Cribz Week 1

My name is Brea and I want to invite you to come check us out in person. I am so glad that you're tuning in to this online message, but it gets even better when we connect face to face. If you're ever in the Central Florida area, come check us out. I also want to encourage you to check out our website, freelifetravel.org, to learn more about who we are, what we do, and how you can be apart. Now, let's get into what you've been waiting for. Check out this message. I want to talk to you today, and next week, just on a simple topic, we're going to call cribs. Anybody I remember back in the day, MTV cribs, anybody watched the program, MTV cribs? Some of y'all don't have a clue what I'm talking about, that's all right, because you ain't from the 1900s, that's what it is. MTV cribs was a show on MTV where they would go around and they would highlight all these stars, whether the ball players, and musicians, or whatever, and they just had these jacked up, like, amazing, crazy houses, like, you just, I just want to live in their closet. Can I just have their closet to live in? Like, it's that next, that next level. When you have an elevator in your closet to get to the next level of your, of your clothing, like, what in the world? Like, pretty crazy. Well, not only are there cribs out there like that, God also has a crib. And I want to talk to you about God's crib because he kind of does an expose in his word about what, about what his crib is supposed to look like. Now, this last month, we just had a celebration of diversity where we were taking a, a survey throughout the, the room for several weeks. I mean, if you heard, many of you responded, thanks for being a part, I think we had somewhere around 1300, somewhere in there, responded to the, to, to the survey that we were taking. And it came out really interesting. Like, what nationalities, what ethnicities are attending free life.

And I want to just give you kind of a quick rundown as to, as to who's at free life chapel. This was pretty cool. So from the Hispanic community, 36% of the people that attend free life are Hispanic. Wepa, Gloria Deos, Jimmy Changa Burrito. There you go. Okay. Hispanic community, 36% from the, we're just doing just big categories from the black community, 33% free life chapel, loving that 36, 33, 36 Hispanics, 33 black. And then we, we let white people come to 26% Hey, look at that, 26% white we're in the room. But 5% other and other can be Native American, Asian, Pacific Islander. These are the, these are the big categories. And let me get, can I hear it for the 5% can I hear it for the, yeah. Thank you. Like, we love every, we love every percentage and whoever you are, if you're a 0.001% if you represent your people, we love you too. We're glad you're here. Like, this, this, it takes everybody to create the recipe of what free life chapel is. We need, we need all that. And so we love that celebrating the diversity that's in the room. It's, it's quite interesting. It's hard to find, it's hard to find a place like this. And I'm just excited and blessed to be a part of it. I trust you see it the same way, but, but here's what I know, free life chapel's diversity in attendance means absolutely nothing unless we have unity of heart. In fact, a lot of the diversity without unity creates chaos and a mess. And so if we're going to look at God's crib, God's house, which this is a beautiful cross section as to what it's supposed to look like, then we need to understand the importance of doing church, doing the crib, God's way. What does he say about unity?

What does he say about our coming together and embrace that right there? And that's what I'm talking about. In the banner of Jesus Christ, we bring all of who we are and we let Jesus define us. It doesn't mean our diversity goes away. In fact, we need you to hold on to your diversity. We don't want to make any group go away. We just want to see it under the banner of Jesus Christ. And he is the uniter of everybody. That's why the Bible says in Psalm 133, verses one and three, it says this, behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. Read this. For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forever more. Notice there's a commanded blessing. The blessing doesn't have an option. It's already been assigned, it's already been released and it has a target. Where is the target? Unity. That means, that means this. If unity is the target. in order to have unity. The same way that the only way that you can have faith is if doubt exists. Because without doubt, there'd be no reason to need faith. Unity is celebrated and out there because we are diverse. And God says, I want all of you to come together. Well, do you know what I have discovered? I'm gonna be hitting this more next week. What it is, one of the keys to hitting diversity, is you gotta walk in humility. To be a part of diversity because it's not all,

it doesn't all go my way, it doesn't all go your way. We find a place where we come together. Have you ever, have you ever been going out to a restaurant and everyone out voted you and you went anyway? Like, okay, fine. Like how many times a week can we eat tacos? Are you serious again? And there you go and what do you do? You have another taco that you hang out with them and you eat because it's wherever they're gonna go. It doesn't mean I got what I like, but it's where everyone's like, okay, let's roll together. Fighting for you. You could have said, no, I'm gonna check for late. I'm gonna, they say, it's cloudy, it's Sunday. Okay, fine, I'll go. But all I'm saying is we don't just, it's dinner time and then everybody goes where they want. No, let's go together and if I need to shift, I'll shift because unity is more important than my own desire. And that's exactly what God's word is pushing here, that he's commanding blessing. It's just like a team, you get a ball team. You got a lot of roles, a lot of positions. You got a bunch of boys, a bunch of girls playing on a team and they all have different assignments. But at the end of the day, the thing that makes that team win with all of their diversity is they got one playbook. And that one playbook is what is unifying them. And although during the play, one might be running this way,

one might be running this way, and one might be standing still, they're doing everything necessary in that play for the team to win, not the individual to win. It's like, I don't know who came up with this. Y'all ever heard of this thing called salted caramel? Whoever decided that, I want to kiss them on the jaw right now. I don't know who they are, but I'm telling you right now, racy cups and salted caramel, like they're right there together. Are you kidding me? Like those don't go together? Oh, yes they do. Like two opposite ends, but the opposites enhance. They don't take away. It's so important, it's like the band up here, multiple different instruments. And they all have different things, different chords that they're playing. They have different sounds that they're bringing. But when you mix them all together, what is it that makes it sound great? Is there playing in the same song? And they're in tune and in harmony with each other. Ladies and gentlemen, here's what I'm trying to tell you. Our diversity is beautiful. But when we have diversity, we can have unity inside of, or the diversity comes inside of the unity. And so we celebrate all the different aspects of who we are under the banner of Jesus who unites, all of us at the same time.

This is exactly what David was writing in the book of Psalm chapter four, one forty, verse 13. Check this, here's what he says. In fact, read this with me, here we go. The upright will dwell in your presence. Short little verse, and we don't take a whole lot about it. It's okay, cool, upright, dwell in your presence. But if we're gonna unpack that and understand what he means, it brings a lot of perspective. In fact, the word he chose upright is a throat punch. It's powerful. This word upright is the exact same word used in the book of Exodus when God told Moses, I want you to build me a tabernacle. A place to do life with my people. They got a picture they're gonna put up here of the tabernacle. This was a tabernacle in the wilderness. Like it's in, it's out in the desert. And they could pick it, they could put it down, pick it up and travel with it. Put it down, pick it up and travel with it. And so you see the walls going around it. And then there's a tent in the middle of the walls. And that's God's presence. That's what the cloud is above that. And the place of sacrifice in the middle. That's what that looks like. And the word upright that David used is the same word that God used when he was telling Moses how to build it.

It was a word describing the boards that were gonna be used for the walls. That the boards have to sit upright if there's gonna be walls to create a place for God to dwell in his presence. And so when we look at this, here's what's really cool about it. The description that God gives about these boards, it literally gives a picture to you and me. Watch this of what it means to be a Christ follower. Hidden inside of this are these, you gotta be kidding me, that's amazing. In fact, let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. These individual boards, by the way, there's 48 boards that are used to make up the intention. All of these boards that they are taken from, they get the wood and they bring it in. And the Bible says, in fact, you gotta be careful of how you say this word, like what this word. The Bible says that this wood is called shittemwood. That's the name of that, shittemwood, there you have it. Shittemwood and shittemwood is called an incorruptible wood. It is so hard and so dense, worms can't eat it. Termites would have a really difficult time penetrating it. So it's considered incorruptible. And because this is a picture of every Christ follower, the incorruptible nature of us, what does that mean? It means I'm eternally good with Jesus. Like, I'm not just good in time, I'm good in eternity, I'm incorruptible, I will, you will live forever

and we are good in Him, that's good news. But not only is it incorruptible, this board, it doesn't grow that way, it's gotta be shaped into that. It showed up with knots and it showed up with edges sticking out and all kinds of craziness, with some gnarled parts and they had to hone it and cut it and slice it and they had to sand it off in order for it to be able to stand up inside and be a board in God's house. How do y'all know that we got some work that God's still doing all of us, knocking some edges off, right? I got some things that are out of order. I got some things I'm still struggling with. Sometimes God is snatching your edges, like He's snatching my edges, like all that, like, that's exactly what the process is. That's called in church language, sanctification. It's where my life is becoming more pure and better aligned with Him and here's what's cool about it. Once that word is selected and it is honed, it's incorruptible, lasts forever. It's being shaped, sanctification. It's then covered in gold. Why is that important? Because gold is always in the Bible, a picture of God. It's divinity. So my incorruptible nature, because of what Jesus did, I'm saved going to heaven. I'm being shaped every day more and more into His lightness

that I can be upright inside of His house. I'm wrapped in God in everything that I do. This becomes a picture of what it means to be a board in God's house. But beyond that, on the bottom of each board, all 48 boards, there was two little appendages that come off the bottom. You can call them little feet if you would. And those feet are what goes in the ground so that it has something to connect and stand on. Those two little feet, every believer has two things that we stand on that makes us Christ followers. 1 Corinthians 15 tells us this, that you and I, we have the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the foundation of our life. That had He not died for our sins and then risen again, then it would not matter what you and I wanna believe this book would not be solid. But because we have those two feet to stand on, that gives you an eye strength. But it doesn't just have those little appendages, they've gotta go into something. Because can I remind you that this tabernacle is in the wilderness, it's all sandy. Ladies and gentlemen, you can't just stick a piece of wood in the sand and expect it to last. No, they put a base of silver was underneath each board that the two appendages would connect into this plate of silver. Silver is really important because silver

always represents redemption, salvation. In fact, specifically a ransom price. If somebody was kidnapped or taken away, a ransom price was paid to get them back. And guess what the price was? You had to pay it in silver in order to get somebody back. That's why Jesus was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. He was paying the ransom price so that He would be the one that's buying you and I back as well. Jesus was living this out in full color. This is what it means to be redeemed. We are incorruptible in nature. We're lasting forever. We're being shaped all the time. I'm getting better at life. I'm getting better at honoring God. But I'm wrapped in divinity. I ain't got it all going on, but He does make me look good. That's all I got to say. I look better than the way I'm living right now. God is being good. But I'm standing on the death and a resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's that hope that gives me joy and I'm standing inside of redemption. And why is that base important? Because life is shifting sand. Life is unstable. And the thing that gives me a solid footing is salvation.

I've been redeemed and I can build my life on that. That's why the Bible says in the book of Matthew that the man, one man built his house on the sand, another built his house on the rock Christ Jesus. Ladies and gentlemen, life is too shaky and unstable for you to try to build your life on anybody or anything else. Money can run out. A nice house can burn down. But Jesus is the staying power that holds you and grounds you and takes you through everything you go through in life. He's there. And what is it that connects these together? Because one board can't stand alone. No one board needs another board, needs another board, needs another board. Anybody ever played the game growing up red rover, red rover? We dare Billy Bob over. And Billy Bob goes running. He's not just trying to run over one person. He's trying to break the connection of several. And others help the one stand strong. This board was never meant to stand alone. No, there's 47 other boards that are there. But they've got to be connected. How are they connected? I'm glad you asked because it's in my notes. They are connected through five golden bars. There's these poles that are gold covered that actually hold all 48, connects all of them together. How does that work?

What's the message, Scott? The number five, five bars, five is the number of grace. And that grace is wrapped in gold, God. Here's what I'm trying to tell you. It's the grace of God that is holding all of us together. It's not because we're that good. And it's not because we're that refined or cleaned up. No, I need God's grace to get through today and tomorrow. But we're doing it together. And the same grace, I need is the same grace you need. That's why I got no condemnation or judgment for you because we all stand about the grace of God. And that's how we're still standing in redemption, covered in God. He's working on me, but I'm helping to make up what it means to be in his house. And all five of those gold bars are connected to each plank of wood by three gold rings. And those three gold rings, again, I've already told you gold represents God. And those three are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that has grace connected to my life and connected to others. I'm standing on redemption because of the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And I am covered in God and I am living upright in his presence. Does this make sense to anybody today? Are you following what I'm telling you?

This is who you are. This is how we stand. This is how we live. This is God's plan for your life and my life. Here's the challenge, here's the challenge. God is revealing to us not just the structure, but the mindset that it's not about me. It's about we. Oh, you see that flies in the face of we Americans. Can I just talk to Americans for a minute? I'm getting quiet on me right now, y'all. I don't know about that. We have a Western mindset. We have colonized our Bible. And we've made this an American book. And it's not. Can I remind you, Jesus was not a Christian. He was a Jew, raised in a Jewish home. Spoke Hebrew, kept the Jewish faith. And what he released to us was salvation to graft us in to a Jewish understanding and a faith of who God is through the Jewish covenants. Unless we put the Bible back in its context, we will miss what the actual perspective, watch this of God's crib is all about. And we'll try to turn God's crib. I try to, I'm gonna modify it to fit me instead of me modifying to fit God. That means we're making God in our images that are letting him make us in his image.

And we gotta make sure we're doing it his way. So watch this, Western ideas, we're into individualism. Me and mine, long as I get mine, I'm fine. Our culture is so messed up, somebody can be going through a tragedy right in front of them and what do they do? They don't help, they get their phone out. They film it so they can post it and get more likes. We live in a culture that is so me and self-centered that we walk right past hurting people every single day. In fact, individualism inside the church. I've done this before. Here's how we think, what's God doing for me? God ain't done nothing for me. And me is the center of our world. That is Western ideology, colonizing God's house, making God's crib my crib. When the Hebraic perspective is not individualism, but community. It's not me, it's we. It says, what is God doing with us? Not just with me. Please hear me. It's massive that we make this change because God made promises to work inside of His church through this model. Here's the challenge. If I try to change God's system, then I can't keep expecting God to fulfill my desire as opposed to His desire.

We've got to put it back in context. So let me give you three things real quick. What does it mean to be living in God's crib? How do I live in His crib? Number one, you need to understand this. Salvation is in the crib. Now, I need to explain this. Salvation, when you ask Jesus to forgive you, that very much is personal. That's one-on-one, yes, good for you, boom! But I need you to understand something about your individual, Jesus coming to my heart. You prayed and individually, you got it, but you know what he did? He said, welcome into my family. Immediately you're put into a community. We're not a bunch of just individuals that he has to deal one-on-one. He's a personal God, yes. But beyond that, put it back into context, he's got a family that you're a part of. When you said yes to him, you got family members in China. You got a family members in Guatemala. You got family members in Canada. You got a family members, even in California. Like you got family members in Polk County. Like wherever there's another believer living, they are family. Our hearts are connected. We have one God, and we're moving towards Him.

Understand, this is how God's word works. Watch this, Adam was a family. Adam and Eve blew it, and the Bible says that the curse of sin, a sin nature, was then released, and we are born into sin because of the Adam family. Not the Adam, not that, not that family, but Adam's family. That's why Jesus is called the second Adam in the New Testament. The first Adam jacked it up. The second Adam came and he started a new family. And this family is one where the price has been paid and that old nature is broken. Jesus did not die for you to stay stuck in a nature. He died to change your nature. So I don't know what you were born with or what your struggle is. We've all been born with some jacked up stuff, and we all have a struggle. But the power of Jesus comes to change our nature and make us one in Him. This is why when God made a promise and a covenant to Abraham, He talked to Abraham one on one, but the promise was for Abraham's family, the nation and the world. It wasn't just for one. You and I need to change our minds to understand this. When the disciples asked Jesus, how should we pray? Here's how He said, here's, listen to how He started.

Jesus said this, our Father, who art in heaven, not my Father, ours. When you're praying, where two or three are gathered in my name, that's where I am and missed to them. Oh, you can pray one on one prayers, but there's nothing like coming together in that community because you create a house of God and God's presence dwells there. So let me help you with this. Salvation rescues me from sin on an individual basis, but then it immediately gives me responsibility inside of the church. Immediately, you can't just join a ball team and show up only to play games. When you say yes and you get the jersey, bam, I'm in. Cool, see you in practice tomorrow. You got to be a part of all of it, not just the games. I've got to do it all. And that's what God's word says. Listen, Romans chapter 12, four and five, check this out. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function. So it is with Christ's body. We are many parts of one body and we, very good, we all belong to each other. We need every part of the body, every part. Years ago, I broke my pinky playing ball, my pinky. You do not realize how important your pinky is until you can't use it. (congregation laughing)

Had a cast on my hand, I had a splint on that thing. And man, I didn't realize like how much you use your pinky. But if you never broke your pinky, you can't appreciate that. But I know one pinky that you have jammed, you'll pinky toe. And I promise you this, you jam your pinky toe. You will dance all over that house. You will fall down. The world is coming to an end right now. Although it's that one little toe, you're not even sure why God put it on there. What's it always hooked out there for? Some y'all got one that goes real hard, right? And it just grabs everything. But I'm just telling you that if you heard it, man, the world is shutting down right now. Because if one part of my body's hurting, the whole body is hurting. (screaming) You're jumping like a... 'Cause I'm telling you, if one part hurts, it all hurts. Let me help you with something. We gotta start thinking, we, not me. Someone shout, we, not me. We, not me. That means this. That means this. I said yes to Jesus. He brought me, and he said, I'm saved.

Yes, I'm incorruptible, but now I have a family. I have a responsibility. In other words, I can't say yes to Jesus and no to his church. That's biblically contradicting. I don't get to decide what parts of God's word I want and which ones I'm going to push back on. Either take all of him or none of him, ladies and gentlemen. And Jesus expects you and I to give out hope to others the same way others provided the hope of Jesus to us before we knew Him. So let me help you with something. When you came to free life chapel for the first time, I pray you were greeted by somebody who shook your hand and said, "Welcome, so glad you're here. Smiled at you." They didn't inspect you and walk away and judge. I hope you felt loved and embraced and partially violated because we will hug you before we know you around here. And just that you can belong. I love that. We want that in the lobby. Everybody's welcome. Okay, some of you, you've been attending free life. Just let me talk pastor for a minute. Some of y'all have been attending free life long enough. It's time to connect for and it's time to put your hands out there and welcome somebody into the lobby when they come as well. You've received and you had a honeymoon. Good for you. Yay. A 10-year honeymoon. Okay, it's time for that 10-come moon in now. Get through, connect for and go out there and shake a hand and realize that you're welcoming you into the building all over again. There's another one of the me's that are coming in. I can do something. Maybe it's not there. Maybe you love kids. You can make impact with kids.

Someone's watching your kids right now. That's awesome. But maybe once a month, you can step in and you can serve and teach a child about Jesus. The most important thing that we value in our lives are our kids. You can make an impact. One Sunday a month, go make an impact in those kids' lives. If you can sing, not make a joyful noise. If you can sing, there's a place for you. If you're a musician, you should be up here. You should be using your gifts, talents and abilities to help create an atmosphere that people, why? Because it's not about me. It's about we. What can I do to make God's house stronger, greater? Who can I welcome? Who can I love? Who can I impact? That's how we think in this. Salvation is in the crib. Number two, strength is in the crib. How do you know when you're in the church, you are a stronger believer when you're in the church? Have you all noticed that? I have. I have. You ever missed one Sunday and long about Wednesday the following week, you feel like it's been like three months since you've been to church? Like, are they ever going to have church again? Yeah, we just did it last week. It's kind of crazy how that works. We're stronger when we are in God's house. Not alone, but lifted. And that's the mission of the house. Watch this. The me view, the self-centre view is where I'm just going to rely on self-help and positive affirmation and willpower. That's what I'm going to do. And I'm here to tell you that that's going to last for about that long right there. And then you're going to fall off into depression and difficulty and struggle. And then you're going to feel unstable. And like, this isn't working. What's going on? Because life hits from every angle. And now you're carrying trouble and doubt and fear and problems and questions. And you're doing it alone. And nobody was built to do life alone. Nobody.

I don't care what your pay grade is. I don't care what your education said. We all need a family to do this together. That's the me view. The we view understands that spiritual victory requires the whole body. Everybody to win. It's not just my victory. I need you to win today. I want you to win today. I want you to overcome some things that you've been struggling with. And when you overcome that, the whole body, one together, we're moving as a collective family. If one person in the family is hurting, we're all hurting. It's not okay that I just got the promotion. And you're going through a painful time. I'll put my celebration on pause to jump into where you are. And let's put things back together and get life moving for all of us. This is the we versus me. We've got to change our mind because God said that's how my house operates. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 10. This is a great tattoo if you're looking for another one. Here we go. It says this, "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others." That gift is not for you. It's not yours. It's on loan. Why do you think God gave it to you? To hide it? To use it to bless somebody else. When you begin to look at this, you begin to understand, I don't have the option of just skipping church. I have to show up. Why? Somebody needs to see me today. I need to shake someone's hand. Under each other and say, "Hey, what's up? Good to see you today." I'm back again. Have you been here for years? Yeah, because God is good and he stabilized me and my family. And the same strength he gives me is going to give you. I'm glad you're here again. Isn't it good to show up and see some of the same faces still trusting God, still believing God, still moving forward? That's what this does. We all need each other in this.

I don't have the chance to opportunity to back out or part of the family. When I was growing up, we had dinner at 530. It's 'cause that's about the time the streetlights came on. 530, we had to be around the table. If I told my mom, I ain't coming. I'll see you later. Oh, I would've went to see Jesus a long time ago. You understand that? No, we all sit around the table together. That's when the family eats. See, there's some things that God's word. It tells us this is how you will live your life now because that's what Jesus did. When he saved me, he got all of me. So in other words, yes, you are your brother's keeper. Ecclesiastes 4 tells us that man, one person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but when two are standing back to back and fighting whatever issue, they can have victory in their life. Some of you have been fighting alone for way too long and you're spinning around in circles and wondering why you're losing ground. And you need about three or four people to run in there and get your back. Who's got your six? In fact, let me ask you, who's six? Are you keeping? Who's back?

Are you watching out for? You need people to guard your back? Here's how you get people to guard your back. You ready? Big key, start guarding somebody else's back. You guard their back and they'll turn around and they'll run to you right now. That's how you do this thing. And if you will run in there, it changes everything. And all of a sudden we become this family that God designed for the church to be. That's why God gave you a posse. He gave you a church. He gave you a pastor. He gave you people to help strengthen and lead you forward to challenge you, quite honestly. You miss couple of Sundays. And all of a sudden you got this Holy Ghost mafia at Freelive Chapel coming and knocking on your door. Where are you? Get back in the house, like you're lovingly. But you need people checking on you. Like you can't just disappear for a minute. No, you need some people that you're in relationship with that it matters how good you're doing. And it matters if you're in God's house. And it matters if you're living right. These things are important. So we need people to challenge us. We need people to encourage us, correct us,

direct us, strengthen us. We all need this. Friday night, Cindy and I were at the mall. She had some returns she needed to do. And while she's doing the returns, I'm walking around just waiting on her to come out. So I go in this Warby Parker store and looking at rims and glasses and stuff. I look around in there for a while, talking to the salesman and all that kind of deal. Cool, I walk out. I see Cindy coming down the mall. And she walks up and says, "Hey, let me show you some frames." So we step in, look at some frames, and talk a little bit, we step out. And when we step out, she goes, "Hey, come here a minute." I say, "Yeah, what's up?" She goes, "No, come here, come here." So I step close to her. And then she goes, there's this couple coming. She's just waiting for them to leave. When she realized it was just us alone, she said, "Listen, you have a hair sticking out one of your nostrils." (audience laughing) I mean, I was not glad to hear that news. That was not, I was like, "Whoa, are you kidding me? "Are you, are you?" I've been talking to the guy in Warby Parker, and the shrub hanging out of my nose

is wagging everywhere. Are you serious? It's horrible. It was terrible, but you know what? As much as I hated to hear it, I was glad she told me. She helped to identify what was out of order so that I could get it in. Was she trying to hurt me? No, she was informing me. You could be better. One change can fix a lot of things and trust me. We need to change, so we had to get rid of that situation. But I'm just saying, that's exactly what God's house is supposed to be. When you hear things that are challenging, it's not attacking. When you understand that we're a family, we're a body, it's loving. Let's come together and let's work it out. Let's move forward. We lean in, we stand side by side, and we work through this. That's exactly the dimensions of God's house. This is how it works, you know why? Because when we do it together, we win. But one board standing out there, when the winds and the storms start blowing in your desert, ladies and gentlemen, I'm telling you now, it will not stand. Nobody's built to stand alone.

No marriage is built to stand alone. Oh no, no, doesn't mean you're wrong. It doesn't mean you're weak. It means you're human. And you actually need a savior and you need a family to do some life with. That's all that is. So that's why we do it side by side. I'm done with this one. The third thing that's in the crib is mission. The mission of Christ. Jesus is praying this prayer right before he dies, right before he's about to be crucified. And you know a man's last words are some of the most important. This is what he wants to remember. And as he's praying over his people and praying over, he's praying a three part prayer. It's actually called the high priestly prayer. And I'm not going to get into that. It's a three part prayer, but the second part of this priestly prayer "I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me." He's talking to this heavenly Father. "I also want them to be one with us." Read this, "Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me." Would you stand to your feet, please? Here's what Jesus is praying.

He said, "I want my diverse family to come under the banner of Jesus Christ, and I want Jesus to be the number one qualifying factor for who they are. Don't identify with your education. Don't identify with your money. Identify with me. You're saving your Lord, and everything from there is the thing that holds us together." And he says, "When this happens," he says, "I've already given a mission to my church." He said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to everybody." Baptizing then and then of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to deserve all things that I've commanded you, and I'll be with you to the ends of the earth. That's the mission. So watch this. At Free Life Chapel, our aspect of that mission, the mission at Free Life is helping others to discover and live the free life in Christ. Here's how God's body works. If this is your house, if this is your church, then your purpose plugs into that vision, and everybody together uses our purpose to elevate the same vision. That's where unity comes in. Maybe your purpose is in music. Maybe your purpose is in teaching.

Maybe your skill sets are in a lot of other areas, but there's a place that it folds into the overarching mission of the church, and we lift it together. Ladies and gentlemen, you and I need the church just the way God said. We gotta change our mind from me to we, and realize I have no option. I gotta go forward. Somebody needs me here every week. I've gotta show up, and I gotta serve. I gotta be a part. The word united, we started with this in the book of Psalm 133, that there's blessing commanded for that unity. United is spelled U-N-I-T-E-D, U-N-I-T-E-D. Pretty good, I memorize that. United. Watch this. Here's another word, untied, U-N-T-I-E-D. Do you know what the difference between those two are? Where I is put. If you get the I out of place, you're no longer united, you're untied. You're disconnected, you're alone. You're by yourself, and you're wondering why life isn't working. But if I will get me, I, in the right place. Now I'm united, I'm connected. I'm a part of something bigger than me. And I get to receive of the strength that this whole house gives me. Listen, gentlemen, I feed off of you every single week.

I'm not the grand poo-ba that's walking around with all the answers, and I can, are you kidding me? I'm one of you. I'm walking this out like you are. I hurt like you do. I have questions like you do. But as I need the family like you do, I worry all in the body together. But we got to get out of me and get into we and realize we're going to do it in community. It should bother us that some people that we know are going to hell should not be okay. It should bother us that we're reaching, that we're following the example of a 15 year old, that dynasty steps up and she goes, you know what? I'm reaching to someone I don't even know because I feel like God's put him on my heart. That's amazing. Ladies and gentlemen, we got some steps we can take. Let's be the church. Amen. Father, thanks for your word. The challenge is all of us. That there's a better way to live. We don't have to live stuck or alone, but we can come under the banner of Jesus Christ and be united. Yes, salvation won on one, but boy, like being a part of a family,

there's nothing like that in the world. And today, God, we embrace the family. I'm going to stop trying to live single inside of this family and I'm going to move in and find my place and connect and get stronger and get healthier and begin to advance and grow and give back and make impact for your glory. We need you, God. But we want, we must do things the way you said. And today I pray you would challenge my friends in this room, those that feel alone, those that feel untied, not united, those that feel like they're just barely making it. God let them know that there is a family waiting on them that nobody hurts alone in this family. And nobody walks alone in this family, but we will stand side by side, we will sacrifice, stand up strong and move forward. God, I pray for free life chapel, that you would help us not just to go to church, but to be the church. That we would stand up and live in those promises, that we would watch your power move. And according to what your word says, if we will do this, Jesus said, then the world would look at us and realize Jesus is real. When they see us loving right, they'll believe Jesus. When they see us serving right, they'll know Jesus is real. When they see us reaching for others, they will know that Jesus has real

and turned their lives to him. God, help us, help us to be a healthy church that lives for the we and not just the we in Jesus name. Amen, amen, amen. If you receive that today, put those hands together. - We really hope this message encourages you. For more encouraging messages, feel free to check out our website, free life chapel.org. I hope you have a fantastic day. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)