I'm Gonna Live Til I Die // God Chose Me (Part 7) // Charles Metcalf

Welcome to Transformation Church podcast, where we represent God to

the lost and found for transformation in Christ. We're so

glad you're here and wherever you're listening from, we believe

God will transform your life. Do today's message.

Open up your bibles. We got two key scriptures to read.

Two scriptures to read.

The first one is in the Book of Philippians Philippians

chapter number one. If you got your bible, go there.

I'm gonna drink some of this water while you all

find your scripture.

God bless you that see me all. I ain't been

quiet all week. That was so awkward for you. Oh

you're really just gonna drink that water? I'm thirsty, okay,

Philippians chapter number one. If you gotta say, I got it.

If you don't, too bad, okay.

Philippians Chapter one says this, For I fully expect and

hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I

will continue to be bold for Christ as I.

Have been in the past.

And I trust that my life will bring honor to

Christ whether I live or die. For to me, living

means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But

if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ,

So I really don't know which is better. I'm torn

between two desires. I long to go and be with Christ,

which would be far better for me, But for your sakes,

it's better.

That I continue to live. I'm gonna jump down.

We're gonna go to Hebrews chapter two, and they'll throw

it on the screen for y'all.

Just read real quick.

Because God's children are human beings made of flesh and blood.

The Son became flesh and blood for only as a

human being could he die.

Only by dying.

Could he break a power of the devil who held the.

Power of death.

Listen to this, Only in this way could he set

free all who have lived their lives as slaves to

the fear of dying. Title of my sermon, if you're

taking notes, is gonna be a good I've been waiting

to preach this one since week one, and I had

to end the title because the first title was a

little too intense.

I'm gonna live till I die.

Oh yeah, baby, it's about to get active up in here.

I'm gonna live till I die.

Lord, We thank you that because of.

You we can live till we die.

And the name of cheesually praying everybody set amen, Amen.

I love about you, but uh, I don't know if

you have any things that you are particularly afraid of,

things that worry you. But I took some time this

week to look up the top five greatest fears historically

in human history. Top five greatest fears, and I'm gonna

list some of them and maybe if you relate to

some of them.

You can just give me a woop whoop, yep, that's

me terrified. Uh, then we'll go through these.

Coming in at number five all time they polled, I

guess the world. I don't know when they sent it

out because I didn't fill it out, but uh, top

number five is uh spiders.

Who's afraid of spiders? Come on?

Makes them know you're fraid of spiders. She put two

hands up. Absolutely, come on. Some of you all like,

I'm not fraid of spiders. I was a kid in

fifth grade. They had a tarantula. You know what I'm

saying for show and tell. Spiders number five, coming in

at number four, snakes.

Who's the frad snake?

Somebody said, whoop, yeah, I don't mess when no snakes.

The devil is a liar? Come on, now, why are

you playing with what the devil was? It don't make

no sense. We don't actually know if he was a snake.

But anyways, uh, we got spiders, we got snakes. Number

of what would be three would be heights. Who's afraid

of heights? Like, you don't mess being up high? Ain't

got no business being up there. I used to not

be afraid of heights, but I think the older I get,

the closer to the ground I want to be. It's

just like, I don't know why I used to climb

trees and be stacked, Like, oh my gosh, I'm not

gonna let any of my kids climb trees.

It's such a dumb decision. Anyways.

Number three, number two historically the whole world.

Greatest fear dying. There's number two.

It's not number one.

Throw some of y'all like, yeah, I don't want to die.

Come on.

Number one, greatest fear of all time, which might I add,

just take note of how brave.

I am up here public speaking.

It's the number one. I'm just saying, pastors are really brave.

We conquer that thing every single week. Top five greatest fears.

I want to talk to you today about your relationship

to what happens at the end of your life.

Being afraid to die.

Now this is it makes sense. It's a very common thing,

and it's funny to me.

I was looking at it.

Like, really, public speaking, is people more afraid of public

speaking than dying? And I read an article and said, well, really,

what they're afraid of is being publicly embarrassed in front

of people. So they would rather just go ahead and

be gone from the planet than still be here.

And you thinking.

About how bad I am at what I do. It's

the public shame, the public embarrassment. And today I want

to submit to you that, if you would like, you

can have a different relationship to how you were to

relate to death and dying. And I want to give

you my thesis today. This is gonna sum up the

whole sermon and one singular point.

Write this down.

Because of what Jesus did on the cross, the greatest

fear for a believer is not dying, but rather never

finding the courage to truly live. I'm about to walk

you through this because of what Jesus did on the Cross,

the greatest fear you have is not dying. The greatest

fear for a believer is will you ever find the

courage to truly live? Because in case nobody told you,

there is a difference between being alive and living. And

many of us have settled for just being alive, settled

for just making it, settled for just I'm trying to

make it through.

But Jesus did not get.

Whipped thirty nine times and die on a cross just

so you could be alive until you die. He died

on the cross so you would not have to be

afraid and you could actually live. You could actually chase

the dreams that God put on the inside of you.

You can actually live with the boldness we read in scripture.

It is not enough to just be alive.

You have to make the decision to have the courage

to actually live.

Many believers they.

Want to use this idea you know that, oh man,

if you really love something, you die for something. That's

how you know you really love something. And it's true.

I mean, parents, you'll get this. I never knew the

feeling of I would die for something until you start

having babies. It's the most crazy feeling. They just you

look at them and you're like, all right, yep, I

will go to jail. I will do.

Illegal things for this little person.

Like it's just how it works. I mean, there are

so many different times literally.

Luna. So our second child, Luna Rows.

She just turned five, and Luna was going up to

her next class. As a matter of fact, she should

be in there today, her new class. She had hustled

somehow the last two weeks and hadn't been in her

real class. And I found this out. She didn't mean

to give away the information. Luna be telling herself and

be like, no, I didn't say that, but I was talking.

To Luna and she was like.

I was like, baby, you got to go to the

five's class and she I was like.

Haven't you been going? She's like, oh, I ain't been going.

And I was like, well, what's going on?

And she's like, well, Dad, there's mean kids in the

fives class. And I was like, there's not no mean

kids up an that five's class. You are a mean

kid sometimes too, You're gonna be all right, no, and

she was like, there really is. And she was like

what if they hurt me or do something. I said, ain't.

Nobody hurt you? And she's like dah.

She got really worked up, and I was just in

a tough mood. Honestly, I said, listen, if there's any

mean kids, I will go find a mama and daddy

and I will talk to them.

People for you. She said, you don't even know them.

I was like, I can find them, though, Baby, don't

worry about it.

But there's this feeling as a parent that you feel

like I love you so much I would die for you.

And that is a level of conviction and passion.

As a matter of fact, there's.

A quote I want to read to you by Martin

Luther King Junior. He said this in a speech in

Detroit in June twenty third, nineteen sixty three. If he

tries to kill you develop the inner conviction that there

are some things so dear, something so eternally true, something

so precious, they are worth dying for. And if a

man has not discovered something that he will die for,

in a sense, he is not fit to live. He

had a conviction that I believe this so much, It

matters to me so much that I would give my

life for it. And the premise he is submitting is

that you have never truly lived until you've found something

you believe you would die for, until you found a

cause that you feel like is significant enough that you

would give up your own desires, give up your own ideas.

This is why marriage is one of the most beautiful

pictures on the earth. Is because we are called to

die for each other. I know, and sometimes we got

the stats and it doesn't always work out. But the

truth is the reason it don't work out is because

two people want to stay exactly how they are. But

the scripture says, you got to die.

To your own desires.

You gotta die to what you want, You gotta die

to how you load the dishwasher. Hello, somebody, a dishwasher almost.

Took us ours first year. It's like, you just put

it in.

My wife her thing is she washed all the dishes

before she put them in there.

I'm like, what we got the dishwasher for? If I

can't load a spoon ful of peanut butter and a dishwasher.

This dishwasher broke and a dishwasher it's a dish rubber.

I don't know what it's.

Doing, but that was crazy anyways, But we're gonna move along.

But you gotta ask yourself, have you found.

Something you believe in enough and you die for it? Now?

It's having a conversation with one of my friends, Carl,

and he actually part of his story is he spent

some time in a rehab facility and he was telling

me one of the most significant nights he had.

In his group. They were going around with a counselor.

They were talking and there was a bunch of guys

in this circle talking about things they have gone through,

and one man specifically was like, man, I love my kids.

Guys was like, yeah, yeah, I know. I love them

so much. I believe you. No, I love them so much.

I die for them, my friend said.

She looked back to him, said, sir, I don't question

whether or not you die for your kids.

My question is will you live for your kids.

Because in some extent, it's easy to say you die

for them.

Because then you don't have to keep putting in the work.

For some of us, it's easy to say I die

for it because it's just this one moment, this dramatic

decision that everybody looks at as so brave.

But I want to submit.

To you this morning that one of the bravest things

you could do is not dying for Jesus, but living

for Jesus. Because we all quick to say we die

for Jesus. Man, if they put me in a situation

they put a goup in my hand, say you love Jesus,

I do it, okay, but you don't.

Read your Bible now.

So while we out here bragging about dying for Jesus,

why don't we take a second to live for Jesus.

The reason we read about these scriptures and the life

of the New Testament Church is so impressive. It's not

just because they die for Jesus. They died for Jesus.

After they had lived for Jesus. They believed he was real,

They saw miracles happen, They preached and were thrown in prison,

came back out and kept preaching. The reason there are

people that you love and you look up to. It's

not that they're just willing to die, They're willing to live.

And my question is, have you found something with enough

conviction on the inside of your heart? Is the message

of Jesus, is the dreams he's giving you?

Is the family you have?

Not?

Is it enough worth dying for? Is it enough worth

living for? Are you actually gonna get over the insecurity?

Are you actually gonna do what he asked you?

To do. I'm not worried about if you die for it.

I'm asking where you live, will you actually do it?

Will you actually get healthy in the areas you know.

You need to get healthy.

Because it's easy to say, yah, I die for him, But.

The truth is, it's gonna take more work to live

for him.

It's gonna take more work to get healthy.

It's gonna take more work to do the work.

And I'm preaching this with such conviction is because this

message of the Bible is marked by miracles, signs, and

wonders that many of us are frustrated that we feel

like we can't see in our life. And the truth is,

you do not get that result unless you live how

they lived.

So there's a disconnect here.

You cannot live in a comfortable I don't want to

be embarrassed to raise my hands in worship and then

expect to pray for the dead and they come back

to life. I'm trying to save us some time. The

reason crazy stuff and shadows were healing people is because

they were willing not just to die, but they were

willing to live. They were willing to be embarrassed for

the sake of Christ. They were willing to speak out

and be a little strange. They were not worried so

much about how they would look and what people would

think and what was going on that they would not live.

And the truth is many of us are just alive.

But my question is are you living? Are you living

with conviction? Are you living with passion? Are you waking

up every single day knowing that God chows you for

this day? And the angels of Heaven's armies are standing

at attention, ready to take war on whatever territory God

has placed in front of you. I don't know about you,

but as for me and the Metcalf House, we wake

up every day ready to do damage to the pits

of Hell because the devil has.

Taken enough of my family. He's taken enough of my friends,

and I'm.

Sick and tired of acting life. The god of the

universe don't live up on the inside of me.

I didn't sign up to do.

This to play Patty Cake and us have our little

club and all our friends die and go to Hell.

I came to rob hell with all my friends and

see people's lives change. And if you're looking for a

place just to do charge and sing some songs and

just make it to heaven.

That's awesome.

That's not what he died for. And that's not what

this book is about. The greatest thing you get out

of church in Jesus is not a get out of

hell free card.

Oh great, I'm saved.

Okay, now it just gotta make it and just hope

he can do something and just see maybe it's something.

Forget. I don't want that. That's what this is. You

can keep that, because here's the truth.

There's way too much sacrifice and work and discipline and

all these things you gotta work.

Out of you.

If we're just gonna settle for this low living, why

would we do that?

It don't make no sense. This is why a lot

of people don't make sense of the church. They're like,

so you.

Gonna do all that, but nothing really happened in your life,

and it doesn't seem like you have any more peace,

and it doesn't seem like you really like your spouse,

and it doesn't seem like you give money, and it

seems like you judge people who just look differently than you.

I'm okay, y'all can keep that.

You want to know why they preach on the first

day of your ooh s built my whole water.

Look at it. That's why they can't be having water

up here.

Man, you want to know why, on the first day

the message of Jesus is preached, three thousand people get saved.

It was not because people are like.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I kind of believe this Jesus thing,

or it's kind of cool. No, it's because they believed

it with such conviction.

They were willing to live for it.

My question is, are you willing to live for the

life in front of you? Are willing to give up

some things, are willing to become somebody different.

Now here's the deal.

We're going to talk about the willingness to live. We

gotta address the fear of dying.

This is a real thing.

And I'll tell you a funny backstory on this. So

when last year in August of twenty twenty four, we

were doing seven days of prayer and fasting and there

was a night where I was leading prayer.

Man, if you've never been.

To prayer at translation church, you are missing out. It

is one of the most beautiful things we do.

It's so powerful.

You gotta join us or that prayer. And I'm going

and I'm praying, and somehow I get to the statement

I'm not afraid to die.

I start yelling at it. I'm like, I'm not afraid

to die, and I sure ain't afraid to live. And

I'm just screaming as I do.

And the next day, at around seven am, I get

hit by a car on my bike, and so I

was like, hey, yo, God, you know what I'm saying,

I'm not afraid to die.

But I'm not saying I want to die. You know

what I'm saying. I just just saying in theory.

Because you've been so good.

I know what's gonna happen. I'm gonna see you.

But I do have some life to live, so I

appreciate it if you don't take me out.

But that story I did.

I got hit by a car on my bike and

super traumatic and my friend, actually Mo, who's sitting right over.

Here, found me laying on the side of the road.

He was on the phone pastor Michael, and he's like,

I think I see PC.

He's like what He's like, Yeah, I think he just

got hit by a car.

I was only laid out on the side of the road.

MO picks me up. It's my witness. I pass out. Literally,

it was a super tramatic thing. My road rash all up,

my leg had a.

Terrible concussion, and Mo calls my wife and she picks

up the phone. He calls from my phone and she

thinks it's me, so she just says hello. In the

second she hears his voice, he's terrified. He says, hey,

I got PC. He's okay, He's been in an accident.

And fast forward a little bit. I go to the

doctor's office. Miraculously, no broken bones. I did have a

very very bad uh.

It was great. No a back concussion. And in the

middle of that also, I also, at this time had

six weeks left until.

My book was due, and for those weeks I was

laid up in the bed trying to remember my middle name.

So it was a terrible situation. But pretty much it's

from that moment. It brought a choice to me, which

was because of an instance that happened, are you gonna

let that moment define how you interact and move forward.

There's a moment in all of our lives where something

traumatic will happen to you, something intense will happen to you,

and what it's coming after is not actually trying to

kill you.

You see, that car hitting me wasn't trying to kill me.

It was just to get me to stop living. It

was to get me to stop doing something because for me,

I found cycling because it helped my mental health. I

get on that bike, pedal till I stopped thinking.

And it's the most beautiful thing.

You have not lived until you've been awake at six

am and rode into a sunrise.

It's the most beautiful thing in the world.

It's kind of cold, and then you sit down a

coffee shop and drinking espresso.

It is a vibe. I'm just telling you, it's the

best thing in the world.

But it was this weird dynamic because there was one

part of me and when I went to get back

on my bike, it felt like okay, finally, because I

feel like I'm going crazy sitting up in this house.

But then there was another part of me. Still to this.

Day, yesterday, I rode my bike anytime I hear a

car shoulders lock up, and I brace myself just in

case life comes after not your willingness to die or

your willingness to live.

Now, in my statement, I said this sentence, and I've got.

To clarify this for you, it says, because of what

Jesus did on the cross, the greatest fear a human has,

and specifically a believer has, is.

Not the fear of dying. The scripture I want to

read to you again in Hebrews and explain.

This to you because I think it'll be so helpful

your life. It says this we read it earlier because

God's children are human beings made of flesh and blood.

The Son also became flesh and blood.

Listen to this, for only as a human being.

Could he die.

And only by dying could he break the power of death,

the power of the devil who had the power of death.

Only in this way could he set all who have

lived their lives free from a slave with the fear

of dying. We don't really connect with this idea.

I get it.

For some people, it's like a super morbid thought to

ever think that you might die one day.

And the truth is.

There are certain people in personality. As a matter of fact,

one time it took a personality test and it's like,

you've probably thought that you were going to die at

an early age for most of your life.

And I was like, I have thought that.

I don't know.

I thought it was.

Gonna be some dramatic story of something that happened in

my life. But for some reason, I never thought of

the fear of that. But the truth is, once you

give your life to Jesus, what he came to do

ultimately is take away the greatest thing that would keep

you from living, and that would be what happens when

I die. The biggest power that Jesus comes to give

the believer is not just the power of every single

day life. It is ultimately the trump card to the

devil that in this life I win, and in the

next life I win. The Early Church under stood this

as a matter of fact. Early on in the Early Church,

when they would have martyrs and people in their church

who would die, they would throw a party for them,

and they would throw a party, not just a funeral,

but they would throw a party to tell the Roman government, Hey, dummies,

y'all thought that y'all were hurting us by killing our friend,

But you don't realize he's been waiting for the day

he could see.

His Savior face to face.

So thank you very much for helping us get to

where we're all trying to go. Now some of us

we can't even think about that because of the connections

we have and the life we want to live, and

do not get it twisted. I love my life, and

I choose to wake up and live every single day,

and I do not have to be afraid of.

What happens when I die.

When I die, I'm gonna look Jesus in Revelations nineteen,

the man with the white hair and the feet of bronze.

And the eyes of fire.

I'm gonna be looking him eye to eye, and I

will have peace for every more and every tear will

be white from our eye, and I will be walking

on streets of gold, and I don't see my family members.

I know what happens to me when I die. I

don't have to be afraid.

And it's important that you understand this because if not,

there is an underlying current of fear that shapes everything

that you do, everything that you won't do, and everything

that you are because you're acting as if you're unsure

of what He did.

The truth is, you don't have to be afraid. Now.

I know this gospel message doesn't hit the same in

certain contexts because in the early Church, when they were

preaching this trust and faith, and he would have read

this scripture and it would have been read aloud in

the church.

It would have meant a lot.

More because some of their friends were.

Being dragged into the Colosseum.

So it hits differently when he says, hey, you know

how they're persecuting us and they're taking Christians into the

coliseum and they're killing them in front of people.

Just so you know, even if that happens.

To you, you will be seeing Christ face to face.

So you can stand with your head held high and

you can live with the boldness in your spirit to

know that you serve a God who, as the Bible says,

put death to death, so.

You don't have to be afraid of that thing.

So after you established that because of what Jesus did

on the cross, and you surrendering your life to him,

you don't have to be afraid of dying.

My question is what keeps us from living?

What keeps us from doing what God called us to do?

Reach stories in this book of Shadows healing people, and

there's a story of which helps me. You know, as

a preacher, I don't even getting offended because one of

the greatest preachers of all time is preaching and a

god falls asleep and falls out the window.

He lively.

They're sitting in the house in a upper room and

he's sitting in the window and he dozes all fallse

three stories Bam, smacks on the ground.

He's dead. I would have been another preacher like dang,

it was that bad. He just.

They walk down the stairs pray for boom, he comes

right back to life.

This is the miracles that happen.

But I really believe it all is anchored back to

these people's understanding and the boldness and the belief they

had of who their God was.

And the greatest issue.

That I've seen in my own life that I've had

conversations with people about is the frustration between what we.

Read in this book and what we see in our lives.

So I read in this book that these things can happen,

but I don't see it in my life.

I read in this.

Book that people get saved and massive droves. I read

in this book that he can heal. I read in

this book that he can provide, but I don't see

it in my life. And if you were to talk

to anybody who spent time in the gym.

If you looked at them, you.

Can't envy what they have unless you're willing to do

what they did. And if you're not willing to do

what they did, do not expect to have what they have.

And in the same way, I would lovingly say sometimes

it would be unwise of us to expect what they

have and not be willing.

To do what they did. What do they do?

They lived with a conviction enough that spoke with boldness

about their faith, regardless of the setting or circumstance. What

does that look like nowadays? Some of us it's very

hard to us to say the name Jesus at work

because you don't want to be the weird Jesus person.

Some of us it's hard to.

Lift our hands in worship with all the weird Jesus

people because we still feel like I don't.

Want to be too weird though, you know what I'm saying.

What is it?

Why is it that we won't live? Why is it

that we won't do what God's asked us to do?

Why is it that we have dreams and ideas and visions?

Miles Moureau was quoted to say, the richest place in

the world is the grave yard because it's full of

ideas and full of potential never reached. And my real

question is is how come something dramatic in our life

has to happen for us to then decide to live.

I know this sermon is kind of back and forth

with somebody are like yeah, and the you're like, man,

why are you talking about death?

It's kind of weird. But the truth is, let me

be honest with you. I'm gonna lovel with you.

You know, when you go to a funeral and you

leave and for some reason you have more clarity on

what matters, more clarity on the value of life, it's

because there's some layer of that that is healthy for

you to understand.

The scripture says tomorrow is not promised.

And I know, and are just ignore and it's not

a big deal and we're all gonna live for ever

and it's all gonna be fine.

That sometimes is a scary thought, But the.

Truth is Jesus gives us the comfort of that. He says, Hey,

you don't have to worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has

enough worries about itself. What he's saying is, don't worry

about what's gonna happen to you. You don't know what's

gonna happen to you, and when it does happen to you,

you're gonna be with me and you're gonna be okay.

The question is what will you do today? Are you

gonna live today? How many more sermons.

We're gonna have to hear before we do the idea

we know we've been supposed to do.

How many more prophetic words were.

Gonna need for someone to confirm what you got confirmed

when you.

Had had it confirmed.

I'm not talking from a lack of experience. I'm talking

from I'm a professional of I got notes in Google

docs of prophetic words and red strings strung up in

places where I'm like, okay, when that happens on this date,

And then I get this Pastor Brennan, you got anything

for a minute, just checking?

Okay? Cool? Come on?

You ever reached out to a couple of profits, you

not just being like.

How y'all doing?

Hoping they got a word and they're like, good to

see you, And it's like, oh right, I've done that

because why Because I'm worried.

I don't know if I.

Have what it takes to live, I have what it

takes to be alive, But the truth is to go

from alive to actually living, there is a deep sense

of courage and a deep sense of boldness, and a

deep sense of understanding that even if I fail, it's okay.

And that is the question is do you have the

courage to live? Do you have the boldness it'll take

to step up and try the idea and it might fail?

Do you have the boldness to step up and try

to become who you feel like you could never be,

but you really want to be, so you're gonna start

taking some steps. Will you ever find the courage to live?

To not settle for just breathing in this life, for

not settle for just making money, spending money, losing money,

getting more money. That is not the essence of your life.

Your job is not the essence of your life. Getting

a car is not the essence of your life. Whatever

that they thing is you want, when you get it,

it will not fix it until you decide to live.

Decide to live, And that's the truth. It is a decision,

and life is not always going to be primed for

you to wake up and live with purpose and wake

up live and feel like you're the person that you

want to be.

But the truth is you still have a choice. Some

of you. You're in such a dark place.

You've experienced such pain, and the pain didn't kill you,

but it.

Kept you from living.

Pain didn't kill your marriage, but it kept it from living.

Pain didn't kill the relationship with your children. But it's

definitely not living.

And my question is, and may I add that maybe

the devil would much rather you live mediocre than die

as a martyr, because the truth is, you die as

a martyr, it's going to start a revolution around the world.

So he would much rather keep you alive and keep

you just living a regular day, regular kind of okay,

halfway in, halfway out life, rather than you die in.

This dramatic fashion for Christ. He would rather keep you

from living for Christ.

Because he knows if you live for Christ, then your

children live for Christ. And if they live for Christ,

then their school lives for Christ. And if their school

lives for Christ, then the city starts to get turned

upside down. He is not afraid of a believer who's

willing just to die for Christ. He's afraid of a

believer who says, I'll wake up every day and I'll

live on purpose, and I'll wake up every day and.

I'm gonna share the word of God.

I'll wake up every day and I'm gonna raise kids

to serve him no matter what he's afraid of, someone

who would choose every single day to live.

That. I ain't worried about you dying.

He's trying to keep you from living, keep you from

finding out who you really are.

I'll never forget I spilled that water again.

Jesus, just crash out up here.

WHOA Okay, maybe don't do that next week. Best of Charles.

We gotta just.

There's something powerful that happens when you decide to live today.

I want to give you three ideas, three points on

what it would look like if we decided to live

as if we had nothing to lose, to live as

if you had nothing to lose.

I don't know if you've ever.

Played sports or watch people play sports, but there's always

this moment. And sports happens a lot in the NCAA

tournament where there'll be a number one ranked team and

everybody will assume, oh, this.

Is gonna be a blowout, like this other team ain't

got no chance.

All of a sudden, you look up and first baptist

OASO is playing duke.

You're like, how they up? I'm forty two? What is happening?

It's because one team showed up with nothing to lose.

One team showed up, get this, thinking I.

Shouldn't even be here in the first place.

One team showed up it's a surprise to me that

I even made it. One team showed up knowing who

they really are. One team showed up knowing where everybody

that they from, how their life has went. One team

showed up knowing this is my moment. One team showed

up knowing there might be some people watching that I

don't know who are watching. One team showed up thinking

somehow I made it here, so I'm not gonna make

it here and then not give it everything that I got.

Let me tell you what is true of the believer.

The truth is we shouldn't be here.

The truth is God has made away when nobody else

made away. The truth is, since I'm here, I might

as well live like I got nothing to lose. I

shouldn't be here. You shouldn't be here. Let's be honest

about that. I know we all like to have a

lot of belief in our talent and our ability and

who and what we've done. But the truth is God

has moved mountains to get us here, and now we're

living safe, not to lose, not to make a mistake.

I'll never forget. My dad told me this when I

was playing football.

He said, son, you're gonna get a lot more hurt

if you run trying.

Not to get hit. It's gonna hurt you.

Worse because you're gonna start doing things that aren't natural,

and that's how you'll get hurt.

But you just need to run knowing you're gonna get hit.

Let me tell your friend, you're gonna get hit in life.

I wish I could tell you that Jesus takes away

all the hits and your life is fine.

But it's just not true.

So if you gonna get hit, why don't we at

least try to do something? Why we getting hit? That's

my take, it's my honesty. If I'm gonna go through

hell and I'm gonna get attacked, and I'm gonna have

things go wrong, and I'm gonna have things happen to

me that I don't understand, why would I go through

all that and not at least get something out of it.

Feel like that mean with Denzel Washington, like I'm I'm

leaving here with something.

You hear what I'm saying. Live like you.

Got nothing to lose. The first point very profound and

say that sarcastically. First thing is you gotta do if

you're gonna live like you got nothing to lose.

Number One, write it down.

You gotta tried, and some of us this is the

only step because you've been stuck at start for a

long time because you don't want to try. You don't

want to try to start the business. You don't want

to try to have kids, you don't want to try

to day somebody. You don't want to try to start

the church, or maybe.

You have tried.

And it's taken away your confidence, taking away your courage,

taking away your boldness, and now it feels like to

try anything else is just too much. I can't I

can't try. The truth is you'll never know until you try.

You don't know if the business is gonna fail or

if it's gonna be the next Fortune five hundred company.

Because you haven't tried yet.

You don't know if that person is gonna be the

love of your life or.

Just someone else you dated.

But the truth is you'll never know if you don't try.

Some of you you haven't joined the tribe. You haven't

found your friends. You haven't You had a group of

friends and you lost that group of friends. And the

truth is you're very, very scared to step out again.

Why because what happens if I try and it doesn't work.

What happens if I try and people aren't there?

What happens if I step out and it doesn't happen?

What happens? What happens? What happens? What if? What if?

Just as many what ifs you have on the negative side,

you never there's just as many on the positive side, we.

Never go down this road. What if I start the

business it doesn't work. What if you start the business

and it works way beyond what you thought?

Why, there's just as much evidence, if not more, on

the side of God giving you an idea and it

working than Him giving you one and it not working.

But for some reason, we live our life in the

fear of what happens.

If I try?

Because here's what honest truth is This next point, what

happens if I try?

Point number two is what happens if I try and

I fall. What happens if I try and I fall?

Now, Originally when I wrote these down, the point two

was failed.

But A trains it from.

Fail to fall because it's you either lose or you learn.

You decide, you either fail or you grew. You get

to decide, and we only make things, so buy and

there we only make it.

I'm gonna try and.

It's gonna be the best thing ever, or I'm gonna

try and it's gonna absolutely crumble and fail. And that's

your only two options. I tell you, there's a lot

of growth in between those two options. There's a lot

of steps. There's a lot of progress. There's a lot

of understanding yourself that a lot of figuring things out

in between those. And you get to decide, did you

lose or did you learn? Did you fall on your

face or was it the greatest thing that ever happened

to you because you.

Found out what you were made of?

Was it a failure or did you actually just find out, Wow,

I was doing that for the wrong reasons. You get

to make that decision. It's not the opinion of people.

It's not how much money you made, it's not who

noticed it and who liked your video after you worked

on it, and who put it out. That is not

the determining factor. You decide that. You decide if it

was a failure. You decide what it was. You have

to try, And the truth is, after you try, if're

gonna live like you had nothing to lose, you're gonna fall.

Part of it, You're gonna fall. We were having a

conversation in the car.

And Arlo was talking about that he wants to do

a bike race. He was like, I'm gonna do that

bike race. And I love my son. I'm intentionally trying

to raise confident and content kids, and Arlow has embraced

this to a point where he is extremely confident and

he's getting so confident he's getting weird and I love it,

you know what I'm saying. Like he just wake up

on a Tuesday and he's got a full Spider Man

costume on and then rain boots and he's like, what up, Dad?

Like where you're going? He's like me and Mamma going

to the grocery store. And I'm like, all right, man,

I'll see you. Yeah. He just rolls. That's how he

gets down it. And I was talking to him about this.

He's like, Dad, I'm gonna do that bike race. But

one of these things. He has like an unreasonable.

Level of confidence when it comes to sports and doing stuff,

and he ain't done nothing yet, like has no proven

facts of anything. But he's like, yeah, I could probably

beat them. And I'm like, well, you could beat them

if you practice. That's my fatement to him now, like

you can definitely do it if you practice at it.

But he was talking about a bike race, He's like, yeah,

I could definitely beat those guys.

Meanwhile he's talking about grown men in the Tour of France.

He's like, yeah, I could definitely beat them. Luna goes,

but all of you getting the bike crash, you could

fall and immediately I said Luna. I said, Luna, you

can fall doing anything in life. She's like, what do

you mean, Dad, I said, Rosie, anything you're ever gonna do,

there's a chance you could get hurt, there's a chance it.

Could not go well. So the truth is you just

got to decide if you like something, you just gotta

try it.

And the truth is many of us, that's the conversation in.

Our head, crazy outrageous dream.

Five year old talking about I'm gonna go to the

Tour de France. Then another voice in your head says,

but what happens if you fall? And that's where the

conversation stops. What if I start this and it's amazing.

Oh my gosh, I feel like I heard God. I

feel like he speaks to me.

Oh my gosh, I think he's providing while there's this miracle.

Somebody confirmed it with me. Oh my gosh, I'm gonna

do it. Yeah, but what if it doesn't work? Oh yeah,

you're right. Who am I kidding? I'm not nobody.

And you talk yourself out of what God's given you.

But here's the beauty of living like you have nothing

to lose. And I'm gonna close with this. You try,

you fall, and there's this miraculous thing that happens.

You try again.

But I wrote this very long, non rhyming sentence at

the end of to watch this. You try again, but

this time use the courage you got from falling to

get back up.

Here's what I mean by that statement.

When you try again, there is a courage that is

birthed in you that you didn't have when you tried

the first time. And many of us let this little

sliver of hope go overlooked. What happens is you try,

you fall, you find the bravery to get back up again,

to try again. And what you don't realize is you're

not the same person that tried the first time. You're

a completely different person because you know what it is

to go through a hard time. You know what it

is to work on the vision, you know what it

is to lay it out in front of people. You

know what it is to try and it not to

work and you to get back up again.

What am I saying?

You are a different person because you went through it.

There's something birthed on the inside of you. But the

enemy does not want you to know that, so he

makes you think you are the same person that tried

over here and it did not work, that you are

over here. But let me tell you something, you are

not the same person. God has done something on the

inside of you. He's created some beauty on the inside

of you.

There's something different here. You've got something else. You just

don't know it yet.

You're not the same person that tried and failed the

first time. There's a beauty, there's a courage, there's a

boldness that is birthed when you get back up again.

And I want to encourage some people today who have.

Been living your life worried to try again. You've been

worried to go back for it again. I'm telling you

you're somebody different. You haven't tried yet, but you're not

the same person. God did something on the inside of you.

You may not be able to recognize that, you may

not realize it, but there's a beauty you can find

if you'll live like you have nothing to lose. I've

been thinking a lot about the Bible and these scriptures,

and I'm gonna read to you a scripture out of

Acts five, and we're gonna go home today. But in

Acts chapter five there is a beautiful section of scripture.

And this is kind of where the subtitle for my

book came. And the subtitle of the book God.

Chose Me is Untouchable Confidence for the unstoppable Christian and

it comes out of this section of story and team

and band.

I know I've said I'm gonna close. I'm really about

to close, So if.

Y'all want to come up here, Acts chapter five, Verse

twenty nine, Peter said we must obey God rather than

human authority.

The God of our ancestors raised.

Jesus from the dead after you killed him by hanging

him on the cross. Then God put him in the

place of honor at the right hand. We are witnesses

of these things. So is the Holy Spirit, who is

given by God to those who obey him. When they

heard this, the High Council was furious. They decided to

kill him. But one member, a pharisee named Gamaliel, who

was an expert in the religious law and respected by

all the people, stood up and ordered that the men

be sent outside of the council.

Then they said to his colleagues, men of Israel, take

care of what you are planning to do to these men.

Some time ago there.

Was a fellow Thaddeus, who pretended to be somebody. About

four hundred joined him. They went in various ways. After

he died, the whole movement came to nothing. After him,

there was a guy named Judas of Galilee. He got

a couple people to follow him, but he was killed

two and all his followers were scattered. So my advice

is leave these men alone.

Let them go. If they are planning and.

Doing these things on their own will, it will soon

be overthrown. But if it is from God, you will

not be able to stop these men, and you may

even find yourself fighting against God himself. You need to

know that you come from a lineage of an unstoppable movement.

A little baby was born two years old. They tried

to kill him, couldn't stop the movement. The boy gets

lost when he's twelve years old. Found him. They couldn't

stop the movement. Thirty years old. Pharisees tried to trap

him in thousands of questions, and they couldn't stop the movement.

They killed him when he was thirty three years old.

Thought he was dead, couldn't stop the movement, killed all

his friends, started crucifying him upside down. Couldn't stop the movement.

Started feeding Christians.

To the lions, but they couldn't stop the movement. Sent

the church underground, but they couldn't stop the movement. Tried

to pass laws so the church couldn't do what the

church did, but they could never stop the movement. What

you don't realize is the idea He's given you cannot

be stopped.

The question is will it ever be started? Devil can't

stop it, but he can't keep you from starting because

that's the only thing he's got. He knows once you

start that God has been standing outside of time because

he was creating time, and he looked at time and

he placed you in time, so at.

The right time, you be on time for his appointed time.

He knows that there's a plan he has to prosper you,

to bring you a hope and a future. He knows

that once you get with that person and you find

your peace and you find your courage, that you will

end up where you're supposed to. He knows that what

he's hoping on is that you will never.

Find the courage.

To start, never find the courage to try, never find

the courage to.

Figure out who you really are. I'll never forget.

I grew up listening to preaching tapes with my dad.

There's an old sermon TDJS preach one time, and he said,

I didn't know I was me. He said, for a

long time, I didn't know I was me. If I

knew I was me, I would have lived my life different.

If I knew what I knew now, I wouldn't have

spend so much time being insecure. You know what, people,

I had this conversation with a friend I was talking

to him and he said they did an interview with

people who were at the end of their life, and

they were asking them, what are your greatest regrets?

And none of them said their regrets was the stuff

they tried.

And failed, none of them. All of them said, and

it's all the stuff I never tried. Because I'm sitting

here and I don't know what could have happened. I

hope for everybody in this room and under the sound

of my voice is that whatever it is you feel

like God's given you, you just have the courage to

try because you have no idea what God.

Wants to do.

You have no idea who you could become. I was

talking to somebody and they were like, man, tell us,

how did you get into ministry? And you got here

in your transformation church, and you wrote a book, and

tell us about the moment when God called you and

spoke to you that.

You were going to be a ministry and do this.

And I was like, oh, yeah, I never I never

really had that moment.

You'd like, what do you mean.

I was like, I was just serving in the youth ministry,

leading a group of six grade boys, and then the

group doubled like three times, and somebody asked me, Hey,

do you want to serve in a bigger servant road

And I.

Was like yeah, sure, And then they asked me do

you want to interview him to be an associate youth

pastor and I was like okay, yeah.

It was all these little steps of just trying, you know,

how I wrote a book.

I tried. I didn't know it was good.

I remember send it to the first person who had

read the whole thing, like it was the first person,

and I was.

Like, this supposed to be a call to get my

first feedback call.

And I was like, oh gosh, this is gonna be

so bad. And then open up the zoom and the

lady is crying and I'm like, dang, it must have

been really bad.

She's like, we're gonna need everything back. You know, I

didn't know.

I didn't know if I was an author until I

started writing.

I found out about halfway through the book.

And what I want to say to you is, you

will have no idea who you could be until you start.

God, we thank you for who you are. God, to

thank you for your love, for your grace, or your peace,

for your mercy. Now right now, God, I pray.

I want to pray right now, specific prayer for everyone

who has been afraid to try, afraid to try, whatever

it is, a small thing, a big thing. People have

been afraid to trust themselves, to trust their ideas. Right now, God,

would you just your peace, your comfort.

Right now? Would you comfort them.

Right now, Holy Spirit, I'm praying that you would specifically

impart the boldness and the courage from the early Apostles.

Boldness and courage.

Holy Spirit, right now, in the name of Jesus, would

you impart boldness and courage to take you at your word,

Boldness and courage to speak loudly the truth of the Gospel.

Boldness and courage to be who God created you? Would

be boldness and courage in the name of Jesus. God,

I pray that you would this week inspire and encourage

people to start the thing they've been waiting to start.

This week, to create habits, to become the person they

want to become this week, something to.

Be different in their life. Bow every eye close.

I want to take a moment and extended invitation to

anybody who would like to surrender their life to Jesus.

The message of the Gospel is there was a man

named Jesus, and he lived a perfect life, the life

that we're all aspiring to. He lived it, he did it,

and then he willingly gave up that life for you

and for me. He did that so we would have

a picture, as Hebrew said, of someone who overcame the

greatest fear. The Jesus robbed death of his power when

he rose from the grave. And by rising from that

tomb and walking out of that tomb, he proved to.

Be and you that there is more to life than

what in front of us.

And he extends to you an invitation into a life

of peace, a life of joy, a life of purpose,

a life of contentment, a life of boldness.

But all it takes is a moment of surrender.

The Bible says, is if you believe in your heart

and confess with your mouth that you shall be saved.

If you're in this room and you want to accept

Jesus Christ as your lord and.

Save you're what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna count to three.

If you're in the room or watching online, I'm gonna

ask you to raise your hand. Even if you're watching online,

you're like, hey, I'm sitting by myself.

It doesn't matter.

When you raise your hand on the outside, it is

you showing you and everybody around you that something is happening.

And I want to claim it and I want to

step into this new relationship with Jesus.

He loves you.

He has a plan for you. But your life can

change today. It doesn't fix all your problems, it doesn't

make life easy. But what it does do is it

provides you hope from a source that you will not

find anywhere else.

If you would like to give your life to Jesus,

I'm gonna count to three. I want you to raise

your hand boldly in this room. Some of you. This

is why you are here. You can feel it. You think,

is that me? Is it me? Is it me? Yes?

It is you.

Do not let anything hold you back from this moment

of surrender, this moment of transformation. On the count of three,

if you want to give your life to Jesus, I

want you to raise your hand one. He loves you too.

Today is the day of salvation. Three right now, all

over this room, raise your hand. So proud of you.

I see you, sister, so proud of you. I got

you man, I see you girl, so proud of you

up here in the balcony.

I got you way in the back. I see my

sister right here. Come on both hands. I see you

a couple back here in the corner.

So incredible. I got you, amazing, amazing. I see y'all,

I see y'all. Hey, listen out loud together as a family.

Everybody which you pray this prayer with me, say, dear God,

I admit I've made mistakes. I pray you would save me,

that you would change me, that you would make me

new in Jesus name. I pray.

Amen.

Hey, can we celebrate everyone who just gave their life

to Jesus' best decision you could ever make.

Hey, listen standing all over this room. We're about to

get out of here.

Hey, our worship team is going to continue to worship.

If you need prayer for anything at all.

We're gonna have some of our team come up here

to the front and also in the back as you leave.

But if you gave your life to Jesus today, I

want you to tell somebody. Tell somebody around you, tell

them you made that choice.

As a matter of fact, you text the.

Word saved to the number eight two eight two eight two.

Our team would love to encourage you and help you,

but I want to pray for you, Lord. I pray

that this week would be full of boldness, courage, and

bravery to be and become who.

You have called and created us to be. And to

the name of Jesus, we pray, and everybody said, Amen,

go out and live a transformed life.

We love your friends, thank you for joining us today.

If you said that prayer and accept it Jesus into

your heart, it's the best decision you could ever make.

We want to celebrate with you, and we have some

tools to help you on your journey. Tex saved to

A two eight two eight two to find out more

about TC text connect to A two A two A two.

Be sure to subscribe and share this podcast with your friends.

Thanks for listening. Now go out and live a transform life.