The Third Option

what's up everyone welcome to sensual online my name is Chloe this is Nick and Mike and they were thrilled to be with you this weekend we're excited to host for you guys and if this is your first time at Central we want you to know that Central's a place where it's okay to not be okay that means whoever you are wherever you're from you belong with us right here we're so glad that you're joining us today and whether you're watching on our website at Central online TV YouTube Facebook or Instagram we want to encourage you right now to drop down into that chat box and tell us where you're watching from we'd love to give you a shout out in just a few minutes so make sure you let us know hey if you're watching from Facebook we want to encourage you right now to share this stream with your friends just click the share button at the bottom right and ask your friends to join you for church online yeah also Central Church is here for you too 24 hours a day 7 days a week to pray with you 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you forget something you're hearing about during church you're like what was that website or how do I get to that link listen we've made it super easy on everybody all you have to do is go to your web browser and type in central dot family central dot family you don't need anything else and there you're gonna find all these incredible links that will help you identify what your need is you know for throughout the week I actually have gotten used to now just hitting central dot family for everything I know central dot family is the place to go well it's about time to get started so we're gonna get Chloe out of here but hey in just a moment you're gonna hear some amazing music from our worship team known as central live in fact if you didn't know this they have all kinds of music that you can listen to they have Spotify plot out there on Spotify platform Apple music Amazon music Google Play YouTube and so many other streaming platforms all you have to do easy search for central live but for now wherever you're watching get ready to experience central online [Music] [Music] I just falling when fear is coming steal your car than me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good enough for me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'm so grateful for our incredible worship team central life and that was actually my beautiful life Laura leading us and worship break the walls down and speaking of central line if you missed our night of prayer and worship this last week it was absolutely incredible so good Pastor Judd and his wife Laurie Pastor Mike they prayed for our city and our nation and central live brought a rich and meaningful time of worship to our central family it was a really special night yep it was so good welcome to central online everybody my name is Mike this is Nick we're joined again from the incredible Khloe Singham it just led us in worship and it was a super job so thank you Khloe for all that and we are thrilled that all of you are with us today this is your first time at Central we want you to know you're in a place where it's okay to not be okay that means you can come as you are you belong and we're glad you're joining us today hey no matter where you're watching from whatever platform if it's our website YouTube Facebook or Instagram let us know where you're watching from so we can say hello and give you a shout out in fact I want to get a few shout outs to some people who have been joining us every weekend from around the world like Ralf and Maria watching from Chicago Stefan from South Africa Charlie and Aaron from Atlanta and Asher and Caroline all the way from Norway thank you so much for being a part of the central family and for joining us week in and week out Norway South I love that we're worldwide in fact we want to know that we want you to know that we are here for you 24 hours a day seven days a week so if any point you have a question if you need prayer or you just want someone to chat with you call or text the number at the bottom of the screen you heard me say this earlier just text them right now and say hello they would love our team would love to reach out to you at a save that number for you and to give them some encouragement but we have a team of pastors and ministry leaders standing by whenever you need to connect with someone hey and what God's been doing through our hope for the city initiatives here at Central has been absolutely incredible not only giving food to people we're also providing hope to our cities to Las Vegas and beyond so I want to give a huge shout out to those that have been Joan helping us meet the needs of our city every dollar you've been giving has been making a difference in giving hope so check out this video we are doing a production line we've got barbecue chicken mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables and so we are actually taking all these to UMC let's mark Road I'm the chef/owner of graffiti out here locally our frontline workers miss money so much time working and doing things like that where it's kind of time to give back to them a little bit too as well so we're pretty fortunate you'll do that today we're doing meals for UMC so you got about 1200 meals we've packed up and did today with everybody so pretty excited central Church it was kind of a donate all the product and all the food so it really said to be a part of in get it being fun how much time that's been put into but like four hours five hours right now we having botany does for the community though you're good I have a place that I can go sleep I have a home as well so just to be able to provide that for somebody else be able to assist in any way that I can I feel like our city needs it most and I really believe if we all come together as will in and help out it'll really just thank you so much for the hard work we all do our part and we thought that we're all together I'm super grateful to be a part of this you know sharing that connecting with the person as they come through we've seen metro police officers come through a sheriff we've seen all the employees here admins thank you so much and even though we wear a mask you can still see the smile in their eyes and the connectivity that we've been missing for quite some time and in the midst of what we're going into you this has really been a blessing man so I'm extremely grateful and thankful to be here my central family I am so proud of our church and just the way we have risen to the challenge across all of our locations serving people and serving our world and I'm getting a lot of emails and phone calls people asking when are we gonna open church and I just want to briefly address that and just say whoo nobody wants to open our church locations more than I do and more than we do I'm so ready for us to get back together we can the challenge that we have in Nevada particularly is we are limited to gatherings of no more than 50 people which is just completely impractical for us to be able to pull off and manage with the size and scope of our church and so we're trying to work all the channels we can we're trying to do all the proper things to get our church locations open and I just ask you to do a couple things with me one pray for us pray for wisdom pray for our governor and city leaders that they would have wisdom I believe soon enough we will be in a place where all of our church locations can be open and operating but I need your prayers and and then I just need your support right now I'm being pulled in a million different directions everybody's got an opinion some people feel like we just need to defy the government and meet other people are like we're not we shouldn't meet for until there's a vaccine other people are you know just saying even when you meet we're not going to be there but there's so many different perspectives and opinions and I just want to encourage you to stay unify pray for us hang in there with me we're gonna get all of our church locations open as fast as we legally can just like we did in Kingman Arizona with that location open just like in Florida that's our goal and we're working hard toward it well this week we've still been out on the streets across our locations serving our communities in powerful ways we've distributed a hundred and eighty nine thousand pounds of food this week which is a tremendous amount it the need is lessening and we're seeing that each week which I'm very grateful for and celebrate that as things begin to reopen and people begin to find themselves and a little better financial stability but it's still a tremendous need it would still mean if this week if this week ran for four weeks we would give out in the next four weeks what we normally used to hand out in a year and so now we're giving away in a month what we used to give out in a year and that's been a tremendous tremendous effort over 80 days now of observing faithfully in our cities and I'm so thankful and grateful thank you for your generosity thanks for continuing to make a difference I want to encourage you to continue to be generous in this season and if you'd like to give a gift financially you can just go to hope for the city TV click give a gift or go to Central online TV slash give and you can give there or you can just go to central dot family and go down and click give a gift there but thanks for your generosity thanks for touching people's lives they for continuing to support the work of God in the world I'm very grateful for all of you and I'm grateful for all that God is doing through you in this difficult time god bless you guys [Music] you know where I am you know what I'm facing and I am comforted that I am NOT forsaken I believe it you see me through so coming to only you can do you make me strong you make me crazy how on't be afraid I won't be scared you always right beside me and know me one skill every battle that you found is a battle you you every battle that you [Music] you is [Music] you [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you made courageous [Music] [Applause] how long we discussed and you are my god [Music] it's always right beside me and I'll know you're fired and for me once again and every battle that she hears a battle you [Music] and I know for many of us over the last couple of months we've been faced with the battle not just here in our country but worldwide with coronavirus what I know it's created a lot of fear in my own heart and worried about the future but for others of us God this last weekend here in our country we were faced with a devastating loss the life of George Floyd my god I just pray that right now Lord that you would just check our hearts or that you would just help us to be loved and light to one another God that we wouldn't judge somebody by the color of their skin that we would ultimately God love them for who they are that we would encourage them to become all that you want them to be Lord may we always seek you first in every action every step may we follow you we come against violence right now God you are a God of peace you are a God of love and right now we just pray for peace over this nation god we pray for every every leader of every city and every state oh god god we pray for this government and right now Holy Spirit we are asking you for wisdom or God we thank you for your grace Lord Jesus we thank you for dying on the cross from all of us and right now we cling to that today Oh God in Jesus name we pray amen [Music] will you help me sing this song [Music] great [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] to [Music] the [Music] and [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] three [Music] praise God praise [Music] yeah [Music] central family these are challenging times for our world we need the healing that only God can bring and it feels like everything is trying to pull us apart history racism and justice peaceful protests violent protests politics police brutality violence towards the police the coronavirus economic challenges job challenges unemployment challenges I mean we've seen in the last few weeks clear and infuriating videos of the murders of Ahmad our burry and George Floyd their names added to a long list of in justices to people of color including Brianna Taylor and the continued frustration that if we don't speak up nothing changes there needs to be real change to the justice system to the prison system to policing and to our hearts systemic racism is real and racism in all its forms is categorically wrong it is evil it is of the devil dr. Martin Luther King taught us violence never brings permanent peace it solves no social problem it merely creates new and more complicated ones it leaves society and monologue rather than dialogue and we need more dialogue that leads to change so the bible challenges us in Romans 12:21 don't let evil conquer you but conquer evil by doing good it's okay to be angry and now more than ever we need to channel that anger to push back on even in our own hearts and in our world and to fight it by doing good we need to pray for one another kay be on social media said this week we must do more than pray but we can never do less than bring prayer is our first protest our most effective to prayer isn't the only thing we need to do but it's one of the most important because it affects our hearts need to pray for our african-american families part of our church family who faced this struggle their whole lives we need to pray for our nation for God to heal our hearts for him to root any biases out of our hearts and to pray for dialogue and humility and change to the system need to pray for wisdom for our police officers many of whom are also part of our church family and are also equally offended and upset by injustice we need to pray for Shaima colones an officer shot in protests in Las Vegas who's fighting for his life in the hospital we need to look to Jesus and pray for unity in our hearts and in our churches so I'd like to ask you now to bow with me and pray with me for all of these things god we thank you for your love for us we thank you for all that you do in our hearts and in our lives on a daily basis and God we need you now in our nation more than ever to move to bring healing and restoration to bring justice and to bring unity at I pray for the families of George Floyd Matar burry Brianna Taylor I pray for our african-american brothers and sisters who have faced this tension their whole lives and are just so done with a god I pray you will work in their hearts and lives and comfort them we pray that you will bring real change to the system that that continues to exist and continues to oppress and overlook people's God I thank you for the love you show us in Jesus the reminder that done no matter how hard things is they how hard things are you give us hope and you move in miraculous ways and so our hope is in you today and we trust you God we pray for our governmental leaders you'll give them wisdom and insight into changes that need to happen we pray for our police officers for their protection and insight as well as they try to work within the system and as they try to engage in good policing we pray for Shaima Colonus that God you will do a miracle of healing in his body God we lift our our cities and our churches to you only you can bring unity only you're big enough to teach us to rise above our differences and find common ground at the foot of the cross and so God we pray you will lead us to that common ground help us stand there together white brown black people of all races and backgrounds worshiping you and acknowledging you and serving you God we commit ourselves to you in Christ's name Amen [Music] well you know over the years I've tried to listen and learn and grow my understanding of racial perspectives I'm still listening and learning and trying to grow as a follower of Jesus I believe with all my heart that we need people of all races and colors and backgrounds in the church and it's silver God made black brown white and every color and they are all beautiful the more diverse we are the better we are this weekend I'd like to share a powerful message with you given by a friend of mine Pastor miles McPherson he gave it a central and last year and even if you've heard it before I believe we can all hear it again with fresh ears and fresh perspectives in this current climate Pastor miles was a professional football player with the Chargers for four years he planted the rock church in San Diego and has led it for many years to be one of the most effective churches in the world is the author of many books including a third option hope for a racially divided nation and I want to seriously encourage you to read this book and to talk about it and reflect on it it'll give you a powerful insight it will help you grow in your faith and it'll help us be more prepared to move forward into the future you know I love you all and today I'm honored to have pastor Myles share this powerful message on his book at Central so let's lean in and let's let God speak to us let me say hello to all the campuses out there and especially the guys in prison god bless y'all we love you God loves you and we re praying for you right now amen I grew up in New York have two brothers and two sisters one father died both in heaven but I have two brothers two sisters I played an NFL 1982 to 1985 loss the San Diego Chargers got drafted by the Los Angeles Rams I played for the San Diego Chargers by the way you don't have a football team here hahaha the Raiders guess what the radius may come to San Diego for one year before they come here and if they do well keeping them so don't worry about Haven but I played four years with the charges my younger brother who was the Heisman runner-up in 1987 I have another brother who was an eighth ranked box in the world and my two sisters they didn't do anything and so I played for you I play for athletically I played for years my first years I was doing cocaine and I got saved in one day April 12 1984 got saved asked Christ to be my Savior stop doing cocaine that day stop smoking around water that day now I have three children one grandson and one wife multiple life things did not work out just have one wife and my grandson is 4 years old and he runs stuff ten years ago I was in my sister's house all of us all seven of us two brothers two sisters and my parents and we were standing in a circle holding hands and my mom started crying and my mom's in her weeping says this is all I ever wanted was that we would be together when God looks at the earth that's what he prayed Jesus only had one prayer it's not our Father who are in heaven that's not his prayer he prayed that we would be one the devil has done a great job of tearing us apart through racism can I get amen he has torn not only United States with all cultures around the world forever it's not a new thing it's not a it's not a United States saying it is an international thing but I have good news everyone say good news the devil at times over plays his hand matter of fact the reason you get saved is because you get tired of the don't beat on you and you say I had enough and I believe the United States of America people are tired of the racial division and want to do something about it and I got some solutions for you that we're going to share with you can I get amen hey man come on come on I want to get into it there are three kinds of racism there's an institutional racism institutional racism is when you have systems that keep people down then you have internalized racism which is when you have hate against yourself or people who look like you when all your life you have told you in fear you start to believe it then you have personally mediated racism where you actually look at someone and say you are inferior to me because the way you look but there's a fourth kind and a fourth kind of bias that I want to talk about which is unconscious bias where you have biases against people and sometimes don't even realize it when I was writing this book probably one of the biggest things that hit me one of the biggest truths that do prevent people from having a conversation is that you can't be racially offensive and not even be a racist now let me say there are if you have someone with their racist most people will say no there are some who will say yes but most of us are just blind to our offense and if you cannot separate the fact that you can be racially offensive and not be a racist often you will never accept that you're offensive therefore you will never learn same in if that makes sense to you maybe I'll say it again it all slower they were thinking that's okay it's okay we'll work into this you can say things that are offensive to people believe things that are offensive because that's what you were taught but you may not necessarily have animus towards them in your heart or you could say something out of nervousness or fear and it offends somebody I was talking to somebody other day I was in Dallas Texas and I was talking to someone who's from East Texas if you don't know anything about Texas East Texas talk like they're more than the people in Dallas and so I started mimicking this lady she was 87 years old now she wasn't having offense about it but she could have been offended by that and she could've said to me can you not do that I don't mean offense and if we can all accept at least now if you're a racist then that's fine but I would imagine most of y'all don't want to be but I would also imagine that you want to help solve the problem because if we all say we're not why is it such a problem because there's a fence and so I want to talk to you about how we got divided but more importantly how we can come together can I get amen sociologists say that we put ourselves in groups they call it grouping an in-group out-group in-group are the people who are like mean out group of the people who are not like me all you ladies in here you're a group all the ladies say hi that's the group I'm not in that group I like being with that group but I'm not in that group all the mothers say Heil if your mother say hey see that was a little less hey cuz those women are tired okay that's a tired head so women are group moms are group grandmas are group grandfather's are group I'm a grandfather we are group guys are group guys who work in construction our group you get the point we are all part of multiple groups that you're in group anybody not in one of your groups is part of your out group once you identify your group you understand your group very intimately all you ladies understand ladies better than guys obviously we do not understand you but you all do can I get a amen amen okay and if you're a lady and you meet a woman who's not doesn't have kids she is clueless if you're a mother and you meet a woman it doesn't have a baby she's clueless to what it means to be a mother can I get any men with mothers a man so Chuck Wiggins when you're a mother you know all the intricacies of a mother so when whatever is part of your in-group you understand your in-group you understand how they think how they talk how they walk their burdens how they view the world but the people in your out group you don't understand you may have a few anecdotal information that you got from the news or from your friends or from your family you have mostly ignorant about your out group the people in your in-group you understand the people in your out group you doing you don't understand that's why it's so difficult when you're commenting on people who are your racial outgrew you don't know them that's why we have to be careful what we say what we believe in what we get into anecdotal information I'll get more than in a minute so everyone stay in groups say in group say out group once you identify your in-group you express in-group bias in-group bias let me Reese up to a group biases when you give preferential treatment to those who are like you when those who are like you ought to read something to you these are nine ways you can give in-group bias to people who are like you look what it says on the screen it says for people who are like you you say 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 give the benefit of the doubt quicker to those who are like me I express more grace where mistakes are made by those who are like me it is easy to communicate to those who are like me I assume that I will get along easy with those who are like me I am more willing to go out of my way to help those who are like me and I possess more positive assumptions to those who are like me whatever your in-group is all the ladies in the house you understand what ladies are like you are more comfortable with the ladies than with ladies and guys and you will express that to people who would like you if this is your if whatever your racial or cultural in-group that's how you are going to treat them you're gonna be more comfortable them you're gonna give them more better fitted out you're gonna be more patient with them you're gonna have an expectation that you're gonna be able to communicate and get along better with them this is just human behavior and this is how we separate ourselves now if I'm given in-group bias to those who are like me I'm expressing our group discrimination to those who are not like me look at the opposite it says I am less comfortable with those who are not like me I'm less inclined to spend time socially with those not like me I am less patient with those not like me I give the benefit of the doubt slower to those not like me I expressed less grace when mistakes are made by those not like me it is more difficult to communicate to those not like me I don't assume I will get along with those not like me I am less willing to go out of my way to help those now like me and I possessed less positive assumptions about those not like me this is what people do with all of us it's just how we are you walk into a room I was at a hotel on vacation with my wife and I went into the gym to workout and there was a guy in there working out and I could tell that he was an athlete not just somebody working out and I said that dude was athlete I said hey man what do you do cuz I know you do something and I knew he didn't play football cause he didn't have football legs he had legs of a different sport I didn't know what it was I said brother you don't have football legs what do you do he said why you looking at my legs no he didn't say that he says I play I play hockey in the National Hockey League I said I knew it and because we were at least we had all these assumptions about each other because we had that in common however I haven't I don't know anything about hockey other than they do it on ice he wanted to know about football so we got to talking and sharing what we knew about each other but by nature we gravitate to people who are like us and resist people who are not like us so what do we do I notice in every race conversation it is about us versus them you are always forced to pick a side culture says you have to be on this side or that side but the third option which is the name of the book and what this book is about is designed to teach us to honor what we all have in common which is the image of God no matter how we group by based on what we see every single one of us is made in the same image of God can I get amen every single one of us has ability to walk with God to know God to have a relationship with God to live to glorify God to love like God every single one of us by the way we are 99.5% genetically identical every single person in this room we all want to have a family we all want to be in love we all want to pursue our dreams we all have dreams and we all understand about eternity God made us in His image and put eternity in us we have more in common than we have different so the third option is how can we even know we separate by groups how can we honor one another and walk in to greet one another I want to show share verses Joshua chapter 5 verse 13 when Joshua was lead the Israelites into the Promised Land he's leading insights into the promised land to acquire the land that God promised Abraham and as he's going to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land he is going to be confronted with the commander of the Lord's army and he's going to ask the commands of the Lord's army are you for us or you for them remember culture says you have to choose a side us versus them but there's a third option and look what it says the Bible says since there's a came to pass that Joshua was by Jericho he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold a man stood opposite him with his sword in his hand and Joshua went to him and said are you for us or our adversaries everyone say us and we'll say us say them he said are you for us or them that's exactly what culture will tell you do you know that the media makes money on us being divided they want drama if you called to meet us had a good news they said do you have any bad news because that's what we want we're gonna put bad news on television the devil wants us being divided culture says you had to pick a side the third option is why can't we agree and decide that we are going to honor put a priceless value on what we have in common which is the unseen part of us is that we can all have a relationship with God and he says to the commands of Lords army are you for us or adversaries and the commander of laws army says no he's a ho ho I asked you of us of them question I answer yes or no question it's like saying do you want a hamburger or hotdog no I'm from New York and when I moved to California all my kids were born in California and in California they have a word it's sure y'all say that out here sure so I've saved my kids you want ice cream sure I'm like yes or no if you say sure I'm eating it you ain't getting any okay commander the lord's army are you for us are you for them and he says no there's a third option you bow down look what he says he says no but as commanded the army of the Lord I now come and Joshua fell on his face and worship and said what does my lord say to his servant and the commander the lord's army said take your sandal off your foot for the place where you stand is holy grammar he says if you want unity you bow down unity racial unity is not man's idea it's not for the black man it's not for the white man stop for the Latino it's God's idea God made us to be one and if we are going to establish one we have to honor and do it his way so I'm gonna give you 6 simple steps 1 acknowledge that you have blind spots everyone say blind spots blind spots is that you don't know what you don't know there's things that you just don't know you don't know a lady I was talking to a very dear friend of mine she happens to be white and then we were talking about my book and and this idea that the topic of racism and she says why can't you just get over it I said no no I said you spend a lot of time in your in-group and when you are surrounded by your in-group all the time and all you know is in-group bias you don't know what it means to have our group discrimination it was a guy as a guy in San Diego he is a leadership coach and he wrote an article called the right hand of privilege if you are right-handed raise your hand wherever you are in prison look around the room 90% of y'all are right-handed how many are left handed these are all the cool people right here yeah yeah I'm left-handed okay if you were right-handed guess what you got a desk in school that was made for you you don't realize it but you came in under the desks on the left side and you just slid in it just went BAM and you can write and talk to people at the same time first left-handed people we were out here in space just kind of drawing our name just like this can I get any men for left-handed people you can't like like talk to the girl next to you because you had to pay attention to where your pen was because you had no point of reference are you following I'm saying if you're right-handed you go to any golf shop and get all your clubs any golf shop and all kind of make brain if you were left-handed you got to order online and if there was not anything they didn't have online when I was growing up and I didn't play golf anyway but it didn't matter but then you have online you had to go to five different stores if you want to get a baseball mitt especially a catcher's mitt for your left hand you're gonna have to go to five stores if you're right-handed they got in every store if you're right-handed you like left-handed people why can't just go get a baseball mitt because it's not in every store like us what can't you go get the car golf clubs because it's not in every store what's taking you so long left-handed people if you're right-handed you don't realize even shake hands right-handed I'm left-handed so I'm always doing this take Olson right hand does that mean that right-handed people don't like left-handed people no but does it mean they're left-handed people don't have to take a couple extra steps to do it right-handed people do yes you're right privileged it doesn't make you bad but you don't know what you don't know if you haven't walked in those shoes your blind spots is the thing called social narrative social narrative is a story that shapes how you see the world it's a story of your family your upbringing your school your neighbourhood that creates a prescription of the glasses through which you see the world the problem is there are six seven billion prescriptions every person has a different social narrative a different view of the world and it is real to them but there's only one six billionth of the story my two brothers and I slept in the same room sometimes in the same bed that night The Exorcist played my brother and I slept in the same bed back to back I said you watch that side of the room I'm watching this side of Linda Blair is now coming to get us tonight come on if you don't know who Linda Blair is Google my brother lies something the same bed and we have a different prescription you don't know because you only know what your in-group taught you but that's not the truth of this out group be careful number two rename everybody you know brother or sister the Bible says in in Matthew 22 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart mind and soul number one commandment it's a number one thing we can do love you the Lord God with all heart - old number two commandment is just like it love your neighbor as yourself everyone say neighbor say that's second take a deep breath in say neighbor very good love your neighbor as yourself but what if you rename somebody other than neighbor what if you renamed that black bat that white that that hispanic that that immigrant when I was a kid I used to watch the cowboys and Indians like all of us I wanted to know about the Indians I want to know how they ride horses they didn't use the saddle they could shoot bow and arrow as they were going or they could sneak up on people they did all good but they were savages they weren't people they were savages if you take the label neighbor off and you label them something less than neighbor you dehumanize them you can no longer relate to them as an equal and you disqualify yourself from having to love them as your neighbor because they're not your neighbor but what if everyone you saw no matter what they look like no matter where they from how much money they make what language they spoke what accent they have no matter where you saw them they were in prison or not you said you are my neighbor I have to love you just like I love myself because when you remove that label neighbor you will also in your heart allow them to be mistreated treated less than you but it's okay because then I'm at your level you just dehumanized them you devalue them you you actually took someone made the image of God and said you are less than the image of God but if you put the title label the label neighbor on them brother or sister Bible says you can't love your say you hate your brother sister who you see and say you love God you're alive you can't do that it's impossible so next thing is put the label neighbor next time you see someone it looks different than you then it has that's come your complete ethnic outgrew you have nothing in common with them say you my neighbor release in your heart and then see how you treat them how it changes in this position of your heart number three give in group love to your out group next time you were in a room Starbucks at your job in a restaurant and everybody looks like you except one person keep in mind you are in you're in room you have a whole lot of positive assumptions about the people who would like you and by the way it's people who you coach Li you are comfortable with because you can be more culturally comfortable people who don't look like you because that's where you grew up but but in general you get my point if you were in a room with a bunch of people if you're in group but whether it's ethnically or even you're you're a manager and you're in a group with a bunch of managers and then someone low level on the company comes in they're on the out group as a believer in Christ you are not better than them you are their servant and so as a believer in Christ you know I think that maybe they might feel like they're in the out group maybe they're getting the cold shoulder because remember someone on the out group you're less comfortable with them you're giving less benefit them down you're less patient you're less gracious maybe I should go out of my way which is what Jesus did for me and you maybe I should go out of my way to extend in-group bias in-group bias to this person in my out group imagine what that would be like imagine if you didn't avoid them you were attracted to saying hold of somebody how are you how can I help you so you made sure that they felt comfortable in that environment where they were on the out-group say man if this make a sense to you oh I'm cooking over cooking some of your grits oh you're not buying something happening in there number four acknowledge your brother and sisters color I remember the first time someone said to me I don't see your color I was like that's messed up you don't see red blue green yellow they said no no no I don't see your color I said if you don't see my color how did you know I had a color that you should say you don't see if you don't see it I'm confused whenever you go to Hawaii and get a tan you want everybody see it ladies kind of get amen amen you ready little spaghetti strapp no macaroni stuff and if that guy never said anything for a week you will go and then what they say you know what do you think of my dad he says I don't see color it's interesting how a tan that someone gets into Hawaii we celebrate but it's hands someone gets in the womb we invalidate it's brown it's the same thing one's more permanent than the other it's brown made in the glory of God this right here the glory of God everyone everybody thank you thank you everybody - go ahead huh-huh-huh-huh Hana Hana Hana that's Hebrew for South yeah everyone do this right here do this right here say that's beautiful right all of us just everybody that's beautify it yeah this beautiful girl comes they say you know why cuz God said you all marvelous fearfully and wonderfully made is Psalm 139 your marvelous your momís Rick Fox said he got robbed in Sanford & Son and the guy said was the perpetrator colored he said yeah he was colored white you know whites of color culture says white people people of color the third option is we're all just different shades that's reality by the way number five amen number five view every conversation as a race consultation what does that mean every time you see somebody and you were having a conversation whether you want to admit it or not your brain is processing what they're like your brain is acknowledging what they look like your brain is hearing tone of voice and seeing texture hair seeing eye color skin tone it's seeing clothes it's seeing swag or lack thereof it is processing all that information and you were having a race conversation you were saying I'm talking to a black guy I'm talking to a white guy I'm talking to a Chicano what kind of asian guy but everybody I sense he's ancient and you haven't all these conversations in your head and because you have a social narrative remember those glasses I talked about that or I have all this pre-programmed information about that type of person that you are imposing on them it happens before you can even speak it is subconscious it's like boom you can't stop it however you can suspend it and say hold up I hear you but I want this person to self disclose to me what they are I want to know what they're like when you go to the airport and you see someone that has an accent don't assume anything ask them their name where they're from ask them how many languages they speak I'm at the airport all the time I talk to everybody especially in San Diego and I got all kind of sky captain of my guys and and and you ask hey brother well how many languages you speak or I speak seven languages I'm working on two more why I'm trying to get one when you have a conversation allow that person to self disclose to you what they are and then you will learn more about what this package can hold your idea in your understanding of who and what people are will be expanded and number six now and here give your heart to those not like you rock crew was a baseball player he played 18 years in the major leagues he's a three-point and 328 batting average he was Rookie of the Year MVP he's 74 down several years ago he had a heart condition he needed a heart transplant at the same time he needed heart and kidney transplant a 27 year old white NFL player Conrad Ruling went into a coma had a brain aneurysm he was 27 years old he was in a coma his mother comes into the hospital puts her head on his chest his listen to his heart saying aren't you gonna wake up I know you're gonna wake up I'm gonna hear you your heart beat again he died he signed his organs to be donated his heart and kidney went to a Panamanian Rock crew she calls up rock crew says mr. crew you have my son's heart kidney when Conrad was 11 years old he met Rod Carew when Rock crews in the major leagues he came with said mom I met my hero Rock crew I'm gonna grow to be a professional athlete and he did he went to the NFL but now he's dead and his heart and kidney are in rock crews chest and body and rock crew says to his mother would you like to come listen to your heart your son's heart she goes over his house and she listens to her son's heart in rod Carew's body if Amen if we are so different and we were meant to be so separated and one is so superior and inferior so how could that be it's a lie it's a lie and we can make a decision right now you you are only responsible for you you are only responsible for you you can make a decision to not make assumptions about people to understand that you don't know more than you know about people who are not like you and that you will give them opportunities to self disclose to you you would name them your neighbour you would acknowledge the beauty of how God created them the difference and uniqueness of how God created them in His image by the way that His image is the same he just put a creative package why because he's creative and he's not boring if we did that our country would change the company's not gonna do it please stop wasting time worrying about them the church has to do it so I'm asked all y'all about your heads and close your eyes amen come on let's go the Lord have [Applause] [Music] I'm gonna ask all y'all to close your eyes and bow your head Lord Jesus I thank you so much for your faithfulness Lord the devil is smart but you were smarter he's powerful but you were more powerful and you called us to love our neighbor as ourselves and you died a roast with there for us and that we would be able to love you but we need a heart transplant ourself if you would like to ask Christ to be your Savior the Bible says he died and rose from the dead for you said that the penalty of sin is death and then all of us die because all of us are sinners but if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart god raised from the dead you'll be saved if you would like to ask Christ to be your savior just pray this prayer with me just as Conrad put his heart in rock god made us in His image so his heart can live in us so just pray this prayer in the privacy of your heart pray dear God I admit that I'm a sinner and that the penalty of sin is death but I believe Jesus died and rose with them for me Jesus please forgive me my sin fill me with the Spirit of God I want to be warned if you prayed that prayer in 30 seconds I was gonna ask you to raise your hand if I raise your hand you are simply acknowledging that by faith you're asking Christ to be you soon so on the count of three if you prayed that phrase just slip your hand up real high elbow above you here one two three in the janam god bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you you see all the way to top all over the room [Music] [Music] god bless y'all well what an amazing message of hope today and I want to thank pastor Myles for sharing that message and just touching all of our hearts and again I want to direct you to his incredible book that has made a huge impact on my life and I believe can make a huge impact on your life as well and that's called a third option hope for a racially divided nation you know if you prayed that prayer and if you want to follow Jesus in your life we'd love to send you a free resource just called how to follow Jesus all you have to do is type in your web browser central dot family you don't need anything else just central dot family you click the link that says I decided to follow Jesus we'll send you a digital copy of this guy it'll help you take some next steps in the coming weeks also for those of you who want to give a financial gift to help share hope with others you can visit that site and you can click the link that says give a gift there as well and we can we can pray for you if we can encourage you I want to invite you to call or text the number on the screen we have a team of pastors and ministry leaders available 24 hours a day you know we hope you have a great week and we want to invite you to join us next weekend Saturdays at 5 p.m. Sundays at 7 8:30 10 11:30 or 1 p.m. online all times our Pacific Standard Time but between now and next weekend hang on to Romans 8 if God is for us who could be against us

Channel: Central Church

Views: 3,641

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: miles mcpherson, jud wilhite, central church, central online, central live, central henderson, central summerlin, greater, stay strong, message, faith, hope for the city, bible, sermon, teaching

Id: av--X4V_oYg

Length: 68min 9sec (4089 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 06 2020