Worship SERVICE

Hello Summit Church.

Greetings from South Africa. We are on week number three of our mission trip, which means we're about halfway done. We spent the last week working with Curt Holliday and Amber Lund, now Amber Ayers, did some of their ministry here. We spent all last week working with Zulu people out in the African bush.

It was incredible. In fact, here's where I preached at a church last Sunday. We are now today working with Somalis here in downtown Johannesburg with another one of our Summit guys, Eric.

We're joining up with a Summit College team that's here. It's been absolutely incredible and we are so so blessed just to be able to see what God is doing through some of the people all around the world. I understand that things are going fantastic back at the church. I heard our campus pastors just knocked it out of the park last week as they did the next installment in our in our whole story series.

I hope that you were continuing to read the Bible with us throughout the year as we dig this whole year just to get our minds around the whole story of the Bible. Today, we have a very special privilege at the Summit Church preaching for us his good friend of mine, David Nasser. David is currently the vice president, one of the vice presidents, at Liberty University. He has the most interesting story. He's preached at the Summit Church before, but he immigrated from Iran and then he became a believer.

He converted from Islam to Jesus when he was 18 years old and ever since then God has given him incredible ministry going around the world with college students, high school students, and beyond just proclaiming the glories of the gospel. So we're privileged to have him again with us today. So at all of our locations, Summit Church, if you put your hands together and let's welcome to our pulpit, David Nasser.

Thank you. Yeah, let's um, let's pray together. Can we do that? Father, we thank you for the opportunity that you have afforded us to be in this room together, God, in all of our different locations, just the gift of getting to gather and to sit under your word. And I pray that we would be more than just hearers of this truth, that Holy Spirit, we would be doers of it. Thank you that we don't have to obey your word to earn your favor.

We get to obey it because we have it already. I pray that in the next few minutes that Lord you would hide my brothers and my sisters from what would be my opinion in this and that you would give us your truth and that that God, there would be action out of this huddle that would change the lives of people in years and years to come. We love you, Lord. We expect great things because you're great. We pray this in your name. Amen.

It is so good to be back at Summit. Like Pastor JD said, I was here a few years ago and it's been a while since I've gotten to come back, but I wanted to, before we got going, just say a few things just to glorify God by honoring JD and Veronica and really you as an entire church. JD is just an incredible friend. He's just always been kind and giving and he and Veronica have always had the mentality of, hey, let's help other pastors.

Let's serve other people who have the same calling on our lives. And I want you to know that, that your pastor just doesn't love this city and this church. He loves the church, the capital C, and your church as well. Know that I used to be a pastor in Birmingham, Alabama before I went to Liberty University in Lynchburg. And back when we were there, so much of our governance just was almost a copy and paste from your governance. And so much of our membership class process came from the way that you do membership classes. And so your church has always been a giver of those kind of things to little tender, shoot church plants that come up that aren't even maybe a part of the Summit family.

Or it's not necessarily a Summit church plant. And so I want to say that to you. I want to tell you, I know a lot of people reap the benefits of it, but never get into the pulpit to thank you in person that you guys are making a difference, not just here in the city, but through the world. And that you're blessed to have the leader that God has placed in JD and hopefully you know that.

All right. Just thanks again for all that you do for the kingdom. If you have your Bibles, if you would go ahead and go to John 6 35 with me, if you would. We're going to look at that in scripture together today. John 6 35 is one of the eight I am statements in the book of John where Christ claims a reality about himself. A guy named R.C. Sproul, who's an author and a speaker and a pastor, calls them expressions of divinity.

And I know that's a fancy way of saying expressions of divinity, you know, descriptions on Christ. But I'm a southerner. And honestly, what we call what we're about to read is in the south is fighting words, y'all. And I know, by the way, you're looking at me, you're like, you don't look like a guy from the south. What south are you talking about? Lynchburg, Virginia, is still the south. I used to live in Alabama, still the south. And even when I was born in Iran, I was born in South Iran. So I've always been a bit of a redneck. So I just want to say that to you. So I'm a full southerner.

Even when I was in Iran, I had like the mullet and the turban going. I didn't. I was nine, but I just, I don't know, whatever. Anyway, so we call in the south certain things fighting words. You know what I mean when I say fighting words? Like, you know, in the south, like, you mess with me, I'll kill your mother. Unless you're a Christian, then it's like, you mess with me, I'll kill your mother, and I go to church and ask God for forgiveness.

That's how it works. And they're just things in the south where we call fighting words. And this right here happens to be one of those. Another way to say it is Charles Spurgeon, who was a pastor in London, used to call what we're about to look at bloody words. He used to call them bloody words because he believed that these are the kind of statements that Christ made that eventually cost him his blood upon a cross. These are the very things that Jesus said that made the crowd that heard them gasp, made the crowd go, we've got to shut down the message that we just heard, even if that means we've got to murder the messenger who said it. And these are fighting words.

They're not just fighting words 2,000 years ago when Christ made them, they're just as much fighting words today. A 143,000 people this year estimated will be killed, martyred. We call them the martyrs, right? The persecuted church, our family, our brothers, our sisters, the sons and daughters of the same God that this year will be beaten, this year will be, right, tortured.

This year, many of them even killed because they believe what I'm about to read to you. And Jesus makes these claims about himself. And those of us who believe them to be true, that take him at his word, are looked at as narrow-minded, close-minded, pigeon-holed.

But we just happen to be the people who believe Jesus when he says what he says. What does he say? Well, in the book of John, obviously, he says he's the light of the world. If you're living in darkness, he's the only light, right, to light the path. He's the gate. He's the good shepherd. He's the resurrection. He's the way, the truth, the life.

He's the true vine. And as we're about to read today, he's the bread, the bread for the soul that is always longing and hungry and always keeps itself looking for the one person that can satisfy, right, the hunger of the soul, Jesus. So let's read that together, right?

John 6, 35, Jesus declares, I am, I am the, not a, the. That's the exclusive part. That's the part where people think sometimes that we're close-minded because what we're saying there is, hey, it's not like hope and salvation is like Panera Bread Company where you walk up and there's all kinds of bagels and, hey, you know what? If you want the asiago cheese, that's good. If you want the cinnamon, that's good.

Or if you want to get a half and half and that's fine. Like, it's not that. It's there's one bread that satisfies the hunger of the soul. His name is Jesus. Jesus says, I am the, not a, the bread of life. Whoever comes to me, whoever comes to me will never go hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Now, what is he saying? He's saying that everything else will leave you wanting. All the money in the world will leave you wanting.

All the fame in the world will leave you wanting. Even good things can be good and they can taste good, but they're not going to satisfy you forever. The best marriage in the world might be good and your wife might be an awesome wife, but she'll make a horrible God. Your kids might be awesome kids, but they'll be horrible gods.

Your job might be awesome and that's a good thing. And at the end of the day, it's not a bad thing, but he won't satisfy your every need. Some things, by the way, aren't even good things. They're false bread.

They're stone that looks like bread. And you're going for satisfaction, but you're actually poisoning yourself, killing yourself. And Jesus is saying, everything else will leave you wanting but me. Once you get me, you don't need me plus other things to find satisfaction. I am enough.

Everything else is nothing compared to me. I am the bread of life. If you come to me, if you believe in me, if you take of me, right, you're never going to need anything else. It's not going to be like that's a good supplement or that's a good start, but I'm going to need Jesus plus a really good job to feel satisfied. Or I'm going to need Jesus plus really good kids to feel satisfied when it comes to the hunger of my soul. I trust him and I partake of Jesus as my everything.

Everything. A guy named John Piper, who's a pastor and an author, says, you know how you glorify a fountain? You know how you glorify a fountain or a stream? You know how you glorify a stream?

You kneel down and you drink from it. You trust it enough, right, to take from it. And that's exactly the mindset here. Jesus is saying, you glorify me when you trust me. When I say, I'm the bread that you've been longing for. I'm the Messiah you've been waiting for. I'm the Savior who can come and rescue you.

Every disease in your life has one cure and his name is Jesus. Now, that's the gospel in a nutshell, right? Billy Graham calls this right here, the gospel in a nutshell.

He says, that's it. Jesus is everything. He's the bread. But what's interesting about this particular one is that Jesus literally gives us that word in the context of the feeding of the masses. The text that we just read is really in the context of the feeding of the masses.

Now, when I say that in all of our different locations, maybe you know what I'm talking about when I say, this is on the back end. The day after he fed a bunch of people, a little bit of fish and a little bit of bread. If you know that story, wherever you are, you just kind of wave at me just real quick. Just wave at me if you don't know that story. I'll tell you the story, all right?

But let me just say, I didn't even know that story until I was 18 and two months old. I had no idea what the feeding of the masses was until I got saved when I was 18. And then my youth pastor said, Christians read their Bibles. And so that's that's what I did. I would wake up and read my Bible and then I would always have questions and I would call them.

And one time I called them and I said, hey, I just got done reading this story. And Jesus in this story has like this all you can eat buffet where he starts with a little bit of fish and a little bit of bread. And not only does he feed like thousands of people, but there's like actually more left over. Twelve baskets of food left over on the end of the story that he even begun with. And I said, that's not true, right? That's like allegorical or something like Jesus didn't really feed.

He goes, let's go do it together. I remember being on the phone and going to my Bible and opening it. Then I saw the header and I said to him, the header, I said, hey, the headers actually says the feeding of the five thousand. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Know what I'm talking about?

Like maybe somebody flannel grafted for you in BBS when you were a kid. He was new to me. And so and so he goes, he goes, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

He goes, well, before we go any further. No, Jesus did not feed five thousand. I was like, good, I'm so glad you clarified because I mean, I mean, that's crazy.

If I'm supposed to believe this kind of stuff as a new Christian and go tell people this kind of stuff happened, that just doesn't sound right. Like five thousand people with and everybody was full. He goes, no, no, that's not what I meant. He said, what I mean is there are five thousand men plus with those men came women. And plus with those men and women came children.

And this is before birth control. So basically think Catholic numbers, you know what I'm saying? And so so like he told me, he said, David, most theologians believe they're like 15 to 20 thousand people that are there. And you know that, right? If you don't know, let me tell you what's happening. Everywhere Jesus is going at that moment, the crowds are getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And no pun intended at this moment, we're at the summit of his popularity.

All right. At that moment, the crowds have gotten bigger and bigger because Jesus is going. Tim Keller calls it, an author called Tim Keller, he calls it the Galilean tour. At that moment, Jesus is going around and he's making the dead rise and he's making the blind see. And he's he's turning a little bit of food into a feast and and miracles are happening. Signs and wonders are happening. Signs, signs aren't about the sign.

They point to something, give direction to someone. Signs and wonders, miracles that make people wonder. Right. We're happening because Jesus was saying God size things about himself. And then he would he would have the acid test. He would make a claim that only God could make. And then he would say something that was true because like I'm an Alabama fan, so I can say we're the greatest because we won 16 national championship games. So it's not like I'm Auburn and I say that and no one believes me. We had the claim and we back it.

That's just them for free. But you know what I'm saying, right? So that's what Jesus was doing. Jesus was making God sized claims. And then the evidence was he was doing God sized things. And can you imagine, by the way, I know many of you maybe grew up in that culture that you you are familiar, maybe too much with this, that that was happening. Like you go to work.

Right. And for three weeks, you're going to the GoFundMe campaign and you're given to Jonathan's family because Jonathan had cancer and you prayed for Jonathan. And then Jonathan passed away and you went to his funeral and he was heartbreaking. And he saw his kids in the front row at the memorial service. And so you and your family said, we're going to give money to Jonathan's GoFundMe to help his family.

And then you show up at work and and you go, that is so crazy. The new guy they hired to replace Jonathan, he looks like Jonathan. And your friends like, no, that's Jonathan. He's back at work.

What are you talking about? Jonathan's back at work. Apparently, some man named Jesus said, get up. And he got up.

And Jonathan's back. That wouldn't be big news in the office. That would not be big news in Raleigh, Durham.

That would be national. That was happening. You go you go to Sunday lunch. Right. And you show up at Sunday lunch. And grandma, who's been in a wheelchair for a bunch of years.

Right. Her hips ain't bad. Her hips ain't working. Grandma's running around today at lunch. You're like, what's going on with grandma? She apparently met a man named Jesus. And now grandma is just running around.

Apparently, she took way too many geratols. Something happening right here. Can you imagine? I mean, I know we say we believe these things, but what if they actually happen in real time in front of us? Unexplainable things were happening. And so the crowd wanted to see it for themselves. Everywhere they were going, they were saying this is happening and this is happening. And in this moment, 15,000 people are by the Sea of Galilee because they want to see this Jewish carpenter with their own eyes.

And Jesus runs into that. And if you take the Bible literally in this story, you know, right, that that in that moment, if you take the story for what it is, 14,999 out of the 15,000 have forgotten to pack a picnic. Everybody's looking around going, did you bring a lunch? No, I thought you bring the lunch. I thought you brought the lunch. No, I thought no one's brought anything to eat except one responsible teenager.

Probably a homeschooler. And he's brought plenty for himself, right? Plenty for himself. Plenty for himself.

Nowhere near enough for everybody else. But he decides not to hoard and hide, but to share. By the way, that's a that's a little beautiful moment, right, where he doesn't have what it takes to feed everybody. But he decides he decides to share. Can I just show this out to you for free? You don't have I don't care how rich you are.

You don't have the money to save this world. But if you decide to share, he's the one who does the multiplying. You bring the water to him, he turns it to wine. You bring the little bit you got and he turns it for the multitudes.

Does that make sense? And by the way, Jesus didn't need the little boy's fish and bread to do that. One of the most beautiful places in that story is is that little moment in the in the story where it says and Jesus took the fish from the little boy. He didn't need it, but he let the boy be involved in the miracle. Little tithing sermon for free.

All right. But I'm coming back to the story here. What you've got is you've got this little boy and he shares and Jesus takes it from him.

And you know the story, right? These people are hungry. And the greatest preacher ever has the has a captive audience of 15,000 people that are there all staring at him going, what's he going to do next? And the greatest preacher ever decides not to preach yet, but to feed. You know how hard it is for a preacher to not preach? To not preach to 15,000 people that are looking at him. Do you know how hard it is for a preacher? Ask Pastor JD next time you're around him. All right, man, what would you do if you had 15,000 people?

He'd be like, man, well, we get somebody with skinny jeans to sing two Hillsong songs, one one like Matt Papa song, and I'd get up and preach. That's what I guess what I would do. That's what I would do. Why else are we going to get 15,000 people together if I'm not going to preach? Right. By the way, can I just say this?

It's interesting. We talk about Jesus being the greatest preacher ever, because you actually have one of the greatest preachers in the world right now as your pastor. Not everybody gets to say that. Right. So you get this, right? Like you get that. It's not just the nine campuses of summit that listen to that. They're like soccer moms wearing Lululemon right now, like in the East Coast or the West Coast on a treadmill listening to Pastor JD's podcasts.

And, you know, that's happening. I listen sometimes. I actually don't listen. I watch JD because I like I like the fact that he always holds his notes. And I like the fact that when he gets going, his head bobblehead side, he goes like this side. I love that.

I just love. But but what I love in all seriousness, what I love about Pastor JD's teaching. And I think that's why a lot of people gravitate to it is content. I just love that it's always just feels robust with content.

You know, it's not watered down as content. And he's passionate. But he's and he's also like the fact that he's honest and he's self-depravating and he he's funny.

And you never know. And and you just go, what part was actually in the note and what part did he just kind of throw in? And can I just tell you, as much as I love his content, can I just tell you who has so much better content than Pastor JD? Jesus, the person who made all content. I love John one, which says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Fancy way of saying in the beginning, before there was ever any content in the beginning, before there was a beginning. There was a beginner who began the beginning. Jesus. And so he was the one before any content.

Right. Because he was never made. He was the one who always was, who actually brought about content. So you know who has better content than JD Greer? Jesus. I love Louie Giglio, his preaching.

He's a pastor in Atlanta. And and one of the things I really love, I love a lot of things about his preaching, but one of the things I really love is his timing. Louie has good timing. He'll he'll say a half a sentence. And I think in the back of his mind, he's like one Mississippi, two Mississippi before he finishes it. It's just he gives you time to process something.

And you know who's got better timing than even Louie Giglio? Jesus. Because he's not contained by time.

And so I'm just trying to make the statement here that Jesus knows everything you're thinking, everything you've ever thought, everything you're ever going to think for everybody in the room. He has content. He has revelation. He has ability to deliver. He has timing.

He has all of that. But isn't it interesting that the greatest preacher ever finds 15,000 people that are staring at him and he goes, you know, they're hungry. We ought to feed them. And then after he meets their immediate need, the next day they get up, they're hungry again. They come around the Sea of Galilee. And that's when he says to them this. That's when we run into his words, the words of Jesus.

A friend of mine says it this way. The words of Jesus in this little moment are delivered in a fish sandwich. Jesus delivers the gospel, right, in a sandwich. He delivers the gospel through the bridge of service. That's why we're calling the sermon today Worship Service with service in all caps. Because the way that Christ delivers the gospel, the way that he gives us his words are through his way.

And his way is such a beautiful, simple strategy. Jesus finds people that sure, sure, need the bread of life, right? That is their eternal need.

But their immediate need is they're just hungry. And so what does Jesus do? He says, hey, he looks at his disciples and he says, hey, go find out who really believes I'm God. And if they believe I'm God, feed them. If they don't, no grace for them.

That's not what he does. He's not the grace Nazi. Jesus feeds all. Most of the people that were there that day didn't believe he was the bread of life. They just thought he was the bread giver, not the bread. But they still got fed. And Jesus feeds, right, the temporary because he knows that he's the only one that can satisfy the eternal.

You see it? It's such a simple little strategy that, wait, we love the words of Jesus too much to let the way of Jesus be neglected. We love theology too much, right, to not be social. But we're not just going to be social.

That's not enough. We're going to be theological. And so there's this tension, right? Are we are we the social gospel or are we just a bunch of like Al Mohler memorizing, you know, like a Bible? Are we just what are we at the end of the day? Here's how it works out. Like you love the gospel too much to not let it sweat out of your pores.

You love people's hearts getting white and clean too much to not get your fingernails dirty. They literally initiate the conversation with him about the gospel. It's crazy. They come looking for him the next day. And about that time, he's got their attention. I was in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, one time, and I went to speak at a at a retreat at this Comfort Inn, where a church out of Memphis, Tennessee, had brought hundreds and hundreds of people to this like to get away for the retreat to Gatlinburg. And so they basically hijacked this Comfort Inn. And the last day of the event, my wife and I are leaving. So we're on the very top floor of the hotel and we get in the elevator. I've got my little roller bag.

She's got hers. And the two of us are the only ones in the elevator. And the elevator goes from like the top floor one level down and the cleaning lady comes on.

I know she was the cleaning lady because she had the cart and she had the apron with her, you know, like logo on it. And she comes in and and the elevator closes and she's not looking at us. She's looking at the door. We're like behind her. And I can see that her shoulders are just kind of going like this. And I can hear her. She's going, she's crying.

So we can't see her because she's facing the door. So my wife looks at me as the elevator is going down. She looks at me and my wife just kind of mouths to me. She's like, she's crying. And I mouth to her.

I know. And she mouths to me, say something. And I look at her like, you crazy.

Why would I say something like you're here? Like we know our gifts. We've done the test.

All right. We know our gifts. I'm the prophet, which is like code for I can be insensitive, you know, and she she is the shepherd, right? Like I I'll counsel if she's not there. But if she's there, we know our gifts. I'm all about Rose.

She's all about circles, you know, and all that good stuff, right? Like if you come up to me in a little while out by the book table and you're like, I'm going through a divorce. I'll be like gum. I'm just bad. So why?

Why? Why would I have my wife? And so so so that's actually happened anyway. So I was like, man, we're going to get to the matter of the heart, but you got to get a breath before we go anywhere. Anyway, so so my wife was like, don't do that. I was like, I just it's honesty. She's like, that's not honesty. That's you're going to they're going to send you back to Iran.

Don't do anyway. So so so we know we're about to lose this moment. We're like between the second and the first floor. And so we know. So she's looking at me. I'm like.

And so we're just out of panic. I reach around and I pull. You know how in the elevator you push all the buttons except that one red one you can pull?

This is before September 11th when my people could get away with. Anyway, so so I pull and as soon as I pull, she startle, she turns around like what just happened. And then I go, ma'am, I'm so sorry. I said, I didn't mean to startle you. I said, my wife and I, it's my wife, Jennifer. We noticed you were weeping. And before we left this elevator, we just wanted to ask you, are you OK?

And as soon as I said, are you OK? She just just goes, are you with these people? Are you with these people that have taken over this hotel the last three days? And I thought, oh, wow, they this group that I've been with has brought this lady to see like they have.

I don't know what they did to make her so upset. Like they have I've seen that before. I've seen people in the service industry brought to tears. I've seen, you know, people in hotel rooms just absolutely going. What in the world?

Just what is the just the tornado of just mess that just came through here? I've been at restaurants where the church band pulled up and young adults were coming out and the waitresses were like at the wait. They saw the church band and they start fighting. They're like, you take them. No, you take them.

I don't want the Christians because they don't talk. They don't tip. They don't. I thought I had a 20 dollar bill for a tip and I opened it up and it was actually a Bible. Don't do that, you know? And I've seen that.

So I've seen people avoid Christians. So I thought they've made her cry. So she's like, are you with these people that have taken over this hotel? And I go, no, ma'am. I'm not with them because I'm not even with y'all.

I'm just visiting anyway. So she goes, well, can I just ask you what's wrong with these people? Have you been around them? She goes, I'm sorry to be emotional, but I just found out they're leaving and I got to tell you, it's crazy. And she rolls out of her apron, right?

This big old wad of cash. She goes, there's like eleven hundred dollars here from tips from today and like four hundred bucks yesterday. And all the other cleaning ladies are saying the same thing. And she goes, it's not even the money. She goes, I forgot my name tag and they still knew my name.

Nobody ever takes the time to learn my name. And I'm just sorry to be emotional because I found out they're leaving. And I don't want them to. And I go, before we go any further, can I clarify? I am with them, by the way. I'm actually their humble leader.

I'm their Yoda of sorts. And she goes, well, good. Can I just ask you what's wrong? And then my wife finally speaks up. She's like, Jesus, that's what's wrong with them.

Jesus is the matter with these people. She's like, what do you mean? Well, she doesn't get it, right? She's not understanding. But what she's doing is she's literally initiating the gospel conversation with us. She's saying, man, I see church groups here all the time, but I've never seen Christians that are Christlike, believers that are actually believable, that people of grace be that graceful, that gracious. So my wife just starts answering between the second and the first floor, the little things going.

And she's just answering. She's like, the reason that they're so giving to you with all that money is because money doesn't own them. The reason that they knew your name is because God knows your name. And they think if God knows your name, they ought to know your name.

The reason they're loving because God first loved them. And that's just coming out towards you. You're valuable to God.

And so you're valuable to them. And she's like, what do you mean? And then we just start talking. And the next thing you know, we start explaining to her that she is in need of a savior and that Christ is that savior. And man, I'm telling you, right there between the second and the first floor, we got to lead this lady to the gospel, right? To Christ. And she gave Jesus her life. So what happens there?

What happens there is we just do the easy part. The hard part was we just got to share the words of Jesus with the lady in the elevator after they were teed up with the people who showed her the way of Jesus. Can I tell you, that's the biggest obstacle between the gospel and a lot of other people who won't listen to the gospel because they say, you know what? I hear a lot of people who talk about Jesus, but they don't ever live it.

The last thing they act like is like they're drinking their own Kool-Aid. And God has given us the ability, beloved, to not just have the words of Jesus, but to have the way. He's showing us the very way which we deliver the gospel through service. We find the need, right?

And we need it. Like right now, for example, on this planet, there are 183 million orphans living. 183 million children. 183 million. That's a little boy who doesn't have a mama, doesn't have a daddy, and doesn't have a place to call home.

183 million. Yes, ultimately, yes, they need to be adopted into the kingdom of God. They need to go from orphans to heirs. How great is the love of the Father that we would get to become children of God. They need to no longer be orphans, right?

But they need to be sons and daughters of the God who is the most high. Amen. Hallelujah.

Thank you for the Jesus juke. But can I just say this to you? There are 183 million orphans on this planet, and it's going to be hard for them to take our words seriously about the gospel if we don't care that they don't have a mama, a daddy. When I adopted my son Rudy from Guatemala, can I just tell you this? It was so much bigger than, that's an orphan who's a homeless kid in Guatemala who needs to come here.

Because all he would do if he just got adopted and come here, and now he's this like 18 year old kid walking around talking to me like, hey dad, can I get the new iPhone 7? You know, like all I would do without the gospel, I would just make him American. There's no gospel in him. There's no salvation in America. That's temporary. America makes a great nation, but a horrible God.

Right? But can I just say this to you? The best moment wasn't when we brought him home, and he went from Rudy to Rudy Nassar.

The best moment was when I got to lead him to Christ, and he's now my brother in Christ, and he's now my brother in Christ. So there are 183 million orphans in the world, and many of you in this very moment of your life, you got room for one. How about you go, maybe the way to present the gospel to those children is to love them enough to bring them into our home.

Even if you don't want to, I'll just throw this one out to you for free. If anything, do it out of a weird sense of patriotism, because you know what? Somebody else is willing to clothe them and feed them. People in madrasas and people in all kinds of terrorist groups are willing to take care of their needs so they can disciple them up to one day walk in a Starbucks and blow you up. So if anything, maybe just do it out of a weird sense of protection.

But bigger than that, right? Let's do it out of the gospel. Let's do it out of a love for God. Let's just come to a place where we go, we love God so much.

We love the gospel so much that these kids, these little kids matter to us. And right now, there's 35,000 people today that will die of starvation on this planet. 35,000.

I don't know that for sure. On average, 36,000 people a day die of starvation. So I'm going to go, hey, it's a Sunday.

Let's have a good day. 35,000 people today will die of starvation on this planet. 35,000 people will die of starvation. Yes, they need more than just a water well, but they don't have to drink water that's dirty and get malaria and die.

You know, dehydration. Yes, they need more than that. They need living water. Yes, I agree. They need the bread of life. Yes, I agree.

But it's hard for them to hear the shouts of the gospel over the grumbling of their bellies. Do you remember September 11th when we lost 3300 Americans? Do you remember that day?

Tragic day, right? All of us ended up in church. I don't know about you, but I ended up in church.

I wanted to be with brothers and sisters in Christ. Do you remember how full our aisles were, our altars were with bended knee, people weeping and crying out to God? God, what has happened? And we should have done that. I'm glad we did that.

But can I ask you this? On September 11th, we filled our churches with people weeping and wailing and asking God, God, what just happened? 3300 people just died.

Today, 35,000 people starved. Where are the tears of the saints? On our watch, beloved. If we don't do it, who will? You think it's the job of the government? It's the job of the church. God has gifted us with the good news of the gospel.

Let's serve it on the platter of service. Many people in this different gatherings that we have called Summit, right? Many people in our different locations, right now, even as I'm speaking, are thinking about an individual who probably doesn't even need a wallet extension, right?

Doesn't need food or adoption. Honestly, it's more about a watch. There are people that right now that you avoid because they're exhausting. I mean, every time you see them, they want to talk another two hours about their divorce. What would it look like for you to just serve them by going, I'm going to give my two ears because God loves them enough that they need a friend. And I'm just willing to sit long hours and just listen. Just listen. At the end of it, I go, I love you. I'm here for you.

I'm sorry he left, but I'm still here. Could it be that God today has brought that Pakistani family into your neighborhood? And then this very moment just gets real practical. You're just thinking of a strategy by you go, how do I serve them? Could it be that today, the way you present the gospel is through a casserole? The way you present the gospel is through, right?

A shovel. The way you present the gospel is through a lawnmower. The way you present the gospel is by an invitation to that guy who everybody else just finds easy fodder at work to make fun of. And you go, you know what, that's the person that eats lunch alone every day. Why don't I become, could it be that the guy who you work alongside with, who always goes to work and you get paid the same, but he's kind of fake lifting while you're over lifting while you're here and you're constantly frustrated because she's not doing her work. And maybe today you see them through a different lens. You go, maybe their life back home is falling apart.

And that's why their work job and their work at home, I mean, their work is just not that good. Maybe today you go, why don't I even step in more? And instead of complaining, why don't I even give more? Why don't I even love more? Why don't I even, I don't know, not miss the opportunity to shut up and just add to the gossip, but instead love.

It's so true. Romans 2, it's kindness that leads people to repentance. I was like, can I ask you a question? Just you bow your heads with me just for a second. And before we pray, can I just ask you a really simple question? Could it be that today in this very moment, God actually put a particular person in your mind? Could it be as we were looking at this real simple strategy by God, right? The strategy of the gospel, that you see that there's an opportunity for you maybe to reach out to a friend or a family member or a co-worker or a neighbor. Maybe you realizing that's maybe why God continues to put in front of me the same waiter at the same restaurant or whatever it is.

Could it be that today God is beginning to just give you a strategy for a particular person? If that's you, just wherever you are, will you just maybe say, I'm thinking about a particular person. As I'm thinking about that particular person, I just want to just ask the Lord to make a way for me to show the way so that I can speak the truth. If you're thinking about an individual, somebody actually came to mind, I'm going to ask you to do something. I'm going to ask you to stand in their place right now. Just, hey David, as you were speaking, I actually thought about an individual that I need to serve. An individual that I could begin to meet a need for. If that's you right now, could you just stand up for them right now?

Just wherever you are. I actually thought about a cousin that I hadn't thought about. God just shifted my attitude about somebody that I've had a really bad attitude.

I've now realized like that's actually their laziness or their hurtfulness or whatever. It's actually an opportunity to serve. Some of you are going, but I just don't want to be taken advantage of. Can I just tell you there's no way you're going to live a godly life and not be taken advantage of?

But I want to be. I want to be taken advantage of because it puts me in a place where I can use that act of service to bring the gospel before people. Anybody else? Standing up on behalf of them.

You know what's crazy? There's probably a person right now being stood for that probably thinks nobody cares about me. Nobody ever thinks about me. Everybody's forgotten. Everybody's put me on the sidelines. I'm not even an afterthought. Little do they know that right now somebody just stood for them is taking their name to God.

There's probably somebody thinking I'm not valuable or probably somebody that thinks that you don't like them and little do they know that right now you love them. That right now you're asking God, God make me more vulnerable for them. Let me serve them.

Little do they know that tomorrow when you go back you actually see this as an opportunity. That's the gospel and that's what's at stake. Father, thank you. Thank you for men and women who are standing in the gap. I pray that you would supernaturally give them opportunities, that you would just open, open up God.

Just lanes for them to step into. I pray that it wouldn't just be an opportunity to serve but that that would result in conversations, God. Conversations where they're saying why do you care? Why have you been different? Why are you more patient? Why are you beginning the process of adoption?

Why? That got through the next few acts of service that there would be a massaging of the of the hardened heart and that God would be there for the hardened heart and that God the gospel would touch the lives of people outside of this room because of what you're saying to us in this room. Listen, if you have your heads bowed and you're sitting or you're standing, I do want to also say that maybe the first five or ten minutes where we talked about Jesus being the bread of life is the main reason God brought you here. So maybe you've never tasted and seen that the Lord is good.

Maybe you've gone to all the different things to find and you realize you've never really given your life over to the only one who can satisfy you. His name is Jesus. He's the son of God. He lived the perfect life and after living the perfect life he died a sinner's death as the great substitution on your behalf.

After he died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin, he put his body in a tomb and three days later when they went to check on it, it was empty because death couldn't hold him and that resurrection power is afforded to you right now. You've never given your life over and said I'm a dreadful sinner. Jesus, you're a mighty savior.

Save me. I want to tell you that at all of our locations our leaders are going to be in the front and as we sing, as we dismiss, they're going to be available towards the front and they would love to just connect with you and talk to you about a relationship with Christ the savior as Lord. But if you're standing here and I already know the Lord but I want to pray for somebody who doesn't just let's just continue to just wage war for them. The rest of us, can we stand together just where we are? Let's just stand up. Come on, let's just worship. Let's just go after God. Come on.