BETTER RELATIONSHIPS | Full Service

well welcome to church so good to see you so happy that you are tuning in uh my name is ryan and this is my good buddy amy and uh again we are pumped that you are joining us for church today we've got an awesome service in store for you but before we get to service we wanted to give you some cool updates about things happening in the life of our church and so the first thing we wanted to let you know about is our all in team night we have this the first wednesday of every month and the whole purpose of this and the heart of it uh from our lead pastors pastors josh and georgie is that our team would be refreshed before they start to do the refreshing and so uh every first wednesday we meet together we have a time of worship we receive a word it's awesome and we would love for you to join us because we're going to be able to do it online as well as in person uh doors open at seven o'clock but it starts at 7 30 and we can't wait to see you there that's amazing also we have our dinner parties that meet on wednesdays not this wednesday because we've got all in but after that on september 15th our dinner parties are back for fall there'll be new tables launching new dinner parties and new neighborhoods so honestly this is where you get connected to community this is where we come around the table we know jesus loves to break bread and so we break bread or pizza or tacos or whatever and we have an incredible meal and we just get to know people and uh actually join in on communities yes i love that and then for all of our families we have c3 kids you can actually log on right now to cp.nyc slash kids and have you heard the rumor oh my gosh there's a musical there's a musical you know i love a good piece rc3 kids episode today is a musical it's the whole bible in a song yes which who wouldn't want to check that out i mean honestly do i have to be a kid i think you can just i think you can just watch it if you want to amazing amazing our youth we have our incredible see-through youth you can follow them on instagram and online and get connected there but tell me pastor ryan maybe if i wanted to go deeper in the bible how would i do that well you could sign up before this tuesday for our c3.nyc night school uh it is our course uh uh ministry at the church and so we believe in deeper discipleship through our courses we've got a course uh on uh for for the women of our church uh navigating sexuality in the 21st century uh we've also got a course for those interested in learning more about the holy spirit but then we've also got a 14-week study through the basics of christian doctrine there is still room to sign up so make sure that you sign up today um in addition to that i feel like there's another way if maybe you're new here and you want to get plugged in you tell me about that yes oh we have our growth track growth track is a four-step process you can join us online or if you're ever in person you can join us after service it's incredible you get to hear from our lead pastors josh and georgie and all about sort of the story of our church how you can get plugged in and come alive with your giftings here so you can join us online for that c3 nyc slash growth track and the thing on uh growth track is that they're going to talk about our dream team they are it's true uh our dream team is uh the team here the church that helps to build it uh tangibly uh with our hands and so we know that god has given you gifts meant to help build the church why don't you come and join us on our dream team so that you can find out ways to do that uh in addition we've also got a church calendar for all the things coming up one of which is our third day yes on september 11th which is a historic day here in new york city we actually gonna go out and we're gonna love on our city so there's all these opportunities for you to sign up to serve or if you can only join it online we have a backpack drive so hello you can go on to amazon you can click you can purchase from a distance and that's actually going to make it possible for you to get involved with our serve day yes so we would love to see you there um tons of ways to get involved also before we jump into service want to shout out c3 paris and c3 berlin uh we've got dinner parties there so if you're tuning in and you're in paris or you're in berlin uh we've got resources for you to get connected to community out there and go to c3 dot nyc forward slash paris or c3 dot nyc forward slash berlin but what we're gonna do is we're gonna prepare our hearts we have got an incredible service in store for you uh so why don't you get ready get prepared as we go and join in on service [Music] [Music] t3 nyc good afternoon we are so excited and grateful to have you with us this morning to give god praise to worship him [Music] so if you could clap with us and sing with us we're gonna shake to our father this morning the bible says [Music] his mercies are new every morning great is his faithfulness so we're gonna celebrate a new day [Music] new mercies we give you glory to god [Music] jesus you [Music] this is [Music] oh this is the day [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] no [Music] [Applause] this is [Music] this is the day i'll [Music] [Music] [Music] joyful morning [Music] oh he's building up something new [Music] in this new season we're gonna be expected and we're not gonna hold back so if you could just rise up your expectation today don't think that today is just another day it could be a new season for you it could be a new day amen we're gonna praise the lord and thank you for a new day so sing this out with me with your hands lift it high from the east to the west when the sunrise [Music] from the east to the west [Applause] [Music] when the sun rises [Music] [Music] let everything [Music] [Music] this is [Music] this is [Music] and i won't be is [Music] [Music] this is the day of race [Music] [Music] we [Music] we give him glory today we give him glory today hey just open up your mouth and give him the glory today i just turned to this place that there has to be change taken on loose and about the past [Music] change taken off from the pack you don't have to carry that pass with you today is a new day today is your new day he gives us new strength for today amen if you could just let go of that past give it to him right now and he'll replace your morning for dancing he'll replace your sorrow for joy we give you glory god we give you [Music] [Music] rising up to the one who's worthy this is the day of day this is the day of race ignited me i can feel your spirit igniting me [Music] this is the day i pray [Music] come on there's something about when we're all in the presence together with one voice one heart one focus when the people of god lift up a shot of praise unto him he inhabits those praises and he comes to dwell in that space so god we just thank you for your presence we thank you lord that you are here we thank you lord that you are here [Music] we are so much stronger when we're together god we worship you father jesus lord we thank you jesus [Music] thank you jesus [Music] come together strangers neighbors our blood is worth children of generations of every nation of kingdom come so don't let your trouble hold your head up i don't feel no evil fix your eyes on this one truth god is madly in love with you take hold on be strong remember [Music] [Music] our redemption is [Music] hold your head [Music] god is oh thank you holy spirit for your presence [Music] come on he's the lifter of our head thank you come on he's here for every weary heart today come on i hear the holy spirit saying that he's lifting some heads to see him today you've been down for a little bit but he's giving you a fresh focus a fresh heart for praise today thank you jesus that you are the way oh god we lift up praise to you because it's not circumstantial lord but it's based on truly who you are god come on let's sing this bridge together sing sweet why swing wide all you hear is let the place go up at the walls come down all these children everything with breath and the children clean hands through hearts good grace good god his name is jesus come on we're gonna sing that again swing wide swing wide [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] this [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] everything [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] today come [Music] your on on this one god is smiling in love with you so take courage hold on be sure remember where our hell comes come on let's give jesus some praise [Applause] [Music] you know i love that that last line that we just saw remember where our help comes from because sometimes you go out throughout the week [Music] and you actually forget where your help comes from because you can't see it but i love that we serve a god that is moving and he's working even when we can't see it i love that we serve a god who speaks things and calls them that are not as though they were i love that we serve a god who got out of the grave he didn't just stay there and they got there were all power in his hand and that's the god that we serve and that's the god that helps you and here's the good news if you're here today on this labor day weekend can i tell you that that god is here to help you today and right now i know there's some people who need some help frank and marty my friends i love you you're the best oh my hearts love you guys you're the best uh if you need help just send anything if any area of your life just let's just pray and ask for the helper to help you uh maybe you need help in your finances maybe you need help in your mental health maybe you need help in your marriage maybe you need help just in general like i just need help every day god's gonna help you because that's what he does so god i thank you that you're here to help your people but the beautiful thing about your help is that it's a perfect help it's a strong help it's a powerful help it's the help of jesus and right now i speak and i declare the name of jesus it's the name of every name it's the name of every idol it's a name above every sickness is the name above every disease is the name above every illness god it's the name above every name and it's the name that saves jesus literally means god saves and god i thank you that you would save your people today god i thank you that you would rescue your people today god gotta thank you that you would heal people today why because you that's who you are and this is what you do and right now we just want to direct our prayers to our city i want you to think about your neighborhood right now come on rep your set right now wrap your set rep your neighborhood uh whatever your neighborhood is just think about your neighborhood just pray for jesus to bring help to your neighborhood right now i gotta thank you for every neighborhood represented across uh the bronx harlem uptown downtown brooklyn uh queens god come on let's begin to pray right now come on i want you to activate your prayer voice even under the mass come on let's just break through right now in prayer come unless we're going to pray for our city come on our city needs our prayers come on worship team matthew rocky come on let's everyone just begin to pray [Music] god across paris what you're doing across berlin god we pray god for every neighborhood represented in our church god we ask for your kingdom to come god we ask for your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven god i pray that you will be glorified and you will be magnified god that you would get the glory that you deserve because you are the only wise god you're the beginning in the end you're the god who was who is and who is to come you're the same yesterday today and forever there's no one like you and there's none beside you in jesus name and everyone said come on everyone said amen amen amen amen hey how you doing church are you well so good hey why don't you do me a favor uh why don't you turn around say hi to someone tell me you're glad that they're in church say hi to them so proud of you tell them you're glad they're in church is that my boy micah [Music] what's good fam my boy right there yes sir you gotta teach me how to ride bikes i think i'm pretty scared of bikes actually cool cool cool awesome awesome hey because i i think we're probably like at capacity if there are any seats next to you if there's any open seats next to you if you can just lift your hand anyone who has an open seat host team host team host team can you just see all these open seats right here everyone that's lifting their hand they have an open seat next to them so as people come up you can seat them accordingly amen hey welcome to church my name is phil moore my wife and i kaitlyn get the privilege and honor of being part of the team we've been coming to church this church for six and a half years and god's been blessing us and we're just so glad that you are here welcome everyone online from paris and berlin if you're new and you're watching online you want to get connected you can just text the number on the screen but also if you're in person and you're here for the first time could you just lift your hand lift your hand awesome anyone here for the first time awesome lift your hand cool cool cool great great welcome hey church come on let's welcome them so cool well we are glad that you are here on your seat there's a gold car uh and that gold card has all uh just the details uh it will really you can fill out your details if you want to just take a next step and get plugged in and connect to the community a great way to get connected to the community is you know what i'm going to say dinner parties everybody uh come on dinner parties we talk about faith we talk about god we share a meal we pray we have food and my life has been blessed by dinner parties i've been going to a dinner party every wednesday for the last six and a half years and i've met friends uh i got you know apartments and just all the things god provides so join a dinner party or join our dream team where you can serve all of this happens because the volunteers want to say yes to what god is doing in our city so you can fill that out and we'll call you like it's not going to go in like some system and a bot no an individual was going to call you and help you take your next step in jesus name amen so cool well hey god's been moving um in our church in life of our church if you don't know uh we've been meeting uh in person uh since may of 2021 and god's moving we've seen salvation over 300 people have given their life to jesus come on can we thank god for that so cool and i actually got an exciting announcement and i want to share some few things about where we're headed this fall uh and things that you can be praying into uh and how you can be a part of what god is doing but next sunday as a church we're gonna be moving to midtown at jacqueline county high school on 46th avenue we got three services 9 30 11 and 12 30. it's an incredible kids space available for all of our families uh but here's the thing while we're doing it one because as uh the fall hits music venues like this they're booking shows so the schedule conflict but how many know that god has opened the door for us to still meet still have church and still see uh him move powerfully so we're going to meeting at midtown um throughout just the rest of the month of september 9 30 11 12 30. the details are on the screen just behind me um so just rsvp today and just be about it and we got three opportunities because as you can see we need more opportunities for people to come to church uh and maybe it adds 10 minutes to your commute but how you know god's still going to move in jesus name amen but also when it comes to manhattan to be praying too because we have a vision for a really a permanent location in manhattan we're actually praying for maybe even doing two locations in manhattan one in midtown one in downtown so just be praying for that and just be praying with us and something else that i want to announce that's really exciting is that uh in the fall drum roll please we have vision to reload okay yeah you can drum roll if you want uh i was that was just like a joke but we had a vision to relaunch our williamsburg location in brooklyn yes yes yes so people that are excited obviously used to go to that location um uh and people have been commuting so before the pandemic we have five locations and one of them was in uh williamsburg at the music hall and our church actually started in woods hall uh it started in williamsburg i'm sorry as a dinner party and that's where we launched out of and we're excited to relaunch that and return again uh and we're eyeing october mid-october so be praying for that um and here's the thing uh we could do it tomorrow if people say you know what i want to be a part i want to serve i want to help build that location so if that is you come on merry christmas you can sign up uh just behind me uh to get involved uh and be a part of that take that next step and uh just let's just all be praying for what god is doing you know our church lives in your prayers what god's gonna do you're not just someone on a seat no you're someone that has an integral part to what god wants to do in our city and every neighborhood in jesus name so midtown next week 9 30 11 12 30 be praying for manhattan and be praying for the future launch in williamsburg in jesus name amen so cool way right now we're gonna give uh and then we're gonna get into our tag team preaching come on somebody um but hey we're gonna give um because that's what christians do uh christians give money to god that's just what we do because he's given everything to us i'm just kind of saying that i'm just really direct but there's this scripture uh in in 1st peter it says uh that we are living stones and that christ is a cornerstone and the picture is basically you know god's actually building a spiritual house and he's building a place for him to dwell and i love it because a living stone uh actually uh makes it doesn't have an impact or it's not effective if it's isolated from the rest of the the stone so you're following me so a living stone is only as effective as what it's connected to the each and every one of us are effective not just simply because we have our personal individual relationship no we're effective and we make a difference because we're connected to what god is building we are all living stones but here's the great thing about it jesus was the first stone that was laid in what christ when god is building he's called the chief cornerstone he's not like a red stone he's not like a building block some of us you know we like to just add god on like god i'm gonna add you on to my career i'm gonna add you on to my dream i'm at no you can't add god on no he is the center he is the first brick he is the first priority he's either god or lord of all or he ain't lord at all come on somebody just preaching right but anyway the first stone was a stone of generosity what can be more generous than giving your life for people who would never even reciprocate love back that's what christ is like if jesus was in our church he would be the most generous of his finances and the future of our church is connected to each living stone here saying you know i want to reflect that first though i want to reflect that cornerstone and the way that we do that is not just be like oh that's a nice little you know pithy saying no the way that i do i say you know what god i'm going to take this money that you gave me anyway it belongs to you and i'm gonna honor you with my finances a lot of us give our tenth that's our tithe uh a lot of us also give above and beyond that our vision builders but wherever you are uh don't opt out you know participate uh with what god is doing in jesus name uh you can give there's a details on the screen just behind me about how you can participate in that um if you're watching online you can text you can follow c3 dot nyc forward slash give and everything all of this is actually so that the mission of god can be moved forward so that lives can be changed and his glory can be revealed in jesus name so let's pray god bless every giver bless every giver bless every giver use these funds use these seeds so that your kingdom can be advanced in jesus name and everyone said amen amen come on let's give jesus some praise so good awesome your generous church and hey i'm really really excited because uh for the past like eight months uh eight weeks we've been in a series called better now we're going through the book of romans and uh really just looking at how we're better now in christ and really we're concluding at uh talking about we've talked about better freedom a better mind a better surrender better hope and today we're concluding talking about better relationships and here's the thing all of us have relationships so all of us need to know how in christ we can have better relationships we're gonna be talking about parenting marriage and friendship it's gonna be amazing so uh on behalf of pastor joshua georgie i wanna uh our lead pastor i wanna introduce a great friend of mine to know him is to love him he's our dream team director let's welcome david walker [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello hello how's everyone doing good good good well like fillmore said my name is david walker i get the immense privilege of serving on team here i do lead our dream team so that's all our serving and volunteer team so shout out to you guys who are serving today thank you for all that you do you know when fillmore told me that i was sharing today specifically about marriage of course i told my wife and i thought she was going to be like super excited but what in fact she did was went immediately to her notepad started writing down all the notes and say this is what you could say to be the best advice for everyone so if i say anything that is really fruitful and helpful for you it's because she told me to um no i'm kidding kinda um but uh like fillmore said we're just talking about relationships today and i'll be speaking specifically about marriages and we're just going to dive right in is that right romans 12 verse 17 and 18 says uh do not repay anyone evil for evil be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone if it is possible as far as it depends on you live at peace with everyone so romans 12 17 through 18 and the answer really for better relationships and specifically better marriages is actually at the latter part of verse 18 when it says live at peace with everyone but in this instance let's say live at peace in our marriages so what we're going to do is dive in and figure out how do we get there how do we get to a life of peace in our marriages but the answers are here in verse 17 and 18 and we're just going to go through a few points to highlight that so in romans 12 uh in the verses i spoke through paul is talking to the church and he's looking to communicate to them how they could get along how they could have love in the midst of their interactions and their dynamics and he's telling them that in order for that to happen you need to have peace and so he's speaking to the church and the church is like a body right we've heard that often multiple ways of thinking multiple people different giftings all these different dynamics um point of views upbringings uh giftings all these things that are make up different parts of the body but one body and the same thing is similar in marriage uh the bible says two become one so uh two different points of views two different upbringings two different ways of thinking but one body so my first um point coming out from the first chapter first verse and says do not repay anyone evil for evil so that's what it says in the first part of verse 17. but when paul is talking about repay evil for evil it's like revenge or a grudge you know so in a body or in a family in your marriage uh there's really no room for revenge or grudges it's it's uh toxic it creates uh dysfunction and all the things so my first point is resist revenge resist revenge right because if we let that kind of toxic mindset or what paul describes as evil this evil action because i've been hurt or because someone did something to me or if you're married specifically let's say my wife who's on the second row here looking great let's say my wife did something to upset me and i thought it was evil and which has never happened and then let's say i decided to do something in retaliation you know repay her evil gesture for one of my own maybe not listening or disregarding her feelings which i have never done it really does more damage than what the actual issue that was currently present right so her my pain is her pain her pain is my pain because we're one body so any damage or further hurt to someone else that's already in the body creates even more dysfunction that was already there so that's why it's important to resist revenge because let's say my hand uh is fine but my foot is hurting even though my hand's like well i'm good it's the foot that's bothered because we're one body the pain in the body is all that we feel so that is what paul is pointing to in the beginning of verse 17. in the latter part of verse 17 it says be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone and that really stood out to me it's like well whose version of what is right you know is it the way i see something to be right the way my wife sees something to be right and in your different relationships and once again we're different people different personalities different ways of seeing things and so we probably have some differences on what appears to be right to us but what we can hopefully agree on that is right is jesus christ so jesus is right jesus is the first certain right factor that we could bring into our marriage then for sure we're stepping in the right path for unity and being on one accord just like i explained in the first point as one body another version says to plan your life around the noblest way to benefit others what more noble way is there to than living the life that follows jesus so this is the way you can honor uh one another by inviting jesus into your marriages um making him better so making your marriages better through him so point number two would be to make jesus the center make jesus the center i've often heard pastor josh use this reference um from ecclesiastes 4. three strands are not easily broken and so if the if we uh as husband and wife are two strands and inviting jesus in as the third strand and we're intertwined and he's involved uh that makes uh our marriage a lot stronger and so like you know if if we're trying to do it on our own right if we're like hey things are tough um i'm but i'm going to do it in my own shrimp that's where we fall short and and say in the latter part of 17 when it says be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone bringing jesus in because he is right um really helps build our marriage but you could lean on him in times where you need help with your finances in times when you need help with your children you're not just doing it in your own strength you're not just doing it um out of your own might but you're inviting the holy spirit and jesus in on your behalf worshiping with your spouse praying with your spouse and doing all these things um as dynamics to help foster growth in your marriage so that's point number two make jesus the center and then we're still talking about how do we get to a life of peace uh in our marriage and then in the beginning part of verse 18 it says as far as it depends on you and this really stood out to me because it's like as far as it depends on you uh what portion of this can i control and we're always looking at our relationships and like i said specifically in marriages for control what can we do to control the other one how can we make them better they're not listening why your stuff on the floor and i could give an example but i wouldn't want to get in any more trouble but you could use your imagination there are things in our spouse that we see in them and that we would say hey what about you why can't you fix this do this better but i really challenge you to look at what part of the relationship are you contributing because it's really easy to look at someone and say hey you need to be better you need to do this you need to fix that but what am i contributing to bring peace so my third point would be to take ownership take ownership and the powerful part about that is once two people take ownership for themselves in the direction that they're going how they treat one another the understanding that they have for one another the communication then there really doesn't leave much room for issues because i am playing the part that i need to to foster health and love and peace and joy in this relationship so that is point number three take ownership and if i was to sum all of this up i would just say that we are a marriage that lives in peace because of these three things we resist revenge as a family united on one accord we make jesus the center as a visible expression of father's love through our relationship with one another and we take ownership as an action and flow of understanding amongst one another thank you [Applause] so good and if you ever want to know more about just their story just talk to him and tamika they'll tell you about their dating experience and into their marriage and i just learned so much for them uh up close but also just observing their life so we honor you guys resist revenge that's a great point by the way i feel like if we can just take that then all of our relationships uh whether you are dating in friendship or whatever it would be uh just so impactful amen amen hey right now i want to welcome up our families one of our family's leaders she's a dinner party coach her uh husband cesar are just legends so let's represent let's welcome up jessie jesse as she brings the word come on happy sunday church so glad you're here shout out to our families in the room if you're a parent in the room put your hand up so we can give you some kudos for coming in on labor day weekend with the kids today i'm going to be encouraging us in our parenting romans 15 5-7 may the god who gives endurance encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that christ jesus had so that with one mind one voice you may glorify the god and father of our lord jesus accept one another then as christ has accepted you in order to bring praise to god i really love this because paul's reminding us to lean in prayer to the holy spirit we can't do anything unless we lean on the holy spirit romans 15 5-7 encourages us to be empowered in our parenting through unity that we receive from our relationship with jesus put simply true unity comes from god it's only based on jesus and results in for his glory how do we empower our spouses our children and just our everyday people that we encounter i say it's just three things prayer love and community prayer for us at home with the kids is trusting in our circumstances if anyone knows my story i've prayed for a long time for my family to come to christ so we're a product of a praying family last friday they were baptized at our church and we also had child dedication so something as just making a habit to pray with your family is easier said than done how do we do this at home well for us it's just going around the table we have liam's little voice praying against his nightmares or just praying things away and also praying for bigger circumstances our struggles in the things that we're going through paul says that we pray to god that he may grant the same mind with one another according to christ jesus when we have the same attitude as jesus christ we operate by recognizing our unique gifting that is inside of each other so when i say you love on each other is you bear with each other second corinthians 13 11 says aim for restoration comfort one another agree with one another live in peace and the god of love and peace will join you in unity one of the things that i say is that my kids shepherd me i've learned as a parent that with our blended family it's not easy every day is different leila shepherds me she reminds me every time you got this you got this you can do this she's one of the biggest forces in my life and if we let our children guide us they're the ones that will shepherd us sometimes we don't have to be the parent their parents us community paul cuz this calls us to unity that overflows to everyone we encountered once we are filled with love for others we carry a joy and peace from the holy spirit together as a family we've been encouraged and empowered knowing that we have our church i say this because i've led our dinner party and i've leaned on so many of the voices in our dinner party i leaned on our community here we have c3 kids the kids love the program we have see-through youth shout out to our c3 youth leaders and everything that they're doing we want our children to be connected to the vision of jesus that is the unity that we're trying to share with them a vision for jesus unity is a process through which the world leans on jesus when we have that unity within us it overflows and we share with everyone that we meet we accomplish that goal by having one mind one mouth and one vision for jesus better parenting starts now and i invite you to come into better parenting with us amen oh good thank you jesse amazing i love it uh i love that um her and uh see they just there's power in prayer you know what i mean like if you are here today and maybe you uh have stopped praying and stopped believing and stop uh maybe you're here today and even uh there's this kids or sons or a daughter or that feel wayward or they're not following the lord can i tell you to not stop praying for them uh why because i'm actually the product of parents just like jesse who prayed for me um and i was a child who was just far far far away from the lord and uh they didn't stop praying for me every day they would put my name in the scripture in ephesians chapter 1 verse 17. it says i pray that you give mook that's my nickname a spirit of wisdom and revelation so he may know you better every single day they would pray that and then one day it clicked so i want to encourage you no matter what it is just keep praying uh the best way to parent is to pray the best way to be a friend is to pray the best way to be a spouse is to pray and here's the thing keep praying even if you don't actually see fruit because sometimes god is actually working more behind the scenes than you than you give credit for amen awesome come on come on so good well hey but last but certainly not least a great friend of mine uh who is a uh just a legend uh in our church great leader great friend great man of god uh brian hartwick is going to be encouraging us on friendship [Applause] pastor phil moore what's up church well today uh my name is brian i get the the privilege of being a part of the team here at c3 and today i'm going to talk to us um continuing our better now series of better friendships i'm speaking from romans 12 9-10 which says don't just pretend to love others really love them hate what is wrong hold tightly to what is good love each other with genuine affection and delight in honoring one another so through this series when we've been going through the book of romans there's been this contrast that paul's been making actually the word better itself implies a contrast between one way and another way so what paul's doing here he's sharing that there's this very viable option to just pretend love others and maybe in the context of friendship you can think of a few close friends that you have but um if we're being honest even with our closest friends there are moments where we maybe feel like we're faking it a little bit or maybe feel like there are some barriers for our hearts to be in a position to genuinely love them and honor them if we're being honest there are moments where there's a bit of hesitancy to really honor others and have an immediate response of support and love and genuine honor for others and affection so what paul's doing here the good news about this is that jesus has a way for us to get our hearts into this place of genuine love and affection for others and what i'm going to do is just go through a couple of the barriers to that and then uh finish up with how we how we actually walk this out and so there are a few things like i want to start with a story when i first started coming to church it was back at the bushwick location in 2018. i remember walking in i remember just seeing so many friendly people they're coming up to me introducing themselves do you want coffee do you want this that so happy to see me it actually didn't even really resonate with me because i thought it was fake um so this scripture on pretend honor it's i actually it's a revelation god gave me like sometimes our heart even needs to be in a place to be able to receive a genuine love and honor from others so i want to challenge you today if you're in a place where you maybe see this as fake or you find it hard to honor others to not accept that as a reality and we're going to see that christ actually gives us an incredible example of how to love others and how to actually get our heart into that place so one of the ways that we can do this well the main way we need to lean on the holy spirit so in john 16 13 jesus says when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth for he will not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears he will speak and so what we see even looking at the scripture in romans is that for god love and truth they go hand in hand so true in order for love to become our truth we need to understand the truth of god's word we need to understand and where that's done through the holy spirit and so you also see in the scripture he will not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears he will speak you know it's funny when we think about what we hear what do you hear about your friends what do you hear about the people in your life what do you hear about yourself and there are a few steps that i want to go through that we can basically get get our heart into this position the first one would be desire so if we if we don't have a desire to honor others maybe we're slow to honor others or that feels unnatural to us it's okay i think paul's saying in this it's okay he's pointing out that is an option that is something that comes up but what we can do is actually ask god to give us those desires we could say lord i'm finding it hard to love this person i'm finding it hard to honor this person i'm seeing that as uh inauthentic what this person's doing but can we go to god in prayer can we desire to love one another delight yourself in the lord it says in psalms and he'll give you the desires of your heart and you know god desires for you to love others he desires for you to have beautiful friendships the second one would be decide so just make a decision that you're committed to god's truth over thoughts that may become in your mind about your friends any kind of negativity any kind of judgment or jealousy that can oftentimes hold us back from embracing genuine friendship so make a decision decide that god's thoughts about your friends are more true than what your thoughts that come in the third one would be to hear and so we heard this in the about the holy spirit does not speak on his own authority but only what he hears but we can't expect to hear good things about our friends if we're engaging in gossip or if we're um participating in in just activities that aren't honoring god's image for our friends so we need to hear what god has to say about our friends and then the next step would be for to speak that speak that over you ever find yourself in a situation where you're observing someone it could even be today you saw someone with a nice outfit or you see a trait in your friends and you you don't speak it well god's actually calling us to speak that out it's a big part of um prophetic prayer or prophecy is actually just taking what what's the reality that god has and bringing that out you know you have the power to remind your friends that they are made in the image of god so that's another thing and so i want to finish this with a quick uh actually i took the ferry out to rockaway this weekend any fans of the rockaway ferry but we were riding on on the the roof of the ferry and there's a beautiful sunset going down everyone's captivated by the sunset pulling out photo you know cameras taking photos and i was looking at it it's absolutely gorgeous and looking at the sun and then i was looking around to the people around and as i look at the sun and i look back and everyone's enjoying the sun and i realize that like a it's actually hard to look right at the sun like i don't recommend everyone to look like directly at the sun even if you think it's gorgeous but you almost have to look like to the side of the sun to see how beautiful it is but either way as i was looking at the sunny i was just thinking of the love and the power and the majesty of the lord and his creation and this was emblematic of him and just this warmth that's stretching out that everyone recognizes but as i looked at the sun and then i look back to other people i have one of those like spots on my eyes that you get when you're looking into the lights i'll probably have one after looking at these lights but you know the lord kind of spoke to me is that this is how we look at everyone if you look to your right and to your left that's that person's made in the image of god and so we need to look to the lord and we need to bask in the glory of the lord we need to connect with the with the source and then that will give us a fresh vision for the people around us as we look to them that image will be implanted in us that's the first thing that comes to mind when i see my friend i'm not thinking of how i wish i was more like them or less like them or putting them in a box or saying do i fit in with this person it's just this is a child of god this person is made in the image of the lord so i want to encourage us to embrace that vision and what if what if we could look around to everyone in the world and see that they're an image bearer first and foremost i think as we do that and we step out in that friendships are gonna they're gonna come they're gonna take place um and that would be an amazing vision for for our community so what come on let's thank jesus for those messages come on come on i love that um i just love that that idea of looking to the source first before we look to the left or to the right you know uh it actually reminded me of one of jesus best friends you know jesus had best friends by the way he had friendship and he had like community you know which is just pretty funny like he's god and he's perfect and he could have chose to live life alone he could have chose to not live life in relationships right some of us like you know my vision is just to like move and just go in a cabin somewhere and just get away from everything and god's like well i didn't do that you know it's like so easy to be godly when there's no people involved you know what i mean like it's very easy to just be like yeah i'm just i'm my best self you know when like i'm in a cabin i'm in the woods of course yeah you are that's because there's no there's no drama there's no there's no impatience there's no there's no offense [Music] you know what i'm saying so let's not be people that just romanticize a life without relationships let's be people that see our relationships with new lens like brian was talking about because one of the things one of the best friends of jesus says is his name was john um and that's a good name if your name is john by the way any john's here just random john's watching online john i see that hand he says this he says that we love we love in our marriage we love in our parenting we love in our friendships because he first loved us we love so you will love in your parenting you will love in your marriage you will love in your dating you will love in your you will love yourself we will love to the degree that first and foremost we stop and recognize and receive just how much we are loved by god and the order is extremely important the order is everything the order is the most important thing because what happens is we run on empty and we're trying to love we're trying to be this person for this person we're trying to be this person to our boss we're trying to be this person to our wife we're trying to be this person but yet we fail to realize no no this love is not meant to be forced is meant to flow and it's not meant that it's easy but it's meant to be a it's meant to be animated out of a life-giving relationship with our creator who is love himself but he's perfect love because he is holy and his name is jesus christ i love and you love and we love because he first loved us and how did he love us by the way what's the ultimate expression of how he loves us pastor ryan talked about it last week in our better hope this is love not that we love god but that he loved us and he laid down his life for us on a cross [Music] earlier in romans it talks about how you know some of us would die for a good person you know like sometimes i have this vision like if someone ever was to come into our career break into our house and try to do something for caitlyn to caitlin oh like i'm i will take a bullet i would i would just do it [Laughter] she's like yeah you better right so like there's a there's a sense in us that we would like your friends your family there's this no like you would do it for noble people or people close to you that you love you know jesus he the writer that we just learned about he makes that comparison then he compares it to like the love that god had for humanity so he says some of us would die for no people no but jesus died for sinners translation people who were rebelling against him like there's no one in your life right now who like is like giving you a pain or like someone that is like rebelling against you who you're like you know what i would really lay down my life willingly for no no no you wouldn't do that but there is someone who will and that's what separates christianity from everything c.s lewis was asked what's difference between christianity every religion he said that's easy grace this grace that god is willingly pursuing humanity he's willing pursuing a relationship with his way of creation that is rebelling against him but yet he loves them so much that he wants a relation and this is the love that is available and here's the thing you don't know a love like this you don't you don't it pales and every other human love pales in comparison to this perfect love that can only be found in jesus christ and he did not just talk about love he actually left heaven left his throne came into earth as a human put on skin and bone he sweat i hate sweating god sweated like if i'm god i'm keeping the sweat part out of it you know what i'm saying he got tired like think about how much god loves your humanity some of you don't like your body god loves human human bodies he became one some of you don't like you don't like things about yourself you don't like the world you don't like certain people groups you don't you don't like certain people that think this way the people that you are judging right now those are the very people that god came to be close to we like to judge churches this church god is jesus is in the pews of the church that we judge he's there and this is crazy love because he came to be close he came for a relationship and we love because he first loved us so with everyone here with every head vile and every and every and every eye closed watching online and here in person i want to give you an opportunity today to respond not to a preacher to respond not to you know you know some keys back here no i want to give you a opportunity to take space and respond to jesus who took your sin on the cross what is sin sin is anything that i put before god so we all have sinned it's any time i do not live up to the perfection of god's holiness and we all do that because we don't even live up to our own word some of you had new year's resolution to work out you haven't even been to the gym in since january but yet god is so perfect he lives a perfect life and now we can receive that in gift and have a relationship with him so i'ma just invite you right now into this moment to begin a relationship with jesus who is love but came to reveal true love not counterfeit love but true love so that's you you know when i'm getting a relationship with jesus i'm just gonna ask you to lift your hand and the reason i want you to lift your hand uh because i want you to do something in your body of what god is doing in your inner world i want you to respond with your body what god is doing in on your inner soul so god i thank you for every single person here that wants to begin a relationship with jesus on the count of three one two three lift your hand all of us were awesome awesome awesome awesome i see those hands awesome i see that hand awesome awesome awesome also hands up everywhere just a little bit high just so i can see awesome up the side awesome awesome thank you okay great this is perfect so this is perfect you can put your hand down put your hand down so god i thank you oh my goodness for these people god i thank you for these people i thank you that uh even as i'm on my knees god this pales in comparison just how low you stooped for us god i pray that we will understand just your perfection i pray that even right now as their eyes are closed that you would illuminate just how beautiful you are you illuminate just how wonderful you are you would illuminate just how glorious you are that you would omit just how majestic you are but here's the thing it is not something to scare us because you come close you come close god i declare right now that people will begin a relationship with you they'll begin following you and we love we love not because of our background we love not because of our politics we love not because of our ethnicity we love no we love the essence and the motive and the causation of our love is because you first loved us i declare that in this atmosphere today i declare that online today so in jesus name i thank you for everyone that lift their hands so hey repeat after me everyone but especially those that just lifted their hand repeat after me to repeat this prayer with me say dear jesus come on say it like you mean it dear jesus thank you for loving me dear jesus thank you for taking away my sin thank you for giving your life for me today i make you lord i choose to live for you forever in jesus name amen amen amen amen come on come over thank you jesus so special come on let's stand to our feet [Music] come on let's just begin to sing it out just softly come on just begin to sing out with the team just softly come [Music] come on i want to be able to hear your voice come on [Music] come on what's his name come on [Music] creation everything [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so god we thank you that your name is jesus that this is the true god this is the only god this is the only truth that's saved this is the only relationship that satisfies this is the only love that is pure this is the only god who is holy and god today as a church as a church i just want to pray really quickly that we would we would you would restore back to us our first love i sense that there's some people in here that god wants to restore the the greatest commandment which is to love god with all our heart he wants to restore it in your life he wants to restore it in your heart he wants to restore it because we love god and then we love people but i love people to the degree that i receive give love back to god and and love others so if that's you and you want god to restore just a love for him again relo a passion for him again if you're honest i'ma lift my hand but if you're honest lift your hand with me and i just want to pray like i want to restore your love for him again come on i believe this is powerful come on online lift your hand with it oh thank you jesus right now for every person god god we ask you to restore our love again god restore our affection again god god i pray just like david said that there's one thing that we seek that is one thing that we're after it's the gaze to gaze upon your beauty all the days of our life that i pray that our primary love would not be for this world but not be for money sex power fame influence but it would be for you because you are the same yesterday today and forever you are the king of kings and the lord of lords in jesus name and everyone said amen amen amen so good come on let's give jesus some praise come on come on thank you lord [Music] oh man okay i just god's good man how good is jesus do you guys love jesus you do i can tell you guys are so special you're packing out irving plaza on labor day weekend you really love jesus hey what i want to do right now if you did lift your hand and you responded i want to say one that's the greatest decision you could ever make i made that decision some 10 years ago and one of the things that the bible says is actually when you respond to follow jesus all of heaven stops pause and celebrate you think your life isn't worth celebrating but god actually does and over irving plaza when you decided to lift your hand there was a celebration in heaven over your life in jesus name and we want to gift you with a bible that's going to help you know about jesus in a book called following jesus and there's a team over to the side that would just love to pray with you and help answer any questions you have about this decision that you just made and man it's just so so good and hey also just three more things before we close first is uh this wednesday we have our all-in team night uh so all in is for anyone that wants to serve and here's the thing i'm just going to keep it a buck with you um that means like a hundred and 100 means like keep it real i'm gonna be very serious here just kidding um god see it's just very clear that god is bringing people like you can just see look around right god is bringing people right so we're trying to expand because we want to create more space for people but that won't happen without people serving just practical we need people to say yes i want to be a part of it uh and we need you to say yes and pray about it and a great way to find out more about how you can serve and be a part of team is to come to all in team night this wednesday you can sign up for it it's amazing and last secondly our growth track if you want to find out more about who we are as a church come on grove track [Music] it's just a four-step process to find out more about the vision of our church how we got started and what our vision statement or what our mission is and maybe even some gifts that god has for you uh it's 20 minutes it's right up there uh just yeah jade right there next to my friends ben and taylor they'd love to uh jada love to just welcome you up there and then lastly lastly last you want to remind you of the announcement that i made for those that weren't here uh at the beginning next week due to uh just uh you know fall venues schedule at music venues like this next week we're actually going to be not here we're going to be at next sunday we're going to be we're going to be in midtown and we're going to have three services 9 30 11 and 12 30 at jacqueline county high school um and be praying for manhattan because we're just really believing and praying that god has just the right venue for us for the future so why don't you do this right now i know for some of you it may add like you know 10 minutes to your commute but just make a commitment to be there there's three opportunities you can rsvp today uh in jesus name and also be praying with us because we have a vision to relaunch our brooklyn williamsburg location uh in the fall uh in october so we love you church go out to brunch have a great labor day weekend go to the beach and just do all about the glory of god i love you bye [Music] wherever you're tuning in from thank you for joining us today at c3nyc our vision is jesus christ our reality is freedom our mission is people and our cause is love we would love to connect with you and support you as a church family so make that next step today [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: C3 NYC

Views: 451

Rating: 4.7142859 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: bm9rNd96seM

Length: 74min 19sec (4459 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021