Bring Good News - Saddleback Weekend Service

Hey, what's up Saddleback Church? It's good to be in the house of the Lord. Let's sing this song together. Let's believe this together. Come on, yes we are. Come on, yes we are. Come on. Come on, yes we are. You shine in the shadows. You win every battle, yes. Nothing can stand against. Almighty fortress. You go before us. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. You shine in the shadows. You win every battle. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. Almighty fortress. You go before us. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. You shine in the shadows. You win every battle. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees. With my head held high. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. Every knee I'll bend your feet. I'll sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. Oh God, the battle belongs to you.

I know who I am. Cause I know who you are. Cause the salvation was only the start. Now I am chosen. Free and free. I have a future. It's worth the living. I wasn't made to be tenth in a grave. I was called by name. Born and raised back to life again. I was made for more. So why would I make a bed in my shame when a fountain of grace is running my way? I know I am yours. I was made for more. I know who I am. I know who you are. The cross of salvation was only the start. Now I am chosen free and forgiven. I have a future. It's worth the living. I wasn't made to be tenth in a grave. I was called by name. Born and raised back to life again. I was made for more. So why would I make a bed in my shame when a fountain of grace is running my way? I know I am yours. I was made for more. Hallelujah. You called my name. So I'll sing out Your praise. Hallelujah. You buried my past. I'm not going back. Hallelujah. You called out my name. So I'll sing out Your praise. Hallelujah. You buried my past. I'm not going back. I wasn't made to be tenth in a grave. I was called by name. Born and raised back to life again. I was made for more. So why would I make a bed in my shame when a fountain of grace is running my way? I know I am. I was made for more. I wasn't made to be tenth in a grave. I was called by name. Born and raised back to life again. I was made for more. So why would I make a bed in my shame when a fountain of grace is running my way? I know I am yours. I was made for more. So why would I make a bed in my shame without a fountain of grace is running my way? I know I am yours. I was made for more. We were made for more. Yes, we were. We were made

for more, Jesus, to serve You, to love You. Father God, we do that together. We were made in Your likeness. We were made to be in connection to You, Jesus, to live a life exceedingly and abundantly beyond all we can ask or imagine, God. We receive. that blessing right now in your presence. Man, it is such a gift to worship God. It is such a gift to be in the house of the Lord and to gather together and just to sing about all the good things that God is, to sing about how great he is, to sing about his love, his mercy in our lives. And one of my favorite, favorite things to sing about is the faithfulness of our Father. It's something that I need to be reminded of constantly. I'll be singing about God's faithfulness and then something will happen during my day and I'll immediately be hit with anxiety, stress, feeling like, oh shoot, nervous. What am I supposed to do? And I always have to come back to just the reality that we serve a faithful God that loves us, that is trustworthy, that every burden that we carry, he wants to lift it off of us. And so just as we continue to worship, can we just believe in the faithfulness of our God? Can we believe that he is in this room right now, lifting every burden, breaking every chain? Can we believe that, Father? Let's sing this together. ♪ Walking around these walls ♪

♪ I thought by now they'd fall ♪ ♪ But you have never failed me yet ♪ ♪ Waiting for change to come ♪ ♪ Knowing the battle's won ♪ Yes, it has. ♪ For you've never failed me yet ♪ Come on, this is true. ♪ Your promise still stands ♪ ♪ Great is your faithfulness, faithfulness ♪ ♪ I'm still in your hands ♪ ♪ This is my confidence ♪ ♪ You've never failed me yet, no, no, no ♪ ♪ I know the night won't last ♪ ♪ Your word will come to pass ♪ ♪ My heart will sing your praise again ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're still enough ♪ ♪ Keep me within your love ♪ ♪ My heart will sing your praise again ♪ And then again and again. Oh, we're gonna sing this praise. ♪ Your promise still stands ♪ ♪ Great is your faithfulness, faithfulness ♪ ♪ I'm still in your hands ♪ ♪ This is my confidence ♪ ♪ You've never failed me yet, no, no, no ♪ ♪ Your promise still stands ♪ ♪ Great is your faithfulness, faithfulness ♪ ♪ I'm still in your hands ♪ ♪ This is my confidence ♪ ♪ You've never failed me yet, no, no, no ♪

♪ No, you never failed me yet, oh ♪ Come on, we can believe together that God has never left us, he's never forsaken us. We have confidence in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. So we can sing this. ♪ I see you move, you move the mountains ♪ ♪ And I believe, I see you do it again ♪ ♪ You made a way where there was no way ♪ ♪ And I believe, we believe it, I see you do it again ♪ I see you do it again. I see you move. You move the mountains. And I believe. I see you do it again. You made a way when there was no way. And I believe. I see you do it again. I see you move. You move the mountains. And I believe. I see you do it again. You made a way when there was no way. And I believe. I see you do it again. I see you do it again. Oh, yeah. Move every mountain, Jesus. Every chain. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Every precious moment in the presence of Jesus—and maybe just right now, maybe just think back to a moment that you said a prayer to him, and he showed up and he said yes, and he made his presence known to you, because we remember those times. We look back and we remember the times that he showed up in our lives before to build our faith for what's next. In the dry seasons, in the valley seasons, to trust that if he did it once, he can do it again. If he showed up in our lives once, he can show up again. We can believe that. Those aren't empty words. That is a promise, and that is truth. Can we sing that again? Come on, church. Welcome to Saddleback Church. Man, I'm so excited that you're joining us and with us for church today. You can follow along with our service today by accessing our digital program by hitting the link in the description down below, or by downloading our Saddleback app and finding

it there as well. Now, if you're new or if this is your first time, we would love to personally welcome you. So you can go to the Saddleback app, select online community as your campus, and then hit the new here button so that we can personally reach out, welcome you to our church, and help you get more plugged in. Now, men, I don't know if you've heard, but we are having our men's gathering this weekend, and I would love for you to be a part of it. If you happen to be in the Lake Forest area, you can join us in person by registering on the Saddleback app, but if you can't join us in person, you can also stream the event by going to saddleback.com online. It's going to be a great time. I'm going to be there, and I certainly hope that you join us as well. Well, we got a lot of great things coming up here at Saddleback, one of which is our fall small group semester, and we wanted to share with you a story of someone who took a step of faith to lead a small group. Let's check this out together. Our season was so busy that I would hear about small groups, but it always kind of felt like, how am I going to drag three kids out and do all of that? But the past couple of years, I definitely started to feel that call. I wanted to not just feel like an audience member, but feel even more connected. And one of the few times I take for myself every single week is early Saturday morning before the kids' activities and the weekend starts, and I would go walk or run or workout, get out in nature and get back before they get up, so it kind of starts the day. And as I looked at small groups, there was nothing that fit a schedule where I was like, I knew I could commit to it on a regular basis just because of my schedule, except for that time. And then I was on a work call and one of my employees who lives on the East Coast was about five minutes late to the work call and she joined kind of frantic and was like, I'm so sorry, I lost track of time. I lead a women's small group every Saturday morning, we're getting ready to kick off.

And so we were having kind of like this powwow before we kick off. And I literally said to her, I was just like, Miss Pam, like, you don't even know this. But like, God just used you to call out my like, delayed obedience for him. So I signed up that day. And frankly, I really was like, nobody's gonna sign up to walk at like 730 on a Saturday morning. And I was like, so I'll sign up. And within like three days, I had eight people sign up. And then I had like 10 more people sign up. And they had assigned me like a mentor and they assured me that, you know, who who would show up was meant to show up and asked me to be intentional about what I wanted, what God was telling me that I needed from that group, and I wanted it to be where people could show up without fear of obligation or another to do list on their weekly schedule. That very first session, I said, Hey, why don't we send like a selfie, so that people who couldn't make it one will recognize who we are the next time they show up. And maybe it'll give a little comfort to somebody who hasn't stepped into it. Before we start walking, we spend five minutes either reflecting on the prior week's church service, or maybe God put like a quick thought on my heart that I read in one of my devotionals. And then we walk. And then what's great about the walking is that you mix and you walk side by side with different people each week. And so it's allowed an opportunity for us to gather as a group, but also build those one on one connections that somebody probably wouldn't have said in the large group format. We've celebrated baptisms, renewal of faith, engagement, celebrating weddings together. We've carried each other through difficult times, job loss, job change, family relationship conflicts, and encouraging each other in those. It's been such a blessing to have these connections come together that I couldn't have put together. No social media algorithm could have put together. It came from the church and stepping into actual human connection, centered on God. Hey Saddleback, I love Chelsea's story because it shows what can happen when someone simply

says yes to leading. And that story lands personally for me because my parents have been in the same small group since I was a child. I grew up watching what happens when a handful of people keep showing up for each other. And the kids from that group, they're some of my closest friends to this day. And today, my husband and I are in a married couples group that meets every Thursday. And this group has been incredible for us, especially as we've walked through seasons of transition and hardship. And if you've never been in a small group, it's actually really simple. It's a handful of people who meet regularly to talk about real life and about faith. And fall small groups begin across Saddleback on September 12th. So check the small groups box on your Next Steps card and we'll help you find one. Or explore the group finder in the Saddleback app. And if Chelsea's story stirred something in you about leading, know that you don't have to be a Bible expert or have everything figured out. You can start a group around something you already enjoy. And we'll train, resource, and support you along the way. September 12th is going to be here really quick, so check that small groups box on your Next Steps card or visit the app and learn all about our Next Leader trainings. And finally, we want to say a huge thank you to our church family for being a part of the school supply drive this summer. Preparing for a new school year can add stress for families already walking through difficult circumstances. And because of your generosity, we filled 250 backpacks to help local students begin the year feeling prepared and cared for. Our volunteers gathered at our Love Local tent to fill each backpack with age-appropriate supplies for elementary, junior high, and high school students. They were given to foster children, military families at Camp Pendleton, families connected to CHOC, students at seven local schools, and families served through our Peace Center. Through Love Local, we also regularly give Saddleback Kids Heyo Bibles to the children

we serve. And this summer, foster children who received backpacks were also given a Bible. One Dream Team member shared with us that a foster daughter sleeps with hers every night, and now she wants to give a copy to all her friends. The summer school supply drive is just one way our Love Local initiative serves our community. Every week, our Love Local tent is open Monday through Saturday, and we're so grateful for the Dream Teamers who care for people there all year long. Thank you for giving. Living and serving so faithfully, Church. Today, if you'd like to give your tithe or your offering to Saddleback, you can do so through the app or a giving envelope near you. And now, let's get ready to hear from Pastor Andy as he continues our Live Cent message series this weekend. Well, it's good to be together, Church family. I wanna welcome all of you who are joining us online in all of our campuses. This weekend, we're in the second weekend of a series called Live Cent. Can we say that together, all of our campuses? Live Cent. Now, we kicked off this series last week, and the big statement that we really camped on that is that really the impetus of these five weeks is that you were made for more. God made you for more than anything that this world has to offer. He made you to know Him. He made you to experience the joy, purpose,

and fulfillment that comes out of relationship with Him. And you know, so much of our lives wars against that message, that often we find ourselves in the busyness of life so focused on what's here and now. So last week, we lifted our eyes to see the vision that Jesus has given to each of us, that when we step into this idea that God sends us into the world with His love and His good news, it gives us a kind of joy and purpose about our lives. So last week was really a rally cry. Thousands of you said, man, I'm gonna pray every day for God to use my life. And it really was a moment for us to call ourselves back to what matters most. So this series, at the end of it, we're gonna take a moment as we're casting vision for Living Cent the fifth week to sign a covenant together as a church family to say each of us will Live Cent. And we're praying that at all of our campuses together, there'll be 10,000 people that say yes to Jesus, that they're gonna live on mission with their lives. And each week, we're building upon one idea after the other. And this week, we're gonna look at not just the vision of why we would live this kind of life, but also what does it look like on a practical level? So you might want to live for more, but how do you live for more?

That's what we're gonna talk about today. But I wanna begin with a statement that I think most of us would agree with. And it's this, we live in a world filled with bad news. You agree with that? Like there's a lot of bad news. And I can know what generation you're in, by the way, based upon how you get your news. Maybe some of you still get your news on TV. Yeah, anybody in this service? You still get your news on TV? Five people. The rest of you, maybe you get it on your phone, on an app. How many of you get it on an app out of curiosity? Okay, how many of you get it from social media? That's where you get your news. Now, we know your generation based upon how you get your news. In fact, there used to be a way that you could get your news with this thing called the news paper. It was paper and got ink all over your hands. But the truth is with news, so often it is so negative. And when I open up my news app, that's how I get my news, there's constantly things that are just bombarding me. Like how many of you have seen the El Nino reports that are coming? It's gonna be the wettest year on record. Southern California is gonna float into the ocean. It's gonna be so bad.

Gas prices are so high. And the list goes on and on and on and on and on. So what we want, if we are followers of Jesus, what we want is not just to enter into a place that there's bad news all around us, we wanna come into a world that is filled with bad news with the good news that Jesus offers. In a world filled with bad news, we need more good news people. We need more people who live lives that when they enter into their place of work, they come in with good news. We need more students that when they walk down the hallway of their school on the first day of school, they bring life with them when they come. And not only do we need more good news people, we also need more good news churches. We need churches that when you walk in, you feel the love, you encounter the difference that Jesus has made in each person's life who is a part of that church family. So the good news, as we talk about good news, is that when Jesus would come and speak about what he was offering to the world, the word that was used to describe him more than any other word describing his ministry and his work was this word in Greek called euangelion. Can we say that together? Euangelion. Now this original word, what it means is to proclaim good news.

It's the combination of good news being proclaimed with our lips. And so if you're a follower of Jesus, God makes a call to your life to be a good news person that brings good news with you wherever you go. Now, multiple times throughout the scriptures, Jesus speaks of the good news as well as his disciples. In fact, 76 times the phrase euangelion is used to describe the work in the ministry of Jesus. And I wanna just look. Get a couple of them before we jump in today. Matthew 24, 14, I wanna invite you to read this aloud with me at all of our campuses. It says this, and the good news about the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world so that all nations will hear it and the end will come. Now in your notes, I want you to underline two phrases, good news and kingdom. So what Jesus is saying is one day the kingdom of God, the rule and the reign of God will come to every pocket of planet earth, and this is good news. Now the good news that God would rule and reign means that wherever his kingdom is, there's life, there's joy, there's peace. So the kingdom of God is not just in heaven, the kingdom of God is wherever God is king. So there's this ruling and reigning of Jesus here on planet earth that brings life that is good news. Now in Mark 16, verse 15, Jesus gives a statement right before he goes back to heaven,

and he says to his disciples, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel or the good news to the whole creation. So go out with this good news and proclaim the life-giving message that you can receive salvation out of relationship with God, go into the world. This is called the great commission. The great commission for many followers of Jesus has been a rally cry to live our lives on mission, but what has happened over the course of time, studies show us right now that only 17% of followers of Jesus know the great commission found here in all the gospel accounts of Jesus, that they often don't even know what the phrase means anymore. So great commission is simply to be sent by Jesus with his good news to the ends of the earth based upon his resurrection and his authority that he gives. And we're gonna look at Matthew 28 next weekend, that passage that is a deeper dive on the great commission. But in Colossians 1.13, I'll also want us to notice a statement that speaks of the good news. And it says this, for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. Now I want you to underline for he has rescued us. So when the kingdom of God comes, there's life in his kingdom,

but his kingdom is also a kingdom of salvation. So I want you to understand as we're walking in to becoming more and more people who bring good news, it's the good news of the kingdom of God, it's the good news of the salvation that God offers to planet earth that he invites his followers to bring wherever we go. Now, I understand that there are a lot of people who are listening to my voice right now who are not followers of Jesus. And you're just exploring what you believe about him. And we want you to know that this is a safe space for you to come and to ask questions and wrestle through your doubts in our prayer. But as we walk through this series, LiveSaint, you would see our heart for you, but more importantly, you would see God's heart for you, that he loves you, that he sends people so that you would experience his good news and he has you here for a reason. Now, for followers of Jesus, my hope is to equip you. And today, I want you to look at these three questions because I think these are questions that all of us wrestle through. Yes, I wanna bring good news, but there's some challenges that I feel. And one is, how do we see opportunities that are right in front of us? So how do you have eyes to see? We're gonna talk about that today.

And how do you not make it weird? You know anybody that makes it weird? It's like, no matter what you say, they're gonna try to get you saved. And sometimes I like to play along with that if people don't know that I'm a Christian, I just play along with it and let them lead me to Jesus. It's great. Maybe you know somebody like that. How do you not come across as judgmental? That's another question. So how do you not be the kind of person that's looking down their nose, it's good news. So it's not bad news. It's not meant to be judgmental. It's not meant to be weird. So we're gonna talk about that today as we look at Acts chapter three, verses one through 10. Now, this passage we're gonna look at today, this is right after the ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts one and two. So Jesus goes back to heaven, right before he leaves, he says, wait in Jerusalem, my spirit will come. When the spirit comes, you'll receive power, you'll be my witnesses, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. So the disciples understood when the Holy Spirit came that their assignment was to be witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus. And this is an example of how early followers of Jesus

carried out the good news in their day-to-day activity. And it's a very practical example for us. These two men that we're gonna look at in this passage had undoubtedly witnessed from Jesus what they did in this passage, which is helpful for us. Because what we're trying to do is we're trying to follow their example as they followed Jesus' example. And we're gonna see three character traits. These three character traits. One is a heart that is filled with hope. So there's a hopefulness in them that they bring. The second one is that they come with healing. And then the third one is that they have helpfulness. They're willing to help. So we're gonna see that in this passage as we're challenged to lift our eyes to be people of good news. Now, Acts chapter three, beginning in verse one, says this, one day, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer. It was three o'clock in the afternoon. Now, a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. I want you to notice, first of all, Peter and John are just doing their day-to-day activity. They would go into the temple courts and they would pray in the afternoon.

This was a part of their religious activity that they would do. And as they're walking in, here's a man. The story will later tell us that he's about 40 years old. And we see here that he has not been able to walk since he was born. So somebody carries him. He can't even walk himself to the temple gate. Somebody carries him to this place where every day he cries out all day long. And imagine the image that he would have of himself with the realization that he could not even go inside the temple, that his whole life was just begging. He was known as a beggar. And as he would wait day after day after day, he would stand at the temple gate called Beautiful, and he would not be allowed to enter into the place where people would go to worship. Now, this gate, many historians believe, was very big and it was very prominent. And I want you to see a picture of what it might have looked like here. It would have been, get this, it would have been over 75 feet tall. In addition to that, it would have been 60 feet wide and it would have taken 20 people to open and close the door. It was so brilliant that a historian by the name of Josephus said that it far exceeded every other gate in the temple.

So it was the great ceremonial front door for the Israelites of worship. And this man was on the outside. Now, some of you might feel like you're on the outside today and this story is gonna give us some hope that many times we feel like we're not experiencing the same thing that others are experiencing. So Peter and John walk up to this man who's at the temple gate, who's begging day after day, and they come up and it says when he saw Peter and John about to enter in, he asked them for money. And then Peter, in this moment, as he's being asked for money, it says that Peter looked straight at him as did John. And then Peter said, look at us. So the man gave them his attention expecting that he would receive something from them. Now here's this man, Peter and John. We don't know if he would have known Peter and John. We don't know how familiar he would have been with Jesus. We just know that this man was outside of a gate that represented him being disconnected from God. And there were so many other places within the temple that you weren't allowed to go. There were walls that separated people. And Peter and John come, these followers of Jesus, and they look at him. And the Bible says with an intense glare or staring into his soul. That's what the original word would mean,

that Peter looked at him intently. And you gotta think about this for just a moment. How many people must have walked in and out of the place of worship, never saying anything to this man that was waiting there? And this so often happens that we're just so busy with our lives that we don't notice what is right in front of us. But a person who brings good news, when they come with hope in their hearts, what happens is they start to see everyday opportunities right in front of them. So their eyes are opened to the fact that right in front of them is an opportunity to make a difference, for them to be used by God, to live sent. Now, a lot of people in our church's history have gone overseas on mission trips. Maybe some of you served this last summer in our Love Local Serve Day. I think there were about 4,000 people that served. And what you'll notice is on a mission trip, if you've ever been, a lot of times people will get together, they'll huddle, they'll pray in the morning, there might be a devotional, and then they'll go out during the day. So Stacey, the last almost two weeks has been in Rwanda. I showed this last week on a mission trip with a lot of people from our church.

I want you to see a picture of her here on the trip in Rwanda. I showed that just so I could see her because I kind of almost have forgotten what she looks like being gone for so long. And she's there with a lot of people from our church, and I'm hearing stories of what God is doing on their trip. Have you been on a mission trip before? You might have said at the end of the mission trip, man, I got to see God do so much in one week or two weeks, or maybe one day on your Love Local Serve Day. But you know, the reason why you saw God do so much was not because God's not doing so much where you live, it's because your perspective was different. And I want you to write this down. Opportunity for impact is more about perspective than it is placement. This is so important because for Peter and John, this is ordinary day-to-day activity. Now, you could go to Israel on some tour. For us, it would not be ordinary day-to-day activity. But this was them going to church, this was them doing their life, and here is this incredible moment for God to use them. And all of us have these moments right in front of us, but it's a matter of shifting our perspective to ask God to give us eyes to see as we go about our daily activity where he's at work around us. So it's important for us to understand our mission field,

your mission field, if you're a follower of Jesus, is where you live, it's where you work, and it's where you play. It's where you live, it's where you work. Maybe you're a student, it's where you go to school, and it's where you do your hobbies. Now, I understand there are a lot of retired people in our church, it's where you spend time with others, it's your activity throughout the course of your life that God wants to open our eyes to see that everywhere we go is a mission field that if we're his followers, we're sent into that field. Now, there is a massive challenge that we all face, and I think we could agree upon this, it's the challenge of busyness, that our busyness in life has us where our eyes are down and we don't notice what God is doing around us. I was on an airplane recently, I went to the bathroom, which I do often on airplanes, I'm the guy that goes like eight times, and so I always sit on the aisle, but I had gone to the bathroom, and when I was walking back, I noticed everybody, except for the people that were sleeping, were looking at their phones. So their heads were down, they're staring at a screen, and they're not looking at anybody around them. I got on a plane a few weeks ago, and I sat down next to this woman, she had a face mask on, she had a hoodie that she pulled up,

she put an eye mask on, put her headphones in and turned and faced the window, I knew she didn't wanna talk to me. But that busyness, imagine with me for just a moment, if there were iPhones in the first century, and imagine if Peter and John had an iPhone or any kind of phone and they walk in to the temple and their eyes are down and they miss an opportunity right in front of them. So the challenge for us is that our eyes are so often down, we're in such a hurry that we miss the most incredible opportunities that God is placing in front of us. Friends, you don't have to be extraordinary for God to use your life, you just have to have your eyes open. You have to look around you and see where God is at work. And sometimes there's doors right in front of you that if you're staring at a screen, or you're so focused on yourself and your own issues that you miss what God is doing right around you. So I wanna ask you a question, who's sitting at your gate? Who's the person that you keep walking past that God is saying, eyes up, I have work for you to do? It might be a coworker that she's walking through a divorce and every day you're like, why aren't you getting your work done? And maybe God has you there for a purpose so that you can be his conduit to bring her good news in the midst of her brokenness and pain.

And the vision for us is to be people that live with our eyes lifted. It's not just use me God, it's open my eyes to what you're doing around me so that I can see, so that I'm not so head down. You only live one life. And the average is that you live about 4,000 weeks. And you think about that, this next week is one 4,000th if you live that long of your entire life. And then you have one day, one seventh of that. And then you have one 24th, but you're only awake for about 16 of that. So you have one 16th. And if your eyes are on a screen for eight 16ths of the time that you're awake, you might be missing half of the opportunities that God has placed in front of you. So lift your eyes, lift your vision and say, God, give me eyes to see what you're doing around me. Now, Peter, his eyes are up. He looks at the guy and says, Peter said to him, silver or gold, I do not have. But what I do have, I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Now notice this, when Peter looks at him, he says, silver or gold, I don't have. He's expecting to get money from Peter and from John. And Peter says, I don't have money to give to you. The truth is you cannot give somebody something that you don't have.

So in this passage of scripture, Peter says, but what I do have. I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk now I want us to notice that Peter is speaking words of life There is healing coming from the power of God through his words and the Commission for us is Not just to be people who have our eyes open but to be people who speak life-giving words That the Proverbs says that your tongue has the power of life and death in it That you have the ability with your words to bring life into environments now I think all of us have some memories and stories or Moments where we did not bring life-giving words and I'll tell you one of mine I'm not very proud of it. But since my wife's out of town, I'll share it. So Just kidding, but a few years ago Stacy knows this story a few years ago. We lived in this neighborhood this was back when we lived in Northern, California and There there was like no space to park cars in the neighborhood and the kids were a bit younger at the time and We weren't the kind of people nor are we now that you can park two cars in the garage any of you guys you two Car garage type people just out of curiosity. God bless you. You're the overachievers We should learn from you, but our garage was always full It was a lucky day if we could fit one car in the garage and most of the time We had to park both cars in the street And the problem was there weren't enough spots for all the cars in the neighborhood So as you would park your car you would do this dance of looking for a spot and you're trying to get it where you're not over the red line and Man, you would like get right in front of somebody if they're coming at the same time People get very anxious coming home. And sometimes I'd walk three or four blocks just to get home And so this one day I come home and there's one spot But this one spot I'm like trying to get as close as I can to the car in front of me But as I'm like two inches next to this car, I'm in front of the red line So there's like six inches in front of the red line and I'm like it's fine. It'll be okay. Nobody's gonna notice I'm just gonna go inside and do my thing Well, we were going out of town that week. And so we left the next day. We didn't take that car with us

So we left and when we came back, I thought somebody had stolen the car But what I didn't realize it took me a moment to realize this is that actually no it had been towed now there was a towing company in the neighborhood and They would come after hours and they would just roam the neighborhood. They were sharks, man They were just like they were looking as soon as the Sun went down. They're like Like jaws just looking for a car to eat and so I'm like coming home The car is gone and there's this big sign, you know good call 1-800 towing. We're horrible. So I call that number and So I'm like, you know what? I'm just gonna go down to the office. You know, it's really really feeling great that day So I'm just gonna go down there Take a couple kids with me. I go into the office and Something came over me I mean I was like So I go up to the front counter and I just started asking a couple questions and she tells me well It's been like 10 days that your car has been here and she tells me how much I'm gonna have to pay for the car It's more than the car's worth So I'm now in this dilemma But I'm just like finally I just like you know what? I just got a question for you. Like when you wake up in the morning and you look in the mirror How do you feel about yourself? it just came out just came out and She looks back and she's like, what do you mean? And I was like you should get a new job Like if I were you I would feel so bad about myself every day. I would just wake up I couldn't how do you come to work every day and work at this place and I'm going on and on and on and Finally, I'm like, I got two kids with me and then I looked down and I realized I have a church t-shirt on Right in the middle of it and there there was no prayer. There was no Jesus I mean it was just like oh my gosh so now in this moment I've got a backtrack and I'm trying to figure out how to get out of this I'm like, you know, let me go the bathroom flip the t-shirt inside out come back. Hope she didn't see it and

Those moments how many of you had a moment like that in your life of a curiosity if you're not raising your hand right now God bless you. You definitely should be leading a small group for the rest of us, but But I I come I come back and I'm like man. I just tell Stacy. I'm like my words I just it something came over me and we've had those moments the power of your tongue To speak life or to speak death into a situation So God gives us a mouth that he wants to use to bless others And sometimes what can happen is if you're a follower of Jesus, you can start to think to yourself You've got to say everything there is to say about God and maybe you know somebody like that. It gets weird It just gets weirder and weirder and weirder the longer that they go and the truth is all that we have to do is Use our words to bring life and to point people to Jesus to point people to his goodness. And I wonder for you, who in your life is the person that needs you to speak into them this week? Life, that you would use your words to bring into them a seed that has the potential to later bear fruit. So all we have to do is just sow those seeds over and over and over again. And there are some people, they have a spiritual gift of evangelism, which means they're the kind of person that usually leads somebody across the line of faith. And there are a whole lot of other people that they might not have that spiritual gift. And you might only get to lead somebody personally to Jesus a few times in your life, but you can every day sow seeds wherever you go. And it's a matter of saying, God, lift my vision, but then give me the ability to speak life wherever I'm going. I'll give you an example.

I have a friend on my street, he's not a follower of Jesus, and we spend time together. I love the guy. We go for hikes, we like to rock together. It's a lot of fun. He's not really interested at this point in his life following Jesus. It's not that he's like against it or doesn't like church, he's just not really interested. So when I go for a walk with him, every time I go for a walk with him, I'm not putting pressure on him that day to say, when are you gonna make the decision? I'm trying to love him and just be a friend to him. And there are times where maybe he's going through something and we talk about it. There was a moment at the end of a walk, we got to pray together. I prayed over him. He's walking through something with his job and it's not a project. He's not a project to me, he's a friend. And just bringing life with my words, maybe some point he'll hit a place in his journey where his heart is more open. And I wanna be right there when his heart is open to more because I built a friendship with him over the course of time. So we often, this is so important. Christians are often so transactional

and it's not about transaction. It's about relationship. You might write that down. It's not about being transactional with people with good news. You have to embody the good news with your eyes open, but with your words, bringing life wherever you go. So imagine what could happen if all 20,000 people connected to our church this week, every day were just to bring life into our work, into our school, into our families, with our homes, with friends, when we go to the tote company. If we could just over and over do that, the power, the compound effect. I think the greatest challenge is prayerlessness. I think for me personally, if I had not stopped in process, but I had stopped and prayed before going into the tote company, it would have been a different story. And if you just pray before you go into your place of work, God, give me words to speak of life before you walk in the door at home. Maybe you have a child that's still not a follower of Jesus or a sibling, or maybe it's somebody in your life right before you go into that space with them. Just give me words of life, Lord. Let me be a life-giving person. And if I'm a person of hope, where I see, and I'm a person of healing, and I bring life with my words, God's building something through your life

as you do these things over and over again. Now in this story, it's all compressed into one moment. But I want us to notice before we get back into the story, this very specific verse from Colossians 4.3, because I love this as an image that Paul gives. Pray for us that God may open a door for our message so that we might proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains. So a very practical prayer that I pray is God open doors for me today. I wanna be open, I wanna see it, and I wanna step through it with my words, with life wherever I go. There was this old quote. You might've heard it before. Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words. That is a stupid quote. I just thought I'd add that in there because maybe you felt like you needed to say that at times you've heard it before. I would say, preach the gospel at all times with your life and use words. You gotta do both of them because if we never speak of Jesus, then nobody understands the truth. So we've got to live it and speak it with life-giving words. Now, finally in this story, after Peter looks at the man and says, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk, something happens.

Peter looks at him and takes him by the right hand and he helped him up. And instantly this man's feet and his ankles became strong and he jumped to his feet and he began to walk and he then went into the temple courts, walking, jumping, and praising God. Now think about this for just a moment. Peter could have spoken to him words of healing and kept moving. But what did Peter do? He stopped. He was willing not only to speak with his words, but he was willing to stretch out a hand, to reach out his hand and help the man. So people who bring good news, they bring help wherever they go. They're not just taking. I have a philosophy in life, I wanna contribute more than I take to any relationship I'm in. And there are some relationships that it's hard to do that. But the truth is that God fills you with His Spirit so that you can be somebody who brings life with your words but also help with your hands. That if we're in environments and we're only taking all the time, then we're actually not helping move that person to understand what the message of Jesus is. The message of Jesus at its essence is a message of service. It's a message that the Son of Man came not to be served

but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. So Jesus is the greatest example of helping by going to a cross to do what only He could do for our sin so that we can be forgiven. So His followers don't just speak and say be warmed and filled, hope you feel better, but we reach out with our hands to help the people around us. And it's not always this weird thing that it has to feel judgmental that you're better than somebody else or I'm better. It can just be, we're there to help whatever the need is in a practical way. You have friends over, maybe you go over a friend's house for dinner and they invite you in at the end of dinner, do something, contribute, help wash the dishes, bring something with you. But all of these are shaping the relationship. We wanna be people who help. So Peter, he helps the man, the man stands up, he starts dancing, Jesus Christ heals him. And now from this point forward, Jesus gets credit for what He's done in this man's life. He's dancing, He's praising, but notice, where is He doing it? Put the verse back up for just a moment. He began to walk and where did He go? Where did He go? He went into the temple courts.

So He went into the place of worship. He was on the outside and He was helped up and then He went inside and began to worship God. So the miracle is not just that He started walking, the miracle is the freedom that He had in the presence of God now. And when God sets you free, what God wants to do is He wants to bring about healing, but He wants you to experience the fullness of life and some of you feel like you're on the outside and you need a touch from Jesus. And the grace of God lifts you up so that you can experience and live a new life, that you can have freedom and joy. And I love this example because when you look at Peter, you gotta think about him for just a moment. You gotta think about who this guy is that does the helping. Just actually a little bit ago, right before the ascension, right as Jesus is being crucified and He is like nailed to a cross, Peter cowers in fear and runs from the cross. And now Jesus restores him and through the Holy Spirit, He has boldness and confidence. He's recognized later in the chapter, both of them as men who had been with Jesus. They had been radically transformed by Jesus. And that hand of Peter's understands what it means to be helped. Peter would have known what it felt like for somebody to reach down and pull you up

because there was a moment where Peter was on the water, walking towards Jesus. He's the only man that we know according to scripture that has ever walked on water, walking towards Jesus. And in the moment he takes his eyes off of Jesus, he falls into the water. As he's crying out help, Jesus reaches down and pulls Peter up out of the water. And the same hand that Jesus reached is the hand that Jesus uses to reach. The same hand that is redeemed is the hand of God that is used to bring about redemption into another person's life. And I wonder if there's anybody that God has reached down and pulled you out of darkness, that if God has transferred you from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, what God wants to do is the same hand that stretched out to reach His hand, He wants to use to reach somebody else. So God puts you on planet earth so that your life can make a difference. You were made for more. You and I were not just made to take up space, we were made for a purpose. And I believe one of the greatest challenges that we face, I face, is my own selfishness. It's the reality that at the core, my flesh leads me to focus on me, leads me to have my eyes on my needs and what I want

and what didn't work out for me. And in all of it, the only way to truly live a life that is sent is to get our eyes off of ourselves and have our eyes up to realize this life is not about us. It's not. Like the core of the gospel message, Jesus saved you because He loves you. You could never be more loved than you are right now. His love is greater than you and I can possibly fathom. So you, if you're in Him, you are secure. Like He saw you and your brokenness and demonstrated His love to you while you were still a sinner. But He saves you not to just leave you there. He saves you so that you can be on this mission with Him and be a part of His plan to bring that same redemption and life and restoration to others. So this verse, I just wanna read it one more time. I read it earlier, but the Lord gave me this verse yesterday as I was praying for this weekend and it just stuck in my heart. And I didn't know why when it first was given to me. And then I saw that in the passage, the same hand that Jesus redeemed was the hand that Jesus used to reach. Colossians 1, 13 and 14 says, "'For He,' for He, Jesus, "'has rescued us from the dominion of darkness "'and brought us in to the kingdom of the Son He loves "'in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin.'"

So the slate is wiped clean. If you're in Him, if you put your trust in Jesus, you've been brought from death to life, from darkness to light. And if you are in Him, your life is no longer your own. And so in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 14 says, it says, can we read this aloud together? 2 Corinthians 5, 14, this verse matters. Read it like it does. "'For Christ's love compels us "'because we are convinced that one died for all "'and therefore all died. "'And He died for all that those who live "'should no longer live for themselves, "'but for Him who died for them and was raised again.'" God raised you from the darkness, brought you into His kingdom of light so that you and I don't have to live for ourselves anymore. So the question I just wanna leave you with is who are you living for? And not just what are you living for, but who are you living for? And the invitation from God is to live for Him, to live for more. And as we wrap up our time together today, I wanna invite you to make a choice today that you're not gonna live for yourself anymore, that you're gonna live for the one who gave Himself for you. If you'll pull out that card with me,

on the back of the card that you received when you walked in, there's a place where you can write down a prayer request. And what I'd like to ask you to do today is to write down the name of somebody in your life that you need to be praying for. Who's the person that God wants to use you? They might be seated at your gate, they might be living in your home, but God wants to use you. And every week on Wednesday morning, we come before these cards, we lift them up in prayer before God. We're a praying church, and these cards are gonna get prayed for this week. We wanna join with you as a church family to pray over that name, to pray over that person. You might even write on that card the neighborhood that you live in or the part of town that you live in. And we wanna agree together. Next week, we're gonna talk about prayer and the power of prayer, that it's not just something that we do speaking, but we need the power of God. I wanna encourage you to be back. But this week, we're gonna pray, God, use me in this person's life. Open my eyes to see what you're doing all around me. And in just a moment, I'm gonna pray,

there're gonna be some buckets that go by, you can drop those cards in, and your church family will pray with you. But I can't help but think there are some people today that as we conclude our time together that are living on the outside, and you've never fully opened your heart to Jesus. You've never said, God, I wanna receive the gift of life that you have for me. Good news, today can be that day. Because the grace of God, it's not about what you've done, it's not about what you're living in right now, it's about you saying yes to what he's already done for you. And because of his death on a cross, his resurrection from the dead, you can receive the gift of life, eternal life right now in this moment where you can live in the kingdom of God here and now, and have confidence that you'll be with him for all eternity. Today can be the day that you receive that gift. I wanna invite you, if you will, to close your eyes with me and to pray together. And if that's you, you know it's you. And this is your moment to receive this gift from God, to no longer live apart from him on the outside, but to enter into the fullness of life that comes from knowing him. And you can pray a very simple prayer that is just your surrender to God to say,

God, I'm surrendering my life to you right now in this moment, I'm turning it over to you. And as you're making this decision from your heart to turn your life over to him, the Bible says that if you believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And there's an opportunity just to say to God, I believe in you. Just tell him. from your heart, I believe in you. And Jesus, I believe that you rose again from the dead. And as you're praying this prayer, you're opening your heart to God. Some of you today, it's the day of salvation, it's the moment that you're opening your heart to God, and for the very first time, you're receiving this gift from Him. If that's you, I just want you to seal it in your heart right now. Today, if you're saying, I'm praying to open my heart to God, to begin a relationship with Him, at all of our campuses, I'm gonna count to three, I'm just gonna ask you to lift your hands and say, today, I'm receiving this gift of life from Jesus, I'm believing in Him for salvation, on a count of three, one, two, three, lift your hands up today, if you're saying, I'm receiving this gift.

Anybody else? Three, three, four here in the front, anybody else, our campuses, raise your hands today, saying, today, I'm opening my heart to the gift of salvation. So God, we thank you today, that you give us the gift of life. Thank you that you save us from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of light. Some of you today just need to say to God, I'm sorry for making it about me. Just tell Him, I'm sorry that my eyes have been on me and not what you're doing all around me, and I wanna live for more, God. I want my eyes to be open to what you're doing around me. God, give us eyes to see, stir in us faith, give us hope to believe that you're a God that is able to use our ordinary life to transform lives around us. Thank you, God, that this church for 46 years has been a sending church, that has been a church that deeply cares about those who don't know you. And as long as there's one person, Lord, in our community that doesn't know you, we'll keep saying yes over and over again. God, send us, use us, use us in our neighborhoods, use us in Southern California, use us in Argentina, God, use our lives, we're here for you, God. We wanna serve you, we wanna bless you,

we know it's not about us, but we thank you, God, that you loved us enough to die for us. Now, God, send us, send us into our community, God, with your love, in the mighty name of Jesus we pray, amen, amen, amen. I invite you to stand with me, you can place that card in as the buckets go by, but let's just declare this, that we were made for more. Anybody glad that they were made for more today, that God made you for life, so he's sending you? Let this be a declaration, you were made for more, you weren't made to live in shame, you weren't made to live in a life separated from God, you were made to live for more. Come on, let's sing it together. ♪ Yeah, I was made to be tended grave, I was called by you ♪ ♪ Born and raised after my body, I was made for you ♪ ♪ I was made for you, yes you were, yes you were ♪ ♪ So why would I lay in my shame when a thousand of grace ♪ ♪ Is running my way, I know I am yours, I was made for more ♪ ♪ I was made for you, I was made to be tended grave, I was called by you ♪ ♪ I was made for you, yes you were, yes you were, yes you were ♪ ♪ So why would I lay in my shame when a thousand of grace ♪ ♪ Is running my way, I know I am yours, I was made for more ♪ ♪ I was made for you, yes you were, yes you were, yes you were ♪ ♪ So why would I lay in my shame when a thousand of grace ♪ ♪ Is running my way, I know I am yours, I was made for more ♪ ♪ I was made for more ♪ Amen. Church family, we were made for more. Thank you so much for joining us for church today.

Once again, if you want to take a next step in your faith or if you want prayer for anything, you can let us know on the Saddleback app by filling out the Next Steps form. You can also use that form to let us know if you're interested in leading a small group. You know, that small group semester is coming up real soon, and we would love to have you join us as a small group leader. Don't worry, we'll make sure that you're trained and equipped and ready to go. Just let us know that you're interested by filling out the Next Steps form. Well, church family, we love you so, so much. I hope you guys have a great week, and we'll see you back here next week as we continue our Live Cent series. We'll see you then. 🎵