Embracing God's Universal Invitation and Our Identity

1) "Listen, the invitation of God goes to everybody. Nobody's left out. The call of God is for everyone. And then we get to choose what to do with that. Called, number one. Beloved, number two. Not only are you called, but you're loved. Listen, it'd be easy to invite somebody and not care about them. But in the family of God, you're called and you're loved. You're loved. Love runs deep. If you're a guest here with us today or you're kicking the tires on this whole following Jesus thing, church thing, you don't know where you stand. I want you to know today you're loved. You're fully known. God knows every detail of your life. He knows your highs and your lows. He knows your regrets. He knows what you've carried around all these years. He loves you in spite of all of that. He loves you like no person has ever loved you before. With an unconditional love. You are called, my friends, and you are loved." [01:03] (-690 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "Now, Jesus can call us whatever he wants to call us. And he does. He says, a master will not call servant, servant. I will call him friend. Jesus can call you. You friend. But may I propose to you that our identity is found as a servant of Jesus Christ. And Jude understood that. Even though I grew up in his home, I'm a servant of Jesus Christ." [09:28] (27 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "If you today identify as a Christian, as a believer, you've placed your faith in Jesus, you have been called. There's a calling and then there was a call. There's a moment in your life where you were overwhelmed. With the evidence, you were overwhelmed with the grace, you're overwhelmed, the irresistible grace of the Holy Spirit that called you and you placed your faith and trust in Jesus. Some of us remember that day. It might've been in a room like this. It might've been at a camp. It might've been in your car. It might've been in a bathroom. It might've been your house. It might've been outside on the trail." [11:38] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "I believe God writes our names in heaven in Sharpie. Not pencil. And here's why. Because this is what we would call the doctrine of eternal security. This is really important. What you believe, what your theology, what you believe really matters. Because if I believe I can lose my salvation, that's really a scary place. That's a dangerous place. I didn't do anything to earn my salvation. I can't do anything to lose my salvation. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, For by grace you have been saved. Saved is not of yourselves, is not of works, so that no one can boast, no one can brag. And you can't do anything to lose your salvation. You are kept in Jesus." [15:29] (48 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "As a follower of Jesus, you know how the story ends. There's highs and there's lows. There's stuff going on in our world that causes, causes us all to think this world is losing its mind. But I want you to know, you know how the story ends. So as we go through this, the book of Jude, there's gonna be some crazy stuff, but you know how the story ends. I want you to make sure when you wake up in the morning, your identity is rooted in Christ, not in all the stuff you're gonna hear about. We don't sway with culture. We don't go up and down based on what's happening in the world. That is good news. We know how the, how this all ends. It ends with a song that we sang this morning. We have what in Jesus? We have victory in Jesus. Today and tomorrow. That's, that's good news." [18:17] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "We're not to judge superficially. We're not to judge hypocritically. But we are to come along believers within our family and hold each other accountable. I remember I was sitting with a couple. I was doing pre-marriage with this couple. And most of the pre-marriage counseling I do with couples today, they're living together already. That's the day and age in which we live. And so I get the opportunity to sit down with them. And I get to show them love and grace. And I share the gospel every chance I get. And I also speak truth. And so I always lay out the challenge to the couple. If they're believers, right? Two followers of Jesus. If they're two followers of Jesus, I'll marry two followers of Jesus. I'll marry two people who don't know Jesus. I won't marry a couple that's unequally yoked." [26:48] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "At Boulder Mountain, our prayer is that people would belong here. The first step, that they would feel welcome here, that this would be when they show up to Live Nativity or another event, that they'd feel like, hey, there's something. There's something different about this place. There's some love. People are welcoming me. They're not judging me. They're not telling me what I should do or not do. So the first step is belong. By God's grace, we pray that that belonging one day leads to them believing in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It does not start with believing. It starts with belonging." [29:10] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8) "Listen, when you're a part of the family of God, it's not a short-term deal. It's permanent. It's permanent. You are kept in Jesus. That is good news. We're not to wake up every morning wondering if I did enough, wondering if today's going to be the day God's going to kick me out of his family. God never disowns his children. While at the same time, I'm persevering. Jesus keeps me, but he's also invited us to be part of what he's doing in the world." [35:40] (32 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)