The 161 Maiden Lane Life - Sam Kelly (Full Experience)

Come on, in church, come on, let's stand to our feet. You've seen the faithfulness of God in your life. Come on, put your hands together with us like this. We're gonna teach you a new song this morning. ♪ You've been good, good for all my life ♪ ♪ So nothing could ever change my mind ♪ Never breaks a promise. ♪ You never break a promise ♪ ♪ You're constant in all you do ♪ ♪ Yours is the way, the truth, the life that I will choose ♪ Here we go. ♪ So I know that I know that you won't ever let me go ♪ ♪ Every low and every high, you are faithful all the time ♪ ♪ Oh, I've tasted and I've seen, you've been so, so good to me ♪ ♪ God, I know that I know you're faithful all the time, oh ♪ ♪ You're faithful all the time, oh ♪ Come on, sing it out. ♪ See, I won't look to the left or right ♪ ♪ And I will keep heaven, heaven on my side ♪ I won't be shaken. ♪ No, I will not be shaken, and nothing is ruining me ♪ ♪ I've got a faith to see from things I cannot see ♪ ♪ Oh, that I know, that I know you won't ever let me go ♪ ♪ Every low and every high, you are faithful all the time ♪ ♪ And I've tasted and I've seen, you've been so, so good to me ♪ ♪ Oh, I know that I know you're faithful all the time, oh ♪ ♪ You're faithful all the time, oh ♪ He's faithful. ♪ Yeah, you're faithful all the time, oh ♪ Come on, sing it out.

♪ See, I won't stand on words of man ♪ ♪ But I'll stand on yours instead ♪ ♪ All of my hope, all of my faith, all of it's in your name ♪ ♪ And the world cannot deny all that you've done in my life ♪ ♪ All of my days, all of my faith, all of it's Jesus' name ♪ Come on, church. ♪ And I won't stand on words of man ♪ ♪ But I'll stand on yours instead ♪ ♪ All of my hope, all of my faith, all of it's in your name ♪ ♪ And the world cannot deny all that you've done in my life ♪ ♪ All of my days, all of my praise, all of it's Jesus' name ♪ Sing all of my days. ♪ All of my days, all of my praise, all of it's Jesus' name ♪ Come on. ♪ And I know that I know you won't ever let me go ♪ ♪ You won't ever let me go ♪ ♪ Every low and every high, you are faithful all the time ♪ ♪ Oh, I know that I know you won't ever let me go ♪ ♪ Every low and every high, you are faithful all the time ♪ ♪ And I'm tasting and I see you've been so, so good to me ♪ ♪ God, I know that I know you're faithful ♪ ♪ You're faithful all the time, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Come on, sing it. ♪ He's faithful all the time, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ He's faithful all the time. ♪ Come on, has anybody seen the faithfulness of God in your life? That's right. Welcome to Fellowship Church. It's gonna be a great day.

High-five three people and say, it's good to see you in church this morning. One, two, three, go. ♪♪ Come on, let's continue worshiping together. Would you pray with me today? Jesus, we're so thankful. that you're in this room today and your presence goes before us you're all around us whatever we're facing today whatever giant's in our face you are with us through it all we praise the great i am the almighty god come on let's sing this out together i want to be close i want to be close close to your side so heaven is real and death is a lie i want to hear voices of angels above singing as one come on hallelujah holy holy yes he is oh he's the great i am who is worthy none beside thee god almighty the great i am oh i want to be near loving the world and hating the dark i want to see dry bones living again singing as one every voice hallelujah holy holy god almighty yes he's the great i am who is worthy and none beside thee god almighty the great i am you're the great i am just jesus stands alone he's the great i am king of majesty the great i am the great i am the great i am every voice raise to heaven today we say hallelujah holy holy god almighty yes he is great i am who is worthy none beside thee god almighty great i am you're the great i am no one above you we say the great i am

yes you are the great i am come on one more time with all you got we say the mountains shake shake before the demons at the mention of jesus at the mention of your name raise to heavenly declaration there is no power there is no power in you for any who cares nothing stronger than the name for the power and the presence of the great i am the great i am the great i am the great i am the great i am yes you are the great you're the great i am the great i am the great i am the great i am just the vocals sing hallelujah hallelujah holy holy god almighty the great i am

no one else worthy who is worthy no one else worthy who is worthy none beside thee god almighty ♪ God Almighty, the Great I Am ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, holy, holy, God Almighty, the Great I Am ♪ ♪ Oh who is worthy, none beside thee, God Almighty, the Great I Am ♪ ♪ Oh who is worthy, none beside thee, God Almighty, the Great I Am ♪ ♪ Oh who is worthy, none beside thee, God Almighty, the Great I Am ♪ ♪ Oh who is worthy, none beside thee, God Almighty, the Great I Am ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, God Almighty, the Great I Am ♪ ♪ Who is worthy, none beside thee, God Almighty, the Great I Am ♪ ♪ Who is worthy, none beside thee, God Almighty, the Great I Am ♪ ♪ You're the Great I Am, no one else stands above you, the Great I Am ♪ ♪ No one other than you so powerful, the Great I Am, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, you are worthy of it all, you are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things, and to you are all things, you deserve the gold ♪ ♪ For from you are all things, and to you are all things, you deserve the gold ♪ ♪ You're worthy of it all, only you alone, you're worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things, and to you are all things, you deserve the gold ♪ Let's sing day and night. Good day and night. Night and day, let incense arise. Day and night. Night and day, let incense arise. Day and night. Night and day, let incense arise. Day and night.

Come on, if you feel comfortable, let's lift our hands together and sing that. We say day and night. Night and day. Let all prayers rise before you. Let incense arise. Day and night. Night and day. Let incense arise. Day and night. Night and day. You're worthy of it all. Worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all. Born from you. Born from you. To you only. To you only. You deserve it all. Just Jesus, you're worthy. You're worthy. You're worthy of it all. Jesus, you're worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all. You deserve it all. Born from you. Born from you. To you only. To you only. You're worthy. You're worthy of it all.

Jesus, you're worthy. You're worthy of it all. You're worthy of it all. Born from you. To you only. Born from you. To you only. To you only. Born from you. To you only. To you only. You deserve You deserve Time Come on, can we lift up the highest praise To Jesus Jesus, we thank you for all that you're doing in this room today We exalt your name above all else And we thank you, in your name we pray, and everybody shout it. Amen. And you may find your seat. Welcome to Fellowship Church, one family in many locations. On behalf of Pastors Ed and Lisa, we wanna warmly welcome you to a place where strangers become family, hope is restored, people meet Jesus, discover their purpose, and make a difference. Whether it's through Bible study classes,

connect groups, support and recovery groups, our brand new veterans Bible study and breakfast, Valor, our serving teams, or in FC sports, there's a place for you. And this month, you can join us for Love Your Neighbor, as we serve communities across the Metroplex and put the love of Jesus into action. Because church isn't just somewhere we go, it's who we are. So, if you're ready for your next step, simply tap your seat or reach out in front of you for our Connect Card, and take a moment to fill it out. We'd love to meet you, help you find community, and if there's something on your heart that you'd like prayer for, we believe in the power of prayer, and we'd be honored to pray for you. We can't wait to witness the incredible story God wants to write through your life, because the best is yet to come. Well, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Fellowship Church. Hey, we're so glad you're here. My name is Derek, I'm one of the Pastors, and on behalf of our Pastors, Ed and Lisa Young, we're so thankful that you chose to be here today, especially if it's your first time. You know, there's nothing like being surrounded by a community that loves you, that encourages you, that challenges you, and that's exactly what

this community at Fellowship Church is all about. So, we would love to help you get connected, because we believe that your best life is found in community. All you have to do is look at the back of the seat in front of you. You'll see this blue Connect Card. You can grab that right now. Fill it out with some basic information about yourself, and then someone from our team will contact you, get in touch with you this week, and let you know how you can be a part of what God is doing here at Fellowship Church. I hope you guys have all had a phenomenal summer. You know, my boys, this summer, have really started liking fishing. Now, I don't know if you can tell, but I'm not just an expert angler by any means. My two youngest, we've been fishing the past several days together, and they love it. I'm talking about the preparation they have, getting the bags together, the worms, the poles, the rods, the reels, all the incredible fishing terms that you can use right there. And every time we go, we're sitting there on the bank, and my youngest son, he's four years old, every time he casts out, he starts reeling in. He says, Dad, I got one, I got one.

Every single time, I'm like, dude, not yet. You will, not yet, not yet, not yet. And then, of course, he catches one, and the look on his face, the excitement, the joy that he has is unbelievable. And I started to think about the church and how we do so many things to prepare for what God is going to do. And we show up with an expectation, with an anticipation for what's going to happen. And every single week, we get to see God say, I got another one, I got another one, I got another one. We get to see the life change that takes place every single week here at Fellowship Church, and we get to be a part of that. Church, are you thankful for what God is doing in the life of Fellowship Church? I'm so thankful that God lets us be a part of it. And so right now, we're gonna continue to worship by bringing back our tithes and our offerings. Because when we are generous, when we are obedient to God in this area of our life, we get to be a part of what He is doing here. I think about Alaska Ranch. All summer long, they are students and children who have been out there and they've been experiencing the love of Christ. They've been hearing about the gospel, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ. They've been surrounded by great friends,

people who love them, who encourage them. And we've had so many students go public with their faith through baptism, who have said, this is what I'm going to commit my life to. I think about the Anchor Center, how we are a church that doesn't just say, hey, we're all about the next generation, but we are a church that actually puts some emphasis behind it. The Anchor Center is gonna be our brand new facility here at our Gravevine Campus, built for students, for families, for them to encounter the hope that is found only in Jesus Christ. And church, this is what we get to be a part of. The life change that takes place at Alaska Ranch, the expectation and the anticipation we have for the life change that's gonna happen in the Anchor Center, this is what we get to do. Are you excited about this? I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna call our host forward. I'm gonna pray over our offering. Father, we love you, and we thank you for what we get to be a part of. God, we thank you that you love us enough to allow us to be a part of this. God, we pray for today, God, that you will speak to us, that you will show us the great things that you have for us, God, and we cannot wait to see what you do in our lives today,

in our lives in the future, in the lives of future families, future students, future children, because you are great. We love you, we praise you. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, we have some exciting things coming up we want you to know about. If you are a student here, mark this on your calendar, August the 5th, August the 5th, Wednesday night, 7 p.m., I'm talking about you, night-night, right here at our Grapevine campus. We're bringing all the campuses together. Pastor Ed's gonna be here. We're gonna be having so much fun. We're gonna be having In-N-Out. We're gonna be having a merch collab with Common Rags. If you know, you know. Common Rags is gonna be here. It's gonna be unbelievable. And then so mark your calendars. It's gonna be truly a special, special time for all the students. And in just a moment, we're gonna hear from our global youth pastor, Sam Kelly. He's gonna be bringing a powerful message that's gonna speak directly to us. So while the offering is being passed, please, you guys remain seated. We look to you, Jesus.

We set our eyes on you, Lord. We lift you up. Maybe we've made this complicated more than it was ever meant to be. We've made this complicated more than it was ever meant to be. Hasn't it always been about the same thing? Lord, bring us back to sympathy. Be the center, you be the center of it all. My heart belongs to you, my Savior all in all. You're the one I hold on to for the beauty of your name. My soul will live to say, Jesus, I love you. Will you stand and worship today? You're the one to serve, the one to sit here at your feet. Keep us awake, keep us awake to what's important. Just like Mary, she chose a better thing. We lift you up, you're the center. You are the center of it all. You're the center of it all. My heart belongs to you, my Savior all in all. You're the one I hold on to for the beauty of your name. My soul will live to say, Jesus, I love you. Every voice sings you, you are the center of it all. My heart belongs to you, my Savior all in all. You're the one I hold on to for the beauty of your name. My soul will live to say, Jesus, I love you. Oh, how I love you. Oh, how I love you. Jesus, I love you. Oh, how I love you. Won't you tell them that today?

Oh, how I love you. Jesus, I love you. And my whole life for your glory, for your glory, my whole world, for your only everything, for the honor of your name. And if my faith tells a story, let it be. ♪ Let it be of You only, everything for the honor of the Lord ♪ Come on, every name, will you lift this up? ♪ In my whole life for Your glory, my whole world for You only, everything for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ In my whole life for Your glory, my whole world for You only, everything for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be of You only, everything for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be of You only, everything for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ Oh how I love You, yes we love You Lord ♪ ♪ Oh how I love You, Jesus I love You ♪ ♪ Oh how I love You, be the center of my life ♪ ♪ Oh how I love You, Jesus I love You ♪ Jesus, be the center of it all. We give You all glory, all the honor, all the praise today. Amen. You may be seated. Amen. Church, would you join me in prayer before we dive into the teaching of the Word of God? Jesus, thank You for these minutes and moments that we share here together. Certainly not wasted minutes and moments when we get to come around Your Word. And Lord, I pray that this morning we would not simply be hearers, but we would be doers of Your Word. Jesus, I am acutely aware that I can't change anybody's life, but You can. And so I pray that You would show up and You would meet us in this place. We ask all these things in Your Son's name, everybody said. Amen.

There is a building in New York City known as 161 Maiden Lane. It was supposed to be one of the most luxurious skyscrapers in all of lower Manhattan. And they started building this thing, the glass exterior, 60 stories high, multi-million dollar condos. The kind of building that if you saw somebody that lived there, you'd be like, yo, they made it. So they started building this project and as they finished the exterior, the glass windows went on and they made it all the way to the top. Someone looked at it and goes, does that look like it's leaning to you? So they did some research and they found out that it was leaning eight centimeters, three inches to the north. Not a tremendous amount, I heard that like, ah, what's the big deal? But when you're talking about a 670 foot skyscraper, that kind of lean can be fatal. And so they hired some engineers to research and dive into what the potential problem was for the lean and if they could fix it. And the engineers started searching and figuring out what the problem was. And they came to the conclusion that it wasn't the weight of the building. It wasn't that it was built at an angle. The problem was underneath it all. That the developers had decided to cut costs when laying the foundation. In that area of lower Manhattan, you've got to dig 155 feet deep and anchor that thing to the bedrock. But they didn't want to spend the money and the time. So they chose a soil improvement plan. So essentially they laid a 670 foot skyscraper on top of some dirt. And they paid the price. And to this day, there is a quarter of a billion dollar building sitting in the heart of New York City. That is empty, hollow, vacant, and some believe potentially on the verge of collapse. Impressive on the outside, but empty on the inside. I am afraid, unfortunately, that this is the picture of many people's lives. There are people who go through life and they get the degree, they get the job, they make the money, they get the stuff, they get the cars. And there's nothing inherently bad about those things unless you build your entire life upon it. And so people from the exterior can look at people in those categories and go, wow, isn't that impressive, that's amazing. But internally, they are empty, hollow, anxious, exhausted, and on the verge of collapse. Because there are people who have built careers but don't have any character. There are people who have produced platforms.

but don't have any purity in their heart. There are people who have made an image for themselves, but don't have any intimacy with the God that created them. And here's the funny thing about foundations. Nobody cares about them until something goes wrong. In just a couple of hours, over 1.4 billion people are gonna watch Lionel Messi in Argentina take on Leme and Yamal in Spain. And just a reminder to all the Texas natives in the world, the greatest sport in the world is not American football, it's European football. Can I get an amen? I love it. I'm waiting for like someone in the back like, boo. I hear you. I'll keep preaching though. A couple of weeks ago, I had a friend that had an extra ticket to a World Cup game and I'd never been to one in my life. I played soccer growing up and so he's like, hey, there's games here in Dallas, but I've actually got an extra ticket to a knockout game with England in Atlanta. And I'll give you the ticket for free if you can find yourself like to get to Atlanta, like the ticket's yours, do you wanna go? And I'm like, oh, is the sky blue? Yes, I'll be there. And so I get on a plane and land in Atlanta and head to the stadium.

And I'd never been to Mercedes Benz Stadium and walk in, it's just absolutely amazing. That stadium is stunning. I got to see Harry Kane put the whole nation of England on his back. They were down by one goal, he scored two, buried him back in the net. None of you care, but I do. It was emotional, I'm hugging strangers, like this is unbelievable. Putting on a fake British accent. But I'm walking around the building and I'm amazed by some of the architecture. There's this retractable roof, it was closed at the time, but just the fact that that thing can open and all this stuff and I'm seeing other people experience the stadium for the first time as well and just kind of their eyes opening, like this is unbelievable. And here's something I didn't hear one person say, man, this place has got a sturdy foundation. Honey, take me down, we're gonna go get a photo of the concrete, this is unbelievable. Nobody cares about the foundation and yet here's what's interesting, the stuff that everybody celebrates, the architecture, the glass, the design, the retractable roof only exists because of the thing that nobody sees, the foundation. And if the foundation isn't strong and secure,

then friends, all of the trinkets and all of the stuff that people take photos of is not gonna be there or if it is, it won't be there for very long. And so here's the concern I have for us in our Western world in 2026 is we have become obsessed with height and not realized that we should become obsessed with depth. Like we want all the stuff, everybody's like, I wanna be a skyscraper in my life. Nobody's like, I wanna dig deep in my life. And one of the tragedies of being a pastor is seeing people who build and build and build and build and build and build and build and build and build and build and build and build and build and build and then stop at some point and go, huh, I feel like I'm leaning a little bit. I might be leaning in my marriage just a touch here. I could be leaning in my integrity and my character a little bit. I feel like I'm leaning in my relationship with the Lord. Ah, it's only eight centimeters, not that big of a deal. I'm gonna keep building and building and building and building and eventually there is a crash, which is why Jesus, at the conclusion of the most famous sermon in human history, does something very contrary to what most speakers and preachers do in 2026.

He does not try to stir an emotional response that might end in a standing ovation. He does something rather unique. He speaks to the idea of foundations. He speaks to the idea more specifically of obedience. That's not gonna end in an eruption of praise, but here's what we have to remember. Jesus didn't come to earth to impress us. He came to transform us, and that's what he desires to do to every single person in the room in our different locations this morning. If you have your scripture, you can turn to Matthew chapter seven, verse 24. We're gonna read through verse 29. This is what the word of the Lord says. It says, therefore, anyone who hears, somebody say hears, say it like you're awake, say hears. These words of mine, and puts them into practice, is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Someone say rock. The rock. rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash.

Verse 28, when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching because he taught as one who had authority and not as their teachers of the law. Before we dive too deeply into this text, I wanna take a look at verse 28 and 29. And that is the reality. Keep in mind, they're amazed at the whole teaching, the whole Sermon on the Mount from Matthew chapter five to Matthew chapter seven. And they're like, whoa, something is different about this guy when he talks. Now you and I are like, yeah, it's because it's Jesus. But keep in mind, this is the crowd pre-death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So to them at this point, he's just another teacher of the scriptures, but they had heard other teachers of the scriptures talk before. And when they did, they'd say things like, the scripture says, the Torah says, aka they taught off of borrowed authority. But Jesus doesn't need to borrow authority. Jesus is the final authority. His words are the very bedrock to life itself, which begs an important question for us today. Do his words have final authority in your life? Why does that matter? Jesus says, because storms are coming. Both built the house. Both experienced the same storm.

Why is that important? It's important because sometimes we can be convinced that following Jesus leads to a storm-free life. Jesus comes to burst your bubble this morning and mine. Because in John 16, 33, he says, in this world, you will have trouble. You don't have to go looking for it. It's gonna come looking for you. And for those of us who have been alive longer than 37 seconds, you know this to be true. The cadence of life is one of, you are either in a storm, you just came out of a storm, or you're getting ready to go through a storm. Which is why Jesus asks the crowd, and it's the same question the Holy Spirit of God is asking you and I today, what are you building your life on? What kind of builder are you? And I would venture to bet that there'd be some people here this morning and you'd be like, I don't even believe in God. I'm not building my life on anything. Oh, you're building your life on something. You're building your life on something. Some people build their lives on themselves. Some people build their lives on pleasure. Some people build their lives on fame or success. The problem is, those things are 161 Maiden Lane lives. You're gonna find yourself leaning, and Jesus says, you're gonna find yourself

eventually crashing. There's only one foundation that can stand strong in the storms of life. I shared this before, but my wife and I went through a really challenging storm in our life a few years ago in 2021. My wife lost her sister, Libeth, our pastor's daughter. It was one of the most challenging things we've ever had to walk through. And a few months after that, my wife finds out that she's pregnant with our third child. And so it's this really weird mixture of emotions because you're grieving the loss of life and celebrating new life coming. And then 14 weeks into her pregnancy, she goes to a routine doctor's appointment, FaceTimes me, I'll never forget it. Says, Sam, there's no heartbeat. And I hang up the call and I cry and pray the entire way to the doctor's office. Doctor says, I'm sorry, gives us a hug. And due to the fact of how far into the pregnancy she was, we had to go into the hospital to deliver our beautiful baby girl. I'll never forget this moment. Right before she put her hand on her belly and she said, God, thank you for the gift of being able to carry this girl for 14 weeks. And thank you that she's with you. I just remember being wrecked.

And then she gives birth to our beautiful baby girl who was about that big. I'm just looking at her and I'm a mess. And you better believe in that season of our life, there were some damage windows in that storm. But by the grace of God, we're still standing because I'm amazing. No, just decided to build our lives on the rock of Jesus. Jesus Christ, and here is one of the beauties of being involved in the church. Here's one of the beauties of being involved in the church. There are people that have walked through unfathomable storms. We could hand the microphone around, and yet there are stories of people who have built their lives on the rock and have seen the faithfulness of God in the storms of life. It's the beauty of coming together as a community. You get to be reminded of the faithfulness of God through the highs and yes, through the lows of life. But here's the danger in a room like this, because most of us are gonna be like, yeah, I'm building on the rock, uh-huh. I don't know if you know this, but we got Bible verses in our house. It's like in our kitchen and stuff. That's for me in my house, you know what I mean? We're gonna serve the Lord. He's got good plans for me.

I don't know what, Jeremiah something, but it's good. And that house, my house, it's on the rock. But the danger is, only you know if what you did Friday night reflects on what you heard on Sunday morning. Only you know the way you handled your finances on a Tuesday, the entertainment choice you chose on Friday, the conversation you had with your spouse on Thursday. Only you know if that's reflective of a life of obedience and allegiance to Jesus. And so we can come in here and play the church game, or we can get honest with each other. Yeah, I might be leaning a little bit in this area, so I'm gonna work on building my life on the right foundation, not the wrong foundation. And the difference of the foundation was, both of the builders heard the words of Christ. The difference was what they did with the words, put them into practice. And so I hear some people like, man, I gotta read the Bible, and I've been joining this Bible study so I can learn about the Bible, and I'm all for it. That's amazing. Do you wanna know what's just as, maybe not even a little bit more important than just reading the Bible? Living the Bible, like live it. Like let's live the pages of the word of God.

In fact, thinking that reading the Bible is gonna turn you into a stronger, more obedient Christian is like going to the gym and looking at some weights and thinking, yeah, I'm getting jacked right now. I had a friend a couple weeks ago take me through like a quarter of his arm workout, and I was on the floor like a mess. I couldn't move my arms, and then after he's like, you wanna play pick up ball? I'm like, yeah, sure, yeah. I can't move my arms. But you go through a workout and you lift the weights. Why? It's painful in that moment, but you know it's gonna produce a strength that wasn't previously there. And oftentimes it's the same picture with the word of God. You start to really live this thing out. Oh, it can be painful in the moment. It can be challenging in the moment, but rest assured it is producing a strength that was not previously there. And so I think the question we have to ask ourselves, this is where it gets raw and real, is this question. When is the last time you changed the decision you were gonna make because of something you read in the word of God? If you consider yourself to be a Christ follower, that should probably be happening like daily.

But if you were getting honest with yourself, when's the last time you got wronged by that person and you're like, oh my, are you kidding? I'm gonna get so much revenge on them. But you pause and you were like, you know what? If Christ has forgiven me of everything that I have done and ever will do, who am I to hold unforgiveness against somebody else? When's the last time you were gonna go to that website or slide into that person's DMs and you said, you know what, I'm not gonna do it. Because I know Psalm 101.3 says, I shall set no worthless thing before my eyes. When's the last time you were gonna pad the numbers like everybody else does in your business to make some more cash? But you paused and you said, what's worth more, money or becoming a man or a woman of integrity? It's integrity for me. When's the last time you changed the decision you were going to make because of something you read in the word of God? This is where some people go, ah, legalism, rules, list of do's and don'ts, here we go again. You've gotta do this and you can't do this. I believe it was Tozer who said the church will be at the height of its heresy when it calls obedience legalism. So picture this for a moment, for a word picture. Imagine you're at the beach in Mexico.

Wouldn't that be great? And you're standing there and there's a lifeguard in a stand and the sand is kind of elevated to the ocean. And you see like, I don't know, like a 13-year-old kid swimming in the water. He's having the time of his life. It's just him. And you hear a loud whistle and the lifeguard pointed at the kid and say, you need to get out. You gotta get out of the water. And you see the kid, he's visibly frustrated. Are you kidding me? Because to a teenager, it's like, this is just another grownup trying to ruin my fun. And so he's mad. He's walking to the beach. You gotta be kidding me. Lifeguards, doesn't even know what he's doing. I can swim. And you look at where that kid was and you're like, oh, he was about to get caught in a rip that was gonna suck him out into the ocean. You're like, I'm so thankful that he blew the whistle. Two different responses. What was the difference? Elevation. The lifeguard could see something the kid couldn't. And he wasn't blowing the whistle to punish him. He blew the whistle to protect him.

The word of God, anytime it gives us a command or a way of living is not stepping in to go, ah, punishment for you. No, God is trying to protect you because his ways lead to life. And oftentimes I have found in my life, God sees stuff I don't. So I've learned to trust him. And I pray that you will too. There's a incredible young man. I'm part of our student ministry who's one of the top recruits in the state of Texas, if not in the country for American football. And he's an amazing young man. And I was just having a conversation, catching up a couple weeks ago with him. And I was like, man, how's the college process looking? He's like, it's busy. I think he visited like 30 colleges in 21 days. And I said, man, what's it like? You're trying to decipher what decision to make. And obviously every coach is gonna over promise and under deliver. How do you kind of navigate that? And he's walking me through it. I said, have there been like any crazy stories about things that have taken place? And he's like, oh, there's been some crazy stories. And he told me a specific story of a coach in a school that if I said and shared, you know, the name.

He said, we sit down and within the first few minutes, this coach is just offering blatantly immoral things to me. Like just one after the other. I can get you this, I'll get you this, I'll get you that, I'll get you this. And I go, how did you process that? And my heart was broken because the state of college sports in that area is just like such, there's so much nonsense that goes on. And he's like, I just, I sat there quietly and then I finished the conversation, shook the coach's hand and walked out and said, not going to that school in a million years. Don't care if there's a starting spot, I'm not going. Now here's the question. What's the difference between a 17 year old man who sits in that seat and goes, no, not even a question. And another 17 year old young man who goes, that sounds awesome, yes, I'll sign right now. It's not necessarily that one kid is better than the other. It's just that there's one who's decided to build his life on a different foundation. And while the whole world is asking what's in it for me, this young man is asking, is this gonna form me into the young man that I want to become or the young man that God wants me to become? And guess what, that transcends a 17 year old kid sitting in a college coach's office. Every single one of us can ask the question, is this forming me into the man or the woman

that God has called me to be? Paul in Romans chapter eight, like underlines what the goal of every single Christ follower on planet earth should be. I don't have time to read it, but it ends by saying that the goal is to conform us to the image of his son, AKA for us to become more like Jesus. Like that's the goal. Your highest achievement in life is not to build a business, retire early, become a mom, become a dad. The highest goal and achievement in life is to be more like him and to build your life on him. That is the goal. I've got a three year old girl. Her name's Bowie Sunshine Kelly. That's why I have this really manly bracelet on my wrist. I don't know if you can see the campuses, but it's got a lot of pink on it. It's pretty cool. She's the cutest thing in the world. And a couple of weeks ago, we went on our first date. Bought her some flowers and her face when I gave her the flowers the cutest thing ever and she's like dad You can have some of my toys Dads I want to encourage you though date your daughters Because you get to set the standard for what kind of man that girl is gonna look for one day one of the best ways That you can take care of that girl is to love her mom so anyways, I'm trying to get this little girl to swim this year, that's my goal and And she'll she'll swim with floaties in the shallow end and I can even bring her in the deep end But the real goal that I have even with floaties on is I wanted to jump off the diving board into the water

That's the goal of this summer. We're not there yet. If you could pray for us, that'd be great And here's what's so funny she'll stand on the edge of the diving board and I'll be swimming in the deep end I'll be like Bowie jump. She's like, nope And I'd like Bowie. Do you believe dad is gonna catch you? Yep Do you think if you jump in with your floaties that you're gonna pop right back up? Yep Do you think anything bad is gonna happen to you with dad being here? No Okay, then jump. No I'm like girl, let's run it back Do you think dad is gonna catch you uh-huh You think with your floaties on you're gonna pop it right back. Yeah, dad. Yep. They jump. No And that is a picture Unfortunately of many people in their relationship with Christ, do you believe God has a plan for your life. Yeah Do you believe his ways are better than yours? Yeah You believe he created it all. Yeah, his ways the best way. Yeah Then jump in give him everything live a life of obedience. No No, not for me Okay, let's run it back do you believe like he created it all Like the universe is known and unknown Created you and I don't know maybe every other human being on planet Earth You believe that maybe he knows better than you do Yeah Trust him with your finances. No No No Saying you believe in something Isn't actually Necessarily believing in something

acting on it is That's the goal That we would be people who would live out what we believe that we would build our lives on the rock of Christ because storms are Common and Every single one of us at moments in our lives find ourselves in positions. Oh I'm leaning best thing you can do I'm a dig down deep and I'm a build on the rock of Christ And by the way This isn't necessarily just a message of like grit your teeth and try to obey as hard as you can You can't do this without the help and the horsepower of the Holy Spirit God I Need you Was reading an article about 161 main lane Because the building still stands there. I'm like surely that's illegal, right? Like they got to tear this thing down and There was a phrase that said it's too damaged to complete Too risky to demolish Too damaged to restore And maybe you're in the room and that's how you feel Storm came My house fell I'm a wreck And I'm Yeah, I love the encouragement too far gone The compromise was too great The sin

It's too much The beauty of the gospel Is that there is no one No one Too damaged or risky to redeem The gospel says all are welcome and I could even argue That if you find yourself at the end of yourself, it's the best place you can be Because you become desperate enough for the one who can restore and rebuild Would you pray with me? Maybe you're in this place and you've never built on the rock You've never put your faith in Trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ, who came to earth to die for your sins, rose again from the grave three days later, giving victory over sin and death. I'd love to lead you in a prayer to make him your rock. Simply repeat this after me, you don't have to say it out loud, you can say it in the confines of your heart. Just say, God, I admit I've been leaning. I've been building my life on the wrong stuff. Today, I'm choosing to build on you. I admit that I'm broken. I believe that you died on a cross for my sin and three days later rose again from the grave. Today, I choose, I choose to follow you. Lord, I pray for your people, your sons, your daughters, that we would assess the areas where we are leaning in our life and have the confidence to confront them

and build again on the rock, to be men and women who want to build deep foundations. That our lives would stand through the storms of life. We ask all these things in your son's name, absolutely, everybody said, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Wow, what a powerful message from Pastor Sam this morning. Hey, if you just prayed that prayer with him and invited Jesus into your life, that is hands down the greatest decision that you will ever make. And we as a church, we're so excited for you. We wanna walk with you and walk beside you. We wanna help you discover the great things that God has for your life. And so right after this experience, head to my right or my left, our team is standing by. We'd love to meet you over there. We have a free gift that we wanna give you, a Bible, and also something that Pastor Ed wrote called What's Your Next Step? That will really begin to outline the next things that you should do now that you've entered into this relationship with Jesus.

But one more time, come on. Can we put our hands together for every single person who made that decision today? Hey, we learned today that good intentions don't build a strong life. We have to build our life on God's Word and the things that God says. And we believe that every new season is an opportunity for God to teach us, for God to strengthen us, for God to prepare us for what's ahead. And that's why we are so excited for August the 9th as Pastor Ed begins a brand new series called Now We Go to School. Now We Go to School. I don't know if you caught the Ric Flair reference there, Now We Go to School. Doesn't matter if you have kids, if you are actually going to school, or if you've never been to school in 50 years, this is a series for you. We're gonna be talking about some really, really poignant topics, some things like depression and anxiety, bullying, popularity, peer pressure, things that everybody faces, and Pastor Ed's gonna be back in the house. It's gonna be an incredible series, and we have something for everybody. I'm talking about Schoolapalooza for all the kids.

We're gonna be having some water balloons, water slides, games, a special treat, a giveaway for all the students. We're gonna be collecting school supplies for families to help start their school year strong. We're gonna be having a special prayer for students and for families and for teachers during that Sunday as well. And on top of that, if you're a teacher or an administrator, we're gonna have special parking just for you. So make sure you bring somebody with you. It's gonna be a great, great time with Pastor Ed, Sunday, August the 9th. Well, next Sunday, say next Sunday. You're like, all right, Derek, hurry up. Say next Sunday. Next Sunday, Pastor E.J. Young is gonna be here. He's gonna be talking about the one thing that has the power to change every single area of your life, so bring somebody with you. It's gonna be a great, great Sunday. Hey, this week, go out and let God guide you. Keep your eyes open for what God has for you. On that note, let's stand up and let's repeat this together. Here we go. Jesus, thank you that in you, I am loved, forgiven, and blessed. For you, I will reach up in worship,

reach out to share my faith, and reach in to become more like you. And because of you, I know the best is yet to come. We love you, have a great week. See you back next Sunday.