well I am honored to be with you tonight I have two goals for this message goal number one if you are a Christian my hope is that you would be challenged to take your commitment to Jesus to the next level goal number two if you're not a Christian and I want to invite you to be part of the greatest movement in history a movement that Jesus introduced to the world 2,000 years ago you see at the end of Jesus's ministry he brought together his followers and he gave them what is called the Great Commission you
can read it in Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 through 20 where Jesus says this he says that I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you and be sure of this I am with you always even to the end of the age that passage is called the Great Commission and it is our mission as Christians a mission that Jesus
gave to us 2,000 years ago a mission that one generation after the next people have said yes to be a part of a mission that has absolutely changed the world as we know it today a great example Martin Luther King jr. who led the civil rights movement here in the United States another example is a guy named William Wilberforce you may have never heard of him but he led the movement in England to not only abolish the slave trade but also to get rid of slavery in England all together a final guy isn't man by
the name of Henry do not Henry do not he was one of the founders of the Red Cross and he was actually the first ever Nobel Peace Prize winner and what's interesting about all three of these people is all three of them were committed Christians all three of them were a part of bringing people the hope of Jesus all three of them were committed to their different movements because they knew that Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to die for us so they were willing to give their lives for others to show
them the love that Jesus is offering everything one of us the world we live in today has been shaped for the better because of the message in the movement of Christianity and that is a movement that you are invited to today because today Jesus is inviting you to follow him he's inviting you to make a difference what will you say I hope that you'll say count me in now we have to acknowledge though is that the world we live in today is not the easiest place to be a Christian right especially if you're a teenager
living in the year 2020 right there are so many different things in the world that are trying to distract us from what God has for us and what God wants for us we live in a world that values comfort way more than it values purpose we live in a world where people are more isolated than ever before where we are overwhelmed with information to the point where we're not even sure what to do where consumerism is the new norm we live in a world where honestly people are more skeptical to the message of Jesus than
they've ever been before because people have always asked the question is Christianity true but more than ever people are asking the question is Christianity even good but what I've seen time and time again is the words of Jesus cutting through all the noise and the confusion of our modern world just as powerfully as they did 2,000 years ago and I've seen time and time again people be invited to the movement of Christianity and say yes and through them saying yes they have been a part of something that is so much bigger than they ever could
have imagined that God is using them to make a significant difference right where they are because they said count me in unfortunate reality though is that for so many of us as Christians we have settled for a version of Christianity that is so much less than the version that Jesus introduced to the world so long ago because for so many of us right we think of Christianity is sort of like running a race but the way that we view it is we think that saying yes to Jesus is us finishing the race that we've done
it we've done all the work that that's all there is to it and that the rest of our lives between the moment where we say yes to Jesus to the moment we die if we want to do anything else that's just extra credit right we're just running extra laps we're doing extra conditioning but in reality when we look at the teachings of Jesus when we look at the writings of the Apostle Paul what they talk about is this idea that following Jesus is like a race but saying yes to Jesus isn't finishing the race saying
yes to Jesus is starting the race and that the rest of our lives are running the race that God has called us to as we continue to pray from people we love people we forgive those who hurt us we go the extra mile we turn the other cheek that's what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus and for so many of us we've settled for simply believing in Jesus instead of truly following Jesus and when we take the step to move beyond just belief and actually put our faith into action to follow Jesus
with every part of our lives guess what happens people start to see the good news in US and through us the message that Jesus introduced so long ago is he's inviting you to help people see that as the good news it has always been what will you say will you choose to keep sitting on the sidelines or will you choose to run the race because today Jesus is inviting you to make a difference what will you say these switch students they said count me in this is a group of students from the Life Church Edmond
location who saw a need and they saw something that they could contribute to that need is called Operation Christmas Child one of our global mission partners here at Life Church is called Samaritan's Purse and every year Samaritan's Purse has Operation Christmas Child which is this this this program this is this initiative dedicated to help kids around the world get toys essential supplies and clothing for Christmas and so these switch students they said you know what I think that we could be a part of this there's a group of high schoolers and so what they did
is they planned a fundraiser they organized it they executed it all on their own to raise money to get the supplies needed to put together these different gift boxes that would go to these kids around the world so they could have presents on Christmas when they wouldn't otherwise be able to so they switched students did this fundraiser and together they raised over 4 dollars right that's a bunch of teenagers that's people just like you who said I want to make a difference they raised four thousand dollars which allowed them to put together over 200 of
these gift boxes here's what that means that means that there are over 200 kids around the world who at Christmas had a present under their tree when they wouldn't have otherwise why because of students just like you choosing to make a difference choosing to say Jesus I want to make a difference so count me in Galatians chapter 5 verse 13 Paul writes this he says that you have been called to live in freedom my brothers and sisters but don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature instead use your freedom to serve one another in
love for the whole law can be summed up in this one command love your neighbor as yourself these are switch students who are using the freedom that they have from Jesus to serve others in love they were invited to make a difference and they said count me in you are being invited to make a difference what will you say you're being invited to be made whole Jesus is inviting you to be made whole what will you say Sammy said count me in I got to meet Sammy several years ago I was the youth pastor for
her at the Life Church that we were a part of and the heartbreaking thing about Sammy's story is that when Sammy was in the fifth grade she came to a place where she was just so overwhelmed with the stress of life with these different things that were going on that she just didn't know what to do with that she had all of these emotions all these frustrations all of this anger that she didn't know how to process in a healthy way which led her to the point of choosing to hurt herself because she felt like
that was the only way that she could deal with these emotions she quickly became addicted to cutting to the point where over the course of the next a year she cut herself hundreds of times they weren't where if she was wearing short sleeves or shorts you would see hundreds of scars on her arms and legs she was in the fifth grade when she started but Sammy came to a place where she knew that that wasn't who she was meant to be and so thankfully she asked for help she told her mom what was going on
and I got to sit down with her and her mom and just have a conversation about everything that was going on and in the course of that conversation Sammy opened up about the fact that the longest she had ever gone since she started cutting without cutting herself was ten days ten days really I believe that God was in that conversation because at the end of that conversation Sammy and her mom they committed together to pray for each other to encourage each other to hold each other accountable to remind each other of who God says they
are and in that conversation Sammy said you know what I want to break that streak I don't want it to be ten days I want to be it to be 20 and then 30 and then 40 and then 50 and then 60 and then 70 and then 80 and then 90 and then 100 and tonight Sammy told me that she has gone 408 days without hurting herself what I'm telling you is that Jesus is making her whole and he wants to do the same for you that somebody that was so overwhelmed with all the mess
of life is being made whole in the same way that Jesus is working in Sammy he wants to work in you I love what Paul writes in second Corinthians when he says this chapter three verses 16 and 18 he says that whenever someone turns to the Lord the veil is taken away for the Lord is the spirit and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is listen to this there is freedom and the Lord who is the spirit he makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image whenever you turn
to the Lord the Lord who is the spirit will bring you freedom and he will transform you more and more into his glorious image that is exactly what's happening with Sammy and as Sammy is being made whole other people are getting to see the difference in her she's now serving in our life kids ministry on the weekend showing them that the same way that Jesus made her whole that Jesus wants to love them to be their friend to show them there's hope and if there is a better tomorrow in store for them if they keep
moving forward Jesus is inviting you to make a difference Jesus is inviting you to be made whole and Jesus is inviting you to be made new what will you say six years ago I said count me in I grew up going to church and my family we were like sort of Christians but not super Christians we went to church cuz we were supposed to but not because we wanted to which eventually led me to a place where I stopped going to church and stopped believing in God altogether and I remember getting invited back to church
with my mom because I was living with her and she said hey if we can live with my house or live in my house you're gonna go to church so I said yes ma'am because you know you'll know this someday but church is cheaper than rent so choose Church it's way better and what's funny is as I was going to church again it was literally just to get my mom off my back but I started to meet these people who they had something that I didn't they had hope they had something that I wanted they
had joy that's something that I knew I needed had peace what I realized is that when I looked at what was different between them and me the difference is that they were following Jesus and I was doing everything that I could to find those things that they had that I didn't but nothing I did was ever working enough was never enough so one day I just decided you know what I'm just gonna give this Jesus thing a shot so I I made the choice to follow Jesus to become a Christian let me tell you something
when I did everything changed but I didn't just become a better person I became a new person I became a new creation the things that had defined me for so long the sin the shame the regret of my past it didn't define me anymore the thing that defined me now was the love of God second Corinthians 5:17 talks about this idea buta when Paul writes this he says that therefore if anyone is in Christ the new creation has come the old is gone and the new is here Jesus made me new and he can do
the same for you because you are not who others say you are you are who God says you are he is inviting you to be made new Jesus is inviting you to follow him what will you say now a quick distinction here following Jesus is not like subscribing to somebody on YouTube right you don't just like comment and subscribe following Jesus is a lot more than that but it's so much better than that following Jesus is about giving up your own way taking up your cross and following him I love the way that Luke who
wrote one of the gospel accounts one of the accounts of Jesus's life message and teachings talks about this it's in Chapter 9 verse 23 and 24 Luke says this he's quoting Jesus where Jesus says if any of you wants to be my follower you must give up your own way take up your cross daily and follow me because if you try to hang on to your life you're gonna lose it but if you give up your life for my sake you will save it what does it mean to follow Jesus it means bringing every part
of who you are every thought every word every action every step every day of who you are into alignment with God's will for your life what does it mean to follow Jesus it means moving from where you are today in the direction of where Jesus is calling you to be because Jesus right now he's inviting you to follow him he's inviting you to be made new he's inviting you to be made whole he's inviting you to make a difference what will you say my hope and my prayer is that you will say just like so
many people before you have count me in let's pray father God we thank you so much for the goodness that you offer us for the love that you offer us for the grace that you offer us I pray right now that in every single switch experience that students would feel your presence in this moment that they would know that you are inviting them to be a part of something that is so much bigger and better than anything that they could ever imagine for those who are Christians that they would move past just believing in Jesus
and they would choose to follow your son with everything that they are and for those who may not be Christians that they would realize that what Jesus is inviting them to is open to them that there is nothing that is holding them back from being a part of this movement and that when they choose to follow your son Jesus they will be made new they will be made whole that they will be used to make a difference as they take the step to follow you and so god I pray that you will move in the
hearts of these students that you will bring them into a relationship with you and that you will use them to show others just how much you love them it's in Jesus name Amen amen and amen thanks so much for joining us here at switch there's nothing we love more than you taking a next step in your relationship with Jesus so here are some resources to help you do just that we'd also love for you to be a part of our online community so subscribe and follow us on social you know where to find us we'll
see you next time
