Greater Purpose

Good morning to those of you here in the auditorium. Good morning to everybody joining us over in venue or on the web or on our app. It's great to have you. My name is René. I'm one of the pastors here at Twin Lakes Church and I want to start with a personal announcement, some personal family news here. My wife and I just discovered that for the very first time we are going to be grandparents. We're having a grandbaby. I'm so stoked about it. Our oldest son Jonathan and his wife Kelly are having a little one. I'm so happy.

How many of you are grandparents here? Can I see a show of hands? Wow, a lot of you. So you guys already know what I'm talking about when I say that somehow this is finding its way into every single conversation I have with anybody, right? How are you doing? I'm fine, René Howard. I'm having a grandchild, that's how. But this is an answer to prayer for many of you who have been begging God to give me another source of illustrations. So yes, it's going to happen. I appreciate your prayers for Kelly. She is due in mid-July.

And right now why don't you grab your message notes that are right on the bulletins that you were handed when you came in. Let's continue our series "Greater." This is the series that we started the new year with talking about greater serenity and greater peace and greater joy. And as you take those out, let me intro the message this way. How many of you, another show of hands, love that old sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond." Anybody love that? I love that show. And there was an episode on just the other day where Raymond's little girl asks him, "Why are there babies?" And he goes, "Uh-oh." And he prepares himself for the talk.

And here's what happens next. When a man and a woman love each other very much, they get married. And then sometimes they decide to make a baby. Why are there babies? Right, right. Okay, I'm gonna get to that. Okay. What a man and a woman do is-- No, I mean, I know that the man and the woman have to do something, but why are we born? Why has God put us here? Because that's what? If we all go to heaven when we die, then why does God want us here first? Why does God want us here? Yeah, why? Why are we here, Daddy? Yeah, I heard you. I heard you. That's a good question. Why are there babies? One could also ask, "Why are there grand babies?" For example.

Well, that's a good question. Grab those message notes. Let's talk about greater purpose. There must be a greater purpose to our life. There must be a meaning. There must be a reason that God has you here, that God has me here on this planet. Now, there's three normal ways that people in society, generally speaking, answer this question. Some common answers. Some people say that the purpose of life is just survival. Everything else is irrelevant. Just survive. You're here to just pass on your genetic material and keep the species going. Well, obviously, that is not very fulfilling for most people.

Others move up a notch and say the purpose is success. Just be a success at whatever you find to do. And that's good advice, but being a success and being fulfilled are not the same thing. In fact, I just saw this this week. A study was done by the Gates Foundation. You know the thing that Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, put together to find out if successful people were also fulfilled people. And what they did was they asked a hundred and twenty different people. And the way you qualified for the survey is your annual net worth, annual net income had to be 25 to 200 million dollars. Isn't that amazing? So how many of you qualified? No, just kidding.

And here's their conclusion. The respondents turn out to be a generally dissatisfied lot. Most of them do not feel fulfilled or, watch this, even secure. For that, they say they would require on average one quarter more wealth than they currently possess. Isn't that interesting? Everyone, no matter how wealthy they are, thinks if I just had a little bit more, maybe then I'd feel secure. Maybe then I'd be fulfilled. But watch this. One of the respondents said something that was brilliant. He said if only we can get people informed so that they know that getting the 20 million or 200 million won't bring them all that they'd hoped for, then maybe they concentrate instead on things that would make the world a better place.

In other words, he's striving for something more than success. Deep down we want more than mere survival. We want more than mere success. We want significance. And it turns out that the Bible has a lot to say about that. In fact, the Bible says this in Proverbs 16:4. Why don't we all read this verse on the screen together? Let me hear you. "The Lord has made everything for his own purposes." God has never made anything without a purpose. Nothing. And that includes you.

In fact, do me a favor. Just take one of your hands and put it on your chest right now. Put it on your chest. You feel your heart beating? That means you still have a purpose in life. And I saw somebody when I asked, "Do you still have your heart beating?" Somebody said, "No." Well, you've got bigger problems. All right. You're back to the survival level, okay? But if your heart is beating, if you're breathing, that means God still has a purpose for you here on this planet. But what is it?

What I want us to do is look at three foundational truths from Scripture. And then on page two we're going to talk about four action steps to put those truths into practice. Now, some of you here today, you already believe these three foundational truths. But sometimes we veteran Christians get so distracted from these basic truths of the Bible. Others are here today, live or watching online. You're not sure what you believe. And here's what I want to invite you to do. I want you to just listen with an open mind to what the Bible says is true about our purpose. And then ask yourself this question. Would the world be a better place if we all believed these three foundational truths? Just theoretically.

I love the way Rick Warren puts these in his book, "The Purpose-Driven Life," which by the way for further reading, that is a great book to look into if you want to read further about your life's purpose. He says, "The first foundational truth in Scripture is this. I was made to be a grandpa." No, just kidding, just kidding. Now, that's true for me, but here's the foundational truth for all of us. "I was made to be loved by God." "I was made to be loved by God." Look at this next verse, Ephesians 1:4. It says, "Long ago, even before he made the world, God," what? "Loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes." I want you to, with your pencil or pen, circle the phrase, "God loved us." If you don't understand anything else, I want you to understand this. God made you to love you. You were made to be loved by God.

Listen, God is love, right? That's what the Bible says. And so God wants to love, and so God created someone to love. He created you. Now, he didn't need you. He wasn't lonely, but he made you in order to love you. He didn't need you, but he wanted you. I don't care what your family background is. I don't care what your parents told you about why you were born. You were wanted by God to love. Before we talk about anything else, know that you're here to be loved by God and to love God in return forever, in a forever relationship.

And that's foundational truth number two. "I was made to live forever." I was made to live forever, and this is really a key to discovering the meaning of life because this changes the equation completely, doesn't it? When you realize that the things you do here matter. Jesus said even the smallest cup of cold water you give here has eternal consequences. Specifically, the lives you touch will last forever. Look at 2 Corinthians 5:1. It says, "For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down when we die and leave these bodies, we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body." Notice this says we will have a home in heaven. You want to know how much you matter to God? You matter so much to God that he wants to keep you with him for the rest of eternity.

But there's a problem. Our sin separates us from God. We can sense that separation in our relationship, and God does not want us to be lost forever. And so the Bible says this, "Jesus Christ said the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Now that right there makes your life significant. God loves you so much that he came all the way here to find you and to save you. In fact, Jesus gave his life on the cross so you could have a relationship with him that goes on forever.

Okay, so the next logical question is, "If he made me to love him forever, why don't I get beamed up to heaven the instant that I received Christ into my life? Why does he leave me here?" Well that's foundational truth number three. I was made for a mission. You were made for a mission, and that is to share the good news about God's love with those people around you. Look at these verses at the bottom there of page one. In John 17:18, Jesus said, and let's read this out loud together. Let me hear you. "In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world." I want you to circle the phrase "mission." Mission. You and I have a mission from God. What mission? Well Paul's very specific. He tells us in Acts 20, the most important thing is, and I love this verse. I got to tell you just personally, this is on my father's headstone on his grave because this verse was my father's life verse. We found it in his journals. He said, "This is my life verse." The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work the Lord Jesus gave me, and let's read the rest of it together. Let me hear you. Read this with gusto. To what? Tell people the good news about God's grace.

Now stop there for a second before you turn it over. Stop there right at the bottom of page one. What does he say? Is your mission to convince people that you're better than they are? No. Is your mission to convey to people a complicated set of religious rules? No. Is your mission to convert people to your political views? No. What's your mission? To tell people the what? The good news about God's what? About God's grace. His unmerited favor. And so often we as Christians have mission slippage, right? From the fact that this is our mission. That's why you hear us talk about this again and again here at Twin Lakes Church. Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. That is our message.

In 12 step groups they call it, "Having a spiritual awakening, I share this truth with others." It's what they call the 12th step. Now how am I supposed to share it? Page two. How to complete your mission. These are four things and while the foundational truths were on page one, these four things on page two I find that many if not most Christians actually don't do. I'll say something to challenge you and to challenge me. Most Christians believe, "Yeah, God loves me absolutely. I was made to live forever. Absolutely. Totally. I got a mission for God. Totally." But then they just kind of stop right there and they go, "I got a mission. Yep. Can't wait for God to like ride it in the sky so I can see what that mission is and go do it."

And yet the Bible specifically gives us four steps to complete our mission that often we don't do or at least don't do very intentionally daily. If we do these things sometimes it's accidentally. So I want to challenge you and maybe you do one or two of these things but I want to challenge you to incorporate all four of these practices into your life because then you will have a sense of fulfillment in your life like you have never had up to this point. So jot these things down and incorporate them into your life. Number one is this, prepare to share your story. I need to prepare. Say that first word out loud with me. I need to what? Prepare to share my story. Are you prepared?

Look at these verses. Jesus said, "You will be my what? Witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth." Notice he does not say, "And you will be my defense attorney." He does not say, "And you will be my prosecutor." He does not say, "And you will be my judge." He doesn't say, "And you will be my salesman." What does he say? "And you will be my witnesses." God does not need a defense lawyer. You don't have to defend God. You don't have to be a salesman for God. You don't have to judge other people for God. All God wants you to do is he wants you to be a witness. What is a witness? Somebody shouted out. What does a witness do? Yeah, that's right. A witness just tells what he or she has seen. I saw this, then I saw this, and then this happened. That's your mission. That's it.

See you're the expert on your life. Nobody can be a better witness of what God has done in your life than you. But you do need to be intentionally prepared to do this. These next couple of verses are some of my favorite verses in the entire Bible. 1 Peter 3:15–16 says, "Always be what? Prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." Now I want you to circle a couple of words. I want you to circle be prepared and circle reason. Part of being prepared is being prepared to give a reason, reasonable logical answers to questions that people are likely to have. And I don't know if you've noticed, if you've been coming here a few months or years, this is something we always want to help you with here at Twin Lakes Church.

Like, maybe you've been kind of stumped by questions people have asked you about, you know, Adam and Eve and Genesis and the Bible's account of origins. That's why we have an event coming up at Vintage Faith Church that we're co-sponsoring with them. Adam and Eve, what are modern scientific people to make of this story in the Bible? Dr. John Walton, one of the world's leading experts on the book of Genesis, is going to be there. You may not even agree with his conclusions, but at least this is a way to think through some of these issues and realize there are people thinking about these things and not run scared. It says, "Always be prepared with an answer to give a reason." And this is one of the reasons why here at TLC we regularly sponsor apologetics events to help you with this.

Now, don't bludgeon people with a truth club, right? Peter got back to the verse, Peter says, "But do this with what gentleness and what respect, keeping a clear conscience." Now, in context, this was written 2,000 years ago, first century, Roman Empire, Peter's talking to Christians who are literally being fed to lions by an antagonistic Roman government. What this tells me is no one is ever so cruel or so sinful or so disrespectful or so slanderous that I have a right to be disrespectful back to them. Ever. Not if Peter could say this in that context. Always treat everybody with gentleness and respect. Why? It says so that they may be ashamed of their slander. This means people will be jerks, sometimes, toward you. Even if you're nice to them, even if you're gentle and respectful, even if you try to help them, sometimes people are just gonna be jerks to you. What do you do back? You're even more gentle and more respectful. You kill them with kindness.

And that leads right into the second strategy. I need to care for others' needs. Really proactively. Honestly, this is just caring about what God cares about most. God wants you to care about what He cares about most. The Bible tells us what He cares about. It says, in Isaiah 58, "Loose the chains of injustice. Untie the cords of the yoke. Set the oppressed free. Break every yoke. Share your food with the hungry. Provide the poor wanderer with shelter." Jesus said something similar. He said, "I was," what? "Hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink." Look at this whole verse for just a second. Let's break this down. "I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. There you've got justification for the People's Pantry and the Second Harvest Food Bank Ministry right there. I was a stranger and you invited me into your home. There you've got homeless ministry, rescue mission ministry, ministry to refugees right there. I was naked and you gave me clothing. The clothing ministry, our clothes closet, right there. I was sick and in prison and you visited me. There you've got hospital visitation. You've got medical missions. You've got prison ministry right there. Jesus is saying, "When you do these things to the least of these, it's as if you're doing them to me."

Now how does this work into accomplishing our mission? Well look at this fascinating verse. The Apostle Paul said, "Whatever each person is like, I try to find common ground with him so that he'll let me tell him about Christ and let Christ save him." I don't save anybody, but sometimes I can find common ground and let people tell them my story and then maybe they'll let Christ save them. Notice he does not say, "I try to find out ways they're wrong so I can condemn them." Even though that's what's being modeled to us, you know, in radio talk shows, TV talk shows, on Facebook and stuff so often it's, "Let me just comb through what somebody said so I can find the least little thing I disagree with and just nail them." Paul says, "I try to find common ground." So how do you find common ground to share your story?

You know what we've discovered here in Santa Cruz? Good deeds lead to goodwill which brings openness to the good news. Good deeds bring goodwill which leads to opportunities to share our story, the good news. In a newspaper column that I thought was fantastic, the late Charles Colson once wrote this, see if you agree with this, he said, "When we work for causes that people across the political spectrum understand as promoting human good, we break out of the stereotypical Bible thumping bigot mold." He says, "We don't do it for that reason, of course. We do it because it's our calling, but when the world sees us defending the poor, the enslaved, the persecuted, we gain credibility." Would you agree with that?

One of the greatest examples of this, I think, here at Twin Lakes, and there's honestly there's a hundred examples I could tell you, but one great example of this is Lisa Tkach. I want to show you a picture of Lisa and her daughter right there. What a story. Lisa says she could have been voted the "least likely person to start a ministry." I mean, honestly, I could spend 15 minutes just telling you about the horrific childhood and background she lived through, beaten her whole life, beaten by her mother's boyfriends, beaten by her ex while she was pregnant, run over intentionally by her ex in a car. Her daughter survived. That's her daughter on the screen right now. No education, no resources, no training, single mom working three jobs.

Then here's what's happened. Lisa finds Jesus, or rather Jesus finds Lisa. Lisa learns that she is loved by God, that first foundational truth. No one in her childhood had ever told her that before. You were made to be loved. You are loved, and that rocked her world. And then she hears that she's got a mission. She gets into a small group here at Twin Lakes Church during our 40 Days of Hope series, and you might remember if you were here then as part of that series we asked our small groups write a letter of encouragement to someone that you think might need some encouragement right now. And honestly, when I wrote that in the devotional book I was thinking, you know, somebody's parents or somebody's kids or some best friend that maybe needs a little or a child's teacher needs some encouragement.

Well Lisa has a more creative idea. She thinks to herself, you know what I want to do? I want to find somebody stationed overseas in the armed forces who has never ever gotten a letter from home. They're that lonely. They're over in Afghanistan or something and they've never gotten a letter. So she goes, how do I find that person? So she doesn't know how to find that person. She opens up the phone book and looks up US Army and calls the first number that she finds. And they're like, we don't know what to do with this request. So she keeps getting bumped up to different people who are like, what are you talking? Are you trying to find a husband? Why are you doing this? And finally she reaches a woman in Texas who says, well this is gonna take some research. I can get back to you. Lisa expects maybe one or two names. Finally the woman calls her back with 78 names and says, we did some research and these people according to our records have never ever gotten one single letter. Not one.

So 78 people now. Well Lisa and one other person from her small group send candy and cards and gets our kids here at TLC to make those cards. Also sends them all Bibles with a handwritten note in each one that says, you are one of God's favorites. You were made to be loved by God. And she gets back some heartwarming responses. So she thinks, you know what? Maybe I'd like to work a little bit more with veterans and drives up to the VA hospital in Palo Alto. Starts small. The woman's trauma ward brings them flowers, writes them cards, and then starts incorporating some other wards. Sue at the hospital and then as she gets to know some of these people sees the horrible food they've got to eat at the hospital. And she thinks these people need a feast.

In the Bible Jesus talks about calling in those from the highways and byways and throwing a feast for them and that's what the kingdom of God is like. And Lisa figures, well then that's what I'm gonna do. And so she picks up the phone book and starts calling. Some famous food providers gets the best organic top-notch produce and prime beef and the best chefs and does an elaborate barbecue. And since then she's fed literally thousands of vets at all kinds of events and one success rolls into another. Another day she realizes these vets are stuck in this dismal hospital with no hope for their future and yet they're right here in the world changing Silicon Valley. So she picks up the phone and calls executives at Facebook and then a vice president at Tesla and says, I need to bring some veterans in to meet you and for a tour.

And for years now she's brought groups of vets to these places for specialized VIP tours so that they can have a sense of vision again about their future so they can start networking again. Then country singer Garth Brooks hears about it and shows up to one of these events and he throws in his support and it just keeps rolling. A month ago Lisa and her team served dinner at the vets hall in Santa Cruz. 50 volunteers gave out 150 packages with ponchos, with socks, with beanies to these homeless or near homeless vets. She just started a nonprofit called Operation Love. I want you to look at her sign Operation Love Our Vets, OperationLOV.org. Look at the bottom line on her sign is their mission. This is like the main thing that she wants to communicate to these vets. What is it? Can you read it? No, you are loved because that is the message that rocked Lisa's world and that's what she wants them to know too.

And what happens is the reason I'm bringing all this up is as Lisa shares and as Lisa cares opportunities open up for her to share the good news. More than once a veteran has attempted suicide and has told Lisa, "You know what? I just don't want to live this life anymore." And you know what Lisa says? She says, "I don't want you to live this life anymore either, not this life. I want you to live the new life that God has for you." And then she shares her story, how God redeemed the brokenness and the hurt in her life, how God showed her that she is loved. And you know what's cool is this particular morning and this particular service, Lisa's here with us because the 9 a.m. service is the service she normally goes to and I'm gonna embarrass her and I'm gonna ask Lisa and her daughter to stand up right here. They're here in the front row. Let's thank Lisa for all the great work that they do for the veterans.

It's awesome! By the way, you want to know Lisa's latest idea? I love this. So Lisa's at this event that she puts on in December and she notices all these homeless vets who have real medical needs and she comes up to them and says, "Well, you know the VA hospital is free to you. Why don't you go to the VA hospital? Why don't you go there?" And you know what the most predominant answer was? What do you think it was? No, I heard somebody say it, "I have a dog and I can't leave my dog behind and nobody will care for my dog so I can't go into the hospital." So Lisa's latest idea is why don't we have foster care for the dogs of homeless vets so that they know their dog is taken care of. Isn't that an awesome idea?

Watch this. If you want to get more information, I want to put her email up lisa@operationlove.org. That's your email if you want to get in touch with her, if you're interested in something like this. But listen, listen. Why do I bring this up? I bring this up because what do you see in somebody like Lisa? You know what I see? I see somebody who was a lost lamb, who didn't know they were loved. And then when they hear that it rocks their world, it changes them. And then they hear they've got a mission to share that love with other people. They want to do it. And you know what? Here's the thing. Lisa started this just a few months into her Christian walk and so she wasn't a mature enough Christian to know how to wriggle her way out of her mission, you know? She was just like, "Jesus told us to do that to care for these people so I'm going to."

Are you so mature that you found ways to sidestep this calling on your life? You know what other thing I notice in Lisa's life that I love is she just started small. She just started with, "Let's write cards. Alright, let's just go visit the Women's Trauma Ward once." And she let God lead her on and God opened doors to her. Just start small and care for others' needs. Now, does this mean that if you don't start some nonprofit, you know, then you're a failure? Of course not. Listen, one huge part of care for others is simply doing a good job wherever God places you in life, right? We all are at different phases in life.

Some of you are caretakers for your elderly parents and that's what God has given you to do. That is a more than full-time job. You devote yourself to that. Some of you have young children in your home. Some of you have other really important needs, people that you're taking care of. That's the phase that God wants you to be at. You care for others as a co-worker, as a neighbor, as a parent. We're all at different phases, but when you're faithful to what God has called you to do today, showing the fruit of the Spirit in your life, people will notice. People will ask questions as you prepare, as you care, and then the last two very quickly, number three, you dare to cross borders. You dare to cross borders.

I mean, dare to cross, for some of you it just means crossing the street to talk to a neighbor. Others it might mean literally, as Jesus said to his followers, go into all the world and preach the good news to everyone, everywhere. We have, listen, we have never lived in an era when this was literally possible for almost everybody to do. In fact, one of the things we're gonna do next weekend at our World Outreach Week, our WOW! We are having short-term missions booths out in the lobby that show you the great opportunities that we have coming up this year for you to serve overseas.

And just as an example, I want you to meet some members of our outreach team that came back just last week from South Africa. Would you please welcome our South Africa team as they come on out. Put your hands together, let's welcome them. Come on over here, guys. This is Eric Swanson-Dexel. Eric's also the director of our camp, Camp Hammer, up in the redwoods. Eric, you guys went to volunteer for a camp, and as we look for some scenes of the camp on the screen, tell us a little bit about what this camp in South Africa is all about.

The camp in South Africa is a youth camp for middle school kids, 11 to 13, and our missionary, Lisa Pole, runs the camp there in South Africa, and it's a purpose leadership adventure camp for youth. And the kids, right when they come in, they're coming from different schools that are separated based on economics and also based sometimes on race and place of life, and they come together and they learn that they are loved, they're awesome, unique, and valuable, and that's taught every day, is kind of poured into them. Then they're learned that they're to love God and love others, and as they learn that, they grow, working together through team building and different means, and it's a really incredible time because all of it is enveloped in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and at the end of the week, we had the opportunity as a team to share with these kids and witness them be baptized, and 37 of the 49 campers were baptized at the end of the week.

That is awesome, that is awesome, that's super, super good. Rob, question for you, this camp is really based on Rick Warren's purpose-driven life material, talking about what we're talking about today, that you were made to be loved and then God gave you a mission. How do you see that impacting the lives of the kids at the camp? As Eric mentioned, you know, we're getting junior high kids and they're coming from all ranges of economic backgrounds, you know, some of the pictures you saw were of townships, of tin shacks, and so we don't know what these kids' background necessarily is when they come in. We don't know what their parents have been telling them, we don't know what their teachers have been telling them, and we don't even know what their government has been telling them, and so when they come in, we just make sure that they know that they are loved and valued by God, and that God does have a purpose for them, and so that they can leave knowing that they can impact their schools, they can impact their families, they can impact their country if they really choose to take on that purpose.

One more question, I want to ask your wife, Lynn. Lynn, I want to ask you a question, one more question about the camp. Do you feel that this is the kind of camp that my future grandchild would enjoy? No, just kidding. I am. Absolutely. Only if you were with him or her. Lynn, I know you were injured just before the trip, but went anyway, and so you had excuses not to go, and there might be some people listening to this going, "I've heard about short-term teams, but..." and they're making excuses because they're a little bit afraid. How would you advise them?

I definitely went through a period of rethinking if I should go and how I would be able to serve not being as mobile as I normally am, and really came to the realization that God knew well before me that I would be going on crutches, and he formulated this wonderful team, giving each of us gifts that filled every gap that there was, and my being on crutches and not able to participate in a lot of the activities gave me a chance to interact with kids that I probably wouldn't have, and allowed me to be part of their baptisms at the end of the week, which was just a huge blessing.

You know, it's awesome. I know you're super athletic, and I was talking to some of the other members of the team, and they said what was beautiful about Lynn being on crutches, as you said, is that some of the kids who maybe weren't the most athletic kids and sat on the sidelines ended up having someone to sit with, and you ended up developing some really special relationships with those kids. Yeah, and God totally taught me through that, too, that my purpose is not just to be out there playing capture the flag, but it is to be sitting and engaging in conversation and hearing stories.

That's awesome. Hey, let's thank the whole South Africa team. It's great, great work that they did. Thank you guys so much, and again, if something like this interests you, they're gonna be around afterwards. You can talk to them, but next weekend, all throughout the lobby, you're going to be able to get details from our upcoming mission trips of all kinds of sizes to all kind of places. Now, does this mean that if you don't go on a short-term mission trip, then you're a failure? Of course not. God put us all here for different reasons.

Some of you at this stage in your life, you are here to pray for these people going on these trips. Some of you at this stage in life, you're here to resource people going on these trips, and honestly, just living in Santa Cruz County, where church attendance and religious affiliation is lower than many of the countries to which we send missionaries, you are a missionary here already, and being God's person, God's man, God's woman, God's teenager at your school, at your work, shining the light of Christ wherever he has planted you, you are being a missionary already.

Now, let's wrap up with this. There is one major roadblock to fulfilling your mission, and it's this. This sense of inadequacy that haunts so many of us, thinking you're too untalented, too poor, too old, too young, too unskilled, too whatever, to go into the world and accomplish a mission for God. And so you're given the temptation to do nothing because you think you can't really do much. What's the answer to that objection? Really, there's one big answer. Jesus anticipated it, and it's this. Be aware that God is with you. You are not alone. God is empowering you, God is guiding you, God is helping you, Jesus said, and remember, I am always with you until the end of time.

And this is super important because I won't lie to you. Living for God's purpose will cost you. It's not all grins and giggles. It'll cost you time. It'll cost you resources. It'll cost you some heartbreak, right, Lisa? You know, it's not free. It'll cost you, but it's so worth it. Look at what Jesus said. He said, "If you insist on saving your life, you'll lose it." In other words, if you try for just survival or success, you're not going to be fulfilled. Only those who throw away their lives from my sake and for the sake of the good news will ever know what it means to really live. You say, "That's kind of extreme. Hey, these aren't my words. These are Jesus Christ's words." You want to know what it means to really live, give your all to the mission God has for you.

Two messages here for everybody in this room. Number one, know that you are loved by God. Number two, if you've received that, if God has found you, then you have a mission to tell other people about that love. Just start. None of us can do everything, so just choose one thing. Start going in that direction and trust in God to guide you because you just never know what God could be starting through your life if you just say one word to God. Just one word. Yes. Yes.

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you so much that we get to be part of a church where it's part of the DNA of people here to say, "Yes, God. Use me." And I just pray that everybody in this room would pray that daring prayer. It's a daring prayer. It's a powerful prayer because it's a prayer that we trust you will always answer in the affirmative to, "God, please use me." God, I pray that all over this room people are saying, "Father, more than anything else, I want to live a life of significance. I want to fulfill the purpose you made me for, so today I accept my purpose, my mission to share your love. God, I want you to use me anytime, any way, any place. I want to bring others to you. I want to serve your purposes. I want to be a part of what you're doing in the world. Thank you that I'm not alone, but I'm part of a team of a billion people all across the planet. Thank you, Lord, in your name I pray. Amen.