God Never Said That: Part 4 - "Doesn't Matter What You Believe" with Craig Groeschel - LifeChurch.tv

I'm just really searching right now I mean my favorite professor doesn't even believe in God and my roommate is part of this totally different religion that's it's actually pretty interesting to me and there's my boyfriend who just kind of picks and chooses from different religions you know I always thought I knew what I believed about God now I'm just not sure well the good news is it doesn't really matter what you believe as long as you're sincere I shouldn't even have to tell you this but God never said that it is so awesome to have all of you with us today at all of our life churches and our network churches we love you all so much those of you on the other side of computer screens all over the world you are not here by accident we believe this is a divine moment where we're going to do church together and we pray that you're very very blessed if you're just now joining us we're actually in part four of a four-part message series called God never said that and what we're doing is we're looking at common sayings that so many people believe to be true but in reality God never said that and today we're going to look at one of the most relevant and culturally believed lies and actually see what the truth is about what God does say I want to tell you this is so relevant and so commonplace in the world today so many people wrongly believe this you may have heard it you may have said it you may even believe it but all over the world today people say this it doesn't matter what you believe about God as long as you are sincere it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere in your pursuit of God it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere and that quite honestly it cut up sounds good doesn't it I mean it just kind of feels good that our God is so big and so loving that doesn't really matter what you believe as long as you're sincerely believing it then chances are you'll be okay I call this feel-good theology it just feels good and we see this all the time when someone maybe is talking to a friend like well you're a good person and you're better than most people so since you're a good person things should be okay you're a good person right or I see this quite often because I have done so many funeral someone will pass away and a loved one will say well he wasn't much of a religious person but he's in a better place now he said he's in a better place looking down on us now grandma is in a better place looking down on us now I'll be real honest with you there is at least three or four times every day that I don't want grandma looking down on me from heaven and yet so many people believe this they're looking down and they're in a better place today it doesn't matter what you believe I'm all roads lead to God anyway all religions are basically the same anyway it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere in fact years ago when I went to seminary I actually commuted because it was quite a distance away with a couple of different people one was a lady and the other one was a guy and we all had really different beliefs about God the lady actually believed in reincarnation and was very sincere in her beliefs and her theory was since she'd arrived France and she loved trees that she actually at one time was a tree in France and that's what she believed is she she stood by and so the guy he said so based on what you love that means that's what you once were and she said I think so he said well I probably was a woman in a previous life and so this debate would go on and on and on and on and they kept saying what were you what were you what were you and i was like i was not reincarnated and so yes you were I said okay let me get this straight you were a tree in France I've got it I know what I was I was a dog in France and she didn't like that but I said it anyway well the good news is I've matured a little bit since then not much but a little bit and so we would debate often you know what does it matter what you believe and is you all rows the same and the common belief in culture today is it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere what's incredibly interesting to me in our culture today is that basic spirituality is not controversial it's not controversial to believe in God watch any great sporting event at the end people give credit to God watch someone at the Grammys and there go I give all credit to God if you watch somebody on a daytime talk show they can talk all day long about spirituality and a higher power and there's no controversy at all when is there controversy there's controversy when someone brings up the name of Jesus you can talk about God you can talk about a higher power you can talk about spirituality and nobody wigs out but the moment you talk about Jesus that's when things get really really interesting and what's fascinating to me is this that almost no one debates the existence of Jesus in fact even his detractors aren't going to try to tell you that he did not live they're going to acknowledge all day long that Jesus was a very real person was also interesting to me is that people love his teaching I don't know anybody who doesn't like his teaching help the poor love others be generous forgive those who hurt you I mean his teaching is phenomenal even if you hate Christianity it's virtually impossible to hate the teaching of Jesus so his detractors don't debate his existence it's really hard to question the power and beauty of his teaching so why is it that everybody gets so upset the answer falls basically in the exclusive claim of Jesus it's the exclusive claim of Jesus that gets everybody rattled and been out of shape in fact it's very direct in Scripture in John 14:6 when Thomas one of the disciples didn't know where he was going he asked Jesus hey how do we know where we're going and jesus answered him and said I am the one somebody help me out he said I am the way and I am the one I am the truth and I am the life and then jesus said no one comes to the Father help me out except through me boom there it is did you see it right there that sets Jesus apart from all other world religions it's the exclusive claim that he is the way to the Father I'm the way the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except through me and that sets Christianity apart in a massive way so what I want to do is just talk very very openly about world religions and we have to acknowledge we have to acknowledge no matter what you believe there may be truth some truth there may be beauty some beauty in many different world religions can we acknowledge that if you look at all different world religions there can be some truth and there can be some beauty in all of them but they are not the same and we have to acknowledge that there may be truth and beauty in all of them but they are not the same and to give you just a real brief overview I'll give you some high points of a few of the major world beliefs Buddhism for example has no God okay Buddhism has no final type of existence what a Buddhist would believe in is countless rebirths were reborn reborn reborn and eventually we want to end that cycle of rebirths Hinduism though is very very different Hinduism has an impersonal God that is approached through deities or statues or idols very very different Buddhism and Hinduism they do not offer the forgiveness of sins or supernatural help only karma in other words if you do bad things then bad things are likely to happen to you if you flip me off I might follow you karma okay if you do good things good things might happen and so and that's that's you know the basics of of these beliefs if you take a Muslim Muslim worships Allah a personal God there are no secondary gods and there's a total ban on idols unlike other religions you're standing if you're a Muslim with God Allah depends on your religious devotion and your works take new age which is popular in a lot of parts of the world New Age beliefs have no personal God they're going to believe most often in a higher consciousness and wanting to be maybe one with a cosmos or one with the universe take Christianity Christianity has a personal God exposed to us through the love of God's Son Jesus he offers the forgiveness of sins and is not based on religious efforts but it's based on God's goodness so we have to acknowledge although there may be truth and beauty in all different religions they are not the same so when someone says it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere an objective person has to look at this and say number one God never said that and number two I don't think this is right at all so what I want to do today is very simple and we're going to acknowledge as I get into this that yes I am a follower of Jesus so if you want to say I'm biased we'll start there but what I want to do is is I want to look at this just a little bit objectively and what I want to do is just ask you no matter what you believe okay no matter what you believe I'll respect what you believe and ask you to respect what I believe I'm simply going to ask you to consider Jesus just to consider Jesus and please please please hear me I'm not asking you to consider our church okay but not at all I'm not asking you to consider a Christian I'm not even asking you to consider Christianity because I'm going to argue that Jesus didn't come to start a religion but Jesus actually came to reveal the love of God to those who needed a savior so I'm not going to ask you to consider Christianity and I'm certainly not going to ask you to consider the behavior of those who call themselves Christians because if I can just be real honest you can meet two different Christians and one of them you're like wow that person is loving and genuine and full of grace and I actually think that if Christian is right that person is a good representative then you can look at another one and say that's a narrow-minded egotistical hateful judgmental bigoted person and then you turn on Christian television and you wonder why everybody has bad hair okay so I'm not I'm not asking you to consider Christianity the religion I'm not asking to consider the behavior of people who call themselves Christian I'm not even asking you to consider what I'm going to say or Who I am because the reality is some of you hate my guts and I can live with that some of you like me too much okay and the reality is if you got to know me better I would let you down and I would fail you because I'm very very imperfect all I'm asking you to do is just consider Jesus consider Jesus consider Jesus and then you decide what you think is actually true about faith and eternal life and so what I want to do is just look at kind of three aspects of Jesus today if you're taking notes first I'm going to ask you to consider the Ministry of Jesus just consider the Ministry of Jesus and I want to look at mark chapter 2 verses 16 and 17 which summarizes why Jesus came first of all we see in verse 16 that when the teachers of the law who were the Pharisees these were the religious leaders of the day when they saw Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors notice who was he eating with help me out he was eating with sinners and tax collectors they asked his disciples why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners no really righteous person would eat with that kind of person they're too dirty they're too filthy too full of sin on hearing this what did Jesus do he said to them and I love this with all my heart he said it's not the healthy who need a doctor but who needs the doctors it's the sick he said I have not come to call the righteous but who did he come for he came for sinners he came for people like you and people like me who can't seem to get it right think about Jesus to those whom others despised he loved and he accepted to those that religion rejected Jesus loved and reached out to when a woman was caught in adultery and all of the religious people said stone her to death the law says she deserves death Jesus looked at them and said hey whichever one of you has never sinned you throw the first stone then he looked at this broken woman and he said go your way and sin no more you you are forgiven and you've done Nuala consider the Ministry of Jesus who he was and what he did Jesus opened blind eyes He healed deaf ears he caused the mute to speak Jesus touched lepers those who no one would get near and He healed them Jesus turned water to wine which is still a problem for my Baptist friends even today Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fishes to feed 5000 men and thousands perhaps of women and children he walked on water Jesus raised the dead and here's what's crazy his critics didn't question the validity of his miracles they just wanted him to stop stop stop don't do that don't do this they actually saw the miracles and just wanted him to stop consider the Ministry of Jesus in fact the reality is some of you you are a miracle of the Ministry of Jesus you are a miracle of the Ministry of Jesus I was on a plane this week traveling with my daughter Mandy and one of the members of our church just came up to me and said on January 2 for if he had multiple strokes the doctor said that he would never ever ever under any circumstances he'd be healed or be recovered On January 24th God touched him in a supernatural way and he was significantly healed no sign whatsoever anywhere in his body of any symptom of a stroke a miracle and the doctors looked on and said we've never seen anything like this I a miracle of the Ministry of Jesus one of my favorite families in this church all the way from the very beginning one guy used to be a drug dealer his wife used to be a stripper and now this homeschool family who's adopted in foster kids they're missionaries in another part of the world that is a miracle beyond miracle of miracles of miracles that God could take someone who was so low so far down and transform I know one guy who had multiple affairs on his wife couldn't be honest not only did his wife forgive him which is a miracle but Jesus forgave him and he's transformed and now he's a full-time counselor helping other people heal in their marriages one of the best marriage counselors around that is a miracle that only Jesus Christ could do consider the ministry and the power and the miracles of the one who didn't come for the righteous but came for the sinners the one who didn't come for the healthy became for the sick I'm going to tell you right now I'm a miracle from the power of Jesus I am undoubtedly a miracle because of Jesus in fact if you go back to before I was a Christian in college all I know how to all I knew how to do is lie I was living a lie I cheated all the time I could not stop drinking couldn't stop in fact there was one night just before I went out I beer bongs six beers which I often did his a warm-up then I drank he could kind of laugh but it's not real faint then I drank a bottle of Seagram seven then I went out to party okay all I remember was I was out of control my friends brought me home and I remember thinking the night's not over you can't keep me at home and so I ran across campus just looking for the girl's dorm I figure if there's anywhere to go in the drunk it's the girls dorm and I was running across campus thinking wow I cannot feel my legs that's the last thing I remember and then I found out the next day after oversleeping practice in back in my fraternity room that someone from another fraternity found me passed out with my head hanging over the curb of a major street and three guys picked me back up and brought me back in then drunk again the next night because that's what I did I remember coming back to my fraternity room turning on the jam box if you don't know what a jam box is bless you you're under 30 and I turned on the jam box and someone had evidently changed the radio station to a Christian radio station but I didn't know existed and I heard the sweetest woman's voice when I remember being drunk lay down on the ground because the room was spinning drunk and she said something like I know you're out there and hurting right now and I want you to know you haven't been too bad for God he loves you please hear me he loves you and he can forgive you I'm telling you what someone else may have thought that was for them but at that moment it was like I was the only person there and God was speaking directly to me so I started a Bible study and started seeking Jesus and when I became a follower of Jesus the very same week my big brother was out in California smoking dope doing stuff and someone gave him a tract and he came back and I said I've got something to tell you I didn't know the worst it says that I think like I'm religious now he said me too me too and so we went out to get drunk to celebrate that we were Christians because I'm telling that's all we knew to do that's does all we need to do and so when when I tell you today I am a new creation in Christ here's what you need to understand I'm not a better version of the old me I am a new me a different person the old is gone the new has come she's consider the ministry and the power of Jesus I also want to consider ask you to consider the resurrection of Jesus to consider the resurrection of in fact what you need to understand is that our God loves you but he hates sin he hates sin and that's why Jesus who was born of a virgin he did not inherit the sin nature of an earthly father he was without sin and that's why he could go to the cross to become sin for us I was amidst the power of this on the cross when the creation was mocking him the creation mocking the Creator at that moment when they had done their worse beating him when he was unrecognizable driving stakes through his wrists and through his heels hanging him on an instrument of torture Jesus looks up to God and says Father forgive them for they don't know what they do then he said it's finished I did it into your hands I commit my spirit and the earth went dark and the earth trembled and the Centurion who had carried the cross of Jesus and was not a believer looked on and said surely that man was the son of God and three days later when the stone was rolled away the tomb was empty Jesus was not there and Christians believe that he was raised from the dead Peter said it this way in Acts 3:15 you killed the author of life but somebody helped me out what did he say he said but God raised him from the dead now don't miss this then he said we are what I want everybody to say this Peter said but we are witnesses of this we are what say it again we are witnesses of this this is so important because there were eyewitnesses that he was dead and alive again there were eyewitnesses of this now skeptics and critics will say well the Roman soldiers probably stole the body listen the enemies of Christ would have loved to produce a dead body of Jesus to prove that he had risen that goes out the door immediately some people say well the disciples took the body so you're going to tell me they overpowered trained and armed Roman soldiers okay you would still had the testimony of the Roman guards who said they took it and if you believe that then you have to ask yourself this do you really expect an irrational person to believe that 11 small-town uneducated average men devised the most elaborate scheme in the history of the world pulled it off and kept it a secret all with no personal motives and only extreme personal loss with all but one dying for their faith because they were eyewitnesses the tomb was empty he was not dead he was alive again somebody get excited and consider the resurrection of Jesus what blows me away is there's only one that doubted what's his name do you know it doubting her doubting Thomas Thomas I like I'm not gonna believe it less I said I'm not gonna believe it less I see it and Jesus shows up and says Thomas stop doubting and believe touch my side stop doubting M bleed and the only one that doubted became the great evangelist to India going to India and when they asked him to renounce his faith and his Savior Jesus Thomas who was a doubter so I will never renounce my Savior and so they drove a spear through his body why would he die for his faith when he once doubted because he saw the risen Christ we are eyewitnesses if you killed the Savior Jesus but God raised him from the dead just consider it don't consider Christians don't consider me I'll let you down don't consider our church we're imperfect you see all the problems I listen I see more than you do okay there are problems everywhere consider Jesus consider Jesus consider his ministry that he came for sinners consider the resurrection that I witnesses were willing to die because they saw Jesus raised from the dead and then finally I wanted to just ask you to consider the eternal message of Jesus just consider the eternal message of Jesus I love the way Paul summarizes it in Romans 3:20 - and he says this he said we're made right with God by placing our faith where somebody help me we were made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ how are we made right with God don't miss this we are made right with God by believing by having faith in Jesus by putting our faith in the Son of God this is crazy powerful and this is true for everyone who believes no matter who we are how we made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus no matter what you've done no matter how dark your life is no matter if you were as bad as I were or if you were worse than I was no matter how many sins you've committed no matter how messed up your life is right now no matter how much you've hated Christianity before no matter how angry or bitter you are in your heart no matter how dark your world is right now anyone anyone anyone anyone anyone who places their faith in Jesus will be made new how are we made right with God we're made right with God by believing in Jesus Christ our Lord and this is true for everyone no matter who they are you see Christianity really is Christ Plus nothing nothing not Christ plus good work or Christ plus baptism or Christ plus church membership or Christ plus giving money its Christ plus nothing it's not only not Christ plus nothing but it's also not Christ plus getting rid of your bad stuff and stopping having bad thoughts and stopping doing bad things and stopping saying bad things it's Christ plus nothing in Christ alone we have the hope of eternal life in Christ alone we are made new in Christ alone we are forgiven of our sins and Christ alone the old is gone and the new has come is in Christ alone and Christ alone we are made real religion here's the problem it's all about us religions about me it's how I perform it's what I do is him I good enough is it do I get rid of the bad stuff religion is all about me but I'm not talking religion I'm talking about a relationship because Jesus didn't come to create a religion he came to show us the love of God and while religion is about me relationship is about Jesus it's all about him it's all about religion says if I'm good enough God will love me if I obey God will accept me relationship says because God loves me he accepts me because he accepts me I choose to obey it's not in an effort to gain his love it's in a response to his eternal love that was there all of the time you see God doesn't love you because of what you do God loves you because of who he is love is just not what he does but love is who he is and there is nothing you can do to get God to love you more and there is nothing you can do to cause God to love you less God loves you because that's who he is consider the eternal message of Jesus religion is about me relationship is about Jesus religion is about if I'm good he will love me relationship this because he's good he already loves me and religion is spelled you want to spell it write it down this way D o do it's all what you do relationship is spelled D o in E it is done it is finished on the cross Jesus set I came to do what the father sent me to do it's finished you may want to add something to it but God says it's done you may want to try to be better but God says it's already done you may want to add good works to it but God says it's already done 2000 years ago God became flesh and dwelt among us he was without sin and became sin and died on the cross and on the third day he was raised from the dead when you believe in him it doesn't matter who you are how bad you've been what you've done our God says it is finished it is done somebody shout it is done it is done our God loves us so much that he finished the work on the cross and some of you can say alright that's too good to be true and I'm going to tell you right now it's too good not to be true because no person would make up a God who would become one of us and die in our place that's why it's called the gospel and that's why is good news and Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me our God said it's done if you'll believe in Jesus it's done settled and you'll become brand new not because you're good but because our God is that good all of our churches let's pray together today father we thank you so much that we live in a place where we get to explore and ask questions and God all day long we want to be thinking people and we want to consider what's out there and when culture says again and again don't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere we're smart enough to recognize that there is a difference and so God today I ask that your Holy Spirit would do what you do and that is to draw a people to yourself as you pray at all of our different churches I want to talk first of all to those of you who are followers of Jesus as I am and you know somebody maybe a family member close friend somebody that you work with someone who plays sports with you do hobbies with could be a distant relative but somebody that you know and love who isn't sure what they believe and you want to simply pray today that God would reach out to them and reveal his goodness reveal his love and believe by faith that they could receive eternal life and be transformed not by religion but by a relationship all of our churches you have someone that you love and you want to reach out to today maybe then just in prayer or share faith in one way or another at all of our churches if you say yes God would you reach out and touch this person I love expose your love to them would you lift up your hands right now does all of our churches lift up your hands hands one up all over got it I know that it's often such a burden when we care for people that continue to reject you we pray God that we would reflect your love never religion never legalism never a holier-than-thou attitude but we would reflect the love of Jesus God we pray that you would send other people into the lives of those that we love and God you would use circumstances whatever it takes to bring them to a place where they look to you and consider not a religion or church membership but they would consider Jesus and when they seek in God we know that you're going to reveal your love to them and so we pray God for those that we love and you love even more that they would come to a personal love relationship with you changed by the love of Jesus all of our churches as you continue praying today there are those of you you you're not even gonna be able explain what's about to happen and you're not even sure is about to happen but there is something right now drawing you to God and it's not that I've convinced you of anything because there are plenty of people way smarter than I could I am that couldn't convince you but for some reason you're being drawn to God let me tell you what that is that is the love of God through His Holy Spirit reaching out to you and you're simply doing what I asked you to do today you've considered Jesus who he came for broken sinners like me and like you and what he did his miracles the fact that the tomb was empty that people were willing to die because they knew he was alive and a very simple message the most beautiful message and powerful message into history of the world that you're not made right with God because of your good works but you're made right with God because of the grace of Jesus how are you made right with God when you put your faith in Jesus and there may be those of you who grew up in the church like I did and for the first time you're not going to put your faith in the church but you're going to put your faith in Jesus others of you you might be wild heathens guess what God loves you where you are and he will make you brand new when you put your faith in Jesus all of our churches today those of you who would say you know I'm not sure what's happening but I recognize this is for me and right now I'm being drawn to God and so by faith even though I don't understand everything and I don't know all the details by faith today I'm simply choosing to surrender my life to Jesus I believe that he is who he says he is and by faith I give my life to him I need his forgiveness I need His grace so I give my life to Jesus that's your prayer would you lift your hands high right now all of our churches lift your hand and say yes I choose to follow Jesus those of you at church online would you click right below me saying I'm becoming a follower of Jesus and it's people at churches across the world are crying out to the God who loves them would you pray now with those around you everybody pray aloud pray Heavenly Father forgive me of all my sins I believe Jesus came for me to die for me and to rise again so I could live for you fill me with your spirit so I can know you so I can serve you so I can follow you my life is not my own today I give it to you my faith is in you Jesus alone you are enough the Lord of my life and my Savior I give you my life in Jesus name I pray would you all worship big worship loud welcome those born into God's family today

Channel: Life.Church

Views: 21,213

Rating: 4.9204545 out of 5

Keywords: Craig, Groeschel

Id: FUF9SrrfHuw

Length: 36min 25sec (2185 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 02 2015