CHURCH OF THE CITY NEW YORK | Sunday Service (Live)

[Music] when all i see is [Music] surrounds me there's nothing to fear now for i am safe [Music] belongs to you and every belongs to you and if you are for me who can be against me for jesus [Music] [Applause] is [Music] belongs to you in every fearsome [Music] nothing can stand against the power of our nothing can stand against the power of our god [Music] is [Music] you can be [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] good morning church all right let's try that again good morning church isn't it great to be in the house of the lord this morning isn't it great to worship a lord who is a living god who is a god who has met us who has been faithful to us so this morning scripture says therefore if you are a new creation the old has passed behold the new has come and if you find yourself in new life if you find yourself in any portion of your life that you are like i know jesus has new life i want you to stand up wherever you are right now and get ready to praise a living god this morning let's worship him together [Music] yes we've come [Music] we have come to give you glory we have come to give you [Music] to praise you glory [Music] we have come to give you praise [Music] [Music] we've come with one desire [Music] glory only jesus we have come to give you praise my heart loves to lift your name up we have come [Music] welcome you're welcome in this place welcome in this place you're welcome in this place [Music] you're welcome in this place welcome in this place you're welcome in this place now now you're welcome in this place welcome in this place you're welcome in this place come and have your way lord welcome in this place welcome in this place you're welcome in this place come on together we'll come we have come to give you glory let this place rise with expectation now we have come to give you praise your people come with one voice we have come to give you glory be enthroned upon our praises [Music] you're welcome in this place welcome in this place you're welcome in this place [Music] you're welcome in this place you're welcome in this place we invite you we invite you you're welcome in this place you're welcome [Music] you're welcome in this place way have your way have your way have your way every heart let's see it out have your way [Music] have you [Music] we have come to give you glory yes we have yes we have all we have yes we have lord we have gone now we have come to give you glory holy spirit come in this place though we have come to need you praise you're enthroned upon the praises of your people now you are enthralled upon the praises of your people yes you are you are been thrown upon the praises of your people he's enthroned upon our praise you are involved upon our praise the praises of your people so they praise our eyes they praise our eyes they praise the riser let it rise praise [Music] we praise her [Music] we glory [Music] we have come to give you praise [Music] glory we [Music] let praise our eyes he's been thrown upon our praises listen thrown em let praise our eyes enthroned the king of kings let praise her eyes let your praise arise to him this morning let praise our eyes let praise her eyes sing back to him is praising what he's done that praise her eyes let it fill the room let it fill this place let it fill it come on church just praise him today let's praise him today let's praise him today you are so worthy you are so worthy of all [Music] [Applause] [Music] praise [Music] cause you are worthy [Music] yes you are so we have come one more time let's sing it together and we have come we have come to give you praise [Music] and we have come to give you praise [Applause] yes lord we have come with this one thing with this one burning desire to worship and to praise you god and lord as we worship and praise you god we bring to you our weaknesses for i'm reminded in second corinthians where it says my grace is sufficient for you and that it is in weakness that your power becomes perfect lord and so as paul said we boast in our weakness lord we boast in our weakness god we bring it before you we don't believe the narrative of the city that says that we have to hide behind that we need to keep it subdued and we need to put a front lord we bring it before you god we surrender it before the throne knowing that your power is made perfect so we ask move in power in this place amen move in power in this place amen any places of weakness or we bring it before you when we say move in power be a god of your word move in power [Music] there is a power there is a presence holding all heaven watching the earth and it can pour troubled waters quench everything [Music] there is a power so overwhelming [Music] and cover everything [Music] there's power cause there is [Music] is and everything that is [Music] [Music] there is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] underneath of jesus in the name of jesus there is power in the name of jesus there is healing [Music] in the name of jesus there is power it's a [Music] jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus [Music] [Music] is [Music] hillary [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] cause there is power in the name of jesus and there is power in the name of jesus there is power in the name of jesus to break every chain to break every chain to break every chain yeah there is and there is power in the name of jesus oh there is power in the name of jesus and there is power in the name of jesus to break every chain to break every chain to break every chain to break the singer one more time to break every chain declare it to break every chain to break every chain one more time declaring now in faith to break every chain to break every chain to break and reach we serve a mighty god god who's so beautiful yes god lord we stand with such anticipation lord lord we stand with such anticipation for the day that you return lord are we long for you we're coming back to our first love oh we're coming back let's sing this i hear jesus and i hear jesus voiced like a trumpet [Music] [Music] in thunder echoes the voice of the king and i see creatures captured in reverence clothing eyes worshiping the sun we your church on this side of heaven join eternity in their song and holy lord god of glory lord [Music] we will sing praises to the one we will sing praises to the one we will sing praises to the one the one who is worthy we will sing praises to the one we will sing praises to the one we will sing praises to the one the one who is worthy there's a faith rising in your church from prayers of the saints who paved the [Music] way heart of this generation to long for revival in our day let's sing that again there's a oh face a faith rising in your church from prayers of the saints who pave the way for each heart of this generation to long for revival [Music] lord god of glory god [Music] we will sing praises to the one we will sing praises to the world we will sing [Music] will we praises sing praises to the lord we will sing praises to the world we will sing praises to the one the one who is worthy [Music] the curse of sin and death will be undone a billion years will be as a moment enraptured in the beauty of the sun one day we'll see him face to face one day we'll see the beauty of our savior in every tear you wipe away amen you know that day when we will see our savior the curse of sin and death will be undone and a billion years will be as a moment and every prayer that we prayed at night every child of god that we lost in life all the pain of birth will be overcome by the song sky it holy holy is the lord [Music] oh [Music] we will sing praises to the one we will sing praises to the world we will sing praises to the one the one who is so worthy we will sing praises to the one we will sing praises [Music] the voices one more time we will [Music] let's lift our praise let's lift our praise let's take a 10 second praise break come on let's lift this roof come on lift your praise give your praise to a living god a god who hears you a god who sees you a god who knows you a god who's been faithful to you let's lift a praise lift our praise this morning father we thank you that you know us you've seen us you've been faithful to us and so we stand on a rock that will never shake we root ourselves on a rock that will never move and we thank you jesus that today we stand in victory through you so father we pray in these next moments as you've tilled our hearts with worship that you would do a mighty work amongst your sons and daughters that you would move a generation as a result of what happens here today come holy spirit come holy spirit come we pray this in your name amen amen church please be seated it is my joy and honor to welcome you all today and welcome those also who are watching us online welcome to church of the city my name is pastor pratik and i serve at a ministry here in church called city renewal and uh if this is your first time at a church i just want to say welcome vision of our church is the way of jesus for the renewal of the city we want to make radical disciples of tangible presence counter formation and sacrificial mission so if you want to know more about who we are and what we are about i'd love for you to go to church.nyc and subscribe for a newsletter because that is where you'll find all the details of who we are and you can stay in the now now there are three things i want to highlight uh today number one as we think about presence if you're a woman we'd love for you to come and be at an event on august 12th led by pastor olivia it's going to happen in this room on august 12th at 6 00 p.m and it's a event that women are going to come together and seek the presence of god this is something that we are building more and more firmer in our culture so if you're a woman and if you can mark this in your calendar august 12th at 6 pm we would love for you to come and join all the women of church of the city in seeking the presence of god number two pray nyc which is the prayer ministry of our church they are amazing and they're doing a webinar on august 11th at 7 00 pm and none other than tiana spencer who's a pastor teaching pastor in southern california is coming to teach about how we could be established in love i wonder if you've ever thought about your roots or your identity and you've ever been confused about what that is and perhaps sometimes deep within you you felt i'd like to know more about that i'd like to be deeply rooted so that they wouldn't be shadow of a doubt in my mind in who i am in christ so i would like to invite you to this pray nyc webinar on august 11th with tiana spencer at 7 pm last but not the least ever wondered how can i get be a part of missions in our church how can i serve the city what can i do for the least of these well look no further than our sidewalk we're gonna have an information table for you to come and seasonally sign up with city renewal and we hope and pray that we would see you there and you could join us in mission in serving the least of these in this city if you want to know more about what's happening within the life of our church we'd love for you to visit church.nyc this week now we're going to enter a very beautiful time in our service which is the time of giving generosity and usually we read a generosity liturgy that just re-emphasizes who we are in christ and why we are here on earth and so i want to i want to ask you if you could stand with me even in this moment if you want to open your arms that's okay as well and we're going to read this liturgy together and re-engage in the work of christ in the city let's read it together holy father there is nothing i have that you have not given me all i have and am belong to you brought by the blood of jesus to spend everything on myself and to give without sacrifice is the way of the world that you cannot abide but generosity is the way of those who call christ their lord who serve on your free hearts and serve him with renewed minds who withstand the delusion of riches that chokes the world whose hearts are in your kingdom and not in the relief of the world i am determined to be generous generosity until it can be said that there is no needy person among us i'm determined to be trustworthy with such a little thing as money that you may trust me with true riches above all i'm determined to be generous because you father are generous it is the delight of your daughters and sons to share your traits and to show what you're like to all the world amen you can do so by a physic by giving out a physical offering box in the back or you can go to church dot nyc slash give now church why don't we take a moment and high five somebody greet someone you haven't gotten a chance to and uh we'll be right back with the teaching text in a new york minute all the prophecies [Music] [Music] rolling thunder hallelujah glory for the marriage [Music] [Music] is [Music] every kingdom every nation bowing down [Music] in unity [Music] hallelujah for the marriage hi everyone happy sunday um i'm hillary benaventi this is kyle benaventi um we're reading the teaching text today but before we do that we just wanted to plug alpha i don't know if anyone's heard of alpha before [Music] but yes we love alpha we really believe in alpha here at cotc and alpha is starting in person again in september september 14th that's a tuesday so it's going to run for nine weeks if you want to know more about alpha you can come see us afterwards but um invite your friends and then we are also here to say that we need volunteers so no matter what skills you feel like you can bring to the table we can definitely use you for alpha so visit alphanyc.org or send us an email at alpha church of the city or come find us after yay alpha all right so the teaching text is colossians 3 verses 1 through 14. since then you have been raised with christ set your hearts on things above where christ is seated at the right hand of god set your minds on things above not on earthly things for you died and your life is now hidden with christ in god when christ who is your life appears then you also will appear with him in glory put to death therefore whatever belongs to your earthly nature sexual immorality impurity lust evil desires and greed which is idolatry because of these the wrath of god is coming you used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived but now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these anger rage malice slander and filthy language from your lips do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in the knowledge in knowledge in the image of its creator here there is no gentile or jew circumcised or uncircumcised barbarian scythian slave or free but christ is all and is in all therefore as god's chosen people holy and dearly loved clothe yourselves with compassion kindness humility gentleness and patience bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone forgive as the lord forgave you and over all these virtues put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity this is the word of the lord i'll never forget sitting across the table from my pastor's wife nina schmidgall at a bakery in washington d.c and asking her through tears will it always be this way will i always be this way i had gotten saved in my early 20s and when i did god completely transformed my life before i met god i had been arrested for drunk driving i'd been caught shoplifting and i had fallen into bad patterns of hiding and lying but then i had a very real and very undeniable encounter with a living god and i decided in that moment to surrender my life to him fully and as i did my life changed almost overnight which is unusual for most but i made a life-altering decision to tell truth to stop stealing to hold my body and my heart with a lot more care and that year i decided to get sober january 2nd of this year i actually celebrated 10 years of sobriety thank you thank you when i got saved in my early 20s god he completely transformed my life but he didn't transform my life completely he uprooted all of the big stuff he changed me in ways that made me unrecognizable to friends and family without doubt i was a new person but without really realizing it i had let parts of my old self linger that i hadn't fully surrendered to god things like anger bitterness unforgiveness i had held space for those in my heart and every time they surfaced i was frustrated i was confused i was ashamed because that's not what i do anymore that's not supposed to be who i am anymore sitting across from nina at that bakery i asked her questions that had haunted me all of those years i was in my late 20s at this point i was even on staff at a church but there was still a war within me will it always be this way will i always be this way honestly i had been afraid to ask those questions because i didn't want to know the answer i was nervous that maybe there was nothing i could do about it maybe i was stuck with me maybe this is just who i am outwardly i continued to celebrate the big things that god had done in my life but inwardly i ached for more i ate to be more i ached for transformation and if you're being honest with yourself don't you ache too and maybe you wouldn't phrase it as an ache or a longing for transformation but pastor phil who preached here a few weeks ago he put it this way he says wherever you experience pain you long for change so maybe you you feel pain about the loss of a relationship you might long for forgiveness or if you're parenting little kids and when you think about a time that you reacted you responded harshly you experience a little bit of pain you might long for patience or if it worked you made a decision to cut some corners and it just doesn't sit well with you you might long to be redeemed you might long for righteousness follow the pain down to its root and it's a desire for change and not only that we don't just long for personal transformation we also long to see the world transformed right ekmeni ulan who is a theologian a writer and a speaker she wrote an article for the atlantic titled we could have changed the world where she argues that in the pandemic we had an opportunity to imagine a better society but instead we are rushing back to normal ekmini writes at the onsite of the coronavirus pandemic it was practically impossible to find hand sanitizer and toilet paper at stores around the united states the upheaval had a dystopian quality some stories even ran out of sympathy cards a reminder that we were and still are living in the valley of the shadow of death as americans sheltered in place rattled by the changes many pointed out a small sliver of hope that embedded within this crisis was an opportunity to remake the world so that when we re-emerged society would be better than we left it like many goes on in the u.s now vaccines are available disinfectants are abundant and toilet paper fills store shelves but the inequities that predated the pandemic remain unattended to the world has not been remade there are no signs that it will be what we thought of as normal before the pandemic was broken in many ways and if we continue to barrel toward it with a singular focus a transformative future will be foreclosed to us all the world groaned for transformation and yet it has not yet been fully remade after a temporary economic reprieve the wealth gap between the rich and the poor grows only wider after masses flooded the streets and demonstrations and protests at the brutal killings of people like brianna taylor and george floyd one year later our country is still longing for true justice moreover as wealthier nations begin to move toward normal vaccinating about one person every second some of the poorest nations in the world have yet to give a single dose it's estimated that the fragile states of the world will not be able to get a meaningful amount of the vaccine until the year 2023 we thought we'd come out different that the world would be renewed but in large part we're not only grieving what was lost in this pandemic we're grieving the lost possibility of what was not gained we long for transformation personal transformation transformation of our communities and transformation of the world a new creation in our modern culture it is neither alone nor original in that desire over the last nine weeks we've dug into the book of colossians and we find that the church in colossae is experiencing pressure as winds of false doctrine and false teaching are pressing in on all sides this church too longed for transformation but there were competing theories about how to be transformed by what power down what path for what purpose can one be truly changed in response to these questions paul took pen to paper and he wrote this letter to the colossians and rather than going in head on and just telling the colossians what to believe and what not to believe what to do and what not to do paul tells a story and he doesn't just tell any story he tells the story the story of jesus death resurrection and return and the way he does this it's both brilliant and shocking because he actually puts the reader in the story in every scene of jesus life he says you too have experienced this with christ he puts his audience in the place of action because to paul the movement of the gospel was meant to be the movement of their lives brian walsh and sylvia keys matt and their commentary on colossians they say this by identifying the life of these converts with every significant event in the story of jesus paul reinforces the idea that community has been adopted by the story paul tells us that christian identity and praxis are rooted in our identification with and participation in these events did you catch that distinction this is not a narrative where this church had just been dealing with all these waves of different doctrine and paul was kind of with him on like which one to choose this is not a community that had adopted a story to help them make sense of their lives this was a community that was adopted by a story they were written in woven into this grand narrative that not only defined their lives but it defined all of human history this letter to the colossians in the face of heresy and immorality it was not a message that just said do better try harder this message simply said trust the story and not only that be true to the story live out of its truth be an active participant in this grand narrative paul believed that christian praxis or practice must be rooted in the christian story and a portion of the story that paul told it began with a funeral and it ended with a wedding and everything in between was preparation these events would give power and purpose to the colossians as they long to be made new a funeral and a wedding death resurrection return this is your story your life is tethered to these events and like a rubber band the further that you move away from them the more tension you will experience whether you realize it or not your body was made to be an image or a replica of its creator it longs to be restored to his factory setting and until that's achieved it will long for this transformation so in the face of all of these questions about how to be made new how to be transformed was it through self-gratification or self-annihilation religion or revelation paul says this the only path to transformation is death resurrection return i'm going to take us through these events and as we do we're going to jump around in the passage as we follow jesus story first death we see this observable in science and nature right often the first step in a transformation is death so as promised the story begins with a funeral begins with your funeral actually did you know that you died do you remember when it happened when you took your last breath as your old self and you passed through the waters now this was not news to the colossians but it might be news to you what paul does is he he writes this with the assumption that there is agreement around this phrase that he begins with for you died this is the basis of his letter and paul he uses baptism theology throughout this passage which is a meaningful and haunting reminder of what baptism really means right as you are brought into the waters you are symbolically aligned with christ in his death and the waters as they temporarily consume you then part as you're raised back up in allegiance with jesus life and resurrection and so baptism it's actually not just symbolic it's allegiance it's a declaration that like christ you two have died and been raised again becoming a christian it's not just a decision it's transfiguration the old is gone and you become a whole new self so paul is inviting you to leave something behind and not just leave behind he goes a step further he says put it to death because if your old self was something that you could just take off and lay aside even if you put a lot of distance between you and it be honest you'd be tempted to return maybe not right away but someday after the israelites passed through the red sea the waters did not remain parted no the walls of water they crashed down not only defeating their enemies but making it sure that the israelites could not return to egypt the way they came you my friend cannot return the way you came if you've given your life to jesus if you have surrendered to god and passed through the waters of baptism there's no returning to egypt and that might sound harsh but this death it's not a punishment jesus took the punishment of death on the cross all wrath was poured out on his body what this punishment was it was a doorway to freedom because the curse it could follow you all the days of your life for freedom god opened a doorway of death that you were able to pass through severing the bond of the curse and making it so that you could live fully alive and fully free on this side of the grave this is the good news of god that the sin that you thought would define you is dead and now it has no power you get to release it and receive this invitation away laying it to rest colossians 2 20 for you died to the elemental spiritual forces of the world colossians 3 5-6 put to death therefore whatever belongs to your earthly nature sexual immorality impurity lust evil desires and greed which is idolatry because of these the wrath of god is coming you used to walk in these ways in the way you once lived here paul is saying you are dead to the world that you came from so now put away put to death the practices of the old world the old is gone the new has come so think of it this way when the pharisees were trying to trap jesus in a politically divisive question about whether they should pay taxes to their colonizers jesus said this bring me in daenerys and let me look at it they brought him a coin and he asked them whose image is this and whose inscription caesar's they said then jesus said to them give back to caesar what is caesar's and to god what is god's here jesus is doing something provocative he's saying the coin that you're holding it bears the image of caesar so it belongs to caesar but the person holding the coin bore the image of god and therefore belonged to god here paul is using the same logic and saying you bear the image of christ you belong to christ but there are things within you that do not bear christ's image they do not share his nature sexual immorality impurity lust evil desires and greed which is idolatry these things bear the image of death and if not surrendered to death they will slowly kill you and so paul's invitation is this give to death what belongs to death give these things over to death before they hand you over to death the first list of sins that paul gives us is a lifts that left unchecked will do violence your body and soul they will destroy you as an individual this is not about getting it right or wrong being good or bad this is a life and death struggle first corinthians 6 18 through 20 say flee from sexual immorality all other sins a person commits are outside the body but whoever sins sexually sins against their own body paul is saying that distorting your sexuality in this way is like doing war within yourself because your body was designed to be an image of and a resting place for god then paul gives a list of those sexual distortions sexual immorality impurity less evil desires and then he evocatively ends a list of sexual sin with an economic sin greed here what paul is doing is he's linking the way that we can misuse our bodies and the way we misuse our finances under one corrosive paradigm consumption because sexual sin isn't sin just because it's sexual it's sin because it is invariably covetous it says i will do anything use anyone abandon any conviction to get what i want it replaces the pleasure of enjoyment between two people and loving relationship with a self-gratification that cannot ever be fulfilled outside of covenant further economic greed is the resistance of the empire economic greed is the way that the empire tries to win our hearts over by saying whatever wealth you amass whatever status you attain whatever organization you build it will never be enough and nothing stands in better defiance to the empire by saying this one person who i will love my entire life is enough or this one portion of my salary that i will keep giving the rest away to the poor is enough greed commodification covetousness these are not the ways of life these are tokens of death and paul calls them idolatry and he says beware of these things because of them the wrath of god is coming and of course it is like of course god is angry when the object of his love is losing its soul the cruel trick of sexual immorality and the cruel trick of greed the cruel trick of idolatry is that you cannot dabble with it and remain the same so paul invites you give to death what belongs to death put it in a casket over your dead body and bury it in the earth paul gives a second list of sins that he warns us about he invites us to take them off if the first list of sins will rob you of your humanity the second list will rob you of community verse 8 but now you must also rid yourself of things as these anger rage malice slander and filthy language from your lips do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and you've put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator paul is pressing past some of the obvious sins some of the ones that are quickly acknowledged and quickly repented of and pressing into some of the sins that often go unattended to in the christian life but sins that left unchecked have serious consequences in our community anger rage and malice what those do is those reduce another person to the object of contempt with whom you have no connection no compassion no community if idolatry robs you of your humanity these sins rob other people of theirs they become not a creation to behold but an object an obstacle to be navigated and slander and filthy language were probably some of the most pervasive evils that we saw rise in 2020 and 2021 the greek word translated here as slander is blasphemia one way that blasphemia can be defined is casting a whole community in a negative light that in some instances can justify violence against them whether because of political party or an ethnic group or even a denomination within the church many of us are guilty of this many of us in the last year pulled out our old robes of distrust and disunity and we wore them like shields we held them like banners and here paul is saying enough lay them to rest jesus when he rose from the dead he did something really interesting before appearing to anybody in his resurrected form he took off his grave clothes he folded them and he left them in the tomb i think this is kind of a strange move after you have defeated death and returned to life and here is jesus standing in power and glory folding his laundry most of you don't even take time to make your bed in the morning so you have to ask why why did he do this because he didn't need them anymore because those grave clothes they belonged to death and he had defeated it he would never taste it again and paul's invitation is for you to do the same now the disciples they had actually gotten to witness one other person actually many people raised from the death but another person they got to see resurrected from death was lazarus recorded in john 11 when into the tomb jesus called lazarus come out it says the dead man came out but his hands and his feet were wrapped with strips of linen and cloth around his face then to lazarus to his community jesus said take off the grave clothes and let him go so lazarus was raised from the dead he had experienced a miracle life had regenerated in his body air filled his empty lungs his heart found its rhythm again but he had no chance of fully living until he took those grave clothes off his body they had bound his legs and his arms linen was covering his face but what's interesting here is that jesus knows lazarus actually can't take those off himself he was bound and he was blinded and so jesus commands lazarus's community to set him free so this list of sins they have the ability to corrode and undo community but community can also be what overcomes them i want to pause here and say if you're not actively in a community of confession and encouragement i would encourage you to join or form a core group which is a group of three to five people of the same gender who meet regularly to confess to pray to encourage each other to read scripture if you want to find out more about that you can go to church.nyc groups so paul says lay to rest sexual sin and greed take off the garments of slander and anger and filthy language that bind you so tightly and they smell of death and decay for you have died with christ the first step in any transformation is death but the beauty of death and the kingdom is that it is followed by resurrection colossians 3 begins by saying since you have been raised with christ and i want to point out the use of the word sins that's also how the passage began with since you have died with christ so here we see that death and resurrection are not the goal of your transformation they are the basis of your transformation here you don't have to strive for death you don't have to manufacture life all of those things are already fundamentally true of you because jesus has adopted you into the story he has made it true so death and resurrection this is the power for not the product of your transformation back into verse 12 therefore as god's chosen people holy and dearly loved clothe yourselves with compassion kindness humility gentleness and patience bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone forgive as the lord forgave you and over all these virtues put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity so paul begins with your identity you are god's chosen people holy and dearly loved what's beautiful about this is this isn't putting on a costume this isn't taking your old broken self and trying to cover it with a robe of kindness this is you living out of your authentic self this is paul saying this is who you are now dressed like it and i know many of you may still feel very much in process but the promise of philippians 1 6 is that he who began a good work in you will carry it to a day of completion you will be complete this is who you are becoming and the good gift of god is that you get to dress today for your destiny this is who you are the beauty is that god invites us to put on clothes that are designed for life that are designed for human flourishing and community compassion kindness humility gentleness patience forgiveness and most importantly love i think many of us try to overcome our sin by thinking only about our sin but do you know what happens when all you think about is trying not to have sex with your boyfriend or your girlfriend you're going to become obsessed with sex and your resistance will grow only weaker but fill your mind fill your heart with compassion for your partner start dreaming about what god wants to do through their life see them the way that god sees them and all of a sudden you won't be consumed by lust you'll be consumed with heaven's thoughts for them you'll want more for them than you want from them the key to overcoming life the key to overcoming death is putting on life do you wrestle with selfish ambition and competition try putting on humility encouraging others counting others is more significant than yourself do you wrestle with anger and lashing out try putting on patience and don't just focus on who somebody is in a moment think about who they're becoming play the long game give them grace to grow do you wrestle with bitterness and resentment try putting on forgiveness surrender the things to god that have been robbed from you and give them to the only one who can make all things right we can become far too focused on what we're taking off completely aloof to what god invites us to put on the sad thing is that many of us walk through the world half clothed in our new creation but god would never want to strip you bare just to leave you that way he takes off only what must be removed so he can put on something more healing more lasting more perfect and that might sound great to you but you're still wondering like how do i get this on my body for this we have to go back to the beginning of verse 12. i want to read this over you again therefore as god's chosen people holy and dearly loved clothe yourselves i want to do something we we normally do in the prayer room during the week but i wouldn't normally do in a sermon but you have to get this part if you don't get this piece none of this is possible so i'm going to read this verse over you one more time but i'm going to invite you to put your body in a posture where you can receive it so i'm going to invite you if you're ready to put out your hands with open palms and close your eyes as i read this verse over you one more time therefore as god's chosen people holy and dearly loved clothe yourselves you can open your eyes you are gods you are chosen you are holy you are dearly loved if you find yourself in a place of despair today know that you are gods you are chosen you are holy you are dearly loved if you find yourself losing yourself know that you are gods you are chosen you are holy and you're dearly loved if you're not sure about anything else be sure of that how do you get these clothes the truth is you already have them they belong to you because you belong to christ the promise of ephesians is actually written as a praise it says blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us in christ with every spiritual blessing he's blessed you with everything compassion kindness gentleness patience forgiveness and love you have access to these things because your identity is your access all you have to do is choose them put them on sometimes it's a practice and as you practice that i want to give you three things to think about first just to re-emphasize this point you are the model not the maker you don't manufacture these clothes they do not come from you they are from heaven on loan god has given them to you and so if you're trying and you're trying and you just like can't make it work good stop trying and start surrendering just give yourself to jesus and ask him to come and clothe you second these clothes will look different on everyone expressed in their true form these virtues will take on gradients and dimension and texture on each and every person because no two people are exactly alike so no two people walking in kindness and gentleness will look exactly alike so if you've been measuring your patience to somebody else's stop look up you cannot look to the right or the left on this one you have to look at christ and as you do you'll be filled with who you're becoming third you have to put these things on every day the funny thing about getting dressed is like i'm not good today because i got dressed on thursday you actually have to get dressed every single day and this is the beauty and the ordinary rhythm of christian life every day taking off your old self putting on the new being transformed quietly and without pageantry without show paul says this is for you and this is for today and as you put on all of these things paul also says everything's bound together with love and not only are these virtues bound together in love all of us are bound and love love is the purpose and the power of your life so as mentioned this story begins with a funeral and it ends with a wedding that wedding is the marriage supper of the lamb revelation 19 the apostle john tells us how the story ends he writes then i heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude like the roar of many waters and the sound of mighty peels of thunder crying out hallelujah for the lord our god the almighty reigns let us rejoice and exalt him and give him the glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints we are getting dressed because we're getting ready we're getting ready for that day the day when christ will finally have his bride the church dressed bright and pure the return of christ is the final and unexpected ending of the story colossians 3 1-4 set your heart on things above where christ is seated at the right hand of god set your minds on things above not on earthly things for you died and your life is now hidden with christ in god when christ who is your life appears then you will appear with him in glory the love of god that has wrapped you in the story is moving you toward that future day of glory and yet as pastor phil acknowledged a few weeks ago we are still very much living in a present reality we live in the tension of two truths the first it is finished the second it is not yet fulfilled so let's unpack that for a moment in our context and then we'll close first it is finished the work was done on the cross one of the dangers of thinking about the return is that you can begin to think about heaven as both future and far off but that is not how jesus taught about heaven one of his most prolific teachings was actually repent now for the kingdom of heaven is at hand here this basically saying heaven has come it's in front of you just reach out and grab it in this way the work is finished heaven has come and heaven is currently invading earth as we speak one of the issues of the colossian church was that the gnostics had had influence in their community and the gnostic said that your next breakthrough is on the other side of your next spiritual high this emotive worship experience or it can only happen at the end of your life and to this paul said no you can be transformed today quietly privately in your room put these things on this is an invitation to live faithfully today we're not to live a disembodied reality we're meant to incarnate the spirit into our flesh we are to live an embodied resurrection right now it is finished you're filled with the full measure of christ and yet it is not yet fulfilled you are free and you are being set free you are transformed and you are being transformed you are victorious and yet you are still being led into victory like i felt when i was sitting at that bakery in washington dc you may feel that war within yourself maybe a war between greed and love a war between and generosity a war between life and death and i hope in this sermon that i've not made light of death death is defeated and yet death is still very much a present and painful reality as a pastor in this church i know some of your stories and far too many of you have faced the horrors of death losing those you loved and tragic and unexplainable ways we've even lost the lives of members of our community in this past year and with them we mourn death is defeated and yet death is still a painful and present reality now this can't be compared to your losses but this past week i experienced my own loss my grandmother passed away last saturday and we were extremely close no one would ever pressure her to pick a favorite but without being asked she would voluntarily tell you i was hers to my cousins if you're watching this i'm sorry but you know it's true [Applause] she was one of the greats even those in our family who were not her favorite still adored her born in the early 1920s she lived through the great depression a world war the civil rights movement and the boom of the information age she went to work as a woman of color in the 30s and 40s when neither women nor people of color were warmly welcomed in the workforce and she bought a house that she raised all four of her children in and beyond all of her accomplishments the thing that i love most about her she was actually the only other believer in my family so much of my life can be credited to her prayers her generosity her sacrifice the way she showed me christ with her life in june i got to visit her one last time and when i was there on a whim i just asked her if she'd want to watch one of my sermons and she said yes so i left her alone with youtube and after about an hour i came back and she was weeping i asked her she was okay and she just looked up at me stunned she was in shock of who god had made me to be of the work he had done in my life because she remembered that kid that could not get it right and now before her she saw the woman that god had shaped me into what she was able to do before she died was she basically she held up a picture and a mirror a picture of who i once was and a mirror of who i had become in this life we must do this for each other we must hold up pictures and mirrors reminding one another of how far we've come of who we used to be and marveling with one another at who god has transformed us into i'm not finnish but i am not who i used to be on august 23rd my grandma would have been 99 but she'll celebrate this year in heaven for so much of my life she was my protector she was my champion but now her life is hidden in christ someday she'll reappear in glory until then i live in this tension between my present pain her present joy in this world you'll ache you'll mourn you'll grieve all the while you will be slowly transformed and someday you will be fully revealed with christ until then some of your life will be hidden with him first corinthians 13 12 say for now we see only a reflection as in a mirror then we shall see face to face now i know in part then i shall know fully even as i am fully known the true path the only path to transformation is this death resurrection return you want to see the world remade it's remade by individuals who are adopted into this story so what i'd like to do with the time we have left here today is just respond not even to this message respond to this story that you have been woven into that you have been adopted by maybe you're here and you feel stuck you just want to take off the garments of death but you can't figure out how to let them go maybe you feel like you have been trying and trying and trying and you cannot get it right now is the time now is the invitation to stop trying surrender what that means is you just come to christ and you say i actually cannot do this by my own power and the beauty is that jesus says perfect for my powers made perfect in weakness she'll just receive his power receive his invitation so maybe you need to surrender something today an old garment that would drag you back to death or maybe today you need to receive life you need to put on the garments of your destiny you need to reveal who god has already redeemed you to be and you just want to pray god god i want to clothe myself but help me the beautiful promise of the gospel in luke 12 27 says look at the lilies and how they grow they don't work to make their own clothing do you know that the lilies they don't work to make their own clothing yet solomon in all of his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are so maybe today you just come to god and you say i can't make my own clothing god would you dress me dress me today in the garments of my destiny or maybe you're here and you just need to be ministered to in the tension of what you've lost and what you've been promised know that god sees your grieving he sees your brokenness and he wants to meet you there and so what we want to do is make space for all of that we want you to encounter god in a way that helps you step out of death and into life and feel healing in all of the brokenness in the world and so what i'm going to do in a moment is i'm going to pray over us and then we're going to press into a time of lingering we're going to have prayer counselors available on the side of the room i would encourage you do not leave this space until god is done with you there might be something that he wants to give you something he wants to reveal something he wants to release just stay here press into his presence i'm going to pray for us and then we'll worship god we thank you so much for this invitation god we know that it's not on our own that we try to attempt death life return god it is only by you by your power by your grace that you invite us in to get rid of the things that were killing us and step into the things that would give us life and life to the full and so god we just pray holy spirit would you come and do what we cannot do would you come and do among us what we can't whip up what we can't manufacture god would you release things in us that we have been craving and longing for our entire lives holy spirit we know that you want to give good gifts to your kids you know that you want us dressed like we are in the family and so god come come and minister to our hearts take off that which we want to abandon that we want to put to death and give us the garments of life holy spirit would you meet us in this time in jesus name amen in the crushing in the pricing you are making in the soil i [Music] now surrender you are breaking new ground so [Music] so make me a vessel make me an offering make me whatever you want me to with be but all you have given me jesus bring new wine in the crushing you are making wine [Music] careful [Music] make me [Music] me jesus [Music] is [Music] today [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] make me an offering make me whatever you want me to be god i came here with nothing but all you've given me jesus [Music] me we're getting ready [Music] getting [Music] we're getting ready [Music] we're getting get it ready [Music] with your compassion [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] church this is the official close of the service if you need to leave we understand [Music] we just asked that you would minimize the conversation till they get out of this door but we're going to press in we're going to lean in to the voice of god we believe that god is doing something very special in each and every one of our hearts so let's press into what the spirit is doing at the moment i saw a picture of a very giant puffy coat and almost these two buckles that were glowing around the chest and it felt like someone's trying to take those buckles off and was not able to so i just want to ask you to respond and invite jesus into the scene to take it off take off whatever has been burdening you the old clothes and invite the holy spirit to come and give you new garments [Music] however you need to respond whether you need to go to the prayer team at this moment and get prayed over or you simply need to come before the lord on your knees you do so let's respond church [Music] [Music] there is power in this room and every darkness has to move for the light is breaking through and everything that exhausts itself must fall [Music] underneath our great god everything and everything that is all to itself must fall underneath the power of our [Music] underneath [Music] [Applause] [Music] underneath there is [Music] is [Music] itself [Music] cause in the name of jesus there is power and in the name of jesus there is healing and in the name of jesus there [Music] is jesus in the name of jesus there is power in the name of jesus there is healing and in the name of jesus [Music] his name is mighty name in the name in the name in the name there [Music] there is freedom in the name in the name in the name of jesus [Music] where there is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] and dress myself in righteousness i lay down my old clothes to dress myself in righteousness i lay down my old clothes lay them down they are down and i dress myself in righteousness i lay down in righteousness we know god that new wine has no business in all wine skins so father we pray never again will we ever pick up those clothes again or wear them again or look at them again or try them again we walk in new life today we walk in new direction today we walk in new promises today so we pray right now in the name of jesus that you would have healing in the name of jesus your joy would be restored in the name of jesus that you would see the same way jesus sees you in his name that you would know surely that god loves you deeply that you are loved that you are holy that you are his so we pray god in these moments every beating heart in this place would be drenched in your love today that this is the start of something new in our church this is the start of something new in your bride lord so come lord jesus and empower your people to walk in it all the days of their life and so we pray this in the matchless name of jesus christ and all of god's people said amen amen yeah we can give a clap church thank you for coming we pray that you would go in the love of the father in the grace of jesus christ and you would be empowered by the holy spirit throughout this whole week we hope that you will join us in community groups this week and also in our encounter sets and we will be re-broadcasting on monday and tuesday but we'll see you in person all the other days go in peace so we see water [Music] hallelujah [Music] foreign [Music] as we behold the man with fire [Music] every nation bowing [Music] declaring [Music] me [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] me [Music] king jesus he is faithful he [Music] he [Music]

Channel: Church of the City New York

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Id: 0CKZSFZwg_Y

Length: 105min 5sec (6305 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 08 2021