Lessons From My Baseball Dad - CRAIG GROESCHEL
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00:00 Well, this year marks my first Father's Day
00:04 without my earthly dad here on earth.
00:09 And so what I wanna do today
00:10 is something very, very different.
00:11 I would normally preach a text from Scripture
00:15 or I would preach on a topic using God's Word
00:18 to address different angles of that topic.
00:20 But today I want to honor my earthly dad
00:25 and hopefully point you to our heavenly dad
00:27 in a way that would build your faith and intimacy in him.
00:32 And so what I wanna do is tell you some of the lessons
00:35 that I actually learned from my dad.
00:37 I need to warn you,
00:38 they are not the traditional lessons that you would expect
00:42 because my dad was not at all the traditional guy
00:46 in any sense of the term.
00:48 He was an incredible athlete.
00:50 He played minor league pro baseball
00:52 and was drafted in the army.
00:54 Most people say he wouldn't admit it,
00:56 but they all say he probably was on his way to the majors,
01:00 most certainly, incredible athlete.
01:02 And because of his love for baseball,
01:04 everything in life was related to baseball.
01:09 I was a little kid and we did not have a swing set
01:11 in the backyard.
01:12 We had a pitcher's mound and we had a home plate
01:14 and I was pitching probably at the age of three.
01:17 Everything was related to baseball.
01:19 He could relate anything at all.
01:22 Instead of asking me, "Hey, Grosh,"
01:24 as he always called me, "Grosh,"
01:25 he wouldn't say, "Are you preaching this weekend?"
01:28 He'd say, "Are you on the mound?"
01:30 And that meant, "Are you preaching?"
01:32 And I would say, "Yes, sir."
01:33 And then he would say things like, "Bring the heat.
01:37 "Keep it low and inside."
01:39 I don't know what it means to keep a sermon low and inside,
01:41 but evidently it was important to him.
01:43 Everything was baseball.
01:45 My first date, I'm like in the sixth grade
01:47 going to a little dance and he says,
01:49 "Don't step up to the plate without wearing your helmet."
01:52 (audience laughing)
01:53 I don't know what that means.
01:54 I still don't know what that means.
01:56 I mean, we have six kids and maybe
01:59 it's 'cause I didn't know what he meant
02:01 by don't step up to the plate.
02:03 I don't even know what that meant,
02:04 but he just, everything that he did was around baseball.
02:09 And what I know about Father's Day
02:14 is it can be an emotionally tricky day for a lot of people.
02:19 There are some of you that had a really close relationship
02:22 with your dads.
02:23 If you did, praise God for that,
02:25 because there are many of you that didn't.
02:28 And there are a lot of you that are dads
02:30 and some of you have a very strong relationship
02:33 with your children.
02:35 And if you do, thank God for that
02:37 because there are many of you that don't.
02:40 And so I just wanna acknowledge
02:41 that this can be a complicated time for a lot of people.
02:45 And it actually was for me for a period of years.
02:49 I'll give you a little bit of the backstory.
02:50 When I was young, I absolutely idolized my dad.
02:53 We had so much fun together in different times
02:56 and he could beat up anybody else's dad.
02:59 And I actually might've seen him do that once or twice.
03:01 And he was a hero to me.
03:04 And as I got older, I learned that we all paid
03:09 a very real price for his alcoholism.
03:13 And this was something he talked about very freely
03:15 later in life, so I'm not dishonoring anything
03:17 that he didn't tell.
03:18 But I would say from my perspective as a kid,
03:20 to the best of my knowledge,
03:22 I never saw him after 10 p.m. at home sober, not one time.
03:27 And so you can imagine that created some more challenging
03:31 nights and weeks and months and even years.
03:36 And something very special happened early in my ministry.
03:40 I was preaching on the repentant sinner on the cross.
03:45 There were two people next to Jesus
03:47 when he was dying on the cross
03:48 and one of them was sorry for his sins.
03:50 And I preached this very text when Jesus said to this guy
03:53 who said, "Hey, remember me when you come to your kingdom."
03:56 Jesus answered him and said to this guy,
03:58 "Truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."
04:03 And I preached very, very clearly with a lot of passion
04:07 because I was still a newer believer
04:10 about the amazing grace of Jesus
04:12 that this guy was hanging on a cross dying
04:15 and he couldn't do a single good work.
04:18 There was nothing he could do.
04:19 He couldn't be baptized.
04:21 He couldn't join a church.
04:22 He couldn't give an offering.
04:24 He couldn't turn over a new leaf.
04:25 He couldn't do anything at all, but trust the grace of Jesus.
04:28 And I preached that message and someone gave my dad
04:31 a copy of the cassette tape and he listened to the message
04:34 and he called me and he said, "Gross, that old boy,
04:39 "you think you really went to heaven?"
04:41 I said, "Yeah, it says it in scripture."
04:43 He said, "Well, son, he was safe under the tag."
04:46 (congregation laughing)
04:50 And then he said, "Gross, you think there's still hope
04:53 "for me?"
04:54 And I said, "Dad, there's more hope
04:57 "than you could ever imagine in Jesus."
04:59 And I saw Jesus transform him in a way
05:04 that's very difficult to describe.
05:06 In 33 years of ministry, my dad is the biggest life change
05:10 story that I've ever seen up close.
05:12 Changed by the grace, the power, the glory
05:14 (congregation applauding)
05:15 of the son of God who died and rose again
05:18 so we could be changed.
05:23 And at his funeral, I preached from his Bible
05:26 and I preached a message called,
05:27 Lessons from My Baseball Dad.
05:29 I wanna share a few of those with you today
05:32 and what I'm gonna call four truths to win at life.
05:35 And these were some of the many sayings
05:37 that my dad taught me over the years.
05:39 And the first one he would say is this, he said,
05:40 "Gross, you can't win with a bad attitude."
05:44 He'd teach me this, "You don't win without sacrifices."
05:48 You gotta move the runners, sacrifice to move the runners.
05:51 He said, "No grass stains, no glory, no bruises, no story."
05:56 And quoting Yogi Berra, he said it over again,
05:59 "Hey, it ain't over till it's over."
06:03 And I wanna show you today a few of the lessons
06:05 and how they are very consistent with God's Word.
06:10 And I'll start with the first one my dad would say
06:12 is you can't win with a bad attitude.
06:16 And at his funeral, I had his Bible
06:18 and I opened it up to a text that he had highlighted
06:22 and Philippians chapter two in many ways
06:25 would have been like a life verse for him.
06:27 And the apostle Paul from a prison wrote these words,
06:30 he said, "Don't be selfish."
06:34 And in the early years of my life,
06:36 I think even my dad would agree
06:37 that he was probably more on the selfish side,
06:39 but after the grace of Jesus,
06:40 there was not a selfish bone in his body.
06:43 "Don't try to impress others."
06:44 My dad did not in the later years of his life.
06:47 "Be humble early on."
06:49 He was like me early on,
06:51 and maybe like some of you early on,
06:52 or maybe even like some of you now,
06:54 more proud and Scripture teaches us to be humble.
06:58 "Thinking of others as better than yourselves,
07:02 "and don't look out only for your own interests,
07:06 "but take an interest in others too."
07:09 And I saw him live that out until the day he died.
07:12 It's this part of the verse though,
07:14 that really captured the attribute of his life
07:17 that really inspired me,
07:19 and to this day I wanna be more like him.
07:21 It says this, "You must have the same attitude
07:24 "as that Christ Jesus had."
07:27 You must have the same attitude as Christ Jesus.
07:30 And I admired this until the day he died, his attitude.
07:33 In fact, when I was a little kid,
07:35 I can remember, you know, T-ball,
07:37 and me and my little T-ball buddies
07:38 are lined up on the first baseline.
07:40 He'd line us up, he'd say, "Attention!"
07:41 And we'd do this, and that wasn't baseball,
07:43 but that was army mixed with baseball.
07:44 "Attention!"
07:45 And then he'd come by and he'd walk down the aisle
07:46 and he'd start smelling everybody,
07:47 he'd go, "Smell and see if anybody has a bad attitude.
07:52 "Anybody got a bad attitude?
07:53 "'Cause you can't win with a bad attitude.
07:54 "No bad attitudes on my field.
07:56 "You can't win with a bad attitude."
07:58 And he'd say it over and over and over again.
08:00 And if any of you ever met him, Royce,
08:02 you'd have to say, what did he say all the time?
08:04 He always said, "Life is good."
08:06 Over and over and over again.
08:07 "Life is good, life is good, life is good, life is good."
08:10 He said it so much, sometimes I just had to say,
08:13 "You know what, Dad?
08:15 "It's not always good.
08:17 "Like today, it might not be good."
08:19 And he'd say, "Gross, not about what happens to you,
08:22 "but it's how you respond to it.
08:24 "You can't control a lot of things in your life, son,
08:27 "but you can control your attitude.
08:30 "Your attitude should be like that of Jesus Christ,
08:32 "who did not consider himself better,
08:34 "but humbled himself and served others."
08:37 I love the way the Apostle Paul says it
08:39 in Ephesians chapter four,
08:40 and this could be a direct teaching for us,
08:43 that you were taught with regard to your former way of life.
08:48 Before you knew Christ, you were just put off that old self,
08:52 which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires,
08:56 that old nature, when you're new in Christ,
08:59 that's not who you are, that old nature dies.
09:01 All of those selfish, deceitful desires,
09:04 you throw that off, and instead you should be made new.
09:08 What, say it aloud with me, new in the what?
09:10 In the attitude of your minds.
09:13 Our minds should be like that of Jesus Christ.
09:15 And so what do you do?
09:16 You throw off the old self
09:18 that is corrupted by the evil desires,
09:20 and you put on the new self,
09:23 created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
09:28 You throw off the old,
09:30 you put on the new attitude of your minds.
09:34 Somebody here, I need to say attitude check.
09:37 Don't tell me what God can't do.
09:40 Don't tell me why life's not good.
09:42 When God is good, He's working in all things
09:44 to bring about good to those who love Him
09:47 and are called according to His purpose.
09:49 Attitude check.
09:50 (congregation applauding)
09:52 Don't let me spell a bad attitude,
09:53 don't make me come over there, Florida, right?
09:56 And He lived this, I'm telling you, He lived it.
09:59 He battled with COPD, which is a breathing disorder,
10:03 and fought off COVID with a severe breathing disorder,
10:06 and fought off cancer again and again and again.
10:09 And when He'd get bad news about His health,
10:12 which there at the end seemed like it was every third month,
10:15 He'd say, "Life is good.
10:17 "God is good and life is good."
10:18 He'd say it over and over, and He'd say,
10:20 "When I see a grocery, it's a win-win."
10:22 He said, "If God heals me, and I believe He will,
10:25 "it's a win.
10:27 "And if He doesn't heal me, I'm going to heaven.
10:30 "It's a win."
10:32 Attitude check, attitude check.
10:34 Your attitude should be just like that of Jesus Christ.
10:39 You don't win with a bad attitude.
10:43 And then He taught me,
10:43 He loved any kind of phrases with winning, number two,
10:46 is He taught me you don't win without sacrifices.
10:50 You don't win without sacrifices.
10:52 Son, you gotta sacrifice to move the runners.
10:55 And I'm telling you, I could barely read.
10:57 I probably couldn't read
10:58 when He was teaching me baseball signals.
11:01 If you don't know baseball signals, they're kind of funny.
11:04 Coach will be on first base or third base,
11:06 and they'll start doing all this kind of.
11:08 And they on and on and on.
11:17 And what I learned early on is that they're doing all this
11:21 to distract you and throw you off.
11:23 And somewhere in there, there's a key.
11:25 And what comes after the key is the signal.
11:29 My dad's key was always nose, ear,
11:31 whatever comes after nose, ear.
11:33 So you can do anything, nose, hat, that's not it,
11:35 nose, ear, what comes after it.
11:37 And two taps to the arm was the sacrifice bunt.
11:42 Eighth grade game, championship game,
11:44 I was one of the better hitters, had one runner on,
11:47 we were one run down, and I came up to bat.
11:50 My dad goes through all the things, key, sacrifice, bunt.
11:55 So I shook it off.
11:56 And he gave me again, thinking maybe I didn't understand,
12:02 and gave me the, and I shook it off.
12:04 I'm not bunt, I'm not sacrifice bunt,
12:05 I'm too good for that.
12:07 And my dad blew off all the extra stuff,
12:09 and he looked down from first base and he went.
12:12 And I laid down to bunt.
12:20 And I got out, and we moved the runner,
12:23 we ended up batting him in, and at the end of the game,
12:25 he said, "You don't win without sacrifices."
12:30 And this has been a principle
12:31 that's helped me all through life.
12:34 It's something we say at our church all the time,
12:36 that we'll give up some things we love
12:38 for some things that we love even more.
12:41 And this is a reflection, not just of my earthly father,
12:45 but this is a reflection of the love of our heavenly father.
12:49 In Romans 3:25, we read this about the sacrifice.
12:53 "For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin."
12:58 What does that mean?
13:01 Jesus was called the Lamb of God.
13:03 He was perfect in every way, He'd never sinned.
13:07 And because He was holy, and because He was pure,
13:10 because He was clean, He could be the perfect sacrifice
13:13 for our sins, He died in our place.
13:16 Scripture says people are made right with God
13:19 when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life,
13:24 shedding His blood.
13:25 In other words, you're not made right with God
13:27 by being religious enough, by being good enough,
13:29 by turning over a new leaf, by trying to be better,
13:31 by stopping being bad, but you're made right with God
13:33 by the grace of God, through the love of God,
13:36 when Jesus, the Son of God,
13:39 sacrificed His life in our place.
13:44 And the writer to the Hebrews
13:46 talked about sacrificing for others.
13:48 And this is the life my dad lived out, Hebrews 13, 16.
13:52 And don't forget to what?
13:55 To do good, church.
13:56 We don't just go to church, we are the church.
13:59 We are the light of the world.
14:00 Wherever we go, the love of Jesus walks into the room.
14:03 Wherever we go, we do good.
14:05 And we share with those in need.
14:08 We will lead the way with irrational generosity,
14:11 because we truly believe it's more blessed
14:12 to give than to receive.
14:14 And what do we do?
14:14 We don't forget to do good,
14:16 and to share with those in need.
14:18 These are the sacrifices that please God.
14:23 You don't win without a sacrifice.
14:25 And this was indescribably meaningful to me,
14:29 because I know my dad sacrificed a lot,
14:32 but I had no idea until the day that he died,
14:36 and we rushed down to his hometown,
14:38 and came into his home with Royce.
14:40 And Royce, you can tell me, Amy, am I exaggerating?
14:43 It was like the closing scene from "It's a Wonderful Life,"
14:47 when the whole town came in and said,
14:49 "George Bailey did this for me!"
14:51 And person after person after person,
14:54 and I'm not making any one of these up, said,
14:57 they came in and someone said,
14:58 "He paid for my son's tennis lessons."
15:00 And someone else said,
15:01 "Well, he paid for my granddaughter's dance lessons."
15:04 And someone else said,
15:05 "Well, he paid for my kid to go to Christian camp."
15:08 And someone else said, "He gave me gas money."
15:10 And someone else said, "He paid my electric bill."
15:13 And one lady said, "He paid to get my nails done,
15:16 "and I'd never had my nails done in my whole life."
15:19 And by the way, I still don't understand
15:20 the whole nail thing, but ladies, God bless you,
15:22 because I've never heard a guy say,
15:23 "Do you see the nails on that girl?"
15:25 But I know that you like it, and so you do it.
15:27 And anyway, that's a whole 'nother story.
15:29 Someone else said, "He bought diapers for my kids."
15:33 People said, "He called when I needed advice,
15:35 "and gave me the advice that I didn't want to."
15:38 Several people said, "He visited me when I was in prison."
15:40 At his funeral, a lady came up to me and said,
15:43 point is, "Did you see that guy over there?
15:44 "That's my son."
15:46 And my son was an addict and was hitchhiking, homeless.
15:50 And your dad pulled up and said,
15:51 "Looks like you need a ride, son."
15:53 And the guy got in my dad's car,
15:55 and my dad led him to Christ, drove him to Lone Grove.
15:59 I don't know why Lone Grove, but that's a place in Oklahoma.
16:01 Baptized him in a horse trough.
16:02 Why a horse trough?
16:03 I don't know, it probably sounded good to my dad.
16:05 Paid for the guy to go to rehab,
16:06 and the guy was sober at my dad's funeral.
16:09 And those are the sacrifices that please God.
16:12 (audience applauding)
16:16 And when I tell you all that generosity thing,
16:20 my dad was not a wealthy man.
16:24 I don't think he ever wrote what many people
16:27 would consider to be a big check to anyone.
16:30 But I'm telling you, he gave tens of thousands of dollars,
16:33 $20, $50, and $100 at a time to people that were in need.
16:38 And I don't think he ever gave any speech
16:43 in front of thousands of people.
16:45 But what I know is he gave thousands
16:48 of inspirational speeches one-on-one,
16:51 sitting on the other side of a cup of coffee
16:53 with someone who needed some encouragement.
16:56 And Amy can tell you this, there wasn't hardly a time
16:58 that we'd talk where he wouldn't say,
17:00 "Grosh, you know anyone who needs some American dollars?"
17:03 That's what he'd always say.
17:04 "Anyone who needs some American dollars?"
17:06 I'm like, "Dad, why don't you just buy yourself
17:07 "a car that works?"
17:08 (audience laughing)
17:09 He's like, "Nope, nope, nope.
17:10 "You know it's more blessed to give than to receive.
17:12 "You don't win without sacrifices.
17:15 "You gotta make some sacrifices to move the runners."
17:19 My dad taught me, "You don't win with a bad attitude,
17:21 "and you don't win without sacrifices."
17:24 And this quote's not original to him,
17:25 but he would say, "No grass stains, no glory,
17:28 "no bruises, no story."
17:30 And I love that quote because sometimes,
17:33 any time we'd go and play a game, he was always the coach,
17:36 and any time we'd play a game
17:38 and the field was a little bit muddy,
17:40 he'd make us go dive headfirst in the mud
17:42 before the game.
17:42 He goes, "If you're gonna play,
17:43 "you might as well get muddy now,
17:45 "so you don't worry about getting muddy then.
17:47 "No grass stains, no glory, no bruises, no story."
17:51 And in his life, he had some stains,
17:55 and he had some bruises.
17:57 And he had a story, and God got all the glory.
18:02 And this was a guy who didn't know how to say much
18:06 without cussing early on.
18:08 Maybe everyone would slip out later on, too,
18:11 but he said over and over again,
18:12 he would say, "Praise his name, praise his holy name,
18:16 "praise his holy name."
18:18 In fact, when we were gonna start Life.Church years ago,
18:21 Life.Church wasn't Life.Church, we were starting a church,
18:23 we didn't have a name, there was no name,
18:25 so what are we gonna call it?
18:26 And we had Life.Church was one name,
18:28 we had some other names,
18:29 and Amy will tell you this is true.
18:31 He wanted to, he said, "Why don't you call it
18:32 "Praise His Name, His Name is Holy Church."
18:35 (audience laughing)
18:36 We'll go with Life.Church, but anyway,
18:38 that was his story.
18:41 And if you can imagine going from being drunk on booze
18:45 to being filled with the Holy Spirit,
18:47 that's what the power of God can do in someone's life.
18:50 And if you're praying for someone today
18:52 and don't know if it's possible,
18:54 don't give up faith, don't give up faith.
18:56 I love what 1 Peter chapter five says, so powerful.
19:00 "And the God of all grace," the God of all grace,
19:03 "the God of all grace who gives us what we don't deserve
19:07 "and can't earn, who called you
19:09 "to His eternal glory in Christ."
19:11 After you've got some stains on your uniform,
19:16 after you've been through some stuff
19:18 and you got a little story
19:19 and you've suffered for a little while, what will He do?
19:21 This is what He'll do for you,
19:23 this is what He'll do for anyone
19:25 who calls on the name of Jesus.
19:27 This is what He did for my dad.
19:28 He will restore you and He'll make you strong again.
19:33 He'll make you firm and steadfast.
19:36 He'll restore you, He'll make you better than new.
19:40 He'll make you strong in Him,
19:42 firm in the truth of His Word
19:44 and steadfast to the power and glory of His name.
19:49 To Him be the power forever and ever, amen.
19:54 Praise His holy name, praise His holy name.
19:59 My dad was big in the recovery community.
20:02 He was a big fan of Alcohol Anonymous, AA.
20:06 And in AA, they always talk about their higher power.
20:09 And to be very, very clear, my dad wanted you to know,
20:12 his higher power name was Jesus
20:14 and he'd tell you everywhere.
20:15 And on November the 20th in 1992,
20:19 my dad delivered a significant blow
20:21 against his spiritual enemy
20:22 and had his last drink of alcohol
20:24 and was sober 31 years, 11,082 days of sobriety.
20:29 (audience applauding)
20:32 And I wanna talk to the one who is stuck today
20:37 and tell you congratulations, today can be your day one.
20:42 Today could be your day one, you gotta start somewhere.
20:44 How do you get to 11,082 days of sobriety?
20:49 You start with day number one.
20:51 You start with day number one.
20:52 Because I know some of you are a lot like me
20:55 and you got some stains and you got some bruises
21:01 and you've been through some stuff
21:04 and you wouldn't wanna go through it again,
21:06 but dang, you can make God look good
21:09 when he makes you strong, when he restores you,
21:14 when he makes you steadfast.
21:16 See, even Jesus had scars, right?
21:18 After the resurrection, even he has scars.
21:21 And what did he do with his scars?
21:23 He showed them as a testimony
21:26 to the resurrection power of God.
21:28 This is where I was and this is where I am now.
21:31 I am not dead, I am alive.
21:33 I am not in bondage, I am free.
21:35 I am not what I once was, I've been made new
21:38 by the power and the grace of Jesus Christ.
21:41 And I don't know who this is for, but it could be day one.
21:44 You just show your scars, that's where I was,
21:45 I'm not there anymore.
21:46 Day one, day one, day one, day one, day one, day one.
21:49 No grass stains, no glory, no bruises, no story.
21:53 And then to quote Yogi Berra, he would always say,
21:56 "It ain't over till it's over."
22:00 And my dad had this, I'm telling you this,
22:01 never quit, never give up, never go down,
22:05 never surrender attitude.
22:07 And it could be the bottom of the ninth inning
22:10 and we're down four to zero.
22:12 And this is his real hat and it's so real,
22:15 it's like kinda, it's a little bit dirty.
22:18 And we'd be down and dad would come in the dugout
22:23 and say, "All right, you know what time it is.
22:27 "Don't make me tell nobody what time it is.
22:29 "You know what time it is."
22:30 And when he say that, all we do is this,
22:32 it's rally time.
22:34 The hats were going backwards.
22:35 If you don't know what that means,
22:36 it means it's time to get going, it's rally time.
22:38 It ain't over till it's over.
22:39 You're not dead until you're done.
22:41 And if you're not dead, you're not done.
22:43 It's rally time, it's time to get going, it's rally time.
22:45 Somebody right now, it's rally time for you.
22:48 It's rally time.
22:51 You're still here, God still got something for you.
22:55 And dad and Royce, his wife, started a Celebrate Recovery.
23:00 And it grew to become the biggest Celebrate Recovery
23:06 in Southern Oklahoma.
23:07 And it was so big that church that it was meeting in
23:11 said you can't meet there anymore.
23:13 It just got too big and the church said you can't meet there.
23:15 And so it went away.
23:16 It was one of the saddest days of his life.
23:18 Several years later, he's in his 80s
23:20 and he's in and out of the hospital.
23:23 Days before his death, he's in and out of the hospital.
23:25 He said, "Gross, I think God's called me
23:26 "to start another Celebrate Recovery."
23:29 Barely able to even come home from the hospital
23:32 and he's still swinging another, taking another bat,
23:35 always fighting for those who had some bruises,
23:40 those who had some dirt on their uniform.
23:43 And what I want you to know right now
23:45 is if you're hurting in some way, he'd be fighting for you.
23:47 He'd sit across from you and say,
23:50 "Are you addicted?
23:51 "I was too.
23:52 "Are you broken?
23:55 "I was too.
23:55 "Are you imprisoned?
23:58 "I was too.
24:00 "Did you not see a way out?
24:04 "I didn't either."
24:05 And then he'd tell you, "If it ain't over,
24:07 "and it's not over till it's over,
24:09 "turn your hat around, it's rally time.
24:12 "It's rally time."
24:12 And all the way down to the very end,
24:14 he was fighting to help people find freedom
24:17 in the name of Jesus, the name that is above every name.
24:21 And his legacy will live on.
24:23 In fact, so much so that shortly before his death,
24:26 they named a recovery home after him
24:30 and called it Tom's House in his honor.
24:33 And that legacy will live on.
24:35 I can still hear his voice giving his acceptance speech.
24:38 And I wish that I had saved more voice messages from him,
24:43 but I did save a few.
24:45 And there's one that I thought
24:46 I might just let you hear his voice
24:49 and might encourage you
24:50 and might remind you that life is good.
24:52 - Thank you, Bruce.
24:55 We're so proud of you, finally.
24:57 - Whoo, man.
24:58 I'm telling you, that's awesome.
25:00 - Yeah, we're excited for you.
25:02 So anyway, I've got some surprises.
25:05 One of the things we're gonna need to visit,
25:07 just you and I.
25:09 So anyway, Bruce, we love you.
25:12 So proud.
25:13 Life is good.
25:15 - I'm proud of that.
25:16 - Mm.
25:17 He was always proud.
25:19 He liked my flying,
25:21 and that's why it's kind of special today
25:22 that Brett is here who helped me get my instrument rating.
25:25 And I wish I could have told him about that
25:26 because he would have really liked it.
25:28 But I believe with all my heart
25:34 that he'd wanna tell some of you here this.
25:37 You can't win with a bad attitude.
25:39 You should have the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus.
25:43 Put off the old, bring on the new,
25:47 be made new in the attitude of your mind.
25:49 He'd tell you, you don't win without some sacrifices.
25:53 Sometimes you gotta lay down a bunt to move the runners.
25:56 And sometimes the best wins
25:58 come after the biggest sacrifices.
26:00 If you gotta give up something you love
26:02 or something you love even more, why don't you give it up?
26:04 Today.
26:06 And he'd tell you, no grass stains, no glory,
26:08 no bruises, no story.
26:09 You got a story?
26:12 Give God glory.
26:15 If you don't have the healing story,
26:20 let today be day number one.
26:22 The grace of Jesus is here.
26:26 And he'd tell you, it's not over till it's over.
26:28 You're still praying about something
26:30 and you're about to give up faith, don't give up faith.
26:33 Let the Word of God build your faith.
26:35 You've had a dream for something
26:36 and you're ready to surrender the dream.
26:38 Don't surrender the dream if it's a God-given dream.
26:40 If it's God's will, you can't stop it.
26:42 If you're praying for a breakthrough, keep seeking him.
26:47 Galatians 6, verse nine and 10
26:50 was one of his favorite verses.
26:52 Scripture says this,
26:53 "Let us not become weary in doing good."
26:56 Show up early, practice hard, stay late,
27:01 bring your best, always run through the bag.
27:06 Keep your butt down, keep your head up.
27:09 Don't let a ball go between your legs.
27:11 Dive in head first if you have to.
27:14 Keep your pinching arm loose.
27:16 Grab the rosin or your glove.
27:19 Show up early, bring your best.
27:22 I have no bad attitude, don't go with a bad attitude.
27:25 You're a winner, you're victorious.
27:30 There's more in you.
27:31 Don't grow weary in doing good.
27:35 For at the proper time, we'll reap a harvest,
27:39 we'll win a game, we'll see the miracle,
27:43 we'll experience the breakthrough,
27:45 we'll see God glorified if we do not give up.
27:50 I preached that first part.
27:52 That may be one of my top five go-to verses.
27:54 "Let us not become weary in doing good
27:56 "for the proper time we reap a harvest
27:57 "if we do not give up."
27:58 Immediately after it, there's a part
28:01 that almost none of us preachers go to.
28:04 And the verse right after it says,
28:05 "Therefore, as we have opportunity,
28:09 "let us do good to all people."
28:12 And that's what my dad did, that's what Jesus calls us to,
28:15 and that's what we're gonna be as the church.
28:17 We don't just go to church, we are the church.
28:19 Come on, church, it's time.
28:20 Rally hat.
28:22 It's time, it's rally time.
28:24 Time is short, the needs are great, the world is dark,
28:27 the light needs to shine brightly through the church.
28:29 We don't just go to church, we are the church.
28:30 That's what we do, that's what we do.
28:31 We rise up, we rise up, we rise up.
28:32 There's more in you, there's more in you,
28:36 and there's more in you.
28:38 And so, Father, we ask that by the power of your Spirit,
28:42 you would do a work in your church today.
28:44 Stir up the gifts of your Holy Spirit.
28:49 Cause us to rise up, God, to make a difference.
28:53 I pray for anyone who's stuck, anyone who's hurting,
28:56 anyone who is in bondage from an addiction,
28:58 that the power of your Spirit would help,
29:01 help set them free, give them day one.
29:04 Wherever you're watching from today,
29:06 if there is a message from my dad,
29:09 more importantly from God's Word,
29:11 that God is speaking to your heart today,
29:14 would you just lift up your hand right now?
29:15 Just lift up your hand, all of our campuses online,
29:17 you can type in the chat, God is speaking to me.
29:20 If there's a message that God is speaking to you,
29:21 I'm gonna pray that the Holy Spirit
29:23 just seals that in your heart.
29:25 For some of you, it's the attitude.
29:30 God, give us the same attitude as that of Jesus Christ,
29:33 putting off the old, being made new in the attitude of minds.
29:37 God, for some of us, it's willing to sacrifice.
29:40 It might be to sacrifice our pride, to confess a sin,
29:44 to confess our need for help,
29:47 to make a real, a hard decision, a hard choice,
29:50 make a sacrifice, we don't win without sacrifices.
29:53 God, for some of us, it's just getting a little bit dirty,
29:56 just getting in the game and letting you create a story
29:59 that brings you glory.
30:01 And God, for anyone who might be about to give up,
30:05 we pray they would not grow weary in doing good,
30:08 but at the proper time, they would reap a harvest,
30:12 experience an answered prayer, see a miracle,
30:16 experience salvation, if they don't give up seeking you.
30:22 God, do a work in our hearts, we pray.
30:24 As you keep praying today without looking around,
30:28 there may be some of you who,
30:30 you were like my dad at some point in your life.
30:33 You maybe had been around the things of God,
30:36 you might've gone to church some, whatever,
30:38 but you don't have a relationship with Jesus.
30:42 Let me explain it as simply as I can,
30:44 even as I did the message that changed my dad's life.
30:47 There was a man on a cross dying next to Jesus,
30:51 and he looked to Jesus and he said,
30:52 "Hey, you haven't done anything wrong.
30:54 "Will you remember me?"
30:56 That was his best effort to say like,
30:58 "Forgive me, help me, save me."
31:00 That was the only words he had.
31:02 And a man who couldn't do any good works,
31:04 Jesus said, "Today you'll be with me in paradise."
31:08 Jesus was the Lamb of God.
31:10 He was God's own son who sacrificed his life,
31:14 he paid the price, he became sin for us on the cross
31:17 and died in our place.
31:19 And God raised him from the dead so that anyone,
31:22 and this includes you, who calls on his name,
31:24 your sins would be forgiven
31:26 and you would be completely changed wherever you are.
31:29 You may be stuck in an addiction right now,
31:31 you may have experienced spiritual doubts,
31:33 you may feel bad about something you did,
31:35 the people that you hurt,
31:36 Scripture says anyone, it doesn't matter who you are,
31:37 it doesn't matter how bad your life is,
31:39 anyone, this includes you,
31:40 who calls on the name of Jesus,
31:42 your sins would be forgiven
31:43 and you would be made brand new.
31:45 Today at all of our churches or around the world online,
31:48 those who say, "Yes, I need his grace, I need Jesus."
31:50 Today, just step away from your sin,
31:53 step away and step toward him and say,
31:55 "Jesus, I surrender, I give you my life."
31:57 That's your prayer.
31:58 You need his grace, you need his forgiveness,
32:00 you're ready today, you're stepping up to bat,
32:03 you're saying, "Yes, Jesus, I give you my life."
32:05 That's your prayer, lift your hands high right now,
32:07 all over the place and say, "Yes, Jesus, I surrender to you."
32:11 As we have hands going up today at all of our churches,
32:13 we thank God for his grace, the grace of Jesus.
32:16 Online, you can just type in the comment section,
32:19 "I'm giving my life to Jesus, I'm surrendering to him."
32:23 And as we have people today all over the world,
32:24 would you just pray aloud with those around you,
32:27 pray, "Heavenly Father, forgive all of my sins.
32:31 "Jesus, save me, make me brand new.
32:36 "Fill me with your Spirit so I could know you
32:40 "and serve you and follow you.
32:43 "Give me your attitude, the mind of Christ,
32:47 "to serve others, to do good, to love them,
32:52 "toward you, thank you for new life.
32:56 "Take all of mine, in Jesus' name I pray."
33:00 Could somebody celebrate,
33:01 somebody welcome those born into the family of God.
33:04 (congregation cheering)