Kerry Shook - World Changes
And I wanna share a very important truth to you today, and it’s this, most of the things we think are so valuable are really worthless. Most people spend their life thinking about, worrying about, acquiring, accumulating things that are totally worthless and they miss out on what is truly priceless. We’re in this series I’m calling «Now or Never,» and it’s all about experiencing God’s power in our lives to make changes that can make all the difference. And we’ve said that we’re all powerless to really change ourselves or to change anyone else, and that’s why we need God’s power. And then we said we also need God’s people, we need to connect with others or there’ll be no lasting change because change happens in community.
Today we’re going to see that to really experience powerful change in our own lives, we have to make a difference in the lives of others. We have to take it full circle and let God use us in the lives of others, to join Christ’s purpose, to be a life changer, a world changer. And the only way to do that is to spend your life on the things that really matter. So let’s stand in honor of God’s Word and look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3, because this tells us what’s gonna really matter when it’s all said and done.
«But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to the light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved, even though as only one escaping through the flames».
You can be seated. This passage is speaking to Christ followers. If you’ve received Christ and his free gift of forgiveness, then Christ was judged in your place and you won’t experience the judgment reserved for those who reject Christ. But all believers will stand before God one day and everything we’ve done in this life will be tested, to see what goes up in smoke and what will last for eternity. This passage is all about rewards in heaven, and it’s all determined by how we live here on this earth.
You see, every day, every minute, you’re building something with your life. The question is, what are you building with your one and only life? And are you building something that’s gonna go up in smoke or are you building something that’s going to last for all eternity? You see, so many times, we’re building things temporary that won’t last five years from now or 50 years from now, much less for all eternity, it’ll soon be forgotten. If you wanna build something that really lasts for eternity, it comes down to your life mission. Because you were made for a mission, you were created by God for a purpose, and if you don’t discover and live from that purpose, you’ll never really understand life, you’ll always be frustrated, you’ll always be searching, you’ll never find any fulfillment until you discover and live from God’s unique purpose for your life.
Now, every Christ follower’s life mission is to be Jesus to the world, to let Jesus live through our brokenness and share a salvation and show his love and his truth to this broken world. That should be every Christ follower’s main life mission, but God made you unique, so that mission will come out in a unique way through you. What I’m saying is, God has a unique purpose for your life, and if you don’t discover and live it, then the whole world misses out, not just you. Because there’s no one else in the world like you, you’re totally unique, and God created you uniquely, for a unique purpose, to express Christ through your life in a unique expression.
And if you don’t discover and live your life purpose, not only do you miss the whole reason why you were made, but the whole world misses out on what God intended for them. So let me give you a definition of a life mission. My life mission is my unique expression of Christ to the world. So how do you discover it, how do you live from it? Well, first, I’ve gotta clarify my convictions, you clarify your convictions. Let’s go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 again, «But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ».
You see, a conviction is a foundational belief, something you believe so much that you’re building your whole life on it, it’s something you’re staking your life and all your eternity on. And there’s only one foundation for a life that stands the test of time, that’s Jesus Christ and his Word. You see, you have a unique expression of it, but there’s only one foundation for all believers, and that’s Jesus Christ and his Word, and if your foundation is faulty, when the earthquakes and storms of life hit, your foundation will crumble.
So, what are your core convictions, what are your foundational beliefs? Well, here are the core beliefs of Woodlands Church, here are the core convictions of your pastors, because we believe God’s Word. So, we believe life is short, that’s a no-brainer, our days are counting down, so you better make your days count. I mean, you may live 60, 70, 80 years on this earth, but that’s nothing compared to eternity, to forever. So you better start living, you better get on with the business of being who God made you to be. It’s now or never, it’s time to start living a life that makes a difference for eternity. We believe life is short, and then we believe eternity is long. The truth is, life is short and eternity is long, and if you realize this truth, it will change the way you live.
You see, our life on this earth is just a little speck of time, eternity goes on forever. But we just think about this little speck of time and we don’t think about eternity, when that’s really what our life is. So, we believe life is short, eternity is long, and we believe heaven and hell are real. Heaven is a real place that is so beautiful it’s indescribable, it’s a beautiful, perfect place of total fulfillment, and it’s real, but hell is real as well. The scripture says that God created hell, not for you, not for me, but for the devil and his fallen angels, and God doesn’t send anyone to hell, people go there because they choose to.
You see, in eternity, your decisions are magnified, your decisions on this earth will be magnified in eternity. And if you say, «I don’t want Christ in my life, I don’t need Christ in my life, yeah, I don’t want Christ to be at the center of my life,» then you will be apart from him for all eternity. For, you see, every one of us are sinners, every one of us have blown it, every one of us have messed up, and that’s why we need a Savior, to get into that perfect place of heaven.
But the good news is scripture tells us clearly that it’s God’s desire that no one should go to hell, no one should perish, but all should come to know him, he wants everyone to be in heaven with him. But, folks, that’s the reason why we’re so urgent about reaching people with the love of Christ, eternal destinies are at stake. We’re not playing church, we’re not playing games, this is real. Life is short, eternity is long, and heaven and hell are real, and if we really believe that, it changes everything that we do.
But then we also believe grace is available to everyone, the Bible says the gospel is available to everyone, and I’m so grateful because we’re all in need of it, because we’re all broken. Look at the most popular verse in all of scripture, maybe the first verse you ever heard, John 3:16, «For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life». Now focus on that word «whoever,» and then focus on the word «world». Christ died for the whole world, he died for whoever will come to him, whoever will come to him.
You see, every person matters to God, he died for every nationality, every race, every culture. The ground is level at the foot of the cross, he wants everyone to experience his grace. His grace is available to prostitutes and preachers, to doctors and drug addicts, to billionaires and beggars on the street. God’s grace is available to everyone, and we all need God’s grace. The ground is level at the foot of the cross, we’re all in the same boat. That’s why we do what we do at Woodlands Church.
Why do we do missions around the world? Why do we do so much in Haiti, this country that is just devastated? It has corrupt government, it’s one of the poorest places on the planet, problems after problems, but the people are beautiful and God loves them. And that’s when we do our coffee ministry and our farmer’s field schools and clinics and all these things in this devastated place, because God loves the world, he loves Haiti. Why did we plant a church in the slums of Nairobi? That, by the way, is booming, and now we need a building there because it’s grown so much, and it’s just amazing. Why? Because God loves the world.
Why do we do what we do in India, to bring women out of human trafficking, and we teach literacy and job training? Why do we do what we do in Malawi and Honduras, and all the farmer’s field schools, and, that we do in Kenya? And I could just go on and on. Because God so loved the world, and we want to follow him and be like him. And we believe that life is short, eternity is long, heaven and hell are real, and God’s grace is available to everyone, and we believe we can change the world with God’s power, we believe we can change the world with God’s power. You see, God uses ordinary people like you and me to do extraordinary things if we will believe him, if we will believe him. And that’s what you’ve done, Woodlands Church.
Jesus said, «Be it done to you according to your faith,» that is, he gives us the choice to choose to believe him, and he says you have that choice. There’s a lot of things you didn’t get to choose in life, you didn’t get to choose who your parents would be, you didn’t get to choose where you’d be born. But you do get to choose one thing, how much you choose to believe God, and you’ve chosen to believe God for great things, and that’s your choice, that’s our choice. And here’s the thing, with God’s power working through ordinary, imperfect people like us, the church of Jesus Christ being Jesus, not preaching sermons, but living a sermon out, because frankly, the world is sick of sermons, they wanna see one lived out in front of them.
And when that happens, and we combine with other churches that connect with other churches around the world, it’s the church of Christ that can change the world with God’s power. And by the way, God loves Houston, that’s why we do so much in our areas of our campuses, and that’s why we’re building a new campus in Downtown Houston. And we know God’ll provide the resources, because where God guides, God provides. And by the way, we already have, you know, hundreds of people that drive out here to Atascosita or «The Woodlands» that live down there. People come from the west side, the heights, from the east side, from downtown, and so we’re gonna have a lot of people to start with right there.
But what we’re really excited about, too, is our campus is in the East River Complex, nestled right next to the historic Fifth Ward. And we’re already connecting with pastors and leaders there in the Fifth Ward that have been doing amazing work for years, and we’re gonna connect with them and say, «How can we come alongside you with resources and volunteers, because you’re doing the work? We’re gonna connect with you, and we can change Houston with God’s power together».
With God’s power, we can change the world if we all discover and live from our life mission. Can you imagine if every Christ follower discovered their life purpose and lived from it? Unbelievable, this whole world would change. So the foundation is the same, but then God expresses himself through your uniqueness. It starts with core convictions, these foundational beliefs that are the same, but then you have to recognize your sacred shout, and this is where God uses our uniqueness. To discover and align my life with my life mission, I have to recognize that I have a sacred shout that God wants to use, and it’s your pain, your struggles.
CS Lewis said, «God whispers to us in our pleasures, but shouts to us in our pain. It’s his megaphone to rouse a deaf world». God shouts to us in our pain and in our failures, in our mess, that’s what gets our attention and turns us to God, but it’s also what God uses in our lives. It’s our pain, and experiencing God’s presence in our pain and God’s peace and our pain, that shouts to a hurting world that God is real. I love John chapter 1, verse 14, it says, «The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth».
You see, God, the glory of God came to this earth, but also, he was all man, he was all human and all God. God clothed himself with weak and frail human flesh so that we could relate to him and understand his life message clearly. So don’t hide from your flesh, don’t hide from your humanness, don’t hide from your pain, your weakness, your failures and mistakes, because so many times it’s your mess that God turns into your life message, it’s your greatest pain that God takes and He turns it into your greatest purpose, it’s your biggest obstacle that God takes and turns it into your biggest opportunity to be the message, to be the gospel, to be Jesus to people.
In fact, I would say that most of our ministries at Woodlands Church were started by people who failed. Our restoration ministry was started by a woman who fell into addiction and then she turned to God for his recovery principles, and God took her mess and turned it into her life message. Our divorce care ministry was started by someone who went through the pain of divorce. And God takes your pain and turns it into your purpose, so don’t run from your humanness, don’t run from your failures, don’t run from your pain and your hurt, because God never wastes a hurt. God never wastes a teardrop. We can, but God doesn’t, if we’ll bring our hurt honestly to God, God can take our greatest pain and turn it into our greatest purpose. God wants you to be a minister to people who are going through the same thing that you’ve gone through and they will relate to you and they will hear you.
See, it’s your struggle and pain that is your sacred shout that cuts through all the noise and connects you to hurting people and becomes your life mission. And some of you have just been looking at your gifts and abilities which God uses uniquely for your life mission, some of you have just been looking for your spiritual gifts which God uses. But have you ever considered it’s your failures that God wants to use the most, it’s your pain and the hurt that’s come into your life that God wants to use? So, you clarify your convictions, you recognize your sacred shout, but then you embrace your holy disturbance.
You see, you’ve got to recognize that God’s given you a holy disturbance, and embrace it. You’ll find your life mission when what bothers you bothers you enough to move you out of your comfort zone and into your calling. And that’s what God does so many times, he puts some righteous anger in our lives and he shoves us out of our comfort zone. You see something on the news, «Oh, that’s not right, that’s not just,» and it’s not just, «Oh, that’s sad for those folks, oh, that’s too bad,» but he puts a righteous anger in your life.
You know, my wife Chris is really the heartbeat of Woodlands Church, she’s also the brains and the beauty and the creativity, and she’s the love of my life and my best friend, but it’s been through her holy disturbance that we’ve started so many missions, helping some of the poorest people on the planet come out of poverty by giving them not a handout, but a help up, through our sustainable, reproducible, scalable projects, that we’re doing around the world and in our area. And they mostly came from Chris’s holy disturbance, seeing something and going, «We gotta do something about that, that’s not right, we gotta do something about that».
So, what makes you angry, besides when things get tough for you, that you’ve got to do something? God uses that. Sir Francis Drake said, «Disturb us, O Lord, when we are too pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we dream too little, because we sailed too close to the shore, we arrived safely». I encourage you to dream big dreams with God. Dream big, pray hard, build people, that’s what we do at Woodlands Church. Don’t be afraid of setting your sails, heading away from the shore for unknown waters, and just imagine what God can do through ordinary you.
Now, I want us to conclude by going back to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. It says, «If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work». Here it tells us that we have these materials we’re building with, there are temporary materials and there are eternal materials, and everything that we do in this life that’s just temporary is gonna go up in smoke one day.
All the things that we do, spending our time, our resources, even our struggles, being used of God, that’s gonna last for eternity. Because there are two things that last for eternity, first, God’s Word, the Bible says, «The grass withers and the flower fade, but the word of God stands forever». So whenever you spend time in God’s Word and you put it into your life and you let God change your character, you take your character into heaven with you and it lasts forever.
The second thing that lasts is the souls of men and women. We were made for eternity, so any time you give five minutes of your time to the body of Christ, to minister to someone, to serve, then you get rewarded in heaven for it. Any time you give a dime of your resources to the body of Christ to make a difference, to bring someone to heaven, to meet someone’s needs here on this earth, you get rewarded for it. Jesus said even when you give a cup of cold water to a kid in the nursery, you’re gonna get a reward. Isn’t that amazing? And so God wants us to give of our time and our resources, and let him even use our pain to do something in the lives of people that will bring them to heaven with us.
You see, most of what we do in this life is just not gonna last, most of what we do is not gonna last five years from now, much less 50 years from now, much less for all eternity. But we just focus on these things that don’t last because we don’t really get eternity, we don’t understand this is just a blip of time in our lives, but our lives were made for eternity. This is the best way I know to illustrate this. I’ve used this before, but it’s so hard for us to grasp eternity and I think this might help us just a teeny little bit.
Just imagine this rope is your life, but this rope goes off the stage and then it goes out of the building, then it goes up Interstate 45, and then it goes to Dallas, then it keeps going all the way to the North Pole, and then it circles around the earth several times, then it goes to the moon, then it goes out to our solar system and beyond our solar system and continues on because it’s an infinity rope. Try to imagine that for a moment. That’s your life, you’re made for eternity, but then, this little part up here that’s painted black, that represents your time on earth. That’s part of your life, it’s just your life before heaven, it’s just your life before eternity.
But here’s the amazing thing, everything you do in this little part of your life determines everything about your eternity, what you do with Christ determines where you spend eternity, what you do for Christ determines all your rewards in eternity. But here’s the sad thing, instead of using this little bit of time to prepare for our whole lives, most of us just waste this time on things that don’t really matter because we think this is all there is. We spend all our time doing things that only last right here, and it’s so short-sighted.
You know, they always tell us, financial experts always tell you to invest for the future, you know? Don’t just invest for next week, invest for 20 years from now, invest for 40 years from now. If you’re young, start investing for years from now and have that compound interest, and that’s great, but that’s still short-sighted. Have you ever thought investing for 50 billion years from now?
That’s what we ought to be doing. Every time you give, every time you serve, and God calls us to give and serve, it’s a double vision, every time you surrender your life and the most important things in your life to God, to the body of Christ, you build up treasure in heaven for God’s glory, and it lasts. You see, the only thing that lasts is God’s Word, and the souls of men and women. So what are you doing with your one only life that’s gonna be here after you’re gone and is gonna be here for all eternity? Because, here’s the thing, most of the things we see are worthless one day, they’re temporary. You see, even this building we’re in right now is temporary.
Now, these buildings are important, why? Because they bring the souls of men and women to Christ, every army of compassion needs a base, we need these buildings to do ministry, but the church is not a building, the church is you, the church is people. We need these buildings to reach people, but here’s the thing, one day this building will crumble to dust but there will be thousands of people alive in heaven, millions of people alive in heaven because of what you do, Woodlands Church. That’s what it’s all about.