Jesus is Our Lead Story - Louie Giglio

so we're starting a new series called imprint the idea of this series is who is passion city church and what do we want to see god do through passion city church in the cities and in the world what kind of mark do we want to leave in the world and the way we're going to do that over the next few weeks is talk about who we are as passion city church and part of the reason we're doing that is because there's so many new people coming in to our city and coming into our house in our all-team meeting this past week the question was asked how many people on team at passion whether it's conference or label or publishing or church how many people on team were on team when we did passion 2020 and the response i got from people who've been around for a minute where it was breathtaking how many new people are on our team in the last year and a half but that's not just true of our team it's true of life there's been a global crisis in the global crisis lots of things changed lots of people moved lots of people change careers lots of transition in the world and we feel that at passion city so i'm meeting people all the time that are saying hey it's my first time in the building we've been coming online but i've never been to the building before or we just moved to atlanta and we're just brand new at passion city church in fact there are people sitting in the room right now that i just met well i knew them a little but just found out they moved to atlanta and they're part of passion city church just a few moments ago and so what i do when i meet somebody is i want to make a good impression but i also want people to know who i am and then i want to know who they are and then ultimately who they are and who you are determines whether or not you're going to be friends or not or how close you're going to be or whether you're going to hang or not and so for a few weeks we want to talk about who we are as passion city church and then let god use that to change our heart so that we can all leave an imprint behind that makes a difference a hundred years from now on planet earth you know your fingerprints are all over atlanta right now everywhere you went today you left an imprint you didn't even think about it but you sat down and you left an imprint you touched the door and now the the germaphobes are freaking out uh but you touched the door you left an imprint you handed somebody something and on that something was a little imprint of your life but that's a tiny imprint over time our lives make major imprint of something and what we want to ask tonight is is this something that our lives are making a mark on the world is that mark a lasting mark and so passion city church we have some values and i want to talk about the first one of those tonight maybe the major one of those the leading value and it is this that jesus is our lead story so if you're new to passion city church we need you to know that right away that we have a lead story we have a headline if you will and the headline of our house is a person named jesus christ he is our lead story i know that sounds like that should be the case because we're a church but if you come here any sunday you're going to hear about jesus you come to any gathering you're going to hear about jesus any time of the year you're going to hear about jesus any message that's preached here no matter what the series what the topic where in scripture you're going to hear about jesus because he is our lead story this is the way we say it in our culture document our us book but it's also online under our culture and standards jesus is our lead story in fact let's just say that together jesus is our lead story in fact jesus is our only story he is preeminent in our hearts and central in all we do we believe jesus is unrivaled in history and eternity he is god and he is good glorious both now and forevermore his name is the only name that saves his power is the only power that can raise us from the dead our goal is not just to get people to church ultimately we want people to meet jesus that's why we say we are a jesus church we really don't want to be identified by any other name jesus is our lead story now you can clap for that there was a like a small applause but if you feel it you can clap for that jesus is our lead story why because jesus has the name that is preeminent among all the names in time and in eternity that's what we see in colossians 1. this is the core text for us it'll be familiar to a lot of you but i love this text and could could dwell in it every single day talking about jesus paul says this beginning in verse 15 and he's using pronouns but i'm going to use the actual name of jesus jesus is the image of the invisible god the firstborn over all creation for by jesus all things were created things in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or powers or rulers or dominions all things were created by jesus and for jesus can i just say that one more time because you're in that you and the person sitting next to you and the earth that you're sitting on you were created by jesus and you were created for jesus and then he goes on to continue jesus is before all things so before there was anything there was jesus and in jesus all things hold together and jesus is the head of the body the church he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything jesus might have the supremacy in everything jesus might have the supremacy and he's the head of the church the firstborn so in the church jesus should have the supremacy so therefore jesus is our lead story because we're reading it right out of the text for god was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in jesus and through jesus to reconcile to himself all things whether things on earth or things in heaven by making peace through jesus blood shed on the cross now this one text underscores for us the supremacy and the ultimacy of jesus in other words there is no one like him there is no name like his there is no one above him there's no one in competition with them jesus is ultimate and therefore he is our lead story the bible says he has the name above every name another place paul wrote he has the title above all titles therefore we can't come up with another name or another title to lift up higher than the name of jesus so when you walk into our buildings you see on the wall jesus is life because jesus is our lead story now if if you're thinking well wait a minute what about the holy spirit we we want to be led and filled by the holy spirit and what about god the father because all of us want to be restored into a relationship and know that we have a perfect heavenly father well we believe in the trinity at passion city church so just to be clear we're a trinitarian church a god in three persons father son and holy spirit but they don't get jealous of each other because they're all one god and it doesn't bother the spirit to come into the building and see jesus's life on the wall and it certainly doesn't bother the father to come into a gathering and see jesus is life because the father sent jesus into the world to give the life and the spirit then lifts up and amplifies the name of jesus by giving us boldness and courage and supernatural power so the world can hear the name of jesus and be saved in fact jesus himself when he was teaching about all of this made it super clear and the trinity is a is a tough one to tackle and i love it people say you know the trinity is hard to explain i'm like thank god it is i don't want a god who's easy to explain i don't want a god that you can put in a thimble i don't want a god that i can say let me tell you every single thing about god i don't know all the stuff about god but i know all the essential things about god because he's revealed them to us in his word and through the person of jesus christ i know everything i need to know about god but i could not begin to exhaust the ocean that is god therefore don't worry about heaven don't think you're going to get bored don't think that's going to be like a slow go because when we get to heaven there's going to be so much more of god to discover and so much more of his beauty his glory his majesty his mystery unfolded to us when we're changed into his image he's inexhaustible this god so you've been around church for a while you've heard some sermons you don't hardly know that you've even scratched the surface of god but it doesn't mean there's some unknown part of him that's going to change the game no you know all the essential components of him so that you can fully understand how to be in a relationship with him and how to live your life with him in the world but the trinity is one concept of god one god three persons father son and holy spirit you're not going to be able to simply explain that to somebody in 16 seconds in an elevator but the spirit teaches us reveals to us the father unfolds to us and jesus teaches us and listen to what he says about the spirit's arrival this is in john 15 a lot of this text and context is about the coming of the spirit but it's all drenched in trinitarian thought he says jesus does when the counselor comes whom i will send to you from the father so we just got the whole trinity in one phrase counselor is coming i'm going to send him but he's going to come from the father so why is he coming and what's he going to do the one whom i will send to you from the father the spirit of truth who goes out from the father he will testify jesus said about me in other words this spirit is coming from the father i'm going to be the agent by my death braille and resurrection that releases the coming of this promised spirit from the father and then when the spirit arrives he's going to testify about me jesus said so the holy spirit is not going to come and try to get all the focus on the holy spirit the holy spirit is going to come and put all the focus on the one whose name is above all names and you're like man this trinity thing's blowing my mind let your mind be blown just know that the lead story of our house is jesus and the spirit actually is going to help us make jesus the lead story of our house in another place just a chapter later if you want to see one more text it says this beginning in verse 12 chapter 16 i have much more to say to you jesus said more than you can now bear but when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth he will not speak on his own he will speak only what he hears and he will tell you what is yet to come he will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine in making it known to you so the story is that the father is sending the son and lifting him up so that all men can be drawn to him the son is glorifying the father is the only god in creation that would give his own son to save our souls so that grace would be our story and then the spirit is coming to animate to fill and to empower us by god's spirit in god breath to have the courage to lift up one name in a culture where there's so many different names to say boldly this name is the name that is above every single name therefore passion city church our lead story is jesus and i don't think anybody would really want it any other way you would go man congratulations louie i don't know how long long it took you all to figure that out but good job on getting that part right at the beginning our lead story is jesus but let me just flip it a little bit for for me now and for you so if it makes sense and i hope it does make sense that jesus is our lead story then wouldn't it make the same amount of sense that jesus would be your lead story in the same way that you would expect passion city church to make much of jesus wouldn't you in the very same way want in your life to make much of jesus and you would equally want your house to say jesus is our lead story as you would want your house to say jesus is our lead story i think what the enemy would be happy to do is say let the church have jesus as their lead story now you can create your own headline on june the 4th it was a friday 1976 most of you were not even remotely alive some of your parents were not alive i had a headline yep right there it is i know you can't see it good so we'll put it up for you uh-huh oh it's okay i know i did this simply knowing it would bless a lot of people in the marietta daily journal the headline says meet chs's court specialist now chs has campbell high school smyrna there were two campbell high schools in atlanta when i was in high school so that was fun but i went to the one in smyrna and this is my doubles partner ray dukes and at the time i was still going by my nickname i hadn't embraced my proper name yet and i was butch giglio all the way through high school and this yes i know and the hair by the way if you're just gonna ask later no perm involved that's the real deal that's my hair at that season the little tagline on the bottom says because we had just uh really rolled through our cobb county season as champion doubles team we'd gone to the regionals as all through the cobb county marietta paulding county all those regions as double champions and gone to state as doubles players and uh didn't do quite as well there but we had a future that's what the the little byline on the bottom says campbell netters ray dukes on the left and butch giglio make plans dot dot dot both are headed heading for georgia state and more tennis true we both went to georgia state only one of us actually played more tennis at georgia state and that was ray dukes who was good enough to play tennis at georgia state and i didn't play tennis at georgia state because i wasn't good enough to do that and the lord was leading me to move my focus a little bit so he could call me to preach and put me in the lane he wanted to be in for the rest of my life and so it worked out good for ray dukes and it worked out good for me in that season of life but we had a headline now granted we're on page 3b in the sports section of the marietta daily journal which i'm not knocking at all right now if it's still a newspaper i'm not knocking that but i will say ray duke's mom worked for the marietta daily journal and therefore all of our tennis matches made it into the newspaper but i also would like to add a few clarifying things number one it was 45 years ago and nobody cares i'm not even sure ray dukes cares and i don't care no one cares it tells our whole story we grew up in andover gardens apartments we were neighbors we met we started it says we spent endless hours playing tennis in our neighborhood with each other that led to fierce and competitive matches but through it all we remained the dearest of friends nobody cares the second clarifying thing i would like to add is that as a senior in high school in the newspaper being a rotary senior of the month and the president of my senior class in escorting somebody in the homecoming parade and leading the drum corps in our marching band and basically running the senior class and the high school in 1976 i left no imprint that matters you're like what you weren't leading revivals surely you were the head of the fca or had started a christian organization or you were inviting kids to come after tennis practice and no i was not devoted to following jesus and at church i knew the drill at school which was a million miles away with no social media to connect the worlds i was a guy trying to get the headline and if you go back to anybody in the class of 1976 who hasn't checked in with me now someone who just walked away in 1976 and who has not crossed paths with me now and you say do you remember a guy named butch giglio oh yeah he was president of our class tell me the main thing you remember about him they are not going to say he made sure everybody knew that jesus had the name above all names it's awash and that's the tension of how easy it is to get a byline when there's already a headline and i think the the difference is being able to ask the question why it's when our story which is jesus is our lead story changes and it changes to jesus is your lead story when you're able to say you know what is the headline of my life if you ask people who work with me live with me hang with me do life with me who inadvertently run into me you know what they're gonna tell you about me that is the most important thing about me they're gonna tell you they believed and wanted the world to know that jesus had the name above all names so how do you do that will you ask why some of you are at different stages of life some of you are in stage one or just the first stage i'm going to talk about you're in a season of favor anybody know what i'm talking about you know we talk about how hard life is but some people are not having a hard life right now we talk about how hard 2020 was but a lot of people 2020 wasn't hard for them have you met any of those people by the way it's a lot of young people in this crowd tonight and you might need to jump up a couple of uh tax brackets to meet some of those people but i've met so many people are like man i know we're supposed to feel bad about 2020 but i didn't get coveted and my business grew exponentially and i made so much money in 2020 i don't even know what to do with all the money i made in 2020. and i'm meeting people like yeah our family had coveted we lost our job we've been in lockdown we lived in the wrong state or the wrong city say man we've been living in so and so we didn't really have any quarantine i'm in a kind of business that really actually did really really well during the global crisis and our family's good and i'm good and we actually sold this and bought that and checked out of that and got into that we we're just in an unprecedented season of favor and it doesn't have to be about money it could be about the way your relationships are working right now or the way you feel about life or your own mental health and you're just in a season where things are good and you hang around with people and stuff with them isn't so good and you feel guilty almost saying to them well actually i'm doing pretty good but here's the thing being in favor is not bad god putting favor on your life is nothing you should be embarrassed about if god blesses your business or your marriage or your friendships or answers your prayers or does more in your life than you could have dreamed or imagined that's not bad that's just god putting favor on your life but when god puts favor on your life and pray that he will you've got to ask this question why why am i getting all the favor and then you've got to take this step and make that transition and say how can i use this favor for the glory of god there's a second place that people are and a lot of people are just discovering what their specific skill is and you're just realizing i'm good at something and you're starting to realize i actually might be better at this than most people and you know what i hope that you'll discover that and realize that because god did put something in you that you really are good at and he really does want to hone that in you until you can be the best at it but here's the thing if you're good at something you're inadvertently going to get a headline if you're the best person at your school the best person in your field the best person in your job the best person in your family if you're the best person in culture in a certain zone you're going to get a headline eventually by being the best and god doesn't want you to feel bad about getting a headline he actually wants you to get a headline but when you get the headline he wants you to ask the question why and the answer is simply this show me how to be the best at what i do for your glory it's so easy to love god and to love his ways until all of a sudden we start getting the accolades for the gift that god gave us and as soon as we start getting recognized for the gift god gave us it's interesting how easily we can get enticed by the headlines that are about us and forget about the one who gave us the gift in the first place and if you just keep saying god i don't mind the headline but i'm going to figure out how to be the best at what you've created me to be so that you can get the glory i see how louis is doing what he's doing and god gets glory because louie's job is to talk about god but my job over here is not to talk about god so show me how to be the best at what i do so that i can magnify you all of us coming to a third position or a third stage all of us have a platform and i think recognizing why we have a platform and knowing how to steward it is all about that why changing the hour to your it's about understanding this is my story and you know we start talking about platforms it gets weird all the time because people either want it or they sort of despise it like i don't hear about that talk about that i don't talk about social media i have 79 followers and i don't get any likes and the only comment i get is from sister so-and-so who wants me to invest with her friend who made her fifty thousand dollars and can help me make fifty thousand dollars if i just dm her and ask her to help me like she helped my friend yay listen everyone in this room has a platform every single person in this room has a platform for some of you it's a classroom for some of you it's a dorm suite for some of you it is the 77 people that follow you on social media or it's the 16 friends that are looking to you or maybe it's just four people that you're their voice really don't despise the four people one of them may be the president of a nation one of them may be the one who is a groundbreaking scientist that changes the trajectory of the world one of them may be a mother who gives birth to a son and a daughter who are vessels that god uses to change the world don't despise the four people don't don't be worried about the 444 people or the 4 000 and 44 people just realize that god's given you a platform right where you are and that platform may increase in time it may exponentially increase in time and if it does you've just simply got to ask why do i have this platform and then you've got to be willing to say god i want you to use this platform and i want you to make it more about you than it is about me it doesn't mean every post needs to be a scripture verse or a little spiritual saying it just means that every now and then people need to hear that you believe there's a name that's above every name there is a name that has power there is a name that heals there is a name that saves and restores and redeems and brings the dead to life and in time being wise as a snake and innocent as a dove you'll know when to use that platform to tell the people who are looking at you there is a headline above all headlines in life a couple more we'll close for some of you you're in that season where nothing makes sense and there's no simple answer i couldn't even give a simple answer of if i sat down with you or your best friend sat down with you or one of our team pastors sit down with you nobody's going to be able to say oh let me explain what's happening in this dark valley that you're in right now where nothing seems to make sense where your prayers do not seem to be being answered where there there is no way to to make sense of all this it's just a mess and god is giving us an opportunity he's giving us an opportunity to connect our unexplained moment to a headline that's going to last forever and he may not give an answer and change the circumstance but i believe that with the why and i think it's okay to say god i don't know why this is happening i think it's okay to say god i don't know why this is happening this way or how you could possibly use this for your glory i don't think that offends god in fact i was doing a podcast a few weeks ago with priscilla priscilla shire and she said you can ask god questions without questioning god in other words you can say god i i don't know why this is happening and i can't see how you're using this in any way but i still do know in fact that you are god and you are good because you have been good to me and i believe that you are god and you are good but i don't know how you're using this i can't see what you're doing in this but i'll tell you where the power comes is when we take the unanswered valley of the unknown and we just simply say with the other y i want to add the essential why and i want to turn this from our story to your story to my story and i want to say god somehow someway i'm trusting you are going to use this for the headline that is jesus the situation might not change but you will and then lastly there's somebody in the season right now where you just feel stuck in your past there's either hurt there there's a wound there there's disappointment defeat and somehow it's got a grip on you and you're trapped if you will in the past you're stuck in what you did or what was done to you and in this gathering right now jesus is wanting to come alongside you he's wanting to come alongside you because he's the only one truly who can even though a lot of people have overcome a lot of things in this gathering no one has overcome more than jesus has overcome and he wants to come alongside you and say you know what i know about your past and i know that you have scars i want you to know that i also have scars i want you to know that the headline maker he's not just the golden child well he was the golden child he did come step down off a throne he did create the entire world and own all of its riches he does own all the gold and all the silver and all the diamonds and all of the bitcoin that you can mine out of the earth he owns it all he came down as the creator of it all but he entered into flesh and blood he took on human skin he humbled himself and became a man he stepped down even though he was up high and when he did it earned him the opportunity to say i get it but not only did he step in he all he stepped all the way up and he allowed his life to be taken for yours and mine he allowed nails to be driven through his hands and feet and a spear to be thrust into his side he was beaten and abandoned and betrayed and locked out and railroaded at the end of the day but he overcame all that by the power of god and to this day he still got to scars to prove it and so i'd encourage you if you feel trapped in the past to let him come sit beside you now and say oh i know about your scars do you know about my scars because these scars were for your healing because for by my stripes you are healed that means you're put into right relationship with god through faith but it also means that you're restored it means what the enemy is stolen is going to be given back to you it means all of the devastation and loss that you've experienced is going to be restored to you because i restore broken things i rebuild things that have been shattered i renew things that have lost every sense of hope and i put people back together again and i set them on a path and i give them the gift of a spirit and i give them purpose i align them with a father and i set them in motion to do supernatural things to lift up the name that is above every name everybody's invited to step into the process of being made brand new by the power and the spirit of god including you and you can leave the past with your scars and show them to the world as a way of saying i made it because jesus is a healer and he overcame and he brought me up in his victory or you can choose to say you know what nope it's going to be a headline and a byline about what happened to me that's going to be the byline i'm not giving up the byline of 45 years ago or 4.5 years ago or 45 days ago i'm not giving up my byline i'm not giving up my story i'm not relinquishing what i have the right to hold on to and when you make that decision i'm telling you right now when you step into eternity your personal effects are going to fit in a paper bag there's something better and there's a headline that's bigger and god is saying to you leave the past with me and come on and believe me for the future that's how you make jesus your lead story is by letting jesus set you free from what's been holding you back ct stud was a stud over a century ago in england he came from the best family went to eaton played cricket there went to cambridge played cricket there ended up playing cricket on the national team of england played in the very first test match with australia which became known as the ashes it's a test match that still played to this day if you're in a cricket world in pakistan or india or australia or england or in the caribbean these nations where cricket is the sport the ashes is still it's the wimbledon of cricket and on the the ash's trophy there's actually a reference etched into the trophy to ct stud but when ct stud was university age he got saved radically saved and he became one of who were known as the cambridge seven and under the teaching of a who who was a great missionary in that era he committed his life to going to inland china to share the gospel and he left the riches of his family he left the path of cricket he left it all behind and he went on a one-way ticket to preach jesus because he believed that jesus was the name that should be the headline of his life and he knew that in inland china there were millions and millions and millions of people who never heard that name ct stud got gravely ill in china and they had to ship him home to england they thought they were shipping him home to die but he recovered when he got home to england i'm thinking if it's present tense that's when you write your book and sign your first book deal i was a famous qriket player i gave it all up for jesus i went to inland china i got sick and almost died they shipped me home i'm miraculously recovered i'm gonna go around now and tell my great story of sacrifice in my life right no he said i feel good now i have a burden for the congo and he set out from england again to the heart of africa where he gave his life and died preaching the gospel of jesus christ and the whole time i was working on this talk i kept having this phrase came to come through my mind and i'm like i know this phrase i know this phrase i know there's a bigger there's a bigger poem around this and then it clicked and it dawned on me oh it's ct stud and he's the one who pinned these words the poem is called only one life it's brilliant and beautiful and it's got a lot of stanzas but may i just share a few as we just transitioned to lord what are you saying to me right now because i believe god is saying if you'll trade a byline for a headline you'll never regret it not only will your life make sense now the wise will get clearer now but all you'll never regret it he wrote two little lines i heard one day traveling along life's busy way bringing conviction to my heart and from my mind would not depart only one life to soon be passed only what's done for christ will last only one life yes only one soon will its fleeting hours be done then in that day my lord to meet and stand before his judgment seat only one life will soon be passed only what's done for christ will last give me father a purpose deep in joy or sorrow thy word to keep faithful and true whatever the strife pleasing thee in my daily life only one life till soon be past only what's done for christ will last and he closes by saying only one life yes only one now let me say thy will be done and when at last i hear the call i know i'll say it was worth it all only one life will soon be passed only what's done for christ will last there is a headline in the headlines name is jesus that's our lead story tonight he could become your lead story

Channel: Passion City Church

Views: 12,946

Rating: 4.98524 out of 5

Keywords: passion city, passion city church, louie giglio, imprint, jesus is our lead story, jesus, church, atlanta, passion 268, passion conferences

Id: LvpJytiwVyg

Length: 40min 50sec (2450 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 13 2021