The Purpose Of Your Life

at all of our locations and all of you who are joining us online. Thanks for being with us today. We are continuing our series called It Starts With One, and I wanna lead us in a word of prayer. And as I pray, I wanna invite you, if you would, there in your seat, or if you're driving down the road right now, don't close your eyes while we pray, but in your own heart and mind, would you just ask the Lord to speak to you over the next few minutes? I'm gonna talk about our purpose, our calling, what the Bible says life is all about when it comes to what we're supposed to be getting done. I'm talking about God's call on your life. And so in the next few minutes, as we talk about these things in preparation, let's ask the Holy Spirit to speak to us, all right? And perhaps you'd be willing to just turn your palms up just like that, something we do as a church. If you're new, you don't have to do that, but this is just us physically saying, God, I wanna receive whatever you have for me today. And so Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, I wanna invite you to just take over now. And would you speak to each of us? As always, nobody needs to hear from me, but we all need to hear from you. And so we give you our hearts and our minds, and we ask you to give us wisdom of what the Bible teaches.

And we pray that we would apply it, and in that it would change us. And so bless this time, Jesus may it be for your glory, and also for our good, it's in your name we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. So as we started this series last weekend, just to kind of let you in on what we're talking about, we're talking about sharing our faith. We're talking about living a life of impact. You know, there are like three kinds of people in the world, people that make things happen, people that watch things happen, and people that wonder what happened, right? And I'll just ask you, what type of person do you wanna be? We're talking about sharing our faith, and as we talk about it today, I just wanna tell you, and when it comes to sharing your faith, it's actually the work of the Holy Spirit in and through your life. And one of the things that I wish for you as your pastor is the joy of watching God work in you and through you to change someone else. There is nothing like it. Some of you have been in the baptismal waters with a friend that you help lead to Jesus. But there's nothing like it. I would say there's almost like no greater joy, and I wish that for you. And over the next few minutes,

I'm gonna talk about that, but I just wanna tell you, it's the work of the Spirit of God and in through your life that makes that happen. And there are no coincidences. I mean, right now in your life, there are people all around you that don't know Jesus. Your job, maybe in your family, maybe your kid plays on a ball team that a bunch of their kids play on the same ball team. The people you live next to in your neighborhood, on and on and on and goes. There are no coincidences. And God has strategically put you in places so that you could be light there. A few years ago, I was in Mexico, and it was actually a meeting of pastors, and it just happened to be in Cabo San Lucas. So, thank you, Jesus. (congregation laughing) As they're doing the Lord's work, people, all right. We were actually gathering together to talk about a partnership, and there were some folks that hosted pastors of some of the largest churches in America, and I got invited, and it was a great event. But towards the end of the event, I got stuck there, and there were issues with COVID tests and things like that. I'm not gonna give you all my personal medical information right now, but I was stuck, okay?

And I could not fly back to the States. And so I was so upset about that, and I needed to actually get back here, and I was supposed to speak on a weekend, and that was not happening, and so I called Robert Watson. I mean, it was just this big headache. And finally got that resolved, and I wound up going to a different hotel, and I was sitting on the beach, 'cause I was delayed, suffering for Jesus. (congregation laughing) (audience laughing) How come I'm not, I'm supposed to be, you know, back in Arizona. How come I'm not home yet? And I was looking out at the water and a whale came by. And at this particular hotel when somebody sees a whale, they ring a bell. Have you all ever seen that before? And then everybody kind of comes and watches. And so looking out, and this guy is next to me, and he and I start talking. Now, I'm going to keep it real with you. Most people would assume that I'm an extrovert. Because on the weekend, talk to lots of people I'm doing what I'm doing right now. And you just assume that if you're a public speaker, right, those people are all extroverts. And in some ways, I'm extroverted.

I tend to think out loud, which gets me in trouble a lot. But I tend to think out loud. But I kind of recharge like an introvert. Like when I need to get some energy back, I just want to be alone and I don't want anybody talking to me. How many of you can relate to what I'm saying, my fellow introverts? God bless all of you, OK? It's not a spiritual thing. It's just a personality thing. Makes sense? And so I'm kind of, in that moment, leave me alone mode. But this guy starts chatting me up. And so we start talking, and he's talking like he's a whale expert. And I'm thinking, does he really know anything? Or is this guy like Cliff Clavin, you know? That's a really old person reference. All of you who are under 45, I'm going to tell you who Cliff Clavin is. There used to be this show called Cheers. And he was a mailman that acted like he knew everything, right? He just knew all these supposed facts. And that was Cliff Clavin. So anyway, I'm like, does this guy know anything? But come to find out, he knew a lot. He was actually a merchant marine. And he was in his late 30s. And his job was he was a captain of one of those massive cargo ships.

He'd sell all around the world. So we get into conversation. He did no whales. And his flight was delayed. So he was stuck in Mexico. I had my issue. So I was stuck in Mexico. Neither one of us were living according to plans that we had made. So we get to talk in, and he's kind of interesting. And we wound up having dinner that night. And he's at sea four months out of the year, and then back at home four months out of the year. And he's from New York. And he had just gotten engaged to a woman who's from Texas. The Lord was at work. You don't know me, I'm from Texas. You're going to hear that twang every once in a while. It's going to come out. And so he and I get into conversation. And then he asked me the question that I never want to be asked. He said, what do you do for a living? Now, it's quiet for a minute. And he goes, what? And I said, OK, bro, I'm going to tell you what I do for a living. And when I do, you're going to replay everything you've said. Over the past hour and a half that we've been talking. You're going to count every bomb you've dropped.

You're going to think about all of it. And I want you to know we're OK. And he leans back and goes, what do you do? And I said, I'm a pastor. And he goes like, OK, I'm cool, and we're talking. He's from New York. He grew up there. His mom actually was on Broadway. And she had starred in Jesus Christ Superstar. And he was from New York. And even though he was Caucasian, he grew up Buddhist. And so man did we get into a conversation. And it just kind of went on for a while. And I'm an old guy, but I can get to bed that night till like 2 in the morning. And we exchanged phone numbers. And over the past few years, he'll text me two or three times a year. And we just kind of built this relationship. And sometimes he'll ask me questions about faith. I recommended a book to him. When we were in Cabo, it wasn't a Christian book. It was-- he was a reader. When he's out at sea, he reads a lot. And so I was like, I just read this book. It was amazing, you know, not a Jesus book. But he read the book, loved it, so he text me. So he just kind of have this long distance relationship. Now let me ask you this question. How many of you think that that encounter was by accident?

In fact, at one point in the night, as it was getting late, and I started doing this, I'm so interested, right? He said, hey, do you think my plane was delayed and you had your issues because we were supposed to meet? I said, well, you may tell you a pastor thing that maybe you're unaware of. He's like, sure. I said ancient Hebrew, so ancient Hebrew. There's no word for coincidence the way that we think about it today. Now, if you ask chat GPT, it's gonna tell you there is, but it means something a little different. And the reason in the Hebrew language, the reason there's no word for coincidence is because if there's no word for it, it doesn't exist. There are no coincidences. And he went, whoa. And I said, yeah. So we just kind of struck up conversation and we still touched each other and a few years have passed just because we met each other by coincidence, right? On the beach in Kabul. There are people around us all the time. And I'm telling you, the people around us all the time, if you're paying attention, they're meant to be providential encounters. The Holy Spirit is at work. And it's God's will that you and I represent him in the world.

God with his sense of humor said, through the mouth of Jesus, you are the light of the world. Isn't that funny and heavy and wonderful and beautiful and sobering? You know, and everybody gripes about the world. And everybody's like, politics is gonna change it. By the way, vote this week. If you haven't meld in your ballot. As a Christian, it's part of God's will. People gave a whole lot so that you and I will have that freedom. Please vote, pray, do the best you can with what you've been offered. Okay, I'm praying too. We do the best our can with, we can with that. But people are going, you know, politics is gonna change it. That's not God's plan. God's plan to fix the world is you and me. It's the local church and there is no plan B and we change the world one life at a time. Through these providential counters that he brings by the power of his spirit. These are two verses for the series. I showed this last weekend. If you weren't here, I hope you'll go online and watch and listen to that sermon and it will catch you up. These two verses are the last thing that Jesus says before he ascends into heaven. And last week, when we read these two verses, I played a little game with everybody and I said,

tell me the most important word in these couple of verses. Okay, so think with me, the context. So last thing Jesus has said, he's died on the cross, he's risen again, he's appeared to his followers for 40 days, he's about to give this final charge and then he's gonna ascend into heaven right there. So these are the marching orders, pretty important. And as we read this, see if you can figure out what the most important word is in these two verses. Here's what Jesus says. He looks at his followers and he says this, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. So last week we read that and I said, what's the most important word? How many of you think it's a go? A bunch of people raise their hand. How many of you think it's make disciples? A bunch of people raise their hand. How many of you think it's nations? A few people raise their hands. How many of you think it's baptizing? A few more people raise their hands. How many of you think it's Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit? And nobody raised their hand. And I went, okay, so God is not all that important, right? You know, and we all laughed.

And then I said teaching, hands obey, okay. The most important word in the two verses we just read is this word right here, are you ready? It's the subject of the two verses. It's the word them. Jesus says go to them, make disciples out of them. Babtis say the word with me, them, teach them to obey. And so last week we just hit that quick. And I said, who are them? Them are anyone who is not currently part of us, which is fascinating. So the last command that Jesus gives before he ascends into heaven is not about us in the sense of I want you to have someone, I want you all to fellowship and I want you all to do some serious Bible study, all real important, by the way. And I want you to do the, he doesn't do that. He says I want all of you who are part of the group of us to go and read to. What do you love about church? You realize whatever it is you love about church, it's going to be better in heaven. Some of you would say, "I love the music." And by the way, I just was quiet a moment ago when we were singing and just listening to y'all are good. I kind of got in it. I got a little goose bump. It was good. I'm one of those people that raised their hand. If you're new and somebody has their hand raised and you're like, "Do they have a question?" No. They're just worshiping and lifting their hands to the Lord. I love praise and worship. How many of you love that? I love it. I drive down my truck and we're on the road in my truck and I sing my lungs out all the time. But you realize worship is going to be better in heaven. And by the way, all of you, they're like, "I like music this way and I wish we could sing this." My guess is, we're all going to sing at the same time, but we're going to get what we want in that moment,

right? It's just going to be full in. You're going to hear the style you like. And by the way, God likes it all. If it's honoring to Jesus and if it's about serving Him and worshiping Him and loving Him, God is for it. But worship is going to be better in heaven, the music part of worship. Bible study. How many of you love Bible study? I love Bible study. I've been studying the Bible for a long, long time. And I've taken classes and I read the Bible and I read commentaries and I'm reading a book, right? I read all the time. I'm reading a book right now that's about that thick that was written by somebody in the 14th century. That's really hard to understand. I just have chat, chat GBT help me, right? But I love like deep theological study. You realize we're going to get to do that in heaven. Like we're going to be studying who God is forever. That is a really, really deep well. And so music is going to be better in heaven. Bible study is going to be better in heaven. You're like, I love fellowship and small group and I love my friends at church. I do too. I love it. I can tell you this past year when we need you guys to know my story really difficult year. It's my friends who got me through it. The Lord, yes, but the Lord Jesus by his spirit working in and through really close friends. And I love that. And I love the fellowship. That's the Bible word. I love the fellowship of church. But you realize that's going to be better. Guess where? In heaven, because you're going to love people perfectly and they're going to love you perfectly. And that's actually what makes heaven heaven. It's not the streets of gold and all the shiny stuff. It's that God is there in our relationship is made perfect with him and relationships are made perfect with each other. That's what life is about. In the end, all that matters is God and people. What makes heaven heavenly is the relationships there. They're all made perfect. And so there's all these wonderful things that we can do here, but we're actually practicing for there. But there's a few things that we won't do there. There are no them there. There's only us, which I think is why Jesus said I want you to go and reach them. It's the one thing you can do this side of heaven that you will not be able to do once you get to heaven. We can't serve the poor in heaven. We can't feed the hungry or give water to the thirsty. All the outreach that God has called us to do to reach them, serve them, love them, care for them, make a difference in the world. None of that will be able to do in heaven, which means that is the greatest call on

our lives right now on this earth. The church is not a building that you come and sit in. It's a movement that you choose to be part of to help people meet, know and follow Jesus. Jesus said I want you to go to them. I want you to make disciples out of them. I want you to baptize them. I want you to teach them everything that I've commanded you. Churches that are on mission with Jesus are like outsider focused. Churches that die are insider focused. You know how many churches have blown up over the color of the carpet? That's called mission drift. Does that make sense? Or how many churches have blown up as the style of music changed? Let's give the devil his do. He is very good at distracting us from what actually matters. Here's what I'm coming at you with. Yes, you're called to reach them. It is part of the call on what it means for all of us to follow Jesus. This passage of Scripture, those two verses are called the Great Commission. one life at a time. And you know, all of us, when we think about that, like, oh, you know, I got to share my faith, there's so much pressure. Listen, it's the work of the Holy Spirit. There's encounters all around you that are providentially happening. It's God moving in your life, whether you realize it or not. Let me show you this passage of Scripture. If you brought your Bible, turn to 1 Corinthians, beginning in chapter 2. It's about midway through your New Testament if you're new to the Bible. It's right after the Book of Romans. So 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, big numbers of the chapters, little numbers of the verses, verse 1. What we're about to read was written by arguably the greatest Christian who ever lived. It was written by a man in the Apostle Paul. He wrote more books in the Bible than anybody else. You and I are here today as a result of his ministry. He took the gospel to the Gentiles. Gentile was anybody that's not a Jew. And so his ministry rippled out all the way to this moment right now here at Sun Valley. Arguably the greatest Christian that's ever lived. And if you're like, well, what about Jesus? Jesus was not a Christian. Jesus is the Christ. Christians follow Jesus. Worship Jesus. Love Jesus. Serve Jesus. All right, Jesus is the Christ. He is the King. And Christians, we submit ourselves to him. Paul, arguably the greatest Christian that ever lived. And here's what he said about sharing his faith. Listen to these words. Follow along with me and your Bible are here on the screen. So 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, beginning in verse 1. He writes, "And so it is with me, brothers and sisters." Look at this. "When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom. As I proclaim to you the testimony about God." And he keeps going, "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you,

except Jesus Christ and him crucified." And what do we do? We psych ourselves out. What if they ask me a question? I don't know the answer to. By the way, if anybody ever asks you a question about your faith that you don't know the answer to, I'm going to tell you what God's will is on how you're to answer. Are you ready? If they ask you, you just say, "I don't know." God is happy with that answer because you don't know. So just be honest about it. He said, "I resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified." He didn't go with Noah in the flood. He didn't go with Adam and Eve and who were the other kids and how did all that work. He didn't go. Do you really think Jonah got swallowed by well? He just talked about Jesus. Verse 3, "I came to you in weakness and in great fear and trembling." How many of you, you don't have to raise your hand, but when you're like, "When I think about sharing my faith, it scares me." Just give me one of these. Do you want me to tell you what you are? Normal. Don't overthink it. Relax. I'm going to give you the Texas phrase, calm down. Down is always two syllables. Calm down. He says, "I came in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words." Look at this, but with a demonstration of the Holy Spirit's power so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom but on God's power. Okay. Here's what he doesn't mean. So we read that and we're like, "Yeah, they're faith. He led a lot of people to Jesus and it was the Holy Spirit's power. And we have in our minds like lightning bolts came out of his fingers." It's not what he's saying. What he's saying is, "I was nervous and I didn't have all the answers and I wish I was smoother and I wish I was more eloquent, but I'm not." So I just talked about Jesus and the Holy Spirit moved in your life. And now you're changed by the grace of God. I'm going to give you three things here when it comes to relying on the Holy Spirit and us sharing our faith. And my whole point over the next few minutes and then we'll pray is to kind of help you not limp out. Make it less about you and more about God and what he wants to do in you and through you. First thing, and what we just- What does that mean? You don't have to walk around carrying this heavy burden I've got to share in my faith, "Oh no, what am I going to say? What if they ask me a question? I don't know the answer to, "Your job is not to carry the pressure, just the presence."

You pray, you ask the Holy Spirit to help you see providential encounters that are around you. When the time is right, you invite somebody to church, or you talk about your own relationship with God, and you share your faith, and you let the Holy Spirit do the work. These are the words of the Apostle Paul that we just read. He said, "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power." I want to show you just a brief testimony of a man that I met recently in our church. His name is Christian, and he's going to share a little bit with you about how he came to faith. Watch this. This is Christian. I started going to the Sun Valley Church Services at Florence West in the prison, and it was just such an amazing genuineness of their spirit to be able to be welcoming, to be greeting us, to spend time with us. You know, it truly means more than we're able to ever share, going to see somebody in prison. We don't feel lonely. We feel forgotten. We don't feel very human a lot of times, but going to the Sun Valley Church Service, getting a warm welcome, a smile, a hug, that means more than any sermon or anything like that. Having people that really truly believe in you, they want to come visit you, they want to just give you that belief and that hug. It means more than we could ever share, so I know it impacts so many of my friends and buddies who are in there right now. I know just every volunteer that comes in, you're such a blessing, and you're appreciated more than we could ever share. My plan was to come and get baptized at the Sun Valley Church with Mark and just continue my journey and just him being a brother to me and believing in me and helping me just love an action that's been beautiful. He's helped me tremendously in my walk, not just praying for me, not just, you know, having

faith and giving me words, but actually in his steps and his walk through life and just coming here in the presence of God in his place has truly been a blessing to me. So I'm just grateful to be here and grateful to get this new life started and just experience a fresh star with the spirit of God and with the new family here at Sun Valley. He'll be here this weekend. Thanks for sharing part of your story with us, and right now at all of our locations, they'll hear you. Can we just welcome our brothers who are worshiping with us at Warren's West? So glad you guys are with us, you're part of our church family, and yeah, thanks for worshiping with us this weekend. Here's what I want you to catch in Christians' testimony. He set a smile, a hug, a warm welcome, and he said, "A whole lot more powerful to me, more effective than a sermon." Did y'all hear that? I did too, and I was like, "Come on, dude, the sermon's pretty good." No, I thought that's exactly right. I mean, sermons in my life have helped me, sermons that I've heard. They were catalytic maybe in some ways or helped me understand something I didn't understand, but it's the people around me that have made the difference. It's up close and over time. People make the difference. Friends, when you love somebody in Jesus' name, that's powerful, and we're all feeling the pressure of what if I don't know what to say, and you're probably not going to know what to say. It's all right. Your life speaks louder than your words. You know, there's two big things in the Bible I talked about last week and about following Jesus. One is called the Great Commandment. I'm going to compress it.

Love God and love people. Jesus has asked, "What's the greatest commandment?" And he says, "Love God with everything you've got. Love your neighbor as yourself." That's the Great Commandment. And the other side of impact with your life is you live out the great commission. That's what we're talking about today. And you share your faith. So loving God, loving people is about who you are. And the great commission is about what you do. And a great commitment to the great commandment and the great commission make a great life. And this is what God has called us to. And we way overthink it. You know who listens to the guy on the street corner with the bullhorn? Nobody. And there's one story here and there and, you know, it's completely ineffective by and large. What is effective is you and I just loving the people that God puts around us. Come on. Hear God's call on your life. Wake up. And just love the people he brings around you and with intention when the time is right, talk about your faith. It's not your job to carry the pressure. Just carry the presence of God in your life.

Let him do the work. You just be willing. And he'll meet you there. And you'll watch somebody's life change before your very eyes. Second thing, 'cause it's the power of the Holy Spirit, not us. We are not salesman. We are witnesses. It's not your job to close the deal. Don't walk out of here and go, "Okay, Chad told us ABC." Y'all know what that is, right? ABC, always be closing. Yeah, that's salesman talk. We have this idea that we've gotta, you know, really go out there and, you know, close the deal or something. That's not what this is. We're witnesses. What does a witness do? A witness just talks about what they've seen in experience. That's it. We're gonna talk about this in a couple of weeks, but your story is really powerful. No matter where you've been, what you've done, if you've received the love of Jesus in your life, your story is really powerful. You're not a salesman. You're a witness and God just wants to use you

to help change the life of somebody else. Again, God does the work. You and I just have to be willing. Here's how the Apostle Paul said it in the passage that we read just a moment ago. Again, we're not salesman, we're witnesses. He says, "When I came to you, "I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom "as I proclaim to you the testimony about God. "For I resolve to know what's the next word? "Nothing. "Know nothing while I was with you, "except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. "It's the work of the Holy Spirit, "and it's just allowing Him to move in you "and through you." Just so you know, we're gonna launch another prison campus here soon. We actually are broadcast in prisons all over America every week, like 25 to 30,000 every week. Watch us, and we've seen thousands give their life to Jesus. Did you know none of that was on my strategic plan? I didn't sit in my office and go, "You know, this year I think I'd like to do a prison campus." That's not how that went. It was the work of the Holy Spirit. I had a board member that he built his business and was cashing out and he was a young guy and he got really fired up about prison reform and what can he do?

And so he decided to start a new business. And most of his employees are previously incarcerated people. Many of them ride out of Florence West and they attend our church. So they've got a job waiting on them when they get out. So I started praying and thinking about that and I'm like, that's pretty cool. And then second thing that happened was I had a dream one night. You ever seen the musical "Lay Mez?" And it's about Jean Valle Jean, his prison number is 24601. I want you to know real men watch musicals. (audience laughing) If you've never seen it, you can rent it. They have it in movie form and it's got, oh, who's the Wolverine? You, Jackman. And then Russell Crow sings in it too. (audience laughing) But you'll get the story. There's this scene in the musical where Jean Valle Jean, 24601, he's a prisoner, he can't find a job. I'm gonna give it to you quick. And he stays in the home of a priest. He steals the priest's silver and he leaves in the night 'cause he can't get work. He thinks he's a thief, that's all he'll ever be. He's arrested, brought back to the home of the priest

so the priest can identify and press charges. And the priest says, no, no, no, no. I gave him that silver. And then he gives him more silver. And the officers leave and the priest looks at him and says, this is an act of grace in your life. And in my dream, I'm the priest. And I was singing amazingly. [LAUGHTER] That was awesome. But there was this long line of prisoners that I was handing silver to, and I'm like, that's weird. So I had the board member, and then I had that dream, and then a week later, I got invited to go fly fishing, because that's how God works. And at the place I was at, I was sitting by a campfire at night, and there was a guy sitting next to me, I didn't know. And we got to talking, what do you do, what do you do? And he's the CEO of God behind bars. Boom, boom, boom. That's the Holy Spirit. And then I stood in front of you guys one Christmas and said, y'all want to do a prison campus, and y'all gave half a million dollars to make it happen. That's how God works. And here's the thing. I'm a pastor, and you're like, yeah, with you, Chad. That's how it happens with you too. It's just you have to be paying attention to it. God is working around you all the time.

So I'm gonna say it again, wake up to it. Step into your calling. No pressure, but the presence of God is there. Lean into that. You don't have to be a salesman, you're a witness, just watch what God is doing, and then be willing to get involved, and then the last one, remember this. Faith is a gift. Did you know in the Bible teaches that God is the one who gives people their faith? Did you know that? Drop this reference down, Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. I'm unquoted for you. It says, "For by grace are you saved through faith, "and this is not of yourselves. "It is a gift of God, so that no one can boast." Do you want to know what sharing your faith is? It's handing out gifts. We are just beggars telling other beggars where to find bread. So you don't have to be perfect, and you don't have to have it all together, and you don't have to put together your special little talk, and then nail it. You just have to be willing to love God, love people, and be thinking about the them around you, and how does God want to reach them and in through you? For many of you, it's going to be as simple as an invitation to the Christmas Eve service. It's that simple,

'cause you never know what God might do through a simple invitation. For some of you, it's just going to be befriending somebody, and having coffee with them ever once in a while, and they're like, "Yeah, I don't believe what you believe, "but then something's going to happen in their life." And they're going to come to you and say, "Now, tell me, tell me again." For some of you, something is happening in somebody's life, and you're just going to say, "Hey, I know you don't believe what I believe, "but I'm a Christian. "Could I just pray for you?" And I can tell you the most die-hard atheist I've known. When stuff happens in their life, they're still okay with me praying for them, just in case. And I've seen one or two coming to faith. Friends, this is God's call in your life. You're not called to sit and soak and do nothing. Just be an armchair quarterback and gripe about whatever you choose to gripe about when it comes to church. You are the church. You are the church. And God put you where you are for a reason. And so wake up to it. And watch him work in and through you. Last question, something to think about all the way through the series. Who will be in heaven because of you?

It's the Holy Spirit that does it, but somehow in the mystery of it all, he partners with us. So this week, pray along those lines and look around you and see if you don't see God at work. Did you guys pray with me? Maybe just in the next few seconds, just silently, they're in your own heart and mind. You'll just tell God you're willing. And ask him to work in you and through you. Spirit of God, Holy Spirit at the beginning of the sermon I ask you to work in us and through us to teach us. So maybe right now, I pray, would you just put somebody on our mind and heart? Some of us we don't know anybody apart from church. And we need to make some effort there. Because you haven't called us to a holy huddle or to comfort. If we're going to make an impact, we've got to have contact. And so I pray that maybe how you're working in us right now, if that's you, I pray that the Spirit would just give you some ideas of how to step out a little bit. And Lord, I think that the church, the big sea church, by and large through the years has not done this well. But I pray as far as our church is concerned, that we would be known for our love. And we still have to use words to share faith. But I pray that you would move in us and through us. And that Holy Spirit you would do above and beyond what we could ask or imagine. It just occurred to me so I'm going to pray this.

It could be that there's people here this weekend that are like, "I don't have faith. Father, in Jesus' name, would you give the gift of faith to that one?" And would you begin to illuminate their heart and their mind to the things of you? Holy Spirit, move in the mighty, matchless, wonderful, beautiful, loving name of Jesus. Would you give the gift of faith? And Lord, may our lives be committed to the great commandment. I mean, we love God and love people and to the great commission. Teach us, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Hey, if you're new as the service ends, I want to invite you to take your first step here at Sun Valley.