Erwin McManus | The Ceiling is the Roof

[Applause] oh good man great job guys can we just give it one more time for our worship team and happy birthday Mariah McManus we love you if you are a guest tonight we're so glad you're here I know it's always such an interesting eclectic group of people who step into mosaic especially on Sunday nights sometimes it is just astonishing to me how many people I meet and they tell me you know I walked in and I was an atheist I was an agnostic or I was a Buddhist or was a Hindu or was a Muslim or sometimes just have just a really really angry Baptist and and that's it it's amazing the journeys of people brewing into the space and that doesn't include all the people who are listening on the live stream the tens of thousands who listen on the podcast who who take the risk and just click on and say I'm gonna listen I'm gonna be a part of this I'm gonna open up my heart to the possibility of God and if you're here and you've taken a huge risk you've stepped into this space and said oh I don't even know if I believe in you but God if you exist Here I am I just pray that beyond all the words we sing in all the words we speak and you would have this overwhelming sense that God has met you here that he has shown up spoken into the depth of your soul and let you know that you matter so I want to pray for you and for all the rest of us as we dive in tonight father thank you so much for the incredible way that you weave our lives together and how you bring people in our lives to pull us just a step closer to you and God I I just lift up everyone within the sound of my voice in these moments and God I ask you to do what only you can do to speak to each of us and the most intimate and profound way possible but you would whisper with such precision the words we need to hear that that no one could confuse it with my words or my thoughts and Jesus we're so grateful the two thousand years ago you stepped into human history the you God Himself decided to take on flesh and blood and then to give yourself as a sacrifice on our behalf so that through your death we might live and so we posture our hearts to hear your voice and we pray in your name amen you can have a seat [Applause] that was the weakest applause I have ever heard in my life there are times where I think ahead and I plan what I'm going to talk to you about sometimes weeks ahead sometimes months ahead and we'll even do a series wrapped around a particular theme or idea concept a journey that I want to take you on but this is one of those rare moments where I didn't even know I was doing a series and then I realized oh I'm doing a series but it actually began on a Wednesday night in Santa Monica at mosaic Venice and and I'm not sure why I was particularly inspired by that community but I began a series that I called how to stop being stupid and I've realized that that that theme has stayed with me over the last several weeks and that every talk I've given from that point forward has really been around this subject on how to stop being stupid and I've realized that it's a much more complicated thing because when you're stupid it's hard to stop being stupid because you don't know you're stupid you think you're smart and so there's a journey you have to go on you have to have a crisis of identity where you realize oh wow I'm really stupid but how did you come to that sometimes what you have to see is the outcome of your life because you cannot see the outflow of your life have you ever felt as if there's a ceiling on your life that you can't seem to break through the ceiling of your potential of your capacity if you have a ceiling that has been there for a while you might be doing something stupid now I know there are real ceilings Wow do I know they're real ceilings if you're a woman you know the ceiling is different for women than it is for men and you've hit that ceiling probably many times if you're an ethnic minority you know the ceiling is different for you and then for others and you can hit that ceiling see there are times where culture society environment relationships create ceilings for us that they impose them on us but I want to assure you that those ceilings can that's view from living the life the God created you to live the tragedy is not that there are external ceilings that have been placed on your life that are holding you down it's that the only ceilings that can keep you from living your life to your fullest potential are the ceilings you create for yourself in other words the ceiling may be you now some of you know this because you've been a part of our story for a while and if you don't know this is one most important facets of my life I I went to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill I am at our Sheila when you go to Chapel Hill you're always at our here you bleed Carolina blue I went to the same University in case you are unaware of this that Michael Jordan windchill and or maybe I should say Michael Jordan went to the same school I went to since I was there first I graduated in 81 he won the championship in 82 both of us made our contributions and and Michael Jordan when he went to play for the Chicago Bulls legend tells us always wore his Carolina shorts underneath his bull shorts because you're always a Tar Heel and Michael Jordan became probably the most iconic athlete in the world his brand is everywhere and last year he went to Carolina and he was at the Carolina Duke basketball game which is sort of one of those epic rivalries between good and evil and it's always good to know that those still exists like the Lord of the Rings there is still in this world of Mordor that you have to go and war against and it's so obvious which one is good and which one is evil because Duke is known as the Blue Devils and it doesn't matter what color you are you're still the devil as Michael Jordan is there and halftime of this basketball game and what he was actually releasing was that the Carolina football team is going to start wearing jordan gear and the gear is epic and now our football team looks amazing while they play terribly and while he was there he gave a speech and the speech was it was stirring as MJ would do and and he said something that's ended his speech that I'll never forget he said the ceiling is the roof I have no idea what that means but it's it sounds so profound that when he said it all of us just cheered yeah that's right it's so obvious why why why hasn't anyone ever said that before the ceiling is the roof and by the way if that's all you leave with today it should change your life the ceiling is the roof and I've been thinking about that ever since wondering did he misspeak did he actually say what he wanted to say did he means something else but he didn't want to retract it because he's MJ and in fact after that he just went viral and he just owned it shirts were made the ceiling is the roof here's a Michael Jordan says something it has to actually mean something but what if the ceiling is the roof but you don't know how to get from the ceiling to the roof what if your ceiling just keeps pressing you down see there's some of you and you're at an early transition in your life you've you're just in your early 20s and you're hitting some ceilings and and you may perceive that your ceilings are based on the consequences of your environment sometimes our ceilings are rooted in the past it seems we blame we blame our parents we blame our upbringing we blame the pain of the past week we blame things that that should be blamed but they can't be held responsible because there comes a certain point where you have to take responsibility for who you are and there's some of us then we carry that ceiling into our 30s see when it was there in our 20s we just see that as untapped potential but when you carry into your 30s you start wondering if it's well undeveloped potential and then when you carry to your forties well eventually people start thinking you're a tragedy of life and what you need to be careful of is that you will be stopped by the same ceiling over and over and over again because you keep making the same choice is over and over again because you keep choosing to be the same person over and over again so I'm gonna talk to you for a few moments on how to take the roof off so that you're not limited by your own choices and your own actions and your own self from becoming the person God created you to be and from living the life that God intended you to live and if you're here and you have the sense that there's a ceiling holding you back I want you to listen carefully tonight because sometimes the people that we think are holding us back are actually just propping us up because they haven't really spoken truth into our lives about what will bring change in our lives so I wanted to go back to the book of Proverbs don't read it a few select Proverbs because these are some of the observations that I've made in my life of what keeps people from breaking through the ceiling proverbs chapter 12 verse 15 and I chose the good news Bible because I like the language in the good news Bible because this is the continuation of the series how to not be stupid and so in proverbs 12 verse 15 it says stupid people I love that it's just so honest stupid people always think they are right wise people listen to advice see if you're gonna break the ceiling but you kid for yourself you need to learn how to listen to the right people because super people always think they're right and if you hear going wow this talk doesn't really have anything to do with me you might really need to listen if you're here and you're always right you really need to listen because stupid people always think they're right you know what's strange wise people are really aware of how often they're wrong and even when they're right they feel a sense of wrong but stupid people always think they're right they never have to justify their actions and never have to justify their choices because they think they're right and if you're here and you're always right I want to tell you you're not always right you're always stupid now I know you think I'm a didn't come to this to hear that I'm stupid what makes you think I'm talking to you stupid people always think they're right but wise people listen to counsel now this should be incredibly hopeful because sometimes it feels like what we need is talent that we just don't possess or we need intelligence that we just never gained or we need a level of education or training or skill sets that we just don't have available to us but here it is all you need to do is stop being stupid and by choosing to listen you begin to attack this pity in your own life and here's the crazy thing you never get so wise that you do not need advice see stupid people think that wise people don't need advice and that's why they're stupid see wise people need less advice and want it more wise people need less advice and seek it more stupid people need more advice and wants it less stupid people need more advice and seek it less so here's a great way of knowing from an outside observation if you fall on the stupid or wise spectrum if you're asking people for input and counsel in your life you're wise if you're just looking for people who agree with you you're being stupid in fact this is gonna the tricky thing because stupid people always pretend they're getting advice I hear it all the time oh no I sought counsel I went and got advice but you went to get advice from stupid people and you avoid the advice of the people in your life with wisdom you ever gone to a therapist you know don't volunteer that information it's just because you're in LA and pretty much everyone does and I mean if you haven't gone to therapy you're not trying right and we have multiple kinds of therapy right some of you only have friends because they're free therapists you know how you know that's what your friends are because you do all the talking where we're just going places tonight we're just going places the night cuz we're gonna break the whole district energy and and I would rather you get angry with me for telling you what you need to hear then looking at your life thirty years from now and wishing somebody had told you the truth you can be free from stupidity but you have to choose to start listening to wise people you know it's interesting the therapist that people love are the ones who tell you what you want to hear i-i've seen people go to counseling once and say I'm not going back I don't even I don't even get her I know who does he think he is he acts like he knows me he doesn't know you but he's listening and he he tells you something you don't want to hear that therapist doesn't know what they're talking about yeah that's what happens so many times even in spiritual life you'll go to church until someone actually tells you the truth you'll be on a spiritual path until someone actually begins to deal with your spirit and then you go who do they think they are judging me and so we can't speak into each other's lives we can't tell each other the truth and really do you ever get to the place in your life where you don't need people now here's the crazy thing we always want to speak into people's lives that we've not earned the right to be trusted by them and to speak into their life that's why we love gossip has if you're noticing gossip spreads faster than wisdom because gossip is salacious and it connects to the darkest part of us and wisdom causes us to act right but here's what I think is really fascinating along the way who you listen to will be the measure of your intelligence because if you listen to the wrong people they will make you dumber and if you listen to wise people they will actually make you smarter III I've had a lot of people it's funny comment on my shoes and because I started wearing shoes that don't match and now I'm now when I wear matching shoes it just feels wrong and I even today someone's like man I love that talk but where'd you get those shoes and and I was in Denmark I walk into a restaurant the owner of the restaurant cuz I think goes man I love your like style where'd you get those shoes he's bringing us free stuff all night long and man these shoes are taking me places and but I didn't come up with the idea of wearing these shoes this way I'm just gonna I'm just gonna own this tonight I haven't I haven't shared this truth because me and Mariah were in New York a couple of months ago when she and we walked into the Nike store she was home I want these shoes I'm gonna get one in each color and I'm gonna mix up so I tried to buy them for her but they did not have her size they did not have her size because Jesus wanted me to have those shoes and I and she was which was eating again I said oh I'm gonna get a bow and said Ann has an idea I'm gonna wear the opposite ones then we have two pairs and she gets so upset how dare you take my idea I said sweetheart that's why I'm so wise because I don't need to have the best idea I just need to find the best idea because I'm not stupid see there's some of you here somewhere along the way you convince yourself that you are smarter than everyone else that you're so smart that you don't need anyone's input in your life but we all need input in our lives and if you ever get to the place you don't think you need to learn you desperately need to learn so the first thing you need to do to break the ceiling is listen to the right people stop listening to the wrong people listen to proverbs 9 7 through 9 it says if you correct conceited people you will only be insulted if you reprimand evil people you will only get hurt never correct conceited people they will hate you for it but if you correct the wise they will respect you anything you say to the wise will make them wiser whatever you tell the righteous will add to their knowledge here's the beautiful thing I've had so many people in my life saying things to me when they did not hope the best for me they just wanted to destroy me or hurt me or condemn me or judge me and what I decided years ago is if I have people who have that much darkness directed my direction I'm gonna take whatever they say I'm gonna learn from it so even though they intended me harm what they did is they made me stronger because wise people learn from everyone those who are for them and those who are against them they don't care about the motive they just take that motivation to make themselves better listen to the right people walk with the right people see it's not only that you need learn how to listen but you need to learn how to walk and build together I don't know why but our culture is so built on this idea that you're not really mature and you're not really strong until you don't need anyone I actually think it's one of the reasons that that relationships at their very core and become so difficult because we keep acting like we don't need each other it's one of the reasons why we would rather be entertained in church than to be engaged in community because it's so much easier to receive inspiration in a moment than it is to dive in to the hard work of being a tribe of being a people together but there's a couple of images in Proverbs I think are so significant one is in proverbs 24 3 and 4 it says by wisdom a house is built and through understanding it is established through knowledge and it's rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures I love that say I want your house your life to be filled with rare and beautiful treasures and as you build that house you're gonna realize something very quickly if your life is a house it's a house you cannot build by yourself it's gonna take other people to help you build the life that is you in that crazy shouldn't you be able to build your own life by yourself but you do not build your own life by yourself you you can only build a great life with other people building into your life and you building into other people's lives so I love this image in that wisdom is building a house is the foundation of a house and when you build your house on wisdom you break the ceiling through knowledge as rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures I love proverbs 96 it's an incredible warning it says leave the company of ignorant people and lives Wow could there ever be a more powerful warning why is it matter who I spend time with because you will live if you choose the right people follow the way of knowledge now I know this is a fine line is this is not talking about being judgmental about other people but even sociologists tell us this that you are the sum total of the five most meaningful relationships in your life if you write down the five people in your life I can tell you who you are and more than that I can tell you who you becoming see this is the tricky thing or so often times drawn into the darkness of other people that it stuffs out the little bit of light we have in us who do you spend your time with what draws you in what conversations do you become a part of what are the core subjects that draw your community in together let me tell you if you spend time with people who are filled with bitterness and anger your future will be filled bitterness and anger if you spend your time with people who are apathetic and angry with the world your future is going to be an apathetic and angry world I can tell you what your future looks like by the people you hang with right now they are the material from which your future is being created and here's the beautiful thing though if you decide to spend your life with people who are full of hope and optimism your future is going to be full of hope and optimism if you want a future full [Applause] if you want a future full of faith and adventure you need to get around people full of faith in adventure by the way if you want a future fill with people who are filled with grace and compassion you have to live in a world where your giving and receiving grace and compassion who are your people like and and some of you going way I don't want to let my friends go but you see we make different friends at different stages in our life and if your life has been defied by anger and bitterness and jealousy and envy if your life has been defined by focusing on your brokenness and on your hurts if your life has been defined by living in the past those are the friends you've brought close to you and the great danger is the moment your soul longs for a different life and you say yes I want a different life you're gonna end up going back to those relationships and they're gonna pull you back because you're going somewhere they're not ready to go so you even have to take a hold of your relationship to go no those are the conversations we used to have because that's who I used to be but it's not who I am is that who I'm going to be [Applause] see some of us we're not proactive antagonists some of us are passive compliance allowing a negative future become who we are you have to decide will you be affected by the people in your life or will you affect the people in your life so you don't have to let anybody go but you have to let your past behavior go I think I know I'm gonna build something with my life God's changing me Jesus has changed my perspective my life is gonna be full of faith my life is gonna be full of hope my life is full of hope and if you want to go with me I want you to come with me and no matter how many times you stumble no my half times you fall no matter how many times we mess up we'll pick each other up and keep going forward but I refuse to be who I used to be because I'm becoming who God created me to be and I'm gonna live the future God intended for me then but you got to decide who you're gonna build with who are you gonna walk with where you can do life with I love proverbs 27:17 that says as iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another that's such a great image isn't it as iron sharpens iron you can see the two blades banging against each other and with those two blades banging against each other that creates friction and heat and fire but that's the only way those blades get sharpened and that's the metaphor for the way our lives are supposed to work together as iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another if you do not have meaningful intimate friendships in your life you are a dull blade because no one can get close enough to you to tell you the truth see sometimes we don't want to hear the truth if you know sometimes the truth that cuts so deep and it cuts us to the very point where we feel exposed but those are the relationships that we should keep those are the ones we should lean into when there's heat and sparks and it's making us both sharper and sharper and sharper that's that's why some people just choose to attend church rather than become the church because I talk to so many people I've gone to church but you know people hurt me and and people disappointed me and people let me down well welcome to humanity but guess what you're the same species and if the church can't be a place where we sharpen and sharpen and sharpen each other and get better and better and stronger and stronger then where in the world can you go you have to be able to be transparent and safe this has to be a place where you're authentic and real this has to be the the most dangerous place in the world because you'll never stay the same and the safest place in the world because you'll never ever be judged or condemned for where you are as you're moving to where you're going and that's a great tension isn't it as iron sharpens iron so one sword sharpens another who's in your life telling you the truth hoots speaking things into your life to make you better who is inspiring you to get better and be better I took me straight up I've been alive too long to spend my time with people who just want to hang I get emails and texts all the time give a go in fact I was just walking down Larchmont the other day to get something to drink in between writing and somebody stops me and we begin the conversation I'd love to you know just have I don't like I don't do just Hank I just I just don't I mean I know I know I should maybe but I just don't do just Hanks these cuz I'm about something I'm trying to do something meaningful with my life and and I I only have time for people were determined to be the best of who they are now I don't care if you're at the beginning of the process I think that's awesome I love watching you just break out into your greatness but if you just want someone to console you as you live a life of apathy you're gonna have to stay in that sauna without me because I'm looking for people who don't complain about the ceiling but they break the ceiling let me tell you the only way you will ever break the ceiling is to make sure that you don't break and the way you don't break is you realize you can't do life alone I used to get irritated when people would say things like you know religion is just for the weak and and when I came to faith and people say you know you gave your life to God because you just weren't strong enough to do this on your own I just wanted to like I just bristle and it made me so angry because it was true what else can I say you're right I came to the realization I couldn't do life alone and and then this is gonna be in the realizing oh only stupid people think they can do life alone I mean if you think you can do this life without God okay maybe I'll give you that one for a minute that you think you can do the life that you're created to do without the Creator who created you to do it alright I just give you that one for a moment but the idea that you can do your life without people how did you get to that you cannot do life without people you cannot live the life you're crazy live without people you cannot accomplish your dreams without people you cannot without your intention without people you cannot build a house without others helping you build it because I was a builder I built buildings and and I know it takes all kinds of people with all kinds of specializations and and all kinds of talented skills and someone lays the foundation someone does the roof work someone you know does the the sheetmetal everyone has something different to do and everyone has different talents and ghosts and you need people in your life to help you become great and by the way you need God it's it's insane to try to do this life without the God who created you and Timmy that's one the most liberating things of the world to go okay god I need to listen to wisdom so I can break the ceiling but I I need to walk with the right tribe with my community to move art and God created you to walk with Him and to walk with his people so that together you can create something bigger than yourself but by the way just a little side note this is so cool IIIi had these friends and they in the seven years we've been here they've never walked into this building but but they found their faith basically through a mosaic and and they came to a deep relationship with Jesus because of mosaic and they listened to the live stream in podcast and they'll probably be listen to this and we were together and he said hey you know you guys give at the end of the year for your foundation this is the beginning of the year and I wanna I want to kind of like inspire giving that's awesome so what do you wanna do and he wasn't really so clear at first you know I just I want you to use me inspired giving just figure out a way and and I started texting him he goes here let's do this he goes I'll give $25,000 if someone at mosaic will match me and go 25,000 okay that's a good way to start and and and so that's the challenge I put out today there's someone there's this couple who will give $25,000 if someone at mosaic will rise up and give $25,000 now I know some of you would love to give that but you don't make $25,000 in the entire year but there's some of you here who are pretending you're that person and you could give it and they're saying is iron sharpens iron they want to just inspire someone so I threw that out today and there is a couple I don't even know who they are I don't even recognize his name and they send an email and they said we would love to meet that challenge and and this is so cool in fact they use the word delighted so we're delighted to meet his challenge and then we'd like to send him a challenge that will give $50,000 that he'll match the fifty thousand choo-choo sword sharpening sword and I read that I thought who this is getting good this is this is like Braveheart and so I sent that text with that not a lot of detail I just sent their email attached I said man things are happening and I thought he'd keep reading and then he email you back he goes this is awesome so we'll just give $100,000 I realized oh that's why these people are rich it's because they love challenges because they don't want to give themselves to small things into small dreams and the small passions into small visions they're inspired when there's greatness involved so I want to challenge some of you here right now you need to respond to this this is your challenge and maybe you're the 25,000 of the 50,000 or 100,000 and maybe you're going I'll match them and raise them I just can't believe somebody here is that kind of person because we build together never alone so you need to listen to wise counsel you need to walk with the right people but here's the hardest one it doesn't sound very spiritual but it's in the Bible you need to work harder than everybody else see if there's a real ceiling in your life just accept something no one's gonna move that ceiling for you you're gonna have to move it and if you created your own ceiling because you are your own ceiling no one can break it for you you have to do it and the only way you can do this you have to decide I want to step into the fullness or what God created me to live whatever price I have to pay and I love this that the Bible makes so much about work listen to this proverbs 13 for now we've been talking about stupid people but we're gonna expand we're going to talk about stupid lazy people but don't worry it's not talking about you listen to this no matter how much a lazy person they want something how bad you want it he will never get it oh so straight see there are people in cafes everywhere in their life talking about the life they want with other people talking about the life they want and all them are agreeing on how the industry is stopping them from fulfilling their dreams no one sees my talent no one recognizes me it's the man who is the man I've seen so I walked into a store stop the man give it to the man go against who is the man see sometimes you're the man and you're a woman see sometimes the problem is we want life to come to us but we're not willing to fight for it no matter how much a lazy person may want something he will never get it so I can tell you even if you believe in Jesus if you're lazy you will never live the life that God created you to live because Jesus died for your sins but you have to work through your stupidity and he calls you into your destiny but you have to step into your determination God gives you the opportunity but you have to bring the desire proverbs 13 11 says the more easily you get your wealth the sooner you will lose it I think that one's really important that explains the whole lottery thing that explains Las Vegas you just smell the stench of despair everywhere is it amazing that people can win hundreds of millions of dollars in an instant and be devastated within years because the more easily you get your wealth wealth the sooner you will lose it there are some of you who are trust fund children I've known so many people that were given a hundred million dollars by their parents or their grandparents and they're paralyzed and cannot find an internal compass with which to live their lives because you got it too easily you didn't work for it see when you work for your wealth you actually build the character to carry that wealth forward well that's why he says the more easily you get your wealth the sooner you will lose it the harder it is to earn the more you'll have that makes me really hopeful because if it's the harder it is to earn it's been really hard and since the more you'll have so I'm gonna have a lot I mean it's common because I've been working really really hard and it hasn't come easy proverbs 12:24 says hard work will give you power some of you feel powerless you keep hoping someone will give you power but here the Scriptures tell us hard work will give you being lazy will make you a slave see no one is gonna force you to live the life God created you to love people will be happy if you settle for less they will be thrilled if you will be their employee or if you will be their tool or if you will be their slave but until you step into your own hard work you will not define or create your future nothing will give you more room to create your future then getting up every day and giving it everything you have in Proverbs 12 27 says if you are lazy you will never get what you are after but if you work hard you will get a fortune it was amazing I think it was over a month ago I I did a talk on now sharpening your edge and in that I made a statement when you take a paycheck that is a social contract for you to bring your best and I've had such a fallback from that statement in fact someone even recently came to me and said when I heard that I knew I had to resign and what's amazing to me is that in our lives we don't have to wait for an opportunity to be great you have to decide to get up and bring your best see what I hope for us is that we become the kind of community that whatever your your desire is whatever your intention is whatever your career is whatever your direction is is that you never settle for mediocrity that you never accept who you are today is who your going to be tomorrow that you will actually decide I'm gonna break the ceiling in my life who I am today is not who I'm going to be tomorrow and let me tell you there are people who will want to hold you back because they want to see you as you were and not as you're becoming and if you don't find the strength they say I'm gonna do the hard work of becoming the person that God created me to be I'm into the hard work of creating a different future everyone who knew you in the past will hold you to the past that's the beautiful thing about being in a community that's leaning forward see when you're creating your future you begin to applaud someone when they begin to move into their future when you're building a better world you applaud and celebrate everyone else who's trying to build a better world one of the beautiful things that happens in life is that when you begin to break your ceiling ceilings begin to break all around you because your life becomes hope that their life can be filled with hope I love writing books it's a hard process and whenever I finish the manuscript I have to send it to an editor and I think they're employed by the devil and I've had a lot of different editors over the years and editors always have to fight for the reader that's what they always tell me we fight for the reader so that when your book goes out it can be most accessible for the reader in and I have a particular contract where no one can change any of my words every word and my books are mine but they can say anything they want and they can give me all the input they want and I get a lot of input and one of the most challenging things is that process when you disagree with an editor and some days you love them and some days you hate them and but you have to have thick skin because you're giving your heart and soul down on text to another human being and then they're just cutting it to pieces and recently or last year Aaron and I went up to Colorado to the publishing company and he had this great idea of taking them gifts and just thanking them for all their hard work he's the dad just keep this positive and so we went up there and I kept it positive it's just the whole time just thanking them for the hard work affirming them for what a great job they've done for celebrating the last arrowing and then the the senior editor pulled me into a private room and he goes hey we need to have a conversation and I said about what he goes you know about the editing process and I said no no this is this is a positive meeting I'm here just to affirm and celebrate and he goes no no we need to have a talk but I know you're not happy editorial process and no that's for another time you were just here just to celebrate and and he just kept saying look I'm not gonna leave until you have this conversation with me I kept thinking how Aaron keeps saying dad no critiques no critiques and just just affirmed them and and and I said okay let's have this conversation so he closed the door we sat down it was all right how can we help you from our end with our editorial process and I said you're just way too nice is what I said you're just too kind you write all these nice notes all the way through the manuscript and I don't really need that I just need you to be brutal I just need your critique I just need you to be harsher just just straight-up tell me what's bad what's good no I don't even tell me what's good just tell me what's bad I'm just gonna assume it's good to you tell me it's bad and and he goes you're complaining because we're not being critical enough said exactly because you're the first author in our history who's ever complained about that and he said in fact we get worse manuscripts from people who want less critique this is the basket of gun and you want more critique as I said straight up you know what the difference is I want to be great I want my books to be great I want you to want my books to be great I don't want you to settle for anything less I want you to cut and cut and cut at the depth of my soul until we come out with the best work of art humanly possible let me tell you that's what I want for you that's what I want for us I want this to be the kind of place we just get better and better and better I want this we got a place that you cannot survive it if you choose me the Aqua team I want to see the kind of place you choose another Church busy going they're calling me too too much you can leave here because then called you too too much but not because we've expected too little because your life matters too much for us to think less of you there's too much in you too much talent too much gifting too much passion too much intelligence too much of God's imprints in your life for us to believe that this is all there is for you there's more there's more there's more it's time to take the roof off because if you haven't heard it anywhere else the ceiling is the roof but the ceiling looks like the limit so you're gonna jump out the window we'll up the fire escape get on the roof and see the view from there so what I want you to do right now they want to ask you a simple question are you ready to step into the life you were created for some of you that means you need to cross the line of faith right now and you need to give your life to Jesus you need to stop trying to do life alone and just own it and say God I need you that's why Jesus came that's why he died on the cross that's why he rose from the dead for you and for me for us there's no ceiling that can stop you when Jesus is the one you're walking with would you just bow your head to me just for a moment just close your eyes if you're here right now and you're ready to trust Jesus with your life you're ready to receive his forgiveness and his freedom his love his grace if you're ready to cross the line of faith I want you to pray this simple prayer right now Jesus I give you my life that's it just one simple sentence it's not everything that you and God need to talk about but it's the right beginning it's the start of a conversation that will last forever right now just whisper to him Jesus I give you my life right now Jesus I give you my life just open your heart to him right now if you'll give him your life he will give you his life and that's where life begins right now just whisper Tom Jesus I give you my life Jesus I give you my life is that your prayer I want to pray for you because in this moment you've crossed from death into life and everything begins than you in this moment right now if you prayed this prayer and said Jesus I give you my life I want to pray for you but I want you to raise your hand high and say yes that's me beautiful right away beautiful anyone else right now just hold your hand up high wonderful all over the room anyone else right now this is your moment you've stepped across the line of faith you've said Jesus I give you my life this is your moment right now anyone else so beautiful all over the room father I thank you for those that in this moment have crossed the line of faith and trusted you with their life I pray Lord God that you just wrap them up in your love and let them know they belong to you she'll never leave them or abandon them and God in this moment there's been a great exchange they have given you their life you have given them your life and I pray that God this day would be a marker for them the beginning of new things we were so grateful father we celebrate new lives and we pray in Jesus name Amen we just thank God for all those if you guys would just indulge me for a moment turn that TV back on can you camera it just went off there you are is that back on because there some of you we're listening on a live stream there's some of you who are listening on the podcast and I'm just absolutely convinced the guide is speaking into your life that Jesus has reached into the private spaces of where you are and he's calling you to himself and whether you're listening here in Los Angeles or whether you're in New York or whether you're in London or Berlin or ever you may be around the world I just want to challenge you in this moment to tell someone that you've had a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ because you're a part of mosaic whether you realize it or not you're a part of our community email us and let us know that you've come to know him we want to know we want to celebrate with you we want to pray with you and then there's some of you here and you're watching across the world and this is your community and if God is investing in your life I want to challenge you to invest in the life of this community there's some of you out there and for you $25,000 is what you drop for dinner and I mean it'd be a great meal and uh but I just want to challenge some of you because this community gives so much to invest in the lives of people are in the world and so in this moment I would invite those of you around the world to invest in this community because as you do that one by one people's lives are forever changed and that makes it worth it all because I know this whatever future God has for you whatever life you're supposed to live it can only be lived when we invest in each other's lives and we do it together and that's why I just want to encourage you if you made a private decision today to give your life to Jesus don't leave it private make it public connect to people walk with others and watch what God will do [Applause] we sing out to the one [Music] to [Music] No No I see [Music] to you we [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you to [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hey Wells a good tonight was special wasn't it now what what a gift that we have to it week after week after week BB poured in to be spoken life into that week after week after week we have the privilege of having an incredible pastor who who does not just talk it but he lives it and so I feel like tonight we need to give honor where honor is due and we need to thank pastor Erwin for all he has given to this road man tonight was special and then we know there's a lot of you here that it was a little extra special because for the first time you took the huge risk and you said God if you're out there if you are real if you are who you say you are I'm ready to receive your love and today you made a decision that it is the best decision you've ever made your entire life and when you said yes to God you allowed his love to crash into your soul and we want to celebrate that with you and so if that was you here today and there's so many hands there's so many people taking that step what we love to do and we exit out these back doors there's an area called next step and I'll be there our team will be there some of the friendliest people you'll ever meet will be there we just want to give you a hug if you're not a hugger just go with it for like seven seconds all right you want to give you a big hug and we want to give you a Bible as a gift and on this Bible we put a sticker on it says you belong here so what you when you carry it to know that everywhere you go you're a part of a bigger tribe than just yourself and we want to just celebrate that with you what an incredible week we've been a part of this Sunday hey this week here's our mantra don't be stupid all right let's live it out god bless you we love you you [Music] you

Channel: Mosaic

Views: 8,901

Rating: 4.9101124 out of 5

Keywords: Worship, ErwinMcManus, MosaicMSC, Church, LosAngeles, Faith, Mosaic, Mosaic Church, hillsong, elevationchurch, hillsongunited, lakewoodchurch, citychurch, judahsmith, bethelchurch

Id: Li6ZVP2vLnI

Length: 58min 35sec (3515 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 05 2018