Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - The Comparison Trap, Part 1: The Comparison Trap

Episode Date: September 2, 2018

A perfect relationship. A perfect family. A perfect career. When we see others who have what we want, our lives seem lacking. But you’ll never be content on the inside if you’re always looking at what other people have on the outside. Let’s talk a... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, I want to welcome everybody out at all of our Life Church locations, those of you at our Open Network churches, and of course, all of you across the globe at Church Online, it is great to have you with us today. My name is Sam Roberts. I am one of our directional leadership team members here at Life Church, and I've had the honor and the privilege of serving here at Life Church, alongside Pastor Craig now being on staff for over 20 years. And with this being my 20th year, Thank you very much. The great thing is that I've been able to see not just from a distance, but up close and personal, how Pastor Craig not just leads, but how he leads his family, his wife, his children.

And I've been able to call him not just my pastor, but my friend. And I love being able to be under his leadership and the work that God is doing here at Life Church. Now, I have had a conversation recently with several different ones of view across some of our different locations and with several of our staff. And the conversation this last week is all sounded quite the same, really. It goes like this. Oh, so mastermind's this weekend, right? And I said, no, actually, it starts next weekend. And you'll want to be here to see it because it's going to be really cool. And they were like, oh, awesome. Well, what's this weekend? And I said, well, this weekend, I'm preaching. To which they say, oh, cool, that's awesome. I love it when you preach.

That's great. And then there's a pause. And then this looks. of pity comes across their face. Like, oh, man, I would really hate to follow hope in the dark. Oh, my word. And then like week three, where he went off the stage and everybody's crying and it was amazing. And I'm like, thank you very much. I know quite well how great last week was. It was amazing. Pastor Craig said, Sam, listen, hey man, you can preach on whatever you want. I said, anything? He said, whatever you want to preach on. You knock it out. I said, perfect. He goes, well, what are you going to preach on? I said, you know what, I'm a preacher on? I'm going to preach on comparison. So, if you want to go on and think about how good this week is compared to last week, you go right ahead.

But by the end of our time today, you're going to be feeling convicted. Don't say I didn't tell you so. All right? Now, in all seriousness, the series, Hope in the Dark, was special. It was so amazing. And, I mean, I so encourage you. If you're in a time of difficulty, you have a friend in a time of difficulty, man, there's no big. better thing to hear than God's truth through that series, Hope in the Dark. In fact, Pastor Craig had wrote a book called The Same Title, Hope in the Dark, and it has been

sold out for weeks now, but actually, Amazon is going to have them in stock this week and be shipping, so I would encourage you grab that thing. I've been listening to it on Audible, and it is fantastic stuff. So, but today, we are talking about comparison. And I don't know many areas of life that are not touched. by comparison. And one of those areas is actually in the world of fishing. Have you ever noticed? Like, it's like, oh, I caught one like, it was like, I mean, you know, something like this. And my boys really got into fishing last year. And they were at the time 10 and 12. Now they're 13 and

11. And my 10-year-old was up at the pond there at our house. And he was fishing. And he had been out. And I was working out in the driveway, hanging out doing something. He come running from the pond, full speed. And you know how little boys do. They could catch a bluegill. It's like this, but by the time the story's done, it might as well be a whale. Right? And you're like, my goodness, he goes, Daddy, I was standing in the pond.

I was trying to catch bass. And I was throwing the baitcaster, and this fish swam by my legs. And it was this big. I'm like, yeah, okay, well, what was it? He goes, I think it was a catfish. I was like, uh-huh. And I'm thinking in my mind, in that tank? No.

There ain't no catfish is this big in that thing. I'm like, well, what do you think you need to catch it? I need some sausage. I'm like, sausage. Okay. Well, I'm not a huge fisherman, so I took the bait, no pun intended. And I went and found some butterball turkey sausage, threw it to him. I said, knock your lights out, buddy.

All right, man, good luck. Go get him. And so a little bit of time passes. Next thing I know, I hear all this screaming from up at the pond, this screaming and yelling, water splashing. And I'm thinking, my son is drowning. and I'm like, oh my gosh, so I throw my project and I take off running. And I get up there around the corner and I see my 10-year-old wrestling this out of the water.

All right. There's a fish this big in that pond. Okay, I get it, right? Oh, and that's a silly story about comparison. But the truth of the matter is comparison can be no silly matter at all. It'll permeate actually every aspect of our lives, right? We think about it in regards to our appearance. Sometimes it's like, girls, you're good with your hair until you saw her hair.

And you're like, man, look at her hair. It's like amazing. And some of you guys are like, I just wish I had hair. You know what I mean? And guys, you go to the gym and you're like, looking on it. You're like, dude, his muscles, they ripple. And you're just thinking, oh, my muscles ripple, but differently. You know what I mean?

And I tell you, it's so funny because, like, in our society, there is no greater thing than looking on at how people actually. end up taking selfies all the time, right? It's just like, oh my word. You ever felt like that? You're like, what are we doing here? Like, nobody is paying attention to this dinner, to anything. They're on their phones. But we get obsessed, right? With comparison. And sometimes it's in our appearances. Sometimes it's in our possessions. You know, you're good with your car until you realize, my car don't drive itself. I need a Tesla. You know, or you're like good with your house up into the point that you see fixer-upper. And now you need some shiplap in your life, right? Right. Yes. Sometimes it's in our

performance. It's in our jobs. We're like, man, they got the deal. I didn't get the deal. Why did they get the promotion? I should have got the promotion. In school, it's like, well, they're doing better on the test than I am, and why are they getting better grades than me? And I don't understand. And it's even in the context of our spiritual walk. We get in there and then the U-Varsion Bible app, you'll be up in there and you'll be like, man, my friend, I do pretty good, but my friends, they like complete eight plans a day. I'm just trying to get one finish. I'm trying to get my streak into double digits, and they're killing it.

You know what I mean? And we begin to compare. Sometimes it's in even like our circumstances. It's in the fact that, man, you know what? Why am I following God? Why are things not going great for me? Look at them, man. They're not even close to following God.

And things seem to just fall in place for them. Why? I don't understand that. Maybe for you, it's the fact that. you can't have kids. And you're like, why is it that I look on and I'm comparing everybody else that didn't even seem to care? They're getting kids.

I can't get any. Maybe for you, you have kids. And you want different kids because some of them, these are broke. I don't know what happened. But it surely could not be my parenting, right? Now, I remember about, after I had gotten called into ministry, about a year, a year and a half after being in ministry, I had this story having to me. I graduated with a marketing degree from my university, and our university used to give out this award every year called Marketing

Student of the Year, which I was fortunate enough to win my senior year. And of course, some of my classmates who were really competitive weren't exactly happy that I won, but so be it. So I bump into one of my classmates about a year, year and a half after graduation. And I was like, hey man, we're on a putting green out of golf course. I'm like, how are you doing? I'm like, it's good to see you. I'm like, what's up? What's up? What are you doing nowadays? He says, well, actually, and he goes to tell me, he was actually working for a Fortune 500 company and was in position to oversee all of their regional marketing. And I was like, wow, that's impressive. And then I knew what question he was about to ask. He's like, so what are you doing? Mr. Marketing student in a year.

and I'm like, well, actually, I got called in, been called in a ministry not too long after school, and so I'm working for a local church. And now this is about 19 years ago, so this is a lot different perspective of Life Church than it is today. And at the time, he was like, oh, okay, so where are you guys meeting? And I'm like, well, actually, we're in this, you remember that old bike shop in town? We bought that. we kind of redid it and turned it into a church. And so it's good.

He goes, oh, well, you guys, you guys must be killing it. There must be a lot of people going there to capture you, marketing student of the year. I'm like, well, I mean, you know, we're on the way. We have about 500 right now. That's good. That's a good number. It's a lot of people. And he's like, oh, I'll never forget.

He just looked at me. He goes, well, a lot of good that marketing degree, did you? Now, I was new in the ministry at the time. So I was like, you better go on find your tea time because I'm about wrap this putter straight up around your neck. You ain't never going to see here, right? I know to have better responses today, but I would be lying if I didn't say that. I didn't kind of like mess with me a little bit. I was like, maybe he's right.

I was fine 10 minutes ago. And I'm like, well, I am a marketing student of the year. I mean, maybe I should be out there. Maybe I should be utilizing my degree better. Maybe I should be making a bigger impact, which means money. Right? And I was like, hmm, all of a sudden, I found myself being discontent. You ever found yourself there?

If you're taking notes, that's exactly what comparison does, because comparison kills contentment. comparison kills contentment. We see this illustrated in the book of Philippians chapter 4. The Apostle Paul is writing from prison, and he says this, I'm not saying this because I'm in need, for I have learned to be content. Pause, I love that. I have learned to be content. It's not like you just wake up one day and you're like, I'm good.

I don't need anything. You may. for a minute, and then again, you see that, and you're like, oh, or you have that conversation, and you're like, oh, maybe I'm not. It's a learned process. I love what the Apostle Paul writes there. I've learned to be content, whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned, again, learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him who gives me strength.

No, this is not just a cute phrase on Steph Curry's shoes. It's truth out of God's word in the book of Philippians. I can do all things through him who gives me strength. And we'd love to say that. We'd love to hear it. But to truly understand it, you've got to back up a minute. Because you've got to understand how can he do that. How could he do all things?

Well, it's because he learned how to be content, no matter what the circumstance was, well-fed, or whether he was hungry, in plenty or in need. I've learned how to be content because comparison kills contentment. And contentment in life is simply accepting who God wants you to be and not who you wish you were. It's accepting who God wants you to be and not who you just wish you were. because the problem is like this. We stand here and here is fine. And we're good until we see there.

And then we're like, oh, well, there is pretty great. There's better than here. So I'm going to go over there. The problem with there now is that it's actually here. You following? Because now I'm here again. And I'm like, well, but then there's that. there. So you go over here. And you're like, well, the problem I have found is that when you do this,

you just end up going around in circles. Because this is this weird, goofy thing where you like take yourself everywhere you go and your desires for everything else that somebody else has or wants or their talent, their gift, their hair, their body, their clothes, their relationships. You just keep going around in circles because you simply have not learned the art of being content. And how, and what it means when you find contentment, that you can do all things through him who gives you strength. Comparison kills contentment. It has two very distinct outcomes when we compare. First thing that comparison can do, if you're taking notes, is that comparison can leave us prideful. Comparison leaves us prideful. In Luke 18, Jesus is telling a story about a fairer.

Pharisee. And he's using an illustration of Pharisee at this time as a religious leader, much like if I were to stand up here today and pray something like this. We see recorded in Luke 18. The Pharisees stood by himself and prayed. God, I think that I am not like all these other people. These robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or this tax collector here. I have asked, twice a week. I give a tenth of all I get. Right? Now, we look on and we think, I would never pray like that. That's ridiculous. You realize you actually just did what he did. You're like, prideful, like, I would never be so prideful. I would never do this. We do this. We just say it in our head. And once in a while it comes out our lips. Most of the time it stays up in here, but it has the same effect on your life. Right? You're like, I'd never do that. I'd never do that. You kidding me? I remember thinking I was a great parent. I'd go to Walmart and I'd see all these people. They didn't know how to parent their kids in Walmart. I'm like, look at this. A kid having a

temper tantrum. Crazy. I don't know how to deal with that. Until one day, I took my six and four-year-old boys to Walmart with me. And then I learned a lesson. So I took them and I had all the plans. I had the bags of Cheerios to distract them when they got rowdy. You know all those things. You could find yourself in Walmart by just following the Cheerio trail. I had it. I was got my plans and then something happened.

Pastor Craig called me. Now, when I got that phone call, I looked down to my phone. I looked over at my boys and I said, boys, you better shut your mouth. You be quiet. I want you to sit down, crisscrossed apples, back up against the thing. Move out of the way. I'm moving the car. the card over here, y'all just sit down.

I don't even want you to breathe. Just be quiet. Don't say a word. It's Pastor Craig. That's my boss. You're quiet. Hey, boss, what's up? Oh, yeah.

No, I ain't got nothing going on. What's happening? What's you need? And all I remember is that whatever it was, he was not happy. It was one of those phone calls. And it was within my scope of responsibility here at the church to fix it. And so I immediately, just like, you do, I go into this motive. I'm like putting my hand here because I needed to focus. I get ADD

and I start looking around and I, Lord, you don't want to not know what Craig's saying on a call like that. So I'm listening and I'm like, okay, uh-huh. And then it got more intense. And I was like, I got to figure this out. So I don't know what possessed me, but I just sat down right in the middle of the aisle. And I put my, I just leaned toward the, I just put my back down. I looked toward the canned goods. it was me, Pastor Craig, and a bunch of Hormel Chili. And I was just sitting there, and I'm like, yes, sir. Okay, yep, I'll tell you what, I'll get it taken care of right now. Don't worry at all.

I got it. Yep, okay. Whatever, well, we finally finished, I don't know how long I'd been on the phone. I hung the phone up. I sat back after this. I was like, whew. And then I looked to my right. And there were four people that were standing there with their carts.

And this lady just looking at me like, I'm like, what's wrong with her? Like nobody ever just sits down in the aisle at Walmart? And I looked this way, and there were five people. And I'm like, what is wrong with all these people? Why are they not just going by, left room? And then I saw it. I had sat down next to all of the rice and the dried beans,

and my boys had taken every single bag off of the shelf and built a dam across the aisle two feet high. So I did exactly what you all would have done. I got up and like, whose kids are these? This is ridiculous. Somebody needs to pay attention. That's silly. Getting on the phone.

Some of you guys leaning over your wife right now, and you're like, see, honey, I ain't that bad. Me, girl. Comparison can lead to pride, right? It can make us prideful. C.S. Lewis, I love this. Says it this way. He said, say that people are proud of being rich or clever or good looking, but they're really not. They're

proud of being richer or cleverer or better looking than others. If everyone else was to become equally rich or clever or good looking, there would be nothing to be proud about. So true, right? If everything else was on a playing field, there would be nothing to be prideful about finding contentment in life is simply about accepting who God wants you to be. and not who you wish you were. Comparison can leave us prideful. The second thing it can do is it could leave us jealous. Proverbs 14 states that a peaceful heart leads to a healthy body.

Doesn't that sound good? A peaceful heart. A peaceful heart sounds so good, doesn't it? It leads to a healthy body. But, oh man, jealousy is like cancer in the bones. bones. Bones are like the very structure of our body. It's what gives us form and shapes our bones.

Or the foundation you could say. And the Bible's saying, look, you become jealous. It's like getting at the foundation of who you are. And it's like cancer at your foundation. Not a good thing. It can leave you jealous. I love when Pastor Craig was talking about this one time in a message. He said it this way.

He said, what it can do is it can cause you that we could then resent God's goodness in others' lives and ignore God's blessing in our own life. I like that. It's so true, right? We can resent God's goodness in others' lives. We look on and we're like, I don't know how in the world they took that vacation. That's ridiculous. They probably went in crazy debt. That's just ridiculous that they did that. I have no idea. Why did they buy that again? They don't need another dress. They don't need another pair of shoes. I can't believe that they did that. Man, what? And you just look on and you become that the person you don't want to be. You resent God's goodness in somebody's life. And then you ignore the very blessings in your own life,

the things that God has given you. You know, you ignore the fact that you have a car and you can drive to and fro and come around. And you, but you get in, you look at your friend's car and you're like, this car looks like it's got detailed. My car looks like somebody dumped a box of a cheery in the back, and then it's trying to dehydrate fruit back there. It's horrible, right? Or you think to yourself, you know what? You don't think about the fact that, you know what? You got great clothes. You got clothes you can wear. You got a closet full of clothes that you can run your fingers down. But then you look on it somebody else. You're like, well, they got all the new fashions. That's some new stuff right there. Those are cool pants. Those are cool clothes. I'm not the cool kid anymore,

right? And you begin to figure, I have blessings in my life. You look on and you think, you know what? You got a smartphone. You got a phone. Quit whining. You're like, I want a phone that when I look at it, it just opens. You're like, I got to push buttons on my phone. And heaven forbid, it doesn't read my thumbprint right. And I got to type into digits.

I want one to just, it's like, relax, you're good. Contentment. Quit ignoring the blessings in your life. You've got so many things to be thankful for. comparison, it kills contentment, causes problems. But how do we get rid of it? That's the question. How do we live without comparing?

Because it's so prevalent. There's a couple simple things that we can do, and I'm a simple guy, and I try to keep it simple for myself and hopefully for you so that we can just get this stuff and apply it this week to help kill comparison in our lives and thus find some contentment.

So, if you're taking notes, first thing that we can do is recognize what you have. We just talked about you ignore the blessings in your life, so recognize what you have. Galatian 6 says, if anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.

Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone without comparing themselves to someone else. Why? Because when you do that, it kills contentment, makes your eyes rove, you look around, you want other things, it becomes jealousy, pride. Not a good situation.

It kills our contentment. I often think back, and I wonder, what would it be like if I had allowed that comment so many years ago, that was innocently said probably, on a putting green, to actually fester down in my heart and just begin to just grow? And I really did begin to believe it. Like, you know what? I shouldn't be here. They can't afford me. I should be doing something else. I could be doing bigger things, better things.

What would I have missed out on? And it's amazing to me when I think back over the last 20 years, I could list for the rest of this day all of the things that I could have missed out on. I'll just give you a few brief highlights. I could have missed out on the fact that we as a church created this app called the Bible app, which has been downloaded over 337 million times in every country across this planet. I could have missed out on the fact that we started something called church online and decided to do it. I remember standing with other church leaders from across the country who were basically looking at us, telling us that we were crazy and that it would not work. And they didn't even know if it was biblical. How ridiculous does that seem today?

But we were telling them, we just thought, well, you know what? We actually believe that we're going to do anything short of sin to reach people. And to do that, sometimes you've got to do things nobody else is doing. And so we started church online. And now, today, we will see every single week, on average over 270,000 unique IP addresses, i.e. computers that are logging in to hear God's truth. I would have missed that. What would I have missed? This year, at the end of this year, we will launch our 32nd physical location of Life Church in 10 different states. And the amazing thing about that is that God utilizes these churches, these buildings to, and, you know, empower his church because we know that the church, it's not the building, it's the people in the

church. And you all go out and you invite people into God's work that he's doing, this movement that he's making. Pastor Craig says it like this, like, hey, we're not praying for revival. We're living in the middle of it. Proof of that is the fact that this year, since January, we have had over 38,000 people say yes to a relationship with Jesus. Amazing stuff. And I could have missed it. I could have missed that. Well, the question then is, what are you missing out on? What are you missing out on? Maybe you close that deal at work, but you miss the game.

Again, for your kid. Maybe for you, you know, the outside of your house, it's all spit and polished. It looks great and everything looks great from the outside, but on the inside, it's just full of strife, turmoil, and hate. Maybe you've got the career. You did it. you got where you wanted to get on that ladder, but somewhere along the way you lost your marriage. Maybe for you, you crafted the perfect post for social media, but you missed the moment.

What are you missing out on? Recognize what you have. What's right in front of you. Be content in any and every situation. when you do this you begin to learn a secret. You learn what it means to be able to do all things to Him who gives you strength. The second thing you can do is accept who you are. The Bible says in the book of Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10, that you are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which he had prepared beforehand for you to do. And if you've been around the church for any bit of time, or even if you haven't, sometimes

you've heard that verse. If you've been around the church, man, you've heard that verse over and over and over again. And sometimes it creates what I call the numbness of frequency effect in your life. Basically stated that anything that you are exposed to frequently, you become numb to the goodness of it, whatever that is. And it's true with this verse. But for a minute, I want you to just think about this with me. You, yes, you in Wellington, down in Florida, up in New York in Albany, yes, you, all of you in Tulsa, you.

Every single one of us have been created in Christ Jesus. We are God's workmanship, meaning the creator of the universe had a moment where he paused and he's like, what am I going to put into you? What gifts, what talents, what resources, what experiences, those experiences? those good ones, the ones we love to talk about, and even then those bad ones, the ones that we've learned through that series of hope and dark to wrestle, but to also embrace, so that you could do these good works, which he's prepared beforehand for you to do. It's an amazing truth. And I pray that when you hear this and you begin to just understand in a body that you

would begin to understand who you are. Because when you know who you are, you know who you don't have to be. It's a little bit like this. When I was a little kid, I would always love to play with this right here. This was so fantastic, right? Everybody, as a little kid, just like so loved getting a little bit of Play-Doh, especially new Play-Doh, right? Because it smells so good, right? it should make a candle out of this stuff. It smelled so good when I was a kid, I may or may not have eaten a little bit of it. Children, do not eat Play-Doh, right? It is not good for you.

But you have some Play-Doh, and it'd be so good. And the thing I loved about it is it was soft and squishy and great, and everything was fantastic until somebody, it's not like whenever your siblings or your friend left the lid off, and then it was like hard as a rock, couldn't roll out snakes anymore. And it was like, this is messed up. And then, like, they would drop it on the floor, and it would have dogs. here in it and they throw it back in there. That's what my Play-Doh started looking like as a kid. And then one of the, my favorite thing, though, my favorite thing about New Plato was that when I would

open the blue lid, the Plato inside was blue. Not like this mix of all these colors that people had, I'm like, what are they doing? Why did they put green and blue? I don't understand. You know, but it was all blue. And it's kind of funny, but when we think about it, actually, it's a little bit like our lives. So you were born and you were created blue. And blue, blue is fantastic. You loved blue for a while because blue, who doesn't like it? It's blueberry cobblers and blue summer skies and blue ocean waves. I mean, blue is fantastic. Until that day, you saw yellow. and yellow. I mean, everybody loves yellow, right?

I mean, yellow is like, it's just happy. I mean, seriously, it's like yellow's like daisies, it's sunshine and freshly sharpened number two pencils and it's baby chicks. I mean, who doesn't like yellow, right? It's so fantastic. And then you saw orange? And orange is warm.

Orange is like fall leaves. And it's like basketball season, and oranges like pumpkins, and all those wonderful sunsets. I mean, orange is great. I love orange. And then it was good until you saw pink. And then there was pink. And you're like, well, pink, you know, I mean, seriously, like pink hair and I don't care. Pink is like fantastic.

I love pink. And who doesn't like pink? It's like cherry trees blossoming in the springtime. And it's like pink. strawberry donuts with sprinkles on them and little girls in princess dresses. It's peak. And peak is fantastic. And you just kind of take a little bit of somebody else, a little bit of somebody else.

And maybe one day somebody said to you, you should just be more like your sister. Or your friend was like, dude, why don't you like, seriously, couldn't you just be a little bit more like this? Why don't you just go do this? Or maybe somebody said to you, you know what, get your head out of the clouds. Quit thinking you were created to do that. You'll never amount to anything. And you believed it. And you just kept taking what everybody said.

It took a little bit of yellow, a little bit of orange, a little bit of pink, it could be okay. And you just one day woke up and you were not you. You lost you along the way. You see, you got to understand that you are God's work. worship created in Christ Jesus to do good works. You are special. You are loved. You are uniquely created in Christ to do his work.

The Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 talks about this idea that there's one body of Christ, but there are many different parts. the eye can't say to the foot, I have no need of you. And because you're not a hand, you're not a part of the body. The eye, couldn't say to the ear. I mean, who needs you? Well, where would your sense of hearing be? Paul Rather says, listen, you all have different gifts.

But yet we're in one body. You all have your different expression of your uniqueness. Know who you are. Because in knowing who you are, you know who you don't. have to be. You can be you, who God's created you to be. And in that, God will take some blue folks and some yellow folks and pink folks and some green and he'll just weave this beautiful tapestry that brings him glory as we express our uniqueness and our gifts back to him. You do you. Be who God's created you to be. I pray today that you truly begin to understand who you are,

because when you know who you are, you know who you do not have to be. At all of our locations, let's all pray together. Father, I thank you for your word that brings truth into our lives. It brings conviction. It brings change. And God, I pray that you would just allow your truth to minister to our heart so that we can find peace. in you. As you're praying today, maybe there are those of you who say, you know what, I find myself being discontent and comparing and looking on and wanting to be more like that or that or that. And just, I would love for you to pray for me to find a heart of peace and to find contentment and rest in it. If that's you today, I'd love to pray for you. Just lift up your hand and say,

yeah, that's me. There's hands all across the place. Father, I pray. I pray. I pray. for those of us who are just struggling with the idea of trying to be something else or somebody else or do more of this. I pray that we would find rest, contentment, understanding that we know what it means to be in need. We know what it means to have plenty. But in you, we find contentment. And in that contentment, we can rest and be able to do all things through you who strengthens us. I pray, God that we would find that peaceful heart that it talks about in Proverbs and that we would rest in you and our uniqueness in the way you have created us. Still praying today, there's others of you who God has brought you to listen to this message today for this simple truth. And the truth is that

we've all sinned and we've messed up and we've fallen short of God's standard. And that it's called sin, and that sin separates us, the Bible says, from God. But the good news, the gospel, the great news, is that God so loved you as his creation, that he sent his son Jesus to die in our place on the cross for our sin so that we could be made new. Here's the thing. The enemy, the Satan, would love to come in and whisper lies of comparison into your, make you think, oh, you're good. I'm good. I mean, I'm not as bad as my neighbor down the road or my coworker. I think I'm good. But the truth is, we've all sinned and we have fallen short of God's standard. Or, you know what? You could begin to think, I'm never going to measure up. I don't even know

how I'm even here today listening to this message, because if you knew what I struggled, what I did, I'm just never going to be good enough. And the truth is that you don't have to be good enough. That's the whole point. It's why Jesus came to die. so that we could then be made free and set free from that sin that so easily entangles us. And it causes us to just self-loat and to begin to think, I should be something else, I need to be something different, or I'm better than someone else. And the truth is, we all need Jesus. We all need forgiveness.

And that's the truth that God has brought you here today to hear. And that is the good news that you can be made new. You can be forgiven of your sin. you can find peace and contentment like you have never experienced. Because the only thing that can bring that contentment is Jesus. And it's in him you can find the strength to do all things. Today, there are those of you who that's your prayer today to say, yes, Jesus. Come in, forgive me in my sins and to make me new.

Be the Lord and the Savior of my life. For those of you at all of our locations and at church online who say, yes, that is my prayer. Lift up your hand boldly right now and say, yes, Jesus, come in, take over right back here, both of you in the middle section. Over here to my right, welcome into the family of God, a life full of peace and contentment. Those of you today, yes, over here to my left, welcome into the family of God. Finding peace and wholeness in the far back, yes, welcome into the family of God. Those of you at church online, click right below me and say yes to a relationship with Jesus.

all of us together repeating this prayer, just repeat after me. Say Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to die in my place on the cross. Forgive me of my sins. Help me to be made new. Help me to find peace, contentment, joy in you. And in that, I pray that I would find that I would find true rest to do all things in you who gives me strength. It's in Jesus' name I pray. And everyone said, amen. Welcome into the family of God.