The Third Option | Pastor Miles McPherson

[Music] come on I love that song because it highlights God's faithfulness the Bible clearly says his mercies are new every morning great is thy faithfulness what does that mean you keep making mistakes he keeps making mercy come on somebody you can't go too far you can't do too much you can't run too fast that his love cannot reach you aren't you grateful for the love and the mercy and the grace of Jesus Christ man I love that welcome to home see that's what this is about bring it hope and if we have ever needed hope we need hope right now in fact I've asked one of my best friends in the world Jeremiah you look good you tried to cover up a black eye with a little bit of makeup tell us tell us what happened there I'm gonna point it you gotta hold my hold your mic up so that was wrestling with my son oh you put the beat down his limbs with all-over-the-place makeup looks great um oh I want you if we've ever needed a time where we pray and where we have hope right now is that time and I want you to know this in in turmoil we still have hope and I want you to pray for us right now we can pray yeah God thank you so much that you are as a hope giver and so we put all of our confidence all of our trust in you our firm foundation god we thank you that your word says that even when we are faithless still you are faithful and so we love you God we pray that we would do what your word says that we would do justice that we would love mercy and walk humbly with our God God as we move forward thank you for giving us hope thank you for giving us peace and ultimately God like you prayed like Jesus prayed to you that we would be unified God let your church come together in unity and advance your kingdom in the name of Jesus amen amen come on let's give Jesus an ovation worship come on in I heard something not long ago and I think it's so powerful they said Jesus prayed one time for Lazarus to rise from the dead and he prayed three times in the garden for unity so it's harder to get the brothers to dwell together in unity than it is to raise somebody from the dead so if we've ever need a unity right now is the time that we need unity and I believe that God's gonna give it to us I believe he's gonna give it to us we're in a series right now called work you're wait somebody say work you're wait turn to your neighbor and say no don't do that we're not it's that's weird you might be on the couch by yourself talking tell your cat work out wait um right now we're in a series called work your way because oftentimes we'll say we're waiting on the Lord and usually God's waiting on us but sometimes we actually are waiting on the Lord and what do you do in the waiting and right now we are clearly in a season of waiting in our nation and really in our world and we've been in a season of waiting for about the past two or three months and now we've had all kind of other things happen and what do we do and what we do is we turn to the scripture 2nd chronicles 7:14 tells us clearly what to do it says if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray but a lot of people that's all they do is they humble themselves and pray but it doesn't end there it actually gives us prayer and process if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear their prayer I will heal their land will forgive their sins this is a powerful this is a powerful statement that cannot be overstated the importance of prayer and process it's not just prayer some of us are praying for God to do something and never actually asked and never actually doing what God has asked us to do God I want you to come through and what we're saying is God I want you to do it all so I don't have to do what I'm supposed to do we have to play our part we have to pray and play our part a few years ago had an incredible opportunity my wife and I went to New York and we were there this is a couple of years ago and it was right after the show Hamilton had debuted on Broadway which it was impossible to get a ticket to and I had a friend reach out to me he was like hey man I've got two tickets to Hamilton for you and your wife would you would you like to have those I said let me pray about it yes the Lord said yes and so we and we showed up we dressed all up and everything we went and it was eight road seats so we were on the eighth row right around the middle and it was awesome I mean the energy was electric and if you haven't heard of Hamilton high you've been under a rock but it's it's essentially a a retelling of the founding of our country through Alexander Hamilton's eyes told with a hip hop point of view so it's it's really incredible just an amazing artistic just it's beautiful and so we were there I was excited about seeing it and and whenever the lights went down like these seats were super expensive like every seat like it's really hard to get a ticket and I noticed that the seat next to me was empty like nobody was in it and I thought how is it that you're gonna have a ticket to Hamilton and not come and then 17 minutes into the show not during intermission not in between songs this dudes excuse me excuse me excuse me excuse me like and I'm and then I got really mad and I super judged him I'm like not okay it's bad enough to not like not show up but I see I think it's even worse to just come late and not even wait on intermission he rolled in and he sat down next to me and I wasn't even looking at me he was like excuse me I'm sorry about that and and I wanted to look at like give him a judgy look and when I looked at him it was the rapper common it was it was he was like I'm sorry I was like it's all good it was very uncommon a moment um that was dumb dumb joke but during the play a particular song and the place stuck with me and I could tell you this it's been ringing in my ears for the last two weeks it says this I know that we can win I know that greatness lies in you but remember from here on in history has its eyes on you and I believe that right now as the church history has its eyes on us you don't know how your story will be told and you definitely don't know who will tell it but you're the one writing it right now and I would encourage you to write carefully your words matter in this season and your actions matter even more how we navigate these days will define who we become in the years to come listen I can tell you this I probably will not make everybody happy or say all the right things in back this week on social media I got overwhelming support and some little criticism thank you I'm here for all of it I just want you to know as your pastor I deeply love people that's my heartbeat I deeply want people to know Jesus and on what the fruit of the Spirit to show forth and everything that we do as a church here's what I want you to understand I'm a pastor I am NOT a politician my platform is the Word of God my agenda is Jesus when the country is in trouble I have to remember that although I'm in a country I am still the citizen of a kingdom and our king is Jesus and the last time I checked came Jesus is still on the throne no matter what's happening Jesus is still on the throne and because I'm a believer it is my job to listen to love to share Jesus with people right where they are I want you to think about this Jesus met with Nicodemus in private because Nicodemus was embarrassed to meet with Jesus in public but he publicly invited himself to the home of Zacchaeus he said hey he literally walked up made a spectacle of it hey Zacchaeus come down from the tree I want to go to your house today because Zacchaeus never dreamed that Jesus would even acknowledge him in public Jesus met people hear me he met people at the point of their need and I'm just trying to be like the one that I follow so this week I met with pastors from different faiths from different races from different backgrounds because I believe that's what Jesus would do we talked about the looting and the destruction that has stricken our country this week and we all agreed that guys this is not the answer but they do understand where the anger comes from I was talking to dr. Marcus Cosby pastors here in Houston and he said this he said the Bible tells us what to do with the anger Ephesians 4:26 simply says be angry and some of y'all that that's your life verse it's like okay I'm angry and I'm just obeying Scripture don't be mad at me I'm just so bad scripture doesn't it doesn't in there says be angry and yet do not sin do not let the Sun go down on your anger listen anger in itself is not a bad thing it's a lot like water water is a good thing your body is made up of 60% water we all like water we like jumping in swimming pools especially in the heat of Houston yeah I'll tell you this from this from the south and if you're not from the south of the southern part of the United States of America this might be hard for you to understand but on a hot day when somebody offers you cold lasses sweet tea with some sonic ice ain't nothing like that right gamma tell you right now I'm preaching good but water left unmanaged can cause destruction it can cause floods we we have been the product of that right here in Houston with hurricane Harvey and I can tropical depression and Melda and people drown in floodwaters all the time here's what I'm trying to get you to the stand anger in itself isn't bad but what matters is how we handle or manage it I'll never forget a conversation that I had with dr. Myles Munroe he's he was such a deep thinker he left this earth way too early helped shape some of the thought processes in my brain about the kingdom of God and he said this to me he said he said we were driving in a truck and I was driving him and he was sit in the passenger seat he said he said Jeremy grant 'only does he's from the Bahamas great the leaders are always angry people mother Teresa angry I was like all right doc he said dr. Martin Luther King a very angry man President Abraham Lincoln angry he said Jeremy they became angry enough about a problem to do something about it and become the solution so we have to allow our anger to push us not to destruction but to Christ based solutions that's what we were called to to show the love and the mercy and the grace of Jesus in the face of chaos and pain this is what the kingdom looks like we're showing people this is how we do it and this week I did my best as a pastor to do what I think that Jesus would want me to do I went up I prayed with police officers I met with Chief of Police art activator right here in Houston with the Houston Police Department I told him that were praying for him and were working with them on community relations because something's got to change and we want to be a part of the solution I want to be a part of Jimmy Rollins says I want to be a part of the solution and not the pollution because I believe that that's what Jesus would do I stood on the stage with George Floyd's family on Tuesday at Discovery Green and I walked with peaceful protesters to City Hall because I believe that's what Jesus would do this week our team passed out water into protesters and hot meals to police officers because we believe that's what Jesus would do Jesus very clearly said in John 13:34 a new command I give you love one another as I have loved you so you must love one another if not us then who if not now then when we are the body of Christ and it's time for us to step out go just take a stand take a step it's time to take a step all of us were created on purpose for a purpose you were divinely designed where you are to make a difference in your community I believe that God uniquely positioned me to Pastor our church I was raised in a very diverse community I was born in Louisiana to a family of cowboys and then God moved us to the East Coast to start a church and so I got immersed in East Coast culture so literally I had Wranglers and a starter jacket I had I listened to how listen to I listen to George Strait and biggie come on I mean I just I know these like Tupac and Garth Brooks I got it okay literally I was the only member of the African American heritage choir in my high school I have a picture y'all show my picture so look right right up there y'all see me just look right there well like I like I like hey guys I'm here boy yeah that's me that's that's what I was surrounded with I was immersed in culture I had no idea that all those years ago God birthed me to a family that wore cowboy boots and hung around friends who were Jordans so that I could pastor in a community that is international and be poised to step on the world stage in this moment and say we will not go quietly into this dark night we will do our part because history has its eyes on us and as equipped as I feel I still want to learn from other people in fact this week I've had conversations where I talk less and I listen to more in fact today is one of those days I have a friend of mine who we're gonna go to a pre-recorded clip and he's gonna blow your mind and I'm telling you he unlocks a secret it's called the third option he unlocks a secret that's gonna help you understand why we are in the situation that we are in in a lot of areas in the United States of America and around the world but not just the secret of why we're here but what to do about it his name is pastor miles McPherson he's a former NFL football player he's a phenomenal man of God pastors an incredible Church in San Diego one of the largest churches in San Diego in the largest churches in America he's an influential voice in my life and I hope that he'll be an influential voice in your life I want you to take a look at this and then we'll come back and talk about at the end what's this we live in an us-versus-them culture everyone say us save them you are either us or them to somebody if whether it be ethnically whether it be politically you're Republican or Democrat whether you're for or against the police will you watch CNN or Fox whether it's black or white for against immigrants whatever it is the devil tries to divide us by creating an us-versus-them culture but say us say them and the devil is the perpetrator he is the enemy you have to understand people are not the enemy we don't wrestle against flesh and blood people we don't wrestle against flesh and blood so the devil's the enemy it's a spiritual battle so I will say us say them the devil is going to give you one of those two options the third option is that we honor place value on what we have in common we have more things in common than our differences we all have bones muscles brains supposedly we have red blood we breathe air we have a long we have hearts we all love our pillow Kenneth can I get in if you love your pillow say Amen I love my wife and I love my pillow like right there we all want to have relationships we all want to have a nice house nice car we all want to have a family and we are all made in the image of the same God the image of the same God the emission economy is not inferior or superior to you so the image of God in you because God is the same yesterday today and tomorrow it also means he's the same over there as he is over there he's the same in the Hoggett in the high rent district and the lower end district God is the same everywhere and so we have all these things in common yet the devil will say forget all that I want you to look at one thing that's different I mean that one thing's gonna cause division God is about one she just said prayed that we would be what very good the Father Son the Holy Spirit are the one is the number of unity two is the number of division that Devils all about us first then I want to talk to you about the third option that we honor what we have in common let me give some background on my nice tan skin of my head smooth hair and my almost Spanish he black he put a vegan when he Cuban or whatever I have for grandma for grandparents from Jamaica I have a half Chinese black brandy to make it okay Jamaica your old king stone y'all got all kinds of people down here Florida all guys Kim Fung Wong Kim Fung Wong Kim phone came from China and had jungle fever started miserable black woman in Jamaica to sort wong kim poong his real his name is american name was Charlie I don't know what you get Charlie from I'm just saying it if you here's a picture of my grandmother this is my business my grandmother she she cute huh don't be looking at my grandmother like that so my grandmother her husband was the smoothest guy in I ever met my life is her husband I think we have a picture of my boy oh I know we do that's a small brother right there come on now come on ESPA that's right that's right give me some of that give me some of that I have another grandmother I have another grandmother who's white and her grandparents her parents moves her from Jamaica to Jamaica Queens New York so she wouldn't marry a black Jamaican what did you make of Queens blacks are makers this brother was from Jamaica living in Jamaica Queens so he was double chocolate and he met her when he will go over house he couldn't go in the front though he had to go around the back door because they did not want her to marry about to make him when they got married they disowned her they live 15 minutes from us I never knew they existed didn't know where they lived never met him so my family was the United Nations I grew up in a black neighborhood went to school for eight years in a white neighborhood I got harassed in the white neighborhood because I wasn't white I got harassed in the black neighborhood other wasn't black enough but yet when I went home we all got along and when I went to football practice we all got along everyone say us save them I want to read a story too from Joshua chapter 5 it is an us first M culture because when a question because when I was growing up who experienced in all the racism of the sixties I was born in 1960 this has been on my heart since I was a little kid could we saw it we lit we didn't live together the kids in my school were in the white neighborhood I went was with one mile away they could not come to my neighborhood they couldn't come over ocean Avenue was it it was theirs you don't go down there and we went up there we had to run out in this story Joshua was gonna lead the Israelites into the Promised Land and when he released the Israelites into the Promised Land he's going to be confronted by the command of the army of the Lord and he's going to ask the command of the army of the of the command of the lord's army and us verse them question and look what he says he says in verse 13 he says they came to pass when Joshua is by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand and Joshua what to him said are you for us and we'll say us or adversaries say adversaries oh if you're not on my side you're my enemy if you're not for the police you must be against us become for the police you are you're the enemy you're the FOIA or against the immigrants here the four black or gets black you're either democrat or republican and by the way once you believe once you're on one side the other side is the enemy and you can't agree with the other side because then you become a sellout look what's happening on television you can't have an opinion of your own once you're on one side you have to buy by default believe everything everything that side says don't matter what that side is no matter what it is now let me tell you something my for the police my dad was a cop thirty years in New York City now you know what he did as a cop he arrested cops so how do you figure that was he a good cop back up you know what cops are people they have a hard job my son is a cop in San Diego eight years a lot of police I support the police we do police funerals they're people and so we as a church need to rise above this us verse to them question culture because we don't live in we don't live we're not citizens of this earth were citizens of heaven but look what it says look what he says he says to the commanders armies Lord are you for us or adversaries don't think because someone doesn't agree with you they they your enemy don't think because some of those that agree with you that they're wrong that's it that's that's the devil's mentality I gotta be right that's pride he says so he says to the commands of the army the Lord listen now Joshua's is leading God's people into the promised land that God told him to get he's doing a good thing can I get any men so this dude saying they prime my rib like me that's not that with the sword in his hand and he goes he goes are you for us our adversaries and look what he says he says no just like Hana Hana Hana Hana Hana is Hebrew for wait a minute trying to get you into the word you know I'm saying read the word he says are you for us or adversaries and that commander says no no I say ask my kids hey you want a hot dog a hamburger no it's either one of the other and his buddy said you only gave me two options I don't like either one of them but aren't we your people yeah but I'm not here for you you think I came here for you you think God serves you you think gosh you're a good luck charm you got it all wrong we serve him so he what he says he says Joshua he's adjustable this is John says fried thing I'm the man y'all I'm God's man I saw Moses do all this stuff Moses annoy to me I'm the man yo man you are not sorry he go no you ain't all that I know Moses Moses I just I just gave Moses house I'm good with Moses I just brought him to the kingdom so let me tell you what's going on he goes no as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come Joshua fell on his face and worship it says what does the Lord say to his servant then the commander of Lords army said take your shoes off homie because this is holy ground listen when you when you in the Old Testament when you walk someplace you would clean the land by walking on it and then when you sold it you would give someone your shoe he's a just when this land you walk on in yours this old Promised Land thing ain't yours and by the way right here where we're standing this is if you go to London or get anywhere outside the country and you're walking around whatever don't matter what you got but if you go there and you are walking around that city and all sudden you come on to the door of the US Embassy and you open the door to u.s. embassy the gate and you walk on to the property of the US Embassy you are no longer in that country you are now in that country and you abide by those laws when he told him he said Joshua you ain't it right now you're in heaven so take your shoes off and by the way I don't do things like you do on earth here we got the rules so if we're gonna do this Promised Land thing it wouldn't do this unity thing we got doing my way heavens way so Christy said take your shoes off we got to rethink this it ain't gonna be a little bow and arrow thing we're gonna do this miraculously there's a term that sociologists used to describe how we segregate ourselves it's called grouping everyone say grouping we are all in multiple groups all the ladies in here are group all the ladies say hey that's the group that group is so sweet that's a really good girl okay I'm not in that group but it's a group if you're a mother say hey that's a real tired group okay they're the happiest people in the room cuz they kids ain't here with them I told you tell sue okay so you got women you got all kind of women groups guys thinking when they got got mom's got grandmom she got all kind of you know manager women you know employee women and whatever whatever whatever women with money women with short hair long hair women with teeth women with no teeth so you got all kind of women okay then you got men that are in multiple groups then you got couples married couples dating couples engaged couples role in multiple groups y'all get the point every group that you're in is your in-group women are a group that I'm part of the outer group of women I'm not a woman okay and so every group you're in is part of your in-group you're in multiple groups and when you whatever group that you are part of that's your in-group you understand the variations of that group for example three women moms were talking about motherhood and this young girl came up she just got prayed and she twenty-fives just got pregnant and she kind of said oh I can't go so crazy I can't wait to have a baby I just found out I'm pregnant it's gonna be so good oh big I'm just gonna get big it's gonna be so much fun the 9 1 just bliss and then I'm gonna have a baby on my hair Oh to play this and those mothers are going you have no idea you ain't gonna have fun for 18 years what's that fool talking about we see pictures of my wife we she fixes my wife her glasses of this bigger hair was going all kind of northeast Southwest and we say that was the 90s when we had all our kids see this child for like five years and it was it was stuff but because she's not yet a mother she doesn't understand the group did that she'll understand that's like colic nest of being a mother can I get a minute can I get an amen mothers amen amen you you walked through a grocery store you see a mother pushing the carriage you better get out the way that lady will jack you up whatever is part of your in-group you understand how in group people in here people in groups think how they dress how they process information if you are if someone else you're out group you do not know you do not know I don't care how many experiences you have you do not know so whatever is your out group you don't know what you're talking about so once you define your in-group out-group you express in group bias in-group bias is your tendency to give preferential treatment to people of your in-group we're gonna put on the screen it's all in the book and get the book put on the screen looks check us out in group eyes your tendency to get preferential treatment to your in-group we're gonna put a list up there okay we only have one at a time okay I am more comfortable with those who are like me I am more inclined to spend time socially with those who are like me I am more patient with those who are like me I'm give the benefits out quicker to those who are like me I expressed more grace when mistakes are made by those who are like me it is easier to communicate with those who are like me I assume that I will get along easier with those who are like me I am more willing to go out of my way to help those who are like me I possess more positive assumptions everyone say assumptions say assumptions about people who are like me by the way there's a lot of in groups a lot of out groups so we find some commonality with somebody we all sudden hey you meet somebody don't know you don't they don't look like you in your neighborhood next thing you know they're playing for your favorite team hey they become your in-group the opposite is true when someone is your out group you have a tendency to do the opposite let's read those the opposite says I am less comfortable those who are not like me I am less inclined to spend time socially with those who are not like me I am less patient with those who are not like me I give the benefit of the doubt slower or less to those who are not like me i express the less grace when mistakes are made by those who are not like me it is more difficult to communicate it and by the way if you believe it's more difficult to communicate guess what you won't do communicate it is it I don't assume I will get along with those who not like me if I don't assume I will get along I guess what's gonna happen I'm not even gonna try next one I post s less I'm less willing to go out of my way to help those who are not like me I possess less positive assumptions everyone say assumptions say assumptions about those who are not like me or will walk around all day long saying us them us them us them I'm less comfortable I'm comfortable I'm less positive assumption positive assumptions we do that self constant and by the way it ain't all about this it's about ideology it's about gender it's about how what kind of clothes you got kind of swag you got lack of swag where you live what kind of house you got were always sized and people out why cuz it Devils about the vision so what do we do number one acknowledge that you have blind spots please please take these notes acknowledge that you have blind spot a blind spot is your inability to know what you don't even know if I was on vacation a couple years ago and this guy was in the gym working out and I can tell he was an athlete and not just someone who's working out by the way if you're an athlete you know you could tell other athletes versus people who are just in the gym working out because some people in the gym just working out but this dude was a and I said but I know he's not a football player because his he didn't have football legs what does that mean see I've seen football legs in locker rooms for 16 years I never seen those legs but I knew you'd ask that what do you know man what do you do he says I play professional hockey he had hockey legs what's that mean from skating you just develop the front of the thigh not the back because you're not running so I was like this is just too huh you can't run with that top-heavy freeze you got it but I know you do something we were part of an in group of athletes but he was an out-group in sport I knew I didn't know about hockey so we spent our whole vacation talking about each other sport and now is that your blind spot one of them probably the most important blind spots you have to realize you have is that you can be racially offensive and not necessarily be a racist here's why this is important because of you if you think that every time someone calls every time you are racially offensive that that makes you a racist that's not necessarily true now of course racist or racially offensive but you can just say something stupid because you stupid I don't know how to say it I'm sorry sir so I keep it keep it basic like for fifth grade level you can you can say something that you think is funny but it's not funny you can say something that's offensive because you're uncomfortable you're trying to build a bridge it and you just you're just awkward do you have no sense of humor you're not really intelligent that way yeah and you just kind of ah I got a black friend you know you think that's cool right [Applause] so so you got a blind spot so what you have to be able to separate and by the way someone tells you just that by the way this is so important because if you can separate the fact that you can be racially offensive and not necessarily be a racist it gives you room to learn now if you learn it ten times every day maybe you are racist because you ain't trying to learn but you have to give you some opportunity to say I didn't know that then change there was a guy who's the guy in San Diego his name is Stephen Stephen Jones he's a leadership coach he wrote an article called the right hand of privilege how many y'all the right hand to raise your hand really high really hot just really high every way you're at look around the room keep your hand up for a medic you keep me Hannah look around the room ninety ninety percent of y'all right so keep your hand up please keep your hand up like workout please it's not that long the world was made by all y'all for all of y'all for janda how many I was up there I'm nothing we're my intro Wesleyan group yes come on lofty yes yes we are the minority we are subjected to your right hand world imma prove it to you when you went to school you just all look at the desk it's just rain for me you got to put your elbow here just write your notes hey what's up girl how you doing huh I'm like girl I gotta draw my name okay can I get any men lefties come on kind of get any man's up these all out there okay so yeah your if you're right-handed you go to any golf shop get a driver the first time you got options we got order on Amazon when I was a kid the only Amazon was in Brazil you couldn't hear there was no Amazon if you're riding you go to get a catcher's mitt play softball cats was your daughter your son and you go to first time and get a right handed catcher's mitt there has never been a left-handed catcher's mitt in the World Series ever not because the left hand it just has to happen so does very few so I'm driving around town looking for my catcher's mitt so I can play with my son and you're you've been playing for days and you call and I'm like I can't I can't find a catcher's mitt and you go you must be making it up I got my bow so hard about you you must be exaggerating it's not that hard to get a job it's called white privilege let us again let it sink in it's okay let us again some of y'all like so I'd be offended right now [Applause] the world was made by right-handed people for right-handed people it doesn't necessarily mean that it was malicious against the left-handed people necessarily but what you should do as a right-handed believer is make sure the lefties get the same opportunity you have not a complicated number to rename those people brother sister or neighbor the greatest commandment the Bible says the love of God was your heart mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself let me rephrase it this is Jesus talking I'm just gonna rephrase that I'm afraid to use for a minute we're good okay I'm gonna do it before y'all get anything before you do anything before you stop talking about you don't me this D is talking love me which means do what I say and love your neighbor as yourself don't be telling me how much he brew you know and you know how much how big your church is and I got a big church and all that stuff and how much a car is and who you know love me I love your neighborhood that's the number one thing you do that everything else all the dominoes fall so why is there so much division in the church because we create a loophole we changed the verse I said love God with your heart mind soul and love whoever I deemed to be my neighbor so if I rename you with a label less than neighbor I don't need to love you if I call you a white this a black this an immigrant illegal whatever if I just give you a name that dehumanize you when I was little we swatch cowboys and Indians I'm sure y'all watch cowboys and Indians I was about the Indians they were brown girls with you their long hair but they were savages they weren't people they were savages we were told that services when you watch the news know this the news all of it has an agenda to make money on division they're going to tell you how to think for us against them and they're going to give you labels that dehumanize people so you have a you can be self justified to hate them because once you dehumanized someone you give yourself permission to mistreat them or allow them to be mistreated way worse and you want someone treated who you consider us and so for us as believers we have to say that is my neighbor that is my neighbor that is my neighbor that is my neighbor that is my neighbor [Applause] we have to see people first way to God tells us to see them because we see people the way that the way media our culture tells us then we're saying well I don't need to love you like the Bible I don't need to love you like about I need to avoid you I needed not even trying to talk to you no the Bible says love your neighbor and you say well wow who's my neighbor asked Jesus there was a story about a Samaritan guy y'all remember that story number three give in group loves your out group whenever you walk into a room decide that everybody in that room is your in-group you could create and grow all y'all part of my a group and I can give you a hundred time to give you 100 I give you five you're human you're made the image of God you can't wait to get to sleep tonight you want to have good relationships you want to know your purpose I mean I just keep going so we have all we love to laugh you're part of an group and if we just focused on that amazing things would happen number four acknowledge your brothers sisters color acknowledge people's color I know that some of you want to say I don't see color I remember the first time someone told me that they say it'll see color I was like that's jacked up you don't see red blue yellow green yeah I know now I don't see your color oh why oh snap so how do you know I have a color you shouldn't see if you don't see color am i confused help me [Applause] III get to cinnamon I'm gonna treat everybody the same that's not the way to say it your eyes process your brain processes like ten million bits of information per second your brain processes the about 10 million bits of information per second and 90% of that comes through your eyes ninety shape motion depth texture even things that happen your prize will process things your brain will make a return to an emotion and one of the things your eyes process is color you can't not see color even if you were color blind you will see gray that's the color even if you close your eyes you see black that's the color you cannot see color I was talking to this young one lady a young lady this white lady she was a friend of mine she went to Kauai she got a tan she laid out seven days to get a tan just so you know to us black people that's funny when you're laying at the table don't say it's like a billion-dollar business to be what you say is inferior but that's another story oh boy so what was just this girl she got a tan she gotta tell you that she came back and she was trying to get this guy to call her and she had little spaghetti strapp and she was like throwing it at him and she was complaining to me because he wasn't saying it to her I'm like you it's amazing how you celebrate this tan you got in Hawaii but it's haniss get that someone gets in the room we invalidate know everything God made it so you're telling God God you messed up God didn't mess up I was I was I was listening to the defeat a great theologian and philosopher you might know him he has a lot of content out theologian philosopher just a genius his name is Fred G Sanford [Applause] so he got robbed and he and the cops came and said you know what's up Freddie he says well we're and the white cop and a black cop came in and by the way if you two younger know who Fred G Sanford is he was on a show called Sanford and Son okay and he was a junkman and and in South Central Los Angeles and he a white cop and a black cop will come to his house and why cops of fruits the sanfur it was the perpetrator colored he goes yeah he was colored white here's the thing the devil says white people and people of color whites of color matte fact white people white people talk about white people are more colored than common people here's why in the springtime you're white [Applause] how'd you say summertime it could be brown or red just depends when you get cold you turn blue that's four colors right there we got brown and burgundy we have two officers as all we got [Applause] number five view every conversation as they race consultation every conversation as they race consultation why because you do see color and by the way by you seeing someone say oh they're why they're Asian or maybe I don't even know what they're are just whatever that's just your brain processing information the problem comes is when you have these assumptions based on your social narrative is social narrative is the story that shaped how you see the world it's the information you receive from your parents and your culture it tells you what news to watch and how to interpret the news is the problem is when that information that filter becomes fat to you that's the problem but you can you can make your assumption and then put it over here and have a race consultation a race consultation is where you allow the person to self disclose to you what they're about because I know that if you if you decide to live out the third option and say listen this us for stem stuff I gotta get to know people I got started taking the realize I got blind spots give myself opportunity to learn what the right hand and the left hand and by the way if you're left-handed you don't know about the right hand we don't know but we can get to know and if I start labeling people as neighbor brother-sister hey bro that don't debt do don't need to be black these everybody's our bro if I say you won't made the image of God you won't made the image of God and we intentionally give our heart and commit our hearts our well being of our neighbors politics is not gonna do it never wasn't designed to the Spirit of God only changes hearts man such a powerful word what a what a blessing and my hope is that you have more understanding and better understanding now this is a kingdom thing we have to reach out we have to understand I want to encourage our entire church go to Hope City calm / to the talk there you can actually buy miles Macpherson's book the third option but also what I'm asking our church to do we all need member we need to pray but we also need to walk through the process and our next step on race relations in our church I want you to go to hope CD comms last of the talk and there you can actually click on a link to the YouVersion Bible study of the third option and I want us all as a church to do that together so if you're in a group I want you to do that with your group or with your family or with your friends and then go watch the talk to Jimmy and Chris and Earl and I did and walk through that we have to take the next step we have to choose the third option and when we talk about in-group and out-group the most important group that you could be in is the body of Christ there's only one way to get in that group and you cannot earn your way in the only way you get in that group is through Jesus Christ who's saying okay god I don't have the answers to this but I know the answer and his name is Jesus and if you find yourself frustrated you find yourself angry you find yourself hope less here's what I can tell you none of us are hopeless here as hopeless as the news is not one of us is hopeless here I've talked to everybody in this room we're not hopeless why because we have hope and that hope has a name and is is Jesus and so today I want to lead you to him on us to pray unless ask Jesus to be our Lord in this situation but before he can be the lord of the situation he needs to be the Lord of my life would you bow your heads did you close your eyes with me would you pray this prayer with me out loud Jesus you are the answer you're the only one who can save me so in this moment right now I'm asking you to save me change me from the inside out I believe you're the son of God I repent of all of my sins but misconceptions of my wrong thoughts my wrong ideas I come to your feet and I say change me make me in your likeness me in your image help me to talk like you walk like you so that the world may know you in Jesus name Amen listen if you prayed that prayer the first thing that I want you to do if you're on the church online platform just click that you raise your hand because the Bible says when you acknowledge him he will acknowledge you the rest of you in whatever platform you're watching I'll just give us a little hand emoji let us know hey that's me I made a decision to follow Jesus today go to Hope city.com slash Hope let us know we want to show you your next steps because we believe this is the beginning of an amazing journey and your life this is my prayer for you this weekend I pray that the Lord blesses you I pray that it keeps you I pray that he makes his face shine upon you turns his countenance towards you this week I pray that God gives you peace in Jesus name love you guys god bless you we'll pitch it upstairs and they'll walk you out on all the resources god bless you

Channel: Hope City

Views: 13,687

Rating: 4.8588233 out of 5

Keywords: Jeremy Foster, Hope City, pastor jeremy, jermy foster, jeramy foster, hope city church, racial reconciliation, racial reconciliation church, hope for the racial divide, Miles McPherson, Miles McPherson the third option, myles mcpherson, the third option hope, equality in church, church stance on racism, church racism, pastor miles mcpherson, miles mcpherson hope city, church's role in racial reconciliation, racial injustice church, POC in church, racial unity in church

Id: DThiEGlQ5bc

Length: 46min 16sec (2776 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 07 2020