GOOD NEWS Shoes // Pastor Ben Norvig

I am so excited about the message that's

going to be coming. Uh I got I got a

buddy uh for a long time and he's been a

uh throughout my life he's been a a role

model guy that I looked up to when he

was at the college and I lived across

the street and then uh when he would

preach while I'm a student at the

college. I remember specific times that

he would come into chapel at Nebraska

Christian College and messages that he

would speak and statements that he would

say and conviction that I felt and uh

and and now we get a partner in co-

labor for the sake of the kingdom in the

same city in Omaha, Nebraska. We've got

a church planter. We've got a youth

pastor. We got a man of God on our

hands. Guys, I know that you will your

heart will be touched by his story and

your life and those around you are ready

to be transformed by this message. Can

we give a hand of expectation, of

gratitude, and of honor for Pastor Ben

Norvig. Come on

ah collective, it is good to be with

you, man. Drew, I just love you. Can Can

you guys put your hands together for

your pastor? Pastor Drew

and Morgan, his wife. Oh my goodness.

Still one of the most beautiful voices

that I think I've ever heard. Morgan,

seriously. Oh, man. Just unbelievably

the way that you have stewarded God's

anointing on your life, both of you. Uh,

the way that your marriage has reflected

Jesus in every way. And it is an honor

and a privilege to be with you guys

today. And it is funny. I was thinking

about this. I was like, "Man, I've known

Drew for over 20 years." And I mean,

like, that's that's wild. I knew him

when he was when he was younger, when he

was little, like when he was just

running around. I've watched him just

grow up and pursue pursue the Lord. I've

watched him uh in youth ministry. We got

a chance to do some youth ministry

together. And here's the thing, I might

be pushing 50, but y'all, I can act like

I'm 14 on any given point in time. And

like, here's the thing. If you don't

believe me, man, for the parents in the

room, come to one tonight. You'll see.

You'll see. If you don't know what one

is, man, I can can I just tell you, one

is a citywide gathering of youth around

our city. It started uh several years

ago, and it started off with there were

probably less than a thousand students

that rolled in. But man, there God is

doing an incredible work here in the

city of Omaha. That's where one comes

from. It's O, Ne, Omaha, Nebraska. It's

the next generation. Last year, we

rented out the Rston Arena and saw

almost 4,000 students show up. So, we're

like, man, you're right. We got no more

room. And so, it was like, okay, let's

where else can we go? And so, this year,

it's at the CHI Health Arena. Um, we're

not in the arena yet. We're just in the

conference rooms, but here's the thing.

We're believing in faith that we'll pack

that thing with 5,000 plus students who

are on fire for the Lord, who want to

pray for one another, who want to be

spurt up. My favorite thing about one is

there's these moments where like kids

from different youth. So there'll be a

kid from collective that goes to like

Millard North, right? And then there'll

be a kid from Love Church that goes to

Millard North and they'll look at each

other and be like, "WAIT, YOU LOVE

JESUS, TOO?"

>> And all the, "Hey, we should do

something together here at Millard

North." And suddenly what happens is

this prayer group start, Bible studies

start. There's just this incredible

thing that happens. And man, I'm just

telling you, God is in the move of the

next generation. So man, parents, can I

just say thank you for your investment

in your students? Um, and for those of

you that have kids, hey, there is road

being paved, there is trees being

knocked down, and there is trails being

blazed for your kids to follow. Man, I'm

telling you, God is doing great things.

In case you don't know, I'm pretty

excited about the next generation.

Uh, as Drew mentioned, I'm the next

generation pastor over at Love Church.

Um, and it's a privilege. It's so funny

um because I I hear you guys are about

to turn five years old.

>> FIVE. COME ON COLLECTIVE. Five years old

now. Uh Love Church actually launched in

2009

way way back in 2009. Started in Keywit

Middle School and then spent about 10

years in this very auditorium. And so

man, I just I'm like

it's okay. It's cool. Cool. God is good.

He just brings everything full circle.

And so, um, man, before I jump into the

word, can I just tell you a little bit

about myself? Um, just so that you I

just feel like sometimes when you know

the person, it makes it a little easier

to hear because right now you're like,

"That is stranger danger as far as I

know." Um, but man, uh, my name is Ben

Norvig. Uh, I'm 49 years old. I grew up

in North Omaha. Uh, I'm a proud Viking,

right? Any Vikings in the house? Omaha

North. Okay, one of you. Awesome. It's

my brother. Oh, too. Okay, there we go.

Hey, I like it. All right. So, I'm I'm a

Viking and uh man, just God has done

incredible things. Uh I actually played

baseball in college at the University of

Nebraska at Carney. Uh but along the way

learned that you can't get drunk without

the UNK and lost my baseball scholarship

about three semesters in. Um so, here's

the thing. Um man, I'm I'm an ex Viking.

I'm an ex- baseball player and I'm also

an ex- sinner because of Jesus Christ.

>> Can we testify to that?

Now, I I want to I want to be real clear

with that language. You heard me say,

"I'm an ex-sinner." And you're like,

"Oh, so you don't sin no more?" No, I

do. I still sin. But that no longer is

my identity.

>> You see, before I walked around in my

identity as a sinner. In fact,

oftentimes, right, we walk around as

like it's a proud point for us, man. The

things that we do that are against the

Lord. Our rebellion is actually

something that we're like, "Woo, man. I

remember being in high school talking

about, man, oh, I got with this girl and

that girl and what I'm doing is I'm

sitting there bragging about the fact

that I'm in sexual immorality and I

didn't know,

man, I was a sinner, but I'm not defined

by that anymore. I am a follower of

Jesus Christ through and through and to

the glory of God, not through my own

effort, my own works, or anything other

than him. And so, while I may sin, I

will no longer be defined by that.

>> I am an ex-sinner, as are you. Amen.

>> That's what I like to hear. Okay. Um,

let's see. Oh, yeah. Drew mentioned uh

so I went to Bible college uh in uh

2004. Uh I was 28. Everybody else was

18. Cool, cool, cool. No doubt. No

doubt. No doubt. Um somehow someway I be

got voted in as student body president

like two years in. Don't know how that

happened. Hey, let's let the old guy

like lead the student body. Um but then

uh went on to plant a church called the

Acts 2 Church in Greta, Nebraska, where

I was the lead pastor there for nine

years uh before the Lord decided to to

move me on into uh he stepped me up into

youth ministry uh with Youth for Christ

and with Love Church. I've been doing

that for the past nine years. Um the

part that I'm really excited to get to

is I have three incredible, amazing,

beautiful daughters.

Faith is 23. Hope is 20 and Grace is 17.

Man, I just I love them so incredibly

dearly. Um, it is a privilege and an

honor to be called your dad. I don't

know how I got so lucky.

Seriously, remember that next time I'm

hollering at you. So, like, but um the

last part of my story that I want to

invite you into today is this. Um, 11

years ago next month, uh, I lost my

wife. I I lost her suddenly and

unexpectedly. The girls lost their mom.

They were 13, nine and six at the time.

Um she passed away in her sleep. Uh we I

went to bed. I kissed her. I said, "Good

night, Heather. I love you." Woke up the

next morning. She had passed away

somewhere in the night. Had stopped

breathing. Um and woke up in glory. It's

the way that we all want to go. We just

don't want to go that way at 41.

But man, can I just tell you that I can

praise God for that?

Because here's the thing. While we're

here on this earth, we are all in exile

because our kingdom is not of this

world, but rather of the kingdom ahead.

And here's the thing. He freed her from

this place, took her to glory. And

someday, we will see her again. And the

wild thing is is that the tightness, the

bond that has been formed with me and my

daughters is incredible. what the enemy

meant for evil when he showed up like a

thief to kill and steal and and destroy.

What he did was he brought a family

together and he stirred up something

inside us that man,

he didn't even know what he did. He

tried to bury us, but like a seed, all

he did was plant us.

>> And we have raised up. We have walked.

And here's the thing. I believe that my

purpose here on this earth is to bring

the kingdom of heaven to earth as it is

in heaven. And that's all of our calls.

It's to bring the good news wherever we

go. MY SPECIFIC CALL is to speak life

and to spread joy. And here's the thing.

When the enemy showed up, he was like, I

got a plan. When he when I take his

wife, when I when I when I crush his

spirit, he'll no LONGER SPEAK LIFE.

HE'LL NO longer spread joy. But all that

happened was, man, I realized that life

is not limited to what's here on earth.

This is a a minor bit. And here's the

thing. WHEN WE SPEAK LIFE HERE, WE SPEAK

ETERNAL LIFE for others later. WHEN WE

SPEAK JOY AND WE SPREAD JOY, IT SETS

PEOPLE FREE. AND YET, SO MANY OF US ARE

STUCK IN THE THINGS THAT WE DO ON the

dayto-day. Man, I've got this going on

and this going on and this going on and

this going on and we're so focused RIGHT

HERE THAT WE ACTUALLY TAKE DON'T TAKE A

SECOND TO look around us and go, man,

there are people all around us dying and

going to hell.

By the way, I love that y'all are a

Halabback church.

>> I asked Drew beforehand. I said, "Hey,

are y'all are y'all a hollowback

church?" And he was like, "We're we're

in process." And I was like, "Oh, we're

going to hollowback today." For those of

you that are like, "Wait, what's a

hollowback church?" It just means this.

We're going to play a lot of pingpong

right now. Somewhere along the way in

the American church, it was like the

pastor preaches and everybody listens.

Today, can we just be a church that man,

if I say something that you like? It's

not necessarily because you like it or

because I said it. It's because the Lord

in his might and his works spoke through

me into your heart. And so, YOU CAN SAY

things like, "AMEN." YOU COULD CLAP YOUR

HANDS. IF YOU START TO THINK I OPERATE

IN MY FLESH, BOO ME. SERIOUSLY, boo me.

If at any point in TIME IN THIS MESSAGE

I go 67 boo. For the love OF PETE,

PLEASE BOO ME.

But hey, can we just holler back today?

Can we Can we dive in? Can we get after

it together? What do you say?

>> I love it. I love it. All right, if you

have your Bibles, and I hope that you

do, will you please open them up to

Romans chapter 10?

Romans 10 · chapter mention

And there's this tradition in the

church. I'm kind of old school in some

of my ways. There's a tradition in the

church that when the word of God was

read, there was such a reverence and awe

for it that the people of God would

stand for the reading of the word of

God. Will you stand this morning for the

reading of the word of God out of Romans

chap 10 verses 13 through 15.

For everyone who calls on the name of

the Lord will be saved. How how then

will they call on him in whom they do

not have not believed? And how are they

to believe in him of whom they have not

heard? And how are they to hear without

someone preaching? And how are they to

preach unless they are sent? As it is

written, how beautiful are the feet of

those who preach good news. Father God,

thank you for your word. It is the same

yesterday, today, and forever. Lord, in

it we we get everything we need. Lord,

we get food for our soul. We give light.

We get light in the midst of darkness.

We get life in the midst of death. And

Lord, you set us free. You give us hope.

You give us joy. You give us peace. You

give us love. And Lord, I just pray

right now that your people would uh have

ears to hear, soft hearts, eyes to see.

And Lord, I pray that everyone in this

room would have beautiful feet in the

name of Jesus Christ. And everybody

said,

>> "Amen." You can grab a seat.

Okay, back in 1949, there was a guy

named John Courier. Turn to your

neighbor, say, "John." Okay, just making

sure they're awake because, you know,

like I mean, sometimes people can fall

asleep. Now, John, here's the thing.

John did some bad things. In fact, John

did some bad things and he did such bad

things that he actually got caught and

he got sentenced to a a life a life

sentence in prison. About 20 years after

that life sentence, you see, somewhere

along the way, he had he had actually

been doing good things and and living

the right life. He'd seen transformation

in his life. He got moved to a hard

farm. About 20 years in, he got

pardoned. And a letter was sent out

saying, "Hey, John Courier, in light of

of recent developments and things, your

sentence has been pardoned. You are a

free man." And the letter got sent to

the hard farm. But it never made its way

to John Courier.

For 10 years, John Courier continued to

serve a sentence that he was now free

from that he was now pardoned from until

one day a PO officer going through

things. Notice that he was still on the

on the on the sheet. And so he drove to

the hard to the hard farm and he told

John Courier the news that he should

have heard 10 years before. You are

free. You're a free man.

Can you imagine that? And when I when I

when I remember when I first heard that

story, I was like, man,

that just my heart hurts. He lost 10

years of his life when he was a free man

and yet he continued to walk in a

sentence that he was no longer bound in

because nobody GOT HIM THE LETTER.

NOBODY TOLD HIM THE GOOD NEWS THAT HE

WAS FREE. FREE. Free indeed.

And when I think about that, I'm like,

man, how many people around us are

walking around in a sentence to sin

because nobody's told them that they

could be free through the blood of Jesus

Christ?

>> Man, I want to put on good news shoes.

When I say good news shoes, I mean every

single day that I put on my shoes, I

want to think to myself,

these shoes have a purpose.

Lord, you're going to guide my steps.

You're going to guide my ways. I want to

put on good new shoes. In fact, if you

know this, you know the armor of God

that we're supposed to put on. We're

supposed to put on our good news shoes.

Romans 10 right there just told us that

how beautiful are the feet of those who

bring good news. Turn to somebody and

say, "Good news."

>> Turn to the person you didn't choose and

say, "Good news for you, too."

>> Right? All right. See, LIKE HERE WE GO,

MAN. HOW CAN WE BE A PEOPLE THAT BRING

GOOD NEWS?

>> Do you know the good news? If you don't,

let me tell you the good news. You see,

here's the thing. You have been designed

and created in the image of God. Each

and every one of you, right? That's

right. No, you might be sitting here

thinking, "Well, maybe not me." No.

Every single one of us was designed and

created in the image of God. We were

designed to walk with him, be in

relationship with him. When we look at

the beginning of the word of God in

Genesis, we see Adam and Eve being

created and they walk with God naked in

the garden, in the stillness. MAN, CAN

YOU IMAGINE THAT? EVERY single day

walking with THE LORD EVERY SINGLE DAY

WITHOUT FEAR, WITHOUT DOUBT, WITHOUT

DOUBT, WITHOUT CONDEMNATION. YOU JUST

WALK WITH THE LORD in his goodness every

single day.

>> And then

every single one of us have fallen have

fallen into the same trap as Adam and

Eve and we do this thing called sinning.

Now, here's the thing. This is the bad

news part because don't you know good

news is always better when you hear the

bad news first.

I mean sometimes if you don't know the

bad news then you can't understand the

good news. If I look at you and I say

hey anyone who calls on the Lord will be

saved. You're like awesome. Saved from

what?

There are people walking around in our

world that they don't even know that

they need to be saved. They're drowning.

It's like a frog. IF YOU THROW A FROG IN

A BOILING POT OF WATER, what happens? It

jumps out.

But if you put a frog in a cold uh cold

uh pot of water and you turn up the

heat, the frog will stay in there and

gradually burn to death. So many of us

are doing that that we have no idea what

we need to be saved from. WE DON'T KNOW

THE GOOD news because we don't know the

bad news. THE BAD NEWS IS THIS. WE ARE

ALL SINNERS. WE HAVE ALL SINNED and

fallen short of THE GLORY OF GOD. WHAT

is sin? Sin is anytime we rebel against

the Lord. Walk away FROM THE LORD. DON'T

WALK IN THE WAYS THAT HE DESIGNED US TO.

CAN I JUST TELL YOU GOD'S WAY FOR YOUR

LIFE IS BETTER THAN anything the world

says. AND BY THE WAY, THE WORLD HAS

GONE, HM, HOW DO we like how do we

actually like flip the script and do it

the exact opposite of the way that God

says? So the world says, "Hey, get

bigger, better, faster, stronger.

Everything you need is ascending."

Right? Think about it. In your life,

right? I I love to think about this this

way. In your life, you're born. And when

you're born, you're completely dependent

upon your parents. Yes.

Sometimes that can be a good thing.

Sometimes that can be a bad thing. Yes.

Completely dependent on your parents.

And then all of a sudden as you get

older, you start to like think like

yourself. You start to develop your own

gifts. You get to you get to elementary

school. You get to graduate into middle

school. You get to middle school. You

get to graduate to high school. Out of

high school, everybody asks you the

simple question. What are where are you

going to college? Right? You graduate

from college. You move on. You're going

to get a job there. You're probably

going to meet somebody. You're going to

marry that somebody. You're going to get

a house. YOU AND THAT PERSON are going

to start to have kids together. When you

get the kids together, you're going to

need a bigger house. Then all of a

sudden, you get a promotion at work. You

want another promotion. You get another

promotion. YOU GET MORE STUFF. You can

ultimately and e epically get to

retirement. And then when you get to

retirement, you can finally just rest

and pour into your grandkids, pour into

your kids the way that your parents did,

too. Everything is about ascending. Yes.

>> And by the way, along the way, you're

told what you have is not enough.

>> Marketing 101.

What you have is not enough. The joy

that you have, not enough. You need

happiness, not joy.

The peace that you have, no. Peace isn't

something that you can just sit in. You

don't really want peace. You want more

stuff. You need more things. That

iPhone, it's two years old. It's

starting to glitch. My kids tell me this

all the time. Dad, I think we're up.

We're due for an upgrade. My battery

level's going down. I get these glitches

on the phone. Also, the new iPhone looks

really cool. I'm like, "Oh, man. They

have got you hook, line, and sinker."

Also, I've noticed that about my iPhone.

Let's go together, girls.

Right. Bigger, better, faster, stronger.

You need, you need, you need. And what

you get is just temporary. It just gives

you a a momentary like, "Oh, man. That

was awesome." And now IT'S LIKE

CAFFEINE. YAY.

RIGHT. Or sugar. Right. Okay. Cool.

Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. All right. I'm

I'm I'm like tangent. Bring it back,

Ben. Bring it back. Okay. The world

tells us that. But wait, is that the way

of Jesus?

>> No. The way of Jesus. Jesus is in

heaven. He leaves heaven, comes to earth

in the form of a baby in a manger, not

in the form of a baby in a palace.

>> He doesn't come into this world like a

king. He comes because he wants to take

on take on humanity the same way that we

do. He wants to experience what we do.

He wants to He wants to walk with us

where we walk. Why? Because we're all

sinners who fall short of the glory of

God. And by the way, the wages of those

sin lead to death. THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS

IN THE GARDEN. GOD'S original plan,

which is to walk with his people for all

of time to be to walk just in the

goodness of God. When they eat of the

knowledge of good and evil, what happens

is is the world goes from just knowing

good to just knowing good and evil and

sin enters in. Isn't that wild? I want

to go back and I want to BE LIKE, "ADAM,

EVE, BRO, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

And every time I do that, I sit there

and I go, "Lord, forgive me for what I

did because I'd have done the same

thing."

And so God gave his people a a a law.

This is how you can walk in my best, but

they couldn't keep it. So he gave them a

sacrificial system. Hey, when you can't

keep my law, something has to die

because the wages of sin are death. And

so here's the sacrificial system. And

yet the people of God, they would walk

away from the law and the sacrificial

system and from being called God's

people all throughout the Old Testament.

And so God launches that plan and that

plan involves Jesus in the in a place of

authority in a place the right hand of

his father. He leaves heaven and he

comes to earth. He descends.

He doesn't just descend. He descends to

the form of a baby in a manger. And then

we know that for 30 years he's just a

carpenter. Which by the way, anybody in

here in your 20s?

Okay, a couple of you. Can I just tell

you a lie that the that that the world

is telling you right now? The world

right now is telling you that if you

haven't made your first million by the

time you're 25, you're a failure, man.

That if you look around, look at all the

people in their 20s, they're doing

everything good. You know what Jesus was

doing at 25? He was a carpenter. You

know what he was doing at 27? He was a

better carpenter. You know what he was

doing at 29?

Probably an even better carpenter.

Right? Here's the thing. Can I JUST SET

YOU GUYS FREE right now? If you're in

your 20s, you don't have to have it all

figured out cuz Jesus at 30 years old

years old launched into his ministry and

launched into the rescue mission that he

had. Now, did he do amazing things those

first 30 years? Oh, you know he did.

By the way, can we just be honest? Like

that dining room set made by Jesus, you

know, that was anointed.

I don't know what stain he used, but

it smelt like Holy Spirit.

Okay, I'm I'm off I'm off in the weeds

again. Okay, sorry.

Sometimes the things that come out of my

brain. Okay, cool, cool, cool. All

right, so Jesus leaves, right? But

here's the thing. When he launches INTO

HIS MINISTRY, HERE'S THE THING. He

doesn't go, "ALL RIGHT, HEY, HERE I AM.

THE SON of God is here for EVERYONE TO

SEE." IN FACT, most of the time in his

ministry, he tells people not to tell

people who he is. IN FACT, HE THEN OKAY,

SO YOU'RE LIKE, "OKAY, well then if he's

the son of God, clearly he probably went

to like the king of all kings at the

time. He probably was like out there

being like,"Hey everyone, look at me."

Like he was he was putting all sorts of

stuff. He was going viral on TikTok, on

Instagram. He had followers galore. But

here's the crazy thing. Jesus actually

went to the outcasts, to the sinners, to

the tax collectors, to the to the to the

prostitutes, TO ALL THE PEOPLE THAT WERE

TOLD, "HEY, YOU'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH." IN

OTHER WORDS, Jesus spent most of his

time on the island of misfit toys.

Hey, anybody here belong on the island

of misfit toys?

>> Hey, I'm glad you're here

>> because you're right where you're

supposed to be because that's who Jesus

spent most of his time with. He also

called these 12 disciples, these 12 men,

one of which would betray him, would

constantly steal from him. All of the

rest of them would actually run away

from him as he's getting ready to to

die. The wild and crazy. Okay, so hang

on. Back back up. We're not there yet.

Cool, cool, cool. Whoop. All right, back

to it. Listen, I get excited when I talk

about Jesus.

>> I told Drew, I said, "Man, I'm going to

just go." And he was like, "Yeah, that's

what that's what we need to hear. We

need to hear your like addness." So, if

you're f my ADD PEOPLE RIGHT NOW, FOLLOW

WITH ME. HERE WE GO. ALL RIGHT.

SO, Jesus lives this life, right? But

here's the thing. The more he loves

people, the more he teaches, the more he

actually points people away from the

ways of the world, the more people are

drawn to him. In fact, his it keeps

growing and it keeps growing. The

feeding of the 5,000, an incredible

miracle, was actually probably the

feeding of 10 to 15,000 because it was

5,000 men, but probably women and

children as well. Therefore, HE PROBABLY

FED WAY MORE than we think that he did.

AND THERE WAS EXTRA. HERE'S THE THING.

AND WHEN HIS CROWD STARTED TO GET TOO

BIG, HE WOULD DO THINGS LIKE IN JOHN 6

WHERE he would say, "Hey, if anyone

wants to follow after me, they must eat

my flesh and drink my blood." And

everybody's like, "Hey, peace. This

guy's crazy. I'm out."

Like, here's the thing. IN A WORLD

THAT'S ALL ABOUT BUILDING CLOUT,

BUILDING FOLLOWERS, BUILDING INFLUENCE,

building all that, JESUS IS LIKE, "MAN,

I'M JUST GOING TO DO WHAT I'm called to

do, which is TO LIVE THE LIFE THAT Y'ALL

can't live BECAUSE I'M GOING TO GO DIE

THE DEATH THAT YOU DESERVE TO DIE.

>> THAT'S MY MISSION. CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT,

MAN? THIS IS THE ONE THING THAT YOU HAVE

TO DO, MAN. JESUS DID INCREDIBLE THINGS.

WE WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE MIRACLES. WE

WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE TEACHINGS. WE

WANT TO TALK ABOUT ALL THAT JESUS DID."

AND RIGHTLY SO. BUT ULTIMATELY JESUS

CAME FOR ONE PURPOSE AND THAT WAS TO DIE

ON A CROSS FOR US.

>> LITERALLY. AND HERE'S THE WILD THING. IT

WAS LIKE THE MORE HE LOVED PEOPLE, THE

MORE THAT CERTAIN PEOPLE HATED HIM AND

THEY RALLIED UP EVERYBODY AND THEY AND

THEY GOT EVERYBODY AGAINST him and THEY

PUT HIM TO DEATH ON A CROSS. AND HERE'S

THE THING. ON THE CROSS, HE SAYS THESE

WORDS, "FATHER, FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY

KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO." AND IN THIS

MOMENT, THERE'S A GREAT EXCHANGE. ALL OF

OUR SIN COME UPON JESUS. ALL OF HIS

RIGHTEOUSNESS, HIS SALVATION, HIS

GOODNESS COMES OUT UPON US. AND THEN HE

SAYS, "IT IS FINISHED." WHAT IS

FINISHED? THE MISSION THAT HE WAS SENT

ON IS FINISHED. IN THAT MOMENT, HE IS

SEPARATED. HE HAS DESCENDED TO THE POINT

OF DEATH ON A CROSS FOR EACH AND EVERY

ONE OF US. NOT FOR HIS NAME'S SAKE, BUT

TO SAVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US. BY THE

WAY, I LOVE THIS MOMENT, BY THE WAY, IN

THE GARDEN of Gethsemane right

beforehand, right? When they come to

like arrest him, Judas kisses him on the

cheek. All right. And then all of a

sudden, they take him captive. Peter

being like brash. By the way, I love

Peter. I love how brash he is and how he

gets it wrong every time.

I'm going TO JUMP OUT IN THE WATER.

He pulls OUT HIS SWORD, CHOPS OFF THE

EAR OF THE HIGH PRIEST. JESUS GOES, "Put

your sword away. Don't you know that

those who live by the sword die by the

sword?" Picks up his ear, heals his ear.

He goes like, "Peter, don't you know I

could call down legions of angels?" And

then they go about their way. Stop.

That's important

because a legion is a Roman military

unit of somewhere between 2,000 and

6,000 soldiers.

We know in the Old Testament there's a

story of Hezekiah where Hezekiah is

surround surrounded by Sinakarb and the

armies. And Sirakarb actually says on a

prism, I had him trapped like a bird in

a cage. Hezekiah cries out to God that

night. One angel of the Lord rolls in,

wipes out 185,000 soldiers. One angel

wipes out 185,000 soldiers. Jesus says,

"Peter, don't you know I could call down

legion 2 to 6,000 soldier two to 6,000

angels to come to my side?" In other

words, here's the thing. If you happen

to have a calculator on your phone and

you want to do the math, type in

185,000* 5,000. And what you'll find is

this. What Jesus says there is, don't

you know I have the authority and the

ability to call down angels to wipe out

all of mankind, but instead I'm going to

go to the cross. I'm going to die in

their place to save all of mankind.

Don't miss this.

Jesus is like, I have the power and the

authority and yet I'm going to descend

and not use it so that I can save my

people.

He then would spend three days in the

grave. On the third day, he would raise

up from the grave. He conquers sin on

the cross. He conquers death on the

grave. By the way, now he, every single

one of us can now come to him. We can

lean into him. And then here's the wild

thing. 40 days later, he ascends into

heaven at that moment so that the Holy

Spirit can come. HE DOESN'T EVEN WANT TO

MAKE IT ABOUT HIMSELF after he's

accomplished THE MISSION. HE GOT TO WHAT

HE DID. IT'S TIME FOR JESUS TO BE

PRAISED. AND HE'S LIKE, "WAIT, I'VE GOT

A BETTER PLAN." GOD WITH US. JESUS IS

going to leave so that God in us, the

Holy Spirit can come so that we can now

bring the kingdom of heaven to earth as

it is in heaven. And we can declare that

his name is the name above all names. He

is the king of all kings, THE LORD OF

ALL LORDS. WE ARE FREE. FREE. Free

indeed. AND WE NO LONGER have to BE

DRIVEN BY OUR SIN. THAT'S THE GOOD NEWS.

>> Anybody like that?

By the way, in case you're like, "Well,

that's just what Jesus did." Paul does

it, too. If you happen to put Paul's

letters in uh to to the churches in

chronological order, the first one he's

like, "Paul, an apostle." He's like,

"Look at me. I'm an apostle." The next

time he's like, "Paul, the least of the

apostles." The next time, I think it's

in Ephesians, he actually says, "Paul,

who's one of the least of the

believers." And then finally, he goes,

"Paul,

who hangs out with the sinners, and I am

the worst of all of these sinners."

Because what happens is the more you

walk with Jesus, the more you realize

that you don't want the things of this

world, the status of this world, the

power of this world, the names of this

world. Instead, you want to be known as

one who's been set free by Jesus.

It's amazing what happens when we start

to serve people well. Okay, so now why

is that important? You're like, "Bro,

get to the text." Well, first of all, I

hope you heard a whole lot of the Bible

right there. I love to storyt tell the

word of God. Okay, Romans chapter 10.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

For anyone Everyone who calls on the

name of the Lord will be saved.

I mean, can I It's that simple. People

sometimes are like, "Okay, yeah, but

then but but okay, what all do I have to

do? Call on the name of the Lord and

you'll be saved. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

But but then but then I need to read my

Bible every day and I need to go to

church on Sundays and I need to be

baptized and I need to probably like

like go and serve the poor and care for

the orphans and the widows and all those

things. Those are things that I have to

do in order to be saved. No, those are

things that you get to do because you're

saved.

>> Can we just be honest?

No. Nobody wants to read the word of God

unless you've been changed by the by the

by the Lord himself. Nobody wants to

come to church. By the way, fun fact,

though, by the way, science is now

showing that when we sing, it releases

chemicals in our brain. It actually

heals illnesses and all that kind of

stuff. And it's driving atheist nuts

right now. So, they're like getting

together and they're trying to call like

do these things where they're like,

"Hey, let's just get together and sing

because it'll help us physically."

Listen to every atheist that has ever

walked. I'm like, listen, just come and

like hear about Jesus with us in church

and you can sing with us and man, you'll

get healed. Not just in your body, but

in your heart, your soul, and your mind.

>> I'm just saying. But here's the thing.

Nobody wants to worship Jesus unless

he's your king.

>> Otherwise, I'd rather worship myself.

So, here's the thing. All of those

things aren't what we do to be saved.

It's what we get to do because we're

saved. And one of the best things that

we get to do because we're saved is what

Romans is going to talk about next. Are

you ready for it? I'm ready. Turn to

your neighbor and go, "Are you ready?

Oh, you ready for this?" Okay, cool,

cool, cool. Turn to your other neighbor

you didn't choose. Hey, are you ready?

Oh, they're asleep. You might want to

wake them up. Okay, cool.

Verse 14. How then will they call on him

in whom they have not believed? And how

are they to believe in him of whom they

have not heard? And how are they to hear

without someone preaching? And how are

they to preach unless they are sent? As

it is written, how beautiful are the

feet of those who preach good news.

Okay, did you catch it? How how are you

going to call if you don't believe? How

are you going to believe if you don't

hear? How are you going to hear if you

don't have somebody that tells you? And

how are you going to have somebody tell

you if they're not sent? Here's the

thing, church. Can I just encourage you,

put on your good news shoes?

>> Here's the thing. When we put on our

good news, the first thing that we do is

we go, "Okay, these shoes tell me that

I'm sent." It is funny to me that he

doesn't say how beautiful is the mouth.

How beautiful are the arms. How

beautiful is the head of those who bring

good news. He says how beautiful are the

feet. He doesn't say how beautiful are

the hands. Some of you are getting upset

right now. Bear with me for a second.

Here's the thing. Anybody can talk the

talk. ANYBODY AGREE WITH THAT?

>> But what do we say? Actions speak louder

than words.

>> Ah. So, okay, let me get this straight.

So, it's not just about the mouth. It's

about the hands. Because the hands prove

whether or not the mouth is doing that,

right? But anybody ever seen a mime when

they do this

like you got to move. So here's THE

THING. WHEN YOU START TO MOVE, RIGHT,

your feet move, your hands follow. Now

all of a sudden you're doing actions and

then YOUR MOUTH FOLLOWS AS well and you

speak the good news. ARE YOU TRACKING

WITH ME? THE REASON HE SAYS food your

feet IS BECAUSE HE'S LIKE, I DON'T WANT

YOU JUST TO STAY WHERE YOU'RE AT AND

WAIT FOR PEOPLE TO COME TO YOU. I WANT

YOU TO GO SHOW THEM JESUS, TELL THEM

ABOUT JESUS, AND CHANGE THEIR LIVES.

>> LIKE, HERE'S THE THING. WHO WILL LIKE,

who will call on the name of the Lord

unless they believe? They can't believe

in something that they don't hear, which

is the good news that we just got done

talking about? Who how are they going to

hear if nobody preaches it? And by the

way, you know who gets to preach it? Us.

And you know how we get to preach it?

when we're sent.

Now, here's the wild thing. You're sent

every single day. You get to wear good

news shoes to your job. You get to wear

good news to your house. You get to wear

good good news shoes to your schools.

You get to wear good news shoes to

Target. You get to wear good news to

shoes to Walmart. Man,

can you imagine if all of a sudden on

the website people of Walmart was just a

whole bunch of people telling people

about Jesus?

Man, there were these nuts at Walmart

the other day.

There's there's an old song that

suddenly has like been like kicked back

up. It's um now Josiah Queen is singing

it. Jesus freak. Anybody remember this

song?

What would what would what would people

think if they labeled me a Jesus streak

or Jesus freak? What will they do when

they find out it's true?

Like ah here's the thing. So can I just

tell you that I actually um we actually

at Rev Rally which is our youth group.

We actually um I told I taught this good

news shoes concept to them and we

actually wrote on our shoes

like hundreds of students wrote

scripture on their shoes. Wrote the

words good news on their shoes so that

when they go to their schools and people

see it they're going to go hey like why

do you have why do you have writing on

your shoes? And you know what they just

did? They just invited you into a Jesus

conversation.

>> By the way, I I didn't bring Sharpies

today.

But what if you did that? And even if

you don't write on your shoes, but what

if you wrote on your shoes, man, good

news shoes?

What if you wrote Romans 10:15? What if

Romans 10:15

you wrote Matthew 28:19 and 20? Go and

Matthew 28:19

make disciples of all the nations,

baptizing them in the name of the

Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

teaching them all that I've commanded

you. And lo, I'm with you always, even

to the end of the age. What if every

single morning, anybody look at your

shoes and try to figure out if they

match your fit? By the way, do mine?

>> For those of you that can't see, on the

back, it says, "Girl dad."

Told you I love my daughters.

And by the way, it's a talking point. I

tell people all THE TIME, "LOOK, GIRL

DAD. girl dad. Girl dad. What if instead

it said, "Hey, good news. Good news.

Good news." And now all of a sudden

people are like, "Well, the same way

that when I say girl dad," they're like,

"Oh, you have daughters. Tell me about

them." Oh, let me brag for just a

minute. But if we had good news written

on our shoes, imagine people would be

like, "Oh, why do you have good news on

your shoes?" "Oh, let me brag just a

little bit about the King of all kings,

the Lord of all lords, the one who

brings good news to you and me."

>> Here's the thing. We walk around all the

time and we're like, "Man, I just wish I

wish I could have Jesus conversations."

You can.

It just means you might have to be a

little weird,

a little strange.

What would people do if they knew you

were Jesus freak?

What would they do if they found out it

was true? Now, I'm going to be really

honest right now. There might be some

people in the room that are like,

"Yeah, but I don't what what if they ask

me questions?

I I just don't know enough of the Bible.

I I don't have enough of an

understanding." And I'd be afraid of how

they would they'd ask me a question. I'd

be like, "I don't know." And that's

actually worse, right? It's better for

me to not say anything than it is for me

to give a wrong answer. Yeah, that's

true. But why do you have to give a

wrong answer? You know my favorite words

in youth ministry?

I don't know.

But I'll get back to you and let you

know because here's what happens. So

let's say that worst case scenario

happens. You wear good new shoes on your

shoes or you start to you have the

boldness to go up to a family member, to

a friend, to a co-orker, to a classmate,

whoever it might be, and you're like,

"Hey, I would love to tell you about

Jesus."

And they ask you a hard question. and it

stumps you.

You go like this. I don't know, but I'll

get back to you on that. You know what

you just did? You made one Jesus

conversation, too.

>> They just invited you to come back and

have another Jesus conversation. And

then you go to Drew or Morgan or some

your small group leader or somebody

that's a leader in the church and you

say, "Hey, I got to ask this question.

What does the Bible say about this?" And

then you search the Bible. You find the

answer. You go go back. you have a a

Jesus conversation, but then they look

at you and they got a harder question.

You know what you do?

>> I don't know. But I'll get back to you.

We got three Jesus conversations.

>> But then you're like, "Oh, okay. Okay,

that doesn't worry me, Ben. That doesn't

worry me." You know what worries me,

though, is I still have this sin in my

life.

And and if I tell people about Jesus and

they know that I love Jesus, that I'm

going to church, but then they see me

sinning like, right, like I go to church

on Sundays, but you know, sometimes I

drink a little bit much on Friday

nights. I I go to church on Sunday, but

then after church I go home with my

boyfriend or my girlfriend who I'm

living with. And you're like, man, I

if people know my life, like that

they're going to think that I'm like

walking a double-edged sword, can I tell

you two things? Number one, take

whatever that thing is that came to your

mind, take it to the Lord and say,

"Lord, set me free."

>> Let somebody in this church lay hands on

you and pray for you. I know your pastor

would love to do that. Right? Send him

an email. Blow up his email this week.

Everybody just blow up Drew's email this

week with like, "Hey, I need somebody to

come and pray for me. I need somebody to

come lay hands on me. I have these

questions, these doubts, these concerns

that people are awesome. You know what?

He would love it." And then he'll email

me and be like, "Thanks a lot, Ben."

I mean, after all, pastors only work one

day a week, right?

Lies.

Lies. It's like one of the jobs. It's

like it's like a a a parent. It never

stops. You are on the clock 247 because

you never know when the Lord's not going

to wake you up at 3:00 a.m. and be like,

"Boom. I got something for you. I need

you to send this text." Make sure that

you hit it with the send later, not at

3:00 a.m., right? I've got this message

for you. I've got this word for you.

I've got this call because somebody's in

the midst of a a fight, a midst of a

battle. Okay, I'm running out of time.

Yep. Cool. All right, cool. I got to

wrap this up. Can I just tell you, your

sin does not define you.

>> Do not let your past mess around with

your future.

>> There are a lot of us right now in this

room, I'm sure, that are sitting here

going, "Man, I have a choice. Am I going

to allow my past to continue to define

me? Am I going to allow my past to

continue to creep into my present and

then creep into my future? or am I going

to believe what Jesus says about me, who

he says I am, and am I gonna walk in who

he says I am, even if I'm not perfect,

even if I don't have it all figured out.

But man, I just love Jesus because the

gospel is so simple. It's this. Jesus

Christ, the son of God, left heaven,

came to earth, lived the life WE

COULDN'T LIVE, DIED THE DEATH THAT WE

DESERVE to die, was buried for three

days, rose up. BECAUSE OF THAT, I NO

LONGER have to walk in sin. I'm a

DIFFERENT PERSON. I'M FILLED WITH JOY,

PEACE, HOPE, AND LOVE. And man, I WANT

TO INVITE YOU INTO IT, TOO. That's the

gospel.

I I always love to think about August

14th, 1945. Anybody know why that date's

important?

That's the day that World War II

officially came to an end. And if you've

seen the pictures, you know the pictures

that that are out there, right? The

pictures that that are out there is like

Time Square with the big sign, the war

is over. It's the picture of like um

like military people kissing their

spouse in that moment and everything.

It's this wonderful wonderful thing. But

here's the thing. Back then technology

wasn't what it was now. And so you know

how people found out that the war was

over? It was most of the time by word of

mouth. I remember hearing uh Satie uh

Satie Robertson telling a story about

when she actually asked her mima about

this. She said, "Do you remember on

August 14th, 1945?" And her mima said,

"Oh, I do. I I remember hearing the news

that the war was over. I remember

spilling out into the streets praising,

celebrating, rejoicing. I even saw

SOMEBODY TRY TO LIKE A GROUP OF PEOPLE

FLIPPED A CAR. I'D NEVER SEEN anything

like that before. Because man, when

people get excited, they do crazy

things.

And she goes, "Oh, Mima, that's amazing.

Do you remember who told you? Was it a

teacher? Was it your was it your

parents?" And she said, "Oh, honey, I

can't remember who told me, but I

remember the effect that it had on my

life.

Can I just tell you, man, when we are

people who wear good news shoes, we may

not see the results. We may not know the

results. And by the way, it isn't to

make our name great. It's to make his

name great and to save people because

they can call on the name of the Lord.

Because man, how can they call if they

don't believe? How can they believe if

they don't hear? How can they hear if

it's not preached to them? And how can

it be preached to them unless it's not

sent?

Man, I want to make heaven crowded.

It's the reason that I told you the

story about my wife at the very

beginning.

Listen, before she passed away, we

wanted to make heaven crowded.

Since she's passed away, we want to make

heaven crowded. And not just, but here's

the thing. I don't want to just make

heaven crowded later. I want to bring

the kingdom of heaven to earth as it is

in heaven.

>> But I'm also a baseball fan.

And there's this picture I want to put

on the screen real quick and I'm going

to invite the worship team to come up as

well. But there's this picture and I

love this picture. Uh this is this is

moments after a walk-off home run. If

you guys know in baseball a walk-off

home run means it was in the bottom of

the ninth inning and the guy had just

hit a home run. And look look at his

teammates. They're all pumped up.

They're excited. I even love the

teammates that are late getting to the

party. His third base coach is super

pumped. He's coming around. Look at how

excited he is. AND THERE'S A GUY THAT'S

out there. He's a photographer and he

takes pictures of these at like as many

walk-offs as he possibly can and he just

gets them down the third baseline. Every

game he basically sets up down the third

baseline late in the game just hoping

that there'll be a walk-off because he

wants to get these pictures. And when

they asked him, "Hey, why do you do

this?" He said, "Because

this is the picture of what I think

heaven's going to be like when people

come into it.

Man, there is a day that's coming that

I'm going to be coming around like

number 13.

And the guy that's sitting there with

the red armbands is going to be my wife

just waiting to enter me, waiting for me

to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

She's already there and she can't wait

to have me come in there, too. But

here's the thing. This can be a picture

of what heaven's going to be like. But

can I just tell you THAT WHEN WE START

TO believe the teachings of Jesus that

the kingdom of heaven isn't just meant

for later on, but it's meant for us to

bring to earth as it is in heaven. It

means that every single time somebody

says yes to Jesus, we get to do that

here on earth.

And there's a party that's going to

happen. There's a celebration when he

gets home plate. They're all going to

start to jump. They're all going to

start to scream. Water's going to be

thrown all over the place. AND IT'S

GOING TO BE A MASSIVE CELEBRATION. AND

HERE'S the thing, church. When we invite

people into this, we allow them to get

the atbat that could allow them to come

around third base to enter into glory,

not just for later, but for right now.

We get to wear good news shoes.

And so, church, I'm going to invite you

to stand right now.

And I want to do two things.

Number one, I want to pray a blessing

over you. But before I pray that

blessing over you, I don't want to

assume that everyone in here has called

on the name of Jesus.

And maybe you're here for the very first

time today. Or maybe you're hearing for

the very first time the incredible gift

that Jesus has given to you. Maybe

you've been here for a little while and

you've been wrestling and today there's

just something inside you that's like,

man, I want to follow Jesus with my

life.

Thank you for Thank you for for

preaching it.

Thank you for Thank you for by the way,

Pastor Ben, thank you for being sent to

collective church today so that you

could preach the gospel, so that I could

hear it and so that I could believe it

and so that I could call on the name of

Jesus and be saved.

And so right now in this place, if

that's you, here's what I'm going to

invite you to do.

I told I told the team earlier that I

was like, man, I'm just going to have

them raise their hand if that's them.

But can I just say this? I believe that

the word of God actually tells us that,

man, if we acknowledge Jesus before man,

he'll acknowledge us before the father.

>> And so, if you're here today and you've

never made the decision to follow Jesus,

you've never called on his name to be

saved, I'm going to invite you, the the

worship team is just going to play here

for the next couple of seconds. I'm

going to invite you to come right down

up front. And can I tell you, it's going

to be like you coming around third base

because this church is going to

celebrate you. And so if that's you, I'm

going to invite you to come right down

here. I would love to pray with you. I'd

love to lead you in calling on the name

of Jesus.

>> Hey, thanks so much for watching today's

message. Our prayer is more than the

words that were spoken in the message

that you would remember the things that

God spoke to your heart.

>> Yeah. And no matter what it was that God

spoke to you, I know that part of your

journey is other people being in a

community because we are better

together. So if you made a decision to

follow Jesus today, would you click the

link below and fill out the form? This

is going to help us so that we can

celebrate with you and equip you with

some tools so that your next steps are

great steps.

>> Yeah. Thanks so much for watching. We're

praying for you. We're cheering you on.

We believe that the best days are ahead

of you.