Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - The Good Room with Michael Jr.

Episode Date: December 27, 2020

WE’RE OPENTo ensure safety at all of our Life.Church locations, our weekend services have been redesigned to create a sanitary, touchless environment that allows for physical distancing. Learn more about everything we're doing to keep you safe and how you can help by using hand sanitizer, washing your hands often, and more: https://www.life.church/updatesFind a time and attend a service with us: http://www.life.church/locationsNEXT STEPSHave you made a decision to follow Jesus? You may be wondering what’s next on your journey. We want to help! Let us guide you to your next steps in your walk with Christ: https://www.life.church/nextABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.church. Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/app. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/life.churchTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/lifechurchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIIdiIO-Y20hRW9niR0CA8AFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/craiggroeschel Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

All right. Thank you so, so very much. I almost want to take this jacket off because I have a snug shirt on because I'm here with Craig because it's shirt. Shirts are always a little snug. He shot back, I think he shot at Young Navy. Sometimes I think that's what. It's comedy, people.

So we're going to have some fun. Here's one thing that I have learned from Craig. So when Craig delivers the word of God, it is phenomenal. It's super, super strong. And I believe how you do anything is really how you do everything. Because I also asked to do for a workout.

And I was like, this brother is tripping. I'm not doing this at all. So when he talks about God's word, I dig in. But his workout, I'm like, bro, that's for somebody else. It's not me. So there's going to be three verses of scriptures that's going to apply to what I'm going to be talking about today. And I'm going to tell you what they are.

And then later on, when you go home, you should read these scriptures, and they're going to pop in probably a new way as a result of what we talk about today. So those three verses are a proverb. 2918. They'll probably put them on the screen at some point. And then you got Proverbs 1921

and then Isaiah 4610. Yeah. Some of y'all are like, wait a minute, what's happening right now? So this year we've had to wear a lot of masks and I wear a mask. I think you should wear a mask everywhere I go in public. I only take it off when I gotta sneeze.

That's why I just, and then I put it right back on. right back on. That's the only time I take it off. I also want to mention, oh, we have a really, really awesome CD that we're giving because people need to laugh. There's a lot going on, so people really need to laugh. So if you want to get a CD that we have available, just go to Michaeljr.com slash CD, and you can get it at whatever price you want. $100 or no cost at all. We just want to put as much laughter as we can out there. So today, I'm going to tell you about my first time ever getting on stage.

I remember it was probably, I was 19 years old. It was. It was a long time ago. This is my first time ever. I grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And the only place I can get on stage you had to have to open mic was in Lansing, Michigan. So I had to get in my Jetta, which was a really raggedy car. If you open the door from the outside, the door fell off.

The wipers worked great until it got wet. Like it was just, it was a really raggedy car. So I'm on my way to Lansing to get on stage, and I still remember my first joke ever. They only gave me three minutes of comedy. I could only have three minutes that I could do, and I had like 12 minutes of comedy that I wanted to crush into that three minutes.

So I thought. I actually finished my entire set and still had a minute and 42 seconds left. But I remember my very first joke, and I wasn't a Christian at the time. In fact, I didn't even know anybody named Jesus. I just want to throw it out there. But this is my first joke ever.

We went back and looked at it. This was my very first joke. So my first joke was something like this. I was like, listen, bet not nobody heckle me. It's a double negative. I didn't even know that back then. Anyway, I said, better not nobody heckle me because the last person to heckle me, I hit him his jaw, punch him in his stomach,

and I grabbed him by the back of his wheelchair and pushed him all my way. That was my first joke. So since that time, I've learned an awful lot about comedy and a little bit about life. And what I'm really called to do is to comedically inspire people to walk in purpose. So I'm gonna talk about three ways

that I actually develop comedy. There's three methods that I use to create comedy, and I've learned these same three methods can apply to life in you understanding what God has called you to do. Like literally, the exact same methods can take place. So I'm gonna kind of walk you through them, and some of you guys may notice yourself in this as well. So the first method that I use is really improv.

Like, I really, really like improv a lot. What's your name, dude? Grant. What is it? Grant. Like, how much money you got in your pocket right now? You got 20. 100.

Oh, 120. I was about to say, you ain't in got Grant in your pocket right now? Okay, cool. What do you do for a living? You work for a ministry, cool, but what do you do for a living? You love people for a living? Yeah, it might be illegal, bro. I don't know exactly what that's supposed to mean.

I love people for a living. Okay, where you're a hat and your Cadillac at? I don't know what that means. So here's what just happened. One of the methods in which I use it to create comedy is improv. I don't know Grant. I don't travel with a grant. It just doesn't happen.

So with improv, you don't really have a plan. You're just kind of jumping out there to see what would happen. I was hoping I could find some funny in this dude, and we found an opportunity to laugh. Like it was right there. Right? So life is extremely similar when it comes to people trying to figure out what it is God has for them to do.

A lot of people, even right now watching, you're kind of improvving your way through life. You're not really sure what you're supposed to do. you're trying this, you're volunteering here. You're not 100% locked in. And the thing about improv, it has a short lifespan. Like, it's a super short shelf span. Like, if I went to my next event and told them,

yo, I met this dude named Grant. He had $120 in his pocket. They'd be like, okay, what else? Like, they don't even want to hear that story. So I'd have to continue to try to reinvent myself every time the season changed, so to speak. The way to really utilize improv is what I've learned in the middle of it is there's three questions that I'm asking.

The first question I'm asking, while I'm looking for the funny, is what is the problem? Like, what's the rub? So, for instance, your name is Grant. So I go Grant, and then I'm like, okay, Grant, how much money does he have? Because I know there's a president named Grant who's on the bill. So I'm looking for what's not congruent. When you're walking in your purpose, even if you're improv and in life, there's three questions you've got to ask, what's the problem, who are the people, and what can I give?

When you ask those three questions, you're much closer. Think about it. Like there's people who will go to school, go to college, and the first thing they're asking themselves, like if you ask any college student right now, why aren't you in school? First thing they'll say most likely is, well, I decided to be like a pediatrician. Why a pediatrician? Oh, because I love kids. It always starts with what I love. I like computers. I enjoy doing this. No, no, no, no, no. You need to start with the problem, find out who your people are and then what you can give. So the other way I create comedy is this thing called a premise. This is one of my favorite ways. Because a premise is when I have an idea for something that I think might be funny, but I'm not sure.

But I think. So now I've got to work this thing out. An example of a premise is I have a theory about men. A theory about men and how we like to embrace one another, hug one another. Not love like what you just said. That was a little creepy. But how we like to embrace one another. So, for example, men, I'm cool with hugging men, especially after this pandemic is over. I just like hugging people, right? But men have some rules around hugging. This is just a theory. We've got some rule. We've never talked about it before, ever, though. We've never ever had a conversation. Sir, have you ever talked to another man about how you want to be hug? No, no, not at all. It's never come up. But there are rules. We have these rules. We never talked about them, but they're

rules. The rule number one is the hug can only last 1.4 seconds. That's a rule. We never talked about it, but all the men are here like, yeah, you're right. That is true. And rule number two, you know the hug is over when, when we tap out? Tap, tap, release. That's what we do. Every single time, tap, tap, tap, release. Fellas, you ever tap out and they don't release? You're like, tap, tap, bro, tap, tap. I'm doing Morris code on this dude back. I tapped him so hard, he burped. I'm like, dude, you need to let go. You got to let go.

You just burp. You got to let go. The other rule we have around hugging men is really pretty simple. It's left hand under, right hand over. Tap out, release. The fellas right now are doing a math like, that is true, but we never talked about that. That's crazy. It's left hand under, right hand over, tap out release.

You know how you know this is rule, fellas? You ever have a dude try to go double under? He can't go double under. He go double under, you gotta go double over. Now y'all slow dancing. That's what you're doing. You slow dancing. You might as well turn on the Luther Vandross.

That's what you're doing. Or for this audience, Barry Manilow. You might as well just turn it on. It's just some rules we have. So listen, that whole premise, that started out as a premise. I just started digging into, how could that be fun? Like men, like every time release. I just started digging into it.

and I had to get on stage and test that joke out until I knew exactly what it was. Now, some premises, you just have to let them go. Like I got some jokes, I think they're hilarious. The audience is like, okay, dude. And I have to know when to let that go. Some people are doing life, trying to hear God's voice and what he wants to do,

but you have a premise. Or maybe you didn't even hear from God. You just got a premise. Some people went to school on a premise. And now all you have is a plaque on the wall. because your premise was about you. I like to do this. I enjoy that.

Well, that's fun. As opposed to asking the three questions that you have to ask, what is the problem? Who are the people and what can I give? If it's easy if you remember, I like to refer to this as the three peas. What's the problem? Who are the people?

And what can I give? The reason that last one is a G is because nobody remembers three P's anyway. What's the problem? problem who are the people and what can I give three peace listen you guys are going to remember that long before you remember the three whatever else's so you really really really want to do that listen the Bible says one of the verses that I just gave you is many are the plans of a man's heart but God's purpose shall prevail like it's his purpose that shall prevail another premise I

had I just threw this on stage one um well my friend said my Amish friend texts me a joke once And um, well, Amish brand takes me a joke. It's a premise. See how it was mixed reviews right now? I still gotta kind of work that thing out. Some premises you have to let go of. Some of you guys are doing something because it's comfortable.

God is calling you something greater and you won't let go at this premise. You're still holding on to the same premise. The best jokes, the best jokes, The best ones by far for me are the ones when I start with the punch line. When the punch line shows up first, the impact is always greater and the work is not nearly as hard. The punch line shows up first. In fact, here's one.

There's four words you can use when you tell any story and people will believe the story, no matter how crazy it is. There's four words you can use. I'm going to tell you a crazy story. I met a lady, for real. I met a lady who had a test. Like an actual lady, she had an actual tail. I was at Walmart.

Did you see what just happened right now? He was like, no, a tail. I was like, I was at Walmart. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know her. I know her. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Why didn't she say that?

Why didn't she say that? Here's the thing about people at Walmart. I don't think the people at Walmart are crazy. I think what happens is when we go to Walmart, we become those people. Like, for real, like as soon as you cross the threshold, 3T fallout. And you got on some house shoes.

You're like, well, I don't even like bunny rabbits. Where did these bunny rabbits come from? I don't even like bunny rabbits. This is the weirdest thing. Another joke that came to me, punchline first. When God operates, he has the end in mind at the beginning. The punchline comes to me first, and those jokes are always the cleanest. So one example, I said this before was, I was watching TV, and this commercial came on.

You've seen before it's like, the old lady, she fell down. She's like, hell, I've fallen, and I can't get up. First thing I'm thinking, why don't the cameraman helper? He right there. That thing started with me sitting down saying, why don't the cameraman helper? I had to create all the other stuff afterwards and put it in front of it. My dad used to read books to us when we were kids. But he wouldn't just read any book.

I mean, he would read it, but he would always tweak the book so it would fit our circumstances. Just to make sure we could understand. One book that he would read was from an author named DJ Seuss. I don't know if you ever read those before. One was called The Cat and the Rat. That was a fun book. And then there was Green Eggs and Spam.

I don't know if you read that one. There's another series of books he read from, it was called When He Was Poe. Yeah, Winnie was Poe. My favorite line in that was, Tigger, please. It was like my favorite line. It was like, that is awesome. The white people are like, I don't know if I can laugh.

When you start like God did in Isaiah, Like God talks about in Isaiah 4610, when you start with the punchline first and know where you're working to, it is always smoother, it's always easier. And the question you have to ask is what is the problem? Who are the people?

No matter what you're doing life, there's people at the end of what you're doing. Are those your people? Are those the people you were called to? And then you ask the question, what do I give? You don't ask what can I give. You don't ask what should I give.

You say what do I give? And then you do that thing. So I got a really cool example for you guys. So I was thinking, what type of people improv their way through life? So I met this artist who's straight improv. Like he was improv and really good artists. This dude could draw amazingly, but I wanted to just test this theory out and see if we can have a big impact as a result of it. So this dude is an artist.

He could draw well, but he's also a pizza delivery dude. because that's how it goes. So I worked with him. I found out a lot about him and what he, what his pains were and whatnot. And then I said, what if we started with something

and we knew the results and then we worked from there? How would that impact him? And what actually took place was he explained that he was so enthusiastic about this process. Like he drew this thing more than he'd ever done before. Like he just was,

he was so far into it. It was amazing. And the people, we connected with them in order to, some of this won't make sense right now, but in a moment it will. The people, His people that he delivered to were blown away. It was a family who lost their special needs son,

but instead of me explaining it, check it. Hey, hey, how's it going, man? What's up, bro? Good, good, good, good. My name's Lamar Cornelius. Currently, I'm a piece of delivery driver, just delivered pizza. You have generous people who gives you a nice tip, and then other days you have people who don't give a tip.

If you have bills that's piling up, you kind of bank on going to go on, working that you it's a good day. There's moments you know when I'm delivering pieces where I'll have an inspiration or an idea that comes to mind. I'm at work. You know I have to put in a time near to make sure it ends meet and then come home and you know do what I love to do which is art. So listen there's a family that you don't notice it's the Dave family. This is a picture of her son. His name is Brexton. He's special needs and he recently passed away.

I've always known I want to help people, you know, ever since I was a little boy. So I have this art ability and I have this desire to help people, but I haven't had the best opportunities to show my love for art and my love for helping people come together. Let me explain, I ain't paying you. So now I actually get to give, you know, from something that I love to do. So Brexton and McKeeley were born three months premature. They would fit really in the palm of our hands and just their little legs would hang off. They were tiny. They were both actually diagnosed with brain hemorrhages at about a week old.

And a week later they took a second scan, just kind of normal protocol. And McKeeley was completely and totally healed from that. Brexon had not. I really feel like we all have kind of a primary instrument, but the least Lord uses to sort of shape us and mold us and chisel us into the image of Christ. Physically was very limited. Mentally, he could light up a room, you know, just had the most joy, the brightest eyes you've ever seen, and just engaged everybody that he ever interacted with.

We were just at this place where things were just about to get better. And one morning, we just went into the bedroom. He wasn't breathing and his heart wasn't beating and called 911 and they came and they were able to save his life. But he was never the same after that. We're probably in and out of the hospital maybe seven or eight times with pneumonia. And after about a three week battle there in the ICU, he finally succumbed to pneumonia. Hey, you guys, I have somebody I want you to meet. This is Lamar.

And he's a really great artist. He heard about your story, and he has a gift for you. So, oh, so, y'all clap for, okay, cool. So the first thing I presented to him was the problem. And those were his people for sure, because he's also in a situation where he's not able to see his son. And then he simply answered the question, what can I do? There's another story that's extremely similar to this one.

where someone said, what is the problem, who are the people, and what can I do? And that person was God. And the problem was sin. And the people was us. And what he decided to do was send his son Jesus to this earth to die for us. When Jesus got to earth, his punchline was the cross.

That's where he was headed the end. entire time. He could do improv. Who touched me? He asked that question. He was ready. His premise was clear. It was right on point. He delivered exactly what he's supposed to deliver. The question is, will you receive it? Can you fully receive it? Or are you going to just continue to improv your way around and say, ooh, what about Buddha? Ooh, what about the universe? What about the, What about this? Ooh, what about, like, there's a bunch of ways to improv. But if you really want to deliver what you're called to deliver,

you have to have that relationship with the one who gave you the gift in the first place. So there's this story. I tell, I thought I got to tell it now. It's kind of cool. So I came up with this story. It's a story about having a relationship with Jesus. But the way I came up with this story is I was doing a, I was writing a joke. I was writing this joke about the good room.

How many people here? Raise your hand if you know what the good room is. You know what the good room is. There's no, there's one hand in the back. Cool, just that one hand. You got a big hand, though. That's a big hand. So that's like two hands, man.

You really know what it is, don't you? I just randomly jumped into some improv right now. So the good room is that room. The truth is mostly everybody here. You know what the good room is. Like even watching right now, you know what the good room. The good room is that room in your grandmother's house

or your aunt's house. It's that one room that's better than the rest of the house. Can't nobody going there. Splaz is going to, furniture is really just for looks how many people know what the good room is now exactly all the hands went up wow you got two big hands sir that's awesome I didn't know if the other one was gonna be that big big hand too I got handed to you man that's a light that's a big hand dude so everybody knows what the good room is it's that room that no like you can't go in there there's plastic

on the front like it's really just for looks that's where the china is located so I was writing this joke about the good room and in the middle of writing this joke god stopped me and told me to tell this story to his people. And just now, after telling you how God sent his son to beat a punchline, I just feel like I should share this for whatever reason. And as maybe some of you know about this before, but this is how I came up with the theory behind this joke. So imagine, imagine that you're a house, right? And this is a story about having a relationship with Jesus. This is the story I wrote instead of writing that joke. I never finished the joke. This is the story. So, Imagine that you're a house, and outside of the house is Jesus Christ, and he wants to come in,

but he'll never force his way in. He actually wants you to invite him in. And the reason some people in this room, watching right now at your location, watching right now at home, the reason you haven't invited Jesus into the house is because you're cool with the way things are right now. Whenever you need something, you just walk up to the door, crack it open, say a little prayer. Tell them what happened. Tell them what's going on. and then you close the door and go back into the house. That's not a relationship at all. How can you hear his voice under those circumstances?

How can you really understand what your life's punchline is under those circumstances? We're going into a new year and you need to deliver. And the reason you won't let him in is because your house is a mess. You think you need to clean it up first. How's that working out for you? There may be drugs or pornography in the house, or are you just buying a bunch of stuff trying to be distracted from the mess?

Or relationships. You brought other people in the house hoping that they can help you clean it up. But they can't. The only one who can clean up the house is standing outside the door wearing an apron with a bucket in his hand, waiting on you to truly open the door.

Then there's other people watching right now. You used to have Jesus in the whole house, but whether you realize it or not, you have moved him to just one room in the house. The good room. Have you ever noticed how the good room most of the time is the one right up front with the big window? So when people look in, they think the whole house is clean, but it's not. It's just that one room.

So when they hear about you coming to church or watching online, they think the whole house is clean, but it's not. It's just that one room. You quote scriptures, but it's just that one room. You got a Bible in your car, but it's just that one room. You got the app on your phone, but it's just that one room and your streak is zero. Jesus wants access to the whole house And I'm telling you if you will make the decision To open the door and let them in

He'll show up with a contractor named the Holy Spirit And they will make sure the whole house It's functioning the way that it should There is something significant for you to deliver In this up and coming year Something significant that it's always been inside of you But you have to stop just improv your way around Release your premise if necessary

and ask the question, what is the problem? Who are my people? And what do I give? Because that's exactly what Jesus did for us. I appreciate you. I love you. I'm Mike Guterion.