BECAUSE OF YOU; WEEK 1

BECAUSE OF YOU
Craig Groeschel
Video:
We will be a unifying force in the Church, capital 'C'. We believe that hands do
wn, that the local church is the hope of the world, and we know we can accomplis
h infinitely more together than apart.
It's because of you, you're sacrifice and faithfulness, that we're seeing a life
change on a regular basis in our community in Canada.
Because of you, the Gospel has been able to reach out to so many people who have
not had the opportunity of hearing it before.
Because of Youversion, more people are reading, engaging and studying the Bible
in Costa Rica.
Because of you, people are getting saved in Stockholm
Because of you, I'm leading my family.
Because of you, my children love Christ and are not afraid to share their faith.
Because of you, my teenage daughters are engaging in God's Word in a way they ne
ver have before.
Because of you...I'm different!
Because of you, lives are being changed all over the world.
Craig Groeschel:
Well, welcome today to all of our churches. Today we're starting the first of a
two-week series that honestly, is the series that I've been most excited about a
ll year long. It's called, Because of You.
What we're going to do in these two weeks is, my hope is to highlight the missio
n and the vision of our church and our Network Churches, and to let God's Spirit
drive this vision deep within our hearts.
Now, let's start with the Mission Statement. If you're new you may not know this
, but those of you who do, what are we about as a church? Would you just say it
aloud? Our mission is:
To lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ.
All of our churches, now that you've heard it let's say it again together. We're
passionate about it, this is why we exist. Our mission is to what?
To lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ.
We are incredibly passionate, not about being cultural Christians, not about jus
t believing in God, but living as if He doesn't exist, but being 100% completely
sold out to God's Son Jesus, and living in such a way that it would bring glory
to Him.
What I want to do today to lay a foundation for this series, is I want to talk t
o you out of First Thessalonians. If you have your Bible, we'll be in First Thes

salonians, Chapter Three.

Let me give you the context of this before I share with you three words that rea
lly grabbed my heart. The context: The Apostle Paul really wanted to go and mini
ster to the people in Thessalonica and the reason is, this was a great city. It
was a harbor city with a very famous harbor where trade would go both to the Eas
t and to the West. And this, in Paul's mind, was one of the most strategic spots
to reach for the Gospel. He knew if we could reach the people here, then we cou
ld take the Gospel all over the world, out of the trade, moved out of their harb
or.
So he traveled there and according to Acts, Chapter 17, he actually preached on
three different Sabbaths. So, we know he had about three weeks preaching the Gos
pel to these people. And he wondered, 'Would God bless it? What would happen?' A
nd sure enough, God blessed it in such a supernatural way. So many people were c
oming to Christ that the Jews were totally enraged. In fact, they tried to captu
re Paul and they had to actually smuggle Paul out of town just to protect him fo
r his life.
And so, on the other side of this mission trip, there was this sense of awe of w
hat God had done. But at the same time, Paul and others were wondering, 'Did it
take, did they just have an emotional moment with God or were these people truly
transformed by Christ, were they different?'
And so, he was kind of on the edge of his seat, pins and needles, wondering what
happened. And so, he sent his son in the faith, Timothy, on a follow-up visit.
And Timothy went to look first hand to see what was really happening spiritually
in the lives of these people. Well, the good news is, Timothy came back with am
azing news and said, 'God is working there, it's unbelievable!' Paul was blown a
way with this sense of spiritual joy. And so, he jotted back this letter, a very
emotional letter, and I want to read to you part of it and we'll zoom in on our
three key words. Verse Seven of First Thessalonians Three, Paul said this to th
e group that he ministered to, he said:
So we have been greatly encouraged in the midst of our troubles and suffering, d
ear brothers and sisters, because you have...
What? Everybody say it aloud, because you have:
...remained strong in your faith.
Isn't it amazing how, when we're hurting and someone else remains strong in thei
r faith in Christ, how their faith can actually minister to us. And he says that
, he said, 'We've been so blessed as you've remained strong.' He said in verse e
ight, 'What does it give us?' He said:
...It gives us new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord.
Verse nine, he said:
...How we thank God for you!
Could you imagine people around the world thanking God for you, for your ministr
y, for your faithfulness? And that's what he says, 'How we thank God of you,' an
d then here's the three words that gripped my heart, he said what? Everybody say
it aloud, he said:
...Because of you...
One more time, everybody say it:

Because of you we have great joy as we enter God's presence.

Because of you we have great joy. I want you to think, what would it be like if
people around the world could say of you, 'Because of you we have great joy, bec
ause of you we're different, because of you our families have been changed, beca
use of you God has met our needs. Because of you spiritually we have been transf
ormed. Because of you, Paul said, ...we have great joy as we enter into God's pr
esence.
What I want to do in the next two weeks is I want to show you how specifically G
od is working through you as a church, because beyond a shadow of a doubt, God i
s unquestionably transforming lives all over the world, and it is because of you
.
Video:
Because when you walk in obedience to God you're not surprised by the miracles o
f God!
You know, I've always dreamed of a church that could literally change the world,
because I truly believe the local church is the hope of the world. In fact, as
I reflect back over all that God has done in the last year through our church, I
've got to be honest and tell you, it totally blows my mind all that God has don
e.
Because of the faithfulness of our people, well over 6,800 LifeChurch attenders
have served in local micro-missions. And what's so awesome is that at our 15 dif
ferent LifeChurches, and our well over 200 Network Churches, each location is in
volved partnering with local ministries to make a difference in their communitie
s. I thank God for all of the ways that He is using our people to impact the wor
ld.
Not only are we involved directly in our local communities, but our church is re
aching out around the world to make a difference. Because of the generosity of o
ur people, we were able to send hundreds of thousands of dollars to help Tsunami
, Tornado and flood victims all of the way from Joplin, Missouri, to Japan, from
Birmingham, Alabama, to Australia, and even beyond. We're also incredibly passi
onate about our four child-survival programs. Because of our people, we've liter
ally helped save thousands of children's lives and altered the destinies of enti
re families in India, the Philippines, Ecuador, and Uganda. In fact, I thank God
for the way He's using our people both locally and all over the world.
You know, I'm always blown away of what can happen when we don't go to church, b
ut instead, we are the Church all over the world. In fact, speaking of the churc
h, we have a huge passion to serve the broader Church, the global Church; becaus
e literally, there are hundreds of thousands of churches that simply can't affor
d so many of the resources that we have and take completely for granted. And so,
one of the things we love to do is we love to give away as much as we can to th
ese churches. So we take our sermons, our transcripts, our videos, our curriculu
m, all of the teaching we can, and we make all of this stuff available for compl
etely no charge at all to these churches. And it still blows my mind, but there
are 91,000 churches from 24 countries that use these free resources. We've been
so honored to give away 2.9 million resources downloaded totally for free. That
averages out to 2,700 resources a day that churches are using all over the world
. I am so thankful for that!
Another thing that I love is that we get to partner with other churches that we
call Network Churches. A Network Church is a totally separate church that uses o
ur teaching every single weekend for no charge. It's crazy, but when you add up

the attendance of all of these other Network Churches, they exceed 20,000 people
every single week, and it just shows we can do so much more together partnering
as a church than we can apart.
At our church, we always say, We'll do anything short of sin to reach people tha
t don't know Christ. One of those things is that we actually launched the world'
s very first Church Online just a few years ago, and in a matter of just a few s
hort years, we're now ministering to well over 100,000 unique visitors from abou
t 180 countries all over the world. And the thing that's most special to me is t
hat many of the people we're reaching would not be able to hear about the Gospel
where they live if we weren't taking it to them through Church Online.
You know, another way that we're
p. I thank God that well over 32
o their mobile devices! In fact,
ownloads a Bible every second of

getting God's truth out is through our Bible Ap

million people have downloaded our free Bible t
on average, one person somewhere in the world d
every day.

Even with all of these significant investments, that's just the beginning. In th
e past year, God enabled us to build five different buildings to expand our Life
Church locations and to start new campuses. In fact, this year we built a kid's
wing for LifeChurch, Edmond. We launched a brand new campus in Midwest City, Okl
ahoma, that's ministering to over 2,500 people every single week! We're almost f
inished with a new building to move our LifeChurch Wellington, Florida campus fr
om a school, into a permanent facility. We're doing the same thing in LifeChurch
Owasso, Oklahoma, and we'll launch that new building soon. And in early 2012, w
e'll start a brand new campus in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
The most amazing thing to me though, because of the generosity of our people, we
we're able to do all of that, every single building, completely for cash! It bl
ows me away how God uses our people. And even right now as we speak, we're negot
iating on some new properties to do more LifeChurches in the upcoming year.
Now, a lot of people would wonder, why in the world do we do all of this? And th
e reason is, because God is moving in an unprecedented way. In fact, just the pe
ople that worship with us on the weekends, our weekend attendance has grown by a
bout 9,000 people this year over last year. And it's almost impossible to compre
hend, but this year alone, through our LifeChurch physical campuses, we've seen
over 16,000 people surrender their lives to Christ, and another 13,000 from Chur
ch Online. That's the reason I love my church. I love my church because we're le
ading people to become fully-devoted followers of Christ. And truthfully, all of
this is because of you, because of the way you pray, because of the way you giv
e, because of how you serve, God is changing the entire world because of you.
Craig:
Well, I think somebody better clap and celebrate the amazing work that God is do
ing! And I want you to know man, he's doing it through you! I mean, that boggles
my mind just to think about what God is doing all over the world. I get choked
up just realizing it!
Here's what I want you to understand, because of you, I mean, we can't comprehen
d those numbers and those are just numbers; but what I want you to understand is
behind every number is a story, behind every number is a life, is a person that
's been changed. I mean, I want you to think about this, 16,000 people born into
the family of God because of your prayers, because of your giving, because of y
our invite! Sixteen thousand people! Man, that's the size of the town I went to
high school in! I mean, that's insane! I want you to feel what that is, would yo
u just count with me? Let's just count to 16,000, we'll count fast, but just cou
nt with me! Everybody, let's start at one! Come on with me, go one, two, three,
four; come on, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, twenty, thirty, come on! Fort

y, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, one-hundred, two-hundred, three hundre

d; come on four hundred, we'll be here all day! Six-hundred, seven-hundred, eigh
t hundred, nine-hundred, one thousand, two-thousand, three-thousand, four-thousa
nd, five-thousand, six-thousand, seven-thousand, eight-thousand, nine-thousand;
you tired yet? Keep going! Twelve-thousand, thirteen-thousand, fourteen-thousand
, sixteen thousand people surrendered their lives to Christ! And what you've got
to know is there is a story behind every one!
One of them is a dad who was not a godly dad. Now he's a godly dad, he's leading
his family toward Christ and there will be generations that are different!
One is a single mom who had no hope, who didn't know if she could continue to go
on. Now she has hope and a family.
One of them is a teenage boy addicted on porn and is suicidal. He gives his life
to Christ and now he's free and leading others in a Bible study in his school.
One is a young girl who was molested and couldn't trust men and didn't know how
to forgive. And by the grace of God she forgave her abuser and is now giving and
freely receiving love.
One is a pastor who was tired and didn't feel like he could go on and discovered
free resources, and now has a church standing with him and a people praying wit
h him and his church is thriving again.
I'm telling you there are thousands who wouldn't have eaten today, but they will
eat today because of you. And when they eat today, they will know it's because
of your love for God and your love for them that their life is different. And wh
en they pray to God, they will be praying and thanking God for you. It's because
of what you do, I want you to understand and worship God for His faithfulness.
It blows me away, what God is doing because of you!
And what I want to do in the rest of our time together, is I want to just drive
some of our values deep within your heart because what we value determines what
we do. And I want to share with you just four of the statements that we say behi
nd the scenes all of the time in our staff family and I want God to plant these
deep within your heart. One of our favorite statements to say, if you're taking
notes, and even more fun to live out is this:
We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don't know Christ.
We love to say:
To reach people no one is reaching, we'll have to do things no one is doing.
We are unapologetically aggressively evangelistic, and we will do anything short
of sin.
There are a ton of people that the traditional-minded church is not reaching; an
d so, we will do some things that are nontraditional. Can you say Church Online?
The very first one in the history of the world. To imagine, we just started it
five years ago and now, every single week, from over 180 countries, we're minist
ering to well over 100,000 people every single week! People who would not hear t
he Gospel in parts of the world otherwise. And I'll tell you, just kind of, anyt
hing just short of sin, one of the things we do to reach people there is we buy
Google Ad words to help connect them with Church Online.
Now, when we started, we bought Google Ad words like, Church Online. So if anybo
dy's searching for Church Online, they would find us. But guess what we discover
ed? Nobody's searching for Church Online! You know what people are searching for

we found out? There are a lot of people searching for naked ladies! Oh, that's
right, I don't want to surprise you, but now, if you're searching for naked ladi
es, I hope you don't, but if you know someone who does, they might just find an
ad that says, Searching for naked ladies? Why not try Church Online? And you wou
ld be shocked to know how many people searching for naked ladies end up finding
something even better through Church Online!
Because I'm telling you, many of you, you were searching for something when you
walked into this place. You were searching for something and you didn't know wha
t it was and you had a God-shaped void that nothing in this world could fill and
suddenly the love of God through Jesus filled that void and you are different.
And there are people all over the world searching and they don't know they're se
arching for God, and we'll do anything short of sin.
Hey, I've got to make an announcement, this is the first time we're going public
with this and this is so huge! We came up with Church Online, and there are abo
ut one bazillion churches around the world who would love to do this, but can't
afford to do it and don't know how. And because of our relationship with other c
hurches, we had about a dozen churches contribute financially to this project, a
nd we had hundreds of you give to digital missions through this project, so that
we, serving the capital 'C' Church, have built a platform on Church Online, tha
t next year we will be giving away for free to any church in the world, they can
put their church service on Church Online, and this will go down in history as
one of the most aggressive evangelistic tools! And let me tell you, because of y
ou, we're able to give it away all for free to any church in the entire world! I
want you to know that you're making a difference! You are making a huge differe
nce and it's because of you.
Now, you may say, Why in the world would we give it away? Here's another value i
f you're taking notes, we love to say that:
We will lead the way with irrational generosity, because we truly believe it's m
ore blessed to give than to receive.
I want you to know we are crazy-passionate about generosity. Giving is not somet
hing we do, generous is who we are. People say all of the time, Well, why don't
you charge your Network Churches for using your....why don't you charge people f
or using the resources that are free? Why don't you sell your Bible App for a do
llar when it goes out?
I want you to read my lips:
Our resources are not for sale! Just as Jesus gave His life so we could know God
eternally, we will give anything and everything that we possibly can away to se
rve the larger Church. Giving is who we are, we are generous in every way.
And I'll tell you this right now, I used to not be a generous person, but God ha
s transformed my heart and beyond a shadow of a doubt, we know you cannot out gi
ve God. When I tell you that we were able to build five buildings for cash, that
is insanely unheard of, and there is no doubt in my mind that that is a direct
result of God blessing your generosity to serve the larger Church, that is the h
and of blessings of God on our church, because we're doing everything we can to
serve the larger Church. And I just have to say, you guys are massively generous
, thank you! Thank you, thank you, because of your giving, because of your tithi
ng.
In fact, I want to give you even a bigger chance to be blessed, this week and ne
xt week at our LifeChurches, we're giving you a chance to give what we call a pa
ssion offering. For those of you that are not yet tithing, you start with a tith
e, offerings are not for you. Network Churches, you all tithe to your Network Ch

urch, those of you who feel called to give an offering to something you're passi
onate about, we've got three areas for passion offerings.
1. Is Spaces and Places.
Many of you, you're in a building paid for by other campuses and you want to see
the mission expanded to more LifeChurch locations; you can give a passion offer
ing to Spaces and Places.
Digital Missions:
This fuels Church Online, free resources, the Bible App. You may love the Bible
App and you want to give a passionate offering there.
Compassion:
Feeding people, clothing people, serving those, providing relief around the worl
d. If God has blessed you and you want to be a blessing, this week or next week,
I encourage you to give a passion offering to say, God, as you have blessed us,
we want to bless others. Because we will lead the way with irrational generosit
y.
Next value if you're taking notes, you need to understand, and hear me clearly:
We are faith-filled, big-thinking, bet-the-farm risk takers. We will never insul
t God with small thinking and safe living.
In fact, even right now as I'm speaking, we are negotiating on four pieces of pr
operty to start four more LifeChurch locations as soon as we can. You may say, W
ell, isn't there already enough? Aren't we already a big church already?
I don't tolerate that kind of talk ever! We are not a big church, I'm telling yo
u, we're a start-up organization and the world will call us a mega-church, we ar
e not a mega-church, we're a micro-church with a mega-vision. We are going to co
ntinue reaching out. I don't want anybody to ever say, We're too big. As long as
there's one person that does not know Christ, we are never, ever, ever too big.
And you need to know, with everything in me, with everything in me, we are goin
g to continue to dream big, we are going to reach out aggressively, we are going
to share the Gospel all over the world. We will never insult God with small thi
nking or safe living.
In fact, we're celebrating Network Churches, there are hundreds of you now. I be
lieve there will be a day where there will be tens of thousands of Network Churc
hes. There are 100,000 at Church Online, I believe there will be a day where the
re will be millions of people at Church Online. There are millions of Bible apps
given out. What if God would bless us one day to give out a billion Bible apps?
I'm just crazy enough to believe that it is possible. When we're seeing tens o
f thousands of people surrender their lives to Christ, I have the faith that the
re will be millions of people, because of you, turning from their sins and turni
ng toward Christ and being transformed, because we are big-thinking, bet-the-far
m risk takers. It's impossible to please God without faith and we will lead pass
ionately full of faith as we move forth.
Final value if you're taking notes. I want you to know:
We are spiritual contributors not spiritual consumers. The church does not exist
for us, but we are the Church and we exist for the world.
I believe with all of my heart that the local church is the hope of the world. T
hat when we do our job, the government won't be necessary to meet needs, because

we're already meeting the needs of the people who are in need. And we won't do
it in the name of a country, but we'll do it in the name of a kingdom, we'll do
it in the name of the kingdom of God. And I'm telling you, there are a lot of pe
ople who are tired of hearing people talk about Jesus. What they want to do is t
hey want to see Jesus, they want to know Jesus, and when we become the Church, t
hey will not be able to deny the love of God through His people, showing Jesus t
o the world. And I'm telling you, when you see Jesus as He is, you can not rejec
t His goodness, His love, His grace, His offer of new life, His forgiveness, His
power to transform a life. You say, Craig, why are you so excited about this?
I'm telling you, there's no mission on earth greater than this. This isn't just
a part-time gig, this isn't just a hobby, this isn't just something we're intere
sted in, this is a divine calling. You show me something more important than thi
s, I'll leave tomorrow and go give my life to it. There is nothing more importan
t than God's love in His Church, through His Church, for His glory, by His Son J
esus Christ. You are the Church, you are the hope of the world. It is because of
you God is transforming lives. I want you to know God is using you, God is stir
ring up gifts in you, God is moving in you. It's because of you God is doing a s
upernatural work all over the world.
Video:
Because of you, I went from having no hope of survival to being alive today as i
f nothing had ever happened.
Coming from not having a place to stay, to overnight people helping, because of
you we have hope.
In 2004, I found myself where my life was a complete wreck. I had spent my entir
e life pursuing things that didn't matter, that left me empty. Because of you, C
hrist entered into my family's life, into my life, and everything is different.
After living through the sexual abuse and watching physical abuse, it left me em
otionally devastated. But because of your prayers and because of your support, I
am now healed.
My lowest point was being drunk in the middle of the afternoon and passing out w
hile taking care of my daughter. It's because of you that I am free of my addict
ions.
In 2008, our teaching pastor left and we were in a lot of debt. And on Easter Su
nday of 2009, I stood before a congregation and announced that we were joining t
he LifeChurch.tv Network, and also that we were a debt-free church. So, because
of you, we went from a season of striving into a season of thriving.
In July 2008, I went through every mother's nightmare. I lost a baby at 20 weeks
, and the only way I made it through is because of you.
Craig Groeschel:
At all of our different churches, would you join me in prayer?
God, we thank you that it's because of you, because of your love, because of you
r Son Jesus, that we have the opportunity to have new life. And God we thank you
that because of your love and your grace and your calling, you've allowed us to
play a small role in bringing you glory, bringing people into your kingdom. God
, we thank you of your work, because of your love for us.
All of our churches, as you're taking a moment praying, nobody looking around, I
want to just talk to those who would call this church your home. It's your Netw

ork Church, it's your LifeChurch campus, those of you who would say, Yes, this i
s my place. You look at your life and say, Man, I'm really excited to be a part
of this kind of place, but I really want the world to be even more different bec
ause of me. I would love to have people thanking God because of my faithfulness
in serving God, because of my generosity, because I got outside of myself and ma
de a difference.
At all of our different churches, there are a lot of you who would say, You know
I know maybe God's done maybe a little bit through me, but I would really give
anything for God to do even more. I want this world to be different because of m
e. God, do even more through me for your glory.
If you would pray that prayer, let me just tell you that it is a daring one, you
better get ready because God's going to do something through you. But you reall
y want more of God's work through you, would you lift up your hands right now? A
ll of our different churches, just lift them up high. I thank God for hands up a
ll over the place.
And God I do, I pray that your Spirit at this moment would pierce our hearts. An
d God, that we would not be satisfied for living for ourselves, or living for th
e lower things of this world; but God, we would step into your divine calling fo
r our lives in your Church, as your Church, as the hope of this world. God, I pr
ay that your people would be stirred to radical generosity God with their time,
with their heart, with their words of encouragement, with their resources. God,
I pray that you would stir up the gifts within your Church, that we would serve
in the Church and we would serve in this world. And God, I pray that your Church
would be so strong with your people that the non-believing world would look on
and say, I may not understand what they do, or believe what they believe, but I
cannot deny their love and their passion. God, I pray that you would stir up ins
ide your people, do more through them, do more in them, do more in their familie
s. God, I pray that this world would be different because your children love an
d serve and honor you.
As you keep praying today at all of our churches, there are a lot of you, who yo
u're searching for something right now. You just came to church, it's just anoth
er day, but inside you know there's a longing, there's a desire for something mo
re. There's a stirring, there's a hunger. Let me just tell you plainly, there is
no thing, no experience, no person, nothing in this world that will fill that v
oid. Why? Because you have a Christ-shaped void and God brought you here on this
day because He wants to fill that void in your life.
What is it that creates the void? Well, the reality is, we're all sinners and ou
r sin separates us from God. And because of you God sent His Son Jesus, who was
without sin to die on a cross for our sins, God raised Him from the dead. Becaus
e of Jesus we can be forgiven, because of Jesus we can have new life, because of
Jesus we can be transformed.
All of our churches, there are those of you God brought here for this moment. Yo
u know it, today is the day of your salvation. You're not walking with God, you'
re ready to walk with Him. You can never earn your way to Him, you receive His g
ift of salvation by grace through Jesus. Today is the day you're going to call o
n Him. Today is the day He will forgive your sins. Today is the day, He will mee
t your deepest need.
All of our churches, those of you who would say, That's me, I'm ready. Jesus sav
e me, Jesus forgive me, Jesus fill that void. Jesus, I give my life to you.
Would you lift your hands high right now? All of our different churches, just li
ft them high right now! Praise God for you, at all of our churches. You all at C
hurch Online, you click right below me. As we've got hundreds and hundreds of pe

ople coming to know the reality of Christ, would you all pray with those around
you? Just pray, Heavenly Father, forgive me for all of my sins. Jesus, make me n
ew. Fill the void in my life in a way only you can do. Thank you for dying for m
e so I could live for you. Make me different, use me for your glory. Thank you f
or new life, now you have mine. In Jesus' name I pray!
All of our LifeChurches, would you guys celebrate, worship, honor God. Welcome t
hose today born into the family of God.