Francis Chan: Love God, Love People

I don't know about you, but it was so good for me this morning to worship and to think about the grace of God. Um, even as as as we were singing, you know, it's it's a weird time in my life, obviously, as uh as and it's getting weirder and weirder, with next Sunday being my last Sunday. Um, but as we were singing about the grace of God, He just reminded me about how this is all only because of His grace. And it made me think about 20 years ago, just my life—what a mess, what an absolute mess I was. Um, didn't think I would ever go into ministry again at that point, and and for God to take someone like that and to allow him to do anything for Him, much much less be a part of what God's done here at Cornerstone, it it's just it's just it's His grace. You don't deserve it, and and and the moment you start think you do, or the moment you start thinking that you're strong or you're able to do something, God humbles you. And I I love the words that Matt shared about just reminding us, look, that's when God uses you is when you feel inadequate. And God chooses to use those who are foolish to shame those who are wise, those who are intelligent; He uses the weak to shame those who are strong. And it's and it's when we get confident and start thinking that we can do something by our own power, He's going to show us that that you really can't do anything by yourself. And uh, this is getting um stranger by the moment um for me because I I am so sad, you know, like this morning I was um just praying and getting ready, and and uh it's kind of been my routine for the last 16 years to get up early on Sunday morning, just spend some time alone with the Lord, look through my message again, pray and ask God, is there anything more You want me to say? And pray for you, pray for just the spirit in this room, just everything. And and this morning going, man, this is it, you know, next Sunday is more of a goodbye; this is kind of uh the last time I'm really going through this routine. And and there's like this sadness, and there's this um excitement too. It it's kind of both, and as they're both pretty extreme, you almost don't even know what to feel. Um, but uh personally personally things are so good. Um, you ever have those times in your life when you just you're so close to Jesus, you know what I'm talking about? Where all through the day you just sense He's always with you, but there that sense of His presence, and it's just it's just good. The conversation's good, the prayers are good, the walk is good; you just you see Him throughout the day, you see Him answering your prayers throughout the day. And so my relationship with Him, it's it's just I just really love Him; I just I just really love being with Him. I love just this sense of the future of okay, Jesus, You've You've You've given me far more than I deserve, so why why do I have anything to be afraid of? You're with me; it's good, it's good, it's good. Um, things at home are great—um, so great that Lisa is pregnant again. Um, so uh I guess the Lord felt like there wasn't enough change in my life, so He said, uh, how about another kid? So number five is on the way. Um, just again, I mean, it's just all these things happening at once, and so you just don't even know what to feel. Um, but but very very exciting. Um, but I I I want to uh someone someone asked me a question just like two days ago, and I want to address it. Someone said, asked me, do you have any doubts about what you're doing? And I said, yeah, I do; I do have doubts. Um, and I I want to I want to clarify some things because I think I I need to make sure you understand this process I'm in and what we're going through. Because if you don't understand it properly, you may have a misunderstanding of my relationship with God and the sense of calling. And if that's the case, it could lead you to use it almost as an excuse. You need to understand I'm about 80% sure of what I'm doing now. Um, and but isn't that true with most things in life? Are we ever 100% sure? And haven't there been times when you were 100% sure and you were 100% wrong, right? And and you can be 100% sure and 100% wrong. And uh and I've just learned in life to just go, okay, you know what, here's what I believe the Lord is leading me toward. I I want to make it clear, I did not hear a voice from Heaven, you know. I I was not praying one day, and a voice just said, Francis, go here. In fact, I don't even know where I'm going. Um, so that's proof right there. I I mean, what what's what's going to be happening is my my family, we're going to be traveling around, praying different places, and U um I have some senses of where I think we may end up, but we're we're we're still not sure. I believe it's going to be in the inner city somewhere, um but we don't know where that is. And and there are times when I start doubting myself and you start going, God, gosh, am I sure? Because there's always a downside, and uh and and leaving things and saying goodbye to things, you're going, gosh, I don't know, I don't know. But but to say that I'm 80% sure. Um, and and here's where it comes from. I know I'm kind of all over the place right now, but I've spent a lot of time in prayer. Um, but like I said, it's not like a voice came back and said, I want you to go. I've also spent a lot of time thinking, thinking and reading this book. In fact, most of the decisions that I make come from thinking biblically and praying; it's praying and thinking, praying and think—I call it pranking. I I just prank prank prank, and and and I just go, okay, what what biblically, you know, as we're looking through the book of Acts, we're looking at Luke's Luke, we're looking at first John, I'm reading and going, okay, what makes sense? What makes sense, you know, in the mind of God, and what what makes sense according to the Bible? What should I do? You know, what how did Jesus live His life? How did the Apostle Paul live his life? What makes sense for me? What makes sense with with millions of people over the hill there in in LA? What makes sense given the platform He's given me? And then I then I just start praying and saying, Lord, confirm these things, show these things, help me understand these things. And I say that because then you get to a point where you start feeling more peace one way than the other—not 100% in zero—but but you know, when I started this church, I wasn't 100% sure I was supposed to start a church; I was about 70. You know, you just go, I think this is it, and I feel more peace about doing this than not doing it, so I'm going to go for it. I mean, you know, even even getting married, I mean, I was probably 90, you know, in the you know, 90 something per, you know, there's always I don't know, you know, but but you're you you're right there, and you go, man, this is a huge decision, so I got to be pretty sure, and and and you go go for it, and you pray about it, you think about it, you pray, you think. And uh and so at this point, I just feel more peace about going than than than staying. Um, and I understand there's there's going to be hard times. Um, but again, you weigh it through; you go, well, if I go, there will be trouble; if I stay, it could be double. It's it's just one of those things where you go, okay, I don't know, should I stay? Should I go now? Um, it it's but but the reason why I say all of this is because a lot of times in life um we we we make excuses and we go like I've heard this and and and people have been so supportive, and I love it. Um, people are so excited for us, and I love that. And I knew there would be some difficulties, and people are having a hard time too, but it the surprising response that we're hearing over and over again is jealousy, where people go, I'm jealous; I want to do that. But the response is also one where they go, but I could never do that; I wish I could do what you guys are doing and just do something out of faith and just but I can't do that. And my answer is, yeah, you can; in fact, you got to be careful f with thinking that way. When people ask me what is my favorite verse in the Bible, I usually say James 5:17. James 5:17 says this: Elijah was a man just like us. I just love that. Elijah was a man just like us. And then it talks about his prayer life, but he had this serious prayer life, but I love the phrase, Elijah was a man just like us, because it brings him down to my level. Elijah, who called fire down from Heaven, you know, Elijah, who does all these Miracles—the Bible says he was just a person; he was a man; he was a person with a nature just like ours. And I love that verse because so often, like Matt was talking about, we just feel so weak, like what can I do? And and here's the problem; here's a danger that many of us run into: We look at the people in scripture as though they are un aable, like there's some sort of super Saint, like, oh, I could never be—what am I going to be like Moses? What am I going to be like David? What am I going to be like Elijah? And that's the way I believe most of you in this room think; you think, well, I'm not going to be the Apostle Paul; I'm not going to be Peter. And the whole point of James 5:17 is, what are you talking about? These are people; these are human beings. And the moment you start lifting them up as more than that or something beyond you, the moment you are destined to a life of mediocrity. And so I look at that passage, and I love that because it reminds me, okay, wait a second, because I can get insecure; I can start thinking about my—oh man, I just came back; I'm sorry; I just got back from Chicago, and I was at this conference—it's like all these top Theologian Pastor guys, and they invited me, and yeah, thanks for laughing. Um, and and they asked me to present this paper, and I've never felt so dumb in my life. I mean, it was just like, wow, they started responding to my paper with words I didn't even understand. Like, they said, I wish you had been more ASM totic. I was thinking the same thing; I should have been—it's like, what in the kind of word is that? And and I don't even know pronounced it right, but it's just—I mean, you talk about feel—there's there's times when you're just like, wow, why me, Lord? I don't even know what these guys are talking about. And uh and it it it's just you look—you you can very easily get in this insecure—why are you going to use me? You know, here's these great people, the past, that could never be me. And that's why I love James 5:17; he goes, Elijah's just a guy; he's got nothing on me. And until I start believing verses like that, I'm not going to do anything with my life. And and and the reason why I say that is because while you do that with the apostles, you do it with the prophets, you do it with Moses, you do it with Abraham, you do it with all these people, but now I'm finding people even doing that with me and with Lisa and go, well, that's you guys—like, well, you can do that—and what kind of thinking is that? That's going to get us nowhere. I mean, that that that that whole passage in Hebrews 11 is about all these human beings who failed miserably when you look at their lives and the mess they had made of their lives, and yet somehow God used them because of their faith, because they really believed. And and and Hebrews 11:6 says, without faith it's impossible to please God. So if you're living a life uh where you're just kind of going, yeah, I can't do this; I can't—it's it's it's a lack of belief in God in that type of life. The Bible says it's impossible to please Him without the kind of faith that these people had. And when you read Hebrews 11, their faith was not just something that was internal that no one could see; their faith manifests itself in action, where they said, you know, I'm going to head this direction because I know God will come through for me, and He always has; He always will. My God is faithful; He'll be with me always as long as I'm out there making disciples and teaching everyone to obey everything that God commanded. And so I I really want you to think about this. Um, and and I I wanted to make sure I clarified that about my thinking because I'm scared. There's times when I'm scared. Do you realize that 10 years ago, 10 years ago I was at a mayor's prayer breakfast out here in the San Fernando Valley, and Keith Phillips from World Impact spoke—first time ever heard of him—and it was at a time in my life when I thought, Lord, I would go anywhere for You. And he started talking about the inner city, and I remember hearing him that morning and going, I don't think I could do that; I can't do that. And I remember just crying at the end of the message because I thought I had surrendered my life to God, and we're going up to Keith and going, I I thought I would do anything for Jesus, but not move to the inner city—like, I I'm just not there. And and I didn't have a peace about that; that's why I was crying at the time, because I don't want to be a person who's scared of something; I don't want to have something I'm holding on to, and I knew it wasn't right. And I just began praying and asked Keith, would you help me with this because I don't want there to be a place on the earth that I wouldn't go. And I just think it's interesting that now I'm thinking that's probably where I'm going to end up, and I'm I'm cool with it because it's the grace of God, and I've seen how He He's come through in so many ways. So I want you to understand—all you're seeing up here is a human being just trying to process through things, praying through things, reading the Bible and going, man, this seems to make sense; it seems to square with scripture. I'm about 80% sure; I feel more peace going than staying, and so I'm making a decision, and I'm going. And is there fear? Absolutely; I'm human. Um, but there's a confidence because I've seen God come through in the past, and I want to be a person who lives by faith that doesn't play it comfortable; it doesn't play it safe. I don't see anyone in scripture that's lifted up for playing it safe; it's those who live by faith. And and and life's short, isn't it? And isn't it going faster and faster? I was talking to a guy in the gym yesterday or the day before, and uh and and and he goes, you know, we're talking about life, and and I'm trying to you know, explain to this guy what it means to follow Jesus and to give your life to Him, and and we just talked about life and how it's just passing. And and he made this comment; he goes, you know, my mom told me when I was younger, she says, you know, when you're 10, you're going to feel like life is moving at about 10 mph; it can't go fast enough. Then when you're 20, it speeds up, and it seems like time goes faster; now you're going 20 mph. When you're 40, you're going, wow, life seems to be moving pretty quickly. And then some of you guys are right at the speed limit; you know, some are in the fast lane; see a couple of you that should be on the Autobahn; you know, it's just it's just whoa, you know, your 50s, your 60s, your 70s—it just goes faster, doesn't it? And so you just have to look at your life, and you got got to look at this timeline and go, okay, what do I want to do? Because it is speeding up; it's getting faster and faster. And so you just make these decisions, and if you wait until you're 100% sure of anything, man, when are you ever going to get that? And it's just like, hey, Lord, I just—here's where I am, and it's time, and I'm getting excited about it; let's go for it. I'm also scared; I'm also sad; I'm also all these different things. The one thing I know is You love me, and I don't even deserve what I have right now. One thing I know is if anything explodes and it's over with, man, I'm set for all of eternity anyways. The one thing I know is I'm I'm loved by God, and and so in a sense, what can go wrong? But at the same time, are doubts are their questions? Certainly. But we got to just do something, you know; we got to just go for it. And I get excited about that. I um I was speaking in London last week, and that always intimidates me. London scares me; it's the way they talk. Um, you know what I mean? Like, even if they're dumb, they sound more intelligent than you are, you know. So even if they're not intelligent, they sound like you are. So to talk to them is is it's like the opposite of being in the South, you you know what I mean? You could talk to a rocket scientist from Alabama, and it just doesn't make sense; it's just like, I reckon E=MC squared, you know; it's just—but but but but you know, in London it's just, man, the way everyone talks, it's just they just seem so much more intelligent. But but when I uh when I was there, I got to um I I I I'm not—I I was terrible in history; I don't know how you guys—if you liked history in high school—I I I I didn't like it; I wasn't good at it; uh wasn't really interested in it. But um but being in in England, I kind of got a little history lesson. In fact, one of the professors out there kind of just took me around and and just walked through church history, and it was a lot more interesting when you're there, you know, like you're reading a book or see a timeline—I just don't connect—but I'm very visual, so he started taking me place to place. It was so enlightening because even built into the architecture of some of these structures that are standing there, you can see the sins of the past and the mistakes of the past. I mean, when you look at the history of Christianity, there's periods we're very ashamed of, aren't there? Certain Wars—when people ask you about those, you're like, yeah, that was dumb; yeah, that was wrong. There were times he was showing me just even built into the architecture, some of the cathedrals that had these things called squint holes that they would build little little slits in the wall—this was for the lepers because we didn't want them in our building, but we'd let them outside squint and because we wanted them to hear the word of God and see what was going on. And it's—he says, you know, even in our architecture there's some embarrassment of let's keep certain people away from us, and we—he talked through different periods of time. Um, we talked about the the time of the indulgences when they're selling the indulgences—basically selling forgiveness—how embarrassing. Um, how embarrassing that we fought for slavery, for slavery, and how so many Christians just fought fought fought for some of these things. And then then in in in Oxford there's this one area; it's in the street; it's it's it's a man—I got the chills being there—because it's all like asphalt, and then in the middle of the street there's just this one Circle, and you still see the Old Brick or Cobblestone or whatever it is; it's just it's just open; it's left there almost Monumental as cars are driving over it because it was the spot where uh these three guys—Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer—were were burned to death for their faith. And and so you know, you're standing on this spot just going, man, these were guys that spoke up; these were guys that said, look, I I'm sorry; that is not what the Bible says; here's what the Bible teaches about forgiveness; it's through Christ; it's not through the selling of anything; it's—it—and and and even one of the guys, he was explaining the story about how one of them when they were first arrested, he recanted; he said, you know what, I didn't mean to say that; he signed a document saying, you know what, I I I'll I'll recant everything that I said—maybe it was out of fear; maybe he didn't want to be burned at the stake; maybe he knew what was coming—what we don't know all the reasons—but eventually that guy was executed, and he says, look, the one thing I I I I hate that's driving me crazy that I did was that I recanted, and I I I I'm just so sick to my stomach that I ever took back those words. And so you know what, I'm going to burn this evil hand first and stick that arm in the fire first because I want this thing to burn before everything else because this was the hand that I signed that document. And then just let the rest of his body be torched. And you just go, man, I'm standing in this spot—you see—and there were a few individuals that said, no, the slavery thing is wrong; you know, guys like William Wilberforce, that you go, okay, this is it; no way—I I'm not going to stand for this. And and so you got these periods of church history, and I'm just learning all about this, and and and and you you just go—these different periods that we're now ashamed of and these different things the church did. And and and yet all along the line there was different people who are willing to step up, and it it really just allowed me to step back for a second and go, okay, what am I going to be remembered for? Okay? Because because we can look in hindsight and go, man, those wars were dumb; we can look in hindsight and go, man, why would you fight for slavery? We can look at hindsight—go, man, the church was martyring its own people; we we can look back and go, why would we sell forgiveness? We can look back—that was so dumb. But somehow while the church was in the middle of it, they couldn't see that. And haven't we all done that where you where you look back in life and go, how could I be so stupid? But at the time, because everyone else was doing it, it felt normal—to have a pet rock, you know; it's just—I don't know—everyone else is doing it; you you just start—there's a sense of normal, see—and you get sunk in—well, everyone has a slave; well, everyone does this; everyone does that—and you can't see it when you're in it, and then at hindsight you look back and you go, wow, that is weird. And what I want to ask you to do right now is I want you to try—this is very weird—but a lot of times we don't realize how weird we are until hindsight or until we can step away. I tried to think if if it ended here, what would our generation in this timeline, our generation of church and Christianity here in Southern California, what would it be remembered for? Try to think in the big scheme; you got to step back and know, okay, what's taken place all these years? How did it start? We read the book of Acts; we saw how it detoured with different churches and the Epistles; you know, we read Revelation and see—we see the state of the church there, and we look through church history—some good periods, some bad periods—mostly mostly bad—and yet few individuals standing up. Okay, so so now we get here to where we are—2010—what would—

We be remembered for this generation that I’ve been a part of, the church that I’ve been a part of for the last 30 years. If it ended here, what would we be remembered for in the scheme of things? And I tried to just think objectively about that, from kind of a bird’s eye view. How are we weird? That we don’t see, because we’ve just been in it.

I believe if it ended now, there’d be a little period of history right here called the consumer age of the church, where the norm was you show up to these places and you consume. It’s an age that was weird because there was more Bible knowledge than ever before; more Bible knowledge accessible through the internet. You can listen to anything; you had all this information about God and about the scriptures right at their fingertips. And yet people started getting picky about going, “Well, I’ll only take the word of God if it comes through this person’s mouth. I need this type of personality. I’ll only sing with this type of song, this style of music.” I want to show up to a place; I want you to feed me; I want you to disciple my kids; I want to be able to bring my neighbors, and I want you to lead them to the Lord; I want you to disciple them, and we’ll pay you. And if I don’t like the way you do it, I’ll find another place. You guys, I know that’s normal, but it is weird, in line with church history, to have a period where people can be a part of the church for 10, 20 years and never make a disciple and think that that’s okay; to never actually lead someone else to the Lord; to never be the one responsible for teaching them everything. That was—if you look at the at the flow of history—you’d see this is strange. And I believe that’s what we’d be remembered for.

And also, one of the richest societies to ever grace this planet. People, we’re we’re in like the top 5% of the world—richest people in the world—and yet we’re consumed with wanting more. It’s weird if you look at it from a bird’s eye view. And I know in the middle of it you don’t see it; it’s hard to see it, but try to reason with me. The good news is I don’t believe that’s the end of the story. Um, I get excited about that because I believe what I see is that God is taking us out of of that phase. I see it happening in some of your own lives, where some of you are going, “Yeah, it never really quite made sense, and I’ve always known I need to be more aggressive about going out and sharing with people.” I always knew that I was supposed to make disciples, and I should raise my children in the way of the Lord, and I should raise my teens in that way, and I should help others do the same thing, and and and that I should be further along than I am. And and and people are starting to rise up and go, “You know what? Um, I’m ready for that. I want that.” Uh, I get excited because there’s a younger generation rising up that’s going, “Gosh, the way we’ve been doing it doesn’t make sense.” I’m scared of some of the conclusions they’re coming to, because some are moving away from the word of God, but others are going closer to it, and it gets exciting. And people are saying, “You know what? I haven’t been about making disciples, and I need to.” Um, people are starting to gather together, um, not just to study, but also to spur one another on to love and good deeds. Some of you are realizing there’s a natural bond that takes place from being on mission together. See, for for years what we’ve been doing is we’ve been trying to get people in groups just to love each other, but it doesn’t really work unless we’re on a mission together. Because when you’re on a mission together, the bond naturally happens. See how many of you—how many have ever been on a short-term mission trip? Just just raise your hand. Okay, a lot of you. Okay, a lot of you. A lot of you have been on those. Didn’t you get pretty close to the group you went with? Now, did you guys get together on the first day and say, “Let’s really love each other; let’s get really really close to each other?” No, you didn’t go with that purpose. You went on a mission to serve the Lord, and as you did it, this amazing bond started taking place with people you know. On the first day you’re thinking, “I’d never get along with him or her,” or whatever else, but you start serving side by side, and suddenly there’s this bond.

Have you ever been a part of an athletic team? Like any sports team? You know how close you get as teammates? You know when you’re pursuing a championship together? Yeah, you have your little quarrels here and there, but as long as you stay focused on winning it, it works out. And again, you don’t get together—the coach doesn’t call everyone together the first day and say, “Let’s hold hands; you know, we’re gonna be friends; friends are friends forever,” you know? And no, it’s it’s none of that. You just start going, and suddenly as you’re striving after this thing together, a natural bond takes place. See, that’s what was happening in the early church. These were the people that’re getting ostracized, people that were getting rejected by their own families and from the general population. And so as they’re trying to make disciples, man, there was a unity amongst them. And the reason why we don’t have that same thing in the church is because we’re not on mission together. But if we start going out and getting rejected, and we’re all out, you know, as co-laborers like we’re supposed to be, then this natural bond takes place. And what’s exciting is there’s more and more people awakening to this fact. And I believe it’s—we’re in a very exciting time in church history here in America, because I believe more and more people are going this direction and saying, “This doesn’t make sense.” And uh, one of the things I think about, because I believe that God’s allowed me to be a part of this, which is exciting, and help make sure you understand, I don’t believe that I’m starting anything or trying to create anything. In fact, you guys know I teach um the preaching class or communications class over there at the college, and this gal, she was teaching a couple weeks ago, and in the beginning as she was prepping, you know, to to share the message, she just goes, “Yeah, you know, the the whole time I was just praying; I was going, ‘Okay, God, you got to show up; God, you got to show up; God, you got to show up; please show up. I’m so nervous; you got to show up when I’m talking; when I’m teaching, you got to show up.’” And then she goes, the she just realized what God was saying to her was, “This is my party, and I invited you.” I thought, “Wow, that’s such a great way to look at it, isn’t it?” That that God’s doing something and he’s inviting us to be a part of that; we’re joining him in his party. And for—instead of us going, “Man, I’m going to make this happen; God, show up to my party, this thing I’m creating”—no, I believe what he’s doing right now is he’s awakening a new generation, um, and and and that doesn’t mean that they’re just the younger people; there’s older people too that are going, “Yeah, this has never felt congruent with the New Testament, based upon what I know of the church and what it ought to be and what it can become.” We’re not there, and they’re striving for that, and I get excited. I get excited about some of your lives, that you’re actually in your neighborhood now talking to your neighbors, telling them about the love of God. I love the fact that that you know we had like 10 baptisms last service, and it’s all just people telling their friends about it. Now those people are also going to be discipling their friends and teaching them more about God, and people taking ownership again. It’s a very exciting thing, and I I sometimes wonder, are we a part of God preparing us for for the future? Because here’s the thing, and and I’m not trying to be prophetic right now; I’m just using my logic, and I’m going, “I think the way the world is going, the way the US is going, I think there’s going to come a time, and it’s probably to be sooner than later, when what I do in a public forum is going to be labeled as a hate crime; that a lot of things that we teach will be labeled as hate speech. And will these public forums even be able to take place?” And as we get closer to that and there becomes this little war of whether we can do it or not, we’ll be so consumed with winning this war that we’ll forget about preparing for the future. And again, let me just—let me just throw a couple examples out at you, and I’m not saying this is where the US is going; understand me. I just want to throw a thought out at you. And again, it’s from history, which I’m terrible at history, but this I do know, cuz I read it in a book. Um, we had these communist revolutions in China and in Russia. In both revolutions, they were trying to kill the church, right? I mean, the whole point is we’re going to we’re going to destroy the church. And now in Russia, everything was built around cathedrals and these priests; everything was centered around these buildings and these teachers. The moment the government took away these teachers and the church assets, the people didn’t know where to turn; they didn’t know how to grow; they didn’t know how to disciple. And so the church basically died. In China, same thing happened. And and and under under Mao Zedong, they they they tried to uh they got rid of all the the buildings. But there was something different about the the church in China. See what—before all that happened, they had empowered the ordinary Christians, and the ordinary Christians knew how to lead others to the Lord. The everyday church attender knew how to teach others how to grow in their faith. So when they took away the leaders and they took away the church buildings, the church was fine; the people were fine. In fact, under Mao Zedong, the church—the persecuted church—grew from 2 million to an estimated about 80 million in these underground gatherings. Why? Because the people—they understood how to minister to other people; they knew how to teach other people. And I just want want you to look at your life and go, “Okay, which camp would I fall into? Would I be one of those that’s just lost, like, ‘Wow, what do we do now? The building’s gone; the leadership’s gone?’ Or do you just go, ‘We don’t really need a building, and I know the word of God, and I know how to lead other people,’ and I I when I look at what God’s doing with people craving this type of leadership in this type of movement, I go, ‘It could be the Lord preparing us for the future,’ and it’s pretty exciting to be a part of that. And I hope you get excited about that, and I hope you go, ‘Okay, what would it look like for me? And am I this leader? Am I making a disciple?’ Because regardless, biblically, that’s what we’re supposed to be doing. And so I’m just—I don’t know all the answers—whatever. I just I just sense this is what the Lord is doing, and I get excited because I’m not thinking I’m creating anything; I just think he’s asked me to be a part of this party. And where that’s going to be, I don’t know. I thank God that the elders here are all on board with this and are going, “You know what? That’s the way we want to lead Cornerstone Church in the SEI Valley.” And I get excited about this vision. Um, but whenever in my life I get too confused, I just go back to the basics. And and let me just read a passage to you, because I want to make sure no matter what happens in the future, we always just remember the basics, and we never stray from it. Because where the church has made tremendous mistakes in the past is when we elevate things that are not the core issue, and uh and we neglect the things that that really are. And Jesus made it very simple for us. He says in Matthew chapter 22, when he was asked, “What’s the most important command, teacher?” Which is the great command in the law, and he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first, the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” Okay? If if we want to just simplify things right now, there it is: the all the law, the prophets—you you can—they they hang on these two commands: love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. Don’t let anything else become primary; don’t let anything else go beyond this love for God. And I got to ask you, do you do you do you love him right now? Like you personally? Can you describe this this thing you have with God as more than just a belief system, but really a love relationship? I mean, is this really about you? Is your relationship with God really yours? Like like like if your family today decided, “We will never pray to Jesus again; we will never read out that Bible; we’ll never go to that church; we’ll never you know pursue this mission; we’re done with that,” what would you do as a as as a human, as an individual? Like would you say, “You know what? I don’t care, Mom, Dad, brother, sister, friends; I don’t care. You do what you need to do, but I I love Jesus so much; I love him with all of my heart, all my soul, all of my mind; I love him more than I love you guys. And so even though you you guys all leave and I hate seeing that, I I’m going to keep following, cuz I am in love with him. I really am.” You got to know that that’s true about you; that your relationship with him is really yours. The reason why this is so important, because there’s going to come a day when you stand before God alone; it’s you and him; it’s you and God. And at that time, he says one of two things for you: either he says, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” like we’ve been talking about, which is our dream, or he says to you, “Depart from me; I never knew you. I knew your wife; I loved your wife; she loved me; I I knew your kids; I knew your friends; I knew these people in your neighborhood; man, they loved me, but I never knew you. Depart from me; I never knew you. You never loved me; you only loved me because your family did; you only loved me because you’re interested in this person or this friendship or this relationship.” And that’s why it’s so important that it’s your own relationship with God.

Some of you guys have been listening to my teaching for for for years; some over a decade. And and there’s something that I I don’t know if I’ve ever shared; I don’t I don’t know that a lot of people know this, but did you know that my dad was a pastor? How many of you guys knew that? Yeah, like maybe three people. You know why? I I didn’t really want to tell anyone, but now that I’m leaving, here’s the secret. Um, the reason why I never talk about that, cuz I didn’t want anyone to think that, “Oh, that’s cute; he’s following in line with his daddy; you know, his daddy’s a preacher; he’s a preacher.” But my whole life I just felt like, man, my relationship with God has nothing to do with him; like it’s like it’s mine. Should say nothing, you know, there’s some some there, but we never talked about God at home. It was something that was mine. And so I didn’t want anyone to ever be confused and think, “Oh, he loves God because his dad loved God, or he follows Jesus and teaches about”—no, it’s it’s just so personal to me that I don’t even want that thought in people’s minds. Because I love Jesus, and I know right now it doesn’t matter what anyone believed in my past. My Dad could have believed in in fairies, and I I’d still go, “No, you know what? This is what I—Francis Chan—I love Jesus; I’ve been saved by his grace; he’s been so good to me; he’s made my life nothing short of miraculous; he took me out of this pit, out of where I just deserve to do nothing with my life, and I saw him work over and over and over and over again. He loved me first, and that’s why I’m madly in love with him,” as he and I. And if all of you ditch this, even if my own family says forget this, I I’ll still be in love with him; nothing changes. And one day I stand before him, and everything’s going to be just fine, because we’re in love. Is that true of you? The second command he says is like it: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, with your mind, is the first great and first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Shall love your neighbor as yourself. Very easy to get away from this. Are you a lover of people? Let me break it down even more. When you walked into the room today, did you think of anyone else beside yourself? When you walked in today, did you think to yourself, “You know what? We gather as believers, biblically, to spur one another on to love and good deeds; to encourage one another; to give courage to other people to go do what God’s called to do.” Did you come in as a lover of people, saying, “I just want to encourage—that’s what I came here to do,” is is not to consume for me, although I I hope you learn something; hope you get something from the scriptures. But did you come in with any thought of, “I want to encourage someone; I want to build someone up?” Or was it all you? See, when we get away from this—the basics, the obvious—it’s going to take us down a bad road. You know, it was so so so cool. My I I did have one good experience in Chicago this week. Um, there was this there was one of the guys in that circle of these these geniuses; older guy. And we went to lunch together, and he just he just loved me. It was—I don’t know—you know how when when someone just loves you like in a supernal way, where you know he saw that I just made a fool of myself, and uh and he just just the way he—so so much grace—just came alongside and and uh and just came alongside; didn’t make me feel dumb; just so encouraged me, everything else. And you could just tell he he wasn’t even thinking about himself; just thinking about me. It’s so cool. Older guy; old old guy. And uh and he’s been in ministry for a long time; read his books; he’s done amazing things. And we’re going to lunch, and he’s driving, and and I said, “You know, tell me about your life,” cuz he just want to talk about me. I’m going, “No, no, no; tell me about your life.” And uh and you know, here’s this guy, he’s going, “Okay,” he’s a bald guy, “goes picture me with hair down past my shoulders; long blonde hair, like it’s weird. Okay.” Um, it was strung out on LSD; any drug you could think of; everything else; just an absolute mess. Me and my buddies just raising havoc; everything. One of my friends goes away somewhere; he he becomes a Christian; he’d only been a Christian a few weeks, and he decides to come back for the sole reason—and then he he just stopped talking because he started—I look over and he’s crying; tears are coming down his face over something that happened over 40 years ago. Gets us PO. He came back just to tell us about Jesus, and he’s just crying. He goes, “And God took me at that time.” He goes, he goes, “I was I was smoking a joint, and I gave my life to the Lord.” As this guy’s explaining the gospel, not real well, but he’s crying about this; he’s still so in love; so struck by the grace of God after this—being this world-renowned, you know, successful, you know, older guy—just going, “Man, look at that.” And then he talked about how he started sharing, and he goes, “Man, those were the days,” he goes, “I we started this little group, me and him and our buddies; there’s like 30 of us after a while, and we said, ‘Let’s just get together, and let’s just see; let’s just pray; let’s just study the Bible, and we’ll worship.’ That’s it; it’s just a gather; we don’t even know what it is; we don’t know what to call it; let’s just get together.” And he goes, “And I started teaching,” he goes, “and in fact, if I find any tapes from that era, I burn them, cuz who knows what I was teaching; I was so new, so green.” He goes, “Pretty soon that group of 30 grew into a group of 2500.” He says, “It was just this movement; it was just this time.” And and he’s just sharing his life with me and and just saying, “You know what? Anything you need from me.” And and I just walked away. You ever met someone that’s just so so gracious and so loving that it just makes your day, and and you’re you’re envious; you go, “I want to be that; I I I want to be that when I’m older; I want to be that now; I want to be that person where you you hang out and you just walk away going, ‘Man, I feel like I was just with Jesus.’ I I no one’s ever been so gracious; no one’s ever been so loving.” I mean, even if I as I talk about that, you guys get this smile, and I see your faces, like, “Don’t we all want to be that?” See, I don’t know; I don’t know what I want to do. Again, it’s about character; it’s about becoming this person that Jesus is is concerned about. It’s like, “Am I a person that loves God? Am I a person that loves people? And when they come in contact with me, do they see that?” And as I do that, as I become the person God wants me to be, great things will happen. And as we step out in faith and believe that God can make us into those types of people, because some of you guys know very well that’s not you right now, and I look at me and go, “Man, I I I get so focused on other things and tasks, and that love isn’t just emanating from me.” But I thank God for just letting me meet that one guy and go, “You know what? I know what I want now. I want to be him; I want to be that; I want to be 40 years into my relationship with God and still be broken over the fact that he would save a sinner like me. I want to be—I want to—I want people to come in contact with me just to go, ‘Man, he like looked in my eyes; like he really cared; he genuinely loved me.’” That’s what God does for us. Okay, this isn’t going to be by your own power; you don’t muster up a love like that. You come before God and say, “God, make me a lover of you; make me a lover of people. Holy Spirit, change me; Holy Spirit, empower me so that I can show that type of love to my friends, and that I can share the word of God with my friends, as imperfectly as it’s going to be; help me to disciple my friends. And let’s just see what happens from there.” But I got to say, I’m very excited about the future. It is very sad and a very weird time in my life, um, but it’s an adventure. And our lives are going to be over before we know it, and I just want to know that at the end your relationship with God was really yours, and you really did have faith that Elijah was a man just like you, just another human being; that you had faith that God could do great things in your life, and it’s not because you deserve it or not because you’re the most intelligent or the most gifted; it’s just he chooses to use those of us who are a mess; that have—

We made a mess of our lives, and understand that we don't have the brilliance of other people or the giftings of other people. We're just in love with Jesus; we're in love with people. I'm going to have the worship team come up and uh, and lead us in some worship. But at this time, there may be some of you that are going, "Man, you describe this type of person that I want to be. I want to be this one who just says, 'Okay, I'll go out. I'm going to step out in faith. I'm going to share the gospel. I'm going to be a lover of God. I'm going to be a lover of people.'" And you just go, "Gosh, I'm just not that person. I don't know how to get there." I'd love for someone to pray with you, um, because that's we're here to celebrate that hope that we have. And I thank God for the changes that he's made in my life, and and some of you guys, you know how much he's done already, and it's just prayer for the next step.

And if you need prayer, there'll be some pastors, some elders, some leaders here to pray with you. Just come up to the prayer room. Maybe some of you are saying, "You know what? I I I need to I need to I need to become that person. I can't do it by my own power." And maybe today's the day you get baptized. That's the whole point of getting baptized. Please, please understand, don't go, "Well, I'm not good enough to be baptized." This this this you guys, that's the whole point. That's the whole point: you're not good enough, and God wants to save you from that. Maybe you're high on something right now, you know, just like my friend was. Maybe you had a crazy weekend, and here you are this morning, you're going, "Me? And I'm going," Exactly. You, that is the exact type of person I see over and over and over again in this book that God used. It's just time for you to die to your old ways. Say, "I'm done with that. I believe Jesus died on that cross not to save me just from the punishment of my sins, but to save me from the sin itself, and that he can get me away from all of that junk and give me a new life and do amazing things through me." And if that's you, you can get baptized today. And if you have questions about that, then come forward and have someone pray with you.

But as we worship, let's think about this God who is able to do these great things through us. And don't just go, "Oh, that's cool that you guys are going and doing your thing." The whole point is this is for all of us. He's called us all to live by faith. Elijah has nothing on any one of us in this room. We just have to pray and believe.