(upbeat music)

- Well 2020 hasn't exactlybeen the best year.

We've seen recessions, riots, a pandemic,

and we're only halfway.

You know, it's only July,but here's the silver lining.

No matter what's going on in the world,

Pastor Derwin Gray says

there's still a way to live the good life.

And Pastor Derwin Gray isjoining us now by Skype,

and we welcome him to "The 700 Club".

Welcome Pastor.

- Thank you, such an honor and privilege

to be with you guys.

- You lead a multi-ethic congregation.

What is your message toyour church these days?

- It's the message of Jesus.

It's the message of the apostles,it's the message of Paul.

And the beauty of Jesus,the Jewish Messiah,

is that he is a everybody Savior

for whosoever chooses to believe in him.

And one of our themes atTransformation Church is this,

is that Jesus not onlydied to forgive our sins,

but to make us into a familywith different colored skins,

and this is a family of oneness,and equality, and beauty.

And Jesus says, "Youwill know my disciples

for the way that they love one another."

And so, we choose to allowJesus to dictate to us.

Do we do that perfectly?

No, but we do serve a perfect Savior.

- Amen, we sure do.

Well you have stressed

that it's not enoughfor us to not be racist.

What do you mean by that?

- Yeah, what I mean by that is this,

Jesus said, when he was speakingto an expert in the law,

an expert in the law askedhim, "What's most important?"

And of course Jesus wentto the Hebrew Shema.

"Shema Israel Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Eḥad.

Listen Israel, the Lordour God, the Lord is one,

you should love the Lord your God

with all your heart,soul, mind, and strength,

and love your neighbor as yourself."

So one of the ways that wedisplay our love for Jesus

is how we love people.

And to love people is to say,

"Where are dark, demonicforces bringing injustice?"

Injustice anywhere isinjustice everywhere,

and if we are the body of Christ,

we are to love each other acrosspolitical and ethnic lines,

and we are to love those

who are yet to discover the grace of God.

And so, what love does

is it makes me like The Good Samaritan.

It makes me move towards enemies,

it makes me move towards thosewho I'm not supposed to love,

and finally, it just means this,

treat everybody like Jesusdied for them because he did.

- So good.

Oh that's good Pastor Gray.

Well, you've written anew book, "The Good Life",

and I love how you've got itdisplayed behind you perfectly.

You've got four copiesI can see right on your,

there are people right nowwho are living in poverty,

those who feel as if they'dbeen the victims of racism,

and they have.

How can they be happy during these times?

- Yeah, you know, so,

I think it's importantfor us to understand this,

is that when Jesus started

The Sermon on the Mount inMatthew five through seven

he started it with what'scommonly known as The Beatitudes,

and Jesus describes

eight characteristics of a blessed person.

Well the Greek word blessedis the word makarios

which means happy.

And so, Jesus is saying inmy kingdom is happiness,

but it's not the happiness that you think.

The happiness that Jesus wants to give us

is not perpetually goodthings happening to us,

but God actually makingus good for the world.

So happiness and his holiness

are two sides of the same coin.

So therefore, my happiness

is not predicated uponhow much money I have,

it's not predicated upon my circumstances,

it's predicated upon theeternal, internal God

who's shaping me into the image of Jesus.

And so, I grew up poor.

I made it to the NFL, andas a kid I was happier poor

than when I made it tothe NFL and had money.

And so, happiness wasnever about happenings,

our true happiness islooking at the face of Jesus

and seeing his Father.

- Yeah, you definitely had to go through

your own wake up call, didn't you?

I mean, you had it all.

You had the sport'sfame, you had the money,

you had everything that you thought

would bring you and makeyou happy, and it didn't.

- No, so what I like todescribe it as is this,

chasing shadows.

What starts out as fun as achild ends in frustration.

And so, it's like thesematerial blessings that we get

are only windows that we can look through

to see our true need, whichis intimacy with Christ.

Intimacy is into me you see.

And as we see Jesus, we aregazing upon the beauty of God.

And it's that beauty thattransforms us, that moves us,

to become a good life,happiness kind of person,

which is nothing more than The Beatitudes.

I mean, think about this, Jesus said this,

"Blessed are the peacemakers

for they will be called children of God."

My goodness.

Man, I want to be friends,

and I want to be a person like that.

"Blessed are the humble."

"Blessed are those who mourn,for they will be comforted."

"Blessed are those who hungerand thirst for righteousness."

So, what happens is Jesusshapes us and molds us

into the people we wereactually created to be.

And so, our definition andour experience of happiness

is no longer in bondage to circumstances.

- Yeah.

Pastor Gray, what makes youreally happy these days?

- Yeah, you know, I adore my wife.

We've known each other for 30 years,

we've been married for 28 years.

I love my daughter, she's 24.

She's the reason why Iwrote "The Good Life" book.

I wasn't gonna write it

and she basically spokeGod's truth over my heart.

I adore my son, my mom.

I adore Transformation Church,

but none of them compare to Jesus.

No one has ever loved me like Jesus.

Jesus has never let me down,

even when it was dark he wasmy light (clears throat),

and when I did not understandhe gave me clarity.

So what makes me happy is Jesus,

that anything that I canconceive or experience

cannot compare to how much he loves me.

- Amen.

Pastor Derwin Gray,

thank you so much forsharing your heart just now,

and writing this book.

God bless your daughterfor asking you to do it.

"The Good Life,

What Jesus Teaches AboutFinding True Happiness",

and this is a fantasticread, you need to get it.

You can get more keysto living the good life

in Derwin's brand new book.

Again, it's called "The Good Life",

available wherever books are sold.

Pastor Gray, God bless you.

Thanks for being with us.

- Thank you so much.