The Church - Called In - 1.19.2020 Sermon

[inaudible]

you can follow that.

That is the prayer.

Lord, save us and we gathered as your body to say thank you to the salvation for saving us from the penalty of sin for all eternity in your son Jesus Christ.

We ask that you would continue that work of saving us from the daily power of sin as you grow us.

Look more and more like Jesus, and that's my heart's prayer.

Even today, I've got nothing in and of myself to offer your children, your sheep, so I pray you show me with your spirit and that you might take your word and plaque our hearts.

He might strengthen marriages, strengthen lives for those who don't know you and don't know what you've done for them through your son, Jesus Christ.

I pray you to soften hearts, open eyes that today would be a day that they respond to the truth of the good news of Jesus Christ.

Father, overall, I pray you take this sermon, series, this sermon and make us a group of people that deeply connect in a world that's lonely and disconnected, which should give us the grace to lower the walls.

Would you give us strength and courage to trust you to trust those you've put around us that we might grow in deep community shines a light in a world of darkness that prayed.

Use it however you see fit.

It's your time.

I'm yours.

You use the time, however you see fit for your glory in Jesus name.

Amen.

Welcome.

As you're grabbing a seat, looks like we still got people coming in.

So if you can make room or scoot next to each other, do what you need to do so we can get more people.

See it.

A welcome to hillside fellowship.

My name's Dave.

I there's nothing you need to know about me.

I'm unremarkable, but I get the honor each week or just open up the scriptures.

And so you found yourself at hillside fellowship and, and very simply put, uh, we believe that Jesus changes everything, um, that he is making all things new.

And while he makes all things new, he's changing us.

And so we hold that deep seated conviction that Jesus loves to change us.

He loves to take brokenness and bring about beauty.

It's just what he does.

He, that's how he rolls and we love it.

For those who've never been in church, this is your first time for those, uh, who've been invited in.

You're just guests or visitors.

I am so glad you're here.

It's such an honor to have you.

The fact that you had come really overwhelmed me and I pray you'd be warmly welcomed by a group of people that love Jesus and love their neighbor.

Now I kick off each year just looking at the church series and I do that to make sure that we're not experiencing mission drift.

Churches oftentimes begin by preaching Christ crucified, buried and resurrected.

And I end up doing a thousand different things, but miss the gospel.

And so I start each year just saying we've been called out of darkness into his marvelous light.

We've been called out of darkness to proclaim the excellencies of the one who called us out of darkness into his life.

So that's kind of what gathering does.

When you come on Sunday, there's whole bunch of people and we get together and we sing, we celebrate, we open the word to say Jesus has saved us.

And given us new life.

So we love to get together to proclaim the gospel.

But let me tell you this, if this is all you experience concerning the church, if you just come on a Sunday and you see all other people, but you never take the next step into committed community that lives out the gospel authentically, let me explain the next one, three and five years to you.

You see you're going to come each Sunday and I just call this the tornado Sundays.

One of my favorite days, I love it, but man, you get five, 600 people in first service.

You have all kinds of conversations, all kinds of hugs.

They leave.

Then you come in all kinds of conversations, all kinds of hugs.

Next group comes in, all kinds of conversations, all kinds of hugs.

I get home Brooks like, how is, how is church?

How has Sunday?

I said, I have no idea.

Like later, I don't know like it just, and if that is what your culmination of being a Christian is about you, you will be frustrated.

You're going to end up three, five years from now in bitter, critical, cynical, and condemning the very thing you say you like right now you say you see, this isn't the fullness of what God intended us to be, that we just gather on Sunday.

One dude gets up, opens the Bible, hopefully gives you a sermon you can take some trues home a home with.

That's not the culmination.

In fact, I would say the way we tend to do church in America highlights loneliness, isolation, and creates more emptiness.

Because here's what's happens.

You'll come and you'll see other people and they look happy.

They look like they all know each other.

I can't connect on a Sunday.

I hang out by the donut thing and I just ended up eating a dozen donuts.

Now I got a diabetes thing going on.

The church is awful, Dave, because it's not until you're not gonna, you're not gonna connect in deep, meaningful ways in an environment like this.

So the next sermon I preached in this series is called, called in to community.

You see, the first thing we do is we gather so that I can, with all of my might proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to you.

Uh, and we celebrate that together.

The next step is called community groups where we get into groups and we practice the gospel together.

So that's what I'm going to walk through today.

If you've been coming for years and it's just Sunday, I can guarantee you we're heading for a collision.

At some point you're going to be coming bittered with me and critical and cynical and condemning and say the church in America is horrible and I'm going to ask you if you have you gotten into a community group now they're all horrible now say, well, you might be the problem.

So that's the sum of my sermon.

You're probably the issue.

It's not me.

The blame is all yours.

Doesn't that sound wonderful?

Let me read the scriptures.

That's not where I intended to go with that at all.

But I saw some faces that were upset with me, so I just shifted blame back.

It's my fault.

It's my, it's my weakness.

Okay.

Now that I've taken the blame back.

Let me just read the scriptures.

Jesus says, John writes, John chapter 17 verse 13 down through 21 but now I come to you.

John 17:13

Jesus says, and these things I speak in the world so that they may have my joy made full in themselves.

I've given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world.

Even as I am not of the world, I do not ask on.

I ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them in the in the truth.

Your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world, I have also sent them into the world for their sakes.

I sanctify myself that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in me through their word that they may all be one.

Even as you father are in me and I in you, they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me.

So before we walk through the things that we're going to do in community group to to practice and proclaim the gospel, let me give you a big theological kind of umbrella you can hang your thoughts on.

The Bible says very clearly through and through that God is one.

He lives in this perfect community called the Trinity, father, son and Holy spirit, and he has from all eternity.

There's never been a bad day in the Trinity, the father, the son and the spirit live in perfect unity and harmony, perfect love and oneness.

Now, what happened to that Genesis three tells us is that sin entered into the world and because of sin, I now wrestle with isolation, alienation, separation and hiding.

And I do every day.

It's this overwhelming sense that if you knew me and what I struggled with, you would reject me.

And the more people I've gotten to know, the more you believe.

If I fully knew you and all of your sin patterns, habits, and struggles that I would reject you.

That sin brings shame, isolation, separation, hiddenness it fractures community of unity and harmony that God intended.

So if all of us are struggling like that, it makes sense that one of the top things we had struggle with it.

It would show itself in marriage and in community community groups.

The good news is this, the Bible says that God loved us and sent his only begotten son and Jesus Christ.

He came and he lived a life.

God in human flesh lived a life without sin and he did that not to show off.

He did that so he could die in your place for your sin on the cross, taking all of your guilt, shame and sin so that he could reconcile you by grace, through faith to the father.

And not only that, the really good news is he didn't just reconcile me to the father.

He gave me the ministry of reconciliation to be reconciled to you so that as we live, continue to live in this community of unity and harmony, the world looks and says, why do you guys have so much fun together?

Why do you guys enjoy being together, Dave?

How is it that you can get up weekend and week out and say, man, I'm a recovering addict and alcoholic.

Please pray for me because I need the grace of God not to relapse this week.

How can you say that without being rejected?

If, how can you get up?

You see, this is what the gospel does.

Reconciles us to the father so that we know where we stand eternally and then he sends us out to be reconciled to one another so that we can create those communities of safety and security and optimism where we focus on the mattering things of life and we enjoy him and enjoy one another and the world looks on and they say, what is it that you have?

This is the church series you have been called.

If you're in Christ, you've been called out of the world.

I'm so glad you're here.

I love gathering with you.

As we proclaim the gospel, we proclaim the good news together.

The next step in that is to be called into community.

You will not find it anywhere in the Bible that Christianity is supposed to be a solo sport.

I'm going to say this again because upwards of 68% of us come to church to be better ourselves.

We just want, we treat it like a Ted talk.

Now give me some life hacks.

Give me some principles so I can have better finances, better marriage, better neighbors, fewer pets next door, whatever you want.

The gospel message was always meant to be enjoyed corporately and practice in these things that we call community groups.

Let me give you four things that we're going to do in community groups to practice the gospel together.

I had so much fun this morning and I've been praying for you that that we would have that much fun looking at these four things that we're going to do together and there's a whole list.

I could do 20 but time would run out.

So we're just going to do my the four that Jesus talked about here.

You're ready for number one.

We're going to get together in community groups and we're going to express joy.

Same response as this morning.

So let's dissect that.

Exegetically why don't we let me read Jesus's words.

I'll show you.

It's not even my idea.

It's a brilliant idea.

It's not my idea.

Here's what Jesus says, but now I come to you father, and these things I speak in the world.

Here's your purpose clause.

Prepare your faces.

Here it comes.

These things I speak in the world so that there it is in the Greek.

You've got your clause so that what they may have my sat in your outdoor Texas voices, well done so that they may have my joy.

Watch this made full, super, super abundant, like overflowing in themselves.

Listen, you know, we live in a world that desperately wants joy.

Now in our founding documents, we just call it happiness.

They'll give us life.

They'll give us Liberty.

It's up to you to pursue happiness and man, have we done that for 250 plus years?

We can pursue us some happiness because our belief is it's out there.

It's out there somewhere.

It's like the Loch ness.

We've just got to find it right convinced it's out there.

I saw a picture, yo, so we just got to find it.

So we live in a world that desperately pursue.

In fact, my guess is 80 plus percent of you.

If I asked you this morning, what do you want out of life?

80 plus percent will say, I just want to be happy.

Now that's good because you are created from joy, the Godhead for joy community.

Don't be surprised.

Don't act like it's a bad thing.

I just want joy.

Totally.

You should because you're created from joy.

Forg the problem is we live in a world that's rejected the source of joy.

His name's God, and when you reject the source of joy, you're always pursuing substitutes.

I call it the sweet and low principle, who's ever used sweet and low.

Be honest with me.

You see, growing up, sugar was horrible.

It was bad and so we used sweetened low.

The pink packets are horrible.

They're awful.

They're a substitute for the real deal.

That's exactly what this world does.

They don't know where true joy is to be found and so they search, but all they find is cheap, cheap substitutes that leave in the aftertaste in their mouth.

You don't believe me just walk around Walmart, walk around a HEB target, your going to see ads and in each of those ads it's proclaiming we've got joy come here.

It's the Miller Highlife principle, right, right.

Come drink our beer and you'll be happy.

You got really happy sexy people playing volleyball on a beach in Mexico.

They look happy.

I'm like, maybe I need to live the Miller high life.

I wish there was one honest advertiser that showed you the day after the party, like where am I?

Right?

You wake up and you're like, Oh, I got a DUI or an MIP or STD.

Like it's not good.

Whatever it is isn't good.

I wish there was one I honest advertisement

said Miller highlight,

but not really look at the families that have been dead but devastated by alcoholism.

I wish there was one honest adver advertiser there would allow families who've had loved ones killed by a drunk driver just to say it's not the Highlife like the world's lying.

They don't know where to find joy.

Oh sure.

I wish there was one advertiser that was willing to walk in truth.

And so we don't know where to find happiness and we're searching desperately.

We believe it's in money.

So if we get your money so we lie and say, our product will make you happy, it won't.

And this is where the church has the most profound opportunity.

I don't even know that I can express it to you fully.

Do you know the opportunity that we have to proclaim and picture the gospel to

forget about it?

Disney is not the happiest place on earth.

The church of Jesus Christ that rallies around the gospel is now, I don't know what happened,

the enemy's super subtle and slide, but what he did was he get out.

He got into our seminary institutions and found a way to suck the joy right out of these cats.

Amen.

Thank you,

and please don't if you sense it, if you're a seminary grad and you're like, man, this guy's a jerk.

I didn't go to seminary because every single dude that I saw come out of seminary looked like he just sucked

Donald lemon, right and just waited in a two hour line at Disneyland.

Listen, if there's something I pray for me because I don't want to throw seminaries out, here's what I pray for.

That is they study the scriptures seeking to find the life from them that they would actually read the truth of the scriptures.

Psalm 16 that didn't.

God's presence is fullness of.

Apparently God loves being God and loves it when we love him being God and he loves to give us good gifts and he loves to give himself to us and there's a lot of joy in knowing God.

Apparently it's really exciting to know God.

And then Jesus turns around and says,

father, I've spoken these things to your children, your people, so that my joy might be in them to the full.

And then he gave us a spirit.

When you put your faith in Jesus, he sends his spirit to live in you.

And apparently what the Spirit's big on growing is love and Joe, yeah, I'm losing you towards the end.

It's in the Bible.

Galatians five you might want to read it cause it's a big deal

because he gives us joy.

One of the things we're going to do together when we gather in community groups is we're going to have parties, real parties, fun parties, the true Highlife where we share, you know, Jesus came and bore my sin so I don't, I don't carry my sin anymore.

There's joy in that y'all.

There's joy in that.

You don't, you know, God so loved me.

He sent his son to defeat the enemy called death that I couldn't defeat and now I have hope into eternity.

There's joy in that because you're getting older, you don't have much longer to live.

And that doesn't scare me like how rude is he?

It doesn't scare me because Jesus defeated death and he's given us hope beyond the grave.

There is joy in knowing Jesus Christ, so one of the things we're going to do as we gather in community groups, we're going to express joy.

Watch the next one.

Um, Oh, this is hard, so I'll sit down.

Verse 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they're not of the world.

Even as I'm not of the world, I don't ask you to take them out of the world because then there'd be no light in the world.

I don't ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.

You live in a world that's filled with hate.

I'm going to say this a number of times because many of you believe alive.

You live in a world system that is filled with hate and a world system that's filled with hate.

The only thing that system has to give to others is hate, and so it doesn't matter if you're white, you'll be hated by some.

If you're black, you'll be hated by some.

If you're a Republican, you'll be hated by some.

If you're a Democrat in a capitalist system, we pare it down even more and more and tell each other who to hate.

We live in a world filled to the brim with hate.

Here's the lie.

You believe.

If I just do everything right, they won't hate me.

No.

If you do everything right, you'll be hated by even more.

It used to be that the credit didn't count the one who pointed out how the strong man stumbled and how the doer of the deeds fell.

They didn't matter because they were just trolls who lived in mom's basement and wrote stuff.

They didn't matter.

Now it is the critic who counts, and if you do everything right, you will be hated and you can't do everything right.

Anyway, it's exhausting.

Jesus was very upfront.

This world is filled with hate.

Now I don't.

I try not to quote Taylor Swift that often just because I don't, it's like Nietzsche.

I try not to like, it's like, it's probably not the best quotation, but she theologically nailed it on this show.

She said that players are going to play, play, play, play, play, and haters are going to hate.

Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey.

It's what it is.

What?

It's what they do.

What's in the well comes up in the bucket.

You live in a world filled with hate.

Now here's, here's the profoundly good news now.

Well before I move on from that, some of you don't believe me.

You know you will be hated.

One of the things I get hated for is because I'm a middle aged white male.

Apparently that's a bad thing now, but do you know how many of those things I have control over?

I was born a dude.

I, I guess in today's society I can say I identify as a bicycle or something and change that.

I don't know.

But as far as I can ascertain walking in truth and reality to say sober, I was born a dude and I was born white and my age is just my age.

So you'll be hated.

You will be hated for something.

This is truth.

This is reality.

You don't believe me?

Just say, uh, what your political affiliation is out in public.

You say you're a Democrat, you're hated by 50%.

Say you're Republican, hated by 50%.

Welcome to, Hey, this happens every year.

To me it's happened twice, I should say.

Since I started traveling, I'll sit next to somebody.

Strike up a conversation.

Where are you from in a some question.

Twice it's happened.

It happened to me again this morning.

Different state, new England twice.

I've sat next to people from Rhode Island.

That's a cute little place, isn't it?

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but there's something about you being a Texan that in genders hate.

I don't know if it's the size of your state.

I don't know if it's the electoral, uh, boats that you get, but I've experienced it twice.

Is that called Rhode Island?

That's beautiful.

They'll say, where are you from?

Texas.

Oh, everything's bigger.

They're all Turkson your boots, you walk around with spurs.

Yeah.

Now, generally, I don't bash on Rhode Island, but since I've met too, and I know half of the population of Rhode Island, I, I am now an expert on now.

They get four electoral votes now for people in their population, but listen, I get to tell them in all love and honesty we've got, we've got land area size, the like in Texas that's about the size of Rhode Island.

We just call it Buc-ee's and we love it.

It's very cute.

We all stop there.

It's like Buc-ee's nuggets.

We love it.

You know, you will be hated for something is the point.

And I don't care how perfectly you do, Jesus nailed it.

In this world, you will be hated.

Now here's the super duper good news for you.

Here's the super good news for me because there isn't a Sunday that goes by, I don't get a snark or a text or an email.

Here's the really good news and where I've landed my plane on this, living in a world where I will be hated for something, politics place where I live, color, age, uh, living in a world where I will be hated for something.

Here's the really good news for you.

You get to choose what you'll be hated for.

It's you lead with, see, if you want to hate me for being a white dude, that's 45.

I'm not gonna lead with that.

I'm just like, I'm not even going to enter into that.

I wouldn't die for that.

I'd be like, fix your face.

Work it out.

You want to hate me for my political affiliations or, or inclinations are leaning.

I'm not even gonna enter into that conversation with you.

I have people, man, you need to, I'm not even gonna enter in.

That's not where suffering, it's not worth being hated for that.

I don't want to cut off 50% of the nation because of a political affiliation and say, I've got to hate them.

But if you, if you do need to hate me, can I tell you what to hate me for?

I happen to believe that the Bible is God's word and it's a lamp unto my feet and a light into my path, and I really do believe that the nation would be so much better if everybody loved, served worship.

Follow, enjoyed an obey Jesus.

I believe that with all my heart.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that he came live the life without sin died in my place, for my sin was buried Rose again.

I believe that Jesus Christ can change any life, anyone, anywhere, at any time who had humble themselves and place their faith in him.

I believe, and I love to preach, that God offers a salvation by grace through faith in him Christ Jesus alone.

I believe that Jesus Christ is coming back again and he's going to fix this whole mud.

You want to hate me?

Hate me for that.

That's where suffering for amen.

It truly is like Jesus.

Is that amazing?

And so that's where my plane has landed.

You want to hate me, man?

Let me lead with what the hate me for Jesus Christ has changed my life and I'm a witness of the goodness and power of Jesus Christ.

You want to hate me for that?

I can embrace.

I can embrace you and say, that's okay.

I get it.

I'll, I'll continue to pray that Jesus would meet you in your pain.

That's worth being hated for now.

So as we gathered together in community group, now we're going to gather and do her hate together because it's hard to be hated, isn't it?

I don't care who you are.

You can act like it's not.

It is hard.

It's hard to be hated and I love that he has given us the body of Christ to come and encourage one another day after day because I need that to come bear one another's burdens because we need that to come speak life and love and hope and joy into one another because we need that, don't we?

I do.

And so we gather as community groups to practice the gospel and give to one another what Jesus has given us.

Now watch the next one.

We're going to expose sin.

[inaudible]

[inaudible] 17 sanctify.

That's a big theological word.

It just means what God does in us and to us.

He cleans us up and sets us apart.

Jesus has sanctified them in the truth.

Your word is truth of you as you've sent me into the world.

I've sent them into the world for their sakes.

I sanctify myself that they themselves also may be sanctified in the truth.

You see, you live in a world system that doesn't know what to do with sin.

We, we don't.

We don't know what to do with sin and so we ended up hiding it, cleaning up the outside so other people don't think we have it, blaming it on others, blame it on our parents or a spouse or a kids or a community who we blame.

We deny it exists.

We'll just rename it.

We'll just call it a psychological issue.

We don't know what to do with sin and so we just make it look as pretty as we can.

You want an example?

I call it the funeral home example.

I, I ended up doing funerals quite often and the funeral home is always a shock to me because I show up and it's a beautiful building.

It, they do the building really well and the grounds are always beautifully maintained and I go in in my suit and it's always, the first thing that hits me is the Glade fresh scent.

Ah, they switched it this year.

They went to cinnamon spice.

That's delicious.

I'll walk in and it's soft white lights, always instrumental music playing in the background.

It's like, Oh, that's so nice.

It's a beautiful song.

Is that an instrumental of Chicago?

Oh, I love that song.

Everything's dusted.

Everything's ordered.

It's all organized and then I'll walk into the main building for the program and guess what?

It's all about death and they'll paint us up and make us look like we're alive and put us there.

You see, that's the funeral home.

You look as good as you can on the outside because we're trying to make death more palatable.

The church is going to be very much different than as like a surgical center or a birthing center.

You ever been there?

Listen, I know I offend people with my stories about the four kids birth in the birthing center, but it is what it is.

Yo, you go in there, there's no sleep.

It's like, let's go, let's go.

All right, turn on the bright lights, right?

It's not soft, gentle.

They got these bright lights that heat that room up.

There's no soft inner music plan, right?

And it doesn't smell like Glade fresh scent smells like bleach and other chemicals.

And I'll tell you what, I'll take the birthing center, the surgical center over the funeral home every day because one speaks to death and covering it up and one speaks to life.

You see live in a world that doesn't know what to do with sin.

So they cover it up.

We're going to gather in community groups and the Bible is very clear on the shawl.

If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive our our sin and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.

Now, some of you are hearing like I've been, I've confessed it to God, but I just keep struggling and going back to it[inaudible] this is most of my life.

It was habitual sin that I kept going back to saying, God, forgive me.

Then back to the sin.

God, forgive me back to the sin.

This is how you ended up being a raging alcoholic drinks before he preaches because he just doesn't know what to do with his anxiety.

You see, that's me, but I'm confessing it.

Would you heal me?

I'm confessing it.

The Bible doesn't stop there.

Let's see, as a church, we get together like a birthing center or a surgical center or a hospital and we confess our sin to him, but then James says, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that there might be healing.

You want to know why you confess it to God, but there's no healing because you're trying to do solo Christianity.

You want to know where healing came from.

People ask me all the time, Dave, how have you stayed sober 16 years?

How?

What did it?

Was it AA?

Was it the steps?

Was it rehab friends?

The opposite of sobriety?

Uh, it's not addiction.

The opposite of addiction isn't sobriety.

The opposite of addiction is authentic community.

And you were that place where I could open up and say, I can't quit drinking and I need help.

You see, when you bring your sin into the light, it loses its power.

It does.

And so I'm here to tell you, we gather in groups, we gather in groups to expose sin together and say, I'm sorry.

This is where we're at as a couple.

I'm sorry.

Here's where I'm at.

And I hope that you can bear the weight of my story and as the group loves you and says, and let's walk this out together and see what Jesus has, that sin begins to lose its power in a world that doesn't know what to do with sin.

We expose our sin and watch Jesus meet us where we're at and heal us in those community groups.

Watch what comes next.

Uh, verse 20 and 21 I'll end here because it's the last passage that I was going to preach on.

Yeah.

I'm so used to pastors kind of apologizing and be like, we'll land here and there just like, yay.

Well, we'll end here because it's the last two verses.

I'd like to go longer, but I've got three minutes.

So let's enjoy this.

Watch this, watch it.

Uh, I do not ask on behalf of these alone.

That is for the disciples who are there, but for you, hillside fellowship for those also who believe in me through their word.

So he was Jesus about to die, not to go to the cross.

He's praying for you.

And here's what he prays, that they may all be one, even as you father and me, and I remember you did, they may be in us and your purpose, claws, I pray they may be one so that the world might believe that you sent me.

You see, as as we gather in community groups, as we gather and as we express joy and as we endure hatred, and it was as we expose sin, we're, we're also going to explain God to a tone deaf, blind world.

They're going to see us being one.

They're going to see that Jesus Christ is actually greater than all of our differences.

Now, I'm not going to lie to you.

You live in a world that can't get along.

They can't.

This is what secular humanism does.

Once you've voted God off your Island, you're now your own God, and if you're your own God, everybody else better bow to you And they don't?

I'll vote you off my Island.

So we begin to vote people off our Island that don't please us, that don't delight us, that don't do what we want.

"Why don't you do what I want?

I'm God!" That's our, that's our culture that we live in right now.

What a great opportunity to shine like a light.

Y'all.

You see you do that long enough.

Do you know that right now it's an epidemic.

47% of America is lonely.

47% epidemically lonely.

Now, many of those are lonely because they voted everybody off their Island.

See, if you vote people off your Island long enough, guess who's going to be left?

It's you and you're alone, But at least you do it.

You want some of the time, right?

We can't even get along with ourselves.

Jesus says, and the sad part of this is, and if you're here, it's your first time, and I love you.

I'm so glad you're here.

The sad part in our society is we begin to treat relationships like Bigfoot.

In fact, I call it the Bigfoot principle.

It's very similar to Lochness or the leprechaun or the unicorn principle.

They've got little differences.

I grew up and then there was a whole group of dudes in high school that I went to that believed that the big foot, the Yeti, Sasquatch, whatever you want to call them, lived in the cascade range, and we lived right next to the cascade range.

So they would say, Dave, what are you doing this weekend?

You want to go look for Bigfoot?

They were dead serious.

They still do it.

They're 45 they still, they still do it because they're convinced he's there.

"He's out there.

We've just got to find them.

We gotta leave the right snack, the right meat.

We've got to be in the right place.

We got to leave.

The camera's in the right place.

He's there.

He's out there.

We just have to find him." You know?

That's how most people approach relationships.

The perfect relationship is out there.

I just have to find The perfect person, the perfect match.

My soulmate is out there.

I just have to find him and so we teach our kids, go find good friends And so we set them out on the journey to go look for Bigfoot.

French Friends aren't found.

They're forged through fierce conflict resolution, through building trust, by applying the truth of the Bible and working through conflict together, friends aren't found.

They're forged.

At the end of this, I'm going to encourage you to join a community group.

I'm going to tell you, you can rip off your bulletin folder.

You can go online, you can sign up.

Some of us are going to be like, good.

Can you find me?

The perfect community group.

That community group that's always filled with joy and exposes sin well and expresses all of these things, find me that group and so you'll begin looking for big foot or a unicorn or a leprechaun.

Listen, community is costly and it is quirky.

You didn't get it yet.

How many of you know you have quirks and your quirks are weird?

How many of you?

Okay, that's a large[inaudible].

I'm shocked.

That's great.

Generally when we have quirks, we don't know.

We have quirks.

I can tell you the quirks over here, the mouth breathers that chew their gum and smack.

How are you supposed to preach with that?

Whose smacks?

Breathe through your nose.

That's why God gave you got two nostrils.

I can tell you the nose breathers over in this section, that whistle when they breathe, so I got smackers and whistlers.

How are you supposed to tell anybody about Jesus?

It's quirky.

You're quirky.

You just think your quirks are normal.

I'm quirky.

I think my quirks are normal.

I'm, I have boundary issues with libations.

What's up?

You don't even know what that is.

I grew up with brothers.

If there was a cup that was a miracle, I would drink out of mud puddle.

If there was a cup and all three of my brothers were drinking at it, I would go drink out of it.

So then I get into marriage and I don't know.

We had separate Cubs.

I thought we were, it was, it gets worse than that.

So I'm here, I'm here with my, my, my team, my staff team.

I'm in a serious meeting.

Allen, Alan Anderson.

He does budgets and numbers and spreadsheets and data points and all kinds of stuff.

I'm sitting in there trying, I'm focused, I'm focused.

I'll send, I reach over and I grab his coffee and I drank it.

You had a thought.

I just injected him with a Bola.

He was like, ah, what are you doing?

It's like drinking coffee.

What are you doing?

It's like, you just drank off of my cup.

And I was like, I got no cold source.

We're good, but keep up with the meeting.

Let's keep up.

I didn't know.

It was weird.

I was like serious.

He still gives me a hard time about it.

He gives me my own cup.

Now this is for you Dave, so your special cup, right?

It's quirky.

It's messed up.

I know.

I get that now because I've got a community.

He's like, don't do that.

Ever.

Like, okay, I'll try, but I still pick up random cops.

We're working out.

I'll grab a bottle here, bottle there.

I'm like, Hey, I'm thirsty.

Quirky.

You will get into community

group and you will find quirks.

The question isn't about where are you going to find the perfect community group, right?

Don't be Goldilocks.

I like this bed but it's a little bit hard.

I like this bed a little bit bumpy in that mash.

It's a little bit hot.

Don't be that cat, right?

We, if you tear off that thing and sign it and check community group, we will try to get you connected in a community group.

We will do our best to get you connected.

Dave Schaefer does an amazing job praying, organizing, looking.

If you sign that or if you go online and sign up for a community group, we will do our best to get you in,

but don't be looking for a unicorn.

You don't be looking for a leprechaun.

Don't be looking for Bigfoot community costs and community is quirky.

This is where we practice the gospel.

This is where we're Tinder hearted and forgiving one another

because we step on each other's toes and drink out of each other's glasses.

That's going to happen.

You're going to have your over talkers, you're under talkers, your whispers.

You'd have your loud talkers.

It will be awkward.

I can guarantee[inaudible]

T you that and it will be the perfect playground to practice the gospel so that together as we group, we will proclaim the gospel and as we group into community groups, we will practice the gospel so that the world might believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.

And so now is when I invite you.

If you're just coming on a Sunday, I can guarantee you're going to be frustrated.

You're going to be bitter, you're going to be filled with contempt and complaining.

I can't connect with anybody.

Well, jump in with us.

Y'all jump in, stop complaining and join.

Community will be easy.

No, but life isn't easy.

Will it be delightful?

Absolutely.

You see, you weren't made to do life alone.

You weren't made for solo Christianity.

You are made to do life together.

Come join us hillside.

Join a community group.

Let's pray.

Father God, thank you so much for the time where we can just laugh and enjoy you because you're all together.

Good.

Thanks for this body that has been so amazing at gathering together and celebrating your goodness.

Thanks for hearts that are soft, Lord to bear one another's burdens, to encourage each other day after day.

It's now I pray that you would, that you would strengthen us, that as we move towards these community groups, that you would give us grace to bear one another's burdens.

Well, to humble ourselves and see how quirky we are, not looking at everybody else's quirkiness.

Father, would you, would you fill our hearts with the joy of the gospel?

Would you fill our hearts with the love of the gospels that we might be able to share those things with one another?

Would you do this for years to come so that the world might come to believe that you, Jesus are the son of God, that you are the hope of the world.

It's in your name.

I pray.

Amen.