The Love that Heals | Week 4

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Transcript

Virginia Alexander 0:00

Welcome to A-S-G-C-C sermons where faith comes alive and the word of God transforms lives. We're thrilled to have you join us for another inspiring journey into the heart of scripture. Whether you're tuning in from your living room or on the go, we believe that God has a powerful message tailored just for you. At A-S-G-C-C, we're more than a community. We're a family of believers seeking to grow in our relationship with God and one another. Each sermon is a unique opportunity to explore the timeless truths of the Bible, discovering practical insights that will empower you in your daily walk. So grab your Bible, open your hearts, and let's get ready to embark on a transformative experience. It's not just another sermon, it's a divine encounter. Thank you for joining us on this journey of faith. Let's dive into the word together and allow God's love and wisdom to guide us in every step of life. Welcome to A-S-G-C-C Sermons, the love that that heals. We're gonna turn our focus, uh, to the love between brothers and sisters, both the B, both in the blood siblings, and also in the body of Christ because we are brothers and sisters. If you are a believer, if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior, then you are my brother and my sister. We are family. Amen. Somebody. And that's a very important thing in the eyes of God. So because family love doesn't stop at marriage and parenting, it reaches into how we handle one another as siblings, as brothers in and, and sisters in Christ. It speaks to how we forgive, how we celebrate one another, and how we allow God to heal what has been broken. And, and a lot of us have brokenness inside of us. Amen. Somebody. We just gotta be honest and transparent about all of this in order to evaluate ourselves and, and, and get back to our first love, which is Jesus Christ, which allows us to love everyone else. Amen. Including ourselves. Amen. A lot of us can't show love and love our families and our sisters and brothers in Christ because we don't love ourselves. God says, you gotta first love yourself. Love him, love yourself. Then you'll be able to love others. How many of you this morning. Uh, just don't love yourself, and that's where we gotta be. Get back to Amen. Loving us, loving who God made us to be. Not wanting to change who we are, but you. Love you. You love that God made you a woman, a black woman, a white woman, an Asian woman. You love that God made you a man and you're not trying to be anything but that of a man. You're not trying to be a woman. You're not trying to change your skin tone. You're not trying to change your sex. You love you because God made you. Come on. Come on, somebody. So many of us can trace our deepest joys, and I spoke to this in week two. I believe in our deepest wounds, in relationships within our own families, and sometimes rivalry and jealousy and unspoken hurt can divide what God designed us to be and that is united. John Chapter 17, Jesus prayed a prayer for us, and in that prayer he prayed that we will be one with him and one with one another. Come on somebody. That was the prayer that he prayed for us. But the same love that built families can also break families, I'm sorry, can also restore families. If your family has been broken, the same love that, that, that can build that family back up again. The love of God is the same love that can restore it and make it be what God wanted, wanted to be. Amen. So this week we're asking God to bring healing to the family, not just through words, but through his spirit. I'm gonna say that again. We're asking Lo God to bring love back to the families. To melt hardened hearts, to repair broken bonds and teach us to love like Jesus loved. Mm. Amen. Sacrificially. How did he love ly, selfishly, listly. And sincerely, he wasn't selfish with his love. It was a sacrifice, and it was sincere. He was passionate about us. Amen. Somebody. So as we move forward today, let's open our hearts to the love between siblings in, in blood, siblings, and brothers and sisters in Christ, and to the love that heals. And that's what I'm gonna be talking about this morning. So when I say siblings, when I say brothers and sisters, I'm talking about your blood brothers and sisters through your parents. And I'm talking about your blood brothers and sisters through Christ because he shed his blood for us. Amen. Amen. I'm not separating them. They're all the same in the eyes of God. Um, so church hurt. I wanna talk about church hurt a little bit because church hurt is a reality. It's real. And church hurt can change the entire trajectory of a person's life. Amen. I've seen it. I felt it. When pain comes from the people who represent God, it doesn't just wound the heart, it wounds the soul. Church hurt is some powerful hurt y'all. Amen. Somebody. For some, the hurt started with betrayal, uh, by a trusted leader. For others, it was gossip, it was judgment. In the church, it was rejection or being made to feel unseen, unworthy. Or unloved in the very place that was meant to be a refuge. And that same thing happens in our homes. The feeling isn't, isn't, isn't different. We feel different when your heart is hurt. But you really expect when you come to church, you really expect something different. If you experienced church at home, I mean heard at home, when you go to church, you want to see something different. Okay, I've, I'm not accepted in my family, okay? I've gone through some things. Okay? My family doesn't love me. My family gave me up, my family, whatever may be going on in the family, I'm going to church. I'm gonna create a family inside the church. Then you get to church and you realize that it's worse in church than it was at your home. Where do you go? What do you do? And when that happens, something shifts inside of you. You stop serving, you stop trusting. Sometimes you stop even showing up. You don't wanna give anymore. I'm not giving to that old church. I'm not giving to that man or that woman. 'cause all they wanna do is scro my money. All they want is money anyway. They don't love me. When I was in the hospital, they didn't come see me. When my wife passed away, they weren't there for me. When my child got locked up, they weren't there for me. When my lights got cut off, they didn't help me and I gave all my tithe and offering to them. And they didn't even wanna give $150 to get my lights turned back on when I fell on hard times. This is what people are experiencing in the church today. Mm, my mind and this that's not of God. Some even walk away from God altogether. Not because they stopped believing in him, but because they could no longer separate his character from the pe, from people, from people's conduct, how people were treating them in a place where God is supposed to be and so God. So their relationship with God pays the cost, which hurt and harms them. That's the tragedy of church hurt. It distorts how people see the Father. It distorts their relationship. It diminishes their relationship. They can't see him for seeing the hurt that you caused them in the name of him. Why not? And it ought not be so. Amen. Somebody. If you are out there and you listening to this message, go ahead and share it. If you know someone that needs to hear this message on this morning, share it with them. Come on. Come on in. Come somebody. I need you to hear this message because pastors speaking on something that we've all experienced, church hurt. Amen. So instead of running to him, they run from him. Instead of worshiping freely, they worship, guarded, but looking around to see who's watching them. Cliques are established in the church to keep others out. Mm-hmm. Oh, no, you don't. You don't belong in in this clique. Oh, you're not good enough to be over here with us. Look at how she dresses. Look at his shoes. Look at her hair. She works at Chick-fil-A. She works at Walmart. She doesn't have a prestigious job like we do. We're retired military. We're retired from the government. They don't belong here. We heard that his, her, her daughter is on drugs. We heard that her daughter's in the streets. It goes on and on and on. No love. And it is time for this to stop to come to an end. God says, do it and do it now. Amen. Somebody. Amen. So instead of finding healing in the body of Christ, they carry the wounds of his body, of his body, not his broken body, but wounds of the body of Christ. Hmm. Church hurt doesn't change who God is. Amen. It reveals how much we need him. Amen. So if you've experienced church hurt, forgive and let it go and come back to God. Yes. And find you a church. Find you a church. That loves God and, and will love you. Amen. Through and through no matter what. Amen. Somebody, because only the Holy Spirit can heal the kind of pain that was caused in his name. You need God's Holy Spirit to get through this. Amen. Somebody go ahead and chat with me if you, if you know that I'm right, say amen. Come on, somebody. Only the love of Christ can restore faith in what the enemy tried to use to destroy you. Only the love of Christ can restore that faith. And you need your faith restored in Christ. Amen. Amen. Somebody. So today we're not talking about just family love. We're talking about family healing. I want you healed from your brokenness. I want you healed from your hurt. God want you healed. He came to heal you. Jehovah Raha, come on now. He wants to bring us peace and healing. Healing for brothers and sisters in the natural, and brothers and sisters in Christ, healing for the wounds that may some of us walk away. May some of us sit in silence or give up on the idea of church all together. I'm just going to do my own thing. I'm gonna start my own online ministry. I'm not going to the A church no more. That's fine if God called you to do that. But if you are doing that because you got hurt in church, that's not God's calling you. That's you being upset, mad, and now I'm hurt and I'm just gonna go off over here and do my own thing because I don't wanna deal with those people anymore. That's not of God. Can I get a amen. Somebody Oh, oh my God. Because of the, because the same Jesus who healed a broken hearted. In the Bible is still healing the broken church on today. And he says, I draw near to what? The broken hearted. So healing for the wounds that made some of us walk away. God is right there. He doesn't want us to sit in silence and to give up and certainly don't give up on him. And his sacrificial love, his selfless love, his sincere love is still enough to draw us back to him. Even on today. Don't let anybody think make you think that love is weakness. Love is strength and it comes from God because God, what is love? So both so siblings, both in the home and in the body of Christ, we are called to love one another deeply. Yes. With the true love of God. I'm gonna take us now to the word of God, if you would, uh, for the tech team to slide number six. Slide number six, and we're looking at Genesis chapter four verse nine. Genesis chapter four, verse nine. Amen. Amen. I'll give you guys time to get there is slide number six, and we're looking at Genesis chapter four, verse nine. Amen. Somebody. Amen. Amen. Uh, I'll give Deacon Damon time to get it in the um, king James version while I'll go ahead and read in a new living internet New Living Translation. I like to do this because a lot of folks say they're just, Hey, I only believe in the Old Testament and, and I'm sorry, in the new, in the King James version, you put all those other versions up there. You lose me. So I like to kind compare and contrast it to, we do the same thing in Bible study on Wednesday nights and join us. By the way, if you haven't been doing so, we are in the book of Corinthians. Amen. I think chapter five, one Corinthians chapter five. Wednesday night, seven o'clock. I gotta plug this because I want you there. Amen. Somebody. Genesis chapter four, verse nine from the New Living Translation and it reads afterward, the Lord asked Cain, where is your brother? Where is Abel? I don't know. Cain responded, am I my brother's guardian? Now, that's the king. That's the new Living translation. But we know the King James version reads it a little differently. Go ahead deep. Where is Abel th brother? And he said, I know, not am I. My brother's keeper. Am I my brother's keeper? That's what we grew up hearing, right? De am I my brother's keeper? That question still echoes today. Are we our brothers and sisters keepers? And the answer is a resounding yes. We are called to care for protect and love one another. That's being a keeper of your brethren. Don't go anywhere Deke, because now we're going to slide number seven. Slide number seven. Go ahead Deke. Uh uh. Or I can read it first to give you time to get it. The New Living Translation in Matthew chapter 22 verses 37 through 40. Slide number seven for tech team. Amen. Somebody it says, Jesus replied, it is in the red. You must. That gives you no option. It's not optional. He did not say you should. He did not say it. It would be nice if you, he said, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, and a second is equally important. Love your neighbor as what yourself. And then he says something very important here. He says, the entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. What two commandments? Love God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul, and then love others as you do yourself. You must. He says, go ahead deep. Come on, somebody. 37 through 40, and it reads, Jesus said unto him, thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. And with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. For these, for, I'm sorry, on these two commandments, hang all the laws and the prophets. So if you really wanna get right down to it, there's only two commandments. Now, according to Jesus, there's only two, because all the others, however many there are, we'd like to point to the 10, but we know there was more than that. That's why he said, and the mans are the prophets. There's only two now, and those two are to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and then to do what? Love your neighbor as yourself because all the other ones hinge on those two. So if you wanna teach the commandments, those are the two you teach because all the other 10 and seven, 600, however many it it is. D, you preached on them one time long ago, 600 and something. They all hinge on these two church. Do you see that? Jesus said the whole law, everything God requires, hangs on these two things. Loving God, loving yourself and others. That means if we Ms. Love, we miss it all. Amen. If we Ms. Love, we've already violated all the other commandments. Because there are no others except these two, because all the others are stacked underneath those two. They're hinged on it. They're hanging and dingling on it. So if you don't have love, those don't apply. You've already missed them. Come on somebody. You cannot claim to be right with God if you are wrong with your brother or your sister in the home or in the church. There's word for that. I'll say it again. You cannot claim to be right with God if you are wrong with your brother or your sister in the home or in the church. There's word for that, and that's slide number eight. I'm in the word. Someone say I'm in. She's in the word. She's in the word. I'm not making this up. I'm in the word turn there. Slide number eight. Amen. Somebody one John chapter four, verses 20 through 21, and it reads, if someone says, I love God, but hes a fellow believer, that person is a liar. I didn't say it. God said it in his word, for if we don't love people we can see, how can we love God whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command. Those who love God must also love their fellow believers. Come on, somebody preach. Now I wanna read that for you in the message Bible one, John chapter four, verses 20 through 21. I'm gonna read it in the message Bible Dee. If anyone boasts, I love God and goes right on hating his brother or sister thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love God? He cannot see. The command we have from Christ is blunt, loving. God includes loving people. You got to love both. Amen. Come on somebody. We're gonna move right on through the word. We're on slide number nine now. Dig. Genesis chapter 50 verses 20 and 21. Genesis chapter 50, verses 20 and 21. And I'm going somewhere with this scripture. Amen. Somebody That's slide number nine. Amen. Amen. Amen. And dea, Damon is gonna get it, but I'm gonna read it in a new living translation and it starts out saying, you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. No, don't be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children. And so he reassured them by speaking kindly to them. And I'll explain this to you as soon as DEQ reads from the uh, king James version, Genesis chapter 50, verses 20 through 21. And it reads King James version. But as for you, he thought evil against me. But God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is distant to save much people a lot. Now therefore, fear he not. I will nourish you and your little ones and he comforted them. Stay kindly unto them. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Deke. Thank you. What a picture of grace here. And this is about Joseph. Joseph had every right, Joseph brothers took him, sold him, did, did some things that he went through some things because of what his family did to him, his true brothers and sisters. Amen. So this is a true picture of God's grace right here. Joseph had everything, every right to retaliate, every right to let his pain speak, to let his memories of betrayal harden his heart. The very brothers who threw him into a pit sold him like property and lied to their father, were now standing before him, desperate and hungry. He could have given them what they gave him. Rejection, pain and silence. He could have turned them away, but instead Joseph gave them what God had given him. And that is mercy. And that's one thing that we don't wanna give people. We don't wanna give people what God gives us. Brand new every day, mercy. But God wants us to do that. Amen. Amen. He looked at the ones who wounded him the most and said, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. What you did to me. You did it outta evil. But thank God he meant it for good and good came out of it, not just for me, but I'm about to turn some good in. Turn it around for you as well. That, that's not denial. Deke. Some people say, oh, that's just denying, you know, you just, you know, you, you can't forgive like that. That's crazy. That's that's not crazy. That's not denial. That's deliverance. That's forgiveness. That's mercy. That's faithfulness. That's not weakness. Oh, you being weak because you forgive. You're being weak because you, you helped them out after what they did to you. It's easy for you to cut people off. I know. Trust me when I tell you, it is easier to just cut 'em off, but that's not what God wants for us. He wants us to try, so that's not weakness, that's spiritual maturity. Joseph didn't minimize what they did. He didn't pretend that it didn't hurt him. He simply refused to let their evil define his future or dictate his response. Wonder how God would've treated Joseph had he done that. When you read the story, wonder how his, his story would've changed had he done that to his family. God gave. That was an opportunity for Joseph to do for them what God had done for him. Healing doesn't mean forgetting what happened. I'm not telling you that. Don't forget you can't. Anyway. It means refusing to let What happened make you bitter? When Joseph said, I will continue to take care of you and your children, he was declaring that the cycle of pain ends with me. He made a decision that his future would not repeat his past, that the trauma would not become a family curse. Amen. Somebody. Amen. That's what love looks like in action. Love doesn't always feel fair, but it always, it's, it's a, it is, but it's always right. It's always freeing. It's there to free us. Forgiveness is to free us, set us free, and to allow God to forgive us for our sins. Because if we don't do that, then he won't forgive us either. I can't tell you how many times I've heard. Well, you should just give up and stop. Every time you know you, you stay away from your mom and your sisters and brothers, two, three years, and you go back and go back. That's me trying. It's hard. It's not easy. Amen. Somebody. Amen. So today, family, God is calling some of us to own, to be our to our own. Genesis 50. To, to make that moment ours, where we see what Joseph did, we need to do for others. Show Mercy for your friends. Maybe you cut them off because they did a certain thing to you that you didn't think was right, and now you, Hey, life is short. We don't have time for this foolishness. Maybe it's a parent who wasn't there, a sibling who betrayed you. I've had all of that. A spouse who walked away, a friend who lied to you. Or maybe you are these people. Maybe you are the parent who wasn't there. Maybe you are the sibling who, who, who betrayed your siblings. Or maybe you are the one who walked away from your spouse. Or maybe you're the one who been lying to your friends and family, so you need to go back and fix that. Whatever it, it was, don't let it harden you. Let it humble you let it heal you. Let it honor God. God wants to get the honor outta everything that goes on in our lives, good or bad, because what the enemy meant for evil, God still uses for good. And your forgiveness might just be the key that saves your family, heals generations and breaks the curse of bitterness that has been passed down for years. You can do that. Come on. I know what the enemy meant for, for bad for me, turned out to be good for me. For years I didn't understand it, but I do now and I'm thankful to God that I was raised in the family, you know, with my Aunt Louise. Thank you Lord. You knew better than anybody what I needed. Slide number 10, I. Slide number 10. And this is Luke, uh, chapter 15 verses 28 through 30. Luke chapter 15, verse 28 through 30. Now, that was a story, and here's another story I wanna talk to you about. This is a parable that Jesus told his disciples in, in telling us, and it says here, the older brother was angry and wouldn't go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, all these years I've sl, I've slaved for you, and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to do. And in all that time, you never gave me even one young, one young goat for a feast, uh, with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after, after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fat and calf. Now, this is a story of the prodigal son, but notice I'm focusing on a different part of that. Story, and I can take you back and let you see the first part if you just love hearing that part. But I wanna start here because this is about the older son who was angry. Angry. He was bitter, and he wouldn't go into the feast, the feast that his father was throwing for his brother. He was mad. His father came. I had to come out and beg him. He said, yes, but all these years, dad, all these years I've been right here. I slayed for you and you never once refused to do a single thing. You never, I slayed for you and never once refused to do a single thing that you told me to do. I obeyed you. I did everything you told me to do. I've been right here. And in all that time, you never gave me not even one goat for a feast with my friends. And yet when this song of yours. We call, which is called the prodigal son, who went away, slept with the pigs, sled all the money, got broke down and out broke, busted, and disgusted, decided to come back home. He says, when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, I don't know how he knew that Deek, but somehow he, he, he, he, he, he, he figured his, he must have knew his brother on prostitutes. You celebrate by killing the fat and calf. But I move on because I want you to imagine the scene like you've never heard that story before. So there's a father, a good father who has two sons one day. The younger son demands all his inheritance. He wants it early. Now when you know you have an inheritance and you want it early, that that's just rude. And it was particularly rude in that culture because it was like saying, I wish you was dead so I can get all my money. Because that's what he wanted. He wanted the inheritance. Remember an inheritance is something you gain after death. He wanted it now, and the only way you could get it is if the father was dead. But he went and asked and said he wanted it anyway, so his father, uh, gave it to him. The son leaves home, wastes everything in wild living, and he ends up broke, um, and feeding pigs and eating with hungry enough to eat their food. And that's another thing that was awful because we know that they didn't eat pig. Come on, somebody. But that's how low he had gotten. But when he finally came to his senses, he says, I'll go home. And what does the father do? He doesn't sit on the porch with his arms crossed. He runs. The Bible says he was looking far away and he runs something men of honor didn't do. In those days. Men of honor didn't run, but he runs and embraces his filthy failed son and restores him with a robe, a ring and a party. A feast. Amen. Church, this is God's love in action. This is what God does for every one of us running toward the broken, restoring the repentance, celebrating the loss, who are now found. Amen. Somebody, the father didn't wait for the son to reach the porch. He didn't cross his arms and demand an explanation where you being what you did with all that money. He didn't do any of that. He ran, embraced and restored immediately, no questions asked. That is the heart of our Heavenly Father. That is what God does for each and every one of us because we're all prodigals in the eyes of God. Amen. Somebody. Now, Paul's right there because this is where most of us shout. We shout at what the Father did for the prodigal son. We love the comeback story. We love a comeback story. Dickon Alexander. We love a comeback story. We love the grace of the father, but what we often skip is the other son. That's why I started with him. The one still standing outside looking at his father. Do all this for his filthy brother. Amen. Somebody for his greedy brother, for his down trodden brother, whatever you wanna think of, for a person who did that to his father and his family, the older brother had been faithful. Hardworking, obedient. He never left home. He never wasted money. He never rebelled. And yet he's angry. He's so angry. He refuses to go to the celebration. The father comes out and pleased with him to join the joy. Mm, love that. And the older son spills his heart and we just read what he said. The older brother was angry and he wouldn't go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied all these years, and I just read it for you. It's still on there. And all that time, you never gave me a goat. You never gave me a party. Yet when this son of yours, this son of yours, yet when this son of yours comes back after Sling your money. On prostitutes, you celebrate. Do you hear the pain in his voice? Amen. He's not just angry, he's wounded, he's bitter, he's upset, he feels unseen, uncelebrated, undervalued. So sometimes hurt comes in that form. Yes. Amen. Somebody, why was he so upset? He felt, again, overlooked and unappreciated. Yes. Don't let that cause you to become bitter when you feel unappreciated or overlooked in the family. Rather it be in the body of Christ or in the home because it can turn to bitterness. He was jealous of, of his father's generosity. He felt like he gave everything to one son, but nothing to him. He confused obedience with love. I've been here doing this. I obeyed you. He did the right things outwardly, but his heart was bitter. Uh, if or if it wasn't, he wouldn't have acted that way. Yeah, he obeyed. Yeah, he was there. He was obedient, but he was just doing it to, because it was the thing to do. It wasn't outta love. We know that. We can see that from his conversation with his dad. And most of all, he missed his father's heart. He missed it. Deke, put up slide 11, son. Amen. Slide 11. Slide 11. And that's Luke chapter 15 versus 31 through 32. And this is powerful because this is his father's response. His father said to him, look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day for your brother was dead, has come back to life. He was lost, but now he's found church. This is powerful. Families don't only break when someone runs away. They also break when someone stays and grows bitter because of what they see the parent might be doing for the other child. Well, you always do this for her or you always do this for him. He goes out and he never obeys and he does anything he wants to do, but every, but you give him this and you're constantly giving him that and you and the siblings bickering because they feel the mother and the father love one child more than they do the other, ah, bitterness taking place. Some of us may not be that prodigal who run off, but we're the, we're the one who stood outside and like the older brother and got angry because what the parents was doing. For the other one, that's not love. And that doesn't mean the parent don't, doesn't love you as much as they love the other. But parents do things and make decisions based on the knowledge of their child and what they know that child needs. And if you are the one that's independent and you're the one that's able to go and do, and then, then thank God you don't need your parents as much. But parents have a tendency to give to the child that needs them the most. And that's not unequal love. It's just knowledge, wisdom. Amen. Somebody. So we've compared our quiet obedience to someone else's messy comeback and wondered why they got celebrated and we didn't. We gotta stop that. Amen. We gotta love and, and, and love your, your siblings. If you see your parents loving on them like that, there's a reason for it. You love on 'em too. Don't get jealous. Don't get bitter. And even in the church, God is blessing this person. And that's why I'm gonna talk about the, the, the today, um, the and Sunday virtue in the valley. The valley of comparison. You don't wanna find yourself comparing yourself to pe, to people in the church because you too can become bitter and start acting in differently. God's blessed them with children. I've wanted children my whole life. I've tried to have kids and I don't have a child yet. I'm so mad and so angry with God. This girl has five children. Don't even take care of them, and God couldn't even bless me with one. She has a husband. I've been praying for a husband for years, and I still don't have a husband. It just goes on and on and on and on. But here, this God's love is, is big enough to heal both the one who strayed and the one who stayed, the one who wandered, and the one who stayed around and worked. The one who repented and the one who resented God's love is enough to heal everybody if you would allow him to do so. Both need the father's embrace, both needed His embrace. We all need God's embrace. We all need God's love. We all need his forgiveness. We all need his understanding, and we all need to give all those things to others. Both need his love to heal with. Compare with, you know, with with pro, you know, to heal what comparison and pride or pain have broken. Don't compare yourself to other people what they have and don't have what you have and don't have. Amen somebody. Amen. I have to be careful with that. Comparing this ministry with other people's ministries. Oh the Lord, this ministry's been in around and I do it all the time. Sometimes I catch myself even talking to Cedric. You know, we've been in ministry all this time and we haven't gotten any members every, all these other charges. They got all these members, they got all this, these followers, and look at us. I do it de but it's not what God wants. Amen. John chapter 13, verse 35, slide 12, John chapter 13, verse 35. I'll let Dick read that from the King James version because that is the better version, but you'll see it in, uh, the New Living Translation on the screen. I'm not going to read it. You see it? Go ahead. Go ahead. Deep slide number 12, John chapter 13, verse 35. And it reads, Jesus speaking, this, shall all men know that ye are my disciples? If ye have love one, two, another. Amen. That's how that's, that's the test. That's how Jesus is going to know that you are one of his disciples. There's no other test. There's no other way. It is only your love for one another that's gonna prove to the world that you are one of his no no amount of work Dig, no amount of work, no amount of words, no amount of preaching and teaching. It is your love walk. Sibling, rivalry, jealousy, bitterness, or division has no place in the family of God or in the natural family. I said rivalry, jealousy, bitterness, or division has no place in the family of God. No place in the church. No place in the home. Love is the standard. Amen. Forgiveness is the only way and unity should be our goal to stay united as one. Jesus prayed for that. Amen. Somebody so brothers and sisters, rather by blood or by faith, we are family. So speak life and not death to one another. There's this song that says, I won't harm you with words from my mouth. I need I love you and I need you to survive. And that's a true psalm. And we shouldn't harm each other with words from our mouths. Protect each other. Don't tear each other down. Pray for one another. Not pray on each other, PREY, but PRAY. We need to pray. Love must mark our relationships because love marks us to be children of God. How are the world gonna know you? One his disciples love. Walk how you love. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. Mark that in your Bible. There's no room in the kingdom of God for hate, bitterness, rivalry, jealousy, all those things. That's what's wrong. But I also know, and I can testify for myself, that sometimes no matter how hard you try relationships with siblings in the church, in the family can remain strained. I always like to come back and say this distant or even broken. You may have prayed, but you have to have tried. You can't just say, well, you know, God understands He does, but only if you have tried, you have prayed, you have reached out, you have forgiven, and yet the relationship still has not healed, then you've done what you can do. You can't make people want to be in relationship with you. You can't make others love you. The test is not that. The test is you loving them in spite of, and here's the encouragement. God sees you your attempts. He honors your efforts and his command to love doesn't mean you carry all the responsibility for reconciliation. It takes everyone. Love does not always look like closeness. Sometimes love means praying from a distance. Releasing bitterness and refusing to let that hate take root in your heart. That's love. Slide number 13, we're gonna be looking at Romans chapter 12 verse 18. Romans chapter 12, verse 18. And it reads, it reminds us, do all you can to live in peace with everyone. Do all you can. God is only gonna hold you responsible for what you can do, not what others do. So the Bible says, do all you can to live in peace with everyone. That means we do our part, but we leave the rest to God. So if your relationship with a brother or sister is broken, don't carry shame. Don't carry bitterness. Carry hope. Keep your heart soft and open. Keep your prayers flowing to God for, for them and for the relationship. And trust God to heal in his time and in his way. Sometimes restoration is immediate. Sometimes it's only possible with God's touch, and we have to trust the Lord. Either way. Your obedience in choosing love still honors him. Amen. Somebody. Amen. Amen. So even when families are broken, God's love can and will bring restoration. If you do all you can amen somebody. So some of you have prodigals in your own families, children who have wandered spouses, who have drifted, siblings who have turned away. Others may carry old wounds that go back years. You never know what people are carrying and what they've gone through. The good news is that God still runs towards the prodigal just like this father did, and he still brings estranged families back together. We've seen it. I've seen it. Families can break in many directions, father and son, mother and daughter, brother and sister. Sometimes those relationships carry unspoken pain, old misunderstandings, you know what I'm talking about, or wounds that just cut deep. But the same God who restored as that prodigal father's, the son's father did it is the same God who wants to do that. Sa the same thing for his children, for us, and he can restore our relationships as well. We just have to ask him to and pray and be sincere about it. Amen. Somebody. Amen. Slide number 16. Um, we're moving right along this morning. Amen. Somebody slide number 16, and we're looking at Acts 16, verse 31. And this is important, uh, deacon Damon. Th this, this isn't, this is an important scripture here and, and it's one that we all need to hold tightly to because this, it's a promise from the Lord. And when you have it, Deek, if you would read Acts chapter 16, verse 31. And I want everyone to get this in their Bibles and, and highlight it. Uh, because this, this is a promise from the Lord for us. And we need to, we need to declare this over our, over our families. Acts chapter 16 verse 31, and it reads, and they said, and slide number 16 for tech, for our tech team. Amen. Somebody, hold on. D we're trying to get the tech team. Oh, okay. There we go. Amen. Nope. Slide number 16. Amen. Somebody slide number 16. Thank you. And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved and die. House what? Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved along with who? The house, everyone in your household Now. D. He said, you believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved along with everyone in your household. It starts with you. Amen. You believe whoever you are. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you'll be saved along with everyone in your household. God's heart is not only for individuals, it is for the entire household. The family, God is about families. He instituted the family dig generations. His love doesn't just heal one person. Amen. His love can heal an entire home, but you gotta believe in the Lord Jesus. If love does not begin in the family, where will it begin? The church cannot be strong if our homes are weak. Preach now. Preach. The world cannot see Christ in us if it does not first see him in the way we treat our husbands, our wives, our children, our parents, our brothers, our sisters, our extended family, our church family. It begins with US church. This is our call to be living testimonies of God's love starting at in the home and with the family. Love must be the standard in our families, in our homes, in our churches, for God's sake, in our churches. Where is the love in our churches? Forgiveness must be the practice in our families. We gotta forgive one another. Prayer must be the rhythm, the heartbeat of our families. We have to get back to praying for our families. Believe when, because when love is is in the house, it will spill over into the church, over into the community, over into the world, over into our workplaces. We won't see what's happening in the streets, in this country, in the government, in this country. It's a lack of love. And remember this, even Jesus walked through ups and downs in the family. He knew the tension. He knew the misunderstanding, the unbelief and the responsibility of having a family, an earthly family. We need to look at that. But he also modeled honor and care and sacrificial love within his own family in the earth. Have you ever taken a look at, at Jesus' family in the earth, his earthly family. That means he understands our struggles and he shows us the way forward and his own family. Uh, slide number 17, I'm gonna show you and I'm, I'm wrapping it up, that Jesus' own family life had some, some, some, a few little things going on in it from time to time. Slide number 17. And this is Luke chapter two verses 48 through 51. And it says, son, why have you done this to us? This is Jesus's father talking. Slide number 17. Your father and I have been frantic. I'm sorry, Jesus' mother talking. This is Jesus' mother talking. Luke chapter two verses 48 through 51. Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic searching for you everywhere. Jesus says, uh, Jesus replied that he had to be with in his father's house, yet the text says, then he returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. So there he was, got, you know, called himself, you know, wanting to start doing what he wanna do before his parents was ready for him. His earthly parents was ready for him to do it. They've traveling, they'd gone off to, uh, a feast and they're headed back home. They look around. No Jesus, no. 12-year-old Jesus. They frantic about that. Oh my God, where's my son? They had to turn around and go all the way back to where they had come from and find him in the temple. And she said to him, son, why? Why have you done this to us? What are you doing? Why, why, why you had us go all this way and get frantic. Think we had lost you. Now we gotta come back and find you. Your father and I have been frantic searching for you everywhere. What whatcha doing? And then he says, you know, I had to be, I had to be here. I had to be in my father's house. You know, no, no, no, no, no. Not yet. Not, not yet. You, you gotta come home with us. And he did. And this shows Jesus balancing his divine calling with obedience to his earthly parents. Amen. Somebody, I'm, I'm preaching right now. Amen. Because, because, because you've been called by God to do something, doesn't excuse you to do anything you wanna do. And neglect, neglect your family. There has to be a balance there. Slide number 18. Slide number 18. And we're gonna read verses one through five, and I think I only put a part of it on the slide, but that's okay. I have it here for you. Slide number 18. John chapter two verses one through five. Yes. Keep it right there. That slide says, dear woman, that's not our problem. My time has not yet come. What was going on here? It says in verse one, the next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana and Galilee. Jesus' mother was there and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. Now, Jesus don't grew up. He's not that 12-year-old boy anymore. He's a grown man, and his mother was still right there with him. Come on. Now that says something. Jesus' mother was there and Jesus was his, his disciples. He had disciples by then. He. Jesus' mother was there and, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. The wine supply ran out during the festivities. So Jesus' mother told him, they have no more wine. Dear woman, that's not our problem. Jesus replied, my time has not yet come. But his mother told the, told the servants, do whatever he tells you to do. So there was Jesus. We just saw him as a little boy doing what he wanted to do, thinking he was his, you know, and nah, mom, Trump and all that. Now here he is as a grown man with disciples and his mom is telling him, Hey, look, they done ran outta wine. I, you know, it's, it's time. You need to do something and here come Jesus saying, ah, not my time yet. But if you keep reading, he did exactly what his mother told him to do. But in love and respect, he honored her request and performed his first miracle based on what his mother asked him to do. Come on, ma'am. This shows that love sometimes looks like honoring family even when the timing feels inconvenient. He straight up told her, it's not my time, but she knew he was gonna do, do what he needed to do because she told his disciples, do whatever he tells you to do 'cause this is gonna happen and it happened. I'm preaching, I know I am. This, this is good stuff right here. It was good when God gave it to me and it's good now that I'm giving it to you. Slide number 19. And we're, we're, we're getting there. I'm coming into a close real quick. Deke slide number 19. I wanna throw 'em up quickly because I'm moving on now. Uh, John chapter seven, verse five, for even his brothers didn't believe in him, even Jesus' brothers didn't believe in him. Jesus experienced the pain of unbelief and rejection by his own siblings. Deon Damon, deacon Alexander, I'm done. Even his brothers didn't believe in him. He was. He was the son of God. Mm-hmm. This connects deeply to families today, where faith causes the vision. Sometimes faith causes the visions in the family. You wanna serve God, you wanna do what God tells you to do. When people come to your house, they gotta act in a godly way that divides you. No, you can't come in here with your boyfriend and sleep in my bed. You're not married. That divides the family sometimes. No, you can't come in here smoking marijuana and doing drugs. That divides the family sometimes, because you wanna live in a godly way, you are doing it because it's what God says, but they don't, they can't understand that I'm grown, I should be able to do what I wanna do. Not in this house, not under this roof, not in my presence. I love Jesus. I'm gonna serve him well. I don't wanna serve him. I, I'm gonna serve over here in with the, with the, with the, uh, Muslims. Sometimes that divides the families. So we understand that families today, you know, you know, this connects that we have to still love, I guess is what I'm trying to say. Even when that happens, it's our responsibility as believers to still love. Amen. Somebody Slide number 20. Slide number 20. Matthew chapter 12 verses 48 through 50. Matthew chapter 12, verses 48 through 50. And this is, someone had come in, uh, and said to Jesus, he's in there preaching in the temple, uh, and somebody comes in and says, Jesus, your family's outside looking for you. And this is what Jesus says. He says, wait a minute. He looks around. He says, who? Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? Then he pointed to his disciples. That was all around him. Mm-hmm. And what did he say? Anyone? He said, look, these are my mothers and my brothers. This is my family. Yeah. Anyone who does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother. Amen. If you can get that in the King James real quick. Anyone who does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. That's why this relationship, this Christiandom relationship is so important. Amen. It wasn't dishonoring his family. He was showing that God's love creates a greater spiritual family, greater God's love. I said greater because he wasn't denying his mom, his brothers and sisters. But what he was saying is these people are just as important as them or if not more important. Why? Because they believe in my heavenly Father. They believe, as I believe, preach. Go ahead. De. But he acted and said unto him, that told him, who is my? And who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hands towards his disciples and said, behold, my mother and my brother for whosoever shall do the wheel of my father, which is in heaven. The same is my mo, my brother, my and sister. And mother. Amen. Amen. Now that's a he. He preached the whole message right there. Slide 21. Slide 21, John 1926 and 27, when Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciples he loved, he said to her, dear woman, here's your son. And he said to his disciples, here is your mother. And from then on, his disciples took her. Enter his home, his this, this disciple, the disciple he loved. And when he, and this is John writing this, and John is talking about himself because he always prefers to himself as a disciple that Jesus loved. So dear woman, here is your son. And he is, and he said to his, this disciple here is your mother. So Jesus knew he was on the cross. He was getting ready to die, he was being crucified. And even in agony, he made sure his mother was cared for. He saw her there and her pain and her distress, and what she was going through, watching him go through this, knowing that it was the will of God for his life, all that she, we got a chance to see the relationship between Jesus and his mother from the, from birth to death. And it was a very close relationship. Jesus was very close to his earthly mom. Come on somebody. Amen. And he wanted to make certain that when he died, she was taken care of. That's family love. That's sacrificial love. That's selfless love right there. Amen. Now, we're not talking about the Jesus in the heaven and in the ear, you know, and his sitting down at the right hand. God, no. We're talking about the Jesus that was in the earth. He saw, he modeled for us how it is to be done in the family. So today, this is my altar call Today, God is calling families back to love. And don't leave because I wanna pray for you. I'm gonna do this al the call, and we are gonna have communion after this commune together as a family. Amen. Amen. Today, God is calling families back to love. Some of you have prodigal, some of you are prodigals, and God is asking you to keep praying. Some of you are, are the prodigal that stayed and some of you are the prodigal that left and God is running towards you. Even now some of you. Again, are the older brothers is carrying the bitterness and God is inviting you to lay it down today. Lay down the bitterness. Stop the hate. Amen. Somebody forgive, restore. Some of you are mothers and daughters and fathers and sons, and brothers and sisters who have carried wounds for years, and today, God is offering his healing to you except God's healing. If your family has been broken, strained, or distant. Today is today to invite God's love into your home. Don't go another day to tomorrow is not promised to any of us. Just like the Father embraced the prodigal son, God is ready to restore your family relationships, your family relationships, your church relationships. Amen. Somebody. Amen. Your brotherly love if you have. Christian brothers out there that you've been bickering with, or maybe even not bickering with, but just kinda lefty each other along and no longer praying for each other and talking. Maybe today is the time to try to reach out and say, Hey, brother, just checking on you. Hey sister. Just, just checking on you. It can be hard. I have a, I have a childhood friend that, that I will admit to you that I've been holding onto a little bit of bitterness because when my aunt passed away, I never heard from her. She didn't even show up to come to the funeral now, so be it for, for real, for real. She and I don't talk on a daily basis. Probably hadn't spoken in years, honestly, except in Facebook. She's reached out one time and say, Hey, if you're ever in town, you know, come by, stop by, whatever, whatever. But that's about it. For years. And when I say years, she didn't even know I had a daughter and she's 22 years old. So just to give her some credit and to show you where the relationship was. But still, she knew that my aunt passed away. She lived right there in the same community. We shared everything as kids. She was always in my house. I was to hers, and I was just really shocked and surprised that I didn't see her there or she didn't reach out. Her mom was there. So that kind of made me feel some kind of way, you know? So I wanna let that go. I must. Right. So if your family has been broken, strained, or, or distant, or if you have that going on, as I kind of describe it, my friend, we kinda let it go. Let it go. I don't know what her reason is. She could have had a very good reason. She could have been sick or in the hospital, anything could have been going on. I have no idea. So it's not fair for me to be feeling this way about her. Right. So this is what I'm talking about. Let stuff go, turn it over to the Lord. Or I could just reach out and say, Hey, what's up? I was wondering what was going on, da da, da, da. You know? And I may or I may just say, Hey, let it go, because we weren't, it's like, like we were close and had it going on like that. Anyway, just, just set the grace and the mercy. Sit. Amen. Amen. So now I want you to bow your heads in prayer and pray with me. If I'm nothing, if I'm nothing else, I'm transparent because it is what it is. And I, I'm not any better than you. God just called me to preach. But I'm, I'm a vessel, I'm a human being. I make mistakes and I do things that, um, that my father's un pleased with, but he always brings me around. And, and that's what he'll do if you, if you stay open and keep your heart soft. Amen. Uh, bow your heads and pray with me. Heavenly Father, heavenly Father, we thank you for being the God of love. Thank you. The God who restores, the God who heals families. We confess that we have not always loved as you command some of us has. Let anger, jealousy, unforgiveness separate us. Others have wandered away like the prodigal. But today we come back to you. We ask you to forgive us, to heal us, to restore our families with your love. Thank you Jesus. Lord. Pour out your spirit into every household represented here today. Let husbands and wives love each other with covenant love. Let parents train their children and the Lord, and let children honor their parents. Heal the wounds between siblings, men, the hearts of mothers and daughters, fathers and sons. Let your love break generational curses and establish generational blessings. We stand on your word in Acts 1631 that declares, if we believe in Jesus, that us, and, and, and, and, and, and, and our whole household will be saved, everyone in our house will be saved. So today, Lord, we claim household salvation, household healing, and household restoration in the mighty name of Jesus. And Lord, if there is anyone listening who does not yet know you as their savior and their Lord, may they surrender today and receive the greatest love of all, the love that never fails, and that is the love of Jesus Christ. We thank you, uh, we believe you, and we receive it in faith. In Jesus' name we pray Jesus. Amen. If you pray that prayer, I pray that God continues to bless you and restore you and your family. You and your church, you and your brothers, and your sisters, husbands, wives, siblings, parents. God is love. Hmm, yes. He's and, and the two greatest commandments of them all is for us to love him with all our mind, soul, body, spirit, and to love each other, to love ourselves, and to love one another. Those are the two greatest commandments of them all we have to get back to loving love is the only thing that overcomes hate. Amen. Somebody, thank you so much for joining us today on A-S-G-C-C Sermons. We hope this time of worship, reflection, and teaching has been a source of inspiration and encouragement to you. As we come to an end of our time together, we want to extend a heartfelt invitation to those who may be listening or watching. If you've been touched by today's message and feel the stirring in your heart, we want you to know that God loves you unconditionally. The journey of faith is a personal one, and we believe that God is reaching out to you right now where you are. If you haven't experienced a life changing love of Jesus Christ, we want to give you an opportunity to invite him in your life. If you desire to know God personally, to experience his forgiveness and receive the gift of eternal life, we invite you to pray with us right now. You can simply repeat after me. Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you just as I am. I recognize that I am in need of your love and forgiveness. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and I accept him as my Lord and Savior. I repent of my sins and ask for your forgiveness. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and make me a new creation. Thank you for the gift of eternal life. I surrender my life to you and I choose to follow you from this day forward. In Jesus name I pray, amen. If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, we want to congratulate you on the most important decision of your life. We encourage you to connect with a local church, read the Bible, and spend time in prayer to nurture your newfound relationship with God. Thank you for being a part of the A-S-G-C-C family today. We look forward to the amazing journey ahead with you. Remember, God loves you and we do too. May His grace and his peace be with you always.