Jesus On Racism | 6/7

good morning church family we're so glad that we can share this time together with you those either - joining us for the first time and those either just part of our sgt family you know it's uh really hard not to be out there hugging you being with you I think of those groups that gather in the cafe I'm thinking those are the times that we really are able to catch up but that's gonna happen that's gonna happen soon right now we're gathering together to worship the Lord dear a word from the Lord Church this is a time more than ever before that we can gather our hearts before God and let him transform us let our minds be transformed a our heart to be transformed today you know this is maybe a time just push those breakfast dishes out of the way I know some of Union pajamas but that's okay God sees our hearts and this is a time that we want to just open our hearts before him so welcome be open to everything that God wants to do in your life and in the lives around you god bless you pastor Matt let's enter into the presence of God [Music] oh Jesus oh Jesus we just invite you God come and have your way among us give us your heart give us your mind sing this together we've seen what you can do we've seen what you can do oh god of wonders your power has [Music] the things you've done before in greater measure you'll do again let's sing that again we've seen you've seen what you can do oh god or wonders your power has known the things you've done before things you've done before in greater measure you do again cuz there's no prison or you can you break through the mountain you can't move all things are possible there's no broken body you can't raise no so that you can't save all things are possible the dark is you can light it up or you can let you know oh god a revival liver [Music] car therefore god Singh arose at victory you rose in victory and now your seed forever on your throne so why should my heart so I should my heart fear you can see I will trust in you this there's no cuz there's no while you can't break through Oh mountain you can't move all things are possible there's no broken there's no [Music] you can't raise so that you can't save all things are possible [Music] he collided oh you can ID [Music] [Music] oh Jesus we sing this to you today knowing you are the god of revival we ask you to just come visit this island with your spirit again reveal Christ again of this earth come awake come awaken your people come awaken this island o God of revival pour it out pour it every stronghold will crumble I hear the chains hit Oh God a revival for [Music] don't awaken your key calm awakened to silent who got a revival pour it out [Music] he didn't change it [Music] say it again get this [Music] war free struggle [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh Oh [Music] revival [Music] there's no prison wall you can't breathe through no old mountain you can't move all things are possible there's no broken body you can't raise so that you can't say all things [Music] it's together walking around walking around these walls oh I thought by now they'd fall but you have never found me yet [Music] waiting for change to come knowing the battles won for you I'll never fail me yeah let's sing this together your promise still stands your promise still stands great is your faithfulness faithfulness I'm still in your hands this is my conference you've never felt me yeah [Music] I know the [Music] and your word will come to pass [Music] so my heart will sing oh Jesus [Music] Jesus you're still [Music] keep me within your love [Music] my heart will sing your basil all your promises [Music] is your face your face [Music] I'm still in this is my car [Music] [Music] I'm still ha oh you never fail me you've never failed me oh and you won't start now [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh yes cuz your promise still stands great is your faithfulness your faithfulness [Music] I'm still in your hands this is my conference but you never felt oh you're promised you promised still stands great is your faithfulness your faithfulness I'm still in your hands this is my car [Music] [Music] victory is found in worship [Music] and we stop stop singing till the whole earth looks like heaven yeah we won't stop stop singing till the horse looks like heaven this is our prayer we won't stop until the whole earth looks light heavy till the hole looks like heaven [Applause] [Music] to the hole [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay [Music] [Applause] let it come on earth [Music] [Applause] [Music] stop stop saying until the whole earth looks just like heaven with your peace with your unity with your hearing with your power heaven on earth is our cry to the hole looks like [Music] and they'll know we are Christians by Harlan by Harless and they'll know we are Christians by our though they'll know we are Christians by they are the as they'll know we are Christians by our [Music] we Christians by heart why our love yes they'll know we are Christians by [Music] oh Jesus we ask for hearts of love on toward another then we might sing the name of Jesus until the whole earth looks like him with one voice today we just say your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it isn't it teach us how to walk that out go prepare our hearts today to hear a message that's gonna help us walk that out today our ears are on you we love you Holy Spirit in Jesus name what a beautiful time of worship lifting our hearts before God and then knowing that that song is really a reflection of what the Bible teaches us as being one of the most significant expressions of our Christianity our love they will know we are Christians by our love I want you to think about it when we all get to heaven we're gonna be surrounded with the presence of Almighty God surrounded with his love do you think there's gonna be racism or prejudice or discrimination or bias or any prejudice that would be present in the kingdom of God no not for a moment because his presence is going to be there will there be diversity of course there'll be diversity in heaven because he's the author of all creativity but think of it on earth I don't think we really experience the full beauty of diversity because we've become so isolated and alienated there will experience the full beauty of our unity and our diversity so I want to share really not so much a sermon with you today but more of a dialogue a conversation now I know technically this is a monologue you don't have the opportunity to respond to me but I'm asking you to really engage your heart in this moment with me almost like it's just me and you talking I really want to share this because all of us are cognizant of what has unfolded in America on the heels of all of the experiences that we have heard about all of the racial tension that is so present because of the the cruel and barbaric murder of George Floyd all of us are aware of that and it pains us when I saw that I was emotionally just I just was stopped in my heart because I saw the the cruelty in the sin Jesus has something to say about racism we might think well he never directly addressed it yes he did every one of his teachings were filled with an understanding of how we should respond to God in treat one another now you might have a question what is racism well it's any type of prejudice or discrimination or bias against another race other than your own and almost exalting your race is superior you know that can even translate and can be extended into prejudice and a discrimination against one's nationality or ethnicity or gender or age when we look at the Bible we realize that racism and any discrimination is ugly and it's sinful and God has something to say to us about that I'm gonna invite you to keep your heart just wide open don't allow yourself to shut down for one moment keep your ears on to be challenged and to be encouraged by the Lord I've had the purpose in my heart to do that as I said I I was emotionally overtaken by what I saw but I knew that God was about to speak something to my heart I know we're on the precipice of a major revival I believe that with all my heart a global revival a revealing of God the fullness of his love and the fullness of his power now I believe he wants us to walk in his love and I believe that racism and discrimination prejudice bias is always addressed by God's love manifesting in an unprecedented way through each one of us you see at a time like this I felt like the lure was challenging my heart because I lifted my heart to him and said God what do you require of me what do you almighty God require of me and I visited a passage in the Old Testament Micah chapter 6 and verse 8 and it says this and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God think of that I'll just do it in Reverse to walk humbly God's requiring me and I believe he's requiring all of us to walk humbly to listen attentively to allow him to reshape refashion our heart to convict us and to challenge us that whatever he wants to change in us we would be open to that we would walk humble before God we would walk humble before others and that we would be married to mercy that mercy would be so much a part of our our attitude our our disposition and the very expression of the words anis and indefinitely the actions of our life and that we would do justly that requires action and I really felt the Lord was challenging me to do justly to move forward a heart of justice and to give expression to that in the right way in the right spirit now there's a wonderful prominent minister pastor Bishop Jake's and I listened to what he had to say about this of racial reconciliation and he basically said you know what this is not simply a black and white issue it's a right and wrong issue that spoke to my heart and it's very core this is a moral issue a moral issue and God wants to challenge us now I don't know what your story is I don't know what your experiences have been some of them might be quite negative might have always been positive all throughout grade school high school and in college and even to this day I have many black friends brown friends Asian friends and it's all been very positive but I still had to stop and step back and say God is there any bias prejudice discrimination within my heart towards any race and I consider what David actually did in Psalm 139 when he brought his heart before God and said O God search my heart it wasn't just his own personal introspection he said god I invite you to search my heart and if you find any wicked way in me then I'm not cognizant of that I'm not aware of then Lord please reveal it to me and then remove it from my life listen as believers we're adamantly opposed to racism and bigotry and Prejudice and justice inequality and discrimination may those never be held in your mind harbored in your heart or expressed through your actions as believers were also adamantly opposed to achieving any goal through violence or Anarchy or hatred dr. Martin Luther King jr. said it this way though riots are the language of the unheard violence is both impractical and immoral and then he went on to say non-violence is the absolute commitment to the way of love may we walk in a spirit of love that's something that all of us can do if we ask God help us the scripture says God is love and I want his love to manifest through my life you know also as believers were equally opposed to concluding that all those who serve on the police force are evil and racists there are 800,000 police officers across America and numbers of them are god-fearing white black brown Asian police officers we need to pray for all of them and we need to pray for everyone who's been impacted by racism at every level you know this past week I had the opportunity of directly connecting with dr. AR Bernard he's a very influential minister in New York as well as his son pastor Jamal I asked dr. Bernard since he's so involved in racial reconciliation I asked him how could I as a pastor stand with the black community regarding racism and injustice he said to me pastor Zee two things I'd encourage you to do expand your pool of understanding by engaging in conversations like we're having right now and secondly use your platform to be a voice to speak against any injustice no matter where it has its expression and to speak for justice and for truth for all races and you know I believe that with all my heart so that's why I wanted to just deal briefly with Jesus and what he had to say about racism looking through that lens and it could all be summarized in one incredible teaching that he's given to us that's found in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 10 and verse 25 through 28 it says this and behold a certain lawyer scribe stood up and tested him saying teacher what shall I do to inherit eternal life he said to him what is written in the law what is your reading of it so the scribe the lawyer answered and said you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself and he said to him you have answered rightly do this and you will live jesus was making it very clear to this lawyer described the heartbeat of everything that the Bible teaches us first and foremost to love to love God you know some times interpersonally people make love very nebulous and ambiguous we wonder what do I need to do to show my love towards you well God spells it out very clearly here this is how I want you to love me with all of your heart with all of your mind with all of your strength with the totality of your whole being love me love me and let it be expressed very concretely in tangibly by obeying me and so love is something that we need to give expression to to him but then he wants us to do that same kind of love toward our neighbor toward others so we can arrive at this understanding first love is the highest priority to God loving him loving others secondly we can realize its volitional it's a choice that we have to make we can resist loving others but if God commands us to do it you know he's also wired us and equipped us to fulfill that he would never ask you to do something you can't do so when God says to you and he says to me I want you to love me and I want you to love others I want you to love that neighbor we can do it through His grace through his strength through his empowerment you know dr. Billy Graham made a very interesting comment about the passage about loving our neighbor when he said racism is a sin precisely because it keeps us from obeying God's command to love our neighbor we need to love our neighbor that's how you address racism at every level now I want to unpack this a little bit more deeply what Jesus had to say in Luke chapter 10 when this scribe this lawyer had said you know what do I need to do and Jesus said you need to love God and love others so then this lawyer this scribe wanted to kind of get out of the full application of that especially with others so he asked this question well well who's my neighbor who's my neighbor you know what he was looking for how he could limit his love boundaries restrictions surely you don't mean I'm supposed to love everybody I mean my conclusion would be that my neighbor is maybe the one who has the same address same race same ethnicity things that are similar to that person and they're similar to me surely you don't want me to classify a neighbor as someone who is difficult mean-spirited a person that I really don't like well Jesus responds to that question with the most famous parable that all of us are familiar with the Good Samaritan we know how the story unfolds the Good Samaritan there was an individual obviously he was Jewish because he was coming from Jerusalem and he was beating up on the road left for dead and then the scripture will say that a Levite and a priest will come by basically it says they looked another way they saw it at first but then they went to the other side of the road you know they were seeing something but they chose to be blind and then the Samaritan comes along now you have to understand historically especially in the first century this incredible conflict between a Jewish person and a Samaritan they were in a hateful relationship with one another there was no peace just anger hatred rejection discrimination toward one another so Jesus indicates it's the Samaritan that reaches out and helps it's amazing isn't it sometimes when we're hurting God will use individuals to help us that we never expected to reach out to us and some of the ones that we thought would reach out like the Levite or the priest the religious individuals they don't reach out at all God wants us to learn a very strong lesson here there's no limitation to the expression of our love we need to express his love to all without any boundaries without any limitations and give full expression to that in our love for him and for others without bias without prejudice without discrimination without injustice you see the Jewish person and the Samaritan were in conflict with one another but then one was broken Lane and the road sometimes when we hit a crisis it's amazing how we open ourselves up and then the Samaritan opened up his life to reach and to connect and there was healing there was a miracle because the walls came down God wants us to let his love flow into us and through us and to bring healing more than anyone on this earth believers need to arise and let his love flow through our lives not a vain superficial definition of love but something that's so real and so authentic and so genuine that it touches someone else's need and lifts them up and brings healing love will bring down every wall of separation and prejudice and racism God's love is so strong let it flow in you and through you last week I shared with you about Pentecost Sunday when the Holy Spirit came to empower us as believers we talked about the fact that they were filled with his presence and his boldness and his power and the ability to pray in tongues the Greek word is glossolalia well in the context of Acts chapter 2 it reveals to us that they were speaking known languages now you may be wondering why I'm bringing this up when we're talking about how Jesus viewed racism and how we need to approach this whole issue of racial reconciliation I'd like you to frame it out in that context though think of it they were all speaking different languages in the context of that passage it reveals to us there were probably about 15 different groups people groups regions ethnicities that were represented and all of them were hearing what the Apostles were expressing in their own language now I've traveled to maybe about 30 different nations and one of the things that has always stood out to me is when you gain an understanding of their language and you're able to speak a little of it Wow to the people it is so ennobling and honoring and and empowering to them it it communicates respect and acceptance and identification I wonder if that's what the Lord was doing in this moment not only filling his church with the power of the Holy Spirit giving them the ability to speak in all these different languages but he was tearing down walls of prejudice and because they had that person's language they could speak their language it was showing respect and honor and a point of identification it was a reach not a rejection it was acceptance it was love manifesting through their tongue may God anoint us by His Holy Spirit in this day and in this hour and may he bring what only he can bring unity in a broken nation in a broken world I'm gonna invite you if you would to pray with me right now all of us together lifting our heart to Almighty God Heavenly Father I pray that your spirit would come with such power and authority and strength that lives would be touched and healed and that Lord you would anoint us as believers to rise up letting our hearts be cleansed of any sin and that we would step forward without any discrimination without any prejudice without any racism or bias and to express your love to our neighbor without any restrictions without any limitation baptize us and inundate us with your love that is so strong and moves forward and never builds a wall but establishes a bridge of connection just like you did for us Jesus when you came and saved our lives by you shedding your blood at Calvary I pray Heavenly Father that every single person listening will hear your voice be touched by your spirit be healed in their heart and rise up and walk in love in Jesus name I pray amen listen thank you for hearing my heart I tried to communicate it to you with absolute sincerity I love you I know God loves you and he wants us to express his love to others I look forward to seeing all of you very very soon god bless you [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Smithtown Gospel Tabernacle

Views: 2,677

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Keywords: Smithtown (Location), Smithtown Gospel Tabernacle, SGTchurch, SGT Church, SGT, Church, Church (Type Of Place Of Worship), Sermon, Jesus Christ (Deity), God (Deity), Gary Zarlengo

Id: fRSu4CZbPEI

Length: 40min 27sec (2427 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 07 2020