Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - The Power of a Shadow, Part 1: The Power of a Shadow

Episode Date: June 30, 2019

Influence is powerful. It shapes our lives and moves others to action. It's the shadow we cast and the shadow we live under. So—who’s influencing you? Let's answer that question and discover The Power of a Shadow together. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, thanks for joining us here at Life Church. You know, if you enjoy hearing messages from Pastor Craig Rochelle, it would mean a lot to us. If you would subscribe to our content, you can do so on any of our platforms. Plus, a great way to stay connected is by downloading and using the Life Church app. It's free, and you can download it wherever you download your apps from. But for right now, let's go to this week's message. I'm incredibly honored to introduce to you a very good friend of mine who's going to preach God's word today. Pastor Pierre and his wife Marlees are dear friends of Amy and mine.

Pastor Pierre is actually originally from South Africa, but now he leads a powerful multi-site church out of New York called the Father's House. What I love about Pastor Pierre is his heart for Jesus, is so pure. His integrity runs deep. He's a great man of God, a powerful man of prayer, and you're going to see his heart. He loves our house, and you're going to love his ministry. Could I get a good live church welcome today for Pastor Pierre? Life Church. Come on. Oh, we want to welcome all the campuses and those who are joining us online.

Now you have got to understand what a privilege this is. I'm so glad that Pastor Craig says where I'm from because people usually trying to work at my accent. Even when I get home, I go like, what has happened to you? Now, first of all, let me just take a moment to just tell you how, impactful this house is on the world. I was a young church planter 20 some years ago, Johannesburg, South Africa. It will show my age. That's when they were Windows computer with DOS, with 56K, after you defrag the hard drive. Some people go like, what is he even saying? Is that? And I found Life Church as a young church planter. And you know what it felt like, Finding Life Church is a church planter.

It felt like a kid from Kalamazoo that found a Disney brochure at a truck stop, and that's the closest you'll ever get to Disney. I began to download Pastor Craig's messages and preach them like they mine. And the graphics, that the generosity of this house, you've got to understand when you give, you have no idea how far that generosity reach.

Man, I downloaded the graphics. and people go like, I don't know you're hired a full-time graphics person. I'm not going to tell them it's not the truth. I go like, yeah, it's how we roll. This is what we do. And then we came, God, call us to the United States, and we came as strangers, invisible, not knowing a single person. And Pastor Craig and Amy made room for us at the table,

somewhere in 2000 at a round table. I sat there. Have you ever been in a room where you go like, how did I get you? I'm at Disney. It is amazing. But it was not the room at the round table, this round,

it was room at their hearts. Because the most important thing that I can tell you about your pastonese wife that I had nothing to return to them there was any worth. But yet they partnered with a prophetic hope of God over our lives.

That maybe there is something in these people that they can make room for. And he has made room for us. Amy, you've made room for us, my wife, us. And I cannot tell you how deeply honored. When I die and they do an autopsy, Craig, they're going to find your fingerprint somewhere in our hearts

because ultimately your generosity and your heart has impacted not only our lives, but our church, our city, and wherever we go. Thank you so much. Live church. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Now, since I'm at Disney, I need to begin to just read to you a scripture that I know is going to be so powerful.

It's out of the message, paraphrase, Ephesians 320. I love the scripture so much. That says that God can do anything, you know, far more than you can ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams. He does it not by pushing us around, but by working within us. He's spirit deeply and gently within us. Listen, no matter where you are today, no matter where you find yourself, no matter where you're going online right now, I want you to know that there is a God that is unbothered by our tantrums. He's unbothered by our searching and our confusion.

And his spirit is ever gently working in our hearts. Now there is one thing that I think we all have in common, I hope, is that we all cast a shadow. Now, my city, where I come from, I think we've seen the sun since October like 20 times, so they could dispute it when I'm there. But I went out in your city. Your city is beautiful here in Oklahoma, and, man, I saw my shadow. I go like, there is the sun. Oklahoma has the sun.

There it is. It is absolutely beautiful. Now, the reason why I'm sharing this is because if you don't cast the shadow, you've got a whole different set of problems that we don't want to know about. But growing up, we all have this mentalness looking at our picture, at our parents, what we will never be. We'll never tell them that. You go like, I'll never sit in that chair like my dad flipping through the channel, rolling my eyes. Oh, I'll never flip the pancakes like my mama. When I get, you make the list.

And then when you watch your parents age and you start the process of understanding your age yourself, It is amazing when you begin to realize how large of a shadow they have cast over your life. And now the shadow you live in is the shadow that begins to live in you. And all of a sudden your kids go like, dang, you roll your eyes just like grandpa. Mama, you flip those pancakes just like your mama. And that's the thing you said, I'll never do. And I want you to know that the shadow of our parents, we cannot escape. And I know for some, that's a happy thought.

And for me, it's a happy thought because the shadow of my parents is life-giving, affirming, encouraging. And I have no intention to take any of you to a place of pain. But for some of you, it's not a great shadow. It's a shadow maybe of tension and frustration and addiction and an addiction and an explosion and your home. And for others, it's a shadow of absence. and listen, you don't have the absence of a shadow, you just lived in a shadow of absence. Why am I even saying that?

Well, I'm saying for you to understand that, as one writer says, we all labor under the shadow of our parents, because it is kind of made us who we are and it's influencing who we will become. But that's not what we're going to talk about. Because have you ever considered that there are people living in your shadow? right now. Now, I know there's all kinds of people that live in our shadow and I've just broken

it down to three. In my life, your life, there are people that live in my shadow by sheer proximity. They have no choice. My children don't have a choice. We brought them into the world. They were in our shadow. My wife said, I do. 29 years ago, she's in my shadow. My friends and coworkers, they in my shadow. And then there are people that are there strategically. They, they've placed themselves close to you because there is something about you that they feel as attractive and catalytic. And they, they, they want to hang out with you and they want to be close to you. And then there are people that are there accidentally. You know the accidental shadows that we have is when you have gone to the same coffee shop, but the barista for the last seven weeks is the same one. And it's now just

weird because you make eye contact, you know each other, but you don't. Every time you get to the bench press, it's the same person that wants to be on your bench press. And you've even skipped another day that you usually go and that person is there again. And it's accidental, but maybe it's divine. Maybe there's divine intention in all of that. But what is so amazing or what is so hard as people in our shadows are watching us closely. And they are looking and say, is that the kind of person I want to be? Now as Christ's followers, it becomes quite different.

Because do you understand, there's a lot of people in our shadows intentionally, proximity and accidentally, that actually are looking in our lives, trying to decide whether they want to become followers of Jesus by the way we live. Now, let me try another anger. here. I believe every single one of us in the construct of our DNA was born with a desire to make a positive mark on creation, on this world. Kids don't even understand it. Come on, you know, the moment

they figure they can do something they call for an audience. They go like, hey, hey, hey, look what I can do. Look what I can do. Because in that moment, their desire to be seen that they can do something that you can admire is in the very DNA of our hearts. We know a lot of people have not done great things. Others have done great things, but can I tell you the saddest thing in the whole white world? Listen, just lean in just a little bit into this. It's when we live invisible, forgettable lives. That at the end of our life, whether we were alive or not, does not matter when God's

intention actually is for us to have impactful shadows that are lived in an intentional way. Because you see, at the end of the day, I believe if I can lay on your lap very gently, five things for you to consider when you look at your shadow. Because your shadow has people in there divinely assigned by God. And if we can be impactful with our shadows, do you understand the mark that we can leave on this world around us? Come on, you've got to help me right now. Would you just first pump the person next to you and say, I think this is a message for you. because I'm quite impactful right now. The very first thing I want to share with you is this,

that your shadow is influenced whether you want it or not. It's influential. It's either intentional or unintentional, because, you see, absolutely, I believe when we begin to live a life that is godly, and by that I mean that you're a pure reflection of Jesus in you, that he's work in you as pure. I believe that those who stand,

in our shadows when we live such a reflective life of the one who rescued and saved us and loves us that everybody in our shadow has a great chance to be moved onto the agenda of God by the way we reflect the one who knows us by name but when we begin to live a life that is compromised our shadow becomes foggy our shadow becomes confusing and and i've seen it and you see it that the people that are in your shadow enters the same fog and potentially, now they began or they begin to drift. The second thing, I originally had 16 of those because I love you. I'm like, I'm just going to pass on five.

Your shadow is always consistent with your life. I like my shadow because my shadow is a lot taller. I saw it today. I'm like, there you are. That's the one I like. My shadow is biceps like Pastor Craig. I'm telling me, I'm like flexing. But here is the thing you want.

understand. There is a big difference between a projection and a reflection. A shadow is a reflection. It's not a projection. People, Instagram has made as masters of projections. And some of you are so miserable right now because you are comparing your reflection to somebody else's projection. You should get off Instagram. It's actually stealing your joy right now because they're giving you a projection of a snapshot of a really miserable life that has just got cherries and creams on. And you go like, oh, I love your life. No, no, no, no, no. You see what you need to understand and what I need to understand constantly is that our reflection will always be true to our own heart. People that stand in your shadow will never experience compassion if it doesn't come

from a compassionate heart. Your shadow will never be a fountain of kindness if it doesn't come from a heart that is fault with kindness. Your shadow will never just permeate with the love of Jesus if it doesn't come from a heart as fault with a kindness of Jesus. Oh come on, you know this is good preaching. I can feel it going right now. The third point, an impactful shadow, comes from God's ongoing work in our lives. I love that. You see, Jeremiah 18, God says to Jeremiah, I want you to go to the potter's house and I want you to just go look at it and there I will speak with you. Now I can surmise from scripture and I can only live in it. This is the way my mind works. I think Jeremiah went, oh, this is going to be such a waste of time and then he gets to

the potter's house and his eyes is on the potter and he looks at the potter and God's go like, no, no, no, no, that's the problem with you and the people. You think you are the potter. You're looking at the wrong thing because you live with a self-purpose. this self-invention, self-determination. Jeremiah, don't you understand? I am the potter. Look at the clay. That's what you are, Jeremiah.

You are the clay. I'm the one holding the master plan of your life. Jeremiah, you don't understand it. And you're stubborn clay on top of that, Jeremiah. You look at the potter and go like, I do not like what you're doing with my life. And the potter is not going to fight you, who's going to set you on the side until you're ready.

And I want to say this to you. The way that we have impactful shadows is to stay, to the hands of the potter, to stay soft and yield it to the sovereignty of God and not to fight the hand of the potter. So let me ask you a question. When people look at you, do they see the fingerprints of the potter in your life? Because when they do, I guarantee you your shadow with half. Great impact because you have been impacted by the hands of the living God. So here's number four.

I love number four how great this impact does not come from our access to many but our access to few think about it you may sit there right now and be watching this online and you go like yeah it's easy for you to say you hold the microphone

but Pastor Craig has the microphone he speaks to thousands it's easy for you to talk about an impactful shadow when you get to speak to a lot of people across the world and I go like no no no no you don't understand and I cannot impact your life with this microphone in this distance. I can only inspire you. But if you want to be impacted with my life, we've got to hang out, baby.

We've got to have coffee. We've got to bring proximity close because the impact happened when there is up close proximity. That's why Jesus knew this. I'm so glad I wasn't Jesus' campaign manager. He would frustrate me. because just when he gets the crowd, Jesus says, enough of them. Let me go find the individual. He didn't say to Zagias, Zakias, I'm going to change you publicly and double the crowds.

He says, well, let's leave the crowd and let's go to your house. Because you see, there's this woman Jesus was going to Samaria, and he sat at a well, you know the story. And if you don't go find it, Google it. You'll find it. You just go read it. It's so beautiful. And the disciples were not happy that Jesus was sitting at a well. And you go like, Jesus, why are you sitting at a well?

And he would say to you, I'm waiting for a woman. Jesus, why are you waiting for a woman? If you can have 5,000 and do the bread trick again, do the big thing again, do the thing that they'll write about. And Jesus would not tell them, but you see, I'm going to change the village, but I've got to impact the life. I've got to get to the woman. And she's not a good one in the eyes of people. She has five husbands and the one she's living with is not even her husband. You know what makes me happy so about it?

There is hope for us all, no matter what has gone on your life. And for some of you, you may feel you've made the worst and the poorest decisions in life. And can I tell you something? You're a candidate of the greatest transformative miracle of God because everybody in your shadow knows it is just bad around here. But when God touches your life, everybody in your shadow will know it's undoubtedly God that has done that the Bible says the whole village came to believe because of the woman so can I tell you something don't look for crowds look for a coffee date don't look for followers on Instagram ask God for a new strategic friend the dude at the bench press he's your woman at the well the soccer mom that that pulls her chair up every single time and you go like, it's you again.

Oh, that is your assignment. But you know what, baby, there is a village behind her. Don't ignore that moment because you don't know what God wants to do through their life and your life. Oh, I love this. Because ultimately it leads us to the last point. And that's number five. It says this. obeying his impulse and taking the risk of the seven second moments in your life.

You say, what does that even mean? Oh, I love this. You've got to obey the impulses of God and the seven second moment. You go like, what is the seven second moment? Because you see, there are people in my shadow that God bring in. Have you ever felt that seven second moment when you are in the line to buy groceries and all of a sudden you look at the person in front of you? And I don't know if it's like you with me.

Whenever I have these moments that God intersects my life and he wants me to do, it comes, you know, like those small planes carry that come eat at my restaurant in Florida, the assignments of God gets carried on the back of butterflies. You know when you stand, you go like, oh, this is a God moment? Oh, I don't want to do it. I don't want to do it. I don't want to do it. This thing.

Why? Because there's risk with it. There's risk involved with it. is no certainty involved in it because ultimately I want to tell you the story and there is a reason why we have this out here and Kyle don't kill me because we didn't rehearse this at all because you see in our construct in our culture faith and risk somehow doesn't go together now I was just in in Mexico preaching at a church and the couple that was assigned to me are the most beautiful human beings that God has ever made the sacrifice to serve me and

and just be with me. And I asked the story, tell me, how did you come to faith? And the young mom, she said to me, oh, my family are not believers. And I decided to get baptized. And when I got home, all my belongings was outside the door.

Not only that they shut the house, they shut their hearts. Oh, I go like, oh, my goodness. The risk to your faith. Now, let me tell you about the seven second moments. because you see what God wants to do in our lives is risk. What he wants to do with the person pulling up next to you and the soccer mom, it's a journey of risk. And I want to tell you a recent journey of risk for me, and it's my story, but it's our story.

You say, but you just said it's your story. I know, but if I say it's my story, then you're not going to think you can have the story. But you can have the story because it's our story because God wants to write a story because usually when I hear a story like this, I go like, why can't I get a story like that? You know what I mean? Because we can all get a story. So here is my story of late. My parents are still in South Africa.

My dad's 86. My mom's 81. Oh, they're the most precious. I've got to look in the camera and say thank you for your shadow that's living in me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. But we fly to Johannesburg, and it's for those of you who cannot stand flying to Florida from here, from Johannesburg to JFK and vice versus. It's 16 to 18 hours direct.

Right. When you travel with your family, there's no business class just so you know. I have given up after 20 years praying the pray. God, I'm the head and not the tail. I'm going to buy the cheap seats and I pray. You divinely upgrade me. Jesus, if they're going to find anybody, it's me, Lord. So pick me, pick me, pick me.

I've decided to stop praying that prayer. The prayer list is so long for upgrades to business class. Pray for the poor, pray for me, pray for your pastor. You're wasting your time praying for upgrade. So I decided I need to know how to play the game. Now I'm going to teach you how to play the game. I wish I didn't have so many people. They're going to hear how you play the game.

Because what you do is you've got to get as far back in the plane as possible if you have cheap seats. Because if there's any open seats, that's when you're going to find the cheap seats. So my wife and I take turns and my kids. They get two. We get two. They're not in the game. They're 20 years too young to be in the game. They've got to sit in pain. That's how it goes. That's how you get to playing the game. And this time was my turn. And you know, I got my wife sit in our seats. And then I go find, open seats and you've got to occupy it like it's yours. You've got to have that, these are my seats. And then you've got to have the, it's my seat face. Don't come sit in my seats. And then you look at the aisle and you begin to pray. I bind you in the name of Jesus. Any feet coming my way. Go to first class.

Go to business. Get it. Upgrade. Oh, oh. And then when people come, your stomach turns because they're getting closer to your fake seats. And then they go like, oh, what is your seat number? And you go like, oh, no, what is your seat number? They go like, yeah, D196,000 is my seat number.

You go like, oh, I'm so sorry. I'm sitting in your seat. I misread my ticket And while you say it You scan for the new open-to seats And you go sit there And you occupy it like it's yours And this time we got in the seat

And I'm like you waiting for the magic moment Where they say Cabin doors are going to be closed right now When they say that you are in heaven I'm throwing my wife air high-fives Baby, we're going to do it I'm so thankful I'm 5'6 I'm going to go in fetal possession

Put my money in my underpants and roll up like a baby. It is all good right now. It's going to be amazing. And the flight takes off, and I'm like, oh, there is a God in heaven. And then somebody throw a neck pillow right on my seat. I'm going to like, oh, ain't going to happen. These are my seats.

I throw it back and throw it again. I threw it back and for the third time the pillow came with a woman. She was an older woman. And she sat next to me, and I'm an introvert, and she's a talker. Introverts know quickly when there's a talker. And at that moment, I go like, why? Just why? Just why?

And I found out real quick. Her name's Christine. I go like, hi, Christine. So, where are you from? She tells me this city in South Africa. I go like, hey, you married? She said, I was, for 40-some years my husband passed away a couple of months ago. I'm a pastor now like, oh, dear God, oh.

Now it aches. And she says, Christine, and your kids? Oh, they all live in the United States. Oh, I go like, Christine, how did you get over it? Are you over it? I can't imagine. She says, well, I've had to decide whether I'm just going to mourn myself to death or do something with my life. She says, so I decided to go to one of our city's hospital.

Actually, it was for mentally ill people. But when I arrived, I realized the government has not given any funding to this for years. She says it's terrible. So I went to a local grocery store and I collected bread that is expired and I started putting anything on the spread. And I would take it. She says, peer, they just inhale it. They didn't even eat it. So I decided I better make them some soup.

And I started making soup. And she is telling me the story right now. But what Christine doesn't know that we as a church at the Father's House are in Hope Month. Hope Month is when we as a church raise money that we know as a faith raise to partner with missions. organizations all across the world. And now I'm in this thing. You know that feeling like, okay, this is just divinely weird, that I'm hearing of a missions thing.

And in my mind, I go like, Christine, you're not on the list. Right? And then I say, and so what city are you flying into? She says, Rochester, New York. And I go like, oh, dear Lord, that's my city. I go like, okay, this is weird now. This is risk. And I go like, who's there?

She says, my city. son and I go, Christine, uh, no, this is, this is what God wants me to do, but I don't want to say it, because once I say it, I'm committed to it, right? I can feel the tension. Listen, I can walk up and go to my wife and go, Christine. When I sleep, I get weird. I hug people. So I'm going to go find my wife, but I know there's a, there's the seven seconds are going, tick, tuck, tick, tick, tick, she's in my shadow. She's in my shadow. Who's in your shadow right now? There's decision to be made in that shadow. And I lean over to, I go, like, Christine, I'm a pastor. She said, I knew it at the moment. I sat down. I could feel your spirit. Now I'm like, oh, now she's pushed me to the edge. I go, Christine, I'm not going to make a promise, but I feel this is a divine

moment. And God wants us to partner with you. The Father's house want to give you $10,000. I don't know who you are, multiplying it with your money. It's what my first house cost when I was living there. The finance people are going to go like, have you lost your mind? We should first do a background check on this woman. You know what I mean? But I know right now in this moment, there's not question ask. We've got to respond to who's in our shadow. So in that moment I go like Christine, I'm going to commit to that money. And if it doesn't happen, I'm going to find a way.

And now I'm on the edge. And I've got to go tell my wife and you know what she's going to do? Really. Really. You always find them, don't you? And my wife's the most tender person in the whole wide world. She's watching. But she was not in the moment.

She didn't feel the tension. She's not in the seven second moment. And I want to say to you that every single one of you, God, has legacy written in your seven second moments. And it's going to take for you to realize that soccer mom is not there by accident. You've got to take a risk to your faith and realize she is in your shadow for a divine reason. There is a purpose and you know it when you butterflies are flying and you're feeling weird and freaked out. But in that moment, This is where the miracles happen of the stories.

You know, I went to the church. I told them about Christine. First week, money came in, and it's not enough for our mission. Second week, we surpassed that third week. We almost doubled what needed to come in. And in that moment, Pastor Craig, I'm like, hey, send me some Christine's Jesus. Bring it on, because God will always meet you on the edge where faith and risk meets. in the shadow.

So we've got two groups of people in this place and all of our campuses. And let me look at you right now. Because you see, even when you're sitting online anywhere in the world right now, there are two groups of people. There are so many of you that are followers of Jesus. But you've got scared of taking the risk of realizing there is a divine assignment in your shadow. The people in your shadows become invisible to you because you think they just like me. they don't like you. They are drawn to Christ in you the hope of glory. And to you, I want to say,

and I want to pray for you and I want to say, what better chance this summer to walk the plank and invite them to church? You go like, Pastor P, you don't understand. They've said no a thousand times. I'm going to go like, what if they say yes next time? What if they the person at the well before the village comes. How about you realize that guy that has been sitting there on the side at the bench press has been asking, God, would you give me a sign

that you are there? And unless you risk it out and you have no ideas, I'm standing here, my legs are buckling, I've got so much adrenaline, I can wrestle Craig down right now. I'm like pumped. I'm scared. When last of you lived scared

in your mission for Jesus. And I want to pray for you. If you are one of those people that say, God, give me kingdom eyes to recognize those of my shadow. It's my mission. Give me the courage to put risk to my faith. Come on, just shoot your hand up right now. I want to pray for you.

Just shoot, oh, you don't think about that. Just shoot that hand up and say, Jesus, I'm going to bring them, I'm going to bring them. Let me just pray for you, Father, right now. the name of Jesus. Wherever people are right now, God, that you have been working intentionally to connect people to their shadow

for ultimately, oh God, you want to use them as the one at the well that knows the village. I pray that you would give them the courage, that they'll feel the tension of the risk in their life and that they will

lean forward and invite others in. Now, while every head is bowed, every eye is closed. Listen, many of you right now, you are hearing this. And you are still exploring faith. You have so many questions. Somehow in your mind you've come to the conclusion.

Once they answer my questions, I will take the journey. And I'm going to tell you that taking the journey will still leave you with a lot of questions, but you will meet the one who knows your name. and maybe I've come all this way to look you in the eye and say today is the moment that God is calling you, but he's calling you at the end of a risk journey where your legs are wobbling, butterflies are flying, but he is calling you to himself. And he says, my spirit is just calling. Come home.

Come home. And if you are at our campuses right now, online and you say, Pastor Pierre, that's me. I'm tired of wrestling. I've tried to be the potter, but today I choose to be the clay. While every head is bow and every eye's closed, oh, I so badly want to pray with you right now. Those who are joining us online, just click below me on the screen to respond.

If you are in our campuses, especially in this room where I can see, would you just raise your right hand and drop it real quick to say, Jesus, I want to walk. I see those hands. I see it. Yes, yes. Oh, I'm so proud of you. Yes. Yes. Come on. Yes. Yes. I'm walking out. Right now, Jesus. I'm unsure, uncertain. My life is, my life is messed up. Oh, it's actually very manicured, but it's empty. I want to pray with you. Now I'm going to ask that we all pray that pray together. If you raves your hands, would you lay your hand on your heart and just pray this with me. Say Jesus, here I am. Nothing to hide. I need a Savior. Thank you. You love me the way I am. And you promise me if I come to you, you'll never push me aside.

You are the God of new beginnings. I believe you're the son of God that died for my sin, rose from the grave and promised me. If I call upon your name, you'll give me the right to become your child. I believe you hearing my prayer. And as I standing with risk and faith before you, thank you that my life will never be the same again. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

Come on, let's just celebrate with every single one right now. God bless you. Thanks again for tuning in this week. You got to know it's our heart as a church to help you continue to grow in your relationship with Christ and we have a great resource to help you do that. It's called life.church slash next.

There you can find all kinds of resources to help you continue to grow in your relationship with Christ. Again, thanks for joining us here at Life Church. We'll see you next time.