"1 Is the Loneliest Number" by Sam Fleurry

Well, good morning everybody.

Welcome to the early service.

You made it. And you look great.

I'm honored to welcome everybody that's in the room and people listening online.

If you don't know who I am, my name is Sam,

and I serve as one of the pastors on staff here.

And, we're in this new series called rhythms.

Come on.

Who's made it to at least one week of rhythms in the new year?

There's been a great series, and, we're excited that you're here

today is a really great day to be at church.

If you didn't know, after every service today, it is community group launch day.

And, would you put your hands together?

If you've been in a community group before, you've loved

the people you've done life with, put your hands together.

And, today we've got actually

62 community groups launching for the winter session.

62 people open in their homes to do community a life with you.

And, today, if you're a service, do me one favor.

If you're the person that in 2025 and before you showed up to church late,

you know who you is and you left early.

You know who you are today.

Make it a rhythm that I'm going to stay through service.

I'm going to actually listen to the response song.

I'm going to go outside and I'm going to get a donut

and sign up for a community group.

Unless you're, you know, 2026, you're not eating donuts and don't get a donut.

But join us on the porch. Sign up for a community.

We are a brotherhood.

Sisterhood. We are coed. We got young adults.

We got everything that you could possibly want,

so make sure you show up outside if you got your Bibles, turn with me.

Mark. Chapter two.

When we

read in Mark chapter two, verses one through 12 and it reads like this.

Go ahead and throw it up, because I, Pastor Caleb has my Bible right now.

Mark, chapter two, starting in verse one says, When Jesus returned to Capernaum

several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home,

and soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors

that there was no more room left, even outside of the house.

So while he was preaching, God's word to them,

says, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat.

These are good friends right here.

They couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd.

So they dug a hole through the roof above his head, and they lower

the man on the mat right down in front of Jesus.

Verse five.

Seeing their faith,

Jesus said to the paralyzed man, my child, your sins are forgiven.

But some of the teachers of

the religious law who were sitting there, they thought to themselves,

what is he saying?

This is blasphemy.

Only God can forgive sins.

Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking,

so he asked them, why do you question this in your hearts?

Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man, your sins are forgiven?

Or to say, stand up, pick up your mat and walk?

But so I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority

on earth to forgive sins.

Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and he said this.

He said, stand up, pick up your mat and go home.

Come on.

The greatest place to preach the gospel right there is in your own home.

And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, walked out to the stunned onlookers.

They were all amazed.

Praise God!

Exclaiming, we've never seen anything like this before!

I don't know if you know this, but one of the greatest human

desires that each and every one of us has on the inside of us.

A God designed to this way is to know other people,

and it's to be known by people.

We were made to be known by people.

We were made to just simply float through life, just doing our 9 to 5

job, just going to church, you know, crossing it off the list.

But each and every one of us, we were designed

to be intimately connected to people in relationship.

I've been in the church long enough now.

Pastoral ministry long enough to now to know that 15 years ago,

there was this amazing expression that the church used all the time.

And maybe you've heard it.

We used to say something like this that you don't have to believe

in order to belong. Have you heard this before?

And there's truth to this.

You can come here today to project church.

It can be your first time you go.

I don't know if I really believe in Jesus.

I don't know if I really want to follow Jesus.

I don't know if I want to change my life, really.

But I'm just here

because some of you invited me kind of stop for a moment and remind you

that you don't have to believe to belong here.

We will love you.

We will walk with you. We will do anything we can to serve you.

As long as you're on this journey, you don't have to believe to belong.

But the problem is, is as the years have went on, this expression is changing.

Now we are seeing many people come to Jesus.

This is good news.

But now the expression is is now people come in here and they've come

to start believing in Jesus and they believe in Jesus.

They just don't really know where they belong in the body of Christ.

You come in here and this supposed to be a house filled with sons and daughters,

but we got a bunch of orphans, so we just come on Sunday morning

and that is all that we have.

And we have to understand in our own life

that each and every one of us, we were made for connection.

And when you come in and you go and you don't really have

communion in your life, you don't really have people

that link arms with you and walk side by side with you.

It just builds into our life.

More of a problem that I've seen in today's culture.

And this is word called individualism.

There's a lot of people in 2026 where it's, you know, it's just me and God.

I don't need the church.

I don't need people to walk with me.

I don't I got my job all by myself.

I didn't need anybody's help to get here

was all me and in today's culture, there's a lot of individualism.

In fact, I see it where there's a lot of people.

That man, you're starting

seven, eight, nine, ten businesses because you can't work for anybody.

You can't be submitted to anybody.

And so you have to do everything on your own.

And there's a lot of individual, a lot of individualism happening today.

I remember now four years ago, my wife car

that we bought our first home and, you know, we bought a brand new home.

We were blessed.

And when we got in our home, everything was perfect.

Turnkey. Nothing I had to fix. It was amazing.

But what they didn't tell me is that when I looked at my back yard,

if you bought a brand new house, you know this.

It was a dirt yard.

It was muddy. It was a mess.

I had two dogs at the time.

We had newborn twins on the way and it was a mess.

And so I told my wife, I'm gonna do this work.

I'm just going to put grass in. We're going to make it look great.

Now, I'm not good at managing grass.

And if you are in here, hey, kudos to you.

I couldn't manage my grass. A year later, it was dead.

Every single summer I tried to revive it and die again.

Finally, four years in.

My kids have now lived their entire life in my house.

Never once have I let them outside because my dogs destroy the whole thing.

So I told my wife one week I got home from summer camp and I'm inspired.

I got a couple weeks off and I tell you, you know what?

I'm a turf. The backyard.

I'm gonna rip out all the grass. I'm gonna put turf in the backyard.

Now, some of y'all, you are blessed and highly favored in the Lord.

He is provide you finances to hire people for that. Me?

I'm balling on a budget. I gotta do that work myself.

So I take whatever money I can get.

I buy turf, I rip up the grass and then a week later

it's finished and it's beautiful.

But what I didn't know is two weeks later,

our first rain would come in and I would have.

I'd be looking outside of my backyard and guess what?

Puddles are everywhere.

Puddles all in my turf.

Now, if you do turf right, there shouldn't be puddles anywhere.

My wife was like, yo,

if you would have just got some help

if you were to just call some of your friends to help you,

this would look immaculate, tired.

Some friends come over and they're looking at me,

judging me like, bro, why didn't you call me a turf?

My back yard?

I could have helped you, but I said I didn't need you.

And here's why they need you.

I'll learn everything on YouTube,

YouTube, University.

I got a four year degree in turf and backyards.

I can figure out how to change a tire. You tube.

You need help. I'm your man. I'll go to YouTube.

I'll figure this thing out.

Yesterday in my garage, I'm putting together a little car for my son.

I throw out the instructions. And what do I do?

YouTube you?

It used to be duct tape. Fixes everything.

Now YouTube fixes everything.

I said, I don't need you.

I had YouTube University at my disposal.

I could just get on my phone. I didn't have to coordinate schedules.

I didn't need to figure things out.

I could just do it when it worked best for me.

But the problem is, is because I was trying to do it all on my own.

I made mistakes, there were some things I cut some corners on that it

with some help, I could have actually done the right way.

And what I find today with individualism in our culture

is this happens for you and I, where some of you you've walked in in this 18

days of the new year, and you said, I'm going to be in the gym every day.

Yeah, I'm not going to eat donuts.

I'm going to cut carbs. I'm gonna have a six pack by December.

It's gonna be great.

In 18 days in, you've already you haven't seen the gym in a week and a half.

And if you just get some accountability in your life, you maybe you wouldn't fail

so often.

Some of you, it's your finances.

God has blessed you.

He's provided for you above and beyond.

But we if we're honest sometimes we haven't stewarded our money super well.

And with those great finances,

you've made some risky decisions and you've lost money along the way.

And if you just get some mentors in your life, you'd stop making bad decisions.

You'd have people that would walk alongside

you and teach you where you should invest your money, what you should do with it.

But for some of you, maybe it's relationship problems,

maybe it's your marriage, maybe it's your friendships.

You think everybody else is a problem, but what you fail to recognize is

every time you point the finger, there's four of them pointing right back at you.

And until you learn to get some mentors in your life that you can share

every part of your life, all you're ever going to do is stay

in the cycle of repeated bad decisions and brokenness,

and each and every one of us, we need people to walk with us in life.

Maybe for you, for honest, it's

not even that you just try to cut people out of your life.

You just become so self reliant on ChatGPT

ChatGPT will teach you how to text people back,

teach you how to respond to an email and you want to blast somebody with on Monday.

Teach you how to respond to somebody when you don't really know what to say.

They're not good at conflict resolution.

Talking about ChatGPT, I asked you a question this week.

ChatGPT.

I said if you were the devil and maybe he is.

I said, how would you keep people out of community

and they're gonna throw up on the screen?

I thought it was really, really insightful, this one, he says,

I just assume ChatGPT is a man.

So my apologies right there.

ChatGPT said this, I would never attack community head on.

That would be stupid.

People defend what they know they need instead of make community feel

unnecessary, exhausting, or unsafe.

I discourage community because community exposes the devil.

And when they gather, when they do this, when they gather, they notice

lies faster.

They interrupt spirals. They remind each other of who they are.

They pray when someone is too tired to pray,

they pull people back when they wander and watch.

This isolation lets me work undetected.

A person alone will call my whispers their own thoughts.

Here's how I do it.

I convince them that they're stronger alone.

I tell them you don't need help. Defending.

Depending on people is weakness.

Your faith is between you and God.

And watch this ad rebrand isolation as maturity.

I wouldn't call with all their wounds.

People do that just fine.

I simply say, see, this is what happens when you trust people.

Protect yourself. Next time.

Stay guarded. I wouldn't tell them to heal.

It's for the people right here.

I would tell them to withdraw.

I wouldn't tell them to submit.

I'd tell them to leave the church.

I keep them busy but lonely.

I'd fill their calendars and empty their souls.

They'd be too busy for meals together.

Long conversation.

Church beyond attendance on Sundays.

Real friendship.

They'd feel productive but hollow.

I'd replace community with cheap substitutes.

Now watch this for my online people.

I'm coming for you now.

I give them content instead of conversations.

Followers instead of friends, messages

instead of meals, podcast instead of pastors who know their name.

They feel connected without ever being known.

Next, I'd weaponize shame.

I'd whisper, if they really knew you.

They believe you should be further along.

By now.

Everyone else has it together because shame keeps people quiet.

Silence keeps people alone and alone keeps the devil in control.

If they do find community, I'd poison it.

I wouldn't destroy it. Rather I'd divide it.

I turn preferences in a moral lines.

Elevate politics over people, encourage comparison, stir up suspicion,

I reward outrage, I made them sit

next to each other at church but never truly trust each other.

My end goal. It's not destruction.

It's disconnection.

Because once somebody is isolated, I don't need to lie loudly,

tempt aggressively, or attack openly.

They'll do my work for me.

They'll call despair, reality, isolation, peace, survival, freedom.

And the best part?

They'll think they chose it all on their own.

And the real reason is everything God does.

I try to undo and God

builds people together.

I don't know, maybe ChatGPT is the devil has a good plan right there.

That's a good plan right there.

I'm reading

this and I'm thinking about how we all desperately need connection in our life.

And I need you to understand this morning, as we get started, that individualism

might start small and it might not seem like a big deal,

but individualism will eventually lead you to a life of isolation,

and you and I were not designed to live life in isolation.

You're open to attacks from the enemy.

In isolation.

You tend to make bad decisions.

In isolation, you tend to do things that you're not proud of in isolation.

Each and every one of us

were made to live a life of connection with the people around us.

Do you know why?

Because where there's real connection with people around you,

there's real protection.

There's protection for your marriage.

There's protection for your finances.

There's protection for your faith.

There's protection for your mind. There's protection for your heart.

Where there's real connection in life, there's real protection.

And in Mark chapter two, we see right away that Jesus, he's come home.

Now we know Jesus is not born in Capernaum.

We just got out December.

We know he's born in Bethlehem, in Nazareth.

But it says that Jesus came home to Capernaum.

Now why Jesus was born in Bethlehem of in Nazareth.

But later in his life he would relocate for his earthly years of ministry.

At the age of 32, a city called Capernaum.

And he comes home,

and the Bible shows us right away that the houses were filled with people,

and there was no room for anybody to get in.

Now this to me, it's kind of like our 10 a.m. service.

Like there ain't no room at the 10 a.m..

We're breaking all sorts of fire codes in here.

There's an emergency. Like this whole church is going down.

People gotta spread out and go to different services.

But there's no room for anybody to get in this house.

And the Bible shows us that there's one man who specifically couldn't get to where

Jesus was. There was a paralyzed man.

He had no way to get himself to the church where Jesus was, and he had no way,

even if he could find a way to get to this house, to this gathering,

there was no way for this man

to actually get in the house, because it's completely full.

And why?

The Bible tells us that he's paralyzed from birth.

He has had no way of walking, no way of really getting around.

And you know what?

I've experienced today is there's a lot of people that come to church

skeptical, and they have paralysis of Jesus, meaning this.

They have no way of coming to Jesus

because all they live with is the shame that they carry,

the shame that you carry, the decisions that you made in the past,

the things that you've done

that you're not proud of, and you think that I don't know

if anybody could love me if they really knew me.

And so you think this about people around you, but then you attribute this to God.

God wouldn't accept me. God wouldn't love me.

I don't know if I can come before a perfect and gracious God

if he knew all these things about me, but he does.

Maybe for you it's misconceptions that you have these thoughts in your mind,

or these things that you think you got to live up to in these

these lines that you have to achieve if you're going to follow

Jesus in misconception has kept you back from Jesus.

But maybe, just maybe, the thing that has kept you back

from really coming to Jesus in this room is you've had Christians around you

your whole life,

and all you've ever seen and witnessed is the hypocrisy of believers.

You say they say one thing here,

they do another there, and then all of a sudden

you put your faith in people and you take it out of God.

And there's some things like this that keep us back from truly following Jesus.

And that's where this man is.

He can't actually get to Jesus.

And I think this man has a moment where he thinks to himself, a realizes

maybe something that you've thought to yourself

before that it's always easier to do life alone, isn't it?

You got nobody to disagree with you.

You got nobody to challenge you.

You got nobody to call you higher.

You got nobody that's going to actually

try to walk with you and actually really know you.

It's always easier to do life alone, isn't it, until it's not

until you're desperate for a miracle from God,

until you don't know where that next paycheck is going to come from to sustain

your life, it's always easier to do life alone and tell it's not.

And that's exactly where this man is.

He has no way of getting to Jesus, and he realizes in this moment

I might not want people, but check this out.

I need people, I need godly people around me.

I need people with faith around me.

And so I remember a couple of years ago, I was a youth pastor

here, and I had this student, this middle schooler,

and, he's here today, so I'm not going to say names.

He's out on the porch and he's like, you know, every, every, let's just call

for what is every spastic middle school kid, you know, can't contain him.

And, he's out on the porch.

He's like, dude, all these, like, jump kicks and moves and stuff.

Weird stuff, you know?

And, middle schoolers.

No deodorant, no deodorant, by the way, and just be coming into puberty.

He's like, does this flip on the porch?

He lays out?

So I'm like, oh, that didn't look good.

I'm like, hey, bro, you need help? I'm like, coming up like this.

I'm hey, bro, I need help. And he just turns around.

I don't know what spirit was in it, but, you know, just get away from me.

I'm like, whoa, I'm just trying to help you.

He said, don't look at me. Don't talk to me.

Just walk away.

And I'm like, that is a really weird reaction to me.

Just trying to lend a hand and help you right now.

Why? Why didn't he want my help?

He was embarrassed.

He was ashamed of himself.

He didn't want me to help, and he didn't want me to help him

through that situation. He wouldn't take my help.

And while this is a dramatic scene, a lot of us live this way where

we don't want other people to carry us through life when we're going through it,

when we're hurting, when we're desperate for help,

when we don't know how to ask for, when we're embarrassed, we don't know how.

Because sometimes in life when we don't want to be carried, the biggest part of it

is that we just we're afraid of other people seeing us differently.

Some of you, you've been going to project church for a lot of years.

You're like, man, I wish I could talk to Pastor Caleb

and Chris about what I'm going through, but I think if I actually tell them

what I'm going through, maybe they're not going to let me serve.

Maybe they're not gonna let me lead this small group.

They're going to see me differently.

Or maybe for you, you've been going through some financial problems.

Like, I can't tell my friends this

because I've always done well, but now I'm struggling. I.

I made some bad decisions.

I lost my job,

and they're going to see me differently if they know that I'm struggling.

But all of it comes back to one thing pride.

Pride is the one thing that is preventing you and I from the work

that God really wants to do in our lives.

The Bible says that God draws near to those who are humble in heart,

but he resists.

Those who are prideful in pride is the one thing that pushes us away from people,

and it pushes us away from the very things that God wants to do in our life.

And maybe today, maybe you don't want to be carried by the people around you,

not because of pride, but maybe you've tried to be vulnerable people before.

Maybe you tried to be transparent with people before

you try to share what you're walking through.

You tried to share what you're going through,

and all you got in return was judgment from people.

Maybe all you got in return for people

was them taking your vulnerability, your transparency and gossiping about you.

And you told somebody something in private.

And they they thought it was public news to share with everybody.

And you tried it and it backfired.

And maybe for you, this is the very reason why I said,

I'm never going to trust anybody again.

I'm never going to open up about these things again.

But hear me loud and clear.

People are always going to fail. You.

I'm going to fail you, our pastors.

We're going to fail you. Why?

Because people are not perfect. What do we say here at Project Church?

We are all people in progress and we're always going to fail you.

The good news is God never will.

You can bring everything to the feet of Jesus.

You can always trust him with you.

What you're walking through. He's a good shepherd.

He loves to supply for you. He loves to give you peace.

He loves to walk with you. God won't fail you.

But what? I've seen a couple things happen with people that have tried.

It's backfired. When people fail you.

You either will victimize yourself

or you're going to demonize others.

What do you mean, pastor?

Well, victimization is you say, man, they meant to hurt me.

Yeah, I should have never been honest.

I should have never told them what I was going through.

This is exactly what happens when I trust people.

Or maybe you think to yourself, man,

it wasn't just the intent of my pain, but man, they were out to get me.

Man, that church right there. Hypocrites.

Those people fake and you victimize yourself or man.

Every bad decision that's happened in my life

since that moment, it's their fault and you start pointing the finger.

But maybe for you, you don't victimize yourself.

Maybe you demonize other people.

Maybe you go, man, they're evil.

Those are bad people.

You can't trust those people. And church people,

they look one way, but they act another.

And we begin to demonize other people.

But hear me, just because people fail you, it doesn't mean

you need to victimize yourself or demonize anybody else.

You just got to recognize every single person that you encounter

on a day to day up, day to day encounter is a person in progress.

We're all people trying to figure it out.

We're all people who are imperfect.

You don't have to demonize or victimize anybody else.

You see this man, he needed help getting to Jesus.

He had no way of getting there on his own.

And in life for all of us, we're going to have moments where we realize

if there's certain places I'm going to get, I can't do it on my own.

I need people around me.

I love it when people are applying for a job.

This isn't in my notes, but you know, people are applying for a job.

And the one thing that you hear from people

who are overconfident, they go, oh no, no, no, no, you don't understand.

I know somebody on the inside.

Yeah, yeah, I know somebody who works there, you know?

Don't worry. They're going to get me in there. Give me a job.

Let me just share this.

Maybe even prophetically for a moment.

It doesn't always matter who you know in this earth.

As long as you know

God and God knows you, any space you walk into, you're already favored.

You're already blessed.

It doesn't matter if people know you.

God knows you, and God walks with you and God opens your doors.

In this moment,

this man realized he needed people around him,

and all of us are going to come back to that place

of realizing that there's moments

where we can't carry ourselves to where we need to go, and God,

the community will always carry you where you can never get yourself.

I don't know what season you find yourself in.

I don't know where you find yourself today,

but what I know is when there's times where you can't get yourself

to where you need to go, godly community will pick you up.

So let us walk with you.

Let us take the weight with you.

The Bible says that we should bear each other's burdens.

That's what community do. Just let us walk this thing with you.

So the first thing that godly community does is it carries you with.

The second thing is, is community.

It covers you.

You see, when these four men show up carrying their paralyzed friend,

and there's no room in the house for them to get in, they get creative.

Now, I think this is another beautiful thing about great community.

It's community. It's creative.

Like if you're going through a hard season,

you're going through a lack of finances, you're going through whatever

you're going through your community that's godly, that's walking with God.

They're going to find any way they can to sustain you, to get you through.

Because where you are right now is not where you're always going to be.

Did you know this?

Well, let me encourage you for a moment.

The people here that you're in the greatest season of your life,

you won't always be there for

the people that are in the worst moments of their life.

You won't always be there.

The Bible says that God takes us from glory to glory, strength to strength.

And wherever you are,

God has a way of using that season to edify you and to grow you in.

In this moment, this man is all by himself.

And his friends say, no, no, no. We we think we can get you to Jesus.

We think we can get you in the house where the Bible tells us,

says it says in

Mark chapter two that the friends, they take their friend up on top of the house.

They begin to rip the shingles off the roof

and they lower their friend down into the house.

This is creative and this is what godly community will do.

They will get creative to help you get to Jesus.

I remember a couple of years ago, when I was serving as a youth pastor here,

I had a team that was predominantly young adults, like 19 to 23.

So that means a few things.

They were broke.

They were college kids, and their wisdom was still maturing.

They were all the way there, yet perfect for youth ministry, always available.

And I remember one night we had some students that were,

they were just hyper students.

High school was getting ready to graduate doing dumb stuff,

you know, young and dumb, like like Khalid would say, young and dumb.

And so this, this leader's

trying to leave the parking lot, and the students think to themselves,

you know what?

We should we should go down the parking garage,

and when she leaves,

we should get on top of the car and just bounce up and down on it.

This is a good idea.

So they go down the garage, they're bounce up and down the car.

She's trying to drive away like this is a terrible scene.

As a 29 year old man, I'm just closing my eyes.

I don't see a thing happening.

Next thing I know, they snap the bumper, clean off the car.

She gets out of the car, tears coming down her face.

She don't understand, Sam.

I just had that bumper replaced and it cost me $1,500.

And she said, I'm young and I'm in college and I ain't got no money.

I don't know how I'm gonna pay for this.

She drives away and we're in our post post rally service,

and we're talking about all the things that happened and,

and we're sharing about all the great things God did.

And one of the young leaders, it's 19 years old, says, Sam, I got an idea.

I think we should all right, here talk about you, she says.

And you know, in acts chapter two, the Bible says that

when the church came together, they all sold their possessions,

and they gave to wherever there was need should we should do that tonight.

We should get all the money

that we can together in Blesser and see if we can pay for that bumper.

So that's a great idea.

So that night it was a small sacrifice for a broke 19 year old.

It was gonna cost me a little bit more. I said, great idea.

So we leave and throughout the night from 8 p.m.

to eight in the morning, I look at my Venmo and in my Venmo, it's $1,500 broke.

College kids put this money together.

I call it I call this leader.

I said, I need to know how much does that bumper cost?

She said, I don't know how I'm gonna pay for it.

She said it cost me $1,500 to replace it.

And I said, Praise God, she.

What do you mean, praise God?

How about I got no bumper on my car?

I said, you don't know this last night, but while you were sleeping,

God was working.

He knew exactly what you needed.

I said we got $1,500 to pay for your bumper tonight.

We put all that money together. We sent it to her Venmo.

She was able to get that replace.

And that is the power of community.

That maybe it seems small and maybe it seems insignificant to you,

but can I just remind you that community, it covers you and your need,

and when you link arms with people around you

who say, hey, I want to do this life with you,

they will walk with you through everything.

I love it because in this moment when she didn't have the money,

it was like the phone where she thought

to herself, like in isolation, miracles seem impossible.

But in community the Bible shows us that they're commanded.

See, in Matthew chapter 18, Jesus is talking to the disciples

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

where they were having some disputes, and he's trying to show them

how to go through healthy conflict resolution.

And Jesus tells him in Matthew chapter 18 verse 20, he said, for

Matthew 18:20

where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name, that there I am.

Now let me take a second.

Just reminds you that God is omnipresent.

He's in all places at all times.

Nothing can stop the work God wants to do.

Whether you're ready or not, God will still work and God will still move.

But the Bible shows us in Matthew 18 that something special,

insignificant, and supernatural happens in community.

That when you gather yourself here on people who've got faith, the Bible

says, if you got faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains.

Now we get 2 or 3 people believing with that kind of faith together,

and miracles aren't impossible.

We see that they're actually commanded,

and this man is being lowered by his friends who have faith.

Now, I got a mess. Y'all uncomfortable with me?

This man can't move.

All he can do is see what's happening.

And they're dropping him through a roof. And I'm afraid of heights. Right.

So this already freaks me out.

He's going down through the roof.

There's a service happening like this, and everybody's like, yo,

this dude, dude, he's getting lowered

in the middle of the service right in front of everybody.

The Bible says he's getting lower right in front of Jesus.

This had to be uncomfortable.

That's how to be awkward for him. Be like, yo, guys.

Like, hey, somebody carried me here.

I didn't I didn't do this on my own.

Get lower right into the center of the service.

But I love that it was this moment that illustrates how sometimes

community, it'll make you uncomfortable.

I think that a godly community won't allow you and I to live a life of comfort,

but rather to challenge us to live outside of our comfort zones.

I think godly community will remind you that there's so much more in you

than you even know.

I think godly community

will call the gifts in you out of the godly community will remind you

God's got more in store for you.

I think godly community will remind you not to settle where you are.

I think godly community will remind you you got a calling even when you failed.

I think godly community will pick you up when you can't get a godly

community is amazing because it reminds you of who you really are.

And in this moment, as he's being lowered down, is uncomfortable.

It's like what we read in in Proverbs 2717

it says is iron sharpens iron,

so another sharpens another.

Now as you see, this iron sharpens iron.

You know that that causes friction.

That's uncomfortable,

that causes some some ripples, that causes some disputes in relationship.

When iron sharpens iron, that could be uncomfortable.

But I need you to understand this.

And this is where I'm gonna start laying the plan.

Are you ready for this?

What I found in today's culture is that everybody wants community,

but not everybody wants accountability.

Everybody wants to get in community,

and they want to be encouraged, but they don't want to be corrected.

They want they want to come in a community and they want to be more.

They want to be motivated, but they won't want their lives to be modified.

They want to come into community and they want to be comforted,

but they don't want to be challenged.

It can't just help you for a moment.

If you've read the scripture for any glimpse of time,

that community well down accountability.

It's not discipleship, yo.

You're not growing.

If you're not being challenged,

you're not growing as people are calling you higher.

You're not growing if you've got surface level relationships.

But nobody knows the depths of your soul.

So we can't come to church on Sunday mornings and say, I'm being discipled,

but nobody knows your name.

I know that the knee jerk reaction is just to get into community

where people make you feel good,

but if you really want to grow in life, you got to get around people

who are not just going to agree with everything you have to say.

You don't just need more yes men around you.

You need people who are going to call you out, call you higher, call you out,

tell you what's inside of you.

Community has got to challenge you a little bit.

And that's what Proverbs 2717 is trying to tell us, that iron

sharpens iron, but it can be uncomfortable.

And as I'm getting ready to close, I want to say this.

Why am I harping on accountability in 2026?

I just believe that for people in here that you've got goals you want to hit

and you've got some, some,

some lines that you want to cross,

you got some things that you really hoping to achieve that accountability.

It could save your life. Yeah.

Let me speak to married people.

Accountability can save your marriage.

Let me talk to the single people.

Accountability can save your purity.

Let me talk to business owners.

Accountability can save your finances.

Accountability could save your life.

And the only thing keeping you back from all that God wants to do.

Pride.

If I had to guess for the people are going to be tempted

to walk out these doors and get in the elevator, get in their car.

It's pride.

I don't want people to know me, but yes, you do,

because the greatest human desire is to be known by others.

And maybe the most humble step you and I could take

today is to say, I'm not just going to leave early.

I'm not just going to dodge people.

I'm going to go down there and I'm going to get in a community group.

I'm going to get people around me who are going to do life with me.

I want to get in community,

but I want community that's going to bring me accountability.

The next one, I'm getting ready to close here.

The keys can come back up is a community.

It cultivates your faith.

You see, in this moment, this man's been lowered down into the house.

It shows us in Mark two that it's he's being lowered right in front of Jesus.

And the only thing that we see that Jesus really recognizes

is, is that it says this, that Jesus, he saw their faith.

Did you know that your faith can be seen and it can be heard?

Did you know that if you say that you have faith but it can't be seen

it, it can't be heard that maybe it's not as strong as you once thought it was?

Jesus said that he saw their faith, and I think we all ought to be people

who we know that I want my faith to be seen, and I want to be heard.

Every place that I walk into, every business that I go to,

every person I have conversations with, every time I show up to the

the games for my kids, everywhere I go, I want people to know, oh, that's the guy.

He's got faith.

I think we all ought to be to be the people that encourage others.

I think we all ought to be the people that walk with the fruits of the spirit

in our life.

That when people get around us, it's like, man, I love being around them,

but it's not us.

This is what happens when we

empty self in front of God and say, I want my life to be yours.

And he fills us with him

so that when people get around us, it's like they get around him.

It's like when people hear us talk, it's like they're hearing him talk.

It's like when we serve people, it's as if God is serving them.

And this is what happens in our life

when we make the decision to say, God, you can use me.

I think we all are.

The way these people say, God,

you can use me

wherever I am, whatever words I got, whatever days I have,

I don't know when the end is coming.

I know Jesus is coming soon and I gotta live with urgency.

And I want to encourage you today that you start speaking words.

You know that

they tell you that with your finances that you should invest it

in a savings account or in a portfolio so that your your money works for you.

And just like money works for you if you do it the right way,

I believe that your words will work for you to see.

The Bible tells us

that the words that we speak that either bring life or death to those around us.

In your words, they matter not just in light of humanity,

but in light of eternity. Your words are working.

The things that you're saying, they're working.

I think we should be people who speak life over people.

We should be few that encourage that, that motivate that stick prophecy

over people, that remind them that God's not done yet.

I love when I get around my friends over the last couple seasons,

and one of my friends has been unemployed for a while and he's overqualified.

He's got the degrees, he's got the work experience.

So I just every job I apply to, I just can't get the job I'm overqualified for.

I'm way better.

They just gotta pay me.

But they're just not hiring me.

I just tell them, bro, I don't know what's going on,

but I wonder what God is holding for you that he's allowing you to hear

know every single time.

It reminds me that God's got something really great prepared for you.

I love my friends out there like they're 30 there my age.

They're still single. It's the same. I thought I'd be married.

I thought I'd have kids by now, but I'm not. And I'm.

I don't even know where to start anymore.

I go, I wonder why God has not allowed you to have a relationship.

I wonder what is working in you, I wonder?

The husband and the wife that he's curating on the inside of you so

that whenever you do get married, you don't repeat your parents mistakes.

You don't repeat what you've seen before, but you are a healthy, whole individual.

I think we all ought to speak words of life over people,

and I love what Eugene Patterson says about this.

He says this.

He said there can be no maturity in the spiritual life, no obedience

to Christ, apart from a full immersion in and embrace of community.

You want to know how to grow in 2026?

Let me be really clear. Get yourself in community.

The Bible

tells us in acts chapter two that when the first church gathered,

they they didn't just do it for prayer, and they didn't just do it for teaching.

They didn't just do it for they did it for community.

It often times you go, I know I need the Word of God.

Yeah that's good. Pastor, preach about the Word of God.

Yeah, I know I need prayer. Let's talk more about prayer.

And we are in the weeks to come.

But there's a huge spiritual element

wrapped up in a practical element called community.

If God does something special or if you want to grow

spiritually this year, let me help you get around.

Other people are going to challenge you, but they're also going to encourage you.

In the last point today, as I close this community, it celebrates that

Jesus heals a man that his friends all had faith for him.

I think there's gonna be seasons of life if we be honest.

Well, your faith might be lacking, or you might walk through some difficulty

where you don't know what you're going to do next.

And when you get some people around you to say, man,

I got faith for you, I'm going to pray with you.

I'm going to walk with you. I'm going to believe for you.

You get around those kind of people.

It's like turning a spark into a bonfire.

You go, oh man, I feel like God is going to do something.

Sometimes community got to cultivate faith in you,

but sometimes you got to understand that when you're in a godly community

that they're going to celebrate you.

You see, in this moment, this man is healed by Jesus,

and he gets up and he's able to walk out of this moment.

And it doesn't say in the scriptures that his friends were like, yo, Jesus,

what about me? I've been praying for a job.

I've been praying for a life.

I've been praying for more.

What what what what what what what what about me?

That doesn't happen.

The Bible says that when this man gets, somebody walks.

Out of there.

Oh, God. You're amazing.

I can't believe you healed him.

I can't believe you changed him.

I can't believe you answered that prayer. I didn't think you're it.

You did it. God. You're amazing.

It says it.

The community, they come around and they're stunned.

And they praise God. And they clap their hands.

They make noise and they celebrate

what God has done for somebody else.

Can I tell you that?

Healthy community, they won't compare with you.

They'll celebrate you.

They'll cheer you on.

They're celebrate.

When God works in your life, they believe where God isn't it?

It hasn't worked out that he's gotta work.

They'll believe with you and they'll celebrate you the whole way.

Healthy people understand, hey, God's going to do a lot of amazing things.

And it might not be for me right now, but he's doing it over there.

He's doing it over there.

And I know that if he's doing it there,

and I know that if he's doing it there and if he's doing it day, one day,

he's going to do it here because everybody in this room

was waiting on a miracle and God did it for him.

You know, that reminds me,

God still working, God still moving, God still changing.

God still healing.

God still providing. He's still Jehovah.

He's the same yesterday, today and forever.

He never changes.

And if he did it for you, then maybe he could do it.

Maybe he can do it for me.

See, no community is perfect because people aren't.

And yet Jesus modeled how to be in community with imperfect people.

The Bible shows us that Jesus invited 12 disciples to have a seat at the table

with him, disciples that he knew would fail him,

that would walk away from him,

that would deny him, that would reject him,

that Judas would one day betray him, leading to his death on a cross.

Jesus knew that these people would do that, and he still loved them,

and he still forgave them, and he still walked with them,

and he still gave them a chance and he still saved them.

Do you know what this tells me?

That for people like you and me, that whatever we're walking through,

whatever we're dealing with and whatever mistakes we've made

or whatever shame we carry that Jesus too has a seat at the table for you.

And if he's got a seat at the table for you.

The Bible tells us that when just one

mom as a child today is one is the loneliest number.

But the

Bible tells us that when one person surrenders their life

to Jesus, repents and turns to God, that all of heaven rejoices was just one.

So today I'm not speaking to 150.

I'm speaking of one.

God didn't come for a crowd. God came for one.

What do we see in Luke and in this church?

This Mark, chapter two.

He didn't come for the crowd. He came for one today.

I don't know how you got here. I don't know how you came in.

I don't know what you're walking through, but you know what's amazing?

There's a lot of people here. God sees one.

So with every eye closed, I'm going to pray.

And if you're not one today, you've come in and you're the one carrying shame.

You're the one carrying guilt.

You're the one carrying condemnation. You're the one that you know.

You've been doing things the wrong way. You've walked the wrong way.

And you said, this is the time, is the day I surrender my life to Jesus.

And he gives me peace, and he gives me joy,

and he gives me life, and he gives me hope.

And everything from this point is changed and transformed.

If that's you, you say, I need to surrender my life

to Jesus today, with every eye closed, you just put up your hand

and put it right back down so I know who I'm praying for.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

I see those hands in the back.

Thank you. Anybody else?

Thank you, thank you.

I see those hands call you praises. Thank you.

How can you pray this prayer?

You say, Jesus, thank you that you love me so much

that you would die on a cross for me.

Somebody who's in perfect

some of you carries so much shame.

And you tell me to come

and surrender.

That I might receive life and life for abundantly.

Today.

I'm no longer who I used to be.

But I'm a new creation in Jesus.

I give you my life from this day forward.

I'll walk with you forever in Jesus name.

Come on. Could you say Amen?

If we put our hands together. For those who just made that decision.

Come on, we get a little bit louder than that.

All the heaven rejoice and we should rejoice.

Come on. What a great decision.

Come on.

We can stand up to our feet today.

Hey, listen.

Today the word of the Lord for us is a weekend in the community.

I know the temptation right now is I gotta go.

I gotta get out here. I got kids to pick up.

The greatest thing you can do right now is stay for this.

Talk to God. Say God.

Would you show me what community group

to get into to one for the next couple minutes?

You just lift up your voice and worship.

Thank you

for being a part of our online community here at Project Church.

We hope that this message and the whole service bless your life.

Yeah.

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And once again God bless you guys. We'll see you soon.