Open Your Eyes | Pastor Chris Hodges

morning everybody thank you so much for being with us on and welcome all of our campuses that right there in Gainesville and Gwinnett and Buford and Spartanburg in Orange County and soon to be Midtown we're so excited about that new campus opening up in just a few days and I hope you're having a wonderful weekend we just came out of the most wonderful marriage conference I'm telling you God did amazing things lives were changed families were blessed marriages were healed and I believe a blessing is going from generation to generation because of what happened this weekend and thank you for each Apple for making miracles happen for people when I ask you today to prepare your heart to give always love what dr. Rudnick taught us about when the word yield is mentioned in free chapel people cheer just like this give good job today as you give know that you're making a difference around the world and we so appreciate you generosity and your faithfulness God's gonna bless us this year in ways I believe that we have never seen or imagined before father I pray your blessing upon the people's businesses I pray your blessing upon their giving today bless their families their homes their marriages and their lives in Jesus mighty name and while you give I'm so excited about next weekend we'll begin the series love like you've never been hurt my brand-new book is out now and people are being touched we're here at amazing praise reports of lives that are being transformed marriages homes families that are being healed and we're gonna share stuff we've never shared before right here beginning next Sunday so you don't want to miss it bring everybody you can bring all of the people that you can and restart your heart for a miracle of reconciliation over the next three weeks but today you are in for an amazing treat we have with us and well he just did some of the greatest preaching that you could ever hear on marriage we're so delighted to have Chris and Tammy Hodges Charisse and I have no in the ministry that we look up to more than this couple they are precious precious people listen to this he started a church in Birmingham Alabama called the Church of the Highlands and he's basically started it in his living room and it has exploded they run 30,000 plus every Sunday multiple campuses all over Alabama and probably breaking out of Alabama now god only knows where they're going to end up and just the kindest nicest sweetest humble people that preach amazing truth and live it and I am so delighted to have for the first time on a Sunday Pastor Chris Hodges he's been kind enough to come in and pour into our staff and he's poured into my life and I've had the honor of speaking at his amazing church and learned so much but you know what you're in for a blessing fasten your seat belt would you put your hands together and give a warm warm welcome to Pastor Chris come on give Jesus all the praise everybody come on give Jesus all the praise everybody are you glad to be a church I said are you glad to be a church so thrilled to be here as well and stay standing for a moment I wants to pray together just ask God to move in this place and to touch our hearts and we're gonna open up our lives to God's Word and let the Bible change us in Jesus name Amen we've had the best time ever at the conference and I'm just so grateful honestly to be a part of that we had so much fun and to be here with you guys I really do consider it very honestly one of the greatest honors of my life I tell pastors that I go to church on Mondays and so I work all day Sunday like your pastor does but on Monday I not get my sweat pants on and my t-shirt and I go down to my office and I gotta start browsing through online churches Church experiences and this is the honest-to-god truth I wouldn't say this just cuz I'm standing here free chapel is the first place that I go to because you're pastors messages they they they just feed me so much and to be standing in the place that has stood me up for so many times many many Monday's days were hours I was down or going through something and hearing the Word of God is can't tell you what that means to me right now I love love love your pastor's son Jenson's trees have become yeah their dear friends and I can only imagine that people kind of wonder you kind of wonder you know what are they what do pastors really like you know if you could kind of go in the back room and talk to them they are the same exact people full of love and integrity and genuineness you say what do y'all talk about we talk ninety-nine percent of the time he wants to talk about y'all I mean he just he loves to church I think we want to put our hands to go and study and just thank God come on for great pastors come on you're really blessed [Music] [Applause] and the worship come on his worship like this every Sunday everybody [Music] oh I'm very serious I want to owner I want our teams to come here and just get a little bit y'all got a little swag going on y'all's worship here it's pretty awesome and it's really it's really good let's open our hands before the Lord ask God just just to do something in our lives you know the Bible says make room in your hearts you got to make room in your hearts for God to do something so father right now in this place we're so grateful Lord for your presence and your power and God the fact that we get to experience it together as a family of believers that we're grateful for every person who's wandered in here for the first time God and they're seeking you and maybe going through difficulties in their life God's searching and seeking Lord we invite you here now and I pray God that people really wouldn't even see me I pray God that they'd see Jesus and or we just we just make room in our hearts today for the power of your word we realized that our Bibles is just not it's not a normal book that this book contains power for its own fulfillment your book is alive it's sharper than any double-edged sword and God we just make room for the Bible to confront us and to fix us and to challenge us and we know we'll never be the same in Jesus mighty name and everybody shouted amen alright give somebody a high five say I'm so glad you came to church come on tell him I'm so glad you came to church turn to the person who was your second choice on the other side and say you need a little Church come on tell them you just couldn't you just look like you could lose use a little church I am with my wife Tami we've been married this may 32 [Applause] and we got five kids everybody and I always get a reaction when I say that I don't I don't know where the line is but I know we crossed it and I saw a lot of kids and we have a daughter in four sons and people actually I was at a church just not too long ago in California and a guy walked up to me said man five kids you must really like kids I said no I don't I really like my wife come on somebody so and that's why I was at the marriage conference everybody I had stuff to say and so but I also have two two grandsons and and I've got two grandkids on the way this year so God's been good to the Hodges family and we are blessed and I want you to open your Bibles today to John chapter 4 I'm not really just the this allowed preacher I'm kind of a teacher I want to show you some I want to show you some details in God's Word I'm asking God to speak to you in a great way today and as you turn to John chapter 4 I want to set up this text and because the setup is important to understand some details in here to me that are very very interesting a lot of you guys know the story of the woman at the well jesus and his disciples had just finished a lot of ministry and the Bible says that the disciples had gone to town to buy some food I guess they were going to come back and make lunch together so this is one of the rare occasions where Jesus is actually not with his disciples and he wanders over vows says he was tired and he walked over to this well obviously to get some water and when he did a woman a Samaritan woman walked up and Jesus struck up a conversation with her which actually socially in that time was not the right thing to do a men did not speak to women in public that they did not know honestly this is bad but in those days they would actually would have felt like they were somewhat better than a woman and then Jesus smashes right through that gender barrier and speaks to this woman and then she was a Samaritan and there were racial tensions between Samaritan and Jews and Jesus smashes right through the racial barriers come on say Amen right there and and just it just talks to this Samaritan woman and and if you know the story at all he asked her to you know help him get some water and they talked a little bit and they said they C said why don't you go get your husband she said well I don't have a husband he said well that's actually right you have you have had five husbands and you're actually shacking up with somebody right now there's not your husband and she says sir I perceive us now it'll be a prophet you just read my mail I don't know how you did that and and the Bible picks up the story about right there in verse 27 watch this he says in just then his disciples returned and they were surprised to find him talking to a woman for reasons that I already told you so you kind of got a picture of the story to get the most out of this message so you can imagine Jesus is standing there if this pulpit was that well and they're just kind of coming back with their arms full of groceries and they're just like a shock on their face my goodness what in the world's he talked to that woman for and one of the worlds he talked into a Samaritan woman but then John does something in this writing in this text of course inspired by the Holy Spirit but John is writing it and he does something you don't do when you're writing down a story and that is he now includes in the story stuff that did not happen so when you're writing a story you don't include details of things that didn't happen but he says he says but no one asks we forgot to ask what do you want Jesus is there anything I can get for you and I guess he's writing that down because he regrets that you know when I look back over the story we were so not even tuned into him that we didn't even walk up to him and do the common courtesy of saying oh Jesus we're back can I get you anything I've been at free chapel now for three days and I've been asked that question by the team here at least 50 times old pastor Chris can I get you anything kind of get your coat can I put it on can I take it back off would you like some coffee you don't like cobble it about tea I mean just all over God I got just come and Curtis here you'll fall in this everybody you said but know what no one asks that no one asks what do you want and no one asks why were you talking to the woman and again if you're a disciple and your rabbi is doing something you don't understand you ask now the question is is why are those details of non things that did not happen included in scripture and that is because they're important in fact there's not a single detail of Scripture that there's that that is there by accident every part of it is there on purpose and this is an important thing for us to notice and he goes on and says then leaving her water jar the woman went back to the town and said to her people no timeout right there and we make sure you understand the town is not another city the town is around the corner because she's gonna come back with town people in a matter of minutes and she goes back to the town and she says I think I found God come see a man who who read my mail told me everything I did could this be the Christ could this be the Messiah that we've been looking for and the Bible says and they the town people we don't know how many but picture with me coming around the corner of that stage fifty to a hundred people led by this woman like here he is come over here they came out of the town they made their way toward him I want you to get that in your mind Jesus and the disciples are standing at this well a town is coming toward him to find out if he really is the Messiah and then you get this funny verse right here I see humor in scripture I'm actually a Cajun from south Louisiana everybody and I don't know I just see things the bottle things are funny to me that aren't funny to a lot of people but this is funny right here because the disciples while the town is walking up to him the disciples urged him hey rabbi let's go to PF Changs are y'all seeing that everybody but they're kind of they're kind of missing the moment I mean here here this group of people are coming and they're concerned about their bellies and Jesus Jesus does something right here that he often did and that is if you brought up a topic any topic he would use that topic as a metaphor to teach you a spiritual truth so he says so they brought up food so he says well guys I have food to eat that you don't know anything about of course you guys know but he's talking about like I'd rather reach the town than go to lunch right now we all we all know that they missed it because the Bible says the disciples seventy said to each other could someone have already brought him food I mean let's I just are y'all see okay so you're catching that right it's just hilarious to me like well you ate you were supposed to wait till we got back to eat why did you eat you know they're so concerned about their own own stomachs right here and they're missing it and then Jesus Christ round number two he says no no guys my food said Jesus is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his say the next word out loud finish his come on say it out loud of this time finish his work he says guys I'm hungry too but we have work to do I want you to hear that what Jesus was doing is saying guys you are missing the moment first of all you were so selfish you didn't ask me if I wanted anything you didn't even ask me to teach you while I was talking to this woman and now you want to go to lunch when we got a whole town coming out to get ministry and he says you guys keep saying or do you not say it's probably a better translation is is we have a saying or there's a there's a colloquialism there's a saying that people would use to kind of the procrastination saying hey we'll harvest but we'll do it later for months more and then the harvest in other words we're gonna do it Wieters are not gonna do it right now and he says I tell you read the next three words aloud I'll tell you open your come on every voice said again loud I tell you open open your eyes he says hit me tell what your problem is your problem is you can't see the world the way I see it because if you did you wouldn't want to go to lunch right now open your eyes look at the fields and realize that they're right for harvest I'm gonna share a message with you today that on the onset of it it's not one of the more popular messages for churches to hear because a lot of times if you're like me I come to church because I got some stuff going on my life and speak to my life speak to the things that I'm going through and all of those are very very important but I want to bring a message to you today that I am convinced that if Jesus had the opportunity to speak to his church we are his church he could speak to his church he would say listen to me your needs are very important but I would love for you to see the world the way I see it I wish you could open your eyes and look at the fields and realize that they're right for harvest your church has a missions vision your church exists not just for what goes on here and that in the town of Gainesville and in the Gwinnett campus and all the different areas your church exists because you believe you definitely believe that our responsibility is not just to us but to the world around us if you believe it say Amen and that's why you go to Israel and that's why in just a few weeks of Sunday after Easter starting a brand new campus right there in the heart of Atlanta why is that because your pastor sees and you're in the God sees the world and it through the lens of man there are people still to reach if we're not careful though what happens is there's a spiritual disease that happens that the Bible actually taught about in second Peter chapter one that's called spiritual nearsightedness in fact nearsightedness in fact it uses two words together in that text that you're near-sighted and unproductive in other words when you get nearsighted you're unproductive I'm nearsighted in that my physical condition you guys can see I'm wearing glasses I'm nearsighted and and I've had perfect eyesight for for about forty four years of my life I mean perfect I said I can see a freckle on a net you know I'm talking about perfect eyesight and I was at a football game with my sister where my boys were playing my sister was sitting next to me and I was squinting to see the names on the back of the jerseys and my sister Carol handed me her glasses and said hey try these on and I put them on it's like my whole world came in high-definition again and I was I was shocked by it I waited two more years to go to the eye doctor I don't know why perfect eyesight was not at the top of my to-do list but it wasn't I finally decided to go to the eye doctor and I don't if you if you've never been before it's real real strange it's like really strange because when you get there you think they're gonna help you see better the first thing they do is blind you all the more they put stuff in your eyes you can't see and they leave it like they blew in my eyeball eyebrows was what's that like I was like glaucoma check like Warner brother first you know let me know you gonna do that and it was strange I hate it he gets real close real close right here like a or be it B or a or BB B R a a or B I can't decide I get it slow down you know it's terrible anyway so true story I'm not making this up he leaves the office comes back and he says we got you figured out and I'm excited because I mean I want to be able to see the names on the back of jerseys I can he goes we got you figured out you you're near-sighted and I said no I'm not not at all I said I got the NIR stuff my problem is the far stuff I got four problems she it's not near problems and he goes no that's what we call it I say I don't understand it's the only medical profession that names her condition for what you're good at you know I'm sorry I mean it's like go to the doctor with a broken arm and he says well your legs work I mean it's dumb I'm just I'm just saying it needs to change in my opinion I said well bro y'all should name the problem not the anyways because we don't do that and I said okay so anyway I'm leaving there I'm getting all that figured out I get glasses and all and and I'm leaving there I'm telling you the Holy Spirit spoke to me driving out I could see exactly where I was that in that parking lot as I was pulling out and I'm telling you I heard the Holy Spirit say you know that can be your condition too and it can be the condition in my church that when you're near-sighted this is the honest-to-god truth right now I can see the dust on my iPad I can see every little detail I can't see you so I'm just really focused on the things that are real clear to me so my life whenever you can't see something you don't become responsible for something so you end up just living in the world that you can see remember Jesus said open your eyes so whenever you're spiritually nearsighted what happens is you actually get blinded by your own needs you can tell when you're spiritually nearsighted by how you pray because when because whenever if God answered all your prayers but it changed the world or just changed me yes so what happens is when you're nearsighted it will Lord my family in my car and my job and mine and that's fine God cares about every detail of your life can I hear a good Amen everybody he really does but he does also not just want to take us to lunch he wants us to open up our eyes and see the town that is right around us at the same time I want you to see I want you to see you can't get blinded in fact I don't if you know this or not but the hope of the gospel isn't just for you his hope was to heal you and bless you enough so that you could become a solution to the world around you I don't know if you realize that or not the God yeah so at some point he was actually hoping that the gospel does such a work inside of everyone except one of us that we can bring now the hope of the world to the people right there around us that's why we say be healed in Jesus name but not just for your own benefit you're supposed to be blessed to be a blessing everybody that's the gospel that's the hope that's his hope another condition of spiritual nearsightedness is that we can get insulated I call it insulated and forget that there's a broken world happening all around us we forget about the needs of others one of the things that Tammy and I do for our children our kids is that we make sure that we personally take every one of them on a missions trip but to a place where you see broken people every child every one of you guys honestly if you've never been on a missions trip if you've never seen hurting people you need to go to a place where there's a whole family living in a refrigerator box you'll pray differently you'll give differently you'll see things differently you'll thank God for what you have so much more the first time I went to Mexico I actually traveled went into the town that is water as Mexico which is right across the border of El Paso you can actually go to a place that they even the Mexicans called the lost city you weave in between big old piles almost as high as that screen on the side here piles of trash in this in this dump it's a dump and you can drop you they drive the van between these piles of trash into this the middle of this dump and there's a whole city living in there that the Mexicans call the lost city and I'll never forget the first time I was there pulling up alongside and there was an there was an entire family of five living in a refrigerator box I'll never forget I crossed the border back when we were done with our mission there I literally when we crossed the border I kissed the ground I said thank God for America then I called Domino's come on somebody where y'all at all right I mean seriously you just think my good my goodness it's just I had no idea and a lot of times if you don't see it you don't become responsible for it tenant we got to open our eyes we got to open our eyes and another one is is that when you're spiritually nearsighted what you don't realize is that God Jesus Jesus's heart I say we get away from the heart of the one that we love so much how many love Jesus today say Amen so if you're in a relationship with Jesus in any relationship that you're in it's not all about them loving you but it's also about you loving them and what he does for us is concerned about what we're going through but what we're what we do is as lovers of Jesus is now God what are you concerned about what do you what do you thinking about today and listen to me I want you to hear this this may even hurt your feelings but you need to know this and that is that God loves you very much Jesus loves you very much but his eyes aren't on us as much as you think they are in fact there's one whole chapter 2 the Bible go read at Luke chapter 15 where three times Jesus tells a story about lost things a lost sheep lost coin lost son the moral of the story in all three of the stories are I am so grateful for my found things but I am really more distracted by my lost things and I'm giving my attention to the lost things I'm focused on that you you would get that if you can think about I don't if you've ever lost something of value to you like if you ever lost like your wallet or your watch or your keys and if you ever around the house like looking for your loss stuff you never you never do an inventory of your found things like I've lost my wallet but man there's my couch you know you don't do that when you're looking for it you are what I call distracted by that which is lost so that's all you're thinking about when you have something that's a value to that's missing actually Tammy and I lost one of our kids once and and it's it is funny now to say it that way but it was horrifying when it happened we spent the first seven years of ministry as youth pastors in Colorados so we love Colorado we ski to lobby we learned how to snow ski and three of our children actually born in Colorado so when we moved back to the South here we wanted to bring all of our kids back and teach them how to ski and so we were on a trip safe took me forever to savor this trip to go to Vail with all my kids and and we ended up with a couple of other families of just skiing together about just 20-something people all together skiing we skied for three days and the last day of the trip we were just gonna hang out like in the village and not ski just go through the shops and things like that it was our last day there and so we're kind of going through town a little bit in fact I brought a picture of the place that we started at we started actually took this picture after the story I'm telling you because I wanted people to be able to see it we actually went into that Starbucks right there 20-something people and while we were all in their ordering coffees my youngest child my youngest son his name's Joseph he's autistic he's on the autism spectrum and he's pretty high-functioning but he doesn't communicate well at all and and especially if the Armant gets tense you parents that have autistic children or those on the spectrum you understand that that there are situations that when they go through it it freaks them out and they can kind of it shuts them down he can get shut down in a second he couldn't even handle being in a room like this but it's just because it's just too much activity and so anyways it's it's it's it's a problem for him he's 12 years he was 12 years old at the time but while we were all ordering coffees he doesn't tell us and he goes into the bathroom right when we were done so we walked out twenty-something people out of that Starbucks and we literally went into that marble slab Creamery Nicks all 20 of us we were gonna eat our way down the street come on somebody all right and so we all went in there when we all went into that ice cream store you can take it down now Joseph Joseph comes out and he doesn't see us and he goes the other way well just that week we had read a story about a girl a little teenaged girl who was abducted in that town and they found her dental remains in the mountains on a satanic altar like she was used yeah that that's the first thing that I thought about and I freaked out I'm not talking about a little bit freaked out I'm freaking out crying I said guys Joseph's missing and and I am panic-stricken it literally to date was the worst moment of my life I was you parents know what I'm talking about it was just the most sickening feeling of my life almost like it was choreographed twenty-something people went in twenty something different directions I mean I'll never forget my daughter jumped on the this bus passed by and she jumped on she goes I'm gonna go find him on the buses and everybody went into a different store they we just took off in different directions I went and found a security guard who was leaning up against the building I'll never forget this he just he was standing there just doing it you know guarding the place and he had a radio and a gun and I ran up just panicked sir-sir you got to help me find my son my little I have a little autistic son he's 12 years old and um and he's missing and he's like he was a little redheaded guy and and I gotta you gotta help me find him and he said without unfolding his arms he said well did you look the last place you saw him can I confess my sins in church everybody's that are brother III it almost it made me so mad at my man you're the one with the gun and radio helped me out and he could he wasn't grabbing the urgency of that moment with me the way I like to say this I was irritated by his inactivity because something of value to me was missing I want you to hear that today because I know God loves us he cherishes us he's so grateful that we gathered in auditoriums all around the world to worship his name but I I just tend to think that he get maybe just might get a bit irritated from time to time with our inactivity because there's a whole world that he so loves that it's missing and he just loved for us to see it to come on if you believe it give a free chapel kind of praise break right here just honor God yeah open your eyes but I like lunch too but there's a whole town coming out right now open your eyes look at the fields 25 minutes later I'll never forget it it took us 25 minutes it felt like 25 hours I found Joseph where he found me I saw him face red sobbing his head off head going side to side screaming out daddy daddy just looking for us he crossed this I'll never forget this little stone bridge over a creek when I saw him and I yelled out to him Joseph and he turned and saw me and just made a mad dash arms open wide and we embrace daddy where were you I'm gonna tell you something Church I've not been the same pastor since so now I actually lead the Membership class at our all 17 campuses I've put it on videos so all 17 campuses can see it and I tell the Joseph's story and I say if you're looking for a church that's just all about you just go ahead and go ahead and find another church today cuz this is not the right place I mean we're gonna do everything in our power to take care of you but it's never going to be about all us in fact we don't believe the church exists for us we are the church and we exist for the broken world around us I tell this story every time and so if if the traffic bothers you and you know and I know it's hard to get on the campus I know it is and if like you think why are we opening another campus and why are we doing so much around the world and why would we give all that to help other people if that bothers you you just ought to go ahead and find another place now because we are gonna do everything we can short of sin to reach as many people as we can for God because God so loves the world that's what he loves that's what he's thinking about so one of my passions in pastoring is I love to preach but I love to teach and I like to make a message is practical and so actually in this membership class what I do is I take it only takes me about five minutes to teach people how to do evangelism because that word usually freaks people out because most people think you got to go on a park bench and stand on it and just tell people you better turn or you're gonna burn you know that's not evangelism all right or as they say in Alabama you're gonna go to hell it's two syllables in Alabama hail you're going to hail that's where you're going no that's not that's not our message okay and most people get a little bit it's just unnerved by the fact that men and do I need to do this well absolutely you do but I want to show you how evangelism can actually be incredibly easy I'll give you four things you like write these down jot them down your phone or something let me just keep so simple so practical every one of you can do it and that's the first of all you do have to accept the responsibility I call it the personal responsibility and what you may not have known but now you do know is that the church is God's plan and he doesn't have a plan B so God's hope of reaching this area is us and he doesn't have a plan B if you like verses write down Ephesians 3:10 it was God's intent that the manifold wisdom of God be made known to the world through the church 2nd Corinthians 5:17 we are Christ's ambassadors as though Christ God was making his appeal to this area of the world through us we are the message carriers we are the message holders it's up to us and I'm not just talking about the whole world God never expects you to change the whole world he just expects you to change your world if we'll all change our world will change the world that's how it works everybody so what do we do we know I'm talking about your co-workers and your friends and your neighbors and I'm talking about your classmates and I'm talking about your relatives that the hope is is that you would just realize that and I know this is hard I'm not trying to be hard but their blood is on our hands if we know that there's a way for eternal life and we don't sound the alarm the Bible says and let them know come on you can be saved you do not have to pay for your own sins that is the message we are supposed to carry amen everybody because you need to understand if you say why are we always growing so much growth is not an option as long as heaven in Hell or realities everybody and those are real places people actually go to one of those places so we accept the responsibility number two and that is we want to develop a personal relationship we don't go straight to them and say you know what if you don't get your life right you're gonna go to hell that's not our message the first thing we do write it down this way is that we're gonna connect before we correct we're gonna get into their world like Jesus did Jesus like had guys like Zacchaeus he was a wee little man come on Baptist where y'all at and a wee little man was he right climbed up into that sycamore tree Jesus came by this guy that was a spiritual seeker and Jesus first words to Zacchaeus was let's go to lunch he knew he was a thief he knew he was taking people's money and he never brought the topic of money he said let's go to lunch we don't know what happened in lunch but Zacchaeus came out of there giving all his money away to the poor that was a good lunch come on somebody right that's the point is that we're gonna build relationship with people we're gonna have this dynamic relationship with people we say you know what I'm not here to tell you how to live your life I just I just care about you and if you want to know a little hint by the way John Maxwell says is that every person has a spiritual spot a place where they're most sensitive if you want a little hint about it by the way it's usually their family and better yet it's usually their kids if you just ask them tell me about your family tell about your kids tell me what tell me about the hardest part of your life right now if it's okay with you I'll just pray for you about that if you care for people I'm gonna tell you they're gonna open up their lives spiritually to God and that is our job in this world we we don't just tell them what we know we want them to know that we care for them and then number three we look for some opportunity this will set you free now to share our own personal story with them this is probably the most freeing part of evangelism because evangelism isn't telling the person what's wrong with them it's telling them what happened in you Acts chapter one verse eight says we are his witnesses what is the witness do it we're not judged we're not prosecutor we're a witness we tell our side of the story let me tell you the difference God's made in my life several years ago I was actually speaking at my home Church in Baton Rouge and Southwest's used to have a flight directly from New Orleans to Birmingham they don't anymore but to get rid of going getting on two planes I drove down an hour from Baton Rouge to New Orleans and got on this Southwest flight now I normally don't like Southwest actually because you have to make the decision about where you're gonna sit like you have to get in line and then you never know you can't even really assign who you won't sitting next to you and that kind of matters to me and so I was traveling and I got on the plane I was trying to think of a good seat but then you had that that empty seat next to you thinking you know Jesus makes Lord give me a good person you know and so people are boarding in your prayer life improves come on don't y'all know what I'm talking about right so this girl true story this girl rounds the corner I'm already seated and she was like she was coming in and you can tell she it's been all day on Bourbon Street come on y'all right and so she she huh she hugs up on and sure enough I'm like Oh father Jesus father God Jesus no it's a plop right there next Simeon ah and then this happens every time the person who's sitting next sits next to me says so what do you do for a living and when you're a pastor you got to decide if you're gonna lie or not you really do you know and and so I said well I'm a pastor and she goes what duh we're all passengers I said no girl you have had too much to drink I said pastor pastor and she said next line she goes oh well I don't like Christians and I know the kind she was probably raised around so I decided to play along I said ma'am me too girl I get it I know that exactly what you're talking about she goes well you've got to like him you're a pastor I said no I was raised around so many mean Christians I had to start my own church I said that to her you know I'm just I'm just looking for a connect point you know and then I was raised around mean Christians by the way but anyway and I said she was a vile understand I said well Christianity's got this branding problem because there's actually two brands out there and one is very religious and very mean and very law driven but there's a whole nother group out there that'll love you and love you just like you are and you need to know God loves you just the way you are he won't let you stay there but he loves you just the way you are she goes I've never heard this before didn't she had a drink she already had another drink she had her drinks she goes she goes well what does your God think about this and she shoved it in my face and I said I don't think he cares about that at all I think he cares about you and if he ever got you maybe he talked to you about that later she goes I've never heard that before in my life I said it's in the Bible you know it's in the Bible and so I explained to her I only had about another 10 minutes left of the flight because it's a real quick down from New Orleans to Birmingham and she was going on to Nashville so I took 10 minutes to explain to her the difference between religion and relationship that's that's the major difference really it's a big deal it's a very important for you to understand that and so we're landing and I'm getting off she's staying on she goes but she says but Chris I have to have more and I said I said what do this her name was Tanya said Tanya do this I said we do stream our services live online and I start every Sunday by looking into the camera and greeting all of our campuses I said if you watched tomorrow online I'll give you a shout-out on lunch she goes you want I said I saw yes I will so odd yes sir hey everybody welcome to Church of the Highlands today we're so glad you're here hey let me look into the camera say hello to all of our campuses all the men and women in the Alabama Department of Corrections the prisons were in praise god you're here but today I'm gonna give a special shout out to my dear friend Tanya girl I told you I'll do it and I did it just like that so I I didn't know she was watching or not but I changed my whole message really to fit if she were watching well the next day I got an email my secretary guy got it right here it goes like this dear passenger Chris couch anyways shows alright she says it was nice meeting you on flight 35 this week I'm currently watching your webcast thank you for the shout out I have thought a lot about what you said on the plane specifically what's making my relationship with God personal this touched me is I've been struggling with Christians that I find or opposite what I perceive Christians to be as a result I'll let those experiences push me away from God and now I know how ridiculous that is so simple but no one ever explained it to me that way thank you and thank you for the personal message today she figured that out and and explaining to me what a relationship with God is all about again very simple yet I missed it she says I can see why your church has grown your teachings are relevant personal and touching I think you've got a new online watcher for sometime in me thank you and I'm ready to surrender my life to Christ Tanya yeah come on give Jesus a praise everybody's so awesome so so I called her and let her to later to Christ you know and it was just the most beautiful thing and again but she didn't need me talking about her drink she needed to hear me saying I grew up around me and Christians too and there's a God who loves you everybody tell your story just share your story here's the fourth one we accept the responsibility we developed a relationship we share our story and then we give a personal invitation and if you feel comfortable leading somebody to Christ go for it but I tell my church if you don't know how to find just invite them to church then and I promise you every Sunday what's gonna happen if you'll get your friend in church what I promise you will happen every Sunday is will start on time will end on time the worship will be powerful the floors will be clean we'll treat their kids well we'll treat them with the respect they're going to experience God will give them a message that they can relate to and I've talked to our church into it in fact pastors ask me all the time have you gotten Hyland's to grow so fast over such a short period of time and I said it's because I train every member here's what I say and I'm gonna pass this along to you I asked pastor Jensen if I could do this and that is I challenged our church there are 52 Sundays a year or give me two out of the 50 to give me two you enjoy 50 but give me two out of the 52 where there's an unchurched far from God person sitting next to you in church and I will tell you I want that for you just for you because you'll be nervous in a good way you'll be thinking oh I hope they don't do that song over they do this song I had a lady just three Sundays ago walked up to me write the beginning of a service right here in the front she was Pastor Chris Pastor Chris I've got my friend here I said great she goes oh please don't blow it like I got to girl it's gonna be fine relax it's gonna be good listen to me look at my eyes and hear this you need to feel that tension you need to feel the fact that there are people far from God and the the joy of you playing a role in their eternal destiny I tell our church and when I say every head bowed every eye closed come on every preacher says that line every head bowed every eye closed I said if your friends sitting next to you you can head bowing at one-eyed close you can peek imma let you get to peek you get permission to disobey that come in and when your friends hand goes up and tears come down their face you're gonna say that that was your favorite service ever at Church of the Highlands listen to me free Chapel the same is true for you I mean next Sunday we start a brand new series on pastor Jensen's book that helps people who have been broken and hurting through relationships that they've had they have wounds what a perfect time in a few weeks we have Easter do you know that 87 percent of unchurched Americans will say yes to an Easter invitation above all the other Sunday's so if you get a no on the other fifty-one Sunday's eighty over eighty percent will say yes on that day why in the world will we ever just come and enjoy it for ourselves when we can open our eyes and realize there's a whole town that needs Jesus come on somebody and all right invite them invite them you don't have to explain it you don't have to have the theology you just have to be nice and get them sitting next to you in church if we don't what's gonna happen is we'll be blinded by nearsightedness and only do things that matter to us let me say it this way there's a gravitational pull you leave you alone you leave me alone I'll take care of me there's a gravitational pull to selfishness it's built inside of every one of us and that's why from time to time we need messages like this just remind us yeah I'm hungry yeah I'd love to go to PF Changs but the whole town's coming out ready to meet Jesus several years ago I got invited by a friend to speak at his church in Boston back then Delta had a hub in Cincinnati so I took the Birmingham to Cincinnati Cincinnati to Boston I have to land and speak so I'm kind of tired I love sleeping on a plane so as I was boarding the plane the guy that was traveling with me didn't the chair next Timmy he's back in a little bit further back or so we board it on and now I've got this guy I'm thinking as I sit down the planes still boarding man somebody's gonna sit there and I'm tired so it probably would be good if I'd go ahead and get a nap posture now before they get here so they don't talk to me and that whole e-everybody aren't you proud of me all right so I literally did that so the planes still boarding and I'm nestled up against the window I love a window seat and I've already I'm actually even thinking about what part of the shared armrest that I'm gonna claim I'm gonna go front C or back C like cuz everybody knows in plane etiquette you got to share it and whoever's there first gets their half right that's how it works so I'm even doing that and I'm like okay I'm getting on no so that but I'm not tired yet so I'm kind of squinting my eyes to peek don't the people that are coming around and you know again just sizing them up and praying that God would send me just you know just a non talker and so so you here's my guy he comes up he throws his newspaper in the chair it's got a navy blue blazer own white starched shirt khaki dress pants and he puts his briefcase in the over overhead bin and he's just and he takes his coat off and when he takes his cut off he flips it over his shoulder and he hits me upside the head with it I know and so but I can't wake up and say anything because I'm fake sleeping over there you know so I can't but and then he plops down this is a true story I'm not making any of this up he plops down and he pushed my arm off the armrest I know and so you know northerners you know in anyway so I'm thinking we southerners wouldn't do that but I can't tell him that but I have to let him know I'm disgusted so I go home and that's code for it Bru don't do that all right sorry right true story the plane takes off I thought I just doze off and he elbows me and my ribs like BAM real hard and it's starring me I said I go what's that was up he goes so what do you do for a living he asks that question I'm like are you serious and I said and I I said well I'm a pastor true story he doubles over and starts bawling crying so loud the whole plane can hear it uh-oh man there goes the nap counseling session nah you know I was really disgusted I thought I mean I'm not the counsel this guy all the way to Boston now man all right what's your problem you know I see yeah and he talked about how he had just buried his best friend in Cincinnati had just left the funeral Cousy friend was just 50 years old had a massive heart attack I'm never gonna get real calm down so what's your name Billy like all right Billy and so now I'm going through the files trying to think about what I must say to him and I'm thinking he stops and I decided to use this verse out of first Thessalonians that says that Christians grieve too but we don't grieve like that it says that we grieve but not like the rest of men who have no hope he's crying like that because it's over now I cry hard too and I'll lose loved ones but I get to see him again I have the hope so when he's thoughts I'm gonna give him that verse and I said well Billy I got my arm around him Billy the Bible says he goes no no don't go there I like I said why not he goes I'm Jewish I said well Jesus was a Jew he goes all right go ahead that's a true story I am NOT making that up I promise you so try it alright so and then I said well the Bible says the reason why you're crying so hard is it's over you don't have it an hour and I quoted the verse we agree Christians grieve but not like the rest of men who have no hope and then he said well how do you get the hope I mean he teed it up if you can't hit that you can't play you know I'm saying it's just right there and so I said I explained the gospel to him all the way and when we landed at Logan International in Boston I didn't I don't know if he was ready or not so we're walking off together and I'm like okay Billy well man god bless you buddy I'm so good talking to you he goes no Chris you can't leave me till I get the Hope now we're in the terminal now he goes I said what Billy you're gonna have to confess Jesus as your Lord to be saved he said I'm ready and he knew enough to close his eyes and grab my hands he just went I mean there's hundreds of people now in the terminal it's true story I'm like alright let's go for it you know so right there in the middle of Logan International Airport Billy from Boston prayed to receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior right there in that spot sawsan so when he finishes he goes amen he goes oh you're right I have hope I said I told you and then he grabs his wallet man this is good stuff what oh yeah like no man there's a verse that says it's free I can't charge you you know so this is can't do that and he was so he was he was so wanting to do something for me and I like Billy that's not how it works he goes you don't understand I'm very wealthy I own a chain of toy stores all across Boston I said well you know I do have five kids I did I thought it but I didn't say that but it I said no man you are not I don't you're not doing anything for me it was my honor to lead you to Jesus he goes listen to me I was actually I'm very close friends with Dennis Eckersley the Great Hall of Fame relief pitcher for the Red Sox he said how many boys do you have I said four he said cannot kind of send your four boys a hand signed baseball card of Dennis Eckersley I've got a picture show to him that's that's actually in a few days later he sent me four of those hand signed baseball cards that I have never given to my boys so there you go kind of feels good to get that off my chest in church I want you to know that so anyway that's actually very true I have fun I have filed three of those cards listen to me I filed three of the cards I put the fourth one on my desk it's there right now it's been on my desk since I met Billy I look at it every day of my life Tim and continued sitting right there in the middle of my desk and every day reminds me every day reminds me Chris you can be selfish unless you keep your eyes open every day reminds me that napping was good for me not napping was good for Billy every day this is every day reminds me that going to lunch was good for the disciples not going to lunch was good for the town every day reminds me it never Minds me that that just kind of going to church for me is good for me but going to church trying to reach my city is good for my city come on somebody open your your eyes [Applause] every head bowed every eye closed this is that moment that I just want to pray for you just right there where you're seated I'm not gonna make you stand up I'm not gonna make you come down to the front but I want to pray for you and I'm going to begin by praying very everyone in this church if this is your home church that you would begin to see your city and the see the people around you the way God does father I thank you for this great great church they have reached so many they touch so many the God there's more it doesn't matter how many kids we have there's still one missing and Lord today we choose to see the world the way you do and we want to be as passionate about reaching Joseph as you are give free chapel eyes to see God I pray for an evangelistic anointing to come on this church God that even during the next series and at Easter God more lost people than ever before coming to Christ heads bowed eyes closed every campus if you're here today you say Chris I don't have the hope I don't have the hope I'm not sure if I died in this moment that I would spend eternity in heaven with Jesus then it would be my honor to pray for you if that's you at every location I want you to lift your hand high right now where you are just lift it up pray for me pray for me just right there you see yep yep yep yep yep yep anybody else okay okay keep it up cos see it thank you thank you thank you anybody else up the top thank you good anybody else just pray for me I just I want to know God I want to I want to really real relationship with Jesus good job sir so proud of you good job this row right here god bless you slip your hands down free chapel let's all join with one voice and pray with them come on every voice and stay as strong say Jesus thank you for dying on the cross and paying from my sin today I receive what you did for me by surrendering my life completely to you forgive me change me come live inside of me be the Lord of my life and from this day forward I'm gonna give you my life everything thank you for setting me free in your name I pray amen free Chapel welcome the newest members of the body of Christ come on put your hands together and they can feel welcome in the family of God god bless you shirts amen what church before we leave today I want to encourage with this you heard such a sensational message today to Commission us to be the church and I can understand we it can be unnerving it could be intimidating but we as a church body want to help equip you to reach those lost souls so on your way out today we have a lot of invites that you can take it honestly I encourage you to take five or six it doesn't matter if you're a parent if you're a student takes them for your coworkers take some for uh you know others in your class but be the church and brings somebody to church next Sunday morning pastor Jensen is going to be here being bringing an incredible message as we start a brand-new series but before you leave I want to let you know about pastor Chris's brand-new book the Daniel ant dilemma we have plenty of copies at our Resource Center directly across from our bookstore get a copy and grab some a grab a copy for somebody else and let it be a blessing in their life but before you leave I want to let you know we just concluded our one marriage conference yesterday it was powerful but I want to encourage every person in this room if you haven't registered yet for 2019 it's gonna be even better so you can go out into the connections lounge register today and then one last thing if you made that decision today to follow after Jesus Christ all we want to do is welcome you to the family so we're gonna have some of our altar workers down here that are ready to hug on you to love on you and welcome you to the family but we love you so much thank you for being here today I'm getting grab some of those invites bring somebody to church next Sunday morning as we start this new series but for our online campus we love you so much let us know how we can pray for you we're thrilled that you join us here today and we'll see you next Sunday morning as well god bless you everybody [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] [Music] you

Channel: Free Chapel

Views: 11,620

Rating: 4.8814816 out of 5

Keywords: Free Chapel, Jentezen Franklin, Chris Hodges, Pastor Chris Hodges, Open your eyes, chris hodges sermons, chris hodges marriage conference, chris hodges free chapel, chris hodges messages, church of the highlands pastor, see the world through jesus' eyes

Id: TzdSLYI0QZM

Length: 57min 7sec (3427 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 27 2018