Crossing Crocodiles | Clayton Hentzel

It's you, man. It is good to be with each and

every single one of your. I'm so thankful to be a part of

a church, with some ridiculously awesome, people.

Just like, you, let's just get it out of the way.

This is another one of them shirts.

Yeah. I know, I know.

I know. Okay.

Listen, I wanted to wear another button down, but my wife was

like, you need to let him know. You got polos to so, get ready.

Cuz for the next nine times, I'm preaching.

It's going to be something new and sexy just like this.

Now, a couple other things we got to get out of the way.

I lied to you last week. I didn't mean to, it wasn't

intentional but it's the truth. I said, if you invite me over to

your house and you want me to do a backflip in your backyard, I'd

come over and do it. And I'd show you how beautiful

it was kid. You not after church, Someone

invited me over to their house. They had a pool that a backyard

with the diving board. And well this happened.

These are my Flamingo trunks. Because my wife didn't like the

ones I had. So we went with flamingos.

This is me going. Okay, are we?

Sure, we're doing this on camera and okay.

Now that's not bad. But I said it was beautiful and

I had my I would have my toes pointed.

So let's slow it down. And what you'll notice is God

did not give me the flexibility to do that and have my toes

pointed because they're not pointed at all.

Now something really bad happened after this.

While we were there were at this backyard guys, you know, got a

daughter and she's got a boyfriend and boyfriends there.

And he's young and hip and he's got his little Baywatch Shorty

Short swimmies on and he's got a dark tan from being out in the

Summer sun and his body doesn't burn.

It just gets beautiful. And so he's bronze and chiseled

and looking fantastic. And obviously I was wearing a

shirt because I didn't, you know, want to show off all my

Manford. Everybody in the place,

especially if you're going to show it to you guys, and he was

doing all kinds of acrobatic things off.

Bored. And my boys were watching.

And I didn't want them to think that he was cooler than me.

And so I decided to up my game and he was doing gainers.

Now, for those of you don't know how to do a Gainer, and I'm just

reciting this because I don't know how to do a Gainer.

It's you jump off the board for words and then you pull or form

the backflip. And I asked him how to get that

done and we broke it down into steps and I began breaking it

down into steps. I want off the board.

So many times a day. I rub the skin off my left foot.

I'm sitting there eating like man.

I'm how did I burn the bottom of my foot?

Like this is really uncomfortable.

And I looked and there was just there was no skin and you don't

want to do that. Anyhow, I thought I'd got to the

point where I could, I had mastered the Gainer.

This is my final attempt at the Gainer.

I want to show it to you, just to see how faithful our God is.

That's the look of, okay. I think we got this.

Don't care. My back still hurts the okay.

God will not let me get prideful.

He'll just keep beating me down because if I do landed a Gainer

that day out of been out of been unapproachable.

Okay, out of been on cloud nine, but being in the water and the

summer, it just brings back all kinds of memories and all kinds

of fun games used to play. How many of you grew up playing

Marco Polo, still. Yeah, it's a safe game.

It's a great one. How many of you kind of went

through a WWE phase in the pool where you just pick your friends

up and choke slammed mm. A lot of you know, almost

drownings happen because of that.

How many dads out there? Your shoulders, have just

finally recovered from last summer being pool Dad, where it

seems like as soon as you get in the water with your kids, they

cannot help but put every nail into your shoulders.

And then what they want you to do, no matter how big and heavy

they've gotten, they want you to keep keep throwing them because

in their mind, they remember being like the three-year-old

life vest version of themselves in the water.

And now, you know, they're drinking and smoking and still

want you to like throw them up. I can't do it.

I can't do it. And when I was growing up

though, the all-time favorite game for us was Sharks and

Minnows. I don't know if this is just a

me thing. How many of you guys played

Sharks and Minnows? Okay, couple of you.

Okay. The rest of you Amish, All

right. Well, I'll explain it to you.

I don't know what it was called in your neck of the woods, but

you'd go to the community pool. You get go to the deep end and

on one side of the deep end. You just have one person who's

going to be the shark and on everybody else on the other

side. They'd all be the minnows and

then they would say sharks in the water and then the shark

would basically swim across and you play tag, and the minnows

had to get from that side to the other side without getting

tagged. And you just do this back and

forth. Until once you tag, somebody

they became a shark and then they became Shark until you had

all sharks and just one minnow. And then the game started all

over again. And whoever won became the

shark. And there were a bunch of

different people strategies when it came to Sharks.

And Minnows. There was the deep diver.

You jumped into water, went all the way to the bottom.

You like hugged your skin on the very bottom, you know, lost some

skin to the drain and came up the other side.

Nobody ever tagged you. There were the people who were

like the last minute Dick Diver. They waited till the shark got

almost to the edge of the pool and they do have over the the

top of them and swim to the other side.

There was the pretend like I'm not playing and cheap by going

into the shallow end, and then coming up on the other side and

be like, oh, I guess I am playing, you didn't get me and

you know, who you are, you're running for office somewhere and

then And then I should stop. Okay.

I'm on fire and up. I don't think it's safe to come

to this church anymore and how there are a lot of moving parts

to the game. But do you know the very best

strategy to Win It? Sharks and Minnows is to get

everybody to go at the exact same time because in about 3,

seconds is all it takes for you to get from one side of the pool

to the other, the shark wasn't going to have the opportunity to

get everybody. He might only be able to get one

person at a time. Time with all the splashing and

all the moving people. It just limits their ability to

actually attack. There's an African proverb that

actually speaks to this. This one.

It says, cross the river in a crowd and the crocodile won't

eat you. Today's message.

Is crossing crocodiles and I want to welcome all of you

joining online inside at our various locations.

I want to do a special shout-out to those of you who are joining

us for the very first time every single week.

People come to our church for the very first time, and they

hear about Jesus, and they get an opportunity, a part of this

community. We want you to know.

We're so excited, you're here. And we don't take the time that

you're spending with us for granted.

And our hope is that you will find what we found in.

Jesus Christ, which is an intimate personal relationship

and we are in a In series called chasing Shades.

We previewed it on Easter weekend and we've been kind of

taken a look at who God is and how this life is supposed to

look in light of who he is. Because a lot of people have a

bad take on God or Jesus and on Easter weekend.

I walk you guys through this verse and I want to kind of

remind you, for those of you who, you know, have fallen

asleep since then in John 10:10. This is what Jesus says the

John 10:10

thief. This is Satan comes only to

steal. To steal and kill and destroy.

I, this is Jesus have come that they may have life and have it

to the full. If what Jesus has to offer is

life to the full. If it is the best, like the most

fulfilling life, the most meaningful life than whatever we

are chasing, that is not him, is simply a shade.

As a church, we want you to experience all that.

Jesus has to offer. We want you to find all the

love, all the mercy, all the grace, all the Forgiveness, all

the meaning, all the purpose, all the significance that he has

in store for you. However, you will never find it.

If you keep chasing Shades, you will only find it if you chase

Jesus. And for this entire sermon

series, we've been looking at the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Which was written by King Solomon.

He was a real person. He was the king of Israel.

He is as real as Abraham Lincoln and George Washington and

outside of Jesus. He was the wisest person to ever

walk the earth and he is the richest person of all time,

which means he had all of the resources to explore and

understand all that. This life has to offer.

And in chapter 4, he turns his attention to community and the

enemies of it. And the blessings of it

Ecclesiastes chapter 4, verse 1, through 3.

Ecclesiastes 4:1

Again. I looked and I saw all the

oppression that was taking place under the sun.

I saw the tears of the oppressed and they have no comforter power

was on the side of their oppressors and they have no

comforter. And I declared that the Dead who

had already died are happier than the living, who are still

alive. But better than both is the one

who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done

under the sun. He looks out and he sees all of

the oppression and adversity in the world and he's looking at

all the people who are suffering and he goes and on top of all of

that. They're having to face the

struggles by themselves. They have no comforter.

They have no Advocate. There is evil in this world.

It is either hitting you now or it is coming for you later.

And when it happens, you better not find yourself alone.

He sees the pain and he owes it would be better off for me to be

dead than alive. So I don't have to see the

suffering anymore. And then in the midst of his

despair, he goes a step further. It would be better to be never

hard to have never been born. So that way you don't have to

see it and you have nothing to remember.

He wants to gouge out his eyes. He wants to purge his mind.

He is tired of seeing the suffering and he is tired of

seeing people suffering alone. He despairs by saying the dead

are better off, and then not born are better off than the

living. In the last two years or four if

you want take the last two weeks.

We get it. You cannot look anywhere without

seeing pain or suffering. I feel sometimes like I can't

pick up the phone without hearing a heartbreaking tragic

story. But this world is broken because

sin entered the world. And that's what sin does.

It destroys, That's what Satan does.

He steals and he kills and he destroys.

It's a sin comes into the world and it starts to tear away, it

robs and every single one of us. We've participated in it because

sin never gives you the price tag the flirtation, the flirting

in the office, that was free. The affair was dinner and drinks

at a Red Lobster and a hotel. But the divorce cost your wife a

broken heart. It cost you half your net worth

it costs, your kids, having a father and a mother in the home.

And now they only see you every other weekend.

The flirting was free. But everything else cost you

more than you could ever imagine.

And every single one of us have contributed in some way, shape,

or form to the pain, and the suffering of this world.

And that is why we are so in love with Jesus because not only

is he forgiveness, but he's given us the strength to

forgive, not only has he loved us, but he has given us the

strength to love. Not only has he given us the

promise to one day. Make this world a better place

in light of the beauty of heaven, but he has given this.

Stools to make this life here on Earth, look a little bit more

Heavenly, even though this world is dark.

He has given us a light to make this world a little more bright,

but one of the panes that Solomon is looking at.

Is he sees the pain behind the pain?

It is the loneliness of those who are suffering because there

is no one to comfort them. And I don't want any of you at

any of our locations are online or inside to play this down.

You were not made to live life alone.

Furthermore, you are not meant to live this life with just God

and Jesus, you were made for Community.

Want us to explore this. Thought.

You will never grow to your fullest potential in Jesus or

live the full life. That God desires for you outside

of community. You will never be all that.

God are all that Jesus intended you to be outside of community

and you will never experience all the good things that God has

in store for you, outside of community.

And so solemn and starts talking about the enemies of community.

And the first one he brings up is in Ecclesiastes, 4, verse 4.

Ecclesiastes 4:4

And I saw that all the toil and all the achievements spring from

one person's Envy of another. This too is meaningless a

chasing after the wind one of the enemies to community is

envy. You don't want to be in

relationship with them because you're so envious of all the

things that they have take the person that you're the most

envious of. And I'm willing to wager that

that relationship is under strain.

You can't Rejoice for them when they have a success because

you're frustrated by how good they have it.

One of the signs of spiritual maturity is being able to

Rejoice with those who Rejoice. But oftentimes, you know, what

we do, we get frustrated at those who are rejoicing, we

can't let them celebrate their touchdown because we had a

dropped ball in our life. You can't hang out with them

because their marriage is great. In your marriage is struggling.

Know, it's hard for you to hang out with them because their kids

are doing great and When your kids are and it's hard to hang

out with them because they got a new car and your car is a hoop

to you. You're having a hard time being

in relationship with them because every time you interact

with them, you're just so envious of what they have and it

creates these barriers. It's for you.

It's maybe deeper than that. Maybe it's more personal than

that. You can't celebrate with your

friends who finally got the news that they're pregnant.

Because you're still wrestling with infertility.

And so you distance yourself even further.

Envy puts up a barrier between you and people but it also puts

up a barrier between you and God because you keep getting so mad

at God for giving them things that he hasn't given you.

And you write yourself a permission slip to blame God.

Instead of going man. Are there things in my life

decisions that I could have made that could have made things turn

out a little bit different than you.

That's why in The Ten Commandments were told don't

envy don't covet because it is a community.

Killer, you can't enjoy hanging out with the friends.

You are having your life because you have this fear of missing

out from the friends. You actually want to be a part

of in social media. Only amplifies.

This because you go home and your night wasn't as exciting as

their night and your vacation wasn't as nice as their vacation

must be nice. Well, if I had a and if I grew

up with and if my parents had a An Envy.

Puts up a wall. And the isolation leaves you

vulnerable. Two crocodiles.

And so when you have to cross the river, you're going to cross

the river. Alone.

And be makes you frustrated by people who haven't done anything

to you. It pushes people away from you

because they're tired of you being so bitter.

At the way your life has turned out.

It creates isolation, second. Enemy of community is

Ecclesiastes 45. Fools fold their hands and ruin

themselves. If the first one is MV, the

second one is laziness a fool. Is someone who folds their hands

and doesn't do the work. These are lazy people.

One of the community Killers is lazy people because if you don't

feel like it, you don't do it. If you don't want to do it.

It doesn't happen. You expect everything to come to

you, instead of you having to go for it.

You are an idol unto your self and you're making Self a God and

then you want the world and God to worship you and said of you

serving God and others. And laziness is the fast lane to

loneliness. If you don't want to serve, I'm

not serving today. You want to go to church today?

I don't feel like it. You're going to go help out as

we do this cool thing. No, I'm just not in the mood.

Hey, you gonna get up and go to work.

I come home and my back's been and you You just figure out

every way to get out of doing things that you don't want to

do. And then one day, you're going

to wake up and nobody wants to worship you anymore.

And then you call yourself a victim and you start blaming

everybody else. You got to be careful.

One of these days you're going to want friends in your circle.

But you're not going to have spent any time doing things that

they want to do, only the things that you want to do.

You're not going to have worked hard to have a little bit of

money to actually go and take some time off and hang out with

your friends or go do something fun with your friends because

you're lazy behind just stayed at home.

And if you keep worshiping yourself pretty soon.

All you will have is Yo self. That's it.

Okay, devotional thought. Today, all of our locations.

Give a gift to your future in-laws.

Make your kids. Do a job today.

Don't raise lazy kids because they will marry somebody.

And then whoever they Mary is going to have to work two jobs,

so they can game. Don't because if you're not

married, don't marry a lazy person.

Don't you will work yourself to the Bone and it will never be

enough, because they will always have and reason why they can't

go home. Make your kids, take out the

trash, make him pull to weeds. Make, I don't know find

something. Obviously.

I need to come up with some plans because I didn't have many

illustrations there. I feel sorry for my kids.

They're in church. Just learning about Jesus and

have no clue who's coming home today.

Okay. Just don't, don't race.

Do Raised lazy people, don't be lazy because it's a community

killer because nobody likes a lazy friend.

And if you're like, man, I feel like I don't have any friends

that might, you know, maybe you worship you.

Okay, next one. Ecclesiastes 4608 better one.

Handful with Tranquility then two handfuls with toil and

chasing after the wind again. I saw something meaningless

Under the Sun. There was a man all alone.

He had neither Sun nor brother. There was no end to his toil

yet. His eyes were not content with

his wealth. For whom am I toiling?

He asked. And why am I depriving myself of

enjoyment? This too is meaningless a

miserable business. This is the opposite of

laziness. This is greed.

This is the person who it is never ever enough.

This is the person who is always sacrificing their relationships

for things and no matter how much they get.

It's never enough. You will have all the stuff in

the world, but you will have no one to share it with.

You will choose work over your wife, over your kids, over your

family. And when you die, you will die

earlier than expected. And you will die alone.

The man in Solomon's story. He comes to the realization way

too late. I've spent my whole life

accumulating, but accumulating for whom, We all know this.

I'm not saying anything brand new but the people in your life

would rather have your presence. Then your resources.

I preached a version of this message to our Collective age

ministry here, at our 48th Street campus in the last couple

of months. I can't remember exactly when

it's been a bit of a blur. Now.

I just ask this question in the room to these young kids broke

kids, you know, kids with student loan debt and all that

stuff. I said, which would you rather

have a thousand dollars or a week away with your

grandparents? What do you think they chose?

I said 1,000 bucks or a long weekend with your parents.

You know what they chose. Yeah, they chose the long

weekend. They would rather have you than

your stuff. We know this.

But we don't stop doing the behavior that's driving.

It stop making work and possession and excuses, envy and

laziness, and greed, create loneliness.

And one of these days you are going to have to cross a river.

And if you are not in community, You're vulnerable.

Satan comes to steal and kill and destroy and he he gets the

upper hand when it's just you. So you need community.

So solemn and turns to the benefits of community.

The first one is synergy Ecclesiastes. 49 two are better

than one, because they have a good return for their labor.

We all know this to be true that you can get way more done.

When you have somebody helping you.

Ladies. You can go home this weekend and

you can try and clean the whole house.

All by yourself. It'll take you all day.

Your back will hurt and you'll your nails get cracked.

And you'll be super frustrated. If you were to take one hour and

have everybody in the house. Help you out.

You'd actually get the whole thing done.

It would be like, 80% of the way you would do it if it was you

but you'd have a whole rest of the day to actually hang out

with your family and your friends and build a little bit

of community. You psychos.

It would help you out. If you were to go and paint your

house, this weekend. If you are you to get more done.

If you paint it by yourself, or if you have some people come

over to help you. The only time it seems like

people want to pay attention to community is when it's time for

them to move and then all of a sudden everybody's their friend,

right? Like hey, man, you want to what

are you doing this weekend? Friend, buddy, bro, dude, if you

don't know my name, I'm not coming.

Okay. Yeah, how many of you you like

always the phone call, when it comes to help somebody move

here. Like, I didn't even know we were

friends. That's why I don't drive a truck

anymore. I want it off that list.

I was like I'm out. You carry, that dress of

yourself. We've never hung up.

I'm tired of moving you. Right?

What happens is as soon as he comes time to move.

You're like, I can't carry this dresser by myself.

I should have a friend and it's too late because you got to move

on Saturday, and I'm Busy, real, busy.

Busy sleeping. Okay, when, when when when you

are in community, you can get more done.

And if we want to do the great things of God, it's not going to

be done by ourselves. It's going to be done in

community where we link arms, and we accomplished greater

things on God's behalf. And if there's this thing

inside, you, that wants to accomplish the great things that

God, you're going to have to do those great things in the

context of community Ecclesiastes. 410.

He says this, here's another benefit.

The next one is care. R.

If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.

This is the mr. T, verse in the Bible, but pity

the fool who falls and has no one to help them up.

When you are in community, you get better care, you are there

for them. And they are there for you.

That's why you're not supposed to swim alone.

That's why you're not supposed to ride and ride mountain bikes

on Trails alone. That's why you're not supposed

to ride horses alone. That's why you're not supposed

to ride ATVs alone. Because if something bad

happens, you want to have somebody there to help you and

you can go further and you can do more daring things when you

have somebody with you, but pity people.

Who tried to live life alone? We know that this world is a

scary and dangerous place at times.

And there are people all around us, who are doing things may be

well, intentioned. Good Godly things.

But they're falling down. And there's nobody.

Nobody to pick them up, please ask his 411.

Also, if to lie down together, they will keep warm.

But how can one keep warm alone? Just go home today.

Turn the AC down to 60 in about seven o'clock at night fellas.

Just get that house. Real cold to like Isis hanging

off the ceiling fans and be like, sweetie.

You're cold. You want to warm up?

It won't work. But you'll at least remember the

sermon. Okay, it won't you get Comfort.

Life is better and more comfortable in community, which

is better grieving alone or grieving with people around you

even when they don't say anything.

Which is better. Celebrating a success alone or

celebrating it in community, someone to share in your sorrow

and minister to your heart, somebody that you can be

vulnerable about the highs and lows of your life and have them,

hold you up, and lift you up, and provide the comfort and the

care that you need. Because when the world gets

cold, there's someone to keep you warm Ecclesiastes 4:12,

Ecclesiastes 4:12

though. One may be Power to can defend

themselves. A cord of three strands is not

quickly broken. The fourth benefit is strength,

you get Synergy, you get comfort, you get care, and you

get strength, think through the thing that you're struggling

with in your life and knowing that, you would have somebody

else in your community to advocate for you, to defend you,

to keep you safe, to pull you through.

Every single one of us are going to need the strength that It

comes from Community. When you are crossing the river

and the cracker crocodile bites, you have energy and Synergy to

pull you through because people are locked arms inside of you.

And then when they get to the other side, they kill the

alligator or the crocodile on your behalf, you get strength

from Community, but check this out.

It is the area of your life where you are, not in community,

where you will be broken. The area of your life that you

section off from your community is where the crocodile will

strike. It is where Satan will lay.

His trap Community, is where you get strength and courage, and

all of us are going to have something happen to us.

And you are going to need people around you, to help you get

through. We have an enemy who is trying

to steal and kill and destroy us.

And when we don't get in community, We will be

vulnerable. And it is not just going to

impact you, it is going to impact the very people that are

depending on you. To be the husband, and father

and uncle, brother, sister, boss, co-worker friend, neighbor

that they need to point them to Jesus.

And when you are not in community, You can't be what

they need. Want to Circle back to this?

You will never grow to your fullest potential in Jesus or

live the full life. That God desires for you outside

of community. It won't happen.

Now. There's some of you right now

who are going man. This is great.

And like Jesus is my community and I love him and some of you

are going and you know, and I just need you to hear me say

this. He's not enough.

Okay, I get it. Well, then I'll take his dad.

Okay. I also have God, I just need you

to hear me say this. He's not enough.

I know that because that's what God says.

After he'd finished making all the animals.

He makes, man. So that means your dogs not

enough. Because after he made Adam, God

said it is not good for man to be.

What's the next word alone? If you think that just you and

God and Jesus is going to help you live the life that God

designed for you. I need you to know you were

created for Community Godly authentic Community.

I'm I'm not just talking about people to help you change your

tire late at night or people to help you move your dresser down

the stairs. I'm talking about people that

are in your life that speak into your life that holds you

accountable to things and behaviors that point out blind

spots in your life and they come to you and they stab you in the

front. He said, hey this behaviors.

I don't think it's good for you. And you want to get mad at them

and you go home and you tell your wife what they just told

you and you're like, this guy's an idiot for even thinking that

she's like, actually, I think he's probably brilliant because

I've been trying to say that for years, then she calls up your

friends. Like hey, thanks for taking one

for the team. You need people in your life,

because if you don't get that blind spot pointed out in your

life, you're going to keep running over people for your

entire life and it will make it even harder for you.

To be in community. You have to have people.

Around you good Godly influences that you can partner with to

accomplish the things of God and protect you from the things of

Satan. So if you are watching online, I

need you to. I need you to hear me.

We love you. We're big fans.

We spend a lot of money to Resource you and I get excited

every single week when I get the report of how many of you guys

are joining us online from all over the place and it makes my

heart so incredibly happy. But I need you to know this

watching us online is not enough.

It's not Community. You may not be able to get to

our services because you're sick or because you're traveling, and

I'm thankful for people who are able to leverage our online

platform. In those moments, but if you're

just choosing not to go to church because onlines easier.

I Need You to Know You're vulnerable.

And if you are a part of our church, but you don't live in an

area where we have one of our locations.

I want you to reach out to us. You can email me and our team

will work hard to help you find a good Godly church that you can

participate in and be in community because watching

online is going to leave you vulnerable.

And I know that you're going man.

I'll find some other place to watch online.

And if they love you, they will tell you the exact same thing.

You need Community. If you are going to be all that,

God desires for you to be and if you are going to experience

everything that God has in store for you.

And I know there are some of you watching right now at all of our

different locations. You like, who glad I came to

church today. Okay, we'll remember, I love

you. If you think that showing up

after the first song of worship and leaving after communion, is

you being a part of community, Satan's line to you.

There's a big difference between showing up for a building and

being part of the Brotherhood. There's a big difference from

being in the sanctuary to being a part of The Sisterhood.

There is a big part between being in the facility and being

a part of the family of God, where you participate in what

God is doing and you link arms with other people.

And when you see them here, you do life outside of here with

them and you serve alongside of them and you're in a life group

with them or Addie group with them and you participate in God,

shaping you through that. Be so that you can be all that

he created you to be and experience all that he desires

for you to experience because you were made for Community.

Because you can't be what God wants you to be by yourself.

This world needs a picture of Jesus and the picture of Jesus

is made up of the body of Christ, which is the members of

the church, which means if you think that you can just do you

on behalf of God to this watching world, what your You're

saying is that you think that you comprise all of the benefits

of Christ in yourself that you are the physical manifestation

of Jesus on this Earth by yourself.

And that is blasphemy. It is only when you participate

in the body of Christ that we become the hands and feet of

Jesus. It doesn't need an imitation in

you, it needs a representation of him through the body.

And every single one of us have to participate in that because

if you want to experience all that God has, you will

experience it in community because the body of Christ will

minister to you. The different gifts will bless

you. But all the gifts that God has

don't come from one person. They come from multiple people,

it is. When you are in relationship, we

cannot be what this world needs us to be in isolation, nor can

we survive this world in isolation?

Every single one of you. Are going to have to cross a

river. If you cross in the crowd.

The crocodile. Won't eat you.

We're moving to a time of decision.

Some of you here for the first time you two loved it last week.

Okay. It was a fun one.

We all had a good time. We went home a lot of high

fives. It was great.

This one's a little bit tougher, but I'm coming to you strong

because I care about you. And I should have said this when

I was okay. I need you to know this about

me. And you need to know this about

Jerry and anybody else who speaks on our stage.

When I talk about, you know, getting in community, when I

talk about, you know, don't just watch online.

I'm not trying to pad numbers. I'm not trying to just have a

good weekend of attendance. When I say those things, I'm

saying those things for your good.

I believe in the counsel of scripture.

I believe in the authority of God's word and I believe that it

is good for you. And so I will proudly and boldly

Proclaim it and you can leave here today and be going man, you

know who didn't give Clayton Wheaties this morning or you

know, who did I'm just telling you my heart was broken this

week as I wrote this message because I wrote this message

with names on My Mind. People, that were doing great

things for God, people that one point in time.

I couldn't fathom not being a part of the ministry that God

was doing at this church. People, that blessed people and

minister to people, people who had talents that far surpassed

my own that I was envious of their ability to do great things

for God, and then they stepped out of community, and then they

stepped out of Effectiveness. And then they stepped out of

faith. There's tombstones with this

sermon people who have become spiritually dead.

And I don't want that for you. I have never seen anybody grow

in Christ and isolation. And so I'm coming to you saying,

Satan is trying to steal, he is trying to kill.

He is trying to destroy, and if you walk in isolation, you are

easy prey. But when you step into a body,

you have protection, you have counsel and you have wisdom.

Do you know that in all of scripture?

Everything was written through the lens of community.

Do you know how you help out the poor when you're in community

with the poor? So, you know exactly what they

need and a need could never be unmet if you love somebody

because when you're in proximity with somebody who's down and out

you couldn't help but take what you have and help them get

through the next lot in life. When you needed help on your

house, or when you needed help going through a death when you

needed help with some of the trials.

You had people around you that would never let you go.

The church was supposed to be the original safety net, because

you're in community and you knew exactly what they needed and

exactly how you could help. But when we partition ourselves

off and we put fences around our yards and we put barriers in our

schedule to where all we do is show up and sing and listen.

Satan convinces you that you're doing what God called you to do.

And what's really happening is you're just in isolation.

You just don't know it. So Hear Me?

If you're here today, and you've never started an intimate

personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I want to encourage you

to do so. Because not only, when you get

baptized our unit United with Christ, your United with his

church, a global band of brothers and sisters who are

there for you and will love you and protect you and care for

you. You could call me and any City

on planet Earth. And there is a pastor that would

come and change your tire in the middle of the night.

You become a part of the family of God.

The family of God that has done more good than any organization

ever since the beginning of time.

You become a part of something great and beautiful and

magnificent. And it is waiting for you

because it is not complete until you're a part of it.

And if you're interested in starting that relationship with

Jesus Christ, that's what this church is all about, and we

would love to root for you and celebrate with you today, as you

make that step and it just a few moments when everybody else

around you, stay inside, love to encourage you to go over by the

baptistry, which is right over. There and talk to somebody about

starting that relationship with Jesus to the rest of you in the

room. The Christians.

Serious question. Are you in community?

Real Community? Adults a, your fantasy football

leagues. Your community.

And don't say your Dart buddies are is your community and your

golf pros. That's part of what you might do

is community, but that is not your community.

If you're not in community, I want you to seriously think hard

about what do you need to do to get there as couples.

Do you need to carve out a night and say, you know what, it's

friend time. We need to have some people over

and invest in them. Spiritually and have them invest

in us. This matters.

Some of you here. Might be going man, you know

who's going to give me all the friends that I want.

Well, listen to Christian would be asking a different question.

Who are the people that I can invest in instead of trying to

receive first give first? Who are the people that I can

make an investment in? Would you be willing to just

come up here? Get down on your knees and say

God what this community needs to look like for me.

What changes do I need to make? Because my fear is if you don't

or Hearts will become just a little bit more calloused and

will become just a little bit more alone.

And when you have, when you have to cross the river.

Don't be surprised if you get bit.

Would you stand with me? God?

I'm I'm in love with this church.

Deep down in my bones, all I love them and I cannot fathom

how much you love them. God, I pray that you wouldn't

abandon any part of this message that you would work with your

spirit to solidify the things that need to be solidified in

every single heart. God, help every single person to

make a decision. A decision that honors you that

glorifies you, and that draws them closer to you and the

people around them, your name. I pray.

Amen.