It’s A Love Story

How we doing today. Feeling good, I'm feeling good. I'm excited about small groups launch today. Woo, .

Hey, how many of you in a small group? Raise your hand real quick. Don't make it awkward for them, though. All right, cool, Hands down. I don't want you to feel awkward and look at someone who's not in a group and think you should get in a group unless you're going to be socially acceptable when you do it.

We're having small groups launch today. I'm super excited. I have a stated goal. I'm going to state it for you right now. I want you to get involved in biblically rooted, emotionally fulfilling and productive community.

That's what I want you to do. I think a lot of us are involved in one or two of those things, but when we don't root what we do in the Scriptures and when we're not productive- and then sometimes we just have what we think we're supposed to have but is not emotionally fulfilling, there's a component missing that will help you really execute the calling that God has placed on you, And we are starting a new series today while we're doing small groups lunch. It's in Paul's letter to the church at Philippi. We're going to be in Philippians. If you have your Bibles.

I'd encourage you to turn to Philippians. It's Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans 1, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians. Yeah, Philippians, That's where I was going. Amen, Philippians, I'm trying to learn. Usually, my wife's sitting right here.

She'll be up here in a second, maybe, Or maybe she's doing small group stuff. Who knows? Y'all should go meet my wife. She's doing small group stuff along with Nicole. I, I'm really excited about this series.

We're going to be going nine weeks through Paul's letter to the Philippians. Anyone read through Philippians before? All right, I'm gonna pause for a second. We get to study the word of God in a way that we're not persecuted or chastised. After we're done with it, We get to go get lunch, because God's blessed most of us with enough money to buy lunch.

How about we? Let's be excited today. How about we do that? Hey, raise your hand real quick. If you read Philippians before, Did you like it?

? Hey, did you like it? It's the word of God You got. Is that low enough for you guys?

Did I still feel like, Okay, Hey, it's the word of God? It's one of my favorite pieces of Scripture. Because Paul's like in a good mood. He's in prison, but he's in a good mood when he's writing it. He's writing to a group of people that he adores, that he yearns for, He.

He says in chapter, four, three, four, one of the chapters. He says to the Philippian church: you're my joy and crown. I don't know if you got people in your life that you're that proud of you going to wear it on your forehead, But Paul is so excited about the Philippian church So I'm going to dive in, I'm going to give you some context, But before we start that, we're going to go through the first 11 verses And I'm going to encourage you: put on your like thinking/contextual cap, because if you jump into Philippians without understanding a little bit of the context, it's like you people jumping into season 3 of The Summer I Turn Pretty. It's like what's the big deal? Conrad Jeremiah, I don't think it's a big deal.

I'm a dude. I don't really love the show, but I love my wife so I like the show with her. How many of y'all watching some? You shouldn't. It's a terrible show, full of the culture wasting all their money on Taylor Swift song rights and I don't know.

It's kind of enjoyable to watch, but it's. You get it right. You jump into Philippians and you don't know the context, you're going to be missing out on some of the really valuable components within Philippians. So I'm going to read this to you really quickly. We'll dive in.

Starting in verse one- it'll be on the screen behind me. Paul says: Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philip, together with the overseers and deacons, Grace and peace to you from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's what Paul says to him. It's a personal letter, a little love letter. I thank my God every time.

How many times?. Every time. Good job, Good job. I remember you In all my prayers.

For all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel, from the first day until now, being confident of this: that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion, until the day of Christ Jesus. He says it. Listen to how gushy he is. Gushy, gushy. Okay, It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart And whether I'm in chains or defending and confirming the Gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me.

God can testify. Listen to this How I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. I mean, this is, this is emotional. Paul is emotionally fulfilled in writing this letter And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. And I'd never read it this way because my wife had to memorize Philippians when she was in grad school.

She's a counselor, so I think they thought that her memorizing Philippians would be good to help people with their anxiety. So she knows it. And when she was practicing she'd always start with the first 11 verses And it never clicked to me how much Paul is glazing the Philippian church. Now, if you're a young person, you know what glazing is. If you're old person, the first service you know.

So, it's. It's like he's flattering them. He's overspeaking about how awesome they are. Right, It'd be like something I say to somebody that I'm trying to woo over in a relationship. You're so beautiful, I have you in my heart.

I always thank God when I remember you in prayer. And this is Paul's genuine emotion when he thinks about the Philippian church. Now, before I dive into the context, I want to tell you that I think the same thing that Paul has with a church that's full of people who are not his blood relatives, you can have with people that God- what does he say in Scripture- Knits you together with, And so let me give you the context of this love story that Paul is interacting with. I gotta get Man, if you, if you, if you can pay attention. You're going to have to, because I remember talking through it in the first service, thinking like these people aren't paying attention to me.

But if you can lean in and pay attention to some of the context I'm going to give you, you'll understand the full emoting that Paul is doing right now and why it's justified. So let me start. 20 years before this letter was written, Paul was converted on the road to Damascus. Jesus said to him in a vision: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Paul's converted.

He goes to try to hang out with the disciples. A little bit later They're like: "Paul, you're going to get us persecuted". They send him to his mama's house in Tarsus for anywhere between two and 10 years. And then there's this guy, Paul's patron, a rich guy in the ancient world who actually, sold land and got the property that the Jerusalem church was landing on The son of encouragement. His name is Barnabas- Part of Barnabas, of all people, believed in Paul, and he goes up to Tarsus and he grabs him and he brings them down to a church that God's moving in called Antioch.

It's in present day Syria. They do some ministry there for about a year and Paul and Barnabas, along with Barnabas's relative, John Mark, go on Paul's first missionary journey. Now, when we say missionary journey, it means he's taking where he's at to another location so that the Gospel, the good news of Jesus, would be spread. I'm going to throw up the map now because I just got to show them. People are visual learner.

Anyone a visual learner in this place? I am. I got to see it in order to understand it And, to know the love story. You got to know the map. There's a show on Prime right now.

It's called the map that leads to you. This is the map that leads you to where you want to be. This is what we're talking about. So Paul's in Antioch And in his first missionary journey- you got to ignore the red line. On his first missionary journey he goes with Barnabas and John Mark to where I think Barnabas is actually from.

He had land here. They go visit, They do some ministry, Some cool stuff happens. And then Paul goes over to here with Barnabas, but not John Mark, because John Mark flaked in Cyprus. All right, So they go here. Well, actually, John Mark turns around and goes back to Cyprus about right.

Here They go through Lististra, Pacidian, Antioch, Econium Derby and they are persecuted. Paul gets beat to a bloody pulp And Barnabas- I don't even know why he didn't get persecuted. He didn't know He must have had too much money. And so Paul gets beat, goes through all the way back to Antioch and tells the people at that church he said: "Hey, it's with persecution. The kingdom of God is going to be spread here in the known world".

And then later Paul and Barnabas feel called to go on Paul's not first missionary journey, but y'all with me Second missionary journey And the conversation ensues between Barnabas and Paul about John Mark. Barnabas wants to bring John Mark. He's relative, blood relative, And Paul's like "Nah, that dude flaked. I don't want him to go with us anymore. He's going to back off when we need him most.

This is not a good guy to bring on mission. I'm not telling you who's right- Maybe Paul could have been more forgiving". But I will say this: they split up at that point, right before Paul goes to leave on his second missionary journey. Now in the ancient world. Contextually this is significant because in a lot of ways Barnabas was Paul's guy.

He was the one who promoted him to the disciples. He was the one who probably was his patron. So for him to leave, that leaves Paul very isolated and lonely. Now he had a small crew, but Barnabas leaving was significant. So he goes on his second missionary journey.

This is where the arrow comes in. I'm getting somewhere. I swear. Season 1, season two, I got to take you through it. So from Antioch, Paul goes up here- Guess, he couldn't afford a boat this time- Goes through Tarsus, which is where Paul's from.

Then he goes through Derby, Lististra, Aonium, Antioch, Pacidia, where he did ministry with Barnabas The first time. The Bible says he was strengthening the churches. He was trying to build some support so that he could do more ministry in the places of Bethnia and Asia. But then it gets worse for Paul. The spirit of God prevents Paul from going into Bethnia up north and Asia to the south.

And if I'm Paul, I'm feeling the split from Barnabas heavily. I'm trying to get supporters. And so Paul goes further. Because Paul's stubborn, He goes further to a place called Trrowaz. Y'all see it right here, All the way to the left of the red thing.

This is Trrowass. It's a port city And there Paul receives a vision that we call the Macedonian vision, The Macedonian vision. There's this guy in the dream. He says: "Come help us in Macedonia". I wish dreams were that simple for me.

I'm just going to be all: Come help us in Macedonia. So Paul listens to the dream, as you do. You know what I'm saying. Paul listens to the dream and says: "All right, I'm going to try something new". Now Macedonia is right here in orange, and Paul goes from Trrowass.

He gets a boat- at this point through Neapolis, hops, skips and jumps and he lands in the city that this book is titled. What city is it, guys? I was hoping you would stay with me. What city is it? - Philippi.

He lands in Philippi And when Paul gets there, things turn around for Paul. This is why he can remember so many good things about Philippi. And when he gets there he interacts. He goes to a pruk. This is a prayer meeting, a prayer gathering by the river.

Paul shows up. There's this woman named Lydia there and several other- the Bible says women by the river- And he does ministry there for a moment. And Lydia- it actually tells us about Lydia. She's a p person who weaves together purple fabrics from theotira and sells it. She's a rich woman.

She's a rich woman from Asia. It's such an interesting story Y'all might not care about all this stuff. He meets her. She's converted, She trusts in Jesus And God opened her heart and she opens her house, Invites Paul and his team And then her whole family is converted and baptized. And then they continue to do ministry at this prayer meeting.

And then eventually, Paul and them are followed by this slave girl who's demon-possessed And Paul gets annoyed one day and he casts this demon out of her. It's just kind of an off-the-cuff miracle that Paul performed. And then the owners of this slave girl get really angry. They get angry cuz she produced money for these guys And they cause a riot. In the midst of the riot, Paul and Silas get arrested, They are flogged, In other words beat to a bloody pulp.

Then they're put in prison And around midnight they're singing hymns in prison. You Bible scholars might know what's happening here. They're singing hymns and there's an earthquake, and then, when the earthquakes, the prison gates open. Paul and Barnabas are good dudes, so they stay there and they end up converting the jailer and he trusts in Jesus and gets baptized. And then they go back to Lydia's home.

They're strengthened, encouraged and sent out to go do more ministry. And the next 10 years Paul continues to do ministry. He does ministry in Berea, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, and he boated back to Jerusalem with an offering, gives him the offering, but then he gets arrested. He has a shipwreck and is now sitting in house arrest in a Roman prison again. And while sitting in house arrest he receives a letter at the hands of a man named Apaproditis, who he knew.

And on the way Apaproditis got sick to the point of almost dying, But he still had the gall in him to deliver the letter to Paul. And Paul, sitting potentially discouraged, receives this letter from the group of people filled with memories and he's excited to write it to them. It is a love story between Paul and the Philippian church, because now, when he's awaiting death, potentially, he receives not just an encouraging word but a financial offering from the Philippian church. Paul loves these guys. We find out in 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, that Philippi had given of their poverty, or beyond their poverty, and helped Paul when he was in desperate need in places like Berea and Thessalonica and Corinth and, in Athens, like they were there for him and he was there for them.

2 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

There's this connection and so that you don't lose the point or the plot, I want you to know you can experience this deepening connection with someone who is not a blood relative, But you got to follow what God calls you to do. And Paul receives this letter, He writes it back And he's glazing them because of all that they have been through, And that is what I want for each of us. Paul's connection with Philippi was biblically rooted, emotionally fulfilling and very productive. You can have a productive relationship with other people And I know I've got a stated task to help you join a small group, but I'm going to convince you, through what Paul says here, to join at least some semblance of biblical community. But before let's break the ice.

We talking about relationships, right. Look at your neighbors. Tell them my sermon title. Look at them. Look at them.

Look at them. Come on, Come on, y'all Y'all being so, so quiet today. Look at your neighbor. Tell them my sermon title. Say this: Hey, this story between me and you, .

It's a love story. I told y'all it was going to be song titles or song lyrics. Hey, you get $5. Someone gets $5 if they tell me: No, I'm kidding, I'm not giving you $5 for knowing Taylor Swift songs Not going to do it. It's a love story And I know it's weird, but it's going to be helpful for you today to ponder what it looks like to be like Paul in this moment.

Who who's not scared to be gushy and glazy- I don't even know if that's a verb- When it comes to his interaction with the Philippian church. And before I dive in further into this text, I want to give you my first point. I've talked a lot of points. They're going to be short. I promise I'm going to give you my first point from the context.

Paul was in Trrowass, probably discouraged and wondering what was next, and he received a vision: Come over to Macedonia and help us. My hope today would be that I would be a voice similar to Paul hearing from somebody else. I want you to join biblical community because I believe it's going to help you. For Paul, if Galatian Bethnia, the spirit, prevented them from going there, if they're not getting you the results you're looking for, if what you're familiar with, be it blood relatives, extended family, co-workers, if it's not giving you what you're looking for, my encouragement would be this. It's my first point: Try something different.

Try something different. I think isn't that the definition of insanity: To do the same thing over and over and over again? I don't know if there's a real definition, but that's what every preacher says: try something over and over and over again. It doesn't produce what you want, but you keep doing it because it's familiar. We've got to be a people who are unfased by the unfamiliar, And when I look at Paul receiving this vision randomly in Trrowaz, this dude's like: "All right, I'm going to go help him in Macedonia.

Let's be unfased by the unfamiliar, because who knows when you're going to step in to the thing that God uses to turn your life around". And let me ask you this: How many of you- I think all of I'm believing that all of you- felt led by God to come to service today. If you didn't and you were forced here, I still think God brought you. Just you know you don't want to be here. I think God brought you here on purpose And so I believe that something said today can really really help you.

And I don't think God called you here to keep doing the same thing you've been doing the last 10, 15, 20 years. I think he called you here to try something different. I wrote this down because I think it'll be helpful. For Paul it was: let me try Philippi, Try Macedonia. For you, your Philippi, your Macedonia could be, I'm not tell, could be biblical community, a small group, something different.

But when I tell you that, I know there's a couple thoughts that have come to your mind. And when Paul got the vision, I imagine there are a few thoughts that came to his mind. It was unfamiliar. My first thought would be: if I'm Paul, if I'm Paul, Paul grew up in Tarsus. Paul spent time in Damascus.

He's been to Jerusalem. We don't know from the Scriptures that Paul has ever been to Macedonia. It's possible, but we don't know. And when we look at Paul going through a second missionary journey, he goes through Tarsus, Familiar. Then he goes to the places that he and Barnabas went to on the first missionary journey- Familiar.

Then he tries to go to Bethnia and Asia, directly adjacent to those places. He's already been semifamiliar. But God wants him to take a giant leap, take a boat all the way to Neapolis and then hop over to Philippi. And for some of you're thinking about all the reasons jumping into a small group might be difficult for you. But I'm telling you the result of jumping into radical biblical community can change your life, give you peace and put you in on a better trajectory.

Guys, It can put you on a better trajectory. So I encourage you, try something different. And, I know you've got your schedules and I'll break that down in a second, I think. I think, Ryan did a great job talking about how pushing beyond scheduling difficulty is worth it when God's in it. Is that y'all with me on that?

Is worth it when God's in it. But we're familiar with some of these things that happen in our families. But I just want to encourage you: If God's calling you to do something, jump. I. I had a conversation with somebody who came right up to me at the end of the service and they said: "Hey, I want to do this" And I felt in my spirit, that I needed to give them what the word of God said about a specific thing, And I didn't know if it was going to be what they wanted to hear.

And I gave it to them And for me it was like a big leap. I got to do what God calls me to do And at the end of it, the result was different than I anticipated, because what God does when you trust him is almost always different than you anticipate. And I'm trying to be careful, because I love that you're here. I love that you're here. I love when you sit in.

You should totally sit in. Every week. We say: gather, grow, group, give, go, Do it please. I love it when you gather, I love it when you come. Sit in church on Sunday.

That's the thing we put the most resources into every single week is our Sunday service. But many of you in here you've been going to Sunday services since you were a kid and you're still dealing with the same old, same old. Could it be? You need to try something different? For me, I found that jumping into biblical community and accountability has been the radical shift in my life that actually helped me move forward, Because you don't know what you don't know, but when God's people surround you, they can help you.

They can help you. If you look at verse three, I also want you to develop this community, because it will bless you. Paul says this in verse three: I thank my God every time. I remember you, Every time I would. I'm willing to bet there's a select group of people in your lives that you thank God for every time that you think of them, And I'm willing to bet it's probably your close family and maybe your high school friends that you can call up anytime, because they know who you were and they didn't judge you for who you were and you've gotten better, So, at base level, they're not ever going to judge you again.

Your college friends, people that you have gotten connected with through a hobby or something like that, These people who have been with you through thick. And then my wife is one of my people and I thank God for her every time. She, she, you're not a blood relative, but What does it say? Blood? No, I don't know This.

I was trying to think of something to say nice to you, but I can't think about it. Point is, I thank God every time. I remember you, and I see you every day, So I remember you all the time. It's great, and you can think of your parents, your spouse, your kids. Those are the people we naturally default to thanking God that we have.

But, man, there are people down the road from you that if you pursue biblical community six months from now- I mean if you're in one of the small groups and you can attest to the fact that God will, build something connected in your life that you never anticipated from non-blood rel, right Like it'll, it is so radically different. I thank God every day for certain people who have come into my life and I've developed biblical community with him, because we're all pursuing Jesus together. I see back here. I see, is that you, John, ? I see you back there, John.

I remember that day that the, that week the trailer was stolen. I was discouraged. We hadn't launched the church yet and I didn't know if anyone was going to show up. We definitely didn't have a good worship service that week. It was actually pretty good, but it wasn't like produced at all.

And you guys came in and you came in and you offered like an amp and I don't know that the amp was going to be like crazy helpful in that moment, but I remember feeling like you're a person who's there for people and from that moment on you've been here and so I'm so grateful for you and for Rita and what you. I thank God every time and you're the person that I'm going to stop at. It doesn't mean you're my favorite. There's no partiality in Christ Jesus. But I saw you back there and if I say more people, someone's going to get offended that I didn't list them.

I thank God for many of you, But are there people in your community or in your life who, because of the biblical connection you have with them, you thank God for their presence? I think of people in small groups over the years who looked at me and my wife in our marriage and they were kind enough to offer me a few suggestions on how I should present myself before my wife, And then I learned and I grew from it. I can think of people that I've been able to speak to and I've seen produce after produce, fruit after fruit in their life. Because I was close enough with them, I thanked God for them enough that we were interacting on a regular basis. I think I mean Paul's thinking about this Philippian church.

And they didn't stop when he left them to go into Berea and Thessalonica and Athens. No, he continued that relationship. They continued to send him letters. They continued to send him people. They were one of Paul's joy and crowns.

He was so joyfilled at the thought of the Philippian church and their connection that he thanked God for them every day. And I see that in my current small group. I've seen it in small groups over the years. I thank God for the people that God has placed around me, And it's not just blood relatives. Lord, help me if it were just my blood relatives.

If my mom's in here- I love you, You're my blood relative, My brother up in Seattle, my blood relatives- Some of y'all got like five million blood relatives. I got like four and those four are great. I love them to death. But if it were just those four, I'd be in trouble. But praise God, I thank God every time.

I think about the people that God surrounded me with And I, if you're not surrounded by- I'm going to say it- church folk, ever You're missing out on something crucial that will help you grow. And Paul didn't just remember the people. He remembers those shared experiences, like the miraculous healing of the slave girl, the riot that that caused, the flogging by the magistrates, the prison hymns, the prison bars, the follow-up prayer meeting, the financial gifts while he was persecuted in Thessalonica and Berea, the continued support for 10 plus years leading to this letter, which started with an offering from the Philippian church and a gift of almost his life from Apaproditis. Do you have that? Do you have that kind of connection with non-blood people in your life, non-relative people in your life?

And if you don't, I'm telling you it's possible there could be something so connected, so intimate, that you thank God for it every day. Paul says this in verse four: I always pray with joy. It is right, correct for me to feel this way, since I have you in my heart. I long for you with the affection of Christ Jesus. It's the last time you long for somebody.

I'm not saying you just need to go like pining for people. That's weird, Don't be, Don't be, don't be a creeper, Don't be weird, Don't be longing for them outside their house with binoculars, Don't do that kind of stuff. But when Paul says normally, socially acceptably. I long to be with you all again, He says later in the p in the. In the letter he says: I don't know which to choose, And, and knowing this love story behind it helps me understand why when he thinks about heaven, he's thinking about Philippians as well.

He's: I don't know which to choose. Should I stay here, which is better for you, or should I go up to heaven to be with God, which is better by far? I don't know which to choose. Because of this deeply rooted biblical community that was productive for the ministry that he had in Philippi, Paul has a deeply rooted connection. It's emotionally fulfilling from both sides, It's rewarding and it gives him joy.

Can you imagine what would have happened for Paul without that type of close-knit connection? Same thing that happens to many of us: we fall into our traps, into our curses, into the things that, we have formed habits for over the years that have never, have never, helped us. But for for Paul, I can actually look at the text in Acts and in his letters and tell you some things that might not have occurred if he didn't have that connection in Philippi with Lydia, her household and the other people who were helpful in the process, Paul may have never gotten to Corinth- I don't know if you thought about that- because after he leaves Philippi, he jumps into Berea and Thessalonica. It did not go well for Paul and Thessalonica He. It was so bad that he had to leave in order to go to Athens.

He got himself into a little safe house and he spends time there because he had to leave Thessalonica and Berea. He was getting persecuted by the people in the synagogue And the Philippians were the ones who actually helped him navigate some of those conversations, And so then he ends up in Athens and eventually he ends up in Corenth and then he ends up back to Asia with Ephesus. It was their produce in regard to financial support that enabled him to take an offering back to Jerusalem. And, yeah, he gets arrested and he ends up in Rome, but he continues to do ministry, I think in part because of this biblical community that he developed at a place that he never would have anticipated it, And I- I just man, I want that for each of us. I'm lucky enough to have, a bunch of cohorts of pastors who know exactly what I'm going through and I know exactly what they're going through, And we don't have to be buds, Like we don't talk or hang out but when we go sit together and chat we, we understand each other And I know you might ha- some of you might have that, But I need you to know that with people that are just your friends you can still have that if you develop it the right way.

But this isn't just a relationship with an emotional connection. I mean it's got to have a biblical component to it. I mean Paul could have just gone back to Tarsus for that biblical connection. I mean he, he's raised there, He's a Pharisee of Pharisees. He could have hung out with those guys.

He had already planted some churches in Galatia. He could have gone back there. But he went forward somewhere. He wouldn't understand, He didn't know, We don't even know like at the level he was able to connect with those people. But he did.

When he got there and he figured it out, and Philippi ended up being a breath of fresh air for Paul. But it wasn't just a relational connection. It was kind of this biblically rooted, productivity related question, because when he gets there immediately he's preaching the Gospel and their receptivity is what changed the game. Lydia's household changed the game, The people he interacted with there changed the game and it was biblically focused. You got to have both And a lot of you have great connections that are emotionally fulfilling But if they're not biblical, they're missing a key component to your spiritual success And we like to segment it.

Have you noticed how we like to segment our relationships from our Bible? I don't know if you've noticed that, but people come to church. They sit in church, they get their information- Hopefully it moves to inspiration, but it's mostly information they get. They check the box for their Bible, Say, "I got my Bible connection this week. I'm going to go back and hang out with everybody that I hung out with.

They don't care about the Bible, but I'm emotionally fulfilled in those connections". There's no Bible, but I'm emotionally fulfilled. So I'll go back to those. And what we've done is we've segmented something that really needs like. You need both.

You've got to have Bible in your deepest relationships. Otherwise, some of your calling and your questions and the things that you're processing through with your creator, you're going to constantly be misfiring because your biblical community or your, your Bible isn't matching with your community. And I'm thinking that if you have a good small group, if you have a good biblical community, you can actually have better discernment because you've surrounded yourself with people who are going to hold you accountable: what the Bible says, not what culture says, not what your community says, not what random people say, not what your in-laws say, because half of them are wrong all the time. You know not what that person who's thrice divorced says about your relationship. Come on, look at the right people who are focusing on the Bible.

You need an emotionally fulfilling biblical community that produces something. Paul found that And I want to tell you this, It's so simple, It's gonna be on the screen: Find biblical community. Is it there? There we go. Find productive and biblical community.

I'm going to give you two statements. It may or may not make sense, but I hope to break it down for you very briefly. First, it's not productive if it's not biblical. It is not productive if it is not biblical. So to any of you who are trying to live your life without an undergirling or a perspective that puts Jesus first and what he said in his word first, you're missing a key component to your joy and peace Is it's got to be biblical if you want it to be productive.

He says this in verse 6, he who began a good work in you, will carry it on to completion, until the day of Christ Jesus. I put this, I said this: , busy without Bible leads to burnout, And I think a lot of us are in so many relationships. We talk about a small group and you're like I want more stuff to do during the week, And I'll tell you this. I'll be so clear: If you've got biblical community right now, that's emotionally fulfilling and productive in your life, no pressure to join a small group. My premise is this, though: that most of us don't have one of the three of those things in the current groups that we participate in, So my encouragement to you is to walk out here to use a QR code in a second and sign up for biblical community, because I think the biblical component is crucial to your success.

Like you wonder why your relationships are stressing you out, I, I, or just you- feel busy and like just constantly tired. It could be because there's no biblical component undergirling all the things that you're doing. It's really important for you to have the Bible in your life if you're going to be productive, And I wrote this, I put: biblical community exists to help you stay aligned with God's purposes, encourage you when you drift and call you higher when you have the tendency to settle for less. And I know half you got advice from that person who doesn't really care about your long-term success and growth. But here we want to produce groups that do that Like we care about your high calling in Christ Jesus.

Number two: it's not biblical if it's not productive. That's easy, right. You'll know a tree by its fruit. In other words, if you're in a group that says it's biblical and it produces nothing in your life or in the lives of other people in that group is not a productive group. It's not a biblical group.

They say it but it's not. And I've seen groups- and I'm not going to call out any names, not at our church, but I've seen groups that exist, Yet they're more studying the Bible than they are actually producing something in people's lives. I don't want a bunch of studies, I want productive, biblical community that is emotionally fulfilling. That's what I want to see in our groups. And if we have a group that's that's not doing it, we'll let them know.

You know we try to talk to people about this stuff. We're trying to create something that God wants us to create. And again, if your group, whatever you do, if it has all those components and you're feeling fulfilled, hey, I mean, maybe a small group's not for you, But there's some people in here. You're like Paul after he split from Barnabas and is trying to drum up some continued support through the places in present day Turkey, and he's struggling to do so. And he's arrived in Trrowass and he's at his wits end trying to figure it out, And he received that vision that changed everything.

Maybe you feel isolated, like him, And I want to tell you this: God brought you here today so that you could find a biblical community that would fulfill you emotionally and actually help you produce what you're trying to produce in your life. That's why God brought you here: to move you from isolation into a connection with other individuals. And I'm hoping that if you sign up for something that would breed a connection in you that is similar, you're going to like you're going to long for Sunday. People in my group have been posting lately. They're like: "Man, I just cannot wait for Sunday".

We have our group on Sunday night. It's been a long week. I can't wait to be at group and connect with you guys. We took a break for the summer and we're all like "Man, we miss each other, We should get together more" And I'm like "No, I'm too busy". I'm just kidding, No, it's like.

It's like we want to be around each other. You can create this, and it's not just your blood relatives. It is people that God has called in the same direction. They're on the same trajectory. You're looking to your left and to your right and you're seeing these people And rather than just come and look left and right down your row and then leave back to the stuff that never sustained you, never blessed you, never helped you, What if you tried something different?

It could be helpful for you. And this is it. This is in the Bible. Scholars may disagree on what this actually looks like, but as I was doing some further research into what Paul encountered in Philippi, I just asked this basic question. I asked questions of Scripture, I asked this basic question And I said, said: "Why did he go to the synagogue in Philippi".

He went to the synagogue in, in wherever he went before, whether it was Derby, whether it was Antioch or Pacidian Antioch, whether it was Listister. He went to the synagogue everywhere he could. But here he goes to the river, to a pursuit a prayer meeting. As I did a little further research, I found out that there was no synagogue in Philippi. The reason there wasn't a synagogue in Philippi was because, in order to have a synagogue, you had to have what they called a minion, which is a group of 10 Jewish men, Those people who could do the things like, unrolling the scrolls, reading the shama, going over the different writes that they participated in- I got a list right here, but I'm not going to read them And going through.

You had to have 10 people to do it. So the fact that they had a prayer meeting in Philippi meant that there were not enough people to have a Jewish synagogue in Philippi. In fact, there were less than 10 men. And then the Scriptures tell us about Lydia and other women at the river. So, while Paul went and he helped start the Philippian church, what he arrived at was more like a small group, a group of people who, very quickly, were receptive to the message that he was teaching, who were quick to open up their home to Paul, who were quick to encourage him, even after he got flogged, beat to a bloody pulp, put in prison, quick to pray for him, quick to support him financially, And they found a closeness and connection that Paul longs for when he's in prison again.

10 years later, His turnaround happened when he showed up at a small group, And I think that's straight up in Scripture. You could argue with me, but you would be wrong. That is exactly what happened. Paul shows up in a small group. It was.

It was biblically rooted for him, emotionally fulfilling, And you can't argue with me, reading Philippians, that it wasn't productive, And you all have a chance to experience the same thing today. All you got to do is sign up, And there are a couple things that I can encourage you to do. There's going to be on this screen a QR code. They're going to drop it behind me. That's one way you could join.

Well, when they drop it in a second- I hope they're paying attention. They back there. All right, Cool, They. Oh, there we go. Cool, They dropped that.

You can scan the QR code, sign up for any of the groups that are listed there, Just depends on the date. Maybe you know some of the people there. You can also walk outside, fill out a form and what do they say? You get a. You get a cookie.

They have cookies. Huh. I think everybody gets a cookie, but only people who sign up for Biblical Community get a pretty cookie. Is that what it is? It's not, It's.

I haven't found the Lydia yet. You know you all sign up for small groups and then we're going to have a new patron. We're going to be able to afford cookies for everybody. Right now we got cookies for people who signed up for a group. I'm, But yeah, you get a cookie, Get get a cookie.

Sign up for a group. Chat with somebody in the lobby, build a connection And I, I swear I'll be done right after this. I am done with doing church the same old, same old. Like I. I feel like sometimes church is like Bethnia and Asia.

It's like you know, we're trying to create something but we're doing the same old, same old, not jumping to where God calls us to do. And God's called us into radical a bunch of things: Radical commitment to Christ, radical generosity when it comes to our lives and finances. He also calls us to radical community, And that radical community is not coming and sitting next to each other looking forward the entire time. It is something that, when you leave, you long for later in the week. It is a community of non-blood relatives who come together, knit together in Christ Jesus, who love one another, bear one another's burdens, enjoy hanging out with each other, talk about Scriptures and how they apply to our lives and ultimately, we produce something in the community that has a huge impact.

So, over this fall, here's what you're going to see. You're going to see that I'm kind of done with this. I love that you come. I want you to keep coming, but I want you to come and get what you're coming for, And I know you came for community So you can sign up for a group. But we're going to have options throughout the entire fall And I'm just going to encourage you: Don't be awkward and leave without saying something to anybody.

See what I did there. It's like it's awkward if you leave now. Say something to somebody. There's somebody here that you can connect with, Like Paul connected with the Philippian church. It is mutually beneficial, And so what I want to do is I want to pray, because there are two people I want to pray for right now.

I want to play pray for people who are in isolation. You need biblical community, And I also recognize that it's by the spirit of God that we have in those of us who have trusted in Jesus. It's by his spirit that we are knitted together, By his spirit that we can have this type of biblical community. So without Jesus in your life, there's there's not biblical community. So I got to give you an opportunity to put Jesus at the center of your life.

So what we do here is we bow our heads, we close our eyes and we repeat the prayer that I'm going to give you in a moment. So if you could just repeat after me: We're going to pray this prayer. Go ahead, God. Thank you for today. There you go.

I believe that Jesus is your son, that he died on the cross and rose from the grave. I claim the forgiveness you offer. I commit to follow Jesus. Help me find community that will bless me. Help me find community that I can bless.

Get me out of my own way and show me your ways. We pray these things in Jesus's name, And all God's people shout it.