Hope Church LV Sermons
10th Birthday :: David Nasser
As you're having a seat, can we thank Teddy and this incredible worship team and this band for leading? Man, so anointed. I just wanted to touch this shirt. When I first walked in, I was like, that is a big shirt. I was like, man, that is like, that is like a queen size duvet that brothers wearing. And I really did. I was wondering, why does a man need to wear that much shirt? And then I saw him start getting going and he started dancing and I was like, no ordinary shirt can contain this man. And so can we just say, no ordinary shirt can contain this man. So anointed brother. Is that song on the new album you gave me last night that just came out? I cannot wait to go home and sing that at my church. But we won't do it justice. Will you just pray? Somebody in that video said, somebody said, hey, will you go to another city and they said no. And then they said, will you pray about it? And they said, okay. Will you pray about coming to Alabama to be our worship leader? Will you do that? And a man, someone needs your wife and your kids to come to because apparently they're all singers. And so, Vance can stay. Everybody else is coming. Is that all right? So good, y'all. How you doing? I know you're looking at me and you're like, he just said y'all. He looks like the cab driver on the strip. And he just said y'all. And I know Vance just said he's from Alabama. I am, I am. And then when he said, I went from Iran to Alabama. You're like, wow, third world to third world. That's kind of weird. (audience laughs) And I am. I'm a converted Muslim. I came to Christ and I, yeah. Praise the Lord. (audience applauds) I'm not convinced though. I will say this. I'm not convinced that the Pittmans were convinced. Yesterday, I got in about 130 and the album of "All Game" was on. I know Vance is a big Alabama fan. I'm a big Alabama fan and so I went over their house to watch the second half of the game. And they were serving pork. And part of it was because we're playing the hogs. But I'm convinced part of it was like, let's make sure he's a converted Muslim. You know, let's make, just give him pork. And let's watch him. Let's see if he's gonna eat pork. And as soon as I ate the first two, they were like texting, it's okay. It's okay. I was kind of convinced they were checking me out. But having 10th anniversary, by the way. Wow, how exciting is that? Double digits? Are you kidding me? I was telling my wife that this morning, I said, man, they are 10 years old today. Our church is one years old, I was gonna say years. We were one year old three weeks ago. And I mean, just looking ahead at really the track record and the legacy of this church that's already started. You know, that 10 years is a long time to be a church. And I was telling my wife about it. I was like, I'm just so encouraged to be around another church planner who's been out of for 10 years. And it started in his living room. And today, I was like, I was telling her about last night's services and about you. 'Cause Vance has been telling me about you. So I was passing along the information to my wife. And she said, we should have gotten them like an anniversary gift, you know, she really did. She said, man, we should have gotten like a 10 year anniversary gift or something. And I said, all right. And my wife started looking it up on the internet while we were talking. And she got a little phone out and she was like looking it up. And she said, well, the 10 year anniversary symbol apparently is 10 and aluminum. And I don't know if you knew that, but it's 10 and aluminum because they're durable. They're durable, you know, steels. They're durable objects. But yet they are, even though they're durable, they're bendable, they're flexible. And she was telling me that. I was like, babe, that is, that's the gift, you know? I'm sure they'd rather have some money, but this is what I've got right here. This is the gift just to bring that today. And just to say, wow, how appropriately named, you know? That you would be a 10 year old church that's like 10. That's like aluminum, you know? 10 campuses once you get into your new campus. This is your ninth campus as a church. That's flexible, that's bendable. But yet over 2,500 people in your city who've come to know the Lord, that's dependable. That's the same message, but a different method, you know? The same mission, but willing to change and to be flexible to present that. And I was telling my wife about all the God has done through this church and all glory to God, amen? I'm sure what he's done. Can we just give God a hand again? For 10 years of aluminum, you know? Rustproof aluminum, that's what you are. I just love that. She also told me that the flower was daffodil, but I'm not going to talk about that because I'm a man. I'm not going to talk about daffodils and what all that means. She said, baby, daffodils stand for joy. And I was like, that's great. You can share that with Vance's wife. All right, but I'm not bringing that up. 'Cause I'm a man, I'm not going to be talking. And I'm not saying if you're a man and you're a florist, well, yes, I am, but that's beside the point. But you know what I'm saying? Sorry. Anyway, all that to say, good to be with you all. I'm just excited about getting to come and open up the Word of God together. If you have your Bibles, do get them out this morning. And let's go to a passage in a scripture that's a promise from God. A promise that's been true for 10 years in the mission that is called, you know, hope after this church and will continue to be true the next 10 and the next 10 and the next 10. This is a promise that's always been true about God and it's always been true from God. And I think it's a promise that has locked in it. If you're a visitor today, you should go back and listen to the last two Sundays messages. Being in a different time zone, I did this morning. I woke up about 3.30 in the morning at your time, 5.30 in my time. And I started to just kind of, you know, have a little time with the Lord and then just started to just wondering, kind of in the internet, show up at the website of the church and just reading and studying and then ended up listening to the two great messages from the last two Sundays and up. And the overarching challenge in these two last messages, just in case you weren't there, you're visiting for the first time, just to catch you up was this challenge for us as the people of God to be involved in two IN words. And in the mission anniversary to be involved in investing and to be involved in inviting. Many of you have been a result of that. Many of you this morning are here because someone cared enough about you to invest and to invite you to come here today to hear a message of hope. And as we look at that, what I was reminded of is you guys were sharing that, Manson, and the last two Sundays was how that's really God's idea all along. God's idea has always been about inviting. God's idea has always been about investing. I mean, whose idea was it to begin this thing 10 years ago? Who invited this church to come to Vegas? God did. Who invested in every single facet of this church? God did. And so the audacity of a man to stand in a pulpit and to say, I want you to invest like you've never invested before. And I want you to invite like you've never invited before comes from a man who sees God first and foremost do that in his own life. What gives us the guts today to say, man, we ought to be about inviting. We ought to be about investing is the fact that God never asks us to be a part of something that he himself first didn't exemplify. And so I want us to look at this passage because in this passage, I'm telling you, we got some loaded in invest and invite going on. Let's look at it together and I'd say a 41.9. God says this. He says, I, the I in this, by the way, is God. You can circle that, put God on top of it. This is a God-sized promise. You know why that's important? Because all of us had been made promises before that didn't mount up too much. You ever been told, your job has security. Don't worry, your job is immune to the economy. You're gonna be just fine and then your job went away. Your stocks are gonna be okay. I've got your portfolio all taken care of and then your stocks took the biggest plunge of all. Man, me and your dad are gonna go through the divorce but you know what, it's okay. I'm still gonna be here for you and now she's not here for you as a mother. Anybody ever been made a promise? And that promise came with even maybe good intentions but the promise didn't ever come into fruition. It might even be by somebody you're sitting next to, don't point at 'em, but you ever have been told a promise and it didn't come about, he was great about God. God is the eye in this promise and so God is making the promise and here's the beauty of it all. He's never made a promise, he hasn't kept. He is the original promise keeper. And God is gonna make this promise so you can bank on this. This is a promise that's, this is a check God's about to write that's never gonna bounce. And God says this, he says, "I took you." The you is you, you can circle that and put your name on it. Whatever your name is, insert your name appropriately right here. God says, "I took you from the ends of the earth." To me, that feels like Las Vegas. Maybe for you, that feels like Alabama. To all of us, that probably feels like Iran, where I'm originally from. Now y'all know Iranians, right? We own all the 7-Elevens, we're the ones who go, "You have to pay for this little people. How 'bout the go, but that's us, that's our people. By the way, that's not Iranian, that's Indian, but who cares, right? So, accuracy can get in the way of a good joke sometimes, but whoever you are, wherever you're from, Iran, Indonesia, Taiwan, like our friends that are being called to go, "Wherever you're from." God says this, he says, "Nowhere in this world is exempt from my reaching hand." God says this, he says, "I took you from the ends of the earth, and from his farthest corners, I called you." God is inviting, he's saying, "I called you. I know the phone number of your heart, and I'm dialing you up, I'm inviting you to something so much bigger than you." That God would call you and invite you to something. God, by the way, God would call you and invite you to something. God would invite you to something. Let me just say that again. That God would invite you to something. Can you imagine, I mean, Teddy as a musician, can you imagine, I don't know, if Quincy Jones called you and invited you to something, you'd be like, "I'm gonna need a few weeks off. I'm gonna need a bigger shirt." (congregation laughing) 'Cause Quincy Jones just invited me to something. Think about it, think about it. I mean, that you would get invited by not just a celebrity, but by the famous one, to something. And God is in the business of calling you and calling me. He says, "I called you from the ends of the earth." And I said, "You're my servant." I love that because God puts great value in the invitation. God values you and loves you enough to invite you. You're a big deal because God has invited you, but not so big that you're bigger than God. God says, "I'm inviting you, but I want you to know, "that's not for you to get a big head. "That's for you to get a big heart because I'm inviting you, "not because you deserve to be invited. "I'm inviting you because you don't deserve to be invited." "I'm inviting you because the last thing you deserve "to be invited to is my banqueting table. "You know, in this world, you get invited to stuff "if you're good. "I mean, all kidding aside, you deserve to be invited "by somebody like that to be a part of music. "I mean, I just watch you, bro. "It's just flowing out of your pores. "I mean, you're not even trying." And I just watch you and I'm like, "That guy deserves to be with the greatest musicians "making music in the world." But the sad thing in that illustration would be if Quincy Jones invited me. And you're laughing because you presume accurately, I can't dance, I can't sing. You know, I am just completely. I mean, when I sing in the shower, it's a little taste of the wrath of God imputed in hell, forever, you know? It's just horrible. And so to me, for me to be invited is like, wow, I would get, in this world, you get invited to something if you're great. You get invited to preach at the church, if you really can produce, you get invited to be put in the game, if you can really score to touch down for the team, you get invited in this world to go play golf with the boss, he feels like you've got great potential and he can produce for the company. In this world, you're invited in the neighborhood to the ladies luncheon, if you're cool in your hip and you got something to bring to the table. In this world, it's all about you get invited, if you're great in the economy of God, God does the inviting because he's great. Think about it. And so today, if you're going, but a lot of people around here probably got invited to this stuff called God Stuff, this thing called the gospel, this thing called church. But I mean, I just visited here, all these people right here. I'm sure Dave earned an invitation from God because there it seemed like good church people that are dancing and singing. I don't know these words, I'm just standing here. You don't know what I did last night. You don't know what I did last week. You don't know the thoughts that I've had. That's okay. God's not inviting you because you're awesome. God's inviting you because he's awesome. He does the invitation. Can I just tell you that? That's the invitation. That's the invitation. God says I took you from the ends of the earth. I called you and I said you're my servant. And I have chosen you. I've chosen to invite you. And I've not cast you off. Then he says this. This is a command by the way for more, Lord. He says fear not, fear not. Why? Because I am with you. I'm with you. That is so good. God says I don't want you to be afraid. Anybody here here God's command today, fear not, and just need that little comma that comes right after it. See that little comma that comes right after it? I think that's a little predestined comma by God. Maybe just for me. I think God might be put that little comma there just so I could circle it and put my name on it. Anybody else need to put their name on the top of a comma where God says fear not and you're like, are you kidding me? God, do you know what the doctor just said about the cancer that's back? God, do you know about my prodigal child that hasn't been home and hasn't called in several days? And every night I go to bed, I wonder if I'm gonna get that phone call that's gonna have the worst news of all, the news that every mother dreads. God, do you know what's going on in my marriage? God, do you know how pornography is attacked? My husband's reputation. God, do you know how I'm about to lose my job? And I don't even know how to provide for my family. God, do you know what's going on? And God's going, yeah, fear not. Fear not. Why? Anybody else need that little comma to put your name on top of 'cause you're like, are you kidding me? And God says on the other side is why not? Because I am with you. I'm with you. I'm with you. What a great invite to be with God. And then right after the invite is the invest, he says, I'm with you. So don't be dismayed 'cause I'm your God and then here's the invest. Here's where God invests. He says, and I will. Now I might, but I will strengthen you. Anybody here today say in the bank account of strength in my life, there's a lot of emptiness going on. And I need a massive deposit. I need a massive investment of strength. Anybody look at your life today and say, I need God's strength 'cause I don't have it on my own. Anybody need that investment? But God just said this. He said, I will strengthen you. I will click and drag my strength into your bankrupt account. You just went from nothing to the riches of God imputed on you. Talk about investment. By the way, God doesn't invest in us 'cause we're good stock. God invests in us and we are some horrible stock. (audience laughing) If you think, no, I'm good stock. Are you really that arrogant? You think that highly? Of course he would invest in me. Look at me. Yeah, I'm looking at you. And I'm limited in what I can see. But God just doesn't see every shortcoming. God just doesn't see every slip up. God just doesn't see what's beneath the makeup. God just doesn't see all the mess-ups you've ever had that I don't get to see. God sees every mess-up you're ever gonna have. You don't even see that. God knows what a failure you are that's bigger than the failure you think you are. (audience laughing) Think about it. You don't know your failures for like four years from now, do you? Some of you are like, yes, I do. Right now, I'm planning on more failures. All right, you don't know your failures though. From nine years from now, God does. God knows every single moment of shortcoming. Every sin, every lie, every jealousy moment, everything, he knows everything from the past. But he knows everything in the future. God knows where the stock's gonna go. Yet he says, I'm buying in. I'm investing. I'm investing. So now we'll strengthen you. And I will help you. Anybody here today, I just need some help. Anybody here? Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, sister, for just your honesty. Everybody else is like, anybody here today needs some help up in here. I need some help. I don't know about y'all. I don't know about y'all, but I need some help. I need help at every avenue of my life. I don't just need help right here. I need help in my marriage. Y'all help me love my wife. It's hard sometimes. It's usually easy, but there are moments when it's hard. (audience clapping) Husbands, don't, don't husbands. Don't. (audience laughing) I'm sorry, don't. My wife's not here, that's why I can. But I need help. She needs help in loving me. I know you're looking at me and you're like, this supermodel, don't clap for that. (audience laughing) I'm serious, seriously. I need help, I need help in my marriage. Not just sometimes, I need help every day in my marriage. I need help to raise my kids. I need help in my finances. I need help with my thought life. I need help with my sermons. Every single one of them, every single second. I need help, I need help in every, I need help in my friendships. I need some serious, serious help. Anybody here honest enough to say I need help? Can I just tell you if you're visiting? This is not the kind of church where a bunch of perfect people gather together. These are honest people that say I need help. By the way, everybody needs help. Hope BAFTA's just happens to be the kind of church where they're honest about it. We need some help. And so if you're here today and you're like, I'm helpless, so is everybody around you. Unless you got God. Unless you got God. I love the rest of it, he says this. So do not be dismayed because I'm your God. I will strengthen you and I'll help you and I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Think about that, beloved. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Anybody look in the spiritual mirror and go, I deserve the wrathful left. But he's gonna give me the righteous right. He's gonna give me the righteous right. Rather than investing his wrath, he's going to pour out his grace. I look at my life and my whole life has been nothing, but God, despite me investing in me. Every ounce of my life has been that. Every ounce of my life has been God on mission in my life. Every ounce of it. When I was nine years old, like Van said, I lived in Iran and the Iranian Revolution happened. We saw 136 of my nation massacred and killed when I was nine years old, 136. In a row of about 12 people, all right. I think there's about 12 in a row. And if they're full in a row, all right. Take three rows and kill one person. Take three rows and kill one person. 136 of my nation was massacred and killed. I remember those days, I remember going to school, I was nine years old when the Iranian Revolution happened, when the Ayatollah Khomeini and his religious zealots took over our nation. And my dad was high ranked in the military, and I remember going to my little military school in Iran. And as we went to school the second day or the third day into the revolution, a soldier came in front of our entire school, called out a school assembly, read my name in front of the school, and told me to come and stand in front of the entire student body. I stood up, made my way to the front, the soldier took a gun, and with his hand shaking, pointed at me, and started quoting from the Iran, and he told me he was about to kill me. And I thought he was kidding. I thought the soldier was just kidding, but he wasn't. The school principal got between me and the gun and said, "Please don't do this, come back another time." And I remember that. I remember going home and just telling my dad, "Dad, why did the soldier want me dead?" God says, "Do not fear." I look back in my life and I remember moments of fear. My earliest childhood memories were moments of fear like that. But I also look back now in hindsight and see the righteous right hand of God. 'Cause that day that guy didn't kill me. And my dad, who is a macho man, I've seen him cry two times my whole life. Well, I'll take that back, three times. My mom just passed away and I've seen him cry, like I've never seen him cry in that third time in her funeral, but I've seen my dad cry. He's a macho man, and I can tell you, the first time was that day. He sat down, he started crying, he put me on his lap, and he said, "Sondra, I'm not gonna get you." When they come back for you tomorrow and the couple weeks or whatever, they're not gonna be able to find you because we're escaping. And I remember as a family, we packed up everything and we pretended like we were going to Switzerland for this supposed operation that my mom needed that she didn't really need. We paid the doctors to be in on the plan and we escaped from Iran. I'll never forget going through the airport. All we had was some jewelry that we had stuffed in my baby brother's little baby carriage. And as they were going through the airport, my dad was holding my hand and his hand was just shaking and he kept saying, "This was dumb to put jewelry in this "because if they're gonna find this jewelry, "they're gonna find out we're escaping "and they're gonna kill us." But I look back and even then we deserved his wrath for left but he gave us his righteous right and he carried us. He took us out of Iran and we flew immediately to Switzerland and when we got to Switzerland, the ambulance came beside the airplane to put my mom on it for the supposed operation, but my mom sat up and said, "We don't need to go to the hospital. "We want to go to the American Embassy "because we need political asylum. "We want to be refugees." And that's what they did. They took us to the American asylum and the American Embassy and we pleaded our case and we were stuck at that time for the next nine months in Europe trying to make our way to the United States. Nobody was allowing Iranians into the United States at that time because the hostages were being held, 54 of them from the American Embassy in Iran and the revolution was going on and everybody was watching on TV how the Iranians were burning the American flag and calling America the Great Satan. And so honestly, we were from the wrong place at the wrong time but I looked back on those days and even then I see God's righteous right hand just holding my family together. Those are moments of fear every single day. Fear of how we're going to provide, fear of how we're going to live, fear where we're going to go, so much uncertainty but I looked in and he held us together. He didn't hold us together because we were awesome. He held us together because we weren't and we needed somebody good. After nine months of trying every way we could, legally, illegally, every way. Doors would never open up. One morning my mom finally got us together and I'll never forget that day. She said, "We are wanting to go to America "and I have an idea." She said, "Maybe we ought to pray "since we want to go to America to America's God." His name, oh yeah, I know, that's I don't know why you're clapping because Jesus ain't American. Actually from my neck of the woods if you want to put a geography lesson on it, but I also know why you're clapping because that's how I was. And I was like, "Who is America's God?" My mom was like, "Jesus." And she showed us a picture of a white man with a mullet and she was like, "This is Jesus. "He's America's God." And I'll never forget we were like, "We pray to my mom," said something like, "Jesus, let us into your country." Well, I don't know what she said. But I can tell you this, we tried everything and the doors wouldn't open up and then we mentioned the name of Jesus in a prayer. And a week later we were flying to America. And I remember thinking this, I hate religion 'cause when I was nine years old, a few months back, I saw religion destroy my country. But I thought there's something about this Jesus that I like 'cause he's leading me into his country. And we moved to Texas, y'all. (congregation laughing) Texas, where they are so proud to be American, even though like 80% of them are Mexican. I'm just so, I'm just going in, just so, and they're just like, "Whoo!" And we moved to Colleen, Texas, a military town. Well, everybody's watching the whole thing go down on TV and we are like at the receiving end of all their anger. And I go to a little military school, I mean, it was a school with mostly military brats in it. And I walk in and as soon as I walk in, I'm telling you, as a kid who came from the wrong place at the wrong time, I was a wedgie waiting to happen, you know? I mean, I walk in and it was every day, eat lunch alone, hear all the nicknames, all the 7-11 jokes and the turban jokes and the, what's the butt on the forehead, cable hookup jokes. And I got called bean dip and I'm not even Mexican. I'd be like, "You don't even know how to hate properly." And we just gave half way across the world. Inaccurate racists are just funny. Anyways, we just gave half way across the world to really, honestly, to be really frank, to unplug from one kind of terrorism and to plug into a whole other kind. And I don't know if you've ever been in a place where, I don't know if you ever, I was there when I was 10. I remember being 10 and going into the little shed by the apartment complex that we lived in and closing the door and looking for something in the shed that was sharp enough to cut my wrist. I don't know if you've ever been there where you don't want to live, you don't want to breathe. Well, you're afraid of what tomorrow will bring. I don't know if you've ever been there. And I'm so glad at that moment God invested in me 'cause I didn't have anything on my own. That even before I knew him, he knew me. That he was investing into me. I had a grace of God, man, that day. I didn't take my life and I'll never forget. I just continue to go through. Just years and years of just being the loner, you know? And one day, it was the beginning of my freshman year in high school. I'll never forget. I was sitting in my room and I was crying. My dad heard me, he came in. I told him, I said, "Dad, I don't want to go to school. "Everybody hates me. "I don't really like America." I said, "I wish we could just go back to Iran "and my dad felt sorry for me." So I had a pity instead of taking me back to Iran which was not an option. He took me to the mall. And he gave me this extreme makeover. I mean, my dad that day bought me new clothes and your haircut and your shoes and everything. And he took me to the school the next day and dropped me off and overnight, I went from like geek to chic. I mean, I went to school. I tell people, I went from Abdul to Julio, you know what I mean? I wasn't wearing like a duvet cover, you know, that wasn't that cool, but you know what I'm saying, I was inching forward. And I remember, I remember instantly I learned, instantly I learned what many of you know. Instantly I learned that people care a lot of times about who you are and how you dress, how much money you look like you got. A whole lot more than who you really are on the inside. And so I thought, that's good to me. And my high school years became those years. My high school years from that moment on became those years where I decided, from sixth grade all the way to senior high, I decided I'm gonna have the right clothes, I'm gonna have the right car, I'm gonna end up at the right lunchroom table, I'm gonna dump the right girl before she can dump me. I'm gonna be cold so I can be perceived as cool. And it's so true where it says in scripture, what good is it for a man to gain the whole world but to forfeit his soul? 'Cause I was bankrupt. I had all the wrong things invested into me. And everything that was wrong that invited me, I'd said yes to you. I graduated from high school, voted one of the most popular in my school, you know, in the yearbook and all that, but I remember I graduated thinking, at least when I was a nobody, I was David Nasser, they're nobody. And I thought it'd become just a sellout. And I graduated with a 1.9 GPA. 1.9 GPA in Alabama. You can't even go to Auburn with that. That's about as bad as it gets. You know, so I had this just reality of bankruptcy. And I graduated, now I'll never forget, can I just tell you this? I'll never forget when I graduated and I was getting my cap and gown barely. Thinking I'm more depressed than I've ever been. I'm more helpless than I've ever been. As soon as I graduated from high school, my God left me, 'cause you know who your God is, right? Your God is who you worship. Your God is whose mission you follow. Your God is who you bow down to. Your God is who you tithe your life and then dance them to every single day of your life. Your God is who you shed your greatest tears for. Your God is your greatest passion. Your God is what you set up on a throne and say, I am your servants. And my God was the crowd. So as soon as I graduated and they left, I hit depression. A few weeks later, after high school was over one night, I'm in the car with the only buddy I had left from high school. And he's singing the car with me. We're sitting there in front of my house. It was almost midnight. I have to be in at midnight. And we're rolling up one last joint together. And while we're rolling it up, I'm trying to finish it up and I'm getting gum ready to cover up, you know, the smell of the weed before I go in my house. My buddy looks at me and we had this moment like between two songs, you know, where I said, so man, I'm kind of depressed, man. We've graduated from high school, everybody's gone. What are we going to do? And my buddy looks at me and he goes, well, I've got an idea because I've been thinking about inviting you to come to church with me. This guy's inviting me to church while he's literally handing me a joint. And I know in the book of Genesis, it says God made the grass and it was good. But that's not what it means, right? So I'm like, you go to church? And my buddy's like, I love church. I'm like, I'm not going to church. And he goes, boy. And I told him, I said, I hate religion. I said, man, when I was a kid, I saw religion kill all these people in my country. I want to have nothing to do with religion. And my buddy said, oh man, this is different. My church is different. And then he named the five prettiest girls from my high school. And he goes, bro, they all go to my church. And I was like, motivated, oh, I'm the visit. You know, I just like, let's go. And I'll never forget. I'll never forget. I told him, I said, there's no way my dad will let me go. I said, man, you've convinced me but my dad will never let me go to church. He said, go ask him. He said, I'm not going to ask him. He said, go ask him. I said, I'm not going to ask him. He said, if you don't go in there, ask him. He said, I'm going to walk in and tell your daddy you were smoking weed tonight. And I felt motivated to ask him. So on a Saturday night, I went in and my buddy followed me and stood at the doorway of the house to look down the hallway to make sure that I was asking my dad. And I knocked on their bedroom door. And I said, mom and dad, I'm sorry to wake you up. I know you're going to say no. Just say no loud enough so that my friend can hear so he'll leave me alone. He wants to know if I can go with him tomorrow to a Christian church. But instead of saying no, my dad yells through the door, what church? And the reason was there were these people from this church. Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham who were coming two weeks before I got invited to church by Buddy of Mine. They were coming to my dad's restaurant and they were sitting there and they were eating. And we're talking about the worship pastor. We're talking about the pastor and these different people who had been sitting there eating and they'd seen how on that one day he was short handed on wait staff. And instead of complaining about the service, these men got up and rolled up their sleeves and waited on tables at my dad's restaurant. They invested into my dad. And then they went back the next week and did it again. And then they came back the next day and did it again. And then they called the choir and said, the choir should volunteer. And so my dad had been invested in for two weeks. So instead of saying no, he goes, what church? My friend hears that he yells out loud. Shades Mountain Baptist, the same church. Not coincidence, but God at work, right? And my dad goes, I know those people. You can go there, but only there. So Sunday morning, I mean, I was invited, you know? Sunday morning, I get up, put out my chinos, go to the church. I walk in a gym and everybody I parted with was there. And I thought, this is great. And the youth pastor said, everybody running late, have a seat, have a seat. And so he goes and I sit by myself in the front row and as soon as I sat down, I looked up and I saw this guy. His name was Larry No. Let me tell you about Larry No. Larry No was half Korean, half English. He was a kid who had witnessed me about a year before that Sunday morning. About a year before that Sunday morning, he'd come up to me at a party and he had invited me to the gospel. He had told me that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, loved me. He loved me so much that even though he lived this perfect life as God, as the Son of God, even though he lived this perfect, holy, righteous life, sinless life, he died on a cross to pay the penalties for my imperfections, for my sin, for my shortcomings. And that through his resurrection, after he died on a cross, they put him in a tomb and then when they ran the check on the tomb, the tomb was empty because he conquered the grave through his resurrection. I too could have eternal life. And he'd share that with me and I'd laughed at him. I'd made fun of him. And a year later, I'm sitting at his church and he's belining right towards me. And I'll never forget, he stood over me and he goes, "I remember you." That's exactly what I was afraid of. He goes, "I can't believe you're here." He goes, "This is an answer to prayer." He didn't tell me the details, but I found out later what he meant. I found out later that he had bought a yearbook from my school, even though he didn't go to it and he had circled 10 people with a Sharpie that he'd been praying for by name. People that he said, they were inviting people away from God. People that he said were incredibly influential enemies of God that he was praying would switch things. And he just sat beside me and he said, "Man, I'm glad you're here." When the Sunday school lesson was over, he stood up and he looked at me and he said, "You gotta come back tonight." I had nothing to do but I was full of pride. You know what's gonna keep some of you tonight? This morning from giving your life to Jesus, from saying yes to God's invitation to the gospel. You know what's gonna keep some of you? You're pride. I was full of pride. He was like, "Man, you gotta come back tonight to our church "because we're gonna have the skies. "You're gonna share the gospel with everybody. "It's gonna be, you gotta hear it." And I was like, "Man, I got stuff to do." You know what he said? He said, "Okay, if you won't come to our church," he goes, "We'll come to your house." And they had this thing called visitation. Lost people call it harassment. And 17 of them showed up at my house on a Monday night. And they were like, "Can we come in just for a few minutes?" And they lied, 'cause three hours later, they were still at my house. And they shared the gospel with me. And then the next Monday, they came back. And then the next Monday, they came back. And then the next Monday, they came back. I mean, we were the Iranians, but we were getting terrorized by a bunch of Southern Baptists. And every time they'd come over, they'd open up the Bible, and they would invite me to say yes. To the greatest news of all time. And every time their church door's opened, I was back at their church. You know why? Because love is a magnet. And one night I was sitting there and the preacher was preaching. He wasn't cool like fans. He was an old guy with a comb over it and just flapping the air, you know? (congregation laughing) And he was preaching. He was like, "Come on now, we gon' condemn you and engage." "You gon' fry on the air like a piece of sausage." One of those guys, and he gives this invitation. Literally, he gives this invite. He gives this invitation. And during the invitation, he's like, "You need to give your life to Jesus." You come on. And people are coming down. They're like, "I don't want a guy." Whatever you know. (congregation laughing) And I thought, now some guy's trying to scare me down an aisle. 'Cause I didn't realize, even though he wasn't the coolest guy, he just was loving me enough to tell me the truth. With the during the invitation, everybody else went forward and all this different stuff, but during the invitation, I hit the aisle and I went the other way and I thought I'm getting away. But I realized something. God's invitations aren't contained to Sunday mornings in particular buildings. Here's the problem with God. He's everywhere. (congregation laughing) It's like the psalmist says, "Where can I go from your presence, O Lord?" (congregation chattering) And I remember I went home and I thought I'm never coming back to one of these things again. And as soon as I got home, God was like, "You ain't going nowhere." (congregation laughing) And two hours later, in my bedroom, I finally said yes to that invitation. I finally let him invest in me the greatest thing anybody could have invested in them, which is the gospel. I knew all the fancy word, sanctification, redemption, anything that ended with a TIO in, 'cause all these Christians had taught him to me. I didn't use any of them. I was just like, "I'm yours." I'm yours. My dad will tell you about it. He'll say, "I will never forget that night." We were out of town and we came home and we could hear David crying in his bedroom. We walked in and his face was on the carpet. His hands were spread out to the floor and he kept yelling, "I love him." And I thought, "Oh, no." And I was like, "No, Dad." (congregation laughing) I love Jesus. And my dad was like, "Both of them were bad for me." That's what my dad was telling you. And I started telling my dad all the stuff about how Jesus had come and invited himself to come into my life and all this stuff. And you know what my dad said? I don't know where he goes. You cannot be a Christian, we're Muslims. I was like, "We are." We were never devout until the night I became a Christian. (congregation laughing) It was pride. And the night I got kicked out of the house was the night that I went to get baptized at that church a few weeks later. And I'll never forget, I got baptized, I came home. My dad had packed the bag and he said, "You're no longer my son, I'll disown you. "You're dead to me." And I moved out of the house, moved in with six guys that lived in a one bedroom apartment. And five months after I was a Christian, I got a phone call one night from my sister and she had said yes to God's invitation. To have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. She was a very religious person. I wasn't, she was. She went from religion to relationship with the Son of God. Five months after that, my mom. My mom, the night I was gonna get baptized, she was dragging my leg going, "Don't do this, please don't do this." My mom calls me, she goes, "Tonight I became a Christian. "I am saying it loud because your father is hearing me. "I do not care." That's how she rolled. And my mom gave her life to Christ. And then my mom, she starts putting Bible verses in his food, in his Rogaine everywhere, right? And then my brother Benjamin, five months later, came to Christ, and two years later, two and a half years later, my dad was more and more angry because of his pride. But nearly three years later, my dad said no to religion and yes to a relationship with Christ. And I'm telling you that to say, (audience applauding) I'm telling you that to say, this is more than just telling a story and reading a little Bible verse. This is real. This is real. And so this whole idea of invest and invite is God's idea because he invested and he invited. And I'm inviting you today on his behalf to come to him. Can we pray together? It's wherever you are. Can we just pray together? Listen to me. It's with your heads bowed, listen to me. With your eyes closed, listen to me church. I'm not asking, do you have ever walked an aisle? Have you ever prayed a prayer? I'm not asking you even honestly, do you have some kind of a relationship with God? I'm asking you what kind of relationship is it? Is he your God? Is he your God? In moments like this, when you bow your heads to pray, do you pray more to a black void or a Christ that you know intimately is saviour? See, I think that this morning, there are a lot of good people here today. Can I just say this to you? I was not a good person when I came to Christ. When I accepted his invitation, I went from serious unrighteousness to Christ's righteousness. I was a bad person who came to Christ. But my sister was the opposite, my sister was good, but Christianity is not about bad people becoming good. It's about dead people becoming alive. And the invitation is not to come and clean up your act. The investment that God wants to pour in you is not good behavior modification. He wants to pour into you the grace, the undeserving love and mercy that only he can pour in. People say to me all the time, they go, David, where is it toughest as a guy who travels a lot to give invitations? And I always say, honestly, it's toughest in the south. Everybody goes to church, everybody's on roll somewhere. And it's the most refreshing in places that are out of the Bible belt because people tend to be just more honest, more transparent, more willing to just wear it on their sleeve and say, I don't have it together, but I wanna know a God who does. I don't have the strength, but I know that his strength is perfect. I deserve his wrathful left, but I say yes to the invitation to receive his grace and to get his righteous right hand in my life. That's you today. This morning, you look at your life and you're saying, David, when I close my eyes to pray, I pray more to a black void than a Christ that I know intimately. And the fear and the pride of religion or what others are gonna think of me or looking like I'm weak is gotta be set aside. Today, I gotta say, I need you, help me. Help me. Help me. Help me by first taking over me. Help me by first taking the keys of my life. Help me by me coming to you and saying, I trust you. See, this isn't about becoming religious. Can I just tell you this? Nothing about this church is about religion. This church hates religion, probably almost as much as I hate religion. I saw religion destroy my country. The last thing I want you to do today to become is religious. Satan always lies to people who've never said yes to the invitation of the gospel and says, you really wanna be religious. It's not about religion. It's about a relationship with the Son of God. Do you have that? If you hear today and you're saying, man, I need to say, Jesus, step out of heaven, step into my life. I say yes to the invitation of giving you me. All of me brought over to you. You've invested on the cross the greatest gift of all. And so I come and invest what I am back to you. It's a horrible trade, but it's your plan. I trust you. Anybody here today? Jesus, step out of heaven, step into my life. I say yes to your invitation. That's you, just ask you to lift your hand right now, all over this place. Just lift your hand. Some of you are looking around, go, man, if somebody around me will lift their hand, I'll lift my, could asking them into your heart. Some of you are going, man, he's just trying to walk me down some aisle. Can I just tell you this? I'm just loving you enough to tell you the truth. There are people right now thinking, man, I just wish that God would speak to my friend. Maybe God today brought you here to be his friend. Could it be that today God has destined this moment. He has ordained this moment as your homecoming. Anybody else? Just lift your hand. Wave it at me and put it back down. Jesus, I say yes. I say yes. Step out of heaven, step into my life. Save me from what, from religion gone wrong. Save me from all my pasts. I hear the invite. I sense that you're knocking at the door of my heart and I say yes, Lord. Come in. Anybody else? Just lift your hand. Wave it at me and put it back down. Okay. How good do I have to be? It's not about how bad you've been. It's not about how good you've been. It's all about who Jesus is. (gentle music) Anybody else? Softest pillow you could lay your head on today would be knowing it as well with your soul. Aren't you just tired of the games? Some of you have bet on all the wrong things and has left you empty. Can I just tell you all the money in the world? We'll never give you hope. All the popularity in the world will never give you hope. I know a lot of people say that and you go, how do they know, man, I'll grow up a millionaire's kid. I grew up popular. Can I just tell you this? It'll leave you wanting. Only Christ can satisfy. Why would you settle for anything else when the God of this universe is inviting you today to a personal relationship with you? Anybody else? Just lift your hand. Wave it at me and put it back down. Anybody else? Young, old, rich, poor. Religious, not religious. Good, bad. It doesn't matter. We come on even ground, undeserving. Anybody else? One last time. Just man, that superglue of fear and pride can't keep me from just being honest to say, Dave, me, that's me. Just lift your hand. Wave it at me and put it back down. Okay, all right? If you lifted your hand today about giving your life to Jesus, saying yes to the invitation of the gospel, I just want you to pray this with me. Can Jesus, you're the Son of God? Can Jesus, you lived the perfect life? 'Cause only God could do that and you did. And then you died of sinner's death. It's not fair, 'cause you never sinned, but yet you paid the penalty for my sin. You took my place on that cross. I deserve God's wrathful left. But Jesus, you took it on. You stood in the way. And so because you died from me, I say yes to the invitation to live for you. Coming to my life, not just my heart, the hearts to open front door, but coming to my life, all of me. I don't want just religion. I don't want you to be a behavior police. I wanna have a relationship with you. A real relationship with you. (gentle music)