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Elevate Christian Network :: Ministry Outreach TV

Elevate Christian Network :: Ministry Outreach TV

Video Transcript

establishing the kingdom of God is like sitting down to put together a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle we’ve been told of the splendor and beauty it displays when complete and we set ourselves to work at the problem with puzzles that big though so many small pieces and over the years it seems we’ve had some disappearance of a couch cushions some two eternal exile beneath the carpet the baby ate that weird shape one a few years back and there’s no telling what happened to the cover but we’re steadfast so we work in toil to pull the picture together we plant churches and evangelize we show up in droves and hurricanes leave cities in room and piece by piece the picture comes together we step back and marvel at the beauty this is great we say although I’ll overlook in the top right corner of the puzzle that has no pieces we miss out on an incredible opportunity to display the goodness and glory of God such has been our work as a church in America our compassion compels us through the Great Commandment to love when crisis strikes but for our neighbors crisis is the norm our cities face generationally chronic issues our conviction pushes us forward in the Great Commission to make disciples yet we stop there hoping that if we save the soul everything else will fall in line we never realized though that our refusal to validate our neighbors current struggles is often more offensive than the gospel itself and it turns out that in those pieces we missed the great requirement to do justice to love mercy and to walk humbly with God America in its ideal form provides opportunity and hope encourages diligence and ingenuity life liberty the pursuit of happiness this is the dream but like every other social system America has failed to deliver this ideal to everyone inequality exploitation racism and just for too many this is the legacy of America and until the church decides that this is a legacy we cannot accept that this problem is our problem lossless in North America will continue to advance the problem of Justice is complexed and layer we know that the solution will never be less than the radical transformation of men’s hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit but it will also never be less than a new influence on the systems and structures that uphold or tear down communities our solution is not the gospel + justice it’s not the gospel + nonprofits and parachurch ministries not the gospel + conservative or liberal politics not a contrived formula to create some holistic solution known the gospel is the holistic answer to the problem of the city a great commandment to love a great Commission to make disciples and a great requirement to do justice but if you’ve been a blueprint for any days we have we have an underlying philosophy that the gospel changes people and God uses people to change the world on each one of your tables we put kind of what we’ve used as a tool over the years called the three circles and that was the two that they did that they shared what I love about the three circles is that the three circles identifies the problem more than just simply kind of with some evangelistic presentations coming lean to the fact that if you save the soul God that everything else would take care of itself you see what the reality is is that when we talk about God’s original design is this is what we’ve said over and over again that God’s original design is about relationships it’s about having an uninterrupted relationship with God uninterrupted relationship with others uninterrupted relationship with yourself in this world in the in that’s good news the fact that God has created us but because of the fall we have been separated from him but now he has redeemed us through the person and work of Jesus and now we are now able to restore in all things and this is why we’ve created a series called restoration are all things new and the reason why we’re talking about all things new is because we believe that and the fact that is that it’s the recovery and pursue of God’s original design for holistic health that spiritual emotional economic and social a lot of times when we talk about this element of the gospel you know we have a gospel for the afterlife but we don’t have a gospel for the everyday a lot of times when we talk about the gospel we only think about the gospel we only think about church and the only reason a lot of times when we come is for to kind of get an insurance card for what’s gonna happen when we die but when God is trying to return us or to recover all things that is the very essence and that’s why I love the passage in second Corinthians chapter 5 where he says this he says in 2nd Corinthians 5:18 everything is from God who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the Ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us that this is our message and the bastard owner says that are we are his ambassadors in our call is to be reconciled and this is our message this is what we’ve we’ve been talking about and that’s the very core of the gospel but it’s also the very thing that the gospel does them that we are that we were saved by faith but we ought to live in that same way Colossians 2:6 says this so then just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord continue continue but even though we have a gospel for the afterlife the question is is that how does God restore or make all things new and this is why over these weeks we talked about last week’s spiritual this week we’re gonna dive into emotional then we’re gonna hit economic next week and then we’re gonna hit socially because the gospel has has something to say holistically about all things and so that’s why we see on the spirit on the three circles this handout on your thing is that when you look at the three circles a lot of times the gospel that we are familiar with only addresses the spiritual brokenness but in the same breath we still recognize that we are still emotionally broken we still are in that economically work we are still socially broken so this is what we’re gonna be doing today we’re gonna be talking about this idea of emotional health and emotional brokenness and and how that looks for us and as you know we’re have tables in today which is a little different than normal and so instead of me just simply teaching or talking to you about emotion I would first like you to even just kind of get around your tables and talk for a little bit around this question how have you seen our experience brokenness emotional brokenness in your life or in the life of others how have you seen our experience brokenness emotional book misses in your life so let’s like a few minutes and get at your tables and talk about that and they will come back and maybe talk about this concept all right all right so as we bring it in you know again we’re gonna be talking today on the pillar of the emotional the emotional pillar and how does God help us to work to recover and pursue God’s original design emotionally um I think the issue of the heart is a very important thing when we talk about this the element of emotions if you would scan the scriptures it’s all throughout the scriptures is the heart the issue of the heart is the heart is the seedbed of where are we of our emotions and where we’re going and I’m and how we feel in thing proverbs chapter 4:23 says this guard your heart above all else for it is the source of life the question is is how what does God give us what is the tools that he gives us to guard our hearts a lot of times when you think about that term guard your heart it’s probably your first thing is probably more like one of the counterfeits that we are gonna see later on today then than it is of what he’s actually getting at when it comes to guarding your heart we talked last year at this time we did a series called 18 inches and it basically went over the book a the voice of the heart where he chip died basically doctor ship Todd gave us an understanding of that of what the tools that God gives us in order to deal with the trauma of everyday life and the tools that God gives us is is what we call feelings or emotions the problem with it is is that we’ve been taught ever since we were young that feelings and emotions are bad they’re to be avoided at all cost and this is the very theme that has made many of us emotionally illiterate when it comes to dealing with things in this world because we have tried to get away from the shame of it and now we don’t know what to do with what’s going on but these eight emotions that we got that we have that you’ll see on the screen chip Dodd basically says is that like there’s three primary colors he believes that there’s eight primary emotions that he says that I mean that basically that you can make every color that you can come up with out of the three primary colors and he’s saying the same thing any emotion that you can describe or come up with would be will come out of these emotions these and these emotions are the ones that are going down the center the problem is is that many of us as we look down the center of some of hurt lonely sad anger guilt shame glad is that we may not be able to identify immediately with those but we are able to identify with either those on the left on the right if you’re able to identify or with those on the left this is more of the in an impaired expression that you may not understand heard but you know when you’re resentful towards people you may not want to confess that you’re lonely but you know when you’re just apathetic towards people or others there are the same thing with sad are self-pity and so this is where we see and you’ve heard the term heard people does what hurt people because hurt people resent people and resentful people hurt people and so ultimately when you’re not willing to do your own work you end up asking others to do that work for you sad people who don’t want to admit that they’re sad end up becoming like Eeyore self-pity and what are they saying I don’t want to admit that I’m sad instead I want you to feel sad for me and this is what we see and often times sweet instead of confessing where we are and that’s what emotions are they are a dashboard emotions are a great place to tell you where you are but they are a terrible place to make decisions and the reason why we identify with our emotions and so that we can um do what God is calling us to do you see but no matter how many times we’ve talked about it we went um and if you want to see that series is 18 inches last year we took 8 weeks and we went to every single one of these emotions and no matter how many times we teach on this no matter how many times you go to this the one thing that comes out the question is always asked why is there only one good emotion why is gladness the only good all the other ones are bad and see and the reality is and the responses always the only way we’re gonna truly ever get glad or another form is joy is when we are willing to experience the other 7 the other set of chip Don says it this way in the book he says gladness comes as a result of willingness to experience our wholeness our whole hearts in successes and failures but instead of embracing what it means to have a heart that’s present before the Lord what we end up doing is we start accepting counterfeits and those counterfeits come in different ways and we’re gonna briefly talk about those counterfeits there’s four counterfeits we’re gonna talk about today the first counterfeit is a happy heart a happy a happy heart you see one of the things that we see in proverbs 27 and 19 it says this as water reflects the face so the heart reflects the person the heart reflects the person another verse in the Bible is it says in Matthew chapter 5 it says blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God they shall see God see what’s the point the point is this a present heart is willing and able to do the work with God you have to do the work with God you see because the problem is is that we bought into the counterfeit of happiness and a lot of us determine God’s will because we believe that God’s primary function is for us to be happy and let me just explain to you very quickly the idea happiness is not God’s primary goal for your life God is always it will always be more concerned with your holiness than your happiness you see the problem is God has called us and really what you desire even more than your happiness is the idea of both mattering and belonging the Westminster Confession says it this way he says and based on isaiah 42 says the chief end of man is to be known and to know God that is what’s very core to every one of us and the reality is is that Ecclesiastes 3 and 11 says the same thing is that God has placed eternity in every man’s heart there is a god-sized void that is in your soul that only God can feel but you’ve got to be willing to do though do the work and this is why David comes in Psalm 139 he says search me God and know my heart test me and know my concerns see if there’s any offense offensive way in me lead me into ever lasting in the everlasting way you see the reality is is unless we’re willing to be searched by God unless we’re willing to know where we are then we are not gonna have a healthy place or a healthy starting point to get to where we need to be and this is where you see all throughout the scriptures I remember when I first came to know the Lord I began to study a lot of just the scriptures in light I like to study he’s like big pitcher and just get a big picture of the thing and so one of the books that helped me as a book called 30 days to understand in the Bible and it just helped me there understand and get our whole picture another thing that helped me was a thing called walked through the Bible and it’s walk through the Bible’s ministries and they went to every one of the books 66 books in the Bible and they created a theme for each Bible each book in the Bible but what was interesting about when I was going I was a young believer something stood out to me about concerning the issue of the heart and it was in where you see in 1st Samuel 2nd Samuel in 1st Kings that it highlights the S of a king and how they relate to God as it relates to their heart and so on the screen you’ll see here first Sam you and it’s in pictures form so that it allows us to remember and so you see on there there is a sand mule so that’s why it’s Sam you who you guys get it so and there’s one sand muse so it’s First Samuel y’all get it later so in here and that’s how we identify it but then you first Samuel is primarily about a king and that first king is named Saul god Thoth is really you don’t want a king I’m your king and there’s no we want a king like to other nations you don’t want a king I’m your king know we want Kings like the other nations all right I’ll give you a king just like the other nations and they got the king that were big and bad and strong and all of those things and they got Samuel the problem with Samuel was that he did not have a heart for God so Samuel was the prophet saww arms are in Psalm the reason why and so Saul had no heart for God but then if you go to from Saul and that led to his demise and that he was killed but then you go into second Samuel 2nd Samuel who goes from Saul to David and then now you see two sand muse so it’s second Samuel and what you see here is that you have David and David is a man after God’s own heart this is the very essence that we see that David was holistically for God and if you look at the songs and if you look at the writings of David that David was a man who understood his emotions David was not perfect by any stretch of the means if you scan David’s life there was lots of sin in his life but he has identified after a man after God’s own heart and this is something that we need to understand that God is concerned about our emotional health about being present with himself being present with him and so it says you God and you alone have I sinned and so you see the struggle with david and so you go from no heart after god second samuel david having a heart for that and then you get to first kings which the next is solomon and solomon you see he was half-hearted for god and it’s in this that you see the tension because south solomon he was wise the most wisest man he was the one who loved God who went to do his will but he also had other loves and other pleasures women money that eventually took him away far and distant from God and this was the tension that we see of it’s the issue of the heart that God is speaking to and that he has a concern holistically for for us to do and so the first thing that we have to understand is that we got to be fully present with God the second thing that we must understand is that we got to be present we have to have a present heart that is willing and able to do the work within ourselves within ourselves you see a lot of times instead of embracing our own self and where we are emotionally where we are with the in dealing with the tools that God has given us instead we project out and we try to get others to fix us we try to get others to fix us and and there’s a the counterfeit that we’ve accepted is what we call an amused heart instead of an a present heart it is an amused heart and that word amused is simply this if you could break that word down this ah Muse ah is without the idea of having to reflect and this is where we get the word amusement this is why Netflix Hulu movies will never go out of business because so many of us are trying to get out of our heart and desire of wanting to be loved and wanting to be long and so we think that if we can capture that in a movie or in some other story because our we are creating a certain way but if we don’t embrace the way that God has created this our biology will take over and still crave for those things so our unwillingness to do the work internally has caused us to look outwardly to find it and we call it entertainment amusement without having to reflect but unless we are adept in dealing with life on life’s terms we will find that we will never get the true joy the true gladness that God causes to which leads us to the third point not only do we have to do be willing and able to do I work with God and willing in able to do our work within ourselves we also have to be willing and able to do the work with others with others you know but the counterfeit instead of doing the work with others in the desire filling that void that God has created us to be relational beings we have embraced a counterfeit and the counterfeit is a hardened heart is a hardened art a lot of times the voice to this heart and heart is one of apathy and so instead of dealing and confessing that I’m lonely you know what we do we become apathetic I just won’t feel anymore because if I continue to feel then I may be hurt and instead we become apathetic to the things of God to the people of God and we just cut off our emotions to him and now we’re not able to relate to anyone in the way that they’ve called us to the way God has called us to but you see a present heart understands that we are to trust in relationships not our toughness because they understand relationships bring the light you understand when you become apathetic that what you end up doing is you end up rendering other people lonely so instead of confessing you’re lonely and says man I’m lonely I just need somebody to connect with I become apathetic and now I’m engaging with everyone with this apathetic heart and now I just end up leaving everybody else I’m present physically but I’m not present emotionally and this is why and Ephesians chapter 5 it says this he says pay careful attention then to how you live not as unwise people but as wise it’s making the most of your time because the days are evil so don’t be foolish but understand what the Lord’s will is don’t get drunk with one which leads to reckless living but be filled with the spirit so what does it mean to be filled with the spirit the the be filled with the spirit is what we’re going to see after that you in order to be filled with the spirit you do that in the context of community it says be filled with the spirit speaking to one another in Psalms hymns spiritual songs singing making music with your heart to the Lord giving thanks always to everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ submitting one another in the fear of Christ that if we there is a mutual submission that each and every one of us craves and yearns for and we have to be willing to be present and to show up with one another this is the very essence of the fruit of the Spirit of love joy peace patience kindness when we did when you break down each one of those words of love first Corinthians 13 says love is long-suffering if love is long-suffering then I have to be willing to suffer with someone for a long time and so there in the context that the fruit of the Spirit into being filled with the Spirit is done in the context of community in the context of relationship and so this is why chip dodd says it this way says gladness is only for the courageous because it requires emotional and spiritual pain in the midst of living lives as we were made to live them fully in relationship fully in relationship this is this this is how God has wired us there’s no way around it we can try to deny ourselves but it’s still gonna come out in one way or the other and so that’s why it’s most of us if you go back and you look at that chart most of us can easily identify with the left side but we can’t identify with the gifts that they bring because we have decided to resign from life and not address the emotional health for that God has given us and using the tools that God has given and so in the substitute with our last counterfeit is that we depend on arouse me arousal and aroused heart is that the the desire for constant stimulation a present heart understands that stimulation nor satiation can is the same thing as satisfaction it’s not the same thing right and but too many of us have believed that live this is why so many of us are addicted to net fix to Hulu to pornography to whatever our addiction is so I don’t have to deal with my emotional unintelligence on my emotional unhealthiness you see spiritual and emotional one in the same and we would Peter says arrow and his ax spiritually emotionally healthy Christianity is that he says is that it is impossible for you there’s no such thing for you to be spiritually healthy and emotionally unhealthy emotionally healthy and so we have to be willing to do the work because what we’re gonna do is that we’re gonna gather at tables again and we’re gonna spend a couple of more moments of just talking about where have you both seen and experienced brokenness in your life but then I want you to come up with the second one because as we talked about Philippe resin heart is someone who is willing and able to do work emotionally with God do work emotionally with yourself and do work emotionally with others in the specifically in hard times that how much do we look like what Paul said in Philippians chapter 4 verse 11 through 13 where he says this for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself I know both how to make to do with little and I know how to make do with a lot in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content whether well fed or hungry whether in abundance are in need I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me so we’re gonna take a few moments the questions will be on the board talk around your table around this and then we’re gonna bring up Ken and we’re gonna pipe insanity to end with a time of Q&A that you guys can interact with you so take a few minutes to do that will give you about five minutes [Music]

  • As Pastor Dhati Lewis continues in the series, All Things New, he unpacks what it means to live a fully present life.  Listen in as Dhati explains what it looks like to embrace a vulnerability while rejecting counterfeit expressions of happiness.

About Blueprint Church Atlanta

Blueprint Church Atlanta believes that the Gospel changes people and people change the world. They are a church committed to making disciples and planting healthy churches in the urban context.

The aim of Blueprint Church Atlanta is to create a culture of people who are Gospel centered believers, responsible siblings, indigenous disciple-makers and generous stewards.

They’ve built a discipleship strategy to develop healthy people who are growing in the Gospel, in the context of family, while living on  mission. These 3 areas allow a person to cultivate a healthy relationship with God, His Church and our neighbors.

Blueprint Church - Atlanta Georgia

Blueprint Church – Atlanta, Georgia.

 

 

Blueprint Church Atlanta | Ministry Channel


 

 

Blueprint Church Photo Gallery

Harmonie - Baptism Story Blueprint Church Atlanta

Harmonie’s Baptism Story | Image courtesy: Blueprint Church – Atlanta, Georgia.

Harmonie is a Sophomore at Emory University. She shares her story about once being selfish and emotionally affected by circumstances, and how meeting Christ and building relationships with other believers has encouraged her and changed her outlook on life.

 

 

Regina's Baptism Story - Blueprint Church Atlanta Georgia

Regina’s Baptism Story | Image courtesy: Blueprint Church – Atlanta, Georgia

Regina struggled with having a private and public life. It became difficult for her to live her double life when the two began to mix. Then one night everything changed.

After watching a sermon on YouTube, she was challenged with the notion that she doesn’t really know God because nothing in her life reflected her relationship with Him. From that moment on, her journey to Christ began.

 

 

Missionaries Claud and Mary's Story of Adoption - Blueprint Church Atlanta, Georgia

Missionaries Claud and Mary’s Story of Adoption | Image courtesy: Blueprint Church – Atlanta, Georgia

Missionaries Claud and Mary witnessed the hand of God move in extraordinary ways, bringing their daughters, Busisiwe and Nondumiso, into their family.

 

 

Pastor Dhati Lewis and Family - Blueprint Church Atlanta

Pastor Dhati Lewis and Family – Blueprint Church, Atlanta, Georgia.

About Pastor Dhati Lewis

Pastor Dhati Lewis is most passionate about church-planting and making disciples and is passionate about living out biblical truths in every aspect of life. He has a focus on planting multi-ethnic churches in the urban context.

Along with being the Lead Pastor at Blueprint Church in Atlanta, Georgia, Dhati serves as the BLVD Experience Team Director with the Send Network Team at the North American Mission Board.

Dhati is married to Angie Lewis and has seven beautiful children.

 

 

More resources:

Blueprint Church | Facebook

475 Boulevard NE. Atlanta, GA 30308 … Blueprint Church, Atlanta, Georgia. 5288 likes · 29 talking about this · 826 were here. Blueprint is a church in Atlanta, GA with a heart for planting…

Blueprint Church (@BlueprintChurch) | Twitter

An Atlanta church that is unleashing healthy people to do ministry where life exists. Atlanta, GA … Blueprint Church @BlueprintChurch 14 Dec…

Blueprint Church – Churches – 475 Boulevard NE, Old Fourth Ward …

1 review of Blueprint Church “I’m on my ‘tour of atlanta churches’ to find a new church home and of course Blueprint is on the list. I didn’t know what to expect on …

Dhati Lewis | Blueprint ChurchBlueprint Church

Dhati is the Lead Pastor at Blueprint Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He was born and raised in California and later moved to Texas where he completed his …

Among Wolves: Disciple-Making in the City | Dhati Lewis

Among Wolves - Book by Dhati Lewis

Among Wolves – Book by Dhati Lewis

We have reduced Christianity to concerts, conferences, and church services. We are surrounded by passive participants of Christianity, content to soak in information without any intent to make disciples.

But the question remains: how do we turn passive participants into active disciple makers in an ever changing urban context? | Learn more…

 

See also: Atlanta GA Church Directory and Christian Music & Books at Elevate Christian Network

About 

Cee Harmon is the founder of Elevate Christian Network and Elevate Your Potential Magazine. He enjoys helping people improve the quality of their lives - spirit, soul, and body.
 
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