Bobby Schuller - If You Do What Everyone Else Does, You Get What Everyone Else Gets
One of my main goals in life is to convince people that Jesus Christ has made a way to open up the doors to the good life wide open, that there is made available to you and to me and to every person in this room the opportunity to not just be at peace with God, but to be flourishing in his kingdom, regardless of how you physically feel, regardless of your age, regardless of your education or financial situation. God makes available to us through Jesus Christ a brand new life, and I want to encourage you to get the keys to that kingdom by believing and entrusting your life to Jesus. I want to encourage you this morning to make a decision to invite Christ into your life, to receive the forgiveness of sins, to believe in the cross and the resurrection, and to commit your life as a disciple to him. If you do that, your life will never be the same.
Every single week I give this invitation, and we have people that let us know, "Bobby, I made that decision, and something changed inside of me or God sent somebody into my life or I found the right church or just everything turned around because I believed that I was forgiven and called by God". I wanna encourage you to do that today. Might be the last time you even get a chance like this to make a decision like this. Just do it now wherever you are and pray and invite Christ into your heart, and if you made that decision, I want you to text me the word "HOPE" to the number on the screen so our team can pray for you. We're not gonna hit you up, we just want to pray for you. That's it.
Well, you know, one thing about becoming a Christian is there is a price to pay. The good news is the biggest price was paid by Christ, but there's another price, and that is the cross we take up. And it's easy to look at that price and say that's expensive, it's expensive to forgive people, it's expensive to spend my time studying scripture, to be a part of a church, or to do these things. But there's also a downside if we don't do those things. In other words, the cost is worth it. The cost is worth it. I still remember when I was 18 years old and I just started in college and I had no money. I mean, I had some money, I had $6.25 an hour from Barnes and Noble. I remember actually those days being back there and mopping, and this was in Oklahoma, so people didn't really go to the Starbucks in Barnes and Noble that much, and when they did, they always told you how the cappuccino didn't taste like the one from Quiktrip.
Quiktrip is a gas station that makes these, like, very sweet latte style drinks, and I remember being in there and seeing this crush, this girl I had a crush on, Hannah Pressley, and she would come in with her boyfriend and all of her cool friends with their new cars, and I was there packing trash and mopping floors. I had no money. It was a rough time. And during that time I got a credit card in the mail with my name on it with $1000 credit limit, and my mom said, "You know Bobby, you're 18 now, I'll tell you what. I know you need some help. Just you can use that card, but don't spend more than $200, and I'll take care of it for you". This was a gift from heaven.
Now, I was in business school at the time, I just started, but I really didn't understand economics, because I took this card, and have you ever done this before? You kind of keep a general tally in your head, $6 here, $5 pasta there, a little bit there, a little bit there, and right when I got to about $200, I dialed back and I said, I think about $200. And when I got that bill, guess how much it was? Eight hundred and twenty dollars. For me to get an $820 bill, my mind was blown. I was like, surely I didn't spend, and I went through the whole thing, and I realized, yes sir, you spent $820. Now, this was tough, because I didn't have a lot of money, my mom didn't have a lot of money. And she took care of it for me, which was so sweet of her, but I was ashamed that I had to slide across the table this $800 bill, because I didn't know where it all went.
And I learned something that day, not just about credit cards, and not just about money, but about something in life. In life you can pay now or you can pay later, but you always have to pay. You can pay now or you can pay later, but you have to pay, and the price that you pay later is always a lot more than you're tallying in your head. It's always a lot more than you feel at the time, but when the bill comes due, you wish you could go back in time to that idiot a month ago and say, no. Ask your mom to give you $200 cash. So, when it's gone, it's gone. In life you can pay now and you can pay later. Can I just say this, my friend? You can be all you were born to be. God does not care about your age. God is not worried about your financial situation. God is not up late at night bothered by your lack of education.
God believes, and I believe, all things are possible for you. You can become all you were born to be or less than you were born to be, but if you want to be all you are made to be, you have to be willing to pay the price. You have to be willing to do what nobody else will do. If you do what nobody else does, you will become someone that nobody else has become, and everybody will call you lucky. If you do what people are not willing to do, you will get what people will not get when the time comes. It takes time, but you can become and you can attain the life that God has called you to, but there is a price. There is a price.
Famous pastor from Germany during the Second World War named Dietrich Bonhoeffer has an amazing story. Wonderful professor, committed Christian, and a pastor, started an underground seminary, and was outspoken against the Nazi regime and against Hitler, and stood up for the Jewish people who were being persecuted. And because of this, he was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. He wrote a book during this time, I believe in 1937. Famous book, I recommend you read it, called "The Cost of Discipleship". Anybody read it? Wonderful book that challenges us about the high price and the high toll of discipleship. That sometimes means martyrdom, the death of the person who believes in Christ, and for Dietrich Bonhoeffer that was true. In 1945 he was hanged by the Nazis as the German regime was crumbling. Very sad story. And a great idea.
But can I just recommend to you as well, and I've said this before, there is a huge cost to discipleship, but there is a bigger cost to non-discipleship. There is a bigger cost to non-discipleship. It is more expensive to be a Nazi than it is to be Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It is more expensive to take your eye off of the life you're called to live and to do the easy thing today, that is more expensive than doing the hard thing today to attain tomorrow what no one else has. There is a cost of non-discipleship, and it's not just for you, the cost is for everyone else. The cascading negative effects of the Nazi regime cannot be measured, and the cascading positive effects of Dietrich Bonhoeffer even today cannot be measured.
So, you see, there's a cost to discipleship, but there's a bigger cost to non-discipleship. There is a cost to the easy way. There is a cost to the idleness and indifference that possesses so many people in our society today. There is a cost to deception. There is a cost to breaking your promises, especially the promises you make to yourself. You promised yourself you'd get up, but you didn't. You promised yourself you'd write your mother, but you didn't. You promised yourself you'd call your kids or your parents, but you didn't. You promised yourself you'd start going to church, but you didn't. You promised yourself you'd be reading the Bible more, reading the books, or taking the courses, but you didn't.
And every time you make a promise to yourself and you break it, you're teaching yourself that you cannot rely on you. There's a big cost of that. Better to just not make the promise and not do it than to make the promise and not do it because you're deceiving yourself. There is a cost to these things, and I tell you this because I love you, because I know that once you could be true to yourself, fulfill the things you say you're gonna do to you and to others, and to be committed to becoming all that you can be rather than less than you can be, you will get the greatest gift in life. You will get the greatest gift in life. There is a cost to a lot of these things.
I saw a video of a man, young man, very good looking, looks buff to me, full head of hair, playing video games, Playstation 5, I think, and I think it's $500, was playing it, and his girlfriend, who recorded on her phone, of course, because that's the world we live on, watched her boyfriend with his headphones on playing Modern Warfare. I forget what number, 3 or 4 or something, and as a joke, a prank, she goes over, turns the thing off. You know, she's trying to get his attention. He goes, "No"! Throws his controller down, says, "Why did you do that"? She says to him, "It's all you ever do". And he says, "It's all I have". You think all you have is a video game? My friend, you're gonna lose your girlfriend. And then you're gonna find out you had a lot more than a Playstation 5.
So, you ask that man, "What was the cost of your Playstation 5"? And he says, "$500". And what does Pastor Bobby say? No, it cost you your girlfriend, it cost you a promotion, it cost you a relationship with your family, it cost you a lot of really good meals, a lot of lessons you would have learned, a lot of great opportunities and doors open and friends and life and wonderful walks and all the amazing things that are available. Is there anything wrong with Playstation 5? No, you can play video games, but there comes a point where some of these things, the cost becomes much more than $500. A woman gets a brand new iPhone, she's excited about it, but she's on TikTok till one in the morning or obsessing over some ex's new gal or wondering, you know, just constantly watching videos and missing out on life. "How much does the phone cost"? I ask her. She says, "It cost me $1,500". And I say, "No, it cost you a million dollar opportunity, a million dollar handshake, a million dollar business plan, a million dollar idea, a million friends, a million amazing experiences, that's the cost".
That's the cost. The cost is great, the cost is great. You can become all you're born to be if you do what nobody else will do, and they will call you lucky. But that's not the results that are lucky, because the results come from the decisions you made. You know what the luckiest thing is that happened to you is that you heard a message like this. Some of you will hear this message today, and you'll never be the same. This will be the luckiest day of your life because you heard what I'm saying today, you built your life on it, that yet though there's a cost of discipleship, there's a cost of non-discipleship, and it's not worth it. It is better today to do the little things to become who you were called to be.
Life doesn't get better when things around you change. Life gets better when, what? When you change. There it is. And you can change anytime you want. You can change. You can become all you were born to be. Jesus says to his disciples... can I just say for a minute, I think we as Christians deal way too much in the word should and shouldn't. Say I should do this, I should go for a walk, I should read a book, I should go to church, I should pray the prayers, I should visit my neighbor, I should be kind, I should be more kind, I should drive slower, I should take it easy, I should forgive myself. And we look at other people, and we say, the government shouldn't do this, and my neighbor shouldn't do that, my sister shouldn't do this, and my kids shouldn't do that.
And I think there's something about that word should and shouldn't that gets us in a trap. And I am really struggling to find the rabbi telling us at any place that we should or shouldn't do anything. Jesus says, "There's two roads. There's a narrow road, and there's a wide road". And then he says, "You really should take the narrow road, and you really shouldn't take the wide road". Is that what he says? Does he say, "Come on, you should"? No, he says, "There's a narrow road that leads to life, and there's a wide road that leads to destruction," so he lays before us life and death. Not should and shouldn't, not should and shouldn't. He lays before us two choices, real life, real life, and real death. Not should and shouldn't. And that's what this is about, life and death, triumph and disaster, prosperity or poverty, joy or regret. That's what's laid before you, not should or shouldn't.
And so, today we need... we should... no, right? We choose life! Many of you say, "I don't feel alive anymore". Choose life. "I just don't feel alive anymore". Choose the hard things that lead to life. It's a narrow road, and few will find it, but you can do it. You don't be like everyone else. If you do what everyone else does, you get what everyone else gets. You could do something different. You can follow Christ. You can be the kind of person that's hungry for more in life. You can get hungrier today, hungry for a better work situation, hungry for better relationships, hungry, hungry for a better day, hungry for the morning, hungry for the sunshine, hungry for the right kinds of days, hungry to give all you can and every moment you can and every day you can to be all that you can be, hungry for more, hungry for God, hungry for more of the Lord.
The most beautiful, wonderful, all satisfying treasure of life, more for him, more of him. You can choose today to reach out to the Father, and he will pick you up. The Lord says, "You draw near to me, and I'll draw near to you". That's the deal. "You draw near to me, I'll draw near to you". Draw near to the Lord and watch what happens. That brings us to the scripture Hannah read this morning from Deuteronomy. Lot of drama in Numbers and Deuteronomy. Doesn't sound that way. It's a dramatic book. Think about what God has done to the Israelites up to this point. For hundreds of years they've been in bondage to the Egyptians, and he brings the slaves not only out of slavery, but brings them out wealthy.
We forget about that, "Full to the brim with gold and silver and cattle," and think about the miracles he does. Not only the 12 plagues and warnings against Pharaoh, but parts the Red Sea, and they walk through the muddy sands to the other side to safety, consuming their enemies, and there's a cloud by day and fire by night to keep them warm and to guide them wherever they go, and manna that falls from heaven every day to feed them. That would be... how could you have that every single day for a year and not just completely trust God? And yet they don't, and yet we don't. And there's amazing miracles, amazing things happening, and finally, you know, we all know that it took 40 years for them to cross, but it really was only supposed to take about a year.
And actually the walk is only about two weeks. They spent one year at Mount Sinai receiving the law from the Lord, and then just a few more days walking to the borders of the Promised Land, and what do they do? They send down 12 spies, and 10 come back and say, "No way, there's giants in the land," but there are two, Caleb and Joshua, who say, "What are you talking about? These are nothing compared to those Egyptians. Do you see what God can do, fire by night, cloud by day, and all that stuff? Of course we can do it. We serve the Lord. If that's what the Lord wants us to do, let's possess the land". And instead the people in fear... see, on the outside, they're not slaves anymore. On the outside they're rich. On the outside they have it all given to them. On the outside they get everything they need.
But in here and in here they're still slaves, still afraid, literally asking to go back to Egypt and be enslaved, why? Because it's safe. It's what they're used to. No Promised Land for us. And they literally revolt. They try and cause a mutiny against Moses. And finally God just says, "You don't want the Promised Land? Fine, thy will be done". We forget so often that the 40 years in the wilderness is a punishment for lack of courage. That is a punishment. Here's the punishment. The punishment is to walk safely in a circle the rest of your life. To have all you need, that's the punishment. The punishment is to have no danger, no giants, no challenge, no difficulty, all the food you need, no cold days, no cold nights, no hot days, no hot nights, always 72 degrees, comfortable, walking in circles until you die.
That's the punishment. And God will... now, if you say that's me, I find myself there, we live under the grace of the cross. At any minute you can get on your knees and say, "Lord, forgive me for my lack of courage. Lord, forgive me for being like everybody else. Lord, forgive me for not believing in you. Lord, forgive me for not entering the Promised Land". And he will grab you by the hand and say, "My daughter, my son, let's go today. Let's go right now, let's go". And if you feel that unction from the Lord, you do it. You do it, and your life will never be the same. The question is not what is the big thing that is before you? The question is what is the big thing that's within you? You can make a decision today to become a bigger kind of person. I'm convinced more than ever that God does not care about big churches, he cares about big Christians.
God is not concerned about filling pews, he's concerned about filling human hearts with Holy Spirit power to do all that you can do. One committed disciple of Jesus can do a million times more than a mega church full of empty Christians. Now, that's not to say mega churches are empty, they're great. Big churches are great. I want a big church, I think it's great, but the important thing is becoming a bigger person. And you can do it, I believe in you. And that brings us to the passage, the Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is after 40 years in the desert, finally the next generation has arrived. The generation of Caleb and Joshua, the generation that says we can do it, the generation that says let's go fight some giants. And Deuteronomy is a set of encouraging speeches and some laws and guidelines for how to live in the Promised Land. Deuteronomy is actually a Greek word that means the second law. That's why, it's a second part to God's law and way for his people, and it's the commitment of speeches that Moses gives. And he gives this famous speech to choose life.
"Now what I'm commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It's not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, 'Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we might obey it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, so you have to ask, 'Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so that we may obey it?' No, the word is very near to you; it's in your mouth, it's in your heart so that you may obey it. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands and decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. This day I call the heavens and the earth as a witness against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your posterity may live, that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob".
Choose life, choose life, possess the land, choose life and possess the land. Choose life and possess the land. No more shoulds and shouldn'ts. Stop saying to yourself, I should, start saying to yourself, I will. Do not deal in should and shouldn't. Stop saying they should, he should, she should, my boss should, my employees should, the state of California should, the city of Irvine should, stop that. Stop saying what everybody else should do and say what you will do. Things will go up and things will come down, things will get better and things will get worse, but nothing will change for you until you change, and you can change today. You can become all that you're born to be. Nothing is stopping you except you. We understand this when we look at a family member, for example, that's a drug addict, and they're ruining their lives.
We don't go to them and say, "You know, you really should stop doing drugs". We look at them and we say, "If you don't stop doing drugs, you're gonna die". Imagine you have a friend that has a lottery ticket, $30 million, won the lottery, hasn't turned the ticket in. Ticket expires tomorrow. You go to your friend's house to have a Diet Coke or something, and you say, "What's that on your counter"? "Oh, that's my $30 million dollar winning lottery ticket". "What"? "And you know what's funny? It expires tomorrow". And you say, "Well, how long do you have"? And they say... I don't know the rules, but let's say, "It's six months". And you go, "It expires tomorrow"? What do you say? "You really should go turn it in. You really ought to. Shame on you. You're a bad person". Is that what you're saying? No, you say, "Go now. Stop, drop everything. Go turn in now, coming with you". And if they say no, you bind them, you put handcuffs on them, you beat them over the head, you drag 'em in, you put the ticket on the counter.
That's what we're dealing with, prosperity, poverty, life, death, winning, losing, this is what we're talking about. Joy or regret. So, I wanted you to get some things today, all right? I want you to get some things today. Here's a few things I want you to get. Number one, always get knowledge, get more knowledge. Just never stop getting knowledge. The sermons, the books, the speeches, the classes, the mentors, the friendships, get knowledge, experience, get as much as you can. Heard a story in high school about a man from England who was poor and just wanted to come to America, land of opportunity and freedom and all that's available. And so, it took him years to save up the money for the cruise ship, the Transatlantic cruise ship to sail across the Atlantic to New York, to the land of promise. He saved up, and he decided, "I've got enough to the penny to buy the ticket, but I don't have enough to eat and to get food on the boat. So, there's a two week trip, I'm just gonna get through and fast for two weeks".
So there he plunks down all the money, gets his ticket, has not a cent to his name, gets on the boat, first day goes by, pretty hungry. Second day goes by, really hungry. Third day goes by, he's very hungry, and every time he goes to the cafe, the restaurant, he sees all these people eating these delicious foods, steak and croissants, and drinking coffee, and enjoying, and laughing, and having a good time, eating all this delicious food, and all he can think is, "I'm so hungry". Pretty soon he begins sneaking around, pulling food from a trash can, and on the last day, the last day as they're pulling into New York, a deckhand sees him rifling through the trash can for banana peels and breadcrumbs and says to him, "Sir, what are you doing"? And he says, "I have to be honest with you. I spent all the money on this ticket. I didn't have enough to pay for food, and so I've just been doing this". And the man says, "Don't you know the food is included? The food is included on the ticket".
How many Christians, "I just got to get to heaven, I just got to get to heaven. I scraped through life, and I'll get to heaven". My friend, the food is included. There's a lot more available to this whole thing than just going to heaven when you die. You gotta get knowledge. It's here in the Word. That's why a very wise person, probably one of the wisest people I know, said this very insightful thing. "The Bible is a cheat sheet to the good life". Her name is Hannah Schuller. "The Bible", what a great quote, "The Bible is a cheat sheet to the good life". Let's look at it that way. So, I want you to get knowledge. I want you to get knowledge to the degree that it's weird. Get knowledge so much that people are just like, "What is her deal? What is his deal"?
Get knowledge, and then number two, get serious. Get serious about life and death. Get serious about poverty and prosperity. Get serious about health and sickness. Get serious about joy and regret. Get serious. You say it's impossible, and it's probably not, it's probably just hard. But that's what makes it special, and that's what makes it rare. Some of the best opportunities in the world today are hard, so get knowledge, get serious, or another way of saying this, get strong. Just get strong enough for the thing that's before you. And last, get going. Things are never gonna be perfect for you to get going in your dream, to get going in your faith, to get going in your relationships, to get going in your marriage, to get going with your kids, things are never gonna be perfect. And, in fact, if they are perfect, when things get down, you're not gonna be ready for the winter.
If somebody said to me, "When's the best time to start a ministry or a business or something, the winter or the summer"? Proverbially, always the winter, you know why? When the summer comes, things blow up, but if you start in the summer, when winter comes, things collapse. Far better to start in the winter and become a winter person that thrives in the summer than to be a summer person that shrivels in the winter. Can I get an amen? This is the truth. Get going, start going. My friend, I lay before you a choice. Life and death, prosperity or poverty, health or sickness, joy or regret. Choose life today. You can have the life you want when you become who God has called you to be here. It happens here before it happens out there.
Father, we thank you, and we love you, and we're grateful for your Word, and we're grateful that you have given us all that you have. And we promise today to ourselves and to others to become a new creation. We love you, and we thank you. It's in Jesus's name we pray. All God's people said, amen.