Sun Aug 8 | 9am Live | Centre Street Church

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] do [Music] do do [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] hi everyone we are so glad that you are joining us today now i remember many times when i was worshiping at home it was really easy to just sit back on that couch with my cup of coffee or tea and just to watch the service and not engage meaningfully in worship it was hard not to have the other voices around me and the lights and the worship leaders in front of me and it was easy to disengage but today choose to make this time count get off the couch sing at the top of your lungs blow up the volume on your tv because this is how we show god that we love him this is how we say thanks to god now we're starting a new sermon series today from one of the people that i admire the most and i am so excited for you to hear it from rosemary and it is about love so let us show god how much we love him through worship before we get started so take a moment right now and just remove the distractions that you know are going to get in the way and choose god right now hello center street church welcome we're so excited that you decide to join us today would you stand we're going to worship everybody online wherever you are would you stand or maybe you have to sit but wherever you are we're so glad you decided to join us as well you know as i was preparing for this set today this worship set i just felt god saying god can over and over again god can and i just want to encourage you that wherever you are today wherever your heart is at whatever you're believing for whatever circumstance you are in that god can do the impossible he can turn things around and that he can do immeasurably more than we could hope or imagine so as we lift our voices as we praise and worship him today let's raise our faith in this room that god can do the impossible just one word [Music] the darkness has to retreat just one touch i feel the presence of it just one touch my eyes were open to see my heart can't help but believe come on there's nothing that our god can't do there's not a mountain that he can't love oh the name that makes a way there's nothing that our god can't do just one word [Music] [Music] [Music] there's not a mountain that he can [Music] there's not a reason why he can't [Applause] [Music] there's nothing that our god [Music] come on church how many of you believe that god can do the impossible that miracles can happen let's lift our voices and i will believe for greater things there's no power like the power of jesus let faith arise let all agree there's no power like the power of jesus [Music] there's no power like the power of jesus [Music] for greater things there's no power like the power of jesus [Music] there's not a mountain that he can't love [Music] there's not a prison wall he can't break through oh praise the name that makes a way there's nothing that our gods [Music] [Applause] [Music] huh [Music] there's nothing new [Music] amen let's just sing that course one more time in faith there's nothing that our god can't do singing there's not a mountain that he can't move oh praise a name that makes a way there's nothing that our god can't do one more time oh there's nothing that our god can't do there's not a prison while he can't break through oh praise the name that makes a way there's [Music] feel that you're working you never stop you never stop working you never stop you never stop working cause even when i don't see it you're working even when i don't feel that you're working you never stop you never stop working you never stop and never stop it when i don't see it you're working even when i don't feel [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] promise keep light [Music] light in the darkness my god that is who you [Music] are that is who you are that is who you [Music] who are are in joshua chapter 21 verse 45 it says not one not one of all the lord's good promises to israel failed not one every one was fulfilled every single one all throughout the wilderness god was creating a way for the israelites even when they didn't see it happening in front of them he was working to fulfill every single good promise that he had ever made and if he did that for them church and our god is the same god yesterday today and forever then we can praise him when we're in the valleys we can praise him when we're in the wilderness because he has always kept his promises to us and he will continue to always keep his promises to us so we can trust him so tonight as we sing let's sing these words that i will choose to praise your name jesus no matter where i am because i trust you i count on one thing [Music] the same god that never fails will not fail me now you won't fail me now in the waiting the same god who's never late is working all things out he's working all things out yes i will lift you high in the lowest valley yes i will bless your name oh yes i will sing for joy when my heart is heavy oh yes [Music] the same god that never fails will not fail me now you won't fail me now in the waiting the same guy who's never late is working all things out he's working all things out yes i will lift you high in the lowest valley yes i will bless your name [Applause] oh yes i will see for joy when my heart is [Music] [Applause] to glorify glory by the name of all days but nothing can stand against i choose to glorify the glorified to glorify and glorify the name that nothing can stand against i choose [Music] [Music] yes i will [Applause] oh [Music] oh yes i [Music] oh jesus we choose to praise you we choose to praise you no matter what season in life we are in whether we're on the mountain top or the valley because we know we know without a shadow of a doubt that we can trust we can trust you i stand amazed in the presence of jesus [Music] come [Music] how wonderful is [Music] he took my sins and my sorrows he made them his very [Music] and he suffered and [Music] marvelous [Music] shall ever be how marvelous how wonderful is my savior's love for me [Music] glory his face i at last shall see it will be my joy through the ages [Music] [Applause] is shall ever [Music] is [Music] marvelous [Music] shall ever be how [Music] love for me we thank you lord that your love is that it is marvelous and it is wonderful and we don't deserve it but you give it freely and you pour it out on us you pour it out on us so that we can be free of shame that we can be free of hopelessness and that we can feel um true fulfillment and purpose in this life we thank you that you gave your son jesus so that we could have this life of freedom we praise your name and we just give all that love as much as we can back to you we thank you and we love you in jesus name amen you can take a seat and we're just gonna watch a quick video here hello center street church we are here practicing for worship this weekend we are so thrilled that we get together together live and in person last year we were locked down and so we had a smaller worship team that would focus on worshiping with you online only but now we are in a new season and we are excited to invite more people to join with us and serve on our worship teams at all of our campuses we're looking for drummers keyboard players electric guitar players acoustic guitar players bass guitar players if you can play an instrument or sing or both and you have a desire for leading others in worship we would love to meet you those who are passionate about worship we'd love to get to know you because we believe worship is a whole life response head hands and heart to who god is and what he's done as the center street worship ministry we value god's word unity we value engagement and development these values we believe create a culture where we can grow spiritually as followers of jesus and be the worshipers he created us to be so we would love to have you join us there's also opportunity to be part of our orchestra which we're planning to have again this fall so if you play a woodwind brass or string instrument we'd love to hear from you or if you're a singer who'd be interested in participating in a choir we'd love to hear from you too for more information go to cschurch.ca worship and we look forward to having you serve with us in the worship ministry at center street church [Music] after all of our worship volunteers and staff at all of our campuses and to those that make it possible for us to be able to see them and hear them our tech staff and volunteers and lighting in video in audio can we show them some appreciation thank you online put it in the chat say thank you in the chat thank you so much it is it is just amazing to be able to be led in worship that way and no matter i can't sing to save my life and you might be just like me you're probably just like me so you might not be serving in worship ministries in that way but you might know audio or video or lighting really well if so come chat with one of the techs after the services or put it in the chat we would love to get you connected you might have other strengths and abilities and there is a place for you as well in a couple of weeks we're hoping to relaunch our children's ministries but it takes a small army to be able to do that um for us young parents we really need children's ministries to reopen so if you're sensing the lord leading you to perhaps serve in that capacity we encourage you to step out and to really explore that youth ministries is getting started up again this fall and they're looking for prayer groups and group leaders they're also looking for event leaders um at all of our campuses we have room for ushers we have room for greeters we have room for online chat volunteers so no matter what your giftings are and how god has created you you can have a rule to play what god is doing here now when i first started coming to center street church about 14 years ago i got connected with the video team and i was video directing and it was there that i really met people that i grew in relationship with people it was there that this really big church with lots of people started to feel smaller i found purpose i found meaning and i felt like i had an important role to play and the mission that god had for center street church at the time and you have a role to play as well it's just figuring out where and god may already be prompting your heart in that so be open to that at center street church we believe that serving as a privilege it is a privilege because god created us with those gifts and those abilities so that we can serve him and so we can serve others out of worship and it is in doing that that we become more like jesus it is in doing that that we become more like him who came to serve and not to be served so if you want to chat about any of those opportunities or maybe other opportunities maybe you're new here and you want to chat about who we are as a church maybe you want to chat about baptism or ministries or events that are coming up just come and see us in the connect area in the atrium or the new here area in the atrium reach out in the chat we would love to help you all get connected in that next step in your spiritual journey now i am excited to let you all know that it is through giving of our time it is through giving of our talents and our abilities it is through giving of the financial resources that god has given us that we worship him it is through that that everything works hand in hand for us to be able to accomplish the mission that he has called us to for us to be able to change lives whether it's our life those around us and those that he is using this church to change now i learned this week at the beginning of covid you've all heard that we've been doing freezer meals box lunches food hampers this week we surpassed over 73 thousands of those that we have been able to hand out in the community yes i can't even begin to picture the mountains of food if we were able to put it all in this room but really god uses each one of us to accomplish his mission so thank you for being a part of that now i am so excited we are starting a new sermon series and rosemary has a powerful word from the lord that she is going to bring to us today so grab your bible pull up your bible app shut off your other notifications settle in and choose to be present choose to be alert to what god has for you next [Music] it is so good to be here hasn't it been a beautiful summer it's been warm yeah there's been a little bit of smoke but man just to be back kind of having things a bit more normal the flowers are blooming i have something happen this week that is very normal for me every summer i got a cold at first i thought oh no is this cold but i went and got tested don't worry i'm negative but i got a cold and god's done an amazing healing job over me but you can still hear i got a little bit of stuff happening in my throat and if i have to stop and cough i ask that you you just bear with me tonight on that but it's good to be normal and it's good to be back in the house of the lord many of you maybe all some of you have been coming regularly for me most the time i've actually have worshiped at home you know with my jammies on my cup of coffee my my bowl of granola and it got kind of comfortable i actually have to admit it was kind of nice at times but you know being here in the house of the lord worshiping together seeing people i haven't seen i i just was reminded of that passage from the psalmist that says i was glad when they said to me let's go into the house of the lord i have a son that lives in australia right now and we can't get to them the borders are closed but as soon as that border opens i am out of here and i am going to australia there's nothing that's holding me back and i was convicted this week do i have that same excitement about coming together with my spiritual family coming home to church so i just encourage you thank you for those that are here tonight you know if you are watching online and you can get to one of our campuses or you maybe maybe you live outside of calgary and you're going yeah you know i used to go to church but this is kind of comfy i encourage you to start the new routine of coming back home to church and we just welcome those of you that are at south campus at beerus paw at bridgeland and eritrea it is good to be in the house of the lord well as pam said we are starting a new series and it is a series on the fruit of the spirit i remember being a little girl in sunday school and we had this song you know love joy peace situations and the goal was to sing it as fast as you could see if you can get through all nine of in that list without getting your tongue twisted guess what i never won and even now as an adult or somebody says to me you know can you list the nine what are the fruit of the spirit i usually get a you know kind of bad an eight out of nine on that i often miss one of them there but it's a it is a passage that many of us are familiar with but our prayer is that we will see it with new eyes get a fresh perspective on this very familiar passage and i encourage you to read the book of galatians the whole book because the fruit of the spirit passage is really a culmination it kind of builds up to that it takes less than half an hour and i'm not a fast reader it takes less than half an hour to go through so i'd encourage you read through it immerse yourself in an asking god what he wants to show you through this passage at this point of time in our lives so tonight we're going to do two things we're going to take a broad overview of the book of galatians and then we're going to focus on love but let's pray heavenly father we thank you that we are here tonight we thank you for health and strength lord i thank you for how you have restored my body and i just asked that you would continue that tonight that you would keep keep my voice strong lord i pray that our hearts and our ears would be open to what you have to say to us tonight bring us a fresh word i pray in jesus name amen so before we zero in on these two verses i want to pull the lens back and take take a look at the bigger picture what's the context of these verses well galatians is written by the apostle paul to the church in galatia and he wrote it to counter some of the teaching that was that was occurring by zealous jews who were teaching that certain jewish practices had to be followed most significantly circumcision and really what they were saying was you have to do certain things in order to be saved and paul made an emphatic no that's not right a person is made right with god by faith in jesus not by obeying the law not by getting things right when we place our faith in jesus alone our life will be different because we are empowered by the spirit and in this letter paul uses a writing technique using contrast he talks about what life was like before christ and then he compares that to what life is is like when we live by the spirit it's kind of a before and after story and as i was reading through galatians i was really struck by the number of times that paul used the word but b-u-t repeatedly paul makes a statement about the way things used to be and then he says but and then he follows it with a description of the new and in doing so paul gives us this picture of the old versus the new so let's read together the verses that we're going to be focusing on today and i'd ask if you can let's stand together and let's read it this is galatians 5 16-23 so i say let the holy spirit guide your lives and then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves the sinful nature wants to do evil which is just the opposite of what the spirit wants and the spirit gives us desires that are opposite to what the sinful nature desires these two forces are constantly fighting each other so you are not free to carry out your good intentions but when you are directed by the spirit you are not under obligation to the law of moses when you follow the desires of your sinful nature the results are very clear sexual immorality impurity lustful pleasures idolatry sorcery hostility quarreling jealousy outbursts of anger selfish ambition dissension division envy drunkenness wild parties and other sins like these let me tell you again as i have before that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of god but the holy spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control there is no law against these things thank you you may be seated this passage that speaks of the fruit in our lives that comes from living by the spirit like i said it's really a culmination of paul's message within galatians he says you know you've been trying to keep the law on your own effort you've been trying to make things right you've trying to to sort things out you've been using your strength your willpower your independence you've been basing your religion on works you've been getting it right hoping to earn god's favor and it's been futile but there's another way to live earlier in chapter four he says god has sent the son spirit of his son into our hearts that's the spirit living in us and that he enlivens us and we live by the spirit now this isn't just a new testament idea this actually one of the best passages in the old testament around this comes from ezekiel where he says i will give you a new heart i'll put a new spirit in you i will take out your stony stubborn heart that's that i'm gonna do it on my own that independence and i'm gonna give you a tender responsive heart and i'll put my spirit in you doesn't that match paul right you're going to be filled with the spirit and led by the spirit so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations you see it's not of our own effort it's the spirit working in us and paul gives example after example of what this was like before and after and as he as you read through galatians you'll find there's this growing intensity of example it's almost like a growing crescendo and just like in a movie you can tell there's a big battle coming when the music kind of crescendos right and just as we get to that climax is where we started to read today and it says the sinful nature wants to do evil which is just the opposite of what the spirit wants and then he turns it around and he says it another way the spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires see these are diabolically opposed there's no mixing there's no kind of halfway they are opposed to each other it says these two forces are constantly fighting against each other so that we are not free to carry out our good intentions does that ring a bell it's like that passage in romans 7 where where paul says you know i don't really don't understand myself for what i want to do i do not do and what i hate i do oh this battling of evil against good we've all experienced it we know what that feels like probably on a daily basis do i watch the next netflix show or do i turn it off do i eat the second bowl of ice cream or do i throw it out do i escalate this argument with my spouse or do i admit that i've been wrong do i gossip about my neighbors or do i stop the conversation the battle of our fleshly desires but when you are directed by the spirit you are not under the obligation of the law you see paul declares here that those who have god's presence living inside of them by the presence of the spirit have a new moral ability to reflect god's character let me say that again when we have the spirit living in us we have a new capability that we could not have of our own volition it is only by the spirit that we are able to do things that reflect god's character so the question could be asked how do we get the spirit living inside of us well actually paul asked this question of his readers in chapter three he said did you receive the spirit by obeying the law of moses of course not you received the spirit because you believed the message that you heard about christ it's because we are god's children that he sent the spirit of his son into our hearts it's being filled in the spirit and that's not something that happens when the right person prays for you you say the right thing or you speak in tongues the filling of the spirit is a birthright it comes to us as soon as we accept the free gift of salvation at that moment of conversion we are a child of god and paul uses the metaphor of a branch being grafted onto a tree we're now part of god's family tree there's a new reality we're part of a new family we have a new heart that's empowered by the spirit it's like the spirit is the source the generator within us that's working with that in us it's giving us the power it's the one that produces the fruit and it's only through the work of the spirit that we are able to reflect god's character and be more like jesus now having taken kind of this broad view paul gets really practical by painting a word picture of what these two realities of like two realities are like and this is what life used to be like i mean take a look at this list on the on the screen that's what we read a minute ago when we were following the desires of our flesh this is what it looked like but here's the good news the holy spirit produces this fruit in our lives love joy peace patience goodness faithfulness kindness gentleness and self-control this second picture that paul provides is what a life looks like when it is filled when it's surrendered when it's controlled when it's empowered by the spirit of god it's going to look like jesus now there's three things about the fruit that i want to mention fruit is simply a natural product of the tree that it's attached to we've been grafted onto a new tree the family tree of god and so the fruit that is produced in us is indicative of that tree jesus said talks about this in matthew 7 where he says you can identify them by their fruit that is by the way they act can you pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles apples from cherries good fruit produces apparently a good tree produces good fruit and a bad tree produces bad fruit the bad fruit comes from the flesh that was that first list but good fruit comes from the spirit so the first thing is fruit is simply produced by the tree that it comes from second thing is this fruit that it talks about in james isn't nine separate fruits really the greek word that is used here shows that it's fruit is a unified whole it's not independent you know as we grow and all these characters of characteristics of christ will be manifested in us we can't pick and choose it's not like going to a restaurant and ordering a bowl of a fruit salad and say yeah i'll take that but you know hold the blueberries i don't do blueberries it's kind of the same thing we could say give me the fruit but wait a minute i don't do patience don't have that one thank you no they this provides a unified picture of what our life will look like when we are empowered by the spirit and then thirdly growing this fruit is not something that we can do jesus says this in john 15 i am the vine and you are the branches those who will remain in me and i in them will produce much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing you see when the spirit comes and lives inside of us this fruit will increase increase in measure and it will be evident in our life it's a natural outcome of the spirit presence and control of our lives so a question you may be asking is do we have any impact on the development and the maturity of this fruit that the spirit develops in us short answer yes we do actually we either create an environment where this fruit grows and matures where we cooperate with what the spirit is doing and asking of us or we squelch it we impede it we hold it back we fight against the spirit's control of our lives and we give in to our fleshly desires and we end up the first list now the parable of the seeds that jesus gives in matthew and in luke tells us how the seed falls may fall on hard soil kind of like that hardened heart that ezekiel talks about or maybe the message starts to take hold but then something comes and and we lose our faith or we lose our our conviction to give in to relinquish our control to the spirit or it may grow roots and then it withers and it dies but the seed that falls on good soil fertile fertile soil receptive soil produces a harvest one for one no scripture says it's 30 60 a hundred times that's the kind of fruit that the spirit produces in our lives when our heart is receptive and we're willing to to cooperate to give him control of our lives so the question i had to ask myself and i ask you have we made the choice are we following the spirits leading in our life are we giving him control and is the fruit being produced through the power of the spirit in our lives we're going to look at the first evidence of the spirit's control in our life and that being love i don't believe it was coincidental that love is listed first because love comes from god it's not just something that god does yes god loves us but god is love that's his essence there's this very being now when we hear the word love we often think i love milk chocolate better than dark chocolate i love dogs better than cats no hate mail i love my best friends i love my my children i love my husband all of that yeah that's love but it's not agape love it's not god's love that the spirit gives us it's not an emotion agape love is a choice it's a choice to put others first it's a choice to sacrifice ourselves on their behalf it's a choice to give others give to others when they don't deserve it an agape love only comes through the spirit living in us and his power is produced in us like that generator right so that we can then love others just as god has loved us that spirit he's the generator that produces that love that we can then pass on to others and that's how we live out the second commandment to love our neighbor remember agape love is only originates with god and is given to us and then we pass it on and jesus doesn't mince any words around this in terms of what it looks like to love others just like he has loved us in john 13 he says a new commandment i give you that you love one another just as i have loved you he loves us we love others and by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you love have love for one another so how do we love like this how do we love with agape love well there's many many passages or examples in scripture that we could have pulled on you know there's a parable of the good samaritan there's peter telling us to love people by sharing our home with them who need a meal or a place to stay there's the love chapter right love is patient love is kind those those are also fruits of the spirit interesting how that all happens but if i'm really honest i think love is actually fairly easy most of the time when i'm with people that i like people who are nice to me or even people who aren't nasty to me love is kind of easy but that's not agape love agape love isn't loving those who make it easy who love you back think about it let's take an atheist somebody who has rejected god they're still able to love they will have loving marriages they will care for their children so what makes agape love different what's different about the love that the spirit produces in our lives what are the situations where there is no hope of my or your choosing love without the spirits empowering think about that what are the situations where there is no hope of our choosing love unless the spirit empowers us well again jesus nails it in his sermon on the mount he says love your enemies if you love only those who love you why should you get credit for that even sinners love those who love them love your enemies then your reward from heaven will be very great and you will be acting as children of the most high you see children of god love their enemies people filled with the spirit love their enemies and when we choose to love someone the hardest the farthest away from us the nastiest the person that has hurt us the most then we are revealing that the holy spirit is at work in our lives and producing the fruit of agape love remember agape love or the love of god isn't given because we deserved it the scripture tells us that while we were yet sinners while we were still cursing god we had our back turn we wanted nothing to do with him jesus died for us he made that agape love available to us agape love isn't given because somebody has made amends with us agape love is given while we are still enemies when jesus showed his love to his disciples on the night before he was betrayed he washed their feet how many disciples did jesus have 12 right how many disciples feet how many pairs of feet did he wash that night 12 that means that he washed judas's feet the very man he knew would turn him into the roman soldiers the next day that's agape love love that only comes from the spirit so here's a tough question who are the people that are hard for you to love who is your judas maybe it's people that have hurt us maybe they've slandered your reputation your character they've stolen something from you maybe it's peace of mind or security they've been abusive with their words physically abusive maybe even sexually abusive maybe they abandoned you deeply disappointed you maybe they made choices that broke your heart for some of this of us this may be someone in our workplace our community our friend group sadly for some of us this has been in our family of origin our spouse our children our grandchildren and i wish it were not so but for some of us this has happened within the family of god the church maybe you or someone else you know has been deeply affected by the atrocities against indigenous children at the residential schools we should all be mourning because this should not have happened the things that are are done to us by our own personal judas have the potential to cause us to revert to the desires of the flesh things like hostility and quarreling and jealousy outbursts of anger sexual immorality drunkenness and other sins like these i'm so glad paul put that in other sons like these other sins like this because that really doesn't let anything off the hook does it but you know peter tells us in first peter 4 he says most important of all continue to show deep love for each other deep love agape love for each other for this kind of love covers a multitude of sins you see agape love forgives it agape love does not keep records of being wronged agape love heals and isn't that what jesus did for us our sins are forgiven our record has been washed clean our hearts our lives are enlivened and we've been healed now love and forgiveness doesn't mean that someone is not held accountable you've heard the old adage forgiveness doesn't let them off the hook it just unhooks you you see when we forgive it's unleashing ourselves from the hurt and it frees us it frees us to put love into action forgiveness isn't one of the fruit of the spirit but it shows that love is being produced in us when we forgive we are giving evidence that the spirit is empowering us and producing the fruit of agape love but when we hang on to hurt and we harbor unforgiveness we will be living out of the desires of our flesh and if we only love those who love us back we will be living out of that fleshly nature and jesus says i want to empower you i'm going to give you i'm going to give you the love that i and the love that i pass on to you will be the same love that you'll be able to pass on to others now remember this list of the fruit isn't just separate characteristics yes we're shining a light on love today but really they're all linked and when we love like jesus does then we're also going to be able to pass on goodness and kindness we're going to experience joy and peace all of the things on that list i want to share a personal story of how this has played out in my life a family relationship a family member that for decades we had a relationship that was hurtful many abusive situations and from that list hostility quarreling jealousy outbursts of anger selfish ambition dissension division and many others and i was just as guilty as this other person our relationship was completely fractured i remember so many times asking god help me forgive this person for what they had done god help me i want to forgive i forgive and then we'd have another interaction and things would get stirred up again and then i'd come back i need to forgive them one night god gave me a dream it's pretty point in this dream i was in bed in a in a house and this person broke into the house grabbed a kitchen knife came into my bedroom and started to stab me remember this is a dream didn't happen it was just a dream started to stab me and i was wounded deeply wounded person dropped the knife left and and i i wasn't dead i was able to get up and and call for help but before help arrived i picked up the knife and i held on to that knife as tightly as i could so tight there started to be blood dripping from my hands paramedics arrived and i remember in my dream hearing the paramedics say to me ma'am let go of the knife i can't let go of the knife this is what hurt me let go of the knife no no i can't it hurts too bad let go of the knife and that's when i woke up god showed me i was hanging onto the knife all those things that had hurt me that wounded me for all those decades i was holding on to them and i sensed his hands as outstretched hands the ones that were pierced by nails give me the knife i gingerly gave him the knife and then he said something to me i want you to make that family member a batch of muffins muffins what what's the point of muffins i want you to make an extra special batch of muffins and show kindness show goodness to that person i know they don't deserve it i want you to do it i battled i was like no way god that was the most ridiculous thing to do i won't have any effect do you ever battle with god like that but i obeyed that was the hardest batch of muffins i have ever made but i sensed the spirit prompting me to even put in double chocolate chips and i took them there was no great reunion it was just a thanks i said i just want to do something kind for you walked away i still have no idea the effect those muffins had on that family member but i stand here today before you before god saying god used those muffins to change my heart that's the fruit of the spirit that's agape love that's the peace and the joy the kindness and the goodness and the faithfulness that's the power of the spirit now i don't say that i don't share that story in any way from my glory i spent many many years doing many many things wrong i failed miserably in that relationship but through the power of the spirit my heart has been changed the relationship hasn't been restored we're still there still has not been reconciliation i hope i pray that will happen but the spirit has changed me and continues to change me and that's the spirit of the living god at work in my life and that's the promise that he has given us he said i am going to be with you i will never leave you i will never forsake you you can do nothing without me my divine power has given you everything everything not just a little bit everything that you need to live a godly life so let me guide your life and produce this kind of fruit in you and when he does we can resound with peter where he says do it all with a strength in the energy that god supplies can't do it on my own it's got to be that generator inside that produces it and then everything you do will bring glory to god through christ jesus all glory and all power to him forever and ever amen do you believe that let's stand together what has god revealed to you today through his word maybe it's somebody you've been avoiding maybe it's somebody that you've written off as a lost cause maybe it's the person who's caused you the most pain the oldest pain the longest pain who's your judas who needs agape love to flow through you to them and then what does god want you to do about it how is he revealing his desire to empower you to move you from living in the flesh trying to figure it out on your own to being filled with the spirit and bearing his fruit let's pray lord we thank you thank you for all you have done in our lives we thank you that we are adopted into your family you've put your spirit inside of us father forgive us for the ways and the times that we have tried to do this on our own father we come humbly to you tonight saying we need you we need you every hour of every day every minute in every relationship lord we want your spirit to flow through us thank you that you have said you were with us you will never leave us you will never forsake us that you will do you have given us what we need thank you that we actually are dependent on you and that without you we can do nothing so father we ask for strength we ask for courage to obey we ask for attentive receptive hearts to know what it is you want us to do and lord all of this will be for you for you o lord all glory and all power forever and ever in the powerful name of jesus we say amen [Music] worthy of every song we could ever you're see of all the praise we could ever bring [Music] you're worthy of every breath we could ever breathe we live for you oh we live for you jesus the name above every other name jesus the only one who could ever say you're worthy of every breath we could ever breathe we live for you [Music] there is no one like you there is none beside you open up my eyes in wonder and show me who you are and fill me with your heart and lead me in [Music] worthy of every song we could ever sing you're worthy of all the praise we could ever bring [Music] you're worthy of every breath we could ever dream we live for you [Music] hope we live for you jesus is jesus the name above every other name jesus the only one who could ever sing worthy of every breath we could ever [Music] breathe [Music] show me who you are [Music] show me who you are your heart [Music] jesus [Music] and i will build my life upon your love it is [Music] upon [Music] [Applause] [Music] if [Music] there is [Music] there is no one like you [Music] show me who you are [Music] [Applause] [Music] upon [Music] show me who you are lead me in your love to others and our life is built on god's love let's live that out this week the lord bless you and keep you and make may his face shine upon you and give you his love joy peace patience faithfulness goodness kindness and self-control i hope i got them all the lord bless you and keep you if you are online and you and you want to have someone pray with you please click on the pray now and there'll be somebody there with you if you're here and you want someone to pray with you come up we have prayer partners are coming have a great week and we will see you back here next week right the lord bless you thank you for coming it is hard to do the hard things it is hard to take that step and to talk to that person and you might still be sitting on your couch right now just wondering well should i shouldn't i what should i what is my version of muffins what is god calling me to do just whatever you do either take your phone out or a notebook and just start to write these things down and invite god into that process the same way that rosemary did that is your first step that is the step to take today friends and this week we are praying for you and we are excited to hear your story your story of testimony in the same way that rosemary shared it so share your story with us cschurch.ca stories and maybe you just need prayer for courage in the same way that we just prayed you need prayer for courage for the specific situation that you are in so reach out to one of our prayer partners online they would love to pray with you and now friends we have lots of room for you here and so we hope that you will feel comfortable enough to join us in person someday soon our saturday evening services we maybe have about 10 percent of capacity and in the mornings we probably have 30 capacity people that are coming all that to say there is lots of room for you and there is something that happens when we gather with our church family so we hope to see you next week whether it's online or in person have a great week everyone bye do um [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so 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Channel: mycschurch

Views: 1,501

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Id: 70uTEymhMak

Length: 97min 48sec (5868 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 08 2021