God in 'His Amazing, Epic Design' Includes Us in Jesus' Story, Says Louie Giglio
God, in "His amazing, epic design" includes humanity in Jesus' story, says author and Passion City Church Pastor Louie Giglio.
Speaking at Fresh Life Church in Montana on Saturday, Giglio centered his message on Luke 23, which describes the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Giglio devoted much attention to verse 32, which speaks of the two men crucified alongside Jesus: "Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with Him to be executed."
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According to Giglio, this verse shows that while Jesus Christ is the main focus, God "always widens the shot enough that we can see that ordinary people, even common criminals, are in the frame."
"This is the story of Jesus, life is the story of Jesus, history is the story of Jesus," said Giglio. "We're in it. We're loved. We're valuable. We're prized."
"As this scene goes down, it could be a tight shot on the Savior of the world, but God in His amazing, epic design, He widens the shot so that we can see two ordinary people in the story."
Giglio applied the text to the present day, stating that verse 32 shows that "you didn't come into church today and slip into your zone and become invisible to God."
"You didn't fall off Heaven's radar when your marriage fell apart. You didn't fall out of favor with God when you fell out of favor with someone else," continued Giglio.
"God sees you today and though today is about Jesus … even though He's the central focus of it all, He widens the shot today so that you can see you in His story."
Giglio's remarks were part of a speaker series at Fresh Life Church known as "Summer Reading at Fresh Life," which featured four Christian authors who gave messages to the congregation.
For his part, Giglio was invited to speak a message based off of his 2015 book The Comeback: It's Not Too Late and You're Never Too Far.
"The Comeback celebrates new beginnings. It offers encouragement and perspective, and it's for you if you feel frustrated or confused, if you're sorrowing or in pain, if you've made mistakes or are grieving, if you're disappointed or feel as though life doesn't make sense," reads the book's description.
"The good news is that God is in the business of giving fresh starts to people. He gives hope to the hopeless. Direction to the directionless. Help to those who need help. God is always good, all the time, and God's plans will always prevail, even when our plans don't."
Other speakers who were part of Fresh Life Church's summer reading series include: Kevin Gerald, author of Good Things: Seeing Your Life Through the Lens of God's Favor; Christine Caine, author of Unashamed: Drop the Baggage, Pick up Your Freedom, Fulfill Your Destiny; and Rich Wilkerson Jr, author of Sandcastle Kings: Meeting Jesus in a Spiritually Bankrupt World.
