The Shepherd's Family | Why You Need Christian Community | Covenant Family

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Today's talk comes from Pastor Chris Ball.

We have been talking about something really important.

Don't talk about something in church that's not really important.

Covenant family.

A big phrase to say that I believe church is meant to be family, that that's God's plan.

We have a saying around Souza that if God wanted his church to be something other than a family, he would have called himself other, something other than father.

That is the term.

So more than anything else, and he is God, a lot of things, isn't he?

He's savior, he's Lord, he's king, he's warrior, he is the one who goes before you and behind you.

But the most significant thing that God is is our Father.

And we have invitation into the family, making us sons and daughters, brothers and sisters.

The metaphor that Jesus seemed to love, to use as he explained and described this, was sheep, shepherds, um, in the flock, and that he, Jesus, is the great shepherd, and that we are sheep in the flock.

And so uh I don't know if you do agriculture, I don't know if you're in 4-H or any of that, but all that to say uh if you put your mind in perhaps an early um church person's position, they would have understood greatly when Jesus uh used the metaphor that we are like sheep and and he and he's the shepherd.

And so just wanted to kind of turn our minds to that as we talk about the shepherd's family for a minute tonight.

Um we've talked a lot, in fact, about family.

Uh you might be thinking, do you talk about anything other than family?

You you seem to harp on this, and that's on purpose.

Uh as we have been really laying a groundwork and a foundation of culture, if there's something that we really want to get in us, it's the idea that we're not an organization alone, that we are an actual family.

And if we start to sense that we're not, then that's the area that we want to start to adjust and make a little bit of change.

Because if we're not a family, then we're something else.

Uh, but we're not the church.

And so so being that we are strung out across you know an area and we don't all live in the same walking distance of neighborhood, that takes some intentionality to do that.

And so the word I'm hearing as I'm thinking about family and covenant family and sheep belonging to a flock is everybody.

Hearing the word everybody.

Uh we want everybody who currently calls or will call this group, family, to have a circle that they fit in, that they belong in.

Um it's possible that in a group this size, you say, yeah, it's it's easy to know everybody's name, to feel like I recognize everybody's face.

Um but the truth is, even in a group like this, you can't really go deep, be transparent, be known.

Um I mean, even if we each prayed for each other, do you know how long that would take you to pray for each person in here?

Like you can't take on that many prayer projects.

Not really.

You can do some blanket praying, you can throw, oh God, everybody, you know, and throw throw some big general terms, but you gotta have a circle.

You have to have a small group.

So we've talked some about that.

Um we want to hold us to an opportunity for growth, for community, and for accountability.

And I'll say this about accountability: it's a good word.

It's like the word repentance.

Repentance is a good word, it's not a bad word.

If somebody says, you just need to repent, what it's meant to be is actually come back up to the penthouse, to the very highest level of thought, the right place of thinking, thinking like God thinks.

So repentance is a good word, and so is accountability.

Accountability is not, hey, um, read us your resume, your report card, of all the bad stuff you did, so we can, you know, hey, stop doing that, bad boy.

That's not what accountability is.

Accountability is actually you giving account of all of your ability.

And you're like, hey, I want to be somebody in your circle that holds you accountable, which means I'm gonna be aware of your abilities and I'm gonna count.

You got that ability, and you got that ability, and you got that ability, and so I want to call you up to the standard that you're able to live, accountability.

And so that's where we need the circles at.

Uh, because in that circle of family, you come to know that you really matter to God.

And you really matter to other people.

It's essential.

And this is actually church.

We want to make sure that everybody, there's the word, everybody, is connected in circles of community and growth and accountability.

And if everybody gets into that zone, then I believe we're gonna strengthen as a family.

Um, Dane always quotes uh Banning Leapscher to me.

He says, uh, healthy things grow.

If it's healthy, it grows.

Healthy things find a way to grow.

They can't help it.

Uh too many weeds in my yard are healthy.

They're gonna find a way to grow no matter what I do to try to get them to do otherwise.

Healthy things just grow.

So we want us all to envision ourselves as healthy sheep in a well-kept flock with a good shepherd named Jesus.

And John 10, 27, yeah, the chapter, John 10, is really um Jesus' big metaphorical output of be uh a flock of mine.

And so verse 27 says, My sheep, you've heard this perhaps, they hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.

So three phrases with so much packed in that they hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me, is the idea when you're a part of the family.

So it's an everybody thing, it's a big flock, but it's also got an individual touch where the good shepherd is saying, I actually know you in the middle.

I mean, it's the whole leave the 99 to go after the one.

So the family at large is of great importance to the father, but so is the individuals that make up the family to the father.

And when you're in a circle with some people that know you and you know them, you discover how much you actually matter to the good shepherd and to the people that are also your fellow sheep, and that's vital, and that's really the way that's discovered.

You can be told that, and it can kind of hit the mark, but when you discover that, that's a bigger deal.

My sheep hear my voice.

And so that kind of relationship and opportunity is on the table for anybody that wants it.

Um, in other words, they'll go into the house, they'll go out into the world, they'll find what we're all looking for, a place to belong, um, and uh where we're fed, where things are in order, where our lives are where they're supposed to be.

Um I've mentioned this probably before, but I'll say it again because it was the first time in my life that I realized how important belonging to a smaller group is.

I was a freshman at UNT in Denton, Texas, and I was in a 8 a.m.

English class.

I later quit doing all the 8 a.m.

things.

I was a freshman, I didn't know any better.

And I almost had a panic attack because I had never experienced before feeling like such a fish out of water when it came to being known.

Because I felt like I'd always been known.

I had a posse of friends, I had people who, you know, checked on me or called me or invited me socially.

Like that part of my life had a good check mark on it.

And now here I am up in Denton, Texas, from Austin, which isn't that far, but felt like I might as well have been on the moon.

And going around, everybody's doing the first day of class kind of thing.

Who are you?

What's something interesting about you?

And I'm like petrified.

I'm like, why am I petrified?

I'm a more confident guy than this.

I mean, I'm 18, maybe I'm not all the confidence I thought I was, but I thought I was further along than I was.

And this girl next to me, she said, Well, I'm so and so, and I'm from Austin, and she mentioned a radio station that I'm like, I don't love that radio station, but I know it.

And when she said it, it was like the smallest little tweak of adjustment that made me think I belong.

I fit because I know what she's talking about.

Somebody in this room, in this city, in this county, I actually know, I can relate to what they're saying.

Such a small, insignificant thing made such a significant shift in my heart of deep breath, I actually belong here.

If you feel like you don't belong, the world stands still.

And so having circles inside of the family of God becomes a vital piece of the equation.

Every one of us today is being led by somebody, and Jesus is saying, I'm the good shepherd, and my sheep, I know them, they hear my voice, and they actually follow me because they recognize my voice.

So the first question today is the good shepherd leading my life?

Because something's leading your life.

And probably most of us are far enough along in the game to know that.

But a heart check is in order to realize, is there another voice I'm actually listening to?

Um, all right, gonna read a chunk of scripture and then and then unpack it a little bit.

John 10, verse 1.

John 10:1

I'm gonna read this with as much inflection as I can so you don't get 18 verses is a lot, so hang with me.

Here we go, ready?

Very truly I tell you, Pharisees, this is Jesus, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.

The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice.

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

And when he was brought out, all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.

But they will never follow a stranger.

In fact, they will run away from him because they don't recognize a stranger's voice.

Jesus used this figure of speech, uh, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

Therefore, Jesus said again, like starts over with them, Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.

All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them.

I am the gate.

Whoever enters through me will be saved, and they will come in and go out and then find pasture.

Get a picture of that in your mind, by the way.

Jesus says, this is what the sheep do.

They come into the pen, they go out, and then they find pasture.

The thief comes only to steal them, kill them, and destroy them.

But I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

The hired hand is not the shepherd, and does not own the sheep.

So when he sees the wolf coming, what does the hired hand do?

He abandons the sheep and he runs away.

Then the wolf has a free-for-all and attacks the flock and scatters it.

The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd.

I know my sheep, and my sheep know me.

Just as the father knows me, and I know the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen.

Starting to talk about the Gentiles now, that this is again our word, everybody.

I must bring them also.

They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

The reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again.

It's not a permanent laying down.

There's resurrection power in the flock.

No one takes it from me, by the way.

I love that he's inserting this, but I lay it down on my own accord.

Thank you very much.

I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.

Why?

Well, because of the command I've received from my Father.

So Jesus is giving us a picture of what the church can look like.

He says there's a flock, yes, there's this gathering, but there's also this sense of individually being known by God and being cared for, and then there's two pictures in the equation.

There's the good shepherd that he just was like triple on and on about to make sure we get, and then there's the hired hand.

There's two potentials for us to actually follow as we lean in to try to be the people of God on the planet.

There's the good shepherd, and that voice is recognizable, and then there's the hired help.

The hired help is the is the voice of influence that really doesn't care for you, that cares for making a buck, the own agenda.

If you want to know which one is leading you, there's some markers in your life you can pay attention to.

If you're starting to tremble with fear about something, about a job, about a relationship, about a health, about you name it, it's possible that the hired hand voice is actually what you're listening to.

But if all of a sudden the bottom drops out, and where ordinarily fear or anxiety or some of those raunchy emotions would normally take place, but you're like, I'm strangely at peace.

I'm actually confident in the peace of God.

I actually have a hope that this is gonna work out.

I don't know how, don't have to know how, but this is my place, then you're listening to the good shepherd who leads you to green pastures where you can lie down.

That's a powerful reality and a helpful test of your own life, of where and who you're listening to, which voice.

Psalm 23 it says, I shall not want.

So if my want meter is off the chart and I have to have things like promotions and um compliments from everybody on social media or whatever, it's possible that your want meter is firing in the red and you're listening to a different shepherd.

Because in Psalm 23, the good shepherd, you don't have to want for anything because he's supplied everything.

If you're afraid with anxiety, running the show, it's just letting you know that something else is shepherding you.

Um, if you're not 4-H person, I'm not, so I had to do a little research.

Uh found a shepherd who was talking about shepherding.

And apparently, four things have to be true for a sheep to actually lie down.

Sheep will not lie down.

They do not want to lie down unless four things are true.

Check this out.

They have to believe that they have safety.

They have to believe that they are safe or they're not lying down.

They have to have food.

If they don't have food, they're not laying down, even if they feel safe, they're not doing it.

Um they have to not have any irritants overwhelming them, like external gnats or anything that is, I don't know, like maybe a fly or something in their face.

I don't know what the irritants are, but whatever irritants there are, if there's irritants, they're not lying down.

So they gotta feel safe, they gotta have food, no external irritants going on, and they have to, what is the fourth thing?

They have to have peace in the flock.

If two sheep are at each other, even the rest of the flock will pick up on it and they're not gonna lay down.

They have to be at peace.

So Jesus is the one who keeps us safe.

He is the one who makes sure we're fed.

That's like basic need stuff.

He is the one who makes sure we don't have external irritants, and you're like, oh, I could get creative with that.

And and he is the one who uh makes sure that you have peace.

He is the king of peace, the author of peace.

And if you don't have those things, then you're not gonna lie down in the green pasture.

What's the green pasture a metaphor for?

I would say it's you flourishing in your life, it's your kingdom calling, it's you being able to walk out, live out the uniqueness that God invites you into to be fully and authentically you.

What a tragedy to live your life and never lie down in the green pasture because there's some things that aren't in place because you're actually listening to a different shepherd when he's speaking to you, and all you have to do is listen and obey and follow.

Uh, and that's that's the way the metaphor works here with sheep, apparently, in the real world.

So if you're rushing around, if you're exasperated, if you're out of peace, it's it's life letting you know that you've heard the wrong voice and somebody else is leading you into a different pen.

I remember being a about a middle school student, and my grandparents live in the mountains.

Here's another mountain analogy for you.

Uh there's the East Ridge and the West Ridge, Ralston Butte and Coal Creek Peak, four little mountains, all small guys, like nothing over 8,500 feet, in the foothills of Colorado.

And all my life I had been going to my grandparents' house.

My grandpa built the house in 1964.

My two uncles who never married actually still live there to this day.

And so it's still kind of a landing pad, which is ever nostalgic to my heart, and I hope it stays that way for many years.

I would go and I would look at Coal Creek Peak, the mountain that made up the valley on the north end, and it was like a perfect mountain, like a perfect pyramid triangle.

And I always wanted to climb it.

And so would imagine what climbing it would look like and envisioned climbing it.

And finally, I asked one of my uncles, have you ever climbed that?

And he actually said, Uh, I I've never climbed it actually.

Lived here all my life.

He was born in that house.

And at the time, he was probably in his mid-30s.

And I said, I would love to climb that, but I'm not climbing it without you.

And he said, probably smart.

Uh, it's summertime and it's rattlesnake stay snake season.

And so uh they sunbathe on the rocks up there, and so it's uh it's important you step in the right spot.

And so I was like, Well, this is gonna be amazing.

So we get there and to the little trailhead, um there's this awesome train tunnel that goes carved into the rock.

I've never been a train in there, but I've looked at it from the outside, and so we start out on the hike, the climb up the ridge of Coal Creek Peak, uh 8,484 feet.

And he looks back over his shoulder and says, Step where I step.

He's over six feet tall, by the way.

I wasn't, and still am not, especially at 14.

And I remember thinking, oh, step where you step?

What have I gotten myself into?

Do you realize like that rock where you just step would be like me trying to put my leg up on this table?

It's like, I can't, it's like I level, how am I gonna step where you step?

I'm gonna get rattlesnake bit.

And so the whole thing was basically me hustling to stare where he stepped and put my hand and pull up on this rock and never even really got to look out over the valley, which is the whole reason I wanted to make the climb in the first place, was like to enjoy it.

And I realized I'm doing all I can just to have my life saved by trying to step where this guy who's much taller than me is stepping.

Thankful to him, by the way, this is where the story kind of breaks down in the analogy here.

He saved my life by making sure I stepped in the right spot and didn't get rattlesnake bit or fall off the side of the mountain, but realized that he was a hired hand of sorts.

He wasn't planning on calling climbing Coal Creek Peak that day until little Pipsqueak me said, Hey, what if we climbed that mountain?

Wouldn't that be amazing?

And there was a sense of obligation as a good uncle.

Yep, I'll take you up.

It never been myself, but we'll figure it out and come on.

I've been looking at it for 30-something years, and we can probably get it figured out, so I'll take you step where I step.

And then the whole thing was like this brisk pace of me trying to keep up with him.

The hired hand.

Thankful to him, but realize not the most enjoyable experience, because it was just a hired hand doing the leading, versus a good shepherd who's like, hey, I have made a step suitable for your length of leg to step on right here.

And uh we can take a break at any time you want to take a break.

And if you need water, if you need food, if you just need an overlooks moment to take a selfie, there weren't any phones that I was taking selfies with, but you get the pimp point, that would have been a totally different experience.

The good shepherd, essentially.

And so there's been just times in your life where you realize, my goodness, I have been trying to keep pace with a hired hand and not actually the good shepherd that I, as a sheep and a member of the family of God, have access to.

And so if you're feeling thin in life, it's maybe because the Good Shepherd isn't in the po in the equation, and some hired thing is actually calling the shots, and that's what you're taking your cues from.

Just thinking of that as we think about the family of God, sheep in the flock, and getting into circles of life that help us to know how valuable we are in community and growth and accountability.

And today is a day to say, you know what, I'm gonna come back to this idea of being a healthy sheep in a well-kept flock with a good shepherd.

I want to hear his voice, I want to know that he knows me.

Um, Jesus, who multiple times in John 10 reminds me that he lays his life down for me.

And the way this works out in our world is when you find yourself in a circle of community, um, yes, connected to the shepherd, but the shepherd wants to put you in a flock.

It's not just a single sheep in the shepherd, it's a whole flock.

And a good shepherd actually wants his flock to reproduce.

So it's important that you're with people who can reproduce disciples in your life and not be a lone ranger.

Uh, you've probably known sheep before who wandered astray.

Maybe some of us have been that, isolated yourself.

Even though you still pop into church from time to time.

Maybe you know your rhythm, your routine is I went last Sunday.

I might go next Sunday, not sure.

Kind of bouncing in and out of church, but still getting lost in the crowd.

And the best way to keep from getting lost in a crowd is to be found in a circle, to have a circle that knows you.

To be found in community with other people where you can grow and have this accountability and be everything really God has planned from the beginning of time for you to be.

It's kind of like going to a Division I football game.

If you've ever been to a college football game on a Saturday, those stadiums are huge.

Those are some of the biggest areas where you can have people come together in one spot.

Some, I don't know, 90,000, 100,000, some of them are over that.

And you can imagine feeling lost in it.

But the way you don't feel lost in the big crowd if you're going to a football game is you go to the tailgate first.

You go to the tailgate, you got a circle, and you all decided where you're gonna go, what aisle you're gonna meet on, what tent was gonna be the place to keep you out of the sun, who's gonna bring what, what time you're gonna be there, and you got around each other, and it's usually anywhere from like five to maybe 25.

You're like, oh, the tailgates I've been to have been huge.

Well, God bless you.

There's some smaller ones.

And so you you go to the tailgate, and then you maybe you walk in together, maybe you sit apart, but then after the game's over, you go to the post-game tailgate, and you meet back up and you talk about the game, or you talk about your experience, or or the person who spilled their drink all over you, or whatever it is, like you storytell, because that's what humans do.

The tailgate is essential to not feel lost in the big sea.

And so is the smaller circles of community in your life essential to not feel like you're lost in the big group, in the big gathering, in the big herd, so to speak.

Some of this feels obvious on the surface, but it takes intentionality to do something to say, I'm gonna make sure that I'm in a circle and put my head on a swivel to find the people around me who maybe need a circle themselves to be in, and make that my personal responsibility.

Like I'm on assignment to make sure that nobody that I know around me is circless.

Acts 2, verse 1.

Acts 2:1

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

By the way, it says they were all together.

It's an everybody kind of thing.

And suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting, and they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

This is the beginning of the church in its earliest formation, and it was about everybody.

It wasn't for a few select people, it wasn't just for a holy huddle who said, Hey, uh, I was reading the ancient Torah, and God showed me something, and everybody was like, Oh, well, tell us what he showed you, because we don't get to know anything.

No, it was an everybody there together.

The flame of the Holy Spirit split and was over everybody's head.

Everybody got to participate.

It was for all of them.

In verse 4, all of them, it says, were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now, in this particular miracle, there was going to be a lot of people showing up into town, and so they all participated and had languages to speak to foreigners.

So when uh, you know, the guy from North Africa shows up and speaks a North African language, uh, Tom over here actually can speak that language.

Didn't necessarily know he was speaking that language, but it wasn't just Tom who was speaking the language.

Like they all participated in what God was doing.

They all got filled with the Spirit.

And through Christ, all of us have access to the promises and the power and the purposes of God.

No one's exempt.

Not from the youngest, not to the oldest, not to the most experienced, not from the least experienced.

And maybe your ears have heard that before, but my prayer is that that bit of information, that everyone's a player, that this the power, the promises, the purposes of God for everybody sinks down into the heart level to where it becomes the filter that you look at life through.

That like you're like, I can't help but look at my neighbor who's lived next to me for 15 years, and I see that person as a valuable member in the flock, whether they're living that way or not, and I want to invite them into the circle.

I want to make sure they have a circle.

They're like, I don't want a circle.

I'm more of a square guy.

Great, we'll we'll make it a square, but you're still invited in.

You are part of this thing.

And then you see it at the end of the chapter, as well as the beginning, when the gospel is preached and thousands get saved, and nobody was keeping this a hush-hush secret of the day.

The family of God is part of an exploding mission.

But the question is, how does that mission survive over the course of time?

It survives when everybody finds themselves in the family, their place in the family of God.

So the end of Acts 2, this is the chapter of the birthday of the church.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread into prayer, and then verse 43, it says, Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

Which believers?

All the believers were together and had everything in common.

They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts, and they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.

That's probably a key for life.

Praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved, because it was an everybody's situation.

So is it the temple courts or is it the breaking of bread?

The answer is yes.

It's both.

Is it the is it the tailgate or is it the big game in the stadium?

Yes, it's both.

Is it the circle or is it the big gathering, a church?

It's both.

But it's not one at the expense of the other.

And the the problem with most of Western society, most of our lifetimes, has been pop in, pop out, check box, uncheck the box, feeling guilty hadn't checked the box in a while.

And that's not how the church was formed.

The church was actually formed in circles.

Hey, it's all of us together.

We know each other.

And so I just want to encourage you with some reasons why you need the circle if you're thinking, I'm not sure I need the circle.

I got some Christian music on Spotify, and I got uh, you know, my uncle, he's a pastor down the road, and uh sometimes I'll watch church online.

Like I think I'm I think I'm good.

Well, here's why you need a circle.

Uh, number one, Jesus is in the circle.

He's actually in it, he's there.

Matthew 18, 20, whenever two or three are gathered in my name, I'm there in the midst.

That doesn't mean you can't be by yourself and not experience the Lord.

You can.

What it's saying is that every time two or three are gathered, not just in any name, not just, you know, to go watch a movie or something, but like we're gathered with intentionality in the name of Jesus, it's God saying, I ain't missing that.

I'm there every time.

You better believe I'm not missing that.

You can count on me in that circle.

And that's why the shepherd doesn't just say, I had a sheep and I took my sheep in.

I took my sheep out, and then my one sheep had pasture.

And instead, he says, I put you in a flock so that together you can go in, together you can go out, and together you can pasture.

Because the shepherd knows that it would be good for the sheep to have family around him, her.

And so this whole picture of the shepherd is for him to say, it's not just only about me and you, little sheep, but it's about you and the flock, so you can be strong and multiply.

It's the picture of the Great Commission.

So if you want to fully experience uh Jesus, get in a circle with other people, make that part of a life rhythm because he's in there with you.

And maybe another part of the question is who are you noticing around you that's just not in a circle?

And a lot of times, man, I've chalked up, they're not in a circle because they don't want to be in a circle.

And it might be bossy of me or pushy of me to invite them in.

Or you might have read it wrong.

And they can do with an invitation what they want.

But what I've learned and the time I've been on the planet, and maybe you have too, is that an invitation usually is never wasted.

And that even if it's a seed of significance that's planted, like, oh no, I'm good, they walk away saying, Man, what's so significant about me that they'd want to invite me into their circle?

There must be something good about me.

I must smell better than I thought I did.

Number two, everybody knows your name in the circle.

Anyone know that show?

1980s, it took it by storm.

I'm not I'm not super old, but I'm old enough that in the 1980s I, yeah.

Hadith knows your name.

I want to be where everybody knows your name.

I could have cued the music.

Sorry, Adam, I didn't think about it.

It is at a bar.

We had church in a bar for a long time.

Jesus is in the bars.

Um cheers, it took over the world.

Why?

Because people have a deep need to belong.

You have a deep need.

I don't know where it is on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, but it's up there towards the summit.

Like to know your name.

We don't need name tags.

Now you might need name tags in some places before, but when you're in the circle, you don't need a name tag because they're like, I know you.

I don't just know your name, I know deep things about you.

And that's vital.

So that's why you need it.

It's powerful.

Um, I don't have to be isolated over here trying to compare myself to everything on social media or or uh anybody else.

I've actually got people in the circle who know my name, who care for me, and uh I care for them.

A third reason you need a circle is that your understanding of God grows.

You actually discover God in ways you wouldn't discover God if you weren't with other people.

So if I could go back in time to my sophomore year, to the girlfriend's dad that I had, who I had no business having a girlfriend probably that year, and tell him when he told me, I don't need a church family, I can look at a sunset and know God made that sunset, and that's enough church for me.

I would say to him, Yeah, but there's facets of God that you can't know without the sheep flock, without being in the herd.

Like, you just can't know.

And there's things about God that you know through sacrifice that you can't know if you don't sacrifice.

There's facets to him.

Why?

Because he's so multifaceted, there's so much to him.

And you can know so much about him and know him intimately, and one of those ways is through other people.

Your understanding of God grows, Ephesians 3, verse 14 says, For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

Ephesians 3:14

And I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people.

So that you can grasp how wide, how long, how high, and how deep is the love of Christ.

Don't miss that.

He's okay, to to quote the kid's song, how deep, how wide, you know, so wide, can't go around it, so you know, so deep, can't go under.

He's there's just so much to him.

And if you want to know the width and the depth and the massiveness that is God, the way you do that is with and through other people.

Don't let it be too elementary for you.

Don't miss it.

The text is telling that you're not going to comprehend the size of God's love for you by yourself.

It takes community to get that understood.

Fourthly, you're cared for and you care for others inside of a circle.

A lot of us are good at caring for people.

And a lot of us are not as good at receiving care.

Especially gentlemen.

It is my honor to serve you.

What do you need?

Well, we got this and this.

Would love to help.

Tell me where to be, tell me when to show up.

Fantastic.

Thank you.

What do you need?

Oh I'm I'm good.

I don't need anything.

I'm just blessed and so thankful to be here to serve you.

Oh, you're the first person on the planet who doesn't have any needs.

Oh, don't want to bother you with those.

I really, I'm okay.

No, what you are is self-reliant, and God's actually not in that.

And so there's an art to being able to receive care as much as giving care.

Like it's not more godly to serve and to care for somebody than it is to receive care.

Because if you're not receiving care, then you're robbing somebody the opportunity to give care.

Like there, there was my opportunity, but you said no, thank you.

And so sometimes the best setup for you to flourish inside the family of God is for you to make your needs known and put your hand up and say, I actually have something.

I got something, I got a need.

Anyone here to serve?

Yes, I've been itching and looking for a way to use my gift and to serve you.

And so in the circle, you're cared for, but you also care for others.

It's a reciprocal back and forth kind of thing.

Maybe this week I got to minister to you and pray for you and lay hands on you and text you this week and think about and pray about how it's going and what you're up to and what's God doing and listen for a prophetic word or whatever.

But the next week, maybe it's you doing all that for me and me being in position to make sure that's why they call it a circle, because it just kind of keeps going round and round.

It's not a linear one-way line going.

It's important to belong, and that doesn't happen in a big gathering, at least not best.

There's going to be some needs met here tonight.

There's probably some of us who are like, man, I need a hug.

I need a person.

I need eye contact.

I need touch.

And that need gets met, but your deep needs and ongoing needs, by and large, get met in smaller circles.

Fifthly, you learn to defer in love in the circle.

Paul goes on in Ephesians 4, which we have camped out probably more in Ephesians 4 than anywhere else in the last half a year.

And here's the verse that we've really highlighted.

Verse 1.

As a prisoner for the Lord, by the way, Paul's not saying I'm in prison, even though he was in prison some.

What he was saying is that I have married myself to the goodness and the things of God.

I might as well be in prison.

Like I have completely given myself to him.

I am captivated and captured as if I were a prisoner by God.

You probably knew that.

I didn't explain that.

But anyhow, that's his preface.

Then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling that you have received.

And then next, be completely humble and gentle.

Be patient, bearing with one another in love.

My goodness, can we just broadcast that part to the world?

Completely humble and gentle.

Gentleness is a fruit of the spirit.

So you know that the shepherd is leading and you know the spirit is operating when there's a spirit of gentleness flowing.

Why is that important?

Because we're all in process.

Because there's gonna be people in your circle that you don't necessarily agree with.

There's gonna be people in the circle that you show up to, that you get invited into, that you say yes to, that are underneath maybe the same lordship of Jesus and have a different opinion on something that you have.

And so the flow of gentleness and meekness and understandability and relating becomes so important.

So that's what deferring in love is.

And so all of that is processing.

We want to defer to the people in our circles.

And so he goes on, verse 3 so make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called, and you've all been called.

That was what verse one was about.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

There's our everybody peace again.

And what our tendency is going to be is to create circles with people that look just like us, think like us, act like us, believe like us.

And the challenge, I believe, from the Lord is to maybe diversify your circle a little bit.

And to, in with gentleness and applying the practices of heaven so that the fruits of the Spirit actually flow out of your life in your circles can happen.

And I think there's going to be great fruit that comes out of that kind of community and growth and accountability.

That's not to say that everyone's opinion is equal.

It doesn't mean that everyone's view of God is the same at the start or but the truth is everybody's invited to the table.

And the table is God's table, and he's serving the meal.

And so this is helpful to realize.

He's going to do all the transforming, he's going to get all the glory, but in the process of that, there's got to be deferring in love for the flock to grow and people to get discipled.

So if people are going to be brought to faith and become disciples that are filled with the Spirit, which is the mission of God's mission of us in this region, then there's got to be some humility and deferring in love and gentleness in the equation.

Okay, number six, why do you need a circle?

Is because you put down roots.

That's how you put down roots.

It's very unlikely that without a circle there's much growth that happens.

There's not any accountability because who would you be accountable to?

And you're going to produce the kind of roots that you want in your life.

So what kind of roots are going down?

We want all the fruit, but we look around and say, well, who's putting down the roots?

Because the fruit doesn't come without some kind of grounding, some kind of sacrifices being made.

And I want God to do this in my life.

I want to end up fruitful at the end of the day, and that's all great, but you've got to put down the roots of practice of community.

And then Ephesians 3, he says, I pray that you being rooted and established in love, that's in the community together.

That's how you get rooted, is in a circle.

And then lastly, you're covered and you're accountable.

Just to reiterate, again, the the idea of accountability, it's a good thing.

You need people calling gold out.

Natalie was talking about the blind spots in the transition moment a minute ago.

God highlight these things to us, and He will.

But sometimes the way it happens is somebody come alongside and say, you know, hey, I see this in you, and I don't know that you've ever done that.

Have you ever actually opened the door on this thing?

Because I just smell the fragrance of God all over that area of your life.

And you're like, I never had the guts to do it.

But now hearing you say that, maybe I maybe I'll give it a shot.

You're gonna walk with me on that?

You're gonna help me on that?

Yeah, I God showed me, I'm I'm in on that.

I'll I'll pray for that.

I'll help, you know, pave the way for it.

That's the power of people in your life.

You're covered.

And giving an account for your uh ability is gold, and it's hard to do on your own.

I would say it's it's nearly impossible to see the gold inside of you because of your vantage point.

So, someone, um, it's putting people around you that say you matter.

Uh, all these promises, all this power, all this purpose, it's for you.

You're covered and you count.

Uh, I think it's why CrossFit took off so fast when CrossFit workouts happened.

I don't know if you were paying attention a few years ago.

I don't know when CrossFit started, maybe it was longer than a few years ago, but it got popular a few years ago.

And it's like those cleaning jerks look awkward on your shoulders.

And it's like people are like, I don't care because I got family there.

And they write my name in chalk on the board.

And I got two spotters, one on each side of me, who are there to help me.

And when I show up, they're like, hey, Chris, I've never actually been.

This is you know metaphorical here for me.

Um glad you're here.

We got this, this, and this to do today.

Oh, that sounds like a lot.

I'll probably throw up.

That's okay, we got trash cans.

We'll help, we'll carry the trash can for you.

Um, here's your time from the last time you did it.

It was a DNF, did not finish.

No, just kidding.

But this time we believe you're gonna actually put a number on the board.

Um, it was like real community, and people were like, I'll do the wad, the workout of the day.

I'll do the hard thing, I will run the mile, because that's the power of doing it with somebody.

By and large, what most gyms look like are just seas of squat racks, headphones on ears, isolation.

You might as well be in a gym by yourself, which I get some of us are like, hey, that's uh this is my time to actually be alone.

You need some alone time in life.

But that's why I think CrossFit came, because you belong.

It's the power of the circle, power of belonging.

And that's what the Good Shepherd is all about.

This picture that Jesus gave about sheep pens and shepherds may not really light you up because you don't know sheep pens and shepherds in your life, in your world.

Um, but they listening to Jesus certainly would.

And something that I learned that I don't know where I've been, but I didn't know about the sheep pen is that when I think of a sheep pen, maybe you think of this too.

I was thinking of like a wood slats where you can actually see between the slats of the pen.

Or maybe like wire fencing or something.

Maybe the chicken wire to keep like the chickens in, maybe they keep the sheep in the same way.

I don't know.

Just figured you could look in.

The sheep pens were actually stone walls, at least as tall as a man.

Too tall for a sheep to ever think about jumping out of, and certainly tall enough for a wolf to think twice about jumping into.

And so it's this massive stone wall, and of course, because it was such an intentional build, it wasn't like every shepherd had his own pen.

So they would borrow pens from shepherd to shepherd.

I got my flock.

Old shepherd John over here, he's got his flock, and we're all staying in that pen tonight.

So I come to what?

The gate.

Well, what does the gate look like?

The gate's not a gate, it's open.

It's just wide open.

Now it's narrow.

You heard that one before, probably, just wide enough for a sheep to fit through.

And it's not like the shepherds would put all, like it said, I lead my sheep in, I lead them out, they go to pasture.

Not like the shepherds would lead all their sheep in and then close the gate and go get dinner.

They were the gate.

So they would crouch down with their rod.

Deanna, we were talking about that today and we were we were praying.

And they would hang out, crouch down with their rod all night long, they were the gate.

So if a wolf comes or an animal and says, I want to get into the pen, the shepherd's thinking, well, buddy, there's only one way in.

And it's through me.

And you ain't getting in through here.

Because I'm the shepherd who keeps watch over this.

Then when it's time to go out the next morning into pasture, there's all these sheep that aren't necessarily even in my flock, all in this pen.

Well, how do they know where to go?

They hear the voice.

Isn't that amazing?

And so the shepherd just says, Hey, Chris's flock, we're rolling out.

And all of my flock get up, and here they come out the gate.

Well, why don't all the sheep come?

Because they don't recognize my voice.

I'm a stranger.

It's what Jesus was saying.

The stranger's voice, the sheep are like, eh.

Now maybe some of the flock is standing, maybe some of the flock is lying, maybe this flock felt like there was food and protection and peace and no external uh distractions, and this flock didn't, so they're standing still.

I don't know how that works, but I do know that they say the voice is that significant that all of the sheep that are belonging to me, because they spend every single day listening, and so their ears are attuned to my voice alone, and then that flock comes out, the next shepherd rolls in.

Hey, John's flock, we're going.

Then John's flock gets out.

I mean, so profound.

So I just wanted to enlighten us this evening.

If you don't do sheep, if you didn't do 4-H and you didn't know that that's why Jesus was using that analogy, it's a powerful picture of those that belong to God, knowing his voice, knowing they belong, experiencing their place in the family.

And it's not just one giant herd, it's smaller circles of significance that matter and that lead you to life and life to the fullest, as Jesus talked about.

And I want us to pray tonight to be able to identify the opportunities for circle making.

Um I believe that there is a hunger for God and a real way.

Natalie, do you have that picture as we close here?

Um I screenshot it today and my phone is back there.

I just wanted to read you a couple of interesting stats.

I think are yeah, yeah.

So listen to this.

Just to pitch the hunger of where you live right now.

Sixty-three percent of Americans are curious to know more about Jesus in 2026.

62% of Americans say they wish they read their Bible more often.

66% of Americans say they are curious to know more about what the Bible says.

9 million more Americans are interested in Jesus in 2026 than were in 2024.

That's quite an uptick.

Three of five unchurched young adults, probably Gen Z, I would venture to say, though it doesn't say that.

They're the hungry ones these days, it seems, said they would study the Bible if a friend invited them to.

Three of five, that's that's more than half, would say if somebody invited me into a circle to actually take a dive, I'd go for it.

82% of people, that's a lot, that's a higher stat, said they would attend church if a friend actually invited them.

When one in three people who join a Bible study group come to faith within the first year in 2026, talk about the fields being white and ripe for harvest.

And so, as you, wherever you serve or in a family, together, whatever circle you belong to, think about doing things like this and making invitation, do so in the confidence that you know you have hunger on your side.

And rather than chickening out or dodging opportunity or assuming that somebody already has made their decision, maybe it's time to revisit an opportunity.

And I think that that's that's what I need to hear right now.

That's what I need to have my confidence surge as we are trying to be yet another option, another place of hope in a region that is quite crowded and hungry for the things of God.

So before we pray, um, and the way we're gonna do it is just do like do like we like to do is uh group up into about threes, and you're just gonna bless the circles of life.

Uh pray for those to happen if they don't, if if they haven't started yet.

Um maybe your circle is stale and you need a re-re jump, revamp of your circle.

Um, but intentionality with circle making, with the people in your life, identifying who they are.

Um, whatever risk taking looks like, you're gonna bless each other in that.

Roberta, I had a thought for you.

Um before we were uh praying tonight in that room.

Natalie actually was praying for, by the way, Roberta is Melody's mom.

Melody was on the guitar right here.

She's from Georgia visiting.

And Natalie was praying for uh Melody and got a picture of her playing her guitar, walking down a pretty big road, and just a sea of people following as she was as she was leading and playing.

And when she said that, I actually saw you, Roberta, kind of at the at the um, like the source of the crowd was all actually like coming out of you, like your spiritual womb.

And sense that God is just reminding you of the spiritual mama that you really are, to probably more than you even know.

And I feel like the invitation from the Lord for you is to pay attention to the spiritual sons and daughters that may come out of nowhere, like you would never have thought that they would be there.

Um, maybe newfound faces, or maybe old people that you've known before, or maybe even been out of touch with, but needing your mentorship, your mothership.

And I just really sense that God was saying there's great value in the spiritual mother that is Roberta.

And so I just wanted to pray for you real quick.

So, Lord, I thank you for the spiritual, maternal influence that Roberta carries, and we pray for an increase, even tonight, in her awareness of that and her opportunity for that.

And so we pray for spiritual daughters and sons who need her and need her guidance, need her sage quality, her wisdom, her experience to come forth, and for just great opportunity and fruit to come off of that tree in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Yeah.

So find find a couple people and uh pray for the circles.

Go for it.

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