Encounter God in the Every Day Things | Chris Lovell

Well, my name is Chris Lovell.

I'm the headmen's basketball coach at East Texas Baptist University.

And when I'm not on the court speaking, I mean teaching and yelling at kids to do what I need them to do.

I get to travel the country and speak to students.

And I've been with your students this weekend at Encounter Weekend.

It's been a great weekend.

So thankful to be here with all that God has done there.

But your pastor and I have been friends for a very long time.

And I appreciate Chris having me this morning to be here to challenge you, to let you in a little bit on Encounter Weekend, but also to let you experience kind of what God has been doing in the lives of your students and I believe what he wants to do in your life this morning.

And so this morning, with all that being said, I'm honored to be here and I'm ready to dive in.

So if you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it and open it up to the book of Acts.

We'll be in the book of Acts this morning in chapter five, and you can just find your place, put your finger there, and we'll get there in just a minute.

But this morning, what we want to talk about as you're finding your place in the Bible, what we want to talk about is what does it mean to encounter God in the daily things?

What does it mean every day to live your life on mission for the kingdom of God?

And what does that look like?

You know, I have a friend, and my friend, uh, he's six foot nine, and uh he was roommates with Charles Barclay at Auburn University.

And my friend came to faith after college, and every morning before he leaves to go to work and to be about the things that God has called him to be in his day, he puts both of his hands, I can just see him because he's a giant man.

He put both of his hands on the door frame of his house that leads to the outside.

And he says, God, I'm about to walk out of these doors today.

He does this every day.

And he says, I pray everyone I encounter, every conversation that I have, every coworker that needs encouragement and prayer, for those I will see that do not know you, that need to know you, dear God, would you use me today to impact them for your kingdom?

Because I'm not just going to work to get paid.

I'm going to work for you because I am on mission today.

And he walks out the door and he goes about his business.

He believes his sole purpose on this earth is to share his faith with everyone he comes in contact.

I've seen him shut down a subway sandwich shop before.

I've seen it.

I've seen him back up a toll way, sharing with the person that he's paying the toll to try and share his faith with the person, taking the toll.

I've seen it with my own eyes.

But he believes his mission every day is to live out the gospel and express that to people who do not know the Lord in hopes that they would get a glimpse through the way that he lives of how great God is and what they can, what God can be in their lives as well.

And so I'm gonna make a statement this morning as we jump into it, as we live out our purpose and we live out our mission for God.

Let me just make a statement that almost all of you would probably agree with.

We are no more by what we do versus than what we say.

We are no more by how we live versus what we say about ourselves.

Are you with me?

If I'm here this morning, and I am here, by the way, and I said Michael Jordan, you would think great basketball player.

Why?

It's what he did.

If I walked in here today and I'm here and I said Tiger Woods, you would think great golfer.

Why?

Because that's what he did.

For some of you others in the room that maybe don't associate with sports, if I walked in the room today and I said Billy Graham, you would think greatest evangelist of all time, maybe, right?

We are known by what we do.

We are known by how we live.

If you live a life of generosity and people say, hey, what about that guy?

Like, bro, that's the most generous guy I've ever met in my life.

You encounter someone who really loves Jesus, and you ask someone about that person, and that person goes, You don't understand.

That guy right there loves Jesus.

How many of y'all have ever heard that about people?

You're known by how you live.

Much more than what you will ever say.

And this morning in the book of Acts in chapter five, we're gonna look at a story about what it means to encounter God in the daily things, to be on mission, living out your purpose for Him in every conversation with every coworker, with those that you encounter, with your family members, with those that don't know Christ, whatever the case may be, that we are on mission.

So let me give you a little background before we jump into it.

Now, in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, these are the gospels of Jesus Christ.

They are the eyewitness accounts of Jesus' life, right?

We know this.

And in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we see in this eyewitness accounts of Jesus' life that he came, he was born of a virgin, that he had an earthly ministry, that he had followers.

We know this.

It's all documented in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

We know that God sent him here on a mission, which was to what?

Die for the sins of the world.

And so we see documented in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus go to the cross, be nailed to the cross, and die for the sins of the world, so that those who would believe in his death, burial, and resurrection, they don't have to perish in a place called hell, but that they can be forgiven of their sins as they enter into a committed relationship with Jesus.

And that is what guarantees them heaven one day.

This is what's documented in the Gospels.

We see that after Jesus was crucified, that he was put in a tomb three days later.

We see the evidence that Jesus rose from the dead, not just dying for our sins, but overcoming our sins.

Are you with me?

But we also see that there's this point when the disciples are sitting at a table having a meal, and Jesus shows up for the first time in his resurrected state.

Now, the disciples had not seen Jesus since he had been crucified, since they'd seen the body put in the tomb.

And so they're sitting there at the table.

And in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they document this encounter where Jesus shows up and the disciples are terrified.

And it says that even some of them doubted if it was really him.

And so one of the disciples stands up and he says, Jesus, if this is really you, allow me to touch the holes in your hands where they nailed you to the cross.

Allow me to touch the spear hole in your side of your body where they stabbed you when they took you off the cross to drain your fluids to make sure you were dead.

And Jesus allowed them to touch the wounds in his hands where he was crucified and the spear hole in his side.

And it says that in that moment the disciples fell to their knees and they worshiped Jesus and said, Truly, he is the Son of God.

And we know that Jesus hung out with his disciples after he raised from the dead.

We know that he was with them and about their business, but then there came a time at the end of Matthew, at the end of Mark, if you read your Bible, when it's time for Jesus to go sit and ascend and be with his father in heaven.

And he calls his disciples together in probably the greatest team huddle of all time.

He gets his players together in this huddle, much like a coach would get his players together before, the biggest game of the year, but this is bigger than that.

And he gathers his disciples together, and he says this at the end of Matthew and at the end of Luke, he says, It is now time for me to go sit with the right hand throne of God, and then he tells them what they need to be about.

He tells them what their mission is, he he shows them what their purpose should be.

And what does he say to them?

We know it as the great commission.

He said, Go ye into all the world.

And he said, Preach the gospel, make disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I've commanded unto you.

And he says, And surely I will be with you till the very end of the age.

And in that moment, Jesus ascends to heaven to sit at the right hand throne of God.

Now watch this.

And here is his team.

Here are his disciples, and they have a decision to make.

The same decision that you and I have to make every day as Christ's followers.

Are we gonna act on the instructions of Jesus or are we gonna do whatever we want to do?

As we turn the pages out of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the next book over in the New Testament is the book of Acts.

And this is where the disciples acted on the instructions of Jesus.

And so what do we see at the beginning in chapters 1 through 4 in the book of Acts?

We see the apostles go out, and what are they doing?

Preaching, teaching, baptizing, making disciples, right?

And God is with them.

The Holy Spirit is falling in place.

Watch this.

Thousands of people are giving their lives to Jesus, repenting of their old life, wanting a new life.

They're baptizing all these people in the river and publicly, thousands at a time.

And so the government in the Sanhedrin, if you will, the government at the time, they're offended by this movement.

They don't understand this movement.

They've never seen anything like this.

They knew of this Jesus, but they thought he was just a man.

Yet thousands of people are surrendering their lives to him and they're being changed and they're being baptized.

And so they're trying to calm the movement down.

And so they go out and they're scared a little bit because the apostles they had the favor of the people.

The people loved their message.

They loved what was going on.

God was moving.

And so they had to be real careful how they dealt with them.

And so they went out in the night and they gathered up the apostles and they brought them in.

And they said, Hey, look, man, we don't want to make a big deal out of this.

But we're going to let you go.

But we need you to stop talking about Jesus.

This is at the beginning of chapter five.

And it says they let them go and watch this.

The next day, they were out in the temple courts in the public places proclaiming that Jesus was the Christ.

And so here they are.

And the Sanhedrin is, they're angry.

And they want to put them to death.

And so they go arrest them and they bring them back in before the courts.

And this is where we pick up the story.

In verse 29 of chapter 5.

They bring them before the courts, and I'll just give you a little something before we start reading verse 29.

And it says in verse 28, it says, We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name.

Look at what else it says.

You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you're determined to make us guilty of this man's blood, talking about Jesus.

And I want you guys to see this morning how they responded to the government that had the right to put them to death right there.

Look at what they said in verse 29.

Peter and the other apostles, they replied to the Sanhedrin and they said, We must obey our God rather than men.

They said, The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.

God exalted him to his own right hand as prince and savior, that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey and follow him.

If you're gonna be on mission for Jesus, if you're gonna be wanting to encounter him in your in the daily things as you go about work and encounter family members and everything else, we have got to learn, point number one this morning, to be bold in our convictions.

We've got to learn to be bold.

Here the apostles are facing death in the eye, already been told not to do this or this was gonna happen.

They get brought in and they look them in the eye and say, we must obey our God rather than men.

Why did they say that?

They were so convinced that Jesus was real.

How can I say that?

Because they were the eyewitnesses to Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.

They were the eyewitnesses of Jesus moving and saving lives.

And by the way, I am an eyewitness of Jesus saving my life.

And if you know God, you are an eyewitness of how He saved you.

Therefore, we should be bold in our convictions.

What are you bold about this morning?

You're bold about your favorite football team.

The Houston Texans.

You might be bold about the color of paint in the living room.

Mom?

You may be bold about making your kids clean their room.

What a sad thing to say that we're more bold about those kind of things than we are about the God that saved us.

I was a youth pastor for 18 years before God called me into full-time coaching and evangelism.

And as a young youth pastor, I got up one morning.

There's a day every year that's been going on for a long, long time where students gather at their schools and they pray for their schools.

It's called See at the Pole.

Many of y'all have probably experienced that, participated in it.

I'll never forget I got this one morning as a young youth pastor, and I drove over to Houston Middle School in Germantown, Tennessee, where I was serving.

And I remember they wouldn't let me on campus because it had to be student-led, had to be student-initiated.

I couldn't be there leading things or encouraging things.

So I had to stand across the street from the school.

And so I drive up and I had my video camera.

I was going to video what was going on across the street when the students, those middle school students went out to pray for their middle school.

And then sure enough, about the time that it came for them to go out to the flagpole came a downpour.

It was just raining, just pouring, cats and dogs.

And you would think, well, just go to the gym.

Well, there's no flagpole in the gym.

At least I haven't seen one, and I'm a coach.

And so I stand there and I'm watching as it's pouring down rain through the window of my car, and in the front of Houston Middle School are nothing but glass doors from top to bottom.

And about the time that it was time for them to go out and to start praying, I could see all the students.

There was a bunch of them gathered up outside the glass doors on the inside, looking out toward the outside where the fly pole was in the pouring down rain.

And I could see them thinking, I just did my hair.

I just got dressed.

I'm gonna be soaked all day.

My shoes and socks are gonna be wet.

My makeup is gonna run.

I can see them contemplating whether or not they should go out there.

Because it certainly wasn't convenient.

And as I stood there, no one pushed the door open.

Until about 10 minutes later, one of the glass doors opened, and one little seventh-grade girl emerged out of the crowd and walked in the pouring-down rain with no umbrella, got down on her knees before that flagpole, and she prayed for her school, and she prayed for her classmates, and she prayed for her teammates that they would know Jesus.

And that morning, a seventh-grade little girl taught me an incredible lesson.

And she was bold in her convictions about what she needed to do that morning.

Even if her friends didn't join her.

And as she sat there and prayed in the pouring down rain at that flagpole, all of her friends watched her through the windows.

What about you?

I mean, it's easy to be bold when it's easy.

It's easy to be bold when it's convenient.

But are you bold when it's messy?

Are you bold when it may not be a popular thing to do?

Are you bold when the conversation is going this way?

Are you bold enough to see it through?

What about you?

The apostles, they were bold in their convictions so much that they didn't care what the government thought.

And by the way, if they got put to death, so be it.

But I want you to see what happens in this passage.

You know what's crazy?

When we're bold in our convictions about our God, a lost world, a world that doesn't know Jesus, they take notice.

Oh, they recognize.

In fact, I want to show you what happens in this story.

There's a guy there that's not a believer in Jesus that saw what was going on.

Look at what it says here in verse 33.

And we talk about the Sanhedrin.

It says, when they heard this, they were furious and wanted to what?

Put him to death.

They didn't want to tell him to stop talking about him anymore.

They wanted to kill him.

And look at what happens here.

But a Pharisee, a Pharisee is a person that kept a lot of rules of the law but had no relationship with God.

Just to clarify.

But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was honored by the people, he stood up in the Sanhedrin.

He ordered that the men be put outside for a minute.

So here comes an unbeliever standing up for the believers.

Check this out.

Look at what Gameliel had to say to the government about these men.

Then he addressed them and he said, Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do with these men.

Verse 36.

Some time ago he gives them some examples.

Thetis appeared, claiming to be someone, and about 400 men rallied to him.

He was killed, and his followers were dispersed, and it came to be nothing.

Then he gave them another example.

Look at this.

He said, After him in verse 37, Judas the Galilean appeared in the day of the census and led a band of people in revolt.

He too was killed, and his followers were scattered.

Now look at his advice to the Sanhedrin, someone who doesn't believe what they believe.

Verse 38, therefore, in this present case, I advise you, leave these men alone.

Let them go.

For if their purpose, if their mission or activity is of human origin, it will fail.

He says, but if their mission or purpose is from the one true God, you will not be able to stop these men.

You will only find yourselves fighting against yourselves.

See, we don't understand that when we take a stand and we're bold in our convictions that the world takes notice.

And you will be surprised who will stand up on your behalf.

You will be surprised who gets your back.

Are you bold in your convictions?

The second thing I want you to write down this morning is are you courageous in your actions?

Not only are you bold in your convictions, but are you courageous in how you live?

I want you to see what happens here in verse 40.

Gamelliel's speech, it says in verse 40, persuaded the Sanhedrin.

They called the apostles in and they had them flogged.

Then they ordered them never to speak in the name of Jesus again and they let them go.

Now I don't want you to miss this.

Yeah, they got off the hook.

But they brought them in and they had them flogged, but I want you to understand what a flogging is.

They didn't bring them in and go, hey man, just don't do that again.

See, bro.

No, no, no.

They brought them in and they would lay them over a rock, a boulder, a big structure that they had built.

They would lay them over this and they would pull the robes off and expose their backside bare.

And then the soldiers would come in.

This is what a flogging is, and they take a whip, and in the ends of the tails of the whip are shards of metal and glass.

And they take this whip and they throw it on your bare back and they literally rip your back off.

They rip the flesh off your back to the point of death.

This is exactly what they did to Jesus before he carried his cross to be crucified.

And then on top of ripping all the flesh off their back.

Until they're almost to the point of death.

Then they're so kind.

They go back and they put the robes back upon their flesh open wounds with blood and everything pouring out.

And as that robe adheres to it, they have to take it off at some point as a reminder of what they just experienced in the future.

And then they look at them and they say, Don't ever talk about this dude again, and they let him go.

Sometimes someone not agreeing with us shuts us down.

Sometimes someone having a different viewpoint than us makes us cower.

But these guys, they were courageous in how they live.

What are you willing to suffer for?

What are you willing to suffer for as you live?

My accountability partner is a Marine.

And he's retired now.

He used to, very high-ranking official, and he used to fly the attack Cobra helicopters for the Marines.

And they have rules about what you can talk about and what you can't talk about when it comes to your faith and God and those kind of things.

And as he leads those under his command.

I said, Are you frustrated that you can't like talk about this or that or the other in certain situations and so forth?

And he looked at me and he grinned.

And he said, No.

He said, It doesn't frustrate me at all because I get to live it out every day in front of them.

And that's the opportunity we all have.

As we are being bold in our convictions, we have the opportunity to live out our faith every day in front of people that don't know God, whether it's your family, whether it's your kids, whether it's your co-workers, whether it's people on your team, we have that opportunity.

And the last thing I want you to see, not only are we to be bold in our convictions, courageous in our actions, but then thirdly, we need to be relentless in our pursuit of our God.

We need to be relentless in the pursuit of our God.

I want you to see how relentless the apostles were.

Ready?

I want you to see their response to being flogged and told never to speak in this name again.

I want you to see if the words and the actions and the suffering shut them down or not.

I just want you to see.

Let's look at this together in verse 41.

And the apostles, they left the Sanhedrin that day rejoicing.

Are you kidding me?

We've been going all my back.

Oh man, that hurt.

They left the Sanhedrin that day rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name.

And watch this.

Do you think it shut them down?

Verse 42.

My favorite part.

And day after day in the temple courts.

That's the public places.

And watch this.

In the temple courts, and from house to house, those are the private places.

They never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

Man, let me tell you something.

That's what it looks like to relentlessly pursue your God.

Nothing could shut them down.

They were all about it.

I'll give you an example of relentless this morning quickly before I close.

Well, my daughter, I have a daughter, and she's a sophomore in high school going on about 21.

When she was eight, it was really hard to take her into any kind of store.

Whether it was CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, it don't matter.

Any store.

We go in that store, she grabbed my sleeve.

Dad, Dad, I really need this.

Dad, I really want that.

Dad.

And I'd say, baby, we're not here to do that.

We're just going to grab a couple things and get out of here real quick.

Some of y'all are shaking your head.

Guess what?

Two more steps down the aisle.

Dad, you don't understand.

I really want that.

Dad, can I have that?

And she never let up.

Until finally, I was like, just get it.

Because I just wanted her to leave me alone.

How sad is it that we are not more relentless than an eight-year-old when it comes to the things of God that just she just wanted a toy.

Relentless.

See, I'm convinced that revival never comes from a great worship set.

No offense, guys.

I'm convinced revival never comes from a great sermon.

I am convinced that revival comes to churches when their members start living out their mission.

And they're bold in their convictions.

And they're courageous in how they live it out.

And they are relentless in the pursuit of their God.

This morning I just want to close with this with this question.

What has your faith caused you to do lately?

What has your faith caused you to do lately?

When I was in college, I know you'll be shocked by this, I was a college basketball player.

And uh when I got to college, uh, my university in Louisiana thought it would be a great experiment to put two basketball players rooming with two baseball players, two totally different kinds of people.

Now we won't get into that.

If you know, you know.

And so I'd never forget my freshman year walking in to that apartment and meeting my two baseball roommates.

I already knew my basketball roommate.

I had the first baseman on the baseball team and the second baseman.

And the second baseman on our baseball team, he was a great guy.

His name was Chris, just like mine.

And he was like a great hangout guy.

You know what I'm saying?

Y'all have friends like that?

He was fun, man.

He was the guy you wanted to run to the border and Taco Bell with at midnight.

You know, he was the guy that you wanted to go play video games with.

He was the guy that you wanted to talk around and talk about stuff and laugh.

He was funny, man.

Great dude.

Love this guy, man.

He was a good baseball player.

But he had no clue about God.

And I'd given my life to Christ in high school and committed my life to serve God and all that I do.

And here I am.

And while I'm playing college basketball, I'm interning at my church down the road as I try to get experience for what God has for me next.

And I'll never forget, I'd come in from practice, I'd take a quick shower, I'd be running out the door on a Wednesday night to help my youth pastor with the students on Wednesday night church.

And Chris be sitting there playing video games on the couch, right?

He's like, bro, where are you going?

I'm like, bro, I'm running up to the church to help my youth pastor.

It's Wednesday night.

He's like, oh, that's kind of like God thing, right?

And I'm like, yeah, kind of like that.

I was like, bro, you want to go?

He's like, bro, I don't do God.

I didn't think anything of it.

I was like, cool, man.

I'll see you later.

We'll get a pizza.

I just ran off.

Sunday morning rolls around, and I get up, and it, you know, it's Sunday morning.

That means, you know, I'm going to church.

And he's hung over on the couch from the night before.

He's like, bro, where are you going?

You're making so much noise.

And I looked at him and I said, bro, it's Sunday.

He's like, oh.

I said, I'm going to church.

He's like, oh, God.

I said, yeah, God.

I said, bro, you want to go?

He's like, nah, man, I don't do God.

Over the course of that year, I was in my room one night reading the Bible, and you know, roommates never knock.

Y'all know that, right?

He bust in my door, and I'm reading the Bible.

He's like, bro, what you doing?

I'm like, bro, I'm reading the Bible.

He's like, what's a Bible?

I said, it's like God's word.

He goes, Oh, that's kind of like church stuff.

I'm like, yeah, kinda.

I was like, you want me to get you one?

He's like, no, man, I'll do that.

We just had these encounters.

Just living life encounters.

And I got really convicted and I started praying hard for Chris.

That he would come to faith in Jesus, that he could experience the freedom, the salvation, the joy of the relationship in a future in heaven one day because I didn't want him to spend forever in hell.

He was my friend.

I remember taking him to Starbucks.

I don't even drink coffee.

I don't even like it.

I just drank a water.

I just got a hot chocolate to make him feel comfortable.

I remember I sat there and I told him my story about how God saved my life and how I don't live the same way as I used to live because of my relationship with God.

And he looked at me, y'all, listen.

And he wasn't mad at me for telling him that.

He was my friend.

He looked at me and he said, Man, I'm so glad that happened for you.

He was genuinely glad that I knew God and had a relationship with God.

So man, my freshman year ends and no movement with Chris.

Just encounters.

And I just continued to pray that God would move.

My sophomore year rolls around.

We all decide to room together again.

I guess the experiment worked.

He knew my routine.

And in the fall of that year, a couple months into the semester, my youth pastor called me and said, Hey, Chris, there's a revival going on for students in Shreeport, Louisiana.

He said, Could you come down here and just be available to counsel the kids that are going to give their lives to Christ and just pray with them, encourage them?

I was like, Absolutely.

So on a Thursday night, wasn't a Wednesday, wasn't a Sunday.

I'm running out the door.

Chris sitting on the couch.

I said, bro, where are you going?

I said, and I told him the whole deal.

I said, so I'm going to help these kids accept Christ.

I'm going to encourage them.

I'm going to do all this.

And he looked at me and he said, Hey man, can I go with you?

I'm like, what?

He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think I want to go.

Like, oh wow.

Man, my heart started just pounding inside my chest.

Because I've been praying for a year and a half for my roommate.

And I'm not going to lie, we threw our hats on backwards, baggy basketball shorts, a t-shirt.

We jumped in my truck and we started rolling in my 5.0 with my ragtop down so my hair can't blow.

And we're rolling in Streepport, Louisiana, headed to this church.

And I had a little Christian wrap on.

I turned it up.

I'm like, we're going to get them now, God.

I mean, I'm fired up, man.

This is the moment of truth.

This is what I've been waiting for.

When we get to the church, we're late, right?

Typical college kids.

Sit in the back.

And there was some speaker on the stage.

I don't know who he was.

I wish I did.

But he was up there presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And he got to the end.

And y'all know what's coming, right?

He got to the end.

And I'm like, oh yeah, here we go.

And he's like, I want everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes.

So I bowed my head and I closed my eyes.

And he said something like this.

He said, Some of you are in this room tonight, and you have not entered into a committed relationship with Jesus.

And if you want to tonight, I want you to raise your hand in just a moment.

Boy, y'all know what I started doing?

I was peeking.

You know I was peeking, right?

I see y'all out there peeking.

It's okay.

All right.

So I'm peeking.

I'm just waiting to see what my roommate's gonna do.

And y'all, he ain't moving.

He's not moving at all.

And so I start to get a little discouraged.

Are you with me?

I'm like, so I start talking to him.

I'm like, God, come on, God.

Year and a half.

Come on, God, like God needs a pep talk from me, right?

Then sure enough, that speaker said something I'll never forget.

He said, Some of you are in this room tonight, and you brought a friend that you've been praying for for a really long time.

I'm like, oh, here we go.

Shouldn't have had the pep talk.

And he said, in fact, that friend's probably sitting right by you.

He said, A real friend will just lean over and go, hey man, if you need to commit your life to God, I'll go with you.

I was down for that.

A little nervous, but I remember I raised my head up and I looked at him and he looked at me.

Didn't have to say a word.

We were down that aisle.

We got down that aisle.

Listen.

We got down that aisle and he's broken.

He's broken over his sin.

He is broken of his lostness.

He understands he needs something different and a savior.

And he's like doing the ugly cry, just messed up.

And my youth pastor standing right there, and he knew I'd been praying for my roommate.

And he said, Chris, Lovell, why don't you take your roommate Chris backstage and lead him to Christ?

We go backstage, two metal folding chairs, puddle of tears under him because he's doing the ugly cry.

And I got to leave my roommate to Christ.

I want to tell y'all something.

People ask me, how do you know that it really took?

How do you know?

Was he when he woke up the next morning?

Was he perfect?

Like, nah, he wasn't perfect.

But by the way, neither am I.

But how did I know?

Because on Wednesday night, when it was time for me to go help my youth pastor, he was sitting on the couch waiting on me to go with me.

How do I know?

Because on Sunday mornings when I would get up to go to church, he was dressed before I was ready to go to church.

How do I know?

Because he came to my room and said, Hey man, can you go get me a Bible?

How do I know?

Because he started coming to my room late at night and go, hey man, I've been reading this in the Bible and I don't quite understand it.

Can you explain it to me?

How do I know?

Because the evidence of a changed life was there.

Because people who don't know God don't act like that.

And Chris is a uh 40-something year old living in Melothian, Texas, a deacon in his church and loving Jesus like never before.

And it all started in an apartment.

And I just want to say something to y'all this morning.

You're living your life in front of someone.

Are you bold?

Are you courageous?

And are you relentless?

I'm gonna ask you just to bow your heads and close your eyes.

Y'all know what's coming.

But here in a moment, I'm gonna pray.

And after I pray, I want to give you an opportunity to do what my roommate did.

I want to give you an opportunity if you're in this room and you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you're not in a committed relationship with him.

Maybe you've been thinking about it, maybe you've been pondering it, maybe you've been putting it off.

I don't know.

But here in a moment, after I pray, if you say, Hey, I don't have that relationship with Jesus, but I want it, here in a minute after I pray and the music begins to play, I would ask you, our team is going to be standing all over the room.

Right in front of the aisles, up front, and right there close to the risers where the platforms are.

And if you need to commit your life to Jesus like my roommate, like I did, like my roommate did, then this morning don't put it off another second.

But I would ask you just to come down and tell them, hey, I need to commit my life to Christ, and they're gonna pray with you and help you do that so you can walk out of here knowing that you're in a relationship with Jesus and your destination is heaven.

But there's also some of you in this place that need to commit to be baptized.

You witnessed baptism this morning, and some of y'all are believers, and you've been putting off believers' baptism.

And maybe this morning you would just walk to someone on one of these aisles and say, Hey, I just need to commit to be signed up to be baptized.

Can you help me with that?

And they would love to help you with that.

But then I also believe there are many of us in this room who are just like me, living life in front of a coworker, living life in front of a family member, living life in front of a son and daughter that doesn't know Jesus, a teammate.

And this morning you're burdened for them, and you want God to use you in a way to make them curious about his love.

And if you need prayer this morning for someone in your life that doesn't need, that doesn't know Christ, after I pray, I'm gonna ask you just to simply walk to one of our team members and say, Hey, could you pray with me for my son?

Could you pray for me that God would use me in the life of my business partner?

Whatever it is.

And so I'm gonna pray now.

And then after I pray, I'm gonna ask you just to stand to your feet as the music begins.

And if you need to make a decision this morning or you need prayer for someone in your life that you love, I would ask you just to move and do whatever God's telling you to do.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you for this morning and for your word.

The Lord, may we live on mission every day so that we can encounter you and all the daily things that are before us.

That if there's anyone in this room that's like my roommate that was like I was, that doesn't know you as Lord and Savior, dear God, I pray that they would simply here in a moment just walk up and say, Man, it's time.

I'm ready to commit my life to Christ.

And Lord, I pray they would do that now.

Do I pray for those in this place that maybe need to commit to be baptized, that they walk up to one of our teammates and man, sign me up.

I want to proclaim to the world who I belong to and who I'm gonna live for.

I pray for those in this room that aren't right with you, dear God, that they get right with you.

Do I pray for those in this room that have a family member, a loved one, a coworker that doesn't know Jesus, dear Lord, that they're concerned about, that they would move and get prayer for that person and get prayer for themselves, that God would use them to be bold and courageous and relentless in their lives.

And so, dear Lord, we pray in the power of your name that we would not worry about the crowd that's in the room, but we would only worry about the souls of those that you love, dear God.

I pray that you would save lives.

I pray that you would change destinations.

And I pray for the people in our lives that don't know you that you would use us on mission every day to point them towards you.

And it's in your name that we 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, 1130, or Espanol at one o'clock.