"A Measure Of Flexibility For Flourishing" - 8AM

nothing over here yes [Music] [Music] so [Music] thanks pass church family welcome to tcww trending we're so happy that you decided to join us for our virtual service don't forget to follow us on facebook instagram and youtube so you can stay informed church family here's a preview of our upcoming events church family join us for our fall session of small group classes with teachings written by our pastor ralph douglas west living under god's protection evangelistic expressions sharing your faith and reading and understanding the bible check out sgbs.tcww.org to see everything we have to offer then grab your bible and join us to grow in god's grace and knowledge meet new people and build relationships we'll see you in small group [Music] change for life is a way to assist in the fight against breast cancer we are asking you to donate today to help support those who are in the fight against breast cancer visit women.tcww.org for more information join the marriage ministry for a season circle chat session where couples discuss timely topics with other couples in their season of marriage register today for details please contact marriage at tcwwwministries.org [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] change for life is a way to assist in the fight against breast cancer we are asking you to donate today to help support those who are in the fight against breast cancer visit women.tcww.org for more information this morning why don't you stand wherever you are if you know that god is all that you need come to sing this song to the lord this morning every breath you breathe you're all like me you're you're all i need oh all i need you i'm one of [Music] you're my i wanna clothes closer every breath you're all like need you're all like me i need you i need you i am is i need you i need you [Music] let us go to god in prayer lord jesus christ you demonstrated faithfulness in all of life even to death on the cross grant unto me grace and strength to faithfully follow you all the days of my life amen turn to me with me in the old testament psalm 8 and it reads lord our lord how majestic is your name in all the earth you have set your glory in the heavens through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies to silence the foe and the avenger when i consider your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you have set in place what is mankind that you are mindful of them human beings that you care for them you have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor you made the rulers over the works of your hands you put everything under their feet all flocks and herds and the animals of the wild the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea all that swim the paths of the seas lord our god how majestic is your name in all the earth good morning would you move over into your bibles to the new testament with me we'll be reading from the book of hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 through 4. in the past god spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom also he made the universe the sun is the radiance of god's glory and the exact representation of his being sustaining all things by his powerful word after he meaning jesus had provided purification for sins he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven so he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited superior to theirs this is the word of god thanks be to god if you would bow with me and let us pray oh lord how excellent is your name in all the earth we exalt and we praise your name thank you that you are mindful of man your majestic glory fills the earth how is it that one as great and awesome as you would notice us to care for us and to love us but in all our frailty and mortality you have created us to be like you a little lower than the angels but you gave us glory and honor you gave us power and authority to rule over what you have fashioned help us to be good stewards to take care of and nurture all creation and all of life father god give us eyes to see the wonder and beauty of your creation give us minds to recognize your sovereignty over human history give us hearts to receive your redemption through your son jesus christ lord we pray for the safety and humane treatment of all those that are affected at our texas borders and for all those still being affected by hurricanes by floods fires and volcanic volcano eruptions across the land we ask for your peace your protection and your provision we pray for those serving in positions of power and authority locally nationally and internationally that you would lead and guide them to make sound judgment and decisions for the good of all involved we ask that you continue to bless all front line workers and give them enduring strength we pray that you continue to protect all school children teachers administrators and faculty we pray for the families of victims of senseless crimes that have plagued our cities and nation please father grant them comfort and peace then lord we lift up our own bereaved families to you with your comforting love we ask that you guard the hearts of linda lacey d'andrea baptist t.c and curtis dixon homer and rosalind ward claudia drayton lawrence shields clady mcneal reverend lynette maclean carol engmann the family of joan varela kenny miles mary miles and anita smith lord almighty we also lift up our pastor ralph douglas west our first lady sharita west and their entire family lord we ask that you continue to bless them and watch over them protect them grant them wisdom direction and clarity of vision as they continue to lead your people bless our church leadership bless our staff bless our congregation and our first time friends in the mighty merciful and powerful name of jesus we pray amen my mouth can the meditation of my heart be acceptable lord to thee [Music] and [Music] lord to thee [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] my [Music] good morning church family if you know life is worth living oh yeah just because he lives we invite you this morning to sing along with us with this morning's hymn because he lives [Applause] jesus [Music] oh [Music] because my savior oh [Music] my is [Music] oh [Music] is come on you know it's singing with us oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is me hallelujah because he live i can face tomorrow i can face today i can face forevermore and i know you're sitting at home just waving your hand and thanking god for being in the midst of your presence today to god to be the glory for the great things he has done good morning to you church without walls family thank you for worshiping with us this morning thank you for inviting all of your friends and loved ones to join us each and every week for an exciting time of being in the presence of the lord we certainly want to thank god for those who have joined us even from our international audience thank you for joining us from nigeria in panama and norway and south africa thank you for joining us from canada and the bahamas saudi arabia and the united kingdom from anguilla in australia and mexico they join us from all around the world and we are grateful for your presence our first time friends and guests we are so glad to have you and thank you for visiting the church without walls virtually and we encourage you to invite again all of your friends and family and loved one to join us on facebook or youtube join the church without wall's website as well as the church without walls app so that you can worship with us and immediately after our service our welcome team would like to spend some time with you you see the number on the screen you can text welcome and they would like to share with you more about the church without walls we want to celebrate today the union of marriage we're celebrating an anniversary of matthew and wanda nickin celebrating 31 years 31 years let's thank god for the nikkens family church family we want to thank you personally for your continued support of our disaster relief and recovery efforts you have been so generous in helping us for those who have been impacted by hurricane and by the hurricanes and our relief efforts continue to the families of those in louisiana and surrounding areas gulf coast as well as haiti our initiative in haiti is picking up and we certainly want to invite and encourage those of you who would like to be part of the disaster relief and recovery team to go to the church without walls website click on disaster and there you will see a link to join we look forward to being able to serve men and women boys and girls families who are impacted greatly by these disasters and we thank you yet again for your continued support this is still hurricane season we want to encourage you to continue to go to readyharris.org so that you can stay up to date on the latest and greatest and they actually have a text number where you can receive alerts to your phone so that you can be informed with what's happening at that particular moment i want to remind you that also that we're still in the midst of covet 19. you got to wear your mask wear your mask wear your mask wash your hands practice social distancing use hand sanitizer harris county is still in the red zone but we're trusting and believing god that it's going to come down amen we're trusting and bleeding but we have to do our part so we're still partnering with the hashtag better together campaign as it relates to the covet 19 pandemic and encourage you if you haven't had an opportunity to do so already to consider being vaccinated again all of this information is available to you at readyharris.org church family tomorrow tomorrow october the 4th is the final day to register in order to be able to vote in november the second election be sure to go to votetexas.gov votetexas.gov to check your status and to complete the registration application our civic engagement ministry team is available to you if by chance you have any questions as you relate to all things law and civil engagement please be sure to send an email to civic engagement at tcw ministries dot civic engagement at tcwwministries.org and they'll be more than happy to assist you and lastly we are still during our weekly prayer devotionals and so we want to continue to pray together each week as a congregation so please be sure to check the website each week for the prayer devotional focus and we want to make sure that we are all together in unity of prayer amen peace be on to you [Music] [Music] that jesus [Music] glory [Music] that gives me [Music] [Music] [Music] oh feet [Music] [Music] one day [Music] is [Music] yes [Music] yes [Music] from [Music] [Music] amen amen as we come to the table of the lord on this world communion sunday where christians all over the world are gathering together to remember what the lord has done for us as we prepare our hearts and minds to receive the supper let's turn our attention to the screen as we read the apostle creed together i believe in god the father almighty creator of heaven and earth i believe in jesus christ god's only son our lord who was conceived by the holy spirit born of a virgin mary suffered under pontius pilate was crucified died and was buried he descended to the dead on the third day he rose again he ascended into heaven and he is seated at the right hand of the father and he will come to judge the living and the dead i believe in the holy spirit the holy christian church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen this bread it represents the body of christ you and i we are the body of christ let's break together and let's eat together and this cup it is symbolic of the blood the blood that jesus shed it for you and for me church he suffered on that cross but he didn't stay dead for early one sunday morning he got up with all power in his hands because he lives you and i can face tomorrow because he lives all fear is gone let's drink together lord how we thank you and how we give you all the glory honor and praise oh lord you're worthy to be praised and how we thank you for what you've done for each and every one of us and lord let us never take coming to the table for granted lord we do this in remembrance of the one who suffered bled and died but lord he got up with all power in his hands and so father god remind us lord that we have the power through the blood of jesus thank you for what you have done thank you for what you're doing and lord we thank you for what you're going to do in the mighty name of jesus christ we pray amen and amen [Music] is mountains [Music] my [Music] [Music] [Music] i'm pressing on [Music] he's able through many trials and through every test whatever it takes i'm yes i turn whatever whatever whatever yes oh oh oh i will trust you [Music] hallelujah [Music] whatever whatever i will trust whatever whatever whatever oh hallelujah [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] god [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] said i'll pay redemption rise so he took [Music] the perfect sacrifice [Music] every chance could have paid the debt and god could [Music] but he knew the calls of one lost soul was more than well could buy and if redemption only love whatever [Music] is [Music] [Laughter] [Music] oh [Music] sure [Music] [Music] salvation and glory [Music] honor and power he is me he is [Music] he is to be [Music] this is the day the lord has made we rejoice and we are glad in it thank you choir for reminding us that god is wonderful hallelujah as we continue our study in the letter to the corinthians open god's word with me now to first corinthians chapter 9 and beginning at verse 19 hear what paul says in defense of what god through jesus christ has done in his life it's a word for us as a church of where god may be leading us in these new and challenging but exciting days this is a great time to actually be alive and to be a servant in god's church in first corinthians chapter 9 beginning at verse 19 paul is about to give us a new rule a measurement a measurement of flexibility for flourishing you know when i began this series i had six unquestionable measurements and then i stumbled by the aid of the holy spirit to seven unquestionable measurements this morning actually increases it to eight unquestionable measurements for flourishing and this morning i want us to look at flexibility accommodation how one can bend in order that the will of god can be accomplished that more people can be won for the lord jesus christ hear god's word for god's people and i pray that you have your bibles open you may have your coffee but have your bible open don't get too relaxed and don't mix too many unnecessary things in with what we ought to be doing this morning as we come to worship god virtually not god has not reduced his standards of worshiping him and i believe that's an important message as we worship god under new circumstances that god's word has not been negotiated in a way that we can alleviate and dismiss what god's word says for us in these times i want to flourish i want to grow i want to continue to grow and hear how paul grows in the corinthian church verse 19. though i'm free i belong to no one i have made myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible to the jews i became like a jew to win the jews to those under the law became like one under the law though i myself am not under the law so as to win those under the law to those not having the law i became like one not having the law though i'm not free from god's law but am under christ's law so as the windows not having the law to the weak i became weak to win the week i become all things to all people so that by all possible means i might save some i do all of this for the sake of the gospel that i may share in its blessings this is the word of god thanks be the god amen reading through the new testament it doesn't take long for readers to come across paradoxes that progresses the message of christianity into the world jesus mastered him he reminded us that to live you have to die you back crosses to wear crowns you [Music] give to gain you humble yourself to be exalted you empty yourself to be full but here is a paradox that had gotten away from me until reading through this letter to the corinthians paul says i am free but i am made myself a slave to be a slave to be free this is dangerous language and i know that those are you that are listening but paul is not talking about the american scar slavery here he holds up this term and says that he has made himself the most abject imaginable because he is free i'm free but i have made myself a slave in order to win more for the lord jesus christ what an amazing statement that the apostle makes it's a word for the church today i believe and i speak now of our congregation that god is so richly blessed and has so wonderfully kept that it reminds us that i have placed you in a place or i have put you in a place in order that you might win more with the gospel of jesus christ with that said let me get about this whole idea of flexibility because god is calling us not in isolation but for our involvement he doesn't want us to be like that wonderful couple that had moved to the antarctic 50 miles from any civilization 250 miles from the nearest road and passing traffic to live in the antarctic to be away from people to build their huts to live off the land and found that they could survive just as well in isolation as they could as they would write their book about living in involvement god has not called us especially in these days how revel reverent in reverent and relevant it is for us to be mindful that just because the circumstances of worship has changed god has still not given us caught blanche to be distant and away from others in worship the days are challenging but they're exciting and our church for our community must assist with the holy spirit to lead the way for this to be done look at what paul says maybe he can give us some helpful holy hints to clarify what i'm actually saying in this discussion that he's having with the corinthian church about apostleship it was always held in the question paul speaks of apostleship and raises this whole statement of saying am i not an apostle that's how he begins chapter 9 at verse 1 am i not free am i not an apostle and this is what he means when he gets to verse 19 as he speaks about flexibility of flourishing being founded on freedom is a statement of liberation am i not free am i not an apostle verse 19 though i am free he begins with that statement that he's free from certain things he begins with the reality of his freedom he points out to us that he is free from all things and all people remember paul is a jew he has been nurtured and trained in this religion and so he has studied it zealously he knows it by memory and by heart and he says but in jesus christ i have been set free f.f bruce wrote a book about the life missions and ministry of the apostle paul and called it a heart set free and in this heart that has been liberated emancipated is as i have been liberated from all things on the other hand i have been emancipated from all people i have been set free from the tutelage of gamaliel and the assembly of that religious institution i'm not held responsible by that community anymore my heart in christ has been set free what a powerful statement he makes i'm free from all things i'm free from all people this is the reality but there's a reversal in this because when he says in one hand on one hand i have been set free listen what he says in verse 19 in the same statement and i belong to no one but i have made myself a slave here he points out in this reversal he says that is i have put myself in a situation in which i am able to serve others freely although i am free john 13 the disciples give us a picture of this in the upper room and at that very moment when they're supposed to wash one another's feet and they do that they are free and yet they barnacle themselves to be a servant a slave in order to serve one another that's what free to be a slave actually looks like is that i have made myself a servant that i might serve others on the other hand in galatians 5 we're free to serve others by washing feet in john 13 but to serve others in romans 15 1 to serve by bearing the weight and the burdens of other believers that's a powerful word because in many ways the one thing that we don't want to do is serve we love to be served but now god is calling us to serve but wait that's not really what he's saying that's one other line to that he says we serve that is i have made myself a slave in order that i might win as many as i possibly can to the lord jesus christ paul does what he's doing writes what he wrote passes down what he has sent to us now to say ralph west you are free and your role as a pastor to the church is that you've made yourself a slave in order that you can serve those that god has entrusted you with that's what it really means to be in a place in which you are free and have made yourself a slave in order that you might serve to win others to the lord jesus christ one of the first lottery winners of the lottery of new jersey was ed henry and ed henry worked as a telephone technician his wife was a school teacher he lived off a 14 000 salary so you know that this illustration is dated he lived in a 37 000 home he drove a beat-up car and his wife was in many ways bound to the house until he returned where she could use the car she was pregnant with that third child and then by the stroke of luck they won the new jersey lottery in the 1970s and this is what ed decided to do he had won a gift of freedom that could change his life to be free and liberty and this is the decision he made he traded in his car and bought a ford he bought a little larger house took a vacation from new jersey to florida for a few days and came back to new jersey and went back to his 14 000 a year job and raised his family he had been given the gift to be free he chose the gift to be a slave to responsibility that's the picture that you and i have as it relates to what god has done for us in jesus christ he has set us free and now we have made ourselves slaves in order that we can win more people for jesus christ i've been saying now for years that god has placed us in a unique place and i know that when he did it he didn't do it by accident he put us i tell people when you come now church you came here on purpose you didn't accidentally pass by us and we've been out here long enough and if we're not reaching not tens not hundreds and not thousands but tens of thousands of people we have failed what god has placed us to be to fail what god has planted us to be and placed us here to do there's no need in us worrying about what's happening down the street around the corner and across town god put us where there's nothing but people but the only way that we will win more for christ is that we become make ourselves slaves in order that we serve others bear others burdens in order that we can win more people for the lord jesus christ what does it look like in the local church like ours i watch how in this congregation people serve others who have gone through difficulties i prayed along as the congregation prayed today naming every week names of people who are living in bereavement those who are lost loved ones to death those that have been crippled and sometimes paralyzed immobilized by persons who have been lost or who have been left alone because of the enemy of death and i watched how this church rises up week in and week out daily phone calls cards emails texts and then even in the middle of a pandemic they will mask up and go and meet and minister to people at a distance because we're not freed not to serve and i see it and i thank god for it and to be part of a congregation that's doing that i'm i'm pleading with my members now and those of you that are tuned in and you belong to someone else's church here's a moment for us to say i will use these days to make myself a slave in order that i might serve to win others for the lord jesus christ this sounds almost strange doesn't it it makes me think of a call that i received from a sermon that i preached i'm not a bright bulb and so i stick with what i know and so my whole theme for homiletics my the art of preaching is just i preached it here a few weeks ago i determined to know nothing but jesus christ and him crucified and somebody logged in when i was preaching at a conference on and i preached on jesus and them crucified and this person made the comment that uh how convenient it is for him to preach a sermon like that in the environment that i was in he said where in my neighborhood uh i have to face this this this and name all of what was happening and so when i got the word and some people were disturbed about it and they were waiting on my reply and i just said all of that's going wrong in his neighborhood yeah i said maybe he ought to preach on jesus sometimes that might help the situation son because the world it needs a hope that they cannot get from account across the counter and they need a hope that they cannot purchase at the in a brown bag they they need hope that only god can give and i don't know how to give that to anybody else other than to make myself a slave a servant that i might serve them in order that others may be one for jesus christ let me move on now because paul is going to give us some flexibilities in tradition and religion and in superstition you have many to these um parties i think um i remember when we were growing up they called it the what is the limbo game you know where you put a bar up and then you suppose you know you first you just kind of go under the bar then you know and until certain people who have flexibility they can bend so far they can just slide under the ball but paul is about to play a kind of limbo game with us to give us some insight of how we ought to be flexible and give us some illustrations on what you and i can do in our communities on how we can take the gospel paul does not limit the gospel merely to just a speech that he's announcing but he has incarnational christianity that is he's going to actually live it out in the world so that by living it out he can reach others for jesus christ look what he says now uh in these verses beginning at verse 20 he's going to begin with the freedom of tradition here he begins by saying now to the jew i became like a jew to win the jews now now paul was a jew you do know that and listen to what he said to the jew i became a jew so that i might win them now keep your finger in first corinthians and just go several books or letters behind it until you get to philippians and when you come to philippians chapter 3 listen to paul give his resume of who he is and how tradition has played into his life he says these words if someone else think that they have reason to have confidence in the flesh i have more and this is his tradition circumcised on the eighth day of the people of israel of the tribe of benjamin the hebrew of hebrews regarded to the law of pharisee as for zeal persecuting the church as for righteousness based on the law faultless paul says now not only did i know the law but i was faultless in keeping the law this was his tradition now he had been set free because of what jesus christ had done on the cross but in order to win others he's about to do something let's look at it back in first corinthians chapter 9 now he says in romans 7 on one occasion he'll speak of it as saying you know before christ my life lived under the law was like carrying a dead body and i carried the weight of that dead body but in christ he liberated me and out of that emancipation i was free but in order to win others i'll go get that dead body and put it back on my back just so that you would hear what i have to say keep going it gets gooder than this in acts chapter 16 3 paul now on his mission journeys is developing his preaching team and one of the young men that he's going to mentor and set free to preach and sin and sin to ephesus is timothy timothy has a jewish background but his father is greek and as a young grown man paul says so that the gospel will not be hindered we're going to circumcise you in galatians it says there's no benefit in circumcision there's no lack of benefit or benefit of circumcision he said so that the gospel is not hindered we're going to exercise this ceremonial right so that when people see you and ask the question you can say i've been circumcised wait gets gooder than that in acts 18 paul now is making more journeys and he does something in order after he's about to leave corinth shaves his head and acts 18 18 and by saying because it is a vow that i've made and then in acts chapter 21 17-26 paul is questioned about his religiosity and saying that paul and paul comes back with a report you know all these gentiles who responded to the gospel and the mother church is excited and then they say but wait paul work has come back to us that while you were doing all of this preaching that you have rejected the law he said now what we want you to do is there are four men that need to go for ceremonial purification down at the temple now we need you to pick up that barber's tab because they're going to get that haircut so that when people question whether or not you know how to respond religiously to the law you're able to point to this act the idea is as paul says that i have been set free i have been released from the hospital it's the idea imagine being in the hospital and you've been sick and you've been healed but the doctor says but in order to win other patients go back to the hospital or somebody who has been pardoned for a crime and you have been exonerated but they said but the judge says we need you to go back into the prison in order that we might win others others for christ that's what paul is saying i've been set free but i have taken on tradition and religion for one reason not because christ needs it he set me free from that i'm not under that anymore that doesn't mean i'm a law breaker it doesn't mean that i live immoral doesn't mean that i have no ethics it means that i don't find joy in the stern cramped rigid law i have been set free by god's grace and because of that i've been free i'm able now to pick up tradition and religion for one reason that it might win more for the lord jesus christ it's the same image that you said well how does that translate to us in houston texas that is know where you are there's a word you know it exegete where you draw truths out of or you draw out of something exposition the explanation of exegesis and so many times preachers and we will exegete what we read in the text and mix the exegesis of the congregation and the community so when people are saying we do this over here you may not be able to do what they do over there because that's not your context you have to know where you are and meet the needs of that context the problem with all of us is that we want to start trying to superimpose what somebody else is doing while they're doing it i tell people all the time i'm not trying to do what somebody else is doing i'm not quoting paul building on another man's foundation god in christ is large enough that you can be unique in him and paul says the law wait he gives us another one now freedom and superstition because he says to the weak i became weak in order to win the weak what in the world does paul get that's why i love preaching and teaching to you ask all the right questions in the in the sermon well he's he's saying at this moment in terms of superstition that there were some that didn't eat this and they didn't drink that now you get an idea right and so paul said i'm free to eat whatever i want to eat everything is created by god and has been sanctified by him but if my dietary laws or my dietary plans makes you stumble then i'll tell you what i'll do i won't eat what i'm eating i'll eat what you're eating i will do what you are doing in order that you might hear the gospel of the lord jesus christ somebody asked me recently they said uh have you preached everywhere and i said not everywhere but preaching takes you to some strange places and in some of these places you learn to adopt or adapt to the environment that you're in i remember being invited i won't call the name of the places at this moment but i was as a young preacher invited even the days i've been preaching long enough where you stayed in some communities they didn't have hotels you stayed in the home of one of the deacons or the other pastor i stayed in the pastor's son's home and they had hogs now i grew up in houston we got hogs here too but i grew up where that were none and so uh and they got up early real early and um the deacon had daughters and i was amazed at how these little girls were able to navigate around the hall pens and they called it slopping hogs it was amazing to me but since i was the guest preacher in the house they didn't ask me but what i did i just got right involved to say show me how to do that and what you're doing and i was up with everybody else because stand there when they were gone i had access to the house i felt like i needed to carry my weight for five days since i was in their house eating their food sleeping in their bed enjoying their air condition that i needed to become one of them that's exactly what paul is saying he says that i am free not to do any of this but in order for you to hear me without hindrance i'm going to do what you're doing in order that you can hear what i'm saying that's what he's getting to it is what helen chestnut would do in 1893. she was a medical missionary which was a miracle within itself a woman and a missionary a medical doctor when she went to china they had no hospital and so with her own coins every brick she bought in order for a hospital to be built in this particular community to serve the people in this area of china one day a cooling one of the lowest people on the social pole was brought in and needed a leg amputated and she would have to perform that surgery in the house that she was living in until the hospital would have been completed being built while doing that and they and and the man was brought back later for follow-up she noticed that his leg needed to be grafted and so she performed that weeks later the question was asked to her dr chestnut are you is your leg all right they later found out she had given herself a local anesthetic and grafted her own skin to care for a patient she literally gave the skin off of her back for the gospel of jesus christ and even with that in 1905 she would be murdered in the rebellion and she has been remembered in mission history as someone that became who flexed her life who biffed it somebody that got under it in order that people could hear the gospel of jesus christ i still believe this and i know that in church world now i'm always amazed as i listen to people talk about old school new school i don't know what that means i've never come across that verbiage in the scripture maybe they mean tradition none tradition i don't know uh it's not tradition it's traditionalism that kills but that this is not the time for that but this is what i know and i still believe this that jesus christ makes the difference jesus christ transforms that jesus christ alters life and now that our lives have been set free god has set us free by his grace to go into our community to make a difference make a difference medically we're in a pandemic and we are to exemplify what living health looks like and maybe through that we can win some to jesus christ you said how is that because imagine all the people that believe religious folk don't believe in science don't believe in the ethics of medicine don't have bioethical consciousness and this could be one way to say you can love god and love science at the same time it's his creation we have elections coming up some very serious elections that's on the rise and we can though we are free we live in the world we can make our slaves to voting right in the face of voter oppression and suppression and making voting difficult in some of the bills we can go vote so that they say look at those children of god exercising their freedom not just politically but religiously and spiritually by making their decisions known at the poll we can go in our schools we have so much violence and we can work with our mothers and our fathers and we can develop community groups that say we will not let violence take our children away from us that we will hold not just ourselves but our community and our children accountable that we will live lives that's honorable and respectful to human life that all of that can help lead men and women to say why do you go to that church it's not because the pastor can preach it's not because of all of what they do it's because they have flexed themselves in such a way that they carry my weight and i see christ in it i'm done now paul enlarges things in the last lines i do all this for the sake of the gospel now i haven't even touched on all of what paul is doing but he says i do all of this for the sake of the gospel that i might share in the blessings you know i want to challenge us as a congregation we are a month away of about six seven eight weeks away from celebrating our church's anniversary and the lord has been gracious to us i mean i hope you don't take that for granted i don't the lord has done a a lot with a few people who took this message serious and reached hundreds of people and then thousands of people are we going to be the church that just stops and just waits for somebody else or just wait for someone else to come along are we going to use our influence as christians to make a difference in the world that we live in over the next weeks uh james harris has been meeting along with our deacon family people and they have been trained and new and they're going to be calling and praying with you and making themselves known again to you and for those of you that are brand new to our congregation you'll get a chance to meet our deacons we made the decision that we can't wait for anything to return to whatever we call normal this is the now norm and we just have to live with it and as we do that and they contact some 14 15 000 families in our church at that moment what we want to begin doing and i want to challenge you now i want you to become all things that you might win some for jesus christ 18 months ago people made the mistake i'm afraid to talk in this i want you now because as we study and we flourish and we're growing and i'm not talking about just growing numerically for numbers sake i'm saying that do you ever tire of what you see on the morning and afternoon news now remember now when we see that you and i bear much of that responsibility because god says you're the salt of the earth and the light of the world you take me into the world you can't make anybody respond but you can take me into the world let's do it let's focus where we are right now this is the invitation as we lead to our celebration in november i want you to begin praying now over names of people not that you don't know names of people that you know who need jesus christ and the church that's number one please don't call your friend who goes to a church and ask them to come over here don't do that let them stay where they are anybody who's left our church and gone i i say this lovingly let them stay when you unite with a local congregation corinthians it's supposed to be under the leading of the holy spirit and the one thing i know when you get people flip-flopping i know the holy spirit doesn't have anything to do with that so you pray over name son daughter brothers start where you know you have influence and you start praying for them right now number two and then begin focusing your prayer and your attention on people that you're around every day at work we know how this work we've seen it for years in our congregation is that people are sitting there they know you're a christian and and you go sit with them you become like them but we don't just sit with them we sit there with them for what the purpose that we might win some to jesus christ more to him pray for your coworkers and the people that you do in recreation and the people that you're around that that's what paul was getting to when he talked about that i might that i might do that he's he enlarged his reference with the people that he would know and talk to and be involved with and once we do that and we pray then begin to invite them i mean it's easy now uh just they'll say i don't know how to get on send the link to him say i want you to join me on sunday morning and i and here is the link and i want you to be my guest in worship on sunday i'm done i've run into a lot of pessimistic pessimistic preachers over the last they seem to believe that that god can't get us back to where we need to be i'm just a little more optimistic than that i believe the best is yet to be i believe all of what's happening god is purging and cleaning and purifying you're discovering who's who the real who the real church might be i really believe that and he's clean cleansing it and purifying it and washing it and and bathing it and getting it right so that we can reach more people for jesus christ let's let's reach him in our communi i mean we can do it now and now that we have the now reality that's about us you have friends that you know where you come from who have no relationship with jesus christ you can tell me i want to send you a gift send them a link and tell them says you don't have any excuse not to log on you can just click in and and we can reach people for christ i can hardly wait i pray that the lord give me life and years and breath to see all of what god's gonna do out of these 18 months i can hardly wait i believe the best is yet to be that god is to do exceeding abundantly above all what we can ask or think let's let's pray together our father thank you and we already thank you in advance for our members who are praying for our people and others who have heard the gospel and will make a decision for jesus christ today and lord we believe we believe all our life we've talked about in church that you'll make a way out of nowhere and then we'll talk about you open up doors that's been closed and closed doors have been opened and opened up red sea and heal the sick and now it's time for us to believe it and we seem to be backtracking on it well i really do believe along with other believers that you are doing your work in the world and that you will reach with your word and your gospel people that need to know you in the parting of their sins and so now we ask of you would you move today on the life and heart of people which you touch their life and which you transform and change that life that they may become what you want them to be it's in the name of jesus we thank and we celebrate that for your sake and the gospel's sake and god's people say together amen choir is going to sing the daughter church is open i believe that you can see the instructions on the website or the other screen where you can be navigated on how to unite with the church give your life to jesus people are available that will respond to you today and walk you through that process of salvation of believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth that god has raised jesus from the dead and we shall be saved thank god for that cocaine welcome we're glad to have you jesus hallelujah [Music] uh [Music] to jesus [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen welcome we're glad to have you in the church without walls let's prepare to give our tithe and our offerings our leaping beyond our walls our gifts let's be faithful and remain faithful in our giving thank you for those who have done that and thank you for that thank you for being thank you for being faithful uh to the church and to your commitment to the lord jesus christ let's give our gifts today let's hold them up and i always tell you it's a good thing to hold it in home if you have your children around family if you've got friends and they say what are you doing and then and if you have a friend that's that say why do you give to the church and all those kind of here's your time to be a witness to to speak that i don't give the pay bills i don't give the keep the yard up i don't do that i give it because i have been set free and i've made myself a slave to be a giver because that's what jesus christ did for me is that he himself he himself has given himself that i might be free amen come on let's let's give the day and let's say it ready where there's a temple there's a need where there's a need there's a provision where there's a provision there's god and whether it's god he'll supply in miraculous ways it's offering time praise the lord put your hands together praise god let's give and let's see is it haley or taylor today that have something to say thanks pass church family welcome to ccww trending we're so happy that you decided to join us for our virtual service don't forget to follow us on facebook instagram and youtube so you can stay informed church family here's a preview of our upcoming events have your children tuned in for our k-w and ignite services they're available at children.ccw.org and youth.tcww.org change for life is a way to assist in the fight against breast cancer we are asking you to donate today to help support those who are in the fight against breast cancer visit women.tcww.org for more information the marriage ministry for a season circle chat session where couples discuss timely topics with other couples in their season of marriage register today for details please contact marriage at tcwwministries.org church family join us for our fall session of small group classes the teachings written by our pastor ralph douglas west living under god's protection evangelistic expressions sharing your faith and reading and understanding the bible check out sgbs.tcww.org to see everything we have to offer then grab your bible and join us to grow in god's grace and knowledge meet new people and build relationships we'll see you in small group [Music] back to you pass thank you taylor all right let's prepare to go into the world uh to serve do i have any exciting news to give today let's see i don't know uh thank you for praying for the steward family they've gone through one journey of saying farewell to their pastor in the bahamas and so i want to thank you for your prayers thank you for your prayers for pastor terrell and deborah jones he's my first son in the ministry and yesterday i had to uh go and and perform the and speak words over their oldest son it's to come to death and so pray for that family uh as well as the families in our own congregation that every week it seems that death runs rampant and so we want to pray for one another pray for health and pray for pray for strength all right i see some unusual suspects they are logged in there i see you i see you i see you got a big game tonight don't we yeah big game bucks and the uh patriots well i want you to know i i can't lose either way i can't i can't i can't lose either way and who would that tell me who that they said uh i didn't give a shout out when who won who else is playing is there another team other than the patriots are are we undefeated are we undefeated are we lost we did fake news i keep telling you i'm faking it don't believe it don't don't don't don't believe it that that's the big lie that's the big lie don't y'all believe it lord have mercy pray for our country pray for our nation yeah i mean that we really need to pray for it done we really do we need to pray for pray for the immigration crisis pray for our brothers and sisters in haiti we want to continue in our support with that and lord have mercy we got we got a lot i i often talk to marcus jerkins you know mj our my ta and uh emory berry and i often tell them a lot of times we'll just be talking and i'll say to them we got a lot of work to do we have a lot of work to do and it's going to take all of us putting our hands together to get it done not just not just us but all in our community you know i think if we can focus and say that uh regardless of what your affiliations are religious or political that we can all agree that we got a problem we need to work at resolving that in our communities that's what we want to do amen well let me bless you as we prepare to go into the world now who played today does houston play well you know go astros um and uh and i want to i want to send a shout out to uh ralph's telling me what is it morehouse council they homecoming and and then you say prayer of youth also the prayer of you counsel they homecoming uh well i'm i want to send a shout out to and i'm sure as others but i want to send a shout out to uh morehouse and prayer of you i i know they have done it um that they would suspend one of the biggest weekends in the year and i think prayer you have one of the largest homecomings in the hbcu on the globe i mean it to put that on to suspend it uh because of the virus of the pandemic hats off to you i really mean that hats off to you those of you that are alums are to send a note of appreciation to the leadership and let them know the job well done the more house job well done to do that because you know hbcu homecomings we we need resources uh at a whole nother level and so that becomes a significant that's that's like shutting church down on easter and uh oh lord and we'd have missed easter look like at the rate we're going we're going to miss a lot more but things seem to be getting better things getting better if the needle needle haven't moved i saw that we topped 700 000 deaths that wasn't good news uh so i neither didn't i need a heaven move we still read lord have mercy okay yeah okay well keep the mask on i was in a service yesterday i couldn't believe it um pepe and i were there i think pepe maybe of all the hundreds of people that were there it may have been may have been 10 of us with mass gone and one of the aunties and i just appreciate her she was stood up and she said i'm here for my nephew and my brother and then her next few minutes she just gave a whole speech on why you need to wear your mask and get vaccinated i said amen you know i wasn't going to do it but she did it because that was you know she was at home and i said well hallelujah and she did i said that was powerful and she just called it out i started ducking but she just called it out and uh you know what we need to do let's do it church let's do it look this way let me bless you as we prepare to go the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face smile upon you and be gracious unto you the lord lift the light of his countenance on you and grant you peace and may the lord bless you when you go out and come in when you rise up early and settle late in your labor and in your leisure in your life and in your tears until that day when we should stand at the feet of jesus where there's no sunrise or sunset god bless you i love you be encouraged amen [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: The Church Without Walls

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Length: 113min 13sec (6793 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021