Replay | Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Summer Jams) with Chris Schlotterbeck

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard.

To get connected or to give online, go to hcv.church or give.htv.church.

If at any point during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text

change me to 970-00.

Thank you and enjoy the message.

Now join me if you would.

Put your hands together in welcoming Hub City Vineyard's own worship team as they bring

to you 2004 Green Days Boulevard of Bergen Dreams.

I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known.

Don't know where it goes, but it's home to me and I walk alone.

I walk this empty street on the boulevard of broken dreams.

When the city sleeps and I'm the only one and I walk alone.

I walk alone, I walk alone.

I walk alone, I walk alone.

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me.

My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating.

Sometimes I wish someone out there would find me.

Till then I walk alone.

I walk alone, I walk alone.

I walk alone, I walk alone.

I walk alone, I walk alone.

I walk alone, I walk alone.

Sometimes I wish someone out there would find me.

I walk alone, I walk alone.

I walk this empty street on the boulevard of broken dreams.

When the city sleeps and I'm the only one and I walk alone.

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me.

My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating.

Sometimes I wish someone out there would find me.

And I walk alone.

I walk alone, I walk alone.

Alright, good morning Hub City!

Hey, if you're joining us from home, thank you for welcoming us into your home.

Today we kick off our Summer Jams series.

Now believe it or not, I actually realized this morning it's been four years

since we've actually played our last live rock anthem,

what used to be called rock anthems, and now summer jams,

and I desperately say I have missed it.

Alright, for those of you that don't know, this series focuses on music

and its connection to our culture.

This series is all about discovering God in our everyday life.

The songs that have been chosen for this series are simply tools

that assist us in discovering God's truth for our lives.

Now some of you may be thinking, well Chris, how is this biblical?

How do you take a song, a secular song, and apply it to our lives?

Well, Paul did it! Just read the book of Acts.

Paul took the unknown God, the statue that was there,

and he pointed to it and said, I know who that God is!

And he pointed the people to Jesus.

What are we simply doing? We're taking the God of rock,

and we're pointing people, we're pointing those in our relationship with Jesus

back to Jesus to say, hey, let's grow our relationship with Him.

Now we at HCV are in no way encouraging you to go out and buy these albums,

though many of you already have the songs, so it is what it is.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day was named Record of the Year

at the Grammy Awards in 2006.

The song's broad appeal was demonstrated by its performance

on several of the Billboard charts.

It spent 14 weeks at number one on the mainstream rock tracks chart.

It reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100.

It was actually the highest Green Day song,

meaning that it made it to the mainstream media

because Green Day really was like a pop punk band

and not everybody gravitated to them, but this song kind of built the bridge.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams was written by frontman Billy Joe Armstrong

at a time when he was feeling alone and isolated.

He actually rented an apartment in New York City

and found himself walking aimlessly into the wee hours of the night

just simply trying to discover himself.

The band decided to include it on American Idiot,

a Green Day concept album, because he felt it conforms

to the project's overall themes of escapism and inner conflict.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams is a song about loneliness,

the struggle a person goes through living an unsatisfactory life

while battling inner dreams.

Friends, this song has never had more of a connection within our culture than today.

America's loneliness epidemic is getting worse.

Three out of every five Americans, 61% report that they are lonely,

a seven percentage increase from 2018.

These results come against the backdrop of a rising mental health crisis in the United States

with more than 46 million people living with some form of mental illness.

It's an urgent time for the study of loneliness,

says Bert Uccino, a professor at the University of Utah.

More and more research suggests that its impact doesn't end with mental health.

Evidence is really pointing to the fact that relationships,

the kinds of bonds you have with people, how close you are,

how connected you feel with others, impacts your overall physical health.

I mean, here's the reality.

There's been times where all of us have felt very alone.

Even myself. Now, some of you sitting there thinking,

oh, Chris, you're constantly surrounded by people.

It's what you do. It's what you're called to do.

Hundreds of people weekend after weekend.

Well, listen to some of this research from Barna.

40% of pastors have considered leaving the ministry in the last three months.

70% of pastors experience loneliness and have no close friends.

They trust with personal matters.

And 70% of pastors have a lower self-image now

than they did when they first started pastoring or called into the ministry.

I mean, just be honest.

All of us can look in the mirror and realize that these last 18 months

have probably been the hardest times of all our collective lives.

And many of us feel completely isolated.

Maybe you're going through a tough situation

and you look around and realize you have no one to call, no one to pray for you.

Maybe you have something that you want to celebrate.

You just graduated from college,

but yet there's no one around to join in your celebration.

I mean, even this morning, think about it, we're gathered in this large group of people.

Chris said, stand up and high five someone.

And I guarantee you, some of you went, and no one did anything.

Right? And you just kind of slowly slipped back into your seat.

Even in a group of hundreds of people, we can feel isolated.

We can feel alone. We can feel completely separated.

Yet it's not God's best.

God's desire for you, His greatest plan and purpose, is for you to never walk alone.

It's for you to never stand alone.

And what He wants for you now more than ever before

is just a deep personal connection with you, which leads us to our first thought.

See, we're created for connection, but we drift toward isolation.

We're created for connection, but we drift toward isolation.

When we look at the Bible, specifically when God created the world,

we constantly hear, it is good.

Over and over and over again, God said, this is good, that is good, this is good, that is good.

But it wasn't until God looked at Adam, all by himself, completely alone,

where God said this in Genesis 2, 18, God said, it's not good.

Everyone say, it's not good.

It's not good for a man or woman to be alone.

It's just not good.

Everything else that He created was good.

But the very first thing that God said wasn't good was loneliness.

He said, it's not good for you to be alone.

We see this in our lives.

God created us to have a connection with Him, with one another.

And yet today, it's so natural for us to drift toward isolation.

It's very, very natural.

Now, if you're gathered here in Person HTV, maybe you're watching from behind your screen online.

I want you to know this today.

You're part of this church.

You're part of this community of faith.

In this very moment, God is building His church.

And His church isn't this structure that we're meeting in.

His church is His people.

It's me, it's you.

And together, He's putting us together and He's building the church.

In fact, the Bible says it this way.

Paul wrote in Ephesians 2.

So now, you Gentiles, you're no longer strangers or foreigners.

You're citizens, along with all of God's holy people.

See, listen, you belong here.

Even if this is your first time, if someone invited you,

hey, we're doing this series, you should come check it out.

I want you to know this.

If you're new with us, you belong here.

We welcome you in this place.

And it doesn't matter what your background is.

It doesn't matter what your past looks like.

It doesn't matter what your skin color is.

It doesn't matter the magnitude of your sin.

You belong here.

And I want to say this to you.

Welcome home.

Welcome home.

Welcome to the family.

Paul continues.

You are members of God's family.

Together, we are His house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.

And the cornerstone is Jesus Himself.

We are carefully joined together in Him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.

Through Him, you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by His Spirit.

And I just love how Paul writes, you're no longer strangers.

You're not outsiders.

You're welcome here.

God is building a home, and He's using all of us.

Now notice, Paul says, it began with the apostles and the prophets.

They laid the foundation, right?

The foundation, of course, is Jesus.

He's the cornerstone.

And He's building His church brick by brick, stone by stone.

That's me and you.

He's putting them together so that we are created for connection.

But friends, let's be honest.

We drift toward isolation.

We drift away from that connection.

You see it all the time in social media.

Now, hear me out.

Social media is a great tool.

It's a great thing to spread the good news.

And that's why all of you that participate in social media, right?

You'll post a picture every now and again.

Maybe you were just recently on vacation,

and you snapped a photo of the family together.

Hashtag quality time, hashtag vacation.

Even though it took 24 takes and two arguments later.

Right?

But then what happens?

You throw it out in social media world.

You post something, and in every two minutes, you go back and check.

Who likes that again?

Who hearted me?

You know, who smiled?

Who thumbs up?

Right? And why is that?

Why do people go back and look?

Because you're created for connection.

You have this longing within you that you want to share your lives with others.

But yet so often in the social media world,

it drives us towards isolation because here's what happens.

You see someone else's vacation, and someone else's highlight reel,

and you start to get those feelings.

Those feelings, right?

Jealousy.

Envy.

Hey, did I say anger?

Because you weren't invited to the party?

Well, I'm your friend.

How come I couldn't come to your birthday?

And those feelings, right?

What do they do?

They drive us.

They drive us to isolation because we have all these emotions that come over us.

And here's the thing with social media.

You never talk about it.

You have all these emotions and these feelings from these different pictures that you see.

But when is the last time you went to somebody and said,

Hey, I was really jealous of that vacation picture you posted.

You know, when's the last time you went to someone and said,

Hey, why didn't you invite me to your birthday party?

I saw it all over social media, but I wasn't invited.

You all laugh, but you don't do it.

You don't address your feelings of negativity, your feelings of isolation,

your feelings of loneliness that we all get from social media.

You don't address it.

But friends, it causes us to drift because we separate ourselves from people

because of these negative emotions, which leads us to our next stop.

See, everybody needs grace.

Everybody.

The most important connection you are created to have is a relationship with God.

And when you surrender your life to Jesus, you enter into a relationship with your heavenly Father.

And friends, it's the most important connection that you and I, that the entire world is supposed to have.

And when you walk with God, guess what?

He walks with you.

Doesn't matter how difficult the times, it doesn't matter how up and down life is,

He is walking with you.

You know, when you're wandering those streets, those lonely streets of New York

or Hagerstown or Martinsburg or Williamsburg, friends, God walks with you.

He is right there with you.

When you're going through a challenging situation, God promises to never leave you.

When you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, what does He promise?

He says He's going to lead you.

He's going to be with you.

He's not going to leave you or forsake you.

When you have a difficult decision to make, His Holy Spirit empowers you to make those choices.

Friends, God walks with you and He shows you His faithfulness.

And when you feel like you're drifting toward isolation, friends, you've got to fight that drift

by remembering the faithfulness of God.

You've got to stop and look backwards in the rear view mirror.

Those are your relationships with Jesus. You've got to look backwards and say,

wait a minute, God helped me there. He pulled me out of this.

He walked me through this.

In the Bible, it tells us in the book of Joshua about the Israelites.

They were God's chosen people.

They had been delivered from Egypt, from slavery.

They were given a land, a promised land, if you will.

God told them that, hey, I'm going to give you this land.

It's going to flow with milk and honey.

And they stepped out in faith and went after the promise.

But see, after many years of stubbornness and disobedience and drifting,

40 years, in fact, an entire generation didn't go into the promised land.

They stood at the banks of the Jordan River and they looked across.

And they saw the promised land. All they had to do was walk across to take what God had given them.

It was a big deal. It was such a big deal that literally God tells Joshua to build stones,

to put them together, to make a marker. And why?

Well, in Joshua 4, 21 and 24, we read, then Joshua said to the Israelites,

in the future, your children will ask, what do these stones mean?

Then you can tell them. This is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan on dry ground,

for the Lord your God dried up the river right before your eyes.

And he kept it dry until you were all across, just as he did in the Red Sea,

when he dried it up and all crossed over.

He did this so all the nations of the earth might know that the Lord's hand is powerful

and you might fear the Lord your God forever.

He did it. He wanted Joshua to build it as a means of showing God's faithfulness.

And he wants us to do the same.

He wants us to look back and remember the markers that are in our life

as evidence of God's Spirit leading us and guiding us.

I mean, just simply go to your salvation. Look at 1 John 1, 8 through 9.

If we claim we have no sin, we're fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just,

to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness.

See, when you're drifting, it's good to stop and remember

that he simply forgave us our sins.

And see, that's why in two weeks, you know, you just heard the announcement

we're doing our summer baptisms here as a part of our Sunday morning gathering.

Why do baptisms? Well, because God told us to.

God told us to be public in our faith,

to make a public commitment that you're following him, that you're a new creation.

And hear me out. Some of you are like, well, Christa, I did that.

I was sprinkled when I was an infant.

Okay, that's good. So was I. But when I was 22, I made a personal commitment

between me and God that I was following him.

I mean, it's cool that my parents got me sprinkled, but that didn't count.

What counted was that I was choosing to personally follow him.

And some of you see, you need to make that commitment in a few weeks

so you have something to look back to.

So that you can point to that as a marker saying, well, wait a minute.

I went public and I let people know that I was following Jesus.

Now I've heard it said, you know, some of you are like, well, Chris, why are you doing it here?

Well, we do it here because we celebrate it as a family.

Right. It's going to be a part of our Sunday morning gathering.

We're going to fill the tank up and we're going to get the floor all wet.

And we're going to celebrate people's lives being changed.

Now, some of you are river rats. Right.

And you're like, well, Chris, I only get baptized in the Potomac River

so that the scum can come into my mouth.

And I can truly feel that I left behind the dirt and the grime.

Yes, it happens. I've seen it bringing people up out.

It's real fun. But anyway, I already committed to one person that I would go

after our second gathering to Riverbottom Park and Dunk You in the River.

So if there's one of those people, listen, I will go because that's what God does.

We go if people request that.

OK, so I'm not saying I want a hundred of you to go. I want you to do it here.

But if a few of you want to go to Riverbottom, I'll meet you there and gladly baptize you

because that's just simply what we're called to do.

We're called to create markers in our life that point to God's faithfulness.

Now, I get it. I want to stop here a second.

There's some of you who are gathered here this morning and you think about your memories.

You think, well, truth is, Chris, I don't remember God's faithfulness.

There's some of you that are going to say, I'm carrying around these stones in my life,

painful moments that I don't believe God was faithful.

And you look back and you wonder, where were you, God?

I'm carrying around this pain. Why didn't you help me?

Maybe you went through just a horrible breakup and divorce and you feel like God let you down.

Maybe you were called to marry this young lady and she just left you.

Maybe you felt like you were supposed to get this job that was going to change your life,

change your family's life. You were going to be able to provide for your family, but you didn't get it.

Maybe somebody you trusted abused you and let you down and took advantage of you.

And suddenly in your mind, you're beginning to think, well, God, where were you?

Maybe you're here today and you made some decisions in your life and you've tried to walk away from the guilt and shame,

but it just keeps coming back and back and back.

And these pains are real. They're stones that you carry and you struggle to put them down.

And it's painful, even me bringing it up, because you just don't see God's faithfulness.

So sometimes when it's hard to see God's faithfulness, it leads us to our next thought.

See, not only are we called to connection, but see everybody needs somebody, right?

Everybody needs grace, but everybody needs somebody. You need somebody you can vent to.

You need somebody you can word vomit on. Right?

Isn't that a good mental picture now?

And what do I mean by that? Well, you need somebody that's just not going to judge you.

Right? You need someone that you can trust, that you can just let out what you're feeling in your life,

what you're going through. But listen up. You've got to have the right people around you.

Because you can word vomit on people and they'll be like, yeah, you go get him. Get rid of him. He's no good.

And they'll just agree with you no matter what you say.

But no, you need someone that's going to listen to you and give you an honest opinion based on what God feels.

The difference between where you are today and where God wants you to be depends on the people in your life.

Ooh, that one hurts.

The difference between where you're sitting today and where God wants you to be is all about the people.

Because see, those people will help you remember God's faithfulness. They'll point you to God.

You need someone that you can lean on, someone that's going to be there for you.

But it's got to be the right people. Look at Proverbs 14.

Escape quickly from the company of fools. They're a waste of your time, a waste of your words.

The wisdoms of the wise keeps life on track. The foolishness of fools lands them in a ditch.

Isn't that a perfect picture of drifting? You drift. Right? And you end up in a ditch.

I'm just being honest here. Some of you here today, you need to get rid of that relationship you're currently in.

Because it's just bringing you down.

Though you feel you're alone and you need someone, that person's just dragging you into a pit.

For some of you, you need to hit that block button and unfollow that person.

Because that person's negativity and finger pointing is not good for your life.

See, there's times in your life, even family members, because Jesus said,

No, you leave your father and mother if you're going to follow me.

There's people that can bring negativity into our lives and into our spirits to pull us away from Jesus

and push us further into isolation. And you've got to make the choice to separate.

You've got to get yourself around the right people that are going to speak life into you.

So how do I find the right people? Right? Some of you are thinking, alright, how do I find the right people?

I'm going to give you a little nugget. Here's three little quick easy ways to find the right people that will speak into your life.

You ready? You've got to start serving. Right? You've got to stop sitting and start serving.

I mean, Jesus said the Son of Man, He didn't come to be served. What did He do?

He came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.

You need to start serving. Why? Because you'll get around like-minded people that are serving, that are doing likewise.

And then suddenly you'll feel this connection with people and you'll be able to build friendships that are lasting and meaningful.

It just so happens that today's Team Up. Isn't it amazing how it fits into my sermons every month?

Amazing. And you say it's not spirit led. Yes, it is.

Team Up, what's that? Will you just meet Kelsey at the Welcome Hub, take you 20 minutes, join a team.

Begin to serve here at HTV. It's very, very important. Number one, start serving.

Number two, just get around a smaller group of people. Right? This is a large group of people.

Right? On a Sunday morning there's hundreds of people that flow through here. Right?

And it's hard to high five. It's hard to connect. It's hard to begin a really nice friendship, relationship with people in a larger setting.

You've got to get in a smaller setting. Some of you are like, well, Chris, I'll do that in the fall when the groups start again.

And that's a good thing. Yeah, our groups are good. But there's still groups meeting this summer.

All you've got to do is jump in, go to groups.htv.com at a church and join one. I know Charlie will welcome you. Right, Charlie?

See, look, absolutely. Come on in. He would love for you to join his group.

Now some of you are like, well, I don't like Charlie. I don't want to join his group.

You know what I say to that? Fine, start your own group. Start your own group.

Like if you don't like that group, start your own group. Well, am I allowed to do that? Of course you are.

There's a young lady who works at Grow and her name's Courtney and she came to Jess and she's just like,

hey, I want to start a group for some 20s, like girls that are 20 years old, just to get together and hang out, talk, grow our faith.

Jess is like, okay, do it. She called John. They're meeting now on Wednesday nights.

Right, and my point is, don't make excuses. Like if you're not in a smaller group of people, start one. Right, start one.

There isn't any reason we don't have a hundred smaller groups meeting on a regular basis throughout the week so that you are being honest and real,

avoiding isolation and not drifting. True or false? Okay, we'll do something about it.

So you serve, you get in a smaller group of people, and then you get real. Like just take the mask off, man.

Right, you've heard me get real from the stage. Like when you're around a smaller group of people, just get real.

Tell them what your struggle is. Tell them how you're struggling. Get prayer. Request prayer.

Surround yourself with people that are going to love on you, cry with you.

So that you're able to begin to see God's faithfulness. Right, be honest about your problems.

Because that is going to help you to see God's promises. You've got to get around people to be encouraged.

And I promise you, and I mean this, if you do one of those three things this week, you won't feel lonely.

But notice, just like I said last week, it's a choice. It's all a choice.

Because see, Galatians 6.2 says, stoop down, reach out to those who are oppressed, share their burdens, and so complete Christ's law.

Friends, God's putting us together. He's building His church stone by stone, person by person.

Right, we were created for connection, but we drift toward isolation. Right, we drift towards isolation.

Everybody needs grace. Everybody needs somebody. And number four, our fourth thought, somebody needs you.

You're not just another stone. You're not just another person. You have a story. And your story has power.

Your story has the power to make a difference in the lives of others.

I mean, we look no further than the Old Testament, and many of you know the story of David and Goliath.

Right, David, right, a small shepherd boy, Goliath, a monster of a man, a giant, if you will, a giant warrior.

And he comes up and he's just speaking down to God's people, to the Israelites, challenging them.

You have no one to fight me. Come and fight one on one. Be a man. No warrior would stand up to him.

David shows up, a young shepherd boy, which remember, this is important. It doesn't matter how old you are.

You have a story. If you're 10 years old, you have a story of God's faithfulness, but you just have to be willing to share it.

You have to be willing to share it because your story has power. Does it matter your age?

Notice what David says. He arrives. He's 1 Samuel 17. Don't worry about this, Philistine.

David told Saul, I'll go fight him. Like, didn't even second guess. I got this.

Cruises out, picks up five smooth stones from the river, puts them in his bag, takes one of the stones, puts it in his sling.

Ding! Forehead shot. I know all about that. Right? Except modern Nerf guns.

Goliath falls. David takes his sword, cuts his head off, declares victory over the enemy.

The Israelites won. You know the best part about this story? Goliath wasn't David's giant.

Goliath wasn't David's personal giant. David was out in the field tending his animals, taking care of his animals.

Goliath was defying God's people. Goliath was defying David's God.

And see, what we have to realize is your giant becomes my giant. When you're in a community of faith, your story has power.

And you need to remember, right, those moments in your life that were so painful.

There's other people that are going through that pain right now and need to hear that you've overcome it.

So that you are pointing them to your faithfulness, that they can begin to build faithfulness and say,

Wait a minute, God's going to walk me out of this. Amen?

I mean, think about those five smooth stones that David picked out of the river.

There was a time where those stones weren't smooth. They probably dropped into that river and they were jagging and rough.

And had sharp edges on them. But as it rolled down through the river and hit other rocks, those edges got knocked off.

Maybe it went over a waterfall and landed in a riverbed and the sand was being swept over it and the water was rushing over it.

So that suddenly that stone became what? Smooth.

And see, many of you have got to realize that all those painful jagged edges that you look back on and say, God, where was you?

He was there. And he just wants to smooth them over so that your story becomes powerful.

Your story becomes a tool. Right? That divorce that almost broke you is a tool in your life.

That addiction that almost killed you is a tool to help somebody else.

That abandonment that you felt from your parents when they left you becomes a part of your story that God your father restored you.

But see, you've got to be able to take that tool out of your bag and use it.

It's interesting. There was a man that came out to meet Jesus in the Bible.

Think about this. We don't realize how neat the Bible is.

Notice how the Bible describes this scene. Jesus, he's climbing out of the boat. He was crossing the other side of the lake.

He climbs out of the boat and there's this possessed man with demons, full of demons, and he comes out to meet Jesus.

Right? You think, okay, that sounds typical. You know, demon possessed man comes out to meet Jesus.

The Bible goes on to say for a long time he's been homeless and naked, living in the graveyard.

Okay, does that change the image in your mind a little bit?

So now you've got a naked, homeless man rolling out. He wasn't covered in fig leaves.

Rolling out, just everything exposed, rolls up to Jesus, demon possessed.

Jesus sets him free. Sets him free.

Now I want to read for you Luke 8, 38, 39.

The man who had been freed of the demons begged to go with him. He wanted to go with Jesus, obviously.

I'm sure he had clothes on now.

But Jesus sent him home saying, no, go back to your family and tell them everything God has done for you.

See that? Naked man, demon possessed, probably one of the strangest encounters Jesus ever had,

much less all the people that were walking with him.

Now this man is going and telling his family and the entire town about God's power.

See, when you walk with God, he provides opportunities for you to use your story, to release your story.

And when you release that power, guess what? You destroy the giants in people's lives.

Maybe that pain that you experienced in your past was pain that you used to set people free today.

But you got to begin to turn and understand that God is calling you to stop drifting.

Stop drifting into isolation, become a part of a community where God can use you to change others.

So this morning, let's look at three simple steps. I had to love the lonely.

You need to be able to love the lonely friends because they're all around us in the tri-state area.

And the first is this, you need to love with touch.

Matthew 8, 2 to 3, suddenly a man with leprosy approached him, knelt before him.

Lord, the man said, if you're willing, you can heal me and make me clean.

Leprosy, we don't know a lot about it now because it's not around.

But in Jesus' time, if it was left untreated, you would be dead in 10 years.

It starts with fatigue, pain in the joints, suddenly you begin to get marks all over your skin that is filled with pus.

And literally your body is just seeping, just this negative pus.

The face changes, the vocal chords change, literally your body begins to decompose while you're living and while you're going about.

And the smell is horrendous.

Everywhere these people went, they had to scream unclean, tear their clothes.

They had to cut all their hair off and no one touched them.

Why? Because it was very contagious.

What's Jesus though? Jesus reached out and touched him.

I am willing, he said, be healed.

And instantly the leprosy disappeared.

Now if you think about it, Jesus didn't have to touch him.

Jesus healed many people but he's speaking the word, true or false?

But here Jesus touched him. Why?

Yes, the leper needed healing from the disease, but he also needed love for that rejection.

And there's something about the touch that can change everything.

I mean, one of the strongholds of our community of faith pre-COVID was high fives, hugs.

It just kind of created this community environment where people felt embraced and loved.

And since COVID, let's be honest, it's been hard.

Air high fives just aren't the same.

And fist bumps, I mean, am I doing it too hard? I don't want to break knuckles.

Elbow bumps just hurt.

Like it's just awkward. Right? True or false?

Man, I really want to get back to that embrace.

I'm cool with you hugging me when you leave.

It's all good. I'm moving past it.

But if you're not cool, I get it. I probably won't elbow bump you. I'll just, you know, something.

Maybe we can do an ankle tap. Right?

Tim, we're kicking the soccer. How's that? Start something new.

But it's not just about Jesus reaching out and touching people. Look at Luke 8.

Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe.

Immediately the bleeding stopped. Who touched me? Jesus asked.

Everyone denied it. Peter said, oh, it's just someone in the crowd.

But Jesus said, no, someone deliberately touched me for I felt healing power go out from me.

Twelve years, suffering, isolation, separation.

The woman was desperate for healing, desperate enough to take an enormous social risk.

See, she touched the fringe of his garment, of Jesus' robe, which it just wasn't decoration.

It was Hebrew tradition that the fringe served as a visible reminder of God's law.

See, a normal man likely would have been angry because that fringe, that garment was now contaminated.

He would have made a scene. He would have demanded she be punished and humiliated because of her condition.

But the woman was desperate, desperate enough to take a risk.

And just think about it. She took that risk. And Jesus says, who touched me?

And in her mind, she's thinking, what if I say it's me?

Because see, Jesus could have let her slip back into her regular life, just healed, and it would have been no big deal.

Instead, he wanted to listen to her story, and he wanted to look at her and call her daughter.

Two astonishing truths, friends. Jesus can't be contaminated.

Jesus can't be contaminated because he is the source of wholeness and cleansing.

And he wanted to welcome her at the faith so that it's an example to us that if we reach out, he'll reach back.

And some of you are in that place this morning, friends.

You're in that place of wanting to be healed, and God desires to reach back and say to you, son, daughter, I want to touch you this morning.

But you've got to be open to receiving it.

Stop closing yourself off. Allow his spirit to overwhelm you with his love.

Start to cry, for God's sake.

I walked into worship first and second service.

And literally the first thing I did when I walked in his doors is just weep because of God's presence.

But see, many of you, you've got to pull off the front. It's okay to weep. Okay?

Your biceps aren't as big as mine, and I can weep. All right?

I'm not bragging. I'm just trying to make a point.

So it's important that we learn to love by touch, which leads us to our next step.

Just love by listening.

See, this is a lost art in the United States of America.

See, most people don't listen with the intent to understand.

Most people don't listen with the intent to love.

Most people listen with the intent to reply.

You're looking for the answer. You're looking for the response.

You want to look to make yourself like you know it all.

You want to be their savior.

And that's just not God's best.

God's best is we learn to listen.

And there was two guys walking along, they were cruising down the street, depressed, lonely, isolated, separated.

Jesus had just been crucified and buried, their hopes of salvation, of eternal life destroyed as he's laying in a tomb.

And then we read this in Luke 24. Jesus asked them,

What are you discussing so intently as you walk along? Walk along, excuse me.

They stopped short, sadness written across their faces.

You must be the only person in Jerusalem that hasn't heard about all the things that have happened in the last few days.

Jesus again, what things?

Well, the things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth, he said that he was a prophet, a powerful miracle,

because he's a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people.

Notice Jesus, what was he doing?

He was asking questions.

He wanted to hear their pain. He wanted to hear what they were going through.

And he was asking questions that ultimately he learned from them of how he could help them.

Right? It's not about just getting with people and talking a lot.

Just because you talk a lot, it doesn't make a good conversation.

Good conversations are when people open up, when people share what's going on in their life.

And friends, we need to learn to listen.

I find it interesting that the word listen has the exact same letters as the word silent.

Maybe that's why we read in James 1.19, understand this, my dear brothers and sisters.

You must be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry.

What if we begin to ask questions with people around us in our sphere of influence?

Like, tell me your story. What are you going through?

I want to hear more.

How can I pray for you?

See, suddenly you open the door for people to be honest, and they don't want you to fix them.

They just want to be heard.

People in our culture want to be heard.

They want people to understand, people to care about what they're going through.

Friends, the church has called to be those people, which leads us to our final step.

You've got to love with time.

It takes effort, friends.

You've got to change your schedule.

You've got to be open to distractions.

You've got to be open to suddenly going off course.

Jesus was always going somewhere, but he never rushed.

He was never busy. He always made himself available.

You know, here he is in Luke 5. He's teaching, he's sharing about the kingdom.

He's challenging the Pharisees, and these men, they come rolling in with this paralyzed man on a mat.

They couldn't get him inside. They couldn't get him near Jesus. They ripped the roof off.

And wouldn't it be, if someone ripped the roof off our building, I think I'd get kind of angry.

Wouldn't you? I'd be like, we just built this, man.

Anyway, they lowered the sick man down with Jesus, and he just healed him.

He wasn't upset. He wasn't offended.

Your faith has made him well.

Luke 8, they were on a boat sailing across. Jesus takes a nap.

And it's cool that the Bible says on a pillow.

It wasn't just a nap. He had a pillow.

In other words, he was asleep. Don't bother him.

Fear of storm comes. Boats filling with water. Disciples freaking out.

We're going to die! Master, we're drowning!

Jesus called me, gets up, quiets the storms.

I wonder if he went back to sleep.

Mark 1, he goes out to be alone with his father. Jesus got up, went out to be in an isolated place and pray.

Simon and the others went to find him. When they found him, notice what they said.

Everyone is looking for you!

Jesus never complained. Does that make sense? He never complained.

He always made himself available to those that were in need.

I just want to be honest with you. I guarantee you that all of us gathered in this room, I challenged the first service with the same thing.

I guarantee you all of us can think of five people right now that are isolated and alone, true or false.

It doesn't matter if it's immediate family members like grandparents or aunts or uncles.

A lot of times they're in nursing homes or wherever they may be.

It could be other family members or friends. It could be people here within your community of faith and you think they're alone.

They're isolated. They're separated.

Classmates.

What are you going to do about it? Does that make sense?

We know they're there, but yet we won't change our schedule. We're too busy to stop by for five or ten minutes.

Jesus is showing us right here, you've got to change.

You've got to begin to make yourself available so that God can use you to impact other people.

Notice, I didn't say you go change the whole tri-state area.

I just said think about your sphere of influence and those that are lonely and make it a priority that you begin to spend a little time with them.

So that ultimately you can speak change into their life.

Why?

Because it's not good to walk alone.

Though the front man of Green Day sings about it, maybe even glorifies it,

I want to encourage you, it's not good to walk alone.

And God desires that you come into connection with Him and ultimately experience life change.

Will you stand with me?

I just want to invite all of you, if you could please.

I want you to go to the place where you receive.

And what do I mean by that? Where you receive, like,

what body posture do you take to receive something? For some of you go like this, some of you may go like this.

Some of you go like this.

I want to challenge you, don't go like this.

I want you to form a posture to receive.

So if you could all go there, no one looking around, close your eyes.

Maybe in the quietness of your spirit say, come Holy Spirit.

Say it again.

Come Holy Spirit.

You're not here by accident.

You were meant to be here this morning.

God loves you.

He cares about you.

And He desires to reveal Himself to you this morning.

So receive these words as I pray them over you.

Isaiah 41 10.

Don't be afraid, for I am with you.

Don't be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you.

I will help you.

Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.

Overflow now, God.

Rain down your presence, your peace, your joy.

Change lives this morning.

In Jesus' name.

All said together.

There's power in Scripture.

Just allow it to wash over you.

Allow those truths to become reality.

So that you don't walk in isolation.

So if you could go back to that place, you know that I've committed to the Holy Spirit.

I've committed to God that every week that I stand before you, I will not let a week go by

where I don't offer an invitation for connection with God.

So Holy Spirit come.

No one looking around, this is a private moment.

So as I was sharing this morning, hearing about this connection and this longing for connection.

That you were created for connection with your Heavenly Father.

If you're here this morning and you haven't made that commitment, you haven't started that connection and you desire it.

We all want to pray with you corporately.

So if you could just slip your hand up and say, yes, Chris, I need to make that commitment this morning.

Is there anyone here?

Yes, come Holy Spirit.

Come Holy Spirit.

Yes, Lord.

So we all pray this prayer together. You know that.

Jesus, I'm a broken person.

Full of sin, doubt, shame, regret, negativity.

I believe you died for me.

I believe you're God's son that will give me new life.

I believe I'm a son.

I'm a daughter of God.

Fill me with your Spirit now.

Allow me to change others.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Amen.

Now, if you prayed that prayer for the first time, and I mean this, I want to reach out to you.

Text changeme to 9700.

Because I'm going to pray for you this week. I want to give you some next steps.

What do you think those next steps might be?

I'll just get baptized in two weeks.

And some of you need to do the same.

You need to make that step so that you can build on the faithfulness of God in your life. Amen.

And don't forget, team up happens right after this. Just meet Kelsey at the information table.

Next week, Summer Jams continues with the red hot chili peppers.

Can't wait. So invite some friends to join you.

I'll see you next week. God bless.

Amen.