The Good Work | Rodrigo Vargas

What's good, Houston, Texas? Let me hear you out there now. If you're new with us, we just want to say, we're so grateful that you're visiting. You might be a guest, or you might be a first-timer, but I want to tell you something. It is not my accident. We believe you're an answered prayer, and I believe that God has a word for you today. We also want you to know that we exist as a church. You need Houston to exist and connect people to God. But the gospel of Jesus Christ, not gospel, says it doesn't matter what your past looks like. It doesn't matter what your present looks like. It doesn't matter what your doubts may be. Jesus loves you right where you are sitting, and He loves you too much to leave you where you are. And I believe today, He's moving you somewhere. And that promise includes every person who is incarcerated and watching us right now through the pando app. Union Houston, can you help me welcome our Union Prison campus? We may not be able to see you, but you're never out of our hearts. We are talking about the heart of Houston. Every November, I take time to share the heart of this house and cast vision for us. This year, we're going back to the first things so that we can enlarge our yes and reconnect with our why. Why did we start this? And last week, we declared that this is a house of praise, that we praise for what God has done already. Amen. Ephesians chapter one talks about that, that He blessed us, He's chosen us, and He's lavished us with His gift so that we can share the gospel with the city around us. And that sharing of the gospel is what I'm calling to you today the good work, the good work. Nehemiah was the cup bearer, he was the bartender to the king. In Babylon, his heart was stricken with grief and burden because Jerusalem was in rubbles. And Nehemiah went to this broken city and he stood amongst the rubble and the burned gates. A city was in ruin with no protection and no provision and no future. Nehemiah stands there in the middle of that mess and he says, let us start building. And the scripture says that the people responded in Nehemiah to 18 with the following words, let us start rebuilding and so they began this good work. In fact, many times they were distracted or intimidated to stop the work and they said, we can't come down because we're doing a good work. This is the good work. It's not a project, it's not an event, it's not a program, it's a good work. I believe that God has a good work for

union Houston and for every person in this room. I believe that today's passage is going to make very clear what the good work is. Would you turn to your Bibles, Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 8 and would you stand as we read God's Word in the house of God today? If he's just after 2 says that's for you, he's talking to us who believe. You were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work and those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath, but because of his great love for us. I gotta say that again, but because of his great love for us who is rich in mercy, not stingy in mercy, but rich overflowing, Abundant lavish even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved, and God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages, He might show the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Let's pray Father, God, we thank You. We thank You that You are rich in mercy. We thank You that You've chosen us today to be here, to hear what You wanna tell us. So I ask You in the name of Jesus that the Spirit of the living God come. Come now and speak to us. Touch us, minister to our hearts. Some of us are in pain. Some of us are in grief. Some of us are turmled by worry and concern and anxiety and depression, Lord. We need the Holy Spirit to minister to us.

Let the words that are shared today be medicine to our souls. Open our ears to hear and our eyes to see and soften our hearts for the seeds of the gospel to be flourishing in our lives, Lord. Help me, Holy Spirit, deliver that which You have given me to impart into the people. And I pray this in Jesus' mighty name and the people of God said, Amen, amen, amen, amen. You may be seated. Now, you didn't use them. Before we talk about the good work we get to do, right? Before we start talking and, you know, highlighting and our cast vision of all the good work we're gonna do, right? We gotta talk about the good work that has already been done. See, see, a lot of us think that we came into this service thinking we're gonna hear all about the good work we're gonna do, but before we do that, we gotta hear about the good work that has already been done. The scriptures tells us clearly and concisely a diagnosis in which we were in. We weren't sick, y'all. Listen, we weren't struggling. I know you thought you were struggling, but here's the truth, you were dead. The gospel is the good news of the good work of God and the good work is done.

But we have to understand that the diagnosis tells us something about our lives that we were the living dead. You thought that was a show, you know, but that was your life before Christ. In fact, some of you might be watching for the very first time in your prison cell or you may be sitting here for the very first time. I'm gonna tell you, without Christ, you are the living dead. It's why you feel that thing missing in your heart. It's why you feel the anxiety, it's why you're up at night. It's why you have a hopeless future because you're the living dead. Before Christ, before He became our Lord and Savior, before He becomes your Lord and Savior, we were dead in sin, the scripture says. We were breathing, we was walking, we was living. A life in darkness. Ephesians two, one through three tells us, ask for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live. Now, Paul pens this letter with a word, a Greek word that is called nekros, nekros. This is, if you've ever know someone or maybe you've had it where blood stops flowing to an extremity in your body and that extremity begins to have necrosis. It means that that limb is dead.

And once it has necrosis, it must be cut off. We were cut off from God. We were nekros dead, He says. Now, let me tell you something, when He writes this Greek word, it's not like, you know, how do the kids say, oh, I'm dead? You know, when something's like really funny, dead. You know, when they're serious, they say dead, no, I can't tell you that in church. I'll tell you later. (coughing) not drowning, not suffocating, but dead, no life in it. And one of the problems we have here in the West, especially in these United States of America is we love to soften the truth, right? Because softening the truth brings all the people to church and it fills stadiums and stuff like that, but it doesn't really help anyone. We like saying, "Oh, I was lost, and now I'm found," right? You like to quote the old him, "I was lost." "I was a mess, and God made a message." Y'all love that, you guys love that, "I was making some bad choices." Bad choices, Paul says, "Nah, nah, homie, you was dead." Not mostly, not almost dead, dead in your transgressions and your sins. Dead because of our sins, I'm going to give you three words today, big words, sins, transgressions and iniquity. To understand sin, we have to understand all three of these stages. These are stages in which sin, they're all sinful, but each one has a particular part. Let's first talk about sin. Sin literally means falling short of the standard of God, falling short of the will of God. In other words, the will of God is for you to do X, Y, Z, and you didn't quite achieve that.

Now, you can be sinful, or you can have sin without knowing God's standard, how can you reach that standard? You have to know the standard, so a lot of people are just sinning because they don't know the standard. They don't know God's character. Are you with me? You transgressions, this is where most of this room lives, crossing a boundary, rebelling against God's command. I want to tell you something. I don't care how much money you got. I don't care how successful you are. I don't care how much education you got. I don't care how smart you are. But when you lie, you are transgressing. The Word of God says clearly, and it doesn't matter why you lie, intentions, listen, the road to hell is paid with good intentions. It doesn't matter why you lie. If you lied, you have transgressed against the living God. We're not going to soften things up here in the house of God, amen? And the third, this is the reason why you sin, and this is the reason why you transgress inequity. And what inequity means is that you're morally corrupt. Yeah, you're morally corrupt. What do you mean, pastor? It's called sinful nature. It's called sinful nature. It's why whenever you get mad, the first thing you want to do is punch him in the throat. Or maybe that's just me, right? This is the sinful nature, right? You know, I mean, listen, we all have those moments, right?

Some of you don't want to punch. Some of you are better with your mouth than you are with your fist, right? You're like a little chihuahua. That chihuahua can't bite nothing but bite. My dog, Wallace, can't beat up nobody, okay? He's 40 pounds of fat, and the next door neighbor is a 75 pound Malinois mix. And he rushes that fence and he puts his fat part of, bro, stop. You're going to get your butt whoop, you keep that up, okay? This is the sinful nature that we have. We have this idea of lashing out, okay? The dead, this is why Paul is talking about necros. The dead can't help themselves. The dead can't decide, I'm going to get better. Let me tell you something, people in the room from our recovery homes, the dead can't Isn't that right the first thing you got to admit is Row I've come to understand that there is a higher power is that not right? Yeah, we need God because we couldn't help ourselves the steps say Now during this illustration came to me as I was writing these words as a matter of fact Let me stop lying as I was driving back from Dallas yesterday The Lord started messing with this sermon so I had to get home at five o'clock and start rewriting my sermon That's how the Lord be doing your boy Big G was like nine on nine. Here's what I want to tell you. Let me give you an illustration during hurricane Harvey right outside our neighborhood, right? There's there's a neighborhood back then we lived out in the burbs with the birds and If you live in the burbs good for you you guys that's wonderful for y'all Blessings to y'all But right outside a neighborhood there's a neighborhood that was on the news It was on all across every station in America It's called Canyon Gate and this thing was had water up to the roof and and let me tell you some these people They were on roofs that people were on roofs. We went out there We couldn't get right to the neighborhood

We got to the edge of where the water was hidden and you saw people waving towels and flashlights So they could be rescued you feel me now these people were drowning But they could still help themselves are you with me? However, unfortunately there were dead people that were deep underwater that couldn't be rescued This is what we are talking about a dying person still has hope, but a dead person does not Now there are three reasons Paul tells us we were dead in sin The first is I don't know if you got it the ways of this world When you follow the ways of this world Paul says everybody's doing it It's not that bad You know I'm saying very they're good people. I heard this week talk about he's Muslim, but he's a good guy That's your framework, but if that's your biblical framework you might as well chalk it up and Just pack it up. That's it. Don't go share the gospel with nobody They need Jesus. They are the walking dead. They are the living dead This is conforming to the ways of the world Paul tells us you must renew your mind And I know that the world that say oh don't be racist last time I checked Islam is a religion It is not a race Christianity is opposed to Islam Islam is a false religion. Are you with me pay attention to get this for the the YouTube Islam is a false religion Muhammad died buried in turn to dust Jesus died buried it was risen again and isn't through That is written in the Quran. I Just quoted to you the Quran Why would I follow a prophet that died and turned to dust? I want to follow the king who rose from the dead and saved my soul I'm not going for it and Suddenly y'all need to be undergirded. You need back spines and know that Christ is the answer not Following the ways of the world. This is not a message for everybody. I get it If you're if you're lukewarm, you're not gonna like this If you got one foot in the world because you like how much money you make and your boss is most of them. I get it But you're not living for Christ The one day we will stand before him and he will say one of two things

Away from me. I never knew you Or I'm gonna hear well done good and faithful servant. I know what I'm gonna hear So you can call me whatever you want You can you you can you can make fun of me all you want because I'm here. Well done good and faithful servant Are you in me the second thing is he says the enemy the ruler of the king of the air? Now this is where everybody gets messed up. This is not mystical. This is not mythical This is not allegory in the first century world. You must understand you must have a Jewish Lens you must have a Greek lens to look at this passage in the air live the spirits And I know some of y'all be like, oh, come on. That's right. That is in fact correct anywhere you walk. There are spirits Okay, and they are There's only two, there's not a middle ground. There's not, hey, let me, let me, since we're on this, there isn't an Islamic spirit, are you with me? There is an angelic spirit and there is a demonic spirit. Satan's ideas are in the air. They're in your music, you know? Why, listen. (audience laughing) They're in the media, they're in the news cycle, they're in your culture, okay? They're in politics, they're in the pursuit of riches, power and success. That just hurts someone here today. Your pursuit of riches, power and success, has been influenced in your life by Satan. And let's be honest, you can feel it when you walk into a room. You wanna test it? You ever walked into a bedroom or a living room with your family member, y'all know that,

especially Latinos, you know how it is? And they talk in some vile things. You can feel it when they dogging out that bimbo that can't get right, you know, you walk in, you're like, you try to walk away, like I don't wanna be involved in this, you know? You can feel it? You can feel it in some of your group chats, you gotta put in group chats, right? Whether you play sports or a business or workplace, you know, whatever, you get in these group chats and they get toxic and you know, this time the third, right? You can feel it in an unhealthy office environment or work environment, you know, when you got that one boss, that's a jerk, right? You can feel it? That's because it's in the atmosphere. Can I say it this way? The way Paul says it, it's in the air. It's in the air, it's in the air. But it's also the same reason when you walk into this place, you feel something different. You feel the warmth of God, you feel the love of God, you feel that you're safe here, you feel something's happening, my auntie, she's an atheist, she says, I love the energy in this room and I said it's not energy, it is the spirit of the living God that's in here. (audience applauding) The third thing, he says our own flesh,

gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following these desires and thoughts. Notice not just the flesh, but the thoughts too, because the flesh, whatever you do in the flesh began with a thought, okay? Our minds can lead us to ruin just as fast as our flesh can. You know this feeling, you know this feeling. Have you ever wondered which way am I going? Is my life going the right way? But you know this feeling, I'm gonna give you an illustration. You've ever gone out on a drive and you got the music, you got your jams on, right? You got that Spotify, the perfect Spotify playlist, right? The windows are down, the sun is shining. Now that though, it's not as hot as Hades outside, right? There's no traffic, the road is smooth, right? And you're completely sure of where you're going, 'cause you're flying the flow of traffic, but you arrive at the wrong place. Somewhere along, you began to just follow the flow and you ended up at the wrong place. I don't want your spiritual life to ever be like that. That's what the living dead do. So comfortable with the ride that you never questioned, where's this life taking me to? The Greek word for sin that Paul uses is hamartia. And hamartia is an archery word. It's when you shoot an arrow and it doesn't hit the mark. That's what that word is. So he's using an archery that's not just really bad people,

it's all of us. We were headed somewhere thinking it's the right way, thinking it's the right way, who aiming at something and we missed. And listen to this part, we missed what we were made for. Now verse three says all of us, didn't it? Look at your Bible. because if it doesn't, I want you to write up about all of us, Paul means all of us. Listen, I'm not standing up here as someone who skipped that part. I know what the dead looks like from the inside out. In 2008, I entered a rehab facility about two miles from here, a suicidal drug addict. Yeah, you had just gotten off of a 25 life federal case. I was broken, I was financially broke, my marriage was in shambles, my family was in shambles, I was suicidal, I was depressed, I was anxious, I had this addiction to cocaine and Xanax, and I sat on a park bench, and I said, God, I can't help myself, but if you, if you can take this addiction away, God, my answer to you is yes before you even ask me to do anything. I tell you that because I didn't skip that part. I was the living dead. I was dead in transgressions and sins. And because of the condition scripture says that we were deserving of God's wrath.

I'm not going to soften that 'cause we have to understand the cure only makes sense when the diagnosis is accurate. Okay, if you got, if you got, you know, a lump in the back of your neck, right? And it hurts and it's looking nasty, right? And you go to the doctor and the doctor tells you, oh man, you know, you just, you got, you got hernia. But you know, it's a tumor. You got to get the right diagnosis and hear what he's saying is not dying, but dead. And some of you are carrying stuff that's really painful right now. Some of you are carrying some shame right now. Some of you are carrying the weight of something right now and I want you to hear my heart. I'm preaching to you this way not to crush you, but to describe the grave that I want you to leave behind. The scripture says, but God, say with me, but God. But God who is rich in mercy because of his great love that he had for us made us alive with Christ. But God, the two most powerful words and entirety of scripture, but God. But God, listen, I was a suicidal drug addict, but God. I had a broken marriage, but God. I don't know what yours looks like, but God, but I bet you you got a but God story. Before but God, we were, we did, we ended up,

we were a label, but after the but God is everything he did for us in him. It's about him. And can I tell you, that's the good news. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel we preach here at Union Houston is not a gospel I say, God help me. God found me with the gospel we preach here is, I was dead in sin, but God raised us from the dead. That's what I'm preaching to you. That's what we believe here. And what motivated God? I'm gonna tell you something. Some of you all think really highly of yourself. God could care less about your potential. God could care less about your knowledge. God could care less about your words. It wasn't a sign of life that helped you. It wasn't even your repentance. The Bible says here, because of his great love. The motivation was his love for you. He didn't wait, this is why this is important. This is an important theological framework that you need to have because he didn't wait for you to get cleaned up. He didn't wait for you to get better. He didn't wait for you to know more. He moved first. And in fact, Romans 5a says, God demonstrated his own love for us in this.

That while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God is rich in this mercy. Mercy means not getting what you deserve. You deserve God's wrath, and he took it out. And he is rich in this. He is not barely enough. He's almost got it. He's not stingy with it. He's got an overflowing richness of mercy. And the line made us alive with Christ is one Greek word made alive with. It's one Greek word. And it begins with a word you may find familiar. Sin, S-Y-N is where we get synthesis from. When you synthesize something, you make something with, are you with me? One word. And it's the pattern for the next two. Paul keeps stacking the same prefix of sin with and it means that whatever happened to Jesus happened to us. What's this? He died. We had to die. He was buried. We must be buried. He resurrected. We are resurrected. In fact, I brought to you biblical proof because Romans 6 4 says we were therefore buried with him through baptism and to death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead to the glory of the Father. We too may live a new life. And if you find yourself that you've been saved, you've been baptized, you've been in church and you can't stop smoking weed. You can't stop fornicating. You can't stop masturbating. You can't stop getting drunk. You haven't died to yourself. You just felt bad for the sins you committed and you wanted some free grace. But living grace says I died was buried and have been risen again. In fact, how can we be raised if we are in dead? I want you to think about Lazarus. He was dead for four days. Mary said, don't go in there.

It's thanks. And Jesus ignored her and he went to the grave side and he stood there at the grave and he said, Lazarus, come out. Now Lazarus didn't try to get himself tidy up. He's like, well, let me fix myself. I need to take off these rags. The dead man heard the voice of Jesus and he got up. Lazarus didn't even have to roll the stone. The disciples did that. Lazarus walks out and says, and Jesus says, watch this. This is important for us today as a community. Take off the grave clothes and let him go. He's raised first and then he's unwrapped. Jesus does the raising and we walk with people to roll all the stones out of their gravesides to unwrap all the labels of the traumas and the pains. That's what we're here. Houston has some of the best doctors in the world. They can do things to save lives, but there isn't a doctor in the entire world that can bring back a person from the dead. Only one person can do that. Jesus, and he did it for you. And you might be thinking, pastor, I've been in this too long. I've done too much. It's too late for me. Especially you. You may be sitting in the cell. You may be serving life. I want you to hear this. If Jesus can call a man out of a tomb after four days, there ain't no cell. There ain't no record. There ain't no history. There ain't no addiction. Come on now, too deep for his voice. And Jesus calls dead people and he calls them by their name. We cannot do this for ourselves and there is no amount of work will achieve this for us. Paul says, he says this without containing himself. What's this? He says, "It is by grace you have been saved." He can't help himself. He's supposed to say that at the end, but he's just so excited that he says, "No, it's the grace of God that saved you." Why? Because the grace of God is the unmerited favor of God. In other words, you got a gift you didn't deserve. Isn't that good? You were terrible as hell and he still gave you a gift. You didn't get cold. You got the best gift in Christmas morning and you was bad. You was a badass little kid. Skipping school, cussing the neighbors out, and you still got the remote control call. Pause to overwhelm. He can't wait till the end of the sentence. That's the heart of a man who has been raised. That's why I love Paul because I identify with Paul. God didn't help the dead. He raised them. He raised them. He raises the dead. Now, I don't want you just to hear about what God does. I don't want you to hear about God raising His good work. Because in every resurrection story there is a bug God. Are you with me?

And there is somebody with a name. This is a 24 year old young adult, Maddie's God Story. So for most of my life even before I was in the streets I chased approval, validation, protection. A sense of belonging through people that could never give me what I was looking for. I spent years trying to prove my worth through what I could do, who I could be for other people, how much I could endure. By the time I had high school I was kind of burnt out on trying to do the right thing all the time. I didn't really see the point in it. I felt like it was just too much to put on me so I did a 180. I gave up, I stopped going to school, I started being in the streets selling drugs, doing drugs, hitting up every party, stealing cars, home invasions, all different types of things that you wouldn't think of all a kid would get into. I felt like I ran stuff and you couldn't tell me any different. This person that I knew from middle school actually hit me up one day and he wanted some drugs. Then I gave him some drugs and we just started kicking in. He started being one of my best customers. I knew him from the streets, he was like kind of feared, he was respected. I got with him and yeah, I was with him the whole time I was 17, when I was 18, the second I turned 18 I moved in with him. He took over my clientele, started emotionally, financially abusing me mentally. It wasn't until maybe three months after I moved in with him so about like a year after dating, I finally got tired of it and so I tried to leave. I didn't get too far, he chased me down, drug me back to the house and that was the first time he put his hands on me. So for the next few months I just went through worsening emotional, mental, physical, financial abuse. It didn't get better.

Almost a year after I moved in with him, he had got an opportunity out of state in Indiana. So I plan to go with him of course, like you know, this is just what love is and so I was going to go with him, was going to follow him. That night we got into it because I found out he was texting a woman who was in the state who was about to move to. We got into an argument, I told him that I wasn't going to go with him. I think that was the worst time that he put his hands on me. He drug me across the house by my hair. He put his feet on me, put his hands on me, anything you can name of, spat on me. We got into it really bad. The point where he pulled out his gun, he cocked it and he put it to my head. Since it was going to be my last day in Houston, my family was planning us a going away party. My dad was there the whole time while I was getting my butt handed to me. He was outside waiting for me to come out. At that point I closed the door and when I turned around I see my ex coming towards me and there was just something that told me I had to stop him from going outside. I locked the both locks. I tried to push him back. He got to a point where he flung me on the floor but by the time he opened the door, my dad was standing in front of the door and he emptied the clip on my dad. He shot him all the way down so he was on the floor and the whole time I couldn't do anything but helplessly watch while I was also on the floor. He picked me up and said that we had to go and he went on the run and took me with him. About a month later he got caught, finally, the police told me that my mom had been contacted that they found me and that she was going to come get me the next day and sure enough her and my brother pulled up. Thankful for my mom, 'cause she didn't really turn her back on me. But I did feel a guilt. Like, I didn't deserve for them to welcome me back

because I also blamed myself. Like, my family wasn't the only one that blamed me. Like, I didn't want to be here anymore. (dramatic music) (soft music) We live not, well, my mom lives not too far from here. So she came to Union for the opening of this new building that we're in. She invited me every weekend. And you know what I said every weekend? No. (laughs) I said no. But on the four year anniversary of my dad's passing, we would hang out that whole day. So that day, it happened to be a night of worship. And, you know, I've never cried so much and didn't feel like I had to stop crying. I was always told, you know, crying was weak. I'll give you something to cry about. Just different things like that. But in that moment, seeing everybody, you know, just let loose and be in the spirit, which I didn't know was in the spirit at that time. But it was so impactful for me that I couldn't do anything but let loose as well. And I just started crying. I started talking to God, you know, if you are real, like, help me, show me. And I would love to say that I started coming consistently after that, but it still took a few months.

By the time I started coming to Union consistently, you know, without it being a special event or something like that, it was because I got persistent invitations to come on a Sunday and I finally came. Does that mean that I wasn't at the club getting high, getting geeks, getting drunk the day before? No, it doesn't. So I made it home at four in the morning that Sunday. And my mom decided to go to a 930 AM service. And I came with my nice little coach glasses on 'cause I was still hungover, still a little bit high. And I'll never forget Pastor Rod's famous words from the pulpit. He goes, God loves you right where you are, but He loves you too much to leave you where you are. I feel like that was a sign. Like, you know what? Maybe God is trying to do something with me. So that day I joined a team and I'm thankful that I did. I met the family that I have here. You know, my blood family disowned me and the Lord restored it with spiritual family that pushed me, encouraged me. I met my best friends here. And so yeah, He gave me a new home, a new family, a new life that day. I wish I could say though that that day I officially came to fully know Him, but it still took a while.

I could say that I probably didn't fully surrender to the Lord until a few months later during my freedom class. And my freedom leader, you know, of course she's talking to everybody, she looked me dead in my soul. And she says, surrendering to the Lord is not weak. And I bawled that day. I bawled, I cried. I went to my little prayer closet when I got home after that and I was just crying out to the Lord. And we've been locked in since. (laughing) - It's Chloe. - It's Chloe. - Yeah, I was like, community, community. - Yeah, that's the day I asked her to be my mentor too. (gentle music) (audience applauding) - You know what that's called? Her name is Maddie, but that's called the good work. That's what it looks like. Because Jesus didn't help her. Jesus didn't improve her. Jesus stood at her grave side and called her by her name. And do you know what she does now? She dances on that grave side. (audience applauding) Praise is a declaration of what God has done. Well, God has done something in Maddie's life. So before we go one step further, let's do what House of Praise does.

Can we give Jesus a big shot of praise? (audience cheering) (audience applauding) (audience cheering) (audience cheering) (applause) (audience applauding) Now, here's the interesting thing is, who did God use? Because God showed up for Maddie, but someone else had to show up for Maddie. Chloe, Chloe spoke life into her life. God, Chloe, called her out on things. That's also the good work. And we don't need a stage, we don't need a title, we don't need a program. Somebody showing up at a grave side with a voice of Jesus. That's what we need, people. Now, I want you to hear my heart. There are millions of Maddies in our city, millions. They aren't for. They're in your lives, neighborhoods. And you gym in your dorm rooms and your cubicles behind every smile and every filter. There was a Maddie up late last night at 2 a.m. And nobody knows. Maddie is not the exception. Maddie is the evidence of what the good work looks like. God didn't raise Maddie to keep her for himself either. He's raised her so that the next Maddie would hear about it. So the question I have for you, Union Houston,

is what did God do for Maddie? The question is, who's going to walk with the next Maddie that God is sending us? Because Ephesians 2.6 says, "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realm." This is where Paul pivots, and this is where we pivot. Because Ephesians 2.9 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in there." We were given a seat at His table to do the good work. I want you to notice the word seated. He said we are seated with Him. Paul doesn't stop at made alive. He doesn't stop at being raised with. He says we are seated with Jesus. Listen to me. In the ancient world, servants stood nearby waiting for orders. Watch this. They stood. They could not be seated. They had to stand by as the king would say, "Bring me some turkey. Bring me some fresh fruit." But sons and daughters were seated at the table. Sons and daughters of the most high God seated at the table. Because of His good work, we aren't a guest in the house of God. We are sons and daughters, and we have a seat at His table.

But Paul takes us even higher. He doesn't just seat you at the table. He sits you with Him in the heavenly realms. And do you know why Jesus sat down? Because you wonder, "Well, don't Jesus have to save people?" But He sat down. Hebrews 10, 12 tells us. But when Christ has offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, one sacrifice for all time, right? For sin. Are you with me? He sat down at the right hand of the Father. Now the reason this is important because the Old Testament priests were not allowed to sit. In fact, they stood and sacrificed because Israel kept on sitting. Are you with me? But Jesus sat down because the good work was finished. That's it. There's nothing left to add. He seated you with Him, which means your salvation is not probation. It's finished. It's finished good work. Now, somebody is staying passed away. The title is good work, right? We're supposed to do something. Why are we talking about sitting? Because we don't work to get the seat. We work from the seat. Last week I told you, blessings isn't something we chase. It's something we live from.

This is the same truth. Dead people can't earn a seat. So grace gave you one. Now you're free to work. Not afraid to work. Not proving anything with your work. Not trying to impress anybody with the good work. with the good work. Just working from a place of. It goes on to say in order that in the coming ages, he might show his incomparable riches of his grace. You are the display. Your life is God's showcase. Every person who walks into this building says, I was dead and now I'm alive. And that is the evidence of what grace can do. Now, just not just on Sunday. Listen to me, not just in your group, not just this year, but with the generations that come after. Because that's what legacy is all about. In Union, Houston, we began 10 years ago in a living room. So what will the next generation say grace did to us? This was a gift to us. A gift that we can't keep to ourselves. A gift that nobody gets the brag about, but we have been surely called to share it with everyone we encounter. We didn't earn the seat, so we can't lose it by missing a Sunday. And we can't take credit for either,

because we are God's handiwork. The Greek word here is poema. Sound familiar? It's what we get the word poem. We are God's poem, a masterpiece, a work of art. He made on purpose and for purpose. Let me say it this way. A masterpiece created in Christ Jesus to join him in doing good works. He didn't just save you from something. He saved you for something. Saved by grace and saved for good works. Before you ever showed up, God set up the work. The assignment has already been assigned. The doors are already open. The people are already placed. You're not building something from scratch. You're walking into something that he already prepared. If it could be a job site, listen to me, students, young people, it could be your classroom, it could be a kitchen table, it could be a prison cell, a dorm, a wing, or it could be our Spanish service that we're launching on January 10th. [APPLAUSE] Underneath it all is the good work. Jesus is raising dead people, inviting the ones he already raised to carry news back to the graveyard. Philippians 1.6 says, "He who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." He began it, he will finish it.

And he invites you to join them in it. The question is, Union, will you join him in doing the good work he has been doing already? Somebody went back to your grave for you. For me, it was a man named Joey I shared that last week. People of the gospel that didn't keep the good news to themselves. And right now, there are people on your block who are alive, on the outside, but dead on the inside. They got good jobs, they got nice cars, full calendars. They're in your office, they're in your family, they're on your street in Spring Branch, Memorial, Cyprus, Katie, Tombow, Humble, Pearland, the Woodlands. And that's the heart of Houston. A heart that sends life out and doesn't just keep it in. So this week, I want you to do three things. One, I want you to write out your before and after in three sentences. Just simply write, I was dead because of this. But God did this. And now I do this. That's your testimony in one sentence. Second, name the one thing you've been doing to try to earn his grace and his love, that you've already been given it. Write it down and put it down forever. And the third is ask God for the assignment. Lord, where do you want me to do this good work besides my church? Where? Because we were dead and sin, but God raised us.

And He seated us to do the good work. Would you stand with me? I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes for just a moment. There are two groups of people here that I want to talk to. To everybody who's already alive in Christ. You've been saved, but you're safe, comfortable. I want to invite you to come and get with one of these prayer partners and just repent before God and just say, Lord, I'm ready to do the good work. I'm ready to do the good work. The second is maybe today you realize something. You've been alive on the outside, but dead on the inside. You never have truly accepted Jesus. And here's what this means. It means that Jesus, you believe in your heart, just simply in your heart. That Jesus lives, suffered, and died for your sins. He was buried and raised on the third day. And when we come to believe we are raised with him to new life, maybe you've been going through the motions, you've been going to church, and you know the words. You never heard the voice of Jesus call your name out of the grave. Well, today he's calling you. So with every headbound and every eye closed, no one looking around the room, if you want to commit your life to Jesus, recommit your life to Jesus, ask to hear God's voice for the first time. I just simply want you to raise your hand so I can pray for you. There you go. Thank you, Jesus. Father God, we thank you, Lord, you people, they come to you. They're saying now, speak to them, Lord, stir in them, the passion and the fire to do the good work.

Lord, I welcome them into the kingdom of God. Lord, with every person that's going to be moving out of their chairs to come get prayer, Lord, I want you to be with every prayer partner, and I want you to speak and touch to them. Lord, be with them. I've said all I have to say, now the service is in your hands, and I pray this, and Jesus might be made. Come on, Church, can we thank God for his word today? Can we thank you for the testimony of change that is happening?