Oh, crossing family, I am so excited to be with you.
I've been looking forward to this message since we put it on
the calendar. However, before we jump into the
message, there are a couple things I need to give you some
updates about our upcoming weekend.
We are partnering, as you guys have heard, with Riding High
Ministries and during each of our services, we are going to
have a wild horse that is going to go through a tremendous
transformation. It will be like a service unlike
any other. Because of that, there are a
couple things I need all of you to know.
One, this is the perfect weekend for you to invite somebody that
you care about. I believe that this service will
go down as the most memorable service in the history of our
church. And so I've been asking you to
be praying about who you're going to invite this week.
I want you to make the ask #2 I need all of you who call
yourself a Christian to come early and park far away.
If you park close to our church and you don't have a handicap
sticker, we're going to assume you don't know Jesus and I will
be telling Jesus about your behavior.
Please, this is a way for us to love people, and I need you to
love people well #3. If possible, I would love for
you to prioritize the Thursday services if your campus has one.
And if you are a super Christian, be willing to sit in
the overflow if your campus ends up needing one, which I actually
hope they do #4 if you attend a service that is not 48th St.
I need you to attend at your local campus. 48th St. cannot
simply accommodate people driving in from our other
locations. We are going to be losing
seating because we're putting a round pin with a horse in our
auditorium. So if you guys all drive in, it
will make it almost impossible for the people at 48th St. to be
able to minister to their friends and family that they're
inviting. I've watched what he does online
and on video and we are going to be adding technology and cameras
to make the service as immersive as possible from wherever you're
watching from. Now, I heard some people at 48th
St. we're going. Well, you don't want us to
attend. No, I want you to show up.
I want you to be here and I want you to bring your friends.
I'm just asking the people who attend our other locations,
Please don't drive in. This is one of the ways that we
love God and love our neighbor is by prioritizing attending at
our physical location. Now I don't normally ask you to
do this, but if you want, you can take out your phone and I'm
I'm praying that 950 of you would be willing to join me in
setting your alarm for 9:50 in the morning or 9:50 at night for
the next 7 to 10 days to pray. I don't even want to say this
number out loud because you know, but I'm praying for 9500
people to be at our services on on Super Bowl weekend.
I've been praying that for the whole month.
And if you'd like to join me in the last 7 to 10 days and, and
9:50 in the morning and at 9:50 at a night or one or the other,
I would love to have 950 people praying at 9:50 for 9500 people.
Now, I told you a couple weeks ago that when this weekend
happens, I'm showing up like RIP from Yellowstone and I'm not
messing around. OK, this is OK.
All right. That's a that's a good looking
man right there. Now, if he had a McDonald's at
Yellowstone Ranch, this is what he would look like.
OK, I am not. I cannot wait to show up.
All right, Yeah, That is 100% what I'm wearing.
And I, I've got aviator glasses. I am.
I'm going to try. I'm going to try really hard to
continue to be your pastor. But if you've never been to a
rodeo, you want to go now Because when I put that outfit
on, there's not going to be any wild animals left.
Go quick, because I will. Yeah.
Changed me all right now we are in a sermon series called There
has to be a place. There has to be a place
dedicated to helping people find an intimate personal
relationship with Jesus Christ. And we have a crazy God sized
dream to make this region where you and I do life in ministry
the hardest place on planet earth to get to hell from.
But in order to create that kind of place, we cannot create that
place unless we createspace in our lives to become the people
that God created us to become. So how do you and I create that
space? We make space in our lives and
for very specific purposes, and that's what we've been doing
during this series. Because if we want to create
that place, we must create the space for very specific things
for you and I to do. For instance, week one we talked
about how we need to make space in our lives to be committed to
the Word of God. If we don't know the word of
God, how can we be the people of God?
And how can we tell people what God can do if we don't even know
what God can do? No, we talked about we need to
createspace in our lives to be reliant on prayer.
We want to invite God into every aspect of our lives.
We want to be a part of something so special, so
significant that only God could have made it happen.
I wrote at the top of my prayer thing this year.
I've never had a prayer journal before, but I got a prayer
journal this year. And at the very, the very first
prayer is do it again God and do it again in US.
Week 3, we talked about that we need to createspace in our lives
to be dedicated to the mission of God, that we need to make
space to serve our community and our church to help people find
and experience what we have found and experienced in Jesus.
And we realize that every single one of us has a gift and ability
and God expects us to use it and he will reward us when we do.
And then last week we talked about what it means to be a
Christian and that God in His great mercy, has allowed you and
I to participate in His mission, that we are His ambassadors.
So that means that you and I have to createspace in our lives
to help people find and live out an intimate personal
relationship with Jesus Christ. Hear me clearly.
We are either the focus of the mission or we are part of the
mission. And there is no middle ground.
You are either part of doing the reaching or you are the one
being reached. We've been talking a lot about
the spiritual spectrum. And when I put this up there,
you know, some people get a little nervous.
But everyone, everyone, everyone listen to my voice.
Everybody you ever meet, everybody you ever lay eyes on,
they are somewhere on the spiritual spectrum.
And everyone on this spiritual spectrum is loved by God,
created by God, has a gift from God, and matters to this church.
And the goal of this series has not been so much about where are
you on the spiritual spectrum, but committing to moving from
left to right on the spiritual spectrum.
How do you and I move from left to right?
Through faith and obedience. Our faith will never outpace are
obedience. They are connected, they move at
the same speed. If you are struggling in your
faith, it will manifest itself in your obedience.
And the reason you and I need to move from left to right is
because God calls us to it. The people you love need you to
move in the direction of God and this region desperately needs
people that are chasing after God.
And as you look through scripture, it becomes very clear
that there is a priority placed on those on the left side of the
spiritual spectrum. Luke chapter 15 verse 7 says
this. I tell you in the same way that
there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one Sinner who
repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to
repent. Jesus himself stated later on in
Luke chapter 19 verse 10 that his mission was to seek and save
the lost and Jesus's last words before he ascended into heaven.
You guys have heard me talk about these multiple times
during this series. Matthew chapter 28 verses 18
through 20. Then Jesus came to them and
said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to
me. Therefore go and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always
to the very end of the age. You and I do not get to come up
with our own mission. Jesus has all authority, and
those who have given their lives over to Him are bound to be
obedient to Him. Therefore, Christians must make
Jesus's last words our first priority.
And that is why I am so glad that all of you are here today,
whether you're joining at one of our physical locations, whether
you're watching online or you are part of our crossing inside
family. I'm also so thankful to those of
you who are new here, whether it is your first time or your first
time in a long time. No matter where you are today on
the spiritual spectrum, I need you to know you matter to God
and you matter to us. I titled my message today, can't
stop, won't stop. Then someone told me that I
guess Miley Cyrus has a song titled that which I'll listen to
that on the way home and see what that's all about.
Turn to your neighbors, say can't stop.
If you're watching on the chat, go ahead and type in won't,
won't stop. If you're turn to your other
neighbors, say won't stop. Turn back to your first
neighbor, say can't stop. Turn to your other neighbor
won't stop. Do it one more time.
Can't stop. I'm going to try and get you to
remember this sermon. I work too hard for you to
forget them by the time you eat. In Acts chapter 1, Jesus ascends
into heaven, tells his followers that they will be his witnesses,
His testimony, his ambassadors in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,
and eventually to the ends of the earth.
That's true because you and I know about Jesus because of what
happened all the way back in Jerusalem in Acts chapter 2.
One chapter later, the Holy Spirit comes down and empowers
the followers of Jesus and Peter goes out and he preaches the
very first gospel message and the people get done here in the
message and they say, what shall we do?
And he says, repent and be baptized, everyone of you for
the forgiveness of your sins, and you'll receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit. And guess what?
On that day, 3000, people believed his message and were
baptized in Acts chapter 3. One chapter later, Peter and
John, 2 followers of Jesus, are on their way to the temple to
pray at 3:00 PM in the afternoon.
As they got close they met a lame man, a person who could not
walk, and he had been that way since his birth, and he was
begging them for money. Peter and John looked at him and
they said silver and gold we do not have, but what we do have we
give to you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Get up and walk. Peter reaches down, grabs him by
the hand, pulls him to his feet and immediately he was healed.
This healing drew such a large crowd that they gathered around
him and Peter said, there's a large crowd here.
You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to talk to all of
these people about Jesus. So he preached a gospel message
and when he was done, the authorities started to came and
or came and they arrested Peter and John.
However, not before so many people heard the message and
responded to the message that the book of Acts in chapter 3
records that at the end of the message the number of followers
of Jesus went from 3000 to 5000. We pick up the story in Acts
chapter 4. Here's what it says.
The next day the council of all the rulers and elders and
teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem.
Anis, the high priest, was there, along with Caiaphas, John
Alexander, and the other relatives of the high priest.
They brought in the two disciples and demanded By what
power or in whose name have you done this?
Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers and
elders of our people, are we being questioned today because
we've done a good deed for a crippled man?
Do you want to know how he was healed?
Oh, I love it. He's setting them up.
Here it comes. Let me clearly state to all of
you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the
powerful name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, the man you
crucified but whom God raised from the dead.
Let's keep going. For Jesus is the one referred to
in the Scriptures where it says the stone you builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone. Here's the Gospel message for
you. There is salvation in no one
else. Let me pause.
No matter where you think you can get it, there's only one
place you can get it. The only way that you and I get
salvation is through what Jesus Christ did on our behalf on the
cross and through the resurrection.
Let's keep going. God has given no other name
under heaven by which we must be saved.
The members of the council were amazed when they saw the
boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were
ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures.
They also recognize them as men who had been with Jesus.
Pause. These men had created space in
their lives to become the people that God created them to become.
And because they had created space to spend time with Jesus,
they created a place for people to find him like never before.
But since they could see that the man who had been healed
standing right there among them, there was nothing the council
could say. So they ordered Peter and John
out of the council chamber and conferred among themselves.
What should we do with these men?
They asked each other. We can't deny that they have
performed a miraculous sign and everybody in Jerusalem knows
about it, but to keep them from spreading their propaganda any
further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus name
again. So they called the apostles back
in and commanded them never to speak or teach in the name of
Jesus. But Peter and John replied, Do
you think God wants us to obey you rather than him?
We cannot stop. You know where I got the title
of my message? Right there.
The title of my message is can't stop.
OK, six of you. God bless you.
We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and are
seen and heard. Crossing family.
If I could have any prayer answered this year in our
church, it would be that this year we can't stop, won't stop
telling people about Jesus. It would be that this year we
can't stop, won't stop praying to God for the lost in our
region. It would be that this year we
can't stop. We won't stop learning about God
in His word. That this year we can't stop and
we won't stop praying to God to do it again and to do it again
in us. That this year we can't stop and
we won't stop serving His mission.
It would be that this year you and I would live a life where we
can't stop and we won't stop pursuing Jesus with absolutely
everything we have. In the Gospel of Luke Chapter 9,
it records a story of Jesus gathering his followers and
sending them out to go and to do his ministry work.
Right before this He teaches them how to cast out demons.
So he sends them out and his disciples are trying to cast out
demons in the region. They encounter a demon possessed
boy in Luke Chapter 9 and they can't drive the demon out.
The father overcome with emotion.
Can you imagine your child is trapped with a demon and you're
wanting your the demon to leave your son and he goes to Jesus
and he says, when the evil spirit seizes my son, it throws
him down into convulsions, makes him foam at the mouth.
And then he tells Jesus, I begged your followers, your
disciples, your messengers to cast out the demon, but they
could not do it. You have to go all the way to
the Gospel of Mark Chapter 9 to hear when Jesus says, well, this
kind of demon only gets cast out through prayer.
And then Jesus casts out the demon.
And Luke Chapter 9, the disciples are going out and they
are trying to do a good work for God, but it's not going the way
they had planned for it to go. So if you Fast forward to Luke
chapter 10, it tells another story.
Jesus gathers his disciples again and he sends them out, and
this time he sends them out to accomplish his mission and to
cast out demons. At this time in Luke chapter 10,
when all of his followers come back, they are full of joy and
they are saying even the demons submit to us in your name and
Jesus says something really cool.
At the end of this Luke chapter 10 verse 18, I saw Satan fall
like lightning from heaven. Jesus is speaking figuratively
here, but what He is saying to His followers is I see Satan
being defeated. The Kingdom of God is expanding
and the Kingdom of evil is shrinking.
I saw you go out and you are accomplishing the work that I
commissioned you to do and when you are doing it, I saw Satan
fall like lightning. The disciples experienced
hardship and defeat in Luke Chapter 9, but they can't stop,
won't stop. And 1 chapter later Jesus says I
saw Satan fall like lightning crossing family.
I want God to say the same thing about.
Our region this year where the crossing people were gathered,
where the crossing people were being sent out, when the
crossing people were spending time in the word, spending time
praying, spending time serving the mission, spending time
helping other people find what they have found in me, that I
saw Satan fall like lightning. That is Jesus's way of saying
we're going to make this region the hardest place on planet
earth to get the hell from. I came today with a very simple
message. Can't stop, won't stop.
Hear me? There's some of you.
I got a special message. There's some of you right now
that are living in a Luke 9 reality.
You're operating in Luke 9 moments, Luke 9 prayers, Luke
nine seasons, but can't stop. Won't stop until you see and
experience something in Luke chapter 10.
In Luke Chapter 9, you're getting defeated.
In Luke Chapter 9, you're punched in the gut.
In Luke Chapter 9, you don't see a way through, but that's Luke
Chapter 9. Can't stop, Won't stop till I
see Satan for like lightning in my family, in my home, in my
workplace, in Luke chapter 10. I came to preach a message
today. Can't stop, won't stop.
I'll I'll preach you if you don't get it together.
Can't stop. If you're in Luke Chapter 9, you
can't stop. And yeah, let me tell you a
story. 20 years ago, 20 years ago, there were cards at the
steps at the crossing church, and somebody wrote four names on
or five names on a card. And for 20 years, for 20 years,
they prayed prayers. For 20 years, they lived in Luke
Chapter 9. For 20 years, every time they
opened up their wallet, there was the card, the names of
people that they loved, the names of people they want to see
get baptized into Christ day after day, week after week,
month after month, year after year.
Luke Chapter 9, These are the names.
This is the card. It's his brothers and his mom
and dad. For 20 years they lived in Luke
Chapter 9, and this was the prayer that one day they would
be baptized. After 16 years, one of the names
on that card got baptized into Christ with his wife here at our
church. For 19 1/2 years, he lived in
Luke Chapter 9 until six months ago during our men's conference,
his brother said it's time for me to get baptized.
And he got baptized here at our church.
And two weekends ago, surrounded by the two brothers that he
prayed for for 16 years, the brother he prayed for 19 1/2
years, his mom and dad, who he'd been praying for for 20 years,
were baptized into Christ at this church.
Say it with me. Can't stop, won't stop.
Oh my goodness. For 16 years, it was Luke
Chapter 9 for just a Luke 10 moment.
Then it was 3 1/2 more years of Luke Chapter 9 for a Luke 10
moment. But hear me, when you saw see
Satan fall like lightning, when you see this region becoming the
hardest place on planet earth to get the hell from, you can't
stop. And we won't stop.
It has been heartbreaking to watch the LA fires sweep through
that region. Over 48,000 acres in the Los
Angeles region have absolutely been decimated.
In fact, I'm, I'm pleased to announce that today we sent
$25,000 to churches to help them rebuild and help families.
But do you know, yeah. Do you know where the safest
place in LA County is right now? Do you know where the safest
place is? Where the fire has already
burned because the land can't burn twice.
Stay with me. Because of God's love for you
and me, Jesus gladly endured the fires of judgment on the cross
of Calvary. And as followers of Jesus, you
and I stand in the land where the fires have already been.
But the flame could not touch us because there was nothing left
to burn, because Jesus was burned on our behalf.
And because Jesus fought the flames, you and I move from
death to life and become a new creation in Him, serving the
Lord God Almighty, who is eternally doing a new work in US
and promising that one day He will make all things new because
He went through the fire on our behalf.
First Peter chapter 3 says Jesus suffered once for sins, the
righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring you and I to
God. The fires cannot burn us because
they burned Jesus. Because Jesus walked through the
fire of hell. The Lord promises that He will
make a way for us to spend eternity in heaven with Him.
As we continue to pray for the people in Los Angeles, may we
thank the Lord Jesus for allowing you and I to stand
where the fire has already been, on the land, on the Holy Land
that was purchased in the blood of Jesus crossing family.
We can't stop and we won't stop because we believe that God is
real. We can't stop and we won't stop
because we believe that Jesus is alive.
We can't stop and we won't stop because we believe that the
Bible is true. We can't stop and we won't stop
because we believe God loves the whole world.
We can't stop and we won't stop because we believe the debt has
been paid. We can't stop, and we won't stop
because we believe that there is hope for the hopeless, peace for
the ancient, this healing for the broken.
We can't stop and we won't stop because we believe that there is
nobody, absolutely nobody, who is too far gone, who can outrun
the love of God. We can't stop, and we won't stop
because we believe that Luke chapter 10 comes right after
Luke Chapter 9. We can't stop, and we won't stop
crossing family until this region is the hardest place on
planet earth to get to hell from.
Would you help me out? We and we, we're moving to a
time of decision. Those of you here are watching
online who don't have an intimate personal relationship
with Jesus Christ. Hell's coming for you, but it
won't touch you. If you're in Christ, you can
stand in the land where the fire has already burned.
And this is my promise to you as a church.
We will keep pointing, keep praying, keep giving you all the
space you need until you find Jesus.
Because I've already made-up my mind that I can't stop, and I
won't stop until you experience everything that I've experienced
in Him. And if you're here today and
you've never started an intimate personal relationship with Jesus
Christ, may you not stop until you do.
And just a few moments, the people around you are going to
stand and sing. Some of them are going to come
to the steps and pray. And I want to encourage you to
walk right over there underneath that screen and next to the
baptistry and say, I got to get some things figured out.
And I need to get it figured out right now.
To those of you in the room who already have a relationship with
Jesus Christ, if you've been sitting on the sidelines, if
you're apathetic in your walk, lazy with your efforts, watching
the glorious mission pass you by, I'm coming for you because I
can't stop. And I won't stop until you
participate in the mission that was purchased on your behalf.
I refuse to let you have the love of God wash over you and
not do your part to help it wash over other people.
And I can't stop. And I won't stop until I make
this the most uncomfortable hour of your life because I love you
too much and we love the mission too much and we've been given
too much. So maybe today you've been
saying can't stop, won't stop. But it's time for you to start
living it, doing something with it, being able to draw a really
clear, short line between your life and your commitment to the
gospel, to all of you in the room.
I know that as I was preaching about Luke Chapter 9, and I was
preaching about the family that has been getting saved here at
our church, you were thinking of your own names.
You were thinking of your own friends and your own family.
And you're like, man, I can't wait.
Well, I want you to know we're going to give you a chance.
We've got cards up here and pens.
And maybe today you start your journey of just writing down the
people that you want to see come to faith in Jesus and you're
signing yourself up. I'm going to start praying over
these names. I'm going to invite these names.
I'm going to love these names. I'm going to serve these names.
And hear me, hear me, I didn't tell you a story about somebody
who got serious about Jesus last week and prayed 2 prayers and
their entire family got saved. That's not the story I told you
today. If you're gone, I've seen him do
it. But I specifically told you a
story that was 20 years in the making because can't stop, won't
stop. You don't need, can't stop,
won't stop for three days. You don't need can't stop won't
stop for 30 days. But you do need can't stop won't
stop through a diagnosis. You need can't stop won't stop
through a period of your teenagers wandering from the
Lord. You need can't stop, won't stop
for a prayer that you don't see come to fruition for five years,
10 years, 20 years. But right now, you and I are
going to make a decision. Am I going to have a can't stop,
won't stop commitment to Christ? Am I going to have a can't stop,
won't stop commitment to this region?
Am I going to have a can't stop, won't stop commitment to people
who are far from God? Well, this is our time and it's
not about coming up with names on a card.
A monkey can come up with names on a card.
I'm asking you to be a person who does something about what
you wrote on the card. We kind of can't stop, won't
stop people that deep down inside I actually believe we
want to be. And better than that, I actually
think that's who God created us to be.
So let's get it. Would you stand with me?
There's so much purity right now in our hearts because we want to
do everything you want us to do. And maybe one of the areas of
your grace that I just missed too much is how perfectly aware
of how fickle and weak we are. So would you pour concrete on
our commitment? Would you put steel in our
hearts and our commitment to your mission?
Would you create in us a steadfastness in our walk?
I guess I'm asking the same thing I ask every week.
Would you do what only you can do in ways that only you can do
it? Would you start a fire in this
church that Satan can't put out? Name I pray.
Amen.