My name's Jordan Walker. I serve as the student and the college pastor here at the Lincoln Road campus. I'm married. My wife's name is Kennedy.

We've been married for about eight years now. I used to be a nurse, kind of still am a nurse at times, but I've been on staff here at Venture for, this is year seven, serving on the students and college team. And so, look, naturally today, being up here, this stage, this audience, there were some nerves that went into it, right? A little worried, even some doubts.

And a couple of weeks ago at Movement, that's our sixth through 12th grade ministry, we talked about anxiety and worries. And to start, I walked out on stage, acted like my mic didn't work. I paced around frantically, and I forgot my Bible, forgot my notes, and I just kind of looked all out of whack. And I did it to kind of create some tension in the room, to create some anxiety, right?

And it worked. I did it. Well, today, I don't have to do that. It's here, it's felt, it's known, right?

And I think back over, man, my life, through different seasons, where I've let the fear and the doubt and the worry be a driving factor in my decisions and in what I've done. Many different seasons of life. There's been self-doubt, right? There's been the fear of messing up, the fear of failure, fear of what others are going to think or do because of what I'm doing.

We all know this one, but fear of missing out. FOMO, right? Or maybe you can relate in some of those things, in different seasons of life. Maybe it's your job or your career now.

Maybe it's your family or relationship or friendships, right? At times, there's fear, there's doubts. It can drive us. Man, I remember starting middle school.

I remember that seventh-grade locker room in football and how hard and how difficult that season of life was. There was fear, there was doubt, there was worry. It didn't change as I got into high school, right? It was academics, it was athletics.

You throw in some relationships into that mix, and it got hard. It was challenging at times, driven by fear, driven by doubts. I thought it would end in high school, but college was the same. Went to nursing school, and man, enough worry on its own right there.

Finally graduated. I remember getting my first job. I was the ER nurse in Forest General here. And two or three weeks into nursing, I'm in training.

A paramedic rolls in the door, patient's severely beat up. He starts telling me about him, and I was like, "Hold up, pump the brakes." Stick my head out in the hallway, and I was like, "Hey, I need a nurse in here." They laughed their butts off, still hold that over my head, and they said, "Jordan, you are a nurse." And the question in my head that day was, "I'm a nurse? You trust me to do these things?" And then, man, soon after starting a career, man, there was new worries and new fears because I got engaged and got married. And I remember the fear of the unknown that marriage brought.

And eight years into marriage, it's developed into some new fears, right? I now have the fear of smacking my gum. Husbands, you know these. But the fear of breathing too loud, right?

Recently, there's been this new fear of leaving the toilet seat up, right? Man, it haunts me. And then speed up to getting here today. Travel nursing.

Me and my wife travel nurse. Getting into ministry, terrifying, right? I told myself it wasn't the question of, "Jordan, are you a nurse? Can I do this?" Man, the thought in my head and my identity was, "Jordan, you are a nurse.

That's what you do. That's what you know. That's what you're good at. You're not cut out for ministry." And I fought those fears, I fought those doubts.

And all of us in the room today, at some point and another, man, we wrestle with those same feelings, that same tension. Again, maybe it's your job, maybe it's your marriage. How are you going to start a family and raise kids one day? Maybe it's a relationship or social acceptance that you're seeking right now.

But regardless, man, it weighs on us. The fears, the doubts, it's all there. And in this series, Press On, started it last week, but we're walking through the Book of Philippians. And like Greg talked about last week, you got Paul as the author, right?

Paul writes this letter, and he wrote it in some uncomfortable conditions. He wrote it in the face of fear because he's arrested, right? Facing persecution. He's arrested and awaiting his trial.

He's chained to prison guards, and he doesn't know if he'll see another day. That's Paul's setting. His scenario as he writes this letter. But he writes to the church in Philippi a letter, to a church that's facing adversity and some suffering themselves, right?

They're getting pushback for publicly following Jesus. And he writes this letter to them, though, with joy, with excitement, and with encouragement. He challenges them, and he encourages them. And in chapter 1, verse 27, that's where we'll pick up reading, he says this, simply, "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ." He says, "Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel." You see that there's one word in the Greek behind, "let your manner of life," and it's polithme, and it means this.

It's to behave as a citizen, right? It's a political word. You hear politics in that word politme. It means to live in a civic manner.

It's to fulfill your civic duty, right? That's what he's saying. And the question that that brings is, is Paul saying, "Hey, as a citizen of Philippi," because he's writing this letter to a church in a city, right? Is he talking about living as a citizen in the city that they're in?

Or in chapter 3, Paul says, "Hey, believers, don't forget, your citizenship is in heaven." So is he talking about citizenship in Philippi, or is he talking about as a citizen of heaven, we should live in a certain way? Well, a lot of people smarter than me think he's talking about both. He says know that you're a citizen of heaven, and because of that assurance, fulfill your civic duty. Be a good citizen of Philippi, where your feet are, right?

In all things, in every aspect of your life, in your speech, in your worship, your job, your reputation, your service, in your generosity, all phases of your life, do them in a certain manner. And that manner of life, he says, should be one that's worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And when I hear that, worthy of the gospel of Jesus, naturally, my brain is like, "So I've got to be good enough for Jesus?" Is that what Paul is saying? I've got to be good enough to achieve Christ?

And no, that's not what he's saying at all. We know that. We can't work to it. We can't achieve Jesus, right?

What he's saying is this, that Jesus Christ, his good news, the gospel of Jesus, it's of infinite worth and infinite value. He's the only one worthy of our praise. So to the people in Philippi and to us today, he's like, "Know that and live like it." The gospel is of infinite value. Live to show it.

So he's writing to this church, and he's saying, as a citizen of Philippi, live to show the infinite value of Jesus, and rest assured, as believers, that your citizenship is in heaven. So question for us is, do you? Right? Simple question.

Do you live that way? Do you live to show the infinite worth of Jesus? Is he the most valuable thing in your life? And look, I'm going to ask you a lot of questions today as we go through this because, man, hear me when I say this, this can't be a bunch of words that kind of go in one ear and out the other.

The Bible can't be a book that we just read to obtain knowledge and information. We have to ask these questions. It's got to soak in and change our heart and change our lives. We ask these questions, and we wrestle with it so that we can evaluate to see where we are in all this and what God's calling us to do next.

So there'll be some questions, man. Is he worth it to you? Is Jesus Christ worth it to you? Worth building your life on?

Worth speaking up for? Is Jesus worth the cost? Because in life, here's a more pointed question, though. In life, in your daily walk, you ever do anything scary or risky for Jesus?

Because we do these things in other manners of life. We take risks financially. We go out on a limb, and we start a business. We take risks for fun.

Roller coasters, skydiving, whitewater rafting, the adventures in our life. We love to take risks. Students and middle school guys, you feel me? We take risks.

We go talk to the pretty girl in the cafeteria, not knowing what she's going to say. In life, we take risks. So Paul says To do that, to live boldly, to proclaim Jesus. And he says to do it, if you continue reading that verse, he says, "Do it whether I come and see you or whether I'm absent." So whether or not I come, Paul says, you're still to live in this manner.

You're still to do these things. Paul knows that he may not make another trip. He may not leave these chains. I don't know if I'm going to get back to Philippi, but regardless, you live that way.

He's saying, "Whether or not I'm there, no matter what happens, under no circumstances do you change and stray from this truth in the way that you're living." You see, but our actions in life, in church, and just in life in general, they're often conditional, right? It's circumstantial. We say, "Look, if they're nice to me, I'll be nice to them," or, "If they forgive me, or I'll forgive them when they apologize first," right? We say, "If my girl comes to the game tonight, I'm playing lights out." It's circumstantial.

It's conditional. "Hey, I'll invest in my marriage when my wife decides to invest in the marriage, too." That's what we say. "Hey, I'll get more serious about my faith under this condition, just when this season of life slows down." It's circumstantial. It's conditional.

Or we say this. "Look, if God blesses me and continues to treat me right, I'll keep loving him and I'll keep following him." Right? All of these things are circumstantial. They're conditional.

Look, when it feels right, when things are going right, yes, Lord, I'm all here. I'm here for it. See, but Paul is writing and challenging us to something different, and he's urging all of us then and now to see that there's a different way of living. There's a lifestyle of following Jesus that can't weigh on any circumstance or any condition.

And he's saying in all aspects of life, Jesus has to show. His name has to be made great, not our own. So simply put, Paul is saying this. Jesus is worth it.

Jesus is worth it. Live like it. Live to show it. Warren Wiersbe, he wrote some commentary on the Bible, and he says this.

"The most important weapon against the enemy is not a stirring sermon," hallelujah, "or a powerful book." He says, "It's the consistent life of believers." Now, let me read it again. "The most important weapon against the enemy is not a stirring sermon or a powerful book. It's the consistent life of believers." Because when you think about it, intentional, consistent living following Jesus, that's a little risky. That gets dangerous, right?

Consistently living for Christ and taking some risks for him, Warren Wiersbe knew it, and we knew it today. That gets real dangerous real quick for the enemy. He calls it a weapon. I found out this past week, two college freshman girls that I know started a Bible study in their dorm, right?

They didn't like the way things were going. There was some division and some animosity between some of their friend groups, and they're like, "Look, we're going to do something about it. You see things differently than you do, but that's okay. We're going to come together.

We're going to host a Bible study in our dorm. We're going to push back against what the enemy's doing." I was sitting in the middle school cafeteria last week talking to a seventh-grade girl that I know, and she's sitting there with one of her best friends. And naturally, church gets brought up because they're like, "Hey, who's the old dude walking around our cafeteria?" But anyways, they're like, "What are you doing here?" And I tell them who I am and where I'm from. And so church, the conversation gets brought up.

And the seventh-grade girl I knew, her friend says, "I've never been to a Christian church. I'm Muslim." And just naturally, I was like, "Okay, tell me what you believe, what you do. Look, would your family, would your friends, I mean, your family or your parents, you think they'd let you just come to church, to Movement, to hang out?" And she's like, "I think so. I think that might be fun." The seventh-grade girl that I knew looked me in my face and the light bulb, the aha moment just went off.

And she whispers, she's like, "Jordan, I'll text her. I'll bring her next week." And it was just like this changing moment. We're not sitting at a lunch table eating lunch anymore. We're living intentionally.

It's a consistent display of the gospel that I know that seventh-grade girl is about to take to her Muslim best friend. Warren Wiersbe said it. It's not a stirring sermon. It's not a powerful book.

It's just intentional and consistent living by Christians, and it's dangerous for the enemy. So what does that look like for you today? What's it look like to live a life that God's calling you to? What's it look like to live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Because we all feel that tension, right? Some difficulty in doing that. There's fears. There's doubts.

There's struggles. There's sin in our lives that wants to prevent us from living that way and from doing those things. So how do we do it? I'm going to give you four things that Paul says that this should look like in this passage.

He says it should look like standing, striving, salvation, and suffering. That's what a life worthy of the manner of the gospel of Jesus should look like. And before we get into these, let me ease some pressure, all right? Ease some of the pressure because it's not perfection that Jesus is asking for.

It's just progression. Not perfection, but progression in the faith. Taking steps of obedience, growing towards Jesus, taking bold steps, and then receiving grace when everything isn't perfect. That's what God's calling us to and wants from us.

So progression, not perfection. And as we continue reading, Paul again says, "Live in a manner worthy of the gospel, so that I may hear of you that you're standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel." And he's saying, "I want to know, and I want to see. I want to hear stories of believers, of a church that's standing firm in one spirit with one mind and striving side by side for Jesus Christ. That's what I want you to be about.

That's what I want to hear about." First thing he says that they should be doing and that we're to be doing is standing firm, right? Standing firm. And to do that, I think we got to check our posture, and we have to check our footing. Hey, what's your posture?

What's the posture of your heart? And what's the posture of your life, your daily life? Are you standing firm? Because, man, full transparency, sometimes I just want to lay down.

It's easier to take a nap. It's hard to stand up. It's easier to ignore the conflict, to do the easy thing, and to not go the hard way. Look, sometimes in life, we get to a point where we're just one drive latte away from a menti-b.

And a menti-b is a mental breakdown, if you don't know. I've learned from the students that it's cool now to take letters out of words and shorten them all. So anyways, that's where we find ourselves as a Christian. As Christians today, a lot of us, and this is statistically proven, a lot of people are laying down and are out of the fight.

Barna Group does some studies and some research, and some other groups, and they found this. 3,500 people leave churches every day in America. That's about 1.2 million a year. All right? Get this. 64% of young adults, gathering 18 to 25-year-olds, hear me when I say this, 64% of young adults that were raised in church drop out in their 20s.

Statistics show it. 56% of Christians, this is more than half, 56% of Christians say that their spiritual life is entirely private. It's faith with no real community around it. 56% of Christians have a private walk with the Lord. So for us today, again, I ask, hey, what's your posture? Are you standing, and are you engaged in the fight?

Check your posture. And then, hey, what are you standing on? You got to check your footing, right? Because a lot of us, a lot of people in the world today are planted firmly into a lot of the wrong things.

We started singing this new song last week, sang it again today, called "The Word of God." And there's a line in it that says this. "When the devil comes for me, here's where he can find me, standing on the Word of God." That's right. And that's a little convicting for me because I evaluate and I think, is that true of my life? Do I know God's Word?

Do I live it and breathe it? Am I standing on what he says about me and what he thinks about me, or is it the fears and the doubts of the enemy and of the world? Is that a song that I just come and sing on Sunday morning, or is that true for my life, right? What are you standing on?

Middle schoolers today would say business, right? Standing on business, Jordan. And this is the part where middle schoolers and high schoolers would usually scream at me and laugh. But anyways, what is it for you?

Is it knowledge that you've built your life on? Man, I know things. Is it achievement? The accolades and the accomplishments that you have?

Is it image or popularity or clout that you've built your life on, that you're seeking most in life? For some of us, it's power. Stronger than you and better than you and bigger than you. Or maybe it's finances.

Man, financial security's a big deal in the world today. That's what I've built my life on. That's what I feel security in. There's where my hope is.

Maybe it's a relationship that you think your life is built around, right? A friendship or dating or a marriage, right? Or lastly, maybe it's, and sometimes, a lot of times, it's works, right? We're standing on works, on morality.

You hear it all the time, but my life, people say, "My life is, I just want to be a good person." We build or we stand firm on works and morality. So, we know this, but man, where your feet are planted matters. What you stand on, it matters. Matthew 7, Jesus speaks to this.

He tells the story or the parable of a wise builder and a foolish builder, right? We all know it, probably heard it. There's a foolish guy, built his house on the sand. Wishy-washy, not going to work, right?

Rain came, wind blew, house gone. There's a wise builder, built his house on a solid foundation, on a rock. The rain came and the wind blew, and because of a solid foundation, the house is still standing. It didn't go anywhere.

So simple, so easy to understand, right? I feel like when Jesus was saying that or when he was teaching that, some people probably were like, "Yeah, no duh, Jesus." Like, "Thank you, Captain Obvious," is what we'd say today. That'd be like saying, "Look, you can't just plug your phone in, your charger into the phone. You also got to plug the charger into the wall." Yeah, thanks, Jordan.

No duh, Captain Obvious. Or saying, "Hey, you don't just stick the key in the car ignition, you also have to turn it." So simple, so easy to understand. Or another one, like, "Hey, you can't just have smoke detectors hanging in the ceiling, you got to put batteries in them," right? No duh, Jordan.

Well, we won't go that far because who actually puts batteries in their smoke detectors? But anyways, it's so simple, so easy to understand. The foundation of your home is important. Jesus knows that, and he teaches that, and he says that, and he's like, "Look, if it's so easy to comprehend, why wouldn't we build our spiritual life with that same concept?

Why would we apply it to a house and not our life?" So, we have to check our posture, we have to check our footing and see what you're building your life on. Is it unity in the Spirit? Is it God and His Word? Or is it all the other things that the world's going to throw at you?

And then Paul says, "And we're not just standing firm and planted in one place, but striving together." It says, "I may hear that you're standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel," for Jesus, towards something, progressing. You see, striving is effort. It's not nonchalant. We're to press on, making progress, taking steps forward.

Stagnant water grows mold. Old truck that we leave sitting, it don't crank, right? Muscles that we don't use, they atrophy and they wither away. For centuries, literal centuries, Byron Malone has taught this principle to students of gatekeepers.

And it comes from Matthew 16. Jesus is talking to Peter, and he's talking about the church that he's going to, that he's building. And he says, "The gates of hell won't prevail against the church that he's building." Jesus says that. But you think about a gate, like this concept of gatekeepers that Byron taught.

You think about a gate in life. A gate's not coming to you. The gates of hell, it's a defense mechanism. It's not coming at us.

For a gate not to prevail, you're going to it. It's progressive. It's an active faith. You're going to it, tearing it down.

So, it's taking ground from the enemy. It's not just standing still. It's striving together and forward. So, a life worthy of the manner of the gospel of Jesus, it's an active faith.

This one is moving. Paul writes later in Philippians chapter 3:13 and 14, he says, "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me." He's not thinking about what's behind, but he's striving toward what's ahead, pressing on, striving together, progressing forward.

So, we're to press on. But why is that so hard? It's because there's real opposition, right? We all see it.

There's real opposition and a real enemy. John 10:10 says that the enemy comes to do this, to steal, to kill, and to destroy. And in the face of the opposition, in the face of the suffering, in the face of fear, Paul writes and tells us to strive and to progress forward, and then we're to do so fearlessly. He says, "Standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel." And then he says, "And not frightened in anything by your opponents." There's fearlessness.

What that means is that you're not driven by the fear. You feel the fear, you feel the doubts, but you're not going to be driven by it. I'm not going to base my actions and my thoughts on the fear or what's easy or what's most comfortable to me, right? That's fearless.

See, this looks like, what it looks like is choosing your calling over comfort. The life that God's calling you to step into, not what's comfortable, and not what's easiest. And so we do that. We do those things, those next steps, in faith and without fear.

So, if you think about it practically, what does it take to produce fearlessness? And simply, you got to have something to be afraid of and faith that sustains. To have fearlessness, there's obviously something to be afraid of, and then there's faith that sustains. Real opposition and real faith.

I see the hard thing, I see the difficulty, I have the fear and the doubts, and I'm choosing to put my faith in Jesus Christ. Believers facing opposition and walking through suffering, and doing so not being driven by the fear, scripture says, is a clear sign of destruction for those that oppose God, for those that don't stand with him. See, unwavering faith in believers is evidence that the enemy is lost and that he and all those with him will be destroyed. That's what Paul says.

You see, but fearlessness for believers, as Christians, is a clear sign of our salvation. Saying, "I was afraid and I did the hard thing anyway." It's not because I'm great or I'm good enough, but because of Jesus, because I trust him. It's a clear sign of faith in him and your salvation. You see, God offers another way.

He offers a rescue plan, salvation or saving, right? He offers that. It's a real enemy, a real opposition, but real salvation, not based on our works or our actions, but on him. Look, I don't know everyone's story and your history and your past experiences and your sin and what your life has looked like, but I do know a God who does.

A God who knows it all, who sees it all, and in the midst of your suffering, your sin, your doubts, and your shame, he looks you in the face and says, "I love you." That's the God that I know. There's a few things that we can be assured of in life. First two, death and taxes. We all know it's coming, right?

Yeah. But there's two more also. Scripture says we can be assured of this, destruction of the enemy. He's fighting a battle he can't win.

And then lastly, that Jesus Christ is King. Not Caesar, not the devil, no ruler or authority, but Jesus Christ. He's won the war. He put on flesh.

He died on the cross for our sin. And on the third day, he rose again, overcoming sin, death, the grave. And he did all of that for me and for you on a rescue mission. That's what Jesus did.

And so, a life well-lived in response to that, in a manner worthy of him and his gospel, we should see these things, standing, striving, salvation, and then at times, we also see suffering Verse 29 and 30, Paul says this: "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have." Says it's been granted to us, this gift of suffering. There's times when we're dealt a hand that we didn't see coming. It happens. There's times when we receive this gift of suffering.

Seems like an oxymoron, right? But it's experiencing God in a new way. Dr. Billy Reddy, he's here today.

He writes a lot of our devos and our blogs, and he said this just this week about suffering. He says, "You enter suffering, and you come out on the other side with something that you didn't have going in." So you step into suffering, and when you come out on the other side of it, you walk away with some things you didn't have going in. He wrote about hope. He wrote about perseverance.

He wrote about endurance and grit and an increased faith. You see, this gift of suffering, what it does is it teaches us to lean in, to lean into God and to trust him. When you think about it, it deepens our faith. It's going to strengthen your prayer life when you endure suffering, and it makes us reliant on Christ.

It forces us to be obedient to him. Last week, Greg talked about Paul's circumstances. Paul was imprisoned. Many were against him.

The emperor was Nero, super evil, persecuting the church, literally killing Christians, and then God flipped the script. The world saw it as punishment, Paul's chains, but this actually was a gift. It was a privilege. You're chaining Paul to the Roman guard?

You want to chain Paul to some of the most influential people in Rome? Are you sure that's what you want to do? Give us that gift. Where on repeat they hear of God's goodness.

Where on repeat they hear of the Savior that rose again. On repeat, the gospel of Jesus is proclaimed to some influential people in Rome. Yes, there was suffering, but God will flip that script. He did it with Paul.

And what Paul is saying simply in all this is, in his life, in his letters, in our lives today, Jesus Christ is worth it. We're not only to know that, but we're to live like it. No matter the circumstances, you have influence to make an impact. You got influence to make an impact.

I don't care how old you are. I don't care how young you are. I don't care the school that you go to or that you didn't get into or that you're about to go to, the sports that you play or whatever. Rich, poor, single as a Pringle, or married.

I don't care. It doesn't matter. You got influence to make an impact. Think about some of your favorite movies and characters that you love.

And a lot of times we love them because they suffered, because they endured something, because of what they believed in. And they persevered through it. Think about William Wallace, if you've seen "Braveheart." We got blue face Mel Gibson up here, but he's enduring. He's suffering.

He's battling. His wife and his kids are gone. He's chained and awaiting death, but at the end of that movie, he still finds a breath, and he screams, "Freedom," in chains because he believed in it, and he fought for it. Some "Harry Potter" fans, I'm sure, but yes, Harry had suffering, but what about Neville Longbottom?

What about this dude? He's looked over, he's looked down on the whole series. Dude's a coward. He ain't doing nothing.

He stands alone at the end, though, to face Voldemort in the midst of evil and the fear because he believed that good could overcome evil. Fearlessness, right? This next one's easy to track with. "Hunger Games," Katniss.

The impoverished, unlikely hero who lost almost everything. She endures the suffering. She rises and she fights. She counted the cost, and she said yes anyways.

"I volunteer as tribute." And we love her for it. The last one, my personal favorite, "Rocky IV." I don't know if there's many better movies, but the end of this one, we see Rocky fighting Drago. Drago, who is just a literal man killer. He is steroided up, a machine.

Earlier in the movie, he had killed Rocky's friend Apollo Creed in the ring, killed him. And Rocky still stood and fought him anyways. And for 15 rounds, he got absolutely beaten down. Every punch, every blow, Rocky takes it, and he stands back up, and he keeps fighting.

He suffered, but he endured, and he kept getting back up because of what he believed in. There's a reason that these movies, these characters, these stories, there's a reason that that gives you chill bumps. They suffered for what they believed in, for something bigger than themselves. And look, I'm here to tell you that Jesus is calling us to do the same.

May not be pretty, may not be fun all the time, but he's calling us to do the same. It's clear in scripture. Jesus said this, "If you want to come follow me, if you want to be about that, if you're following me, take up your cross." The instrument of torture, the device that he died on, he says, "Take up your cross. Put that on your back, then come and follow me.

It won't be pretty. It won't be easy. Yes, it'll be challenging, but I'll be right there with you. My grace." That's what Jesus is calling us to.

And why? Because we must know and believe and see that Jesus is of infinite worth, that he is of infinite value. He's our creator, our sustainer. He's the who, the how, and the why behind our lives.

Jesus is worth it. We got to live like it. Again, I'll ask, so do you? Do you live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Paul Tripp wrote in one of his books that when we receive the good news, when we become a believer, as Christians, what the gospel should do is give us this new set of glasses to view life through. It's a new outlook and perspective on life. The old me is gone, and the new me is here. It's putting on a new pair of glasses.

This gift of suffering, of salvation, of all of it, should produce this joy that radiates into others. See, it's a contagious spreading of the good news of Jesus. I want to end by telling you this. Looked up the statistics again this week, but there's 8.2 billion people on this earth.

About 3.6 billion of them are unreached. They're not sitting in a church this morning. They don't know the good news of Jesus, and they're not knowing, loving, and following him. 3.6 billion people. For us here today, what are the chances that you know one of them?

What are the odds that one of those 3.6 billion people in your life that are unreached you know? Somebody hurting, somebody suffering, some people that just need help standing up. Do you live to take the hope of Christ to those people? Man, I can honestly speak and know that in my life as a student and growing up, the countless men and women, parents, friends, pastors, teachers, coaches, men and women of faith that challenged me in the good and in the struggle.

They challenged me not to settle for what the world had to offer, but to choose faith in Jesus over it all. If I had to guess, I'd say that you're probably here today because of a man or at least one woman in your life did that for you. So as a church, we're going to choose to do the same. As a citizen of your town and as a citizen of heaven, in the midst of the suffering and the hardship, we're going to leverage your life for God's glory.

Because Paul wrote it then, and it's true today. Jesus is worth it, and we're to live like it. I'm going to ask all of you to stand, and our band's going to lead us in one final song. And as we do that, I just want you to reflect on God and his word and what he's calling you to step in today.

I'm going to ask that you don't leave the room yet, that you stand for one final song. I want to remind you that there's crosses down here at the front. Maybe for you, you want to kneel and pray at the cross or down front. Our prayer team will be available.

Maybe there's something heavy on your heart or a sin that you walked in with today that you need to leave at the cross. There's pens and papers, and you can pin those up over there, too. But for all of us in the room, everyone, I'm going to ask that you sing. You don't just watch these folks sing.

You don't just read the lyrics on screen. But would you sing praises and worship Jesus because he's worthy. He's worth it, and we're to live like it. Let me pray.

God, we love you, and thank you for this time and for your grace, for who you are, for what you've done, for your word and its truth. God, I ask that it would spur us on and encourage us to live boldly and courageously for you in the face of adversity and suffering and pain, God, that we would look to you and your hope. God, we love you, and we thank you, and we pray all this in Jesus' name. And everybody said