The Revolution of Racism // Relationship Goals Reloaded (Part 7) – Michael Todd – Transformation Church

Charles Metcalf’s Introduction during Worship

• You may be broken, but you still have breath
• He is not done with you, your marriage, your children, the business, if there is breath in your lungs so that you can worship him
• We’re lifting God up and speaking healing over hearts, relationships, and areas that got hurt and never got addresses, childhood wounds that never got addressed, and cancelling words spoken over people
• God is bringing minds back into alignment and relationships back into alignment
• God is good, lovely, faithful, and He will never let us down
• Lift up an Amen to our God
• The spirit of God is with us
• Worship isn’t just a time where we sing songs, but we use our lives to express God’s word – thank you for your giving. When you tithe and give offerings, it goes beyond this moment and Transformation Church and it makes a difference (3 Ways to Give: Text, Online, or via App)
• The church is being equipped, people are standing up in their positions and being the ministers, and when you give, it contributes to that and transforms lives of people you may not know
• God uses our obedience to transform the lives of others
• When we give, it is not in vain – God is looking for obedience in the Earth to get His plan done through people
• Some of you have been downplaying your obedience because you think it wouldn’t make a difference, but we are here today because of one individual’s obedience – don’t question who you are, your calling, your decision to give, or your decision to raise your children in a Godly home
• Look to God for our validation
• Stand up with the confidence knowing that God has called us for this moment
• God is using our offerings to transform the world

Mike Todd’s Introduction

• Mike is seated for the 2^nd week in a row
• God has hijacked this whole relationship goals series to get a message to His people
• God is doing something spectacular
• God has paused everything in the world to highlight some things that He wants to transform
• We’re advancing towards things, not shying away from them
• A conversation can be more powerful if we have other people join us/Mike
• Today, we’re going to dive into a conversation that may make some people uncomfortable
• Hopefully, in this place, you won’t be afraid to talk about race

Speakers:

• Mike Todd
• Tom Todd (Mike’s Todd, aka the Captain)
• Gary McIntosh (The founder of Transformation Church)
• Charles Metcalf

Message Title: The Revolution of Racism

• 1. The Video of George Floyd being Murdered by Minneapolis Police

That disturbing moment went for over 9 minutes.

If you watch that and you’re not messed up by that, hopefully this conversation can help you.

Pastor Tommy’s one word reaction to the video: Anger

Growing up in the South, being 65 years old, it causes anger to know that we haven’t gotten past this point

Pastor Charles’ one word reaction to the video: Fractured

Parts of him that felt broken, that couldn’t be fixed

Pastor Gary’s one word reaction to the video: Horrified

An overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting

Pastor Mike’s one word reaction to the video: Scared

Because that could have been him. With all the progress that has been made in the Earth, there’s a black man who’s a bestselling author, has a successful church, has children in private school, but there’s a moment where nobody asks you all of that. To have a revelation of racism, we have to start at home.

So many of you have taken a risk this week. You have taken steps and have had hard conversations. That’s what’s going to start moving this thing forward and Mike is proud of you.

Even this morning, Mike was afraid to wear a jacket with the anti-theft device still on it. He hasn’t taken it back to the store because he thinks they may assume he stole the jacket.

We have inherited this skin the same way we have inherited sin. Everything we are dealing with right now was inherited, it was started by people who are not alive right now. You didn’t start it, but you can change it.

Exodus 34:7 says that God “[visits] the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” (ESV).

If we’re going to see this generational thing turned around, we need a revolution.

• 2. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: RAISING RACISM

All of us are raised in racism. We can all either feed the monster or starve the monster.

Racism is either experienced, exposed, or silent. Even if you are not exposed to racism, you have the responsibility to explain racism.

If we don’t say something, we raise something (feed it).

• 3. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: REPEATING RACISM

If you don’t address it, don’t be surprised that three months from now, we have another fatality.

We have had 3 fatalities in the last month:  Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd

• 4. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: REMEMBERING RACISM

When did you first hear it, experience it, use it. If we don’t remember it, we act like we’re not a part of it.

For Tommy, his first experience was when he was 8 in Alabama. They stopped at a restaurant and his Dad told him he couldn’t go to the front, they had to go to the side. He asked his dad why, and he told him that they weren’t allowed. The sign above the door said “colored”.

When Tommy was in the 6^th grade, his mother was his teacher, and she told him that him and his siblings would be going to the white school for 7^th grade in 1966. Every day, they had to fight. They didn’t want them there. Every day there was confrontation because integration was new. There were only 10 black kids and everybody wanted to make them feel a certain way. The white kids would drop their books and kick them, causing them to be late, and cause further issues with the teachers. Seniors would hit them as 7^th graders. They wouldn’t go to lunch because it was a constant battle every day.

Even with this experience, Mike has seen his Dad give people grace. Love has been a huge part of forgiveness.

This wasn’t even 50 years ago. When we remember what we’ve been through, we can start from that point.

Gary was raised in all white home and went to an all white high school. During the early 60s when MLK started his marches, he started hearing racial comments from people at school that had come from their parents. He was about 14/15 years old.

He got exposed to other races via sports. It got even more broadened when he moved to Tulsa for University. There was an increase of blacks that started to attend and he got friends who were black. Even his roommate was black, which was a culture shock, because he started in an all white school. One day he woke up and thought it was a fire, but his roommate was actually just pressing his hair. His exposure changed his experience.

If you get exposed to something, it can change your experience.

Even just watching this is an exposure to something different. You can interact with people not like you, and take the risk. It can expose your world.

Bishop’s experience was changed so much, that it changed his future. Bishop has four children, three of them are black. He’s a white man in America with black children.

Gary’s wife had an adoption agency. There were black children becoming available, but nobody would adopt them. Instead, Gary and his wife would adopt them and love them; it was their joy.

Gary’s exposure, caused him to be so intertwined with people because of who they were, not because of the color of their skin.

What changed in Gary’s view racially when he went from being a white man in America, to becoming a white man with black children in America? Gary started to experience racism as a non-white family. It was shocking. It was to a certain extent, though not to the extent of an entirely black family.

For instance, they were at an amusement park. There was a loud conversation. There was a white man addressing his children very aggressively, calling them the n word, ignorant, and so forth. Then his wife started doing the same thing. The guy was big, but Gary knew that he would have had to fight for his children. Not his “black” children, his children. Gary shifted from his character to anger. He was pastoring at the time, but herealized if the guy didn’t stop, he would have to intervene. Then they brought the manager over and the manager sided with the man against Gary’s boys and they kicked them out of the park. Then Gary had to spend the whole day explaining to his kids what happened. They have never been back to that city ever since.

Let’s pray and get empathy for people who have been in a place where they have not been listened to, marginalized, assumed about, etc. They get angry. They are not bad people, they are hurting people. If you hear it from a white man who was in that position, that it made him want to act out of character. This is not a black thing, this is a humanity thing. Pray for the peace of God for people and have empathy for them. This experience didn’t scar them for that trip, it scarred them for life. Remember where racism started for you. It’s easier to act like it doesn’t exist, but you can’t change anything that you never confront.

For Charles, his mom was white and his dad was black. It created an inner tension in Charles where he feels like one half is safe and the other isn’t. Charles was taught that being bi-racial was an advantage and that he could be a bridge for people. When he was 16, he was dating a senior cheerleader, and one day when he got home, his mom was screaming. She calmed down and explained that the girl’s mom called the principle, and all kinds of other people saying that Charles couldn’t date her daughter. It was the first time Charles felt less than for something he couldn’t control.

There was another time when Charles new that a cop was going to pull him and his wife over. What made him unsafe was that he wasn’t white, despite not being “all the way” black.

Someone asked Gary, what would you do if your daughter wanted to date a black man. Gary said, are you serious, nothing? The guy said, don’t you think we should stay with our own kind? Gary said yeah, humankind. The guy said, don’t you think we should stay with our own race? Gary said yeah, the human race. Then Gary flipped it and said what if my black son wanted to marry your white daughter? Then there was just silence.

Some conversations need to just be over.

Psalm 51:10 New International Version (NIV)

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

God can reveal racism when we remember where it started.

• 5. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: REVEALING RACISM

Racism is not worse, it’s just revealed. It’s being revealed because of cell phones.

This is a result of America taking God out of the middle. Not just America, but all over the world. God is revealing it to us right now. What we do from this point is on us.

Ask God to create a clean heart within us. Ask God to reveal anything unclean and cleanse us. Ask for pure motives to be a part of the solution.

We pray that you will see stuff and not be okay with it anymore.

• 6. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: REPENTING FOR RACISM OR REASONING WITH RACISM

If you’re a Christian and you’re reasoning for racism, shame on you. We are called to bring reconciliation. All of us, white and black.

Any evil in your heart has to go.

God is revealing this stuff to us and we have to make a decision.

Romans 12:2 New Living Translation (NLT)

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

The greatest miracle that could happen in your life in 2020 is that you think different. Change the way you think. Change the way you view people that don’t look like you, different ethnicities, different ages, and different communities.

You will not know God’s will for you until you change the way you think.

If you get proper reasoning, it will lead to you repenting. If there’s an ounce of racism in you, you need to turn away from it.

Maybe this is a time where we all have to repent and turn back to God.

Turn to the word of God, not the news and social media. If you’re going to turn to anything, turn to God.

• 7. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: RESPOND TO RACISM

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, it is your job to now respond to racism.

How can people practically and spiritually respond to racism?

First, look at our hearts. Understand that the heart is wicked. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Inspect our hearts. Determine what the fears are that you have. Perfect love casts out all fears. Then you won’t see people as a threat, but as people who have challenges, just as we do. How can we love God who we haven’t seen, then hate our brothers, black, white, Hispanic, whatever the person may be?

Jesus is described as telling the parable in response to the question from a lawyer, “And who is my neighbor?” The parable of the Good Samaritan is a parable told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. It is about a traveler who is stripped of clothing, beaten, and left half dead alongside the road. First a priest and then a Levite comes by, but both avoid the man. Finally, a Samaritan happens upon the traveler. Samaritans and Jews despised each other, but the Samaritan had compassion for him and helps the injured man.

When we look at this story of the Samaritan, the man stayed overnight. He stopped, and then stayed, and also sacrificed. Most of us will stop for a second, and do our little posts about George Floyd. Will you stay though? What are you willing to sacrifice to see someone that doesn’t look like you come into a place of healing and wholeness. This is what loving your neighbor look like.

What can people do to be the ones who respond?

We have to respond in humility. Pride casts the responsibility off of you. Start with humbling ourselves and stop making excuses like, “I have a black friend”.

The Jews believed that the Gentiles were not deserving of grace.

Acts 15:8-10 New International Version (NIV)

8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?

We did not earn our skin colors. There is a humility and understanding that God is the one who wakes you up every morning. God blessed you to be born into your family, to have the job you have.

Have a humility to seek to understand, raise our kids different (raise advocates).

We have to be careful that we don’t give generations our pain, generation after generation. We can learn from our pain and scars, but don’t put it on the next generation.

God is looking for a generation now to overcome the past that was real, to produce a new future. The prayer was, “enlarge my territory” (1 Chronicles 4:10).

• 8. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: RESPONSIBILITY OF RACISM

2 Corinthians 5:8 New Living Translation (NLT)

8 Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.

We have to be reconciled to each other.

We are Christ’s ambassadors. God is making his appeal to the entire world through us. Through what you say, how you text, protest, love, hate, He is making His appeal through us.

We speak for Christ when we plead come back to God. We also speak for Christ when we say we hate other people.

God forbid we take our authority we have as believers and squander it for an Instagram post. God forbid we take our responsibility as Christians because we don’t want anyone to think bad about us.

God forbid that pastors would stand up on their platforms today and not even acknowledge where we are today as a country.

This is not your fault, but it is now your fight.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, white, black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, African, Afrikaan, etc. This is not your fault, but it is now your fight. We have been given a ministry of reconciliation.

We have been given a real responsibility of re-presenting racism.

• 9. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: RE-PRESENTING RACISM

We have to say no longer will this be allowed to stand.

Years ago, Pastor Gary was told by God to “reverse the curse”. Gary wouldn’t be the person he is, if it weren’t for black people in his life. That was his privilege. It wasn’t a responsibility or a good thing he did, it was his joy. He wouldn’t be who he is today if he didn’t obey God. Saying yes to God produced a lot of things in order to create an impact in North Tulsa. People compliment Gary for choosing Mike, but it was an honor for him because God’s hand was on Mike and there was truly no other. Gary is thrilled to be a part of this and the work happening worldwide just for standing with Mike. It was a joy to birth the work in North Tulsa and have an impact. This church has to be a beacon of light in this season of racism. Our life together has to make a statement to the world.

Mike noted that without Gary and Debbie using their privilege to empower, then Mike would not be standing here. He gave Mike his life’s work and trusted him to take it to another level. Mike’s first bank loan was because Gary used his influence, privilege, and power, “he doesn’t have the credit, but I back him”.  Mike thanks Gary publicly for using his privilege and power to give Mike an equal opportunity, so that Mike can now give other people equal opportunities. Gary’s decision produced a diverse staff that looks like heaven.

If you’re a part of this church, and the kingdom of God, you cant be indifferent. You can’t be silent. We have to bear each others burdens

To black people, would you be willing to lay down the validity of your pain to see unity? That will be hard and tough, but if we’re ever going to see racial reconciliation, it will take all of us to change legislation, move things in the spirit, create our own banks, etc.

To all white people, would you be willing to use your privilege to cover the burden of somebody that doesn’t look like you? Would you take your privilege off and put it around somebody else to give them an opportunity for warmth?

1 John 3:17-18 New International Version (NIV)

17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

1 John 4:11-12 New International Version (NIV)

11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Song: “People” by Evan and Eris

Prayers: Link to video timestamps: TBD

Altar Call: Link to video timestamp: TBD

Let’s Pray Together: God, thank you for sending Jesus, just for me. Today, I make you my lord and savior. I believe you lived, died, and rose again just for me. Today, I receive you, change me, renew me, transform me, I’m yours, in Jesus name, Amen.

• Text ‘Saved’ to 918-992-7623 for resources and content to help you to be His devoted disciple

If you need more knowledge, in addition to the Bible, there are other books you can read too.

Books for this time, to understand and be a part of the change:

 Woke Church: An Urgent Call for Christians in America to Confront Racism and Injustice by Pastor Eric Mason:

The Third Option: Hope for a Racially Divided Nation by Pastor Miles McPherson:

The Good Life, What Jesus Teaches About Finding True Happiness by Derwin Gray:

These are all resources that can help you this week. If you need to sit down and watch something to understand the plight of what’s going on, here are a few movies.

Movie List:

The Hate You Give:

When They See Us:

Thirteenth:

These will give you a picture of reality; perspective.

Get “Relationship Goals” the book and study guide today for additional support:

Message Related Merch

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Fulfillment Estimate:

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SUMMARY NOTES

1. The Video of George Floyd being Murdered by Minneapolis Police
2. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: RAISING RACISM
3. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: REPEATING RACISM
4. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: REMEMBERING RACISM
5. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: REVEALING RACISM
6. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: REPENTING FOR RACISM OR REASONING WITH RACISM
7. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: RESPOND TO RACISM
8. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: RESPONSIBILITY OF RACISM
9. The Revolution of Racism has to Address: RE-PRESENTING RACISM

Link to full Video: TBD

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