Is Heaven or Hell Bigger Because of You?

Hell and destruction are never full. So the eyes of man are never satisfied. Hell and destruction are never full. So the eyes of man are never satisfied. And I was thinking about this verse because we live in a society where we measure wealth by growth. If it grows, you're doing good. You must be pretty rich. If your investment portfolio is growing, if your income is growing, if your social media follower count is growing, you must be doing pretty good. Matter of fact, in America, we have a slogan that we've coined where we say bigger is, you know, bigger is better. And it made me have this thought, even though I know that in this context of Proverbs 27, 20, Solomon's talking about the human appetite and ambition, but I think it still begs the same question that we need to ask ourselves today. And it is this, is heaven or a hell bigger because of you? Yeah, I know guest bigger. Well, Matt, I'm gonna ask those questions. Is heaven or hell bigger because of you? And my prayer is that we're able to, by the end of this experience, Holy Spirit shows us the truth, but then draws us into his plan, his desire, his will for us. And we respond accordingly, amen.

So let's pray one more time, Holy Spirit, help. Amen, you can be seated. Man, you look good. Can I flex real quick? Is this a safe space? Okay. So this past year, I've had the privilege and opportunity of being mentored by John Maxwell. And I'm in this small cohort with him and it's, it's really the plan was you guys deserve the best. You're the best church in America. So you deserve the best leaders. So I needed to learn from the best. And unfortunately, Pastor Felicia couldn't be a part of the group 'cause we couldn't afford both of us. So it was just, I had to sacrifice, we had to make a, it was a business decision. But anyway, she didn't need him. She didn't need John Maxwell, I do. But every month when we have our call, it's this group, he starts off every call the same way. Even though it's the same people, he says, hello, my name is John, and I'm your friend. We're like, okay, we get it. And then he'll spend the next hour just dropping these gems of wisdom and brilliance that he's developed over his 40 plus years of mentoring and leading some of the most wealthiest and influential leaders all over the world. But having thinking after that last call,

because I was really excited, I haven't been in legacy, but I haven't preached a legacy in over a month. And I was like, you know, we got a lot of new faces and a lot of people. And then even the people that have been here, you know, I was like, I might need to take a moment to reintroduce, so allow me to reintroduce myself, okay? My name is Justin, and I'm not your friend. I'm your pastor, and my job is to push you out of your comfort zone into your calling. My job is to ensure that when Jesus comes back, he can say, well done, good and faithful servant, and I can be there hyping you up. My job is to make sure that Jesus calls you, friend, regardless of whether you and I are each other's friends. That's why I'm here. But if you wanted to know how we could be friends, I'll tell you, it's simple. All my friends are rich. I don't got no bro friends. All my friends have the same values as me. We're going in the same direction, and they're just big ballers. Like, it's just fun to hang out with ballers. And the thing that they have that makes them significant and special is that they value something that is priceless souls. All of my friends want to fill up heaven. That's it. (audience applauding) And we get this ideology, we came to this conclusion

based off of Matthew chapter six, verse 19, where it says, Jesus says this. He says, don't store up treasures here on earth where moths eat them and rust destroys them and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in where? In heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. And the government does not ruin the stock market as soon as you get a little money and try to invest. Wherever your treasure is, that the desires of your heart will also be. And so me and my friends just made a decision that we want to value what God values. And we want our desires to line up with God's desires. And we want our desires to line up with God's desires. That's what God cares about. So that's what we care about. And we just made a decision if that's how God defines wealth, if that's how God defines richness, then we going to get rich or die trying. You want to be friends? Anybody want to be friends? I want to give you another passage. It's Matthew chapter 16. And in Matthew 16 verse 24, Jesus is talking to his crew and he says this. "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way to take up your cross and follow me.' If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it." And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world to lose your own soul?

Is anything worth more than your soul? That's a deep question. But if we're honest, it's an easy question for us to answer. Is anything worth more than my soul? Heck yes, so many things. My body is worth more than my soul. My hobbies are worth more than my soul. My social media, my influence is worth more than my souls. Whatever is happening in other places that I can't control but I am obsessed about, that's worth more than my soul. We prove by our time, our talent, and what we treasure, our bank account, and our screen time, what's worth more than our soul? And the honest answer for a lot of us is a lot. And even though we can quote a verse, and subconsciously we know the correct answer is no, nothing's worth more than my soul. That's why Jesus is no, no, nothing. Then God will be like, we'll prove it. If your soul is the most valuable thing, that means church should not be an option. It should be a necessity. It means that being with Jesus should not be when it's convenient. It should be a conviction. It means that anything that is going to feed your soul, anything that is going to grow your soul gets the best of you, not the rest of you. But how many of us could honestly say that we're obsessed with growing our soul, not our financial security, not our position, not our platform? Are we actually measuring wealth? Are we actually measuring the richness of our life according to the health of our soul? I'm going to tell you why many of us don't do that. It's simple. Until you value the eternal more than the temporary, everything will be worth more

than your soul and the souls of others. Anybody ever been swimming? Okay, a lot of us, but a lot of us are, yeah. Jesus didn't swim. He walked on water. So if he don't even swim, I swim. Well, have you ever been like in a pool with some people or, and water gets in your lungs and you find like splash, like, oh my gosh, like your life flashes before your eyes? Maybe you were playing with the cousins and they held you down, you're like, you right? You know in that moment, in that split second, you know what you're not thinking about in that moment? What am I going to offer lunch after this? Man, can I put a deposit on that new Tesla flying car? Is that? Hey, they didn't like my picture. What's wrong with her attitude? You're not thinking about none of that. The only thing you're thinking about doing is not dying. You're just trying to survive. And I think that is an appropriate thought process in a pool when you were drowning. I think it is a dangerous way to live when you're walking. I think it's a dangerous mentality to have when every day you're just trying to survive. Because if I'm fixated on surviving the temporary surviving, then now it's impossible for me to think ahead into eternity. If I'm only fixated on what's going to make me feel better or live better in this moment, I will not do better for what's going to actually matter in eternity. And I wonder how many of us as self-proclaimed Christians are so focused on the temporary that it's impossible for us to value the eternal. Listen to what Jesus says in John 15. He says, "You are my friends if you do what I command."

Okay, bossy friend Jesus, all right, all right. He says, "I no longer call you slaves because a master doesn't combine any slaves. Now you are my friends since I have told you everything the Father told me." Go be my witnesses to the ends of the earth go love your neighbor as yourself That's that's how Jesus defines his friends How many of you have friends So more y'all can swim thinking have friends That's crazy you swim by yourself. You just out there. Just hey, I'm not judging whatever, but uh, okay How many you have your friend friends like your day wants But then you got your work friends You know the difference Hey girl, how was your weekend? We need to get together all you know, it's good. It was good. Yeah, we definitely gonna do that I ain't gone ever you lucky. I'm in here nine to five with you. I said enough of me I just need you to survive Larry because the supervisor be Michael. I'm just you're you We is not friends like that and then You got your friend friends. You got your work friends, but then you got your church friends Come on. Don't play. Y'all got church friends Hey brother, how you doing good to see a blust and highly favored good to see you, too You'd just say hey, I missed you at the the men's advance last time like hey, man. We would love to um man the Look the kids the wife. We just it was the weekend was crazy your wife's are like what you mean? I would have been glad you why why no you were fine. You could have gone. We were Why didn't you go I Don't know these dudes like that. This is a cult. I don't know. I'm not about to spin up in the woods with some random There's like that's weird. There's ain't no boys. Yeah And then and then and then ladies, you know the same thing We missed you at the her legacy event. Where were you? Oh? You know Jamal he just I can't leave him for two minutes with the kids and couldn't find a sitter and

But I saw you post yourself at the Chris Brown concert where Usher was over there talking about and you was over there like Jamal was fine for the three hours. You forgot about Jamal you to Jamal who? You found you a busy B and Jamal like they could figure out between a group home of them. They'll figure out these kids, but I'm gonna let it burn one time, you know You know you you know you And Jesus knows you I wonder if Jesus will qualify you as a work friend a church friend or a real friend The work friends the one hey god. I just really need you to come through. Hey, Jesus I just really need you come and every time you interact with Jesus work for Jesus Hey god, I came to church. All right now bless me bless me. I came to church He's like I thought we came to connect not so you could be I'm not a genie. I thought I thought we were I thought Because real friends, you know you wouldn't you wouldn't leave your kids with your work friends You shouldn't leave your kids with all the church friends. They get about 90 minutes in back there with after a background check That's it, you know Don't trust everything you see these people's kids. I wouldn't trust them when mine either You get 90 minutes and a curriculum to make sure they learning Jesus and not lyrics to ushering Chris Brown So so so so we understand that Different relationships allow different levels of access and intimacy and you think Jesus doesn't know that too You think there's things that Jesus has withheld from you not because he doesn't love you, but because he can't trust you You don't think there's times where Jesus was like man. I just wish Wish when we talked it wouldn't just be God do this do that do that I'll cuz I had some things I wanted to ask to like, you know prayer is supposed to be a conversation Meaning you talk and I listen and then I talk and you listen and just as much as you were praying for me I had actually been praying a few matter In fact, I was praying for you before you even thought to pray and I was praying that you would open yourself up and actually speak to That co-worker who you so often ignore or who you who irritates you or you just think it's weird because you don't know how much There's suffering and I've been doing it and I just I placed you at that job and I brought you to Arizona You thought I just came here because and I don't know why I'm here And he's like I know why you're here

So you would lead a life worthy of your calling because I called you here your x didn't call you here y'all broke But I needed you here anyway the job didn't call you here You got laid off, but I didn't give up on you anyway and there was something I had for you But because you haven't invested in the friendship You look rich, but we're broke Because there's things I wanted to entrust you to with and There's my sons and daughters that are acting like orphans that need to come into the family, but But you've been so transactional and you've been so You focus more on my hand than my heart. And every time we get together, it's worked for me because you don't ever seek my face to see what makes me smile. You just want me to put something in your hand that'll make you smile. And I love you and I forgive you, but I really wish we could be friends. And I want you to ask yourself, are you a true friend of Jesus? Yes, he's your savior and you're grateful. Yes, he's your Lord, you're here. But notice he doesn't even want to settle for Lord. He said, I'm no longer, you're not my slave. So yes, I am the Lord and I am your Lord, but I also want to be your friend. Bible says in Luke chapter 13 that Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching as he went, always pressing on toward Jerusalem. Everybody say, always pressing on toward Jerusalem. I'm gonna explain that in a moment. Verse 23, someone asked him, Lord, will only a few be saved?

He replied, work hard to enter the narrow door to God's kingdom for many will try to enter, but will fail. And when the master of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. You will stand outside knocking and pleading, Lord, open the door for us. But he will reply, I don't know you or where you come from. Then you will say, but we ate and drank with you and you taught in our streets. And he will reply, I tell you, I don't know you or where you come from. Get away from me, all you who do evil. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For you will see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you will be thrown out. And people will come from all over the world from East and West, North and South, to take their places in the kingdom of God. And note this, some who seem least important now will be the greatest then. And some who are the greatest now will be the least important then. Oh, I want you to understand what Jesus is saying and what he's not saying. We live in a society where people are just always setting up boundaries. Like I just need my boundaries.

I gotta protect my peace. I gotta protect, I gotta just do these boundaries. I don't wanna, okay, okay, we get that, we get that. What happens when your boundaries box out God? Because Jesus in Luke, it says that he was teaching in all the towns, but always pressing on toward Jerusalem. Why does that matter? Because Jerusalem is where the crucifixion would take place, which was his calling from the very beginning. And so even as you go through all the gospels and you see Jesus stopping the hill, this person teach there and is that he was not distracted. That was a part of his assignment that he made room for him, but he never forgot where he was going. Matter of fact, from the very beginning he had that in mind. The Bible says when he was 12, his parents lost him and left him, which makes me very skeptical of, you know, all this hyping up of Virgin Mary is like, yeah, Mary was great at a lot of things, but she had one job and she left with him for three days. So save me with all that. But I love my Catholic brothers. But so Jesus, when they find him after three days, they're like, what are you doing? Where are he says? Didn't you know I had to be about my father's business? 12 years old already understanding his calling, already beginning with the end in mind. And then it says that no matter what he did,

like he was teaching, he was traveling, he stayed focused, he even in the temporary, he was only on the earth for 33 years. And the whole time he was pressing on towards Jerusalem. Now, as he's explaining, not just his purpose, but when someone says, well, who's gonna be saved? He doesn't answer the question directly. He says, I want you to know my heart. And what he does is he explains something that is very significant. First, heaven is real and so is hell. Jesus said heaven and hell are real places not figurative language. And that matters in this TikTok theology culture where you look at a YouTube video or some social media influencer who says, well, you know, we're already living in hell and a good God wouldn't send people to hell. How would a loving God? He doesn't send them there. They abandoned him on earth. So he just gives them what they wanted in the first place. If you reject him now, that would be help for you to have to spend eternity with the God who you hated your whole life. But then when it gets real, they're like, hey, hey, Jesus, I'm sorry to be with you. He's like, I don't know you. What do you mean? No, no, no, no, my grandma would say,

And I got the chain. And I went on Mother's Day and I won time in Legacy Church. We come on a twin. And the Bible says, Jesus will say, I don't know you. You were a work friend. You were a church friend. You knew of me. You heard me teaching, but you were here of the word, not a doer of the word. So every sermon that you heard preached, you were like, man, that's good. So on social, listen to that, but you never actually lived it out for yourself. And so even though you thought you were prospering on earth because I kept allowing you to get rich, or, hey, maybe I wasn't even touching you and the devil kept giving you things so you would be distracted and never actually depend on me because don't get it twisted, the devil, somebody ought to endate it. I mean, you thought he was good. And this is heartbreaking. I want you to hear this. I'm not trying to scare you. So I'm being a little jovial, but I want you to hear my heart.

Hell is not figurative. Hell is not metaphorical. Hell is a place where for eternity, you are separated from the love, grace and mercy of God, which proves this cannot be. You might be going through a version of a living hell, but hell is 10 times more than you can, and infinitely worse than what you could think or imagine. Why? Because every day you wake up, the Bible says God's mercy is renewed for you that morning. You get a fresh start every day. When you spend eternity weeping and gnashing in teeth, that tells me that that is not a metaphor. There is no mercy there. You are separated forever from the heart and the will of God. So if we believe that just as heaven is real, hell is real. Then as followers of Jesus, what are we supposed to do in the in-between time? Because we know where eternity is, but we live in a temporary. So what do we do in the now as we're waiting to fully experience the next and the then? That's a great question. This is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter nine. He says, "Though I am free and belong to no one." Oh, the single ladies, come on. He said, "I have made myself a slave to everyone

to win as many as possible." You ever say win? Verse 20, "To the Jews, I became like a Jew." Two. It's okay. They can read God. I know they can. (congregation laughing) To those under the law, I became like one under the law. Though I myself am not under the law. So as to those under the law. To those not having the law, I became like one not having the law. Though I am not free from God's law, but I am under Christ law. So as to those not having the law. To the weak, I became weak. To the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings. That's interesting language. He didn't say I do all this for the sake of the gospel so that God, you saw the credit and I had nothing to do with it. He says, "No, no, no. I'll put my name on the group project." You ever did that before? Well, you didn't contribute nothing,

but you're like, "Hey, can I just sign right there?" And I'm gonna share that, "Hey, in Jesus' name." I was the motivator. I kept it fun. I kept the, you know what I mean? Paul's like, "Hey, all that I'm doing to win, I'm doing it for the sake of the gospel that I might share." Meaning that my life was not just, I was here, I lived, I died. It was like, no, my life had an impact and it changed the lives of other people. That's how I define winning. And he says so that I might save some. Well, you don't have to save someone from an ethereal, metaphorical hell. You save someone that's actually drowning and you're worried about their life. Let me tell you what we do at Legacy Church, to win and to intentionally connect people to the gospel. Notice what Paul said. He says to the Jew, I became like the Jew, to those not on the law, I became like the, what he's saying is, "I never compromise, but I always connect." Meaning some of you flip it. You compromise your values, you compromise your standards, you compromise your integrity. 'Cause like, "Well, I don't wanna be judgmental, I don't wanna be that topic." Paul's like, "Oh, we are not the same."

I can connect without compromising. I can see someone that is throwing their life away and not valuing themselves and making a career off the only band. I want I want you to come to church. Well, I don't get off work till whatever. We'll go to the 11th or you can sleep in for like, I'll I'll pick you up. Let me tell you what we do a legacy to to do all to become all things for all people there. I've been to churches before. Maybe you've experienced this before, too, where you got a church and every single Sunday, like, don't forget next week, it's going to be the best Sunday ever bring everybody, you know, your friends and your carkers and you're like, bro, it is July 12 is going to be hot as hell. Everybody's trying to be. Are you lucky? I'm probably going to watch online. I think so. I know, I know. Don't act like you're better than me. Come on. I love this church and there's still some Sundays like it's Sunday. Jesus will be there. So I'm going to show up. I don't know if anybody else will, but it'll let's not act like every day is Disneyland. Okay. We can be honest. What a legacy. We do have three Sundays a year where we bet all our chips on. We're like, Hey, you come, you can on this day on Easter on Christmas and on homecoming. Hey, invite your friends, your boyfriends, your ex friends, your mama, your baby mama, like bring them all. And they're going to experience God and they're going to experience the joy of being connected to the family and the people of God and what that means. So we only, we only put all now every son of what we found out is that people experience God every day and they're like, I'm gonna just, it could be August 12. We come and you got to come to my church and that's beautiful. But what am I saying? We really go hard on these three Sundays and it started even before we started the church because we started the church January 2023. But in December of 2022, we had just been doing these invite gatherings. We call them legacy social. So we meet at a restaurant and we just talk about the vision of the church. And again, we, we, I never preached. We didn't have worship. It was just a sharing vision and just dreaming together and, and teaching people our values and things. And it was awesome because people were just connecting. It was a small group. It was like maybe 30, 50 of us or so. But what was amazing was in this December, it was two weeks, it was like a week before Christmas and I had this bright idea. It was a God idea. I was like, we should do a Christmas experience even though we don't have a church yet. We should just do a Christmas experience. And because I have rich friends, they were like, you're crazy. Let's do it. And so we plan to sit like, here's the problem. It was our very first, like this is the first time we're trying to like kind of open our doors to the public orator. And the vision of legacy was multicultural, multi-generational. It's going to be phenomenal. But at that time, it was just 30 black and brown people and like four people from the island of Caucasian and one of them was mixed. So there wasn't even a full, you know what I mean? Credit was halfway there. Like it was like. And so we're like, we're like, hey, if we're going to do our first Christmas, my first thought was, who's going to be Santa? Like, that was my first thought. And we're like, well, I can't be Santa, obviously. It's our first one. We're not going to do South Pole Santa. We're going to do North Pole Santa. Like, it's the first million one shot at a first impression, okay? We don't want to scare the East Valley. By now, we don't care no more. The following year, we did life skin Santa this year. We doing a dreadhead Santa. Like, we're all in now. Like now. But, you know, got to ease into it, you know? So anyway, we're like, who's going to be Santa? And there was this one distinguished gentleman. His name was Noel. And his wife was Asian. Her name was Sandy.

Noel's wife. I should have said that. Noel's distinguished and wife. And I was like, no, will you be Santa? He was like, absolutely. And so, context for Noel. Noel and Sandy showed up the very first time at a coffee shop when we first announced Legacy. And we're like, hey, we're so glad you're here. And they left another church and were like, why would you leave your church to be a part of this church plant at a gym when you're in an air-conditioned building? And they said, because we believe that this is the type of church our grandkids could come to one day. Now, for context, Noel's son, his name is Jamie, and his son's wife's. Her name is Raquel. Jamie grew up Christian, but as he got into his adult years, he just kind of drifted away. He distanced himself from church. And then his wife was Catholic, but like kind of Catholic, you know what I mean? Like Easter mass, Christmas mass, but not like really like every day. So, the kids weren't really involved in church at all, and Noel and Sandy were like, we believe that this is the type of church that our son in Ottawa might come to and even their kids who we love so dearly. And so we're like, okay, we're going to be praying. So they're like, we're in it for the long haul. We're like, okay, cool. So Christmas comes around and our Christmas legacy. And Noel goes, I'm so excited, Patrick. And I'm like, why? What's going on? He's like, my son and daughter lost. They're going to come by to take pictures with me and Sandy and surprise the kids since we're Santa Claus, right? Now, I got to tell you, there's a villain in this story. My grandma. Now, my grandma, most spiritual person, I ever know, okay? So when I told her, a, we're about to have our first Christmas and like, she's like, praise the Lord. And I was like, I can't wait. She was like, what are we doing for the Nativity scene? I was like, what? No, we bringing Santa. We ain't doing notivity scene. She's like, the devil is like, how are you going to have Christmas without Christ, Justin? What is wrong with you?

I said, grandma, listen, until I can afford a real-life donkey, camels, wise men, and a Jewish baby, we are not doing a Nativity scene at Legacy. Santa will bring more people to church than a picture of a manger, I promise you. And she just started repenting. She's like, God, I'm sorry, forgive him, he knows not. We just started, you know, on a backslade, everything. She's like, we started a church in sin. Oh my gosh. So, so grandma's about to have our tag. I'm like, hey, I'm sticking to my guns. So Christmas happens. Noel and Sandy, Santa Claus, from like the North and East Pole, like it was pretty cool. So, so they show up and then, would you believe it? Jamie, do we have a picture of Noel? Do we have a picture of our first Christmas? Yeah, so his son showed up, his daughter-in-law showed up, their baby girl showed up. Now, we're Legacy and it was our first Christmas. So even though we did Santa in the front, it was super Pentecostal in the back, right? Now, Raquel, that's the wife right there. She's never been into a charismatic church. Like, she grew up Catholic. So I'll come up there, you know, like, God loves you and God has passed for your life. And they're like, hey, everybody say bless. You know what I mean?

Like, she's just like, what is going on? Would you believe they leave there? But then they come back for the grand opening. And then they come back again. And then they come back again. And as of today, Jamie leads one of our biggest life groups. This is golf life group for all the people that love golf. Raquel, she leads on our events team and she'll host moments she's dangering, preaching like total life change. Their kids are in Legacy, kids facing worship. They're doing all the things all because not a baby in a major, but a Santa Claus. And that was in this morning, four years later, still loving, living and leading like Jesus. And that all happened. Now, here's what I need you to understand. We take that same energy to everything. And I almost truly killed my grandma when I told her for Easter, we're not gonna do three crosses or a tomb. We're just gonna do a helicopter and Easter egg money. And we'll see what happens. And I'll never forget August 27th of last year, my grandma went to be with the Lord. And a week or so before she died, I was in her room, she was in my home on hospice. And a week before she died, she's in my room. And she says, Justin, I'm so proud of you. Keep preaching the kingdom.

I'm so proud of you and Alicia. Keep preaching the kingdom. And what wrecked me is she didn't say, "Please stop bringing Santa Claus to church." She didn't say, "Please save the money "from helicopters and Easter egg drops "and all the other crazy things y'all do." And just buy Bibles. Know what she said? Keep preaching. Don't start preaching, keep preaching. Why? Because grandma realized something over the duration of her time and legacy is that since 2023, over 1600, I'm sorry, 1,833 people have publicly said yes to Jesus and 638 of them got baptized. And so even though my method was a little bit different than grandma's, the message stayed the same and the outcome made heaven proud. And so grandma was proud to know that even though I was outside of the box, I stayed rooted in the book and I didn't compromise, I just connected. And everything we do at legacy is to connect people that are far from God that, oh, by all possible means, they might be safe. And here's how we do it. For the kids in a couple weeks the day after Halloween, I think we're having a super mega awesome costume party.

And before you have a pen executive, your kid does not participate. But if they want to bring their neighbor whose parents just spent $100 on Amazon for their little Spider-Man costume, they can reuse it the next day and come to church. And before you start cousing out the devil, let's get him in the door, how about that? And as soon as they get into the door, they can hear about the love of Jesus, why? Because we are becoming all things for all men. So that by all possible means some might be saved. And I don't got time to listen to broke critics who've never let 2,000 people in Jesus are baptized 633. That's what we do here Tell the person next to you all we do is win Man come on out make this sound spiritual we got to go But but here my heart here my heart here my heart here my heart because in those three Sundays almost 75% of The baptism and salvation has occurred just in those three days Because people trust that if they bring their coworker or friend or child to this place They will not get the gospel of politics. They'll get the gospel of the kingdom They will not get the gospel of of what you should have did better before it. They'll get hey There's a better way for you now We preach the kingdom And this is what I love in Romans chapter 10 It says this for it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God And it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved as the scriptures tell us anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect

They have the same Lord who gives generously to all who call on him for everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him and how can they believe in him if they had never heard about him? And how can they hear about him? Unless someone tells them How will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the scriptures say how Beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news I wonder whose life is waiting to be changed If you would focus less on temporary things that make you feel good or make you feel comfortable and focus on the Eternity that God is waiting for them to experience with him if you would just go and tell and share I Can tell you from experience the most beautiful thing you could experience on this life Is knowing that you had a small part to play in the greatest decision of someone else's I want you to listen to this for a moment. I say to you this morning If you have never found something I'm so precious to you that you will die for it then you aren't fit to leave You may be 38 years old as I happen to be One day some great opportunity stands before you And calls upon you to stand up for some great principle some great itself Some great calls You refuse to do it because You are free You refuse to do it Because you want to live longer you are afraid that you will lose your job But you're afraid that you will be criticized that you will lose your popularity Are you afraid that somebody will stab your shoe that's your bomb your house? So you refuse to take the stand Well, you may go on and live until you have no But you are just as dead

38 as you would be at night And the cessation of breathing in your life is Smith of an earlier death of the spirit you died when you refused to stand up for right You died when you refuse to stand up for truth You died when you refused to stand up for just What's amazing to me about that speech is if we're honest, we can't even fathom the sort of pressure or Fear even that dr. Martin Luther King was right right for dancing to Especially when it comes to just sharing our faith Especially when it comes to just Talking about Jesus You're so blessed you live in a country where without any fear of consequence you can post Repost speak The only thing that cost you is your ego The only thing it costs you is your comfortability But yet some of us are so more committed to our comfortability Then our soul are the souls of others [BLANK_AUDIO] we didn't love them enough to introduce them to him. This is what the Bible says in Matthew chapter 25 verse 31. "But when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep in his right hand and the goats that is left. Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you invited me into your home. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me. Then these righteous ones will reply, 'Lord, when do we ever see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something and drink or a stranger

and show you hospitality or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the king will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters you were doing it for me.' Then the king will turn to those on the left and say away with you you cursed ones into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry and you didn't feed me. I was thirsty and you didn't give me a drink. I was a stranger and you didn't invite me into your home. I was naked and you didn't give me clothing. I was sick and in prison and you didn't visit me. Then they will reply, 'Lord, when do we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger and naked or sick or in prison?' And I help you. And he will answer, 'I tell you the truth. When you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters you were refusing to help me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous will go into eternal life. Here's what I need you to hear from this text. I need you to hear the heart of God and the words of God. Here's what the heart of God is saying in this text. Jesus is not giving us a list of things that will serve as our entry fee into heaven. That's not what he's saying. What he's actually describing is the heart of those who are connected to his. He's showing the evidence of people whose hearts are connected to his heart. This entire message, this is not 40 minutes of me trying to tell you there's more things you need to do to get into heaven. No, no, no, no. Everything was already done. This message is about understanding that because you are so loved by God, how could you not love who God loves? How can we know that we're going into heaven alone? I believe that apathy from Christians is the greatest enemy of the gospel of Christ. The Bible says that Jesus already defeated death, hell, sin in the grave. Meaning that it is not at the core. Yes, people have struggles. Yes, we all have struggles. Yes, Jesus came to be the bridge because on our own we were sinners and he came to save us. Yes, I understand that. But he said on the cross, it is finished.

Meaning the power of sin is finished. So people still sin. Yes, but it is not necessarily just sin that is keeping us from experiencing eternity in heaven. It is apathy from people who have already been saved, who have already been found and do not care about those who are lost. It is the people who know how to swim, who are holding the raft, watching people drowning, like, well, somebody will get them. That's what kills them. Not that they can't swim, but the people who can. Well, somebody will do it. That's not my calling. I'm just not comfortable. I just don't know the Bible good enough. But do you know the author? Because as long as you know the author, that's enough. Here's what I want you to walk away knowing this. As a follower of Jesus, I don't live in fear of going to hell when I die. My fear is not making heaven bigger while I lived. If I've accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I do not have to repent every time. I'm sorry, I do need to repent, but I do not have to ask God to save me every time I make a mistake. I'm already saved. I'm already forgiving. I need to walk in it. I need to live like it. My biggest fear is not, oh my gosh, I got angry. And if I get in a car accident, I'm going to die. No, no, no, no. That's terrible theology. All my kids have my last name. The fact that they have my last name, it doesn't matter how many dumb decisions they make at school, they still got my last name. They would have to choose knowingly and willingly to change their last name from mine for me to burn them and no longer belong to me. So here's my question is, what are you doing to grow the kingdom? and it's all comes from Matthew 25. First, feed. Everybody say feed. Feed your friends and family the bread of life. How many parents in here? How many, you, you feed your kids every day? How many do you wake up every day thinking, and I got to take care of my kids, right?

Here's the problem. A lot of us wake up every day thinking that, but we're actually not taking care of them. TikTok is taking care of them. YouTube is taking care of them. Social media is taking care of them. Why? Because we're allowing everything else to speed their souls, except the Word of God. So my oldest daughter, she turned 14 yesterday, and we got her a iPhone. Oh, yeah. You're welcome. I got her 14 years, she's safe. Yeah. So for her 14th birthday, we got her an iPhone partially because, I mean, honestly, the majority was just because we were tied up to her green text, we went on our group chat, so we couldn't include her. So we were like, you know what? You're gonna buy some. But we told her last night, hey, you have this phone is for communication is to learn and grow, but you're not allowed to have social media till you turn 18. She's like, I understand. She's fine with it. Why? Because I refuse. I've been to youth pastor, mentally pastor, I refuse to normalize my kids being discipled by the world. I'm not trying to tell you how to pay your gift. Well, kind of, but that's between you and God. But we, what we want is every time they wake up, do what they already do. Instead of checking notifications, they go to a devotional, they go spend time with Jesus. Why? I want them to learn how to be a friend of God, not check how many fake friends they have on social media. So once you're old enough to pay for it by yourself, do whatever you want. But it's for me and my house. So hey, what are you feeding your soul? What are you feeding your family? So does your family even know how to eat the bread of life? Have they been served the bread of life by the people that are connected to them? Feed. Here's the second one. Give everybody say give times, talents and treasures given to impact souls are an investment, not a sacrifice. I'm gonna say that again, time, talents and treasures given to impact souls are an investment, not a sacrifice. That's why every time all the events we do a legacy, we spend over well over hundreds of thousands of dollars to host these events where thousands and thousands of people come. And you know what? I told the team every time, hey, we're not here to save money. We're here to save souls. Do we have a budget? Do we have to steward it? Well, absolutely. But at the end of the life, at the end of the day, if we can get sandy and null to be Santa Claus, and that changes the legacy of their entire family, best believe I will buy as many Santa's and snow. Maybe that what we do now this year, we just bring thousands of dollars of snow to the desert. Why? Because you can't put a price on a soul. Here's the third thing. Everybody say invite. Bring people to church next weekend. Why? Because someone's eternity is on the other side of your invitation. How can they know unless someone tells

them? Here's the fourth thing. Care. Everybody say care. Care about care more about other souls than your image or ego. I, I've been carrying around. I call these my tracks. These are my tracks. My grandma always we get out tracks to people every, she would go to gas if she's always getting out of tracks and it would be like scary ones were like, do you know what's gonna happen when you die tomorrow? You're like, how do you know I'm gonna die? You know what I mean? Like, and I would be, she would pick me up from school and be like, hey, give these tracks to your teacher. Like, my teacher already hates me. I don't need to give them another reason, you know. But my grandma always we're gonna give out tracks because she was obsessed with like, do you? Are you ready for eternity? And that got ingrained in me. And I even when she was saying preach the kingdom, I was like, I got to get back to track. So I created a track. It looks like a poker chip. It's super spiritual. And, uh, I, uh, I was at Walmart the other night and on my way, as after I parked, I said, God, give me an opportunity to share this with somebody. Give me a divine appointment. And I grab a bunch and I go on a Walmart and, uh, as soon as I walk in, I throw myself reaching for my phone to just start scrolling or checking whatever it takes in. And I heard Holy Spirit say, how are you supposed to see who I have for you if your head is down? Oh, man. So then I'm repenting. I'm like, God, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Why do I do this? I'm done. I'm done. And I'm like, literally out loud talking like somebody was, you know, like, oh, poor guy, he's losing it. Um, but I was just like repenting verbally. And I saw this guy with a cool hat and I'm a hat guy and I was asked quite and I saw him and I ended up a self check out. He's a self check out him and his girlfriend or even his partner. And I was like, man, hey, man, I like your hat. He looks at me. He's like, Hey, man, I appreciate it. And then as soon as I stay, I was like, wait, we're talking, we're talking. Oh, man, you want to bet on God? Do you want to hear? This is, I just thought this be good for you. For real. Like, I had no time to, like, practice this. I was just like, what are words? her hair and as soon as I walk over him and give him the chip she we lock eyes and her mouth just charges drops like like she saw it goes and I recognize her and she was like did you still go to this one church and I was like yeah so she goes I remember you and she says what's so crazy is we just moved to Chandler like yesterday and we've been praying we've been wanting to find a church and my mom told me you started a church but I didn't know what it was called I

didn't know how to find it and I didn't remember and she's like I can't believe you're here right now I said wow this was Saturday night Sunday morning her and her boyfriend or husband I don't know what they are I still we're still getting to know each other but they were in legacy DNA the very next Sunday the very next day less than 24 hours later I invitation turned into a decision that decision turned into a commitment all because all because I cared here's the last thing I want you to know everybody say visit go to where lost people are don't wait for them to come to you you know so interesting about where lost people are everywhere you are I was at the basketball gym after we finished waxing these dudes and they couldn't catch a win I said hey man I still once you win bet on God bet on God bet on God bet on God true story this is on a Saturday morning Sunday morning I'm in the lobby in Alpha one of the guys on our prayer team he goes you play ball in this one area I was like yeah you know he was like cuz I went to LA Fitness at 8 a.m. I go to the gym at 5 a.m. I'm a real Christian but anyway he was like I was at LA Fitness at 8 a.m. Hooping and I started hanging these out to all the guys LA Fitness are like oh my gosh this is the second time somebody gave me this I guess I got to go now because everybody keeps giving these poker chips they say bet on God and what am I saying I'm saying everywhere you go there are people who are winning in one area but losing in the area that actually matters and they're just waiting for someone to bet on this because what you don't realize is we can bet on God it's God bet on us God bet on you that he can trust you to be the light in a dark place and you gotta have yourself whole soul it's been a turnity it hasn't because of my life it's in your feet only my football class goes here here here I need you to hear me because connected to you connected to your life there's a son there's a daughter there's a mother there's a father there's a brother there's a sister who's waiting to know does God still see me can God still love me well God still forgive me like what happens when I die I don't know it's hell no and they need to know that someone sees this and that God has placed someone in their life to remind them I haven't forgotten about

you and so next Sunday we're believing that we are gonna experience revival do you know revival is it's not a three-hour worship set it's in it's in a minute where dead people can come to life it's when someone that is spiritually dead can recognize that there's more to me that I cannot just win in the temporary I need to win in the eternal and we are believing that next weekend we will see hundreds of people make decisions that will change their legacies and their families forever the only question is will you get to share in the blessing the only question is will you be a part of their win the only question is how will it have to be bigger because of you because one way or another I'm gonna get rich or die trying but I want more friends I want more people that are passionate about the gospel that see people that are hurting and love and say God what can I do what can you use a poker chip you can use me and I just want us to take a moment and I want you envision someone that you're believing for and I want you to envision someone that maybe you're loosely connected to work friend real friend expert I want you to envision someone who has a soul and over these next few moments just let's just take a few more can we just pray for them can we pray for the person that is drowning and can we ask God to do something inside of our heart but we will see more people like that so we will care more for our co-workers our our classmates can we ask for the heart of God for his desires to be in our heart because I believe that is the prayer God always wants to answer he's always what he just needs a friend he just needs someone he can trust because if he can trust you he can interest you holy spirit I believe for revival I believe God hey if you're still watching at this point I believe that it's not an accident I believe that if you're feeling something in your spirit that is God trying to get your attention and invite you into a deeper relationship with him and so if you're ready to take that step I want to I want to walk you through what that looks like it's simple we're gonna say a prayer together and it's just you acknowledging that you believe that Jesus is who he says he is and that you're willing to commit your life to following him learning to what

it means to be a son or daughter of God so repeat after me if you can Jesus here I am I believe that and that you want a relationship with me. I acknowledge that I'm a sinner and I need a savior, and I'm committing to learning what it means to be a follower of Jesus. If I mess up, I will not quit, because you've never quit on me. I invite your Holy Spirit to lead me and guide me in your truth from today on, in Jesus' name, amen. Hey, we're proud of you. That's a huge decision, and we don't want you to feel like you have to figure it all out on your own from this point. We have a value, a legacy that says we follow Jesus for ourselves, but not by ourselves. So I would invite you to text the number below, follow the instructions, and we're gonna send you resources so you can learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus and be on this journey of faith. Congratulations, your life will never be the same. - Thank you for watching. Hope you enjoyed the online experience. - Hey, if this message impacted you, make sure you like, comment, subscribe, and share it with the friends so we can continue to share the gospel. - Hey, here at Legacy Prayer is our priority. If you have any prayer needs, you can send them to [email protected].

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