9 Keys to a THRIVING Relationship // Relationships (part 4) // Pastor Drew

It's Super Bowl Sunday.

>> Let's go. We got anybody here rooting

for the Patriots?

>> Let's go. Anybody rooting for the

Seahawks?

>> Who here's rooting for the commercials?

>> And who here's rooting for the food?

>> Let's go. There you go. Those are the

four type of Super Bowl watchers right

there. Rooting. You got a team, you like

the commercials, or you're just in it

for the social environment, right? Uh

guys, I am so glad to be here today. We

are uh doing our in the middle of our

relationship series. We have been

getting some amazing questions texted

in. I want to encourage you guys, please

keep texting in your questions. We've

got a panel uh some breakouts that we're

doing or not tomorrow, next week in the

evening. So, uh, for our stronger event,

and we're going to have we're going to

be able to answer tons of these

questions, guys. We got some good ones.

We got some seriously

uh some seriously hard questions that

I'm really excited for us to be able to

get into. Next week, we have a guest

speaker. So, if you are planning on

missing a Sunday, don't miss next week,

guys. I cannot tell you how excited I

am, how eager I am for what God has to

speak next week. But uh can we get the

uh stronger invite? Where's the where's

the stronger invite? If you've got that

uh the with the QR code and all that on

there, we want to make sure if you

haven't signed up, sign up. Keep this.

There it is. Keep this so that you can

invite your friends, invite uh your

neighbors, whoever else it is. We want

to make sure that this I just think it's

going to be a blessing. And I want as

many people as possible to be blessed by

it. Amen. I like to get I don't want to

just receive a blessing. I want to be a

blessing. Amen.

>> Amen. Amen. That's what we're called to

be here. So feel free until then. You

can text your questions in 402215. Wait,

wait. Am I right on that? 402975097

91575.

Where's the text number? 402915975.

I'm pretty sure is where we're at.

That's what it is. That's it. There it

is. Okay. I'm going to need a little bit

of grace here. I got like 50% of my

brain engaged right now. And so, I'm

going to appreciate. And today

we're talking about the nine keys to

make any relationship thrive. And so

this is basically y'all. This is nine

sermons in one.

Are you ready? Are we ready to like you

better you get your NOTES OUT? YOU GUYS

GOT TO GET READY because this is going

to be good. I guarantee you you're going

to be able to get something out of this.

And uh I I believe that God has called

us to thrive in our relationships.

Psalm 133:1 says, "How good and pleasant

Psalms 133:1

it is when God's people live together in

unity."

We were called. God wants you to be

thriving

in every single one of your

relationships.

And I believe

this is this is my my big statement for

today. I believe that the health of our

relationships with others

reveals the health of our relationship

with God.

We always have a very optimistic view of

our relationship with God because it's

hard to sometimes make it practical. Oh,

I pray. I believe in him. I value him.

Things like that. And so I feel good

about it. when in reality there's some

key ways that I can actually look at my

life and I can look at how I'm living

and how I'm interacting with other

people and it gives me a better pulse on

actually how my relationship with God

is. One of the key factors that I look

at is the health

of my relationships that I have around

me. Now, keep in mind, every

relationship in order to be fully

reconciled takes two parts, right? It's

not about having every relationship be

perfectly healthy, but my interaction

and my part of that relationship,

that tells me a ton about my

relationship with the Lord. And we're

going to walk through some of these

things, but I see this because uh first

John says, "Whoever loves God must also

love his brother."

Matthew says, "A lack of Matthew 5,

Jesus says, "A lack of reconciliation

with others actually hurts our worship

to God."

Isn't that crazy? John 13, Jesus says,

"People will know that you are my

disciples

by the way you love others.

In John 1 John 3, it says, "We know we

are saved. I know I'm saved by the way I

love others." The way you carry your

relationships reveals the way that I am

holding my relationship with God.

And so this is why this is one of our

most important. It's one of the most

impactful series. We do this series

every single year because we always got

areas to work in our relationships. And

I want to give these opportunities

because this is something that uh I I

we're as we talk through the nine keys

to make any relationship thrive. I want

us to think about this through a

specific lens.

Think about this through the lens of a

relationship

that is important to you

whether you want it to be or not. A

relationship that is important that is

valuable and that you wish was a little

bit stronger that you would like to be

able to improve.

So this is almost always right having a

a spouse in our marriage that's

important. Maybe it's with a sibling. It

is with a parent or a child.

Maybe it's with a friend

that you you've felt they've had tension

in the relationship. Maybe it's with the

church. Maybe it's with God. But I

believe that there is an interpersonal

horizontal relationship that's going to

be impacted by our vertical

relationship. Look at where you have

with someone else that you want to see

this relationship strengthen. And then

look at what I can do to take part to

make this relationship thrive. Okay. So,

that's what we're going to be going

through. That's what we're looking at

today. First of all, nine sermons in

one, y'all. So, this is about to get

fast. Here we go. Nine keys to make any

relationship thrive. And number one is

center your relationship on Christ.

This is the most important one.

This is the number one.

The relationship must be centered on

Christ

because

every other one fails if I'm not

utilizing his perfect love, my

relationship with him. The reality of

this picture is uh I've I've seen this

in it's called the the marriage

triangle. If you've ever seen I don't

know if you still have Do you have that

you have that slide up here? It's a

black slide. It's got the marriage

triangle on it. It should uh maybe not.

But what happens is you got this you got

a picture triangle. You got the base and

you've got the husband. You got the

wife. But here's the idea. This is any

and every relationship.

And then you've got Christ at the top.

And you've got this relationship, this

horizontal relationship. If I want to

get closer

to each other, if I want to make this

relationship closer, the problem is I've

got a chasm in between us of sin and

imperfection.

The closer I get to you, the more our

imperfections actually are highlighted.

the more our imperfections start to

shine and reveal themselves and the more

the relationship gets bumpy and

difficult and hard. Now, here's the

reality. The closer I get to Christ on

this triangle, the closer I get to him,

the closer we get to each other.

So the key in Morganized marriage

often times is not I need to get closer

to her. It's I need to get closer to

Christ so that I can experience his love

gives give his love to her so that I am

able to love her greater than my ability

or that my flesh wants to love in this

moment. Amen. Cuz my flesh ain't

perfect. I want I actually I want to

avoid my flesh. I want to do whatever

the opposite of what my flesh wants to

do is. and I want to chase her. I want

to chase the Lord, but I want to chase

her because of the way that I love the

Lord.

Here's the here's the crazy thing. If

you are if you're in a relationship or

in this relationship that you're

thinking about that you're like, "Oh

man, they don't they don't love Jesus at

all. I cannot center this relationship

on Christ." I will tell you what, I

promise you the relationship will be

better if even just one of you is

chasing and centering your part of the

relationship on with Christ. I promise

you

because every relationship demands

someone be the reconciler. Demands

someone be the person that that breaks

the brokenness of the marriage and

chooses forgiveness first, chooses grace

first, chooses kindness first, chooses

generosity first.

And I'm not going to be able to find

that on my own. If I find it on my own,

if I do it on my own, then it's going to

be like this. Well, I'm a bigger, better

man, so I'mma do this anyway, right? And

then I'm not actually doing it. I'm not

actually be showing selfless love. I am

getting I'm trying to show you how great

I am and how much better I am than you

and I'm hurting the relationship more.

No, when I get closer to Christ, I'm

going to be able to give his love.

So, the first thing we need to do is we

need to make sure we center our

relationships

on Christ.

We're going to keep diving into this.

There's so much to go, but uh here we

go. Next, number one. Number two, speak

empathy. Oh, there we go. Let's get back

there. Let's get back there. You guys

are awesome. Thank you. Okay. See that?

So, bottom right, it talks about it

shows like it's the picture of husband

and wife, which is the epitome of

intimate relationship. So your biggest

benefits and your biggest burdens are

going to come in marriage. Amen. Amen.

Here we go. So that's why we have this

brokenness that we have in this in in

this correlation here. What a healthy

relationship, healthy marriage, healthy

relationship should look like is step

one, God loves us. God's always chasing

us. So we got this step one arrow coming

down. And then step two is we love and

we chase God. And then step three,

therefore I am able to love and and and

give grace and give the right kind of

love to the other person in the

relationship. This is the cord of three

strands. This is what it looks like to

have a healthy relationship. Now you can

have an anemic marriage with either a

wife deficit or a husband deficit where

only one person in the relationship is

chasing God and able to give love

accordingly.

Give his love accordingly.

But we were all created to be in this

mutually blessed marriage relationship.

This is how it works. So this is

marriage highlights some of the biggest

problems that we have. This is a great

example of something that actually will

apply outside of marriage as well. Okay,

here we go. Thank you slides, guys. Here

we go. Number two. Number one is center

your relationship on Christ. Number two

is speak empathy

before

truth.

This might be a little bit more to the

fellas

than it is to the ladies. Guys, we love

to just fix a problem.

Yes,

we love I see a problem. Well, and I'm

just like Morgan's like, I'm so stressed

about this thing. And I'm like, well,

stop thinking about it.

Done.

Getting move your brain into another box

and just like just stop. Okay, just you

don't have to. She's like, yeah. She's

like, wow, thanks. You're real helpful,

real kind, aren't you? And I'm like, it

works for me.

Yeah, it's not that's not good. Don't do

that. Don't do that. Right. Uh so here's

the thing that I find though. Empathy. I

find that I I there's there's certain

circles that are that are highlighting

and and trying to run away and and turn

away from empathy

and even in in a way that they're trying

to even do it to the glory of God. And

I'm like, that is what in the world are

you doing? Do you know what Emmanuel

means?

God with us.

It is this picture. Empathy is this

picture of be with them.

It's not sympathy. It's not I feel bad

for you. It's like, oh, I'm with you. I

feel this. I'm so like I want to get in

your shoes and feel what you're feeling

a little bit. This is why scripture

says, "Rejoice with those who rejoice.

Mourn with those who mourn." Romans

Romans 12:15

12:15. We are called to empathize. But

keep in mind, this is the problem that

we then get with empathy in our world.

This is the problem that some people

have with, well, empathy is a problem.

No, it's not. Empathy is the good thing,

but it means be with them, not

necessarily agree with them. Okay, keep

in mind I will I may be with you in the

midst of the lies that the enemy is

speaking to your heart and recognize I

have believed these same lies. I have

stood in these same problems or maybe I

haven't but I have believed lies of the

enemy before and I want to see you see

victory in this

but I am not going to affirm the lies of

the enemy over you. I'm going to be with

you and then speak truth. Ephesians 4:15

Ephesians 4:15

says speak truth in love. Speak truth in

love and that is how we'll grow to

become in every respect the mature body

of him who is the head that is Christ.

Ephesians 4:15. This is how we actually

Ephesians 4:15

achieve maturity by coming together

loving each other and through the love

of Christ that we then speak truth and

then that is how we achieve maturity as

a church. Isn't that crazy? We have to

do it. We have to speak truth. Number

three, do not defend.

Understand.

So you may have a relationship maybe

with a kid that you're just trying to

that that that you're trying to

reconcile this thing and you're trying

to figure this out, but every single

time you start in a conversation, it

just becomes banter and bickering and

arguing and then yelling and it just

gets worse and worse because they're

coming and they're attacking you. And so

what do you do? You stop it and you

attack back. You don't. NO, THAT'S NOT

WHAT I WAS SAYING. YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT

WHAT I WAS SAYING. I WAS TALKING ABOUT I

WAS TALKING ABOUT WHAT YOU DID, NOT WHO

YOU ARE. WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? RIGHT?

Like and then we just get these issues

and we get these arguments because I

feel attacked and so I defend and I

attack back.

Here's the reality.

If I choose

to do relationships God's way, I'm going

to follow James 1:19.

James 1:19

And this is really uncomfortable. This

is really hard. This is going to take

lots of practice. James 1:19 says

James 1:19

everyone should be quick to listen,

slow to speak,

and slow to become angry. Our first job

is actually to listen,

not to defend,

to be curious and try to understand

what's going on. This is often called

empathic listening. It's about going and

speaking back what I hear you saying is

I'm I'm not just going to speak what

you're telling me, right? Like I'm mad

that you didn't show up to my event.

Okay. So, I hear you saying that you're

mad that I didn't show up to your event.

No, I'm not going to say that. But I'm

going to return back. I'm going to

listen. I'm going to go

Are you It sounds like you're saying

that you felt abandoned or you felt

lonely at that event. Is that accurate?

Right. And I'm going to try to what I

the emotion that I hear is being spoken.

I'm going to speak that back. I'm going

to listen. I'm not going to defend. I'm

going to listen first. I'm going to be

slow to speak. I always think about this

professor that I had in in in college

and you'd ask him a question. And he'd

go

and every single time he'd just put he

he'd he'd put his finger right over his

big old mustache that he had and he'd

just

and I'm like, do I need to restate what

I said? Like this is awkward silence.

I'm not sure exactly what I'm supposed

to do next.

And then he'd respond with one sentence

that answered the deepest parts of my

questions as thoroughly as possible. And

I'm like,

"Okay, wow." And I had to learn how to

just like be okay with the silence. But

he was quick to listen. He was slow to

speak. And he never I mean, in college,

you're often talking theology and

debating and why do you say this and

what are we doing about this? and and he

would give the most thoughtprovoking,

thoughtfilled

answers

after about a 30- secondond awkward

pause.

Be quick to listen,

slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

All right, number four. Here we go. Is

be a servant first.

I don't know about any anybody in here

competitive.

Let's go. Let's go. I'm a little bit

competitive. I find competition in a

competitive behavior is actually a

benefit. Something that you can use in

your in your walk with the Lord. It can

become a problem. Amen. It can become a

problem at times. But what I want to do

is I want to be competitive in ways that

are like I I want to be the greatest

servant in this relationship.

I want to be I I truly I want to be the

hungriest person I know chasing after

Jesus, right? Like I want I want to turn

this competitiveness in the right way.

And this is one of the best ways that I

find to make any relationship thrive. Be

competitive in serving each other.

Scripture says outdo one another and

showing honor. Right? Like in this like

I got this competition. I'm going to

honor you more. No, no, no. I'm going to

honor you more. No, I'm going to honor

you more. Right? Like we are going to do

this. When when Morgan and I in our in

our marriage choose to try to outdo one

another and out serving the other

person, we thrive. When we sit back and

we wait for the other person to serve

us, we begin to suffer. Things begin to

get hard. Matthew 9:35 Jesus says, "If

Matthew 9:35

anyone wants to be first, he must be the

very last and the servant of all

and your relationships that are

struggling. Serve them

selflessly

with no expectation. And in fact, the

best ways to do it is in ways that they

cannot give back in return.

in ways that you know you are going to

be the giver and you don't have to

receive anything back. Be the person

that chooses to serve the other person

first.

Serve them. This is even with kids.

oftentimes when we think if if you're

thinking about if the broken

relationship you're thinking about that

you want to see stronger is with your

child or maybe with a uh a subordinate

at work. You're a boss or something like

even even if we look at the the the

chain of command or whatever and you're

a leader of this person leadership looks

like serving.

And so the more I can do that, the more

I can actually serve someone,

it applies in every single relationship.

It applies in every single when no

matter what you're trying to do and if

you're trying to grow to get your

relationship to thrive,

serve them first. Okay. Number five is

pray with and for each other.

Pray with and for. Guys, this is if

there's one secret to finding unity in a

disunified relationship, this is it. I'm

not kidding you. There is nothing that

unifies

people like prayer.

Coming and bearing our soul before the

Lord together

is one of the most powerful things you

can do.

I encourage you guys to take time to

pray with and for each other. Did you

know that in marriages

less if if if a marriage a husband and

wife are praying together every single

day,

the divorce rate drops from 55%.

To less than 1%.

It's like 11 or,200 one and 11 or,200

marriages that pray every single day

together end up in divorce.

Isn't that insane?

It is absolutely crazy that what happens

when we choose to unify our hearts and

our minds and our spirits together, pray

with and for each other. Matthew 18:1

Matthew 18:1

19-20 says again, "Truly I tell you that

if two of you agree on earth about

anything they ask for, it'll be done by

for them by my father in heaven. For

where two or three gather in my name,

there am I with them." No wonder prayer

is so unifying.

No wonder it's so powerful in our

relationships.

If they won't pray with you, you begin

to pray for them. Keep in mind, we pray

for them, not just about them. You

understand what I'm saying, right? Lord,

fix them. I can't believe where they're

like, you got to change these things.

No, no, no. I'm going to pray for them.

I'm going to pray for their blessing.

I'm going to pray for their heart. I'm

going to learn to capture his heart for

them. Pray with and for each other.

Anytime

I have a conflict relationship that I

got to have a conversation with someone,

I'll find I have to open it up and I

have to close it in prayer.

And sometimes

I'll say, "Can we time out? Can we take

a second here real quick?

Can we pray into this? Can we just

I I I feel we're like standing on the

opposite sides of a chessboard and like

we're trying to we're trying to beat

each other and we we got to be on the

same side and we got to fight this enemy

together. And I want us to get back

there. Can we take a second and pause

and pray and recognize that the enemy is

not each other. The enemy is the enemy.

Prayer does that like nothing else.

Okay,

number six. Here we go. Celebrate more

than you critique.

Celebrate more than you critique. We see

this happen again and again and again

within scripture. In fact, Proverbs 18:1

Proverbs 18:1

says, "The tongue has the power of life

and death.

Those who love it will eat its fruit."

If I use my words

to give life again and again and again,

I will find

that the fruit of those words brings

life back to me.

But if I'm constantly in defense mode or

if I'm in any any genuine authentic

relationship is going to have conflict,

is going to have disagreement, is going

to have critique. We have to, it's

actually so valuable and important to

any relationship. But

John Gottman, the relationships expert,

has what's called the golden ratio. They

did studies on all these marriages for

for in relationships for years and years

and years. And they found that in any

healthy relationship, the number of

positive interactions to the number of

negative potential conflict interactions

was five to one.

If I'm not matching that,

if I try to oneto one this thing, well,

I said something nice and so now I can

finally get to that critique. No, it's

in fact in the middle of even in the

middle of the critiques is like, "Oh, I

I see what you're saying. I get your

heart in that. I'm sorry that I did

that. I was not trying to make you feel

that way. I apologize." Things like

that, right? Like, I'm inserting all of

these positive affirmations inside of

there.

I got to celebrate more than I critique.

If you find in your relationship that

you want to improve,

how well are you celebrating and being

grateful for and giving positive

interaction towards them?

I I almost guarantee

if your relationship is struggling, it's

not meeting that 5 to1 ratio. Almost

guarantee it. All right, next one. Here

we go. This is a big one. This is going

to hit some sore spots. Forgive as you

have been forgiven.

Now, keep in mind this is not as you've

been forgiven by them.

Forgive as you have been forgiven.

Colossians 3:13

Colossians 3:13

says, "Bear with each other and forgive

one another. If any of you has a

grievance against someone, forgive as

the Lord forgave you. Forgive

as the Lord

has forgiven you. There's not a single

soul on this planet that you will have

to forgive as much as God has had to

forgive you.

I promise you,

if I attach this is why this is why I

need him. This is why Jesus has to be at

the center of every single one of these

relationships. Because I cannot serve

unless I see the servant. I cannot

forgive unless I see the forgiver. I

cannot I I cannot give a love that I do

not have access to unless I'm connected

to the vine first. I must be a servant

first. I must forgive as I've been

forgiven.

And we must forgive quickly.

forgive quickly. Matthew 6:12-13 in the

Matthew 6:12–13

Lord's Prayer, it says, "Forgive us our

sins, our debts, as we have forgiven our

debtors, and lead us not into

temptation, but deliver us from the evil

one."

So what this means is that forgiveness

forgive me of my sins right after this

is lead me not into temptation which

means forgiveness doesn't mean ignorance

of someone's past

because God knows our temptation

God knows our weak areas do not lead me

into that do not lead but deliver me

from evil so in the same way I'm not

ignorant of that. But I am going to be

giving forgiveness

at the same time that there may be some

boundaries that may be necessary, but

I'm called to forgive

quickly.

If you find your worship to the Lord is

hindered,

you're like, "Man, why can't I press in?

Why is my prayer not alive? Why is why

is the the songs not hitting right now?"

A lot of times it's because I've got

unforgiveness in my heart and I need to

I need to work through that first. And

then here we go. Second to last. Here we

go. Look to honor God. This is so

important. I want us to dive into this

one. Look to honor God. There is not a

single one of my relationships that's

actually not purposed for the sake of

honoring God and isn't calling me

to learn more about what it's like to

follow Jesus

because of the relationship. Scripture

reveals again and again that it is that

to to to engage in a relationship is to

learn more about him. because we were

created relationally. We were created to

be in relationship with him. And so he

gives all these correlations like every

relationship points to God. Here we go.

Husband and wife. Ephesians 5 talks

about how a husband and wife is like

Christ in the church. And if I'm a

husband, I learn more about him. I give

honor to him by the way I love my wife

in the same way that Jesus loved the

church. as a wife, Morgan talked about

it last week, that I learn to honor God

by the way I submit and I follow what

God is calling and leading my husband

in, right? Like it is this it's I learn

more about him. I do it for his glory. I

do it for his honor, not my own. It

reveals my relationship with my spouse

reveals more to me about my relationship

with God.

for a parent and child.

Do we not know that God calls himself

our father

and we are his children?

So our relationship with our children

and our relationship with our parents,

when we start to see it in this light,

we can go, okay, how can I learn to

honor God and how can I learn to reflect

my relationship with God in these

relationships?

Even as mothers, Isaiah 66:3 says, "As a

Isaiah 66:3

mother comforts her child, so I will

comfort you." A motherly a motherly love

is actually a godly character. When we

think of God, we often think of male,

but he made them male and female. We

look at these characteristics of God

that are in both. And this loving

comforter is actually these motherly

characteristics is actually originally

ordained in God himself given.

And so here we go. Let's keep going. For

a parent and child, for friends. John 15

says, "No longer do I call you servants,

but I have called you friends." So our

friendships actually can reflect our

relationship with God. For a boss and

employee, he is the master. We are the

servants. for our lost friends. We are

called to be the shepherd that seeks out

the lost sheep, to be a light in the

darkness, to be a physician to the sick,

to be a harvester to those who are ready

in the harvest. This is it. We are

called, every single relationship calls

us nearer to God.

And if I have a if you have a

relationship that you are in

that is not drawing you nearer to him,

you're doing it wrong.

I got to say that again. If you have a

relationship that you are in that is not

drawing you nearer to him, you're doing

it wrong. You either need to redefine

that relationship and how you interact

with it or cut it off.

that this is I believe that for so many

especially if you've just changed your

life if you just committed your life to

Jesus

sometimes some of those friendships that

are pulling you back into darkness again

and again and again and the most godly

thing you can do is cut it off

and it doesn't feel great it doesn't

feel nice and it may only be for a

season but I promise you I promise you

when you're able to step into that

relationship as an influencer as opposed

to the one being influenced

It'll change everything. Everything.

Then lastly,

the last key

is let love be the engine of all of it.

Love has got to be this is this is the

foundation. It starts with Christ. It is

at the very beginning and it's all built

on the foundation of love. If I try to

do any of this without love, it's

pointless. 1 Corinthians 13 talks about

this. If I'm not giving selfless love,

everything I'm doing is empty action and

vain words. It's empty. It's nothing.

It's hollow.

Colossians 3:13 says, "Bear with each

Colossians 3:13

other and forgive." Remember, we just

read this. And then they says, "Forgive

as the Lord has forgiven you." Verse 14

says, "And over all these virtues, put

on love, which binds them all together

in perfect unity."

1 Peter 4:8, above all, above all, most

1 Peter 4:8

importantly, above anything else, love

each other deeply

because love covers over a multitude of

sins. If you want to see your

relationship change, you got to see your

love change. You got to see your love

increase. And I want, as we can stand up

here, what I want to do, I believe the

health of our relationship with others

reveals the health of health of our

relationship with God. And I believe

that there's some relationships with

others that we got to restore in this

room or at least restore our part.

And what I want to do is I want to take

a take a moment to commit that.

Take a moment to go, God, I will play my

part. I will do what I need to do. Maybe

the other person is already in the room

with you and you go, I want to make this

thing stronger. How can we take these

nine keys and begin to to apply them to

our relationship?

Maybe that's what you're calling. Maybe

I believe that for some people in this

room, the key relationship here is that

I I'm missing the first one. I don't I

don't have Christ in my life. If I don't

have Christ in my relationship and I

need to draw towards him

and what I want to do is I want to take

a second is if that's you that's

specific specifically the second part

every single one of us has a

relationship that we need to strengthen

but if you are specifically going man I

need Jesus and I need to take time to

really give this moment to him and I

need to start there.

If he's calling you into relationship

with him for the first time ever, for

the first time in a long time,

and it's time to rededicate and give

your life to him, would you put your

hand up in the air real quick? I just

want to see your hand up in the air.

Come on. I see you. I see you.

Here we go. Right back in the back. I

see you. Thank you. Come on. You're not

alone. There you go. Let's go. Right up

here. Can we get a couple prayer I I

want to just make sure that we get a

couple people to pray with you around

you. Here we go. Right up there, Rust.

You see you're going. Perfect. Perfect.

Let's go. Right over here. I just want

to make sure that you're not alone. I

just want to make sure that you got Keep

your hand up if we missed you. We got to

get We got to get right over here. Got

to get in the back there. Perfect. What

I want to do is I just want to make sure

every single one of us has a

relationship,

an interpersonal relationship that we

got to work on. But the mo it starts at

the foundation of our relationship with

Christ. So I want to pray into this

first. Heavenly Father, I pray for every

single person in here, but specifically

those who raise their hand.

Lord, we are ready

to say yes to you before anything else.

We cannot see our relationships in peace

if we are not at peace with you. So

Lord, the chaos, the sin that separates

us

and the shame that we've carried, we lay

it all at your feet.

And we ask, Father God, for a restored

relationship with you in this moment,

Lord, I pray for every single person

that raised their hand that their life

would never be the same. That this

moment would transform them forever.

That you would become the center of all

things. You would become the center of

every relationship.

And that because of this, that they

would begin to see thriving in every

relationship. Father God, that we would

see how we are directed and pointed to

you through every relationship.

We praise you, Father God. I pray over

every relationship in this room. For

those who raised their hand and for

those who didn't. Lord, I pray over the

marriages. I pray over the parents. I

declare over the kids, God, I pray over

the co-workers and the friendships.

Lord, I want to see you glorified in all

of it. I want to see you honored in all

of it. Lord, I pray that we would live

in such a way that transforms

the lives of not only of ours, not only

our relationships, but all those around

us. And it injects your spirit into

every workplace, into every

neighborhood, into every household.

Father God, may we live in relationship

with others to the glory of your name.

to we love like you love. We serve like

you serve. We give like you've given. We

choose generosity in the way that we

have received

grace beyond measure. Father God, I pray

would you so fill us with your spirit?

Would you fill our relationships with

your spirit? May we look more like you

today than we did yesterday. May our

relationships look more like you

tomorrow than they even do today. We

pray this in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen.

>> Hey, thanks so much for watching today's

message. Our prayer is more than the

words that were spoken in the message

that you would remember the things that

God spoke to your heart. No matter what

it was that God spoke to you, I know

that part of your journey is other

people being in a community because we

are better together. So if you made a

decision to follow Jesus today, would

you click the link below and fill out

the form? This is going to help us so

that we can celebrate with you and equip

you with some tools so that your next

steps are great steps.

>> Yeah. Thanks so much for watching. We're

praying for you. We're cheering you on.

We believe that the best days are ahead

of you.