When Your Faith Feels Flat

A Church That Pleases God

Scripture References

Primary text

• 2 Corinthians 5:9
• Hebrews 11:6

Other references

• Mark 6:6
• Luke 7:9

Overview

Thirty years after launching in a two-car garage, Life.Church paused to celebrate God’s unmatched faithfulness and to ask a single, future-shaping question: Will we be a church—and a people—whose greatest goal is to please God? Scripture is clear that pleasing Him is impossible without faith, so Pastor Craig called every listener to examine the quality of their faith, reject “safe” Christianity, and step boldly into the next season with the same dependence that marked the first Sunday.

Main Points

1. Pleasing God must outrank every other goal

• We evaluate diets, budgets, and relationships at the new year, but Scripture sets a higher aim: “Our goal is to please God” (2 Cor 5:9).
• A church that pleases God is made up of people who please God individually.

2. Faith is non-negotiable

• Hebrews 11:6: without faith we cannot please Him.
• Faith is not only mountain-moving moments; it is trusting God in ordinary decisions—opening His Word, loving a difficult boss, obeying a Spirit prompt.
• “We walk by faith, not by sight” shapes daily rhythms.

3. Jesus is either amazed by great faith or by a lack of it

• Mark 6:6—Jesus marvels at hometown unbelief.
• Luke 7:9—He marvels at the centurion’s confidence: “Just say the word.”
• Every believer is living in one of those two categories.

4. A low view of God shrinks faith

• Conditional faith: “I trust You as long as You do what I expect.”
• Stagnant faith: belief intact but passion gone; what stops growing starts dying.
• Safe faith: hedges bets, keeps plan B, prays “just-in-case” prayers.

“You cannot play it safe and please God.”

5. Thirty years of ministry illustrate faith in action

• Story: First Sunday—40 people, borrowed chairs, overhead projector on a garage door. Jerome, the “four-fingered flipper,” advanced transparencies. Seven people met Jesus that day.
• Story: Offering challenge—invite anyone in need to take cash from the bucket; God has provided ever since.
• Story: Eviction from a middle school announced 20 minutes before service; Craig prophesied a new venue that week. A handshake and a home-equity loan secured an old bike factory by the next Sunday.
• Story: Building the first 600-seat campus, discovering video teaching when Amy delivered baby Sam between services, and launching the first multi-site service—then campuses in Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Florida, New York, and more.

• Early years were marked by daring faith; later fatigue tempted leadership toward safety until fresh desperation reignited big prayers.

6. Rekindling big faith for “the one”

• Even with large numbers, heaven rejoices over a single soul; the church will never be “too big” while one person remains lost.
• Pastor’s declaration: faith is “big again” because God is still writing stories.

7. See God as He truly is, and faith will grow

• Savior, Redeemer, Comforter, Rock, Fortress, Healer, Defender, Peace, Hope, Ever-present Help.
• High view → strong faith; low view → weak faith.
• Ephesians-style doxology: God can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine.

8. Invitation to repent, believe, and step out

• Conditional, stagnant, safe faith must be confessed and abandoned.
• Trust Christ for salvation; trust Him daily for Spirit-led obedience.
• The future of God’s church will be built by people who still believe He can and will do more.

Key Truths

• Our highest ambition must be to please God, not merely improve ourselves.
• Faith is the single indispensable quality for a God-pleasing life.
• Jesus responds to faith with amazement—either at its absence or its greatness.
• A low view of God breeds conditional, stagnant, and safe faith that accomplishes little.
• God honors bold, risk-taking obedience; a faith that costs nothing achieves nothing.

Response

• Examine your current faith posture; repent of conditional, stagnant, or safe patterns.
• Cultivate a high view of God through worship, Scripture, and remembrance of His works.
• Pray bold, specific prayers that require divine intervention.
• Take the next Spirit-prompted step—serve, give, reconcile, launch, or speak.
• Celebrate every “one” God saves, and refuse to settle while any remain unreached.

Closing

Pastor Craig reminded the congregation that Life.Church was “built by faith” and will advance only by renewed, courageous faith. He urged believers to believe again, pray again, and act again, for “all things are possible with God.”

“A church that pleases God will be a faith-filled church.”

Prayer

The pastor thanked God for three decades of salvations, healings, and provision, asked the Holy Spirit to build greater faith in every believer, and led newcomers in a salvation prayer surrendering their lives to Jesus Christ.