And say really okay let’s fight but you see the problem is we think that when we make the decision and turn around to fighting we think that the devil is more powerful than we are and so the first instance of opposition we turn around and we start going back in the wrong
Direction no fight turn to your neighbor and say fight fight say fight fight say fight fight say fight ah fight fight the good fight of it don’t accept the report I don’t know this is not my message but I am flowing in the spirit it’s for somebody here I
Know somebody’s pulling it out on me I say fight they may have diagnosed you they may have said this they may have said that that’s their own report listen even if you have to stumble turn head in the same direction as the enemy yeah turn around and if you crawling
Crawl but rest assured that he’s going to lift you up it’s going to lift you up don’t give up I don’t know who I’m talking to you you made a decision God I’m going to serve you 2024 and God we are going to do this thing I am going to follow you
And the moment you made that decision all hell broke loose sickness pain kids what’s going on ah what’s going on is that you’re in a fight and what’s going on is that you decided to go against the enemy and he doesn’t like it so what you
Need to do is kick him out because he’s a toothless Bulldog the Bible says he’s rolling roaming around he’s roing around like a like not he’s not a roaring lion he’s moving around like he’s a Master of Disguise he’s just moving around like one he’s not the roaring lion
He’s a toothless Bulldog he has no teeth he can only back he can’t bite you guys need to know the enemy you are fighting he has no power all he works is with deception and he will try to deceive you try to what he tries to do is separate you from your
Crew separate you from your crowd from the main people that you are meant to be with and then he starts injecting thoughts into your mind and before you know it you’re isolated and when you isolated that’s and he strikes but that’s not your portion in Jesus name
This is your year of the Lord’s favor say this is my year of the Lord’s favor I receive the favor of God reive I receive the blessing of godive I receive the peace of God hallelujah so last month we talked about beholding Jesus seeing him right like
When we see him you know the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 and we are with open faces beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord you say we are changed into his likeness moving from one degree of Glory to another I love that
Scripture the more you see him the more you become like him amen the more you see him the more you experience the favor of God the more you see him the more you appropriate the blessing that he carries so the thing is our eyes must
Be open the Bible says if your eye be single your entire body will be full of light so there’s something about singleness of the eyee that is why the Bible says looking unto Jesus the author and perfector of of of our faith right the one that started it and the one that
Finishes it the very first message I preached as age 16 I remember the title I call it linear Christianity I just finished reading physics so you know I had linear Christian linear Christianity linear that means your eyes must be on him you can’t look to the left or to the
Right you got to be linear you got to be focused on him and I’m telling you that is the way you enjoy the favor of God and the challenge is to keep your eyes on him no matter what the devil is doing no matter what the politics is saying no
Matter what the news is saying the challenge is to keep your eyes focused on him and so we talked about that and Pastor Lum wrapped that up very nicely last week so this month we’re talking about belonging in Jesus everybody say belonging belonging in Jesus Jesus and
So I’ll be I’ll be I’ll be going into that this month so to belong means to be a member or part of a particular group organization or class it means to fit into a particular place or thing so if if I if I say I belong somewhere that
Means I fit into that place that means I’m member of that place right that means to belong it means to be rightly placed so I can’t say I belong somewhere if I don’t feel I am rightly placed there I have to be rightly placed in that specific position it means to be rightly
Classified or assigned to a specific category I’ll take it again to belong means to be a member of something a part of something could be a group could be an organization it could be a class it means to fit into a particular place you know some of us don’t belong in our
Clothes because we don’t fit in our clothes right when we wear the clothes is it’s uncomfortable because we don’t feel the fit that it doesn’t the clothes don’t belong to you you don’t belong to the clothes when you are in a space maybe a job and you don’t feel like you fit in
The job then you won’t feel you belong there are you following me somebody so the opposite of not belonging is to feel out of place so anytime you feel out of place that means you don’t belong anytime if you in a place if you are in a space if you are doing something
Anytime you just feel out of place whether you’re in a family setting maybe you go to a party and you just feel ah I don’t feel like I’m I’m supposed to be here that means you are experiencing a sense of not belonging are you following
Me it means the opposite of not of not belonging means to be a stranger in a space how many of you feel like you’re strangers in some places I remember when I first moved to America oh yeah I felt like a stranger here I remember when I
First moved to Madrid Spain oh boy I felt like a stranger because I could not speak a leak of Spanish and I got there boom I forgotten in August of 1997 boom I arrived in the Madrid Airport and we got into the cab my dad and I and then
The guy we gave the person the address of the hotel we were going to my dad could not speak Spanish he could speak Italian so he was speaking broken Italian to a man that was speaking Spanish back to him and only God knows what was happening there so we started
Driving D in and I was looking at the meter of the in the in the taxi cab and it was going 5,000 6,000 7,000 and I was holding my dad I’m like thousand I didn’t know the it was it wasn’t Euros then sorry I’m dating myself it was petas they were using
Petas then 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 and we were it kept on going so they the the taxi driver went you know the hotel was there he drove around the hotel so that he could run the meter because he knew we did not fit in We Were Strangers and
I tell you the moment anytime you feel like you’re a stranger somewhere you stand the risk of being at a disadvantage because people can take advantage of you I’m telling you the truth you will not feel maximized when the guy finally dropped us I think it was almost like 30,000
40,000 P my dad had to pay him I didn’t realize this until afterwards after settled down a month and I was talking to some friends and I was telling them my story of how it cost me 40,000 per to go from the from the airport to the
Hotel in downtown magist and they say boy what you that’s like a 5,000 5,000 Peta or 10,000 Peta trip you could have even taken the Metra for 1,000 petas and you be in your hotel well I was a stranger turn to your neighbor and say don’t be a
Stranger yeah yeah we we start off being like strangers but you see don’t end up being a stranger because you see you could lose that’s why my heart goes out to strangers because they feel like they out of what place out of place they don’t fit
In so think about how this will make you feel if you feel constantly out of place think about maybe you’re on a job that you feel out of place how is that making you feel think about for a second can you guys relate can you relate with that
Think of moments where you needed to belong where your need to belong was so high but your feeling of belonging was so low you wanted to belong so much but you felt you feel I don’t feel like I belong think about that for a second that thing causes anxiety causes depression causes
Stress especially when you cannot you feel you do not belong Hallelujah this is so important mlo law have you guys heard of mos hierarchy of needs you’ve heard of that MOS hierarchy of needs the third one there after all the physiological needs is the need to belong everybody wants to belong it’s
Part of our fundamental needs even though people’s need to belong levels vary there are some people just by Nature they just like to be by themselves you know let’s not let’s not forget about those people but even then those people still need to belong Hallelujah there’s a need to
Belong so Marlo was saying that there’s a need for human and emotional connection there’s a need for interpersonal relationships there’s a need for affiliation there’s a need for connectedness that is why a lot of people join gangs mm because it’s a need to belong have you heard of lra the mafioso that
Is why it was a need for belonging that these people now say you know what let’s just connect because they were they had what is called the black hands you go black and I don’t like that name but that’s the what they call it those are people that would come into your store
And extort money from you and they would extort the money and you had to pay them so and they were extorting money from people that belong to their own tribe their own fellow Italians so those guys now came together and said let’s go talk to some people back in the old country
And tell them that these people are are extorting money from us and they said well you know what if you want protection again I’m not trying to justify it I’m just giving the psychological basis for it if you want protection then you need to you need to submit your store to this Mafia
Group and so that is how this mafioso thing started so they got people from the old country they came here and they started the their own crew to fight against the other people that were extorted but guess what you see anything that is built on force and violence can never maintain his good
Intentions can never so those ones became entities on their own and so if you were of that background you wanted to dress sharp drive nice cars and look good with girls and you wanted to have money in your pocket while all the wise stealing and extorting from people and doing prostit
Ution you simply join that gang and that’s what’s even happening today like I said we’re fighting a spiritual battle that is the spirit the superintendent spirit that rules in Chicago is a gang spirit and that gang Spirit comes when he senses that there’s a need for belonging
Somewhere and it was created by so many factors like absentee fathers in the home so many drugs in the society So Many Factors contributed to it intentional some intentional things done by government to withhold people the enemy now used all of that coupled with the major one a sense for belonging and
They came in there and then boom so the people who didn’t join gangs they joined other things they joined Cults they joined fraternities I’m not here to to point fingers at any of those things but I’m saying that there’s a need for belonging belonging and if that
Need for belonging is not satisfied the right way it will be satisfied the wrong way Hallelujah are you following me Psalm 102:13 says something but it says you will arise and have compassion on Zion for it is time to show favor to her see there’s a group there is a place where
We are all supposed to fit in and that place is Zion Hallelujah Zion is an example of the church Zion is an example of the church and he says it is time to show our favor the only group where the favor of God flows consistently is the church
Hallelujah the church the church 1 Timothy chapter 3:15 it says so that I I so that if I am delay this is Paul talking to Timothy you will know how people must condemn themselves in the household of God the household of God they so so there’s a place called the
Household of God what is the household of God he says this is the Church of the Living God which is the pillar and Foundation of Truth the household of God the church is the pillar is the foundation of Truth to those people who say Well church is no
Longer relevant to those people who say you know what I’m just going to sit in my house and do my own thing the scripture is telling you here that you will not find trth anywhere else but in the church you will not find it in the
Fraternity you will not find it in a club you will not find it in gangs you will not find it in any other group but the church and everyone is looking for the truth especially now where there’s all kinds of lies on inter in social media people are perpetrating lies and
People can smell a lie from A Million Miles Away they can tell you if you are fake or if you’re true but the reality is that because they have no alternative they have to buy into the lie but I’m here to announce to you somebody that the church is the foundation and the
Pillar of Truth yeah Hallelujah Hallelujah so there’s a favored body on the earth it is the church the body of Christ Christ is the Lord’s the church is the Lord’s beloved she is already blessed and highly favored because Jesus they had his bless you see we don’t serve a
Decapitated God somebody says and I always say it oh oh I I I I can I can deal with Christ it’s just the people I can’t deal with you know I can I can deal with Christ I mean Christ I mean Christ was just so perfect and nice but
These people called Christians or Believers I can’t stand them we don’t serve a decapitated God if you deal with the head you got to deal with the body you have to deal with the body you have to connect with the body you can’t say I don’t want to connect I don’t want
To go to church anymore I don’t want to do this thing anymore because you know the people they are messy and people they talk about money and the pastors they all dress some kind of way and they do this and they do that listen do that
At your own perod we read there that the Pillar of Truth is the church amen what do you want do you want lies okay go for lies then hallelujah go for lies then no the place to be is the church Hallelujah is the church is the favorite place is
The favorite place so this month we exploring and rejoicing in our belonging in Christ and his favored body we will learn how to receive and share God’s favor with everybody with our families friends and environments in a healthy and godly way Hallelujah so this week I want to talk
About so that was my introduction was that a good introduction should I was it short or was it I it’s long teach thank you praise God yeah I’ll be teaching a lot this month teaching a lot teaching is good um I’m going to be talking about a case for
Belonging a case for belonging in Jesus a case I want to build a case today for belonging and our foundational text is acts 2: 46-47 and we will be examining the details of that throughout this month so but before we build the case I want to talk about about some foundational
Points first point is that God called us to belong and not just behold God called us to belong and not just behold so we beheld the Lord in January so it’s one thing for you to see Jesus it’s another thing for you to feel like you belong to
Him uhhuh it’s one thing to see him and see all these acts and all the things he’s doing through people and everything it’s another thing to really feel like you belong um something happened to me recently I won’t go into the details but I’ll tell you that I thought in my mind
That I belonged I thought in my mind the last two weeks three weeks of this fasting thing we’re doing that I was cool with what I was doing with God this is me this is me I’m not talking about you I’m talking about me I thought I was cool and the
Lord um visited me in a way I have never experienced in all my walk with him I literally I didn’t see his his face or any of that stuff but I felt him walk into that bathroom I felt him him and he came on me with Force like I’d never experienced
Before and with a seriousness that I’ve never experienced before afterwards I was reminded of scripture that says his throne is comprised of righteousness and Justice so he wasn’t playing around and he came to me and told me boom son I have this against you I thought I I thought I was cool
Uhuh you see what fasting will do in your life when you fast and consecrate yourself all the junk that you’ve not that you’ve become so used to that you’ve become so that you you don’t pay attention to things that you’ve you have that are wrong that you’ve accepted in
Your life they start to come to the surface and God will begin to pluck them one by one if you allow him and so he mentioned four areas that I needed to change and I just fell on my floor on the bathroom floor and I was weeping and begging and crying I have
Never seen that side of God before and I pray that none of you experience the Judgment of God I pray no I’m telling you so whatever you need to get right get it right this is no joke what we’re doing this is no joke serving God is not a joke being a part
Of the church is not a joke and I’m not trying to scare anybody here trust me I am not trying to do it I’m just trying to show you how serious this thing we are doing is it is serious belonging is serious and the
Worst place you can ever be is to have a false sense of security and a false sense of belonging you need to know you belong you need to know that you are plugged in you need to be as assured that you are there you need to not
Assume you need to be sure God told me God showed me where I was and I cried I begged I cried I begged for mercy God have mercy please these are things that it’s not these are things I know I’m not going to go into
The details I know I I knew I had no defense other than have mercy Lord so God has called us to belong not just behold you can be beholden and enjoying yourself but you need to know you belong you need to know you belong Ephesians chapter 1:5 says God
Decided in in advance to adopt Us in into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ this is what he wanted to do and it gives him pleasure to do it see God adopted you it was his pleasure to bring you into his
Fold it was not you that initiated it God initiated it so why then should we not take his initiation seriously then God initiated it he decided in advance to adop adopt you he decided in advance to adopt me into his family in Jesus Christ it was his pleasure to do it
Hallelujah yeah it was his pleasure to it let me give you one more Ephesians 2:19 so now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners you are citizens along with all of God’s people you are members of God’s family and you see the reason why God was able to come
At me strong like that was because he knew I I was a member of his family and just like I would discipline my son for running around or doing whatever it is he had the right to discipline me at that particular time are you following me somebody
Sir so you have to see that you belong to his family you are not you don’t belong to yourself that was the the the underlining purpose of that visitation for me omo you don’t belong to yourself you don’t own yourself why are you doing this I’ve
Told you not to do this you are my son why are you doing this do you think I’m happy when you go through this this is self-inflicted wound self-inflicted wound you are the one doing it to yourself you’re member of the family the people God does not the people that God
Does not even spend a lot of time except by virtue of his Mercy are people that are not in his household if you feel like God is coming at you strong that’s because you belong in his household and there’s a way you ought to behave in his
Household I’m sorry I’m coming a little bit strong today but guys I’m just said so Point number one God wants you to belong and not just behold second Point our belief in Jesus gets us into that family we are part of this family already our belief in Jesus gu us Galatians 3:26
Says for ye are all children of God through faith in Jesus Christ 1 Peter chapter 1:3 says all honor to God the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ it says for it is his boundless Mercy that has given us the privilege of being
Born again so that we are now members of his own family now we live in the hope of eternal life because Christ rose again from the dead these scriptures must be enshrined in your mind you are a child of God by virtue of your faith not
By virtue of your works it is by virtue of your faith so if you are here and you’ve ever asked him into your heart then you are already part of his family and if you are part of his family he has a right to
Call you to order he has a right to ask you to do things he has a right to tell you what I’m telling you now plug into that family get close within that family get involved with what is happening in the family don’t be looking outside for
Other families stay in this family you see there are mafioso families The Gambino family the um whatever the other families are out there right there are different family names but there is one family in heaven that is the biggest family and it has the boss of all the
Bosses and that person is God hallelujah and the Bible says we belong to that family Hallelujah no gang can break this family no power can break this family no crew can break this family this is a family that is strong this is a family that is powerful this is a family that is
Wealthy you are in the right family and let me tell you something this family is more important than any group it’s more even it’s even more important than your physical biological families because guess what this family is eternal the human families especially when it comes to marriage when people
Die that that contract is dissolved that’s why they came to Jesus and said if a man marries seven times a woman marries seven and he dies who will he married Jus CHR you don’t understand this thing there’s no marriage in heaven there’s no marriage in heaven this this
Doesn’t work like those those rules don’t apply over there but a rule that will apply over there is the fact that Lorenzo and I because we are children of God we belong to the same family and Lorenzo you’re stuck with me right right we St no matter what we’re stuck
Together so we either figure out how to walk together because even in eternity we’re still going to see are we going to keep a grudge in heaven you’re going to fight that person in heaven huh you’re going to throw stones when you see the person come to ah Angel Gabriel this
Person wrong me now they’ll just park you somewhere and just say you know what you need to grow it can’t happen like that so deal with it now don’t let anything stop you you from making that connection here in the family and if you a leader you have to
See that look you cannot do this work by yourself you have to build people to come in within that family to walk this thing out Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah the third Point our need to belong in Jesus and our sense of belonging so there are two things
There’s the need to belong and then there’s your sense of belonging so the need to belong is like okay I need to belong I need this your desire to connect but your sense of belonging is the way you feel at the time when you are in that space are you following me
So I can have a strong need to belong somewhere but then when I’m in that space I feel I don’t feel like I belong or I can have a strong need to belong but I can also still have a strong sense of belonging like yes these people like
Me I’m connected here so those two are different your need to belong and your sense of belonging in Christ is determined by the quality and the quantity of the closeness of the relationship that you have with Jesus Christ and with other people that is a mouthful but let me explain your need to
Belong and your sense of belonging only gets better the more the quality of your relationship with Christ and other people get better so the the way I know if your relationship with God is cool is by looking at how you connect with the next person it’s a simple Li most test
Anytime I see someone withdrawing any time I see someone not wanting to join a small group anytime I see someone say you know what I just want to do my own thing ask for a no more or no more me myself and I my cat and my dog alone anytime I see somebody
Saying to themselves like I don’t want to connect with these people I don’t know how they look what they do da D D D D D D that it tells me that their quality of the relationship that they have with Christ is very low very low because the moment you
Start getting close to God and getting close to Jesus and being intentional in your relationship with Jesus you will start looking for people to connect with I want talk to people here who say they are shy let me tell you something H you shy really are you shy are you shy
Or are you selfish which one pick the two are you shy or selfish pick the two because you see let me tell you something in this family we have feelings let’s not get it twisted we’ve got feelings we’ve got natural inclinations right but in this family there are rules that supersede
The natural rules of men this is the kingdom family and so there are different rules that apply in this Kingdom what applies on Earth does not necessarily apply here so we may come in with our idiosyncrasies into this family we may come in with some limitations in
This family but that does not mean we have to live by them Christ said Paul said he said I I have been crucified Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ it says if anyone be in Christ is a new we have to get back to
Our understanding of what it means to be in Christ cuz if you are not in Christ you’ll be in crisis and so you need to know what it means to be in Christ when you are in Christ that means you are your life your old man is crucified it’s
Crucified it says it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and I’m telling you if Christ lives in you he will push you to people yes he will push you to help people even when it’s not convenient he will push you to love people even when it’s not
Convenient he will push you to connect in groups even when it’s not convenient he will keep pushing you he’ll keep pushing you he’ll keep pushing you to talk to people you may feel like you are shy you may feel like you don’t know what to do you may feel like you don’t
Know what to say but listen if Christ lives in you you will have to connect with people hallelujah you have to connect with people you see you’re already connecting with people the question is are you connecting with the right people hallelujah John chapter 13:35 says by
This shall men know that you are my disciples if you love one another this is the proof you can’t say you are in Christ and then you don’t want to connect with your fellow believer it’s not possible I don’t like him you don’t you have to like him you have
To I don’t like her well you have to deal with it you have to figure it out you have to pray you have to bite your tongue you have to do whatever you need to do to make yourself comfortable it’s all well and good as long as you end up loving the
Person I don’t know what’s going on I wanted to be so cool today you know first time back but I’m like God will push you man you want to sit down and enjoy your listen in this King Kingdom everything you have guess what news flag is not your
Own belongs to God that car you have you’re driving you’re enjoying not your own I’m sorry to say I tell my kids all the time I say you see this house it’s not our house cars not our cars if God tells me to give one away we’ll do it
Gladly we’ll do it because it does not come from us it didn’t come from us it never came from us I say I tell them I said you need to understand that this privilege you have here it came from God not me you think it’s because of my schooling come on
There are people who have degrees and they heading knowwhere in a hurry people can’t find jobs they have degrees they have everything they cannot find the job it’s not that is the favor of God anything you have obtained in life is the favor of God it is not your
Own so why don’t you want to share why don’t you want to share I talk to your neighbor say why don’t you want to share you have to share and a small group is the place to share H connecting with your brothers and sisters that is where that is where we have to
Share all right I’ve not built my case yet oh God okay what’s the case let me just give you two and then I’ll go to the end I’ll read I’ll read something I’ll continue next week a case to belong number one one it is not good to be alone am that’s
A simple case it is not good to be alone yes there are moments where you can’t Jesus Christ was alone momentarily he we found times to pray there are moments where you need to be alone to focus but not meant to be alone perpetually God said in Genesis 2:18 it
Is not good that man should be all one I wish I had time to go into what that means it’s so deep it’s not good Ecclesiastes 4:9 9-12 says two are better than one because they have a good return for their lab let me tell some business people here you better go find
A good partner or is that business ain’t going nowhere I’m telling you I am telling you two are better than one that was for somebody I gave it to you free of charge have you have you heard the story of Starbucks the story of Starbucks the guy Schwarz right he owned Starbucks he
About here listen to his story you you would think this man had the money before he started this Starbucks he had Jack he had nothing so he had this idea that he wanted to buy you know bring this you know Starbucks coffee thing to the market all right told some people some
Other guy that had money heard about this guy’s proposal and jumped into the market and said I am going to be the one to buy because that person had money so this shorts guy complained to a friend who was a partner in a law firm who was
A a a lawyer and said look my idea is being stolen somebody with money now is coming to take this whole idea and buy it from me that guy that he told the lawyer said come let me talk to some you need to talk to one of my partners in my
Love firm let let that person talk let let just tell the person your story so they went to talk to the partner who’s the partner guess who the partner is no no Bill Gates dad ah you know he’s a lawyer right Bill Gates father was the partner in that place so
They told the billg that because the old man those old people they trying to take your your your idea they’re trying to steal your idea let’s go to the man’s office do you know that bill Gaz D walked this young man’s SW to the office
Of the person that was trying to buy him out directly bust through the door I’m assuming right you know you know as pastors we got to embellish the story a little bit I’m not lying I’m just making it so that people don’t sleep okay so just boom and then
They’re like what he said are you trying to cheat this young man get out of the deal let this man make his money that was how Starbucks started telling you partnership you need to know who you are connecting with they suffering suffering suffering suffering suffering and maybe the part
You need is in the church sitting here you’re sitting right here your partner is here and because you have a wrong mindset of what this church thing is you undermine the value of what this thing is you’re outside looking for people when you should be looking inside and maximizing your connections
With the people here two are better than one it is not good to be alone I’m telling you figure it out there are many people here different backgrounds we speak differently we have different accents and that’s the beauty of this membership that’s the beauty of this family it’s a diverse family let’s
Figure it out figure it out we are all brothers and sisters here you think there’ll be Accents in heaven do you think there will be Accents in heaven maybe they’ll be accent but we won’t understand each other and if we understand each other over there we better start understanding each other here
Acts chapter 2 I’ll continue next week with the other thing just take this thing it is not good to be alone what’s your action action item for this week fight not to be alone this week connect with somebody you don’t know in the church somebody you don’t know go and
Introduce yourself to them tell them I want to connect with you I want to get to know you what what what is about what is it about you that makes you tick I want to be your friend F don’t come to me nobody should come to me you all know
Me go and talk to somebody you don’t know somebody you’ve never talked to and then also commit to join a small group I’ll continue next week let’s pray Hallelujah let’s pray father in the name of Jesus I want you to we just thank you Lord for this word father we bless your
Name can you individually talk to God in what ways have you been alone in what ways have you been maybe you’ve been working on a project alone and you’ve not involved God you’ve not involved you know people you’ve not connected you see there are people that God wants you to
Connect with say God show me those people help me to connect Lord I know your word says it is not good for a man or a person to be alone two people are better than one Lord reveal the Partnerships help me to break the mold help me to break the
Barriers the discomfort of connecting Lord break it break it in the name of Jesus break that discomfort Lord let there be a warmth a flow of grace even in this house in the name of Jesus father we just give you praise we exalt your name we bless your name Hallelujah
I just feel L to call Pastor tosy please can you come and pray for us Pastor toin just pray concerning this and then we’ll take we’ll take the communion shall we pray the Bible says that the steps of a good man they are ordered by God as
Pastoras just said now as you go in this week I ask by the grace of God that your steps are ordered to the right set of people for your network to be strong in the name of Jesus Lord under this open heaven we ask today that you will grace
Us oh God as we have this strong sense of belonging relating and understanding each other other here now in the name of Jesus so shall it be that we become a formidable team a strong group in the name of Jesus that our cord is so strong
That it cannot be broken by anything by no man in the name of Jesus that this family oh God become great and become stronger in the name of Jesus moving things forward in this land and Beyond in the name of Jesus thank you Father Jesus prayed a prayer for his
Disciples they said Lord help them they are in this world but not of this world and Lord I pray oh God that we will function under that Grace in the name of Jesus thank you father in Jesus name we pray amen thank you Pastor can we have the
Communion we we usually do the communion take the communion every first Sunday of the month the communion signifies this Union that we have with Christ and this bond that we have with one another and if there’s anybody here that has not yet received Jesus as your lord and savior remember
To be connected into this family you have to uh be born again you have to be a new creature in its new space so you can just simply pray please can we have one house please we want to just focus on what we’re doing now we are Hallelujah about to take the communion
On the night that Jesus was crucified he took bread and he says this is my body that was broken he says eat this body eat this bread in remembrance of me see on the cross his body was broken for our sake so I believe that as
We partake of this anyone that is sick here you will experience God’s Divine Healing in the mighty name of Jesus this and then he took the cup he said this is my blood you see the blood of Jesus Christ Mery you see when God came to me that
Day that strong that day I I was just crying the blood of Jesus I say God I come under your blood I come under your blood the blood of Jesus does not cry judgment the blood of Jesus Christ Mercy the blood of Jesus is not like the blood
Of evil the blood of of Abel was crying Vengeance but the blood of Jesus Was Cry Mercy Lord have mercy upon your children have mercy oh God forgive our indiscretions forgive our weaknesses forgive oh God those those things that we may have done and said oh God Almighty that does not glorify you
Forgive us oh God forgive us oh God so Lord we partake of this your body and your blood today and we seal it in the name of the father in the name of the son and in the name of the Holy Spirit we decree your healing power over
Everyone here that is sick we decree oh God transformation over anyone that is going through trauma we decree oh God the release of favor over all our finances over everything that we do in the mighty name of Jesus we partake of this now in Jesus name amen let’s Partake amen hallelujah praise God so I call on the pastor to take the offering let’s together up for pastor peace Hallelujah that was a powerful word do y’all agree do we agree so you know I just want to you know as Pastor omo was was teaching and
Preaching and you know you can just see the anointing on Pastor omo like seriously it’s another level so we thank God and you know I just thought about my journey you know when I first came to City Light and just that seeking you know the seeking of of my relationship with God
Seeking an understanding of you know the church seeking an understand understanding of you know why I was created and how go and how through that literally I think before I would say I was a shy person for sure you know I was a shy person didn’t
Want to interact I was you know lot in my head and you know I called myself a social scientist I was always observing you know but through that that seeking and through that you know building my relationship with God and um even you know being a part of city like
Out and just building you know in my faith God has truly opened me up to to be able to relate with people I wouldn’t say I’m 100% but I’m being challenged you know I’m being challenged to to do more I’m being challenged to you know have date nights with some friends
You know cuz I can get into work and stick in work all day but I’m being challenged and so I want to challenge us is just as um Pastor El has challenged us to you know really put ourselves out there you know really take that time to um develop relationships with each other
You know when we have events it’s really not and to me that’s that’s the best time and when we have these events because it’s so for me it’s like I’m forced to you know I mean interact I’m forced to you know you never know who God is going to connect you with because
It’s not really oh you have to connect with everybody God does actually lead you into certain relationships but you also have to put yourself out there yeah you have to put yourself out there so for me anytime I can fellowship or go to certain things that we’re doing that’s
An opportunity to fellowship and it’s also opportunity to connect with somebody some way somehow cuz sometimes people are extroverts and they’ll come up to you and then from there you’re developing relationships and those who are introverts you know you kind of shy away I understand that so please please
Please let this be a month that we are truly challenging ourselves to belong not only with each other but definitely we cannot do that without deepening our relationship with Christ that is a first so amen that so we’re going to do our tithes and offering um you know I always like this
Song give and it will come back to you press down shaking together running over give and it will come back to you when we give give to the Lord and I don’t just say that as you know cliche right it really actually is scripture from Luke 638 and
Also even when I think about giving right we want to even challenge ourselves when it comes to giving we have to understand we have to seek and I say that to myself because that’s what I had to do you have to seek and understand the principles of God the
Principles of giving this is not something that we just come on the stage and say oh give and I know maybe some people you’ve come from different places or you heard oh they just want to get money things like that no we are a church and we are a people who are
Actually seeking God and wanting to know who he is for ourselves because when we do that and we come together that’s where our power and our Authority comes in so we want to everyone to see God and understand the principles of giving because truly when you give it’s going
To come back to you and there’s so many other principles just around tithing and giving that you want to understand because there is TR truly some blessings when it comes to giving and so let’s prepare our tithes and offerings earlier anyone here for the first time
Okay so those who have been here two three times those who are members um you know again when we talk about tithing right it’s just 10% this is biblical and it’s really just giving to God it’s not don’t even think about it right it’s just you’re giving to God you’re giving
Him what he’s already given you the the mere fact that you can go to work and come back is the gift right it’s a blessing so you’re just giving it now if you want to give more than that you’re actually sewing into something deeper deeper right so you want to put an
Attachment even when you’re giving it 10% attach something to it what are you believing God for what are you believing God for attach it to that giving so I’m just going to pray so Heavenly Father Lord we just thank you thank you because you truly are a good God we thank you Lord
Because Lord you your love for us is just never ending your love for us is outstanding your love for us is amazing father God and as we have learned today Father God just to belong and to behold deeper in our relationship with you deeper in our understanding of the
Father Lord that you will continue to outpour on us oh Lord a blessing as we go deeper and deeper and as we give on this um afternoon father God lord I know that you are blessing our giving Lord and so we just give you thanks we give
You glory we give you honor and we give you praise in Jesus name Amen thank you Pastor PE I forgot to mention this here um I don’t know if you guys received this when you came in it’s a stay connection for stay connected form pleas would like you to fill it out with your most recent information is part of the con the thing we’re talking
About you know we have to have ways to connect with one another and many times we try to connect but we have wrong information and we’re not able to reach people when they in need so please the ushers will go around and give if you
Don’t have one just fill it out so we have your most updated information all right thank you everyone God bless you let’s call on uh City praise to close the service sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry was about to commit a cardinal Sin so we like to honor our I’m come on come on come my birthday happy be here we want to honor pastor and we know that there were so many Natasha we have Pastor Emily we have Camy and so many others but we like to call our pastors out embarrass them a
Little bit and honor them so Pastor Emily Pastor can you please come to the stage so we can honor you and City praise we sing to you happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday happy birthday happy birthday to you say the good Lord the good Lord bless you May the good Lord may the good Lord bless you so pastor Pastor em we love you and we want to appreciate you happy birthday to you uh you are such a blessing to us and we we just celebrate the god in you and we want to just honor with this gift and the
Card amen amen and before we go you know we always like to pray for our pastor so will lead the prayer and um can we can we call on the P Pastor peace can you call for pastor so please come you usually have prayer so can we pray for pastor do and
Pastor shagon and Milla please everybody can you just PR for your hand on today them and just prophesy over her decree over her that she’s blessed beyond the cost and she’s protected Beyond Terror that this year will be a year of double portion for as shame God will give her double portion
That her SE will be known all over the world that can prophesy over her that she’s working in God’s wisdom she’s walking in favor before God and man in Jesus name can you just profor over that this year she would trust in the Lord with all her heart and lean on on
Her own understanding but in all her way she ackowledge God and God will direct our path in Jesus name in Jesus name we father we celebrate you for your daughter thank you Lord for pastor Do Lord as a church will prophesy over her and will declare that this year Pastor
Do that you will walk in the reality of God’s favor in Jesus name the favor of God encompasses around you in Jesus name you’re going out your coming in his favor you are blessed beyond the CA and you are protected Beyond Terror Jesus name we
Pray for you that this year you are Talk of the Lord and great will be your peace in Jesus name we pray for you that everything your heart desire this year the Lord will give unto you according to his plan for your life in Jesus name we
Pray for you Pastor do that what eyes have not seen what ears have not heard what has not come of man the Lord will do with you the Lord will do for you the Lord will do within you and the Lord will do through you in Jesus name we
With the blood of Jesus Christ the blood protects you the blood guide you we this year you will enjoy God’s favor in Jesus name as for you and your family as for you and Pastor shagun as for you and MAA you are for signs and wonders in Jesus
Name we pray and everybody say amen prise hallelujah City praise hallelujah hallelujah just rise up as we s our vision some this afternoon congrats again Pastor Hallelujah I am of God’s family I leave withon us and everything I do I am a b of his character and exle of his love of God I live everything I do I am the father of this character simple Of car Compassion his word TR his word youly Spirit Holy [Applause] Spirit Good evening stay connected a great week [Applause] N
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