Break Up or Break Down | Strings Attached | Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. | Hope City

this weekend we're continuing and we're actually ending our strings attached series and because i've dealt with some energy level stuff i phoned a friend and this weekend uh many of you have heard him before he's preached for us before he's literally preached all over the world built one of the fastest growing churches in america in miami called vu church he is an incredible speaker he's funny he's fun he's talented he's super good looking in fact he's the only friend that i have that looks just like leonardo dicaprio please stand on your feet and welcome my friend pastor rich wilkerson jr see see what i'm saying i'll never let go hey that's good enough for me but why don't we go ahead and give a round of applause for the king of kings come on let's thank god for his son jesus today anybody happy to be in church on a sunday so good go ahead and fist bump someone on your way down and just say you look better than i remember it's so good to be back at um hope city how many of y'all you love your church can you just thank god for where he's placed you and i'm gonna be honest with you we pastor a church down in miami and really the last 18 months as it's been such a challenging season for so many people i'm just thankful for this house i'm thankful for your pastors it has not been an easy season but man the stability the consistency the ministry that's come forth from here you need to know it's not just encouraging people in houston but down in miami we have been so encouraged and have watched you lead in such an impressive way that it inspires us and so i'm just honored to be here today i love pastor jeremy and jen can we just thank god for godly leadership can you put your hands together and let them know that you're behind them that you love them i i say it all the time and i just i want to make sure i keep saying it because i firmly believe that alignment is more important than assignment like who you're doing life with matters just as much as what you're doing in life and um i i want to be aligned with your pastor he encourages me he makes me better and so i'm thankful for his friendship and his leadership uh if you have a bible today i want you to reach for it turn with me to the book of john john chapter 15 is where i want you to turn excited to be closing out this series strings attach a series where we talk all things relationships you guys have had some of the best in the world here the last few weeks and i'm going to do my best today to encourage you i want to read uh just four verses up front from john chapter 15 that's going to lay just a good foundation for what i want to talk to you about um i come from miami i lead a church there called vu i've been married to one woman praise god her name is doncheri we just celebrated 15 years of marriage this month and i met my wife in church a lot of reasons to come to church this is just one of them just one of them i saw her and i i be i was like i choose you you know like i'm not even a name and claiming guy but my theology changed in that moment and it took her a long time to hear from the lord but praise god you know she's a praying woman and we've been married for 15 years and we just celebrated our anniversary i was thinking uh just today about anniversaries we travel a lot and we kind of live busy lives and i think it was my my seven year wedding anniversary i was in london and she was back in miami and we had gotten on the phone that morning and i'm just being honest i'd totally totally forgotten that it was our wedding anniversary so we're talking and you know and then and we hang up the phone call and as soon as i hung it up i was like oh my god it's our wedding anniversary and so i i called her back immediately and she picked up the phone she said you forgot our anniversary and i had to think quick and so i was like girl every day's our anniversary and so fellows that will work one time and one time only that's a freebie but uh remember the anniversaries because they're meaningful and so now i get flowers and caterers and i make it a whole thing john chapter 15 verses 1 through 4 this is um this is going to be our text today jesus says i am the true vine and my father is the gardener and he cuts off watch this every branch in me that bears no fruit while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful you are already clean because of the word i've spoken to you remain in me and i will remain in you no branch listen this no branch can bear fruit by itself it must remain in the vine neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me and this is a text where jesus is describing and teaching on the principle of pruning that you can't produce unless you are pruned we too like you we're actually in day seven of 21 days of prayer and fasting i encourage you next week be a part of the new series be a part of this season there's there's power in your participation there's no power inside we're going to fast and then nobody fat no we're going to do it together we'll pray and on a wednesday night we had our leaders together this past wednesday and i taught on this idea of risky prayers and you know when i was younger i prayed risky stuff like i used to be like god you know break me i don't pray that no more you know some of y'all prayed that before you know like teach me patience no like i don't i don't i don't want to feel like you know lord i'll go anywhere now i'm like where do you want me to go lord um we start qualifying you know the older we get we become adverse to risk i was thinking in january of 2020 i don't know if at hope city you were singing this song but there was this massive worship song that was sweeping the world and it was called refiner samuel some y'all know this song you know and it was like i wanna be tried by fire purified take what only you desire and like i love the melody y'all that thing sings good the church is like emotional but we were singing at my church in january of 2020 my wife she's like i'm not singing that she goes no siree i want to be tried by grace i don't want to be tried by fire how many all know the whole church in america was seeing that collectively in january 2020 yeah two months later every church is doors were closed god's like yeah i will answer your prayers you got to be careful what you pray careful what you pray this is a portion of scripture that we read it but we don't understand its ramifications the heavenly father the gardener is coming to prune to cut out every branch that does not bear fruit meaning if i don't cut out the branches that aren't burying fruit it's not that i'm just going to have branches that don't bear fruit it's that those branches will attack to the ones that are bearing fruit and begin to suck the energy the life out of it i have to break up with those branches or those branches are going to break me down and i thought just to close this series uh i would preach a message today hopefully you're taking notes research shows us that 98 of people who take notes automatically go to heaven so if you got notes you're doing better than most i want to preach from the subject break up or break down break up or or break down this is a word that i think is fitting for so many people in the house today that we're going to talk about what needs to be pruned in our relationships in order for growth and life to come about we live in a world right now whenever we talk about growth it's like i gotta add something you know that's why like new year's resolutions in january everyone's like i'm gonna do five new things and like i'm not against you starting stuff but the wise person understands that for everything i start i probably have to couple that with stopping something like you can't just start going to the gym you have to also stop eating junk food the two go hand in hand i wonder today what in your life needs to be pruned in order for you to produce fruit now i want to give two disclaimers this is very very important because uh first and foremost to all the married people in the house [Applause] they're tired okay that was i appreciate the four of you um i want to give a disclaimer because with a title like breakup or breakdown there's some married people like i've been waiting for this message no shut up no no you don't get to break up your relationship okay uh uh you made a commitment today is rather what in your marriage right now do you need to break up with so that you can start the fire so you can start the passion so you can get back to how it used to be come on somebody make a little bit of noise in this room disclaimer number two all the single folks i'm not your pastor i'm coming for you today some of y'all in this room we ain't gonna see each other again for a while maybe next year i'll see you again but some of y'all in this room you are playing with fire you are hanging out with someone that you know right now you have no business being with and maybe just maybe you came to church today oh not today yes today because if you don't break up there's going to be a break down now listen i know hope city is like this really diverse sophisticated awesome church like you guys they tell stories about y'all but y'all need to know i'm from miami born and raised in the county of day 305. shout out trick daddy we are not refined down there we are ratchet and righteous don't let my tank top fool you bro so i'm pentecostal as i just can't i can't just tell you right off the bat it's who i am so today you get to verbally engage you can say amen you can say i like that you could say that's for my spouse you could say preach it white boy i don't really care but today you gotta you gotta help me out just a little bit break up or or break down what needs to be pruned that you might produce let me just give you a few things today number one if you're taking notes write this first one down you need to break up with fairy tales fairy tales i love this preach someone's like yes i'm i'm coming i'm coming i'm just like i got a few services y'all so it's like you gotta break up with with fairy tales it's amazing because um when it comes to relationships like we fail to remember that we need a vision scripture says uh without a vision people will perish we have visions for everything like some of us we have more vision for our business than we do our relationships it's amazing because i'm talking to people it's like what's your vision like i don't know i just just want to fall in love it's not a vision that's an accident like how many know fallen like how we i love the idea of falling in love because it sounds so pretty but in every other sphere of life falling is a mistake i didn't fall into work ah no like either you do relationships by design or you do them by default and the challenge that we have in the body of christ today is that so many of us we didn't grow up with a healthy vision of a healthy relationship we're just being honest maybe some of us we grew up in a house today where like our our parents they split up we didn't see two people get along maybe you had a dad that left or maybe you had a mom who who was who was present but she was actually absent maybe you grew up in a house that when pressure hit the house everything got toxic maybe it was like verbal abuse and what they said and how they treat each other maybe you grew up in a home let's just be honest that you noticed like like it was so toxic and it was so normal for like for physical abuse that when people got angry or upset it's like they put hands on one another like that's that's what you watch that's what you saw maybe you saw people escape and they would self-medicate or they would flee or they'd be gone what we don't realize is that whatever we watched we learned so now here you are today and you're in your 20s and you've become in a hope city and god's beginning to transform your life and you're part of a life-giving community and you you sit underneath the leadership and the preaching of of jeremy foster who is just he can do everything with excellence and he preaches to you and like you are being changed from the inside out but still somehow when it comes to this idea of relationships you don't have a reference point everything you saw was broken it was toxic so what do you do you grab for the next best reference you have and the only other relationships you saw as a kid were fairy tales you don't understand but like the behavior you got going on in relationships that's called learned behavior you learned it somewhere and so a lot of us the best vision we have is a fairy tale and you know i like fairy tales but news flash they're not real some of y'all like i need a simbot no he's a lion i'm looking for an ariel she's a freaking mermaid she doesn't exist what what are you talking about because what do fairy tales do fairy tales they they sell you this idea they always end happily ever after yeah i'm just looking for happiness man i'm just looking for happily ever after the problem with it is that it lies to you because you watch this film it's an hour and 20 minutes and there's a little bit of conflict there's this climax and there's this resolution then it ends happily ever after and it lies to you and it makes you believe that relationships there's one struggle and then you're done there's one crisis and then all of a sudden everything's happy go lucky but the truth is is that happily ever after it's not a destination it's a journey it's a journey you have to learn how to start happy continue happy end happy it is a journey but many of us we don't even realize it but our vision for a relationship is based on fairy tales what happens in fairy tales there's always there's always a princess to rescue there's always someone to save so a lot of us that's how we date right like everyone we date we're trying to save them okay think about it think about it like like just every person you ever did it's like you don't know him like i know him no no rich stop stop don't come at me today pastor listen he's amazing he just he just needs jesus you're right you got it right there he needs jesus not you muslim you're not jesus you don't marry a spouse who needs to be saved you pick a spouse based upon someone who's already standing on both of their feet attempting to walk into their purpose their mission and their calling let me just appreciate listen to me you pick stocks based upon potential you pick a spouse based upon patterns you don't you don't know who he can become rich you don't know the real him he's just you don't know him sister he's cheated on you three times rich bro but you understand man this you don't know like i know she's like she comes off controlling and stuff bro but like really you got to know her heart homie she's verbally abusing you and if you stay in that thing any longer she's gonna strip you of every bit of security and confidence that you have and last time i checked you're gonna need every bit of confidence to walk out the calling that god has for your life you better break up with fairy tales or fairy tales are gonna break you down you say rich you're being real tough today i know i am but you need to understand that the person you choose to marry will either be your greatest asset or your greatest liability it ain't like in between they're either pushing you forward or pulling you back they're either cheering you up or they're criticizing you down some people in this room like i wish i would have heard this message five years ago because we we know it to be true and so we got this fairy tale complex i'm gonna save them i'm gonna rescue them it is not your job to rescue them you're looking for a partner you're not looking for somebody who needs saving you know i love fairy tales right because it's all about love at first sight like oh i just saw her and like it was just love at first sight like i'm not i love romance i don't want to like come up here and like i know bro like it's beautiful it's awesome but like did you ever think like just maybe you might need a conversation like i get it like you saw her like ah but you saw him but like any talking at all like like i think relationships before you get married it's interrogation yo what makes you angry how do you handle pressure let me meet your mom what's your credit score i think i'm kidding i'm not kidding i'm i'm amazed how many of us buy into this idea that marriage is all about the outside and so we pay way too much attention to the exterior and we don't get to know the interior the real person you know i pastor a church full of millennials a lot of 20 somethings thousands of young people show up to our church and it kind of makes my wife and i feel like mom and dad and so we've got all sorts of people that have met jesus first time in church and i cannot even begin to describe to you how many people like how many people have never seen a good relationship never been in a good relationship never been around a healthy relationship and then dawn should we try to play like matchmaker and so all coming i'll be like hell maybe you should take her to coffee or hey maybe you should go and you know hang out and and like go on a date with this guy and like i can't so many we could be up here all day how many people based upon an instagram photo a photo their pastor's like go to coffee no i saw his ig pic i get it i i know singles like you gotta like you i know physical attraction matters but have you ever considered that attraction grows through conversation ever i ever thought about that i don't know if you know this but we are in a battle with gravity and we're losing all of us we're we're dying a slow death right now cells will stay on that chair on your way out of here we are getting lower every day prince charming always don't look like prince charming and sleeping beauty and always gonna look like sleeping beauty i meet girls like i just want tall dark and handsome okay if i were you i would settle with trustworthy determined and honest break up with fairy tales or fairy tales are going to break you down to the married people in this room it's like stop comparing your husband to aladdin get a real vision get back to this don't take work this will take effort go to god's word discover what it means to love one another break up with fairy tales or fairy tales will will break you down it's not just fairy tales that we got to break up with um i wrote this one down today uh you gotta break up with feelings feelings let me feel something get you a girl who makes you feel something i love meme culture like meme culture just makes me laugh so and i saw this meme the other day and it's like it's like get you a man who makes you have an ugly face and this girl just like i'm like this is the best the internet can provide for advice what does that even mean get you a man who makes you have an ugly face like we want to feel something so much we're obsessed with how we feel now you might not know this about me but um i grew up i was born in 1984 i was a 90s baby and um you know my mom i wasn't a drama queen i'm a drama king hello and um my mom used to always say you know rich he you know he feels deeply that was a nice way to say i was unstable growing up um i was emotional and so like you know no disrespect but like you know i grew up in in a day and age like with the greatest music on the planet was being made produced it's just it's not like we don't have to debate it you know it's not like a big you know debatable thing it's not like you know who's the best it's like lebron michael it's not that thing this is just this is just reality it's very objective very true r b music is the greatest music that was it's just it is like it's just r b like you know it's like yo you know put my depression to melody oh put my heart break to lyrics man like i just you know i just sit in my room and just have a moment with my maker and my you know my thoughts you know and it's just good music you just it's not all there you know like you know casey and jojo like come on so yeah all my life a baby baby pray for someone like you i thank god that i that i finally found there's like dude worshiping right now back there i've never never looked at his hand he's like that's me man and this shoe makes you feel something bro it's just remember that one part of the song it's kind of weird though it's like girl you are close to me like my mother close to me like my father i'm like no no i don't want to marry my brother no what are these lyrics you know i'm always like in the studio what they're doing like ah you know like i don't know but and we're feeling it deeply you know i like like i i love to feel i'm emotional we are emotional people but what's amazing is that so often we reduce the word love to a feeling it's amazing because we could actually like go around the show of hands and there's a lot of people that are watching online right now and even in this room that you don't know like you don't know those r b songs which is a shame by the way let me just say that's a shame shame on you but but you don't know what why because it's not it's it's a trend it's not in style anymore it was cool in one season it's not relevant in this season and i'm still shocked even in the body of christ how i will talk to so many people who have relegated the idea of love down to a feeling down to an emotion and so what happens they think love is based upon butterflies the problem with butterflies is as fast as they fly in they also fly away many of us in this room this is what happens is that we keep reducing love down to a feeling but listen to me if you don't break up with feelings feelings will break you down i've chosen i've made a decision to be in a relationship for richer or poor hopefully for richer but for richer or for poorer i've made a decision my love is not based on a feeling my love is based upon a decision i'm not going to feel my way into actions hear me today you have to act your way into feelings break up with feelings or feelings will break you down if you believe it go ahead and put your hands together shame the devil and give god glory for a moment break up go break down gotta break up with fairy tales every other feelings how about this one you gotta break up with fate we could be here for a bit because people get weird about love people get superstitious people get mystical you ever notice like everyone gets real breathy just in love like do you have asthma no i just wow what what's wrong with you i just oh man yeah and this idea of fate what it does so often to so many people is it removes responsibility listen we're not people of fate we're people of faith big big difference fate is this idea that something is controlling the cosmos and you know i just i just i just this has happened to me and like the world and the universe is coming from me listen to me i believe in a sovereign god no doubt about it he's not shocked he's not surprised he is in control but as much as i believe in the sovereignty of god i also believe in the responsibility of man that you and i we're not called to live apathetic lives and leave it all out to fate we're called to live lives of faith and walk out and make decisions and be people of action so what happens is there's so many people that believe in fate when it comes to relationships that they start believing in myths and you've heard some of these myths like maybe you're maybe you've got this myth right now there's this myth right now that there's one person in the entire world just for you you're like i'm just looking i'm just waiting for my soul mate i'm waiting for the one the one and only there's only one person out of the 8 billion people here that's for me that's crazy i'm sorry i i know like you read that on a card but just think about the loopholes in that my wife and i've been married 15 years we wake up one morning it's like you know i think we made a i think we got it wrong you're not my soul mate sorry messed up there's there's one out there you're not the one what does that mean that means if we married wrong sets off a chain reaction because the person i was supposed to be with maybe they married wrong now too and if they married wrong well then the other person they're supposed to marry they married wrong as well and before you know it it goes from one person to becoming a billion person problem no friends that's a myth i made a deliberate decision i chose my wife i made a decision to be committed to my wife and now because i'm committed to my wife there is only one in the world for me she's my soul mate because i picked her and i chose her and now guess what i'm gonna walk that out with faithfulness and commitment some of us when we start with a myth the myth breaks us down [Applause] it's just a myth it's it's this idea that like i believe in fate and you just got to be careful with this language i know today there's people in this room like you're hearing like when is this series going to be over bro like i'm not like even like well you guys are really into relationships i'm not i'm single and i don't want to mingle you know like um and and that's totally cool we don't think everyone's supposed to get married that's not what hope city believes we believe there's a lot of people that are not going to get married that's your decision but i think the thing that i want to speak about for a moment is that there's so many people that desperately want to be married but they live an apathetic life when it comes to relationships and then they believe this myth god chose this for me you just got to be careful with this because this spreads in churches like i don't ditty like i meet girls it's like oh yeah oh yeah god's gonna bring me my husband he's gonna he's gonna bring me my husband i'm like i believe it amen sister hey man i'm with you but do you think you have to you know do anything or is there any anything you got to do in this equation no no no no he can just bring him right to me oh okay i know but like you know do you need to go outside like no no i don't actu actually i do not no no no he'll bring him to my doorstep he'll bring him right to my doorstep i'm like cool i just i hope you like fedex guys because that's all you're working with it's like literally it's all you're working with and it's based on this god chose this for me no there's like i want to say to all the single people if you're single and you love jesus you're part of this house if are you i would be here every time the doors are open i'd be like i bet the nine the 10 30 the one i'll be unloading loadout what's up you know like i'd be in four connect groups like hey you need help you know like [Applause] the scripture just says just i just wanna i guess you're like you just up here no no the bible says that he who finds a wife finds a good thing i can't get past that word finds it's a verb it's an action i meet these dudes it's like yeah bro i'm just gonna sit here and put out the vibe no no you have to do something you hi you drink coffee i don't know gotta say something fellas i'm not your pastor but just let me help you for a moment because i just want all the guys like you gotta actually like uh you gotta do something there's a search there's a there's a fine some level of a step okay you can't just put you got to do something but in the doing how we know there's a fine line between searching and stalking girls i'm gonna need your help a little bit here okay you guys are yeah help me out guys stop being creepy like just now i am pastoring you i'm sorry stop being creepy anyone ever met a creepy christian where yeah okay if your hands not up you're probably that guy i would just put it up okay just stop it it's like in worship you know the girl's like oh singing today you know make room and you look over this guy's like it's like gollum from lord of the rings like what they just quit staring at me it's creepy just creepy bro stop being shady fellas sliding into the dm at midnight on a sunday yo what up girl saw you in the lobby a whole city i don't know what this rapping is but just stop just walk high say hi you know stop being heavy why does everybody why do we get so weird like you know it's 21 days of prayer and fasting you remind me of ruth from the bible i don't even know your name sir this is so weird stop it somebody get him an inhaler it's getting scary it's heavy dude it's not it's not guys stop being cool [Applause] well girl like dude it's 9 a.m on a sunday stop what up what up it's like quit it it's weird don't be sloppy like i just think sometimes we end up blaming god but in reality no you're just sloppy like jeremy would never say this to you like stop being quit blaming god like like like take responsibility for your actions girls i'll come for you too stop i'll come for the girls like wait a couple weird amens out there yes tell em pastor girls like stop here's one for the girls i got a whole message for the girls i'll come back next year for the girls girls listen girls you know you girls in church you know i'm just dating i'm pastor i'm just dating jesus right now that's awesome it's so cool that you are the literal bride of christ i love that like i love it i love it but listen to me if you're dating jesus and complaining about it how does like frank ever stand a chance i am frank i'm the rebound guy you know she's like i used to be in love with jesus but now you know he gave me frank it's like we got to break up with this idea of a fate or or fate's gonna it's gonna break us down even just right now like as the worshipping comes up here like i just know like even like in like i know i'm talking a lot to the singles but like there's married people in this room right now and you you are believing these myths they're coming back to you you lay your head down on your pillow at night you're like man if i just would have found my soul mate and you're using this mystical superstitious language and what it's doing is it's removing responsibility and it's putting you into a passive apathetic place you're not a person of fate you're a person of faith you're a person who takes responsibility you're a person who actually takes an action break up or or break down break up with this idea of fate or fate is going to break you down if you believe it go ahead and put your hands together today come on thank god we just got five minutes but i just i know i'm just talking to you straight and we're having some fun but this stuff is it's important i really think it's important in the body of christ because like the enemy wants to destroy your relationship the enemy wants to destroy your marriage the reason why is because a marriage isn't designed just to make you happy it's designed to make you holy like my wife don cherie yo like she is the greatest influence on my life and she has helped me more than anybody on this planet become more like jesus do we have a perfect marriage by no means we're in counseling we get help we get therapy we talk to pastors it's hard work but we don't have a fairytale vision we don't we don't think our love is based upon feelings i don't wake up every morning going i am don cherie wilkerson's husband and i am just happy to go lucky i don't do that that was a weird voice i know i don't know where it came from and we don't have this notion of fate like oh man like god chose this miserable marriage for me god god chose this up now i'm gonna i'm gonna do what i can do god's gonna do what i can't do but as we close today the last thing you got to break up with is is this idea of failures break up with failures or failures are going to break you down and when we start talking about relationships and the last four weeks some of you some people have avoided church some of us have just been watching online are just going when's the series going to be over because there's really no pain like relationship pain isn't it amazing how one bad relationship can spoil all of your other relationships it's like someone could have abused you abandoned you neglected you and and now you have trust problems with your friends you have trust problems with your coworkers with with your boss with your kids because there's no pain quite like relationship pain and maybe you're here today and my prayer even as i'm speaking to you is that you would have a fresh encounter with the gospel of jesus christ the grace of god the one who has washed you clean the one who's forgiven all of your sins past present even future sins because it's in relishing in his forgiveness that we find the strength to forgive others and it's in forgiving others that we're not letting them off the hook it's letting ourselves off of the hook but maybe you're even here and like to be honest with you it's not that like you're thinking about someone who did something wrong to you maybe you know that you're the one who did something wrong in a relationship maybe you said the hurtful things maybe you left maybe you quit maybe you cheated i know in a room this size and people online that there's so many people that are dealing with shame sexual sin what's amazing to me is that you could be an atheist in the room today and you are welcome here at home hope city like this is a church you don't have to believe to belong you can just belong we're happy you're here we're thankful you're here but even a person who doesn't believe in god it's amazing how sex and sex outside of god's design how many times it can produce shame and it can produce trust issues and we carry it we don't even know why god's word says that sexual sin well sexual immorality is the ones that we do against our own body and maybe you're just carrying shamed and you're walking around with this failure i want to remind you that you might have failed but you're not a failure you might have made a mistake but you are not a mistake god has a purpose and a plan for your life and you need to go back and remember who our god is he's a great restorer he's a great redeemer he declares over your life today that you have a hope and a future it's just the truth but you have to receive his forgiveness you can make a decision today hey the next person i'm with they might not be my first but i make a decision today they won't be they they will be my last i will be there i'm going god's way i'm making a decision it was c.s lewis who said you can't go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending listen to me if you're tired of starting over stop quitting let me say it this way stop stopping stop stopping i just need to i just need a new partner no you've already had four partners and guess what you're still there maybe it's not the partners maybe it's you quit searching and quit going no no stop stopping stop stopping get back up we all make mistakes we all fail the scripture says but the righteous man after falling seven times he gets back up your righteousness is not about your behavior your righteousness is not about your good deeds or your bad deeds your righteousness is your ability to get back up and trust the word of god again i'm not backing down i'm moving forward i believe god has great things in store for my relationships come on if you believe that day somebody give god a big shout of praise [Applause] here's the good news of the gospel one bad relationship can spoil all of our relationships but how many know one good relationship with jesus can change everything that's what he says in john 15. he says apart from me you cannot bear fruit but if you're in me if you're in christ jesus you're going to bear fruit so i want to encourage you today as you make a decision to put jesus first in your life as you align yourself with jesus it's the greatest relationship ever it has the ability to transform all of your earthly relationships his forgiveness in you gives you the ability to forgive others and walk in the path and the purpose he has for your life this is the good news of the gospel that i can bear fruit because of jesus so your head's bad and your eyes are closed today and lord i just pray for every person in this room those that are watching online those that are at our other locations right now god today as we talk about something that's sensitive and challenging lord i just believe that you're ministering to people that people are making tough decisions today this series isn't just going to be defined by what we start it's going to be defined by what we stop i don't know what it is that you need to stop i don't know what it is that you need to prune i don't know what is it you need to break up with but if you don't break up you're going to break down and so maybe it's the fairy tales let's get a godly vision let's look to god's word what does god say about marriage what does god say about relationships maybe it's feelings maybe it's fate maybe it's your failure today would you put your trust in jesus every head's bowed and every eye is closed and no one looking around today i just wonder if you're in this room and you've never made jesus christ the lord of your life if you've never put him first i want to encourage you that this god he's not mad at you he's madly in love with you he has a perfect plan for your life but it starts with you trusting him the scripture says trust in law with all your heart lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he'll make your path straight god has a straight path for you to walk today it's not by your effort but rather it's simply through your belief you can't achieve jesus you can receive him yet to all who received him and believed in his name he gave them the right to be called children of god so on the count of three would you be bold if that's you and i said you know what i wanna i wanna surrender i wanna turn from my ways i wanna turn towards jesus i wanna invite jesus to be the lord of my life would you be bold and would you lift your hand up high enough and long enough just so i can see it i wanna include you in this prayer today hands are going up all over this room i love this church it's a church that's been praying for you all week long for this moment we believe that those that are far from god can become close to god today not because of a pastor or a church but because of the shed blood of jesus ready one the bible says today's that day two don't look at your neighbor forget about your neighbors between you and jesus ready one two three i thought you lifted up that's me that's me rich that's me that's me thank you jesus thank you god right there at your chair would you pray this prayer all of us out loud together the bible says believe in your heart confess with your mouth you shall be saved let's put it to the test today say dear jesus today i surrender i give you my life forgive me wash me clean today i can't go back to the beginning but i can change the ending today jesus i give you my life past present and future i'm yours lord i'm open to your pruning cut out that which doesn't bear fruit i want to produce fruit in jesus name all of god's people said come on church if you believed in it can you go ahead and clap your hands thank god today i love you hope city thank you

Channel: Hope City

Views: 11,438

Rating: 4.8931751 out of 5

Keywords: Jeremy Foster, Hope City, pastor jeremy, jermy foster, jeramy foster, hope city church

Id: ZJcjU3j5B2Y

Length: 43min 29sec (2609 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 29 2021