Fearfully Made for a Wonderful Purpose: Why You and Your Mission Matter (5:30 pm service)

Todd Wagner: Good morning. I am really, really excited to introduce you to somebody who I think can communicate this essential truth. Some of you are here and you see this big number XII behind us, and you're like, "What in the world are the all about with that big XII?" If you've never been here before, we're in the middle of a series. This is the eleventh of 12 truths that we're saying, if you don't get exactly right, the ramifications of its impact on your life are enormous.

This week, the truth we are saying you cannot miss is this simple truth: you are fearfully made for a wonderful purpose, and if you don't understand that God loves you and your Master who created you has a mission for your life, you're missing out on all of the life your Master created you for. When we started thinking about this, I thought about Nick, and I thought about the way he lives his life and the man he is.

The Scripture says in Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 10, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." I thought, "If I could show you somebody who is God's workmanship who can't walk the way you walk and who is doing it in ways that are exceedingly beyond more than any of us are doing, maybe you can get a glimpse that you're fearfully made for a wonderful purpose," so I am really humbled to have God's servant here, my friend Nick Vujicic. Let's hear from him. Nick, God bless you!

Nick Vujicic : Thank you! Good morning, everybody. How are you? Fantastic! I am not from the South. I'm from the real South down under, Australia, and I've lived in California for the last three years. I want to thank Pastor Todd so much and Watermark Church for having me here. It's fantastic to be here.

I've been blessed by God to be his workmanship, his mouthpiece, and a servant of the Most High God to show people how God can turn beauty from ashes, brokenness, or lack of where God can complete you on the inside. We're always, as human beings, looking for something to complete us on the outside, but there is no point in being complete on the outside when you're broken on the inside. Amen?

This morning I really wanted to share with you from my heart the truth about God's Word and his sovereignty. Would you say sovereignty with me? What does that mean? I want to talk about that. I want to talk about how God never makes a mistake. No matter what you pray for, God is still God.

I love that story back in the Old Testament where you have Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They're in a city, and the king says, "You must bow down to the god we created," and they said, "No, we will not bow down to your god. We will bow down to the living God, our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." They said, "If you don't bow to our god, we're going to throw you into the fire," and they said, "Okay."

They said, "Okay. If you do that, that's okay, because God is going to save us from the flames, but if he doesn't, he is still God." I want that thought, that seed, in your mind today that will give you the new perspective about God and his plan for your life. I ask you if you do have a pen and paper near you, even if you normally don't take notes, this is the one to take notes on. I'm going to be quoting some Scriptures that have changed my life.

To give you a bit of a background as to my story, my story is his story about how much he loved me and how much his grace has provided me all that I need. I'm 27 years old. I just had my birthday 48 hours ago. I turned 27 and have been traveling around the world. Thank you and thank God! I am 27 young years. I feel 47 at times, and I thank God for that. He has blessed me, blessed me, and blessed me with a wonderful family.

I have a brother and a sister who were born after me with no disabilities. I was born without limbs for no medical reason at all. My mum was a nurse. She delivered hundreds of babies before I was born. She knew exactly what to do in her pregnancy and what not to do in her pregnancy. They had ultrasounds done, naturally, and they found out I had no arms and no legs, not during the ultrasound but when I said, "Hi!" It was a little bit of a shock and a huge tragedy.

In fact, 11 months before I was born, my mom and dad planted a church in Melbourne, Australia. The question is the goodness of God. How can we say God is perfect? How can we say God is good? When I say God is good… Everybody say, "God is good." Do you know that saying, "God is good all of the time, and all of the time God is good"? I'm not going to get you to say that, but what I want you to know is this morning me saying, "God is good," may offend you.

If you don't know who God is in the fullness of him and his character and his love and his perfection and you don't know the knowledge of who God is through the Word of God, you may be offended when someone says, "God is good," when your mother just died, when you just found out you have cancer, or that your son was born without arms and legs.

Can you imagine my parents and someone coming in? They're shocked. They can't breathe. My dad's stomach is turned upside down. He can't believe what he's seeing, and someone would come in and then say, "Hey! God is good!" Right! We are to see the goodness of God in pain and suffering. It's interesting how obviously in our minds a circumstance will change and it will give us an internal change.

If God gave Nick arms and legs miraculously, then everything is going to be okay. It would make sense that God who loves me, who can do miracles, should do a miracle. If I have the right faith to move a mountain, how much is that? The faith of a mustard seed. Then miracles can happen.

Do miracles happen today? They do! They do! I've seen them with my own eyes. You may not believe me, but that doesn't change the truth that I've seen them. I've seen blind people seeing and deaf people hearing. I saw a deaf woman. She had been deaf or, as you say in the United States, hearing impaired. I didn't know! I'm disabled. Big deal! That's what everybody says. What do you think about the word? We'll talk about the word disabled in a second. I'm going to find out your disability in a second.

I saw a woman who couldn't hear for 10 years, and she started hearing. This was only four weeks ago in Columbia. We spoke to 160,000 people in Columbia. In nine days we did 10 cities. Do you understand? We saw 50,000 people come to Jesus Christ. I've seen people who were lame walking. I've seen crooked backs become straight. I've seen feet come out. Do you understand? Not come out, but I mean feet where one was shorter than the other about two inches right in front of my eyes and a crooked back like this…I'm not kidding…for four years became straight within 10 seconds of prayer.

We know God does miracles, and I'm not kidding you. I have a pair of shoes in my closet just in case he says, "Yes." I'm serious! I would be stupid not to! Right? But what happens when God says, "No"? Who is God? Who is God? What has God done for Nick Vujicic? What is Nick's problem? What is Nick's need?

This The Big XII series… You will not ever, ever, ever come to a point of the fullness of God until you come to the fullness of needing him. The biggest disability we have as human beings is that we don't really need him today. When someone needs something and God provides that need, of course, you're going to be excited, but when you experience the feeling and touch of his hand or knowing his grace is sufficient…

When you read these promises like in 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, verses 9 through 13… Read that later on about how Paul says, "'My grace is sufficient for you,' says God." That experience, that joy, that peace, that rest, that comfort gives us so much ground to worship him, where you don't need to be told, "We're going to come to church, and now you're going to worship him." It's an expression or an overflow of the heart when you know someone has done something for you.

If this gentleman in the front in the orange shirt gives me a million dollars…thank you, if you have that…I'm going to be overjoyed, but if he has done nothing for me, I'm not going to just go, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" You're going to think I'm crazy if I just say, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" No. What has God done? What has God set free in me that I would be joyful without arms or legs? Here it is. Jeremiah 29:11.

It says, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord** , 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Check this out. Verses 12 and 13. Are you ready for this? Actually, to the beginning of 14, it says,"Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Will you say, "With all your heart"?" 'I will be found by you,' declares the Lord…***"*

That's good. Thank you so much! What a promise! What a promise, but it's so hard to believe that when I'm born without arms and legs. A plan to prosper me? A plan that won't harm me? It looks a little harmful to me. It looked a little harmful to my parents. I was seeking God as a child, and people would come up to me when I was having a bad day and say, "Nick, everything is going to be okay." As a child, I was like, "How can you tell me everything is going to be okay?"

Why? Because they knew something I didn't. They believed something I didn't. They believed that verse. I didn't understand that verse. I thought, "God, surely you have forgotten me. Surely you have." In fact, I went into such a deep depression as a child that I told my mom at 8 years old that I was going to commit suicide, and at age 10, I tried. I went in my bathtub. I told my mom and dad, "I just want to relax."

I had about four inches of water in there, and I turned over. I couldn't do it the first time. I couldn't do it the second time. I couldn't do it the third time. I just couldn't do it. Physically, I could do it if I wanted to. I tried to hold my breath and all of that sort of thing, but the thought came to my mind, and it stopped me in my tracks thinking, "Nick, you're about to leave a lifetime of guilt and pain on your parents' shoulders for the rest of their lives. Do you really want to do that?" and I said, "No," so I didn't go through with it.

I went through ups and downs. What would you give me if you saw me at age 10 the next day to make me feel better? Are you going to give me money? No. Are you going to give me some friends? No. They all have arms and legs. They don't understand me. Even my own parents could only hold me when I cried. No one understood me.

I wanted love, love that I could believe in and love that could conquer all (the love of God). At that time, I felt like he had rejected me. "Where is God? Where is God? Where are you? What are your plans that you have for me?" I got angry at him, but at age 15, I read John 9, where a man was born blind, and Jesus was going through a village with his disciples, and they came to that place where a man was born blind. The biggest question on my life, obviously, is… People come up and what's the first thing they say? "What happened?" I didn't know why I was born this way.

People asked Jesus, "Why was this man born that way? What happened?" Jesus said, "It was done so that the works of God may be revealed through him." I was like, "Whoa!" I even stopped reading on. It was the first time I read that story. Just the first three verses of John 9 changed my life, and I realized, "Just because I don't know why I was born this way, doesn't mean Jesus doesn't know why."

Just because you don't know why a zero has gone from your bank account doesn't mean God doesn't know why. Just because you don't know why God lets your rebellious teenager go so far away from you they don't even want to hear from you… You don't understand why, but God does. As long as you keep on praying and you believe in his faithfulness, Romans 8:28 says, "All things come together for the good of those who love him." Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7, say, "Be anxious for nothing…" That's the hardest thing to do. Are you kidding me? Pastor Todd and Evangelist Nick Vujicic, you all know what it means to be anxious and scared of what's about to happen, wondering, "How is this going to work itself out? What does God have?"

What does Philippians 4:6-7 say? It says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Wow! Nick knows a lot of verses. Why? Just because I wanted to do it for the presentation?

Yes. I've spoken 1,500 times, but I'll tell you why I've spoken 1,500 times and quoted these verses. It's because they are written on the tablet of my heart. Why are they written on the tablet of my heart? Because they changed my life. Why? Because the Word of God is truth, and who the Son sets free is free indeed.

Even just yesterday, I had two of my best friends, a man and wife named Nate and Christy… They're my best friends from Australia, and they've been out here for eight months with me just being my accountability partners and my spiritual warriors. I felt like Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. You know, when he was carrying the ring. It just felt so heavy. It was just a little ring, but it's the heaviness of the calling. It's the heaviness of the purpose.

I want you to understand. I'm a 27-year-old evangelist who has spoken to 3 million people, and we've seen 400,000 souls come to Jesus Christ. I've seen governments. I've spoken to presidents. I've spoken to sex slaves. I've spoken to orphans. I've spoken to billionaires. I've spoken to a lot of different people.

There is a big calling on my life, and I was telling them, "Guys, I just feel like Frodo." I told them yesterday, "This is crazy how something so small can become so big," meaning there was a decision I had to make that was quite heavy in the spiritual realm, and it was difficult humanly speaking and emotionally and mentally, but guess what. I got through it. God gave me that truth through them. They said, "You're not carrying it. Let Jesus carry it for you." I went, "Ah. That's right. It's not on my shoulders."

Look at me. I am weak, but I am strong. You can see the strength of God in me because you see the weakness of me and my flesh. It's Jesus who shines. It's Jesus who carries me. It's Jesus who forgives you. It's Jesus who changes you. When you receive Jesus Christ and you have the Holy Spirit in you, that transforms you from the inside out.

Can you to turn to Psalm 1, please? Do you want to know my biggest problem? My biggest problem was not having no arms and legs. This is the problem I had. Nick is a human being. That's my problem. Why? Because every human being is a descendent from Adam and Eve. Why is that a big problem?

Because every human being who is a descendant from Adam and Eve is dead. If you don't believe me that every human being is born into sin and evil and selfishness and pride and jealousy, all you need to do is get two 3-year-old boys in one room and give them one toy. You'll see evil.

If I've lied once, I'm a liar. If I've stolen once, I'm a thief. If I've sinned once, I'm a sinner. That's my problem. What's the point of having arms and legs on earth when you don't know where you're going? If God gives me 90 years, praise God! Where am I going, though? If there is no life after death, then everything including love is meaningless, including relationships, including marriage, including the greatest gifts on earth given by God for every single one of us.

If there is no eternity, then everything is meaningless, but if there is an eternity and if Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, then everything makes sense. Why? Why does it make sense that God makes a man without arms and legs? Because he wanted to use a man without arms and legs to be his hands and feet in a way that no one else has ever been used.

You know you have to get your foot in the door. He gave me only a little foot, so the door has to open up only a little bit for my foot to get in. Do you understand? God knows all things. If God gave me no arms and no legs… It's not that he took away my arms and legs. He gave me the gift of having no arms and no legs. He put me in a position and perspective and joy and hunger to say, "God, if you ain't going to change the circumstances, I'm going to believe your Word and believe that you're going to use it. I believe you're going to bring another soul to Jesus Christ."

I tell you guys today… I honestly tell you from the depths of my heart what a sad day in heaven it would have been if God gave me what I wanted at age 8 and I had arms and legs at the end of my life and went to God and said, "God, what was the biggest mistake I made on earth?" and he said, "Nick, you wanted arms and legs."

I'd ask him, "Was it wrong to ask you for arms and legs?" He would say, "No." Scripturally, I can back that up. God invites you to request your requests and ask him for the desires of your heart, but, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God…" Why the kingdom of God? Because even the worst part of your life can advance the kingdom of God.

His righteousness has made me whole. I am a servant of God. I'm a child of God forgiven of my sins. I'm an ambassador of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and I stand in front of the gates of hell and redirect traffic. Big deal you have money! Big deal! You have money? Great! Money, drugs, sex, alcohol…

Teenagers, sex ain't love. You can wake up in the morning and you can still think to yourself, "Do they still really love me?" What you really want is love. Where does love come from? God. If you put your happiness in temporary things, your happiness will be temporary, but if you put your hope and trust in God, I tell you he's going to surprise you. Not only is it an exciting life, but I'll tell you that you will go through depths of despair and loneliness and hope, but then you will hold him, and when you hold him, he holds you, and he will carry you through.

You'll find that God is faithful. He will never make a mistake. Don't you ever believe that I'm suffering more than you, because I believe being in a broken home is worse than having no arms and no legs! Pain is pain. Brokenness is brokenness. Let me finish the story of me and God upstairs in heaven. God gives me arms and legs at age 8. I'm in heaven. "Nick, you asked me for arms and legs."

"Was it wrong to ask you for arms and legs?"

"No, it wasn't wrong to ask me for arms and legs, but the problem was this, Nick. You wanted arms and legs more than you wanted me. That is the problem."

Don't worship God saying, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you," hoping he's going to give you something more, because if you aren't really thanking him for what he has already done, you don't know who my God is then. You don't know the God of the Bible. You don't know him. You don't know him.

You're not walking with him, and you're not praying everyday, and you aren't thanking him everyday, and you aren't trusting him everyday, and you aren't asking God to show you more about what he wants you to do. He is not done with you. I don't care if you have the wife and the car and the house. I don't even care if you're a teenager and you dyed your hair gray. I want you to know God is not done with you yet. God is not done with you yet.

Do you know what a ministry it is just to pray for your family? What an honor it is that your prayer on your righteousness' behalf on the gift and grace of God! You can pray for someone's salvation. You can shine the light and be the salt of the earth. What an honor it is! There is nothing else to live for! Don't lose your fire. Don't lose your hunger. When you come and find the fullness of who God is, all you want to do is this in Psalm 1. It says,

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."

I want to be righteous. I want to be a tree deeply planted in the Word, not just believing what someone says. "Nick, God's going to give you arms and legs." Okay. If he does do it, don't tell me you are certain that he will, because I've heard that before. He's going to give me arms and legs in heaven. You prayed for arms and legs. Let it be God's will not my will. Why? Because God's will is always better than mine.

What would you rather have if you were in my position? Arms and legs or to save one more soul? Thinking about the 400,000, one more soul. God would say in heaven, "Nick, if you had only asked me for what I wanted (my will), 400,000 more people would have been here in heaven." What a depressing eternity!

God is good! He is perfect, and if you don't thank him today for what he has done, then you don't know him. I know my God! When I worship, I worship him. When I pray, I pray. Why? He's so beautiful. His love is joy. His peace… You see something I have. It's free. Go to him. Get on your knees. It ain't just coming to church. It ain't just giving to the poor. It's about knowing him.

When I see God face to face, I will stand on judgment day, and he's going to ask me two questions. Are you ready for this? This is it. "Do you know me? Who did you bring?" That's my opinion. It's not scriptural. It's my opinion. There is the Word. It's free. I've spoken in nations where, if you bring one of these books into their country, you're out. Today, do you know him? Will, can I ask you to come out here and play some keys? You're rad! I would do it, but you know… It's not my calling.

Do I believe God can give me arms and legs? Yes. Do I have shoes in my closet? Yes. Do I still pray for arms and legs? Yes. Isn't that interesting? I still want to know how it feels to get on a bike, crash into a pole, and break a leg. How selfish is that? The desires of your heart are in the hands of God. When you trust him, you will see in due season fruit.

There will be times when your tree will have no leaves, when you feel like there are no leaves, or you feel like this tree is dead. Four weeks ago, I was in China. There was a tree with no leaves but mandarins on it. God is like, "Even when you don't see leaves there is still fruit." Planted by the waters. Are you planted by the living waters of God?

Have you positioned yourself in a place of no sin? You cannot hide your sin from yourself or God. You cannot grow in your relationship with God or serve him when you willingly know and you willingly have secret sins that you hide from your spouse. They will choke you and cut off your roots to the living waters.

When you cut that sin and you become real… "Nick, I've asked God to forgive me of my sin and I've surrendered my life to him, but I'm still struggling with sin." Who is not? I'm not saying that to say, "You can just deal with that." I'm telling you I know that God has transformed my mind to a point where I have the previous life of Nick with lust, greed, pride of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The whole thing.

God has transformed me, and I want to encourage you today that when you start with the need for God and you ask him into your life, he does transform you to a point where you are willing to cut away sin. I want you to know that nothing will be perfect here on earth, but that's why we strive and hunger for righteousness.

Philippians 1:6 says, "…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Do you see the victory over all of life and all of sin and all of death is needing God, loving him fully, praying, being with him, and serving others? It all stems from your need for him. You can't do this on your own. You can't. You can't forget the failures of the past, you can't ignore the fear of the future, but when you put your hope in God day by day he transforms you.

"Nick, are you happy all of the time?" No, but I trust him. I trust him. He loves me. He loves you. Don't compare your righteousness to mine. Compare your righteousness to Jesus, Jesus who had no sin, then took my sin on his shoulders and paid the price. Teenagers, if you come to church but you haven't give your life to Jesus Christ, this is why Jesus died on the cross.

I was supposed to die for my sin. I was not supposed to go to heaven, but because I believe that Jesus died in my place and took my sin and shed his blood and paid the price for sin… If you don't believe me, it's all in the Word of God. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death…"

If you believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, as the only man who rose himself from the dead, then the Spirit of God that raised Jesus Christ from the dead will then live in me. That's my assurance! That's my hope! That and God saying, "Nick, well done, my good and faithful one," not because I was perfect but because I let him carry me. I let him change me. I let him use me. I still praised him in the storm. That is when you're free.

One of our shirts says soar. Isaiah 40:31 says, "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles…" I don't need arms and legs to soar. I'm flying on the wings of the Holy Spirit. Pastor Todd and I both have a heart for people saying, "I want to quit doing it my way." I know you've only done this at this church only a handful of times, but Todd and I truly believe to those handful of times we're going to add another one where I'm going to ask you that if today you are not walking with God…

I'm not talking about you're reading the Word. You come into the church. I'm talking about you are not living the way God wants you to live, and you've maybe known it in the past, but you've walked away, and you don't have an active relationship with God today. Today, you want to say, "Nick, I'm done! I'm quitting right now doing it my way. I want to do it God's way. I can't do this on my own. I'm tired and exhausted!

If you have never said, "Jesus, come into my life. I need you. I need you now." Do you think I had a need for God? You're more disabled than I am if you're addicted to pornography. If you can't forgive someone who has hurt you, you're more disabled than I am. I'm not saying forgiveness is easy. Sometimes it will take a whole lifetime just to have that thorn in your side to know that Jesus has forgiven me and God is going to give me grace just to get through today, but at least not to hate somebody.

Do you see the word disabled? Take a picture of it. When you go and sin no more, you put a G‑O- in front of disabled and it says, "God is abled." We're all disabled, but when you trust in God he will transform you from the inside out. Today, if you want to say, "God, I want you in my life, and I want to quit doing it my way," in a second I'm going to get you stand where you are, and I want you to come to the front.

I assured Pastor Todd that I'm not going to lay hands on you. It's all good. Today, right now if you know you need Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you are playing church, and you don't want to play it anymore but you want to know more about God and you want to have an active relationship that says everyday, "I'm praying for today, I'm thanking God for today, and I'm trusting in God for today. I want that joy. I want that hunger for him. I want to be the tree."

Wherever God has let you be, he can today uproot you and put your where exactly he wants you to be. What is that? The living waters of peace and joy and faith. Today, if you know you need Jesus Christ in your life and you want to say, "Nick, I want to change my life right now," stand where you are and come to the front.

Don't come up if you're already in a relationship with God, but right now, if you know you need to give your life to Jesus Christ today and you need to get real in your relationship with him whether for the first time or you need to come back to him, right now stand to your feet in the name of Jesus and come forward and let's say a prayer together. Come on. Right now. Come on.

Let's give a big round of applause. There are going to be people coming up. Come on! There's one! Come on! From the top to the front. From my right to my left, come on! Just face me. Come on! Come on! Lift your voices, guys! Come on! There are people coming to Jesus Christ today! Come on! Come on! Come on! Just come! Just come!

There are many more of you. Come on! Why are you sitting there? Grab the hand of your wife and say, "I want to come. I want to come. I want to come. I'm done with my life. I want Jesus! I want Jesus! I want Jesus!" Come on! Come on! There are so many more of you. Come on! Just come! Just come! Just say a prayer with me. Start that relationship with God. Come on! Face me, guys. Turn around and face me.

You don't need to applaud anymore, but right now, guys, come on. If you know God is calling you to a relationship with him and you feel like your feet have never been heavy like this before, I want you to know in the name of Jesus those feet be broken right now, and you just come. Your burden is heavy, but Jesus will carry you through.

Are you done yet? Are you done yet? Are you finished yet trying to clean the house with filthy rags? Do you understand? Maybe you were too afraid to come up because God isn't going to forgive you of your sin, and you have shame and guilt. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! Do you understand?

You're in a cage and today you can be free. You can be free of depression and fear and anxiety, and the Holy Spirit can come upon you when you ask him into your life. Come on! I'm going to wait for the people I'm talking about. "Oh, Nick! It's going to take me ages to do that." Come on! In the name of Jesus, this is the last call right now. In the name of Jesus, tell your friend, "Would you come with me? Come, Mom. Come, Dad. Come with me right now."

Come on! You're never too young. It's never too late to give your life to Jesus Christ. Would you come forward right now? Last call. Come on! One… Don't applaud yet. Watch this. One… Two… Come on! That's two more. Come on! Come on! Come on! That's two more people. Three. Up at the top, I'm going to wait for you. Hurry up and come down in the name of Jesus Christ.

That's three more. Come on! Anybody else? Four… Five… That's five more. Six… Keep coming. Hurry up. I don't have a wristwatch. Six… Seven… Eight… Hallelujah! Nine at the top. Hurry up and run down. Come on! Come on! Come on! That's nine. Keep coming. Today Jesus is here, and today, if you want to reach him, he's only a prayer away.

Just say that prayer. Say it from your heart, and he will answer you. Faith is not a feeling. Faith is believing because he says so. Today your name is going to be written in the Book of Life. Hallelujah! Let's bow our heads and pray. I'm going to pray for you, and while I'm praying a person is still coming forward. Hallelujah!

Father, we thank you for everybody here. We thank you, Holy Spirit, for your presence. We thank you, Lord, for your truth that has set us free. We ask in the mighty name of Jesus that today we would be free, free, free. Lord God, we thank you that you haven't called us to be perfect, but you have called us to trust in you, Lord God, to believe that you're going to live in us and you're going to transform us one day at a time to grow, to learn, and to seek your face and your will (that plan that is to prosper us and not to harm us).

Father, we do pray for miracles in the mighty name of Jesus here today. Father, we thank you that the greatest miracle of all is knowing you, so, Father, may you bless these people at the front and the people in their seats who will also be doing it as well! Thank you, God.

I think that person is here, and I just want you all, if you don't mind, in your hearts or out loud just repeat this prayer. Say, "Lord Jesus, I come to you today, and I thank you for loving me so much that you died on the cross for all of my sin. I am so sorry for what I've done wrong. Please forgive me.

Help me to forgive myself to live a life that you want me to live. Give me strength. Heal my heart and set me free. Give me a comfort to know you are with me. I want to know you more today. Teach me to pray. Teach me to thank you. Teach me to trust you. Bless my family, and bless my friends. Help me to be your love. In Jesus' name I pray, amen."

One more thing. One more exciting thing. Jesus is your strength, the Son of God, who has forgiven you of your sins. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." You now have started the journey in him.

One more thing I want to do before we move on. There are people here in your seats who have said that prayer who have done exactly what these people have done at the front, but for whatever reason, you just didn't come forward. If you don't come forward and if you don't speak with someone, we want you to really quickly pray with and give you help…

I'll tell you why you need help. You're going to wake up in the morning and say, "I really felt something that day, and I really wanted God," but tomorrow morning you're going to think, "What now?" That whole question of, "What now?" is why this church is here, so right now, if you want to say, "I did exactly what these people did at the front, but I just didn't come forward," I urge you right now to stand right now where you are, friend, and come forward.

Come on! Bring a friend. If that's you, come forward right now. You're going to see them coming from the front to the back and from your right to your left. Come on! Come forward right now. Come on! There are more people here. I know you've said that prayer. Come forward. Don't wait.

If you know your husband said it, ask him. Say, "I'll come with you." The other way around? "I'll go with you." Come on. If you know you said that prayer… Are you ready, gentlemen? You're the leader of the household, and if you just made your heart right with God, you can say, "Honey, I did this for us and for our family. I know I wasn't walking the way God wants me to do it, and I don't want to do it my way anymore."

Stand in the name of Jesus now and come. Come on! Start applauding, guys. There are people coming. Come on! Come on! Come on! At the top, I'm going to wait for you. At the top, there you go! There you go! Come on! Come down! Come down! Come down! Don't be afraid. Just come! Just come! Come on! Just tell your girlfriend or tell your guy. Come on! Come on! Just come! Just come! Come on! Hallelujah! Awesome!

Todd: As Nick said, we don't do that often, but when we do it, we want you to know it's not that you came that made you right with God, is it? It's the faith decision. By faith, we've been justified through Jesus Christ and have peace with God. If you are one of these friends who are here, and there are still some of you that pride and the flesh kept you from moving forward even though you made a decision, the Scripture says, "If you don't profess me before men, I'm not going to profess you before my Father who is in heaven."

That's our privilege, by the way, every week. It's not just a one-time walk up front, but everyday the way we live as people in this community that we profess Christ and we're happy to tell them why we celebrate Christmas, because it's the birth of our Savior, and it transforms us from the inside out.

What I want to ask all of my friend here to do, after we're done singing, if you'll just walk right back over that way, and there's a room. We're going to have you gather just for a second and give you an opportunity. We're going to show you exactly how we want to love you and follow up with you in a very committed way. It's just right around that corner just in a second when we start singing.

Look up here. There are already some friends who came with friends, but I need 30 people to come in that room who know Christ and are ready to make disciples. I need 15 men and 15 women to also come in that room. If we have 60, we'll send 30 away. I need 30 faithful followers of Christ to come in that room with me, because we're going to have a personal relationship with every one of these folks and help them integrate into the body.

Father, I thank you for my friend, Nick. I thank you for the way you have reminded us today that you are good, not because you give arms and legs but because you have given us, Father, grace. You're not even good because you gave us grace. You are good because grace is who you are. You are good because love is who you are, because justice is who you are, and you have revealed that through Jesus Christ. We see your goodness in Christ, but you are not good because you have saved us. You've saved us because you're good, and we thank you for that.

We pray this body and all of these folks… Lord, what an incredible stewardship! You have built a church of 2,000 people who already know you who are here this morning with thousands more coming, and with this being your temple and with this being your resource, Father, we ought to really transform this city with our faithfulness.

Rebuke those who have not memorized Scripture like Nick. Rebuke those who are not part of a fellowship and accountability like Nick is. Rebuke all of us, Father, who aren't passionate about the gospel the way Nick was this morning, so we can be your church, your people, a holy priesthood, a people of your own possession who declare your marvelous truths and light.

We thank you for the courageous children of God who came forward this morning. I pray now your courageous children of God would go into the world, that we would know we were made perfectly by you for a wonderful purpose! May we not miss out on that! Lord, for hearts that are still cold here this morning and for people who have not yet responded, I pray they would meet us in that room and they would come. It's not too late to come! If the Enemy worked them over and made them too prideful to move in a room of 2,000, let them move now as we sing. Join us. Glorify yourself, Christ, continually in this moment and forever. Amen.

We're going to sing one last song. We're all going to stand and do it. I'd love for you guys just to go ahead and walk in that back room with me. I'd love for others to meet me in there. If you've made a profession to follow Christ today, if you'd come in that room. If you made a profession to live for Christ before, I pray you go and have a week of worship.

I want to say one last thing. I'm going to do it earlier in the next service. Whenever we have a guest like this, it comes. Everybody always asks, "How can I have this?" First of all, you have to know everything we do here is streamed free on the web, but if you'd like other stuff, because Nick has put that thing together carefully, we always make it available the day that person is here.

That has happened. I want to tell you what we make available all of the time: a community of saints who will spur you on to love and good deeds. You're going to mess up your forever if you don't know that God loves you and has a wonderful purpose for your life. If you know that, stand and sing that one verse and one chorus with me. Let's stand together.