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Week 1
Pastor Craig Groeschel
INTRO VIDEO: "I'm sick and tired of living in this
small house. You need to make more money so we can get a
decent place to live."
"I'll sneak out and meet you around midnight. My
parents are clueless; they'll never know."
"As long as you live under this roof, you'll do what
I say." "I don't care what you say; you can't stop me from
going to the party."
"I saw you checking her out." "I was just looking
at the brand of her jeans; I thought they might look good on
you."
"All right. Who's going to pray this time?" "Me.
Dear Jesus, thank you for all the ways you've blessed our
family."
PASTOR CRAIG GROESCHEL: Hey, welcome today to all
of our different LIFE Churches and our network churches, and
our extended family all over the world at church online. You
are here for the first of a fourweek series that I've been so
excited about, called "Bless this Home."
At all of our churches, let me get a little
participation. How many of you would love to have your homes
and families be blessed, raise your hands up high. Raise them
up high. There are some that do not have your hands up. So,
I'm assuming you want yours cursed? Of course you don't, do
you? No. We all would love to see our homes and families
blessed.
But when you look at families today, in general, the
first word that does not come to your mind is the word
"blessed." Right? When we look at so many families today,
rather than say, "Man, they're really blessed," more often, we
say, "Wow, they're really struggling." "Their marriage is not
what it could be" or "raising the kids it's more difficult
than they thought", or "financially, Man, we're, you know,
we're kind of living paychecktopaycheck."
And admittedly, there are a lot more temptations
perhaps today than in the past. There's the challenges of
more and more blended families, which can be a blessing, but
then you're raising your kids and her kids, and our kids. And
both exes and it's complicated.
We see a record number of single parents today which
can be so difficult when you're trying to support a family on
one income and there's only one of to you carry all the load,
and the discipline of raising the kids is overwhelming at
times.
And so, what we're going to do is we're going to let
the teaching of Jesus from Mathew, chapter 5, when he taught
on what is known as the beatitudes, we're going to apply
several of the beatitudes into our homes.
Now, some of you may say, "But I'm a student. I
don't have a family yet." Oh, my gosh, this is the best time
to prepare your heart for future blessings. I would have
given anything to have learned stuff like this years and years
ago. So, I believe it will speak to everyone. And let me
tell you where we're going to go in this series.
Next week, we're going to look at the teaching of
Jesus when he said, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they
will see God." Most of our homes would not be characterized
by the word "pure". But for many, it would be "impurity" Of
all the sins and temptations and struggles that we get into.
How do we have homes full of people that are pure in heart?
At week 3, we're going to study when Jesus said
"Blessed are the peace makers." Everybody say "peace makers."
Blessed are the peace makers. But often, we are around people
who are peace takers. Right? Don't anybody elbow the person
sitting next to them. It's just the reality. How can we be
peace makers?
And the fourth week is my favorite week. Jesus
said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness
sake. For theirs is the Kingdom of God." And we're going to
see that when we are a Christcentered family, people will
actually make fun of us for our faith, and we're not going to
worry when we're persecuted for being a follower of Jesus.
We're actually going to worry when nobody is persecuting us
because we're probably blending in. Bless This Home.
What I'm going to do is I'm going to be real
transparent in this message series. There are times when I'm
going to tell you things that have worked from our home. But
I want to tell you our family is so far from perfect. And
it's always funny to me when some church members see us
somewhere, and something goes wrong to our family, they're so
excited about it. They are like, "Oh, I'm so thankful your
family is not perfect." I'm like, "Duh! Duh! I mean, we are
not perfect." When my kids are misbehaving, I don't just
break into a hymn and they all stop and start worshiping; it's
just not like that.
In fact, my youngest daughter, Joy, she's 8. She
was in her class and her teacher, Ms. Stephanie, also
volunteers in my office so that's how I heard this story. Ms.
Stephanie said that all the kids were talking about how their
parents always yell at them. And Joy, my daughter, said, "My
parents never yell at us." And she's like, "Well, there you
are. Pastor Craig's family, once again, is perfect." Then
Joy said that again. She said, "My parents never yell at the
kids. They yell at each other everyday but they never yell at
the kids." And she thought that was really funny and tells me
that story every time I see her.
Well, I told my kids that story. And Anna, who's
14, is like, "Daddy, that's so not true. Not only do you yell
at Mom, but you yell at us every day too." So, we are not
perfect but we are being perfected by the Power of God.
And so today, let's look at Mathew Chapter 5, verse
6 for our first of the beatitudes we're going to study. And
this is what Jesus said. Help me out, all of our churches.
He said, "Blessed are those who" what? He said, "Blessed are
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." Now, I need
some more from you all. Those of you in Fort Worth, give me
some love. Everybody say it aloud. "Blessed are those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness for" what will you be?
Jesus said, "For you will be filled."
When you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you
will be filled, and yet so many homes today are not filled
with that which matters most, but are searching and striving
for anything that would bring meaning. Why is that? Because
we're filling our lives with things that don't matter, and
we're not as blessed as we could be because we're not
hungering and thirsting for righteousness, for right living,
for doing the right thing in the way we live to please God, by
faith and by the way we live.
So, here's a question that I want to ask all of you
just for application, and I want to dare you to be really,
really honest. Here's the question: In your home, what are
you hungering for? In your life, in your dorm, with your
friends, what are you pursuing? What matters most to you?
And some of you, with integrity, you could say, "We're here to
please God." Some of you, you'd try to say that with your
Sunday school answer, "We're here to please God." But if I
asked your kids, they might say something entirely different.
Just look, let's make it easy, at the last seven
days, just the last seven days. What were you characterized
as pursuing? What were you hungering for? And if you're
honest, some of us would have to say things like, "Well, you
know, we're really just trying to relax," which there's
nothing wrong with that. Or, "We're trying to have a good
time" or, "You know, kind of for comfort." "We want to work
hard for the week so that we can do whatever we want on the
weekend." "We just want to have fun, to chill, to unwind, to
do something fun." Nothing wrong with that but let's call it
what it is.
Some would say, "Well, you know, we're hungering for
popularity." "You know, we want to be liked and so we're kind
of about image management, look at our family from the
outside, look at the way we dress, look at our home, look at
our yard, look at the cars we drive, look at the way we walk
into church." "Don't we look like the happy Christian family?
Don't anybody tell them we were cursing and yelling in the
car,"
"Oh, praise the Lord! Hallelujah! We are happy to
see you today at church! Glory, Brother, Praise God! Look at
the size of my bible!" You know, so, it's image management.
For some, it would be just the whim. That's what
you're pursuing, whatever the whim means to you. The whim
might mean more money, a bigger house. It might mean that
your elementary kid was the student of the year. Maybe you've
got a dumb kid and so you're excited that your kid can beat up
the elementary student of the year.
Or it's sports. You know, it's like, "Hey, you
know, our child is champion underwater synchronized swimming
polo player in 4andunder." "He's on the traveling team."
So, we're going to be the best at that, whatever it is for
you, it's the whim. What are you hungering and thirsting for?
And if you're like most people in our culture today,
if you're really, really honest, you'd say over the last seven
days, we were pursuing something or many things above God. We
were not hungering and thirsting for righteousness.
So, what do we do when we realize that we are
hungering for the wrong things? What do we do when we realize
that we have an appetite for things that do not satisfy and
are not best for us? Well, we change our appetites. For
example, all of our churches, how many of you love pizza? If
you love pizza, say it aloud. Say, "I love pizza." Is that
all of you that do that? How many of you love pizza? Say, "I
love pizza." "I love pizza." I love all kinds of pizza. I
love pizza more than you. You're quiet about pizza. I lust
for pizza, any kind of pizza. I like expensive pizza; I like
cheap pizza; I like "Pizza Pizza". I like Papa John's Pizza
with dipping sauce. I like pizza that comes with it's
frozen. I like every kind of pizza except for anchovies on
pizza. Whoever came up with that will burn in hell because
that is not God's will. I like every kind of pizza.
And so, last year, I realized I was getting a little
too much "Pizza Pizza." And so, I decided to, for a month,
just as an experiment, to eat nothing but fish, chicken,
fruits, vegetables, oats, and egg whites, nothing else. And
guess what? A month into it, I thought, "Wow! I feel really
good. I've got energy. I'll go another month just for fun."
And so, I went another month and then I thought, "Ill keep on
going." A while later, I thought, "Hey, I'll probably just
eat better just because I love it, I feel good. But, hey,
life's short. Give me some pizza."
And about halfway through the first piece of
pepperoni, I thought, "This doesn't taste as good as it did
three months ago. I don't know why." And I realized my
appetite had changed. And then after I ate about half of the
pizza like the good old days, I felt like the Pillsbury Dough
Boy. I felt horrible.
And what I realized is that that which I craved for
had significantly changed. As I fed on stuff that was better
for me, I stopped craving the junk food that wasn't as good
for me, and my appetite had significantly changed. Here's the
thing, if you start pursuing God and you start seeking God,
suddenly, you're going to see the benefits of walking, led by
the Spirit of God, empowered by his presence and His Spirit.
And suddenly, you'll long for more of him, and the junk food
of this world, which distracted you, wasn't good for you and
didn't satisfy you isn't going to be at the top of your
cravings because now you're developing an appetite. You're
hungering and thirsting for righteousness and you're fulfilled
and satisfied, as you're knowing, serving and doing the will
of God.
Now, why doesn't this happen more in our homes? Why
don't we see more homes that are blessed? Let me tell you
what works and what doesn't work when it comes to building a
home centered around Christ. And we'll start with what does
not work. If you're taking notes, there are two things that
do not work. The first thing is legalistic Christianity does
not work. The second thing is lukewarm Christianity does not
work. Legalistic Christianity and lukewarm Christianity never
works.
Let me give you some examples. What is legalistic
Christianity? That's when we reduce Christianity in our homes
to a bunch of do's and don'ts, cans and can'ts, should and
shouldn'ts, ought and ought not's. "Don't do this and don't
do that". And "do this" and "it's a rule." And "if you're a
good Christian, you always get it right." And "whatever you
do, kids, don't drink and don't smoke and don't chew and don't
run with kids who do." "For the Glory of God, that's what
makes a good Christian." It's the rules. The problem is:
Write this down. "Rules without relationship leads to
rebellion."
Have you ever seen that? And have you ever noticed
that pastors' kids are known as the wild ones? Who's ever
noticed that before? Anybody ever heard that? Pastors' kids?
What is that? It's because rules: "Let's perform," "Let's
put on our best image for the church," if it's only rules
without relationship, it leads to rebellion. Legalistic
Christianity never works.
The second thing that also doesn't work: Lukewarm
Christianity. What is that? That's when we believe in God
but we live as if he doesn't exist; it's cultural
Christianity. It's Christian in name only, but no real
passion for things that bring Glory to God.
Now, how do we know if you're a part of the lukewarm
Christian home? And the answer is: I can't judge your faith.
I don't I don't know. But I'll tell you for me, here's
some indicators I would know that my home or I'm becoming more
lukewarm. For example, if I can't tell you the last time we
prayed together as a family. I mean, like really prayed, not
"rub a dub, dub. Thank you for this grub. Amen. Let's eat."
Okay, I'm not talking that. I'm talking about coming together
with our family and believing God for a miracle, praying for
someone that doesn't know Christ, asking God for him to direct
us, for him to do something. If I can't name the last time
that we've done that as a family, chances are, I am allowing
our family to become spiritually lukewarm.
If I never ever say to my family, "Hey, today, in my
YouVersion bible plan, God really spoke to me about this verse
and I want to share it with you." Or "Hey, today, you know, I
was at the gym and I got to share my faith with this guy and
it was amazing." Or, "I was praying for something and look
what God did." If I'm never doing that with my family, for
me, that's an indicator that I'm becoming lukewarm.
If I'm never leading them out of a place that could
be harmful to their faith or their relationships, like, "Hey,
I know we paid for this movie but let's admit, Man, I mean, we
can't take hearing God's name in vain 18 times in the first 12
seconds, you know. Let's just go."
Or, "Let's turn the station because this isn't
really good for us." Or "Hey, you know, these friends, we
love them, and we'll continue to love them but, you know, the
places they want to go and things they want to do, it's really
not consistent with our values." So, we're going to love them
but a little more if I'm not leading my family in that way,
chances are, I am luke warm.
If I never say to my family, "Hey God has blessed us
so much, we're going to devote some time and serve some place
else and do something for the glory of God. Hey, let's go and
let's make a difference." If we're never doing that and it's
all about us, for me, we're becoming lukewarm. And honestly,
legalism and lukewarm Christianity never works.
Jesus said in Revelation 3, "I'd rather you be hot
or cold. If you're lukewarm," what do you do? [bleh].
That's what he does; he spits you out. And those things
simply don't work. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness for they will be filled." So, what does
work?
And what I want to do is give you the main thought
that will direct us over the next four weeks. And it's 12
statements. The second of which will be true to us. And at
first glance, you may say, "Well, there doesn't seem to be a
lot of difference." But as we dig into it, I believe that you
will see a whole lot of difference.
What does work, if you're taking notes, write this
down: "As a family, we are not just a Christian family.
Instead, we are a Christcentered home." Let's all say this
aloud, all of our churches. Let's say both statements. "We
are not just a Christian family." What are we? "We are a
Christcentered home." Now, come on everybody. Work with me.
Everybody say it aloud, all of our different churches, you
guys in Florida, come on, give me some love. "We are not just
a Christian family." What are we? "We are a Christcentered
home."
Unfortunately, where I live today, you can call
yourself a Christian family and that doesn't mean much. Does
it? About 80 percent or so of our country, "yeah, we're
Christians. We're Christians. We're Christians," but they
are not Christcentered homes.
Now, I acknowledge that there are those of you from
countries around the world, if you call yourself a Christian
family where you live, that could cost you your life, and I
acknowledge that. But where I live, people just call
themselves "Christian." You can call yourself a Christian;
that doesn't mean you're a Christian. Okay? You can call
yourself a duck, and you may be able to quack, but unless you
can fly and lay an egg, you are not a duck. You're just a
weird person quacking. Right? There's a big difference
between saying, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, we're
all Christians, right? I mean, we're Christians," and saying,
"No, no, no. Jesus isn't just a part of our lives, he is the
center of our lives. Our home is characterized by being
Christ centered."
Scripture doesn't say, "Blessed are those who
believe in Christ when it's convenient for them," but "Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." If we
don't, we need to change our appetites.
I love the way David explained this. I love the
imagery of his language in Psalms 63:1, he said, "You, God,
are my God." He said, "Earnestly I" do what? He said,
"Earnestly I seek you." He said what else? "I thirst for
you. My whole being" does what? It "longs for you in a dry
and parched land where there is no water." You see that
language. It isn't just a, "Hey, I want you when it's
convenient for me." "Hey, God I kind of believe in you
whenever I need you." No, it's every moment of every day,
every bit of me longs for you. We're not just a Christian
family, we're a Christcentered home.
And so, I interpreted and translated that verse
toward the family just for fun to show you how it would sound.
Would you help me out? If we made an edited version, it would
go like this: "You, God, are our God. Earnestly" what? Say
it with me. "Earnestly, we seek you." We do what? "We
thirst for you. Our whole family" does what? "Our whole
family longs for you."
Imagine the silly things that we live for in the
place of God. "Oh, popularity, you are my God. I long for
you in a dry and weary land" That sounds stupid, doesn't it?
"Oh, championship of the 8andunder Socker League, you are my
God. I long for you." It seems stupid, right? "Oh, new car,
my butt longs for leather seats and butt warmers. You are
my" it's just stupid. And yet, that's the way so many of
us live, and we wonder why we're so empty. "Blessed are those
who hunger and thirst for righteousness. For you will be
filled."
So, how do we do that? I want to take it from up
here to kind of a practical level, and I'll just say as simply
as I can: This has been my philosophy in creating a
Christcentered home. What I want to do, and I hope you'll
want to do this is just simply write this down "Help our
family see God as loving, approachable and involved." Very
simple. We're going to help our family to see God as lovable.
He loves you; he's approachable. You can go to him for
anything and everything. He wants you to approach the thrown
of grace with boldness and he's involved in all that you do.
In fact, this week I had to travel, and so I was
working on my message about 11:00 one night because I had to
get on an early flight. And Mandy, my daughter by the way,
Mandy just graduated first in her class; she was valedictorian
of her homeschool class. Anybody want to clap for Mandy?
First in her class; it's kind of funny because she's the only
one to graduate in a home school class, but she was first. So
anyway, I got pictures of her too. In fact, there she is
giving her valedictorian speech. This was Mandy getting her
diploma. Is it okay if I'm a proud dad now and then? Can you
endure just every now and then?
And so, Mandy came in. I said, "Mandy, I've got to
go to Florida tomorrow. I've got to get this message turned
in. It's 11:00 at night. Give me some advice. What advice
could you give another family to help create a Christcentered
home?"
And so, Mandy, 17 years of age, didn't think about
it, just said. She just started talking. She just started
talking and "Mandy, what advice would you give? And she said
this. "You should create an environment where your kids want
to have discussions about God so it's not something they feel
like they have to do, but something they want to do." And I
wrote that down as fast as I could. And I said, "That is
absolutely and completely, freaking brilliant." Here's what
you should do, from the mouth of a 17yearold girl. You
should create an environment where your kids want to have
conversations about God. It's not something they have to do
but it's something they want to do, which is exactly what
Mandy did the night before when she came in about 11:00.
Because, that's when teenage girls want to talk, when it's
time to sleep.
And she came in and she said, "Daddy, will you pray
with me about my future because I really need to know what God
wants me to do for my future"? And that's not an unusual
thing for her to ask because of lifetime of making prayer a
part of something that is in our family. Because, we're not
going to just be a Christian family, but we're going to be
Christcentered in all we do.
So, how do you do it you? You say, "I don't even
know where to start." Let me make it as simple as I can and
give you three ways to make a hunger and thirst for God. The
first thing, if you're taking notes, we're simply going to
involve God in our daily conversations. When we're talking
about anything, we're going to involve God in our daily
conversations.
And this may start out, it may seem kind of weird to
you, but it's really simple. You're driving along outside,
beautiful sunrise on the way to school, you say, "Man, that's
awesome." Instead, you say, "Wow, look at the sunrise that
God has blessed us with." And you're simply showing that God
is a part of our conversation.
And you do this in your marriage, instead of saying,
"Man, I don't know what to do. What do you think we should
do? Let's look at the pro's. Let's look at the pro's. What
do you think we should do?" Instead, you say, "Wow, I wonder
what God wants us to do?" And so, in your marriage, you are
reminding yourself you are not just a Christian home, you are
a Christcentered home. You involve God in your
conversations.
For years and years, I've told my kids over and over
again, "Look at how God has blessed us. Look at how God has
blessed us. You have all got great friendships. And you get
to be part of a church that's making a difference around the
world. And we've got a family. Look at the way God has
blessed us." Years and years.
Well, I heard my 12yearold, Sam, talking to his
friend the other day who was down. I overheard him in the
other room say, "Hey, listen. Look at all the ways God has
blessed you. God has given you a new dad after your first dad
left you. And God has given you two sisters who really,
really love you." And "Hey, God, has given you me as friend.
Look at all the ways God has blessed you." And here's my
12yearold kid who thinks it's absolutely normal to minister
to a friend by talking about all the ways God has blessed us.
Second thing, if you want to hunger and thirst for
righteousness, is make church a non negotiable. If you're a
Christ centered home, guess what you do? You make the
priority of the worship of your God something that is non
negotiable. To take one hour a week to honor the creator and
sustainer of this universe who sent his son, Jesus, to hear
the proclamation of the word because faith comes from hearing
and hearing from the word of God. And you say to your family,
"We're going to go to church, period." Listen, if you can't
make it to LIFE Church Saturday night, Sunday morning, Sunday
night, church online, you're not trying. You're a lazy bum.
You can make it. And it's part of who we are. The fellowship
of the believers.
In fact, my kids, this last weekend I take a
weekend off. I work all week and take weekends occasionally
to spend time leading the church, and not just a message
preparation. And my sons had soccer tournament, and I didn't
want to miss another game so I took the weekend off. Pastor
Sam preached a great message. And here's the deal. We're off
for the weekend. So, did we go to church or not? We went to
church twice, two different campuses because our kids wanted
to, because it's part of our culture; it's what we do as a
family.
Whenever I want to get away for like four days, "Hey
kids, let's leave on Wednesday, get away for a few days."
They're like, "No, Dad, we have to be here for Switch because
it's that important to us." It's like, "Okay, we're going to
stay here for Switch when God wants to minister to your dad on
the beach." Fine. Have it that way if that's what you want.
But here's the thing. It's part of our family culture that
our kids wouldn't dare miss engaging with other believers and
ministering to other students. Make it non negotiable.
And then number three, show how seeking and
receiving God is fun. It's fun. We couldn't get our family
to pray together so we came up with "popcorn prayer time."
What is that? We make a big bowl of pop corn. The rules are:
You have got to eat popcorn before you pray, and you've
actually got to sneak in a piece of popcorn when you're
praying, and you've got to eat a bunch of popcorn when you're
done praying. And guess what? Popcorn prayer time is a
family favorite. We just made prayer fun.
In the mornings when I get up for work, 6:30 in the
morning, my two sons are the first ones up. They are early
risers. And I'll look up at the kitchen table. Sam, who's
12, and Steven, Bookie as we call him, he's 10 they are
doing their daily bible study at the table every single day.
You're like, "Wow, how do you train them to do that?"
Let me tell you something; this is absolutely true:
We never asked them to do it; it's not a rule. It's just a
part of our culture. They have seen their mom do it everyday.
They have seen their dad do it everyday. They have seen their
older brothers and sisters do it every single day. And so,
it's just what we do. It's part of our culture. Our family
never asked them to do it; they just do it because it's part
of culture. It's fun.
Here the thing. We don't have to tell them to be
good when we are already seeking the one who is good. That's
so good I'm going to say it again. I may tweet it later on.
Okay? We don't have to tell them to be good when we are
already seeking the one who is good. We seek first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, Mathew 6:33, and then
everything else will be added to you. "Blessed are those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness because they will be
filled."
This may sound crazy to you but I've got a
19yearold daughter and a 17yearold daughter, and Amy and I
never told them "Don't have sex with boys, don't party." We
never told them, "Don't party, don't drink, don't do drugs."
We never told them that, never one time did we tell them that.
My 19yearold and 17yearold daughter have never kissed a
boy ever because they don't think that those hairylegged
creatures are pursuing God enough for them right now. And
that's just kind of where they stand. And some of you are
going to go, "Well, that's just weird. You're raising weird
kids." Okay, we could do that or raise normal kids that have
eight sexual partners before the age of 18. Which do you
want? Normal or weird?
I'm taking those who are different, pursuing God,
and his righteousness. Now, you say, "okay. 'Raw, Raw Pastor
Craig.' Good for you, you little home school, cute family.
You don't live in the real world. We could never have that."
Listen to me. You can have what God wants you to have if you
will pursue God, period. But you say, "You don't know how
messed up we are. You don't know how bad it is. I mean, I'm
trying to keep my 14yearold off drugs, you know? You have
no idea." Listen to me, listen to me carefully. You can have
what God wants you to have if you pursue him." Don't give me
excuses.
Gentlemen, get up off your butts and lead. Lead
toward a Christcentered culture; lead toward it. Lead toward
it. You say, "Hey, I don't even know where to start." Hey,
we made it as simple as we can. Can you show it's a blessing
to serve God? Yes, you can. Can you make church a priority?
Yes, you can.
Can you involve God in your conversations? Yes, you
can. And I love what Joshua said very simply. He said this
in Joshua 24:15: He said, "Then choose for yourselves" what?
Say this phrase aloud. He said, "Choose for yourselves" what?
He said "Choose for yourself this day." Say it again. He
says, "Choose for yourself this day whom you will serve, but
as for me and my household," whom are we going to serve? He
said, "We are going to serve the Lord."
Here it is. You choose today. You choose this day.
You choose this day. You choose this day. You choose this
day, are you going to be a Christian home in name only,
blending in like the culture, or are you going to be a
Christcentered home? You make the choice this day, because
blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for
they will be filled.
"Father, we pray that your spirit would lovingly
convict our hearts, that we wouldn't blend in as cultural
Christians, believing in you, but living as if you do not
exist.
"God, that we would not be legalist in rules above
relationship, nor God, would we be lukewarm, but on fire,
passionate, Christcentered homes, seeking you above all
else."
As you pray today at all of our different churches,
there are those of you, you're going to say, "Hey, I may call
myself a Christian but I'm not really Christ centered." You
may say, "I call myself a Christian student but I'm not a
Christcentered student." "I'm an athlete." "I'm a jock."
"Yeah, I try to be a good Christian athlete," but you say,
"No, I want to be a Christcentered one." "We kind of call
ourselves a Christian family but we want to be
Christcentered."
All of our different churches, those of you who
recognize there's a lot of room for improvement, "I want to
seek him first in all ways." "I want to create a culture that
is Christ centered." "I want to be more Christ centered and
lead those around me to be the same."
If that's you today, would you just humbly lift up
your hand right now high, all of our different churches? Say,
"This is something I really desire for us." God, thank you
for those who take this call seriously. God, I pray that by
the power of your spirit at this moment, you would convict us
and give us hope."
"God, shows us that not only is there a need, but
it's absolutely possible that we can choose this day, very
simply, to start involving you in our conversation, God, to
put you first in a place of worship every week as a family or
with our close friends. And God, to see and let the overflow
of how good it is to know you and serve you be a blessing to
all those around us. Look at how blessed we are, God, to get
to serve you."
"God, I pray that we would be Christ centered in our
hearts and you would help us to lead those around us to
Christcentered lives, all for your glory."
As you keep praying today at all of different
churches, there are some of you that this message, it just
almost seems distancing for you. You're like "Blessed are the
righteous. I am not even close to righteous. I am completely
unrighteous." I've got really good news if you feel that way.
I am too, and everybody here is. We are all grossly
unrighteous, sinful in the eyes of a Holy God, and incapable
of living a righteousness on our own.
The good news is that we're not made righteous in
the eyes of God by what we do, or don't do. But we're
actually made righteous by faith in Jesus, the perfect,
sinless son of God. By faith, our sins are forgiven so that
positionally, we can be made right before God. And then
empowered by his spirit, practically, we can start to live a
life that is pleasing to him.
At all of our different churches, there are those of
you, you're being drawn to God right now. You recognize, "I
need his grace. I need his forgiveness. Today, I call on
him." When you do, your sins will be forgiven. There are a
bunch of others of you that, you call yourself a Christian but
you look at your life and you say, "I am not Christ centered
at all."
This was me. I called myself a Christian for years
and I was not; I didn't know him. He wasn't first. He wasn't
the Lord of my life. And that's why many of you are here, to
call on him now at this moment. "Choose this day now who you
will serve. As for me and my household, we will serve the
Lord."
At all of our different churches, those of you who
would say, "Yes, I call on him." "Yes, I put him first."
"Yes, I need his grace." "I surrender my life to him." Raise
your hands high now. All over the place, put them up right
now. Leave them up all over the place. I want to just see
you. Right up here, God Bless you. Both of you right here
together, praise God for you. Leave them up. I want to see
you eyetoeye. Here in this middle section right back here,
all five, six, seven of you in this middle section. Right
across here, both of you together, praise God for you. Ma'am,
right back here. All three of you and three of you here as
well. Praise God for you guys. This whole row back here,
both of you together.
Man, the Spirit of God is moving. Way back over
here. Others of you today who would say, "Yes." All of you
right here. Three in this row, Praise God. Right back here
in this section. We've got entire families coming to Christ
together. Praise God for you. Way back over there as well,
and over here in this section.
Would you all just pray aloud with those around you?
Over here. God bless you, Sweetheart, as well. Pray aloud.
Pray, "Heavenly Father, we surrender our hearts to you.
Jesus, save us from our sins. Make us new. Be the center,
the Savior, the Lord of our lives."
"Fill us with your spirit so we could serve you for
the rest of our lives. Thank you for new life. Our life is
not our own. We give it to you, for your glory."
"In Jesus name, we pray."
LIFE Church, go crazy welcoming those born into the
Family of God. Go crazy, worship God, welcome those today.
(end of sermon)