Oh, crossing family, I am so thankful for you and on
behalf of all the staff, all the difference makers,
all of the group leaders, all the elders, Jennifer
and myself, I hope you know you are deeply, deeply
loved. I also want you to know that
God is using you to change people's lives and it is
such an honor that we get the opportunity to serve
alongside of you. There is life change happening
every single week at almost all of our locations and I
am so thankful for what God is doing. Now
before I jump into this sermon, I want to give you
a couple updates. First off, on Mother's Day
weekend, Jennifer and I will be sharing the stage
and if you are ever wondering, what would
Jennifer say back to me in light of everything that I
have said about her, this is a weekend you are not
going to want to miss. God will do something special
and it is going to be a great weekend for you to
bring some friends and some family. The
second thing is, the week after Mother's Day and all
the way until Father's Day weekend, we will be doing
a four part sermon series focusing on politics and
faith. This is an election year and
there are going to be some of you who are feeling
like the world is ending and there are going to be
some of you who think that people are losing their
minds and there are going to be some of you who are
going, Jesus take me now. And
there are going to be others of you who are
asking a deep question, which is how should a
Christian respond during these interesting seasons?
And that is going to be the
goal, the aim, the target on the wall of that sermon
series. So, if you are the praying
type, I would love for you to start praying over that
sermon series because I believe that God could do
something very cool through it. Now,
we have been in a sermon series called God's Way, or
Jesus is better than you thought with the tagline,
God's Way is the best way. And
here at the crossing, we believe this to our core.
That is why we work tirelessly
to help people find an intimate personal
relationship with Jesus Christ. We
believe that God's Way is the best way in every area
of your life. When you've been hurt, when
you've failed, when things are going well, or when
you find yourself in a situation that you never
thought you'd find yourself in, we genuinely believe in
every area of your life that God's Way is the best
way. I'm not saying it's the easiest
way. I am saying it's the best
way. Proverbs chapter 14 says this, there
is a way that seems right to a man. But
its end is the way to death. So
there is a way that seems right to us. But
if you were to follow that way, it has a destination,
that destination is death. But
Jesus offers a different path, a better way. Look
what it says in Proverbs chapter 8. This
is the Lord talking. Listen to my instruction and be
wise. Do not disregard it. Blessed
are those who listen to me, watching daily at my
doors, waiting at my doorway. For
those who find me, find life. And
receive favor from the Lord. So
in other words, there's a way that seems right to
us. That road leads to death. But
there's God's Way, and it says it leads to blessings.
It leads to life, and it
leads to favor. You don't have to be a rocket
surgeon to figure out which one of those two you
should probably do. Because these three things sound a
whole lot better than death. In
fact, one of the closest people to Jesus, his name
was John, actually recorded some of the words that
Jesus said about why he came to earth in John
chapter 10 verse 10. Jesus says this, I have come
that they may have life and have it to the full.
So instead of experiencing life
at 30 % or 60 % or even 95%, Jesus is saying that
God's Way allows you and I to live life to the max,
to live life that is abundant. That
is why I am so glad that you are joining us today
from wherever you are joining from. Whether
you're joining us at one of our physical locations,
whether you're watching online or a part of the
crossing inside. And whether it's your first
time or your first time in a long time, I'm glad that
you are here because we believe that God's Way is
the best way. And today we're going to look
at an area of our life that maybe we didn't think
God would show up in. Or maybe an area of your life
where you're kind of ticked because God didn't show up.
Today, we're going to talk about
this. I believe that God's Way is
the best way when life seems unfair. There's
not a parent in the world who is not on multiple
occasions, had to look at their kids and say life is
not fair. However, in 2016, there was a
survey conducted of adults and the results were
surprising. This was the first question. Do
you think life is fair or not fair? You
guys already know the answer to this. You
don't even have to raise your hand. Well,
it's going to surprise you. 38 % of the people said
life is fair. Who are these idiots? I'll
tell you who they are. They're
going to be voting in the upcoming election. This
is why we got to do this series. 46 % said life is
not fair. And then there's 16 % who are
like, me and a, I don't know. You
don't know. Okay. How's it? Here's
the next question. Do you think life should be
fair? 63 % of them said, yeah, life
should be fair. 18 % said life should not be fair.
And 19 % don't know, man. Can
you imagine being that person just going through
life? Don't know, man. They're
moving to Colorado. So actually, weed's legal here
in Illinois too. So we joke. That's
why you should be praying for the politics series
guys. Because who knows what I'm going
to say. Now, you know this. Trying
to make life fair is almost impossible. For
instance, your older child had better clothes, but
worse furniture. And your youngest child had
nice furniture, but all the hand me down clothes. Have
you ever looked at the pictures of you when you
were a little bitty? If you're the oldest, what was
that stuff your parents were putting you on? It
wasn't, it wasn't safe. Your
oldest kids get more time with the grandparents. But
the youngest kid gets more time with the parents alone
when they're in high school. There
are parents. You don't have to raise your
hand because I don't want to make you feel bad. But
out of the kindness of their heart, you have tried
when it comes Christmas time to match the presence
dollar for dollar. You're a psycho. At
our house, we had to navigate intense birthday
pressure. Because the day before one of our
kids would have a birthday, the brothers would be super
excited for the other one. Oh,
tomorrow's going to be your birthday. We're
going to get cake. It's going to be super fun. And
tell it was fun up until we started opening up the
presents for the person who was their birthday. And
then the other kids started crying. He's
getting so many presents and I didn't get any. It's
because it's not your birthday. You
guys been there? Maybe for you, it's more
sophisticated than that. Why did they get a better
metabolism? Why did they get better hair?
Why did they get hair? Why
do I have hair there? Some of you are like, oh yeah,
preach. Okay. When you go to the barber
and they start doing a lot with the ears and nose,
you're like, okay, let's settle down, man. It
could have show up in different ways. Your
friend marries into a rich family and doesn't have to
work. That's been a real tough one for
us. Because Jennifer's family was broke
and that's why I'm doing what I'm doing right now.
I wanted to be a stay -at
-home dad. I did. Can
you imagine me just... It would have been no bueno.
Or your neighbor was born into
a family business and you were born into a family
that had wheels underneath your living room. Or
for me, I grew up from kindergarten through sixth
grade sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag under
the business manager's desk at my dad's vet clinic.
And so sleepovers at other
people's houses was a really big deal. And
I don't know if I was actually friends with those
people or if I just wanted to sleep in a bed. Or
maybe you've seen something like this happen. You
have actually been like the picture of health your
whole life. Like you've done all the right
things when it comes to your body and yet sickness
and disease and diagnosis never leaves you. And
you have a friend who has done nothing but abused
their body and they're the picture of health. Or
maybe you're a leader in a business and you are always
doing things properly and you're always doing things
legally and you can barely get by. Meanwhile,
the guy who is never there, who's definitely
shady and can't control his anger, seems to always have
the line on where the next best move is. For
some of you, you can't get over how much you invested
in your kids and how intentional you were at
raising them. And you paid a lot of
attention to their development and your kids
grew up to make a mess out of their lives.
Meanwhile, the parents who were
selfish and unattentive, their kids end up on the
honor roll and turn into highly productive citizens.
For some of you, your life was
falling apart. You hit rock bottom. You
started your intimate personal relationship with
Jesus Christ. You realize your needed for a
savior and you thought life was going to get easier.
You thought that life was going
to get better. However, it seems like at every
turn there has been opposition, challenges,
storms. And you show up for church at
one of our locations and you sit next to the one
person who just can't stop smiling. And
you say, what's going on with you? Like,
well, I came to church last week because my
marriage was falling apart and I started a
relationship with Jesus Christ and then I lost all
this weight. And my kids started getting up
and folding their own laundry and my husband
wants to renew our vows and he said, can we watch
more Hallmark movies? And you're sitting there and
you're going, so you said you have a relationship
with Jesus? Yeah, you sure? Yeah,
Jesus, I'm about to send her to you. You
better take her out. Give her a phone call. Get
her away from me. What do you do when life's not
fair? Now, there's some of you, maybe
I listed your challenges, others of you, you have a
completely different subset of challenges. Challenges
that you don't want to utter, pain that you don't
want to navigate. Because that's ultimately what
happens when we're talking about life being fair.
There is a unresolved pain
problem and we're not completely sure how to deal
with it. What do you do when life's not
fair? My position is that even when
life is not fair, God's way is the best way. Now
I want to be clear so that way you don't think
I'm saying what I'm not saying. I
am not today talking about justice and I am not
talking about favoritism. God
is just and always does what is right. And
he commands his followers, that would be you and me,
to not show favoritism to treat people fairly. So
while it is not possible or responsible to advocate
for equity, Christians should be firmly on the
side of equality. Regardless of who you are, you should
have the laws fairly protect you. Regardless
of who you are, you should be treated with dignity and
respect. Why? Because every single person
you will meet is an image bearer of God. They
are made in his likeness and deserve to be treated
as such. However, we live in a sinful world
full of sinful people. And history shows that when
oppressed people are given freedom from their
oppressors, eventually those very same people will
oppress others. They will do to others what has
actually been done to them. If
you were to look at some of the people that God
used the most, what you might think as some of his
favorite people in Scripture, what you would
find is that almost every single one of them had a
great deal of pain, a great deal of problems, a
great deal of hardships. Abraham
was loved by God, but God said you have to leave
your homeland. Joseph was betrayed by his
brothers, sold into slavery, had to grow up in a
different country, and was wrongfully put in prison.
Daniel was captured, taken from
his homeland in Jerusalem and forced to live in
Babylon. Job lost his entire family.
Peter was put in jail. Paul
was beaten multiple times for his faith. And
while you and I might be sitting here wondering why
life is so unfair, looking at all the other people in
our lives, if we were to sit across the table from
some of the people in the Scriptures, they would be
wondering how come you got it so easy? How
come your life is so much fairer than what my life
or my spiritual journey was? Life
is going to have ups and downs. It's
going to have twists and turns. The
promise of God is that he will bring purpose out of
your pain. Romans 828 says this, and we know
that in all things God works for the good of
those who love him, who have been called according
to his purpose. I've seen it again and again.
You have seen it too. The
people who have gone through the deepest pain
become the best counselors. The
people who have had the deepest losses are the ones
who can have the greatest amount of joy in a moment.
The people who have gone
through the harshest abuse become the greatest
advocates. The people who have suffered
the most have the greatest amount of empathy. The
people who have sinned the most develop the greatest
measure of grace. What that means, crossing family,
is I may not be responsible for what comes
to me, but I am responsible for what comes
through me. You may not have any choice
about what is going to happen to you, what is
going to come to you, but you are completely
responsible for how you respond to it. Some
people will use their pain as a permission slip. You
know those people. Because they've had a bad
experience, they inflict bad experiences. They
are always playing the blame game. Well,
if I had grown up the way you grew up, well, then I
would be different. Well, if I had different parents,
I would be like you if it's always somebody else.
However, there are other people who
use the pain to purify their purpose. We
have a campus pastor at one of our locations, who
probably the simplest way to say it is that he
suffered at the hands of generational sins. Stuff
that had kind of been passed on generation to
generation to generation showed up in his life as
a kid. And what he decided to do is
not use what happened to him as a permission slip.
He allowed it to purify his
purpose. And what I see him when I
look at him is I see him standing like this over his
kids and his marriage. And everything that came to him
is not going through him. It
is stopping with him. And you and I have the
opportunity through Christ's power. When
we have the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives,
the same power of the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus
from the dead. We have the ability to go,
what happened to me is not going through me. It
stops with me. Next thing I tell you is that
the adversity that I encounter is an invitation
to deeper dependence. Peter did not walk on water on
the shallow end of the sea on a calm day. Nope.
It was in the middle of the sea in the midst of a
storm on a dark night. James
chapter 1 verse 2 through 4 says this, consider it
pure, you guys say the next word, I don't want to
say it. You didn't want to say it
either. My brothers and sisters, when
should we consider it pure joy? Oh,
I'll tell you when. When you face trials of many
kinds. What? Because you know that the
testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let
perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature
and complete, not lacking anything. Here's
what that means. When things are not going your
way, you just might be on a path that leads to
maturity in Christ. Let me explain it this way.
Ladies, you married a deadbeat
dude. Just pretend if you will. Some
of you are like, oh yeah, this is the week. You're
in it. And life is not going the way
you thought it would go. Your
marriage is not looking the way you thought it would
go. And you are angry and you are
frustrated and you are ticked. What
if this is an invitation for maturity in Christ?
What if this is an opportunity
for you to learn how to have joy? I
am not excusing the sin or trying to cover over the
fact that there might be all kinds of dysfunction
inside of your marriage. But
you are not responsible for what comes to you. But
you are responsible for what comes through you. You
might be at work with a co -worker and you've been
working really, really hard. Everything's
going, you know, you've been nailing it. And
all of a sudden, this person you don't like gets
the promotion. And you're going, I'm so
thankful that they got this promotion. Because
now I'm going to get to grow in Christ. That
is not what you are doing. That
is not what you are doing. You
are not doing that. When your kids, oh, are not
behaving the way your kids are supposed to behave. I'm
guessing, crossing family, that we're not going. Oh,
good news. Our kids are being absolute
tyrants today. I'm going to grow so much with
Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for these
disobedient, destitute, depraved children that have
so much of their father's DNA in them. Right?
You're not doing that. You're
going, God, this is wonderful. I'm
going to grow in you today. No,
you are going. And then you see the other
parents dropping their kids off and matching outfits. I
cannot consider it pure joy. But
what if the hardships you face are the things that
actually draw you closer to him to depend on him? You
guys know this. You don't get healthy eating
what you've always eaten. I've
been told. This week, you'll love this.
This week I went to a store
and they have these energy drinks called Alane New.
And I didn't read them. I
was just told that you like shop the outside of
the grocery store. And so I did that and they
had these energy drinks. And
so I bought like 50. And I drank three in one day.
And I'm just going to tell you
that's hard on your heart. I
found out later that each can has 100 % of everything
you need for a whole day. So
I was good till Thursday. And
if each can has 200 milligrams of caffeine, so
600 milligrams is like drinking 18 pack of Coke.
So I was wired. Okay,
you don't get fit keeping the same routine. You
don't get strong unless you either increase the weight,
the reps or the sets. You will never grow inside your
comfort zone. And so your maturity in Christ
to grow in Christ, you're going to have to be in
positions that you're not normally accustomed to. A
long time ago, I got asked to go to Colorado and
speak at a camp. They had me speaking in the
mornings and they had me speaking in the evenings.
And we drove up to this
campsite and it was beautiful. I
mean, it was just gorgeous to look at. And
then they said on Wednesday, I think it was
Wednesday, we're going to hike to the top of the
mountain. And I'm like, okay, and then
you're going to preach. I'm like, why? And
they're like, oh, it's just so, it's so pretty up
there. Really? Like, yeah. Like,
well, what's up there? Well,
like you can, you can just see everything. Like
how many of you woke up today like, what does the
top of a tree look like? Anybody?
Yeah, me neither. That's the only reason you'd hike
up. I want to see a tree from
the top. Just go to Home Depot, walk
through the plant aisle and just look down on. That's
all it is. Save yourself the hike. I
got all the way, we started hiking all the way
up there. Do you know what's up at the
top of a mountain? I'm going to save you guys a
trip. Nothing. There is nothing there.
There's no trees for shade. There's
no water if you're a little thirsty. There's
no food. There's nothing. There's
no restaurants up at the top. All
you can see is trees from the top. And
I'll be honest with you, I can go my whole life
without it. We get up there and I have
to preach the message. And then you know what we did?
We walked back down. And
you know what we did when we walked back down into
the valley? You know what I noticed? There
were trees for shade. There was water. When
we got far enough down, there were restaurants. And
you know this. Things don't grow on the mountain
tops. They grow in the valleys. And
when you find yourself in a valley of life, that is
where the growth happens. The
only thing you can do on a mountain top is see it
from another perspective. But
it is in the valley where we grow. And
God promises that in the valleys, he will be with
us. He will never desert us. Now
the next thing I want to tell you is that when you
are going through struggles in life and you are
dealing with the pain of life not being fair, I
want to remind you that there is more than this
life ahead of me. And God promises to reward me.
Galatians chapter six says, Let us
not become weary in doing good, for at the proper
time we will reap a harvest if we do not give
up. James chapter one verse 12 says,
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial,
because having stood the test, that person will
receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised
to those who love him. Revelation
22 verse 12 says this, Look, I am coming soon.
This is Jesus talking. My
reward is with me, and I will give to each person
according to what they have done. I
wonder, well no, let me do second Corinthians chapter
four. Therefore we do not lose heart,
though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly
we are being renewed day by day. For
our light and momentary troubles are achieving for
us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So
we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is
unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is
unseen is eternal. Here's what he's saying. Guys,
you're going to go through some bumps, you're going to
experience some bruises, you're going to go through
some pain and some hardship, but this is not
all there is. This has an end date. This
pain will eventually come to pass, and one day you
will be in heaven, and God says that he sees
everything and will reward you according to what you
have done. So the pain that you
experience may be an invitation to a reward from
God from how you handled the pain that you had to
go through. In other words, let me take
you on a quick church history tour. This
sounds like it's not going to be fun, but trust me
you'll be blessed in the end. If
you were to look at all time heroes in the Bible,
you'd be hard pressed to find anybody better than
Paul. His story gives hope to so
many people. And so Paul is traveling around
and he's telling people about Jesus, and he shows
up in the town of Philippi, and he shows up
with Silas, and they are walking through the town
and they're telling everybody about Jesus, and
it's fantastic. Well, there is this slave girl
who is a fortune teller, and so she makes money for
her owners by telling people their futures.
Because you would pay to know your
future, wouldn't you? If you knew there was a real
person that could tell you what your future looked
like, we'd cough up all the cash. So
this girl is raking in money for her owners, and
she starts going around telling everybody, pay
attention to these guys, they know about the real
God. Eventually Paul gets tired of it,
turns to this woman who's been talking for way too
much, and he says, demon be gone, and she loses her
ability to tell the future. Her
owners are super upset because basically their
business just got closed down because Paul told this
girl to stop telling the future and remove the
spirit that gave her the ability to do it. And
so her owners captured Paul and Silas, put them in the
marketplace, they beat them, and then they had them
thrown in jail. And if that had happened to
you, or if that had happened to me, what would
we have been doing? Well, that's not fair, Jesus. We
were telling people about you, we were trying to
help people find an intimate personal
relationship with you, and now we're going through
this. That was not their response at
all. In fact, it tells us what
their response was, they were in the jail, and the
Bible says that they were praying, worshipping, and
singing songs. That is probably different than
our response, right? The worship service and the
prayers were so impactful that God sent a violent
earthquake to shake the entire jail. And
when it did, all the gates fell off, and all the
prisoners stayed. They didn't leave. And
the jailer came in and was about to commit suicide,
and they said, hey guys, we haven't left, because
the jailer thought he was going to get killed for
all the prisoners escaping, but they didn't. They
all stayed. And so they told the jailer
about Jesus, and he started an intimate personal
relationship with Jesus, and then he went home and his
whole family did the exact same thing. And
so when you read the book of Philippians, you are
reading a book that was written to a church that
was started by a suicidal jailer, but because these
guys decided that they were going to tell people about
Jesus, got put in prison for it, and continued to
worship while they were in prison. And
so if you want to go home, you can check this
out for yourself. Read the book of Philippians and
go, hold on a second. This is a different way of
looking at life. Paul is talking to them and
saying this is how you should live, and these
people know it because they've seen what Paul has
gone through. Look at Philippians chapter one.
Paul says this, Now I want you
to know, brothers and sisters, these are the
people in the church in Philippi, that what has
happened to me has actually served to advance the
gospel. As a result, it has become
clear throughout the whole palace guard and to
everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And
because of my chains, because of my chains,
because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters
have become confident in the Lord and dare more,
all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. I
just want to pause for a second. Paul's
not writing about him being in that prison. Paul's
writing in this letter to them from another prison.
Paul is what we like to call a
repeat offender. He is going, he just keeps
doing stuff for Jesus and getting thrown in jail. So
he's writing to the church that was started because he
was in jail from another jail cell, and he's telling
them, hey, check this out. The
same thing that happened when I was in the jail in
your town is happening in the new jail where I'm at
now. People are starting to go, hey,
there's something different about this guy. And
other people are witnessing him cling into the promises
of God in the midst of the pain. And
they're deciding that I want that kind of faith
too. And the gospel is going out
further. Philippians chapter 1 verse 27,
whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy
of the gospel of Christ. In
other words, when things aren't going your way in
your marriage, when things aren't going your way at
work, when things aren't going your way in the
mirror, when things aren't going your way on the
scale, when things aren't going your way financially,
when things aren't going your way relationally,
conduct yourself. In a manner worthy of the
good news of Jesus Christ. What
is the good news of Jesus Christ? That
God looked down, saw your sin, still moved on your
behalf, sent his son Jesus to not only pay for the
sins that you've committed, suffer eternity in hell on
your behalf, but give you new life and a deposit of
his spirit as a guarantee of the heavenly reward that
you will one day receive. And
in light of all of that cosmic reality, deal with
the temporary stuff. Like get through it. Like
just go, I'm going through. Philippians
chapter 3 says, but one thing I do, forgetting what
is behind and straining towards what is ahead. I
press on towards the goal to win the prize for which
God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians chapter 4, rejoice in the
Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice.
Let your gentleness be evident
to all. I'm going to pause there for a
second. Sometimes people who've been through
a ton of pain are the least gentle people. They're
permission slip people. Christians
are different. Rejoice until you can be gentle
about it. The Lord is near. Do
not be anxious about anything, but in every
situation by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving,
present your request to God. And
peace of God, which transcends all understanding
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Paul is a picture of this in
that Philippian jail cell. I'm
not going to be anxious. I'm
going to pray. I'm not going to be anxious.
I'm going to worship.
Philippians chapter 4 says this, I
have learned to be content whatever the circumstances,
content whatever the circumstances. I
know what it is to be in need and I know what it
is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of
being content in any and every situation, whether
well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in
want. I can do all of this through
him who gives me strength. Paul
was not responsible for what happened to him, but
he was responsible for what happened or what came
through him. And what came through him was
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul
allowed the adversity that he faced to give him a
deeper dependence on who God is. How
would he have known that he could be content
whatever the circumstances unless he had been through
whatever the circumstances. How
would Paul have known that God can be good when
you're hungry if he hadn't been hungry and found out
that God was good? How would he have known that
God would be there for him when he didn't have
everything he needed? Then he finds out that God is
all he actually needs. How do you know that God's
good in the valley until you've walked through the
valley? How do you know that God's
good in the middle of a storm unless you've walked
through the storm? How do you know that the cross
is good until you give your sins to him and he
says I've covered it? How would you know? You
know because you endure and that endurance gives you
hope and that hope brings about a perseverance in you
that cannot be robbed by Satan or your circumstances.
Maybe, just maybe. This
sermon was for you too. Because
deep down inside we spend a lot of time trying to
make life fair. And if I could put anything on
you and me today it would be this. Instead
of calculating fairness, we should be focused on our
faithfulness. So that you and I can say
too whatever the circumstances. Whether
in times of plenty or in times of want. When
life's not fair, I'm convinced that God's way is
the best way. We're moving to a time of
decision. For those of you who don't
have a relationship with Jesus Christ yet, I just
want to give you a mini devotional. The
last thing that you would want is a God who's fair.
It's the last thing you would
want. Because the Bible says that the
wages of sin are death. Our
sins have brought about an eternal separation from God.
That is what we deserve. That
is what is fair. And when you look through the
pages of Scripture, what you'll see is we serve a
God who hasn't been fair to us and thank God he
hasn't been fair. Because the cross wasn't fair
because I wasn't on it. The
cross wasn't fair because you weren't on it. That
would have been fair, but it was unfair. It
was gloriously unfair because the one who had no
sin became my sin and your sin for us. That's
not fair. I'm glad I have a God who's
unfair. Mercy is not fair. Grace
is not fair. Love is not fair. Eternity
in heaven is not fair, but it is available. And
if you want it, you can start it today. If
you have questions about what it means to have an
intimate personal relationship with Jesus
Christ, I want to encourage you. Don't
put it off any longer. Because
that decision is the single greatest decision you will
ever make. And it gives you the ability
to endure every decision that somebody else makes on
your behalf in the future. And
if you're here and you want to ask questions about
it, in just a few moments, when other people around
you start to stand and sing and some of them come
to the steps to pray, right over there underneath
that screen, right next to the baptistery, there will
be a couple there that would love to talk to you
and answer some of your questions. To
the rest of you in here, to those of you who
already have a relationship with Jesus Christ, maybe
envy of how God is writing other people's stories is
robbing you of the joy of allowing God to write
yours. We've all been there. We
wish that things were going the way in our life, the
way they seem to be going in somebody else's. And
instead of thanking God for the story that he's writing
in their life, we're mad at God for the story that
he's writing in ours. And so maybe, maybe we could
spend a little bit of time saying, God, I don't want
this pen back. Even when life seems unfair, I
believe that you can write a better story. I
believe that your way is the best way. And
so God, here's the pen. Every
day, Satan is going to tempt you to put the pen,
pull the pen back and put it in your hand. And
you start taking over right in the chapter. But
we have no power. Like I said on Easter weekend,
the only power that you and I have is the right
of story that leads from life to death. But
when God has the pen, he has the ability to write a
story that starts in death and ends in life. Whatever
you do, don't take back the pen. Do
you guys stand with me? Heavenly
Father, I'm asking you to move in the hearts of the
people in this room and those watching online and
at all of our different locations right now. God,
I know that in a sermon like this, it's impossible
to capture every hurt and every heartache. God,
I know that it's impossible to know the nuances of
every situation, but God, none of that is hidden
from you. And so God, I pray that you
would give every person some clarity about what it
is that you want them to do. Show
them clearly the step that they're supposed to take.
And then God, give them the
courage to take it. In your name I pray, amen.