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).

Imagine going to a dinner party, and there is no food left or a place to sit. Does God experience the desire to serve us the meal of a miracle, but then finds that there is no room for him at the table?

Jesus tells us himself that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Yet, it is our natural inclination to enjoy receiving more than giving. Often when we give, we expect to be blessed for it, but sometimes the blessing doesn’t look how we think it should look.

About eighteen months ago, City Church realized the vision to expand its role as growing stewards of the city of Chicago. We have grown beyond our current space, and we have a heart to provide even more for this city. We are the youngest median age congregation of any stewardship group we sought out. We are now working with Impact Stewardship on the Beyond Campaign to build our vision to go beyond for God.