A House That Looks Like Heaven - Part 1 | Pastor Mundo Meneses

[Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] hey everyone welcome to life church online it's going to be a great day in church we're so glad that you are on with us this morning my name is caitlin and i'm jerica and like pastor katelyn said we're so excited that you are spending your sunday morning here with us why don't you go ahead take a second and let us know where you're watching from it's always cool to see where in the world people are you guys think of our chat it's like a virtual lobby we want you to welcome people to see where you are in the world and also just to get to know one another a little bit so be sure that you're uh you're chatting with each other welcoming everybody saying hey to some people in the chat because we'd love to know where you are yeah do that and then also while you're doing that why don't you just take a second and comment uh where you're watching from and then hit the share button it takes just a second literally one second the share button if you're on facebook there's a little button that literally says the word share just click that you can post it on your your timeline you can actually send it to a friend if you're on youtube you can take the url and actually text it in a group i know pastor parker mentions he knows somebody that literally every weekend sends it in a group text a family group text why don't you do that send it to your family send it to your friends it takes just a second and you never know who might be tuning in today just because you took a second to share this service their life could be completely changed because you took a second share the service so go ahead and hey why don't you even do this why don't you comment once you share the service yeah that is comment in the chat and say hey i shared the service done it's already done okay just a second and hey this is a great service to share we're kicking off a brand new series for one of our values here at the life church diversity yeah our new series is called a house that looks like heaven pastor mundo's actually kicking that off a little bit later on in service but first you're going to hang out here with caitlyn and i we're going to give you some announcements play a fun little game here in a second then we'll get into worship we'll get into message and then caitlyn and i will be back after the message too so be sure you stick around for the entire time there's so there's so much that we have going on and you don't want to miss it yeah let's show some people out let's see who's on this this morning we've got all kinds of people i've got facebook pulled up right here jericho's got youtube i'm gonna shout out andrew is watching from tuscan arizona just kidding i was trying to see if you catch it i always say it wrong and it's tucson arizona in case you're wondering fun fact i've actually said it wrong before it's like it's an inside joke but it's tucson arizona so hey shout out to you andrew watching all the way from tucson arizona in the house on facebook we've got tamika that's watching with us this morning we've got summer who's on with us donna diedrick veronica watching from midtown memphis man i'm not gonna lie that really got we got nika watching from collierville we have kim and lonzo watching from peoria illinois we have t baker watching from marion arkansas shout out to arkansas that's right look we've got elizabeth is watching from red banks mississippi if you haven't already go ahead comment let us know where your watch are from take a second share the service let us know once you've shared the service go ahead put it in the chat we might shout you out later on in service today yeah and if you have kids we have a special kid's life online experience that is just for them every sunday 9 30 at 11 15. if your child is between the ages of five years or fifth grade there is a wonderful experience for them where they can learn more about a god interacting some small groups with other children and their leaders it happens every single sunday trust me it is an amazing amazing experience that happens via zoom and you know what there's actually a link that's coming up in the chat that you can click so you can register your child you know safety is a really big priority for us with our kids life team so make sure you go ahead click that link to register you can also follow kidslife on instagram and on facebook at kidslife at the live church and there's even a youtube channel where they're dropping content every single week so make sure that you're also following that if you want to get your kids involved in kids life online yeah you know i'm so thankful that we're a part of a church that really values the next generation and we have environments for our kids even online to get plugged in and to build life-giving relationships so like jericho said if you haven't already go ahead make sure your kids are a part of kids life online you don't want them to miss out well in case you haven't heard our senior pastor pastor john and our new york lead pastor pastor wayne francis have an incredible podcast called leadership in black and white okay so it's a podcast that if you haven't checked out yet you want to make sure that you go on you listen to and subscribe all right they're talking to leaders about all things church race politics uh really talk through some areas that might be gray and kind of give some clarity on some different things what does the bible say and this month actually we're dropping a brand new episode we actually just dropped it and it's very special this month because we actually filmed it live right at the national civil rights museum right here in memphis tennessee we filmed the whole thing right there that whole episode so it's a really special episode i want you to go sure go and click uh the link that's in the chat subscribe to the podcast check out the the latest episode but here's what i wanted you to do i want you to watch this quick video just a little glimpse into what the podcast looks like this month let's check this out [Music] what's up come on that looks amazing so like i said go check it out it's a really special episode this month specifically filmed at the national civil rights museum click the link in the chat to check out that episode we're on apple podcast we're on spotify and we're on youtube so listen places all the platforms covered you got an opportunity to go check it out yeah that's right but hey it is super full weekend the tampa bay buccaneers and the kansas city chiefs are going head to head later on right tonight so that brought up the question what is your favorite super bowl snack you know go ahead let us know in the comments but first i want to tell you i have a controversial opinion let's hear it people don't agree that most people don't agree with it okay rotel okay it's an ingredient it is not a dip all right that might be very true in my mind rotel does not exist because it is not a thing that is yes you're okay but you don't want to eat chocolate like she's a cheese i'm with you on that literally just cheese dip with meat in it yes okay so is that the thing that you look forward to like when you when it comes to super bowl parties yes your favorite snack that spinach dip and wings okay wings that's what i was going to say every year i always go to this super bowl party with some of my friends it's kind of like a tradition that we do and they always cook like these i don't even they're really just basic hot wings like i don't think there's anything fancy about them but they're always so good and always look forward to them let's see in the chat let's see what you guys are saying if you haven't already comment let us know somebody said yep rotel wings and pizza oh listen carlos said guacamole mix oh that's fancy i know i'm like that sounds good well somebody said they're headed to the super bowl tonight you are really fantastic to the super bowl okay you got to let us know how that goes you got to take pictures somebody's at wings and spinach dip vina said wings and spinach dip uh dietrich actually look he's giving his whole pizza order right now on facebook literally diedrich said thin crush hold on i just lost there we go thin crust pizza extra cheese beef pepperoni and green peppers that is very specific if somebody wasn't if somebody was a cindy drink a pizza tonight dietrich would probably be very grateful just saying all right kristen said wings and rotel um wings i feel like wings is wings is like the hot but wings and then pizza pizza's pretty common as well i feel like for super bowl parties like i think it's like a go-to okay but pastor parker actually said this last night i would actually agree with him he was talking about like the rankings of super bowl weekend okay and he was saying like number one it's food which agreed when you think about super all weekend food and he said number two commercials and then number three halftime show and number four football i would actually kind of agree with that i don't really care about football i mean i care about it but not to the point when it's like the super bowl and it's not my team is there to eat i'll be honest eat and then the commercials i love seeing the commercials i'm not even there for that i'm really just there for the season for the food it's all right just gonna be honest it's okay hey speaking of the super bowl and it being super bowl weekend on our facebook page on our online campus facebook page number one if you haven't already gone and joined go do that click the link that's coming up in the chat join our online campus facebook page it is just like a community of of our online family really that we're able to connect in with throughout the week but we have a special post about the super bowl that we want you to go check out you could actually win a piece of merch like church merch all you have to do is comment what do you think the final score will be of the super bowl tonight and who do you think is going to win the person that is the closest the most accurate is actually going to win a piece of merch so go on join our facebook group and then comment who do you think is going to win what do you think the score is going to be great that's right well all right we're a few seconds away from our countdown to go ahead grab your notebooks to grab your bibles let's throw some football emojis in the chat because this week's weekend we're getting ready uh we've got a new series that's coming up in just a second a house that looks like heaven and then we'll also get into worship right after this countdown [Music] [Music] come on are you ready to give god your best worship this morning come on join us put your hands together though joining us online come on here we go [Music] me [Music] call me worthy [Music] you're buried [Music] lifting me up this is what you did for me yeah you lifted me lifting me so my praise will never come down [Music] [Music] what meant [Music] this is what you did for me [Music] [Applause] [Music] will never come down i'll always [Music] worthy you have restored me from broken [Music] come on [Music] [Music] [Music] beautiful [Music] he lifted you up come on sing that out you lifted lived in me lord me up this is what you did for me yes you did yeah will never come down come on [Music] no good [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] that saved my soul all else is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] that this morning [Music] all of this for your glory and all all of this for [Music] we give you all the glory [Music] now jesus slipped in me for i was dead it is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] foreign come on can we thank god that his presence meets us no matter where we are tuning in from today that as we worship him as we encounter him he draws close to us and he's with us even in this moment no matter if we're at home or in our car driving maybe you're at work god's presence is near to us right now in this moment well we're going to continue on in worship here in just a second but as we do as we go back into this next song i first want to just encourage you with a verse it's a verse out of the book of hebrews it's actually hebrews chapter 4 and i want to read it to you it's verse 14 through 16 and here's what it says it says therefore since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven jesus the son of god let us hold firmly to the faith we profess for we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses but we have one who has in every way has been tempted just as we are yet he did not sin let us then approach god's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need i love how in verse 15 it says we don't have a high priest who's not able to empathize with what we're walking through or with what our needs are with what we're facing in our life jesus who came to this earth and walked in a sinless life he faced everything that we could possibly imagine the needs or the temptations that maybe you're feeling today jesus knows what those things are he fills it with you and he's right there in the moment with you and i want to encourage you today to do what verse 16 says to approach god's throne with confidence today to have confidence to bring whatever need you might be facing or whatever temptation you might be struggling with before god today and as you approach god's throne with confidence i believe that he's going to meet you right where you are but it takes us first taking a step to approach god we've got to come to him we've got to put him at the forefront of our life and focus our attention and our affection onto him and worship him and so today i want to encourage you to take a step in worship maybe that looks like click in the link that's coming up in the chat it's a prayer request link and we would love to be able to pray alongside of you and join our faith with yours for whatever you might be walking through or maybe you need to make a moment right where you are and create an altar and just get on your knees and thank god for what he's done in your life or maybe just surrender some things to him today or lastly maybe you need to just partake in communion maybe you need to grab those elements you can grab some bread or a cracker and some juice and remember the price that jesus has paid for us on the cross his body that was broken his blood that was shed but whatever step you're taking today i would encourage you as we go back into worship here in just a second let's press into all that god has for us let's surrender the things that we're believing him for i'm going to pray and we're going to join back in all together god i just thank you lord that we come to you god you are a god that empathizes with what we're going through lord that you are with us in this and so confidently we come to you today surrendering all that we're facing to you we love you and we thank you for meeting us here in this moment in jesus name we pray amen and amen let's join back in all together [Music] and speak life into my soul and who can spend the world around you still hold me ever closer [Music] the wall no one [Music] [Music] know who has made the right just right who has paid my way with praise [Music] a thousand different ways [Applause] [Music] for you no one but i'll sing all your love [Music] i want you to [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] come worship the lord [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is know know you know [Music] oh [Music] it out welcome to the life church we are so glad you are joining us today each weekend we have online services available where you can be a part of worship hear an encouraging message and connect with an online community that is welcoming and friendly we're all about helping people get connected and move forward in life and one of the best ways to get started is by taking your next step stay connected and build life-giving relationships by joining an online life group we have lots of different options to fit a variety of interests and we would love to help you find a life group just visit thelifechurch.com to find one that's right for you if you would like to know more about the life church or how to get involved our online discovery experience is the place for you through discovery you will learn how you can make a difference and get planted in church you can register for discovery online at thelifechurch.com god has an incredible plan for your life and we would love for you to be a part of all that's taking place here at the life church good morning everyone and welcome to the life church online we're so excited that you are here with us this morning especially if you just tuned in yeah a special shout out if you did just tune in or maybe if you're new with us today maybe it's your very first time a part of the life church online we're so glad that you're with us today and on behalf of our senior pastors pastor john and leslie and really our entire team we hope that you feel right at home we hope that you feel like part of the family that's really what we are here at the life church we're one big family all around the world and especially through our online campus and it would mean a lot to us if you let us know that you are new with us today by just clicking the link that's coming up in the chat let us know a little bit about you and maybe how you connected in with us and yeah like i said it would mean a lot and we would love to get you a free gift okay it's a good week we all love gifts yes we all love gifts so make sure that you click that link let us know if you're new with us today so we can get you that and celebrate you yeah and hey and maybe you're not new and you're actually you already consider yourself a part of our online campus and you're wondering what is my next step well discovery online might be for you it's a way for you to learn more about yourself about our church our vision our values and also some interesting surf opportunities i know when i went through discovery i learned so much more about myself through some personality tests and some spiritual gifts tests so go ahead there's a link that's popping up in the chat click that link go through discovery and then afterwards we'll even get you plugged in in our campus get you serving on a team so that we can continue to move god's house forward yeah we're going to take a moment right now to be generous we're actually going to receive our regular tithes and offerings today and you can give very easily online at thelifechurch.com it's a safe and convenient way to be able to give there and you know one of our core values right here at the life church is generosity we say we give generously to invest in changed lives and so know that today when you go to give that that's exactly what you're doing and i would even encourage you maybe you've never taken the step to give and to trust god with your finances why don't you take that step today and actually give take a step and trust god with your finances and a really cool story actually came in this past week with a guy named patrick he said he did just that he heard the message that pastor john preached on tithing just a couple weeks ago and how really he wanted an open heaven over his life and how god had kind of been dealing with him on trusting god with his finances and he said hey i took that step i'm trusting god with my finances and i can't wait to see what is going to come of it and so i would encourage you today as we're having this moment of generosity maybe take that step trust god with your finances today and i'm going to say thank you to all of you that are giving i'm going to pray a special blessing over you as you give today lord i just thank you god for your goodness for your faithfulness in our life i pray that you would bless each and every person as they give and as they trust you with their finances in jesus name we pray amen and amen man all right we're about to jump into the message in just a second brand new message series called a house that looks like heaven yes listen we heard the message last night it is incredible so go ahead grab your notebooks grab your bibles grab whatever it is you need to do to get ready for today's message and after we'll get into it right after this [Music] special [Music] lift every voice and see [Music] ring with [Music] [Music] mercy this is [Music] loud as the [Music] fresh lord take my hands i let me stay [Music] i am weak i am [Applause] [Music] lead me take my hand me [Music] so hallelujah salvation and glory honor and power unto the lord [Music] is [Music] hallelujah and power unto the lord our god is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] he is hallelujah salvation and glory honor and power [Music] [Music] yes [Music] [Applause] is wow wow wow what an amazing amazing time in worship come on he is wonderful he is worthy of all our praise and i think we ought to thank god one more time for his goodness to us his faithfulness to us and maybe you like me don't know the significance of the three songs that our team just led us through but the first song lift every voice and sing was a poem that was first written in the late late 1800s by naacp leader james weldon johnson and it was set to music by his brother and first saying by a choir 500 children in february of 1900 at a abraham lincoln birthday at the very school where mr james was the principal pretty amazing the second song was precious lord take my hand and it's a song that's very well known it was one of dr martin luther king's favorite song one that he would often ask the god the queen of gospel mahalia jackson to sing at some of his events and he actually requested that she sing it at his funeral the third song hallelujah salvation glory was a song that many of our african-americans grew up singing in church in choirs and just a powerful historic song and all those songs just resonate come on with the spirit of just what you know giving god glory and hallelujah and he's worthy of it all and i think so fitting as we kick off you know as a country black history month and just i just think it's awesome that we have a team in our church that can sing those songs i think we ought to thank god for them so good so good well welcome to part one in our series called a house that looks like heaven we just finished a series called open heaven where we talked about as we allow the holy spirit in our lives blessing and power and anointing comes into our lives and now we're moving into a house that looks like heaven and jesus said that his house would be a house of prayer for all nations and he told us to pray let his will be done on earth as it is in heaven and so when we talk about this idea of a house that looks like heaven we're going to be focusing on one of our values of diversity throughout this series and just talking about what that means to us so if you have your bibles turn over to the book of genesis chapter 1 acts chapter 10 i want to welcome all those that are here at all our campuses all those that are joining in online so good to be together come on i hope you came ready to hear god's word to be encouraged be filled up on the inside and uh as you're turning to those two scriptures just want to mention two quick things we have a new leadership in black and white podcast episode that has just been released and if you have not listened to it i encourage you to listen to released on friday where our senior pastor pastor john sibling and our lead pastor in new york sit down together right here in memphis tennessee at the national civil rights museum and just give leadership lessons from the civil rights movement and whether you're a leader in in in schools or in your home wherever you are it's just great thoughts because any leader will face adversity and have to lead with vision and strength and resolve and it's just a great and you can actually go on youtube and see some of the video footage as they're walking through the the civil rights museum it's just so powerful uh and then secondly uh pastor john would normally be kicking off a series like this uh and he was planning on two but he's actually getting over the coronavirus and he's on the other side now and so just encourage you to pray for him as he recovers i know he's ready to come back into the mix of things he'll be back in church this week coming up and so so excited uh for all that's ahead and thankful that god's with us come on and he's protecting us and so good well hey if you are in genesis chapter one i just want us to read this scripture all together it's a foundation of scripture all the way back in the old testament we're in the creation story where god starts to talk about man and woman and what he thinks of humans and i know that sounds kind of funny but the way i said it but it says this in genesis chapter one so god created mankind in his own image in the image of god he created a male and female he created them title my message is diversity doesn't happen by chance it happens by choice let's pray father we thank you for your word we thank you that your word is living and active and it has the power to change our lives and we open our hearts to you we pray that there would be an open heaven over our lives today wherever we're watching lord wherever we're listening to this message lord and hearing your words from your from the bible lord god that there would be lord of revelation in our own hearts and a new resolve and a new commitment for all of us to do our part together to see a house that looks like heaven we thank you for it in jesus name amen well you know we have just finished a series of open heaven and i think when we can have an open heaven over our lives we can see what heaven is like and what it's supposed to be like here on earth and when we're talking about a house we're talking about god's house the local church and you know diversity has been one of our values since the very beginning of the church almost 25 years it's pretty amazing this year we'll celebrate our 25th birthday i think we ought to thank god for that for his faithfulness come on 25 years y'all and i think just we ought to just a shout out to our pastors who from the very start had it in their heart to have a church that whose value was diversity and and you know it's one of those things that through the years we've had to hold on to and say this is what we feel god's heart is even from the very beginning we see in the creation story that he created all men and women in his image and you know diversity uh we started to tweak some of our uh values and adding some statements that would kind of help define it and help guide us as we move forward into the next season of church for us and so we define we get added to diversity this statement that we are building a house that looks like heaven and we started with we are a house that looks like heaven but we realize that we haven't arrived and there is still work to do and as long as we're on this earth we're gonna have to all to do our part together to make sure that we do have a house that looks like heaven because diversity doesn't happen by chance it happens by choice it happens by us choosing by us individually choosing but in our homes choosing that it's god's heart but as a church deciding it as a city as a nation can i get an amen a little quiet making me nervous i'm latino i like to be loud move my hand so if you're like whoa here we go look to your neighbor say get ready vamos chico that just means let's go man let's go man and we said we are building because it is going to take all of us not just black people not just latino people not just white people not just asian people but it's going to take all of us it's we are building and we say building because if you've ever built anything you know that it's going to take work it's going to take sweat it's going to take a lot of choices if you've ever built a house you know that there's a lot of ups and downs and drama and issues but you keep this vision of living in that house and the blessing that that house will be one day and so you keep it before you and you keep working and you keep you keep paying the price and you keep making the choices you need to so that you can have a house that you live into and we say and we say this that like heaven because heaven is our blueprint because a house unified together is a kingdom agenda it's not a political agenda it's not a race agenda it's not a worldly agenda it's a kingdom agenda i said think about it in the end the book of revelation it says that before the throne of god will stand a great multitude from every nation from every tongue from every tribe from every people group on the face of the planet i think some people are going to get to heaven they're going to be shocked who's there who let them in i didn't know oh i didn't know they could get into because guess what we are all made in the image of god and it's not up to us who gets in it's up to god who gets in some of y'all just need to receive that because sometimes we're so judgmental on our biases or our beliefs that we miss out on realizing that god is the ultimate judge and to be honest we came into this series a little hesitant to teach on diversity again because it feels after 2020 there could be a little fatigue but how many i know when it's a value it's a value whether things are good or whether they're bad if it's a value it's a value whether you feel like it or not if it's a value you keep talking about it and you keep letting it guide you whether it's comfortable or not whether you're fatigued or not you know and there's always going to be different views and different uh different beliefs about jesus it's like the two guys that i heard about maybe a story maybe you heard the story where these two guys that were always arguing about whether jesus was black or whether jesus was white and joe was always sure that jesus was white and sam was just assured that jesus was black and as fate would have it they end up dying on the same day they end up going to heaven and when they get there they both rush towards the pearly gates and they see saint peter there and they're like peter peter please tell us is jesus white or black we've been arguing about this all our lives and just about that time jesus walks up and he says buenos dias [Applause] now we all may have different ideas of what jesus is like but we're going to look in the word of god today of what his heart is for all people and i do know no he wasn't latino just because i'm latino okay you're like he was jewish he was jewish i know all right so values are not just cute phrases you put on the wall values are guardrails values help you when you're tempted when you're tested they keep you on the right path values help guide our emotions when things get very emotional and very heated you all know what i'm talking about y'all ever been in an argument somebody's just all worked up and you're like there is no going back they're going off they're going off the mountain right now and you know what they need in that moment some guard rails and values are like guardrails that help you stay true to your convictions especially when you're facing challenging times or when you're facing blessing or you're facing persecution for example if generosity is a value you'll keep being generous whether the economy is good or whether the economy is bad whether people are living in fear or people are feeling like there's abundance you're going to keep being generous in every season another example if faithfulness is a value in my marriage i'm not just going to be faithful when it's convenient or when i'm around my wife no i'm going to be faithful in good and bad in sickness and in health it's a value right it's going to guide me i should have got a better amen from the married people there i'm just saying husbands that was a good moment be like amen amen let's try it again i'm just gonna say you're gonna be faithful whether you feel like it or not it's good some people are getting elbows from the very beginning in the book of genesis we get this picture of god's heart for all people so god created mankind all humans in his own image in his image he created a male and female he created him he created every one of us to mirror him to show to the world who he is all of us regardless of our beliefs regardless of our worldview regardless of our experiences regardless of our economic status every single human being has been created in the image of god and everything centers around that god made us in his image it really does everything we do in this world changes when you realize someone is god's son or god's daughter regardless of their religion regardless of what they believe regardless of the color of their skin that's god's kids and any mistreatment for any reason for any reason for any reason is a violation of this foundational scripture and we can never put our comfort over the value of the creation plan over this creation story over the very initial thoughts that god said these are his words we made god we made all mankind in our image and it's our because we believe in a triune god god the father jesus the son and the holy spirit were all together and looked like they were like look what we made it looked like us you know sometimes when babies come out they don't look like their parents but give it time you know and and i think some of us were like but they don't look like it just give them time she's got to give people space give people grace even the disciples had to get a revelation of this you're like well yeah you know i i we should know this you're like this is elementary but even the disciples those who spent time with jesus had to get this understanding that we're all made in the image of god if you're in the book of acts acts chapter 10 there's a story there where even certain people were brought together to really paint a picture for us even today with everything we're facing you think we would have learned this we think this would have been something that would be inherently known that we would be like oh yeah this is true how we treat one another how we talk about one another how we post about one another in acts chapter 10 it starts off with the story of a man named cornelius who was a soldier he belonged to the italian regiment and he was a god-fearing man he gave often to the poor and he prayed often and so one day he's in he's in prayer and as he's praying an angel shows up he has a vision of an angel that says cornelius and he says yes i mean yes and god shows up in his prayer time and and he calls his name and he says all that you have done for the poor and your prayers have come up as a memorial before the lord and he says and because of the kind of life you've lived because of the kind of you doing what you could do and doing what you were called to do i want you to be a part of a story that i'm going to teach all my people it's not that's not said there but you can read in between the lines he says i want you to send some of your men to go get a man named simon the simon peter who's staying at a tanner's house and he says and i want you to bring him here because he has a message for you and then we pick up so cornelius does as he's instructed he sends three of his men to go to joppa to get peter in acts chapter 10 verse 9 we pick up and it says in about that very same time peter at noon is moving towards this house to pray he says and they were on their journey and approaching the city and peter went up on a roof to pray and he became hungry and he and and he wanted to eat and while the meal was being prepared he fell into a trance all these people falling into trances and having visions just things happen when you pray he saw heaven opened up and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners it contained all kinds of four-footed animals as well as reptiles and birds then a voice told them get up peter kill and eat and he says surely not you know it's never good to be like no god no i'm not feeling that surely not lord peter replied i have never eaten anything impure or unclean and the voice spoke to him a second time do not call anything impure that god has made clean and this happened three times and immediately the sheet was taken back into heaven so here we see two men that are praying and god shows up and tells them something you know as i was praying and thinking about this and praying for this week and i really thought you know here's cornelius just a normal guy doing what he's supposed to do and because he was faithful to do his little part god connected him to a bigger story that now over two thousand years later we're still talking about him and so never underestimate your part and you may think your part's just little and you're just feeding these people over here nobody knows about and you're just doing what you're doing in your prayer time and that god doesn't see it god sees it and god knows how to connect all the dots and make an influence and an impact for for history and so while peter was wondering what this vision meant the men show up see peter was a religious man he was a jewish man and in those days there were certain rules of what you could eat and what you couldn't eat and so to that day you know to this day jewish people are very strict on what they eat what they don't eat according to old testament rules and and laws but the apostle peter had a long-standing bias against anyone who wasn't a jew until god begins to deconstruct his worldview and isn't it so that sometimes god has to deconstruct what we've grown up believing the tradition that we've come up in the voices we've heard in our life about other people in other cultures and it says that he goes up on this rooftop to pray he's praying then three men show up god already told them don't hesitate you better go down and answer them so he goes down and he answers them and and he invites them in and the next day they set out like he was told to go to the house of cornelius and cornelius you got to imagine if an angel just showed up and told you send three men to get somebody to to get this person you're like man this guy's gonna tell us something important and so he grabs all his relatives and all his neighbors it's like we're going to be up in here waiting for this man peter to show up and it's just a good thought for us that as god gives us revelation as god teaches us thing that we don't keep it to ourselves but we bring all our relatives and all our neighbors and all our people that are in our world along the journey so that we can all get the revelation together and it doesn't die with us that was just a little bonus material acts chapter 10 verse 28 peter shows up he rolls in the house and he says to them you're well aware that is against our law for a jew to associate or visit with the gentile but god has shown me that i should not call anyone impure or unclean so i was sent for and i came without raising any objection see when god speaks something to us we should go without showing any objection we should not always be leading with but i heard a long time ago don't be a butt first christian don't be walking backwards into every situation but but but and trying to rationalize with god just go without any objection but you don't know what they believe but you don't know what they've been posting but you don't know their viewpoint on that but you don't know what they stand for i don't know how i could ever be friends with somebody like that so he asked cornelius why he's sinner cornelius tells him about the visitation of the angel he instructs in that he was instructed to send peter to get for peter and then verse 34 peter begins to speak and he says i now realize see there was an open heaven god spoke he has a revelation and now it becomes something that he realizes he needs to live out i now realize how true it is that god does not show favoritism god does not show favoritism god does not show favoritism we should not show favoritism but accepts people from every nation from every nation even the nations you think aren't so good even the nations you think well they don't even love god from every nation the one who fears him and does what's right wow here we are all these years later to hear what god's trying to tell us and like in the day of peter there were certain rules in culture and certain ways that people treated each other because it was their custom or it was their bias or it was their their racism in them or whatever it was and here we are hearing these same words and i have prayed that god as we speak his word would give us an open heaven and that we would have a revelation that only god can bring into our hearts so that we can move life forward so that we can help do our part as a church to have a house that looks like heaven we are building a house that looks like heaven then peter begins to preach the gospel he begins to tell all those people that are gathered there about jesus and how he went to the cross and he paid the price for all man that no one should perish that no one should be separated from him maybe you're today you're here and you're watching today wherever you are and you've never made that decision the good news is you can make that decision the very same words that peter was speaking i'm speaking to you today and tell you there's always hope jesus paid the price for our forgiveness see i think all of us who have heard it says in that moment that as peter was speaking later in that chapter all who were all who were there heard the message and the holy spirit came on them that's what i've been praying for that we would have the holy spirit come and give us a revelation see because diversity doesn't happen by chance it happens by choice but first it has to happen where we get a revelation and it seems like today there's more hatred and there's more division and there's more culture biases and separation than even in the in the story we just read but i think we have to choose love we have to keep choosing love i love what dr martin luther king said i've decided to stick with love because hate is too great of burden to bear hate is not a burden that we're called to carry that none of us can actually carry that'll actually destroy us from the inside out and we have to choose to love people that are different us people who have maybe hurt us and mistreated us people who let me just get practical have different political views than us people who have different skin color than us people have different nationalities who have different cultures different religions different world views different economic statuses who live in different neighborhoods who come from the other side of the track who maybe grew up completely different on the opposite side of you so i want us to focus on this thought this value of diversity the very word diverse means to include or inclusion and christianity is the most powerful uh diverse religious movement in the world in all of history you think about that most religions really are steeped in one culture christianity has crossed all cultures jesus would cross all cultures and all racial barriers in his day you know when we're talking about diverse it does speak to social economic diversity and age and gender but this weekend we're talking about racial diversity because to have a house that looks like heaven it will be all peoples that are part of that and so with the idea that diversity doesn't happen by chance but it happens by choice how do we personally make that choice how do we keep taking steps how do we all every one of us keep building towards this so that our houses and the house and the greater house of the lord is like heaven number one if you're taking notes pray for a personal conviction you personally pray for personal conviction as you've heard these words as you're hearing these words this weekend i invite you i ask you in your own time to ask the lord to give you a personal conviction to give you a personal revelation peter had to get a vision or a revelation from god about this and when you get a revelation from god you can have a conviction a strongly held belief that will keep you because conviction will give you courage under fire israel was told to be bold and courageous as they were taking new ground and they were fighting enemies and today as we're fighting and taking new ground and taking more ground for god coming y'all know we have to have courage courage will come from conviction conviction will come from having a revelation and having faith in the lord says this in acts chapter 10 we wrote it reread it already then a voice spoke to him a second time don't do not call anything that i have made pure unclean that i have made clean unclean that happened three times can you say three times and immediately the sheet was taken back see he saw heaven opened up so he'd get a picture of what's supposed to be in his house and god tells him three times to drive home a point for him to get a revelation two or three witnesses are god's method of divine confirmation he sent three guys to get him he told him three times he's like i'm trying to let you know i'm setting the biblical precedent that this is important that this is massive that this is necessary for us to move the church forward it was such a critical time then and it's such a critical time now in the church where we all need to get this that we cannot call impure anything that god has said is pure we cannot call anyone unclean or not worthy for who god has called worthy and clean and some of you are like i'm still not convinced and as human beings we've all been created in the image of god you know i was telling my son this sounds so elementary it sounds like duh but we're not living it out as a culture as a city as a church at large second thing is this is that we need to pursue diverse relationships we personally after we get that conviction we have to pursue you know sometimes i've realized that people are real comfortable and okay with that their church believes that but they're not living it out personally and i just think that even as the bible says that if you're not a priest in your own house how will you ever be a priest in the household of god if it's not something the conviction that you're living and teaching and breathing to your own relatives and your own neighbors then how will it be something that really has greater strength together in the house of god so that we can have a house that looks like heaven see we need to pursue those diverse relationships ourselves he says you are well aware that it is against our law for a jew to associate or visit with the gentile you're like all right all associated but i ain't visiting with them i am visiting with somebody from the other side i am visiting with somebody from a different skin color but god has shown me i should not call anyone impure or unclean so when i was sent for i went without any objection it's time to go forward without any objection in peter's day there were all these written and unwritten rules customs of who you associate with i'm a jew you're a gentile i'm latino you're black you're white i'm latino oh we can't all we yeah we come together at work but not at church and not at the grocery store and not when it matters the most not in our homes i know i know this is like god this why whoo this is like holy spirit but you know building with somebody a relationship with somebody that's different than you can just expand your whole world can bring a whole new level of revelation of god think about this if we're all made in the image of god could there be that you're missing a picture of who god is because you're not hanging out with certain of his kids you know every one of my kids is different i see different parts of me and different parts of my wife and if you know them all you're like oh yeah you are mundo's kid oh yeah you are amanda's daughter because you see a different piece of who god is in every one of us and it could it be that we're missing different pieces of who god is the full picture of who god is because we don't know all of his children see maybe for you it's just getting involved in a life group with other people from other races from other backgrounds from other cultures maybe it's inviting somebody to your house for dinner oh you're like well that's a little too much maybe it's going to lunch with somebody go get coffee with somebody just to learn to hear somebody's story i could tell you how powerful it's been in my life coming here as a as a as a latino man coming to the united states as a small child i saw that even latino the latino community likes to stick with themselves my parents we would go to hispanic church we would go to hispanic grocery stores we would bank with hispanic people we would hang out with hispanic people and it was a lot of fun and it was crazy because the latino people are just we're always up for a party but i see how it could held them back because they never fully integrated into culture they never fully got a picture of what it was like to be a true american and so many times even in church i see people come they're like can we just have our own service can we just have our own worship can we have our own bible study i'm like no we're called to be a diverse church all together all bringing our own flavor our own ability our own our own experiences to add to the whole so that we could build a house that looks like heaven as long as we stay segregated and separated and isolated we may be all together in the same room and still be isolated and still be segregated and not be able to build a house that looks like heaven i could tell you this past fall our whole staff and some key leaders did some diversity life groups and it was just was so powerful to sit and listen to people's story and just to go wow that was your upbringing that's what you've and it just cannot be honest several times it just broke my heart it broke my heart how we can treat each other it broke my heart of their experiences and it just you know there was there was moments like that and there was moments where we would just laugh and learn new cultural things and be like no way what and then we started going to different restaurants from different backgrounds and it was like whoa a whole new world it's just as like i never ate chicken like this i've never eaten food like this and you know when i got married i got married to a woman who's cuban lebanese and southern and cajun and let me just tell you i was like whoa you people can do stuff different that's what latino people sometimes say you people you know amanda's grandfather would say all the time she would say you people i'm like that's a little racist but okay whatever but my relationships in my life have just been so enriched but i you know what i even as a as a minority have had to press into diverse relationships because it's just it's so easy just to hang out with people that are like you it's just everything seems like it could be easier but it's not necessarily better let me say like this it's not kingdom number three we need to persist in fighting for unity we need to persist in fighting for unity i think that so many of us are held back because we're not willing to fight because the cost is too much maybe because of what other people would think or maybe because of the cultural backlash or what our family would friends would say i remember i remember as a young man bringing people from other races to my house and i remember that it wasn't always received right but i remember thinking that's not right and i need to press into this and it wasn't that it was just cold i was pressing up against certain cultural beliefs certain customs in my own family and i just think that we're missing the full picture of who god is i was thinking about crayons you all remember crayons when you get a box of eight you all remember the little boxes of eight so cute a little box of eight when it's interesting when you open up the box of eight you can only draw certain things with a box of eight there's not even white in the box of eight there's not a peach color you're missing a lot of things your picture is going to be limited you know whatever your guy that you're drawing is not going to be maybe the way you want it then you step up to the 24 pack 24 packs awesome you got got different colors in here you got white got brown got orange got different color red got different fancy names on them now and uh it's just pretty cool you know but you're still not gonna be able to draw certain pictures and then when you step up into the 64. 64 is awesome you know why it's awesome it's cause it's got a sharpener in the back of it i just think that some things just get sharper the picture just gets sharper we get sharpened as we add more more diversity into our lives you open here you're like we could draw some pictures we could really paint creation and then and then you could step up and you step up to the 96er and you open here you're like we got options y'all we got metallic colors we got fuchsia we got some greens i never even heard of we got some mango color some mahogany i remember drawing as a little kid and only having the peach color and i'll be like that's not my skin color why is everybody gotta drop everybody that's peach recently heard about a little girl eight-year-old girl who started a company called more than peach and she started this 501c3 crayon company and she gives to different people to help push forward this idea of diversity as an eight-year-old and i just think you know so many of us were limited with the little box and god's like i want to expand the box i want to expand the house i want to open up the opportunities because because here's the deal when you're drawing even a sky you know one of my favorite things is sunsets and you see it you can't just use certain colors to draw you need all kinds of colors and i think so many of us don't have a clear picture of creation and a clear picture of god's plan because we're drawing from a little box and god's like i need you to open up the box i need you to let other people i need you to get sharpened i need you to get sharper image i need you to get a different picture of what i'm trying to do i need you and i know what you're saying well you could just mix certain colors to get the colors you want but but let me tell you yeah some of that may mean you have to mix certain colors some of us are just against even mixing that's a whole other message right there but god in his infinite plan and his desires and his heart for us was that we wouldn't stay limited to little box that we wouldn't stay small that we would expand so we got to keep persisting and fighting for unity pressing for it i choose kingdom over easy i choose kingdom over my culture i choose kingdom over my preferences i choose kingdom over what feels good i choose kingdom over what the cultural beliefs and customs and rules are because diversity doesn't happen by chance it happens by choice hebrews says this in chapter 12 therefore strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees make level paths for your feet so that the lame may not be disabled but rather healed make every effort to live in peace with everyone to be holy without holiness no one will see the lord i think so many of us have not even seen the lord to the extent that we're called to see him and because we have limited what what our thoughts are about all people and we're not persisting for unity we're not persisting to fight that we would all be together and strengthen our own arms sometimes you just gotta work it out when you're weak in an air you just gotta work it out you're not like just gonna pray that it gets better it's not just gonna happen by chance it's gonna happen by choice you're gonna have to get up and start working out you're gonna have to get up and start getting in relationships with people that don't look like you you're gonna have to get up and stand up on your own two feet and get over to somebody that isn't like you and learn their story i want to see the lord i want to see the lord in his fullness and the vision for our house the value is that we are building a house that looks like heaven come on can you just thank god for his word thank god for his goodness for his love and bow your heads maybe wherever you are wherever you're listening in and maybe you're here today and you feel like wow it sounds so amazing to be a part of the family of god and maybe you're here and you feel like you're on the outside looking in you're watching today from wherever you are and you feel like you're you're not where you should be when your relationship with god and you know you need to make things right see the bible says that if you confess with your mouth that jesus is lord and you believe in your heart that he raised from the dead then you can be saved save from living separate from him save from living a hopeless life you can have a forgiveness for your past a fresh start today and hope for your tomorrow but it's your decision no one else can make that decision your family your church your spouse your brother your sister your friend your girlfriend your boyfriend whoever brought you whoever you're sitting with it's your decision your personal decision and i've been praying for you believing that in this moment you would say yes to him because he's reaching out to you and he has good things in store for you and he wants to bring you into the fullness of what your life was supposed to be what it's meant to be what is desire is for you but it starts in moments like this where you make the decision to make jesus lord of your life and so in a moment we're going to pray a prayer that we call fresh start prayer prayer of new beginnings and give you the opportunity to make jesus your lord and to put him in the driver's seat of your life and i'm not going to ask you to do anything else but when i do give you that invitation i'm just going to ask you to raise your hand and have some boldness and say yes that's me it's a sign of surrender it's a sign of inviting god in and saying yes i'm making this decision do you have to do that no but i think it's important for you to say this is a moment this is a decision i'm clearly making to now follow for god because praying to prayer is one thing now you're gonna then have to live the life and get to experience all that he has for you and so no one looking around front to back side to side with everybody's head bowed wherever you are you're listening whatever campus you're at wherever you're watching from if you know you need to be included in this prayer you know god's dealing with your heart you need to make a fresh start with god you need that forgiveness i'm talking about i'm just going to ask you to shoot your hand up right now say that's me include me in this prayer pastor go ahead with some boldness say yes that's me i need to make this decision i need to make things right with god go ahead keep saying yes sir hands going up anybody else that say please include me in this prayer awesome you can put your hands down we're going to pray this prayer all out loud together celebrating with everybody who's making this decision pray this with me dear god i thank you for sending your son to die on the cross and rise again i ask you to forgive me of all my sins cleanse me make me whole and give me the strength to live for you all the days of my life in jesus name amen come on can we celebrate all those that prayed that prayer oh yeah wow what an amazing message to kick off our series a house that looks like heaven and congratulations if you just prayed that prayer to make a fresh start yeah that's right we just want to say congratulations again we're going to keep saying it over and over again because the decision that you just made isn't one that is going to change your life forever our senior pastor pastor john sibling actually wrote a book with you in mind to help you along as you made this fresh start it's actually a book called fresh start with god it has seven chapters so maybe you want to take a chapter a day over the next uh couple of the next week or so so make sure that you go ahead click the link that's coming up in the chat so that you can celebrate yourself for making that fresh start yeah and a special shout out to all of you that might be watching for the very first time today if you're new with us we're so glad that you're a part of our online family with us and there's a link that's coming up in the chat it would mean a lot to us if you just let us know that you are new with us today we want to celebrate you and then we want to get you a free gift for being with us so make sure you click on that link in the chat let us know today if you're new with us so we can celebrate you yes hey maybe you have some good eyes and you notice these cupcakes that are right here next to us i'm not going to pick mine up because i don't want to drop it that would be actually that's my look i didn't even think about it that's right all right but we are actually cupcakes yes we are celebrating reaching 10 000 subscribers on our youtube channel shout out to look at betty right now it looks like confetti is falling on us but really it's not it's all an illusion i'm just kidding yes i love it it is but hey we only reached that milestone because of people like you subscribing to our channel sharing our channel and doing so many other amazing things so hey if you haven't already go ahead click that subscribe button encourage some other people to subscribe you know our team they work so hard putting content out every single weekend so that you can see us right so you can see a service and um some worship specials so please please please go ahead subscribe to our channel and thank you guys so much for letting us reach 10 come on 10k official i love it yeah such a celebration so we're celebrating over here with our little celebration cupcakes all the fun and because the super bowl weekend so one is awesome we got a little super bowl this is the only super bowl ring i'll ever get in my entire life right here this is it people you're you're watching it now all right well let's talk about the message let's uh stick around for a little bit we're gonna have some discussion around the message what a powerful word um from pastor mundo to really kick off that series and what a needed word especially right now in our world so why don't you come in the chat we've got our our phones right here with the chats that are pulled up why don't you comment maybe if there was a certain point or a certain uh maybe phrase that pastor mundo talked about in the message today that hit home for you i know there was a couple things that really hit home for me jericho what stood out to you today yeah i think honestly it was the title of the message diversity doesn't happen by chance it happens by choice and i think that's so important to remember you know we choose who we are around all the time we choose who we surround ourselves with and that really makes an impact on our life and so i think that's super important to continue to remember as we go through everyday life yeah and i mean really the concept of that but then also tied with those three points that are so needed in our our world you know number one praying for a personal conviction that is really how it starts we've got to have that personal conviction in our own lives and then number two pursue diverse relationships and then number three persist in fighting for unity and i love how really it all ties back it's our choice in order to do all of those things we've got to first take a step and choose to fight for diversity in our life right we've got to choose to fight for unity within our life because ultimately when we get to heaven that's what heaven's gonna look like it's not gonna be all of one people group it's not gonna be everybody that looks like you but it's gonna be every type of person and i love it i think that's just such a picture of what our church should look like and i'm so thankful that our church does look like that that it's one of our core values diversity is a part of our church and so i'm so thankful for our pastors and leaders that lead us in that but let's go in the chat let's see what people are saying in the chats if you haven't already go ahead and comment let us know like i said we've got facebook we have youtube pulled up right here all right sherry said diversity is a kingdom agenda so good uh brad said don't be a butt first christian oh yeah that's right that is good kelly said values are guard rails i love how pastor muno talks about values that we really need values for our life you know we have values for our church but what are your values for your life because there really there are guard rails as to how we believe and what we believe and how we live our life uh that's a great thought trina said the same thing values are guardrails i love it yeah that's awesome um let's see someone else said we can't call anything or anyone unclean that god has created that was a powerful i like put that down in my notes like yeah who are we to call unclean what god is called clean yeah that's good that's a good place yeah someone else uh christine said god does not show favoritism but he accepts every nation i love that like demetrius said remember to give people time to look like jesus yeah people aren't perfect right we're imperfect human beings i'm imperfect jericho's imperfect right we all mess up we've got to give some people some time sometimes to actually look like jesus but like i said if you haven't already go ahead comment in the chat let us know uh what maybe stuck out to you from the message today yeah that's right and hey maybe you are wondering what your next step is what can you do to get even more plugged into god's house so maybe discovery online is for you it's easy and accessible all you have to do is click the link in the chat to sign up you'll learn more about yourself learn more about our church our vision our values and so many other amazing things so be sure you click that link if you think discovery is the next step for you yeah well what a great day in church come on it's been an amazing service we've got one more service ahead so if you haven't already maybe uh let somebody know that church is happening why don't you do that right now let somebody know that church is happening we've got one more service 11 15. we'll be going live here in just a few minutes and maybe if you missed part of service today you can actually go on and uh join us for next service you can catch the whole thing we've got a powerful song special we're kicking off the new series that church is happening that's right but before we go i want to pray a special prayer of blessing over you and your family today so we're going to close in prayer lord i just thank you for today god i thank you for every person that is tuning in today god i pray lord that you would uh just bless them god that you would keep them or that your face would shine upon them and that you would give them peace or that you would be gracious to them and lord that your face would just shine upon them in every single aspect and lord i just pray go with us this week keep us safe bring us all back together in jesus name we pray amen and amen well we love you guys thanks for tuning in with us today we hope you have a great weekend [Music] [Music] you

Channel: The Life Church

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Length: 94min 43sec (5683 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 07 2021