>> DAVID NASSER: Hey, our special guest today
really has been known by many of us as someone who brought that before us in a book that
has just been an impactful book in the lives of so many in this room: Crazy Love. I think when we read that book by Pastor Francis
we're reminded of that great love that God has for us and how that crazy love- how we
would define it and our words fall short, right? How we would define it as crazy love, only
then makes us be able to, to reflect that love in a crazy way as well. You guys know what I mean when I say that
Francis Chan's books have just had an incredible impact in the life of this generation. He's one of the very few people that we've
watched in the last five or six years, very publicly, evolve in a sense of ministry, and
mission, and purpose in his life. And that in itself has been a really great
testimony and lesson. Um I think about ten years ago, when I first
met Francis, he was the pastor in California and it was at an event and we were together. You were at Cornerstone, and I just remember
at that time just, um, sitting under his teaching and thinking wow, what a gifted communicator,
what a humble brother! Just since then we've all kind of watched-
God brought him in a very international sense before us, from speaking at Passion and just
being a great author and the Stop and Think video, you know, Francis with the surf board
coming down, millions of people watched it, you know, um. And then after we watched him kind of be raised
up in stature as God does with people then all of the sudden we see him in that very
season just come into, uh, a new season of identity and a new season of figuring out
what God wanted from him in the next generation and he left Cornerstone and became a church
planter, um, basically in the San Francisco area. For the past five years they've been serving
in San Francisco in a church that looks very different from Cornerstone. And we just continue to watch this man grow
and, um, we all get to look into his life and pray for him and at the same time we watched
him just, uh, be a real example of what, um, next generational missional living looks like,
what 'reprecational' church needs to look like, what multiplication needs to look like. But all that to say that we've all been impacted,
so we want to glorify God by honoring our brother and thanking him for what he's done
for Kingdom work. We, we, Francis, love. We're glad you're here brother. You're at home. >> FRANCIS CHAN: It's been a while since I've
been at Liberty. Last time uh, they made me wear a tie. Um, so I didn't come back. And uh, I've been following; you guys are
on the news like all the time. Um, and that actually played in my mind. I thought, you know what, I could say some
things right now that would put me on the news tonight. And so it gets in your head and so I go, I
better not. Let's just get into the Word. Um so lets turn to "One" Peter chapter four. As you're turning there, you know I just want
to, I want to share some things that the Lord has been teaching me. As David says, you know there's been like
this evolving, this changing in my life. And I hope that's true of all of us. You know it's weird to me that Christians,
you know people who call themselves Christians, don't like change because change is at the
core of who we are. That's like the core of the gospel is about
change. That's what repent means as you're heading
one direction, you turn from it because you're constantly changing or constantly repenting
and going, gosh, that wasn't quite like Christ. That wasn't quite biblical so let me keep
changing, changing, and changing so our lives, our ministries should constantly be changing. When you find yourself in the same place five
years later, you probably have some changing to do. You probably have some repenting to do. I was recently in China and I saw the most-
uh a few cheers, Chinese- and I saw the most beautiful church I'd ever seen. You know, and again it changed me again. I went to Beijing, Shanghai, all the big places,
but then I went to this little village. It was so cool. I went to this little village a couple hours
away from the closest big city and there's a little mountaintop. This is the way a lot of China lives. There was just 70 families living on this
little mountaintop, growing their own rice, and corn, and had their animals. It was like "wow", it's like you were transported
back in time and they're just self-sufficient right there. But this little village, they had all become
believers. So you had these 70 Christian families that
all started worshipping the Lord together and studying the Scriptures together, and
it was just, it was so cool. But the greatest thing about it was that as
they read the Scriptures they got so convicted about caring for the widows and orphans they
all began adopting kids. And so these 70 families adopted 160 children. And every one of these children had special
needs. It was the most breathtaking environment where
you're just walking around and these people with so much joy, 24/7, are carrying some
of these kids around that can't even walk and so many with mental these difficulties. And they're just loving them, loving them
with so much joy. And I'm going, man, anyone on earth that would
see this village and go to this village would just be floored, going, how do you do this? You guys just give everything up. You sacrifice. When you sign up for that type of ministry,
you're signing up for a life. You don't just visit that once a month. You don't visit that for an hour a week. You're taking people into your house, crazy
needs, and you're just loving them, adoring them in the name of Christ. And so I never went to a church service there. I didn't have to go to a church. When I say the church was beautiful I'm saying
that's what Christ wanted was a bride that everyone would look like and go, "Are you
kidding me? Who does that? Who loves like that?" And it just made me want to be a part of a
church where people walk in and they see that type of love. Sacrifice- that's what it means to be a light
in the world. That's what it means to be a city on a hill. You know, that is just shining so bright that
everyone goes, "How do you do that? How do you do that? How do you be so selfless?" The whole time I'm there I'm going, God, make
me like these people. Make me like these people. Help me become- I wake up, I think about myself
way too much. They wake up in the middle of the night thinking
about other, caring about others. I want to be that way. I want the bride of Christ, to be that beautiful
in our own country. That's what I'm praying for. That's what I'm pursuing. And then I was speaking to this underground
church leader while I was there and he was describing the whole movement and he was talking
about- how did this church with no big name preacher, no salary, no nothing, no public
- how did it grow to these millions and millions and millions of people? And he was naming the five pillars of that
Chinese underground church. And the last pillar is what hit me, because
I thought, woah, I've never heard that in America. He says one of the things- we're committed
to the Bible, we're committed to prayer, we're committed to everyone sharing the gospel. We're committed to just a regular expectation
of miracles, and then goes, that fifth pillar is we're committed to embracing, we embrace,
suffering for the glory of Christ. I was like, we embrace suffering? For the glory of Christ? Wait, that's one of your five? You embrace suffering for the glory of Christ? But then when I start racking my brain and
thinking through the New Testament I'm going, man that is so biblical. That's all over the New Testament. It's everywhere. We don't talk about it a lot, but you can
turn to any book in the New Testament and see it's been a suffering, suffering, suffering
as a good thing and something we are supposed to embrace. I began to think, man if you have a group
of people who embrace suffering for the glory of Christ you have an unstoppable force. You really do, because why do quit things? Well, it got too hard. I started to suffer. I got rejected too much and so I just quit. But what if you have a group of people that
go, "I actually like to suffer." You know, because according to the Bible I'm
supposed to rejoice in my suffering. According to the Bible I rejoice and I'm so
glad when I suffer because my reward is great and I'm actually living for eternity. So every time I suffer I'm thinking, "That's
great! That's eternal reward!" That's the way the apostles were, right? They're taken to court, they're beaten up,
and what do they do? They run out rejoicing they were counted worthy
of the gospel. So the whole world's going, "How do we stop
these guys?" We persecute them and they're actually happy
about it. And that's what I saw in so many underground
church leaders. They were just with great joy talking about
their persecuted and I was just like, man, this is so opposite, so opposite of the way
we think. The way we're taught is follow Jesus and you'll
get this, this, this, this, this. It's going to be great and then if something
goes wrong we go, when we suffer, we go, "something's off." It didn't work for me. In First Peter chapter 4, he says, "Since
therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking for
whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin." He says since therefore Christ suffered in
the flesh, that's what Jesus did and he's our role model right? He's our example. And he say's "since Christ suffered in the
flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking." Arm yourselves with the same kind of thinking. Arm yourselves. Think of armor. One of my kids, I have seven kids; one of
my kids plays baseball. And every time he puts on his battling helmet
I throw something at him. It's just like this instinct. It’s awesome! When your kid has a helmet on, it's tempting
to throw a ball at his head. And so I do. I'll hit him in the head; I'll throw things
at his head. I'll just bounce a golf ball off his head. It's just, because it doesn't hurt. That's the idea for armor, you know? It's just, "Go ahead and throw that. If I had a suit of armor it would be fun to
just go, "everyone just throw something at me." And it doesn't hurt you anymore. And that's the idea here. He says I want you to arm yourselves with
this way of thinking. Since Christ suffered in the flesh, put on
the armor of thinking this way. See, when you have the mentality of- Christ
suffered, I'm going to suffer- then when the suffering comes it doesn't hurt you like it
does, and it doesn't confuse you like before. Because you were already thinking, I'm waiting
for it. I'm waiting for it. It's going to happen. Jesus, he armed his disciple with that type
of thinking, right? He says look, John 15, if the world hates
you keep in mind- it hated me first. If you are of the world, the world would love
you as it's own. If they persecuted me, guess what they're
going to do for you? They're going to persecute you so think about
this ahead of time. Are you sure you want to deny yourself, pick
up your cross, and follow me? And that's why Jesus is saying; rejoice in
that day, he says. Arms of Jesus, it says that Jesus said, I
did not come to be served, but to serve and give my life as a ransom for many. Now this mindset is coming to the earth. Jesus didn't come down to the earth thinking,
"Everyone is going to love me." Everyone is going to worship me. No one's going to reject me. No, he says I came to serve and I knew I was
going to give my life. I knew there was going to be rejected. This is what I came for. See and if we entered into our church gatherings
thinking, I'm going there to give me life. I'm going there to sacrifice for them. We arm ourselves with that mindset. We're not going to be let down. We go in the world arming ourselves with,
I'm going to be rejected just like Jesus, but I actually want to become like Him. We're not going to be let down. But most of us don't arm ourselves with that
way of thinking. And then he says an interesting thing. He says for whoever has suffered in the flesh
has ceased from sin. So as to live for the rest of the time in
the flesh, no longer for human passions, but for the will of God. Whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased
from sin. Whoever has suffered has ceased. That means you cannot stop sinning unless
you suffer. I don't know if anyone's told you that, but
he's saying right here- it requires suffering. If you're going to cease from sin, yes, do
you have the Holy Spirit in you? Yes. Do you have the Spirit who, who inwardly makes
you a slave to what's right? Yes. And will you suffer in the defeating of sin? Absolutely. And if you don't suffer, you're not going
to conquer your sin. Yeah, I work with a lot of addicts. I don't know if you've ever seen someone come
off of like heroine- ok, two people are into China, one guy's into heroine- but I don't
know if you've seen people kick heroin, but you don't kick heroin without suffering and
screaming. It's like, ah, you just feel like you're going
to go nuts. And that's the way you kick things. You don't cease from them. You know ahead of time, ok, I'm going to detox
from this, and this is going to be miserable. Say, I talk to so many people who say, "Oh
but I prayed, I prayed that God would take away my desire for alcohol but He didn't. I prayed that God would take my desire for
pornography away and He didn't." And I'm going, oh, ok so basically you wanted
God to get rid of the sin without you suffering. You wanted all the desire just to be gone. While the Bible says you don't defeat your
sin unless you suffer. It's suffering to kick pornography. It's looking at your phone and thinking, no
I'm not going to go there. With everything- I'm not going to go there. It's suffering to end a relationship that
isn't right in the sight of God. You don't want a Friday just going all by
myself, and I had to say no to that person. It's suffering, all of our sin. If we want to cease sinning, we must suffer. And so arm yourselves, know going into it. That's what addicts do. I'm going to go into a detox and it's going
to be miserable. But I'm going to do this because it's right,
because I love God, and I'm ready for this. I'm going to go share my faith and I'm going
to be rejected, but I'm going to suffer through this. And it's going to be a good thing. The next verse, verse three, it says- sorry,
my throat's getting really dry- verse three. "For the time that is past suffices. The time that is past suffices for doing what
the gentiles want to do. Living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness,
orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this there is surprise when
you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you. But they'll give account to Him who's ready
to judge the living and the dead." But let's go back to the verse: for the time
that has past suffices for doing what the gentiles want to do. Living in sensuality, passions. Can you honestly say that? The time that is past suffices. Are you sitting here today going, you know
what? All that garbage I was involved in, I've had
enough. It suffices. I did it enough. I went down that road enough to know I don't
want that for my life anymore. Or are you secretly here going, I want to
go a little bit further in this? I kind of miss that old- and I'm just a little
bit longer. Just a little bit longer. It's just not enough. You know what, I lived a nice little Christian
life and avoided a lot of this stuff and I just want to just- I never really. I don't have that great of a testimony so
let me go a little bit further in my sin and then I'll turn it around. Or, are you the person that goes, you know
what? I had enough of the world to know I've had
enough. I don't need anymore. It's enough. He goes, come on. Haven't you had enough to where it's like-
Ok, I'm done. I'm going to check myself in. I'm done with all of that. I actually want God. I'm tired of living in this tension of wanting
both. I want God. But I know there's some of you right now-
you're listening to this and going, ah, not yet, not yet. There's still time. There's still time. I'll wait for later. Maybe next semester. Maybe next New Year's. And you just find yourself going right back
to it. And it's like Peter says, you're like a dog
that returns to its vomit or a pig after he's been washed off. A pig goes right back to the mud. Now why does a pig to back to the mud? Someone answer this. You're college students! Because he's a pig, yeah. It's his nature. You can wash me off, but I'm going to run
back to the pig. I'm going to run back to the mud. I'm going to get dirty again. It's just what I do. And so you can wash me off, but I'm just going
to go right back. Why? He's a pig. That's the point of the passage. There's this time when you're a slave to sin
because that's just what you are. You just keep going back. You can't help it. That's your nature. What God can do- and this is what I'm praying
for- here, is that He can change your very nature. We aren't here to wash you off so at one point
you just go back to the same junk, because it's who you are. You're a pig. You're a slave to sin. You can't help it. You keep running back. What Christ says, I offer you, is I'll actually
put my spirit- this is insane- I'll put my Holy Spirit inside of you, and now you become
a slave to what's right. And you actually gravitate to what's right. And when you start dabbling this way you're
like- I can't do it anymore, I can't do it anymore. That's why it says all of your friends, that
whole crowd; they're bewildered by you. Why don't you keep doing this? You know? Like man, I don't know! It's like I see the mud. I used to love the mud, but I've just had
enough of the mud and something changed in me. Now I actually long to be right. It's the craziest thing. I've been transformed! Now, is there suffering? Yes, but I'm telling you, my mind is just
different. It's like I want what is right, and the old
me, I'm done. I'm done. I don't want to go back to the vomit. I look at the mud, and I don't-One of our
guys that I minister to- I work with a lot of guys coming out of prison- one guy still
had warrants for his arrest. And we're like, dude, you've got to go back. And he's like, "Ok, everyone lay hands on
me. I've got to go turn myself in." He comes before the judge, and he just goes:
"Look, when you read all the things, it's weird, but it's like I'm not a part of a program
right now. It's not like a program. There's something in me where I'm like disgusted
when you name the things that I did in the past. It's like I don't even long for it, you know
just stand before the judge and say, it's a new person that I am. Something changed on the inside." And when I look at a crowd like this I've
just got to go, man it's easy to be in a room and environment when you're constantly being
washed off, but what happens when you're alone? What happens when you leave here? What happens when you're no longer in this
type of gathering when there's not that much mud around? What's inside? You've been changed by the Holy Spirit where
you're just longing, longing, longing for what's right. Because the Spirit's in you, because you know
Him. You see, I don't tell a lot of people this. This is probably the biggest crowd I've ever
told. So it's just between us, because nothing here
goes public. I
just don't like to say, but my dad was a preacher. And I don't like to say it, because my relationship
with God has nothing to do with my dad. I don't know if that makes sense, but I don't
want anyone to think you're a preacher's kid so you became a preacher. No, I fell in love with Jesus so deeply. I mean, I didn't even understand my dad's
faith. I don't even know much about his. It's just it was something in me where it's
like I had this experience with God and I fell in love with Him. It didn't matter what any of my friends, and
my whole family could leave, God I don't care. It's like me and you. God, I love you so much, and I don't care
what anyone else thinks. I love you! I believe you sent your son to die for me,
you know? And it's like everything in me, like the Bible
says, its screaming, Abba, Daddy, you're mine. You're mine. You're mine. It has nothing to do with a job, position,
my family; it's me. He's changed me. He's rescued me, and is that true of you? Where it's something inside that has nothing
to do with your environment. And you see the beauty of Christ and you go,
ok, I'll do that. I'll do that. I'll suffer in your name. I will suffer in your name. Not for any other reason than I love you,
and you've changed who I am from the inside out. You know, he goes on. For this is why the Gospel was preached, even
to those who are dead. That though judged in their flesh, the way
people are, they might live in the Spirit the way God does. The end of all things is at hand, therefore,
be self controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers. I know you guys are going to have a prayer
chapel, and I love that because it's something we've lost in this generation. When we're jumping from one thing to another
to be able to focus. And yet that's what the verse says. The end of all things is at hand. It's going to be over at any point. He goes, therefore, be self controlled and
sober minded for the sake of your prayers. It's an interesting verse to me because usually
when we think of prayer we think prayer as a means to an end. I'm going to pray so that I can get this. It's a means to an end. Here, prayer is the goal. He goes, I want you to be sober minded and
self-controlled so you can pray. The goal is being in tune with God, but when
you're filling your mind with so much junk and you're not exercising self-control. Every movie that comes up I've got to see
it. Every cool video clip, I've got to see it. I want to see what everyone's doing on Facebook,
and then you go to pray and try to tune all of this stuff out of your mind and it's just
like- bam, bam, bam. You're mind's just going everywhere, and that's
why the Bible says show some self-control. Your prayer time, you know, how good your
prayer time is largely depends on what you did before hand and whether you were controlling
all of the stimulation. You know, so that when you're there it's like
I'm zoned in. Self-controlled, sober minded for the sake
of your prayers, why? Because the end of all things is at hand! Because Jesus could return, and when Jesus
returns if there's one thing you want to have right in your life it's your prayer life. It's your connection with Him. So that when He returns you're like: "I was
just talking to you!" You know, it was just, you know right? I mean isn't that the one thing you want more
than anything when Christ returns is to be known by Him. You know, where He goes, I know the one thing
you asked, the one thing you sought for, was just to be in my presence. So you disciplined yourself, you showed self-control
and got all that other stuff out of your life so that you could be zoned in on me. And here I am, the one you've been waiting
for. There's my bride. There you are, honey. Get over here at this marriage supper of the
lamb because I love you. I love you. I love you. They will tune out all of the distractions
and just zone in on you. It's kind of like in the basketball games. I don't know if you guys do it here, but when
the guy's shooting free throws and everyone in the stands is waving their hands, screaming. They have those big finger things, whatever,
those big thunder sticks, all of that and this guy's just trying to look at the goal. You know just looking at that basket and going,
I'm not going to look at anything else, nothing else. I'm just blocking it out of my mind. It’s just me, this ball. Meanwhile, everything's grappling at you. And I just think that's life. That's life, and the Bible says show some
self control. Don't look. Don't look. I know, don't look there, don't look there,
just zone in on me. Zone in on me. Be able to pray to me. "Above all, keep loving one another earnestly,
since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve
one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles
of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order
that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and
ever. Amen." But then look at verse 12: "Beloved, do not
be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something
strange were happening to you." He goes, when the fiery trial come, don't
act like something weird is happening. Like what? Why are my friends rejecting me? Like what? Why am I suffering right now? Man, we're in a war you guys! You don't stand in a war and go, why is everyone
shooting at me? You know? It shouldn't be a shock. He's telling you, and when he says fiery trial,
he meant fiery trial. Many people say this was written during the
time of Nero when Nero would take Christians, pour gasoline all over them, and just light
them on fire to light up his own personal garden. So people are watching this, like whoa, this
is insane! Look what he just did to that guy. And Peter just goes, why does that surprise
you? This is what Jesus said would happen. Look what they did to Him on the cross. What did you think they were going to do with
you? Don't be surprised by this, that's what I'm
saying. We're in this weird culture in American Christianity
when we get surprised when we suffer. We expect health, wealth, and luxury and that's
not what Jesus promised here on the earth. And so Peter's going, why are you guys so
shocked by this? Do not be surprised; expect it, and in fact
don't just expect it, but in the next verse, rejoice so as far as you share Christ's sufferings
that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. If you're insulted for the name of Christ
you're blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. Don't just expect it, but rejoice in it. And I thought about his and I thought, man,
this is what Christ taught. This is what He taught in the beatitudes,
the was the Sermon on the Mount. This is what He started with. You've got to learn how to rejoice when you
suffer for doing the right thing. He goes on and says, not for sin; I'm saying
rejoice because you suffer for your sins. Like: "Ah, yes I'm hung over!" It's not that, but when you rejoice because
suffer for doing something good that's what we're called to do. And I though, ok, all through the New Testament
it teaches this. And I thought have I ever- I'm 48 years old-
have I ever had one person in my whole life that when I was suffering in minister or whatever,
has anyone ever come alongside of me and told me to rejoice in it? Ever? Has anyone ever done that to you? No, because when you go through a difficult
time Christians come along and go "It will get better. It's going to get better, the sun will come
out. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel." It's all this, “Oh that's so unfair. We can change that. They did that to you? Let's retaliate. Let's do this. It's just-“ no, no, no. When's the last time someone came alongside
of you to go, "Man it's been tough. You must be stoked right now. Are you just thrilled right now? Are you just going nuts inside, because your
reward in heaven is so great and these light and momentary trials are achieving for us
an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all?" Does anyone ever sit you down and go, "think
about what it's going to be like when you see Him." That's why he says rejoice in it now so that
when He returns you rejoice. I mean, think about the return of Christ. Think about the future. I mean, if, let's say your arm gets chopped
off in the name of Christ. Let's say you lose a limb, because some of
you go to a dangerous place to share the Gospel. Just imagine what it's like when Christ returns
and you're standing there with one arm. That's a pretty awesome moment, isn't it? He goes, blessed are you, because it's like-
you know? I did it. I'm like those prophets that I read about. I'm like Jesus that I read. It's like there's a blessing. You guys know what I'm talking about. When you suffer there's this weird sense in
us we're truly believers. We go to bed at night and go, "That was a
good day. There was some reward in that. I'm finally resembling Jesus a little bit." See, my prayer is that we would change the
culture, our mindset. That we would arm people so that they don't
walk away from Jesus when life gets difficult, but we arm them with a proper theology of
suffering that says this is a good thing. We actually embrace it as a church because
we rejoice in it. So no longer are we surprised, but we expect
it. No longer do we complain when it gets difficult,
but we rejoice in it. And no longer do we set our lives up so that
we avoid suffering at all cost, but we actually want some of it so that when Christ returns
we go: "Yep, I'm one of yours. Look at me. Look at my scars. Look at my life. I lived the life of Christ and now there's
this eternal weight of glory and I can't wait to get there." I'll just jump to the last verse because we're
out of time. Verse 18 or 19, I can't read it. 19: "Therefore let those who suffer according
to God's will. Don't miss that. Those who suffer according to God's will. Yeah, it could be God's will that you suffer. It is God's will. According to God's will and trust their souls
to a faithful creator while doing good. Are you guys ready to suffer for the Gospel? Can you change your mindset? For those of you going through a hard time,
to look at the eternal reward and to look at the things that are unseen. Do you have that much faith? You know I just want to say one thing before
I go. I know I'm out of time, but I got into ministry
when I was around 18 because I looked at the church I was sitting in and it was fine, but
I'd read the scriptures and go, "This is so different from what I'm experiencing here." And sometimes I'd look around and go, "Are
you guys reading the same book? I'm just a kid, but it seems like there's
so much more to this. I'm not seeing this life inside of you. I'm not seeing this: I love you, I love you. I love you!" Is it in you or are you just following these
forms? And I read passages like Matthew 7 where he
says, look, not everyone who says to me "Lord, Lord" is going to enter the Kingdom. Not everyone who says, look I went to a Christian
university is he going to say: "Hey, come on in." He says many on that day will say, "Wait,
didn't I do this? Didn't I do this? Didn't I do this? And He'll say: "Depart from me; I never knew
you." I wasn't known by God. I don't have this connection. And I do the right things as long as I'm in
the right circles, but once my flesh, I just naturally gravitate back towards the mud. And I'm just going, could it be maybe you
keep going back to the mud because He's not in you and you're not a slave to what's right? You just keep going back and I'm just praying:
"God would you purify Your bride?" I don't know, maybe when I talk about adoring
Him, loving Him, being alone with Him and just going, God I don't want to leave you. This is so awesome. It's like I'm speaking another language to
you. You're just like, "I don't know what you're
talking about." Because it's not you, and everything's external. My prayer is that maybe today some of you
just go, I get it. I want that in my life. I'm not going to have everyone close their
eyes or whatever, but if you just say, you know what, the Spirit of God's not in me. I'm really questioning my relationship with
God. I don't really long for Him, desire Him. I know I kind of believe in my head that He
exists, and I believe that He died on that cross, but to follow Him through suffering
and everything else? No one ever told me about that, and I don't
long for Him like that, but I want that. If that's you I'm not going to draw this out,
I'm just going to ask you right now to get up where you are and walk down here and get
on your knees so I can pray for you. We've only got a minute so let's not even
mess around. If that's you just get up where you are and
come here and say: "I need God in my life." We'll have some of the pastors come and pray
with you, talk with you. You guys, there's just nothing more important
when Christ returns just to go, He knows me. I know Him. Father I pray for those who are kneeling before
you right now, God. They're saying they want you Spirit to enter
into them and change them from the inside out. God we're hopeless without you. Your Word says we're dead. We're dead in our trespasses and sins. We're slaves to righteousness. God I pray for your power to fall upon them
so they get what Jesus did and they long for Him, and they're willing to suffer, because
we so believe in that day when you return. So God, right now, they're here because they're
saying Jesus died on the cross for them and they need His forgiveness. They believe that Jesus rose from the grave
and offers His Spirit to us to make us your bondservant. So God I am not praying for an emotional decision. I'm praying for your supernatural power in
heaven to transform these people to where they will go to the ends of the earth for
You. That in the next few days they will suffer
whatever they need to cease from their sin, and that you would make Your church beautiful
again and a light to the world. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. >> NASSER: Well man, if you're here towards
the altar in the front just know that we're in no hurry. Our campus pastors would love to connect with
you in this moment so that they can set up time to meet with you more. Maybe you didn't sense that you needed to
come down but you want to have a conversation with somebody. Please know that that is why the Lord has
put in your life, at this particular moment a prayer group leader. That's why God has put not just an RA, but
a pastoral role in your life. Not just a Prayer Group Leader or a Spiritual
Life Coach, but a team. Even an RD who cares about where you are in
your walk with the Lord. And just so that we're clear, that is priority
for us. I think we're primarily in this moment just
brought here by God for us to be discipled to the likeness of Christ. That's the primary reason that we're here,
and secondary to that is education. You might say, "Well that's not why I came. I came primarily for education." I want you to know God's bigger than your
reason. I'm telling you why God brought you here. First time I ever went to church I didn't
go to meet God, but God was bigger than my reason. Maybe you're here because you want an education,
and what God wants for you is ministry. And that might not be what you had in store,
but you're waking up to the reality that's what He has. I love you. I just want to pray over you, can I do that? Father, thank You. Thank You, Lord, for a prophetic word from
Pastor Francis. Lord, thank You that even in Your Word, today,
we're reminded that God, it is not your punishment when we go through suffering in this world. It is literally, God, Your predestined way
to show us love. It is Your refiner fire. Father, one out of one of us is going to suffer
in this world. We will have suffering in this world, but
we thank You that, God, when we embrace that reality, and we embrace You in it, that we
see that even pain can be the megaphone where you just shout the loudest. Lord, help us to balance in our lives something
in us always wants health and prosperity, but then a day like this we don't the knee
jerk where we want suffering and poverty. God what we want is you. So through the blessing, we want You. And through the hard moments, we want You. We don't make an idol of health and wealth,
and we don't make an idol, God of suffering and poverty. We make a declaration that we want You through
it all. We want you through it all, and it's silly
to say God that we want balance. This world is not balanced. There will be six years of prosperity and
then two minutes of poverty. There will be ten years of persecution and
one minute, God, of ease, and so there's no balance in this, there is just you. And we trust you in it. We love you in it, God. Thank You for your Spirit. Lord, you're moving among us today. Thank You God for Your Spirit, that it comforts
us. It convicts us.
