Walk This Way - Week 3

Amen. Amen, we're gonna finish up our series walk this way this morning

about walking in freedom. We do four things here. We experience God,

walk in freedom, find our place so that we can live with purpose.

Those four things we just kind of narrowed it down, and that's kind of

our groove. That's what we do. And we know that there's churches that

in other places that are called to other things, but that's our thing,

that's what God has called us to do. And together we function with the

other, with the other churches in the community, not the community, but

in the world to be the body of Christ. And we're so privileged to

be a part of that. And we can be so much more helthy if

each and every member of the body is walking in freedom. And we believe

the way you walk in freedom is that you surround yourself with a support structure

that can lift you up, that can pray for you, that can hold

you accountable, that can can do those things for you your life. And

there's so many different needs. Listen, if we counted all the needs in

this place, they're probably more various than the number of people that are here

this morning. Amen. I mean, let's just say how many of you

you think you have more than one need. Raisier, so definitely more yeah,

yeah, yeah, definitely more needs than there are people in the room.

We all have different concerns, we all have different things that our minds

are on. We all watch different news channels come on somebody. Depending on

what news channel you watch, you may worry about different things, and all

of those things weigh on our minds. And we're here as a body of

believers to support each other. Listen to me, I want you to hear

this from your pastor. We're here to support you and all of your spiritual

needs as well as the other needs in your life. You know, that's

the thing is that Jesus met holistic needs. He didn't just preach, but

he also fed the hungry. He also had those conversations and empowered people to

leadership. He he pulled people aside and one on one individually ministered to the

brokenness down at the depths of their heart. And then he taught people to

surround themselves with other people that are like minded in order to uh to meet

those needs. So don't ever forget that that that it's not it's not just

about spiritual needs. We're spiritual people. So that means every need has a

spiritual connection. Shaking somebody's hand and smiling and connecting in fellowship. That's justice

spiritual as singing or preaching or anything else. Amen. Amen, And oh

yeah, don't forget that that tonight at six o'clock. If you're interested in

if you're just worried about things about the way the world's going and and you

want to know that, maybe you're you're you're you're thinking, hey, I

started seeing some supply chain tightening up and things like that. I'm gonna talk

tonight, not a not a church thing, don't music. I'm just gonna

We're just gonna talk about, you know, storing food, how to do

that, what the store, the most economic way to do those things.

So if that's you come, Hey, If that's not your deal, don't

come. Amen, no big deal. If you don't want to do that,

don't do that. If you want to do that, I'll help you

with the knowledge that I have. But we're gonna get together. We'll spend

maybe an hour together. You can ask questions and do all that stuff.

So that would be fantastic. So love you guys, six o'clock. Don't

roll in at six fifteen because at six I'm starting. You know, we

that that's one thing that we like to do around here is respect your time

by starting on time. Amen. You know, if we say we're gonna

start at eleven, bless god, we're starting at eleven. We had a

when I was a youth pastor. We were leaving to go on a beach

trip and I told everybody, I said, listen, we're leaving at six

forty five am. The bus is pulling out at six forty five, so

be here at six point thirty so we can get your junk loaded. And

at six forty five we're leaving. So we get up. And then our

senior pastor at the time, he came and listen. He prayed so long.

I don't know if he didn't think we were gonna make it or what,

but he prayed like a twenty minute prayer before we left. And it

put me off. It put me late, and so it was like five

minutes till and we get on the bus and we start out and this this

family, this car comes and pulls in sideways in front of the bus.

Ain't from the bus. They're jumping out there. Where do you do with

you here? You knew we were signed up to go. I said yeah,

but we're leaving. I said, we're leaving this sex forty five.

It's six point fifty five. But well, we're not late. I said,

yeah, you're ten minutes late. And they said only ten minutes late.

And I like, yes, if you thirty seconds late, you're late.

We do everything we can to respect your time, and I want you

to do the same for everybody else in your life. Amen. With people

think, hey, when you talk about Cornerstone, your boss should be like,

wow, you know that person is always early to work. Come on,

somebody. Don't be that person that logs in, clocks in late,

or calls somebody says, hey, can you clock in for me because I'm

late again today? Get up and get there early. Amen, good spiritual

Prince. Well, if you want to raise, if you want a promotion,

be early, not late. That's all. Free had nothing to do

with the message today. Luke, Chapter twenty two. Luke Chapter twenty two.

Starting in verse one, let's start in verse fourteen. Let's don't start

in verse one. Let's start verse fourteen. I won't get done if we

started verse one. Luke, Chapter twenty two, Verse fourteen, when the

hour had come, he sat down in the twelve apostles with him. Then

he said to them, with fervent desire, I have desired to eat the

Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I will

no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.

Then he took the cup and gave thanks, and said, take this and

divide it among yourselves, for I say to you, I will not drink

of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes. And he

took the bread, gave thanks, and broke it and gave it to them,

saying, this is my body which is given for you. Do this

in remembrance of me. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper,

saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for

you. Behold, the hand of my betrayer is with me on the table.

And truly the son of man goes as it has been determined. But

woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. Father, I thank you

for your mercy and your grace. But I thank you for who you are

and all that we can be in you. You so right now I pray

that your word would take root deep at the fabric of our being, would

sprout into a harvest of life. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

No, this is what we know is the Last Supper. We've labeled

this the Last Supper. And Jesus is there with his twelve closest friends at

the time, and one of them is even the betrayer. Judas is there

with Jesus as this is going on, but Jesus still counted him as one

of the twelve. You know, sometimes we just have rascals in our lives.

Amen. We may not know it, or we may know it,

but we have them in our lives because we know who they are and we

want to be close to them so that maybe we can rub off on them.

Come on, somebody, and the crazy thing here is this is the

picture of group life. This is the picture of what it is to be

in a group. They were together and they were just simply doing life together.

We use that term around here a lot. Just we want you to

do life together. We want you to do life together. All of these

people except for one that was at this table was a Jew, every one

of them, so they were all going to eat Passover. They were all

gonna partake of the Passover meal because that was their custom, that was their

tradition. Some of you were looking at me like most assuredly, Luke was

also there, and Luke was not Jewish. Luke was not a jew.

Luke was actually a gentile physician. So that's why I said that. So

some of your looking like what as he talked abou he's lost his mind?

But no, that's my opinion of those people that follow Jesus. So when

we look at this table, at these people that were gathered together, they're

just simply doing what they were going to do anyway. They were just doing

it together. That's what we mean when we talk about doing life together,

that I just do what I was going to do anyway, but I invite

some other people along and we do that together, eating and bonding and sharing

life. This was the hardest moment of Jesus' life. This was the eve

of his death, the eve of his brutalization. This was the time where

if Jesus wanted to do something else, this was the time that he should

have done it, but he couldn't think of anything better than to spend it

with the people that he had surrounded his life with and chose to do life.

For three years, these men were together and they talked, and they

spoke, and they lifted each other, and they corrected one another, and

they did all those things. And here at this table, it's the most

pure look of what our lives should look like in Christian community and in the

fellowship of groups like minded people gathered together to do what God had called them

to do. Groups provide you the ability to share your life and to participate

in life with other people. It drives out the loneliness effect and as a

built in support system. You know, I hope that there are people in

my life and I'm in people's lives that even the night before the hardest day,

they could imagine that they would still want to share that meal with me.

You know, I hear this question asked all the time. What would

you eat if you knew you were having the last meal you were ever going

to have? What would you eat? And I thought about this for years

and I thought, you know, it wouldn't really be about what I eat,

because I mean, I weigh over three hundred pounds. It don't matter

what I eat. It all tastes good. Come on, somebody. I

mean, it's food, but who would I eat it with? Who were

those relationships that in the in the moment, that I would care to share

those last hours with. Think about that. In your life. Have you

have you engaged in spiritual life? Have you in engaged in fellowship to the

point where there are people right here that you choose to do life with and

that you have gotten so close to them and so connected with them that you

would choose to spend your last hours with them. So we talk about the

culture of groups, and it's common for us to do groups. But now

it's time to go to the next level. Come on, somebody. Bible

says we should always be transformed from glory to glory, from faith to faith,

that there's always another level, that there's always a new depth, that

it's time to go to the next level. If you've been participating in group,

now it's time to go to the next level and engage in life a

little bit deeper with those people and invite some people. Listen. There may

be somebody that you walk by here every single week and you think, hey,

you know that looks like a nice person, or maybe you think that

person just looks like a rascal. That person reminds me of Judas. I

probably need to invite them to my group, because maybe I could make the

difference. But if there's somebody here and you walk by them and you would

just like to have a conversation, you'd like to get to know that person,

better, invite them to the group you're plugged into. Invite them to

the group, and that eases the transition for them in you, so that

you don't have to carry conversations with a brand new person all by yourself.

And maybe, hey, you're not in a group. Maybe you haven't jumped

into group life and connected at that level yet. But there are people that

you see that you're like, Hey, that person looks nice. I like

to connect with that person. Start a group, Listen to start a group.

Some of you are like, I can't be a group leader. I

can't I don't know how to I haven't been to Bible college. I don't

know how to teach, I don't know how to listen. Let me give

you the qualification. If you know how to have people over, now you

know how to invite somebody over to the house. You know who I'm talking

about. You folks. You know you'd like to have your folks over.

You have your friends over, who'll come over watch a ball game? If

you know how to have people over, if you know how to smile,

if you know how to not make everybody then your life mad, you could

lead a group. If you make everybody in your life mad, start a

group for angry people. Amen, At least you'll give them something to be

angry about and connect with people you know. Maybe maybe maybe English is not

your first languag which start a group surrounded by people that speak your first language.

Maybe you like to cook and that's really all you like to do.

You just like to cook. Two groups possible. There people other people that

like to cook, or a group of people that like to eat. But

Jesus, in his last moments, chose to spend life with people. Yes,

now, now listen, I'm not stepping on toes. I'm just giving

you the reality of what it says here. You know there are It doesn't

say Jesus, Mama was here. Joseph wasn't there. He chose to spend

that last moment with the people he connected with at a life level that he

knew he had supported and that had supported him. That's what groups are about.

It's about doing life together. Let's keep reading, though, Luke,

chapter twenty two. Let's jump to twenty four. Now there was also a

dispute among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And

he said to them, the kings of the gentiles exercise lordship over them,

and those who exercise authority over them were called benefactors. But not so among

you. On the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him

be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For

who is greater he who sits at the table, or he who serves?

Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you

as the one who serves. Seeing group, there's there's accountability. Jesus took

this opportunity that, in the context of this relationship and the process of doing

life, that this dispute a rose. Now Jesus had talked to them about

these issues before. This was not a brand new thing. Jesus was dealing

with these guys. They quarreled, and they got upset with one another.

Listen, that's life, that is life. Quit thinking that you're so important

that everybody needs to operate on eggshells and make you happy. You're not that

important. Just do life. If you get swelled up about it, tell

somebody it made you mad, and work through it. Jesus took this opportunity

to hold them accountable. As they began to jockey for position and talk about

who was important, Jesus said, no, already told you, we're not

doing this. You know it's not right to argue about who's the greatest,

who's the greatest, who's the greatest? Because I know y'all and listen,

if I wasn't about to go to the cross, ain't none of y'all being

in charge? I bet he was thinking that right then. I know that's

what I'd be thinking as a leader. Can't believe tomorrow's the day and this

is what I get. But he held them accountable. He pulled them into

a hard conversation, and he held them adheer's noble to the things that were

right, And you need people in your now. See, here's the thing.

This is what we think we need. Yes, I do need to

be part of a group so that I can make people right. We need

to be in a group so people can hold us accountable so people can point

out the right thing in our lives. And do you know that if we

really understood I'm talking about humanity, if we really understood the power and the

context of relationship, we could solve a lot of the problems that our society

faces. But we want to try to solve problems. We want to try

to fix things from a platform with a microphone rather than in a room at

a table, building relationship so that we can speak to the dark, hard

things of life, so that when those things are said, it resonates because

we've already built an opportunity and an atmosphere for care. You don't fix things

screaming about them. You fix things sitting side by side and having a quiet,

gentle conversation with the people that you've already established life with. And that's

what Jesus did. He said, listen, guys, man, we've talked

about this. I know what you think, but here's the reality. I'm

sitting right here and I came to serve. So that's the way accountability lifts

us up and takes us to a new level because it allows us to see

a new perspective on the issues that have vexed us for years and years and

years. Sometimes. I had a conversation with a young man not long ago,

and I got through talking and he looked at me and he said,

you know what, I can see that. I can see that now.

I had just heard him have this conversation with two other people, and he

thought to have his way put to set aside and talk with somebody that he

was in relationship with and explain that, hey, there's another perspective here,

just to say, oh, yeah, I can see that. I can

see that side of things now. You know, my wife can talk to

me about things that I'm just obstinate and hardheaded about. Amen. Yes,

I'm admitting sometimes, very rarely. Most of the time she is very rarely,

I am, But she can have a conversation with me because she's earned

the right to have a conversation with me about things that I see the wrong

way. Amen. You know, somebody asked me. I don't even remember

who it was. I think it was Spencer. Spencer was standing around.

I just looked at Spencer and saying, hey, will you go do so

and so and so and so and so and so, And he said yeah,

and he just took off and went and did it. And this person

that I was talking to let me. He said, how do you get

people just to do whatever you asked them to do? I've noticed that every

time you ask somebody to do something, they just they do it. How

how do you get them to do that? And my response was, well,

I only ask the people that I know we're going to do it.

But the reason I know they're going to do it is because I have poured

my life in and built relationship and have established relational collateral for years. We've

done life together for years. So when I ask, it's never manipulative.

It's just simply that there is an investment, and then that is the return

on that investment. And that's what accountability does. That allows us to have

the hard conversations with people that change life because we've invested over years and years

and years. Luke, Chapter twenty two, verse thirty one. And the

Lord said, Simon Simon, I reasonly wish I could just break this passage

down to you so you could see what was happening, But I'm not going

to do that. And the Lord said Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan

has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat but I've prayed for

you that your faith should not fail, and when you've returned to me,

strengthen your brethren. But he said to him, Lord, I am ready

to go with you both to prison and to death. Then he said,

I tell you, Peter, the the rooster shall not crow this day before

you'll deny me three times that you even know me. See, group is

where revelation happens. It's where those invisible things are revealed in our lives,

those things that we don't know. Jesus is there and he makes this revelation

right there at that table. At the last he makes this revelation to Peter.

He says, listen, the devil asks for you. The devil has

asked for you. He wants to sift you as sweet. Hey, but

I want you to know that I'm praying for you. Now. First of

all, the devil had to ask Jesus, and Jesus didn't say no.

I just want to point that out, Okay, if I was having a

conversation with Jesus and he said, hey, Satan has asked for you.

He wants to sift you a sweet But don't worry. I'm praying that your

faith wouldn't fail. My response back that you will be Why don't you just

say no, you can't have him. But Jesus was teaching revelation and prayer

that when we reveal things, maybe you see something in someone's life that they

don't see. Maybe you see that, Hey, you know, every time

somebody says something to you that you don't agree with, you get this defensive,

angry body language that turns people off. And that might be why you

don't have any real close friends in your life. But I'm going to pray

for you that the Lord would soften that and fill you with his peace,

grace, and his mercy. But see, it's in the context of groups

where that revelation happens about our lives, about what's surrounding us and what's going

on in us. And then when that revelation comes and it's immediately met with

the prayer covering, that's when change happens. That's when comfortability happens with a

group, when we find out something we didn't know about ourselves and then immediately

there's people enough, people that care enough to start praying for us. See,

it's one thing when we know it's wrong and we bring that to them.

It's almost as if they're obligated to pray. After all, we live

in the South. It doesn't matter from saint to heathen. If you tell

somebody something's wrong, they'll always say, oh, man, I'll pray for

you. Ah, we'll be thinking about you. The indication there is that

there's an obligatory response that when I tell you I have a problem, you're

supposed to show some level of sympathy in thoughts or prayers. But when you

find out something that you didn't even know was happening, and somebody points out

something you didn't even know about, but they said, hey, I'm praying.

Pray that your faith wouldn't fail, Pray that you make it through it.

Pray that you don't get trapped right here, and praying that bitterness doesn't

set up bitter root, bitter fruit. Praying that that that unforgiveness doesn't take

over your life. Hey, I'm praying that. I'm praying that that you

don't get sidetracked, that your eyes don't get moved from the prize. As

a matter of fact, not only am I praying now, but I've been

praying for two weeks. It's been waiting on an opportunity to share this with

you. Powerful things happen in group. Powerful things happen when believed come together

and do life together, more powerful than an assembling in a corporate setting like

this sanctuary. If you want the full experience of walking with Christ, you

must walk with Christ with others. Pastor Clay can come and get ready,

Luke chapter twenty two, verse thirty five. And he said to them,

when I sent you out without money, bag, knapsack, and sandals,

did you lack anything? So they said nothing. Groups are where we get

the encouragement for the hard times. Hey, hey, do you remember do

you remember when you didn't have anything and the Lord showed up and provided Hey,

do you remember when you was going through that and you didn't think there

was anybody in the world you could talk to? And then, you know,

old past Shade, he pulled you aside in group and he just asked

you how you were doing and gave you an opportunity to pour your life out.

Hey, do you remember when when you didn't think you had enough money

to get home from church and Dean walked by and gave you a twenty dollars

bill. See, when we do life together, we find out those little

miracles that happened in our lives that sometimes we forget about. But when we're

open and we share, group becomes a place of incur uragement because people point

out the things we forgot, those memorial stones that maybe got covered by the

water in our lives, but that are still so visible and shining so bright

to others that they will remind us and encourage us in a time where we

didn't. We can't, we thought we wouldn't. Just that little bit of

encouragement to help us get through. You know, Jesus reminded him of that

because he knew what was coming. Glenn, if you guys would go ahead

and get commune and ready. You know, all this happened over over that

table at the Last Supper, the communion moment. Other things happened in that

room. Also, Jesus washed his disciples feet. John writes that listen,

John really, really, really had a great relationship with Jesus. John even

refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. You know, I think

that's a testimony of how they did life together. You know, if you

ask Clint and Sean and Pastor Clay and Spencer. These guys been with me

forever, like I still had dark hair and was skinny. If you got

him in a group, said hey, which one of y'all's pastor Steve's favorite,

and I'll say I am. Every one of them would say I am,

but we all know it's Clint. Oh did I say the quite far

out loud? I'm sorry. But here's the amazing thing is that I celebrate

the fact of where these men are in life. These men changed the way

I look at ministry forever because when I first came as the youth pastor,

these were all students in the youth ministry. And what got me pumped up

and what I got so excited about was making an altar call and how many

people fell, how many people would fall on the ground. That's what I

loved. As a matter of fact, we would have our our service success

meetings and one of the metrics was how many people fell, how many people

were out in the spirit. We only had eleven. We can get twenty

this week, and I'm pushing people down. But that part of the miserses

what got me so excited. But doing life with these guys change the way

I view real ministry because I begin to see them grow and develop, have

relationships and get married or plan to get married, start having children, and

I began to reshape the way I thought about ministry that it's not about the

moment, It's about the journey. It's about the journey. Group shaped me

into who I am doing life with these young men, with Blake, with

so many of you, who who I've spent so much time with shaped.

That's what group is supposed to do, is supposed to shape who we are.

And Jesus chose this group moment to do one of the longest standing traditions

of our faith communion. It was formative in that moment, transformative in that

moment where he said, this is the time right now, sitting around the

table, guys are arguing the Devil's asking for Peter. I mean, you

know, now, now's the greatest time for me to throw this doctrine,

this doctrinal moment, this theological moment right now. Everybody else saw it as

chaos, but not Jesus. Because Jesus gets in the middle of our lives.

He wants you to get in the middle of people's lives and in the

middle of life. Transformation happens. It was it that context that Jesus uttered

the words that echo to this moment, these words two thousand years old,

this is my body broken for you. That it didn't happen on the sermon

on the Mount surrounded by thousands, happened in that room with just a few.

Because real change happens in the context of life. I think we should

show some appreciation for the magnitude of the moment, have a little bit of

understanding of what surrounded this moment to Jesus, he wasn't just broadcasting this to

his church, but the first time he was sharing it with his friends.

Everybody, hold the bread, Lord Jesus, today you call us friend.

You choose to share this moment with us. Bless This wafer represents your body

broken for us. We thank you. But you've put us in a place

surrounded by exceptional people for a moment and a time such as this. We're

grateful. Let's receive the wayfer together. No taste, it persists the sinless

life of Jesus. Then he took that cup. You know, most likely

Jesus passed a single cup and they all drank from it. Another level of

doing life together that most of us. Don't do you know? I don't

even drink after my kids, do I. That's the level that Jesus did

life with these men. Father, blessed this cup your blood spilled for us.

Jesus. We do this in remembrance of you, in this moment where

you're calling us deeper with you and with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Let this be the moment where we realize that we need other people doing life

with us. Thank you for the blood that washes away our sin. In

Jesus' name. Amen, let's receive the cup together. If you would stand

with me. If you're here today and you don't know for sure that things

are right between you and the Lord. Maybe you've never asked him to forgive

you of your sins to be the lord of your life. Maybe you've done

things you're carrying guilt and shame. You know sin has separated you from them

the way things should be with the Lord. But if you don't know that,

you know that, you know that, you know that everything is perfect

with you and the Lord. I'm gonna give you an opportunity to come.

Our alter team is gonna come one more time quickly, and they're gonna pray

for you. If you're here today, you say, Pastor Steve, I

want to make things right with the Lord. Little count to three. When

I get to three, I want you to step out and make you way

to the front. Find one of our altar team. They want to pray

for you. Listen. When I get to three, the band's gonna play.

You're not coming, you're worshiping, but count of three, one,

two, three, step out and come right now. Know when you leave

here that all things are well with your soul.