Lost People Matter | Pastor Chris Kouba

Hey it is really good to see you.

My name is Chris Kuban.

I'm the privilege of being lead pastor here at United City.

I want to take this opportunity to welcome all of the men and the women and our correctional facilities, those on the other side of the camera watching online.

Let's give them a hand to celebrate those who are here.

You may wonder who are you who are you talking to?

I got a letter this past week that was written to us, somebody that's from the Department of Corrections somewhere in Central Texas, and they said that they watch us on the Pando app.

They were inspired by the Above and Beyond series, and they wrote us their first tithe check.

I don't really know how that works, but I thought that was pretty cool.

Pretty neat to be able to see that.

And it's just amazing just to think about the reach and what God is doing.

We actually had a serve day yesterday, and we had a number of folks because of the incredible work that we do on Tuesdays.

If you're looking for a place to serve, we got a group of men that go every Tuesday over to uh Lynchster State Jail here in our area and goes and serves there and just every week pours invest in them.

And so whenever we brought up the idea of doing a serve day there, an event, special event, they said, Hey, we actually have a maximum security area that we have that no one actually has access to, and we would love to invite your would your church be interested in putting on a service?

And of course we're like, yes.

So we got the chance yesterday to be able to do that.

It's just incredible to see how God continues to open up doors and do some pretty amazing things.

Open your Bibles up with me to Matthew chapter four.

Matthew chapter four is where we're gonna hang out for a little bit today.

Uh if you are a movie director or a writer and you are looking to find a movie script or a movie idea that's gonna be universally accepted, it's gonna be love, that's gonna have the opportunity just to connect and to hit.

One genre that seems to be the case where you're gonna be able to hit all of those boxes is the genre of a movie about a treasure hunt.

There's no question about it, there is something that's pretty enticing and exciting about the idea of whether it be an individual or whether it be a group of people who are set out on a journey with the goal of being able to find previously hidden treasure.

Maybe it's hidden in the sense that they're trying to discover where it's at, or maybe it is treasure that they didn't previously know that was available to them.

And upon discovering that, you begin to see how much they are willing to go through and to forego in order to go and to get the ultimate prize.

Sometimes you find things that have like a treasure hunt map, right?

And that map begins to kind of show them various places that they're supposed to go.

And so therefore they get that map, and it's it's so important that they have that map in front of them and they follow all of the course of directions that it tells them to go as crazy and as unsafe at times as it may seem, they still want to go because they know that ultimately that map shows them an X that marks the spot where they ultimately are trying to go.

And that X represents the treasure that they're seeking to find.

Or maybe it's one of those treasure hunt shows or treasure hunt movies that has instead clues along the way.

And if you go and you get this one clue and you solve this riddle, or you do this exercise, or you do whatever it is, then it unlocks the ability to get another clue, and then that clue leads them down another chase, and they begin to walk through that and they go and discover that.

Ultimately leading to another clue, ultimately to go and to find the treasure.

These are movies like the Goonies.

Is there a great?

I mean, that's just greatness, right?

The Goonies, right?

You got four boys, right, who get out on this quest.

They find this abandoned pirates map, and they notice on the map it's got this X marks the spot.

And so the whole movie is their journey, their quest to go through all the things that are necessary in order to go and find the treasure.

Of course, a franchise has turned into an entire franchise and even had a remake or a redo a couple of years ago.

How about Indiana Jones?

Huh?

Indiana Jones fans out there?

I mean, it's a pretty great movie, right?

No question about it.

Uh Harrison Ford walks him through, of course, leading, and he's having to run away from boulders and snakes and all the different things that he appears along the way in order to go into this temple to be able to find the treasure of these hidden ancient artifacts.

Or how about Nicolas Cage in National Treasure, huh?

I mean, how great was that doing all the various clues, going on the treasure hunt, being able to go and try to find ultimately the destination.

What you see in any of these types of movies is what people are willing to go through and what people are willing to go without in order to go and find something that they deem worthy and necessary to give all of their time and all of their attention and all of their focus to pursue.

This morning we're continuing in our sermon series we started last week called Anchored.

And what we're doing is we're looking at the why and the what of what we do here at United City Church.

We want you to know what drives us, what are the anchors that we have in the ground that we stick to so that no matter what we do along the way, you can know here are the things that guide us.

If they were to make a movie about United City Church, and they were got all of us in the movie, and the idea and the genre of the movie was a treasure hunt, what would be our ex marks the spot?

And what I want to do today is I want to show you not only what the treasure is that we are pursuing, but what we are willing and what we are going to do to be able to get there.

If you criticize us about anything, you can do that.

But just know this what you're gonna see is well, this is why they do it.

Because this is what drives them, this is what their focus is, this is what they're ultimately trying to do.

The idea today, the core value we're gonna look at, is not the most important, but I would tell you, if you don't emphasize this value the most out of all four, it's the first one to go in the life of a church.

The core value we're gonna look at today is this lost people matter.

Lost people matter.

What does this mean?

Simply put, we believe that lost people matter.

We as a church are not designed, and nor do we want to be a place where people have to get cleaned up in order to come in.

We instead want to be a place where we are not just surrounded by Christians who are trying to go deep, but instead we are a place that believes that you can achieve depth in your relationship with the Lord by being around lost people.

We believe that's actually part of the strategy.

You know, a lot of churches they may talk about how many you come here and you're really gonna learn and you're gonna go.

And we believe and we want all of those things to be true, but what we don't want is to focus on our deepness and not worry about our wideness.

We don't want to be wide and not deep, but we believe that one of the ways that you can get deeper is by you going wider.

By you making lost people become a priority in all things.

And while we believe that everyone is welcome here at United City Church, because we believe lost people matter, we believe that not only do we want them to come, but we want them to be introduced to Jesus and how they can have a personal relationship with him.

This morning I want us to consider the why and the how of what this looks like.

We're gonna think about this in terms of United City Church, and then I want you to think about this in terms of your own personal life as well.

First, let's talk about the why.

Why do lost people matter?

We're gonna look at a passage of scripture in Matthew chapter four where Jesus begins to assemble his team of disciples.

He's getting his inner core that he's gonna ultimately pour himself into, and then by them pouring himself into them, they're gonna ultimately go and change the world.

And so what he's showing them as he assembles them are here are the priorities, guys.

Like here are the main things that you are to be about.

Let's begin reading in Matthew chapter 4, beginning in verse 18.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

And he, he is Jesus, said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.

Immediately they left their boat and their father and they followed him.

Jesus teaches us this principle.

Following Jesus means lost people matter.

Following Jesus means lost people matter.

When Jesus assembles his people, he doesn't immediately put them in a Bible study, although that's a great thing.

When Jesus calls people to follow him, the first thing he does is not put them in Hebrew school, although that would be a very important thing.

When Jesus calls the disciples, the very first thing that he does is he sends them on mission to reach lost people.

He says, I will make you fishers of men.

Meaning, I want you to be on mission to reach new people.

You see, evangelism is not a suggestion, it is a lifestyle.

When you follow Jesus, it's just what you do.

You become someone who cares about reaching lost people.

Evangelism is a way of life, it's not an event or an outreach.

You are thinking about, you are strategizing, you are trying to figure out how to get lost people to become found.

We say this phrase all the time here at United City.

We exist for those who are not yet here.

We don't say that because we're all about numbers and growth.

We say that because we're all about Jesus, and Jesus was all about people who are not yet here.

Luke chapter 19, verse 10, it says this for the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Luke 19:10

What does this show us?

Lost people matter to Jesus.

And so therefore, because we follow Jesus, lost people should matter to us.

I want you to notice in Matthew chapter 4 what it what it shows you.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

Uh, when whenever you follow Jesus, he gets all up in your business.

Do you see that?

You know, a lot of times we may think, okay, I've got my work life over here, I've got my spiritual life rather over here, and then over here, I've got my work life, and then I've got my social life, and then I've got my school life, and then I've got my recreational life.

And what we try to do is to make sure that what we do over here, we want to make sure it doesn't offend anybody, so we keep it over here and we never bring it over here.

And what Jesus shows us is that if you're gonna follow him, this has to affect this.

In fact, so much so that this is no longer defined by what it used to.

Because this is true, I now see that it is my job, it is my responsibility, it is my opportunity, it is my privilege to take this and bring it over here into all of this.

Not only does Jesus get up all up on your business, Jesus also changes your perspective.

What he begins to do is he begins to show them, hey guys, I know that you previously used to see other people as opportunities for you to make money or other people as opportunities for you to have relationships.

What I'm now doing is I'm gonna change you at the core to where now you see other people as also people that need to know Jesus and need to have a relationship with me.

Not only does Jesus get in your business, not only does he change your perspective, Jesus also changes your purpose.

It wasn't like he said, Hey, you're no longer gonna fish anymore.

These guys still existed as fishermen.

What he did is he says, This now the money that you make from being a fisherman, you're gonna be able to use that to fund your real calling in life, which is to be fishers of men.

Folks, I realize that some of you don't get a paycheck from the church, but please hear me.

You all work for the Lord.

Every one of you.

You just happen to get paid by something else, that's the beauty of it, so that you can live out your mission where God has for you.

And so what God desires is that you would embrace this calling and to live out on mission.

It's a radical shift that takes place when you follow Jesus.

I've given you the why of why lost people matter.

Now I want to get super practical and informative for you to see that how we do that as a church, and then I want to show you how we want to equip you to do this in your own personal life.

Let's first of all look and ask the question how do lost people matter at United City Church?

How do lost people matter at United City?

First answer is it drives everything we do, every decision that we make, every direction that we go for the future.

It's a question we ask all the time.

How is this gonna help us reach lost people?

But there's also some tangible and practical things that we do to emphasize this even more.

I'm about to give you a list.

This list is not exhaustive, but there is a lot on this list that kind of tells you hey, this is why we do, this is how we're gonna go about reaching lost people.

First one is this church planning and campuses.

Church planning and campuses.

Part of our strategy is to plant gospel churches or gospel campuses in places that need them.

We believe the hope of the world is evangelistic, aggressive, and active churches located in areas where people need Jesus.

In light of this, we partner with Syn Network, which is the largest church planning network that exists to help equip, to help train, and to help fund brand new church plants all over America and all over beyond.

We believe in this wholeheartedly.

In fact, we not only give towards this, but we also have strategically partnered with certain church plants through Syn Network where we send dollars, we send resources, and we send people.

We've got partners that we work with directly in Las Vegas and Los Angeles and Fort Worth and Colorado and Baltimore and New York, and that is expanding.

Internationally, we have church plants in Brazil and India and Puerto Rico, and we have a desire to see even more churches planted.

We hosted this week a regional gathering through the Houston Church Planner Network, and we met with some local pastors who are planting churches in this area to discuss how we at United City and other churches around us can come alongside of them to support them so that we can see gospel churches planted not only all over the United States, but we also can see gospel churches planted in Houston and in northeast Houston specifically.

In addition, uh, while we are right now a single campus church, we are actively praying and seeking opportunities to expand beyond just 19901 Townsend Boulevard.

And I see in our future at some point the strong possibility of having another campus of United City Church.

We're looking at land right now.

We're trying to see what God, we're just exploring and saying, God, are you in this?

We want to just follow you because here's what I would simply tell you.

We as a church never want to be one that says no to what God may be opening a door for us because ultimately we want to see gospel presence in places that need it.

Why?

Because lost people matter.

Number two, big services, Easter and Christmas Eve.

Big services, Christmas, Easter and Christmas Eve.

I want you to take out this card that was in your seat whenever you got here today.

Everybody take this out for me.

First of all, the first thing you thought of probably was, man, this is a really nice card.

It's really good.

I want you to know that this card is not for you.

All right?

This card is for you to give to somebody else.

This card on here has the times and all the things that go along with our Easter services that are coming up here in just a few weeks.

We've got a Good Friday service, uh, and then we've got uh services on Saturday night.

If you are serving with us, we're gonna encourage you to go on Saturday night, and then on Sunday morning, we want to make as much space available as possible for all of our guests.

Here's what we know those two services every year have the biggest attendance of the year.

Like you got people that kind of come out of the woodworks to come to Christmas and to come to uh Easter services.

And instead of us making fun of them or giving them a hard time, oh I haven't seen you since Christmas.

All right, good to see you, you know, kind of a thing.

We're gonna leverage the heck out of it.

Because what we believe is that whenever we get all these people that are here, we want to make sure that we do the most creative programming and planning and presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We're not trying to impress anybody, but make no mistake about it.

We absolutely are gonna leverage the fact that we've got so many people here by telling them the gospel in a unique and creative way by people who are gifted in that way.

And so, therefore, what I'm asking you to do is when it comes to Christmas and when it comes to Easter, I'm asking you to come back in town or wait till it's over before you leave.

Like straight up, be here and not just come.

What we want you to do is to invite someone who doesn't know Jesus to come.

The statistics say this 82% of people that are invited to a Christmas or an Easter service will say yes if someone just extends an invitation.

We have more churches like we do Mexican restaurants all around this area.

So you're probably thinking, everybody's church.

Can I tell you?

We just got some statistics this week that over 50% of the people in this immediate region would not identify themselves as Christians.

And we all know that those who do aren't.

What this shows us is this is there's a great opportunity on these special services for you to be able to leverage and be able to invite someone to be able to hear the gospel.

And so we're asking you Christmas and Easter go all in as a church.

Why?

Because lost people matter.

Number three, baptisms.

Baptism.

So far this year we've baptized 155 people in the life of our church.

155 people just this calendar year.

We go kind of all in for baptism, like we love it.

We think it's the first, we believe scripturally it is the first step of obedience after someone has trusted in Jesus Christ.

And so, because of that, we we put it at a premier spot in our service.

We celebrate it big time by giving special uh area upstairs to be able to be a part of it, and then we also give premier seating to be able to those who come and attend it.

And so, what we want to make sure is that not only you follow Jesus in believers' baptism, but that you leverage the heck out of that baptism to get people to come hear the gospel.

Here's what we've discovered that a lot of people will have gladly say no to an invitation to church, but if you invite them to come to a baptism, they feel guilty saying no to that.

And we want to leverage the guilt.

Lean all in on it, all right?

I tell folks at our new Christians class for our kids, whenever they they make a decision to trust Christ, they've got to go through a new Christian's class before they're baptized.

And I meet with the parents, and what I tell the parents is this don't ever do less for their baptism than you ever would for a birthday party.

People go crazy when it comes to birthday parties around here, all right?

I'm gonna go all in.

And what I'm saying is leverage the same thing.

Invite people to a baptism because here's what you can guarantee when they come to that baptism, they're gonna have the opportunity to hear the gospel.

As of right now, we have over 20 documented stories of people's very first interaction with United City Church was coming upstairs to go to somebody else's baptism, and then later they were saved and also baptized in those very same waters.

Folks, we believe baptism is a step of obedience.

We also believe baptism is an opportunity because lost people matter.

Number four, at the movies.

At the movies.

This is a brand new, super exciting initiative we're gonna be launching later this year in the month of November, where for four straight weeks we're gonna go all in on reaching people for Jesus.

Think of this as a four-week evangelistic crusade where we're gonna use modern day movies like parables to teach gospel truths.

We're gonna be literally you're gonna come in, you're gonna sing a quick worship song, and then we're gonna turn the lights off, and the movie's gonna start.

And what we're gonna show you is cut up portions of modern day movies with gospel teaching all throughout.

We know many other churches who have done this, and they've seen some of the largest attendance they've ever had, and the most decisions that they've ever had.

And so at United City, we want to go all in and for four straight weeks try to reach as many people in Northeast Houston for Jesus as we possibly can.

So, what I'm asking you to do is to invite someone to come watch a movie, and no question about it, we are using bait to bring them in so that we can give them the meat.

They are not gonna know what hit them.

That being said, it's an opportunity.

It's gonna be different, it's gonna be unique, it's gonna be totally outside the box of what we've done as a church.

That being said, for four straight weeks, we're gonna pray that God would just pour down the harvest like nothing we've ever seen before in our lives.

That He would just give us an opportunity to be able to use modern things to be able to reach people with the life changing message.

Of Jesus Christ.

In August, we're going to have a week of prayer, and part of our emphasis on that prayer week is going to be for a harvest all fall and specifically during our time of the four weeks about the movies in the month of November.

Why do we do stuff like this?

Because lost people matter.

Number five, finally, weekly invitation.

Weekly invitation.

Here at United City, we do a gospel presentation literally every Sunday.

It's at the end of the service.

It's not just a part of the way that we transition to end the time.

It's a strategic part of us living out our mission.

Some of you are like, I know some of you go, man, I really love the fact that you guys do a come forward invitation.

Like it's like an old school Baptist church.

That's not why we do it.

You want to know why we do it?

We're going to talk about this coming up.

Is that we ever we believe everyone has the next step?

It's a part of our strategy.

But can I tell you also why we do it?

Because we believe that people need to hear the gospel and need an opportunity to respond to Jesus.

And so here's the thing.

Whenever you go to the invitation time here in just a moment, we're all going to stand up.

That is not transition time.

That's not like, man, Second Baptist is going to beat us to lunch.

We better hurry right now.

We got to get out and make sure we get over there, right?

It's not a quickly get out and go.

It's not a, oh, we can make it to the game if we go.

No, don't do that.

We're asking you to honor that time by making sure you realize what's going on.

There's two different mentalities when it comes to an invitation time.

One, one, one, one mentality is over here like this.

I wonder if anybody's going to come forward today.

I wonder if anybody's going to do anything.

Oh man, I'm going to need to get my stuff.

Let's go ahead and get ready.

Hey, we're about to, the second he says amen, we're getting out of here, okay?

I don't want to get called out.

I'm leaving early, so I'm going to stay, but I'm leaving the second it's over.

And you're gathering your stuff and all of that.

The other mentality is this.

Today could be the day.

Like today could be the moment.

Whether it be for the person that I invited, can I just tell you, I know when you've invited someone?

Because I'll get text messages, you better bring it today and don't talk about money.

All right.

There's an urgency when you know your friend, your family member's soul is on the line.

Can I tell you whether you send me that text or whether somebody's sitting next to you?

That's true every single week for people all over this room.

And so what I'm asking you to do is then when it comes to that time, you don't have the mentality that's like, I wonder if anybody's gonna come forward today.

I wonder what they're gonna do.

And you instead realize there is a spiritual battle that is taking place in that exact moment for the hearts and the lives and the souls of people.

And the enemy already has plenty of work to do to be able to speak into the ear and say, you can wait another week, you can go another time, you can do it somewhere else, you don't have to come forward, and without having you be a distraction by getting your stuff early or you by you slipping out and going somewhere else.

Instead, what I'm asking is that we at United City Church, when it comes to the most important time of the service, that we have our spiritual armor on and we are praying out and we're saying, God, give clarity, God give boldness, God, would you move in these moments so that when we stand up, it's like game on.

Because we know the spiritual forces of evil are coming up against us, and we also know that generational change could be in our midst.

That's what God wants to do.

We don't do it because we're trying to be old school, we do it because we believe that we want people to experience life change.

And so every single week, we're gonna give a gospel presentation.

Why?

Because lost people matter.

Let's consider what this means for you.

Let's consider what this means for you.

How lost people matter for you.

This core value drives us as a church, but we know it really must also drive you in your personal life and in your personal walk with the Lord.

It isn't just that lost people matter to us, it should be that lost people matter to you.

One of the ways that we do this is by asking this question Who's your one?

Who's your one?

Who's the one person in your life who doesn't know Jesus that needs a relationship with him?

Who are you praying for that doesn't know Christ?

Like if I was to say, hey, I want you to get go invite your one, or pray for your one, or go to lunch or coffee with your one, then their name comes up.

Some of you, you've got ten people.

Praise God for that.

Some of you don't have anybody.

And what I would tell you is that you need to change that.

You need to put yourself in a position to where you can be around lost people.

I think it's great that you found community at the church, but please hear me.

If you just come and become a holy huddle, that's not what we're about.

We instead want you to be a holy huddle so that you can get encouraged, so that you can go reach the lost people that are all around you that you just haven't been able to build the relationships with yet.

For some of you, this means you need to get into a club, get into a group, you need to be able to connect with people that maybe are riding motorcycles together, play tennis together, play golf together, uh, whatever it may be, whatever you need to go do.

Go around and find people that have similar interests than you that you can be around so that you can build relationships with them for the purpose of ultimately introducing them to Jesus.

Why do you need to do this?

Because lost people matter.

Number two, share the gospel personally.

Share the gospel personally.

We want everyone at United City Church to be equipped and capable to share the gospel with somebody else.

I'm not talking about having a normal conversation and then you have to get really super formal and weird whenever it comes to spiritual things.

Some of you may feel that way.

But instead, you having the ability to have a normal conversation, transitioning it to normal spiritual conversation, and to be able to share the gospel with somebody else.

If you're like, well, I don't know how to do that, listen to me at the end of every message.

Part of what I'm doing is trying to lead people to come to faith in Jesus and for the lost to become found.

Also, what I'm doing is I'm training the found to know how to talk to lost people.

Steal my words.

There's nothing magical about what I'm saying, but at the end of this message, I'm going to lead people through a prayer so they can know how to relationship with Jesus.

And I would just simply tell you, every single week, I'm training you that you can know how to share the gospel.

Some of you, maybe your method of sharing the gospel, one that I'm using right now the most, is three circles.

I love it.

You can look it up.

It's a great way of being able to share the gospel, talking about brokenness and how the good news helps that.

There's the Roman road, uh, there's good news, bad news.

You can share your personal testimony.

This is like what you were like before Christ.

This is how you came to Christ.

This is what your life is like after Christ, or steps to peace with God.

The only way of sharing the gospel that isn't good is the one where you do nothing.

Meaning it doesn't make any difference what method you use.

It just matters that you use a method and that you're actively and personally sharing the gospel.

Pray for opportunities and you will be amazed at how God desires and will answer those prayers.

Finally, how do lost people matter to you?

Number three, start a revival.

Start a revival.

Revival is a series of renewed focus and movement of God that takes place, which leads to great commitment and expansion of the gospel.

I want you to know you can start a revival.

Take a look.

Well, it all started with a prayer.

Out of high school, I knew that I didn't want to go straight into college.

I just didn't feel like that's where I was being led, but I knew that I was at Search Verost, and I knew that while I was there, I wanted to be intentional about sharing who Jesus was and what the love of Jesus looked like.

I started reading the Bible because I was curious to see if it would bring healing to what I was going through in the moment.

And I knew Nate had a relationship with God and he believed in God.

So I decided to reach out to him and he asked, like, why can't I feel God's presence?

Nathan and I worked in to go together, and whenever I would have anxiety attacks, Nathan was always a comfort.

I had no idea at the time that he had been praying for me.

I invited a friend of mine named Juan to come to church with me.

He had just lost his younger brother in a in a tragic accident.

And you know, I could tell that at first he he wasn't necessarily interested in coming into a church space.

We went to a Sunday morning service, and Pastor Chris was talking about how leaders lead from their knees, and at the end we prayed from like healing, and all I could do was cry and ask to have Jesus come into my life.

I knew my next step in life was to give my life to Christ and to commit to him.

I was very hesitant at first because I always felt a relationship with God was something transactional, and I had to be good enough for a certain way to have a relationship with him.

But I finally realized that he truly buggy for who I was and I could trust in him.

That's right.

You know, I I realized that you know there's something stirring in Star, and I was seeing him have questions and him really just want to know more about you know, why does it feel like God's calling me?

Yeah.

Following that night, uh, me and you, we met with him in Starbucks, and that's when he prayed to receive Jesus.

Yeah.

And he ended up getting baptized, and his brother got baptized too.

I got baptized shortly after.

I got baptized uh shortly after.

And it was just really cool seeing all of my friends really just make these decisions to follow Jesus and seeing the life change that they were experiencing because of and all I could think about was the prayer that I prayed.

Yeah.

Did you have any idea what would happen next?

I didn't know for sure, but I knew that I was seeing too much life change for that tonight to continue.

We started inviting our co-workers from Roadhouse more and more.

Specifically, uh two of my close friends, my best friends, Brandon and Mason.

Um, and the first night that they came, they gave their life to visas, and I was falling, actually.

Like I was a wreck.

And it was cool to see what God did in Granin's life and with his whole family.

His little sister accepted Jesus and got baptized.

His oldest sister also accepted Jesus and got baptized.

And then his parents even took their next step and also got baptized.

I really started to gain more relationship with people that I was working shifts with.

Uh starting to really just, you know, bond in ways that I didn't expect.

Refresh 2024 was coming up, and we decided to invite more friends, specifically Blanca.

Um, that night she liked it, and she gave her life to Jesus, which is really cool to see also.

I came to Refresh 2024 and I just knew I was supposed to give my life to Christ.

And it just felt right and to do my next step.

We just kept inviting our friends to church or white, and we just felt like we were at someone's baptism every other week.

I invited some more friends from Roadhouse to Jennifer's one night.

By the end of the night, all three sisters had said yes to Jesus.

It was so cool seeing Tabitha, Miley and Charlese all say yes to God that night.

We decided to do a prayer night at Roadhouse, and two of our friends accepted Jesus into their life as well.

That Sunday when Nat was getting baptized, uh, we added some friends there from Roadhouse to watch it, and Ashton was there, and I just got to talking to him about faith, and he ended up deciding before baptisms even started that he wanted to commit his life to the Lord.

And I prayed that prayer with him right then.

How has it been seeing God just move uh in your life and your friend's life uh over the last few months?

I think it's proof of God's faithfulness and his love for us, how generous he is.

Um, it has been very all we can say it's good.

So it's good.

It's called very almost unreal.

Like I know us as one group of people who live their lives a certain way, and now seeing us completely change and being able to talk about Christ, talk about our relationship with God has been something truly beautiful.

Forever change, forever change, forever change, forever change, forever change.

Were you nervous to tell your co-workers about Jesus or the Ellen?

I was nervous, but it was much more about not wanting to come across as judgmental because that's not what the gospel is to me.

I didn't want to share that aspect of.

So what changed?

I saw God work through simple prayers before my shifts.

I saw people begin to ask me questions about what it meant to follow God, what it meant to know Jesus.

And after seeing that, I started to wonder what would happen if I started acting with some intentionality behind.

And he told Josh Thomas, our young adult pastor, that he wanted to start the Lupe revival.

He invited two of his co-workers from Lupe to our church.

Both of them gave their lives to Jesus.

It all started though with a guy named Nate, who grew up at our church.

He was hesitant, he was eager, and he was churched.

He'd invited some people previously and really got no response, and so that's why he thought, well, maybe I'll just pray.

God, would you use me?

And now what God has done has spilled over the walls of Texas Roadhouse.

It's going into other businesses, other families, other relationships.

All simply because one guy said, Hey, y'all want to go to church with me?

What does God want to do through your Texas Roadhouse area of influence?

What is your business that God desires to use you?

What is your street that God wants you to own?

Through prayer, through sharing, through serving.

What is your classroom that God says I got more for you than just that grade?

What does God want to do in and through you?

Let me just tell you something.

I want so badly for lost people to matter here at United City Church, but the only way that's going to take place is if lost people matter to you.

What God is doing in our young adult ministry is something that is just truly of Him.

And that's what happens.

When we position our hearts towards the things of God, He gladly answers those prayers.

Some of you, your story is you've heard it all service, lost people matter.

Here's what that means you matter.

You may not have called yourself that whenever you walked in, but you know now that you're hearing it described, oh, that's totally me, I'm lost.

Like you can see it.

You're over here on the outside looking in.

And maybe it's appealing to you, and maybe you want to be a part of it.

And can I please tell you the entire point of this message has been for this exact moment so that you, the one who is lost, can know how to be found.

What I want you to know is that God doesn't look at you in your lostness and just simply say, Man, you got to try harder, you got to do more, you got to work harder.

He looks at you in your lostness and he says, I've got somebody that I'm gonna send on a rescue mission for you.

He sent his one and only son, Jesus Christ, he died on a cross.

The Bible says that he rose from the dead, and he now offers not to pay you back, but instead to give you his grace and his mercy as a gift that he invites you to receive.

If today you are lost and you want to be found, you want to know Jesus.

I'm gonna invite you right in the quietness of where you are, just to simply repeat a prayer with me that can forever change your life.

Just pray these words, dear God, I am lost.

And I want to be found.

I believe that you died on a cross for me.

I believe that you rose from the dead, and right now, I receive your gift of eternal life.

Thank you for saving me, for changing me, for finding me.

It's in the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

Would you look up here?

Just a moment.

We're all gonna stand up.

Nobody's gonna leave, and the warriors are gonna put on their battle gear because we're about to fight.

And so, what I'm gonna ask is that if you're here today and you just prayed that prayer of faith with me, what I want you to do is I want you to come forward.

If you're in the balcony, we're gonna have some people at the bottom of these steps.

If you're in front, you can come all the way up to the front.

And here's what I'm gonna ask you to do: just come and simply say, I gave my life to Jesus.

We'll take it over from there.

Some of you may be like, man, I want to go, but I just feel like I'm nervous.

Just grab the person next to you.

I promise you they'll be glad to go with you.

Some of you, maybe your story is you want to join United City Church.

I just need you to know we are not a country club trying to serve our members.

We instead are a masked unit that takes care of the wounded as we are on fire, headed to where God is leading us to go on mission.

If God's calling you to be a part of a church like that, you come.

You lead the way today.

Others of you need to be baptized, like the one we just saw.

You come and give, give your, come and let us schedule your baptism, and we'll love the opportunity to be able to leverage and to use that as a way to reach your friends for Jesus.

Maybe some of you need prayer today.

You need prayer because you're one, it's heavy on your heart.

You need courage, you need boldness, you need confidence.

Maybe you've got a need, a physical need, a spiritual need, a financial need, whatever your needs are.

Just know we would love nothing more.

And the privilege and the opportunity to pray for you.

Father, I pray you'd move in boldness in these moments.

Thank you for the life-changing decisions that will be made in these moments.

For the fact that you are leading people to yourself.

It's in the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

We can't wait to see you next week for any of our services at 8 30, 10, 11 30, or Espignol at 1 o'clock.