There’s Nothing Better than Jesus - Louie Giglio

0:24 There's Nothing Better Than Jesus. Amen? This message is titled, There's Nothing Better Than Jesus. Above and beyond is a special time for our house. It is a time of giving. It's a time where we give above what we normally give so that our house can go beyond where we normally go. And it's been beautiful every single above and beyond season to see God do miracles, not just on the financial side, but miracles in the hearts of people. And apparently everybody wants to be in the above and beyond. All through this past year, I've been seeing these commercials on TV for this guy right here, for the Land Rover. And apparently they can take you into the above and beyond. And there'll be one of these Land Rovers going out through some beautiful landscape somewhere in America, and it'll pass a road sign.

1:26 And I went, what did that sign say? It just said above and beyond. They're taking you literally into the above and beyond. And I think everybody wants to go into the above and beyond. And maybe for somebody, it is going down to a certain car dealership and plunking the money down or signing up for the payment plan and driving out with that thing, thinking this is a part of the above and beyond. But what I want to just underscore for us today, that there's nothing better than Jesus. And he is the above and beyond.

1:59 If you have scripture today, we're going to be looking at an encounter that Jesus had that I think most people in church are very familiar with. But it's an above and beyond encounter. It says in Luke 17, now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, 10 men who had leprosy met him. Now, I think you understand that this is a horrible disease. And fortunately, there's not much leprosy left on planet earth. But in the time of Jesus, it was very prevalent. And it resulted in a decaying of the extremities of a person's body. Their fingers would rot off. Their toes would rot off. Their nose would rot off. Their ears would rot off. A lot of it was because of a loss of sensation and feeling. And eventually you wouldn't know that, oh, I have a wound on my hand and I need to take care of that. I keep bumping it on things until I got worse and worse and worse. And not only were they physically just oozing with unclean, they were seen by the religious leaders as spiritually unclean. And so a priest coming down a road and seeing lepers on the other side would go as far out of their way as possible to get away from them. And the lepers were made to wear a bell around their neck that rang so that it would alert people that they were nearby. And they were required to say in a loud voice upon meeting any other person, leper, leper, unclean.

3:33 that's these men's life. But Jesus is coming by. It's always a good thing when Jesus is coming by. And they stood at a distance, and they called out in a loud voice, Jesus, Master, have pity on us. And when he saw them, he said, go show yourselves to the priest. Now, this was the most ridiculous thing he could say to them. The priest didn't want to be anywhere near these guys. But he says to them, go find the priest and show yourselves to the priest. And so they said, okay, we're going to do what you say. And as they went, they were cleansed. I mean, come on somebody. They are walking down the road and a guy's nose appears and the other guy says, your nose just appeared. And the guy goes, and my hand has fingers on it. Mine too. High five. We haven't done that in a while.

4:31 They are healed as they go, and it is an unbelievable exaltation. But one of them, interestingly, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. And when you get new fingers and toes and ears, you're not a quiet praiser. he threw himself at Jesus feet and thanked him and he was a Samaritan so that you talk about people who hated each other the Jews Jesus people and the Samaritans did not like each other at all and this one guy that came back was one of them but his encounter with Jesus overwhelmed and trumped his ethnic tension and he came back and he said him that guy right there And Jesus asked, were not all 10 cleansed?

5:27 Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner? And then Jesus said to him, rise and go, your faith has made you well. this guy got it. He realized it wasn't only about what Jesus could do for him. It was about Jesus. He realized there's nothing better than Jesus. And he's like, getting healed, phenomenal. I'm thrilled. But that guy did it. and I pray as we close today and come back around this that that will be the story of our house at Passion City Church and ultimately maybe the story of the church God willing in America that it is not just about the fact that a hundred percent of the people got saved but that a hundred percent of the people go it's not just what he did for me it's who he is and there's nothing better than Jesus.

6:35 I want to be in the 10%, don't you? Not in the 90% who got the blessing and went on their way. I want to be in the 10% who turn around and go, I know what happened, but you did it. And there's nothing better than you. In this above and beyond season, And I want to just point us towards a few things that are true of our house and true of the movement that gave birth to our house. The first thing I want to highlight for us today is that God is moving. The move of God is all around us right now. And it's not just right now, although you're going to hear next week, I think some things that are going to blow your mind. We're going to talk about the awakening that is happening around the world right now. And for a lot of you, it's going to blow your mind because a lot of us have had a gut feeling and a sense that things are happening.

7:37 But now the data is there to support it. I'll give you one data point. I'll save it from, I was going to share it next week. I'll give you one data point. the percentage or the part of the book world, the publishing world, that is most notably up right now, and for the last year to 18 months, more than any other part of books is Bible sales. 20-something percent up. The most of anything in the book world right now. New book sales, kind of flat right now. Backlist catalog, doing a whole lot better than actually new books are doing right now. But the far and away category of books that is doing better than every other category of books is Bibles.

8:29 And do you know what's driving it? First time Bible buyers. It's not just somebody going in, hey, I saw my friend got the whatever, whatever, so I'm gonna get one of those too. First time Bible buyers. And you know what's driving the first time Bible buyers? 20-year-old guys. No, come on, church. I'm telling you, it doesn't just feel like God's moving. God's moving.

8:57 And he's been moving for a long, long time. And he's moving now, and we're in it. I want us to understand that there is a move of God happening right now, and we are in it. We have friends that do so many amazing things and can't highlight all these things. But just recently, a friend of ours hosts an evangelistic crusade in a baseball stadium every year in Anaheim, California. And they filled every single seat in the stadium a few weeks ago. Every single seat, upper deck, outfield, every seat in the stadium. And they gave people an opportunity to come down to the field to put their faith in Jesus. and so many people came down that the fire marshal who was there and already a little bit freaked out said no more people can come down to the field.

9:49 6,000 people had already come down to the field to give their lives to Jesus and they said no more people can come down. They have to use the QR code on the screen and we'll follow up with them and give them a Bible and walk with them and have somebody have a touch point with them. Not too long ago, our friends in Miami, they've been doing a conference for young adults in Miami, the largest conference they've ever had in the history of the conference. 7,000 people packed into a basketball arena at the University of Miami. The Passion Music led last week at a conference in Birmingham, 17,000 middle and high school students packing out every single seat in an arena going after God. Passion Camp two weeks ago, 6,500 high school, middle school students and their leaders. and I was in the middle of it and you didn't have to have the bells and the whistles to get people interested in Jesus.

10:43 They came through the door hungry for Jesus. I'm telling you, there's a move of God happening and it's not just in America, it's happening all around the world right now. And it's been going on for a minute. And God's been planting those seeds in our hearts for a long time. And then we've fortunately gotten to be a part of something beautiful called passion. And that's where we came from. I know you're sitting at church today at Cumberland or Trillith or here at 515, but Passion Church was born out of a movement that already was existing and thriving and seeking God long before there was a Passion City Church. And long before that, I remember distinctly in 1972, I was a freshman in high school, but I loved Life Magazine. It was just one of the idiosyncrasies about me, which there are several. and I, anybody remember Life Magazine, you have to be in my demographic. I would save my money up and I would go every time the new Life Magazine hit the stand, I'd walk up to the shopping center from the apartments we lived in and buy the Life Magazine. I still have a bunch of them around and I remember this cover when I was a freshman in high school. It was the zenith really of the Jesus movement. Talk about God moving. A movement that had come out of California, a bunch of hippies found Jesus. A bunch of LSD crazies found Jesus and started revolutionizing the church.

12:15 And worship came all the way, made a big impact in Atlanta. And as a junior high and high school student. I remember that. And I remember seeing this cover when I bought this magazine. And what they were talking about, the great Jesus rally in Dallas, was this. The Cotton Bowl, 1972, Campus Crusade for Christ, now called CRU. An evangelistic training event, gathering people, calling them together to light a fire in them to go and share the gospel in their world, 80,000 young people in the cotton bowl in 1972. And when I saw it, a seed went in my heart. I didn't know that I would be a part of anything like that later in my life. I just remember going, oh my goodness, God is moving. And then fast forward to 1996, I was at a youth event at the Georgia Dome. And a video was shown of how God is moving in the young generation in 1996. And for a few seconds in it, they showed a little clip of a gathering that had happened the year before in 1995, the same year that God had dropped a vision in our heart to gather college-age young people for what would become passion. The next year, 1997, was going to be our first gathering, the vision dropping in 1995. It's 1996, sitting in the Georgia Dome. Video was shown. A little clip of a gathering that happened the year before in May in Seoul, Korea in the Olympic Stadium, where 70,000 college-age young people came and filled this stadium from countries all over the world to take a pledge that they would take the gospel to the unreached peoples of the world. And when I saw that little clip, we looked for photos of it, and we couldn't find a ton.

14:11 But when I saw that little clip, I was like, God, that's what you're talking about. And so it helped me understand, and I want us all to understand today, that none of us are starting anything. People always say, man, it's amazing passion, you know, started this whole movement among college students. Well, in 1972, there were 80,000 of them in a stadium in Dallas, Texas. In 1995, there were 70,000 of them in a stadium in Seoul, Korea. And that's been happening for centuries, people, because God is moving all around us. And we're not the ones starting anything, but we are a part of something big. We always would say around passion that passion was a grain of sand on the beach of God's kingdom activity in the world. Most college students in America have never heard of passion Most christian college students in america have never heard of passion We are a grain of sand on the beach of the kingdom activity of god And i'm telling you above and beyond is not a campaign we do here at church It is in Our dna we from the beginning have been stepping into vision that we did not have the resources to do.

15:36 There has never been a moment in passion where God put a vision in front of us, whether it was a stadium like Mercedes-Benz or a field like one day in Memphis, Tennessee, where we went, well, we've got all the money in the bank and we have all the team that we need and we have all the assets necessary, so yes, we'll do that. There's never been a moment like that. and so what I'm telling you above and beyond is not a slogan it is not me trying to be spiritual it's not our church trying to come up with some kind of an ad campaign it is in our very DNA the DNA of the church that you are a part of is to step with God into the above and into the beyond and number three is to believe that where God leads, God provides.

16:28 I really can't get into the whole story, and a lot of you have heard us share some version of this story. But one day, 2000, Memphis, Tennessee, 40,000 college-age young people from all over the world in every state in America on their faces on the ground, and we thought that was it. So we didn't do anything the next year. And then God sort of said, no, there's more. And so in 2003, we did another outdoor solemn assembly in Sherman, Texas, north of Dallas, Texas. And we invited people to a field out in the middle of nowhere, really. You had to go down some country roads to get to this guy's property. And people were going to come on Friday, set up camp. Gathering was going to happen on Saturday. A lot of people had already showed up on Thursday and were camping, maybe 10,000, 15,000 people. And a storm came on Thursday night. It was just horrific. I'm talking about a purple dot on the radar just sat on top of us. People were struck by lightning in their tents.

17:28 Everything turned into a quagmire. There were three miles worth of cars on a little country road trying to get to registration. At midnight, I'm riding the sheriff's car going the opposite direction on his bullhorn speaker saying, we're going to come back in a minute and we're going to lead all of you. Trust us and follow us. And me and the sheriff led them to the local high school that they'd been kind enough to open. And those three miles worth of cars and the people in them slept on the gym floor at the high school that night. There was no internet. There was no way to get the word out. There was no X. There was no, hey, we can just post something. And the next day, the weather shifted. The ground dried up. The wind blew. God did a miracle literally right in front of us. And 24 hours later, people were driving onto the property. But we couldn't tell anybody, it's on. and I would guess 10, 20,000 people probably turned around at some point and went home.

18:26 The event was powerful. One of our team told me as we were walking off the field when it was over that we were gonna come up $100,000 short. We never walked out of a gathering. We'd only done five big gatherings up to that point when we were walking out going, uh-oh. So the next weekend, less than a week later, Shelly and I went to a wedding in Houston. There was a person there who's very well known, if I said their name, a ministry leader. A conversation happened. How did things end up one day? And I was like, not great. We're gonna be $100,000 shorter. We're $100,000 short. About 45 minutes later, the person came back around and said, our ministry would like to cover the $100,000 shortage, and on Monday, you'll have a check from us to cover the gap. Chuck came, gap was covered.

19:26 And then we realized it's payday and we have no money, like zero. We put all our chips in and they're 100,000 and it's payday. We've never had a payday before or since, if you're on team here, where we didn't have money for payday. And we were a small team, a dozen-ish, 15 people working in a house on Main Street, Alpharetta.

19:52 We're like, we don't have money. We're like, we don't have money for payday. Why did we not think about this? We don't have money for payday. I go upstairs to my office at the house, and the phone rings downstairs. They send a call up to me. I pick up the phone. It's a friend of mine in Chicago, and he says, hey, man, this is going to be really awkward, and I'm really sorry to have to tell you this, but I was moving some things on my desk today, and I realized that the foundation that my family is connected to made a gift to one day in Sherman, Texas, and I put the envelope on my desk. Some stuff got put on top of it, and it's been sitting on my desk, I think, for like three weeks now.

20:26 I'll FedEx it to you. You'll have it tomorrow. A check for $75,000. had been sitting on the desk for three weeks. Where God leads, God provides. and he is going to do that for this church and he is going to lead us into the above and beyond our vision is not about events it's not about books it's not about even bibles it's not about songs although all those things are a part of what we do. The vision is still the same as standing on that field after that unbelievable storm and saying this in 2003, and we're still saying it today. Passion put this in their feed a few days ago. Some of you have heard Passion CDs, but some of you have heard the music and that's what brought you to today. And maybe in your heart, you thought passion is about singing songs of worship. That's really only an expression of what passion is about.

21:53 Maybe you came because somebody told you, you don't want to miss this thing. It's going to be amazing. It's a huge gathering of our generation, but passion is not really about gatherings. Passion's not really about events, although they are an expression of what we are about. Passion has a singular focus. And the singular focus of passion is that we would be used by God to spark an awakening in this collegiate generation and see a faceless army of men and women who would make the confession of their lives, the very confession of Isaiah 26, 8, and say with their lives, yes, Lord, we are walking in the way of your truth and our hearts are eagerly waiting for you, for your name and your renown are the desire of our souls So we come to above and beyond.

23:16 Let's talk about it just for a second before we wrap up. Last year, our financial oversight team said, let's put a target out there for the first time ever. And they did. We did. $7 million was our target last year. Passion City Church is a very generous church. and over the course of the year, Passion City Church gave $8.5 million last year to Above and Beyond.

23:44 We're adding up all the things that God has put before us and that we believe he wants us to be a part and the target that we're putting that is before us today is $10 million. It seems like a big giant number, but it's not that much bigger than $8.5 million. there are a whole lot more people around our house than were here last summer a lot more new people who maybe aren't in our generosity story yet you say well why did we come up with 10 million dollars well some of the things that's going to help us do is move into Trillith and I think on good word I can tell you this is the last above and beyond and we're going to be talking about moving into Trillith live we will be in the above and in the beyond next summer. We're hoping to move in at the end of this year and the building is coming to completion. It's stunning and amazing.

24:36 But just like when you bought that new house and you had a couple extra bedrooms more than the last house and maybe a three-car garage instead of a two-car garage and you had to buy stuff, well, we had to buy all the stuff that goes in there. And that's added up. What's left on that for us to do, a family has helped with a lot of the stuff that goes in there. But what is left for us to do is $2.5 million worth of stuff, tents and cribs and kitchen equipment and desks and chairs and production equipment for passion students and passion kids and all that stuff that goes in to make a house a home. And well, Trillith, thank you guys at Trillith, have been on a journey themselves for the last six weeks called Together We Move. And before we got to today, when you knew about the $2.5 million to get us in to Trillith Live. They've already been on six weeks of giving toward that.

25:30 And the people at Trillith have given over $600,000 in six weeks toward the 2.5 million to get us in to the space. But we all together now have an opportunity to carry that $1.5 million opportunity together. And we're gonna do that. It's one of the things that we're gonna be able to do. We want to make sure that our YA and high school senior crowd get to Passion 2026 in Arlington, Texas at Globe Life Field. We'll be in a baseball stadium where the Texas Rangers play on January 1st, 2nd and 3rd. And it's about a $500 commitment for a young adult to say, I'm gonna get a ticket. I'm gonna get transportation to Arlington. I'm gonna find a place to stay for three days, four days, whatever it is while we're there and cover all those expenses. And that's a lot. And so I want and we want to be able to pay into that and reduce that cost for hundreds of YA and high school seniors from Passion City Church to be in that place experiencing the power of what God is going to do. And we're going to be able to do that easily out of this $10 million.

26:39 Passion City Atlanta needs help. And some of this money will go to help us do what we're doing, to help us serve your family the way we're serving your family today. And you say, well, that's not above and beyond. I know, we really would love to get to the 100% above and beyond, but we're not there right now. You say, well, why aren't we there right now? Well, primarily because, and just to put it on the bottom line real fast, what it costs to do what we do at Passion City Church is more than the regular giving that comes into Passion City Church.

27:13 You're like, well, you should be better stewards. We're doing our very best to be better stewards. We've spent two years tightening our belt and cutting costs. We've hired no additional people for two years. We've backfilled roles, but we haven't added to our team. And ladies, you would have noticed less groves, yes. If you have high school, middle school kids, you would have noticed a few less risings. And we have tightened and tightened and tightened. But there's still a gap. And we met our financial goals last year. We're like, well, how do we do that if there was a gap? because God provides where God leads. And miraculously, we sold some of our property from this 515 building to the Atlanta Beltline last year because God knew when he put us in this building that the Beltline was gonna literally come behind us and come down Garson Drive. And all that closed this past year. It was very beneficial for Passion City Church and our broader organization that we're a part of called Passion also helped.

28:11 And we met our financial goals last year. but we're at a crossroads yes above and beyond is important and yes all this is important all these things that we want to be a part of but we're at a crossroads of either cutting more or seeing our regular giving not above and beyond giving our regular giving significantly go up and so this year hopefully will be our last year but this year some of the 10 million, amen, is going to help us do what we're doing right now to serve you and your family. We're going to be able to give to our partners. These are people who are doing amazing things in Atlanta and in D.C. and around the world. We're going to be a part of helping some friends of ours plant churches because that's what God's plan A is for reaching the world. And so we're going to be a part of some strategic church plants around the world. You're like, hey, we got a gap.

29:05 Why are we worried about them planting a church? Because that's the way you think when you're in the above and beyond. The first gift that was ever given to Passion City Church was $50,000 by a church in Singapore. We hadn't even moved into this building yet. And it was the first gift that anyone ever gave. And a pastor, I was preaching there and just at the end of the deal said, we're going to give $50,000 to Passion City Church. And I was like, amazing. Came back to our financial oversight team. We had a meeting in the other part of the building over here, which was a PGA superstore at the time, closed and going out of business. And we're sitting around a card table in there with empty clothing racks and tennis balls around on the floor. And the financial oversight team said, man, praise God for this gift. We gave $25,000 of it to an upstart plant of a church in Atlanta, Georgia, and $25,000 to an upstart plant of a church in Australia. The first $50,000 it was given to our church, we gave to two other churches.

29:58 That's above and beyond thinking. We're going to be preparing some thinking around a Passion City Church network. I'll talk to you more about that later. Passion Equip is touching hundreds of thousands of people every single year around the world are being impacted by our resources of theological training, teaching, encouragement. And it's only funded right now by Above and Beyond. And so we're going to be able to keep funding that. And then Passion Global Gatherings, like the gatherings we just had in South Africa a few months ago. Two stadium events that we did there. And we're going to be able to continue to fund events like that as well. And I believe we're going to see a miracle. And I believe God is going to do something extraordinary in the midst of this. But above and beyond, here's the main message today, is way more than just about money. above and beyond is about understanding that Jesus is the above and beyond. So yes, moving into a new building and trillis, fantastic. Yes, helping a partner, being able to assist when a hurricane comes or flood, all those things are important. But Jesus is the above and beyond, and we want Jesus. You know, the average organization like our church, 20% of the people give 80% of the resources. That's pretty much standard across the board. And it's true of Passion City Church also.

31:30 So two out of every 10 people here gives 80% of our giving. And I don't know if that's good or bad, honestly. I'm happy that there are 20% of people that can do that. But that's drifting down right now, the trend is, to being 10% of the people are giving 90%. That's happening around the world right now. I think we're going to see a turnaround because of the data I'm going to show you next week of the spiritual awakening happening in the world. Those people are going to be discipled, and they're going to become generous givers. And there's going to be a change in this whole dynamic, I believe, coming. But in the American church, it's been too much consumerism. It's been too much, what do I get out of this? And not, God, I want to put everything I've got into this. You know, the 10 lepers, they had this percentage, exactly the same. exactly the same as probably the American church.

32:32 100% of the people got saved. Way less are serving, showing up, staying late, leaning in, giving, owning, carrying. and I think that this all changes when our heart falls in love with Jesus. it's not a money thing it's a Jesus thing we're talking about how God's moving around the world right now. And a lot of you are like, man, I've sensed that, or I've sensed that in the spirit, or when I've been praying, I've sensed that. And I, I'm on board with that. And a lot of you are like, man, I didn't know any of that was happening. That's, that's incredible. And I just say gently as your pastor today, if you didn't know that there's a move of God happening around the world, that's not good. That means that you're living somewhere else, but in the seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. If you do not know there's revival breaking out around the world, that is not good. You don't need me to tell you that.

33:44 And God is inviting us today into a relationship with Jesus that looks less like Luke 17. And one guy came back, and looks more like Acts 4 that we read last week, where it said, Every, everybody. everybody considered that their possessions weren't their own. Every single person at the church said, why because 60 days before Jesus died and rose again and two weeks ago the Holy Spirit came and blew our lives up Can I just remind us today that Jesus died and rose again? and he's given us his spirit today to blow our lives up in the very best way the last thing is just for us to say in Above and Beyond together, God, we want you.

35:02 can you say that today with me God we want you more of you in my life, more of you in my family, more of you in this church, more of you in Atlanta, Georgia. God, we want more of you.

35:25 That's why starting tomorrow, seven o'clock, this altar will be open. At 5.15, this altar will be open. This house will be open. Some of our worship leaders will be leading. There won't be any production. there won't be any band. Some of our pastors will be leading. It won't be like a Sunday gathering. You can come and kneel here. You can come and sit here. You can come and stand here. You can come for a half hour. You can come for five hours. But from seven o'clock to one o'clock every day this week, and I know school's starting and a lot of you for tomorrow, it's a toss-up. Great. Let it be a toss-up tomorrow. Get your kids off to school. Do what you need to do as a family. We'll be here on Tuesday. We'll be here on Wednesday. We'll be here on Thursday. God willing, we'll be here on Friday. Why? Because we want to say to God, we're not just focused on a giving. We want you, God.

36:19 and we're going to make space in these days just to be with you, to seek you, to listen to you, to call on you, God, because you are the above and beyond, and there's nothing better than Jesus. it's been interesting for Shelly and me all spring long on our property I think I might have told you but we had a big giant tree go down to my neighbor smash into his yard smash his fence A whole bunch of other stuff like that. But two Fridays nights ago, I think it was two Friday nights ago, might have been three, we weren't home, but a lightning struck the most majestic tree on our property.

37:14 In our front yard, real close to our house. And when I say majestic, I mean this tree was like 120 feet tall. It was like four giant trees in one tree. It would take two or three or four of us to stand right here and put our arms together to go around this tree. It was so regal. And a lightning bolt hit it. And when I got to see it, I mean, it looked like a hailstorm of tree had happened on our property. 50 yards that way and 50 yards that way and 50 yards that way and that way was tree. and finally after three days of working on it a team of people got it down and gone and the stumps ground down there's just a big hole covered with the debris where it was but yesterday I was walking down the fence line to pick up a piece of trash and there's been pieces of this tree everywhere that got all cleaned up but some of it went over the fence into the neighborhood next door. And when I was picking a piece of trash up, I saw over the fence a couple of pretty big pieces. And I got a limb out of my yard and kind of pulled this one close enough over to the fence that I could reach over and grab a hold of it.

38:33 This is what I'm talking about, flying everywhere. a lot smaller pieces and a whole lot bigger pieces everywhere. An explosion has blew this tree apart. and I picked this one up and crazy I was walking back to the house with it can you see this?

39:02 It has a lightning bolt on it. Can you see that? I didn't put that on there. I just was like, no way. They should have this at the rising. We are praying that a lightning bolt will hit this house. and kingdom debris will scatter all over this city I don't know how long this thing lasted. I'm guessing a nanosecond. It only takes a move.