The Bronx Region Sunday Worship 9.19.21

[Music] foreign [Music] my god is awesome [Music] drinking water my god it's awesome [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] my god it's awesome is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] he's brave [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] heals [Music] is [Music] good morning everyone and welcome to the sunday service for the new york city church of christ bronx ministry my name is joe bencivenga and this is my wife joanna good morning and although we are not meeting in person it's great that we have these electronic devices that we can all be part of the service and we have been doing a series about the fruits of the spirit and this particular sermon will be about faithfulness and there's a scripture that we want to read that talks about that yes it's deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 12 and it reads now israelites listen what does the lord your god really want from you the lord your god wants you to respect him and do what he says he wants you to love him and to serve the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul right and that's exactly what we're doing this morning we're taking our time to stop and worship god we want to show him that we love him by being at his feet and listening to his word we want to learn about how we could be more faithful and um we hope that you enjoy the service again we thank you for joining us and we're going to go to god in prayer right now god in heaven thank you so much for this time that we get to open your word we pray that we will have humble teachable hearts we pray that we can um this service will be pleasing to you as we uh go into learn more about being faithful we love you god and jesus and we pray amen amen enjoy the service well good morning church this is the time in our service where we get to take communion together my name is omari uh this is my wife marcia um we're just honored that we get to lead us in our thoughts as we take communion together i'd like to share a scripture that will prepare our hearts um it's in matthew 26 26-29 while they were eating jesus took bread gave thanks and broke it and gave it to his disciples saying take and eat this is my body then he took the cup gave them and offered it to them saying drink from it all of you this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins i tell you i will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now until that day when i drink it on you with you in my father's kingdom you know this week i had a two-day retreat with my entire staff in preparation for this school year many of you know i'm a senior director with the new york city department of education and this was the first time in 18 months that i was able to be live and in person with my entire staff almost to the day we're very close-knit group and so it was just really it was kind of exciting that we were all together for the first time in a year and a half and um you know we got a chance in this retreat to really begin by just talking through where we were in our headspace and what's been going on you know we met just about every day over zoom and then you know in teams but uh nothing like being together in person and uh it was kind of emotional uh you know folks talked about just family and friends um who've lost their jobs family friends who were were sick or who were tested positive for covin uh a number of us who tested positive for covet um almost lost one of my staff to covet in a really tough battle um and really but he's fine today we lost family we've lost friends um just a lot that's gone on and when i when i listened to my staff this week i thought about how sometimes we can blame god for all the things that we're going through um and wonder why god would even allow us to to to go through these things and uh i talked about this guy before uh i just um i admire his his faith and his conviction his strength his his heart but this guy horatio gates spafford he's a a well-known lawyer from the 1800s he's the author of a song that we sing here in church often um horatio's son died of scarlet fever when he was like four years old and then two years later his wife and his four children won a boat and then the boat was struck by this iron sailing vessel and 226 people lost their lives that day including horatio's four children i can't even begin to imagine what that felt as a father to have that kind of loss horatio was was he was away on business and he was to catch up with his family on a vacation a few days later and he received a telegram about what happened to his children so what he did was he got on a boat to england to meet his wife to go over the area where his children died and during the journey he wrote this song that many of us know today and the song goes when peace like a river attended my way when sorrows like sea billows rolled whatever my lot thou has taught me to say it is well it is well with my soul though satan should buffet though trial should come let this blessed assurance control that christ hath regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood for my soul my sin o the bliss of this glorious thought my sin not in part but the whole is nailed to his cross and i bear it no more praise the lord praise the lord o my soul lord hates the day when my face shall be sight the clouds be rolled back as a scroll the trump shall resound and the lord shall descend even so it is well with my soul even though this man is going through such a challenging time he remembered and found comfort in the fact that jesus christ died for his sins and for his soul and i know um how i am in challenging times like my nephew was gone he died about seven months now and it has been challenging but i put my faith in god and knowing that he is going to take care of us as we we take communion right now i pray that that somehow god can give us the heart of this man horatio who in his darkest hour said whatever path god has given him no matter what he's going through he remembers that jesus took all of his sins and had it nailed to the cross with him and that one day he'd be able to see his faith and though we don't deserve anything the law will return to be with us forever and because of that it is well with our souls let's go to god in prayer our god i thank you so much for just the opportunity to come before you to know that that you are there with me through the good times and through the bad times god i pray god that as i i think of the conversations that i have with brothers and sisters who are just going through challenging times god uh i pray god that they know that you are there that you ultimately that you are willing to to give us your one and only son we're so so grateful for that god i pray that we remember that christ was willing to die for us so that we could have an opportunity to be with you forever god i pray that we remember that we have such an amazing father and you who is right by our side through the good times and the bad times and god i pray that that we have this same heart that this man had that no matter what we're going through will always remember christ and his sacrifice and will always truly believe that because we have a relationship with you it is well with our soul lord we thank you we pray for the bread we pray for the juice we know that this represents your body and we know that it represents your blood that was shed for our sins we know that that very blood cleanses our sins so that uh we can stand before you today and we thank you so much lord in jesus name i pray amen [Music] um [Music] [Music] that you cannot get over [Music] when you look at me [Music] [Music] so why do we still find one [Music] the way that you love me god help us [Music] praying [Music] between you and me god your love is yes [Music] [Music] it'll take it takes everything to make love more than a dream god help us [Music] [Applause] that oh us to love the way that you love me [Music] good morning my name is ralph bristol and this morning i have the opportunity of sharing the contribution message with you our scripture today is taken from first timothy chapter 6 verses 17 and 18. it reads command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant not to put their hope in wealth which is so uncertain but to put their hope in god who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment command them to do good to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share thanks here god reminds us not to put our hope in our wealth or other things because these are uncertain but to put our hope and trust in him i chose this particular scripture because about 15 years ago i was laid off from my job of more than 25 years at first it was hard for me to be unemployed and to not have my future secured by a steady paycheck i was unemployed for almost four years that gave me a lot of time to reflect on my life and to search my heart to determine if my security lies in my job are in god god made it very clear that he would keep his promises to provide for my needs because during those years of unemployment the quality of our life did not change and we consistently gave our tithes as a result my faith increased because god continued to bless my life immensely and i'm very thankful let us pray heavenly father god thank you for your love and for providing for all our needs i pray that this contribution is pleasing to you that you will use it for the purposes you have prepared for it father please bless the contribution and i ask this in the name of your precious son jesus christ amen thank you [Music] so [Music] the blind man sat by the road and he cried the blind man sat by the road and he cried the blind man sat by the he says [Music] [Music] she said show me the way she says [Music] jesus hung on the cross and he died jesus hung on the cross and he died jesus sung on the cross and he said the way to go home [Music] jesus rose from the dead and he cried jesus rose from the dead and he cried jesus rose from the dead and he cried he cried over [Music] he says show [Music] away [Music] good morning and welcome to the bronx region of the new york city church of christ we're glad you're able to join us today for our sunday worship service in the bronx we've been studying out the fruit of the holy spirit and today we're going to continue with the fruit of faithfulness so let's start in galatians chapter 5 we're going to read verse 22 through 25. galatians 5 verse 22 through 25 but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control against such things there is no law those who belong to christ jesus have crucified the sinful nature with his passions and desires since we live by the spirit let us keep in step with the spirit as we've been talking about the past few weeks the fruit of the holy spirit can be broken down into three different areas first you have the inward fruit which is love joy peace then you have the outward fruit patience kindness goodness and then you have the godward fruit faithfulness gentleness and self-control so today we're going to talk about our first godward fruit of the fruit of the holy spirit and that is the fruit of faithfulness you know someone once said that christians are hypodermic saints in other words they're living for shots of religious excitement instead of daily growth through the word of god you know it's oftentimes when we think we're not doing well spiritually what comes to mind i need to go to church so i can get recharged so i can get fueled up again it's as if we make church a filling station a gas station i'm low on spiritual fuel let me go to church god gives us the fruit of faithfulness the day we are baptized so the issue is not do i have faith the issue is really am i being faithful because god gave us the fruit of faithfulness see you already have faith you had to have faith to believe in god and to make a decision to live your life according to god so then you became a disciple of jesus a true christian so you have faith so the real issue is not do i have faith but am i being faithful see it takes faith to believe in god but it takes faithfulness to follow god and to strive to live like jesus christ peter tells us something in reference to jesus in first peter that it's important for us to see first peter chapter 1 verse 21 this is what it says through him you believe in god who raised him from the dead and glorified him and so your faith and hope are in god see it says our faith our hope it's in god it's not in what we can do it's not in the preacher it's not in the elders it's not in whoever leads our bible discussion groups it's no no no no our faith has to be in god you know holman's bible dictionary defines faith like this faith is a human response to god and faithfulness is a virtue of god and his servants so in other words the the attributes of the fruit of the holy spirit are actually in reality attributes of god himself now this takes it to a whole another level see for a long time i viewed the bible as a list of human behavior rules or regulations or or policy i just viewed it as the bible tells me how to humanly act in other words god wants me to be good god wants me to be faithful god wants me to be kind god wants me to be gentle god wants me to be loving see that's how i view the bible but the bigger message of the bible is that god is good god is kind god is gentle god is love god is joy god is peace see what's really going on is god is simply saying this be like me he gives us the fruit of the holy spirit so we can be like him so what do we need to do well we need to follow the person who represents god jesus christ so if we can do all we can to be like jesus then we are being like god look at what it says in first peter 1 verse 15 and 16. first peter 1 verse 15 and 16. it says but just as he who called you is holy so be holy in all you do for it is written be holy because i am holy see the fruit of the spirit is a lot more personal than we think a lot more personal see there is a difference between faith and faithfulness there's a difference so what i want to help us to understand this simply because like to me uh i i i see the difference as an act and then habit you have an act and you have a habit so let me explain i want today's lesson to be broken down into three different questions for us so the first question is this what's the difference between faith and faithfulness question number one what's the difference between faith and faithfulness you know when someone first studied the bible with me first opened the bible read the bible with me showed me things i had to make a decision either this is true and i'm going to follow it or it's not true and i'm not going to follow it see it came down to making a decision if this is true and i'm going to follow it i need to believe so strongly in it that i take action upon it now if i don't want to believe it then i'll need to do nothing but if i believe the bible is true then i need to take action upon it so i accepted the bible as true i believed it enough that it caused my life to change when i acted on it that was faith my daughter lily for example she learned to write when she was five or six years old you know kids don't write too good but she learned it right then and then as time went on first grade second grade third grade her writing got more intense she started to learn cursive and different things she started to to learn how to write stories and the older she got the more she learned about writing she recently graduated from lehman with a degree in english and now she's going to columbia university to get her master's degree in writing with a concentration on poetry so she started out young not really knowing how to write but as time went on it was a progression in her life that she learned more about writing she put it into practice and she continued to get better as she went along and that's about the best way i can kind of describe faith and faithfulness as we start out here see for us faith is the first act the first time it's like you you're concentrating on how to write something then you go to the next stage and you learn cursive then you go to the next stage you learn how to do poetry and poems and you go on and on and on and you grow a little bit as each phase comes into play with each act of faith we ourselves grow with each act of faith we come just a little bit more comfortable with acting out in faith by persistence we get better but then there's challenges that come into our faith and honestly those challenges are good because it helps our faith to grow it's like in writing the lessons my daughter learned in fifth grade were nowhere near as intense as a lesson she learned in second grade but as she continued to go they got more intense and she was able to build on each of those lessons to the point that now she's getting a master's degree james chapter one verse two and three james chapter one verse 2 and 3. it says consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance see we need to be tested in our faith that's not a bad thing it's a good thing because then it helps you to persevere and to grow see faith is a progression it doesn't just happen like boom no it's a progression that occurs each lesson gets a little tougher and a little tougher but yet they help you to grow in your faith see when the progression becomes a habit as it says in the definition of holman's dictionary a virtue of faith becomes faithfulness see when we act on faith and it becomes a habit that we continually act on faith over and over and over that's just who we become people who act on faith that's when we're full of faithfulness see faithfulness is like a running record of victorious faith you know some people have a a prayer list and they check it off when those things occur those faithful things occur some people have a spiritual journal where they just keep track of the faithful things that happen faithfulness is a running record of victorious acting faith so question number two does god have faith that's the question does god have faith you know the bible mentions god's faithfulness several times but never states that god has faith or that god acted on faith see that's our territory that's humanity's territory see god doesn't need faith and he doesn't need to act on faith because god himself is faithfulness first corinthians chapter one verse nine first corinthians one verse nine god who has called you into fellowship with his son jesus christ our lord is faithful again first corinthians 10 verse 13 says no temptation has seized you except what is common to man and god is faithful he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear but when you are tempted he will also provide a way out so you can stand up under it see faith according to webster is this trust confidence complete acceptance of truth which cannot be demonstrated or proved by our process of logical thought see in other words faith is something that you believe that you trust but you can't prove it by our logic see that's why god doesn't need faith he is the author of all truth he was there in the beginning and he'll be there when things come to an end ideas like beginning and ending they don't have the same meaning for god it has a significant meaning for us but it doesn't have the same meaning for god because he exists beyond our sense of time our sense of space or he exists beyond the past uh the present he is so much bigger than we could ever think or dream or imagine so he doesn't need to have faith because of who he is he knows the past he knows the future because he is the past and he is the future see that concept alone is just too much for man it's just it's doesn't make sense it's not logical which is exactly why we need faith and he doesn't question number three how does faithfulness show itself how does faithfulness show itself you know faithfulness can show itself through reliability and having trustworthiness it's like this faithfulness on god's side of the situation means that he can be trusted to complete what he started in other words the things that god says he's going to do he's going to do it we can trust it now faithfulness or man's side on your side my side is faith can be defined as a man's response to god so in other words it means are we going to be trustworthy and reliable in responding to the fact that god will do what he says he will do see to respond to god by trusting that he's going to always do what he says that's faith but to make it a habit of continually responding to god over and over again trusting him that's faithfulness see we can do it once and that's fine that's a good thing we showed faith but if we continue to trust god over and over and over that's faithfulness see it's that progression we learn some things we grow we may stumble a little bit but if we continue to show that kind of faith that's a life of faithfulness faithfulness in a relationship between you and god is god doing what he says he's going to do and us trusting that he's going to do what he said he's going to do so how do we develop this virtue of faithfulness practice practice practice practice what practice our faith you practice your faith you you live out faith and then watch the miracle that happened watch what god does trust god and then the next thing that happens you live our faith again and see sometimes living our faith means you're not gonna get what you want the way you want it but even if you don't you still trust god you still trust that because it didn't happen in my time doesn't mean it's not god's timing and he's still gonna do what he said he's gonna do but he's gonna do it in his time not necessarily my time so what is faithfulness is a response in two ways one trust trust that what he's saying is true in spite of our inability to reason with logic so the first part of faithfulness trusting that god is gonna do what he said he's gonna do even if logic says that how is that gonna happen how is that gonna be we trust god it's not about man not about people but it's about trusting god and god's word and then the second part of that faithfulness is acting see we can trust but god is not saying just trust me just sit on the couch and just trust just don't do nothing just sit down and just trust just sit try no we have to act and act is another form of it is obeying so our obedience based upon our trust in god leads us to a faithfulness and that's a lot but that's true that's what we're talking about there's a difference in having faith and faithfulness we can have faith you already have faith you became a christian you have faith don't ever doubt you don't have faith you have faith but the issue is am i being faithful see we have the faith but are we trusting day after day after day we have to do it over and over again we have to trust over and over again that's faithfulness see are you it's like this are you if someone were to ask you are you faithfully having your bible times every day of reading and prayer now if you're doing it every single day you can say i am faithfully having my times with god every day but if you're doing it maybe once a week twice a week three times a week maybe and someone says are you faithfully having your times with god every day you'll say i'm having them but not faithfully see faithfulness is every single day you have the same action an act of faith over and over and over again see we can't grow if we're not doing it on a consistent basis now are there times where our faith may feel a little weak yes but you still have faith what did he say as long as it's as small as a mustard seed that's enough he's not saying you got to have this humongous faith every day of your life that's not what he said he said as small as a mustard seed that's enough for god to work see what happens is we start having faith and just when we think we got the hang of it satan comes in there and throws a challenge but see the issue is when that challenge come am i still going to trust and act faithfully see there's times that we read the bible and we think well that's not really what jesus meant that's just kind of a saying let me let me show you what i mean matthew chapter 17 verse 20. matthew 17 verse 20. this is what jesus says he says if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain move from here to there and it will move nothing will be impossible for you we don't always take this scripture seriously because it defies our logic we're thinking okay here's a mountain it's gonna and boom it's gonna be over here jesus obviously didn't mean that he meant something else so then we start watering it down we start changing things but we gotta understand listen to what he's saying he said if you have faith things are not going to be impossible for you but what kind of a point is this i believe god even though it defies logic this is what he said do you believe god and trust god even though it defies logic see logically we can't see this mountain just moving over here and landing over here but do you trust god even though logically it may not make sense to you see what is something that you're going through right now that seems impossible to you that seems just beyond what you can do maybe it's just getting up in the morning on time every day i just seem like oh there's always something i can't do it maybe it's dieting you really want to die but it just never works out or maybe it is having your quiet times every single day and praying every single day and you really want to but then it seems like something happens every single day see when jesus says in matthew 17 20 nothing will be impossible for you you and i if our response to god is you know what i'm going to obey him i'm going to trust him regardless of if i don't even understand it that's when we're acting on faith see if that's when we're acting on faith but too many times we act on faith once we understand what it is you have to explain it i understand it i agree with it i believe it okay now we can go do it those five steps before we even take action well that's not faithfulness that's you being in control of the situation that's not god's control ooh we do those things and then we say oh to god be the glory we're going to just follow the lord is that following the lord after the five steps you require no so how does faithfulness show itself well you act on faith and god proves himself faithful by doing exactly what he says and then the thing that your logic couldn't grasp that you thought was impossible yesterday becomes possible today because you trusted and obeyed god he did what he said he was going to do and incredible things happen that's being faithful continuing to do that that's faithfulness so your logic readjusts and you're ready to move to the next phase again faithfulness is like a progression it's like steps that keep going you learn you grow you move on to the next step move on the next step it doesn't just happen see the day you are baptized you think boom i have the holy spirit in me and i'm just going to be full of faith and faithfulness all the days of my life it doesn't just happen like that it's a progression you do have faith but yet you still grow in your faith day after day after day you know faithfulness is a progression if you're a christian and your life is full of faith and it has not been challenging then you need to check your progress something's wrong because the bible even tells us in second peter one verse five through nine second peter one verse five through nine it says for this very reason make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness knowledge and to knowledge self-control and to self-control perseverance and to perseverance godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love for if you possess these qualities with increasing measure they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our lord jesus christ but if anyone does not have these he is nearsighted and blind and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins see the bible tells us we need to keep adding to our faith we need to keep growing well why is that because it's a progress it's a procession it's something that continues to happen so things are going good great you're gonna see something else in your life that needs to change well then you add that on as well you just keep adding on it's like what you learn in first grade great but you gotta go to second grade and you can build from first grade to second grade to third grade to college to masters to phd whatever it may be but you have to add to your faith the holy spirit's job is to mold each and every one of us into the likeness of jesus christ this is what the holy spirit wants to do this is why god gave us the fruit of faithfulness so we can act on the faith that we already have and become more and more like jesus christ how do you know that it's working well god will have demonstrations in your life little things will happen those little miracles are going to occur when you act on faith and then all of a sudden bam it unfolds and it's there that's something you need to take joy in it's a good feeling have a spiritual journal write down a prayer list see what god is doing in your life it is incredible to see god working in our lives i promise you're not there i'm not there it's a progression that happens over time see we don't need to say after this lesson oh i am just so faithless i have no faith i'll never be faithful that is not at all the message you are listening to something else or not paying attention today's lesson is simple you already have faith but what you need to do is to be faithful how do i become faithful this is how you become faithful you take your faith you act on it day after day after day you keep trusting in god act on that faith god is gonna do what he said he's gonna do you have to trust that and if you trust that day after day regardless of what satan throws at you you just keep trusting in god then you are being faithful that's what god wants that's why god gave us the fruit of faithfulness because he knows this is what he wants his children to be like that's what he meant for us to be in the beginning that's what he means for us to be as we finish strong for the lord i love you i hope this has refreshed you and encouraged you and to god be the glory good morning church but those who don't know us we are the bunches this is my wife brenda and i'm larry and thank you maurice for that very inspiring message today sharing about faithfulness one of the fruits of the spirit in good times and not so good times god has been faithful to us and our families we have food to eat there's clothes on our back we had a roof over our head we have our health we not be might not be a hundred percent but we're amongst the land of the living truly something to be thankful for and to really actually reflect on how faithful god is to us we want to thank everyone for joining us today and we hope they were blessed by the message we pray that something was said that might inspire you to go a little deeper into your bibles not just go deep into your bibles but to apply it to your life we also pray that something was said that might and you want to have a deeper relationship with god jesus and the holy spirit with that being said my wife will share some announcements thank you honey welcome dear coming this wednesday will be our family midweek you will be on youtube at 7 30 pm also september 26th we'll be meeting at the same time same place for the bronx region services at 10 a.m and also lastly let's just begin to be in prayer mode as we begin to plan our in-person services once again prayerfully in the month of october so let's be in prayer about that amen amen that's being said let's pray father god thank you for this day thank you for all that you have done for us father thank you for your protection thank you for your provision thank you for your insight your wisdom thank you for your mercy your grace thank you for your forgiveness thank you for your son thank you for your word thank you for your spirit thank you father god for just holding us in your mighty right hand thank you so much father god for maurice and the message that he gave us today father god we uh prayed that everything that was said we can remember but not just remember but put it to practice to be uh uh students of the word father god right now father god we pray for afghanistan and the state that it's in we ask you to heal that land we pray for louisiana with the flood conditions be with those people there we pray for the tri-state in new jersey new york the bronx brooklyn queens manhattan staten island with all those that have been affected by the floods um be with those people father god said help assign your angels father god to just uh make a bad situation as pleasant as possible father we pray for the bronze region that you uh go before us and open up the doors father god so that we can meet in person again father god we pray that you keep us patient as you as patient with us as you um bring us back together we love you father god we thank you for doing all these things in jesus name we pray amen amen [Music] i

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Length: 56min 46sec (3406 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021