Rooted Part 2 | Created for Community with Chris Schlotterbeck

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard. To get connected

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this message you feel called to make a change

in your life, text CHANGEME to 9700. Thank you

and enjoy the message. Hey, good morning everyone.

How we doing? So good to see you. It feels like

spring's right around the corner. I tell you,

it's just special. when our community of faith

gathers and we sing in unison and worship together.

I mean, I was kind of standing in the back just

listening to the voices. And it's like you guys

are a choir just singing back to God. And it

literally brings chills to me and brings tears

to my eyes. And it's just a powerful time of

coming together and worshiping. So I was pondering

this week, what brings people together? And quite

often when people come to gather together, it's

with a shared interest. For example, people gather

for birthday parties and they celebrate when

we turn another year or celebrate going around

the sun another time. Anniversary celebrations

are big ones that people get together. Social

events to raise money for charity, you know,

or just couples going out to have dinner together.

In our society, though, I've found that sporting

events really bring people together. I'm not

really sure why that is, but whether it be baseball

or basketball or football, people love to gather

and watch the different games. And, of course,

there's no greater game to watch than the Super

Bowl that just passed a few weeks ago. And this

year was kind of unique for me in that I actually

watched the Super Bowl by myself. My son decided

to go to youth group. The rest of the family

was away visiting my daughters in Florida. And

I was sitting there watching the game all by

myself. And it's one of those unique things where

I've never done that before. It's been over 20

years that I haven't had people with me, whether

it was just family members or friends coming

over or a party here at HTV, that I've watched

the game with other people. And it just made

it kind of boring. I actually turned it off halfway

through the game, didn't even finish the game,

and began reading or doing something different

because there was nothing to bring me closer

together or draw me in. So current research shows

that people living in the United States are more

isolated than ever before. And it's actually

becoming increasingly rare within our culture

that people gather together in growing authentic

community. And I tell you, just like me watching

the game without others, you're at a loss and

you want to be with other people. And see, I

believe the reason for that is this loneliness.

pandemic that is sweeping across our country

is actually the exact opposite of what was happening

in the early church that we read about in the

book of Acts. See, Jesus followers pioneered

a completely different way of life, which of

course is called the way. And we are in week

two of our series, Rooted, practicing the way

of Jesus. And for the month of March, we're simply

going to be discussing the practices that lead

us to experience an abundant life. See, Jesus

daily invites us into a flourishing, life -giving

relationship with God, our creator, who we can

know on a personal level. And in John 10 .10,

Jesus makes this statement. Listen, he says,

my purpose, my mission in coming to earth is

to give them, which is you and me, a rich and

satisfying life. I mean, that's why Jesus came

to walk on this earth. And this morning, just

simply ask yourself, are you living a rich, meaningful

life that overflows with joy, meaning, purpose,

and love? Because see, quite often, for the average

person, the answer is no. I'm not living an abundant

life. I want more. I desire more from this life.

That I'm living. And I want you to know that

God's desire for you and me is to flourish. That

Jesus is saying to us, I came so that you can

flourish in this life. Living with meaning and

purpose and joy and freedom. And I believe everyone

wants to live in abundance. I really believe

that. I believe people are searching for abundance.

But the problem, not everyone knows the way to

experience this life. And Jesus, he actually

gives us directions in Matthew chapter 7, verses

Matthew 7:13–14

13 to 14. And let me read these words for you.

You can enter God's kingdom only through the

narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad and

its gate is wide for the many who choose that

way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and

the road is difficult and only a few will ever

find it. And see, Jesus is saying to us this

morning. Church, you can't experience the promises

of God without putting into practice those things

that Jesus did. Not only following his way, but

applying his way to our life. If we want to live

the life that Jesus lived, a life of flourishing

abundance, you know, just being led by the Spirit,

then we have to do what Jesus did. We have to

follow the way. And last week, we discussed being

devoted to the way. And this morning, we will

look at how we are created for community. Intentional

community, a way of doing life together with

other Jesus followers is a spiritual discipline

that Jesus modeled for us. And why do Jesus live

in community? Well, that answer, it leads us

directly to our first thought. See, God lives

in community. God lives. In community. Now, a

few weeks ago, I began a Sunday talk with A .W.

Tozer's powerful quote that reads, What comes

into your minds when we think about God is the

most important thing about us. Whatever comes

into your mind when we think about God is the

most important thing about us. And what is that

statement? It's a wake -up call for us to examine

the connection between our relationship with

God and everything else. in our life. It literally

helps us to take a step back and reflect on the

connection, the relationship. What kind of God

do I believe in? What kind of God don't I believe

in? How might that belief shape my worldview

and how I live my life? Now, it's a powerful

quote that many people use all the time in sermons,

but as I continued reading, Tozerling is on the

right. The history of humankind will probably

show that no people has ever risen above its

religion. And our spiritual history will positively

demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater

than its idea of God. In other words, our view

of God has consequences not simply on the individual

level, but also for us at a level that is society,

cultural, and full of community. And why is that?

Because God lives in community. See, before the

creation of the world, God the Father, the Son,

and the Holy Spirit, they shared this dynamic

love and fellowship that exists only in community.

In Genesis 1 verse 26, notice, as God was creating

Genesis 1:26

human beings, then God said, let us make human

beings in our image. To be like us. So God created

human beings in our image. In the image of God,

he created them male and female. He created them.

And notice that God uses this plural language

to refer to himself. Let us make human beings

in our image. And who is us? Well, it's the Trinity

that we read about in Matthew 3, 16 -17. After

his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water,

the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit

of God descending like a dove and settling on

him. And a voice from heaven said, this is my

dearly loved son who brings me great joy. A beautiful

picture of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

active and present in our world during Jesus'

baptism. And see, that provides a picture of

us of a loving community that they spend together.

Their early church fathers called this perichoresis.

And that word is defined as three persons of

the Trinity in a circle dance. Now, some of you

are thinking, what does that even mean? Well,

Meister Eckert, the 13th century German theologian

and philosopher, wrote these words speaking to

the Trinity. Do you want to know what goes on

in the core of the Trinity? I will tell you.

In the core of the Trinity, the father laughs

and gives birth to the son. The Son laughs back

at the Father and gives birth to the Spirit.

The whole Trinity laughs and gives birth to us.

The Trinity laughs and the result is creation.

I mean, a beautiful rendering of God creating

the world that we live in. Three persons, God

the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit living in unity,

right? One God, Father, and all dancing together

in love. God lives in community. And if we were

formed in the image of God, we were created for

community with one another and with God, which

leads us to our next thought. See, humanity was

created for community. We were created to live

in relationship with God, but we're also created

to live in relationship with one another. But

something always gets in its way, and it's our

own pride, ego, selfishness, and sin. As people,

we put walls up to barricade ourselves in so

that we won't allow others to hurt us. Yet we

read in Genesis 1, 27, so God created human beings

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

them male and female. He created them. See, all

people are different, but we're equal in dignity,

value, love, and more importantly, divine worth.

In fact, every time God created something in

the book of Genesis, the Trinity literally steps

back from their creation and they say, that is

good. God says that five times in the book of

Genesis, chapter 1, verse 10, 12, 18, 21, 25,

Genesis 1:10

these words are written. God saw that it was

good. Now, the Hebrew word for good is the word

tov. I mean, it's a really cool sounding word.

Everyone say tov. And it's like we can picture

God the Father, Son, and Spirit. They separate

the sea from the sky. And together they step

back and they say, man, that is tov. Right? However,

now it's interesting. When they created human

beings, their language suddenly changes. Genesis

1 .31. Then God looked over all he had made.

And he saw and said that it was very. In other

words, God looks down and he sees us, right?

He looks at Jim and he looks at Zoe and he says,

no, no, no, you, you are very good. You, you

are my best. See, men and women are the pinnacle

of God's creation. So entertain me, look at your

neighbor and say, you are Tove. Now, all of you

have a new vocabulary word that you can use this

week to reach out to your co -workers or classmates.

Right? Imagine looking at one of your co -workers

this week and be like, hey, you're Tove. Give

me a high five. They're going to be like, Tove,

what is that? You are great. You are special.

Why? Because loneliness is not good. It's not

Tove. It's not good. Because see, the only time

that we find God saying something is not good

is in Genesis 2 verse 18. Then the Lord said,

Genesis 2:18

it is not good for the man to be alone. I will

make him a helper who is just right for him.

And see, up to this point, Adam was the only

human being created. Adam, he had companionship.

Think about it. He had all of creation. And he

had the animals. And he was naming the animals.

He had tons of companionship. But he did not

have community. And there's a reason God said

it's not good for man to be alone. Because loneliness

leads to negative mental and physical health

conditions, which include stress, negative life

outlook, hypertension, stroke, and can even cause

heart attacks. And in 2023, the U .S. Surgeon

General declared loneliness is now a public health

epidemic in the United States of America. Just

two years ago. About half of all American adults

report feeling lonely every single day. While

it only gets worse for the younger people, especially

those ages 18 to 24, despite being the most digitally

connected generation ever, nearly 8 out of 10

people in that age range recorded feeling lonely

daily every single day. And to take it a step

further, only one -third of young adults in that

same age bracket feels cared for by others. And

this is what I want to say to you this morning.

If that's you and you feel that way, welcome

home. Because God loves you, we love you, and

we desire for you to connect and be transformed.

Now, see, that word community is always thrown

around as this theological statement. But it

isn't just that. It's not just for the church.

There's now scientific research that supports

the value of connecting together with others

in relationship. Why? Because we were created

in the image of a triune relational God who encourages

community. He says, get together with other people

and celebrate all that I'm doing. We read this

in Ecclesiastes chapter 4, 9 through 12. Two

Ecclesiastes 4 · chapter mention

people are better off than one, for they can

help each other succeed. If one person falls,

the other can reach out and help. But someone

who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise,

two people lying close together can keep each

other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A

person standing alone can be attacked and defeated,

but two can stand back to back and conquer. Three

are even better for a triple braided cord is

not easily broken. And some of you sitting there

thinking, well, Chris, this isn't a wedding ceremony.

Why are you reading that? It's the only time

I've ever heard it read because those words,

those verses speak more directly to our Sunday

gatherings than a wedding ceremony. We actually

take them out of context to fit in a wedding

ceremony, which is okay because we want to celebrate

husband and wife and challenge them to be in

community and live in community. But those words

are for you and I more than they are for them

because God desires that we come together, which

leads us to our next thought. See, Jesus chose

intentional community. Jesus was intentional.

God the Father desired connection and community

with his creation. But sin had cut off that connection,

that relationship. So he sent his one and only

son on a rescue mission on giving him his purpose

to restore humanity. And what is the very first

thing that Jesus does is he begins his earthly

ministry. He creates a new community right here

on earth. Jesus starts a small group. by inviting

12 young adults to follow the way that will eventually

change the world. We read this in Mark 1, verses

Mark 1:16–20

16 through 20. One day, as Jesus was walking

along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw

Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into

the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus

called out to them, Come, follow me, and I will

show you how to fish for people. and they left

their nets at once and followed him. A little

further up the shore, Jesus saw Zebedee's sons,

James and John, in a boat repairing their nets.

He called them at once, and they also followed

him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat

with the hired men. See, those first four followers

of the way were likely, according to many scholars,

teenagers or at the best, young adults. And notice,

they were blue -collar working -class fishermen.

And why did Jesus choose these men? Because all

the best and brightest, they were memorizing

the Torah to become future priests and leaders

in the community. But you see, Jesus here, he

invites the leftovers, the forgotten, the outcast

into his group of followers. Can I get an amen,

please? Because we all fit into that category.

And let's see his next invitation, Matthew 9

.9. As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man

named Matthew. sitting at his tax collector's

booth. Follow me and be my disciple, Jesus said

to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. Now

we must remember, Matthew, he was a tax collector.

He was very wealthy. And since he was a tax collector,

he was working for Rome. And Rome, of course,

was the oppressive occupiers who all the Jews

hated. So Matthew was a complete outcast from

his people. And see, this invite, it did not

go over well with this newly found small group.

So I want to show you just a small excerpt of

what it may have looked like in this short clip

from the series, The Chosen. I love how he ends

there. Get used to different. That should become

our motto. Just get used to different. See, Jesus

intentionally chose diversity for his first small

group. An authentic biblical community doesn't

mean that we simply surround ourselves with people

that are just like us. You see here, he chose

blue -collar fishermen, a rich tax collector.

And you can see even from the clip, the fishermen

are like, what are you thinking? No one likes

this guy. Everyone hates him. And to take it

a step further, Jesus even chose a trained assassin.

I mean, I've never heard a sermon preached about

one of Jesus' first followers named Simon the

Zealot that was a trained assassin that we read

in Matthew 10 .4. Simon the Zealot and Judas

Iscariot when he was listing out the 12 in the

small group. Now, Simon belonged to a Jewish

sect known as the Zealots who wanted to violently

overthrow the Romans. And they were waiting for

the Messiah who would lead the Jewish insurrection

over Rome. They were wanting a war. And every

zealot would carry a hidden knife. He was literally

a trained assassin ready to kill a Roman at the

right moment. And when we read those words, suddenly

we have a different picture of this small group

of followers. Right, Simon. would have wanted

nothing to do with Matthew. In fact, Simon would

want to kill Matthew because Matthew gave in

to Rome and occupation was collecting the taxes.

He was working for Rome. The guys that Jesus

brought together, they had no earthly business

being together. And yet Jesus chose each one

to come together in unity to form what? Community.

They were a band of brothers. And this is the

power of God's love. When we spend time together

with people who don't necessarily look like us,

think like us, or even act like us, that is the

church, right? The church is a gathering of Jesus

followers who are called to reflect the image

of God. And we know in the book of Revelation

that we're going to at some point worship God

with every tribe. tongue and nation coming together

as one family for all of eternity. So Sunday

morning should not be the most segregated hour

of the week that Martin Luther King Jr. said.

It should, in fact, reflect the diversity of

what it looks like to follow God, which leads

to our final thought. See, the church is the

new community of Jesus. In the New Testament,

the church What is it called? It's called the

body of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12, 27. All of

you together are Christ's body, and each of you

is a part of it. See, the church is a new, living,

breathing family of God. Now that Jesus came

and lived amongst the people, he died on the

cross, he conquered sin, hell, and death by being

raised from the dead. You and I, we're no longer

strangers. We are now brothers and sisters in

Christ. and we read that in Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Just as our bodies have many parts and each part

is a special function, so it is with Christ's

body. We are many parts of one body and we all

belong to each other. See, we now have the power

of God, right? The same power that rose Jesus

from the dead, the Holy Spirit living within

us, uniting us as one family. And Jesus made

us this promise in Matthew 18. I also tell you

this. If two of you agree here on earth concerning

anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do

it for you. For where two or three gather together

as my followers, I am there amongst you. I mean,

it's amazing. Like Jesus promises to be present

with us when we gather together during a Sunday

morning. Like he's here walking amongst us. It's

evident when we are convicted of sin, when we

are worshiping and we sense and feel the tangible

presence of God, when we weep, when we cry, when

we want to kneel, when we want to move and dance.

That's God's presence. Jesus is present with

us when we gather together in small group, praying

for one another, encouraging one another, and

reading the Bible together. Jesus is present

with us when we gather together over a meal with

other believers, sharing stories about God's

transformation. I mean, Jesus had a small group

of people that he poured into and encouraged.

Do you? Because see, quite often within the church

of America, people feel alone. And left out.

And God is calling us out of isolation into authentic

loving community. Which means you've got to let

down the walls and begin to invite people in.

God gives us a seat at the table as we practice

life together. Not alone, but together. And there's

so many. There's so many people within the church

who now believe that gathering together is not

important. With the rise of the live stream,

we love you. We bless you. We do it. It's a tool.

We want people to be able to watch when they're

away, when they can't eat, when they're not feeling

well. But it's also comfortable sitting on your

couch. And that's not God's best. Following Jesus

is not individualistic. All throughout the Bible,

we read about God. What's he establish? Community

after community after community. And community

is one of Jesus' essential practices. And he's

now calling us to follow. This is a place where

we can welcome others, be honest with others,

and challenge one another to grow and change.

To practice the way of Jesus, we have to practice

community church. And we read this in Hebrews

10, 25. Let us not neglect our meeting together

as some people do, but encourage one another,

especially now that the day of his return is

drawing near. And some of you need to be encouraged,

especially you watching online, don't give up.

Be a part of what is happening here in our community

of faith and look to develop authentic community.

Walk away from isolation. Walk away from loneliness

and be around people and be encouraged, which

leads us to our action steps. Practice the way

of community. Now, in Acts chapter 2, we find

Acts 2 · chapter mention

an illustration for us to follow in the early

church. And so many people, though, they question

it. They say, well, Chris, Acts 2, 42 to 47,

it's great when I read it, but how does it apply

to us today? Well, it's really simple. When you

break it down and look at what Jesus is challenging

us to, which leads us to our first action step,

we learn together. Acts 2, 42, all the believers

devoted themselves, there's that word devoted

again, to the apostles' teaching. And what does

that mean? That means we read the Bible. Like

right now, there's hundreds of you going through

the book of Matthew for the month of March. And

I love reading through the Bible with you. I

mean, my phone is constantly going off with alerts

of you posting what you feel about what you're

reading as you go through the book of Matthew.

God bless you. If you're not reading it with

us, start tomorrow, start today. We can share

the links with you. Because it's beautiful when

the church gathers to read about the Bible and

discuss it. And it doesn't just happen on Sunday

morning. That's why we have groups. So that we

work through the scriptures and understand how

they apply to our lives. Some groups read books

together. And we apply those principles to life.

The point is, we have to learn from one another.

All of us bring different experiences, encounters,

and ways of life to the table together, and it

causes us to move forward in our relationship

with God. If you're not in a growth group, I

challenge you, be a part of one. You know, we

have a whole list of growth groups that you can

go to on our website, and there's probably like

20 or 25 on there, maybe 30 at the most. We need

more. And some of you, you can start, you say,

Chris, I can start a growth group. Yeah, just

gather four of your friends and start reading

the Bible together. And we'll give you a plan

to follow. The point is, when you're in a group,

you are learning about God together, which is

so important, which leads us to our next step.

Not only do you learn about God together, you

spend time together. All the believers devoted

themselves to the apostles' teaching, their learning,

and to fellowship. Now, some of you are sitting

there thinking, well, Chris, that's obvious.

Well, yeah, but it's so obvious that we often

forget about it and overlook it. When in reality,

intimacy can only grow when we spend time together.

Right? When we share life together. When we cook

together. When we clean together. When we play

together. Softball. Right? When we serve together

on a team. When we get to know one another's

families and are able to pray for them. Right?

Today is Team Up Sunday. And it literally takes

you 10 to 15 minutes to gather with my wife,

Jess, and learn about the different teams in

our community of faith. If you're not on a team,

we want you on a team. Why? Because it encourages

you to be around people, to meet people. When

you're serving cups of coffee, you know people

and their faces, and you can learn their names.

So I want to challenge you. Go to the Welcome

Hub directly after this. Be a part of Team Up

and get on a team, which leads us to our next

step. We learn together, right? We spend time

together. We eat together, right? Who doesn't

like that? All the believers devoted themselves

to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, and

to the sharing in meals. Now notice, including

the Lord's Supper. Right? Apparently, eating

together is so important it gets mentioned twice.

Right? You eat food together and you celebrate

communion together. And that might sound funny,

but there's a reason that so many people, when

they gather together, it's often around food.

And when you read through the Bible, Jesus was

always hosting parties, having dinner, meeting

with people, gathering with people, because that's

how they grow. That's how relationship happens.

It's so much better, right, when you eat together

in your homes, right? But unfortunately, hospitality.

It's a lost art these days. So many people don't

know how to host people in their homes. And you

want to know what I believe the reason is? HGTV.

I blame it on HGTV. Because so many people, they

watch HGTV and they think, wow, that's a beautiful

house. Oh, I love that kitchen. Oh, this living

room, this dining room. And then they look at

theirs and they think, oh, that's rough. And

we're so insecure to invite people over into

our own homes. And we're worried about what our

house looks like. Here's the reality. Everybody

has a dirty house. I promise you. All of you

have mice in your house. I know. This morning

I was preparing and getting my outline ready.

I hear mice running in my cabinets. Right? I

hear them. They're there. That's why there's

poison there. Now, some people challenge me on

the way out, get a snake, it'll take care of

them. I'm like, bro, I'm not putting a snake

in my house. Like, what? Now, some of you are

there sitting there thinking, well, Chris, what's

this have to do with community? What's it have

to do with eating together? The point is, listen,

I told you all that about my house. Right? I

spent yesterday hours making candles. There's

wax on our kitchen floor. There's wax on our,

on our, but if I invited 10 of you over to my

house for lunch after this, you would come. True

or false? I knew you would. You would come. Even

though I told you there's mice in my cabinets,

you would come and you'd have dinner at my house.

Right? I knew you would. So why won't you invite

someone to your house? Right? Here's the reality.

Your bathroom's always going to be dirty. Clean

it before they come. It's fine. It's no big deal.

Like we need to learn the practice of eating

together and spending time together. And I want

to challenge you. This is my challenge for you

this week. Have someone over for dinner in your

house. Or after this gathering, go out to lunch

with someone. Right? Take someone to lunch. Wouldn't

it be powerful if as a community of faith, we

began to establish that Sunday was a time where

we just, after we gather, we go out and we eat

together somewhere. I mean, that would be powerful

because you'd be creating community, you would

meet people, you'd meet families, and you would

understand the power of coming together as one,

as one church. So do it. And some of you, come

to Thursday night, you get a free dinner. You

don't even have to cook. Right? Every other Thursday,

Jess and I, we realize we have this community

dinner in our cafe that's beautiful. Right? There's

100 people there every Thursday eating together.

Why are we going to that? So now we've established

that every other week we're going to the community

dinner. Why? To meet people, to hang out with

people, to spend time together because that creates

community. So do it. Invite people over. Go out

to lunch. Whatever it takes so that community

is established, which leads us to our next step.

We pray together. So we learn together, spend

time together, we eat together, we pray together.

Acts 2, 42, all the believers voted themselves

to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to

sharing in meals, including the Lord's Supper,

and to prayer. Prayer is carrying one another's

burdens. We pray for each other, right, when

we're together and we're apart. That's the point

of these crosses, right? These four crosses,

if you don't know, this got post -its on it.

If you have a prayer request and you have to

go, put the prayer request on the cross and someone's

going to take it and pray for that request, I

promise. How do I know that? Because I have four

post -its that I'm praying for now. I didn't

want four, I only had two. But then my wife took

her two and put them on our bathroom mirror.

So now I'm praying for her two and my two. I

didn't even want to pray for her two. But the

point is, we pray together. We believe in miracles.

We believe that God's going to move. And the

point of prayer is to not grow community. It's

to obey God and to communicate to God. But the

growth of community is often a byproduct of our

shared prayers. I believe that God is moving

in our community of faith. And the people are

coming here because we've been praying for years

for God to break in and move. And now he's doing

it. And how is he breaking in and moving? Well,

it's funny, Steve, right? He's one of our, he's

on our greeting team, our welcome team. He stopped

me this morning when I first got here before

our first gathering. I was getting ready to go

into a little office to pray and to get ready

and to pray for all of you. And he goes, hey,

Chris, can I have a minute? And I looked back

at him and I said, yeah, sure. Even though when

I looked in his eyes, I was thinking, I really

don't have a minute, but I'm going to listen

because I'm supposed to listen. And sure enough,

I was because he goes, I just got to share this

story with you. He goes, at the beginning of

the week, I saw my doctor and the report that

my doctor gave me that I had an enlarged heart

valve, that it enlarged to a 4 .1. I have no

idea what that means, but I'm just sharing what

he told me. And he said, I was a little concerned

about it and a little overwhelmed about what

that could mean. And every Thursday I go to the

6 a .m. morning prayer. So I was a part of that

group and I went to that group like I usually

do every Thursday. And when I went there, they

were all praying for one another, getting requests

from one another. And then they got to me and

they said, do you have anything, Steve? And he

goes, yeah, well, I went to see the doctor and

I have this enlarged heart valve and I've been

a little worried about it all week. And they

looked back at him and said, Steve, why didn't

you tell us when you got here? That's the point

of this group. So they stopped, put their hands

on his heart and prayed. They prayed for that

heart to be healed. As they were praying, they

finished and prayed for their other requests.

And as Steve was leaving and going out the parking

lot, suddenly he had these sharp pains in his

heart. Pains like he's never felt before. He

actually became more concerned because now he

had this pain in his heart. All the way home

until he got home and then the pain left him.

He went to the doctor the next day and the doctor's

report after again examining his heart was, oh,

your heart valve is fine. It's now down to a

3 .8. And I look back at him and I was just like,

Steve, God healed your heart. He's like, yeah,

I know. That's why I was supposed to share it

with you. I was like, I was like, well, thank

you, Steve. I'm glad I listened. So now I can

share it with all you because when we come together,

the early church came together and they prayed

for each other. And that's what we do here, right?

Which leads us to our final step, you share with

one another. They sold their property and possessions

and shared the money with those in need, right?

Caring for others through generosity builds community.

It heightens our awareness of others' needs and

takes our focus off ourselves. And being others'

focus is an essential building block of community.

I want to encourage you, if you're not a part

of our Facebook community page, try to join it.

Rudy will let you in or someone who ever sees

the page will let you in. And that page is for

sharing stuff. Like I promise if you put on there

that you need a bed, you'll have a bed. I promise

if you put on there you need a dresser, chances

are you'll have a dresser, you'll have a, heck,

you can get a TV. There's all kinds of things

that people have that they would share with you

if you post it and that's what that community

page is for so that we share our needs. Now,

I'm not promising a car if you need a car, okay?

You can put it on there, but not everybody is

just. Blessed with a second car that they can

give you. But the point is, when we're with others

and we're building community, when we're giving

and receiving both prayer and stuff and needs

that we may have, it gets us out of the way.

It breaks us down so that we don't have these

walls anymore and we begin to build connections

with one another. When we put into practice the

way of Jesus, listen to the results. Acts 2 .47.

All the while, praising God and enjoying the

goodwill of all people. And each day the Lord

added to their fellowship those who are being

saved. And here's the crazy thing. So many people,

they want purpose, they want meaning, they want

connection in this life. This is it. This is

the connection and the purpose, the meaning that

so many people are looking for. And as we put

into practice, right, this whole series rooted,

practicing the way, is elementary. And I mean

that. It's elementary. It's like Jesus for dummies,

right? And you say, well, Chris, why do you say

that? Because we're all dummies. And we need

reminded of what it looks like to put into practice

the ways of Jesus. But if we put these simple

steps into practice, then suddenly our entire

tri -state area is being transformed and impacted

through this community that is gathering here

because we're reaching out and we're seeing people's

lives saved and transformed. Amen? Will you stand

with me? So before we pray a simple prayer, which

many of you know that we pray every week, I want

to challenge you with homework. Your homework

this week is to have someone over for dinner.

Invite someone into your dirty house. Clean it

if you want. I don't really care. And have dinner

together. Break bread together. And have a conversation.

And if you don't want to do that, fine. Invite

someone out after this gathering to lunch. And

share a meal together. That's your homework.

Why? Because that's what God wants for us. Amen?

Now Rhett shared earlier about a lost sheep.

I believe that God brings lost sheeps into our

gatherings every single Sunday. And we pray simple

prayers because we believe that God wants to

bring them home. And if that's you, I invite

you to pray that prayer with all of us this morning.

Jesus. I'm broken. I'm full of doubt, shame,

regret, sin. Change me. I believe you're God's

son. I believe you died for me. Make me new.

Set me free. Fill me with your spirit. Help me,

God, to serve others. In Jesus' name, amen. Now,

there's four words of knowledge I want to share

with you. You have a muscle or tendon on the

outer right side of your knee. You have left

hip pain. The second finger next to the pinky

finger has sharp pain, possibly from a recent

accident. That's pretty specific. And also, I

want to add to that list, if you have any heart

issues, I believe God's in the healing business.

So if any of those of you or you have any other

need, our prayer team will be here on the right

to pray for you and meet with you.