Hospitality - Saddleback Weekend Service

Remember those walls that we called sin and shame They were like prisons that we couldn't escape But He came and He died and He rose Those walls are up now Come on, why don't you help me? Let's sing it. Remember those giants. Remember those giants we called death and grave They were like mountains that stood in our way But He came and He died and He rose Those giants are dead now This is our God, this is who He is He loves us This is our God, this is what He does He saved us He bore the cross, we can pray Let heaven and earth proclaim This is our God, King Jesus Come on, let's sing the next verse. Remember that fear, church. Remember that fear that took our breath away Our love and faith so weak we could barely pray Our love and faith so weak we could barely pray But He heard every word, every whisper Now those altars in the wilderness Tell the story, tell the story of His faithfulness Never once did He fail and He never will This is our God, this is who He is He loves us This is our God, this is what He does He saved us He bore the cross, we can pray Let heaven and earth proclaim

This is our God, King Jesus Who pulled me out of that pit? He did, He did Who paid for all of our sins? Nobody but Jesus Who pulled me out of that pit? He did, He did Who paid for all of our sins? Nobody but Jesus Who rescued me from that grave? Yahweh, Yahweh Who gets the glory? Nobody but Jesus Who rescued me from that grave? Yahweh, Yahweh Who gets the glory and praise? Nobody but Jesus This is our God, this is who He is He loves us This is our God, this is what He does He saved us He bore the cross, we can pray Let heaven and earth proclaim This is our God, King Jesus This is our God, this is who He is He loves us This is our God, this is what He does He saved us He bore the cross, we can pray Let heaven and earth proclaim This is our God, King Jesus He bore the cross, we can pray Let heaven and earth proclaim This is our God, King Jesus Hallelujah! He bore the cross and He beat the grave For every single one of us So come on, let's lift our voice to Him, to King Jesus Let's sing

I could sing Your name for all my life And still find more to love each time Jesus be the name ever on my lips It's sweeter every time that I call on There's just something about Your name There's just something about Your name Come on, let's sing. And you never let I won't forget Your faithfulness Jesus, be the name ever on my lips The sweeter it's better The sweeter every time that I call on There's just something about your name There's just something about your name There's just something about your name That makes me cry holy There is no other name, Jesus There is no other name There is no other name Jesus, your word There's just something about your name There's just something about your name There's just something about your name That makes me cry holy There is no other name There is no other name, Jesus There is no other name Jesus, your word Jesus, your name

Is like the morning light The one the darkness can't deny The resurrection and the life Jesus, Jesus, your name Your name can save, your name can heal Your name will be restored You never fail, you never will Jesus, Jesus The bread of life broken for us The wounded and the worthy one The first, the last, the still to come Jesus, Jesus The King who overwhelmed the grave The Lord who will forever reign The name above all other names Jesus Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name That gives all the glory Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name above it all Jesus, be the name That gives all the glory Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name Of our church today Oh, one heart to Jesus, oh yes Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name

Jesus, be the name That gives all the glory Come on church, let's sing it together Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name That gives all the glory Oh, Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name Jesus, be the name That gives all the glory Amen You'll get the glory, Jesus All the glory is yours, Jesus You'll get the glory, Jesus You'll get the glory, Jesus Amen, let's sing Our church in Philippians chapter 2 says that Jesus was given the name above every single name and at the name of Jesus every knee should bow every tongue confess that he Jesus Christ is Lord and what does that mean for you what does that mean for me means there is no name that is above him there is no name that is beyond him so sickness must bow at the name of Jesus depression must bow at the name of Jesus anxiety must bow at the name of Jesus and the reality of the situation is many of us are going through different things in this room and we don't get the promise that those this we don't get the promise that we won't go through struggles we don't get the promise that we won't go through burden we don't get the struct the promise that we won't go through things but we do get the promise that he'll never leave you that he'll never forsake you and that he will be with you in the midst of all

of that Jesus be the name because you are the name that I am lifted you are the name above every single name there is no one beyond you there's no one above you there's no one before you so I'm gonna ask everyone on the sound of my voice can you lift your hands to the room as high as you can go tonight can we just saturate this place with the name Jesus in here come on can you just lift it up one more time let's just sing all over Jesus be the name come on church Jesus be the name that gets all the glory Jesus be, Jesus be the name Jesus be the name Jesus be the name that gets all the glory Jesus be the name that gets all the glory So who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one Who else is worthy? He's worthy There is no one Only you Jesus You are the infant God of the ages Yet you chose to make my heart your dwelling place You healed my brokenness Showed me your glory So I have songs of thanks I need an angel Come on can you? Who else is worthy? Come on can you lift it up? Who else is worthy?

There's no one worthy like Jesus There is no one Only you Jesus Only you Jesus Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There's no not one Who else is worthy? There's no not one Who else is worthy? Only you Jesus Say who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one Only you Jesus There's no not one There's no not one There is no one Only you Jesus So Lamb of God, anointed one Who was and is and is to come You're seated on the throne above You're holy, holy You're righteous one You shed His blood You prove to us the Father's love Jesus Christ be lifted up You're holy, you're holy So Lamb of God, anointed one Who was and is and is to come

You're seated on the throne above You're holy, holy You're righteous one You shed His blood You prove to us the Father's love Jesus Christ be lifted up Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one No one deserves His glory No one deserves His praise Who else is worthy? ♪ Who else is worthy ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ Can you sing it? ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy, who else is worthy ♪ Name above all names. ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ There is no one, only Jehovah ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Only you Jesus, only you Jesus ♪ ♪ Only you're worthy, only you're holy ♪ ♪ There's no one like you Jesus, there's no one like you Jesus ♪ ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one, come on. ♪ Sing.

♪ Holy, righteous, righteous one, we sing. ♪ He proved to us the Father's love. ♪ Jesus Christ believed it, holy, holy. ♪ Sing it again. ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come. ♪ You see. Sing holy. Holy. ♪ Righteous, righteous one. ♪ Sing. ♪ Jesus Christ, he lived it all. ♪ ♪ Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? ♪ ♪ There is no one, only you Jesus. ♪ Who else? ♪ Who else is worthy? No, not one. ♪ ♪ You're worthy Jesus. There is no one, only you Jesus. ♪ ♪ You're worthy Jesus. There is no one, only you Jesus. ♪ ♪ You're worthy Jesus. There is no one, only you Jesus. ♪ ♪ You're worthy Jesus. There is no one, only you Jesus. ♪ Our God is worthy of all praise, worthy of all worship. And there is none like him. He is a good God, a loving God and a kind father. And today we gather together and we get to praise him and we get to worship this fact that he is a good, good God. Well, we are so glad that you're joining us for church today. Welcome to Saddleback. If we haven't had the chance to meet yet, my name is Carissa and I get the opportunity to serve our online community, which is made up of people from all over the world.

And so if you're watching on YouTube right now, we wanna give you the opportunity to leave a comment and let us know where you're joining us from and maybe even say hello to someone else as well in the comments. And if it is your first time joining us, we are so glad that you are here. We would love to personally connect with you and help you to get connected to the life of our church. But it starts with you letting us know it's your first time. So if you're watching on YouTube, there's a link that you can click in the description or you can open our Saddleback app, set your campus to online community and then fill out a new here form that will let us know it's your first time and we'll personally reach out to you to help you to get connected. Well, we have a lot going on in the life of our church and one of the things that we have going on is Activate. Next week, we have Activate happening. It is a one hour experience on Zoom where you will get to learn more about the life of our church, what it looks like to belong right here at Saddleback and what it looks like to be used by God. And so we wanna invite you to join us for it. I would love to personally meet you on that Zoom call and you can register for Activate through the Saddleback app. And we have a lot more going on in the life of our church.

So let's join this video together and check it out. Hey Saddleback, I'm Ramel. And I'm Andrea. And we are so glad you're with us this weekend. At Saddleback, we love gathering together. As a church, we believe that something special happens when people from every generation Across all of our campuses come together to worship side-by-side, connect with one another, and encourage each other through every season of life. Throughout scripture, we see that God meets people when they gather. And that's why every year we have dedicated gatherings where we can pour into you and remind you who God made you to be, both as men and women of Saddleback. These are nights to step away from the busyness of life and make space for God to meet us. Men, our gathering is Sunday night, August 16th at the Lake Forest Campus. So come join us for a free dinner, worship, and a message from Pastor Andy. And ladies, our gathering is Sunday, August 30th. We'll be enjoying ice cream together. There'll be handles all over the campus. And then we'll have time to intentionally see God together through worship, prayer, and a message from Pastor Stacey. And for both gatherings, students junior high and older are welcome. So invite a friend or bring your small group. You can register today in the Saddleback app. Now earlier this month, 2,829 of you put your love into action at the Love Local Serve Day. Together, we served over 4,500 people across 33 cities in one day. And behind those numbers are thousands of meaningful moments. At one project called Fun on Purpose, a seven-year-old girl who had recently entered foster care spent the day connecting with her new court-appointed special advocate. Afterwards, she called it one of my best days ever. Led by our amazing dream teams around the world, Fun on Purpose is an intentional event held throughout the year that helps children who may have experienced hardship build healthy relationships and make meaningful memories with the adults who care for them. And Fun on Purpose is just one example of how we love local. Serve Day is one day, but loving local happens all year long. Throughout the year, Saddleback is committed to meeting practical needs,

supporting vulnerable children, serving local schools, and showing up for our neighbors when needs arise. Church, your generosity helps make all of this possible. When you give, you help our church put love into action throughout the year, including creating moments when a child can say, this is one of my best days ever. Giving is one of the ways we worship God here at Saddleback. And today, you can give your tithes and offerings through the app or by one of the given envelopes near you. Now this weekend, we're going to continue on in the Summer Series Off the Shelf. So let's join in now for the message. Well, hey, church family. So good to be together. I do want to welcome those of you who are joining us online and all of our campuses today. It's a great weekend at Saddleback Church. God is doing incredible things all across our campuses. I love hearing stories of what God is doing fresh that week. And I would love for you to know this week, in addition to what you just witnessed here, this week, we had our junior high ministry. They went away for their annual summer retreat. This happens two times. So it's this week, and then next week, all the campuses will come together. So this week was Lake Forest. This week, 53 junior high students made first-time decisions to follow Jesus and surrender their life to Him. And so many individual stories of God's faithfulness to our church. Now this summer, we've been in a message series called Off the Shelf. And we've been looking at some very specific messages that we want to impact the life of our church, the culture of our church. So I've loved this series. Today, you're going to hear from David Nasser, Pastor David Nasser. He's going to come in just a moment. I'm going to tell you more about him. But it's good to know two weeks from today, I will be back preaching. I'm going to share a series with you, a message with you, that God's really laid on my heart for this season for us as a church.

The series will be titled Live Sent. And it's all about God's call for your life. That God has a unique call of what He wants to do through you, connected to His great commission to get His good news to every pocket of planet Earth. So that series is going to be a call to step into God's vision for your life and for us together as a church family to live sent. So I want to encourage you, mark your calendars to be back for that. Now, Pastor David Nasser has written a new book. It's called Hospitality. And he's going to bring a message on that book tonight. It looks like this. And in addition to this message, you should know about him. He's a teaching pastor in Franklin, Tennessee. I wonder if anybody knows somebody from California that moved to Franklin, Tennessee. And lots of folks are there. Probably some Saddleback folks in his church. But he brings a message around this wholehearted love for Jesus and God's grace towards us. I remember hearing him preach when I was in college. So Stacey and I, funny story, we were pastoring a group of middle school students. And at that time, Pastor David Nasser was coming to preach at our local university. And we decided to invite all of our students to come. So he brings this message. I said, you're gonna understand why as he preaches today. But at the end of the message, like everybody's totally on their face before God. Like people are crying and repenting of sin. And Stacey and I are there with the students that we lead in the middle school ministry. And I look over and Stacey's on her face just crying out to God. And all of our kids are on their face crying out to God. And I'm like, what am I going to do?

I need to pray over these kids. So I went over to Stacey. We weren't married at the time. I'm not sure why she married me after this. But I went over and I was like, you need to get up and get out of your moment and come over here and pray with these kids. And so anyways, she's been seeking the Lord for a really long period of time and she's way more godly than me. But that message from Pastor David, we still remember it to this day. And he brings an incredible message. Our church family, we wanna show him some love. Can you please welcome Pastor David Nassar as he comes to the stage? Before you wax off, I just wanna say, I know God gets the glory, but aren't you grateful for Pastor Stacey and Andy and just the Wood family? Man, so grateful for you. Honor you, buddy. You doing okay? Wanna just welcome all the campuses that are joining us. And man, what an honor to be at one of the incredible churches that God planted years ago with so much more than SoCal in mind. When God planted Saddleback Church, he literally had the nations in mind. And I've seen the impact of this church pay dividends

in my life and in my family's life. And I'm so grateful. Thank you for the selflessness of you as a church family and the way that you've always been giving church to churches around the world. And I'm so, so grateful for you. And then just to be invited to not just be at Saddleback this weekend, but to actually get to talk a little bit about this book, Hospitality. Today, this weekend is literally the launch weekend for this book. It just came out and I'm super excited about it because I tell my life story in it. And then I talk a little bit about strategy on how to reach the world. And I really do believe that this topic, Hospitality, is probably one of the most misunderstood talking points when it comes to the kingdom of God. I think so often people think of hospitality as a soft skill or they think of it as something that the restaurant industry should be into or something that hotels should be looking into. And they really misunderstand how this is God's plan A on how to reach the world. And so what I would love to do, just to kind of set some footings for us as we kind of get into the topic of hospitality is to prepare you to show you what's gonna happen in the next few minutes. I'm gonna take about eight minutes on the front end

and set some footings for us to talk about the theology of hospitality. We're gonna look at God's word and we're gonna kind of talk about it and define it and kind of lather up like exactly what is hospitality and how does this apply to your life? And then I'm gonna testify to it out of my own life. All right, and so that's the one-two punch. The biggest part of it being just me telling my story to you on how hospitality, relentless hospitality was a massive part of how my family and I came to know the Lord. And so just to kind of start our time together, I'd love to start with Romans 12, 13. If you have your Bibles and you wanna go there, we're gonna take this one part of a sentence out of Romans 12, 13 and look at it as a command, not a suggestion, but a command from God. Romans 12, 13 in the ESV says this, it says, seek to show hospitality. And again, notice how it's not a suggestion, but it is a command. The Bible is saying to the people of God that we are to seek to show hospitality. So it's an inward conviction that's gonna reveal itself in an external, right, applicational way, to seek to show it. And when it comes to hospitality, the NLT actually says always, always, not some seasons you get off and some seasons you get on,

no, always be eager to practice hospitality. It is a practice. It is something that we sweat out in our faith. The NIV actually says simply practice hospitality. The CSB actually says it this way, pursue it. Pursue hospitality is something where you're oozing for the bruising. You want it. You want it. You're pursuing it. You're seeking after it. The King James Version says, given to hospitality. And the message says it this way, be inventive. That means nerd out on it. Get together and go, have we ever thought about this? Have we ever tried this? Be inventive in hospitality. Another verse in the Scriptures is actually First Timothy 3.2. First Timothy 3.2 is actually one of the qualifications for what a mature believer looks like. What does an elder, what does a person whose life is not perfection but worthy of pursuit, somebody who's worthy of replication look like? In this laundry list of what it takes to look like a mature believer, Paul gives us this. He says, here's what an overseer, an elder must look like. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, must be the husband of one wife, must be sober-minded, must be self-controlled, must live a life where they're respectable, and here it is, you ready? They must be hospitable and able to teach. I'll give you one more, 1 Peter 4.9. 1 Peter 4.9 says it to us this way, and what's interesting, let me give you a little context before we read this text, is that 1 Peter 4.9 is actually in a moment where the church

that it's being written to is in a season of dire strait. They are in a moment where they're going through a lot of persecution. So to the persecuted church, if anybody would get an out, you'd think, anybody would get a break, anybody would get an exception to the command, it would be the persecuted church, but then Scripture tells us, no, even in that season, you put your foot on the pedal and not off the pedal. It says this to that church, it says, above all, above all, eagerly love one another, and here's how you do it, showing hospitality to one another without grumbling. Without grumbling part's awesome, because without grumbling part is a reminder of when it comes to hospitality, it's not a we have to, it's a we get to. This is not a chore, but a joy in the Christian life. Let's just define it really quickly together. The definition of hospitality is loving the outsider. It's a mashup, actually, of two Greek words, phylos, brotherly love, right? And xenos, loving the stranger, it's loving the stranger. Henry Nowen defines it this way in one of his writings, he says, hospitality is making room, making room, intentionally carving out the space, making room for the stranger. And Tim Keller says it this way, he says, hospitality is the practice of turning a stranger into a guest, not letting a stranger stay a stranger. It's turning a stranger into a guest and being warm and welcoming as we host those who don't see eye to eye with us politically, who don't see eye to us with us culturally, or even theologically. And so, that's that reality that hospitality is finding someone who doesn't act like you, doesn't think like you, doesn't politically live out and lean like you, doesn't look like you, but all of a sudden, it's not loving birds of a feather who flock together, but one of these things is not like the other. Hospitality is not when two Dodgers fans get together to watch the game. It's when a bunch of Dodgers fans get together to watch the game, and then an Angels fan walks in and they give him the fattest steak. That's hospitality.

And they don't poison the steak, all right? Hospitality is when, I don't know, when if Justin Baldoni invited Blake Lively to be in his next movie. Hospitality would be if, I don't know, if Drake, if Drake decided to invite, you know, a couple of different artists to be on a collab with him, and then as he's doing that, he goes, oh, let's invite Kendrick Lamar to join me. Hospitality is if the ladies on The View go, we're having an anniversary special, and as we're having this anniversary special, why don't we invite and honor our president? And Trump gets on The View. You're laughing because you're thinking, David, that would never happen because that's not natural. But look at me. The people of God are not called to be natural, but supernatural. And so it's all of a sudden, the red-hatted Trumpy guy becoming a good friend, right? He's becoming a dear friend to the liberal guy. It's saying we don't see eye to eye on secondary issues, but rather than letting that divide us, it doesn't mean we don't disagree, but rather than letting that divide us, what's that going to do? That's going to be a point of opportunity and not an obstacle. We might disagree, but we'll never be disrespectful. So hospitality at its very core is welcoming the stranger. A little bit more nerd out theology, if you don't mind, if you're the no-taking kind. Three expressions that we see in Scripture. First and foremost, when it comes to hospitality, we see hospitality for us. That's how we're reconciled with God. Another way to say it is we see in hospitality, salvation. In salvation, the cross becomes a table. Jesus invites us to a table, and then he picks up the tab by paying for the meal, by paying with his own blood on a cross. So in hospitality, if we see first the work of salvation, that all of a sudden people that deserve hostility get hospitality. We're the strangers

God invites us in. So first and foremost, we see hospitality for us. Second, we see hospitality with us. Now, all of a sudden, the people of God are at the table together. And as we're at the table together, this is about fellowship within the body of God. We might disagree on secondary issues. You might believe that the wonders have ceased, and I might believe that the wonders still exist. You might be a Calvinist and be super reformed, and I might be an Armenian, and I'm not. You might believe, you know, that speaking in tongues is not real, and you might believe like, man, I just did it the other day, and it was very real. We might not agree on post-trib versus pre-mil, and most of you are going, what is he talking about? This just sounds like weird. We might not agree on secondary issues, but what brings us together. What brings us together is Jesus's prayer in the garden of Gethsemane when he said, father, make them one. And actually our differences allow us to be better. Our differences allow us to go, look, if you ever leave, it's fine, but I'm going with you. When you draw me out of your circle, I'll just draw a bigger circle. And my tent is big enough for people that don't look and live just like me. And so hospitality is hospitality for us. That's the gospel. It's hospitality with us. And then last is hospitality through us. That's being reconciled for the other. That's actually mission. So the first one is salvation, and the second one is fellowship. The third one is mission. And so we see that in scripture. As a matter of fact, I like to call it the Waffle House effect. We see it scattered, covered, and smothered all over scripture. Can I just make you one last case? I don't normally talk about it, but it's in the book. So I just want to, this is in the book. I just want to kind of bring it up just for a second. If you, if you look at scripture, isn't it interesting, hidden in plain sight, the entire Bible is bookended in hospitality. What is the very first act in all of scripture? You open up the Bible, go to Genesis one. And in the beginning, before there was a beginning, there was the unbegan one who began it all right. Before there was a, before there was creation, there was the uncreated one that created all of creation. And when God created, when he breathed into existence, all of creation, what did he do? He made the garden. When God created the heavens and the earth, what was he doing? He was creating a space to host hospitality, go all the way out to the bank of your Bible, go to revelation. And when you go to revelation, what is, what does it look like in the future? When we get there one day, what's it going to look like? It's going to look like, read your Bible in revelation. It looks

like every tongue, every nation, every tribe all gathered at the feet of God. And what is God doing in heaven? He's hosting. And so I think the Bible is scattered, covered and smothered in hospitality. And we have reduced it to a soft skill. We have reduced it to something that some people do. We have reduced it to a first impressions team who just kind of does some stuff at the, at the lobby of a church. We've reduced it to parking people and, and the people that meet you up here if you're a first time visitor, but it's actually the very heart of God for the people of God and how we invite those who are not a part of this yet to feel like they are welcome to come and be a part of this. As a matter of fact, the church is the anti-country club. We literally exist for those who are not yet members of this body. So how do we exercise that out in the great commission? Hospitality. As a matter of fact, hidden in plain sight in that word, hospitality is that word hospital. And today that word needs, the world needs healing more than ever. Today, in all the hostility that we see, what we need more than ever is God's great hospitality team, which is every believer in the Bible. As a matter of fact, what people think about when they think about hospitality is that some people have this gift and some people don't, but it's a, it's a scapegoat because they think I don't have the gift of hospitality like some of the other people that do. So then they get an out. Hospitality is not a gift. Someone gets to exercise and someone else doesn't have to. Hospitality is a command and an expectation in scripture. And God is going, whatever gifting hardwiring I've given you, you are using it to utilize it to be hospitable. And I think it's a big deal to me because I got skin in the game because I look at my life and so much of the reason that I get to be at your amazing church this weekend is built around the reality that someone, even though I deserve hostility, showed me hospitality. Like pastor Andy was saying just a minute ago, when he was introducing me, I'm originally from the country of Iran and in 1979, when the Iranian revolution happened, I remember so much hostility built around the idea of religion. As a matter of fact, I call it the Iranian Revolution religion gone wrong I remember when Iran used to be a monarchy and then all of a sudden it got hijacked He got he got taken over by these religious sell-outs and it became at that moment a theocracy and when the Iranian Revolution Happened my father was high-ranked in the military in Iran. And as the government was overthrown I remember those days vividly as a nine-year-old little boy. I Remember soldiers coming to our home

We lived in an army base in Iran and literally soldiers dragging my father out of our home I'll never forget my mom Wrapping her legs around You know her hands around the leg of one of the soldiers as they were taking my dad at the front door and she just Kept screaming just kill him quickly just kill him quickly and the last thing you think about when you think about God and And our earliest memories was a was a memory of God being a hospitable God But God being a God that was terrorizing my family as I saw it When they took my dad out my first memory of prayer as a Shiite Muslim families My mom got me and my sister together and she held our hands and she just kept praying that my father would be killed quickly When she said amen, we said mom, why are you saying that and she explained she said they're taking your dad right now this park and Yesterday his best friend was taken to the same park and his best friend was tied to a tree that took a pair of pliers They started with his fingernails They worked their way in it took him about seven hours to slowly Torture this man and we need to pray that your dad is killed quick and so the last thing you're thinking when your mom is saying let's pray your dad gets killed quick and not slow is that God Loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life And he's hospitable. I Remember thinking I don't know what we've done to get on his hit list But apparently God hates us and has a horrible plan for our life And we prayed that and then God didn't answer that prayer Like the great theologian Garth Brooks says thank God for unanswered prayer sometimes And I remember my dad came home and he said look they've given me a few more weeks And when they come back for us, we're not going to be here. And then he told us as a family He said we're escaping from Iran as fast as we can as far as we can the way that we escaped was dramatic and and Maybe we kind of escaped. I mean we got all this this this plans together and and I remember we went to these doctors that my mom had been going to see and we we leveraged all the money and all the

property and everything that we owned and we went and gave it to these doctors and we said look we need to get out and You can have all of this stuff if you'll help us and they said okay And and my mom at that time had heart issues And so we we leveraged that by my mom a couple days later Acting like her heart was really bothering her and an ambulance came and got her and they took her to this room to the hospital and the doctors were who were in on the plan took her to the back and came out and said she needs Emergency surgery and that we need to take her to Switzerland for it because we don't the technology for what she needs It's all this was fake and the doctors were helping us You know kind of come up with an escape plan and a and a fabricated story and so we bought two airline tickets like we were going and coming back and we called the house sitter like we were going and Coming back and and all of these things and I remember literally holding my dad's hand in the airport and his hand just kept shaking And he kept saying if they find out we're escaping. They're gonna kill us right here on the spot But they didn't and we got on a plane and we went up in the air and a couple hours later We landed in Switzerland for this operation and the ambulance got by the plot by the plane to have my mom in a stretcher Be put in it, but my mom sat up and said look I don't actually need to go to the hospital. All this was fake instead I want to go to the American Consulate and we need political asylum and that's what we did So we went and we pled our case and everybody already knew what was going on in Iran They're watching how Iran was burning the American flag calling America the great Satan had it held 50 Americans hostage in the American Embassy in Iran And so here we were this this refugee family in Europe trying to make it to America and nobody was allowing people from my neck of the woods into your neck of the woods and For nine months we were stuck in Europe trying to make it to America We tried every way we could we tried legally illegally But we just kept hitting the wall until one day my mom got us together and she said look we need to pray and that's The first day that my mom mentioned the name of Jesus in a prayer And as a Muslim family, I'll never forget my mom Mentioning the name of Jesus and and a week later after we mentioned the name of Jesus God Miraculously opened the doors for us and we were coming to America and I remember thinking to myself as we're fine America I hate religion because I thought destroy my country. But hey Jesus. Thanks for letting us into your country and

We moved to America and we happened to be the one Iranian family that didn't move into Orange County we didn't move to Erangelus. We moved to Texas y'all Now, can you imagine during the Iranian hostage situation moving to? Atriotic Texas, but not just Texas, we moved to Killeen, Texas, where the largest army base in the world is, and so we parachute in to a military Texas town from Iran. Can you say wedgie waiting to happen? And I come in from the wrong culture, and I'm like, you know, hello, I am David, and they're like, you are so gonna get beat up today after school. And I'm telling you, I was from the wrong place at the wrong time. The last thing you would call that season of our life was hospitable. I remember so often sitting in rooms where the school teacher would come in and hand out 15 birthday party invitations, and there's always 16 of us in the classroom. I remember every day sitting by myself and eating my lunch alone. I remember every day getting called all the nicknames, all the 7-Eleven jokes and the turban jokes and the, you know, what's the dot on the forehead cable hookup joke. I got called bean dip, and I'm not even Mexican. I was like, you're not even accurate in your racism. And we'd escape halfway across the world to unplug from one kind of terrorism, physical, and plug into a whole other kind, emotional. And the emotional kind of terrorism is when people are hostile so often, not even by the mean things they say, but just not even pretending like you're a real human being worthy of acknowledgement. You're just invisible. And for years and years, that was me until the day my freshman year in high school was about to start. I'll never forget, I was sitting in my room and I was crying, and it was the last day of the summer, and my dad heard me and he came in and he said, what's wrong? And I told him, I said, dad, I get beat up like a piñata every day. I'm getting bullied, not by the bully, but by the kid everybody else is bullying. I'm the one guy below him in the food chain, you know? So I said, dad, school's not going well for me.

I have not acclimated well. I mean, I'm just always like, now I gotta go to high school. That means next level tomorrow. And my dad felt sorry for me. And so in order to try to help me, he put me in the car and he drove me to the mall. And that afternoon, my dad gave me an extreme makeover. He got me new clothes, new haircut, new shoes, new everything. And the next day I go to the American high school, same insecure kid on the inside, but made over on the outside. And I went instantly from geek to chic, baby, overnight. I went from Abdul to Julio, baby. And I found out what you already know. I found out that so often, if you just wear the right label, people will just be your friend. Not because of who you are, but what you drive. And all of a sudden, my high school years became those years. My high school years became the years where I just learned how to end up at the right lunchroom table, how to dump the right girl right before she could dump me, to climb the social ladder, how to be. Here's the weird thing, as the kid who was always on the receiving end of hostility, how to be cold to people, to be perceived as cool to people. I played their game. And at least when I was a nobody, I was David Nassar the nobody, and all I'd become is just a sellout. And I graduated from high school on paper pretty good. I graduated on paper as a pretty popular kid, but I graduated with a 1.9 GPA, barely. So about two months after high school, one night I'm in the car with the only buddy I have left who hasn't gone off to college yet. And to be very honest, it's Saturday night, it's almost midnight, and we're smoking weed, all right, and so we're passing this joint back and forth, and while we're passing this

joint back and forth, my buddy looks over at me and he goes, hey dude, you were so down tonight. Why are you down? You're normally the life of the party. And I said to him, I said, man, I said goodbye to like 10 people tonight who are going off to this college and this college, and all our lives, you know, we've been working up all this stuff, and as soon as we got our cap and gown, it all faded away, and we don't have any college plans, you and me, and while I'm telling him how depressed I was that all our friends are going away, all of a sudden he looks over at me and he goes, well, I've got an idea. He goes, outside the American high school in America, the next big social ground is this thing called the youth group, and he looks at me and he goes, and you ought to come with me tomorrow to my church, because I want to introduce you to the other people in my... And he's inviting me to church, and I'm surprised he's inviting me to church, because he's literally handing me a joint while he's inviting me to church. He's like, you ought to come to church with me tomorrow, and I'm like, you go to church? And he's like, Southern Baptist, the first time I heard the word Southern Baptist, I thought it was a type of weed. I know it says in the Bible, in Genesis, that God made the grass and it was good, but that's not what it means. Anyway, sorry, dad joke. Anyway, so I'm like, really? And so while we're passing, he goes, yeah, man, come to church with me, and I said, dude, I'm not going to church with you. He goes, why not? I said, because I hate religion. I mean, I'm a Muslim, obviously not a good one, because I'm stoned in the car, but I said, man, but I'm that by heritage. I'm certainly, me and God got problems.

When I was a nine-year-old kid, we escaped from God. I said, I'm not going. And I told him all the reasons, but he wouldn't give up. And he kept on me, and he kept on me, and he kept on me. And so on a Saturday night, just. to get him off my back at 1201. We both get out of the car. I have to be home at midnight. So we both walk in the house and as soon as we walk into my house, he's standing at the front door. I walk down the hallway. I knock on my parents' bedroom door and I said, mom and dad, it's 1201. I'm home. I'm safe. You don't even need to get out of bed. Like literally, my mom and dad are in their bed. The door's closed. I'm in the hallway between them. And I said, mom and dad, I know you're going to say no. Just say no loud enough so my friend can hear and leave me alone. He wants to know if tomorrow I can wake up and go with him to a Christian church. And I thought my dad's going to say no, because that's about the length of conversations we normally would have. But instead of saying no, my dad from his bed yells really loud. What is the name of it? And I didn't think the conversation was going to get this far. So I didn't even ask my friend the name of it. So I looked down the hallway to my friend and he stoned down the hallway. He goes, shades. And as soon as he yells the word shades, everybody in our town knew that as shorthand for this mega church down the road from our home named Shades Mountain Baptist. And my dad hears the word shades. And as soon as he heard that, my dad goes, I know those people. And I'm just confused. What I didn't know was I'm standing there on that Saturday night and about two weeks prior to that Saturday night, what I didn't know was that there were these people from this church Shades Mountain Baptist church who had come to my father's restaurant. My father had opened up a French restaurant. I know it's confusing, but stay with me. All right. So my dad had opened up this restaurant. And what I didn't know on that Saturday night was there's a guy named Aubrey Edwards who was the worship leader at this church and a couple of other church staff who were at my dad's restaurant eating. And while they were eating, they had seen how my father was shorthanded on waitstaff. And instead of complaining about the bad service, they got up, rolled up their sleeves, and waited on tables at my dad's restaurant. Then they went back the next day and waited on tables at my dad's restaurant for three hours. Then they went back the next day and did it again. Can you imagine a mega church staff guy

carving out of his iCal three hours, three hours, three hours? I called it to go and lead worship, but not with a musical instrument or a mic in his hand, but with a mop. And this guy had served my dad for three days in a row. And then, and then he invited my dad to choir practice. My military Iranian father to choir practice. And because kindness, hospitality is a superpower, my dad went to choir practice. And after my dad went to choir practice, at the end of choir practice, Aubrey Edwards said, hey, this is my friend, Mr. Nasser, who's joining us tonight. He has a restaurant. He needs help at his restaurant. I told him, don't worry about hiring anybody. We'd love to sign up. And so there's a piece of paper going around. Everybody sign up for shifts. And what I didn't know standing there on that Saturday night was that for two weeks, these Christians one at a time had shown up and served him as waiters and busboys at my dad's restaurant. And God in his sovereignty had used that to massage, to tenderize my dad's heart. So instead of saying no, he said, what is the name of it? And then my buddy yells out the name of the exact same church as the people that have been helping him out. And my dad goes, I know those people. You can go there, but only there. Look at me. The reason I get to be at Saddleback this weekend is because those Christians showed up at my dad's restaurant. Does that make sense? The hero of my story is not some Iranian kid that turned out okay. It's about a bunch of people who knew we needed healing from religion gone wrong. And they were a hospital. Hospitality. You see it? A couple months ago, I was in Orlando, Florida. I was telling the story. And as I was telling the story between the second and the third service, this grandma comes up to me and she's got her grandkids around her. She said, hey, I just want to tell you, I was a junior in college one night on a random Tuesday night at choir practice. And I remember this, this man showed up and was just sitting there. He didn't sing one word. He looked like Saddam Hussein with his mustache. And at the end of it, they said, that's Mr. Nasser. And they pass out a piece of paper. She goes, I signed up. She goes, I was a waitress at your dad's restaurant for two weeks. And we're standing there. We're crying. And I said, it's your fault. I'm here. So, don't call hospitality a soft skill. Don't call it a little thing that people do. Don't make it more than in your life. Don't reduce it. I am here because of the relentless power of hospitality. And my dad said, I know those people. You can go there, but only there. And you know what? The next day I got up, put on my chinos, and I went to this church. And as soon as I showed up at this church, they saw me coming, man. And they were so kind, and they were so hospitable,

and they were so warm, and they were so inviting. And then they invited me to come back the next Sunday. And I was full of pride. And I said, I got stuff to do. You know what they said? It's okay. We'll come see you And they had this thing called visitation Lost people call it harassment and we were the Iranians, but we got terrorized by a southern Baptist youth We're like hide the Christians are coming the Christians are come and for a Monday nights in a row They came to my house and they shared the gospel with me They shared with me that God so loved David Nasser that if I believed in him, I would not perish but have eternal life They shared with me that although I deserve the wrath of God I was getting the grace of God the opposite of what I deserve That although I deserve hostility because of the sin in my life. God was hospitable He'd created space for me to belong into the family of God and I kept saying to them I don't want religion and they kept saying to us to me. We don't want religion for you either Religion just makes you mean Redemption makes you hospitable And I'm just telling you I heard the gospel for eight Monday nights in a row And one night I was in their church because love is a magnet I Was in their church and the preacher was preaching and the preacher was like the very opposite on paper of Andy would you know? How Andy looks cool? He came up here tonight He's wearing like Adidas kicks and he's got that whatever's going on up here with the facial. It's so cool You know, he's such a hipster, you know, so cool, you know This preacher was the opposite of Andy would he was like an old-school preacher always wore a three-piece suit Comb over King James Version only sweating out of places that don't even have a gland. You know, I mean and I'm And I remember one night I was at their church eight weeks in and and this guy just preached the gospel And he wasn't cool and he wasn't relevant But he was anointed and it was almost like somebody had handed him a sticky note with all my life stuff in it And he gave this invitation at the end of it He said hey if you if you want to have the courage to give your life to Christ if you want to Ask Jesus to step out of heaven to step into your life. I want you to do it He goes I want you to quit looking at all the religions that are gonna disappoint you all the excuses. Jesus will never let you down

And during the invitation people started to come forward and give their life to Christ and I hit the aisle And I went the other way and I remember as I was walking out I thought all my life I've been terrorized by the religion and now some guys trying to terrorize me But I didn't know that he just loved me enough to tell me the truth And I went home and when I got home God's presence was so thick in my house. I Walked in the house and that night I was 18 and two months old the night that I finally bent a knee and I said Jesus I want you to be my everything I'd say yes to the invitation to the table My parents were never devout Muslims until the night I became a Christian All of a sudden the night I went to get baptized my parents to sown me and kicked me out of the house but five months after I was a Christian all of a sudden my One night my sister called me on the phone weeping and my sister had become a Christian And then five months after that, my mom calls me really loud one night. She's like tonight I become a Christian I'm like, why are you yelling? She's like I want your father to hear cuz he's not kicking me nowhere. That's how she rolled and Then five months after that my brother Benjamin who got fearfully and wonderfully made down syndrome. He became a Christian and then two Two and a half years later. God saved my dad and so I gotta tell you I I Got skin in the game It's not just a pretty word or a like a thing that you can sell it is real to me I have seen the power of what happens when you come here looking for refuge and then you find the greatest refuge of all You come here looking for You know the American dream and then you realize man like the best thing it offers you I love this nation But the best thing it offers you is the freedom to choose Christ To give your life to him and so can I get you just wherever you are just to bow your heads with me and If you'll just bow your heads with me, can I just first and foremost ask you a simple question as I'm sharing my testimony with you

Can I ask you as I'm talking about how I once was lost, but now I'm found I'm talking about in this moment How there was a moment in my life When I accepted the invitation to come to the table Saying Jesus you paid the bill you pick up the tab. I need to ask you. Have you ever done that? If you never have could it be that this is the moment when you finally say yes Maybe in any of our campuses that you're hearing this you go to church, obviously you're here You're listening, but you're closing your eyes and you're praying more to a black void Than a Christ that you know intimately as Lord if that's you right now I'm just gonna pray and if you want to pray with me, this is you saying yes, Jesus to the greatest act of hospitality the greatest act of welcoming the stranger ever known that Jesus Christ would come and live the perfect life and then die a sinner's death on our behalf To give us space at the table undeserving If that's you let's just pray Jesus I know you're real. I want you to be real in me. I admit I deserve hostility. I deserve wrath. I'm a sinner and my sin separates me from you, but yet you welcome me. You give me the opposite of what you deserve by dying on the cross for me. I accept what you did on the cross. I asked you to come into my life, be my Lord, be my savior. I say yes. I say yes to the invitation. Thank you that you pick up the tab. I can't pick it up on my own. Thank you that you do that for me. And because you died for me, I want to live for you. I can't earn it. I just yearn for it. This isn't about trying harder. It's about trusting you. It's not about working to earn my spot at the table of God, the family of God. It's not about working. It's about worship. So I received this free gift and I pray this in your name. Amen. Amen. What a great message from Pastor David today. It was so special to get to hear from him and we're about to continue to worship in just a moment. But before we do that, we want to invite you to take a moment to respond. And before you continue in the rest of the day to just take a moment to sit and to think about how God might be prompting you to respond

to the message that you heard today. Maybe there's a name that God put on your heart that needs to know the hospitality and the love of God. Or maybe it's yourself who needs to accept the love of Jesus and you want to start a relationship with him for the very first time. Or maybe there's something else in your life that you would like prayer for. We as a church would love to come alongside you to be praying for you and to be walking with you as you walk with Jesus. And so you can let us know by clicking the link in the description if you're watching on YouTube, or you can scan the QR code or open the app to fill out a next steps form or submit a prayer request. But as we continue to worship right now, we want to invite you to respond to the message that we just heard. Yes, Lord. I am available. Sing that I hear. I hear you call. And I am available. I say, yes, Lord. I am available. I hear you call my name. And I hear you call. So I am available. Do what only you can do. I say, yes, Lord. I am available. Use me, Lord. All for your glory. All for your honor. And here I am. Here I am. You can have it all. Let this be a moment of surrender. We sing. Here I am. Here I am. You can have it all. You can have it all. Here I am. Here I am. You can have it all. My whole life. My whole life. Here I am. Here I am. You can have it all. You can have it all. And I hear you call. I am available. I say, yes, Lord. I am available. I hear you call. I am available.

I say, yes, Lord. Well, what an awesome message in the time of worship that we had today. And before you go, we just want to remind you to fill out a next steps form or submit a prayer request. If there's something that God is putting on your heart that we can come alongside you and pray for you as a church. And we want to remind you that throughout our off the shelf series, we want to give each one of you the opportunity to dive deeper into the books of each of the authors. And so each week we are giving away five copies of the author's book from that week. And all you have to do for a chance to win one is to submit a next steps form. And so you can do that by clicking the link in the description or going to our digital program on our Saddleback app. But we want to give you the opportunity to do that. And if you want the chance to purchase Pastor David's book, Hospitality, you can do that by scanning the QR code that you see on the screen. So you can take a deeper dive into his book. And next week we are wrapping up our off the shelf series with Pastor John Bevere. And we would love for you to join us again and maybe invite one of your friends to join us as well as we finish off this off the shelf series together. Well church family, we're so grateful that you're with us this week and we hope to see you again next weekend for off the shelf.