Jesus and We: Part 1 - "Faith-Filled, Big-Thinking" with Craig Groeschel - LifeChurch.tv

we know that without faith it is impossible to please God that's why we live by faith and not by sight what are we as a church as God's church we are faith filled big thinking bent to form risk-takers will never insult God with small thinking or safe living it is great to have all of you with us as we launch into a new year we are starting a brand new four-part message series called Jesus and we so often in kind of our Western world when we talk about Christianity people talk about Jesus and me Jesus and me which is a good thing people talk about a personal relationship with Jesus again very good but I believe as we look at Scripture you can make an argument that not only should we have a personal relationship with Jesus but maybe even more important we should have a shared relationship with Jesus and so over the next few weeks I want to look at what God is calling us to be about and to stand for as a local church and I believe God is going to inspire you in fact I've been praying very specifically this week for you that God would build your faith and as God builds your faith he would build our faith there's something powerful that happens when we come together as the church for example if you pray alone you know that can be very powerful but when you pray with others I'm telling you there's something that happens when you join your faith with others and you feel like you're really touching the heart of God same with worship you can worship in your car some of you do I've seen you you worship like crazy in your car reason you do that is the same reason you pick your boogers in your car you think there's an invisible shield you think nobody's watching it that crazy how for whatever reason you feel safe to pick your boogers in the car like I got one I'm just gonna dig it out right now everybody can see but you do it anyway same with worship your worship in a way you know jesus take the wheel I don't know what you're singing you know whatever but that can be powerful right but what's even more powerful is when we come together and we worship I don't know how many of you were here during the come to worship series when our whole church lifted hands to God there's something powerful about doing this together in worship and so I want to look over the next four weaks what we call for value statements or for vision statements for our church in fact if you walk through the lobbies of our churches or the hallways you'll see these signs on the wall that say some different things that we value or we believe and I want to look at four of those one per week and this week really deals with building big faith like I said I've been praying that God would build faith in our church in your life and quite honestly I want to just tell you for some of you this message is going to stir you to take a step of faith and very literally months or years from now you may look at all that God has done and trace that back to this moment when God inspired you to take a step of faith and believe him for something that could not happen without his presence and his power so let's dive in to our first we statement that we're gonna study our first one is on big faith and it goes like this what are we we are faith filled big thinking bet the farm risk-takers we will never insult God with small thinking or safe living I need a few big thinking risk takers in all of our churches to say this aloud with me like you mean it what are we we are faith filled big thinking bet the farm risk takers we will never insult God with small thinking or safe living we want to seek God for the impossible believe God for miracles dream that God would do exceedingly and abundantly more in our lives through our church for his glory that generations would know who he is we will be faith filled and all that we do I want to start off this message by laying a quick foundation and looking at two different stories about Jesus and what's really interesting in these stories is you're going to see that Jesus was amazed two different times and he was amazed for two different reasons in fact he was amazed on opposite ends of the spectrum the first story is when Jesus was in his hometown and he was teaching and some people were offended like who does he think he is he's a son of a carpenter he shouldn't be saying these kind of things and he was amazed at something in Mark's Gospel chapter 6 verses 5 and 6 says this Jesus could not do any miracles there except lay hands on a few sick people and heal them and he was what let's all say loud everybody helped me out he was what he was amazed now what was he amazed at say it with me he was amazed at their lack of faith Jesus was amazed blown away shocked stunned that they didn't believe he had the power to do what he said he could do that he was who he said he was they were amazed he was amazed at their lack of faith that the second story we're going to look at is in Luke's Gospel and there was a Centurion who the Jewish people would have surely hated because of all the cruel things the Centurions were known to do and the Centurion had a sick servant that was dying and so the Centurion sent someone to go to Jesus and say hey Jesus come to this guy and whenever Jesus met up with the Centurion the Centurion simply said this he said you don't need to go to my house to pray for the servant at your very word I believe my servant will be healed at your very word you just say it and my servant will be healed verse 9 of Luke 7 when Jesus heard this what was Jesus he was what everybody all of our churches he was amazed at him and turning to the crowd following he said I tell you the truth I have not found such what I have not found such great faith even in Israel two different times Jesus was amazed he was amazed at lack of faith and he was amazed at great faith here's a question as you launch into a new year if Jesus looked at your faith level those things you're attempting for his glory those things you're believing that he will do would he be amazed at how big and audacious and how bold your faith is or would he be amazed at your lack of faith think about it so a great question to wrestle with in fact what I want to do is I want to just kind of help you really be honest and I want to ask you in a moment to rank your faith somewhere between one which would be the lowest or ten which me the highest and in order to be kind of semi accurate what I want you to do is simply think about the last week of your life just the last week that's easy to remember and think about what great faith steps did you take in the last week did you attempt something that was so bold so daring that if God didn't come through for you there's no way it would have ever ever happened if so you're gonna be up on the higher end of the spectrum if not you're gonna be on the lower think think about your prayer life what did you pray for imagine this imagine if God answered every single prayer that you prayed last week with a yes and it was immediate I mean you prayed it and God was like both there it is you asked what yep yep yep yes yes yes yes everything you prayed for if God answered yes and immediately to every prayer ask yourself this what would be different in the world okay for some of you if you have like an eight or a nine I mean there would have been like a lot of people healed of cancer and there might have been a child that was adopted into a family and your life group might have had a relationship of marriage healed and then all these really cool things would have been different because you were praying great prayers some of you if you look back over last week your food would have been blessed right you would have made it to Grandma's house safely which is always funny God give us traveling mercy help us to get there safely which about 99.9 percent of the time you get there anyway safely Oh God put angels around us as we travel and what else I don't know your five dimples would be gone to the glory of God because he answered every prayer you pray what would be different in the world if God answered every single prayer you prayed with a yes and it was immediate for some people there would be nothing different in the world at all because you didn't pray a single prayer and you didn't attempt anything that was bold and daring for the kingdom and the glory of God would God be amazed at your great faith or would he be blown away that you didn't attempt anything or pray for anything significant in last week as a church I believe God is calling us to be faithful big thinking bet the farm risk takers to never insult God with small thinking or safe living and so in order to inspire us to take bold faith steps what I want to do is look at three faith filled facts that will help build your faith and encourage you to follow God's direction for your life the first one if you're taking notes is something that is very important to understand that is you cannot play it safe and please God you cannot play it safe and please God in fact the author of Hebrews said this in the great faith chapter Hebrews 11 verse 6 he said this he said and without faith what is it it is impossible to please God without faith it is impossible to please God in other words if you can do everything within your own power and you never need the power of God then you were living without faith and without faith it is impossible to please God the challenges I think sometimes in in our part of the world people kind of almost glorify faith they think okay if you've got great faith you're always going to have the faith face you're never gonna doubt you're never gonna have a bad day you're always just gonna be floating on this you know this is this eternal faith and the reality is faith is sometimes messy it's not always constant it's not incredibly clean there may be some moments where you've got like great faith and then the next minute you're like you're overwhelmed with doubt and sometimes you feel like you know God really spoke to me I know I'm not so sure and it's just it's hard to follow sometimes of God you don't see and you take these faith steps and it can be very very messy that's why it's called faith because it's not proven what's going to happen like I went to this family camp where they had a they called it a faith step it was like an exercise that you would do this must be kind of fun and what builds your faith they built this tower that went like halfway to heaven you walked up these stairs all the way up there and then you're supposed to get on the top this is little bitty little square with rails and there's room for you and the safety guy and the safety guy puts a harness on you hooks it up there and you're just supposed to step off the ledge and fall like free fall literally full and then the safety harness and there is supposed to like catch you and let you slowly land on earth all in one piece well I had a lot of people from church there and I went first to do it because it looked kind of easy from the ground when you got up there how many you know things are higher when you're up there than when you're looking at I'm on the ground you don't talking about like a dive so I'm up there I'm talking this guy I'm like has anyone ever died doing this and he said not yet thank you very much next thing he latches me up and I'm staring over the edge and I was like literally really really scared doubts in my mind and blow okay no one's ever died on this this is totally safe this is a family camp this is all fine I'm God is my witness I'm rededicating my life to God I'm praying for forgiveness of sins I'm making up sins I might have committed I'm confessing them to God I'm covering the bases just in case I'm behind I don't even believe I need to do that but you never know you know so just to make it right and so finally they're all laughing at me I just said I got to do this so I took a step yeah when I did it's like the rush I mean it was like it was part fun part terrifying my heart stayed up there and I'm sinking down it was so scary I am 87 percent sure I didn't scream a cuss word okay but I'm a hundred percent sure I thought one and I hate to tell you that as a pastor but I mean it's just like it's like oh you know and and that's kind of what faith is like there's like you know I believe God you're calling me to do this and here go hey you know and you just you cannot play it safe and please God but one of the greatest examples of this is Peter when all the disciples were in the boat and jesus walks up on water he's like hey anybody want to come out and see me and Peter the crazy guy gets out of the boat I mean it starts walking on water everybody criticized it my Peter fell he looked at the wind of the wave and he said there were 11 guys that didn't get out of the boat he walked on water before he failed and so often our fear of failure keeps us from taking a step of faith because people often think that failing means missing God I've discovered that failing is often the first step to discovering God never let the fear of failure stop you from taking a step of faith do you know what's gonna happen if I get out of boat I don't know all I know is you have to step out to find out I don't know who this is going to speak to but some of you you're playing it safe and you cannot play it safe and please God I would even argue if you're not failing every now and then you're playing it way too safe without faith it is impossible to please God but God be amazed at your great faith or to be amazed at your lack of faith principle number one is simply this you cannot play it safe and please God the second thing if you're taking notes is this as long as you have a guarantee you don't have faith as long as you have a guarantee you don't have faith the writer to the Hebrews said this in Hebrews 11:1 faith is the what somebody said faith is the the confidence that what we what that what we hope for notice this is not like what's guaranteed but what we hope for we're still in the hoping I hope this is god I hope this works it's the confidence that's what we hope for will actually happen it gives us an assurance of things we cannot see the problem for many of us is we want to guarantee I want to guarantee is this gonna work I want to guarantee I need a guarantee I need a guarantee I was like this in the second grade back when we would go with girls anybody remember like years ago when we'd go with people Andy buddy ever go with people will you go with me anybody do that at all was that just like our school we go with me here's a weird thing we would go with girls but we'd never go anywhere with them what was that all about what was that all about will you go with me no we didn't go to the you know to recess together because it was a girl but we'd go together and so before I would ever ask a girl to go with me I would pre ask the guarantee question okay the pre asked the pre asked was a note dear so-and-so if I were to ask you to go with me would you go with me check yes or check no and then I give it to a friend to give to that friend I wanted a guarantee one time my note came back with a new box that said maybe and that box was checked that's not fair that's not what the options right but the reality is when we're dealing with God sometimes the boxes of maybe I got I think you're calling me to do this but I'm not sure is it you God how do I know how do I know how do I know listen you can have faith or you can have control but you can't have both oh that's so good I don't know how you're being so quiet today you can have faith or you can have control but you can't have both sometimes you just have to say I think God's calling me to do this I hope God's calling me does I believe God's calling me to do this but she said maybe you know her boxes checked maybe which by the way that's actually how I met Amy was on a blind date you will know how much faith I had I went out with Amy on a girl's recommendation and every guy knows you can't trust a girl because any girl they like is cute right oh she's cute she's cute she's cute she's gonna listen to me they're not all cute and I don't mean to be rude but I'm just calling it like I am that's the truth and the truth will set you free I know that one apart in a sermon but I just had to say it the truth will set you free so anyway I love how I got off on that but I was talking about you you can have faith or you can have control but you can have both some of you you're gonna have to let go of control to take a step of faith okay as a church this year we're gonna do some things I don't know how they're gonna turn out honestly when we started the YouVersion Bible app when they tell you what it wasn't a YouVersion Bible app at first it was a website and it failed it failed sometimes failing is the first step to succeeding the first website failed then suddenly we created this app and all of a sudden we realized this was something God could bless I have a vision to see 1 billion people download the free YouVersion Bible app 1 that's a big number that's a big number thank you for that polite golf clap because either you don't care or you don't believe it's possible and I don't care which it is because I believe that God's Word changes lives and I believe God is trusted our church with the greatest resource to get the Word of God out that exists on the planet today and I have a vision for 1 billion people to experience the free Word of God on the Bible app faith-filled big thinking bet the farm risk takers I said that several years ago everybody laughs a billion a billion a period of opinion with a B opinion with the B this year will be 20% there and there's only 80% to go I'm still in my 40s it will happen in our lifetime you watch 1 billion people the free Bible of this year I believe we're gonna start for new campuses all in one year I'm crazy enough to believe we're gonna pay for them in cash we're leav that our God is a God who works through people and I don't like a lot of debt and I think debt hurts a lot of churches I just crazy enough to bluff so crazy to believe this we're gonna start one in Kansas City and we went to Kansas City and we bought a piece of land before we have any people that's not the right order but sometimes you don't do it in the right order sometimes you just have faith to step out and say God Chuck I got to step out to find out and I don't know who I'm talking to the some it's gonna start a business or someone's going to start a ministry and you want to guarantee God what step 3 4 & 5 gonna look like God's not gonna show you 3 4 & 5 until you take step 1 - there are no gear you follow God the only guarantee is that God will prove himself faithful someone here you've been playing about asking somebody out you got to ask her out to get married and when you do because God used me when you get married and have a son named him Craig because I help get you some action I built your faith yeah you have to take some faith risk you cannot play it safe and please God you can have control or you can have faith but you can't have both it's a little bit like when I went to Colorado years ago we're out in this park and there were these guys they were slack roping I don't know if you know what that is you know what a tight rope is you know some idiot walks across a tightrope well there's bigger idiots there's people that walk across one that's not tight it's slack okay and they had this slack rope tied between two trees I was looking at going that looks so cool I said can I try and they're like have you ever done any kind of balancing work long no but you know I played college sports laughed even louder like you know I I think I can do this like no one can do this until you takes years of training you won't I guarantee you won't make one full step I said alright let's let's try this and so I got up there and again it was one of those things from the ground it looks easy it was only this high but when you're standing in that high holding onto a tree and your legs are doing this beneath you suddenly it got scary okay come on big boy from Oklahoma let's try it and I wouldn't let go of the tree because the tree was old Miss Taylor okay there god I let go of the tree in order to walk on the road so I managed to get my arm around this way I'm a holding on like this is a tree and I let go of the tree just barely and the Rope swung out and threw me so violently to the ground I couldn't breathe for several minutes and they laugh like I told you I told you I told no no no I'll be doing me really can't I don't think it broke it's I got that cup there again and I get I'm a holding on that I gotta let go to the tree they said here's one secret it's not going to help but the secret is you looking down you can't look down you have to keep your eyes focused on the other tree when you focus on the tree then you have to just kind of feel where your feet will they're so finally like I pray like God give me power strength wisdom and balance in Jesus name and I let go of this thing I'm doing like this head of stuff and I mean like I can't even believe you're doing that and I took the step God is my witness and I landed it like wow and people started coming around there's a crowd there like sort of video Li there this is his first time I can't believe this I took another step I took another step and then bo threw me to the ground so violently I thought I'd have to go to the emergency room but they said I've never seen someone do it now I am bragging about that apart about taking four actual live steps on a slack rope for the very first time I know you really don't care but oh dude god it was so faithful and powerful and if that leaves me I'm going somewhere with this there's actually a plan okay that leads me to the third principle and that is this if you're taking those step towards your destiny you have to step away from your security okay somebody here you're gonna have to let go of the tree here's your problem you're a tree hugger how's that for some Colorado humor I just snuck that in you see what I did there don't miss it if you're not paying attention you'll miss some good stuff you're a tree hugger you got you gotta let go of the tree okay to step toward your destiny you've got to step away from your security but what's gonna happen how's it gonna end up if you knew all that it wouldn't be called faith this exactly what Abraham did and one of the crazy faith-filled stories in the Old Testament it's actually reflected in the New Testament and in verse when it was at verse 8 of Hebrews 11 that says by what everybody say aloud by say by faith by faith Abraham when called to go to a place where he would later receive as inheritance he obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going even though he didn't have a clue he'd let go of the tree and took the first step and when you take that step you keep your eyes focused on the author and the perfecter of your faith and suddenly by his power now you're not walking by by sight anymore but you're actually walking by faith and without faith it's impossible to please God but great faith pleases God in a great way but our God be amazed at your amazing faith or would he be amazed that you have access to his power his throne room if you're a follower of Jesus the Holy Spirit dwells within you the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead you you have access to go before God and ask him and he hears your prayer would be amazed at your lack of faith how will this play out in in our lives I believe it'll play out individually and I believe it will play out corporately I believe that God is going to speak to some of you and you're gonna take your faith step and I believe that God is going to speak to us as a church and we're going to take some faith steps together for you as as a follower of Jesus you may take a faith step to share your faith with someone that doesn't know Christ maybe a family member maybe a boss someone you workout with and you know they really need the truth that you know but you're not sure what's gonna happen you have to take a step of faith and when you do the box may say maybe are they gonna respond positively that you don't you don't know but your faith will be built when you obey what God puts on your heart some of you you're gonna tithe for the first time in your life you've heard it and you've thought about it and you've made excuses and suddenly you're gonna do something that makes no rational sense but return 10 percent of what God blesses you with back to him through his church and suddenly with your number was a - you're gonna see God provide and recognize that 90% with his blessings actually is more than a hundred percent without and your faith grows to a five or a six or a seven when you take that act of faith some of you step out and start a life group and in the back of your line am I good enough do I know enough hey what's gonna happen and you know and several months later you're gonna sit back and say this is my favorite thing in life that I'm pouring my life into others that were sharing life around God's Word that were growing spiritually to get oh I'm so glad I took the step of faith some of you you're gonna serve in youth ministry or or in life kids you may serve in youth ministry you think well I'm not cool enough and can I connect with them and suddenly you're gonna get in there and you're gonna realize oh my gosh these these kids have so much potential and someone have so much passion for Christ and some of them are so messed up cutting themselves and sexually confused and depressed and him coming from broken homes you're gonna wake up six months from now no this is the best part of my life that God is using me to impact the next generation some of you God's gonna call you to serve in life kids and you're gonna serve in the two-year old room and you're gonna be with tiny crazy crackheads and it's gonna take great faith because they're in there and they're everywhere and there's more of them than you then you need God's help okay so some of you it's it's you're gonna start you're gonna start a business and you don't know what's gonna happen you got to take the step of faith some of you you're gonna write you you feel called to tell your story in a book and you're wonderful anybody read it and I'm here to tell you maybe not honestly who knows there's no guarantees you have to step out to find out somebody there's a ministry in sight there's something that's been burning inside of you for a long time and when you take a step of faith your faith is not in the outcome that you want your faith is in the faithfulness of God and suddenly as you grow in your faith we grow in our faith another sudden we start to see we are the church and when we gather together our faith can touch God and we have faith too fast together thousands of you are fasting with me right now we're crazy enough to believe that denying ourselves physical nutrition somehow connects us more spiritually with God and suddenly as a church our faith grows and all of a sudden we realize that we now are faith filled big thinking bet the farm risk-takers it's a church we're not gonna sit back listen to me listen to me we are thinking big you need to hear me we are thinking big our God did not give us a small Commission but a Great Commission that everyone would know him that the gospel will be preached around the world don't you ever ever let me hear you say the church is too big the church is too big listen if you think the church is too big your love for people is too small as long as there is someone who does not know Christ the church is not too big I do not see our church as big I see the need in the world is big I see us as a start-up Church we're just getting started we are a micro church not a mega church we have a mega vision and I believe that God wants us individually and corporately to think big because faith pleases the heart of God and when God looks at you I want him to be amazed at your faith when God looks at our church I wanted to be amazed at our faith because I believe with all my heart in the next year our God wants to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we can ask think or imagine according to his power at work in the church so that he would be glorified for generations to come so what are we we are faith filled big thinking bet the farm risk takers we will never insult God with small thinking or safe living father I pray that in your presence you would do a work in your church I thank you in advance for all the faith steps that may come out of this moment god I thank you for those parents that have three children that are thinking about for God I thank you that if you speak to them they'll have the faith to say yes to what your will might be for their family I thank you God for those who might be considering adopting or fostering and they're all the questions god I thank you in advance that on the other side of that faith step they're gonna find your perfect oh god I thank you for those who will start something follow you venture out shared their faith I thank you that God as we stepped out we'll find out God help us to be full of faith to follow you all of our churches as you're taking a moment to pray I just want to ask one question to start off I don't respond just yet but think about it how many of you would love to have God be amazed by your big faith doesn't matter what it was like last week but you want big faith you want an amazing thing you want to live bold dreams you want to live live in such a way that you couldn't do what's on your heart without the power in the presence of God you want to pray for big prayers see people healed of cancer see marriages restore see people freed from sexual bondage see families brought back together see churches overflowing see people around the world that go without be blessed with the things they need for everyday life you want to be a person of big faith all of our churches you said yes God stretched my faith I want you to be amazed by my great faith I want to be a person of great faith lift your hands if that's your prayer today all of our churches hands all over the place God thank you so much for a church full of people that want to honor you I thank you in advance God that in their individual lives there gonna be some massive faith steps taken washing out to follow your voice follow your will follow Direction recognizing you won't show us step three four and five until we stand the faith to take step one and two I thank you God there will be many people who take those faith steps and God as you grow our faith individually grow our faith corporately that we as a church God would have great faith that we would recognize that you want to do more through your church to reach people than we can even imagine God make us a bold church help us to dream bigger dreams that help us to reach people all over the world with your word through free Bible out and God I pray that you would give provision to start churches all over the world that would lead people to become fully devoted followers if your son Jesus Christ as you keep praying today many of you you're gonna recognize right now that spiritually you're not in sync with God some of you right now you look at your life and the weight of your sinfulness it's very heavy upon you I remember this feeling is so distinctly back in college all the things that I'd done wrong I didn't understand the power of the gospel I tended to think like every other world religion that if I did enough good then maybe God would love me if I didn't do so many bad things then maybe God would love me but I didn't realize that Christianity is different Christianity isn't about what we do as much as about what we believe where we put our faith faith matters in fact because of what Jesus did for us dying for our sins and nobody disputes that Jesus lived rose again and there were literally first-century followers of Jesus who were martyrs because they saw him they they gave their life because of that when we put our faith in the perfect work of Jesus we're saved not by good works but by God's grace through faith and believing that what Jesus did is enough some people say that's too good to be true I say that's too good not to be true that's why it's called the gospel that's why it's good news and that is why some of you are here today and you know it it's time for you to say yes I believe I trust my life in God's hands I asked Jesus to save me and to forgive me of my sins today I surrender my life to him by faith and all of our churches those of you who say that's my prayer I'm ready this is it and now I trust him by faith I give my life to him that's your prayer lift your hands high right now all over the place and say yes I surrender right here in this section right back over here as well right up here god bless you guys others have you raised them high I want to see you high - I write that go over here both hands right here in the middle god bless you guys right back over here all three of you together right here sweetheart say yes to Jesus Church online you click right below me here in this other section call on him I surrender right back over here on this side sir big guy big arm big follower of Jesus being born into his kingdom others today who say yes I surrender to him pray with those around you everybody praying aloud pray heavenly Father forgive me of all my sins make me brand new today by faith I give my life to you I believe Jesus died for me so I could live for you fill me with your spirit that I would know you serve you and follow you for the rest of my life my life is not my own today I give it to you thank you for new life now you have mine in Jesus name I pray would you worship big worship loud huh from those born into dogs family new life in Christ you

Channel: Life.Church

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Keywords: Craig, Groeschel

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Length: 36min 15sec (2175 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 05 2015