Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - We All Need a Fresh Start | Overflow: Part 3

Episode Date: October 16, 2022

Do you ever wonder if you’re worthy of love? Maybe you’ve said or done things you’re ashamed of. Remember: There’s no sin too great for God’s grace. Understanding how great His love is for you will change your life. Let’s learn more in this message. ABOUT THIS MESSAGEDo you ever feel like you’re not enough? Or what you have isn’t enough to make a difference? Sometimes what seems insignificant at first can actually become an Overflow. Let’s learn how in our new series. NEXT 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/lifechurchTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/craiggroeschelFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/craiggroeschelTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschel#lifechurch #craiggroeschel #worthyoflove Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, welcome to our online community. If you feel like you aren't where you want to be in life, you're not alone. You might feel dissatisfied, discouraged, or discontented. The good news is I'm invited my good friend, Pastor Earl McClellan, who has a message that I promise will encourage you and build your faith. Here's Pastor Earl. Today, if you're taking notes, you can jot this down. This is a quick and easy title for today's message.

It's this. We all need a fresh. start. We all need a fresh start. Now you already told somebody next to you that they're pretty. And if you're joining us online and you're sitting by yourself, you can say it to yourself in your phone or in the mirror. But not you just being pretty, that really doesn't matter. You also need to know that you're really loved. Like really loved. Not like kind of loved, but really loved. And the love that I'm talking about is a love that is unconditional, ending and you can't do a thing about it. This is a love that comes from our glorious

Savior and we see it displayed in Christ's death, his burial and his resurrection. This love is absolutely transformational for every single one of us and it actually this love is not dependent upon you. This love is all based on him and do you know this that God actually loves you exactly how you are? This is hard for some of us to comprehend because we know how jacked up we are. We know how messed up we are. We know all the mistakes we've made. So the idea of God loving us just how we are,

that's a little bit hard to digest. But if you are willing to stick with me for a second, I just want to let you know that God does love you exactly how you are, but he also loves us way too much to let us stay that way. Like his grace keeps on pushing us forth. This love is so incredibly powerful and unending. and this love. We use this word all the time in the church, and it's this word called grace. Oh, man, I like this word called grace.

Matter of fact, we have a daughter, and her name is L. Grace. That's how much we love the word grace. Maybe you've heard the song, and if you haven't, then that's okay, but it's called Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. Written by a man hundreds of years ago, John Newton, who was a slave trader, and he came smack dab up against the grace of God, and it transformed him in such a way. And all these years later, we're still singing the song, singing the hymn that he wrote,

because there's something so amazing about grace. Not only is there something amazing about grace, I'll submit to you that there's, I hate to even put it like this. I'll say a, can I say a problem with grace? I don't know. Okay, problem, quote unquote problem. Here's the only problem that I see with grace.

Is that God does such a good job cleaning us up that people who are broken who look at us. think we've never been through anything. That's the only problem I think there might be. There are people who are probably at church or sitting at home right now and they're thinking, I'm the worst person in the room. I'm terrible. Nobody's like me.

I'm the worst of the worst. And they're looking at me and they're looking at you. And they're thinking, they don't know nothing. They've never been through anything. And you're dealing with bankruptcy or you're dealing with, with needing to let employees go, or you're dealing with some other secret sin. Maybe it could be pornography, maybe it could be some anxiety that you're dealing with. Maybe it could be just shame or guilt. It could be fear. It could be a host of different things and you're looking at your own life

and you're thinking there's no one else like me. Little do you know the people that you're sitting next to. The people that you've been singing with, the people that you've been serving with are the same individuals that have walked through hell, they have walked through the grave, they have walked through darkness, they have walked through pain, but the grace of God carried them the whole way through and they are standing here or sitting here today only by the grace of God. Like if God's grace did not show up, you won't even sit next to them. Matter of fact, if some of you all knew who you were sitting next to you, you might hold your purse a little bit tighter. But this is what the grace of God does.

It cleanses us, and it's not based on us. It's all based on him. I'm going to say this, and this is not going to be popular. I recognize it. But there are ugly babies. There are ugly babies. I'm a pastor. We do baby dedications.

And I've walked down that row sometimes. Just a little bit of a shiver, you know. You look up at mom and dad, you go, okay, this kid should be all right. Or this kid's not going to be all right. So I apologize, Pastor Craig, if that's inappropriate, if I went too far. But babies, and we got a whole bunch of them. I mean, it's healthy at our church. I mean, the Lord is working.

I mean, there are babies on babies, on babies, on babies. And the thing about babies is they don't do anything. Except take. They just keep taking and taking and taking and taking and taking and we as adults we will Reorient our entire lives around these individuals that are making no significant contribution to the home at all No dishes. They cannot take out the trash. They cannot drive anybody to a sporting event. They cannot add anything financially and here we are giving Giving and giving and giving. I'm thinking about God's grace. And I feel like we can be babies

and maybe some of us feel like ugly babies. And I have nothing to offer, but still the God of heaven. By his own desire and design, because of his own character and goodness. I will extend my heart and my life towards you. you and I'll care for you even though you can't give me anything in return. This is what the grace of God does. I've got some verses here. Look at me at my first one.

Our first one together, Romans chapter 5 verse number 8. This is one of my favorite verses in all the Bible. It says wow, but God demonstrates his own love, his own love for us in this. that while we were still sinners, while we were still sinners, not when we cleaned ourselves up, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. I got this other verse. Look at this one. Romans chapter 3 verses 23 and 24. This is a good verse too.

It's a little chunky, but it's good. Look at this. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And all are justified freely. by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. The redemption that came by Christ Jesus. I learned this acronym years and years and years ago. Maybe it's an acrostic.

I don't know. One of the two. Somebody, you know, fact check me. But grace, at least in English, is God's, riches at Christ's expense. Grace. God's riches at Christ's expense. You and I walking in, living in the grace, the love, the change, the transformation, the goodness, the joy that comes from God, because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. If you're taking notes, you can jot down this verse too.

It's one of my favorites as well. You can go through the Bible app later, U-Version Bible app, and you can look all these up in a bunch of different translations. But jot down 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, verses 8 and 9. He says, I plead it three times. God, take it away. But he didn't. He said, my grace is sufficient for you.

Because my power is made perfect. and weakness. All these verses that I just read to you, they were written by a man that some theologians would call the apostle of grace. His name is the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul wrote Romans and Corinthians

and a whole bunch of the New Testament. This guy used the word grace one over 100 times in all of his New Testament writing. All the other New Testament writers, all the other ones combined, only use the word grace 55 times. The Apostle Paul has this propensity, this passion, this zeal, this lean in to grace. Why would he do that? Why would he have that type of passion?

Why would he write about grace so vigor? Why would he intertwine it? Of course inspired by the Holy Spirit, but why would this mean so much to him? It's because of his past. It's because of where he had been and who he was. Do you know his name wasn't even originally Paul? It was actually Saul. And if you read in Acts chapter 7, again jot it down a little bit later. You can read in Acts chapter 7. You can read in Acts chapter 7 when the first martyr is being killed, Stephen. And they're throwing stones at him because of his faith in Jesus. The scriptures tell us in verses 58 and 60 that they handed the cloaks, their clothes,

over to this young guy, Saul, and he held their clothes as the religious leader stoned Stephen. the first murder of a Christian. This guy, Saul, is there holding the jackets. The Bible tells us he confirmed, he stamped, he approved of what was happening. You can skip down to Acts chapter 8, verse number three. In Acts chapter 8 verse number three, you will see that the Apostle Paul, who was Saul at that time, This guy is going from house to house. He is grabbing Christians out of their home.

The Bible gives us a detail that he's dragging men and women out of their homes, and he is persecuting the church vigorously. This guy's a gangster. He's got an edge. He's got an axe to grind. Now go with me to Acts chapter 9. And look at this verse, Acts chapter 9, verses 1 and 2. It says, now, meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples.

This is the worst Twitter troll you could ever possibly imagine. This is beyond any hater maybe you've ever had. This is beyond the person that just keeps on being negative on all your posts. You're just trying to post about your grandkids, and here's this person always trying to say something negative. This guy is coming after the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus so that if he found any there who belong to the way, who are following Jesus,

whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. Let me just tell you how committed this guy is to stomping out this thing they call called the way we would now call Christianity becoming a follower of Jesus. This is how passionate he was. Damascus was way up north from Jerusalem. Way up north. It was about 130 to 150 miles. There's no Tesla. There are no Ritz Carlton's on the way. This guy was so adamant that he wanted to stop out Christianity, that he was willing to hop on whatever donkey or whatever horse or walk some six day or a two-week journey just to kill and imprison Christians. He's walking up

or riding up or however he's getting there. He's on his way to Damascus, probably talking junk. I can't believe these Christians. I can't believe these people that belong to the way. I'm going to kill these people. I know. the true God and he's I mean he's mad he's mad he's mad he's mad he's mad he's mad and then Jesus steps in and he says while he's nearing Damascus Jesus shows up and is this huge vision and Jesus says hey Saul Saul calls his name twice because Saul's hard-headed like some of us Saul Saul why do you persecute me who are you Lord I'm Jesus the one you're persecuting Saul is struck with blindness.

He can't see the men that he's with. They lead him into Damascus. Saul is sitting there in Damascus, sitting at some guy's house, and he's blind and he's praying, and he's trying to figure out what is going on because he thought he was doing the right thing. He thought he was going the right way.

He thought he was making the right decisions. But then Jesus said, I love you so much, and I know you think you're doing the right thing. right thing, but I've got to step in right here and I've got to stop you in your tracks because if I don't stop you here, you're not going to fulfill the plan and purpose that I have for you. I'm so thankful that we have a savior that will always step in when we need him to step in. I'm so thankful that we have a savior that even when we think we're going the right way but we're going the wrong way, he steps in. So now Saul is sitting here blind.

He can't see for three days. The Lord goes and talks to this other guy in church. Ananias. He says Anonias, go over there and talk to Saul. Pray for him. Anonai says, uh-uh. Ain't doing it. That dude came here to kill us, to imprison us.

And Jesus said, get your behind up and go. He goes over there, praise for him. Scales fall from Saul's eyes. And look at this in Acts chapter 9. Look at this. Look at this. Acts chapter 9, verse number 19, he says, you know, he got up and he took some food. He regained his strength. And Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. And once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the son of God. He goes from persecuting Christians to preaching about Jesus. So he's in Damascus. He does that for a little while. He ends up going back down to Jerusalem. And look what happens when he gets to Jerusalem.

Watch this. Verse 26. When he came to Jerusalem, remember that was the place where he was putting people in prison. When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him. Duh. Not believing that he was really a disciple. They thought he's like a, you know, coming in an informant or something. He, this guy's lying.

He's probably trying to act like a disciple. We can find out where we meet and kill us all. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. He's trying to, Saul's trying to get in with the apostles and the disciples. are like, no, man, we know who you are. But Barnabas steps up and says, hey, come with me, Saul. I know these dudes. Barnabas grabs him, brings him in and says, hey, everybody, chill. This is my

man. Let me tell you what God has done in his life. Let me tell you how the grace of God has transformed him. Let me tell you how God met him. the road and how we preach fearlessly in Damascus let me tell you that this is a change and transform man and all the disciples are okay with it they're like okay cool cool just because of Barnabas well then we have to ask the question who's Barnabas why would Barnabas have this much weight? Why would he have this much pull? Why would he be in the disciples' ears and them say, okay, well listen to you. Here, my friends, here my friends is what blew me away. It's in Acts chapter 4, verse number 36 and 37. Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus,

whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the Apostles' feet. Some of you all like, okay, what does that mean? First you find out the guy's name's not even Barnabas. His name is Joseph, but they named him Barnabas, which means son of encouragement. Huh. So this guy named Joseph is around the other disciples. He is so encouraging that they give him a nickname. They change his name from Joseph and say, that's Barnabas. He's always here encouraging everybody. He's always here speaking life to everybody. He's always here pouring hope into people. He's always here reminding people of the plans and purposes of God. He's always here telling people that God's on their side. He's always here

lifting a room. He's always in somebody's ear giving them some encouragement. I know your mama named you Joseph. We're calling you Barnabas. My mom's name is Diane. Actually, it's Beatrice, but she doesn't like that. So she goes by Diane, but she's had the nickname My, entire life and most of her life, peaches. That's a sweet nickname, right? I mean, peaches. It's because when she was a baby, when she was a baby, and she would take a bath, her skin would feel like peach fuzz. So they said, oh, peaches. Joseph is such a life-giving encourager that the disciples say, we've got to change your name to encouragement. Son of encouragement.

Then this guy, it seems as if he might be a property developer. Maybe he owns a few different pieces of land. Maybe he just owns one. I don't know. But what I do know is he sold his land. and he brought the money and he put it at the Apostle's feet. And he said, use this to advance the cause of Jesus Christ. You want to know why Barnabas had influence with the disciples?

It's because Barnabas was a man of encouragement and a man of generosity. And generosity and encouragement always open doors. So not only does the encouragement. and the generosity opened the doors. I need you to see this. I need you to see that the message that the Apostle Paul ended up preaching this message of grace and all these hundred verses of grace they would not have happened perhaps would not have happened if this man Barnabas was not a man of encouragement and generosity. So can I submit to you that the gospel that we hear at And we celebrate the scriptures that we read, this beautiful love story of God's divine favor and empowerment and love for us.

It is in part standing on the pillars of encouragement and generosity. And if we want grace to keep on making its way throughout the whole earth, I submit to you that encouragement and generosity will still need. to be the pillars. Perhaps there would be no. Saul turned to Paul who got the message out. If Barnabas wasn't willing to speak words of life and to sell what he owned and say, God, I'm giving it to you. It was generosity and encouragement that made a way for grace. And I think generosity and encouragement are still making the way for grace today. Now, we would say things like, man, I want more grace in the world. Because, man, things are pretty

jacked up in this world. I don't know if you've noticed at all, okay? Seems like everybody's lost their mind. People seem a little bit crazy. We're like, oh, we need more grace. We need more grace. We need more grace. Okay, if we need more grace, I think God might be saying, I want to see more encouragement and more generosity. Oh man I want to see more people come to know Jesus. I want to see more marriages restored. I want to see more single people understand the call and their purpose and their identity. I want to see more young people be formed into the character of Christ. I want to see more issues of injustice and fear and racism and sexism and and depression and I want to see all these things pushed by the waist that I want to see this stuff torn down and I think God is

saying, hey, I've got grace for days. I'm just wondering, can I have a church that'll be willing to keep on giving encouragement and generosity for days? Now, the beautiful thing about you, Life, Church, is this is already in your DNA. But if you're new to the church, if you're new to this place, and you're trying to figure out how we do things, let me just let you know that we are a place that believe in the goodness and the grace and the love of God. And we also believe that God has given us this Barnabas role to play. They say, God, everything I have, every fault, every failure, but also every blessing and every provision. All of it belongs to you. So with a heart of gratitude, God, I say, I'll sell it all and I'll give it to you because I want grace

to make its way into every family, every man, every woman, every school, every college, every neighborhood, every nation. That's what we're believing, God, for. Yeah, I encourage you to make it practical, too. You got to make it practical. Because someone's like, I don't encourage. I don't know how to encourage. Yeah, you do.

Just say something nice. And if it doesn't come naturally to you, then put it on your phone as a reminder. Okay, beep. Encourage wife today with a text. Send the text. care that you had to have a reminder to send her that word of encouragement. Wives for husbands, roommates, siblings, make it practical. Make it automatic. My wife and I did this with our generosity, with our money. We make it automatic. Yeah, I'm so thankful with Dave Ramsey and we've

taken those steps and done the course and it's so wonderful, but we also make it automatic. I get paid. Automatically, God, you get it first. My husband, my wife and I have even taken some steps at times when we're believing God for miracles like sometimes you know there's like a gap between what you need and what you have you're like man God I could use another thousand dollars a month wouldn't that be nice right there's been times he said okay Lord we're going to start to tithe off of the money we don't even have yet so so we're going to start to give an extra hundred as we believe for another thousand not because we're trying to get something from God to say

God, you've been so good to us already. Just want you to know you can trust us with more. You give us more, we're giving more. Not for our fame, but so that more grace can reach the world.

What has happened through you version, what has happened through open, what has happened through this church family, what has happened through your lives already is the grace of God is making its way. way all around the world. People's lives are being changed and transformed. I actually am a person that's on the other side of your generosity and encouragement. I am actually someone that's been positively impacted because you said yes. You have been a Barnabas to me. You've been a Barnabas

to our family. You've been a Barnabas to our church. And there are a whole bunch of other people just like me all over the world. Some speak English, some don't. Some are talking about. Some are short. There's some ugly babies out there and some pretty ones. But with all of them, the grace, the message of God's grace, will reach them on the pillars of generosity and encouragement. If you wouldn't mind, by your head for just a moment, Jesus, over every man and woman who is a part of this beautiful church family, I pray that your grace would overflow to them and through them, and that it would ride on the wings of generosity and encouragement. In Jesus' name, amen, and amen. Can we give God

some praise, Life, Church? Love you so much and cheering you on. Come on, church. Come on, help. Help. Help. Let's tell pastor, thank you. I don't know if our church was ready for that fire. You kind of brought it today. Hey, let's just continue in that attitude, prayer. God, thank you for a church that is an avenue for grace, full of people that are encouragers and people that are generous. God would give you praise today.

As you're reflecting on God's word today, I wonder how many of you, you want that Barnabas spirits. You want to be a carrier of light and encouragement. You want to be a blessing. through your generosity at all of our churches or wherever you're watching from. If you want to be even more full of faith, even a bigger voice of encouragement, to grow in your generosity, would you lift up your hands right now? I hope every hand goes up online.

Just type it and count me in, count me and count me. And Father, thank you so much. For a church full of people that believe the best, that are full of faith, that lift up the name of Jesus everywhere they go. God, thank you that in our communities, day after day, we carry the good news of Jesus, that we're meeting needs, God, that we're partnering with local ministries and organizations

to bring healing and hope and life and love and grace. And God, thank you for all the people through the church and around the world that are coming to know your son Jesus because of the encouragement of your family. God, in a dark world with so much negativity and criticism and toxicity, God, thank you for the light that shines brightly into the darkness.

God, God, increase the darkness. intensity of our light. God, may we be people of hope and grace and encouragement. And God, help us to grow in our generosity, knowing that it truly is more of a blessing to give than it is to receive. And God, in a skeptical world when many people doubt even the motives of Christians, God, I pray that we would have the faith, the courage, the generosity, even symbolically sell whatever we have, and come bearing gifts, gifts of grace, gifts of generosity, that they would to say there's something different with these people. We've been changed by your grace.

Make us agents of grace through encouragement and through generosity. As you keep praying today without looking around, I love Pastor Eurel, you talk so much about the grace of God, the grace of God, the grace of God, the grace of God, the grace of God, the grace of God, that we're not saved, we're never made right with God by our own works, by our own efforts, we can't,

but we're only made right with God by grace, the grace of God. God through faith in Jesus. God's riches, his goodness, his riches at Christ's expense. What does this mean? The reality is very simply, there are some ugly babies, there's some ugly people. And the bottom line is all of us can be very ugly. We've all sinned. We've all done things we're ashamed of and we know it. We feel guilty internally. What does that mean? We've all sinned against God, against His holiness and we know it. The good news is that God in his love and mercy because of his grace. He became one of us in the person of Jesus. God in the flesh,

Jesus was holy and perfect without sin and became the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. He died in our place. And God raised him from the dead. And the good news is, you talk about grace? Do you talk about grace? When we call on that name, the name of Jesus, all of our sins, everything we've ever done wrong is forgiven by God. And we become new. The old is gone and everything becomes new. Many of you are watching today, you're at a live church location, you're watching online and you're here for this moment. You recognize you need God's grace,

you need his forgiveness. What we're gonna do today, we're gonna step away from our own life. We're gonna call on the name of Jesus. The moment you do, God, here's your prayers. Heaven opens up, your sins are forgiven and you're made new all over the world today at all of our churches.

Those who say, yes, I need Jesus, I need his grace. Forgive me of my sins. Today I surrender my life to Jesus. Jesus, I give you my life. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now, all over the place. them up. All of our churches,

praise God, for those of you today saying yes to the grace of Jesus online, just type it in the comment section. I'm surrendering my life to Jesus. Just type that in, I'm surrendering my life to Jesus. Would you pray today? Just pray Heavenly Father, forgive my sins. Save me, Jesus. Make me brand new.

I wanna know you and I wanna serve you and I wanna follow you. Thank you for your grace. Make me an encourager and generous in every way to show people your grace that makes us new. My life is not my own. I give it all to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Hey, could somebody celebrate?

Welcome those born into God's family today.