♪ And now I know that
this is the good life. ♪ ♪ Never look back, ♪ ♪ wouldn't trade it for a day
in my old life. ♪ ♪ Never look back
'cause I know ♪ ♪ that You are always
with me. ♪ ♪ I got you,
I know you got me. ♪ ♪ This is the good life. ♪♪ ♪♪♪ [Applause] What's up church! What's up! Hey, can I have all up stand up. I want to say hello to everyone
at all of our campuses. Are you excited for church
today? Amen. As a quick note we celebrated 20
years last Sunday, amen it was great. And if you don't get the
newspaper, there is an article of our church, a 20 year
celebration on the front page of the Union Tribune, check it out. What you have done over 20
years, you excited? I'm excited.
Let's pray. By the way in light of the
Corona -- Corona, there is obviously a virus. However, the chances of you
getting the virus is very low. And so I want to caution you to
be cautious and careful. Do all the stuff that everyone
is saying. Wash your hands constantly and
don't put your hands in mouth and nose and stuff, and if sick,
stay home, etc. Don't be fearful, God hasn't
given us a spirit of fear and there is stuff that comes our way, this
is one of those things. Be careful.
Take care of yourself. Draw close to God. If anything, this is especially
the time to draw close to God. The future is very uncertain,
but the one thing that is certain, is Jesus. And if you are trusting -- [Applause] Amen. If you are trusting in the stock
market or jobs and things of the world to keep you secure. Those things are going to be
moved. So more than anything this is
when you need to draw closer to God. We mentioned the church being
behind in giving. If anything one time to be
faithful in your giving and prayer is now. Because that's how you secure
the blessings of God by walking in obedience to God. I want to encourage you in all
areas of your life to draw closer to God and let Him
take care of you through the ups and downs. Amen. Lord thank You so much for Your
faithfulness, I pray peace, healing, health and clarity
in all of our lives in Jesus' name, amen. Give somebody a fist bump, give
someone an elbow bump. Amen. How many of you were told to
wash your hands when little kids by the parents, amen. 20 seconds minimum.
20 seconds. Get your Bibles out. One, two, three, say word. One more time, one, two, three
say word. John 9. This is the most important
series you will ever have in your life. The most important series
you will ever have. John 9. John 9. When I was -- 10 years ago or
so, I was walking around Miramar lake, with my dad. My dad has since passed away. And I was witnessing to my dad
for years. We would argue all night. And God has had so many miracles
in his life. I would say look at that dad. Look at that and walking around
Miramar lake and I was frustrated that he wasn't
getting saved. And I'm going to ask him, out
here by the lake. I will throw him in the water if
he doesn't say yes -- only kidding. I say dad, when you going to get
saved? And he says, I have been waiting
for you to do an altar call to ask me. So I was like -- understand
this, that brother has heard the gospel a thousand times, I don't
know what he was going talking about but not going to argue
that fact. Leave that to later. There was a bench and I said
let's sit on the bench and do it right now. I shared with him a story -- everyone say story. The title of this series is
called My Story. Say, my story. My story is designed to help you
share your story. What has God done in your life? This is the most important
series you will ever learn and hear in your life. You can learn all kinds of
theology. You can invite people to your
church. Invite people to your prayer
meeting. You can pray for someone to get
healed. Fabulous. But what has God done in you? It's not about what you know,
it's about who you know. The gospel is not information. The gospel is a person, Jesus. It's about a relationship. The reason God made us in his
image, to have a relationship with him. What we will do over the next
three weeks is learn how to share your story. And we're going on practice it
every week. Put a piece of it together. It's three parts. Part 1 is I was. Everyone say I was. That's talking about what you
were before you asked God to come in your life. The second part is, then Jesus. Say then Jesus. That's how you got saved. When was the time you asked God
to come in your life. And after that, since then. Say since then. Since you asked God to come in
your life, what happened. Say I was. Then Jesus. Since then. You notice in the testimony that
all the campuses had, the person that gave the testimony said, I
was. And introduced themselves and
said I was, blah, blah. And then Jesus, blah, blah,
since then blah, blah. say I was. Then Jesus.
Since then. Today we will talk about I was. And keep it really simple. Everyone say keep it simple
stupid. Kiss, is when you teach public
speaking a cardinal rule, keep it simple stupid, so the
audience can get it. And show a video and God talks
about what he was in three steps. Talk about the past. Check it out. What's going on man? Going through some stuff
right now but I'm all right. I was so steeped in
insecurities. And my imperfections in trying
to please people. And it was something that
crippled me. I had so much fear and anxiety
trying to people please. Trying to earn God's love. And those behaviors helped me
find my identity in partying. I loved partying and thought
that would fill the emptiness. Going and acting a fool. And eventually led to so much
anxiety and depression, and I was so scared of not being loved
by God and my family and everybody I was trying to
please. Let's give the Lord a hand. Come on now. [Applause] Everyone say, I can do that. Very quick in this story,
John 9. There was a man who is blind. And since he was born
he was blind. And Jesus heals him by spitting
in the ground making mud in the spit with the dirt and puts it
in his eyes and asked him to wash his face in the pool
of Salome. That means the scent. And the guy washes his face and
comes back and can see. And the religious people who
didn't like Jesus, they thought he was a fraud. Said, who healed you because you
are not supposed to do work -- healing, on the Sabbath. So they went to the guys parents
and they said, look you need to talk to him. He's of age and he can speak for
himself and plus the parents didn't want to give credit to
Jesus, because if you gave credit to Jesus, he would be
kicked out of the synagogue. We go to the son, give glory to
God and not the sinner. Before I say what he said,
people can criticize your God and church and Bible but they
cannot deny what God has done in you. You can say, I can't answer all
the questions of the Bible. I just can't. Never will. But I can tell you one thing, I
was blind and now I see. In so many words. Look at verse 24 and 25, chapter
9, it says... Everyone say I was. Say I was. today's focus is I was. Everyone say, I was. By a show of hands how many of
y'all would say before you met God and by the way if you
haven't met God, this is how you are presently, before you met
God you were a bigger knucklehead. Can I get amen. You can keep your hand up. And you say, man I had issues. Come on, you are a liar, you
were addicted. Egotistical and prideful and
greedy and hoarder. And by the way, you may still be
that, hopefully to a lesser degree. But so important to be clear
about what you were. I was. And be very honest about what
you were. If someone calls and says, you
are prideful. The most powerful thing you can
say is, you're right. Because they expecting you to
say, no you are not. And come at you with something
else. If they say, you are prideful. You can say, you are right, I am
working on it. You are egotistical. You say you are right. Get out a pen and write these
down because we are going to practice. Say you have a pen. If you not on the e-mail list,
go to the website and follow us on social media Instagram and
post all the time what is going on happen in church and on
e-mail. Number 1 in your notes, share
what you believed about your source of happiness. The first step is to be able to
honestly talk about what you believe in your heart was a
source of your happiness in the past. In other words, for me I would
believe that if I had sex or if I did drugs or partying and
worked out and successful and played good at football and got
a starting job at football and I if had those things and had
money in my pocket. I believe if I had those things
I would be happy. You have to be really honest
about what you believe makes you happy. If you believe that and you have
a lot of money, and that's going to make you happy. Then you write that down. And by the way, when the stock
market does this, your happiness goes away. If you believe you have to be
the cutest in the room, you are in trouble, because there is
always somebody cuter. Can I get amen. You better not have Instagram,
because that ain't going to work. There is always someone in
better shape and pretty face. Here's what I wrote down and I
will give you an opportunity. If you have a pen, in all
campuses if you have a pen, raise your hand. Very good. If you want to borrow a pen from
somebody, make sure you wash your hands before you put your
hands in your mouth. And if you borrow from somebody
in the family, you got their germs, don't worry about it. This is what I wrote: My name
is Miles and I grew up in New York and before I gave my heart
to God, I believed I will be happy if I had money, drugs,
sex and pleasure. And I will give you a chance
to write this down. Your name and what you believe,
if you haven't given your heart to God, write what
you believe now. Hey, I don't have God
in my life. Okay I believe -- check this
out, I believe if I go to church, and hear an inspiring
message that I will be okay. And let me tell you, I can't
tell you how many people, I love going to your church. You fire me up. You have Jesus in your life?
No. Well hearing me and being
inspired is not enough. So we go into the next part. Write that down, be honest with
yourself. If you going to be a liar, don't
lie to yourself. Then you are just stupid. If you are a liar is one thing
but to lie to yourself makes you a liar and stupid. Try to knock out one of those
things, the stupid part and get to the next. Take a minute and fill that out. Your name and what you believe
will make you happy. Keep it simple. Offer your pen to the person
next to you, if you want to. You may not want their hands on
your pen. Say amen if you need more time. Okay.
Number 2. I didn't hear anybody, number 2. Share what that belief -- share
what that belief made you do. For me, I did exactly what I
thought it would make me do. I would go to parties. When I was in high school, smoke
weed when in NFL. Did cocaine. Had sex. Lived with my girlfriend. Worked out real hard. My belief caused my action. All behavior is purposeful. Whatever you do is what you
believe. If you are out there doing all
kinds of scandalous stuff, not following God and you tell
somebody I have love and faith in God. There is a contradiction. Your belief is proved
by what you do. Faith without works is dead. What that really means is that
faith, claiming faith in God but not doing God things. Means that your faith in God is
dead. You have faith, it's just not in
God. You have faith in what you do. So if you are spending money at
the mall, your belief is that brings happiness to you. Based on what you do. By the way, when you think about
what you do. The devil has -- I'm going to
guess, not based on empirical data based on life lessons and
observation. The devil has three tricks for
your life. It ain't a lot. Money, drugs and sex. Probably not more than three. In other words you keep doing
the same old thing and how many of you say there are times in
life, why do I keep doing that. Can I get amen. And that is about the same two
or things. And the devil puts his foot out
and you trip and fall on your face and hit your head on the
concrete. Because you don't recognize the
devil, you get up and blame everyone else and get back in
line, and because a bunch of people tripping. And I trick and hit your head on
the concrete. And you get up and going
through the same cycle over and over again. Why? Because you are not realizing
what is causing it. And what you write down now what
you do and have done. What I wrote, it would not be
uncommon for me to get high, party all night and then go
workout and then party some more. To try to fulfill the emptiness
in my heart. Write down what you have done or
still do based on your belief of what would make you happy and
fulfilled. Write that down. Keep it simple. Say amen if you are done. Okay, share your pen. I don't want to share my pen -- Number 3. First after you share what you
believed, then you share what that belief caused you to do. And because the Bible says that
the penalty of sin is death. What that means, when you do
things against the word of God, it will always bring death. Death of joy. Death of vision. Death of enthusiasm. Death of self-worth. Death of opportunities. Death of income. It just kills stuff. So once you identify what you
believe before you believed in God. And I want you to identify what
that belief caused you to do. And now share what those actions
caused you to feel. Empty. You may say I'm going to buy all
of this stuff and you get all of this stuff. And you get this dress that you
just have to have. I was in a store, my daughter,
and she saw this dress that she just had to have and started
hyper ventilating. And I had never experienced this
before. It was a new -- I thought I was
going to have to call 9-1-1. And said, dad, I have to have
it. And I had to grab her and
physically remove her from the store, are you okay, do I need
to call the ambulance. No, I have to have it. You buy it and go to the party
and three girls with it on. You have to have your make-up
perfect when you go out. I don't wear make-up often, I
love air brush, it's the bomb. Can I get amen ladies. I know it's expensive but go to
the studio and we're going to air brush you. Yeah -- you have to have it. And when you do it, what
happens? That's what you want to
acknowledge. You want to acknowledge when you
do what the devil tells you and you hit your head on the
concrete, it doesn't feel good. It's not working out. Doing life your way is not
working out. Here's what I wrote... I would do cocaine all night
literally while I was putting it my nose and looking in the
mirror, don't do it, it's destroying your life. Then do it. That's how powerful the
devil and addiction is. Fill it in. What did your behavior make you
feel and was it satisfying. And then share your pen, do not
feel obligated to share your pen. It's not unChristian to not want
to share your pen with a stranger. Especially if they are coughing. We all good? Okay, here's the fun part. We're going to practice. Now everyone say, keep it
simple. I want to read to you mine. This is how simple it is. And I will tell you I have
shared my story millions of times. With strangers. And I have never had a stranger
not say, that's religious. I don't want to hear that. Because it's my story. You are not preaching to
somebody. It's not about that. I was blind. And now I see. I was addicted to cocaine. And I stopped in one day. I was sharing with a group
Friday, the other day, I think it was Friday/Thursday, and I
shared that story and someone said do you feel that will
discourage people who are in AAA, and I said it's not
designed to do this. It's simply to give glory to
God. This is what God has done in my
life. I don't to not give glory to
God. You are not saying anything
against somebody, but giving glory to God. God wants to you brag on what
he's done in your life. How many of you have something
bragable? Amen. Step 1, let me read mine and
then you read the person's next to you. Point 1... Three sentences, pretty much,
three or four sentences. What I will have you do, take a
couple of minutes and share with the person around you. Share a couple of sentences. Not a lot of commentary, my name
is blank and share those three sentences. Amen. Take a couple of minutes
and do that. 30 more seconds. We all good? Say amen if you are good. Amen.
Say amen if you need more time. Three sentences, what is taking
so long? Say amen if you need more time. Okay, good. By the way, by a show of hands
on all campuses. How many of you would say that
was really easy. Very good. How many of you would say that
was really stressful. Wow. Here's what I say to you that
say it was really stressful. You really need to pray for it
to be easy. What I mean by that, it rolls
off your tongue like a conversation. Some people love to talk to
people, my wife is opposite. We have to talk to people today. But that's how God made her. However, however, God has called
all of us to share the gospel. Some of us like to do it and we
do it all the time. And some it's harder and some
things that are harder for me that are easy for her. That's an area for growth. But your story, for you to say,
if you are at the store, and say I found a sale on this alkaline
water, blah, blah, and you can go to Vaughns. It should be as easy as that and
guess what, before I got saved, blah, blah. I don't want you to
overcomplicate it because God will send people to you at work
and the parking lot. And God will say, share your
story. You will either say yes to God
or no. And I want to equip you to
always say yes, and say that was easy. Why so important in an rGroup
and dGroup, this is where you can practice. The devil would love you to have
information in your head about the Bible and can't share in
life. I will say it again, I work and
church and serve at rock city event and do this great stuff
and not share what God has done in your life. He would rather you be a
religious person and this is wrong, than saying, let me tell
you how the love of God changed my life. I can't encourage you enough to
keep practicing. Practicing. And every week we're going to do
one-third of it. If you look at the bottom of
your lesson plan, all three parts of combined to share your
story. Like all campuses they did all
three parts and it came out smooth. Amen. Wasn't it smooth when that
person shared their testimony. Wasn't it smooth, get amen. Some of you right now this is
your I was. In other words your I was is I
am now. You don't have God in your life. We want to give you an
opportunity to step out of your I was and have your Jesus moment
right now. Look at your lesson plan. Something for all of you to have
well, I will encourage you to practice. It's at the bottom of
your lesson plan. Says asking Jesus in your life
is easy as ABC. I want to read this to you,
because this is something that you practice with each other. By the way, go to your family
and say, my pastor has the thing for the gospel and beat on us to
do this, and I have to practice, or get in trouble. Can I practice with you. Just put it all on me. I don't care. And say I want to practice. Can I say this to you and you
listen, and you share your testimony. And then you turn this around
and you read this to them. Look at what it says... Let's read it together out loud. If you would like to ask Jesus
to be your Savior, this is the prayer you would say. And what we're going to do is
say it together. But some of you will be saying
for you, for real. So I want to read it to you,
let's all read it out loud. Say... Father, I Admit that I am a
sinner and that my sin has brought death and destruction
into my life, my relationships with people, and my relationship
with God. Romans 3:.23, 6:.23
I Believe that Jesus died for my sins and that His death paid the
penalty for my sins. Romans 5:.8
I Confess or agree that Jesus is Lord, that He died and rose from
the dead, and is able to Forgive me of my sins. Romans 10:.9-10
Jesus, I trust that You love me and can hear my prayer. By
faith, I ask You to please forgive
Me and fill me with the Holy Spirit. I surrender my life to You. I
pray this in Jesus's name. Amen. Watch this, watch this. Watch this.
Watch this. You can go up to somebody in
your job and your family and say, can I practice this with
you. You don't have to trick them,
this is what this is. Can I practice this with you? And read with them. And then ask, did you do that
for real? And they go, I think I did. So let's all bow our heads for
prayer. Lord, some people just did it
for real. They prayed it but they really
meant it because they walked in here without a relationship with
You. They had a religious
relationship but not a spiritual one. And if you prayed that prayer
and you say, yes, I want Jesus to forgive me my sin. And I prayed that for me. I am going to ask you to stand
here in a minute. That means you walked in here
and since being here you realized I am a sinner. And my sins haven't been
forgiven but I believe that Jesus died and rose from the
dead for me. So if you prayed that prayer and
you are saying yes, I want God to forgive me. I want a relationship with God
today. On the count of three, I ask you
to stand up. And by standing you are
acknowledging publicly that you have surrendered your life to
Jesus. On the count of three, I ask you
to stand up. And if you want someone to stand
with you that you came with, tap them on the shoulder or knee or
whatever. All campuses if you prayed that
prayer, stand to your feet on the count of three. One, two. three. Stand to your feet. God bless you.
Stand to your feet. If God spoke to you during that sermon and you feel you want to ask Christ to be your savior, it's as simple as A-B-C. Admit and accept that you are a sinner. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He died for your sin and rose from the dead. Then, confess yourself a sinner and say, "Jesus, please forgive me of my sin." If you would like to ask Jesus Christ to be your savior, just look at me right now, and pray this prayer with me in the privacy of your heart knowing that God knows you and loves you very much. Say, "Dear God, I believe that I am a sinner. I know the penalty of my sin is death. I don't want to die and go to hell. I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He died and rose from the dead for my sin. I confess myself a sinner and ask Him to forgive me of my sin. Jesus, please forgive me of my sin. Fill me with the spirit of God. In Jesus name, amen." If you prayed that prayer, If you just asked Christ to be your savior, we want to know. We want to email you some resources. If you just prayed that prayer with me, to accept Jesus as your savior, Click on the link that just appeared. We want to send you some free resources. God bless you and we will see you in Heaven.
