Welcome To Mountain View Online

hey everybody hi guys welcome to mountain view church we're so glad that you are joining us today for all those watching online thanks for tuning in let us know yeah where you're from where you're from where you're watching from who you're watching with yes yeah let us know and um we're so glad for those who are here also in person thanks for being here we have a new series that starts today it's called squad goals it's so good it's about all the relationships in your life friendships your marriage if you're single all of it it's gonna cover everybody yes i love that and um today we are also taking communion communion sunday and so if you are watching online make sure to go ahead to your pantry or your fridge grab some crackers goldfish crackers at my house a piece of bread apple juice grape juice anything will work anything you can find because we are so excited to celebrate that together if you're coming in person you'll have one of these given to you at the door um but this is just a way that we celebrate and remember what jesus did for us by dying on the cross and so we're uh happy to celebrate communion today together and if you are watching online and you've only been an online family we would love to have you join us someday in person maybe take a trip out here or if you're local and um can drive whenever you're ready we are here for you i want to see you face to face yes we would love to meet you so check out this video real quick churches in queen creek mountain view church so that looks like a function so good i love that i love that show we have something for everybody for your entire family from kids to teenagers to adults so we'd love to see you on a weekend sundays at 9 10 30 at noon yes and we will also be replaying this celebration throughout the week um tonight at 6 p.m monday and also on wednesday so you can always share this celebration you've heard the message today and you're like hey my friend needs to hear this or somebody in my family needs to hear this make sure you share it uh with them throughout the week we just started our season of generosity because it's september that's right it's the best time of year yeah holidays but season of generosity at church i love it my favorite four months out of the year starts now and so for season of generosity we highlight a different um way of giving back to our community and outreach and so september we have given away already 200 blessings bags that's so awesome you guys are amazing i love that they're completely gone um but you can still give to season of generosity if you head to our mountain view app or envy.church give that's right and if you give there that will still go to the next project for next month so in october we'll be reaching out to women's hope center that's here in the valley and we can just partner along with them for the women at that home and then in november we have thanksgiving meals yes so we provide turkeys and fries and all the sides yes um and then in no or december we do christmas angels and so that's really fun to give gifts christmas gifts to kids in our community so good it's a really special time of year so we hope that you participate in that um in a couple weekends we have cool things happening we have marriage conference on september 25th it's gonna be an awesome day come with your spouse have fun learn together laugh together i'm going to be there i'll be there soon i'm going to be there too you don't want to miss it so you can register for that today yes and then the next day the very next day is our baptism class so sunday september 26th you can register for that because baptism weekend is october three and uh the class is the week prior so make sure you head to envy.church baptism or also on the mv app yeah and if you're here in the room you can stop by the connect tent on the way out you can register for marriage conference there and sign up to be baptized yes and if this is your first time and you're here visiting head to the blue new here tent outside so we can say hey get to know you and give you a gift so awesome yeah so we're about to start this celebration we are let's go whatever you are we would love to have you stand raise your hands worship together with us and we will catch you guys later hey mountain view i'm so excited that you're joining us this morning my name is emily and if you're in the room or online will you stand and worship with us today put your hands together sing this out there is no shadow that could ever stand against your mind you've always been with us every battle you've already won we've already won aren't you glad god's already run that battle for us let's sing this out again there is no shadow that could ever stand against your mind you've always been with us show me what they can't do show me he's the god of is is about to rise is is a shake off disappointment he's the god of the breakthroughs he's the god jesus we ask you to move in this place today as we sing together here in the flesh his every breath salvation of the world come on church take this out is this is his heart good in foreign see the sun this is his home here in our chest at every door our shavers the sound of everything rejoicing oh jesus christ see you surround me from my enemies i am a child of god no longer come on you have chosen me to your family your blood flows oh i am a child of god i am a child of i god a child of god no a longer of god come on mountain view can somebody shout hallelujah listen i'm here to tell you that christ has risen from the grave and that's what we celebrate each and every day we celebrate the power and the breakthrough that we receive because jesus paid the price in his death his burial but most of all in his resurrection i don't know about you but i want more i want more of god each and every opportunity that i get to inhale and exhale i want more of him why because he gives his heart to us so we should then in turn give our hearts to him you know on the night before he died jesus shared a final meal with his disciples and during this meal jesus gave his disciples for all time this special way of remembering him as bread is broken and shared and as juices poured out we celebrate the lord's supper because jesus commands us to do so doing this in remembrance of him the bread is broken in pieces as a sign of jesus's body that is broken on the cross and the juice is poured as a sign as jesus's blood shed on the cross both the bread and the juice points to a reality of a greater deeper salvation and jesus sets us free by dying on the cross in our place you see when we celebrate the lord's supper we celebrate it because we remember jesus's resurrection from the dead and i don't know about you but a leader who invites you to the table to partake in the blessing that he has for your life's sake for the generations to come is not only a great leader but he's a good good father so i don't know how you remember him but i'm grateful and thankful that you're here with us today because jesus is the one who invited us to the table now communion communion is an act of worship and remembrance as we discuss the bread and the juice points to that reality of the deeper reality of salvation for each and every one of us how many of you are absolutely excited that jesus came to set us free as you hold your cup today i want to read to you in scripture but before doing so i want you to peel back that first layer of your cup i want you to take out that wafer and i want you to hear the word of god in luke 22 verse 19 and it reads and he took bread gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them saying this is my body given to you do this in remembrance of me take break and eat and verse 20 it actually says in the same way after the supper he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you as you drink this cup today remember that you are a child of a king remember that you are no longer slaves but you walk with the same authority that jesus has take and drink father we appreciate you we love and honor you we thank you for the sacrifice that was done on the cross we thank you for loving us in spite of ourselves and we're grateful that we will walk out we will live out lord god our lives according to your word we thank you for this in your precious son jesus name amen and amen it my fears my is i am sing it with me a child of god and i'm no longer i am a child of god amen church we get to celebrate that we are no longer slaves to fear depression anxiety doubt if you've walked in with those things shake it off but it is no more that is not welcome in the house of the lord today we are so excited that you guys are here today and before we go into giving i want to share a verse with you it's matthew 18 20 it says when two or more are gathered in my name says jesus speaking i am there when two and more are gathered in my name i am there well i don't know how many people are in this room but there's more than two there's a whole lot more than two i guess no one's really responding so i hope there's more than two in this room but it's awesome that we get together in this room and take communion together and be reminded together as a body of christ because if we think back to jesus with his disciples and his followers he never did anything alone he didn't do ministry alone the disciples walked together they prayed together they slept together they did ministry together and they did it all with jesus christ because they walked beside him through it all and that's what we're doing here at mountain view is you're not alone we get to gather together and then jesus is there with us always always and what's really cool about that verse that i love is when we gather together jesus is here but he also moves through us personally individually in our own type of giving and our own type of generosity here at mountain view that's what god does through us personally and one thing that's awesome about this week is we have had volunteers we have had people put together blessing bags for this week for you guys to take home and i'm to tie this into giving because it's so important because sometimes we show up on a sunday and sometimes when we give we don't know what we're giving to or what it's going to go towards or you know we we give to the ministry of mountain view into the kingdom of god but we just don't know exactly where it's going well i'm about to tell you those blessing bags that we're gonna give to you guys say that you're gonna take home today is where that giving went to so that you can help people in your community you pass by people that god just goes they need they need you they need your help they have a need you need to fill it but sometimes you're just like i don't know what to give them i don't want to just give them something i want to have a conversation with them or talk to them about jesus or see how they're doing they want people they want they want to know that you care and something in the blessing bag is gonna fill that need so i encourage you today that when you give today that you don't give with an empty mind but you fill your mind with the spirit of god and that he's going to pour over that gift and that blessing and you're going to be in faith believe that god is going to pour into someone else's life through that gift because that's what you're gonna do this week when you give that bag over to somebody whether it's to and from work whether it's at a grocery store at a gas station wherever it may be i just pray that god moves through you but that's where our giving goes to is to our community all around this church is our community and that's where we're going to reach so we're going to reach today tomorrow the next day the whole week so i encourage you to keep that in mind in the back of your head but if you have your gift with you whether it's on your phone whether it's in an envelope whether it's physical i want you to just orpha just your hand and you're going to do it later i just encourage you to lift your hand your gift with me we're going to pray over it in prayer for this a week that god moves in us jesus thank you for the movement that you have created in this church and this ministry god for all these people that you have called us call us out to be ministers you've called us each one of us to reach somebody in need you don't need us but you want us you want us to partner with you and your kingdom so that your kingdom can grow exceedingly and abundantly far above more than we could ever imagine god that you would do more more through these gifts that we can reach our community so much more so much farther so much faster so much harder with harder love god that you would shine through these gifts shine through the bags that are going to be given out shine through us so that they see jesus it's in your name that we pray amen we're going to sing this next song together and if you're joining us online there's going to be a link that comes up on the screen for you for our text and online giving options we are so excited that you're joining us online if you're here in the room can i hear you in the room sunday's not over yet we still have to celebrate some more there's going to be ushers that come forward down the aisles just encourage you when we give today just remember ask god to pour his spirit out on you and on that gift today as we sing this next song together out coming for your spirit strength in is the power of your presence before your i is we can hear the wind oh oh up eyes amen you know i i used to pray that uh the holy spirit would would just fill me up right just constantly just feel me just feel me to feel me and when i one day it kind of dawned on me like if i'm always asking the holy spirit to fill me up there's the implication that i'm empty right i mean like you're you're filled up only because you you've been empty and you just it's this constant cycle and so it's like you come to church and and the holy spirit just feels your life and you're encouraged and you're empowered and you're equipped then you go to work on monday and then you you know deal with people by wednesday you're you're just empty again and i was reading it in john in john chapter 3 verse 34 it says that god gives the spirit without limit so i thought to myself maybe i need to stop asking for the holy spirit to fill me up so i can be emptied and i need to start asking for the holy spirit to flow through me consistently and constantly and to live in that constant state of awareness that they don't know he's emanuel he's god's with me i'm not empty i may be a little bit depleted but the holy spirit's like a life-giving water and if i just tap into his presence and i tap in to to to him then i don't have to be empty again and i like how that song is it just flows and it flows and it flows and that's really what we need because life can take from us and then you just feel empty no no no we don't want to be empty anymore we want to we will be filled and flowing with the life-giving empowerment of the spirit how do we do that well we pray and we praise and we read and we we fan the flame and that's what this song is it's a it's a prophecy it's a prayer it's a state of mind that we're asking just to flow and blow upon our lives so if you believe that today church or maybe you feel a little depleted today they need to defend your play then sing this song as prophecy sing it as a prayer sing it as an awareness the power is lord we're just this vessel that just asks that you pour your spirit out consistently constantly and make us aware that you get this spirit without limit there's no lid to what you want to give and what you want to do through us and when we get saved and we're grafted into this branch lord it's just life-giving living water as you told the samaritan at the woman the samaritan woman at the wells if you drink from this well it never runs dry and that's where we want to be so we want to focus on lord that we're never without your spirit emmanuel it's god with us it's it's the pericle it's our corner man you are one who comes alongside us who lives within us and empowers us to live a life of consistent victory that's where we want our minds to rest today because lord monday comes and tuesday comes and wednesday comes and it just you feel empty but we want to understand that's that's just not true we always have access we always have availability of the the living water the life giving ever flowing presence of god you know lord that's what sundays do it encourages us and it fans our flame we want to take that with us to monday and lord that's why we're here today we're in your presence amongst your people to recall the promises of scripture you know they're so sweet and they never fail they never let us down and we're so grateful for that thank you for these people man they show up ready to worship they show up ready to uh to encourage one another and to to be obedient to the scriptures and we're so grateful for that thank you for jesus thank you for the holy spirit and all of god's people said amen amen thank you for being here today go ahead and have a seat you know i like when we say amen together i like when we shout together because amen means so be it it's just whatever whatever your word is lord we know that we're going to see it if you said it we'll see it in your life it's a it's a moment where we all agree that god's will is best and god's word is applicable and we're like this amen god whatever you have in store for me whatever you want for me and that's why i love that we shout that together as we're just all acknowledging that god is good and his plan for us and his will for us is good and we want to be right in the center of it i want to greet all those watching online uh what a privilege it is that you're here with us today did you guys like to all there's a female-led group today i mean we didn't forget about smoothie we didn't forget about white velvet or our j figures back here we didn't forget about them but the ladies they were up here singing bringing that heat today and and uh thankful for the ladies in the house anybody else thankful for the ladies in the house all right josh he he heard me you know somebody flow so he's gonna bring the holy spirit keys that he's gonna be flowing all day because that's like the holy spirit's instrument you know god the father is the base like you get the keys up there you know the holy spirit is in the room so uh thankful for the hey hey listen we're gonna uh we're gonna start a little series today called squad goals and the idea is all of us have a squad right whether it be your family members or whether that be your friends whether it be co-workers neighbors something like that we all have a squad and we want to make sure that we get the right squad the right people on our team to help us through the difficulties of life and today i'm going to preach a message that i've never preached before i've never preached on this topic and i know that because uh this genre a group of people loves to tell me that i've never preached upon this topic and that is the topic of being a single yeah and single people send the best emails so do cat people and sometimes cat people and single people are the same people and they don't get that connection between them i'm just saying i'm teasing up these empties and i understand today that obviously the context that 91 of us are married or will be married at some point in our lives so you say this doesn't mean anything to me no no yes it does and maybe not you in particular but it does to your kids and your grandkids in fact i've been receiving text messages today from people who who watched online saying man thank you for that message my kids need this or i wish somebody would have told me about this when i was single you know before there was ever a person on this earth in fact before there was even an earth there was already a relationship you had god the father god the son and god the holy spirit existing as three persons in one now i can't fully explain the trinity because it does go beyond our ability to comprehend but the bible makes it very clear that the three persons of the trinity have dwelled together forever meaning that relationships were they are and they forever will be and one day the trinity got together and they had a conversation they said let us make man in our image that's found in genesis chapter 1 verse 26. now i know that you're special and you think that you're needed but the reality is the trinity didn't need us they were already in a perfect complete and fulfilled relationship within themselves but out of the overflow of their love towards one another they decided to create humans both male and female in the first human adam lived in the garden of eden with god as his companion from the very first day in other words adam had a relationship with god before there was another human being to know or to have a relationship with in the picture that we get in genesis chapter two and three is that god and adam were homies that they they were they were friends they would hang out together in the garden they would talk about this and that they would take long walks to look at new plants and animals while enjoying the cool evening breeze together just the two of them and no matter what other relationships we have what other relationships we don't have the bible is very clear that all of us can have a relationship with god that through christ he invites us into the same kind of connection that he has within the trinity a loving life-giving relationship and even though probably for most of us our top relational goal is finding or keeping or improving our human relationships it's important to see that our relationship with god should always come first it should always be above all all other relationships it's the ultimate relationship in all blessings flow out of that relationship in fact one of those blessings is that he now enables us to do our other relationships at the highest possible level in other words when we put god first he blesses the rest let me break that down you can't have the best kind of relationship without god in that relationship now i'm not and i even say well i've got some good relationship without god i understand that but they will never be the best that they can be if god is not in that amen now let's go back to the beginning god made the sun in the moon in the sky and he took a step back and said hey it's good he made the water he made dry land he said it's good he made plants like spinach and kale and for some reason i don't even know why he stood back and said that's good i'm just trying to figure out i don't think it's good however he then made some fried ochre and then he made some some collard greens and then he made some some onion rings and he stepped back and says good like i agree that is good and then he made the sea creatures like willie and nemo and flounder and jaws i mean he made josh with nemo too he made all the animals like timon and pumbaa in simba and said it's good and then he made adam he made adam and said it's very good it was all good in the hood but soon after that for the very first time god says it's not good now it's not that god had messed up because god never messes up he just saw that something was missing so the lord god said it's not good for man to be alone and all the mamas in the room who have little boys would say amen it's not good for little boys to be alone they will break something they will tear something up or they will grab a stick and turn it into a knife and somebody's gonna get cut we know it's not good for boys to be alone amen now the principle is true for all of god's children too it's not good for you it's not good for me to be alone because when we set up a life that is guarded and gated the enemy comes in to attack us when we're isolated we're more at risk at believing the lies that the enemy is whispering to us and then we come to believe that truth as well if we don't have somebody to come back and remind us of the truth of who we are in christ somebody that can help protect us and dispel the lies of the enemy we need somebody that can show us that our hearts do need love and that we do need help along the way and god knows this and that's why god wants relationships for us now i also know that it's very hard for some of you in here today to believe that a major part of god's plan for your life involves relationships in other people for some of you it's really hard to believe that god wants you to have a best friend because your last best friend stabbed you in the back and for some of you it's really hard to believe that god wants you to have a pastor and a mentor because the last pastor in mentor you had did not create a safe place they actually harmed you and they they let you down so now you're thinking this one's going to do the very same thing it's hard for some of you here today to believe that god wants you to have a marriage that is marked by love and honor and respect that is fun and flirty because every relationship ever had was well it was the opposite of that however we see that god is a redeemer and ever since genesis chapter 3 god's been trying to redeem and restore and reconcile mankind so he wants to take all this broken jacked up world and system of relationships and he wants to redeem it and use it for good and that's what it says in ecclesiastes 4. for two are better than one because they provide a good return for their labor if either one of them falls down one can help the other up but pity the fool i'm just checking to see if any clubber lane mr t fans are in here today but pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up also if two lie down together they will keep warm but how can one keep warm alone though one may be overpowered two can defend themselves a court of three strands is not quickly broken we all know at the core of who we are it's better to be in a relationship but what about those in here today that are not in a relationship and why am i choosing to talk about a topic that i've never talked about before well did you know that the church the american church in general is now comprised of about 50 of singles in other words singles make up about 50 of the church today and let's get real this demographic has largely been ignored in the church i mean i've been preaching for over 20 years and i've never talked about this subject myself in fact if if you're of the genre or of the age group that i am um then then you can say amen to this or you can agree with me uh we grew up in church and and we were equipped with one rule and we were single and that was don't have sex with anyone before you get married like that that's the only rule they taught us right don't have sex with anybody before you're married and then when you got married they gave you one more rule don't have sex with anyone else that's all they taught us growing up in church and the church did a phenomenal job at creating and crafting messages for families and the church did a phenomenal job of meeting the needs of children and teens but then we started asking the question where do the singles fit and i think that this conversation is super important and because i'm your pastor and i do care about you and i care about all seasons of life because unfortunately some of you might be single or or unfortunately you might be single again and i believe that the word of god is applicable to every area of your life so maybe it's not just for you but it is for somebody that you you know so lean in and let's leverage us together now i am going to talk to the singles in the house and if you're single today you probably find yourself in one of three categories number one you are single ready to mingle like a sour cream and cheese pringle you're like hey i am here and i am ready to go number two you are single by choice like you know what no i'm just gonna work on me and i i choose to be single in this moment or three is you've been single for a minute and you've been doing all the right things you've been praying and you've been fasting and you've been believing for your boaz and your eyes on christian mingle and he harmony and farmers only but you're still single and you're stuck now we're not going to talk about singles for every week because hopefully by week four y'all get married and naming all your kids daniel but we are going to talk about it today so wherever you find yourself on that single spectrum i need to say this to you i think it's important that you write this down you do not need a significant other to be significant that is so important you do not need a man you do not need a woman you do not need a significant other to be significant to be significant your significance is not predicated on whether or not you have a ring on your finger singleness is not a downgrade and getting married is not the end goal there's nothing wrong with you don't treat your singleness like a prison sentence that you are serving because i know way too many people who are way too eager to get out of their singleness way too soon now yes god said it's not good for man to be alone but he didn't necessarily say bad or it's bad to be single because single was adam's first relationship status and the reality is we don't know how long he was single and then you come to church and i know the church hasn't helped you because the church is always pushing people upon you and making all these programs and things for for you know like parents and singles and things like that and neither has your parents because you come walking in the room and your mom starts feeling your belly like oh how those embryos have those eggs doing right now oh you better have some kids so i'm looking young enough to enjoy that i know that that's society isn't it they put pressure on you that's un unnecessary so before long being single starts to feel a little shameful doesn't it but if you don't understand dating and mating in god's timing you will compromise and hijack god's best plan or god's best will for your life you see getting married is not the gift for being holy you have intrinsic value just because of who you are you are perfectly perfect just the way you are today jesus will just live a significant life without a significant other and i hope that that gives you hope that singleness is not a curse because if you're looking for somebody to validate you or to make you whole or to fix you you're going to be sadly disappointed the only person that can make you whole is god in him we are complete in him is the fullness of life the significance that you crave is not going to come from a significant other the significance that you crave has to come from the one who created you now have you all ever heard of the term soulmate the term soulmate comes from excuse me platonic platonic philosophy paul excuse me plato taught that there is one person in the universe that can complete and make us whole and plato had a a a cohort or a bunch of groupies really that were learners and thinkers and they were playwrights who studied under platonic philosophy one of them uh was a guy by the name of aristophanes and he wrote a fable if you don't know what a fable is it's a fictious a fictious story which means it's not real and and he said that the gods were upset with humans so they they they cut us in half and they split our soul and as a result of that our souls are wandering the earth looking aimlessly until we can finally find our other half who completes us and ever since from disney fairy tales to uh jerry maguire you complete me there's this idea that there's one person out there somewhere who will complete us problem with that is it's a lie amen we are only complete in christ and if we don't understand this concept we're going to be running around asking are you my soul mate are you my soul mate before you know it we're just stacking up soulmate after so many we're asking how many souls does the person have is this the right person to complete me and fulfill me and if they can't or they won't we just move on and we start stacking up all of these people in our landscape is littered with soulmates we have to understand that true marriage isn't about marrying the right person it's about in becoming the right person so i i want to give you a a clear understanding of our soul the the definition of a soul is that it's an invisible intangible psychological and emotional part of our existence and the soul the bible says is super important that jesus asked this question in mark's gospel is anything worth more than your soul the beloved apostle john he said be beloved i pray that in every way you may prosper and enjoy good health as your soul also prospers john is writing to the church he's writing to believers like like you and i and he says as it is with your soul so it is with your life if your soul is good life is good and i want your soul to be healthy why so you can find your spiritual soul mate and a spiritual soul a soulmate is someone that you're attracted to physically that supports you emotionally and is suited for you personally not a roommate but a spiritual soul mate so for the next few moments i'm going to give you a few ways that you can date to find your spiritual soul mate and the first way or the first step is intentionality intentionality is having a plan with a purpose so we talking about first of all don't date someone that you would not marry because i believe when you marry you're married for life what god had joined together let no man separate in fact this week this is this is crazy john this is crazy this week amy said to me and i don't know why she said it to me it's my birthday and i'm getting older and she's thinking i'm getting older i don't know but she says to me she says hey wouldn't that be fun to get married and go on a honeymoon again i said i'm hoping this is with me right i mean you can clarify that like you already i'm like 42 and you already put me out the pasture she didn't say that because i told her i said you can go girl but i'm coming with you cause we like peanut butter and jelly baby she might rib right we just go together you're stuck with me it's what i told her here's what song of solomon says how fragrant is your ck1 oh they don't know about that how fragrant is your cool water no y'all know about that how fragrant is your cologne your name is like it's spreading fragrance no wonder all the young women love you let me break this down because y'all are completely confused at this time baths were hard to come by right i mean not everybody had a bathtub so they would take this purified oil and the men would rub it all over their body now you can only imagine how valuable this was to a man and how much of a benefit it was to society y'all have teenage boys in your home so she takes some skin so soft from yvonne a sophisticated people it's a bomb right it's gonna be like avon no no it's a bomb a sophisticated palette y'all y'all ever had any skin so soft growing up yeah but like mom they'd like to put that in your bathtub and they put that everywhere your life is sliding all over the place my mama's like skin so soft onto everything i got poison ivy she's like rubbing like no no that's oil and it's making me even more itchy okay y'all know what i'm talking about we don't know understand those skin so soft okay okay so that's kind of what it was they would put this all over their body and understand it and make the world just smell better and here's what she's like man that is what your name is like she said every time i think of you it's like breathing in fresh air what are you talking about pastor she said you're a good man who has a good reputation you you have a fresh aroma to everybody that you need you have integrity she said you are holistic what does that mean you're the same person when you're with me as my boyfriend you're the same person when you're out with your boys you have integrity you smell good to everybody that you meet you say why are you talking about because the first thing you want to look for in a significant other is you want to find somebody who has a good reputation somebody who who smells good to society what are they known for what are other people saying about them because if everybody else says he's a psycho if everybody else she says she's a crazy cat lady if everybody else thinks he's a loser or she's a gold digger they probably are oh no no no okay you want to pay attention to patterns not potential cause you ladies are terrible at this always look in that potential no no no no no no no no you don't want to look at potential cause your picker's broken you want to look at patterns it's so important because many of us mostly women are looking for projects and that's why for most of you ladies your first child is your husband if his mama didn't fix him and his daddy didn't straighten him out if prison didn't fix him or boot camp didn't fix him you ain't gonna fix him either that's what i'm saying oh no pastor oh no no he just needs a chance i can help him no i'm tired of hearing that you can't there's only one person who can and it ain't you his name is jesus he's the savior no no i can fix him no you can't so you look for people who have a godly character and a good reputation you see i just met this person how do i know well take a good hard look at their friends because you attract what you are if he claims to be mr bible man and all of his fringes got out of prison something's not added up and men i'm just telling you i'm in right now you need to clarify that j-e-s-u-s tattoo on her neck you need to ask her how do you pronounce that because it may be jesus her third husband and you think it's jesus if you hook up with someone that doesn't have integrity you're going to end up carrying that baggage the rest of your life solomon says a worthy wife is a crown for her husband but a disgraceful woman is like cancer in his bones can i give y'all the rev d okie version i'm gonna break it to you i don't care if y'all ready for it i'm gonna give to you anyway a spouse with character is like a trophy to be proud of but one without is like a bad case of the hemorrhoids a pain in your rear that ain't going to go away very easily if it ever goes away so if you hope to have a godly marriage one day find someone who's living a godly life today because god won't honor the promise of giving you a great marriage if you didn't honor the process that it takes to make one so you got to set some boundaries what are some boundaries number one is this i will not sacrifice my relationship with god you go ahead and tell him if you push me away from god i'm pushing you away you want to get closer to me you get closer to god to the boundary number two i will not ignore the scriptures to violate my conscience the bible says what it always said i don't have the right to redefine what god has already defined i'm not going to violate the scriptures or my conscience number three i will not let anyone treat me less than a masterpiece oh those of you are single you need to say this before anything gets too serious listen to me bo ass i need you to know i think you're cute i think you're special you look good in those wranglers i'm just telling you that right now i think you give you a cute little butt looks good i enjoy spending time with you but you need to know something we're gonna do this god's way because i know what happens when i try to do it my way and i don't like doing it my way i want to do god's way i'm going to honor the process because if i honor the process god will honor me you're not going to test drive me because i'm a masterpiece and this body is a bugatti and if you can't see that from where you're standing move on down the road and you're gonna find some other used tourists for sale it ain't gonna be this one number four number four i will not give you what you want until you give me what i need love affection protection commitment communication and a ring all the single ladies you put your hands up unless you do that dance you tell him if he likes it he better put a ring on it i think i'm being silly time magazine found that 70 percent of couples today are not getting married until they first lived together but they also discovered that couples who lived together get divorced at a higher rate than those who don't a research at the university of virginia found the brains of married couples responds differently to stress in the brains of cohabiting couples cohabiting couples have a higher stress level because they know at any moment the other person could eventually walk out married couples and their children have a lower stress level than those who aren't now pastor this is not 1921. is it 2021 shouldn't we see if we're compatible compatible physically are you serious clark because the fun is into figuring it out i'm just saying that practice makes perfect if it's not good i'm going to shoot lay up until it gets good because they say something don't get great until it's done ten thousand times i don't even know if that's physically impossible but it's worth a shot secular sociologists realize that pre-marital physical intimacy is actually really complicating things because when there's physical intimacy chemistry occurs and chemistry is a very interesting thing because you can have chemistry with anyone or anything you can have chemistry with a toxic person a crazy person a married person a person in prison you are literally joining with that person and you are literally leaving a part of yourself behind there is no such thing as casual sex it is a physical and emotional mental impossibility because our brain is filled with both dopamine and serotonin and when we are experiencing intimacy it's like our brain is on drugs well guess what happens over time well those drugs subside and if you're married you think you've lost that loving feeling so you want to go find somebody else to get that back or you're you're not married you just keep finding going through through people the point is you have to intentionally work to keep it fresh and passionate it's not magic between two people that makes it work it's the way that we work that keeps it magic and if you go looking for someone else you're not gonna feel abused you're gonna feel used or misused and as a result because of your brokenness because of your pain because of the trauma that has happened to you well your picker is now broken so now you just find what's easy and you don't find what's best because if you're not whole or healthy you don't even know what whole or healthiness looks like and your brokenness is attracted to someone else's brokenness so that's why we need to spend time looking in the mirror at ourselves because that will save us so much pain later when there's another person or kids in the picture with you you need to know what you want and you need to know what you need because relationships will push you into your purpose or they're going to pull you out of your purpose it's just intentionality number two clarity asking yourself what is the goal of this relationship because if you don't have a goal what really good is the effort most relationships look a lot like the urinal on the wall the junior high boys bathroom there's a whole lot of activity but there's not a lot of aim so it ends up being a big hot mess to clean up in a very stinky situation to walk into and when the damage is done then attitudes have formed and your innocence has been stolen all of a sudden questions start to flood our mind is love real are all men this way are all women in this way and what's the point in all of this and too many singles don't have any goals therefore they don't even know what they're aiming at when it comes to finding a mate you take whatever comes you do whatever's comfortable and you don't know where you're actually wanting to end up here's what scripture says in genesis 2 the lord god took the man and put him in the garden of eden to work it and take care of it you see adam had a purpose before we had a person and god gave him work before he gave him a wife and the same is true for women as well ruth was working the field when she met her boaz rebecca was carrying water when she heard about isaac so the lord god said it's not good for man to be alone i will make a helper suitable for him eve was a partner who helped adam fulfill his purpose and the goal of a partner is to help us fulfill our god-given purpose and if they're not helping you be all that god created you to be they're probably hindering you so before you find the right person you have to find your purpose the right person is on the other side of the right purpose and when someone gets behind your purpose and they believe in it now they fit right into your life but only god can give you your purpose and that's why singleness may be the most important part of your life it's the best chance that you're ever going to have on working on being uniquely you it's a prime time for god to reveal who he created you to be dating and mating will come you need to focus on you and it's important that you get to know the shadows of your past because you're going to bring them into relationship you're going to get to know the shadows of your past before there's another person or you're going to just bring this into every relationship that you have you got to work on your weaknesses and you got to build on your strengths find out your purpose and find out what god has pointed in your heart this way you can clarify the type of relationship you want and you'll be able to see clearly the person who is just right for you because too many marriages aren't whole and because they're not whole they have a lot of holes there's secrets there's there's pain there's scars there's fears there's insecurities and we are desperately desperately hoping that another person can feel that hole but they can't and that is why singleness is important to take the time to heal and develop and mature before we get married because two halves don't make whole they make hell number three is strategy this is a scripture that we we read it almost every wedding love is patient and love is kind is not envy does not boast is not proud does not dishonor others it's not self-seeking it's not easily angered it keeps no records of wrongs does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth it always protects and always trusts and always hopes and always perseveres love never fails do you know what first corinthians really is first corinthians 13 it's a strategy paul's saying this is what a godly marriage looks like this is what a godly relationship looks like listen to me if you're single in here today again i'm going to tell you you don't have to be find a significant other to be significant this is your time to imagine what do you want your life to look like tomorrow if you start today what do you want your finances to look like what do you want your mental state to look like what do you want your home to look like this is your time to imagine what do i want the future to look like it's also your time to invest in yourself to get right mentally and spiritually and emotionally and physically it's time to truly invest what area do i want to see in my life grow because when you look at your life next year what type of person do you envision yourself being you know there is a time to date there's a time to make a time to marry and i'm just asking you don't rush this time or you're going to ruin it being single is the most important part of the relationship process because you cannot figure out how to love someone else well if you've not even figured out how to love yourself well you don't just stumble into relationship that honors god there's got to be intentionality there needs to be a strategy and there needs to be clarity you're not single because something's wrong with you you're single because god wants you to be single in this season because he's madly in love with you and maybe selfishly he just wants you all to himself for a while you know marriage is not a hideout from our singleness but a haven for building wholeness it's not just in looking for the right person it is in becoming the right person you know one of the first scriptures that i ever memorized was matthew 6 33 and it says seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all of these things will be added unto you you know i'm much like many of you if you haven't been here just yet you will be or maybe you've been there and god's brought you through that season but i went through a season of my life where i would have considered myself to be lonely and i'm kind of wanting to you know a girlfriend and then a future wife and you know all my friends were dating and things like that and and i i just felt like the lord was telling me that season hey listen don't don't go out looking because if you go out looking for the wrong person just let me send you the right person so i started focusing on myself and i started you know trying to get emotionally whole and and physically healthy and financially saving money so that when i you know eventually met somebody that i would have money to spend on them and things like that so i went through this period of a fast and i was like okay god i'm not going to think about another person i'm going to focus on you i'm going to focus on myself i'm going to get healthy in every area of my life and and when you're ready for it you know you'll send it to me so i set a date and the the end of the the fast uh ended on july 1st so i'd gone through this period in the last week of june i get a phone call from my brother now i had read a book called dare to win by jack canfield it was the precursor to the chicken soup for the souls you may remember that and in this book it talked about how important it is to you know who you are but also what you're looking for so i had written this this long list of things i was looking for in a future spouse i'm like okay god here it is you know what i'm looking for you know what's best for me this is what i think it looks like and i was very specific so i put it in an envelope and just kind of left it alone the last week of june i'm in a baseball tournament uh out of the city and i get a call from my brother now my brother didn't live at our home he's older than i am and and uh he was off uh outside of the house but for some reason he was at her home he was very late at night he calls me and he said hey daniel uh there's this girl here that i think it would be really good if you meet now i my brother and i weren't that close to have this type of so i found it quite odd i'm like okay well if you think so then just do what you can to keep her there well i was i was several hours away and by the time i got there it was late and were able to connect the next day and he said hey here's this this girl's name and i really think you ought to get to know her and i had met her before and this is actually a picture the very first time that i ever met miss amy uh somebody took a picture of it and that's her on the bottom right and then that's me uh that kind of looks like samson up there on the top left i guess yeah that would be your your left people loud like you have hair well yeah i had hair um best first time ever met her and that was the last week of june so we ended up going on a a first date and miss amy was everything that i had on a piece of paper i mean just walked in my life the last week of june like god was was unfolding this for me she was everything i had on a piece of paper with the exception of one thing now i didn't tell her this because that would have been weird but i don't know why it was you know mid 90s you know like dixie chicks were in and you know like short hair so i'm like okay there's one thing that i had on this piece of paper with short brown hair i didn't tell her that but then the very next week she kept walking in that's my point put god first he's got a boaz he's got a root out there just for you but you if you if you're not healthy you'll miss it when they walk into your life you'll ruin it put god first and god will give you the desires of your heart if you know what you need and you know what you want you believe it's from the lord god's faithful he's faithful to me and i think he'll be faithful to you too now listen i understand that there's somebody here starting out and starting over you know what ruth has a redemption story too ruth had to start over before she got her bow ass and the same could be true for you god can forgive you god can redeem you god can rewrite your story as long as you put him first and you put him first i'm telling you don't be like elijah like i'm the only one left no no no god's got somebody reserved for you and i believe that focus on him and let him give you the desires of your heart father we pause today just to say thank you first of all for loving us as we are not needing a significant other to be significant i think we buy into that and lord i just want people to know that are valuable because they really are not because of who they're attached to god i pray for the redemption stories the repentance stories the ones that need to have restoration just like ruth god i pray that you'll do that for our people you can make us pure again you can make us whole again you can rewrite our story for those lord who are single maybe they're younger and they're you know getting discouraged i i believe with all of my heart that there are parents out there praying for them they're praying for them to be their kids spouse and mate i believe that and i just pray for them to stand the ground and stay pure and realize they can be like in the world any day but the world can never be like them again i pray for that god for the rest of the people in here today may we just focus upon you i mean we focus upon you and we put that relationship first then you'll bless the rest i believe it today in jesus name and all of god's people said amen come on mountain view put your hands together thank you so much pastor daniel uh for another fire message you know as i'm sitting there you know i live in a household with three women and and it just dawns on me that intentionality is it's a plan with a purpose and the same thing that i tell my daughters don't look for potential look for patterns aren't you glad that you're in a church that you're gonna get the truth no matter what well listen here i just got to tell you this mountain view i hate missing parties and last week i heard you guys had a praise party that was out of this world how many of us were there i also heard that they released a beautiful song they wrote a new song and it's called glory days and i had the opportunity to listen to this song and i was just blown away god is doing something ridiculous and miraculous right here at your church and you get to be a part of it i want to say to you all thank you for being such a generous church now at that point that's where everybody starts touching their wallet or grabbing their purse because you think dr burns gonna ask for something but i'm not i want to tell you that this church is so generous that we don't even have any more blessing bags to give out because in the first two celebrations they were all wiped out now i don't want you to feel bad i want you to know that because of your generosity over 200 people are going to be blessed this week and that's something to give god praise about i want you to know when you do we do and that's how we affect our community but regardless i want you to go out and be the child of god that you're called to be this week i want you to know because of your generosity this community will be affected and impacted in ways that you could never imagine the season of generosity starts in september and we just kicked it off with the blessing bags i pray a special prayer of blessings over you and your family your relationships your finances and your health and i ask god to make this week one of the best weeks of your life god bless you mountain view have a great week

Channel: Mountain View Church

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Length: 79min 0sec (4740 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 13 2021