Did You Fall For The Purpose Trap | Artificial Intelligence | Week 5

with you or you have a Bible app, go ahead and turn to Romans chapter eight and everybody should have a Bible now. We're a Bible church, I didn't know if you knew that or not. I know what your last church was into, we're into the Bible, right? So get out your Bible, get out your Bible app, whatever that is, you're gonna take notes so reach in that lady's purse and get a pen. She's okay, go ahead and get it. And whatever offering she needs to give, go ahead and give that too. Just pull, I'm kidding there, right? And there's Bibles in the back of all of our campuses. I'm so excited about, about to say happy Mother's Day, come on, one more time, to all the moms and nanas and grandmas and mimis and nanas and I heard a bunch last night, it's like, that's what they call you. Anyway, hey, today, here's what we're gonna do. I'm so excited about today. I've been waiting a month to deliver this talk to mostly to the ladies, but it's gonna apply to all of us. I wanna piggyback off of some of what Jesse covered last week, if you weren't in church last week, he crushed it, go back and look at it. But I wanna look at this idea of purpose, artificial purpose. And it's artificial because many of us, as we are pursuing what we believe to be our purpose,

we discover along the way, we've actually been chasing, pursuing the wrong thing. And we've been running after it, hoping to find peace and significance and safety and fulfillment in this goal that we're chasing, but then we wake up at a certain point in our life and we look around and go, it didn't work. It didn't work because we were asking what that achievement was, what that goal was promising in a way, that job, that income, that accomplishment, that marriage, these kids, we were asking, hoping it would do something for us that we can only get from God. And if your purpose, if you have to leave early, here we go, and if your purpose doesn't line up with his purpose, God's purpose for your life, you'll miss it. You'll miss, you'll waste the one, you only got one life, you'll waste the one life that you've been given because you spin it on the wrong destination, on an artificial purpose. All right, so if you have your Bible, say I want you to turn to what might be a really familiar passage for some of us. It's Romans chapter eight. We're gonna be looking at 28, 29, and 30, just three verses today, and I wanna read all the way through this together, and then I'm gonna tell you where I plan to take us today, okay?

So it's gonna get real here, all right? So Romans eight, 28 through 30. I gotta put old man glasses on because I'm old. All right, here we go. He goes, and we, what's the word? And we what? And we know, so this is not his thoughts. I'm hoping, all right? This is confidence, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. There it is. For those whom he, what's the word? Foreknew, underline that one. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined, underline that one, to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he, Jesus, might be the firstborn among many of us, like a lot of brothers, all right? And those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified. So today, here's what I wanna do. I wanna talk about purpose. Say purpose. Purpose. We're gonna talk about purpose, and while this is gonna apply to everybody today, today's Mother's Day, I'm gonna try to bend much of the truths and applications

in the direction of the women of our church, all right? Who are listening to my voice today, all right? And just like a few weeks ago, if you were here, I spoke very directly and clearly to the men of our church around this idea of sexual immorality and pornography. If you were here, all right, I didn't pull any punches, did I, guys? No, I'm still recovering from that, all right? In the same way, ladies, I'm gonna get all up in your business today, all right? I promise, I've warned you. Now, men, I will end with a single application for you that will be, honestly, a kick in the crotch for you. I'm just telling you that. It's a shameless, heavy-handed, get your head out of the sand, all right? So you leave now if you want to. But I wanna talk to the ladies. Ladies, I promise. I'm so excited. I'm so happy. Some of you ladies, you're gonna walk out of here so, like, shoulders up, like, come on, world. You're gonna walk out here strong. And ladies, I need to hear from you, okay? So we got training wheels on in the hall. Amen, I'm into this. So ladies, can you say amen? Amen. Can you say come on?

Come on. Can you say preach it, pastor? Preach it. That one, I love that one right there because I'll be honest, I preach better than you, amen. That's all I'm saying right here, okay? But I promise, ladies, I'm not gonna be mean, all right? But it's gonna get uncomfortable. And here's, okay, all right, we got one. I'll come down and sit with you here, all right? But here's what I'm learning. It's a lot of areas of my life. Marriage, parenting, career, friendship. Here it is, all right? Any time that I try to avoid a subject because it's uncomfortable or a hard conversation, if I try to rescue somebody that I love from anything that might cause them pain or discomfort, and that comes from a good place. I care about you. I don't want you to go through pain, all right? Here's what I'm learning. Look at this. Many times when I try to rescue someone from a painful situation now, I unintentionally set them up later for an even more hurtful situation. Does that make sense? I tried to get you out of that, but actually I robbed you

and actually made it worse later. There's a difference between something that's. painful and something's hurtful. You know what I'm talking about? Like pain calls us to, hey, pay attention to something that needs to change. Pain says get your hand off the stove before something worse happens to you. Hurtful simply wants to hurt you. It wants to destroy you, defeat you. It means to do you harm. It's painful to go to the doctor and they stick a needle in your arm, all right? That's painful. Hurtful is when somebody sticks a knife in your back, right? In the moment, both are unpleasant, but one is for your long-term good and the other just wants to destroy you. Are you following me? Yeah, yeah, are you, lady? Come on, all right. Because it's important, right? Because it might be a little painful today. The other thing I want to say before I get into this is this, all right? Whatever you hear from me today, and here's what I want to say. Whatever you hear from God through me today, and I know, listen, if I say something, you're not emailing God, you're emailing me.

I get it, it's all right, it's fair, right? Here's what I want to ask. Anything that you hear today, can we make an agreement that you just stick to your own story? Stick to only applying it to your own life, your own story, and don't get distracted or defensive or deflected or get all locked up in, so wait, wait, hey, Jim, are you saying that what happened to my friend or what happened to my mom or what my daughter went through, are you saying that if a woman goes through this or that, if something bad happens to one, wait, what are you saying, Jim? Time out. I don't know. I don't know the answer to all that, and neither do you. See, here's what I do know. God is working and doing things in other people's lives that you know nothing about, because it's not your life and it ain't your business, which means this, all right? I'm asking you to only see how these truths that we're gonna hear from God's Word might intersect with your life, your experiences, your story, your reality, and maybe, okay? Not gonna make any false promises here, but maybe even if you can't connect all the whys or the outcomes of what's happening in your life, here's what my prayer is.

You'll get enough from God today to maybe start moving forward from the place where you're stuck right now. I have a feeling there's a lot of us stuck. I'm not saying move on. I'm saying move forward, all right? Everybody sufficiently uncomfortable? All right, there you go, okay. So, all right, today I just wanna talk to you about purpose. Say it again, purpose. Purpose. Y'all, you're getting warmed up, all right? If you were to Google or ask ChatGPT, what's purpose? You'll get something like this. Purpose is the intended reason for which something exists, is done, or was created. Does that make sense? Like the inventor says, hey, I got an idea, and this will, I'll make this so that it can do that. Now, the flip side, if something is being used in a way that it was never meant or intended to be used, that is called abuse by definition, right? And here's why I start right there, okay? There are many forms of abuse in our world. I just have a feeling that many of us, I'm speaking to women today, so there are many women in all these rooms I'm talking to right now. You're abusing yourself, because by definition, the way that you're living, pursuing,

and using your one and only God-created life, it's very different than the intended purpose for which you were created. You exist for a reason. You have something to do. God has an assignment for your life. You were created for a reason, but for some reason, you're missing it. You're confused by it, you're unsure of what it is, and so what you've done is you've settled for a different purpose, and by that I mean a lesser purpose, which is why not only is that self-abuse, it explains why you are, listen closely, why you're allowing others to abuse you, to use you and treat you in a way that's different than the purpose for which God created you, the purpose, the reason for which God created you. If you don't know your purpose, somebody else will give you one, right? They don't have the right to, but they do, okay? So now, Romans chapter eight, let's start going through this really, really, really slow. We start in verse 20, it says this. And, this is in my way. And we, and what's the word, and we what? So this is Paul going, hey, I am persuaded, I am confident. It's not that I think or I hope, I know. And here's what I know. We know that for those who love God, time out right there, okay?

So Paul, the author there, is talking to people who love God. This doesn't even apply, all right? If you don't like, in the context above and below this, read the rest of the chapter later, when we get to this, this promise is for followers of Jesus. Paul is about to talk about how all things happen to everybody. Whether you're a Christian or not, stuff's just gonna happen to all of us, all right? Again, just because you're a Christian or not, you're gonna get cancer, car wrecks, betrayal, abuse, loss, heartbreak, death, sickness, financial bankruptcy, relational breakdown, fair stuff, unfair stuff, painful stuff, hurtful stuff, stuff's just gonna happen to everybody. But here's what Paul is saying to those of us who love God, who have accepted. Jesus as our Lord and Savior, stuff's gonna happen, but when it happens, it's gonna be different with us. It's gonna work different, and look at it again. And we know that for those who love God, here we go, all things work together for good. That's a great promise. It's just not a promise for everybody. For those apart from God, when disaster and loss hits your life, it's just disaster and loss. Sorry, but for us, all things, everything, it's gonna be hard to hear, right?

Everything that happens in your life, here's the promise that Paul says, I know this is true. God leverages it, uses it, works it out somehow for good. Now, I want you to hold on to that. We're gonna come back to it in a minute. Read on there, okay? So you're gonna work it for our good. For those who are, and look at this, the called. I put the in there because in the original language, called has an article, all you grammar people, had an article in front of it designated as, called is a person as belonging to a group of people who have been called by God, the called out ones. And you hear that, if you go to church very much, you're gonna hear that word called or calling a lot in church world. I was called to be a pastor. I would say I was called, right? I was called to go on a mission trip, something like that. The biblical concept, so file this away whenever you hear some Christian throwing this word out, of calling is that God is calling you, calling out to you, inviting you to himself in order to send you back out to do something in his name. Does that make sense? I'm calling you, come here, I got something for you to do, now I want you to go do it, that's calling, all right? What is it that he wants us to do? For those who are the called, according to, what's the next word?

His purpose. Let's put this all back together again, so the whole verse, right? And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. God will take all things, and I did a word study this week on all, and it actually means, all. Come on, pastor, preacher, I have to study, right? All means everything, every circumstance of your life, everything, all right, everything that you have ever done, everything that's been done to you, all the good, all the bad, all the ugly, all the beautiful. God, Paul says, I know this is true, I've experienced, God will use it, work it, leverage it for something good because God is calling you to join him in what? His purpose. Who's? His purpose. See, and this is where I go off the rails for a lot of us, all right, this is where we get it wrong, get lost in life, all right, end up chasing the wrong things, end up empty and frustrated. We read that verse this way, if we love God enough, God's gonna somehow take everything that's ever happened in my life, erase the bad stuff, highlight the good stuff, and then I can go pursue my purpose,

and God's gonna bless it and make it all good. It's not in the Bible. The truth is, the only reason God gets involved in all things working together for good in your life is because he has a purpose, he has a purpose, and it involves you getting involved in his purpose, not your purpose, not your wishes, not your hopes, not your dreams, not your plans, not your expectations. I'm not saying your purpose and your hopes and your dreams are bad, I bet they're awesome. I bet you've been dreamer about them since you were a little girl, right? Paul's just saying that as good as your purpose and plans might be that you have come up for your life, they are not as good as God's purpose, and if you try to pursue your purpose apart from or different than God's purpose, it won't work out. You're on your own, ladies. I met some of you. You might be strong enough, smart enough, smooth enough to make your purpose work for a while without God, but just like last week, you're gonna get there one day and you're gonna find nothing but emptiness and meaningless, and that's where some of us are sitting right now. This is what I live my life for? So what is God's purpose for your life? I'm glad you asked that, okay? So I'm gonna nerd out on Bible nerd stuff because I'm a Bible nerd. You'd pay me to be a Bible nerd, right?

But here's what I found, the nerdy stuff in the Bible is where the good stuff is, all right? And I'll just be honest with you, you can't get what I'm gonna teach you from chat GPT. Boom, mic drop, all right? So the word, I didn't try it, so maybe. Don't do it, it's the devil. Okay, so. I'm doing, I'm going, all right, here we go. So the word purpose, this is so cool and nerdy, but it's linked to, it originates, because throughout history, our words evolve, right? But this word really came from this word, right? So the word purpose originates back in the Old Testament, the beginning of the Bible, in the book of Leviticus, which is a fascinating book. But anyway, the Hebrew word is maraket, say maraket. And it actually translates showbread. Showbread, okay? All right, we would translate, we would look at maraket, we're gonna go, oh, you mean purpose? Now, here's why, all right? Even before the temple was built, all right? So we're back in the book of Leviticus, all right? Every sabbath, every Saturday of the Sabbath, it comes up in the New Testament in the Bible, The high priest would take 12 loaves of bread, we're gonna look up at the book of Leviticus. representing the 12 tribes of Israel, and the show bread was made,

March 1, 6,iegenfalh David, there's a whole chapter on, you mix this ingredient, do it this way, and all that, very precisely, okay? The priest would then stack those 12 loaves on a special table, like made out of gold, right outside the part of the temple where the presence of God would reside, and he would sit out there all week long as a reminder, as people walked by, of the provision of God, of the faithfulness of God. It was a table that said, look at what the Lord has done, put on display. This is where it gets good, I think, anyway, right? You put all that together, the word purpose, and put this together with what we just talked about, the word purpose literally translates put on display. You missed a good place to say amen right there. I'll say it again, the word purpose literally translates put on display. And I better hear amens through that camera from the other campuses in a minute, there are like hundreds of them, right? Because I'm gonna read what I'm about to read. Here it is, I'm gonna paraphrase it a little bit, but it all goes together, and we know, I know, that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who have been invited in and are now sent out to live their lives,

putting God on display, can I get an amen on that? Amen! That's, this is the purpose, this is, let me say it even more concisely. You're gonna live, here's your purpose. Look at what the Lord has done in and through everything that's happened in my life. Listen, ladies, listen to me, okay? If someone were to ask you, like, what's your purpose? Why are you even here? Maybe you look in the mirror and ask, what's God's will for your life? Why did you, why were you born? Why do you exist? Why do you draw breath? First of all, listen, it's not an accident. Somebody told you, you weren't even planned, you were a surprise, all right? You're a mistake, no, no, no. You're here because God made a decision. God purposed your birth, and he doesn't make mistakes. Your purpose in this life, it's not to be a wife, or a mom, or get some degree, or a career. It's not to win some trophy. It's not to be the best version of myself. It's not to prove that you can do anything better, or as well, or better than a man. Now, ladies, listen, if you wanna go do that because you wanna do that, go for it.

No problem, but none of those are your primary purpose in your life. The answer to the question, what is the primary purpose, like, his purpose, God's purpose for my life is this. Watch how I live my life as I put God on display. Amen, right, right? How God, how about this? How God brought me, look at your own story here. How God brought me from where I was, and is taking me where I'm gonna be. I went through this, I got hit, I got knocked down by this, I got attacked by this, I got forgotten, I got betrayed. I worked my butt off for that, so much as a thank you from my parents, or my husband, or my kids. I mean, I love them, and I did my best every day, but the only thing that keeps me going, ladies, right, keeps me standing is the reason that I show up every day, and don't quit is because God reached into my life. He reached into my life, and he loved me, and he sustains me, and he holds me together, and he forgives me, and he empowers me. My life is a living testimony put on display. Look at what God can do, and has done, right? Ladies, come on, whatever, here we go, all right? Whatever else you may do, ladies, whatever you might accomplish, whatever else might be on display in your life, when you look at me, and where I was, and where I am today, God is good and faithful.

He's my strength, come on. He's my provider, he's my sustainer, he's my healer, he's my protector. Look at my life, he's the only reason I'm still standing. Look at my marriage, look how I went through my divorce. Look at how I changed 1,000 dirty diapers, cooked 100,000 meals, drove a million miles, did carpooling, ballgames, and cheerleading competitions. Not to mention the thousands of hours I've been trying to convince my husband that he's a good man. He's the strongest man, he's the only man I'd ever wanna be with, and all of that without much of an acknowledgement or a thank you, but my purpose is that when anybody thinks of me, they see a woman filled with the power, and grace, and strength, and dignity of God. I look at you, I wanna see God on display, amen? Now, okay, and gentlemen, you missed a good opportunity if you didn't go like, that's you, babe, that is you. You should tell you that right now, that's you, babe, right there, right? It's too late, you missed it. I am preaching, all right, so, now here's what's going on in the room right now, okay? All right, every woman listening to my voice right now, I know what you're doing right now, because I've been married to one of you for 42 years. Yeah, okay, I'm not, thank you, Rob, all right. Here's what you're going like,

you're sitting there going, yeah, not me. That's not me, that's not my life, that's not my, there's not a lot to display. Ladies, I'm gonna be really honest with you, you drive everyone in your life crazy. Amen, gentlemen, all right, careful, gentlemen, don't, you should've passed on that one. I did say, all right, ladies, why do you do this? Sometimes, I promise, I love you, it's like living with Eeyore. Probably gonna rain, right, right? Do you like my new haircut? Yeah, no, you don't, I can tell. Hey fellas, even if you're not married, file this one away. Do not fall for this, all right? Do you like my hair now or before I got it cut? Don't, don't answer, it's a trap. Right, you've been there, right? If you say now, she'll say, so you hated it before and you didn't say anything? If you say before, she'll say, so you're saying I'm ugly now. I don't know. Do I look okay in this dress? I think you look great. Well, I think it makes me look fat. Then wear the other one, so you think I'm fat. This is. Am I preaching to somebody here, all right? All right, this is happening, I'll ask Robin,

like, where do you wanna eat tonight? He'll go, you decide. I'll go, let's go to Georgia Boys. How many times have we eaten there? Well, you told me to decide, yeah, but you should just know, you should've picked somewhere I like. I'm like, I'm not even hungry now. It's like. I love you, by the way. I love you, by the way. I love you, by the way. I love you, by the way. I love you, by the way. I love you, by the way. My point is, when I say that God's primary purpose for your life is that he's called you into, is to live your life putting what God has done in your life on display. Most of, ladies and gentlemen, most of you jump right to, there's not a lot to display. And I'm gonna call you on that. Here's my question. Where would you be? Where would you be if God hadn't been or wasn't currently actively involved in your life? Where would you be? I'll answer it for you. Lost. Because I know some of these stories.

I don't know all of them, all right? It'd be overwhelming. But I know some, you have been through some real hell. And some of you in the middle right now, you came on Mother's Day, it's a hard day for you. Some of you are so overwhelmed by what you have to carry right now. And it's not even necessarily bad stuff. You gotta feed babies all day. You gotta wipe butts all day. You gotta get everybody from point A to point B without losing anybody, without committing multiple felonies. And a win is nobody died today, all right? And at the end of the day, here ladies, here's what I know. I just wanna sit in a chair, put my feet up and have a glass or five of wine. That's what I wanna do, right? And then here comes your husband and spoke to you all day. I'll go, hey baby. And you're like, are you kidding me? This is my house. I don't know. I don't know what you're carrying. I bet it's a lot. But I wanna, that's just verse one. Let's look at the next verse, part two of everything we've covered so far.

God's gonna use everything that you've gone through to put on display, look at what the Lord can do. How is he gonna do that? Well, let's look back here at verse 29, okay? For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he, Jesus, might be the firstborn among many that are gonna be born, basically, all right? So I wanna talk to you about how God predestines stuff. But before that, I wanna look at that word foreknew, as in God foreknew those that he called. And foreknew means this, he knew before. Thank you. Preach faster, I am preaching right now. Here we go, all right, all right? I did study this. What Paul is saying is that when God called you to be a part of his purpose, he foreknew everything about you. Nothing that you have done, this applies to all of us, but I'm just telling the ladies right now, God knows all about it. He knew what he was getting with you. God has never been shocked by, surprised by anything that you have done or will do. And he said, I'm still gonna call her, I'm gonna use her, she will put me on display. He foreknew all things, all the stuff that you've done and that has been done to you.

Well, can you get more specific? Yeah, I can. He foreknew all the lies that have come out of your nasty mouth over your life. He knew about that mean girl mouth of yours that you used to ruin another girl's life. He watched it happen. He knew it was gonna happen. He knew about the boys, the men that you've shacked up with. He knows all about the abortions. He knows about the lesbianism. He knows about the DUI, the affair. He knows about the medications you're secretly abusing. Right now, he knows. He knew what kind of house you were gonna be raised and born into. He knew what kind of dad your dad would be. He would be a deadbeat, deserter, lying womanizer. And he knew that your husband would do the same thing to you, he foreknew it. He knew. He knew your mom would take out all of her unresolved wounds and bitterness and throw them at you. He knew. It's amazing. He knew you'd be held down and abused. He knew. He knew that you would hurt and abuse somebody else. He knew. He knew about the cancer before you even knew about it.

He knew you'd lose that pregnancy. He knew you'd never be able to carry a baby to childbirth. He knew about the suicide of the person that you love. He knew that you'd spend your whole life trying to be the best mom ever. And he knew the day your child would walk out the door and blame you for all their trauma and then cut you out of their life in the name of boundaries. He knew. And a lot of responses, yeah, okay, great. If he knew, why didn't he do something about it? Why didn't he stop it? Why didn't he pull me out of it? He protect me, and here's the place, this is hard teaching right here, ladies, all right? Here's where I'm gonna lose some of ya. And you're gonna go, you're gonna get mad at how crazy and absurd this is gonna sound, and so what you're gonna do is like, if that's God, no thanks, and you're gonna walk away for a while, and he knew you'd do that too. But here's the thing, this has just gotta make sense, right? If God is sovereign, if God is God, if God is all-powerful, that means, take a breath, right? Nothing happens in your life unless it crosses his desk, and he gives permission for it to happen. That's a hard teaching.

But if God is in heaven, powerless to intervene, then he's just powerless, and why would I ever look to that kind of a God? For anything. Now, let me be clear here. Just because God foreknew something didn't mean he caused it. Or that he called the sinful thing, the evil thing that happened to you, that he would call it anything different than what it was. It was evil and sinful and wrong, and it should not have happened. But go back to verse 29, okay? We're gonna keep on going. For those whom he, he knew everything, right? He also, what's the word? Predestined. So what God foreknew would happen, what you would do and what would be done to you, he also predestined, he predetermined, he made a decision even before it happened that anything, all things that were gonna touch your life, anything that crossed his desk, your greatest pain, loss, shame, failure, mistake, regret, God predestined, knowing it's gonna happen, I'm gonna give you grace, not condemnation. And not only that, I'm gonna predetermine, right? I'm gonna use it to do something. I'm gonna build something from something in your past, as hard and dark and shameful as it was,

in order to get you ready for something that's gonna happen in your future. As a matter of fact, listen to this, ladies, all right? Everybody, heads up, God foreknows what's about to happen in your life. It hasn't happened yet, but it is on the way. And God foreknew that it would, it's big, it would crush you, destroy you, end you, if he hadn't already brought you through what he's brought you through. And that's a lot. Just everybody take a breath, right? Paul's right. When I look back over my life, and I see the goodness of God, and it makes better sense in the rear view mirror than in the headlights, in the middle of it, it's just like, I don't, all right. But just think, all my life, if you have been faithful, all my life, you have been so, so good. Every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God. Katie, come save me, come save Katie, all right. I'm gonna ask all our campuses, and you don't have to do this. Ladies, would you just sing that with Katie? If it's your story, just, ladies stand, we're gonna hear a choir. You're gonna hear angels, men, right, right? Will you just sing that chorus along,

and reflect on your story, and see if it lands close? Go ahead. All my life, you have been faithful. All my life, you have been so, so good. All my life, you have been so, so good. With every breath that I am able. Come on. Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. We gotta do that one more time, come on, one more time, ladies, come on. All my life, you have been faithful. And all my life, you have been so, so good. With every breath that I am able. Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God. We have a good God, and we got some good women. Let's give it up right now, come on. You just start singing that this afternoon when everybody goes home, and you have to clean up the house, all right? So anyway, so God has predetermined that he won't allow anything to touch you that he hasn't predestined, predetermined, predecided, the only way that's gonna touch your life is I know that I can use it in such a way that will result in God being put on display in your life. Well, what does that look like? What does God being put on display in my life look like? And we touched on it, but let's get really specific. Go back to verse 29. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined,

here it is, to be conformed to the image of his Son. God on full display in your life looks like this. Somebody who looks at you and steadies you a little bit and goes, that girl has gone through hell. I know her story. She has been attacked, she's been assaulted on all sides. She has been betrayed, she's been beaten down. She's been mocked, she's been left, she's been forsaken. She's been crucified for things that weren't even her fault, yet with God's love, she's been put on display. and everybody looked at her and said, just quit, run, save yourself, you're dead, you're buried, it's over, she's over, she's finished, it is finished. She can't, you can't come back from that. Anybody have that whisper in your ear? Right, right. But then I look at her, I just feel the presence of Jesus. I feel the power and strength of Jesus when I look at that mom, that grandma, that daughter over there. When I see how that mom, that woman, that daughter lives her life, not because she's had an easy life, because she has gone through hell, but Jesus brought her through that hell and he's leading her out, watch her go. And now when I see her, she reminds me of Jesus. So ladies, please hear me.

You haven't and you aren't ever gonna go through anything that Jesus hasn't already gone through. It's equivalent and comes out on the other side, turns to you and goes, come on, I gotcha. You're gonna make it. You and me together, we're gonna be all right. And you can't see it from where you are right now, but with God, all things are possible. All right, I'm gonna answer a question. What's a woman? Ready? I can answer that. I can tell you what a good woman is, all right? We can go biological. It's a biological, extra, chromosomal, female. Okay, there we go, right? That God has decided he predestined to uniquely image himself, his nature and character in her and put on display his grace and his goodness as she pursues God's purpose for her life as she walks through a world formed against her. Watch her go. That's a woman. Now listen, a woman may or may not include getting married, having a baby, motherhood, right? Or attaining any other goal or purpose for your life, but if any purpose for your life is pursued outside of your higher calling, your highest purpose, which is his purpose for your life, putting him on display,

if you gain the whole world, ladies, and you miss that, then you miss your purpose. The reason that you're here, the reason you were born is not to be married to him. It's not to have these kids. The reason that you are here is to go, look at what God has done in my life. Look at this. This better be an amen, because this is me, all right, right? You're gonna get your phones out for this one. A good woman is not a woman who has attained all the right things. It's a woman who's pursuing the right thing. Amen. I'm preaching better than your amen. I'm gonna say it one more time. Put it back up there, okay, all right? A good woman is not a woman who has attained the right things. It's a woman who is pursuing the right thing. Amen? Amen. Come on, all right. Now, let's get into this. Application time, all right? And I'll be done as soon as I'm finished, all right? So. Okay, so it's Mother's Day, but I'm hoping it's all women, right?

All people, but I'm gonna talk to the ladies, all right? What does God on display look like currently in your life? Okay, I'm not trying to add one more thing to the pile, okay? I already felt like I was failing as a wife and mother, and thanks, Pastor Jim. Now I'm a bad Christian. Thank you, happy Mother's. No, it's not what I'm saying. It's not what I'm saying at all, okay? Here's what I'm saying. You've been through a lot, and you're here. You've been through a lot in your life. You've carried, and you're still carrying, burdens and hardships and wounds and scars that if you had a vote in it, it never would have happened. But it happened. And I can't explain why it happened. I'm not gonna try to justify why it happened. I'm certainly not gonna minimize it, but the truth is what happened in your past happened, and you can't change that. Even God agrees with you on that one. But God, those two words right there. My pastor friend John Jenkins says, anytime God sticks his butt in something, something's gonna change, all right? So hang on to that one. But God says your past doesn't have to condemn or define your future. It doesn't to him, but it does for some of us.

So what if today is the day that you say, I'm not gonna live in the past anymore. I'm not gonna hold on to the past. I'm not gonna use the past as an excuse to give myself a past for why my life has no purpose. What if today you stopped living in the past and started looking to the future and started living a life that says, do what you want life. Try as you might, broken world. Throw everything you've got at me, devil, but I'm still here. Look at me. Look at what the Lord can do. When one woman steps into her calling, her destiny, her salvation, her life, a testimony of when life felt overwhelming and hopeless and condemned and over, this is what it looks like when a woman says, here am I, Lord, use me. Look at me, right, right? Ladies, listen, it's time to move. I'm not saying move on. That would be condescending. It's time to move forward towards your highest purpose. How about this? How about you forgive yourself? And then you might be able to forgive some other people. It's time to move forward. Application two, this might feel like a stress,

but I don't think it is. Jesse talked about this to our church a minute ago, but last fall in November, our church, if you're new around here, let me tell you what happened. We embarked on a journey called Be Free where we committed our time, our efforts, and a lot of our finances. to three initiatives, we're gonna plant more campus outposts up and down the Front Range so people can hear that God doesn't hate them, he actually loves them. We're expanding our spiritual development opportunities from kindergarten to adult education. But the one that hits the closest to the heartbeat of this kind of church, this kind of church you're in, is our third initiative, Rescue to Restore. Where in the past several years, we have been involved around the world in anti-human trafficking in different countries. And hundreds, right now hundreds of women and children are being restored, they've been rescued, right? But this fall, we made a decision as churches, we're gonna put most of our irons in one fire, we're gonna throw a disproportionate amount of money and resources at any human trafficking right here in our own front and backyard up and down the Front Range. We're not gonna stop till it's over, right? Now, on Tuesday, we had a small team return from visiting one of our most recent sites with our partner AIM, we've been partnering

with them for a long time, where they met with the Rescue and Restore staff, and they weren't able to meet these girls, but when my friend Paul, when he walked through the gates, he says, it was like an oasis in the middle of hell. And they didn't get to meet him because of just privacy, but there are eight little girls there, little girls, that you rescued. And right now, on Sunday morning, this is what's happening, they're experiencing safety and love and healing after years of being sold to the highest bidder by their family, they're safe, they're safe. And I ask Amanda, our mission, can I just tell them their names so that we can pray for them? And I can't, because the gangs that used to own them are currently hunting for them, so they can drag them back to slavery. So here's my ask, there's 11 or eight little girls, and I don't know their names, so I decided to give them all the name Annie. It's not, it's Mother's Day, and that's my mom's name, and she's watching from heaven. So by show of hands, would you commit to praying for Annie every day this week, every day? Like write in your Bible, pray for Annie, write it on your arm, I'm gonna pray for Annie, not just this week, but forever. Even if it's not a real name, here's what I believe, Sovereign God, the Holy Spirit will get your prayer to the right place for the right little girl,

who has been abused by definition, that's not her purpose. When God created that little girl, Annie, this was not what he intended, the intended reason why she exists, but if we will join with God in his purpose, that little girl, Annie, will one day put on display, God took me from where I was, you should have seen it, it was hell, and brought me to where I am, look at what the Lord can do. Will you agree to pray for Annie this week for that, right? Write it down. But I'm gonna say this. If God has a purpose for all of our lives, and it's all the same to put God on display as a testimony, look at what the Lord can do. If that's the flag we're supposed to fly, I'm gonna be real honest with some of us, all right? That flag ain't flying very well. And here's what I mean, and this isn't gonna apply to most of us, right, but those who it will apply to, you'll know who it will apply to. And just by saying this out loud, I know it's gonna be a big target on me, from those stupid people, but I'm gonna say it anyway. Do your best, all right? So go back to Jesse's update on Be Free, all right? We had a lot of people, thousands of people say, way back in November, I'm in, I'm in. I'm leaving the stands, I'm picking up the sword of the Spirit, I'm going into battle,

and they wrote down a number on a card to signify their financial level of commitment to all initiatives, but around 1,000, I mean, they said to these, hey, women, moms, little girls in traffic, I'm on the way. Count on me. But around 1,000 people said that, they can count on me. You haven't given anything. You wrote it on a card, you haven't done anything with it. It's not like you've given a little or some, nothing, nothing. And if you were to add up all the non-activated promises over two years, that adds up to about $15 million. That amount alone would bring trafficking to a screeching halt. A couple weeks ago, I made a statement that when men, we're gonna talk about, when a person visits a porn site, when you click on that, your visit, your clicking, generates advertising dollars, which means when you view pornography, you are partnering with Satan in the destruction and consumption of women and children. You're helping it happen. I didn't mean to, but you did. In the same way, when we refuse to give anything towards the ending of human trafficking in our hometown by not giving anything, by not engaging, by not activating our financial promise, I'm not gonna call it a commitment, we need a promise, then we are actively giving passive approval

to sex traffickers to continue and thrive and consume women and children by our absence, by our abdication, by our silence. By definition, that's called complicity. For evil to triumph, all that is necessary is for good men and women to do nothing. And I know, this is a lot of pressure, right? I know the conversation you're having in your head because I've sat in chairs like you and listened to people like me, right? The younger half of the crowd's going, Jim, listen, we don't have any money. We're at the beginning of our career. I can't afford it, I don't have enough money. Here's what the older half of the crowd, like me, my age, says I can't afford it, I don't have enough time to make it up, if I ever do that, right? And I get it. But God, in light of what God has already done in your life and what he's brought you through, do you think that joining him in his purpose, this would be the time when he'd look back and go like, hey, thanks, I'm out. You're on your own. And here, save this email. Don't say, it's another church asking for my money. Clarity, right? It's not your money. All things belong to God. He just entrusted some of it to you

to be used for his purpose. But this isn't about money. This is about faith being put into action. It's about the next little Annie being rescued and restored from the bedroom she's tied to a bed in right now. And that's gonna take sacrificial giving from God's people who have been called according to his purpose. Demetrize that into Mother's Day. Ladies, I know how it works. I know how it works in my house. I make most of the financial day-to-day decisions. But when Robin raises her hand and goes, we're gonna spend money on that because it's important, or we're not spending money on that. That's not important. Robin wins the day every day, every time. Ladies, I'm asking you to put God on display and step in that gap that your husband should be stepping into. I'm asking you to lead the way in light of God's grace and mercy that God has demonstrated in you. Would you join with God in saving women and little boys and little girls from being destroyed by Satan? That's what I'm asking. Here's very directly. Before you put your head on a pillow tonight,

as a family, would you sit down and activate your financial promise? Explain it to your kids. And if it's the first time you ever heard anything about this whole thing, go out to one of the lobbies, hit the Be Free area, and you can join the fight with us. Now, I got one more application. Men, you should've left. But look up here. Over the past few weeks, men, you've heard multiple voices speak to the importance of this men's conference. It's coming up this coming weekend, Friday and Saturday, unfiltered. Last week, I'm in a video, you heard an appeal from me, your pastor, calling up the men of Flatirons to come together to be better equipped and also as an encouragement to some other men, especially some younger dads and husbands in our church. They're struggling right now. Over the years, what God has been and is currently doing in the, what he's doing in the lives of our women like she is is just crazy, amazing, way to go, right? But what he's been doing over the last decade or so in the men of this church, it's no less than a miracle.

It's a movement of God. And we need to come together in recognition of this reality. It goes like this, as go the men and husbands and fathers of our church, so goes our church and our families and then our world. Now, either we believe that or it's just hype, hypocrisy. It's a big deal. But I'm just looking over the last week, since last weekend, based on the last week, since last weekend, based on the lack of response that the men of Flatirons, you know, Flatirons, the man church. Church that runs after the hearts of men, right? Hey, man, here's the flag that we're flying. Thousands of us are flying. We didn't mean to, but this is what is being interpreted on the other side. On display to the other men of this church who are struggling to feel alone, here's what we're saying to them. It's not worth my, you're not worth my time. And being with you as an encouragement to you in a world formed against you where manhood and masculinity are under attack, it's not important enough for me to show up and stand with you.

So good luck, I just don't care. I didn't mean to say that to you. I know, but that's what they're hearing. To your family, here's what you're putting on display. I don't have an interest and I won't carve out the time or invest the money to become a better man. I got other things to do and spend my money on that are more important to me than becoming a better equipped to lead, love, provide, and protect you. So what you see is what you got. Hope it's good enough. See, I didn't mean to say that to my family. I know. It's just what they heard. Now, take your time out, right? Because I don't do this very often. That was awful. It's like, this is pressure, man. This is like, what kind of man are you, guilt trip? Here's why I did it. Because I believe every freaking word of it. Amen, it's time to wake up and pay attention. And you agree with me. I want to hear an amen. Every man, listen to my voice. All campuses, you're joining in here too, okay? You know the world is bad and getting worse.

Are you not sure? How about this? Do you agree that there's a target on you, your character, your marriage, and they're coming after your children? Do you believe that? God has an appointment for you this Friday and Saturday. And so with all the love of Jesus, I say, get your, all your body parts unfiltered and bring your son and bring, I don't know if you've seen Victor Marks up here. Like, why should Christians even care about what's happening in the world? In our world, in our life, in our church. We gotta fly a better flag. Mom's the greatest Mother's Day gift. Keep on going, keep on growing, keep on learning. That's a church joke right there. Hey, you don't have to do this, all right? But sometimes whenever I'm feeling something from God, I'm here, but I want my life to change, so I gotta move over here. I'm gonna invite the women of our church, not the moms. If you've heard from God today, I got you to come to the front of all the auditoriums, fill in this space, come to the middle, all right? Don't stop at the, don't stop right there. There's a lot of crying and hugging, but that's all right. That was just the men.

No, there's some men going, that's my girl. She's good, here we go. And then go get your kids, because I went long, and there's no service. God, I love you so much, just for your life. Watch what the Lord can do, into their daughters, about the amazing, playing sports or whatever that they, because that's a daughter of God, and she has a purpose, and I'm, that's my prayer on this Mother's Day. These are your daughters, and I know you are very proud of them. In Jesus' wonderful name I pray, amen, amen? All right.