Louie Giglio - Into The Above and Beyond
One of the early inventors of the rocket, and one of the pioneers of rocket launching, Wernher von Braun, he said this, he said, "It's the rocket. The rocket will free man from his remaining chains, the chains of gravity which still tie him to this planet. The rocket will open him up to the gates of Heaven". That's vision! That's somebody who's thinking above and beyond. Now, he may have over-stated the "Heaven" part just a little bit, but the general consensus is that we have been able to step out into a broader sphere, and we have been able to go into the "Heavens"-because someone said, we are going to overcome this law, that man, for centuries, has not been able overcome. It's a real law, we all deal with it every single day.
It's a part of our lives and a part of our story, but mankind together, has figured out how to overcome the law of gravity. But there is one law that mankind cannot overcome, and that's the law of sin and death. And this is the heart of above and beyond Sunday, and above and beyond thinking, and the above and beyond Gospel that we are proclaiming today. There was something man couldn't not do. Yes, we could build a rocket. Yes, we could go to the moon. Yes, we could build an airplane. Yes, we can fly over oceans. But we cannot overcome the law of sin and death. And that's a problem because that also is a real law, and all of us are living in that law.
Paul wrote it this way in Romans 7, he says, "So I find this law at work, when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law in my mind and making me a prisoner to the law of sin at work within my members". Anybody operating inside of this law? Anybody know the reality and the power of that law? And he comes to this conclusion-and he is not trying to put himself down, or not recognize that he is made in the image of God. He just realizes he is in a predicament. And he says, "What a wretched man I am," and then he asked the question, "Who will recluse me from this body of death," but then he already knows the answer because he is proclaiming the Gospel in this letter to the Romans and he says, "Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord"!
And then, he opens a next chapter, chapter 8 with these words, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," why? Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. This is the above and beyond that we are proclaiming today, and if can't clap for that, by the way, you are going to miss everything today. This is the above and beyond. The spiritual law of sin and the spiritual law of death which we cannot overcome with all of our collected humanity has been overcome by one, named Jesus who took our sin and shame and gave us the gift of resurrection life to everyone who has put faith in Him. He is catapulting us above and beyond into a brand-new eternal story.
This talk today could be titled, we are not sure what we are going to call it yet, "From Soil to Significance". Or it might be titled at the end of the day, "From Dirt to Destiny". And we've seen God move some dirt, and we've seen God change some soil in our story. Back in 2009, just to give you a really quick fly over, we opened our doors to the public for the very first time. And we were meeting at the tabernacle, very first time Downtown, Atlanta, Georgia, Passion City Church is opened-it was a stunning, an amazing day, and an amazing start. At some point in time, we decided we would go north a little bit to where our friends are at Cumberland right now, and so, notice the date on August 14th, hello!
2016 we had our very first gathering at the Waverly hotel and that was the beginning of the miracle at Cumberland, but the miracle at Cumberland is actually now visible. Faith is now a sight, and there are people worshipping today in the miracle at Cumberland. I was just there earlier standing and preaching in the miracle at Cumberland. A few years later, Vin and Donna came to Atlanta and then left us to the nation's capital to plant a new location of Passion City church.
Starting on April 1st 2018, Passion City Church is now in our nation's capital. So, we've got 515, the Lamburg area where we eventually settled at the beginning, then we've got Cumberland, now we have D.C.. But you know, we are kind of thinking life is good at Passion City Church, and then 2020 the entire world shuts down. You're thinking, "Oh, man. This is going to be really bad for Passion City Church, we are probably gonna go backwards here". But when the world shut down, we were able to go online for the very first time ever as Passion City Church with our gatherings in real time.
And so, now it's not just Atlanta and D.C., now towns and cities all over planet Earth are coming to Passion City church via technology. They are in church online! Like a lot of you are in church right now from some town, some city, somewhere on planet Earth. Welcome to Passion City Church! And you say, "Well, what was the result of all that"? Well, we went back and tallied it all up, and since we went online in March of 2020, five-and-a-half million people have been in church at Passion City Church through one of our online gatherings, and so we exponentially saw a massive increase in a very difficult season for everyone on planet Earth.
And in the middle of the pandemic, we put a stake in the ground south of Atlanta and said we're gonna to trust God for a new location, and so Trilith now has come online September of last year meeting monthly and now Easter of this year meeting weekly. So, Passion City church is moving out again, and you'll say, "Well, it's above and beyond Sunday, so I am hoping you are going to announce our new location right now". Or some of you are door holders going on, "Oh no, no, please don't announce a new location. We are doing just fine with the four that we've got right now. Let's take a deep breath and then we we'll announce one later".
Well, today, let's just see what's about to happen with our new location. Get ready. Whew! Oh no! Not there! No, no! Wow! Is that inspiring? Would you like to give to a question mark today? Because in that question mark right now, we've got a team of people working on putting a stake in the ground in another city. And we are not far enough along to talk about that publicly just yet, but we will be in the very near future. And we are taking some baby steps in this city not ready to fling our doors open wide yet, but it's very likely that by the time we are here again next year, that there will be a significant step in another city.
And today as we give, we're giving to the future that God is building in a place that you might not even know where that is today, but God is at work. That's the heart of what's happening in our house today. We are giving into the plans of God. And we don't all fully know what the plans of God are, but we're getting an opportunity to invest with Him knowing that He is doing more than we could even imagine. Let's talk about the town at Trilith just for a moment. If you didn't know, and I know we've said Trilith, Trilith, Trilith and some of you have actually gone down and put your eyeballs on Trilith. Some of you are like, "It's outside the perimeter, I'll never see it". Others of you are, "It's in Fayette County, I don't go to Fayette County, so why do I care"?
You need to care because this is our house, and this is what we are investing in, and it's incredible what God is doing there. I want you to see a little bit more of it today. If you haven't been there, incredible! The town at Trilith is eighteen minutes south of The Atlanta Airport, and it's across the street from Trilith Studio, the largest movie making studio in America. And Trilith town, just if we do a little fly over here, just to give you a visual. These homes are being built, you are going to see just as the shot widens a little bit, hotels being built over there to the left. This is the main part of town, in between those two larger buildings is Main street, shops and restaurants.
There is a we-rework space there-Rome, excuse me, I called it by the wrong name but a community working space there. There is a studio that we are actually meeting in for Passion City Church. That's our location, in that studio, every single Sunday. But the thing I want you to know about Trilith is in the 20-minute radius of the town at Trilith, live 1.1 million people. And based on research, 700,000 of them do not currently attend church. 700,000 people within a 20-mile radius of this new location of our church. And I am just thinking on the low side. Let's just say 1% of them find Jesus, find Passion City Church, wanna be a part of our family, wanna grow together, and serve the city together with us. Just 1% of the people in a 20- mile radius means that there are 7,000 people showing up at Passion City Church at Trilith on a Sunday.
This is the kind of potential that is at this new location, but there are some really amazing news happening there. On the fly-over you'll see the open space. And in that open space, which is just adjacent to where we are meeting right now, something really incredible is happening. This fall, Trilith development is breaking ground on a first-in-class entertainment complex on that 7 acres. Here is a rendering of what it's going to look like, but I want you to see a little schematic of the whole layout of what's being built there. Do you see this beautiful atrium area? An office building down on the left corner, a parking deck, two live audience studios up there to the top, movies theatre in the middle left, and then to the right as you come in this huge atrium and you see the beauty of this new facility.
To the right of all of this is also pretty exciting because they're building an 1,800 seat auditorium/venue that's modeled after a venue that we've recently been in Austin, Texas, and the lead tenant on this new auditorium is Passion City Church. Oh, I know we're all the way up here at 515 in Cumberland, but that's pretty great news. I heard that from this point on there is just a big stand ovation at Trilith today. Wouldn't that be thrilling to be sitting there and then seeing for the very first time what is gonna come out of the ground across the street from where you're worshipping. And the cool thing is, yes, we will be the lead tenant in this space every Sunday, this space is dedicated to us. Also, different days during the year, for things like The Grove, or a Fight Night or The Rising for middle and high school students.
But below this, if you go down the grand stairway, over 60, 000 square feet is being dedicated fully to Passion City Church for Kids in Bloom blue, Passion Kids, middle school gatherings, auxiliary spaces. Soil and dirt is becoming significance in destiny and it's starting in just a few months from now. And a lot of the details of this are still being flushed out. And we'll be back to you in not too far ahead, to let you know how we are going to all together be a part of seeing this a reality. But how fantastic that God is moving on our behalf. We are praying the same thing will happen in D.C. because we need a permanent location that we can call our own, and to be stake holders in D.C.
And so, some of the money that you give today is going to go towards Trilith fund, some of the money you give today is going to go towards the D.C. future fund so that when that when the right opportunity arises there, and trust me, we are looking for an opportunity there every single day, that we'll be able to move in that direction. Why? Because God opened our hearts into the above and beyond and we already believed God by giving in faith for what we couldn't see just yet. God is doing amazing things at Passion City Church, but the best part of today is that God is going to use all of us touch the best lives of people all around the world. Some of every dollar that you give today is gonna go to these partners: Global, Atlanta and D.C. And these partner agencies and organizations are going to touch the lives of people that you and I could never personally touch.
And so, we are going to be able to be a massive blessing. We want to see millions of dollars go through our house, to these partners and to other people's houses as God is using them in a strategic way, and that's what moves me so much. Shelley and I have prayed over our gift. It's so thrilling to know that some of this gift is going to go to all of those partner-organizations to touch the lives of people. I was having a conversation between gatherings today with someone connected to one of these organizations, that was telling a handful of us about an unprecedented door that is open to them in the Middle East, something that can't even fully be talked about. But something that's never been seen before, an opportunity that has never been seen before.
And so, we can't even fully discuss what God is doing, but because of the partnerships that we have, we know that God is doing something, and so, you are going to give into something today. With every dollar you give, a part of it is going to an unprecedented move of God in the Middle East that you don't even know about. And when you get to heaven and the story is told of what happened in this place in the Middle East, you'll realize that you are in that story that you didn't even know about. That is the beauty of the Kingdom of God, and that is the power, that's the power of the above and beyond. And if you're thinking, "Man, I don't know, these days of giving, I don't know if I can really get on board".
Today is really not about the giving. There is going to be an opportunity for us to be generous, but today is not really all about the giving. It's definitely not all about money, it's mostly about the heart, and it's about God inviting you to join Him where He perpetually resides, and that is in the above and the beyond. "And if you've put your faith in Jesus, you have been catapulted into a new realm with God," that's what Paul said in Colossians 3. And we are going to pull it up for you. He's writing to remind us what happened to us when we put our faith in Jesus. And if you want to just think for a minute with me about above and beyond, this text is what that is all about. He reminds us, He says, "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ".
Do you see how powerful that is? That's a rocket, taking us out of the law of sin and death, overcoming the power of sin and death, and taking us into a new realm with God. We've been raised with Christ. When He was raised, we were raised. So, He says, "'Set your hearts,'" that's the key word we're talking about here, "'on things above.'" There's is our above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. In other words, elevate your thinking to where Christ is. Elevate your thinking to what Christ has. Elevate your thinking to the position Christ is in because you've been raised with Him. And then, He says, "Not only your hearts, but set your minds".
So, this is a thinking and a heart decision. Set your minds on things above. He's calling us to the above, He's calling us higher. "Not," this is key, "on earthly things". So many people's heart and mind are totally set on earthly things. But he said, "But you have been raised with Christ". And Christ is seated at the right hand of God. So you're on a new trajectory, you're on a new path. What path are you on? You're on the path of Jesus, not on the path of you. "For you died," that doesn't mean that you physically died, it doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. It says that, when you are raised up from death into eternal life by the power of Almighty God, you realize that it's no longer about you. It's about the one who brought you to everlasting life.
It's no longer my story, it's His story. It's not only me making much of me, it's me making much of the One who has given me grace, and mercy, and everlasting life. So, you died, your story, that's not the story you want to live. Your life is now hidden with Christ, in God. That's where you are, by faith, in Christ. That's where you are right now. You are hidden with Christ in God. And let's talk about Christ for a moment. When Christ, who is your life, don't you like that? Not just your savior, not just a bail-out plan, not just, you know, somebody to kinda call on when you need a hand. He is our life. He's our Monday, He's our Friday, He's our every day. He's our life, and He's coming.
When He appears... He's coming back, by the way, people. And when He appears, when He becomes visible again, to the eye, and to the world, then you also... Hello? You too... Will appear with Him. In what? In glory. When He reaches His visible zenith, returning in full glory, guess where you'll be. You'll be in the glory with Him. You talk about above and beyond, we, in Christ, are on a trajectory to the most above and the most beyond moment that's ever gonna happen on planet Earth. When He returns, we will return and appear with Him in glory.
That's what He's calling you to today. Not just calling you to say, "'Hey, will you jump in here with us as we try to help partners, and try to expand the reach of the Kingdom of God"? No, He's saying, "Will you jump in today, and will you join me where I am? Will you join me in the above and beyond, in your thinking, and in your attitudes, in your purposes, in your contribution to humanity in your sacrifice, your legacy, your faith, in your attitude, altitude, in your orbit? I'm calling you into the above and beyond. I'm calling you to have above and beyond thinking, above and beyond attitude, above and beyond purposes, above and beyond view of what your life can be. Above and beyond reach. An impact, an influence in the world".
The power of sin and death is pulling you down, it's pulling you earthwards, it's pulling you inward and it's trying to diminish your influence in the world around you and the kingdom of God. But God is saying, "You've been catapulted out of that. Lift your thinking, and lift your heart into more". We are above and beyond people. We are the sons and daughters of the above and beyond. And we are seated there with Christ right now, at the right hand of God. So, how do you set your heart? You set your heart by moving your treasure. Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, that's where your heart's gonna be". And a lot of us are going, "Man, I am just tryna get my heart into the above, I'm tryna get my attitude, my thinking into the above. I'm tryna move stuff that's kinda intangible into the above and I am not really sure how that works".
I'll tell you how it works, the intangible moves when the intangible moves. So, when I invest my tangible resources into God's purposes and plan, guess what? The intangible of my heart, my emotions, and my attitude, and my aptitude all go with it. Because where your treasure is, that's where your heart is also. And so, today you have an opportunity to position your heart in the above and beyond by positioning your resources in the above and beyond. It says in Acts 4 that Barnabas sold the field. Actually, described him fully, it says, "Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means 'son of encouragement')".
God really wanted to identify this guy. He said, "He sold a field he owned and he brought the money and put it at the apostle's feet". You're like, "But I don't have a field and I don't really have anything that's really gonna move the needle for any of these partners. And I don't really know if it's matters if I am a part of above and beyond or not". Well, Jesus told a different story in Mark 12. "Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts, but a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents".
But it wasn't a little gift. "Calling His disciples, Jesus said, 'Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything all she had to live on.'" For one sold a field, maybe he had five fields, I don't know. Brought the money into the house of God and said, "I want to see this money multiplied for the Kingdom". This widow put all she had in believing God will not leave her hanging, but would bless the promise that where your treasure is, that's where your heart is. And both of them knew the exponential multiplying power of God. If we started with 2 foot cone and we just doubled it ten times, I want you to see this because God is going to show you what God's about to do with whatever you put in His hands. We just multiply it ten times.
Some of you are really good at math and physics and stuff and you already recognize Newton's law of gravity. But for a lot of us it takes a minute to see it. We're just gonna multiply it, we're gonna double it ten times so that's easy. Do it along with me. I think most of us can get the first ones, anyway. First time, it's gonna be... It's two feet now, when we double it, it's gonna be four feet. When we double it again, it's gonna be eight feet. Then we double it again... 16. We're halfway there. It's 32 feet high. That cone's, 32 feet high just five times double. You say, "Well, how high is that"?
High as that ceiling right there. Like, well that ain't all that great. Cumberland, you're are a little higher in your ceiling. But we got five times to go, so what's next? 64, what's next? I like how all the confident math people right here. Other people were like, "I don't know". 256, 512, the 10th time, 1,024 feet. You're like, "That's cool". No, it's amazing! It's one foot taller than the tallest building in Atlanta, The Bank of America Plaza. Just double that little guy ten times and it's 1 foot taller than the tallest building in our city. And you don't think if we trust God with what He is inviting us to trust Him with today that we are not gonna see unbelievable, stunning multiplication from God? So, it doesn't matter if it's two small coins or if it's a field somebody sold. What matters is it's going into the hands of a multiplier, and He is going to use it everywhere on planet Earth.