The Secret to a Longer, Better Life

Oh, crossing family. I love you and I'm so excited to

have some time to be with you today.

I've been looking forward to being able to talk to you and be

with you for two weeks. I am so incredibly thankful for

Nate Ross and the incredible message that he preached last

week. I did my fast last Sunday and I

did my Sabbath yesterday and I can't wait to see what God has

in store for us on this 50 for 50 journey this upcoming week.

Now what if I told you that there is one thing that you

could do that would drastically increase the length of your life

and the quality of your life? What if there was one thing that

would help you fight against worry, fight against anxiety,

stress, and help you deal with depression?

It gives you more energy, and it shifts your mood from being

pessimistic to optimistic. It means that this one thing can

make you a better husband, a better wife, a better parent, a

better employee, a better boss. How many of you wish that you

had more energy? At the end of the day, how many

of you wish you had more energy in the day?

Right. You're like, yeah, that's where

I'm at. How many of us deep down inside

know that our negative mood has been impacting the people we

care the most about? You don't have to raise your

hand on that one. I want to welcome all of you

joining from all of our different locations and I am so

glad that you are here this weekend.

We are so glad that we get the opportunity to partner with you

and ministry. And to those of you who are here

for the first time or the first time in a long time, I want to

welcome you as well. And I hope that you'll take

advantage of the QR code on the seat right in front of you from

wherever you are watching from And to those of you who are part

of our online family and those of you who are part of our

inside family, we're so thankful that you're here today as well.

This past Thursday, I actually had an opportunity to meet

somebody who found Jesus through the crossing in the inside and

now they're a part of the crossing on the outside.

And I absolutely love that we're that kind of church.

Now. I just want to do a quick recap.

We are in the middle of a series called 50 for 50, where we're

spending 50 minutes a day for the 50 days leading up to

Easter, asking God to move in US, change us, and use us like

never before. And there are two main

scriptures that are kind of guiding us on this journey.

The first one's Mark, chapter 12.

Mark 12 · chapter mention

One of the teachers of law came and heard them debating,

noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer.

He asked Jesus, of all the commandments, which is the most

important, what's the most important thing I can do?

Well, Jesus answers the most important one.

Answer. Jesus is this.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God.

The Lord is 1. Love the Lord your God with all

your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all

your everybody. Help me out.

Strength. The 2nd is this.

Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater

than these. Then Matthew, chapter 28, verses

Matthew 28:18–20

18 through 20 we find these words.

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. There is nothing greater that

you and I could give our lives to do and accomplish.

We are to love God, love people, and our mission is to help

people find an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus

Christ. We desperately want this region

where we live, where you guys are watching from to be the

hardest place on planet Earth to get to hell from.

And in order to do that, we realize that we needed to make

some decisions, some commitments.

One of the phrases you've heard a couple times throughout this

series, and you'll hear until we're out of this series, is a

quote that Steve Weatherford made when he was with our church

last year. He made this statement.

Amateurs make decisions based on their emotions.

Pros make decisions based on their commitments.

Do you guys remember last Wednesday when we woke up next

to the North Pole? You guys remember that?

And I've been doing my morning walks for the 50 for 50 and I

took about two steps outside and realized that the clothes I was

wearing were not ideal for the walk that I had ahead of me.

And then I had this thought if I go back inside I could just go

back to bed. I mean missing one day out of

and I was like, Nope, I made a commitment and off me and the

golden dummy went, which is their dog.

It's not a person in my family. It's just this dog.

Anyhow, we realized as a church that it is time for us to GoPro

in the things that matter the most.

Loving God, loving people, and making a difference in this

world for Jesus. So what is this one thing that

will help you live longer and give you a better life?

What's this one thing that will help shift your mood and help

you handle the hardships of life?

What's this one thing that will help you win the battle in your

minds and settle down your emotions so they don't swing too

far out of line? The answer might surprise you.

The answer is physical fitness. Now before I get any further

into the sermon, I want to go ahead and acknowledge some pinch

points. OK, first part pinch .1.

This sermon is not as much about waistline as it is about

worship. This sermon is not designed to

fat shame, and if at any point in time during the sermon you

feel like this sermon was unkind or harsh, I need you to know

that that is not and was not my intention.

I am fully aware that for some of you, there are medical and

physiological issues at play. To those of you who are skinny,

we hate you. OK, now you know, and I want you

to know this, you can be just as unhealthy.

Your metabolism just hides it. We've all seen people who eat

whatever they want, play video games, never go outside, never

gain a pound again. Hear me?

For you, this sermon is not about waistline.

This sermon is about worship. Some of you.

You used to be a person that was pretty judgy at how other people

looked. And then all of a sudden you

turn 40 and nothing fits anymore.

And when you look in the mirror, your body resembles more and

more the type of body that you used to shame in others.

Pinch point #2. I know that on some levels, if

not many levels, this will be a hard sermon to hear from me.

I was recently talking to a person at one of our locations

and she said to me, I know I heard the camera adds 10 to 15

lbs, but exactly how many cameras do they have on you?

And we'll miss her. As you guys know, about 25 to

like 50% of my humor on a weekend has something to do with

my body. I'm actually in somebody's phone

as too fat for chopsticks because I think I made a comment

about that at some point in time.

And my kids saw their phone and like, dad, why are you in?

Their phone is too fat for chopsticks.

And then my kids went, oh, never mind, OK, and let me let me

pause for just a second so you guys, so I can clear the air on

something. I am intentionally funny on a

weekend. And the reason I am

intentionally funny when I am communicating to you is one of

my professors did his doctoral thesis on comedy and information

retention. And people who laugh learn more

now. So I don't want you to think

that just because I'm funny, I'm not deadpan serious about the

truth of God's word and the implications in your life.

I'm funny because it helps you re engage in a sermon that

you've maybe drifted off on. I help create an environment

that where you have positive and enjoyable memories because

sometimes it's easier to handle a hard truth with a little bit

of laughter. As Mary Poppins once said, just

a spoonful of sugar helps. The.

There you go. Now, the other thing is I can't

write funny. So my sermons are just deadpan,

and then I'm preach them and something funny happens, which

is why sometimes I say things that I shouldn't have said.

And I just want you to know in advance I'm sorry.

And I'm so glad that you're here at second service and not first

service, which is why I needed to give that a little asterisk.

OK, Now one of the values here at our church that we champion

on our staff is that in leadership we are to be the

example, not the exception. So when we ask people to park

far away from the church building, so that way there's

room for people who are coming to our church for the first time

closest to the building, me and the people closest to me, we're

parking as far as we possibly can from the building.

If we're telling people, hey, on your way into church, pick up a

little piece of trash, That way the place looks better, You

better believe me and my son are picking up a piece of trash.

We believe that in leadership you're the example, not the

exception. Paul writes to the believers in

Corinth, and he tells them to follow his example as he follows

the example of Christ, that each and every single one of us

should be a living, breathing example of what it means to be a

Christian so that others can take notice and follow in our

footsteps. So when a person like me, shaped

like me, preaches a sermon on a topic like this, it opens the

door for me to be a gigantic hypocrite and I felt like I

should just acknowledge it. However, I am hoping that over

time you guys have learned to see my heart and my care for the

Lord and the scriptures and for you, and I want you to hear me

say this on the front end. This is a sermon that I need.

I'm going to preach it to me and you are more than welcome to

listen in. Third thing when I preach, this

is just for the 48th St. people. When I preach I make eye

contact. And you can imagine making eye

contact in a sermon on this subject matter.

Could make some people feel like, are you really just

singling me out? Like the last thing I want is

someone going you were talking directly to me like you just

kept looking at me. I just look for smiling faces

because I just need some positive feedback when I preach.

So if you don't want me to look at you, just look like somebody

you don't like is talking to you because I just don't want

anybody to be like, why do you keep looking at me?

I know I'm not at the size I'm supposed to be.

That is not my intention. I can't help when my eyes go

when I preach and I'd like to make a good eye contact, so

that's why I keep looking at the camera.

But eventually, 48th Street, I'm going to start looking out in

your direction, and I mean no hate by it.

Deal. First, Timothy Chapter 4, verse

8 says this for physical training is of some value.

But godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both

the present life and the life to come.

And for many of us, we read this scripture and because we desire

to be spiritual, we focus on the most important part of the

passage. And so this is how we read it.

For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value

for all things, holding promise for both the present and the

life. To come and hear me, that is

really, really good. That's the most important part

of the verse. However, it doesn't mean that

the other part of the verse doesn't have any value at all.

Some of you, you're big workout people.

You love physical fitness. You're like, Oh my goodness,

finally a sermon for us. I hope he talks about yeah, no,

this isn't going to be that for you either.

But you focus on the first part of the verse and you give

yourself a Gold Star. And I want you to know you do

this to your peril. And they read the verse like

this. For physical training is of some

value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise

for both the present life and the life to come.

That is not God's desire. For you.

Remember in the sermon on idolatry, that idolatry can

happen when you take a good thing and you put it in the

wrong place. The problem has become that when

we focus solely on the physical, we neglect the primary

importance of the spiritual. But we should also remember when

we read this passage that all Scripture is God breathed and it

is useful for teaching, correcting, and training in

righteousness. So as Christians, when we read

this verse, this is how we should read it.

For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value

for all things holding promise for both the present life and

the life to come. The most important part is

indeed the spiritual component. But that does not mean that the

first part of this verse has no value in the life of a believer

who wants to do the things of God.

I want to remind you Psalm 139, verses 13 and 14.

Psalms 139:13

You guys know this verse say this for you created my inmost

being. You knit me together in my

mother's womb. I praise you because I am

fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful.

I know that full well our bodies were made by God.

They are a gift from God to you to accomplish His great

commandment and His Great Commission.

You cannot love your neighbor without a body.

You cannot accomplish the Great Commission without a body.

Furthermore, did you know if you're a Christian, your body

does not belong to you? That's what it says in First

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 6. Do you not know that you're

everybody? Say this.

Bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you

have received from God. You are not your own, you were

bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your

bodies. Matter to God.

They're created by God, they're a gift from God and they have

been purchased and redeemed by God.

And our job is to be a good steward of the gift of our body

that God has given to us. If you're reading the 50 for

50s, you read this verse this week.

Romans chapter 12 speaks to this.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's

mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and

pleasing to God. This is your true and proper

worship. That's why I said this sermon

has way more to do with worship than it does with your

waistline. It's about doing our best to

bring our best to God for him to use to accomplish the Great

Commandment and the Great Commission.

And you guys know this. We have an enemy in this work.

Second Corinthians chapter 4 says this.

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

Therefore we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting

away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

Those of us over 35 know that our bodies don't work the way

that they used to. Right.

Gravity time take their toll. So as Christians through Christ

our spirit, our soul is being renewed day by day.

But your body is on a constant collision course with

destruction and our body is connected to our soul and our

spirit. That means the health of 1

impacts the health of the other. And when the health of our

bodies is neglected, it impacts our usefulness, our energy

levels, our moods, our memory, how we handle mental hardships.

Our bodies are so important that God put one on in Jesus.

Our bodies are so important that we are going to receive a

resurrected body upon the second coming of Christ.

Your body, my body matter and how we steward them matters.

We're warned in scripture not to be gluttons.

Gluttons are people who consistently overeat.

They have a hard time pushing away from the table, saying no

to seconds or thirds. They end up choosing to eat

their feelings or solving boredom with constant trips to

the pantry or through the drive through, and over time this

causes a whole range of problems physically.

One of the challenges many of us face today is that we live such

extremely busy lives that we are eating mostly complex processed

foods and these cause inflammation, digestive issues,

and the lack of real nutrients that are killing us slowly.

It's now a joke in the world today that you can spot an

American when they travel abroad because our size is giving us

away. I wrote this sermon while I was

on a cruise and I somebody had purchased the opportunity for me

to be able to go on this cruise and be able to connect with

other pastors and learn from them to try and do a better job

for our church. And the first night, on Sunday

night, I was sitting next to this guy who was a pastor of a

church in Ohio that's doing some really great stuff and he turned

to me during dinner and he goes, do you know that the average

person on a cruise gains 1.5 lbs a day?

And I got scared because I was like, we're here for six days,

that's £9. And so I immediately went back

to my room and reorganized my clothes and moved the clothes

that were the tightest to the front because I was pretty sure

some of the clothes I had didn't have 9 lbs of grace like there

was, it was not going to be pretty.

I was like, we got to get those on first.

Yeah, it was. It was no bueno.

Then on Wednesday, I didn't go on any of the excursions.

I wanted to finish the sermon, and so I sat in the cafeteria

and I wrote the remaining part of the sermon.

And while I was writing the sermon, I saw people make

repeated trips to the all you can eat buffet with plate after

plate after plate piled high. Some of them were barely able to

move around and my heart was hurting for them.

And it served as a warning for me.

I don't know if it was by God's grace or what happened, but that

day I got food poisoning and influenza A, so I lost all of

it. I was so sick I could have

pooped in somebody else's pants. It was the worst.

So it was not. I'm telling you, it's the worst

it's ever been. And now you're going.

I get it. Comedy.

I'm tuned. Back in now, OK?

It was bad. Yeah.

So I got off, you know, I'm like two or three bottles from

Imodium AD from being Brad Pitt. Folks, just watch out, OK?

I'm just all right. Anyhow, and I want you to hear

me. This sermon is not is not, is

not about legalism. It's about worship.

It's about stewardship. It's about impact.

I was in Savannah, GA 10 years ago and Don Wilson, who was the

pastor of Christ Church of the Valley, was speaking.

It was kind of his swan song. He was disposing some last

minute wisdom before he stepped down as being the senior pastor.

He had started this church in his living room in Phoenix, AZ

and it had grown to one of the largest churches in the country

that had over 20,000 people butts in seats on a weekend.

And he was talking about things he wished he would have done

differently. If he could do it all over

again, what would he change and what would he do more of and

near the top of the list? This is what Don Wilson said.

I would have prioritized my physical health because it

impacted the way I pastored. It impacted the way I LED

people, the way I preached sermons, the energy that I

brought to the staff, to my kids.

One of his biggest regrets is that he didn't prioritize his

physical fitness sooner. So that means I owe you guys an

apology. I have not loved you as well as

I should have. I am a hard worker.

Those closest to me, that's the thing that compliment me on the

most. However, if I really loved God

and I really loved you and I really loved the people that you

were trying to reach and I really loved the staff of The

Crossing and I really loved my family.

I would need to prayerfully consider how to be a better

steward of my body. How to prioritize physical

fitness in my life. On Super Bowl weekend you there

was a video that was that I played that was kind of setting

up this 50 for 50 journey. And let me just pause for just a

second because I get a little bit of heat from this from you

guys. So I just want to clear

something up. Every time I shoot a video, it's

not my house. OK Some of you guys get all

tripped up about that. The first time I did it, I had

people come up to me and go and I really your house was so

beautiful. But why did you have AW behind

you? And I said because we're

winners. But actually the truth is, is

that the people who own the house's last name starts with

AW. And then I did the Super Bowl 1

and I had people going, So tell me, man, that's a.

Really not not my house. No, not my house.

My house. We're trying to fix it up.

It's got furniture with the stuffing mist, you know, my

dog's laying on it on his back. It's a bad, you know, we don't

use my house, so stop giving me a hard time about it.

It's not mine. And if you have a great house,

we'd love to film in it. All right, we'll come right

over. All right.

We're literally not there more than a month.

And anyhow, during that end of that video, I talked about a guy

who I saw semi regularly. And when we're having

conversations with him, he was talking about the journey that

he was going on in the area of his diet, what he took into his

body and his exercise, what he did with his body.

And then over time, he had significantly transformed his

body. And I saw him, we were at a pool

and he was holding his young daughter.

And he took his shirt off and he was in the pool with a six pack.

And I was like, oh, so I was texting with him.

And I said, dude, you were the guy I was talking about.

And I want you to see what he sent me.

This is what it said. When you get a free moment, give

me a ring. Not urgent.

I always appreciate that, by the way.

So that way I'm like, OK, what happened?

He goes One thing I meant to tell you was the thought I had.

Satan wants Christians and non Christians to be as unhealthy as

possible, but for different reasons.

For Christians he wants our lives as short as possible so we

spread the good news of Jesus to as few people as possible.

For the non believer, he wants their lives short, to limit the

possibility of them hearing about Jesus.

That should motivate Christians to tackle this head on.

Love you, I replied back. I love this, I'm going to use

it. He replied back.

No charge so you guys don't have to give extra this weekend.

He gave it to that us that for free.

And then he sent this final text message, which is gold.

If God wants us to treat our bodies like a temple, how do you

think Satan wants us to treat it?

Years ago I heard about Tom Brady's workout regiment.

And for those of you who aren't into the football world, Tom

Brady is an incredible quarterback, won multiple Super

Bowls, and he survived in the NFL at the highest level longer

than anybody else. But he was able to do that

because of some profound commitments that he made to

physical fitness. Can I just kind of take you

through what his commitments ended up looking like?

This is from the TB 12 website. 5:30 AM wake up six AM, 20

ounces of water, 6:30 AM supplement, 7:00 AM protein

smoothies, seeds and nuts. 7:30 AM pre workout pliability

session. 8:00 to 10:00 AM strength and conditioning

workout. 10 AM post workout pliability session. 10:30 AM

protein shake. 10:45 AM. Prepare 64 ounces of electrolyte

water. 10 or 11:00 AM film study. 12:00 PM lunch.

Fish. And I don't know what those are.

Two PM snack. OK, that's important.

I'm. I'm.

I'm on the TB12 right here. 2:00 PM snack. 3:00 PM practice. 515

post practice recovery with protein shake. 530 post

practice, pliability session. 6:00 PM dinner, Organic meats,

Something in bone broth. 8:00 PM, recovery, pliability

session. 8:30 PM Recovery supplements. 9:00 PM bedtime,

Biometric sleepwear, 60 to 65°. No digital distractions, 30

minutes before bed. You don't know what he did in

the offseason. I'll show you. 5:30 AM, wake up,

hit the gym. 8:00 AM, breakfast with family, 10 AM beach time.

We're like, yes, I like this. I'll do offseason Brady, 11:00

AM scheduled nap. This sounds fantastic.

OK, you guys are like, sign me up for the offseason.

Brady, right? 12:00 PM, lunch, 1:00 PM, surf

and workout, 4:00 PM, massage and rehab, 6:00 PM, dinner with

family, 7:00 PM review film strategy with coach, charity

work, 7/30 time with family, 9:00 PM bedtime.

Tom Brady will go down as one of the greatest of all times.

And he built his body and we he bent his body into submission to

accomplish it. And the sad part is all for a

game. How much more important is the

husband loving his wife? The wife loving the husband?

The parents being the very best that they can be, bringing the

best version of themselves into their parenting?

When they're interacting with their kids, they're energized

and optimistic instead of dragging and cranky.

When will be the last time that you get on the ground and play

with a grandchild? When will be the last time you

pick up a grandchild or have the energy to go outside and play

with them? When it comes to saying yes to

pointing people to Jesus, shining on behalf of Jesus, will

you and I bring our very best. First Corinthians chapter 10

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

says this. So whether you eat or drink,

whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

This is about what goes in look, in Colossians chapter 3 it says

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

this and whatever you do, whether in Word or in deed, do

it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the

Father through Him. This is about what we do with

our body. There's a lot of talk happening

now about your biometric clock versus your chronological clock

or your your chronological age versus your biological age.

And what they're noticing is that there are people who are 30

chronologically and they have the body of a 42 year old, or

they're 60 and have the body of an 82 year old.

That because of how some of us are stewarding our bodies, we

are aging faster and faster because of modern medicine and

all the advances that are happening.

We're living longer and longer, but our bodies are aging faster

and faster. So when it comes to you, what is

the prayerful decision that you need to make about honoring God

being a steward of the gift of God of your body?

When we were getting ready to start this 50 for 50 journey, I

was a little bit going, OK, so I'm going to, you know, the

reading and the prayer. I'll be fine.

But this workout thing, and I've done workouts, I've been serious

about it, then not serious about it.

You guys know how that drill goes, right?

You get fired up, you don't, you do a diet and then you quit.

You, you know you've been on the you've, you know all the highs,

all the lows. And what happens for me is is

I'll do it for a while and then I'll get knocked off schedule.

Or, you know, sometimes for me, it's hard to work out in public

places because I people want a chance to talk to me and I want

a chance to talk to them. But then it turns into a whole

lot of talking to people and not a whole lot of working out.

And so you have to try and navigate that stuff.

And what I typically do is I write myself a permission slip.

And so during this 5050, I was like, what's the thing that I

can do that no matter what, nobody can stop me?

And I was like, OK, I know what I can do.

I can go for a walk at least 20 minutes every single morning.

And so I want you to know, for this entire 50 for 50 journey,

if you've been thinking that like I've been getting up and

doing burpees for 20 straight minutes, that's not been me.

I get up. I put some raggedy sweatpants on

and a sweatshirt and I grab the stupid golden dummy and I go

outside and I walk in my neighborhood, regardless of the

weather, for at least 20 minutes.

And I pray for you. And if you want me to pray for

you specifically, just send me an e-mail and I will add you to

my prayer list. And if you don't send me an

e-mail, just know that I pray for you and a big glob of

people. That is not the end of my story.

But that's where I'm at right now.

I'm making a tangible step to try and do a better job of

honoring God with my body when it comes to the mission of Jesus

Christ. The question I want you to

wrestle with is are you bringing the very best version of

yourself to worship him with? When it comes to loving and

leading the family that God has blessed you with, are you

bringing the very best version that you can?

I am not. Hear me?

I am not saying that some of you need to go on some crazy diet,

take a bunch of pills, get a bunch of shots and start working

out six hours a day. What I am saying is we need to

have a prayerful conversation with the Lord ago.

Is there an area that I need to repent of?

Is there an area that I need to stop?

Is there something that I need to start?

Because the future generations are going to need us and God

deserves the best version of us. Will you join me in that

mission? We're moving to a time of

decision. If you are new to our church,

this is not a typical weekend. So I hope you'll come back next

weekend and you might be going. All right, fine, I'll go on this

physical fitness journey. But that's actually not the most

important decision that you need to make today.

Because it doesn't matter how big your biceps are.

It doesn't matter how strong your quads are, doesn't matter

how long you can plank and how good your core is.

If you don't have a right relationship with Jesus Christ,

you don't have the right things in the right place, and the most

important decision that you could make today is to entrust

your soul to Jesus. The Bible clearly states that it

is destined for man to die once and then to face the judgment.

And so when you die, you will find yourself in the judgment

seat of Christ, And the determination about whether or

not you get into heaven or get into hell will be based on one

of two things. And the first option you have is

to stand there on your own merit, on all the good that

you've done. But you'll also stand there in

light of all the bad things that you've done.

And I got to be honest with you, I have a pretty dark past.

There's a lot of shadows and corners in my life, and for as

much good as I've tried to do, I don't think I've done enough

good to get through it. But the problem is, is that when

it comes to Christ, this is not like a balancing scale.

So if you have a a 10 LB sin and you have 20 lbs of good works

that you end up on the right side because God is not looking

for you being good, He's looking for perfection.

And so when you messed up once, you tilted the scales in

perpetuity so you can stand there on your own.

And I want you to know that that will not end well for you.

But if you've been going on this 50 for 50 Journey church, you

know what I'm about to talk about?

Because you read Romans this week and Romans 5 verse 8 says

Romans 5:8

that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Which means that before you could get anything right, before

you can have the right beliefs, before you can have the right

thoughts, before you could say you're sorry before you can

repent of what you've done. God moved on your behalf because

he loved you and he sent Jesus to die on the cross for you.

And then if you were reading in Second Corinthians chapter 5,

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

you'd have realized that God made him.

That's Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we

might become the righteousness of God.

What that means is, is when you're standing in front of the

judgment seat of Christ, you can stand on your own and you'll go

to hell, or you can stand on the work of Jesus.

Because what God did is He took Jesus, who knew no sin, and he

took all of the sin in you, past, present and future.

And he laid it on Jesus and he took all of the righteousness of

Jesus and he laid it on you. And so when you stand before God

at the judgement seat, he doesn't see your sin.

He sees his Son, that when you stand in front of the judgement

seat of Christ, you are the righteousness of God because you

have been brought into a right relationship by grace through

faith. And you saw 47 or 48 people

start that journey this past week.

And I want you to know that you can start your journey this week

and in just a few moments you can walk right over there to the

Baptistry and there's somebody who would love a chance to talk

with you about that. Or you can talk to somebody in

your row, to the rest of you who you're Christians.

You've been around here long enough to know that we're about

ready to ask people to pray. And some of you are going to

want to come up to the steps and pray.

And I've been worried about how to navigate this because how do

you have people come to the steps after a sermon like this

and then not kind of turn into, like, a Weight Watchers rally up

at the front right. And then you're sitting there

and you didn't go forward and people in your row are looking

at you like I think you should. Do you hear me?

Can you just navigate that with me?

And so I just, I just, there's tension there, OK.

But every single one of us, regardless of our waistline,

this is about worship. Are you honoring God with your

body? And if you're going, you know

what? There's probably some decisions

that I need to make. There's probably some areas that

I need to repent of. There's probably some things

that I need to do a better job of.

Would you come to the steps and pray?

I'll try and make it easier for you, you know, If you're already

skinny, would you kind of like come to the front first?

Can I make it even easier for you?

I'm going to go to the steps and I'm going to pray and ask God to

do a work on me to help me honor him more with my body.

And if you'd like to join me, I'd love to have you.

Would you stand with me, Heavenly Father?

I'm just going to pray the same prayer I've been praying before.

I preach because God truthfully, it's all I want.

God, I'm nothing. This sermon's nothing.

This church is nothing. This service is nothing unless

you're in it. So inhabit this place and do

what only you can do, in ways that only you can do it, and

start a fire in this church that Satan can't put out in your

name. I pray.

Amen.