Making Disciples for Global Impact - Week 2: Rooted | Pastor Phil Holcomb

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is

an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.

We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website ecb .asia or our

mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. Good morning. It's really

good to be with you. I'm thankful for the opportunity

to share God's word with you this morning. Humbled

as well, knowing that this is an important thing

that we do when we gather in this moment and

space. We are taking the month of September and

considering what it means to be disciples of

Jesus. clear message that to be a disciple of

Jesus, we are actually to go and make disciples

of Jesus, baptizing them in the name of the Father,

the Son, and the Spirit, teaching them all that

Jesus taught us to do, and that he's going to

journey along with us. If you take all of that

saying and you capture it down, it's that to

be a disciple, that we are with Jesus, we are

becoming like Jesus, and we are doing what Jesus

has asked us to do in the world. So this month,

we're looking at what the identity of the church

is and how we live that out together. So I'd

like to pray and just invite God to be moving

in this space together with us. So Father, we

pause before you, knowing that since beginning

of time, you had already ordained this day. We

didn't know it. We didn't know what focus we

were going to have for the teaching, and yet

we hope that we have been faithful partners in

listening to what you would have us consider

this morning. Jesus, we gather around you because

you are fully worth it. Thank you for the gift

of your own life, your death, your resurrection.

And Holy Spirit, we invite you to be moving within

us. We know you are here. So open our eyes to

see you, open our hearts to receive what you

have for us, and may whatever happens within

this time move us to be closer to you. We pray

this all in the wonderful name of Jesus. Amen.

A few months back, we had a couple who was traveling

through Southeast Asia, and actually they had

been in Korea for a time, and then they... They

reached out to us and said, hey, could we come

and visit you and visit ECB? And of course we

said, absolutely. You're welcome to come. So

they came in on a Saturday morning and we gathered

together that evening over food at our home and

we enjoyed a delicious meal together and shared

conversations about just updates of what it looks

like to walk in the way of Jesus with one another.

It was a really special time. Near the end of

that time, they looked at us and they said, hey,

Pastor Phil and Rhea, could we pray a blessing

over you? Of course, we would love to receive

this. But then they followed that up and they

said, we sense God placing upon us something

that we want to pray specifically over you. Now,

in that moment, you're really listening. Lord,

what are you wanting to speak through them to

me, right? And so we had this time of them praying

over us and it was a really, really special time

together. And what I want to invite us this morning

is to realize, that God himself, when he came

as fully man and fully God in Jesus, prayed a

prayer of blessing over you. Here's what it says

in the middle of John 17. So he's with his disciples

in the upper room just before he heads out to

be crucified. He's gathered around and they're

breaking bread together, having a meal, and he

says, I want to pray for you. And he prays this

beautiful prayer in John 17. But in the middle

of it, he says, I'm praying not only for you

that are around this room, but I'm also praying

for any of the people who end up deciding to

follow me. If you follow Jesus, that's you. Jesus

prayed this prayer of blessing over you. So wouldn't

you want to hear it and say, Lord, What are you

speaking to me through these words? So what I

want to invite you to do is, as we start, imagine

that you're sitting at a table. Jesus is right

across from you. And he's put his hand up. And

I'm seeing a few of you here, and I'm going to

call you out. And he's like, Debbie, I'm going

to pray over you. Max, I'm going to pray over

you, whoever it is. And he calls you out by name,

and he says, I'm going to pray over you. And

here are the words that he says. He says, I pray

that they. I pray that all of you, ECB, will

be one. Just as you and I are one, talking about

the Father. As you are in me, Father, and I am

in you. And may they be in us so that the world

will believe that you sent me. That's pretty

extreme unity there. I have given them the glory

you gave me so that they may be one as we are

one. He continues on. I am in them and you are

in me. May they experience perfect unity that

the world will know that you sent me and that

you love them as much as what you love me. What

God is expressing here is in his incredible amount

of love, he has invited you to receive the same

amount of love, the same quality of love as the

Father shows on the Son. That's not a little

bit of love. That is a ton of love. And he's

also called you and I to be... combined in perfect

unity. As we go through this series and we're

unpacking what it means to be disciples of Jesus

for global impact here at ECB, we've used different

images. And last week, we talked about being

planted. So some of you are here for two weeks.

Some of you are here for 50 years. It doesn't

matter how long you are here. It's planting yourself

in whatever God has before us so that he can

continue to move within you, give you his love,

and may you give that to other people as well.

This week, our image is one of a plant that is

rooting down. Now, is this one plant or is this

many plants? I don't actually know. I found it

on Google, so I'm not sure. But here is the root

system below. And you know what the reality is?

It doesn't really matter if this is one plant

or many because the roots are so intertwined

in this combination of supporting one another

that this is what the picture that Jesus said

is. It doesn't even really matter who you are,

Pastor Phil, or who this person is. It's about

what I am doing. And so I bring my people together

and we grow something that is truly beautiful.

And so we're going to use this idea of being

rooted in Jesus and one another as a picture

to what community is, what community is. So what

compels Jesus to pray these words over you and

over me? Well, he knew this story really, really

well. He had been there from the beginning. He

was part of helping to make sure that it was

written well through the power of the Holy Spirit.

66 books, 40 or so authors, multiple languages,

over 1 ,500 years, one story. This is part of

the reason why I was drawn and compelled to follow

Jesus. You cannot do this without some supernatural

power to bring that all together. So we're going

to look at that story. So make sure you are very

comfortable because we're going to go from beginning

of the Bible all the way to the end. But I'm

going to break it up in four different. parts,

four fragments, and look at the story that way

so we can kind of get an arc of what God's design

for community, for belonging is. Because that's

our call this morning is, what is community?

What does it look like to participate in healthy

community together? What does it look like to

be rooted in belonging? So the first part of

the story is set in the Garden of Eden. And we

start there because you know what? Even if you

don't consciously ask this question, we know

we are moving based on this question. The question

is, what is my purpose? What am I designed for?

What does it mean to be me? And the Garden of

Eden, the account of the creation of all things,

which includes humanity, is a good place to look

and say, Lord, who did you make me to be? And

so we're going to look there and we're going

to figure out, well, what does God say about

being connected to others? Because brothers and

sisters, your soul longs to belong. Your soul

longs to belong. I want to take you back to a

very special day, the day you were born. Now,

you don't remember that day because you didn't

have the capacity, the developmental capacity

to remember that day. But there is something

that happened on that day that actually connects

all of us here. So after the transition from

being in the safe, warm space of the mother's

womb and then you come out into the world and

there's these bright lights and noise and depending

on where you are, probably people moving around

and there's this jarring effect where there's

usually some screaming involved. Then the baby

settles into this quiet phase. Sometimes it lasts

up to an hour. And the baby is looking out, even

though they can only see about 10 centimeters

in front of their face. And what are they looking

for? The baby is desperately looking for somebody

looking for them. That's what the baby is longingly

looking for. And this instinctual thing, as a

baby, you didn't plan. You're like, okay, tomorrow's

my birthday and I'm going to come out there and

I'm going to look for somebody looking for me.

This was an instinct deep inside your soul that

desired belonging and connection with other people.

And it speaks to, we call this an echo of Eden.

It's pulling back to what God designed us through

at the beginning. My wife and I have been going

to a, with a group of people who do this exercise

routine a few times a week. She goes twice. I

go once. It tells you a little bit about who

we are as people. But in this space, there is

nothing wonderful in it. There's a lot of sweating,

a lot of hard work, a lot of groaning in pain.

But something special happens in that space.

Where you walk into the room and as you begin

to know one another, the person's face lights

up when you walk in. And even though you don't

plan out, I'm going to go to this workout and

I'm looking for somebody looking for me. When

you walk into a room and somebody does that back

to you, it changes how you engage in that space.

And even though this is an awful thing to go

through, it's much better knowing that this is

a community of people connected with one another.

And why is this important? Because right now,

by some figures, 20 % of the world's population

is experiencing what we call acute loneliness.

That's not cute loneliness. Acute loneliness

means serious levels of loneliness to the point

where there's somewhere in the figure of around

a million deaths per year related to loneliness.

And for those of you who are younger, whether

it's young adults or even high school age, this

number goes up to close to 30 % for you. So why,

when we have this instinctual drive to connect

with other people, and we are in a time frame

where we have the best connections, we are the

most connected people ever, are we still experiencing

loneliness? Well, we'll get to that in just a

moment. But let's look first at our design. Then

God said, let us make human beings in our image

to be like us. The triune God, Father, Son, and

Spirit, living in perfect community says, hey,

we're going to make humanity. And then he goes

on, the author says, so God created human beings

in his own image. In the image of God, he created

them, made them male and female. He created them.

Okay, let me unpack this. You've got... God,

who is community in and of himself, three in

one, creating you and me as people, man and woman,

together in community to reflect his community

image. That's a lot of togetherness, which we

start to see why Jesus prayed this prayer for

perfect unity for us. That's what it means to

be rooted in belonging. And then God blessed

them and he said, be fruitful and multiply, fill

the earth and govern it. So not only does he

say, hey, you belong. And we are together in

this, but he also gives us a great purpose. And

that purpose is to bring about his goodness into

the world. That is to reflect his good nature

in multiplying that. So whether it's bringing

more humans into the world, whether it is art

and culture and things that we create, whatever

it may be, we do that in partnership with him.

It's a three -tiered belonging. That's what it

means to be rooted in belonging. But there's

another section. If you know the story of Genesis

well, there's actually two accounts of humanity's

creation. And God does this intentionally, not

because it's a mistake in the Bible. It's actually

helping you look at it from two different angles

because when we do that, we understand it at

more depth. So let's look at the second account.

It says, formed the man from the dust of the

ground. So imagine God, even though he's spirit,

he's taking the dust to the ground and he forms

it together and he looks at this person. Is the

person alive at that point? No. He looks at the

person looking back at him and he breathes the

breath of life into that human being. This is

the story of our origin. If you remove that breath

out of a person, what is left? Just dust. But

with the breath, that person now is a full human

being. I cannot live without God. And even though

I think often that I can, I cannot live without

God. In the southern part of Africa, they have

a phrase called Ubuntu, which is literally meaning

person. And what the actual like breakdown of

the definition of it is, I am because we are.

And we might think about it this way. I am because

we and vertically are as well, God. I cannot

be without God and one another. Community is

absolutely essential. Then he goes on and he

says, then the Lord God said, it's not good for

a man to be alone. I will make a helper who is

just right for him. Now, this is often a passage

used in weddings, and we know it fairly well.

But this word helper is actually ezer in Hebrew.

And it does not mean an assistant or a house

helper who's going to do something that I don't

want to do because I'm busy. Actually, ezer is

typically used of God in the Old Testament. That

is not who he is. He's not our subservient person

who is there to assist us. He is a indispensable

and powerful partner with us. And yes, this is

talking about man and woman coming together,

but this is also talking about us as a community.

We are to be indispensable partners with one

another. We cannot journey through life without

the help of one another. So what are you made

for? Well, you're made to be rooted in belonging,

both vertically with God and horizontally with

one another. But we know the story, don't we?

Instead of keeping in that space, remaining rooted

in God, humanity turns towards another. So let's

look at that story. Adam and Eve come into the

garden. They're there and they are living in

this space and the deceiver comes in and he begins

initially with breaking down the vertical relationship.

And he says, does God really love you? Is he

really about you? He's keeping things from you.

And in that space, Adam and Eve rebel against

God and then something horribly is broken because

they hide as their first thing. And then when

God graciously calls them out, what do they do?

They begin to blame each other and blame the

snake and blame everything else. And you see

the fragmenting of relationship immediately.

It's though the roots got cut right off from

the plant. And how long does it take for a plant

to start dying without the roots? Only a matter

of time. And so this is the story that we follow.

And this uprooting continues on and on and on.

So who are Adam and Eve's first children? Cain

and Abel. What do they do to each other? They

partner together in great work and they go and...

No, actually Cain kills Abel. The first human

beings that were born, one of them kills the

other one. And then you have Lamech who comes

across multiple wives and he's bragging about

the fact that if you do something to me, I'm

going to take it up five steps and I'm going

to do it way worse back to you. And he's like

building his identity off of this. And then you

get Noah, who's selected by God because humanity

itself has broken down in their relationship,

so much so that they're exploiting one another

to the point where God says, I can't bear watching

my people go through this again and again. And

so he saves this family. And then the family,

not only moments after they're back again, there's

problems with them. And then God calls Abraham.

And they have problems. And then they build a

group together. And there's now a nation that

gathers. And they're like, okay, maybe if we

get a new king, things will be good. And they

get a new king. And then they get another one.

And then the nation divides into two and wars

happen. And it's a pretty awful story, isn't

it? So I want to take us back to last week. What

did Pastor Pablo, what was his refrain from Bob

the Builder? Remember this? ECB, can we build

it? Okay, but let's look back at history. Can

we really build what, I mean, the definition

of being crazy is to do the same thing over and

over again and expect something different to

happen going forward. So if I look down the corridor

of history at what it means to be uprooted, I

don't really have any hope going forward. So

can we build it? I don't think so. But don't

worry, we'll get there. So this is why we desperately

need somebody from the outside to come in. I

can't build roots upon myself after they've been

severed off. I need a new life source to actually

plug myself into. If I was dirt and there was

no life in me, I cannot make life come into me.

I have to somehow be reunited with the one who

actually gifts life. And this is precisely what

happens. The Holy Spirit comes upon Mary and

breathes into her and she actually, Jesus is

born from Mary. So you've got this new connection

between God and humanity that is God saying,

I am so for you that even though this is the

history that I know about, I'm going all in on

you, brothers and sisters. to become one of you

because I love you that deeply. That's a great

story, great news. And so you can imagine Mary

holding baby Jesus and Jesus is looking at her,

looking for somebody, looking back at him and

they journey through life together. And you know

what? Jesus's life is rather unremarkable until

he's 30. He's a carpenter. He studied God's word

and got lost from his parents. And that's almost

the entirety of what we know until all of a sudden,

he comes across John the Baptist. And at that

point, he is going to be baptized. And this is

what we read there. It says, as Jesus came up

out of the water, so John the Baptist, he baptizes

Jesus and Jesus comes up out of the water. He

saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy

Spirit descending on him like a dove. And Jesus

is there coming out of the water, which usually

represents going from something old to something

new. But what happens is that the father says

this. He says, you are my dearly loved son. And

you bring me what? Great joy. This is that belonging

that we are made for, this longing that is there.

Now, what has Jesus done up to this point? Not

really anything significant. But the father looks

at him and says, I love you. And that's our story

too. When we come to Christ, it doesn't mean

we have done a bunch of things to be invited

back into belonging with him. He loves us because

he knows that he created us to be in union with

him. And that in union with him, there's beautiful

community that happens out of that space. But

the story doesn't end there, right? There's teaching

that Jesus gives. The Sermon on the Mount, which

is about 111 verses together, a hundred of them

are about relationship, vertically and horizontally,

either with God or one another. Do you think

relationship is important to Jesus? Absolutely.

It is core to what he is. That's the most succinct

amount of teaching. And then there's this guy

that comes to Jesus and he approaches Jesus like

you would chat GPT. And he says, hey, I read

this whole book and I know it and I'm following

it. And could you summarize what it's all about?

And Jesus says, yeah, I can do that for you.

Boom, just like chat GPT, puts it out there.

And he says, all of this, the whole story is

really about loving the Lord your God with all

of your heart, with all of your soul, with all

of your mind, with all of your strength. And

the second is also important is to love your

neighbor as yourself. Vertical relationship,

horizontal relationship. Do I bring part of me

into this? No, I bring all of me into this relationship.

And that's the level of commitment and belonging

that God knows. And that's why Jesus prayed that

prayer in the upper room. Right after Jesus prays

the prayer, he then calls his disciples down

into his most important moment. just before he

is crucified. This is the time where you need

your friends more than any other time. This is

the time where he is desperately needing somebody

to come alongside him. So he's just prayed this

prayer, hey, may we be unified together, and

they walk into a new garden, the Garden of Gethsemane.

And Jesus makes a fairly easy ask. He says, hey,

could you guys just come and pray? Keep with

me and pray with me. What do they do? They fall

asleep. How many of you, don't worry, you don't

have to raise your hand. We do this though, right?

And we recognize both sides of this story. We

recognize what it is to be abandoned, to not

be cared for by people who need to care for us

in such an important moment. But we also recognize

that we have done that to others. And Jesus has,

in the beautiful way that he does always, has

stepped into this to remake a moment. And he

is there saying, yes, I know that you are still

abandoning me, but because I am living out of

the Father's love for me, I'm going to commit

to you. Because the Holy Spirit is empowering

me to do this, I'm going to commit to you. The

disciples not only don't pray for him and they

fall asleep, but they end up abandoning him.

They deny knowing him. One of them cuts off somebody's

ear because he's trying to maybe promote himself

in some special way. There's all kinds of things

that happen where it's not community the way

it's supposed to be. And it ends with Jesus alone

on the cross with his head probably bowed down

low. And rather than a face looking back at him

to say, this is my beloved son and who I am well

pleased because of your sin and my sin upon his

shoulders. We read that Jesus cries out from

the utter center of who he was using words from

Psalms. My God, my God, why have you forsaken

me? This is Jesus modeling the absolute depth.

of loneliness in that space. His physical punishment

probably paled in comparison to what was happening

to his soul in that moment. And he did that,

why? Because he wants you to belong to him. That's

great news, brothers and sisters. That is worth

celebrating. That is worth giving our lives to,

our whole heart, soul, strength, and mind. So

is there hope? Absolutely. There is hope. There's

hope because he did it, not because you and I

can do it. And therefore, because he did it,

we can build off of the root system that he has

put down and begin to live within that in community

that begins to reflect what it looks like to

be true disciples of Jesus. Are you going to

mess up? Yeah. I think about this in the way

of like a toddler that is just learning to walk

and they're just kind of wobbling around and

they sometimes bump into things and other people.

That's going to be our experience right now.

And that's okay because you know what? Christ

is forgiving you past, present, and future. And

you can release any sense of deep guilt because

Christ has already paid that for you and for

me. And instead, he invites us to step towards

deeper community with him. And he does this as

he calls his disciples to himself. And on the

mountain where he gives the great commission

and he sends them out, not as individuals, but

he says, you all, as you're going in life, go

and make disciples of all nations, baptizing

them in the name of the Father, the Son, and

the Holy Spirit. And what? I will be with you

to the end of the age. My belonging sticks with

you. As you go and do this journey, my belonging

is with you. But not only that, I'm also going

to give you the Holy Spirit, who will dwell within

you and empower you to do all that I have just

shown you is true belonging. That's great news,

brothers and sisters. Then we can look down the

corridor and can we build it? Well, if we repeat

what they did, no, we can't. But we look forward

this way and we say, can we build it? Yes, we

can with the power of the Holy Spirit, right?

Going forward. So the next phase that we get

to is one of being established in belonging.

So somewhere between where we are now and when

Christ returns a second time, we are to live

this life out, learning to be brothers and sisters

in community while we longingly wait for what

is to come. Now, what is the image that we are

moving towards? Well, it's a good image. It is

a wonderful image to celebrate. After this, I

saw, actually, let's read this together. Would

you join me? After this, I saw a vast crowd,

too great to count, from every nation and tribe

and people and language, standing in front of

the throne before the Lamb. Go ahead and look

around. Seriously, introverts, you can put your

head down. The rest of you, go ahead and look

around the room. You see people from different

places? I joked about this in the first service.

This is not because of the juice that we have

downstairs that we come together. We come together

from all kinds of different backgrounds and age

levels and ethnicities, every tribe, tongue,

and nation because of Jesus. And we look forward

to the day that that will be a full people of

belonging that come to that. But it continues

on. There's even more. He said, I heard a loud

shout from the throne saying, look. God's home

is now among his people. He will live with them

and they will be his people. God himself will

be with them. Does this remind you of anything?

Kind of rings a bell from John 17, from that

prayer that Jesus prayed. There's a lot of you

and us and together and connection. And we see

it completely perfect in the new heavens and

the new earth. And this is a space where it's

described as the new Jerusalem, a city comes

down from heaven and there's these rivers and

this tree of life and you have both a garden

and a city. So God does not only restore what

happened in the Garden of Eden, he actually makes

it even better. That's the God that we serve

and worship. And that's the God that we get to

live with forever, participating and belonging

with him. And it is good. No longer will there

be a curse upon anything. Amen. You know what?

When I put that time thing from Jesus to the

end, like I wanted to put a you are here and

I wanted to put it right next to there. I want

Jesus to come back. He can come today for all

I'd care. That would be wonderful to have him

back. No more curse over anything. And they will

see his face and his name will be written on

their foreheads. It's kind of a strange way to

describe belonging, isn't it? But think about.

you being looked at by God. And he says, not

only am I looking into your eyes and saying,

you are my beloved son or you're my beloved daughter.

It's as though he has etched his very identity

upon you and says, you are mine. Establish belonging

forever and ever and ever. That's good news.

That's very good news. So we look at the full

length of what God's story is. And remember,

I said we were going to go from beginning to

end with Christ in the center. This is your story

and this is my story. If you are helping with

communion, I'm going to ask you to go ahead and

make your ways up to your stations, begin to

prepare that. We're doing something a little

different this morning. We're celebrating communion

in the middle of our sermon. Why are we doing

that? Because communion was a gift by Jesus around

the time that he prayed that prayer for you and

for me of perfect unity. Can you do it? Yes,

you can through Christ. And communion is a reminder

that we do this together. So our roots are tied

into Jesus. We cannot build our own life. We

have to build it actually within him. And then

by building within him, we are connected with

one another. And the story that is up there is

the story that actually shapes how we live our

lives. And that's why we remember it again and

again. So if you have committed to Jesus Christ

as your Lord and Savior, if you find yourself

bound to him because he is your only hope, then

this meal is for you. This meal is for me. And

then I have two questions that I want you to

think through. How might God be inviting you

to step more deeply into this life of belonging?

What does it look like to be in community at

an even deeper level right now? And a second

question, how might God be inviting you to welcome

others into that life? He welcomed you, now you

welcome others. So we remember Jesus's prayer

for perfect unity. And around that same time,

he brought these elements forward as he was having

a meal with his disciples. And he said, you know,

I'm going to go forward and my body is going

to be broken because I love you. And my blood

is going to be spilled because I commit to belonging

with you. And as you receive these gifts that

I am about to give you, they are reminders. That

you are fully forgiven, fully accepted, fully

redeemed, fully honored by God. That's belonging.

And it is because of Jesus that that's the case.

So I'm going to pray over the elements together

in our time of taking it and then we'll participate

together. Jesus, I thank you deeply for the gift

that you have given of your very life. to come

down, to unite yourself with humanity, to live

the life that we could not live, to teach how

to live in a way that we could never live, and

then gifting us a reunited connection with you,

God, so that the power of the Spirit could move

us into what it looks like to be little Christs

in this world. We thank you, Jesus, once again

for that gift, and we do so together as a community

because we recognize that you have called us

to be one. to engage in the mission you have

in the world as one. And may Bangkok see, because

of our community, that something is different

here. There is life within our relationships

with one another. And we do that built off of

you. And so thank you. We pray this in Jesus'

name. Amen. Would you read these words together

with me from Romans 15? Therefore, welcome one

another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory

of God. What is your job? To welcome one another.

What is the model of how we are welcoming one

another? Christ who has welcomed you. Why do

we do this? For the glory of God. If we're going

to make disciples for global impact, we've arranged

how we do things into these four different sections.

And of course, this morning, our focus has been

on community. And what does it look like to have

a nurturing community? What do we do to shape

our community in that sense? And I want to tell

you a story about a young woman named Alicia

Lobo. She is in the right -hand side of the picture

there in that blue shirt. Now, Alicia in this

picture is about 11 or 12 years old, 2017 or

18, shortly after her family had moved from India

to Bangkok because of her father's work. and

this is a picture of them after they had attended

some Sunday morning services and then been invited

into a life group. Now, do you see the smiles

on their faces? They may be about belonging,

but it's probably because of the food there,

which is part of belonging, right? But they're

enjoying this time together. But Alicia is there,

and she's just kind of participating in what

is happening. And I want to... continue with

her story because it's really exciting. And she's

given me permission to share this. Last summer,

Alicia left Bangkok to start med school in the

United States. And as she headed off to start

med school in the US, during her time there,

God started to do something within her and urge

her, move her along. Where when she came back

this last summer, She's like, you know what?

I'm ready to make this following Jesus mine.

Not just what my family was, not just the community

that I grew up, but I want it to be mine. So

she reached out through connections with young

adults, reached out to Zach. And Zach was in

Canada at the time. So Zach said, hey, Pastor

Phil, can you meet with Alicia? And so we had

a conversation and she shared her testimony.

A beautiful example of what community can do.

and the gift of community to a life. So all these

years as she engaged with this life group, she

didn't realize that she was slowly being drawn

towards Jesus. It was a belonging that she didn't

know she even needed. And so we look forward

to a few months ago, actually mid -August, and

this is Alicia and her family in a different

blue shirt here now, right? The iconic ECB baptism

shirt. And over on the right -hand side is me

baptizing her in the public space of their Muban,

the pool that is right in the middle there. And

we gathered together with the small community,

a life group. We went outside. And Alicia, there's

kids playing in the pool and all of that. And

we baptized Alicia after she had shared her testimony.

Bring her back up. It wasn't that long. Don't

worry. Bring her back up. And she's full of joy.

We go back into the house. And these life group

leaders pray over her these really special prayers.

Prayers that I could not have prayed over her

because I didn't know her story. I hadn't journeyed

along with her. And they were blessing her because

the next day she was heading back to the US to

do her second year of med school. And so they

wanted to bless her just like Jesus was blessing

you and I for unity as she went out. And we've

connected her with a church now in the area that

she's in. And actually before that, we also broke

bread. We had communion together as a life group.

A sweet moment together, right? And this is the

power of community, a nurturing community. God,

we are deeply thankful for your story, your story

of commitment to us, commitment to us being loved

by you, to being in community together. You have

invited us into a special belonging with you,

God. belonging that is reflecting your Trinity

nature, but also belonging that is with a purpose.

And we are to make disciples for global impact

as we enjoy being in community with one another.

And I want to just pray for our church family

right now that if there are any conflicts that

are happening, that they would be addressed quickly.

Lord, you have invited us to do so and we can

stand upon your forgiveness as we step towards

another and work towards reconciliation in that.

Would there be such unity because we are people

who are peacemakers with one another? And Lord,

we ask that as a large church community that

we would be increasingly involved in the belonging

that you have called us to. We would be rooted

in it because we are rooted in you, Christ. And

that our belonging would be so different than

the world around us that this city would be curious

about what is happening here, that this country

would be curious, that the world would be curious.

And that through that, more people would come

to know Jesus that you are the way, the truth,

and the life. We pray this all in the wonderful

name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you for tuning in

to the ECB Sermon Podcast. Whether near or far,

if you are looking for community or are in need

of prayer, we welcome you to engage by sending

us an email to office at ecb .asia. If God is

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find giving options on our website. And remember

to join us next week. God bless you.