure this thing out, and maybe this is what I need to do. So, Peter goes and he interviews, and he gets the job.

And he's been serving as the executive assistant for Justice Stevens for over 30 years. Pretty amazing deal. And then Peter looks at me and he goes, hey, listen, you want me to tell you a secret? And I was like, well, we are in Washington, D.C., so listen, I'll take a little. little secret, but I really don't want a big one. Because I don't really need that in my life right now. So how about a little one? He says, let me tell you something. All right. So he said, every day, whenever there were hearings and we were on trial, I would take the documents. And before the justices would come in, I would need to go and sit the documents so they would have

everything they needed before everything started. And he said, I would sit the papers down. And he said, I'd put my hand on this chair right here. And he goes, and I would pray, Lord Jesus, I pray for wisdom for this judge today because what they're going to be deciding will be making significant impacts in our nation and he removed to the next one and lord i pray that you give him the wisdom of solomon he goes i'd go right down the line i'd pray for everyone of them justices how about that he said who gets to do that and i said i don't know you do i guess i can't i barely got by a security to get in this joint but you get to pray for the justices why available and obedient that's it that's what do you tell you You're like, man, I was just available and obedient.

I laid down the idea that I was going to all of a sudden try to be somebody and God just made him somebody, right? You say it this way if you want. You know what? When you're willing to do what others won't, God will use you to accomplish what others can't. When you're willing to do what others won't, God will use you to accomplish what others can't. So you may look on and say, man, what is it that you need to do what others won't? to step into. Where is it that others won't that you need to step into that? Maybe for you, you've got a good friend or a family member or somebody who's going through something. It's very, very, very difficult.

And you know, you kind of give the little, man, hey, be praying for you or whatever. And the reason you're doing that is because you actually don't know how to step into a conversation with them. And to just be there and they're like hurt with them and to know what to say and what do I even do. And it's just such a hard thing for you to do. But you know what you're going to do? You're actually going to step in. Guess what? The Bible actually says when you go and God prompts you and you're available, you're obedient and you go, don't worry about the words that you're going to say. God says, I'm going to give them to you when you get there. Don't worry about it. You'll be available. You'll be obedient. And when you do, what you're going to realize is you're going to help a friend. You don't

even know that you have that gear, that pastoral gear, that loving gear. You don't even realize it's there. But God's going to pull it right out of you at the exact moment to help a friend, right? You're willing to step into that when others won't. Maybe for you, you're like, you know what? I'm going to step in and I'm going to begin to serve at the local campus I attend or I'm going to serve at church online. I've been explaining it away and saying how I'm busy and I got this going and I got that. But you know what? Years are just clicking off by and I'm not changing. I'm not doing anything different. Well, you're not because you're not available and you're not obedient. It's that simple. You can't continue to do the same thing and expect a different result. That's the definition of

insanity. Be available. Be obedient. Jump in. You're going to start serving. And maybe you're serving life kids at your location. And all of the sudden, maybe, maybe that kid doesn't have the greatest home life. And they come up to the church, man, they see you and you're different. You're like a light. And that light is a light that shines bright throughout the course of that child's life. And you become the fulfillment of a verse that, you know what, if you'll train up a child and the way they should go when they're old, they will not depart from it. Who gets to do that? You do when you're available and obedient. Maybe for you, it's that, man, you need to forgive someone. Because the truth be known, you're carrying the weight of unforgiveness much heavier than anyone else around you. And it's

burdening you down to the degree that it's just crushing and breaking you. And when you release that to God and you step into that, God will then set you free and put you on a trajectory that you never believed imaginable. Maybe for you, you need to pick up the phone and you need to tell somebody you're sorry. You need to send that text. You need to send that email and you need to let somebody know it's your fault.

And you need to say you're sorry. And when you're willing to step in and do what others won't, God's going to use you to accomplish what others can't. And in a relationship that you thought was trashed, maybe God will just begin a restorative work that you never believed possible. Your enemy loves to tell you things and to create a dialogue and tell you who you're not.

But let me tell you what God's word says that you are. You're fearfully, you're wonderfully made. You are a masterpiece created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God is prepared in advance for you to do. You may not be who you want to be, but because of Christ, you're exactly who God needs you to be. and when you're willing to do what others won't, God's going to use you to accomplish what others can't.

You see, God's not looking for some superhero, some superhuman gift, some fairy tale bliss. God's looking for someone just like you. Available, you're obedient. And you simply say, here I am, Lord, send me. I'll pray with me today. Father, I thank you for your word that transforms our lives and speaks truth into us, and that truth then transforms us to be agents of change for your glory.

Praying today with our heads bowed and our eyes closed, there are those of us who, you know what, your takeaway is that you simply need to be, you're a follower of Christ, you just haven't been available and obedient like you should be. And you know what? You're like, I'm done with the excuses. It's simple enough. You put it easy enough. I'm available.

I'm obedient. That's what I'm going to do. I realize God's empowered me. I'm available. I'm obedient. And there's those of you today who say, that's my next step. And I'd love to be able to pray for you that God would open doors for you this week as you're available and obedient to actually speak his truth into others' lives. Those of you say, man, that's me. I'm available. I'm obedient. God, use me in whatever way you will. Just lift up your hand right now. I'd love to pray for you this week. There's hands all over the place. Father, I just thank you for your word. And I thank you for each one of our hands that's lifted,

because each hand that is lifted is going to be an opportunity this week that you're going to use us to point people toward you. I pray we have ears to hear and eyes to see the situations that you sit in front of us and give us the truth and the words to speak, to speak life and to speak truth into those situations, God. Still praying today, there's others of you who, man, you're here for this reason. That big statement that we kept saying over and over that, you know what, we may not be who we want to be, but because of Christ for exactly who God needs us to be, the power moment in that stuff, statement is because of Christ. It's the, if you will, but God moment in all of history. What was the situation? Well, here's the thing. The reason we're not who we want to be is because each one of us

step into something called sin. What we do is we just simply put all these things in front of God and in place of God in our lives. And rather seeking the one whom created us, we seek the things that are created to try to displace him in some way. And we end up falling short, the Bible says, and we end up sinning. and we recognize this because there's a deep longing inside of us, something that's hollow, something that doesn't fully bring fulfillment, and we begin to understand it, and that deep sense of ache and longiness is the fact that we don't have Christ in our lives.

And you know what? Today, you're going to have a but-God moment. Maybe you walked in to your location or your open network church, or you found us at church online, and here's the truth that you're hearing today is that you realize you're not who you need to be. be because you don't have Jesus. And you've been separated from God by your sin. But God sent his son to take our place on the cross as a sacrifice for our sin so that we could be made right with him

and have forgiveness and be complete and whole and have new life, new meaning, new purpose, new direction. And that's you today. That's where you need to be available and obedient, available to say, yes, Jesus, come in, take over, be my Lord, be my Savior. I need your forgiveness. Those of you at all of our locations, at church online, those of you say, yes, that is me. Lift up your hands right now and say, yes, Jesus, come in, take over, be my Lord, be my savior. Yes, right over here in the middle section. Welcome into God's family. Others of you, back here in the far right, welcome into God's family. You're available, you're obedient. Those of you, far back left, welcome. I see that big smile. Welcome into God's family. Those of you at church online, click right

below me and say yes, I'm coming into, yes, right over here to my right. Welcome into a relationship with Christ. Listen, as we're, man, those of you at church online, click below me as people are coming into a relationship with Christ saying, I'm available, I'm obedient, Jesus, be my Lord, be my Savior. We're all going to pray this prayer aloud with those making this decision here today. We'll pray it together as a family. Pray with me. Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to die in my place on the cross. I receive your forgiveness. I receive your purpose. I receive your direction for my life. God lead me.

I'm available. I'm obedient. Help me to walk in your ways all of my life. I give you my life Jesus. It's in your name I pray. Amen. Everybody, let's give it up for what God's doing. Absolutely amazing.

You know, here at Life 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. Baptism weekend is one of our favorite weekends here at Life Churches. We see hundreds of people at all of our Life Church locations go public with their new faith. And this last baptism weekend was no exception. Take a look.

My son passed away last year in February, and it's been a hard road ever since then. It made me kind of question everything that I believed in, my faith, in God. You know, I turned to alcohol after that. It was a couple of months that I was not sober. Then one night she called me while she was drunk and she said, if God loves me, then why would he take my baby from me? And I didn't know what to say. So I just started praying for her. And I asked her, why would God love me? Does God still love me? When I heard the Levi Lesko message, I sent it to her. God, you've given to us and you've taken away, but blessed be your name.

I cried all the way home because the message was exactly what I needed to hear. I was actually pulling out of my driveway to go to work, and I stopped my car, and I prayed right then, and I said, you know, just write me, put me where I belong, and lead me down this life of righteousness that you have to signed for me. And then she decided that she wanted to take the next step and be baptized. I am making that decision to restore my faith and kind of get back to the light that I need to be in. You know, here at Life Church, it's our mission to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. That statement drives every single thing we do here as a church, all because we believe whoever finds God truly finds life.