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00:00 I have a vision for a church
00:03 that when the church service is over,
00:06 you stay in the room.
00:10 I see a church where when the check is paid,
00:15 you stay at the table.
00:17 I envision a community that when the tears stop flowing,
00:23 you keep on hugging.
00:24 I wonder if anybody is interested in that type of intimacy.
00:29 (congregation applauding)
00:30 You can type it in the chat.
00:32 I'm interested, I'm interested.
00:34 What I want you to do today,
00:36 just for fun, wherever you are,
00:38 would you mind looking at the person next to you
00:41 and say, "You look good."
00:42 Just tell him, "You look good.
00:43 "You look really good."
00:44 Look at the person on the other side of you now
00:46 and tell him, "You look almost as good."
00:47 Just, just, just.
00:48 If you're married, I'm watching out for you
00:52 'cause you looked at your spouse first,
00:54 and so the second one looks almost as good.
00:58 Those of you online, just type in, "I look good."
01:00 Just do that, "I look good."
01:01 Just type it in.
01:02 Go ahead and do it because we got something to do with this.
01:04 Now, what we're gonna do, type it in the chat,
01:06 "I look good."
01:07 Just go ahead and do that.
01:08 What we're gonna do now is we've got you in groups of three,
01:10 meaning there's you and the two people you just talked to,
01:14 or there's you and the two people.
01:15 We got groups of three.
01:16 Those of you who just typed, "I'm good,"
01:18 you got you and the person above you and below you
01:21 in the comment section.
01:21 So we've got groups of three.
01:22 Now that we have groups of three,
01:24 I wanna tell you that according to a recent
01:27 Harvard University study,
01:29 one in three of you believe
01:34 that you have needs in your life
01:37 and no one to meet them.
01:40 You have hurts to share
01:43 and no one to listen to them.
01:46 You have love to give
01:48 and no one to receive it.
01:51 One in three of you
01:55 are missing something very significant in your life,
01:58 a core group of intimate relationships
02:02 to spiritually support you
02:03 and nurture you toward the things of God.
02:06 If you're just in a normal group of three people,
02:09 this Harvard study shows actually more than one in three,
02:13 actually 36% of Americans,
02:16 more than one in three endure
02:19 ongoing feelings of loneliness,
02:23 isolation,
02:25 a longing to love
02:27 and to be loved.
02:29 More than one in three
02:33 know something is missing relationally
02:37 and God never intended it to be this way.
02:42 He never intended it to be this way.
02:46 One in three
02:48 know there's something more.
02:52 I wanna go all the way back to the very beginning
02:54 of God's word, Genesis chapter one, verse one,
02:59 and read to you God's word.
03:00 In the beginning,
03:01 God created the heavens and the earth.
03:06 And he said, "Let there be light."
03:09 And the light was good.
03:13 He created day, he created night,
03:16 he created land, he created water.
03:18 And he said, "It is good."
03:22 God created the stars and the plants
03:26 and the fish and the birds.
03:29 And he said, "It was all good."
03:32 And then
03:35 God said something
03:38 was not good.
03:41 After creating man
03:44 with no one to celebrate with,
03:48 no one to cry with,
03:52 no one to laugh with,
03:55 and no one to enjoy life with.
03:59 Then the Lord God said,
04:01 "It is not good for the man to be alone."
04:06 And God said, "I will make a helper
04:09 "who is just right for him."
04:13 Gentlemen, if you're sitting next to your wife,
04:18 look at her and say, "You're just right for me."
04:21 Do it, believe me.
04:22 You're just right for me.
04:26 God created woman for man.
04:29 Verse 22 of Genesis 2,
04:31 the Lord God made a woman from the rib
04:33 and he brought her to the man.
04:34 I like what the man said.
04:35 The man said, what did he say?
04:36 He said, "At last."
04:38 I like this.
04:39 Way to go, God.
04:40 I was tired of looking at the porcupine and the elephant.
04:45 The raccoon was cute, but ate all my food.
04:48 At last, God, you did.
04:50 You did good.
04:50 Now, what I wanna do is I wanna show you
04:53 what God said before that.
04:57 Before he created Adam, before he created Eve,
05:00 I wanna go one chapter prior to Genesis 2,
05:03 back to Genesis 1, and show you what God said
05:06 before he created mankind.
05:09 Genesis 1:26, then God said, "Let," what?
05:13 Let's all say it aloud.
05:14 You can type it in the comment section.
05:15 God said, "Let us make mankind," in what?
05:19 In our image, and in what?
05:22 And in our likeness, what?
05:24 Notice God didn't say, "Let me make mankind in my image,"
05:31 but God said, "Let us make man in our image."
05:39 He used a plural pronoun more than once.
05:44 Now, it's really hard for us to get our mind around this,
05:48 but God himself is never alone.
05:53 God, the being God, is actually a perfect community.
05:59 God is God, and God is three distinct personalities in one.
06:05 It's the mystery of the Trinity.
06:10 God is one, and yet God is a community.
06:12 He is one being, and yet he is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
06:17 He is three distinct personalities united as one God.
06:22 God is a community.
06:26 Why did this community, the Father, the Son,
06:29 and the Holy Spirit, as one being, create man?
06:32 God didn't create us because he was lonely.
06:36 God created us because he is love.
06:42 He is a community.
06:43 He is love.
06:44 Love isn't just what he does, but love is who he is.
06:49 He is a community of love and created you to know him,
06:55 to love, and to be loved.
06:57 And that's why when someone asked Jesus,
06:59 "What is the most important thing you can do?
07:01 "What is the most important command of all?"
07:05 And Jesus said, "Of everything else,
07:07 "the most important thing you can do
07:08 "is to love the Lord your God
07:13 "with all your heart and soul and mind and strength,
07:18 "and to love the person sitting right next to you,
07:22 "on both sides of you, your neighbor,
07:27 "as you love yourself."
07:31 And the early church, the New Testament believers,
07:35 after Jesus gave his life and God raised him from the dead,
07:40 and a few of them gathered and heard the word,
07:42 and then 3,000 were saved, they understood this.
07:47 They embraced this community that was an essential part
07:52 of their spiritual journey.
07:54 They loved one another.
07:57 In fact, Acts chapter two shows us
07:59 something incredibly powerful about how often they met.
08:03 Acts chapter two, verse 46 says, "How often did they meet?"
08:07 You can type it in the comment section if you want.
08:08 How often do they meet?
08:09 They didn't meet just every Saturday night
08:12 at the six o'clock service,
08:14 or they didn't just meet at the 8.30 service
08:16 on Sunday morning whenever they weren't too tired
08:18 from staying out late the night before,
08:20 or when the weather wasn't so good
08:21 they wanted to play in the front yard,
08:23 or the weather wasn't so bad they didn't want to get out,
08:25 or there wasn't a game coming on,
08:26 or the family wasn't in town.
08:27 (congregation cheering)
08:28 I can go on if you want.
08:30 I'm so tired, let's skip church this weekend.
08:35 Oh, let's just stay home and watch it online.
08:37 Okay, no, no, Scripture says, "How often did they meet?"
08:40 Not once a week, but every day.
08:43 Every day.
08:48 They needed each other?
08:51 Every day they continued to meet together
08:55 in the temple courts.
08:57 They broke bread, where?
09:00 In our houses with people?
09:03 Like they gave them their gate code?
09:07 (laughing)
09:09 They let people in their houses?
09:11 They ate in their homes and they weren't upset about it?
09:15 They had glad and sincere hearts?
09:19 And they were praising God
09:21 and enjoying the favor of all the people.
09:24 Every day these crazy Jesus followers met together,
09:34 and it was so much more than physical proximity.
09:38 It was emotional unity.
09:40 Why did they meet together so often?
09:44 I'll tell you why.
09:45 Because they needed each other.
09:50 Back then, it's not like it is today.
09:55 Today it's easy.
09:57 Life's easy.
09:57 No problems, no tension, no mean people.
10:03 (laughing)
10:04 Economy's always good.
10:06 Eggs are always cheap.
10:08 It's easy today, right?
10:09 Back then, it was more difficult.
10:13 Back then, there was a spiritual battle.
10:15 There was the Prince of Darkness
10:17 coming against the people of God.
10:19 Back then, they got persecuted for their faith.
10:22 Back then, there were people getting sick
10:24 and they needed prayer.
10:26 And there were people who were hurting
10:27 that needed each other.
10:29 And they didn't wanna go long
10:30 without having somebody who loved them unite together
10:33 to share around the Word of God,
10:35 to lift one another up, to strengthen them,
10:37 to be the body of Christ in a world that needed Jesus.
10:39 (congregation applauding)
10:43 No one back then said, "Oh, it's Tuesday again.
10:49 "We gotta go to Life Group."
10:51 No, they went with glad and sincere hearts.
11:00 And I wanna show you the fundamental difference
11:03 between the first century Christians
11:07 and the believers today.
11:10 The fundamental difference between the early church
11:13 and people today is this.
11:16 The first century believers desperately needed each other
11:20 and they knew it.
11:23 And believers today desperately need each other
11:28 and they've forgotten it.
11:30 They couldn't be spiritually strong, victorious,
11:44 close to God and overcome the temptation of the evil one
11:50 and have the strength to be a light in the world
11:52 without the family of God.
11:55 And they knew it.
11:58 And it is exactly the same today.
12:03 And so many Christians have forgotten it.
12:06 So I was talking to a mental health expert
12:14 and he explained to me something
12:17 that I think you would agree.
12:18 It's interesting, he said today, "On purpose, intentionally,
12:22 "most people are seeking autonomy
12:24 "and they're seeking independence."
12:27 Meaning I don't wanna have to rely on anyone.
12:31 And in many ways, they're trying to design a life
12:34 without the risk of intimacy.
12:38 And so we'll just observe our friends on social media,
12:41 scroll, scroll, double tap, double tap, forget you.
12:43 You always post the same thing,
12:44 scroll, scroll, double tap, double tap, right?
12:47 We're gonna have friends without real intimate interaction.
12:52 We're going to work today post COVID
12:56 without the hassles of relationship.
12:59 Meaning I'll have a flexible schedule.
13:02 I'll have limited accountability.
13:04 You don't have the right to tell me to come in
13:05 'cause I'm gonna work in my pajamas from home.
13:08 I'm going to shop online, bank online,
13:13 have friends online and watch my sermons online.
13:17 And what this counselor said, and I quote,
13:21 he said, "People are intentionally pursuing a life
13:26 "that destroys their mental health
13:28 "and robs them of real joy and lasting fulfillment."
13:33 That's their very goal.
13:34 It's funny to me how we kind of clap for that
13:39 and then we go do it.
13:40 Don't come over to my house, right?
13:42 They're intentionally pursuing a life
13:46 that is counterproductive to the things that matter most.
13:50 And our God never intended it to be that way.
13:55 (sniffles)
13:57 I shared with you that two weeks ago,
14:01 my dad went to heaven.
14:05 My dad passed away.
14:06 And what I wanna say on behalf of our family,
14:09 to our church, from the bottom of my heart is thank you
14:12 a million times over for your expressions of love.
14:15 It's impossible to tell you how loved we felt.
14:18 We were overwhelmed trying to keep up
14:19 with the expressions of love.
14:22 And so what I'm about to tell you once you hear this
14:24 is not complaining.
14:26 It is an observation of how we are loved
14:30 and what I would call today's relational economy.
14:34 Not complaining.
14:35 Look at the person in the section.
14:35 He's not complaining.
14:36 Tell him right now, type it online.
14:38 He's not complaining.
14:39 I'm not complaining.
14:40 I'm observing at the way that people express love today.
14:44 Here's what happened.
14:46 We were overwhelmed.
14:47 When I posted on social media,
14:49 there were literally thousands of you that said,
14:51 "We're praying for you.
14:52 "We love you.
14:52 "We're so sorry.
14:53 "Dolan says he was a great man.
14:54 "We love you.
14:55 "We love you."
14:56 Thousands.
14:57 I received over a hundred emails from people in the church
15:00 that many I haven't even met.
15:01 And I wanna say thank you to Maria from Thailand
15:05 for your note, Godfrey from Africa for your email,
15:08 Teresa from Omaha for your heartfelt note,
15:10 Mandy from Fort Worth, and Faith from Uganda
15:13 from all over the world.
15:14 Over a hundred people wrote in to tell us
15:16 they're praying for us, they love us.
15:17 And we felt that.
15:19 I received dozens and dozens of texts.
15:21 I could not keep up with them.
15:23 We received flowers from six different people.
15:26 In the first week outside of family,
15:30 I had two phone calls where the phone rang
15:35 and I picked it up and heard a live voice on the other side.
15:39 And then this one guy that I've known since I was 15
15:41 named Scott Streller drove over to my house,
15:44 knocked on the door, came in to see me.
15:47 And honestly, when he did it, it felt odd.
15:51 (congregation laughing)
15:53 He knocked on the door.
15:54 He said, "How are you?"
15:55 I said, "How are you?
15:56 "Is something wrong?"
15:57 Because I didn't expect that.
15:58 Now, I want you to know,
16:01 I would have done something similar.
16:03 I would have sent flowers, I would have sent a text,
16:05 I would have done the same thing.
16:06 So I'm not critiquing what happened,
16:07 I'm observing how people showed love.
16:12 In almost every interaction,
16:15 it was void of personal voice or personal presence.
16:20 Only one person did what was considered
16:23 the most traditional expression of love for years.
16:26 And it even felt weird to me.
16:29 And so I looked at that and I thought,
16:33 God never intended it to be that way.
16:37 And that's why I tell you, I have a vision for a church
16:42 that when the service is over,
16:44 you stay in the room.
16:49 And when the check is paid, you stay at the table.
16:53 And when the tears stop flowing,
16:57 like Streller stretched, my buddy did at my house,
17:01 you just keep on hugging.
17:02 And what I want you to know and understand clearly
17:05 is this is never gonna happen by accident.
17:08 You're never gonna wake up one day and go,
17:11 how did I get all these close friends?
17:13 I didn't mean to, I'm just trying to keep them
17:15 out of my life.
17:16 I didn't want them to go, I mean,
17:17 how did I get all these close friends?
17:18 They're everywhere.
17:19 I got people that love me like crazy.
17:20 I love them, how'd it happen?
17:21 I don't know how it happened.
17:22 It just happened, I didn't even mean to.
17:24 I'm so thankful that in the more recent seasons,
17:31 Amy and I were way more intentional
17:33 and we invite another couple out to dinner once a week.
17:37 Do we have time for that?
17:40 Probably not, but do we need it?
17:42 And of those couples that we've been going out with,
17:47 I think they all took off a day of work,
17:49 drove two hours to a small town to sit with us in a funeral
17:54 because they are our community.
17:56 And I believe that's what God wants you to have.
18:01 In our church family, we call them life groups.
18:04 And I'm gonna propose to you that probably one in three
18:09 or more of you actually need a community like this.
18:13 And when I talk about going to life group,
18:15 I just wanna say what you're thinking,
18:16 like I'm an introvert and that sounds like hell.
18:19 It does.
18:20 I hate that.
18:22 I don't wanna go share my stuff with strangers.
18:24 And I just wanna kind of get it out there.
18:27 It's not gonna be perfect.
18:28 There's gonna be weird people there.
18:30 It is.
18:31 And if you say there's no weird people there,
18:33 they're there, I promise you.
18:38 And that's like part of it.
18:40 You gotta understand.
18:41 That's part of being a part of a family
18:44 is just like getting involved with people.
18:47 And sometimes it's hard, it's often messy,
18:49 and it's always necessary, it's always important,
18:51 it's always God honoring in your life.
18:53 And so I'm gonna just push you a little bit
18:56 and tell you that some of you really need this.
19:00 What's gonna happen in what I would call
19:03 a Jesus honoring life group?
19:05 Three things it'll be.
19:06 The first thing it'll be, I promise you,
19:08 is in our culture, it'll be a gathering of grace.
19:13 It'll be a gathering of grace.
19:15 I like this paraphrased version of Philippians 1, 7,
19:20 when Paul said, "You have a permanent place in my heart.
19:25 "You've remained partners with me
19:28 "in the wonderful grace of God."
19:33 You get together with some broken people,
19:34 and what you're gonna find is that
19:36 this is a safe place to belong,
19:38 and a safe place to believe,
19:40 and a safe place to come.
19:42 It's a gathering of grace.
19:44 One of my favorite stories was a single mom
19:48 that was invited to church and was scared to death to come
19:52 because she was an exotic dancer.
19:55 Well, she came and she felt loved,
19:57 but no one knew what she did,
19:59 and I preached a message very similar to this.
20:02 And she was so hurting and so broken that she took a risk,
20:07 went to a group of people her age,
20:10 came in with a story she was gonna tell them
20:12 about her not real job,
20:14 so they didn't laugh at her or run her out.
20:17 And early in the life group, some other guy, a male,
20:20 started confessing about his pornography struggle.
20:24 And with her normal church background,
20:26 she said, "They're gonna criticize him,
20:29 "and they're gonna shame him."
20:30 And they did the opposite.
20:32 Like even the ladies there didn't judge him,
20:35 and they started listening, and they prayed for him,
20:38 and they loved him,
20:38 and she was so taken aback, she just blurted out,
20:43 "I need help, I'm a single mom,
20:45 "I'm a stripper, and it pays good,
20:47 "and I can't do anything else, I don't know what to do."
20:50 And they did exactly what they did to the guy,
20:52 they just loved her.
20:54 And they welcomed her, and they prayed for her.
20:59 And at the end, without her knowing,
21:01 they took up an offering for her
21:03 and appointed someone else to go tell her
21:05 that we've raised money for you to help you pay your rent
21:08 if you actually quit your job, we'll cover your rent,
21:11 and we'll try to help you get a new job.
21:13 She was so blown away, she quit her job,
21:17 they paid her rent, another guy helped introduce her
21:20 to a different job.
21:21 By the end of that week, she was employed somewhere else,
21:24 a little bit lower salary, and a lot higher self-worth,
21:28 because she was becoming who God wanted her to become.
21:31 (congregation applauding)
21:34 What I want you to know is,
21:36 you're gonna walk in with your own version of something.
21:39 We all do, and you're welcome.
21:43 You're welcome with your questions,
21:47 you're welcome with your doubts,
21:49 you're welcome with your hurts,
21:51 you're welcome with your addictions,
21:52 you're welcome with your baggage,
21:54 you're welcome with your depression, you're just welcome.
21:58 Because everybody else there's kind of broken too,
22:01 and that's why it's a gathering of grace.
22:05 A Jesus honoring life group is a gathering of grace,
22:08 it's also a gathering of healing, a healing.
22:12 I don't know about you, but like I'm at the point
22:14 kind of now where I need to heal, I've got a lot of grief.
22:18 And a lot of times people think God does everything,
22:22 but the way God created us is God does a lot,
22:25 but God also does a lot through his people.
22:28 We tend to think we go to God for healing and God can heal,
22:32 but God has another way of healing,
22:34 when we confess our sins to God, he forgives us.
22:38 But we confess our needs and our hurts to other people,
22:43 there's actually healing in community.
22:46 In fact, scripture says this, James 5:16,
22:47 "Therefore confess your sins to each other
22:51 "and pray for each other that you might be," what?
22:55 That you might be healed.
22:58 You come into this gathering of grace
23:00 and then there's a place of healing,
23:02 you pray for one another and somehow God loves you
23:05 and meets your needs and heals you through other people.
23:09 Here's how he's been healing me.
23:12 So this year I lost my tennis buddy, Rodney of 30 years.
23:17 I lost my dog, Sadie, and I lost my dad.
23:22 And I know this sounds like a country song
23:24 and you can laugh at that 'cause you might as well laugh
23:25 or I'll start crying.
23:27 Ha ha ha, thank you, okay, there's a laugh.
23:29 And when my dog died, you know how it is,
23:33 like everybody's like, "It's just a dog."
23:34 It's just a dog, but this was my dog.
23:37 And when Sadie died and I was there with her,
23:39 I was so upset, I didn't wanna bury her alone.
23:42 So I called a buddy and he drove over,
23:44 it was like 28 degrees out and it's eight o'clock at night
23:47 and we dug a hole and I had him like,
23:50 "You sure she's dead?
23:51 "Let's make sure," you know, and he was with me
23:54 and I buried my dog.
23:56 Then my dad died and he and his wife took off
23:59 and drove all the way down to Ardmore,
24:00 sent flowers, were there with us.
24:02 Then we came home and he said,
24:03 "Hey, there's probably more you need to talk about.
24:06 "Let's go to dinner."
24:08 And so the whole time we went to dinner
24:09 and he just let me talk about my dad.
24:11 And so I said to someone from my community
24:15 who was helping me heal, in a very awkward guy-to-guy way,
24:18 you know how we are, like emotions, blah, you know.
24:21 (congregation laughing)
24:22 Hug, hug, pat, pat, break, okay, none of this stuff, right?
24:25 You know, and so I just said, "Man, thank you.
24:28 "You have no idea how much that meant to me."
24:30 And he said in a very awkward way back,
24:32 he said something like,
24:34 "Who do you think that meant more to, you or to me?"
24:36 Because it meant a lot to me as well.
24:39 And I just thought, that's God healing all of us
24:44 because I needed to receive and he needed to give
24:50 and we both needed something.
24:51 It's a gathering of grace.
24:56 It's a gathering of healing.
24:59 And don't miss this, when we gather,
25:03 it's a gathering of mission,
25:04 meaning we have divine purpose
25:07 and we have divine calling from our heavenly Father.
25:11 It's a gathering of mission.
25:13 I wanna look at the key texts again from Acts 2,
25:17 every day, every day, these people, they needed each other.
25:21 They continued to meet together
25:23 and they ate with glad and sincere hearts,
25:25 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.
25:29 And then scripture says what?
25:30 The Bible says, "And then the Lord added to their number
25:35 "daily those who were being saved."
25:39 This wasn't a little life group
25:40 where it's like us four no more.
25:42 Nobody gets in, we love Jesus, but we don't love you.
25:45 No, this was a community that was so in love with Jesus
25:50 that other people saw the love of Jesus,
25:52 wanted the love of Jesus,
25:54 and the Lord added to their number daily, daily, daily,
25:56 every single day, those who are being saved
25:59 in the kingdom of God.
26:00 We are missional in what we do.
26:02 In fact, if you look at the New Testament,
26:04 there's 59 different one another verses, 59.
26:09 Let's look at them all, we're not gonna do that.
26:12 We'll look at five of them because I'm running out of time.
26:14 Five of them, and when you look at these five
26:17 and they all have a missional aspect,
26:20 look at what we are called to do as the body of Christ
26:25 that you cannot just do scrolling
26:27 and you can't do staying at home alone.
26:30 We're called to do this, we are called to,
26:32 say it with me, serve one another.
26:35 Serve, serve, serve, serve, serve.
26:36 The greatest are those who serve.
26:38 That's missional, what else are we called to do?
26:41 Called to show hospitality to,
26:44 when is the last time you've had someone in your home
26:49 that wasn't there to repair your leaky faucet?
26:52 When is the last time you've had someone far from God
26:56 in your home over for dinner?
26:57 When is the last time you just intentionally
27:00 gathered people together to maybe pray together,
27:02 to worship God together?
27:04 Because you really do need each other.
27:06 We're also called to be kind to one another.
27:11 In a world filled with hate that'll cancel you so fast,
27:14 your head will spin.
27:16 I need some kindness and I need to show some kindness.
27:20 We're also called to encourage one another.
27:24 Anybody needs some encouragement?
27:26 Anybody wanna give some encouragement?
27:28 Encourage each other as long as it's called today.
27:31 It's your mission.
27:32 Like literally the person sitting right next to you
27:36 may need your encouragement today.
27:39 And you may not know when you run out the door.
27:42 'Cause I got a vision for a church
27:43 where people stay in the room.
27:46 And finally, we're called to carry one another's burdens.
27:51 I need help.
27:54 Like I need you.
27:57 And I am grateful for every email and every text
28:03 and every comment.
28:04 I'm sincerely grateful.
28:05 But I need more.
28:09 And so do you.
28:14 So normally here's what I do.
28:16 I'm gonna let you in on my secret sermon strategy.
28:18 Normally what I do is I say,
28:21 so what could we do if we were united together?
28:25 If we had real community in the body of Christ,
28:28 what can we do to get a thing what's possible?
28:29 We could meet the needs in the community and in the world.
28:33 We could meet the needs of the elderly in our communities.
28:35 I'd tell you that we could help every child
28:38 in foster care find a loving home.
28:40 And we could help those when the bondage of addiction
28:42 find freedom from life in Christ.
28:44 And I would tell you we could give away
28:45 unlimited ministry resources
28:47 to hundreds of thousands of pastors around the world.
28:50 And I would tell you that we could share Christ
28:52 with people in countries around the world
28:53 that have limited access to the gospel
28:55 through church online.
28:56 I would tell you that together
28:57 we could give away the YouVersion Bible app
28:59 free to a billion people
29:01 and eradicate Bible poverty in our generation.
29:04 And I would tell you, I'm not gonna do it today,
29:07 but I would tell you that together we could start
29:10 life churches in cities around the world
29:12 and every hurting and broken person
29:15 could hear of the love of Jesus.
29:16 That's what I would normally do,
29:18 but I'm not gonna do that today.
29:20 (congregation laughing)
29:24 I don't know if they know I'm joking, Amy, or not.
29:25 I gotta, I'm working on my delivery.
29:27 I'll get it there.
29:28 What I wanna do instead is I just wanna talk to you.
29:33 I wanna talk to you.
29:38 Because many of you, you know, there's something better
29:42 that God never intended it to be the way it is right now.
29:45 And so for you, you could take a step of faith,
29:50 maybe even call it a risk,
29:53 and get out of your little world
29:56 and love someone as God loved you.
29:59 And then when you see someone who's hurting,
30:03 maybe the person next to you, or maybe on the other side,
30:07 you see someone who's in need,
30:09 you see someone who lost a loved one.
30:12 Maybe this time you don't just leave a comment
30:16 and you don't just send a text,
30:20 but maybe you pick up the phone and call them.
30:24 Or better yet, you get weird and drive across town
30:30 and knock on their door and hug them.
30:35 And when the tears stop flowing, you just keep on hugging.
30:39 And then one day when you're the one that's hurting,
30:44 someone will do the exact same thing for you.
30:46 Because who are we?
30:48 We're the church.
30:51 We don't just go to church.
30:53 We are the church.
30:54 We are the body of Christ.
30:58 We are the hands and feet of Jesus.
31:02 We're the bearers of good news.
31:05 We're the feet that bring in the story of the gospel.
31:09 And what we do, how we show love to the least of these,
31:14 we're actually doing it unto Jesus.
31:18 We're the church.
31:19 We're the church.
31:21 We're the church.
31:23 This is how we love.
31:24 I have a vision for a church
31:28 that when the service is over, we stay in the room
31:35 and when the check is paid, we stay at the table.
31:38 And when the tears stop flowing, we just keep on hugging
31:43 because we're the church.
31:48 So Father, do a work in us.
31:52 Stir us up to be who you want us to be.
31:57 As you're praying today without looking around,
32:00 I wonder how many of you know that this isn't the way
32:04 that God intended it to be.
32:06 And you want to be more intentional
32:10 in showing the love of God.
32:12 Would you lift up your hands right now?
32:14 I hope everybody does.
32:15 I hope everybody is typing in the chat.
32:16 I wanna be more intentional in showing the love of God.
32:20 Father, do a work in us.
32:22 Do a work in us.
32:24 God, help us to be even counter-cultural
32:28 in a culture that distances others.
32:30 God, help us to draw near.
32:34 God, for those who need to take a big risk
32:38 and to start a small community, a life group,
32:42 or to join one, I pray God that this wouldn't be a message
32:47 that they feel and they go on with their life,
32:49 but they would recognize that we desperately need one
32:52 another and they take action.
32:55 God, make us more intentional to show your love
33:02 as you've loved us.
33:03 As you keep praying today,
33:07 I wanna tell you about the goodness of God.
33:08 He didn't create us because He was lonely.
33:10 He created us because He's love.
33:11 And what He wants to do is He wants you to receive His love.
33:16 Love's not just something that He does, it's who He is.
33:21 And I want you to hear this and feel it.
33:22 He loves you.
33:25 There are those of you
33:25 that you don't know where you stand with God.
33:27 You don't know that.
33:28 You may believe in God.
33:29 I grew up believing in God.
33:30 You can believe in God, but not know Him.
33:33 He wants you to know Him.
33:34 He is a relational God.
33:36 He didn't shout His love from heaven.
33:38 He showed His love on earth when He sent His son, Jesus.
33:43 Who did Jesus come for?
33:44 He came for the broken.
33:45 He came for the sick.
33:46 He came for the sinners.
33:47 And He gave His life so our sins could be forgiven.
33:51 And God raised Him from the dead.
33:52 So no matter what you've done, no matter how broken you are,
33:55 you can know God, you can be forgiven by God.
33:58 You can be made new by God.
34:01 So wherever you are right now,
34:03 if you would recognize, I don't know Him personally.
34:08 Today, we're gonna step away from our sin.
34:12 We're gonna step toward Him.
34:13 And when you draw near to Him,
34:15 Scripture says, He draws near to you.
34:19 When you call on Jesus, He'll hear your prayer.
34:21 He'll forgive your sin.
34:22 He'll make you brand new.
34:24 And you'll start on a journey of getting to know the God
34:27 who loves you, wherever you're watching from today.
34:30 Those who say, I need that.
34:31 I know I don't know Him.
34:32 I want His forgiveness today by faith.
34:35 I surrender my life.
34:36 I draw near to Him.
34:37 When you draw near to Him, He will draw near to you.
34:40 Wherever you are, those who say, yes, I need Jesus today.
34:42 I surrender my life to Jesus.
34:44 That's your prayer.
34:44 Lift your hands high now.
34:45 Lift them up high right there.
34:46 Praise God for you guys.
34:47 Oh my gosh, right there.
34:48 Others of you today saying yes.
34:50 Oh, come on, let's go.
34:51 Somebody give God some praise today.
34:52 Right back over here.
34:53 Oh my goodness.
34:55 Come on, come on, church.
34:56 Give God some praise today.
34:57 Right back over there saying yes to Jesus.
35:00 The Holy Spirit is moving online.
35:03 Just type in the chat.
35:04 Just type in the chat, I'm surrendering my life to Jesus.
35:08 We're gonna pray.
35:09 And when we're through praying,
35:10 you're gonna cheer right now.
35:11 'Cause we're not praying for a revival church.
35:13 We're living in a middle of one.
35:14 Can you feel it?
35:15 Can you feel it?
35:16 Can you feel it?
35:17 Pray, Heavenly Father.
35:17 Forgive my sins.
35:19 Jesus, save me.
35:21 Make me new.
35:23 Fill me with your Spirit.
35:25 So I could know you.
35:27 And show your love.
35:29 And show your love.
35:31 And show your love.
35:34 Everywhere I go.
35:36 My life is not my own.
35:37 I give it all to you.
35:40 Thank you for new life.
35:42 You have mine.
35:43 In Jesus' name I pray.
35:45 'Cause somebody worship.
35:47 Somebody celebrate.
35:48 Somebody thank God.
35:49 Come on, church.
35:50 Come on, church.
35:51 Come on, church.