City Church Chicago

This year our faith has been tested, but we have also seen God's faithfulness. God is always with us through every storm. There is no greater time to recognize that God is with us than Christmas when we celebrate Emanuel, which means God with us. God put on flesh and became Emanuel, God with us.

This year our faith has been tested, but we have also seen God's faithfulness. God is always with us through every storm. There is no greater time to recognize that God is with us than Christmas when we celebrate Emanuel, which means God with us. God put on flesh and became Emanuel, God with us.

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God has plans for us that will not harm us. The context of this scripture is that the people of Israel were in a state of great vulnerability. They were in Babylonian captivity, yet the Lord tells them to build houses, plant gardens, and give their sons and daughters in marriage. This does not sound like a short-lived exile; their captivity was going to continue for 70 years in exile, waiting on their deliverance. The Israelites need to focus on the season that they're in so that they can thrive and prepare for the next season.

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God has plans for us that will not harm us. The context of this scripture is that the people of Israel were in a state of great vulnerability. They were in Babylonian captivity, yet the Lord tells them to build houses, plant gardens, and give their sons and daughters in marriage. This does not sound like a short-lived exile; their captivity was going to continue for 70 years in exile, waiting on their deliverance. The Israelites need to focus on the season that they're in so that they can thrive and prepare for the next season.

In our “Spiritually Strong” series, we have been learning about the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation. Today, we are talking about the Sword of the Spirit. Even when the enemy attacks us, we can be spiritually strong and focus on God. The word of God defends and strengthens us.

In our “Spiritually Strong” series, we have been learning about the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation. Today, we are talking about the Sword of the Spirit. Even when the enemy attacks us, we can be spiritually strong and focus on God. The word of God defends and strengthens us.

When God begins to sanctify us and rid us of sin, it’s because he has a purpose and a plan. We are set apart. When we experience this kind of life change and transformation in Jesus, we have to recognize that there are going to be spiritual battles and storms in our lives that will require us to strengthen ourselves.

We are called to be strong in the Lord and put on the armor of God. Salvation is not something that we have to put on every day, but rather, we are called to put on the helmet of our savior so that we can fight the good fight of faith. God has given us everything that we need so that we can live a victorious and overcoming life.

The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6 tells us to put on the whole armor of God. Paul encourages us to go against the dark forces that are unseen so that we can stand in the day of evil. There is a battle between the forces of good and evil, but we have tools and weapons like the Belt of Truth and the Breastplate of Righteousness to help us in the fight.

In Luke 14, Jesus is sitting at a table with all kinds of people. Jesus loved gathering. He loved a good party. In this passage, he tells the parable of the Great Banquet.

Many of us may feel like we’ve been in exile this year. We may have thought we’d be in a better place by October 2020, just like the children of Israel who felt discouraged in this scripture. Psalm 85 was likely written after the Israelites returned from exile back to Jerusalem after 70 years. They thought that they could return to a pre-exilic state, but there was no going back. Nothing was going to be normal. Similar to the Israelites, we too may be facing disappointment.

Ephesians 10:6 tells us to be strong in the Lord. That is our calling, yet it doesn’t just happen overnight. Spiritual strength needs to be developed just like physical strength. We are vulnerable as we face social unrest, political division, and a pandemic. Since we don’t gather as much as before, we can become spiritually weak. There is a real heaven and hell, and the forces of good and evil battle for our soul. We are part of God’s eternal plan, and Satan has already lost the battle. We are spiritually strengthened by the Lord. We are strong in his mighty power.

Our fight is not against each other; it is against the invisible world we cannot see. The greatest weapon we can have in this fight is the truth of God’s word. We can’t always trust what we see, we can’t always trust the conclusions that we draw from the facts, but God’s Word is always true. We must look beyond the fruit and down to the root. We have been armed with the truth. We are more than overcomers in Christ Jesus. If we want to be spiritually strong and experience victory in our relationships and our businesses, we must put on the belt of truth. Then we will see his goodness and power in our lives.

1. Can you recall times that you or others followed God by setting your feet, standard, and heart in the midst of a challenging season or circumstance? What happened when you or someone you know faced a hardship in this way? 2. Have you ever failed to set your feet, standard and heart in line with God when hard times hit? How did you recover? 3. What has this pandemic taught you about faithfulness in hardship? 4. What can you do to strengthen your mind and heart to follow God in “surthrival”?

Sometimes God allows situations that bring a shift to our circumstances, either through change or transformation. We shift when we change, exchange, move, transfer, or transform. It can be hard to make that shift when things are going well, and we are successful. Oftentimes, our mindset is: why change when things are going well?

2020 is a test in our lives and so we need wisdom and how to move through it. Last week we talked about the “Whose Voice” test, and how to gain wisdom and understanding in how to navigate whose voice is speaking. The next test is the “What’s Real?” test: using wise judgment to determine truth from lies, fact from fiction, and opinion from reality.

Reflection/Discussion Questions: 1. How do you discern whose voice is speaking as you listen to voices in the mainstream media, social media, opinions and assumptions of others? How do you discern God’s voice? 2. Have you been speaking life or death over yourself and your life? 3. Have the people that you have been surrounding yourself with been speaking life or death? 4. Are there certain voices you believe you should stop listening to based on the fruit of those conversations? 5. Who are the voices in your life that demonstrate fruit that you want to listen to more?

In Luke 22:39, Jesus shows us patterns of prayer. He was tempted to disconnect from the Father’s will because the cross seemed too hard to bear. Yet, he persevered because he was strengthened by prayer. Twice we see that his disciples are following him physically but disconnected spiritually. The disciples followed Jesus to the place of prayer, but they did not pray. While Jesus was praying, the disciples were sleeping.

There are seventeen accounts of Jesus praying in the Bible. The majority of these accounts of Jesus praying are in the Gospel of Luke. In Luke 11, the disciples ask Jesus how to pray because they saw Jesus modeling a lifestyle of prayer. Likewise, we should model our lives as lives of prayer. In this season, God is calling us to prayer. We are going to be gathering together as a church (following state and local guidelines) every day throughout the month of August in corporate prayer.

There is a difference between a house built on a poor foundation or a solid one. In Luke 6:46-49, Jesus is telling a parable through the analogy of building houses. We are all building our lives with either a firm foundation or a poor one.

In Luke 11:1-10, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. We are supposed to pray to our Father in heaven as a father who will always hear us when we ask. In this passage, Jesus also shares the parable of “The Friend at Midnight.”

Leaders like Moses, always aware of their own limitations, sought out the presence of God so they could embody the vision God had for them and the people they were leading. We too need God’s presence, direction, and word. Many have heard someone say that God never spoke to them. But, God continues to speak to us through his word, the Bible.

What happens when our relationships flatline? Jesus offers to restore us. We don’t have to continue living in brokenness. Just because we encounter offense or even abuse in our relationships doesn’t mean we have to live with a root of bitterness (Hebrews 12:15).

We should be faithful to praise. We should be faithful to rave, boast, and celebrate our Lord. We should be faithful to acknowledge Him in public. We should be faithful to express our love toward Him by blessing Him by kneeling or bowing and aligning our hearts with His. We should be faithful to making music to God with strings. We should be faithful to address Him with a loud voice, to shout, and to praise His name. We should be faithful to lift hands in adoration. We should be faithful to sing exuberantly about the Lord. We should want to be a part of a church community that is faithful to praise Him.

Have you ever experienced a church prayer meeting? There are people who will try to impress you with the way that they pray more so than with the content of their prayers. Then, there are people who pray for things that most would not, such as for God to try them or test them. You don’t have to pray for trials. The sin is what you do that causes your life problems, and the weight is what other people do that causes your life problems.

Even in nothing, there is a blessing for those who dare to trust God. Things may not go according to plan, or in the way that you may think, but at the end of the day, God is always faithful. Your nothing is all that you need for God to turn it into a blessing that you could not see coming. Trust in God’s faithfulness.

The past few weeks, our sermons have focused on wanting to be faithful. At the end of our lives, every believer should want to hear the Father say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We should want to be faithful, finishing in faith.

More than anything, we should want to want to be faithful. Let's ask God to help us want to want to be faithful in the waiting, in the delays, detours, and discouragement, in the fight, even when we fail, and above all, in our relationship with him.

More than anything, we should want to be found faithful. Psalm 101:6 says that the Lord’s eyes will be on the faithful so that they may dwell with him. The Lord is looking for faithful people to be in a relationship with him. Jesus says that when we are faithful, then we will abound with blessings (Proverbs 28:20).