City Life Church San Diego
Welcome to the City Life Church Podcast, where faith meets action in the heart of Mt. Hope. We are a diverse family of God, united by Jesus, led by Scripture, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are committed to caring for both the spiritual and tangible needs of the lost and hurting. Through inspiring messages and practical lessons, we seek to equip and encourage you to live out God’s calling in everyday life. Join us as we grow in faith, serve our community, and share the hope of the Gospel with the world.
City Life Church San Diego
Romans 15:1-13 Join the Band
What if the greatest evidence for the gospel's power isn't miracles or moral transformation, but the unexpected harmony between people who should hate each other?
Pastor Dale Huntington takes us on a journey through Romans 15, revealing how God's word accomplishes two seemingly impossible tasks: giving diverse believers hope to endure together in harmony and teaching us to welcome everyone just as Christ welcomed us.
The early Roman church faced divisions that make our modern disagreements look trivial. Former temple prostitute worshippers and strict Jewish legalists found themselves as family in Christ. Their backgrounds made unity humanly impossible—yet there they were, struggling to live as one body. Sound familiar? Our churches today bring together people across political divides, socioeconomic barriers, and cultural differences that society insists should keep us apart.
Through musical illustrations and powerful storytelling, Pastor Dale demonstrates how true harmony isn't about erasing differences but about allowing distinct voices to create something more beautiful together. Like a choir singing in multiple languages and parts, the church's testimony becomes most compelling precisely when it unites those with every reason to remain divided.
How can you love someone who looks like your persecutor? How do we maintain harmony with those holding radically different views on controversial issues? The answer isn't found in trying harder but in drinking deeper from God's presence. Just as Jesus regularly withdrew to pray despite constant ministry demands, we must allow God to fill us before we can overflow to others.
As Scripture shapes our hearts and the Spirit fills our lives, we'll discover an unexpected capacity to welcome others as Christ welcomed us. The result is a counter-cultural community that glorifies God by demonstrating that the gospel truly has power to reconcile what nothing else can.
Amen. Well, glad to be with you guys today. I am Pastor Dale Huntington. I love rainy days like this personally, so I hope you're okay with that. I'm not depressed on these kind of days. I'm looking forward to you know, blankets and watching baseball with some hot coffee or something today.
Speaker 1:And so, if you have your Bibles, please go to Romans 15. We have study Bibles available in English, spanish, tagalog and Crayo Asian Crayo so hope you'll take advantage of that. If you don't have a nice Bible, we want you to have a nice Bible that you put your name on. How many of you made it to Romans 15? Awesome, yes, awesome, love seeing it. I just love Bibles, okay, so let's back up just a little bit.
Speaker 1:So last week we talked about how, in Rome, nearly all the meat at the Carnicidia had been sacrificed to Roman idols, right, so some Christians, especially those who had come from the Jewish faith, they felt like they should only eat things like vegetables so that they wouldn't sin against their own conscience. You also had some Christians eating at the same time, arubara and tripa and carnitas and birria, because they knew that statues dedicated to fake gods were, you know, statues. They weren't powerful, but the problem wasn't with what one person was doing or what the other person was doing. The problem was with the idea that they couldn't get along when they had different ideas. They were getting in each other's faces about it, right? And so if someone felt strong in their faith and they didn't eat meat, you know like other people shouldn't be bringing a plate of ribs from bowlegged barbecue to their house, like it was like show compassion to the person who has different opinions than you on things that are not ultimate, right. That was the idea of what we were talking about, and we're going to pick up with that idea in Romans 15. And then we're going to move on. So Romans 15 is just going to like be a little button on what we just talked about, and then we're going to move in on chapter, on verse four, it'll move on to the next kind of subject, but you'll see they're still related. All right, romans 15.
Speaker 1:Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not to please ourselves. Each one of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to build him up, for even Christ did not please himself. To build him up, for even Christ did not please himself. On the contrary, as it is written, the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me Now. Verse four, romans 15, verse four, for whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through encouragement from the scriptures.
Speaker 1:Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement, grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord, jesus Christ with one mind and one voice. Therefore, welcome one another, just as Christ also welcomed you to the glory of God. For I say that Christ became a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises to the fathers and so that Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, therefore, I will praise you among the Gentiles and I will sing praise to your name. Again it says rejoice you, gentiles, with his people. And again praise. It says rejoice you, gentiles, with his people. And again, praise the Lord. All you, gentiles, let all the peoples praise him. And again Isaiah says the root of Jesse will appear, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles. The Gentiles will have hope in him. Now, may the God of all hope. Fill you with all joy and peace, as you believe, so you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy spirit. Friends, would you with all joy and peace, as you believe, so you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy spirit. Friends, would you pray with me?
Speaker 1:Father, we thank you today for teaching us through your word. We thank you that you are, uh, that you chase us down, god. I thank you that you see us in our stubbornness and our wanting to go our own way and you show us love and compassion. Lord, we thank you for your word because we know that there are people all over the world who would give anything to be able to hear directly from your voice right now, god. We know that we have that gift today, so we thank you. Thank you for your word. I ask that you would please guide us this morning, that you would please unify us, that you would please cause your light to shine in the darkness and suffering of our world. May we find more and more undeniable excuses to love each other in our differences. Lord, join us together, lord, as one voice for good, for love, for joy, for peace, for harmony. We love you, Lord, may the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts please you. We pray this all in Jesus' name, and all God's people said amen. So today I'm going to give you two crazy things.
Speaker 1:The word of God does Two crazy things the word of God does, and I'm going to give you this first one. The first crazy thing the word does is it gives us hope so that we may endure and glorify God in our harmony. That's a little long one, I know. It gives us hope so we may endure and glorify God in our harmony. Verse 4 says whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the scriptures. And so the word of God enables, encourages and prepares us to glorify God with one mind, with one voice, is what it says in verse 6. Our Bible calls that harmony.
Speaker 1:But how can harmony be possible? Like truly in this world, like you can just turn on two separate TV channels, you can check two different people's Instagram pages or Facebook pages or TikToks or whatever, and they will be exact opposites. How is harmony possible? Well, I bet you know the answer is with God, when we started this church 10 years ago, I feel like we had dreams that were impossible Like matter of fact. People told us, like, feel like we had dreams that were impossible, like matter of fact. People told us, like, you can't do that. You can't start a church in San Diego and think that you will be able to exist like 10 years from now. They didn't say it exactly that way, but they also said why are you going to a neighborhood that can't support one financially? Cool, well, it's been 10 years, so maybe we didn't need the neighborhood to support us financially, maybe we needed a big God. I feel like we had dreams that were impossible, but we've just seen miracle after miracle after miracle. Now there are certain gangs that have that are not supposed to ever be in the same room and they've been here together worshiping God side by side. That's impossible.
Speaker 1:Some of you, when you tell your friends about our church, um, you'll say how we have people from all different backgrounds, all different walks of life, all different financial situations, and the response that you get is I don't know how that would work. That's the response you get, and I think I kind of just go yeah, me too. But God, and God calls us all believers to the impossible task of harmony. Impossible and not just for, like, short spurts, right, like, like. We are called to endure in harmony for the glory of God. If this church were realistic, um, it wouldn't say much to the world. Would it, though? If this church were realistic, it wouldn't say much to the world. Would it, though? If this church were realistic, it wouldn't say anything to the world. But we've endured for 10 beautiful years, and we'll be celebrating that in June, next month, our 10 year anniversary. I'm excited for that, guys.
Speaker 1:In John 13, 35, jesus asks them how will they know you? And it's how you treat each other. In John 17, 22, jesus says I have given them the glory you have given me so they may be one as we are one. I, being Jesus, am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one that the world may know. You have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. So us being one, us being one voice, us being in harmony this is the way the world will know Jesus.
Speaker 1:Now, if you recall, god had built a church out of people that couldn't normally stand each other. You had pagan Romans who became Christian, right, so these people ate super tasty meals, sacrifice the idols. They once, um, had been going like their religion was going to temple prostitutes. Um, and they left that. They also had satisfied their sexual appetites in all kinds of ways that we would be blushing today, like if we saw an article about it we would blush Also. We'd be mad, um, the way that they treated children.
Speaker 1:These were people who came to church. Now, okay, so you got them in church, right, people would just whiling out. Then you have Jewish people who became Christian. These are the people who rested an entire day and created new extra rules of rest, right, like, how many steps did you take on Saturday? Was it about 200? Man, you're in sin. That's the kind of thing that they were doing. They wore specific outfits. They wore specific hats that everyone had to wear. They didn't shave in the same ways as the Romans, they let their hair grow long and they wore tassels on their robes, and they expected everyone who was religious to do that. They didn't eat bacon or ribs, or cheeseburgers or lobster. These were the people who came into the church with the people who were visiting temple prostitutes. Can you imagine those people in the same church together and suddenly they're the same family, they're the same church.
Speaker 1:Of course conflict was going to happen. Like I mean, you guys understand why we have so many books of the Bible, right? Because Paul was constantly writing letters. Like guys, please stop, what are you doing? Don't sue him. Why are you sleeping with your aunt? You shouldn't do that. Like they were crazy. Paul had to write letters for a reason. It's so funny when people are like man. I don't understand why there's conflict in the church and it's like do you not read the Bible? And all the conflict that's happening there Now.
Speaker 1:We talked about some of this conflict a good bit last week, right, like, we identify with this. Our church is multi-ethnic, multi-socioeconomic, multi-political. We have people who like their music soft and then we have people who like this thing called subwoofers. Right, we have people who love we talked about this a lot, we got some booing last week. We have people who love potato salad with raisins and then we have people who have a taste of sense and smell. Um, uh, a sense of taste and smell. There we go, um. But we have people who have no personal space and then we have people who need extra personal space. We have people who show up early and we have people who show up late. We have people who struggle to stand up for themselves and we have people like me.
Speaker 1:Like me who were taught to speak to the manager every time something's wrong, like I was taught that from a young age I'd be like like in diapers and they'd be like you don't like that, talk to the manager. I was taught that guys, I'm sorry they call you, know people, karen's, and I don't know what I would be a Chad or something. That's just what I was taught. Okay, um, a Kevin, okay, yeah, I mean, it's just what we were taught. You know, um, karen and Kevin. That's funny. Um, but God gives us hope through his word so we might overflow with love and all people might glorify his name, all people. Um, now, most of you know uh, that cause I've said it that my wife and I we lead a Bible study during lunch at Gompers High School and this last week we went through Psalm 119.
Speaker 1:And basically what I had them do is every time, psalm 119, and we just read a tiny portion. If you don't know Psalm 119, it's like one of the longest chapters of the Bible, if not the longest. We went through Samoa 19, and I had the kids pound the desk every time they heard a word that was like your word, your ordinances, your commands, your precepts and your promises, and I just thought it'd be kind of fun if we could do that together. You can't pound a desk, but you could clap with me, so can we put it up? Do we have it, do we not? Okay, okay, oh, it's going to be difficult because it's in all languages. Okay, well, we'll try.
Speaker 1:Psalm 119. Here we go. I call with all my heart. Answer me, lord, I will obey your statutes. Okay, that's okay. I call to you save me and I will keep your decrees. I rise before dawn and cry out for help. I put my hope in your word. I am awake through each watch of the night to meditate on your promise, in keeping with your faithful love. Hear my voice, lord. Give me life in keeping your justice. Oh, you thought so. Oh no. Those who pursue evil plans come near and they are far from your instruction. You are near, lord, and all your commands are true. I can't hit so hard anymore, guys. I'm breaking stuff. Sorry, um, you got to help me out long ago.
Speaker 1:I learned from your decrees that you have established them forever. Consider my affliction and rescue me, for I have not forgotten your instruction. Champion my cause and redeem me. Give me life as you promised. Salvation is far from the wicked because they do not study your statutes. Your, your compassions are many. Lord, give me life according to your judgments. My persecutors and foes are many. I have not turned from your decrees. I have seen the disloyal and feel disgust because they do not keep your word. Consider how I love your precepts, lord. Give me life according to your faithful love.
Speaker 1:The entirety of your word is truth. Each of your righteous judgments endure forever. Princes have person. I'm going to stop there. This is too much. Um, I'm like I'm honey. I need a new phone. I think I broke it, but it continues like this.
Speaker 1:And this entire Psalm 119 is the word of God is so important. Let it never be far from me. You know I love your instruction. I praise you seven times a day for your righteous judgments. It says those who do not listen to your instructions, those are those who sin against you. They do not know your voice, your promises, your instructions.
Speaker 1:Like God's word is important, and what I did is I challenged them this next upcoming week to open their Bibles once a day, week, once a day for a week. And about 15 kids raised their hands and said week to open their Bibles once a day for a week, once a day for a week. And about 15 kids raised their hands and said they would open their Bibles once a day for a week. Now I'm even cool if you open a Bible every day and you don't read it, because I think it's the beginning. So I want to challenge you guys in the same way. I'm not going to make you raise your hands in here, but if you don't read your Bible, my challenge to you is to open your Bible every day. Just open it. Just keep the dust off it. Open it up and then, if you feel like reading it, read it, but just open it every day. Start to make that a part of your routine, because the word of God changes everything.
Speaker 1:The world was created when God spoke it into existence. Like that's crazy, right? Jesus upholds the universe by the word of his power. So you know, you think that, like gravity is holding you together, holding you onto this planet, jesus holds gravity together by the word of his mouth. Gravity together by the word of his mouth. The word matters.
Speaker 1:Jesus spoke to dead people and he said get up. And they did. The word of his power matters. We think the word of God is boring. It's not. You don't think the word of God that brings dead things back to life can tell your cancer to go away. You don't think the word of God that created the mountains can help you to overcome your addiction. You don't think the word of God that made Mount Everest could help you with your job situation, with your immigration status. See, the word of God and the spirit of God are game changers. It said in verse four, for whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the scriptures. See, the word of God has been a constant companion to me ever since I came to know Jesus when I was 16, changed my life, and the word of God is a constant companion in my marriage.
Speaker 1:Did you know I am not married to the woman I originally was married to? Did you know I am not married to the woman I originally was married to? It's the same lady, but she changed. Okay, yeah, weird. She has the same name, she has the same DNA, but she's not the same woman. She's more gorgeous now than ever. I'll tell you that. Okay, sorry, I looked at her and then I was like dang. Sorry, I looked at her and then I was like dang.
Speaker 1:But you know, marriage experts say that the person you marry becomes a totally different person every few years. Totally different person. I'm not the same guy my wife married either. We change and if we're not careful we will be influenced by different people, by different books, by different music. We'll be influenced by friends with bad motives for our marriage and everything else. But if we're both devoted to reading the word of God every day, the Bible daily, our unity with our spouses becomes harmony. Even as you change as a person, you find harmony and it's not always like it's hard, but the Holy spirit is using his word to shape and change you. Friends, it might cut you up, but the spirit fills you with the parts that die. Even as you changed, you have the most important thing in common you have common language, you have common joys, you have a common Lord. You have one voice on the things that matter.
Speaker 1:Now I'm going to invite my wife up and brother Ruben for a minute on the stage and you know I ask you guys this question as they grab their mics what does that sound like to you? One voice with harmony Sounds to me like music, right. Like where do you hear harmony except for music? Where do you hear people together as one voice Music? So we're going to try something real fast and we're going to sing a song for you and he's going to give us the right note, and first we're just going to sing with one voice. Okay, you ready? One, two, three, okay, yeah, I didn't see your mic. One, two, three, oh.
Speaker 1:Praise the name of the Lord, our God. Oh, praise his name forevermore. For endless days, we will sing your praise, oh Lord, oh Lord, our God. Okay, so we're singing it all together. That's nice, one voice, right. But the thing is is when different people from different backgrounds come in with different ideas and and and uh, you know, some of them wear different outfits, some of them think different things, but they're united in the Lord, then you start to have harmony. So we're going to introduce a harmony, one harmony there. That's me, right. Okay, here we go. One, two, three. Oh, praise the name of the Lord, our God. Okay, then you start to have. Praise the name forevermore. For endless days, we will sing your praise, oh Lord, oh Lord, our God. But then, but then you bring in different people from different places. And not only now do you sing in harmony, but you sing in harmony in different languages.
Speaker 1:And there's a reason why our church has chosen to find ways to sing in other languages it's to welcome in other people. Right now, we sing in English and in Spanish. Right now, we pray in English and in Spanish. There may be times when you don't even understand what we're saying. For the sake of harmony, you choose to participate in this church and I promise you, if we do things right, we will be singing in Haitian Creole and we'll be praying in Haitian Creole to make room for our friends. But today we have Spanish, so we're going to do that one more time One, two, three, okay, thanks, guys. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Harmony is beautiful. Harmony is beautiful when we sing from different places. Harmony is beautiful when we come from different places and we come united for the Lord, and that's what happens. Harmony is beautiful when we come and we unite for the Lord and we sing in another language. Harmony is beautiful when Pastor Jordan puts an effect on our voice so it sounds like we're in the shower. Thank you, pastor Jordan. But, guys, this is the beauty of what it's talking about. If you read through this text with music in mind, you will see music written all over it, beautiful, harmonious music.
Speaker 1:When a church and a people take all their voices and they find a harmony, god gets the glory. But the harmony is only possible by the word of God and the spirit of God. See, we can endure together because we have the same word. It might be in different languages, it might be in different styles, but we have the same word. God gives hope through his word, so we might overflow with love and all people might glorify his name. And now the second crazy way the word of God changes things is it helps us welcome everyone, just like Jesus did. And, by the way, remember, when you hear a child cry in this room, pray, blessing on those families. And we always say a crying church ain't a dying church. That's right. Those families are important to us and we want to make sure that they feel welcome. So, verse seven, therefore, remember. Remember, therefore, what it's there for. It's therefore, because the word causes us to be unified, right, because the word causes us to be unified and, in harmony, welcome one another, just as Christ also.
Speaker 1:Welcome you to the glory of god. For I say that christ became a servant of the circumcised on behalf of god's truth, to confirm the promises to the Fathers, so that the gentiles may glorify god for his mercy. Therefore, I will praise you among the gentiles, I will sing praise to your name. Again I say it rejoice you, gentiles, with his people, and again, praise the lord all you gentiles with his people. And again, praise the Lord all you Gentiles. Let all the peoples praise him. And again. Isaiah says the root of Jesse will appear, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles and the Gentiles will hope in him.
Speaker 1:Gentiles is an important word here. You notice that it's repeated over and over again. It just means what? Non-jews? So basically everyone that's not Jewish. The Jews are called the circumcised here. If you want to know more about that, ask one of our other pastors. Now. The Jewish people would have seen themselves as fully superior to non-Jews. You are Gentiles, you are uncircumcised. We are God's chosen people. That's who we are. You belong at our feet. You should serve us. We are the Jewish people. The Savior came from us. The Savior came for us, not you.
Speaker 1:Gentile dogs is a term they would use, but God. God had other plans, didn't he? It's much like the black Hebrew Israelites in our community. I don't know if you've ever met these dudes. They wear purple, they have what are those called Megaphones, and they like to. You know, even if you're like next to them, they're going to megaphone into your face, which is, you know, great, but they believe in a savior who will return one day to crush all Gentiles, to enslave and murder them, whether they belong to Jesus or not. They call us Edomites and they believe that Jesus will crush us Anyone who is non-black, non-native. Can you imagine if one of their leaders had a meeting with God, though, like Paul did? Jesus blinded Paul and he sent him to who? The Gentiles? I love it. God can do that. Still, god is powerful. Maybe one day you'll see one of the black Hebrew Israelites maybe going on their YouTube. Maybe you'll see them chasing after people that they were meant to hate. That is what this church would look like. God can do that, though.
Speaker 1:It's also a bit like the nation of Islam. If you know the nation of Islam, if you talk to anyone from the nation of Islam, what their core belief is is that there was this scientist right, and he was an evil scientist this is what they believe and he took the most evil-looking people that would be pale people and he took the pale people and he put them on an island and he had the mate, and then he had the mate with other pale people till he could get the palest most evil devils um, that that he could get. And then he unleashed them on the world. You know, which is a little? You know I'm a little pale, so it's a little offensive. Um, but that's what they believe. They believe white people were an experiment of a mad scientist on an island who bred evil people and made them into white devils and they became super evil. And so the people of the nation of Islam not only make awesome bean pies, but they also believe the white devil needs to be murdered or subjugated under their feet. That is what they believe.
Speaker 1:And guess what? That's the kind of attitude that Paul had. That's the kind of attitude the Jews had toward Romans, and they were in church together after that. Like God saved those people and put them in church together. That hatred, that scorn for the other, that was the prevailing view of the time. Some Jews at the time were the same way, right Like they thought Jesus, the prophesied Messiah, was coming to do what Crush Romans? Just murder all of them, and so to find Romans who followed the Messiah must have been so jarring for them. Wait, I'm in church with the people who God is supposed to destroy, and how about to the Romans? You're like hey, sorry, I'm here. It's kind of a weird place to be right. Sorry that I look and act, maybe like some people you don't like, um, but I'm here. Like the Roman emperor had subjugated Jewish people. He even kicked them out of Rome for a while, um, and they were all allowed back suddenly, and they came to their church. And they came to the church where, like um, it was now run by people that they hated.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine, though? Can you imagine, like an administration out of nowhere sending notices to hundreds of thousands of people saying your time in this country has expired, it's time for you to get out? Can you imagine that? I think some of you can. I think some of you have gotten letters like that, exactly like that leader.
Speaker 1:How could you get along with that person? God, only God, guys, you are already sitting next to people who have a different opinion than you on Israel? Did you know that you are sitting next to people who have a different view on the Ukraine, on homosexuality, on Donald Trump, on vaccines? They disagree with you on immigration, they don't share your views, views on policing. How can you get along with that person? You can't unless you have God, unless you have his Holy spirit.
Speaker 1:See, god's kingdom is so much bigger than our imagination, bigger than our differences, dr Tony Evans. He says, as wide as we imagine the gap to be between ourselves and our most disliked enemy, paul reminds us that there was never a gap wider than the one between us and God. Ooh, if Christ accepted you when you were weak and ungodly, certainly you can accept others when they differ from you in much less significant ways. Dang, yes, we have differences. Yes, the person next to you might look like the person persecuting you, they might talk like your enemy, they might have an accent like your enemy, but if you belong to Jesus and they belong to Jesus, your family, yes, it's easier to search for people who look, talk and act like you. But but now, now we have the honor of proclaiming jesus together. Now we can sing in harmony together, not just harmony of pitch and language, but harmony of faith, harmony of hope, the harmony only found in prayer, shared at a dinner table. We have that hope as an anchor for our soul.
Speaker 1:The book of Colossians 3, 14 commands us to put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony, and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which, indeed, you were called in one body. But how can you put on love, friends Like? That sounds nice, right, but I'm about to go out that door into the real world. How do you put on love for someone that steals packages steals packages off your porch? How do you put on love for someone who hates you, someone who is constantly mean to you? Guys, the world around us is teaching us to be selfish. Take care of you, take care of your own Like. Tell me how many people have heard this.
Speaker 1:When you're on an airplane, it's good to put on the oxygen mask first before you help other people. Have you heard that? That's a good thing, right, like, we agree, that's good, right. This is what I think our society does, though. When you're on an airplane, in our me first culture, you must put on your oxygen mask first, and you know what? It might be a little drafty. You should put on your light jacket first, also because you know it could get cold. You need to put on some cologne, because if the plane crashes you don't know who's going to rescue you, and then maybe some lotion, because it gets dry in the airplanes and your elbows can get ashy. Do that first, then you can put on their oxygen mask. By that point they're dead.
Speaker 1:But we tend to conflagrate that idea with this. I did that. That was not in my notes. I do not even know how to use that word, forgive me.
Speaker 1:We tend to believe that putting on your neighbor's oxygen mask, but putting on yours first, is putting on everything else first. Before we take care of our neighbor. Oh, I got to take care of me and mine first. Which means our culture says seek ye first your mental health, then all else will be added. Seek ye first the kingdom of your family and then all else will be added. Put your kids in the best school and programs first. Who cares about the other kids? Seek your welfare first.
Speaker 1:You, my friend, deserve the best, in the words of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, don't I deserve the best. You deserve to have everything you dreamed of. That is what the world is telling you Sing your own song, don't sing harmony. Be you, be unique, be special. Don't have anyone make you sing along with the chorus. Uh-uh, do your thing. You don't need community. That's what Netflix is for. You don't need to sing in a choir because you're unique and special. Clap along if you feel like your happiness is the truth.
Speaker 1:Oh, I was going to sing it. I didn't, but that's not the truth, is it? It's not the truth. The truth is that Jesus deserved to let us die because we were his enemies. He lived a perfect life for us and we hated him for it. The truth is that Jesus laid down his life, the ultimate sacrifice for us, his enemies, so that we might extend the same love to people around us, even our enemies.
Speaker 1:Right, the hope that comes from the gospel is something we never deserved, friends. We did not deserve to have this hope, but Jesus died on the cross because he loved his enemies. Jesus rose again to show that he had defeated sin and death, and he made a way to bring us into his family. This is what Jesus did, and if it's not powerful enough to save our relationships with people who are different from us, then how was it powerful enough to conquer death? How was it powerful enough to conquer sin? How was it powerful enough to conquer judgment? We deserved Guys. If God cannot work in our hearts to people who are different than us, then it must not be that powerful.
Speaker 1:But once you've received the gospel of Jesus, you can't hold it in, and it is powerful and his spirit works in you. You can't help it. You can't help but sing, because it just spills out of you, doesn't it? Sometimes people have to ask me to stop sharing the gospel. I just feel like I'm going to burst. I'm full of joy. I end up talking about it a good bit and I don't care if I'm in another country, I don't care if it's a Spanish speaking country. If I can share the gospel with you, I want to, because it is my only hope.
Speaker 1:Look at verse 13, where it says that Christian hope should overflow. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, as you believe, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now too often, we care for people in our own power, but this is out of the overflow of hope. Like you may have heard the earlier part of the sermon about caring for people and you think you need to punish yourself more because you don't care for people enough. You need to shame yourself more because you don't do enough for not caring for your neighbor enough. But, guys, it's okay. We wouldn't have needed Jesus to die for us If we could be the savior. We would not have needed Jesus to die for us If we could be everyone else's savior. When you can't do it all on your own, it means you're human. It also means you need God to pour into you so you can pour into other people's hearts. You can't overflow to other people if you're not drinking deeply already from the love and grace of God.
Speaker 1:In the 23rd Psalm, king David says you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. See, david was a dude who knew his enemies well, right Like um. If you look at the book of Samuel in the Bible, you will see that David was constantly attacked by a King only for serving his King. David chose kindness again and again and wouldn't raise a weapon against King Saul. Instead, he constantly overflowed with love, even for those who wanted to take his life. But David spent a lot of time with the Lord, didn't he? The only way he could do the great things he did was to spend time with God. Now, how about Jesus? He's the better David. He's the king that sits on David's throne forever. The better version. Jesus was constantly healing people. Jesus was constantly standing up to haters, which I don't know about you, but that's draining for me. Jesus was constantly having to correct his students for making idiot moves. How did he not lose his freaking mind? Well, let me tell you Matthew 14, 23,.
Speaker 1:After dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Well, into the night he was there alone. Oh, he engaged with God. Matthew 26, 36. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and he told the disciples sit here while I go over there and pray Time with God. Mark 1, 35. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up, went out and made his way to a deserted place, and there he was praying. Mark 6, 46. After he said goodbye to them and there he was praying.
Speaker 1:Luke 5.16. Luke 6.12. We cannot pour out into others if God is not pouring into us. We have to receive. How could Jesus do? All the things he did? He spent time with God. He spent countless amounts of time in the presence of the Father. He constantly studied the word. God bless you. He sang songs, ate meals and was in the temple with his disciples. See, god gives us hope through his word and his spirit, so that we might overflow with love and all people might glorify his name. Friends, you cannot pour into others unless you're being poured into. If Jesus needed it, you better believe that you need it.
Speaker 1:We don't do Sunday services and city group because it's a dumb rule that we have to follow. We don't spend so much time together because God even commands it. We do it because we need it. We need Christian community like we need food. You need the word of God in your life like you need water, because you can't know the voice of God without first studying his word, his precepts, his law. If somebody just saw that out of context, they'd be like man, that dude's crazy.
Speaker 1:But when we drink deeply of the word of God and we spend time in worship with people who encourage us, when we pray and seek the Lord's face, we overflow to the people around us. We overflow to friends, but also enemies. We overflow in unity, we overflow in harmony. We overflow and we can sing with one voice, in perfect harmony. We overflow to difficult people and we don't have to empty ourselves to do it. God is filling us and we can join as one voice and we can harmonize. So, city, life, church and guests. God gives us hope through his word and he gives us power through his Holy spirit, so we might overflow with love and all people might glorify his name.
Speaker 1:Would you pray with me, overflow with love and all people might glorify his name. Would you pray with me, father? We, um, we're guilty of like, taking care of ourselves too much, sometimes, um, to the point that, uh, everything is putting on our mask, and then some of us in the room, we're guilty of pouring ourselves out for everyone and forgetting about the mask that we need from you, father, would you help us to understand balance? But also, would you make us completely unrealistic people? Would you make us people who understand that, by your goodness, we can do things that we should not be able to do?
Speaker 1:And, god, we know that it's more difficult when we have sin hanging over our heads, and so, in this moment of silence and in our hearts, we confess our sins to you.
Speaker 1:Thank you, jesus. I know some of us got lists longer than we had time and, god, I pray that you would continue to accept our confessions. But, lord, we come before you as a broken people in need of your salvation, in need of your forgiveness, in need of your grace and, lord, we're not even good at giving that grace to anyone else. We ask that you would help us, that we would receive your grace and that we would pour it out to others, and that we would pour it out to others. God, we thank you that as far as the East is from the West, so our sin is from your sight. That when you look upon us, you see the righteousness of your son, jesus. Lord, we love you and we are grateful for you, for your compassion, for your love, for your forgiveness. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Can we give a hand clap for that amazing sermon and for the harmony of the gospel that we have? Well, praise God.