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00:00 So on this Mother's Day, I've got good news
00:03 and I've got bad news.
00:05 What do you want first?
00:06 Let's start with the good news, how about that?
00:09 (congregation laughing)
00:10 The good news is this.
00:13 No matter what you think about you
00:16 and no matter what anyone else said about you,
00:21 if you are new in Christ,
00:24 God's word says that you are his masterpiece.
00:28 Really good news.
00:29 In fact, in God's word, Ephesians chapter three, verse 20,
00:33 scripture says, "For who are you?"
00:36 Would you say it aloud?
00:36 "For we are God's masterpiece."
00:40 And God has created us anew in Christ Jesus
00:45 so we can do all the good things he planned for us long ago.
00:50 Who are you?
00:53 Who do you think you are?
00:54 You are God's masterpiece.
00:57 If you're new in Christ, you are the masterpiece of God.
01:02 That's the good news.
01:04 The bad news is most of you don't believe it.
01:07 You don't because if you believed it in your heart,
01:14 it would change how you live.
01:16 And the reason you don't believe it
01:18 is because you've seen masterpieces, right?
01:22 You've seen the creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel
01:26 and you say, "That is a masterpiece."
01:30 You've seen a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO red, of course.
01:35 And you say, "What is that?"
01:37 "That is a masterpiece."
01:40 And then of course there's this,
01:42 every Rocky movie ever made.
01:45 Come on, somebody, what is it?
01:48 It is a masterpiece.
01:51 You've seen masterpieces
01:53 and you know what a masterpiece looks like.
01:56 And you say, "I'm no masterpiece."
01:59 A masterpiece, I don't know what it is for you,
02:01 doesn't have fitting hair.
02:02 A masterpiece is an underachieving in his career.
02:08 A masterpiece doesn't have high credit card balance
02:13 or a car that leaks oil.
02:16 A masterpiece never eats the whole bag of chips.
02:20 I've seen a masterpiece and I'm no masterpiece.
02:25 How many of you would agree
02:26 that the world can be cruel to you?
02:28 Doesn't take long before someone cuts you down,
02:33 says something about you.
02:35 For me, my little pure mindset
02:40 thinking everybody liked me was blasted
02:44 by a girl named Ashley.
02:46 I was on a swing set, swinging with Ashley next to me,
02:50 thinking that life was good and everybody was nice.
02:53 And little Ashley sat by me and she said,
02:56 "Gosh, you've got the ugliest profile I've ever seen."
03:00 And I remember thinking that doesn't sound good.
03:04 I'm not sure exactly what a profile is,
03:06 but it doesn't sound like I'm gonna be pleased by it.
03:09 And so I said, "What's a profile?"
03:11 And she said, "It's your side look.
03:13 "From the front, you're not bad looking.
03:17 "But when you turn sideways, you have the biggest nose ever."
03:20 Now, some of you may say,
03:22 "Well, Craig, your nose is not that big."
03:25 My nose was this big when I was born.
03:27 When my head was smaller, it was even bigger.
03:31 And so I've kind of grown into it.
03:32 But there Ashley said, "You've got an ugly profile."
03:37 And I wasn't sure it was true
03:39 'cause I'd only seen myself from the front.
03:41 And I went home and got a mirror
03:43 and looked from the side into the mirror.
03:44 And I was just terrified, horrified.
03:47 And from that moment on, anytime I met a girl,
03:50 I would just be in front of her.
03:51 If she moved to my side, I would move to the side.
03:54 (congregation laughing)
03:57 You'll never see my profile, right?
04:03 And you have your own version of that.
04:06 The world has taught you.
04:08 You're not good enough.
04:09 You're not smart enough.
04:12 You're not talented enough.
04:13 You're not pretty enough.
04:15 And then you'll even tell yourself,
04:17 "I bring my best every day.
04:20 And even my best is never enough."
04:25 I know what a masterpiece looks like.
04:28 And I'm no masterpiece.
04:29 Happy Mother's Day, where we're here to make you feel good
04:33 about yourself at Life.Church.
04:35 When Paul was writing this text,
04:40 he was writing to the Christian believers in Ephesus.
04:45 And those believers, they knew what a masterpiece looked like
04:50 because every day they walked past a masterpiece.
04:55 They walked past the Temple of Artemis.
04:58 And if you see it today, you'd say, "That's no masterpiece.
05:00 Here's what it looks like today.
05:02 It's ruins."
05:04 But if you saw it then, it looked like this.
05:07 It was a complete masterpiece.
05:10 Back then, it was one of the seven wonders
05:13 of the ancient world.
05:15 It's rumored to have taken about 120 years or so to build.
05:20 And they would walk by that and say,
05:22 "Now that is a masterpiece."
05:26 And they were reminded of what we often feel.
05:30 We feel small.
05:32 We feel insignificant.
05:34 We feel unimportant.
05:37 And in a similar way, thanks be to social media today,
05:42 we are reminded every single day
05:46 that I am not an influencer with a perfect body.
05:49 And I'm not on vacation like my annoying friend
05:54 who's on their third one this year.
05:58 Bless his heart.
06:00 And I'm not the perfect mom with the perfect home,
06:05 making a homemade meal, all organic, of course.
06:09 I'm the mom who hadn't showered in two days
06:11 and is chicken nuggets again for dinner at our house.
06:15 How many know what he feels like?
06:17 And the voice in your head says,
06:18 you're not good enough.
06:21 Not even sure why they love you.
06:23 You can't make a difference.
06:25 You don't make enough.
06:27 You don't look right.
06:28 You're not important enough.
06:29 You will never, ever be enough.
06:33 There's more bad news.
06:35 And that is this.
06:38 Without Christ, it's actually true.
06:41 Without Christ, you are not enough.
06:46 God's Word teaches us that,
06:49 that without Christ, we are incomplete,
06:52 we are sinful, we are broken,
06:55 and contrary to popular cultural theology,
06:59 you are not enough without Christ.
07:02 Scripture tells us this, Ephesians 2, verse one says this,
07:06 that once you were dead because of your disobedience
07:11 and your many sins.
07:12 In other words, without Christ,
07:14 we are spiritually dead, separated from God.
07:19 And Paul says you used to live in sin
07:22 just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil,
07:26 the commander of the powers in this unseen world.
07:30 He says, hey, without Christ,
07:32 all of us used to live that way,
07:34 following the passionate desires
07:37 and inclinations of our sinful nature.
07:40 By nature, we wanna do what's best for us
07:43 and what feels good in the moment,
07:44 even if it breaks the heart of God.
07:46 He says this, by our very nature,
07:49 by our sinful nature without Christ,
07:52 we were subject to God's anger, just like everyone else.
07:57 I hate to be this direct
08:00 because this is very, very unpopular in today's culture,
08:05 but we're sinful.
08:07 Sin comes from the Greek word hagios,
08:10 and it simply means to miss the mark.
08:12 Our God is a holy God, perfect in every way.
08:17 And anytime we disobey or dishonor His word,
08:22 His heart, His truth, the Bible calls that sin.
08:27 Not popular, but true.
08:30 And what does sin do?
08:32 Sin actually separates us from a holy God.
08:36 And the reason I'm talking about it
08:38 is because today it's just so popular in culture
08:40 to kind of give you the self-esteem quotes.
08:43 And I like to hear them because they kind of feel good,
08:47 but so many of the current cultural self-esteem quotes
08:51 fall pathetically short
08:53 because they are designed to convince you that you are okay.
08:57 And the truth is without Christ, you are not okay.
09:00 None of us are.
09:01 We are broken, dead in our sins.
09:04 And everywhere you look,
09:06 there's messages about self-love and self-love and self-love.
09:09 And I sincerely hope that you can feel better about yourself
09:14 but not just yourself, but who Jesus can be in you.
09:18 The messages about self-love,
09:20 eventually we're just lying to ourselves if we say,
09:23 "I'm okay and you're okay and you're enough
09:25 because without Christ, you're not enough."
09:27 And lying to yourself is never loving yourself.
09:30 Man, you guys are kind of quiet in here.
09:33 Do I need to tone it down?
09:35 Need a little feel good stuff?
09:37 Okay.
09:37 Scripture tells us we've sinned before a holy God.
09:42 And we have to start by acknowledging that.
09:44 It's so important because if you don't admit
09:47 that you're a sinner, you won't see your need for a savior.
09:51 Who is Jesus?
09:52 He is the one who saves us from our sins.
09:56 Without Christ, we have no hope of saving ourselves.
10:01 We can never be good enough.
10:03 And Ephesians 2, 4 tells us the very, very good, good news.
10:08 Scripture tells us this, "But God," I like this.
10:11 There's some bad news, "But God," somebody say, "But God."
10:15 You may wanna type that in the chat,
10:17 just type there, "But God."
10:18 Some preachers that are more charismatic than I am
10:25 in a good way, when they do it, they go, "But God."
10:28 I kind of thought about trying that,
10:29 but I'm not sure I could pull it off.
10:32 I might try it, you just don't know, it may happen.
10:35 (congregation laughing)
10:37 Sometimes I wish I could.
10:39 "But God."
10:40 Okay.
10:41 Somebody help me out.
10:43 You gotta say it, we gotta, like.
10:47 You're just like me, at their church, they could all do it.
10:51 Somebody help me out.
10:52 "We were dead in our sins, but God."
10:56 We were lost and broken without Christ, "But God."
10:59 Without Jesus, we are destined for a life
11:01 separated from Him, "But God, who is so rich in mercy."
11:06 And He loved us so much,
11:11 that even though we were dead because of our sins,
11:15 He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead.
11:20 How are you made right with God?
11:21 Scripture says, "Oh, but God,
11:25 it's only by grace that you've been saved."
11:29 I need to explain this.
11:30 Scripture teaches us, you can never be good enough.
11:34 No matter how righteous you are,
11:37 your best attempt at being good enough,
11:39 Scripture says in the Old Testament,
11:41 is like filthy rags before God.
11:44 You can't be holy enough, you can't be perfect enough,
11:47 you can stop cussing, but you're still lusting.
11:49 You can stop lusting, but you're still judging,
11:51 or you stop judging, but you're still complaining,
11:53 or you stop complaining, but you're still spending
11:56 more than you make or eating more than you should,
11:58 or whatever it is, no matter how hard you try,
12:01 our sinful nature pulls us away from the heart of God.
12:06 You cannot be enough, give enough, pray enough,
12:11 be holy enough, because you're not enough.
12:14 Without Jesus, we are not enough.
12:16 And that brings us to our key verse,
12:18 we'll look at it again, Ephesians 2:10,
12:20 "For who are you?
12:22 "Who are you?"
12:23 Scripture says, "For you are God's masterpiece."
12:27 He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, why?
12:32 So we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.
12:37 The bad news is, without Christ, you're not enough.
12:44 The good news is, with Christ, you are God's masterpiece.
12:49 You are the masterpiece of God in Christ Jesus.
12:54 With Christ, you are God's masterpiece.
13:00 Now, what does that mean?
13:03 The word masterpiece comes from the Greek word poema.
13:07 We get our word poetry from this, it's a beautiful word.
13:10 A good translation of poema is this,
13:13 it's that which has been created, it means workmanship,
13:18 or literally like a poetic statement, it means masterpiece.
13:21 It's God's poetic statement created by God
13:26 for God's divine purpose.
13:29 Who are you?
13:31 If you're in Christ, you are the masterpiece of God.
13:34 In fact, I wanna show you in the Greek language,
13:37 the order of the words, because they're really important.
13:40 Let me put it on the screen.
13:41 If you look at that and say, "I don't understand that,"
13:45 you can just say, "That's Greek to me."
13:48 (audience laughing)
13:49 Type that in the comment section, "That's Greek to me."
13:52 Let me show you the transliteration.
13:54 It's the word otogar esmen poema, otogar esmen poema.
13:59 The very first word in that statement is the word oto,
14:05 which means of him or by him or from him.
14:10 So this is important, the literal word order is this,
14:15 of him, for we are masterpiece,
14:19 or from him, we are masterpiece,
14:22 or by him, we are masterpiece.
14:25 It's from God, it's of God, it's by God
14:30 that you are not who others say you are,
14:34 but you are who he says you are.
14:37 And if you are in Christ, of God, for God, by God, from God,
14:42 you are his masterpiece.
14:45 That's the good news.
14:47 The bad news is most of you don't believe it.
14:49 And so I want you by faith to start declaring it.
14:53 Would you repeat after me?
14:55 You can type this online as well.
14:57 Somebody say, "I am."
14:59 I am.
15:00 God's masterpiece.
15:01 God's masterpiece.
15:02 Who are you?
15:03 I am.
15:04 I am.
15:05 God's masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus.
15:08 Created in Christ Jesus.
15:09 To do good works.
15:11 To do good works.
15:12 Which God prepared for me to do.
15:14 Which God prepared for me to do.
15:16 One more time, I am.
15:17 I am.
15:18 God's masterpiece.
15:19 God's masterpiece.
15:20 Created in Christ Jesus.
15:22 Created in Christ Jesus.
15:23 To do good works.
15:25 To do good works.
15:25 Which God prepared for me to do.
15:27 Which God prepared for me to do.
15:29 Now, wait a minute.
15:30 Okay, Craig, you said we're not saved by good works.
15:32 You just said we're, but now you said good works.
15:35 Here's what we need to understand is you are not saved
15:37 by good works, but for good works.
15:42 You're not saved by what you do,
15:43 but because that you're saved,
15:45 God has created you as his masterpiece for his purpose.
15:50 You are made by God for a purpose.
15:54 And a purpose isn't for you.
15:57 It's not like, life's not about you.
15:59 It's like, you're made by him to serve him
16:01 and glorify him by loving people.
16:04 I heard a preacher say one time, he said,
16:07 "If you don't know the purpose of a thing,
16:09 "all you can do is abuse the thing."
16:12 If you don't know the purpose of a thing,
16:15 all you can do is abuse the thing.
16:17 Reminds me of when I was in the fourth grade
16:19 and I had an next door neighbor named Missy
16:20 who was in the fifth grade that I liked.
16:22 She was a Cougar.
16:23 She was older than me.
16:25 And Missy's not Ashley.
16:26 And yes, I was girl crazy.
16:28 And Missy came over to my house.
16:30 She was in the fifth grade.
16:31 I told you my dad was way into baseball.
16:33 He was playing softball at the time.
16:35 And he left out in the middle of the house,
16:38 my mom will tell you this is true,
16:40 his athletic protective cup.
16:43 Now, if you don't know what that is,
16:45 I'm not gonna give you a lot of hand motions,
16:46 but I will tell you it's triangular in nature.
16:49 It's somewhere about this size.
16:51 It's plastic and it has little holes in it.
16:53 So if you can imagine plastic triangle holes in it.
16:55 She picked up his athletic protector cup
16:58 and she said, "What is this?"
17:01 And we all started diving toward her in slow motion.
17:04 No!
17:08 And what are your options if you don't know what it is?
17:11 She said, "What is this?"
17:12 Picked it up and said, "Oh, it's an oxygen mask."
17:16 And which is one of the many reasons
17:21 why I never kissed her after that.
17:23 As the preacher said,
17:29 "If you don't know the purpose of a thing,
17:32 all you can do is abuse the thing."
17:35 And he went on to say,
17:36 if you wanna know the purpose of the thing,
17:39 don't ask the thing, ask the one who created the thing.
17:43 In other words, if you wanna know your purpose,
17:45 don't ask your best friend.
17:48 Don't ask popular opinion.
17:49 Don't ask everyone on social media,
17:51 who do you think I am?
17:53 Why do you think I'm here?
17:53 If you wanna know the purpose of the thing,
17:55 ask the one who created the thing,
17:57 of him, by him, for him.
17:59 You are God's masterpiece.
18:01 He created you with a divine purpose,
18:05 even in advance of your birth.
18:08 And it was King David who said this
18:09 about his creator God, in Psalm 139.
18:13 David said this,
18:14 "If you wanna know the purpose of the thing,
18:16 ask the one who created the thing."
18:17 It was God who created him.
18:19 And he said, "For you, God, created my inmost being.
18:23 You knit me together in my mother's womb."
18:26 Poema, like a poetic statement.
18:28 "I praise you, God,
18:31 because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
18:33 Your works are wonderful.
18:35 I know that full well.
18:38 My frame was not hidden from you
18:41 when I was made in the secret place.
18:43 When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
18:46 God, you saw my unformed body."
18:50 And watch this.
18:51 "All the days ordained for me were written in your book
18:56 before one of them came to be.
19:00 In him, by him, for him,
19:01 you are a masterpiece created in Christ Jesus
19:05 to do good works,
19:06 which were prepared even before you were born
19:10 to do for the glory of God."
19:12 You're the masterpiece of God,
19:15 created by God for his divine purposes.
19:20 And what's crazy to think about is that
19:21 God gave you good works to do before you were even born.
19:26 In other words, there may be someone here today
19:30 that God created you to pray for someone
19:32 who's sitting by you before they walk out of the building.
19:34 It's your assignment.
19:36 There may be someone in your life group
19:37 who can't pay a bill and you can pay the bill.
19:39 And God created you,
19:40 gave you the ability to help meet the need
19:42 of someone nearby.
19:44 There may be someone who's far from God
19:46 and you have the light and the love of Jesus
19:48 dwelling within you.
19:49 And you were created, your purpose,
19:51 to show the love of God to them
19:53 in a way that helps draw them to the good news
19:57 of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
20:00 Purpose.
20:02 You were created by God, of him, for him, by him,
20:05 for a divine purpose.
20:07 And purpose is a cool word.
20:09 Now, sin's not, but purpose is a cool word.
20:12 'Cause everybody wants a job with purpose.
20:15 And everybody wants a relationship that gives a purpose.
20:18 And everybody wants a hobby that gives them purpose.
20:20 But as a follower of Jesus, you don't just find purpose,
20:26 you bring purpose to everything that you do.
20:31 Because of who you are in Christ,
20:34 there is purpose in your parenting.
20:37 You're not just changing diapers,
20:38 you're raising a generation to know
20:41 and serve the goodness of God.
20:44 There's purpose in the way you interact
20:46 with people at work.
20:47 You're not just doing a job,
20:48 but you're doing everything for the glory of Jesus.
20:52 There's purpose in how you manage your money.
20:55 You are stewarding what God has entrusted to you
20:57 so you can be generous and be a blessing everywhere
21:01 that you go.
21:02 There is purpose in how you interact with everyone
21:04 that you come across,
21:06 because you were designed of him, by him, for him,
21:09 with a purpose to do good works.
21:11 Oh, I could do it right there.
21:12 Good works by God,
21:15 that he prepared in advance for you to do.
21:20 And Romans 8:28, it's a powerful verse,
21:23 and you may not have seen it this way.
21:25 We know that in all things,
21:27 God works for the good of those who love him.
21:31 Watch this.
21:32 And it had been, say it with me,
21:34 called according to his what?
21:37 To his purpose.
21:39 You have a purpose.
21:40 If you wanna know the purpose of the thing,
21:42 don't ask the thing.
21:44 Don't ask the thing's friends.
21:45 Ask the one who created the thing.
21:47 Go to the father who of him, by him, for him, from him,
21:50 created you exactly as he wanted you,
21:55 with every gift and every talent and every ability,
21:59 even an ugly profile.
22:02 Because little do you know,
22:05 years later, when I met Amy,
22:09 and we went on our first date,
22:11 and she got in my Christian car, a Honda Accord,
22:15 'cause all the disciples gathered in one Accord.
22:18 (audience laughing)
22:20 And she had never seen me before on a blind date.
22:23 And we walked from her apartment down the stairs
22:26 and the whole way.
22:27 I had her with me until we got in the car.
22:35 And eventually, I couldn't drive like this.
22:37 And so I had to look forward.
22:41 And she told me,
22:43 "I love your nose."
22:46 I said, "You what?"
22:49 She said, "I love your nose."
22:51 I don't know if I should say this
22:52 because it's kind of personal,
22:54 but she actually said,
22:56 "It's a strong, sexy, Roman nose."
23:02 (audience laughing)
23:05 I said to her, "Have you ever touched a strong,
23:16 sexy, Roman nose?
23:18 Because even the thing that you may not like about yourself,
23:22 God may use to do something special through you."
23:26 The good news is you're a masterpiece.
23:30 The bad news is most of you do not believe this.
23:33 So I want you to say it again.
23:35 I want you to say it by faith.
23:36 I want you to believe it.
23:37 Who are you?
23:38 Say, "I am."
23:40 - I am.
23:41 - God's masterpiece.
23:42 - God's masterpiece.
23:43 - Created in Christ Jesus.
23:45 - Created in Christ Jesus.
23:46 - To do good works.
23:47 - To do good works.
23:48 - Which God prepared for me to do.
23:50 - Which God prepared for me to do.
23:52 - That's who you are.
23:52 You're a masterpiece.
23:53 And some of you say, "Oh no, I'm not.
23:57 I'm still a mess."
23:59 And I will tell you right now, I am too.
24:02 I'm still a mess.
24:04 We're all new in Christ,
24:07 theologically, spiritually,
24:11 but practically, we still do dumb things.
24:15 In fact, someone asked Michelangelo
24:18 how he made his masterpiece.
24:20 I'll show you a picture.
24:22 This is from the top up.
24:23 This is the part where he doesn't need the athletic cup
24:26 in this photo right here.
24:27 Just saying.
24:28 And they said to Michelangelo,
24:30 "How did you create this masterpiece?"
24:33 And I like this quote.
24:34 He said, "I created a vision of David in my mind
24:37 and simply carved away everything that was not David."
24:41 That's powerful.
24:43 In fact, that'll preach.
24:45 Because God created you in his mind as his masterpiece.
24:50 And even if you're still a mess,
24:51 you know what God is doing?
24:53 He's chipping away everything that isn't Jesus.
24:58 As iron sharpens iron,
25:00 he's working in you, working on you.
25:04 He's using the hard things to develop you.
25:08 He's using the pain in your life
25:11 to conform you to the image of Jesus.
25:14 You may say practically I'm still a mess,
25:17 but spiritually he sees the perfected work of Jesus in you
25:22 and he's chipping you away anything that is not like Jesus
25:28 to make you more like him.
25:30 So if you wake up, you know, but I got problems.
25:33 I got problems, I got problems, I got problems.
25:34 I'm gonna tell you right now,
25:35 make sure you're solving the right problem.
25:39 Because some of you, you think your problem is comparing
25:42 or obsessively controlling,
25:46 or that you always date the wrong guys,
25:50 or that you eat more than you should,
25:51 or that you overspent again,
25:53 or that you can't stop yelling at your kids,
25:56 or you can't quit lusting.
25:57 And because you think that's the problem,
26:01 you're trying to solve that problem.
26:04 And the reason you can't solve that problem
26:09 because that isn't the real problem.
26:11 That's a symptom of the real problem.
26:16 And the real problem is a false identity.
26:19 We don't know who we are.
26:21 Because when you know who you are, you'll know what to do.
26:26 And so if your problem is a false identity,
26:30 believing the lies of your spiritual enemy,
26:34 the way to solve that problem is to get a new identity.
26:39 How do you get a new identity?
26:40 Let me tell you what it's not.
26:42 It's not through your works, but it's by His grace.
26:46 Because we're dead in our sins.
26:48 Without Jesus, we are not enough.
26:50 But God, but God, but God, by His grace
26:55 makes you alive in Jesus.
26:58 And it is never, ever by you being enough,
27:03 but it's by Jesus being enough in you
27:07 and through you.
27:09 Without Christ, you're not enough.
27:12 You are incomplete.
27:14 You'll always be dissatisfied.
27:15 You'll always fall short.
27:17 You'll always be wondering, is there something more?
27:20 There is.
27:21 And His name is Jesus.
27:24 He is the Son of God who loved you
27:28 and died in your place so your sins could be forgiven
27:32 and so you could be new in Christ.
27:35 Then you take on a new identity.
27:38 If anyone is in Christ, Scripture says the old is gone.
27:41 The old is gone.
27:42 And behold, you become new.
27:45 Without Christ, no amount of pop psychology
27:48 can ever truly make you enough.
27:51 But with Him, you have more than enough.
27:54 You have the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead
27:57 dwelling in you.
27:59 You are the masterpiece of God.
28:04 Who do you think you are?
28:05 I am?
28:07 God's masterpiece.
28:10 Created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
28:16 which God prepared for me to do.
28:18 Before you were even born,
28:22 God knew He would place you at this moment in history,
28:25 give you the gifts that He gave you,
28:27 put you around the people that are around you.
28:30 Why?
28:31 Because there are good works prepared in advance
28:33 for you to do.
28:34 You're not looking for purpose.
28:36 Everything you do represents the purpose of Him,
28:40 by Him, for Him, through Him.
28:42 You are God's masterpiece.
28:45 So when you believe it, when you know who you are,
28:50 guess what?
28:51 You will know what to do.
28:53 Live out of the grace of who God created you to be.
28:58 Who are you?
29:00 You are His masterpiece.
29:04 So Father, do a healing work.
29:07 We give you permission, we ask you, God,
29:11 to go after the root of many of our problems, our identity.
29:14 Teach us who we are in Christ.
29:17 As you're praying today at all of our different churches,
29:20 those of you online,
29:22 I wonder how many of you would be honest enough to say
29:26 what I would have to be honest enough to say,
29:29 and that is you often or occasionally
29:32 have a negative view of yourself.
29:35 Would you raise your hand up?
29:35 I don't feel like I'm enough.
29:37 I'm embarrassed by what I do, I'm ashamed.
29:39 Put your hand up.
29:40 Online, you can just type in there.
29:42 I often have a negative view of myself.
29:45 Father, I wanna pray for my brothers and sisters.
29:48 And God, for those that are in Christ,
29:51 I pray that by the power of your Word,
29:54 your Word that always accomplishes its purposes,
29:58 that you would do what I cannot do, God,
30:00 that you would be enough.
30:01 That God, that we would admit and acknowledge
30:05 we are incomplete without you.
30:07 And so we lean into you, we trust you,
30:09 we surrender to you, we pursue you, we want more of you.
30:13 Jesus, would you be enough?
30:14 And God, I pray that somehow,
30:18 and God, we flesh this out in our life groups
30:20 and over meals that you would help us to recognize,
30:23 to truly believe that what you say about us is true,
30:27 no matter what anyone else says.
30:29 God, for your children that are in Christ,
30:32 they're your poetic statement.
30:35 They are a heavenly masterpiece created by you,
30:39 for you, from you, to do amazing,
30:43 loving works that you prepared for them to do.
30:47 God, renew our minds, help us see ourselves, God,
30:50 as you see us, as a masterpiece created by you
30:55 to glorify you, do a healing work today, we pray.
30:59 As you keep praying, without looking around today,
31:03 there are some of you that are gonna say,
31:06 yeah, I ain't no masterpiece,
31:07 I'm not even aware I stand with God.
31:10 And I wanna be really clear again
31:12 and tell you what Scripture says.
31:13 And if you would be really honest, you'd have to admit this.
31:16 You know you've done some things wrong.
31:19 You've hurt people, you've lied,
31:22 you've said some mean things,
31:23 you've done some things that you feel ashamed
31:25 of, where do you think that comes from?
31:27 Like some kind of like, you know, just universal agreement?
31:31 No, there's actually that there is a God who is true
31:35 and God's put eternity inside of us.
31:37 We have a conscience that is because of God.
31:41 And you recognize you've done some wrong things.
31:44 The Bible calls it sin.
31:46 Sin separates us from God.
31:49 But God, but God,
31:53 but God in his love for you,
31:55 didn't leave you dead in your sins.
31:59 He loved you so much that he sent his son, Jesus,
32:03 who was sinless, he'd never sinned, he was perfect.
32:07 And the sinless son of God died on a cross
32:11 as the sacrifice for the forgiveness of your sins.
32:14 There are those of you today,
32:18 you don't know where you stand with God.
32:20 You feel the weight, you feel the burden.
32:22 Let me tell you, you're not here by accident.
32:24 You're here because God loves you, because he's drawing you.
32:28 His loving kindness is drawing you.
32:30 This is the good news.
32:31 The gospel is good news.
32:34 You can't save yourself.
32:36 But when you put your faith in Jesus, the son of God,
32:40 he forgives all of your sins and he makes you brand new.
32:43 There are those of you today,
32:44 you are here today by the purpose of God
32:47 to discover who you can be in Christ.
32:49 There are those of you online, this is your moment
32:52 to step away from your sin,
32:53 to surrender to the grace of Jesus.
32:55 When you call on his name, he hears your prayers,
32:58 he forgives your sins, you become new,
33:01 you are dead in your sins, but God reached out to you.
33:05 But God saves you, but Jesus made you new.
33:09 Today, those of you who need salvation,
33:11 step away from your sin,
33:12 call on the name that is above every name.
33:15 He'll hear your prayer, he'll save you from your sins.
33:17 Today, you become new.
33:19 That's your prayer, wherever you are.
33:20 At the count of three, lift up your hands.
33:22 One, he loves you.
33:24 Two, he's here for you.
33:25 Three, you give your life to him.
33:27 Lift up your hands right over here.
33:28 Praise God for you, both of you here.
33:30 Others of you today, say yes.
33:32 Lift up your hands at all of our churches
33:33 and say, I call on Jesus today.
33:36 I'm surrendering my life to him.
33:39 Those of you online, type in the comment section,
33:42 I am surrendering my life to Jesus.
33:46 Wherever you're watching from today, would you pray?
33:48 Nobody prays alone, pray Heavenly Father,
33:51 forgive all of my sins.
33:53 I trust you, Jesus, to save me,
33:57 to be the Lord of my life, to be my King.
34:01 Fill me with your Spirit so I can do your will,
34:07 so I can live your purpose.
34:09 As your masterpiece made new in Christ
34:13 to do the good works you prepared me to do.
34:19 Show me who I am, your masterpiece.
34:22 Thank you for new life, I give you all of mine.
34:27 In Jesus' name I pray.
34:29 Can somebody celebrate big, welcome those today.
34:32 Come on church, come on church, come on church.
34:34 Let's give God glory and praise.
34:36 Did you connect with this message?
34:38 Did it resonate with you?
34:39 We've got even more messages about your calling
34:42 and your purpose that you can watch right now.
34:44 Check 'em out here.
34:45 (upbeat music)
34:48 (upbeat music)