- Lysa is from Charlotte, North Carolina. She's come a long way
to be with us tonight and we're so grateful
for her being willing to accept this invitation. She is married to her husband Art and they have five kids. They have three dogs,
although I should probably say two grandkids before you have three dogs. More importantly, 'cause we
were talking about grandkids in the other room. Five kids, three dogs,
and two grandchildren. And she is the founder of
Proverbs 31 Ministries. I love that ministry, I love
the work that she's done; she's been doing this for over 25 years. and so with no further
big, long introduction, I want you to welcome Lysa TerKeurst to the platform tonight. (cheers and applause) Thank you, Lysa. (applause) - Well, it is a joy to be here. I just returned home from the Holy Land. This was my eighth trip in
three years to the Holy Land. So here's the deal. I'm 47 years old and I
went ahead and decided what my midlife crisis would be because I figured if I got on top of it, then I could choose something healthy. You see if you just wait
for your midlife crisis to jump on you, it may
be something unhealthy. So I went ahead and picked
that my midlife crisis would be the I would develop an obsession with the Holy Land. So, I am fresh from being in that place and what a joy it was. Yes, I do have five kids and one husband, that's always good to know, and when I was standing on the side stage listening to that very last pray song, I looked at my friend
Colette, which by the way I have to introduce my
best friend in the world who's here with me tonight. It's so special to have her here. Her name is Colette Greene. She would just love to meet all of you, you guys would all want
her to be your best friend. Colette, can you stand up? 'Cause you're nothing
but a tiny, little minute so you've got to just at
least stand up and wave, yes. She is gonna just be so
thrilled that I did that. Okay. So, I was standing there
and I looked at Colette and I said, "Oh Colette,
that's the song that Hope, "my oldest daughter,
walked down the isle to." The last pray song. Now, of course, it was
a most acoustic version, it didn't have like all the ramp-up like you did at the end there. But what a precious thing. Three of my kids got married in 2016. So I'm gonna let that sit
on you for just a second. I know. So 2016 was a year of extreme
highs and extreme lows for me. There were many amazing
things that happened and then there were also some completely heartbreaking things that happened. And I imagine that that's
much like your life. You know it seems as
if we kind of get going in this thing called life
and then all of the sudden something just knocks our
feet out from underneath us and we find ourselves heartbroken and maybe even asking God why. And if you've ever been in that place then you have come to
the right event tonight. Because I thought it be
appropriate on our first night to have more of a conversation. I don't want to get up here
and give some sleek message that I've given a hundred times before. I really wanted to bring a
fresh encouragement to you straight from God's Word because I know life can be amazing, but
life can also be hard. So, we're gonna dive right into God's Word and we're gonna go to
my very favorite place to start in God's Word and
that is the table of contents. I love the table of contents. It is just such a beautiful thing because it has page numbers. So I want you to repeat after me. There is no shame (audience repeats) in turning to the table of contents. (audience repeats) Perfect. Because you know what it
feels like, some of you, for the pastor to say turn to first Isaiah and everyone else knows how
to get there but not you. So that is not going to happen tonight. So, in the table of contents you'll find all of the books listed
in the Old Testament and the New Testament and
the page numbers are there and it's beautiful. Now, if you want a title for the message 'cause some of you are note-takers and you will get slightly
twisted up in a knot if I don't give you a title, so you will be happy to
know that you will be able to takes notes tonight and
title is Three Gardens. So you can just write that
across the top of your page and then just breath a sigh of relief that now your notes can settle into place that you've got your title, okay. You'll also be happy to
know that we're gonna start in Genesis, Chapter One. This is going to be quite an
exploration tonight, right, 'cause we're starting
at the very beginning. But there is a reason I want
us to start at the beginning other than the fact it's
very easy for people to find. That is true. But there're some other things
that I want to point out right here from the beginning. You see in the beginning we
start out in a garden, right, and I love, see it's like God just cues, even the air listens to the Lord. And so, He wants to set the scene that we are also in kind
of like a garden here. Okay, in Genesis, Chapter
One, starting in verse one: "In the beginning", I want
you to say it with me, "In the begging
(audience repeats) "God created
(audience repeats) "the heavens and the earth."
(audience repeats) Okay, and you won't have
to repeat anything else 'cause I'm not gonna go
through all of Genesis making you repeat it,
but wouldn't that be fun? So, but the reason why
I want to start here is because "in the beginning God created "the heavens and the earth. "Now the earth was formless and empty, "and darkness was over
the surface of the deep, "and the Spirit of God was
hovering over the waters." There was darkness. But in verse three God
speaks his very first words that we get recorded in the Bible, and his first words were
this: "Let there be light." And when God speaks there is. And so God spoke that there
would not be just darkness, that there would be light, and God spoke the light into existence. And what a gift the light is. And then we go on in Genesis, Chapter Two, starting in verse 15, it says this: "The Lord God took the man and put him "in the Garden of Eden to
work it and take care of it. "And the Lord commanded the
man, You are free to eat "from any tree in the
garden; but you must not eat "from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, "for when you eat from it
you will certainly die." Now, who was there? The man, not the woman. So God spoke to the man and said, and it's very very important
for us to recognize this. Because I've actually
heard it preached wrong, but we're certainly gonna
preach it right tonight. (laughter) So, God says to the man,
"You are free to eat "from any tree in the
garden; but you must not eat "from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. "You must not eat from it
lest you will certainly die." Then the Lord says, "Oh no,
he didn't write it down." So. (laughter) No, that is not what the NIV says. Let me get back to the NIV. The NIV says, "Then the Lord said, "It's not good for the man to be alone. "I will make a helper suitable for him." So after God gives this
amazing instruction, you may eat from any tree, to the man he gives this instruction, then the very next thing God says, "Oh, it is not good for
the man to be alone." And so he creates a woman. And I just think that that
is such a beautiful reality. And we could sit there all night and have so much fun
with that, could we not? Yes, we could. But we won't. Okay. So we'll go on to Chapter Three. "Now the serpent was more crafty "than any of the wild animals
the Lord God had made. " And he said to the
woman, Did God really say, "You must not eat from
any tree in the garden? "The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat from the trees in the garden, "but God did say, You must not eat "from the tree that is in
the middle of the garden, "and you must not touch
it, or you will die. "You will not certainly die,
the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat from it "your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God, "knowing good and evil. "And when the woman saw
that the fruit of the tree "was good for food and
pleasing to the eye, "and also desirable for gaining wisdom, "she took some and she ate it. "She also gave some to her husband, "who was right there
with her, and he ate it. "Then the eyes of both
of them were opened, "and they realized they were naked; "so they sewed fig leaves together "and made coverings for themselves." And thus started all of
the heartbreak right there. You see our hearts were
created for the Garden of Eden, but because sin has entered in, we do not live in the
Garden of Eden any longer. And it's really hard when
your heart has been created for the perfection that you
find in the Garden of Eden, but it's really difficult
when you don't live there. And you see we couldn't live there anymore not because God is a cruel god but because God is a merciful god. If you turn on over to
Chapter Three, verse 17, "To Adam God says, Because
you listened to your wife "and ate fruit from the tree
about which I commanded you, "You must not eat from it, "cursed is the ground because of you; "through painful toil
you will eat food from it "all the days of your life. "It will produce thorns
and thistles for you, "and you will eat the plants of the field. "And by the sweat of your
brow you will eat your food "until you return to the ground, "since from it you were taken; "for dust you are and
to dust you will return. "Adam named his wife Eve,
because she would become "the mother of all the living. "And then the Lord God
made garments of skin "for Adam and Eve and He clothed them." Then it says in verse 23, "So the Lord God "banished them from the Garden of Eden "to work the ground from
which he had been taken. "And as he drove the man out,
he placed on the east side "of the Garden of Eden a cherubim "and a flaming sword back and forth "to guard the way to the tree of life." Though back up to verse 22. "And the Lord said, The man
has now become like one of us, "knowing good and evil. "He must not be allowed
to reach out his hand "and take also from the tree of life "and eat it, and live forever." You see now man has experienced sin and sin has entered in, and if man would have been allowed, if Adam and Eve would have been allowed to stay in the garden and
eat from the tree of life, they would have lived in a
perpetual, eternal state of sin. But God had a plan. Even from the moment that
this all was happening, God knew that there
wasn't just one garden. You see there is this garden
and we have been exited from this garden,
banished from this garden so that we would not live
in a state of perpetual sin. For if we had not been
exited from the garden, banished from the Garden of Eden, we too would take from the tree of life and eat and live in that
perpetual state of sin. And so our hearts were
created for the perfection of the Garden of Eden
but we don't live there. So that's garden number one
and what happened there. And then if you look at the
very last chapter of the Bible, in Revelation, Chapter 22, the very very last chapter of the Bible, as you turn almost all the over
over to the very last page, in the NIV it's titled Eden Restored. So you see we are headed
toward the perfection of the Garden of Eden once more. But the problem is we are not there yet. So, we do not live in the
original Garden of Eden, the perfection that our
hearts were designed for, and we are not there yet,
at the final Garden of Eden when Garden of Eden is restored and we find an eternal home with God. And so what do we do in
this in-between time, when we live in a constant
state of ups and downs, and the unpredictable nature of life, the hurt and the heartbreak,
the joys and the highs of life, but the devastations and the lows of life? And that is the gift that God
has given us, is His Word. Because in-between the
first book of the Bible and the last chapter of
the last book of the Bible, Garden of Eden original,
Garden of Eden restored, and in-between this is God's
answer of how we can do life. The first garden, the second garden that we're headed toward,
but there's another garden that sits right in-between,
and I think in this garden, this is where we find
Jesus' most precious answer for what do we do when the hardships and the heartbreaks of
life are so very real. So turn with me if you
will to Mark, Chapter 14, and this is where we
find the third garden, the garden of Gethsemane. In Mark, Chapter 14, starting
in verse 32 it says this: "They", meaning Jesus and the disciples, "went to a place called Gethsemane, "and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray. "He took Peter, James
and John along with him, "and he began to be deeply
distressed and troubled. "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow "to the point of death,
Jesus said to them. "Stay here and keep watch." Now I don't know if any
of you have recently been in any kind of a place where
your soul feels overwhelmed to the point of sorrow. I have been there. And I cannot say that I
could even touch the sorrow that Jesus felt in this moment, but I know what it feels like. To feel like life has
suddenly marched toward me in such a way where I can hardly breath. Two years ago I wrote my book Uninvited, because I really felt
like I'd gotten the handle on this thing that was
really difficult for me called rejection. As a little girl one
of my earliest memories was being about eight years old, and I remember my mom bought us store-bought dresses for Easter. I was very excited about this because we never got store-bought dresses. We didn't even get store-bought
bathing suits, okay. So, let me just let that
sort of hover in the air, just imagining that, okay. There is a reason why mom
never took pictures of us in our bathing suits, because they were homemade bathing suits, they were scary. Okay, so mom bought us
store-bought dresses. I just couldn't believe
it I was so excited. And I remember seeing my
dress hanging in my closet and it was so pretty. And I remember thinking,
maybe if I put that dress on, maybe my dad would notice me. And so I pulled the dress
down out of my closet and I put it on, and I
walked into the bathroom and I fixed my hair the very best that a little eight-year-old
girl could fix her hair. And then I remember stepping back and looking at my reflection
in the mirror and thinking, I feel so dressed up and so grown up, surely tonight is the night
that my Daddy will say these words that I have
longed for him to hear, for me to hear him say: I love you. So I put the pretty dress
on and I walked down, and there was my dad, he was
sitting in a recliner chair, he had a beer in one hand and
a TV remote in the other hand, and he did not look my way. And so I did what any little girl with a pretty dress on would do. I went and stood behind my daddy's chair. And when he still didn't look at me, I started to twirl around
and around and around, and as my dress flowed
out my heart cried out. Daddy, do you love me? Daddy, am I your treasure little girl? Daddy, do you even notice me? And my dad never could give
me those words of affirmation. Often he would just speak to me when I would get into
trouble and he would say things like, "You know, Lysa, "I never wanted children,
especially not a girl." And I took all of that
hurt and all of that pain and all of that shame and I stuffed it deep down in my heart. I put a big smile on my
face, make everyone think I was okay, but inside I was dying. And so, I think somehow
as I started growing up and went to be nine years
olds and 10 years old and 11 years old, somehow
I started to view God in this very very off way,
because I thought to myself, if my earthly daddy didn't want me, what makes me think that
my heavenly daddy wants me? And so I wrongly discerned that I must be a throwaway person. And when you feel like a throwaway person you start to act like a throwaway person. So several years ago I
really felt like wow, God has done such a work in my life and He's healed me so much
from the pain and the hurt and the heartbreak of so many rejections. I think I should write
a book and really help other women who were struggling
with that kind of pain. So I wrote the book Uninvited
and I worked on it so so long and felt so thankful that God had done such a work in my life and
healed me from so much rejection. And so I turned the book
in, and then the way the book writing process goes
is the editors do their thing, which by the way normally
with most of my books I get about 200 edits,
but when I write the book on rejection and my editor
sends it back I had 3000 edits. So I thought this is amazing like I am already feeling rejected. I'm in the middle of
writing a book on rejection, this is amazing, right? And so I got the page proofs back and I was reading and
correcting and I was working so hard on the book, all
the while thanking God that he has healed me so much
from this pain of rejection. But as life would have
it, all of the sudden in the middle of that process the deepest, most painful rejection that I'd ever faced suddenly came into my life. And I remember taking
the pages of that book, and I pressed it into my chest, and I said to God, "Thank
you for giving me the book "last year that I would be so
desperate to read this year." And a lot of you know that kind of pain. That's the pain that
Jesus was experiencing on the deepest level. Jesus knew that kind of pain because while he was perfect divinity, he was also full humanity
at the same time. And Jesus says in that third garden, the garden that sits right in-between the original Garden of Eden
and the future Garden of Eden, is this garden of Gethsemane,
and Jesus is there, and he is crying out,
"My soul is overwhelmed "to the point of death. "I am so heartbroken," Jesus says. Now lots of scholars
pontificate about why was Jesus so heartbroken in that moment, what was so overwhelming for him. And I've really prayed
about this because I thought maybe it's the fear of him knowing what would be done to him the next day, that it would be so very
painful to be mocked and beaten and spit upon and
so very physically painful to be hung on the cross,
and yes, I do believe maybe all of that was part
of what was overwhelming his soul, but what I really think it was is Jesus had never known sin, he had never known the weight of sin. And Jesus knew that he
was soon to take upon the weight of all of our
sins, and in that moment for the first time ever his
father would turn his face away and Jesus would be utterly alone with that weight of our sin. That's why, I think, he was overwhelmed, overwhelmed with sorrow
to the point of death. And he cries out some words that honestly, I completely understand because I said almost these exact words. It says in verse 35,
"Going a little further, "Jesus falls to the ground and prays "that if possible this
hour might pass from him." Verse 36 of Mark, Chapter
14: "Abba, Father, he said, "everything is possible for you. "Take this cup from me." I've cried like that to God. And I thought to myself, "God, "You are so big and you are so strong "and you are so mighty
and I have been taught "there is nothing you cannot do. "Then why, why won't
you change this for me?" And I imagine you know
exactly what that feels like. Where you've cried out from
the depths of your heart "God, not this!" Maybe there are those of you who, you have asked God so many
times to answer this prayer, this deep cry of your heart, this thing that you've
prayed about so many times when you hear a pray song, it's the low in your
hearts that gets lifted because you're reminded of God's promises, and so you've attached the promise they were singing about
to that prayer request and you just know, you
just know at any moment God is gonna answer that prayer. But then you go home and you
lay your head on the pillow, and it's 2 a.m. and you can't sleep. And you start thinking
of all the other people that God has answered this prayer for. And you say, "God, everything
is possible for you, "and you've given this answer prayer, "you've given it to that person "and that person and that person. "So why aren't you doing it for me?" Our circumstances are
different but I promise you I could pass around the mike, right now, as we're having this
conversation, and so many of you would have an example of
exactly what I'm talking about. Did you know that when Jesus
was there in this garden and he was overwhelmed with
sorrow to the point of death, completely heartbroken, heartbroken and crying out these words: "God, everything is possible for you. "God, everything is possible for you. "If possible, take this from me. "Like don't make this be your plan." Did you know that because Jesus
was not just in this garden but Jesus was there at the very beginning, don't you know that since Jesus was there from the very beginning,
and he was part of creation that he would have created, what he was in the
midst of in this garden? And if you don't understand
exactly what I'm saying, let's look over at John, Chapter One, and let me just read it to you. In John, Chapter One,
verse one, it says this: "In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, "and the Word was God. "He was with God in the beginning. "Through him all things were made; "without him nothing was
made that has been made. "In him was life, and that life "was the light of all mankind. "The light shines in the darkness, "and the darkness has not overcome it." You see Jesus was there. Jesus was there in the very beginning. And so don't you know
that Jesus would have made exactly whatever he needed to comfort him or to be with him in this moment where he sat in the garden of Gethsemane? And do you know what the garden
of Gethsemane is full of? I was just there and so I can tell you, I saw it with my own eyes. The garden of Gethsemane
is full of olive trees, and the olive trees, they
have such a beautiful lesson, if we will understand and
know these three truths about the olive tree, the olive
trees that are in the garden that's in the middle of
the other two gardens. The olive trees that Jesus
sat in the shade and shadow of in his deepest sorrowful moment. And so note-takers are gonna be so excited because now here are
your three points, okay, and I'm gonna list them
out one, two, three so you can just go flat out old school when you're taking your
notes right now, okay. Hallelujah. All right. Truth number one that we
learn about the olive tree. The olive tree cannot produce fruit unless both the harsh winds of the east and the refreshing winds
of the west blow upon it. The harsh winds of the east
are those very very hot winds that blow up from the desert. They are so hot it feels like
on the hottest summer day if someone took a blow dryer and put it on the hottest setting
and then turned it on you. It is suffocating, it is so harsh. The east winds, that's
what blew over Job's house and created such destruction. The harsh winds of the east. And then the refreshing winds of the west, they blow up from the Mediterranean and it's a cool breeze
on a warm summer day. It's so refreshing and wonderful. And if you think about it
this sounds a lot like life. There are very harsh winds
that blow into our life, hard times, and there are
refreshing time, good times, and just like the olive tree must have the harsh winds of the east
and the refreshing winds of the west to blow on it
in order to produce fruit so is the same with our life. We must have the good
times and the bad times, the hard times and the refreshing times in order to really produce fruit. Truth number one about the olive tree. Truth number two about the olive tree is once the olive tree
actually produces fruit you cannot just go up to an olive tree and pluck the olive straight from the tree and pop it in your mouth,
because it is so hard and so bitter that you will literally vomit it out of your mouth. It takes quite a process to get
that fruit prepared for use. You see the fruit, it must be
cracked open ever so slightly. It must be salted and soaked in the water, and salted and soaked in the water again, and salted and soaked in the water. It is quite a process
to get rid of hardness and bitterness and we are much the same. The third truth about the olive tree is what's most valuable
about the olive tree is not actually the olive. What's most valuable from the olive tree is the oil that you
can get from the olive. And in order to get
the oil from the olive, that olive has to be pressed
and pressed and pressed. When the olive is pressed,
the first oil that comes out, that's the oil that is used
for the most holy purposes, that's the oil used for
anointing and healing, that's that holy oil. The second pressing of
the olive will give us the oil for food, that's
the common everyday use. And the third pressing of the olive, the one where the olive
is pressed so far gone that it can never be an olive again, it is unrecognizable as an
olive but that last little bit of oil that comes out
from the deepest pressing will come the oil that now
can be turned into light, and the same is true for us. You see it's those hard
times, those pressing times, those crushing times where we're crushed but not destroyed, no, because
the oil that comes from us will be the very thing about our life that can be turned into
the brightest light of our testimonies about Jesus. Three truths about the olive
tree and isn't it amazing that that's where Jesus was seated right beside the olive tree. Garden of Gethsemane,
actually Gethsemane means the pressing of the olive,
the place of the olive press. Jesus sat there in the
shade and the shadow, Having created the olive tree he knew the message of the olive tree. And I am so thankful, so thankful that he gave it to me so
that I could give it to you. And then Jesus prays nine earth-shaking, hell-shattering, demon-quaking words. Yes, Jesus does say
"Everything is possible "for you, Father, take this cup from me." And then these nine words: "Yet not what I will, but what you will." And you see this really is the crops of all three of these gardens. Because at some point in our life we all have to make the
choice if we will follow up the end of every prayer
we pray with these words. You see this is the choice:
my will or thy will, and it cannot be both. And I love when Jesus says and he ends this time with his father. I love when he says these words: Yet not what I will, but
what you will, o Lord. And you see this lesson from
the garden of Gethsemane, this has brought me so much comfort. A few years ago my husband
came to me and said, "Lysa, I really think we need
more adventure in our family." And I'm thinking okay,
when you have five kids, three dogs and a mouse that
refuses to leave your kitchen, and two grandbabies, that
really is all the adventure one woman's heart needs. Really there is no need for
more adventure than that, there really isn't. And so I was having one of those times with my husband where I'm
smiling on the outside but I'm screaming on the inside. I'm like that's nice, no way, okay. So he says, I say, "Just
tell me a little bit more." And he said, "I think we
need to go get certified "to go scuba diving." And I think to myself that
is the worst idea ever, but I just smiled and I said, "Well, why don't I survey the children?" And so, I go to my two boys. Now my boys we adopted from Africa and they have been taught
a very healthy respect for animals that eat people every day. And so I just say to them, "Hey, do you boys think that we should go "get certified to go scuba diving "with the animals that
eat people every day? "Do you think that's a good idea?" And my boys both said no, no. And so then I decided
to go to my three girls. Now the problem is my three
girls have been raised in America their whole
life and they don't have a healthy respect for
animals that can eat you, and what I should have done is shown them a little inappropriate clip
of that movie Jaws, right. That would have been amazing,
but I wasn't on my A game, and so I said, "Hey girls, do you think "that we should go get
certified to go scuba diving?" And before I got to the part "with animals that eat people every day", my three girls said yes, yes, yes. So I'm outvoted. So we have to go get
certified to go scuba diving. And it started out okay,
because we were in the pool and then we were in the
lake, but now it is time for the first big dive in the ocean. Ocean water is different than
pool water and lake water. I know you know that but
I have to emphasize it because it'll be an important
detail in this story. So, we get into the ocean 'cause
that's what you have to do if you want to go scuba diving,
you can't stay in the boat. So, we get into the
ocean and the dive master circles us up on the surface
of the water and says, "Okay, now remember what we learned. "Let the air out of your air vest "and then you're gonna
descend in increments "down to the ocean floor,
which is 30 feet below." And so, we all nod our heads
and we start to do exactly what he said, we let the
air out of our air vest. Now everyone does that
and they start to descend in increments just like
they're supposed to. I let the air out of my air
vest and nothing happens. Nothing. I am still just very much
on the surface of the water and there is no more air in my air vest so this doesn't make any sense. But I think it's okay, I
don't want to cause any drama. So, I'm just gonna swim to my people so I put my head down
and I start swimming. But my bottom is like a cork and it is very attracted to
the surface of the water, and it is causing a lot of problems, because the harder I
swim the more determined my backside is to finding
the surface of the water, and it just pulls me back up. So the dive master sees what's happening and he comes up and he says "Oh. "You have buoyancy issues." (laughter) And I look at him with
kind of a quizzical look on my face, hesitant, and he says to me, "You see fat floats in salt water." No, you didn't, I will cut you. (laughter) But he says, "Hey, it's okay, it's okay. "I have a problem that can fix this. "We will go on the boat
and get a weight belt "and we will put it on you and
it will force you to sink." So he goes on to the
boat and he comes back and he brings me this weight belt and he starts adding weight and he's like, "Wow, you need as much
weight added to your belt "as a very large man." I'm like, "You better put
it in reverse right now." Because girlfriend can get spicy, alright? So he finally gets my weight belt where it does force my body to sink, but I cannot stand up straight,
it is the craziest thing. So I get down there and I'm like this and my bottom is like
pointed all up north. And nobody respects a diver
who cannot stand up straight and I know that to be true because shortly after I get down there and my kids are all standing around and I'm hanging there like this and my kids are thinking, "What's up?" Mom's backside, that's what's up. Awesome! This creature weeps through our group. Now it has a head like this
and has a fin like this and it starts swimming
around us in circles. Call me crazy but I thought it was a - [Audience] Shark. - Absolutely. So I look at my husband
and I say, "This is bad. "We've got to go up. "That creature will eat us." (laughter) And my husband, he looks back at me and he goes, "It's okay. "I will punch him." (laughter) No one respects a diver who
cannot stand up straight. And so the dive master
continues to give us these little hand signals
and then I discern he is wanting us to go off in pairs, and I'm still very unsure
about the situation. But I turn and my
daughter is paired with me and we start to swim
off and all of a sudden the creature comes back and rams itself into my daughter's head. And suddenly she's not
feeling so brave anymore so she jumps on top of me (laughter) and causes such a stir. My other people start
jumping on top of me. But then I remembered my gift. I ripped off the weight belt. (laughter) And we did rise! Oh yes! We got back up on the boat
and I looked at those kids and I was like my buttocks
saved all you people. (laughter) But the dive master came up and he was not very impressed at all. He took his finger and signaled for us to go sit on the edge of the boat. It's like we were in
boat timeout over here. And then he said something that
I hope I never ever forget. He said, "Do you know why you
got in trouble down there? "Because you took your
eyes off the dive master. "Never take your eyes
off the master," he said. "Because the master knows
things you don't know. "Never ever ever take
your eyes off the master." How true. You see that is when I get in trouble. When I pray, "God,
everything's possible for you. "Why are you fixing this for everyone else "but you're not fixing this for me?" And I turn and I start
focusing on my problems and my issues and the
things that make me so sad and those things become bigger and bigger and more magnified and more magnified. If I will only remember that God knows things that I don't know and he has a plan and it is a good plan, and his ways are higher than my ways, and his thoughts are
higher than my thoughts, so if I will dare to keep
my eyes on the master and utter these words: Yet not what I will,
but what you will, God. And then I trust and I know because my god is good, even when circumstances, especially when
circumstances are not good. God can be trusted, even when
people cannot be trusted. God's love is certain and
His love will not fail us, even though in this
in-between time called life where we're between the
two Gardens of Eden, even though life can be so hard and our hearts can get broken, God's love for us is so very certain. His will is good, his plan is good. And if we will only keep
our eyes on the master, he will lead us. Now I would imagine that
some of you are here tonight and you've listened to this
message and you've thought, "That's great, Lysa, because I mean "you know how to study the Bible "and you know all the verses to turn to "and you talk to Jesus
when you pray, Lysa, "that's really awesome for you. "I don't know God like that." Well, can I just tell
you that so many years I didn't know God like that either. I didn't grow up in a family that knew about going to church, I didn't
even really go to church, except maybe sometimes on Easter
and sometimes at Christmas. My father was an atheist and my mom did the very best she could with us girls. But it wasn't like this all just popped into my head one day. It's been a very daily adventure with God of just saying yes, but
it started with one time when a friend cared enough about me to bring me to hear the good
news of the truth about Jesus. Now maybe your friend
brought you here tonight, I called my friend that brought
me to an event like this, I called her my Bible friend
and it wasn't a nice term, like she was all the time
giving me Bible verses and I would all the time roll my eyes. And maybe your Bible
friend is right there, you don't have to poke
her, she knows who she is, she's like really familiar
with the whole deal. And maybe she even told you that you were coming to
sing karaoke tonight. I mean we kind of did,
there was like words on the screen and music
and stuff like this. You're not real sure what to do with me right now in this whole situation. But let me just say I am so thankful, so thankful that God made sure that he brought me to a place where I could hear the good news and all I had to do that
first night was just say yes. Yes, Jesus, I want this
free gift of salvation that you're offering. I didn't have to go home
and get all cleaned up and get all right with everyone, I didn't have to do that,
I just simply said yes, and I want to give you that
opportunity tonight as well. For some of you, you'll say yes to Jesus for the very first time. And for others of you,
maybe you're coming forward and saying yes to the Lord, maybe it's more of a rededication time. Maybe you've been doing
all the right things like you get up in the morning
and you read your Bible and you try to be nice and you don't curse and you listen to Christian music, it's like you got the list down, right. But your heart feels so far from God and you just feel disconnected
and slightly discouraged and maybe even
disillusioned by some things that have happened and
you didn't really know how to make peace with it, but tonight you realize that yes, circumstances may not be good but God is good. And so maybe tonight you
want to rededicate your life and you just simply want to say Lord, life has been hard but I
want to say you are good and I want to rededicate my life to you. Or maybe there's others of
you, a third group of you, who would like to come forward because you've prayed that prayer. I don't know what the
details of your prayer are, I know what the details of my prayer is that I prayed over and
over and over and over, and it would just be so
comforting to come forward and have someone else pray with me. Because maybe I've prayed
and I've cried to the point where I've just run out of tears and you just need some comfort and you need another
sister to pray with you. Well, you can also come forward. For whatever your reason is. I'm gonna pray now and
when I give the indication I would love for you just to stand up and maybe even, if there's a friend that you want to bring with you, grab a friend's hand, you
don't have to come by yourself, and you can come down. So, will everyone just stand right now? And you know what if the band is close by, could you come up and play? That would be so lovely,
thank you so much. Okay, let's bow our heads. Lord, thank you. Thank you for the gift of your word. Thank you for the gift
that God, you didn't just, you didn't just banish us
from the Garden of Eden and say good luck to your people, in your merciful plan you sent
your one and only son Jesus who came perfect and sinless, this son that you loved so much who was absolute divinity
but at the same time very much knew the pains and the sorrows and the heartbreaks of humanity. What a gift. And in this moment where Jesus sat in the garden of Gethsemane, he knew pain like we know pain, and he knew sorrow like we know sorrow, and he cried tears like we cry tears. God, you're so good that you didn't just leave us to suffer in this sin-soaked world,
but you sent your son who could completely
understand what we go through and who stayed though he cried out, "God, is there any other way? "Could there be another
way to save these people "that we love so much? "Yet not what I will, but what you will." And then he was arrested,
and then Jesus was bound, and then he was taken to
the high priest's house, and they mocked him, and they beat him, and they spit upon him, and they placed a crown
of thorns on his head, and while he was bleeding from all of that they nailed him to the cross, and he stayed on that cross. He stayed on that cross
though he could have called a legion of angels to
rescue him, he didn't, because he thought of me and he thought of you. God, thank you. And then Jesus died on that
cross, and he rose again, and he set us free. He provided a way for us to have access, direct access, a personal
relationship with God. What a gift. What a gift. If you're here tonight and you know your heart is beating fast and you know that you want to stand and you want to make that decision, not my will, God, but
thy will, your will, God. I've tried it my way and I can't do it. The pressure and the
hurt and the heartbreak, it's too much, God. God, I want you and I need you and I want to start a
relationship with you. So wherever you're at, if that's you and if you want to grab a friend's hand, I want to just invite you to come on down, right down here to the front
so that we can pray with you. And then maybe there are those of you who want to rededicate your life and just say God, I turn it over to you, I've been doing all the right stuff, but my heart feels so far from you. God, will you show me and lead me in a closer relationship with you? If that's you, I want you to come on down. And then maybe there are those of you who just like I was describing earlier, who just need prayer, because your heart has been broken over and over and you have prayed this
prayer so many times and tonight you want to come and you want to just have someone else
to join you in prayer. Would you please come on down now? And we'll wait right here for you. (soft music) ♫ Are you hurting and broken within ♫ Overwhelmed by the weight of your sin ♫ Jesus is calling ♫ Have you come to the end of yourself ♫ Do you thirst for a drink at the well ♫ Jesus is calling ♫ O come to the altar ♫ The Father's arms are open wide ♫ Forgiveness was bought with ♫ The precious blood of Jesus Christ I want all of you who
are up here at the front, so if you'll just come
right over here to me, and I'm gonna lead you
in a prayer of salvation. Now some of you are receiving Jesus for the very first time. Others of you, this will
be a prayer of rededication and for others of you,
you're just gonna pray it because you're gonna be supportive of the others that are standing here. I'm actually gonna ask
everyone in the audience if you know Jesus, I want
you to repeat this prayer after me so that we
can support our sisters who are giving their lives to the Lord for the very first time. So close your eyes and repeat after me. Jesus, (audience repeats) I acknowledge (audience repeats) you were the son of God, (audience repeats) sent to die on the cross (audience repeats) and arise again (audience repeats) to set me free (audience repeats) from my life of sin. (audience repeats) I know you see me. (audience repeats) I know you hear me. (audience repeats) I ask for forgiveness (audience repeats) and I receive (audience repeats) this free gift (audience repeats) of salvation. (audience repeats) Jesus Christ, (audience repeats) you are my Lord (audience repeats) and my Savior (audience repeats) for ever and ever. (audience repeats) Thank you, God, (audience repeats) for this free gift. (audience repeats) Teach me. (audience repeats) Lead me. (audience repeats) Connect me (audience repeats) in a church
(audience repeats) where I can serve you (audience repeats) and grow to know you (audience repeats) in a deep relationship. (audience repeats) I love you, Jesus. (audience repeats) For ever and ever. (audience repeats) (soft music)
