Group Day - January 2025

Today is Group Day and what that means is we're

launching groups for the term. We believe that that groups

is that piece in our in our four points that

we the four things that we do. That groups is

that that piece that helps us walk in freedom. You know,

we we for for years and years and years, especially

in the Pentecostal Church, we see people come to the

altar and get free, come on somebody, and then end

up bound again by the end of the week because

it's those same lies that the enemy tells. It's the

same pressure that we go back into because we don't

surround ourselves with an environment that helps us walk that

same freedom that we found in the altar. Uh So

that's what groups are all about. Groups are the delivery

mechanism of walking in freedom. In Acts, chapter eight, starting

in verse twenty nine, I want to read to you

it says, now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying,

a raight and go toward the south along the road

which goes down from Jerusalem to go. Now, let me

stop right there for a second. What you need to

understand is that Philip is in white hot revival right now.

What Philip is experiencing in Jerusalem. Is he's preaching. People

are getting saved every day, lives are being transformed. It is.

It is a white hot revival that's happening in Jerusalem.

It's uh. It's church the way everybody wants to experience church.

Every time they come together, God is doing them miraculous

and people are being transformed. And God speaks to Philip

in the midst of this revival, and he says, hey,

I want you to uh. I want you to walk

out of revival, and I want you to go down south.

I want you to go stand in the desert. So

it's one thing if he thinks he's going to Uh

to do something bigger and more glamorous than what he's doing.

But God his positioning him on the road to Gaza

verse twenty seven. So he arose and went and behold

a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace,

the Queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all

her treasury and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was

returning and sitting in his charity. He was reading Isaiah

the Prophet. Then the spirit said to Philip, go near

and overtake this chariot. So Philip ran to him and

heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, do you

understand what you're reading? And he said, how can I

unless someone guides me, And he asked Philip to come

up and sit with him. Father. We thank you for

your word. It's the only change agent on this planet,

and I pray that today it changes us. That is

playing it deep at the fabric of our soul and

brings a harvest of life that revolutionizes the way we are. Lord,

we love you, and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen,

Amen and amen. So uh so Philip is he's he's

left church as we know it, and uh, he walked

out of revival service. Uh. And he's standing by the

road and he's by himself, and this, uh, this chariot

starts coming and and the Lord says, hey, listen, I

want you to go, and I want you to run

by the chariot. I want you to overtake the charity. Now,

obviously Philip didn't look like me. I'm not probably running

and overtaking a chariot, unless maybe it's downhill and I'm

rolling beside it. Come on, somebody, But uh, he says, listen,

I want you to go, and I want you to

overtake the chariot. So Philip is running. He gets beside,

he realizes he's reading the prophet Isaiah, and and he

looks at this, this this Ethiopian unique, this man of

great stature, of great authority, and he says, hey, do

you understand what you're reading? And listen, I want you

to know that here's here's a concept that most of

us have forgotten about in the church. The person looked

back and said, how can I know unless somebody explains

it to me? How can I know unless somebody is

in the chariot with me, going in the same direction

I'm going and can explain it to me. How can

I know? How can that person know how to overcome

the thing that you've already whipped in your life? How

can the person that is trying to figure out how

to how to overcome their very first obstacle in marriage?

Come on, somebody, you know, after that first year, in

that first big light comes over sausage and gravy, whatever

it is, it seems like the world's ending, because whatever

it is, listen, still to this day, my wife and

I's biggest fight in marriage was over making biscuits and gravy.

One morning we were throwing biscuits and gravy and it

was chaos. How can somebody know that that's not the

end and how to overcome those things if they're not

partnering with somebody that's already done it for thirty forty

fifty years. How can somebody that's struggling to parent a

child that's not the easiest child to parent. Now, some

of y'all just looked at your spouse. You shouldn't think

those things about your own kids unless you are partnering

with someone who's already parented a hard to parent child. See,

there's some things in your life that other people need.

And the reaction is that we have been convinced, not

by Church but by society that everything we deal with

is supposed to be easy. It's just supposed to come easy.

And we've brought that into our theology and we say

things like this, Well, if the Lord wants it to happen,

then it'll happen. If the Lord wants it to happen,

bless God, it's going to happen. Let me tell you something.

It's the Lord's will that none should perish, and that

all should be saved. But do people die and go

to hell because you are involved in the equation? The

chariot didn't pull over and invite Philip on. Philip chaste

after the chariot. He pursued the chariot with all the

strength that was in him, with all the speed that

was in him, and still was able to muster the

words to say, Hey, do you understand what you're reading?

See listen? The group may not happen on the night

you wanted to happen. It may not look exactly like

you want it to look, but it's worth chasing after

because somebody has something for you, and you've got something

for somebody. Now, what's what happens in this exchange? Philip

jumps up in the chair. He begins to explain that

this scripture is talking about Jesus, who shouldered the sin

of the world, who brought salvation to the gentiles. Philip

shares this, and this this man gives his heart to

Jesus immediately is baptized, and then something supernatural happens. Philip

is transported back and just instantly back where he was.

And this man carries the gospel to Ethiopia and the

Gospel begins to spread in Ethiopia because Philip understood the

importance and the effort of not allowing people just to

do life alone and him not just standing by the

road in the desert, but putting in the work to

get involved with someone so that they could have a

conversation about the gospel of Jesus Christ. See, we have

to understand that groups are not always easy, and there's

going to be times where you feel like not being

with people. So matter of that, I'm going to talk

about a time where you shouldn't be with people, But

that's very infrequent in our lives. You know, if I

was left to my rathers, I would buy a big

piece of property somewhere in Wyoming, if I could, maybe

two thousand acres, and I would build my house right

at the center point so that nobody could even see

me for miles around, and I could just do whatever

I wanted to do and never have to talk to

anybody except my But I love y'all. I love y'all.

Don't don't get me wrong. I love y'all. But y'all

probably wouldn't invite y'all over for dinner either, you know.

I mean, that's what I want to do. But because

Christ died for me and has given me a mandate

on my life to help other people live life. And

that's not just because I'm a preacher. It's because I'm

a believer. Don't confuse. The call to preach was the

call with the call to be a believer and to

connect with other people. Those are not the same thing.

Every believer is called to connect with other people and

help disciple other people. We're all disciples and disciple makers.

And Philip gets involved and he shares this story and

he did the work. But I don't want to just stop.

He I want to go to First Kings, chapter nineteen.

First Kings, chapter nineteen. It says, so he said, I've

been very zealous for the Lord, God of Hosts, for

the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down

your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I

am left, and they seek to take my life. Then

he said to God. Then he said, go out and

stand on the mountain before the Lord, and behold, the

Lord passed by, And a great strong wind tore into

the mountains and broke the rocks and pieces before the Lord.

But the Lord was not in the wind, and after

the wind and earthquake, but the Lord was not in

the earthquake, and after the earthquake of fire, but the

Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire

a still small voice. So this is the story of Elijah.

Elijah just killed the prophets of bailhad just an awesome

display of the power of God. And he starts feeling

sorry for himself because he withdrew himself from people. He

got afraid because Jezebel said, Hey, I'm gonna kill you,

and he decides to go, and he runs and he hides,

and he comes to the place where he begins to

have a conversation with God, and this is what he

tells God. Hey, God, I'm the only one. I'm the

only one left. God, it's just me by myself. I

don't know what you were doing, but here I am,

and I'm the only one that's going through anything. I'm

surrounded by nothing, and God, I'm just I'm by myself

in this thing. The Lord says, what are you talking about?

Why do you feel like you're important enough to be

the only one that's going through something? Why do you

think you're the only one that's ever been stuck somewhere,

that's ever been afraid, that's ever been on the run.

Why do you feel like you're the only one that's

ever sought refuge in the cave? Why are you? Why

do you think you're the only one that's ever been hungry?

Why do you think you're Why do you think the

reason he thought that is because he was alone? He

was isolated, he was secluded, he was separated from people.

And the moment we start doing life alone, we feel

like we are the only ones. We feel like we're

the only one that's ever been through that. We feel

like the only one that's ever faced this. We feel

like we're the only one that's ever gotten that diagnosis.

We feel like we're the only one that's ever been

talked to like that, the only one that struggles with

Let me tell you something. You're you're alone, and you

feel like you're the only one because you have chosen

to be alone. Now, I just want to say just

I want to speak something I've had. I've had people

that that that have been to our church and left

our church and said, you know, the reason we don't

come to your church aymore is because it's not a

friendly place it's not a friendly place. People are not friendly,

and I agree some of y'all are not Okay, okay,

I mean some of y'all are not the friendliest people. Uh,

but not all of y'all. Not all of y'all are mean.

I mean, not all of y'all are you know or

ragant AND's got your knowed. So some of y'all, but

not all of y'all. As a matter of fact, most

of you are good, friendly people. And if somebody can

leave this place and think that, then they chose to

be alone. All we can do is provide the opportunity

for connection. We can't make connection happen. You may have

to jog by the chariot. You may have to do

some work to get involved. I called Joe last night. Listen,

I want to tell you I'm gonna brag on this church.

I called Joe last night. Joe's mama passed away a

couple of days ago, and I was sitting in my

recliner snow day. I'm on vacation, right, I mean, I'm

just sitting in my recliner. I'm enjoying life and want

to text her. Said, hey, do we need to do

a do we need to do a meal for Joe.

My first thought was I didn't know he was hungry.

I mean, if Joe's starving, yeah, we need to get

something to eat. But I guarantee you who's already talked

to Hamburger out of somebody. So I called him because

I just found out. And he said, listen, I want

you to know my phone has not stopped ringing. He said,

people at the church have called and act on me

and loved on me and prayed for me. He said,

I've been to all kinds of other churches and I've

never had any church call and love on me like

this church has loved on me. I didn't even know

his mama passed away. The pastor, who everybody thinks is

supposed to do the calling right was the last one

that called. Because there's just something about the people here.

But for some reason, some of us choose to do

life alone. We choose to exclude ourselves from the connectivity

that exists in this place, that special anointing that's in

this place. And because we exclude ourselves, we feel lonely,

just like Elijah. But when we continue to read this

passage of scripture, we find out that after he hears

that still small voice, God sends him and he walks

by this field and he finds this young guy plowing oxen,

and he throws his mantle on him and he calls him,

and that young man was Elisha. And when we begin

to see Elijah and Elisha connect, we begin to see

the power of connectivity and the power of groups. And

they begin to do life together, and they go through

these different stations of life, and each place there's an

opportunity for Elishah to disconnect from Elijah. There's an opportunity

for him to go his own way. And Elijah, because

Elijah did life by himself for so long, he looks

at me and says, listen, why don't you just stay here?

He said, no, God has called me to be with you.

And they continue to do life together. And at the

end of Elisha's life, at the end of Elijah's life,

he looks at Elisha and he says, hey, what do

you want? And Elijah says, I want a double portion

of your spirit. I want a double portion of your spirit.

Let me tell you what a double portion is. It's

the anointing in you plus the anointing that's been poured

on you by being in relationship with other peoples. That's two.

And he gets to the end of his life, and

of course the chariot comes and the whirlwind comes, and

the chariot takes Elijah away, and Elisha's left and the

mantle falls, and then we track that story and through

the story of Elijah. He did eight major miracles. Elisha

did sixteen major miracles, exactly twice as much, and he

asked for a double portion. But here is one part

of the anointing that he failed to recognize the importance

of doing life with someone and having close connectivity with someone.

Because when Elisha died, we don't know that he ever

had a mentor or anyone in his life. As a

matter of fact, it's pretty evident he didn't because we

continue to read and there's this strange story that's stuck

in the Old Testament, that's stuck out there. And these

these men were carrying a body out to be buried,

and they're carrying it across the plains, and they see

these marauders coming from a long way away. So instead

of carrying the body and bearing it, they were afraid,

so they just took the body and they threw it

over into a grave. When they threw the body over

into a grave, it hit the bones of Elisha, the

one who chose to do life alone. And when the

body hit the bones of Elisha, the body came back

to life because of the anointing that was in the bones.

He climbed out of the hole and raised the people

back and got back into the city before the marauders

got there. Now here's the thing. We celebrate this cool

miracle that was done. But here's the sad part is

that that anointing was dead and in the hole with

that body because it was never asked on to anybody else.

See if that anointing was alive, what if it had

done thirty two major miracles? What if the next one

had done sixty four major miracles? What happens if we

choose to do life together and the anointing that's in us,

and the wisdom that's in us, and the life experience

that's in us, we pass it on to other people,

and then they pass it on to other people through

the power of groups and connectivity, and pretty soon we

have shared experience from person to person to person to person.

And just because Dean went through something years ago, now

you're faced with it. And because he lived a life

of connectivity, and the anointing that saw him through all

those things now sees you through those things. Because he

shared that life experience and that wisdom and that anointing

with everybody else. That's what groups do. It allows us

to have that shared experience with God that awakens us

to possibility that we never knew were there. Don't allow

it to die with you because you haven't connected. And

in Matthew five, verse thirteen, Jesus says, you are the

salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its flavor,

how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for

nothing but to be thrown out and trapled under foot

by men. Verse fourteen. He's talking to you, cornerstone. You

are the light of the world. A city that is

set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they

light a lamp and put it under a basket, but

on a lamp, stand and give it, and it gives

light to all who are in the house. Let your

light so shine before men, that they may see your

good works and glorify your Father in heaven. He says,

that thing that's in you, stop keeping it to yourself

health and let it shine so that everybody that enters

the house can see the light that's on the inside

of you. Jesus says, the most important thing you can

do is open your life to others and do life

together so that they can see, so that they can

be navigated by the hope that rest in you, the

experience that rest in you, the anointing that rests in you,

the call that rests in you. And we access those

things and we share those things in the context of groups.

And I know what you're saying. Oh, yeah, I'm just

so busy that I can't be in a group this term,

but next turn, Oh for sure, in the fall, I'm

gonna start a group. I'm gonna be in a group. No,

you're not. You've been saying that for six years. How

long we've been doing groups. Some of else still ain't

in one. For six years, you've been saying next time,

next time, next time, get up and run by the

cherry at this time, get up and engage your life

with other people and see what it does. Now, here's

how you find Patrick Clay, you guys could come back.

Here's how you find a group. You hopefully you've already

got the Church Center app on your phone. If you

don't have the Church Center app on your phone, the

best way to find a group is to download the

Church Center app on your phone. Now, listen, it's not

a trick. I'm not cross marketing anything here. It's not like, oh,

I'm gonna get the church Center app on my phone

and suddenly I'm starting to pull money out of your

bank account. That's not the way it works. Although you

can give through it, but that's not the way it works.

We're not putting spyware. I don't know if y'all go

into the club secretly. I'm not watched sitting at home

with everybody's phone. I'm watching y'all knows. It's a portal

of access for you to do the four things that

we do. So you go to church Center types Church

Center in the Google Store or the Apple store what's

it called, the Apple store? App store app? Leave the

all off, just the app store, and you download it,

and then you're gonna put in the zip code and

then you're gonna find our church. You've seen our logo,

you picked that one, and that's it. Then you're gonna

set it up. But then you can go and there's

a group's portal there. It's a little circle that's down

at the bottom. You hit that and all the groups

for this term are listed there. There's there's one group

that's probably gonna come online that's not there. I'm excited

about it. But we probably will be having a children's

group on Wednesday evenings. It's not listed on there yet.

Still work it out some details. So if if you

see me looking at you and headed towards you after service,

that might mean I feel like your call to that.

Come on somebody. But but you can. You can scroll

through there and it's a list of the groups. Uh

there's a beautiful picture of Wanda Walker right there. Uh,

so you know who Wanday is. There's there are there

are some groups. The so breat Recovery Group is has

a to be determined to date on it because we

don't know a start date on that yet, but it

is coming online. And then Pastor Clay and I. Now

I don't know that we've ever done a group that's

cloth that has a limited seating like this, but Pastor

Clay and I's group there's only room for at this

point five more people in it. So there it's a

limited number of people because some of the things we're

gonna be doing in the group, there's just a limited

number of people. And I'm just gonna be honest with you.

Cayla knows how the system works, so she knew that

we were not gonna put it up the day off,

so she went in early and she registered for the

group and took one of the spots that people would

normally fight for. But she's already in there because it's

the first come, first serve, so there's five spots left

on that. It's about personal leadership, time management, those kind

of things. If you're interested in that, you need to

be involved in that group. But go find a group.

Here's the remark thing. If you can't find a group

you like. If you look at that and you're like,

I can't stand one single group leader that's listed there,

a bunch of bums. If that's how you feel, start

a group. Come talk to me by next Sunday and

start a group. If you're like, well, I just I

believe the Lord has called me to play ultimate frisbee

and there's not an ultimate Frisbee group. So I got

to go to another church, either go to another church

and find an ultimate Frisbee group, or start an ultimate

Frisbee group. If you're like, hey, I live my life,

and every day of my life, I wake up and

I want to teach the Book of Jude. My whole

life is dedicated to the Book of Jude. Start a

Book of Jude group. It's got one chapter. It's got

one chapter. But I'm sure you're gonna do it great

for a couple of weeks, and then you'll be figuring

out John or some of those other books too. But listen,

whatever you want to do, you have the freedom to

start a group. All you need to do is go through. Engage,

complete engage, right Caleb, Listen, Caleb, I love you man,

Caleb Kane. He's found his place. You are thriving and

engage working on Antoinette's team. He's excite, smiling all the time.

Because we believe if you do these four things, experience God,

walk in freedom, groups, find your place, engage, that you'll

live with purpose. And we believe purpose is life. It's

that John chapter ten, verse him the thief comes only

to to steal and to destroy. But I have come

that you may have life and have it more abundantly

when we live a purpose filled life. It's the abundance

that Jesus was talking about, and part of that is

finding a group, everybody standing with me all over the building.

There are times where you withdraw, where you seek the Lord.

We see Jesus model this principle that the only time

Jesus spent alone was what he would withdraw for personal prayer,

time to seek the Lord. But everything else Jesus did

was public. He was found guilty of a crime that

he did not comment. He was turned over to be crucified,

and in the midst of crowds of people, he was

never angry, and he never condemned. He carried the instrument

of his death through those dusty streets of Jerusalem, as

the people shouted, mocked him, spit on him, cursed him.

He walked up the incline of Calvary, and he laid

down on that old rugged cross. He allowed men to

drive nails through his hands and feet, and suspended, in

public a bridge between heaven and earth. He looked into

that crowd and he said, Father, God, forgive them, for

they know not what they do. And his words echo

to today. Doesn't matter where you've been, it doesn't matter

what you've done, Jesus desires to forgive you. He looked

into heaven and with one final breath said, Father, into

your hands, I commit my spirit. And he died and

in a borrowed tomb for three days. As that stone

rolled away and he emerged victorious over death, hell and

the grave. He made possible your salvation, to restore fallen

man to Holy God, to bring hope and destiny and

purpose into your life, to forgive you of your trespasses.

And all you need to do is ask. So with

every head bowed and every eye closed, if you're here today,

you would say, Pastor, I want to I want to

give my life to Jesus today, the one who died

for me, but more importantly, the one who loved me

so much that he didn't stay dead. He whipped death,

that he came back to life for me. I want

to give my life to that Jesus. If that's you,

just slip your hand up, say that's my pastor, pray

for me. Thank you, Jesus, Thank you, Jesus, Thank you Jesus.

Every eye open, every head looking around, let's worship together.

Listen on your way out. Right outside that door, there's

a if you just if you just refuse to get

on board with technology, and you just refuse to my

phone that doesn't flip open. Amen. I mean there's a

board out there that has all the groups on it,

so you can see the groups there too, find out

when they meet. Pick one, two, three, and visit them,

and pick the one you like the best, and keep

going to it. It'll change your life because God meant

you to do life together, not alone. Let's worship together.

M