Is There More?

Greeting

Good morning Lighthouse.

Welcome to November! 2 months left in 2026. A New Year is right around the corner. I’m so glad that you are in the room today and I believe that today will be special.

We are starting a new teaching series today called Above & Beyond. I believe this series has the potential to change your world, if you would lean in to not just hearing what we’re going to talk about, but also taking inventory of where you are, where you want to be, and do you have a willingness to do what it takes to get there.

Before we get started, can you please join me in prayer for the word.

PRAYER

Introduction / Story

In June 2005, Steve Kroft, a correspondent with 60 Minutes sat down with a 27 year old Tom Brady.

You all know who Tom Brady is, right?

Winner of 7 Super Bowls and the Greatest Football Quarterback of all time. They call him the GOAT.

There was this moment in the interview that I want to read to you.

KROFT: This whole experience -- this whole upward trajectory -- what have you learned about yourself? What kind of an effect does it have on you?

BRADY: Well, I put incredible amounts of pressure on me. When you feel like you're ultimately responsible for everyone and everything, even though you have no control over it, and you still blame yourself if things don't go right -- I mean, there's a lot of pressure. A lot of times I think I get very frustrated and introverted, and there's times where I'm not the person that I want to be.

[Now listen to what he says next…]

Why do That’s I have three Super Bowl rings, and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, "Hey man, this is what is." I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think: God, it's gotta That be more than this. I mean this can't be what it's all cracked up to be. I mean I've done it. I'm 27. And what else is there for me?

That moment of reflection is something that people have grappled with who have experienced success and accomplishment.

What else is there for me?

I want to read our scriptures for today, because it kind of feels like what we see here in the story of the Rich Young Ruler.

Reading

Mark 10:17–22 NIV

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Transition

You can see the similarities, can’t you?

Tom Brady is the athlete who has won on the biggest stage, and he asks, “there’s got to be more to this.”

The Rich Young Ruler has his wealth, his health, and his influence, and yet, he’s thinking about what happens when this life ends.

Sitting here this morning, we can resonate with them, can’t we.

I know you haven’t won a Super Bowl, but you’ve had your own moments where you’ve wondered if you are doing the things that will eventually end with something far greater than happiness.

No, happiness is fleeting. I am talking about something deeper. Something that lasts longer. I’m talking about fulfillment.

Living your life in such a way that you have no regrets and that you did everything that mattered most.

Sermon Title: Is There More?

What’s Not Working

Stephen Covey wrote a best-selling book called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and in that book he has a principle called, Begin With the End in Mind. He illustrated that by having the readers imagine that they were at a funeral. But, not just any funeral, it was their funeral. He then said to visualize right now what people would say about you if you were to die today. Not years from now, but right now. If you died today, what would they say about you at your funeral.

Then, visualize what you would want them to say about you… what changes need to be made? And, what will you do to change the ending?

Well, there’s another way to do that same experiment and that is considering what Bronnie Ware wrote in her book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. She was a hospice caregiver who shared what she learned from the people that were dying, and it greatly impacted the readers.

She wrote that her five recurring themes were that people wished they had lived more authentically, worked less, expressed their feelings, maintained friendships, and allowed themselves more happiness.

The Paradox

Notice what the dying did not say. They didn’t as for more money or for more stuff. Interesting isn’t it?

Now, I want you to think about what this world is currently selling you as what you need in order to live a fulfilled life.

Actually, I did the thinking for you, here it is, the accumulation of more things, and the accolade of being known.

If I just had more money, then I would be fulfilled.

If more people knew my name. If my follower count was higher.

If I had the career, then that’s two for one, I get the money and I get more people knowing who I am.

That’s what the world is selling, and I am urging you not to buy it.

Because the same people who thought that those were the things that they needed in order to lead a fulfilled life, were the same people who on their death beds said, “I wish that I lived more authentically and worked less.”

So where do we go?

Who do we turn to?

What do we do?

Enter Jesus

Well, here’s the good news, you don’t have to go anywhere, because Jesus has already come to you.

In every other religion or belief system in the world, it is you doing more. In Christianity, it is already done. Jesus has come and he has specifically come for you.

Let’s go back to our reading again, because I want you to see something.

The rich young ruler wasn’t just some guy living the high life. It’s not like he’s a nepo baby buying himself a life that is void of a moral compass. No, the scriptures actually say here that he kept all of the law since his birth. So he’s rich, young, a ruler, and a moral person. And yet, with all of that, he’s unsure about what happens next in life.

Have I done enough?

Will I make it to eternity?

And this is the part I want you to see.

Mark 10:17–22 NIV

Jesus looked at him and loved him.

The condition of this young man didn’t make Jesus repulsed by him, it drew out of Jesus affection.

Love.

Love for who he was and is because he was searching for something more.

[Pause]

The fact that Jesus loved this man surprise us because John gives us a cornerstone verse of our faith,

John 3:16 NIV

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.

It was his love for the world, including this rich young ruler, that made him send his son into this world.

And while this young man was winning in every external metric, in every external indicator, he was losing in a place that no one saw.

No one but Jesus that is.

He had a heart issue.

And that’s why Jesus challenged him…

Mark 10:17–22 NIV

“Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

And what was his response?

Well, this was too great an ask.

This man, rich young moral and with influence, was not ready to untangle his heart from his wealth. He didn’t just have money, his money had a hold of him.

The Exchange

There is a saying about the enemy.

If he can’t get you to fall to sin, he will get you to fall to success.

For some of us the allure to sin isn’t strong. We’re disciplined in many areas. We have the tools and the accountability around us to stand up against sin tactics.

But what about success tactics?

What about the deception that if you worked more, you’d have more?

What about the idea that if you spent more time promoting yourself, then more people would notice you?

Then that is exactly how the enemy will come. To get you to believe that you’d be better off holding tightly to the thing that Jesus is calling you to lay down.

John said this,

John 10:10 NIV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

When we hear steal, kill and destroy, we probably have a gruesome picture in our head.

But what if we framed that as:

Success stole my family

I killed my soul so I could gain the attention of the world

The pursuit of wealth destroyed my marriage.

All of the same tricks meant to keep us from Jesus.

Why? Jesus offers us an abundant life.

A life of meaning and fulfillment.

Not just an average life of getting by.

He’s offering us a life that makes a difference.

A life that when lived well, your funeral isn’t a place of mourning but a place of joy.

That’s the abundant life and that’s the life and that’s what he wants for you!

Don’t settle for blessings when you can have the blessor.

Don’t settle for the temporary when God is offering you the eternal.

Don’t buy what the world is selling, buy from Him.

Buy the truth and sell it not.

The Upside Down

You all sound excited for this!

But I would be remiss if I didn’t give you a full disclosure.

How many of you hate reading disclosures? Yea, it’s tedious. But we gotta do it.

The key to living the abundant life, to going Above & Beyond, is found in Jesus’ words. Not a Tik Tok preacher with good lighting and selling new ageism and calling it the gospel. I’m talking about the very words of Jesus.

Matthew 20:26–27 NIV

Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—

Those that want to be great must be willing to go low. For many people, this is a hard stop. They aren’t used to going low and they are not comfortable going low. This is not what they have in mind when it comes to living a life of Above & Beyond.

But this is a critical posture that every person who wants to make an impact must learn.

We serve others, and we place others above us.

This is also an aspect of our Dream Team. We have a team of people who give of their time every Sunday morning to serve others who are here to have an encounter with Jesus.

And if you are not on the Dream Team yet, please know that this gives you a chance to live out the words of Jesus.

I encourage you to take that next step and come to Growth Track. If you’ve already been to Growth Track, then please go right to the Start Here canopy after service and let them know that you want to start living out these words right away.

Matthew 16:25 NIV

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

In order to make an impact you have to lose your life?

That’s what Jesus said… that we need to be willing to lose every expectation that we have for our lives, and to take on His plans and purposes.

That is losing your life in order to find it.

Finally, Jesus said this as well.

Acts 20:35 NIV

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

Have you tried telling this to a kid at Christmas?

It’s ALL about what they can get. And sadly, lots of kids never grow up. They get older, but they never outgrow their selfishness.

For some, this kind of living triggers you because you grew up without this kind of model. In fact, you might have grown up seeing your parents suffer in their finances so you tightly hold on to your resources with the belief that you won’t make those same mistakes.

But again, the enemy doesn’t care which side of the boat you fall of from, he just wants you to call from the boat.

Conclusion

We all want the abundant life, but are we willing to live abundantly?

Are we willing to trade away the things that we hold on so tightly so that we can receive what he has for us.

There is a YouTube video called “How to catch a Baboon.”

EXPLAIN THE VIDEO

The point is, we must be careful that the things that we hold on to so tightly don’t become the things that rob us of living the abundant life.

Call