Retelling The Story 2 | Creating Circles

Thank you for listening to the Kelowna Christian Center podcast.

Our desire is that today's message will be fresh and encouraging to you.

For more information on KTC and how to connect, visit us at KCC.net.

How many of you are thankful for the worship team today?

Thank you, team.

So grateful to have everyone here today.

Good morning, 11 o'clock.

Feels good, hey?

You're in the church at 11.

We are just uh exiting our summer uh hours.

We're opening, we're extending our services to uh provide more opportunities for people to connect and to uh just create more uh sticky points for everyone just to make sure that they're able to come on a Sunday morning.

Um those of you who are out of have been out of sync with us over the summer, glad to have you back.

For those of you who have been watching online and connecting with us online over the summer, glad to have you here.

I know that uh there are so many who have uh been watching from afar, have come in from out of town and are just making Kelowna their their home.

And uh even some of our residents who have been traveling have come back and are making Kelowna, just finding their new norm right now.

We want to start September strong.

Amen.

We want to start September strong.

We want to have these renewed connections, renewed relationships.

I know for a lot of uh folks, uh coming to September means new schedules, new priorities, new opportunities.

It's just new.

And so we want to actually help you provide the opportunity to start strong.

This morning, I thought I was starting strong.

I had this great plan.

It was I knew I was coming into two services, so I decided, you know what I'm gonna do?

I'm gonna, the night before I decided, now you can't judge me on this, okay?

I actually took, I had a sweater, it was like a new sweater my wife had bought me in the summer.

You know how you don't buy sweaters in the summer, but she got it for a good deal.

It looked good.

I had it sitting in my drawer.

It was all like ready for a nice fall day.

And so the other day I was like, I'm pulling that sweater out.

I pulled it out, I steamed it up, it was all nice and clean, clipped the price tag off of it, and I was like, here we go.

I'm all ready.

I made sure my pants were ironed, everything was all good because I'm like, I'm gonna get up early, I'm gonna get to church on time, I'm gonna make sure that I'm not the one who's who's out of sync.

But uh I thought I'm gonna get it early, and I went to Starbucks this morning, just put up the last touches on my PowerPoint, reviewed my message, and as I was leaving, I I thought, you know what?

I my computer, my bag, everything, and I saw some garbage, and I thought, you know, I'm just gonna pick up that gar just kind of tidy up.

It was a busy place, and I I bent down and the coffee came back all over my shirt, like all over my sweater.

It was a white sweater, it was really nice, guys.

It's you know what?

You'll just never be able to see it unless that thing can get clean.

If anyone has a secret to how to clean coffee out of a brand new sweater, but it just went all over the sweater, and I thought, you know, from the moment I thought I was starting strong, a little bump in the road, right?

Oh.

So I come on the phone and I I I say on the, I call my wife on the phone and I say, Come, come bring me down a new sweater.

So she finds, Oh, which one?

What are you wearing?

Like, I'm like, I don't just bring a bunch.

So if you see under my chair there's a stack of sweaters, that's the reason why, okay?

It's not like I just come prepared for second service.

You know, I'll just change it up between services.

But you can you want to start your season strong.

You want to start strong.

I don't know anyone who doesn't want to start strong.

Yet there are times in our lives where just the hiccups happen.

And thank the Lord that we're actually, we've got the rock, Jesus Christ.

We've got the rock that we can stand on, and we've got the community around us that can help support us.

And and I just love this time of the year because it's establishing people's habits, establishing their priorities, it establishes their their values at this point in time.

And so we're doing this series on retelling the story, just coming back to what's important.

And stories are important.

Stories are are uh are universal.

Everyone has a story, and it's always exciting for me to be able to hear the stories that people have got.

Uh, this next season, uh, fall is a great season.

It's one of my favorite seasons.

How many of you love fall?

It's awesome.

Fall is great, and we've got this one event in fall, it's a men's camp out, and we get together, the guys uh hang out for a week a few nights up in the bush, up near a camp, and they fish and they hunt and they and they uh go ahead, some golf, some just shoot bow and arrows, some just hang out and eat.

Some just get away and just sleep.

Like it's just like they just get out, and it gives them opportunity to connect and compete a little bit and just build relationships.

But one of my favorite points of the weekend is when we get around the fire.

How many of you love fires?

Like, you just love to get around a good fire.

And I sit around these fires, and there's these guys around the fires, and these guys start telling their fishing stories.

You know, the fish was this big.

The the deer and the hunting stories and and all their all the one that got away, and the guys share their love story.

No, they don't.

And then they they share their uh you know their stories about um, you know, their their successes, and then they start sharing oftentimes about some of their pain points, some of their failure points.

And I sit back and I sit around the fire and I wonder at times, why is it that guys open up in this situation, guys open up around a fire when I don't see them opening up in other environments?

Why is it and I thought, well, maybe it's because we're out of the norm, we're in the bush.

Maybe it's because we've got a fire, and maybe it's the fire.

Maybe, like, what is it?

And then I realized this: it's because we're in a circle.

Will you turn to your neighbor and just say circles?

Circles are important today.

Today I'm gonna be talking to you about the importance of circles.

The best stories are lived through circles.

Now you might say, circles, sounds pretty amateur here.

Circles are the most important thing that you can achieve in your life from my perspective.

There's a health, there is a tension in the world we're living in between this tension that we're all facing today, between rows and circles.

Now, let me talk to you a little about that.

Rows, let me tell you about rows.

Rows are uh are an institution that were designed primarily by the Greeks.

They they loved rows, they loved speaking to rows, they loved communicating to rows.

Oftentimes the conversation around a row was very topical.

That's why we have instructors in class who stand up and they teach you from an from a topic from two rows of individuals.

Their uh relationships are often between a teacher and a student.

That's the layer of relationship.

You're a teacher, I'm a student.

And the value in these rows are head value.

Oftentimes it's very much a head-based uh value system.

It's where we develop our intellectual quotient, our IQ.

Now there are others, other systems, and they are called circles.

Circles are formed primarily through the Hebraic culture.

They they wanted a relationship that was based more about the dynamics of a relationship between a father and a son.

So you would hear this often spoken, where you would walk in the dust of the rabbi, you'd walk in the dust of your instructor, your father.

And when you were completed, when you completed your your teaching, uh oftentimes you were recognized based on the person you followed.

So in the Greek culture, you get a diploma.

I have a degree in mathematics.

How many of you love math, right?

Mathematics, yeah.

One hand goes off, Ben, we need you.

Um But you got a degree in mathematics, but in the Hebrew culture, you would get uh you'd be recognized as a follower of an individual.

So we would have Christians were followers of Christ.

They were followers of Paul, there were followers of John, there were followers of Peter.

Jesus, Jesus could committed to a circle.

They were his twelve that he gathered with.

And the primary value was in building an EQ, which is an emotional quotient.

This is where we value your heart, your will, your soul, your emotions, your identity was wrapped up in this.

And we want it in that circle to build in you, like a father leaves to a son, a name.

You are like Brody, you are like Christ, you are like Paul, you are like Peter, you are like them.

So this tension is there in our culture today, where today we find ourselves in what?

Rows.

The question is, where do we find ourselves in circles?

The culture of today values rows.

We value information, we value knowledge.

We just look at the signs of the times right now.

In the Times right now, there was actually a report last year that said that the value of data, information, knowledge is now surpassed the value of oil.

People value knowledge, they value it.

And it's come to a place where they reward it and it becomes financially uh rewarding to them.

We see Google, Facebook, they're ones who control information today.

Uh it's it's important that we have it.

Information is important.

We're we are supposed to worship God with our mind, our body and our soul, our spirit.

It's important to have a full experience, but I have literally, in my experience, I calculated the other day, and it was like just a rough estimate.

I have sat in literally thousands of hours of of commun commu uh communication in rows.

I've sat in rows, we sit in rows most of our life.

School, church, you know, uh rows are a big part of who we are.

And these rows have been important.

I've sat under great leaders who carry great integrity, who have taught me about my faith and have taught me about principles that I should live by and values that I should abide in my own life, in my own heart.

And I honor those who I've learned from.

But as I was thinking over the time, I thought, how many of those literally thousands of messages have I actually can I actually recall today?

I sometimes I can't remember what I preached last month.

Someone reminds me, good job, on that one sermon you spoke.

I'm like, it just refreshed me.

Like it's uh it's because just because of uh it's information that just keeps on coming and going.

It's it's a big part of who we are.

And actually, it was quite demotivating for me when I was preparing my message on the other day.

I was like, I've literally sat in thousands of hours of teaching, and I can't remember just a handful of their teachings.

I can remember just a handful of them.

Where's the value in what I'm saying, right?

And so I've I've value the row, I value the row, but I find myself looking for places where I can grow and mature.

And there's a level of growth I can achieve in a row, but then there's also a level of growth I can achieve in a circle.

One time I remember as a student, I was probably 17 at that time, and as a student, I was actually very introverted and shy.

I I love being with people, like I valued people, but when it came to like public speaking or putting myself up front, it was actually something that I tried to step away from.

But I remember God speaking to me one time and saying, I want you to share this at tomorrow's prayer meeting.

And uh I would get together one morning in a week and I would share, or we would have a prayer meeting, and oftentimes it was in a circle.

And I remember getting to this prayer meeting, sitting, in this prayer meeting, and the scripture I was to share was Acts chapter 4, verse 31.

Acts 4:31

I still remember it today.

I was sitting at this prayer meeting, and I actually had to get up and walk outside and get some a breath of fresh air.

I was like, I was panicking.

And then I came in and I sat down at this prayer meeting.

I said, I think I even interrupted the person who was praying, excuse me, I just had to get it out.

Excuse me, I have something to share.

Acts chapter 4, verse 31.

Acts 4:31

And I recited that scripture verse and I began to share on that scripture verse.

And after that was done, it was a huge obstacle for me, but I knew that I had comfort in that environment that I could actually share it.

And when I was done doing it, it was like the weight of the world fell off my shoulders, and I was like, Yes, I did it, I did it.

It was a place of leveling up, it was a place of personal growth and personal development in my own life.

And I was 17 years of age, speaking and praying in front of someone.

After growing up in a church and spending thousands of hours in seats in rows, it was at that moment I stepped into my calling.

Huge difference.

Circles are not just for kids, tricks are for kids, circles are for kids.

Come on.

Circles are for kids, they're for teens, they're for young adults, they're for adults.

Circles are for everyone.

Circles are for Christians, circles are for non-Christians, circles, circles are for skeptics.

Have you got questions?

You need to get in a circle.

You need to throw out those questions.

We need to talk.

We need to look eye to eye and debate and have good um good dialogue with each other, healthy conversations with one another.

We need to be in circles.

Uh, there's something that we can all identify with.

Circles are are a part of our life, they're for everyone.

And when I I'm gonna go to actually a portion of scripture in Ecclesiastes, and Solomon spoke about this.

And when you read it with me, you're gonna go, uh-huh, I get it.

I understand what you're saying about circles, and you're all gonna come to agree with me, okay?

Guaranteed.

Guaranteed.

And those of you who make circles a priority already are gonna be like, preach it, that's good.

Um, Ecclesiastes chapter 4, verse 9 says this two are better than one.

Ecclesiastes 4:9

Whoa, blow your mind, boom.

Because they have a good return for their labor.

In other words, this if you're gonna move, it's better to have two people than one person.

If you're going to build a crib, as I built one yesterday, it's better.

Have you ever held pieces together while like trying to tighten one and not lose points on the other one piece?

When you're building, to have two people is better than one.

Now, this is why this is the tension.

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

This is the value of two, a circle, a community around you.

Two are better than one.

But pity the f pity anyone.

I need a mohawk to do that, big chain necklace, right?

Pity anyone who falls and has no one to help him.

This isn't just a Christian thing, this is a human thing.

We need circles in our life.

Have you ever met with someone who's gone through financial challenges?

Have you ever met someone who's fallen?

They've fallen down physically, they needed it, they have a physical need.

Have you ever met someone who's fallen uh like morally or maritally?

You find these people who have fallen, and if they're alone, they're in trouble.

The Bible says, pity the one who falls, and no one's around to help them up.

But walk in community, walk with a circle around you, walk connected.

We need people in our life who have the permission to say, ask you, hey, how are you doing?

And not accept the, oh, I'm fine.

Really, you're fine.

Talk to me, connect with me.

This isn't like I need information.

How are you?

I am fine.

Good.

That's information.

A circle says, How are you?

Talk to me from the emotional, talk to me from your soul, talk to me from where you're really at.

Where are you?

All of us need a circle.

All of us need somebody who's who's with them, walking together with them.

If you were to fall in marriage, if you were to fall in these areas and you don't have anyone with you, you're in trouble.

To be clear, uh in those situations where you say, you know, I've fallen and I can't get up, you know, you've you're in trouble.

If you're in a situation where all you've spent is your existence in rows, you're not gonna have anyone who can help you.

The back of someone's head is not gonna help you.

You don't know their name, their phone number, they don't know your ID, they don't know your connection, they're not connected with you and your life.

If you fall and all you've spent is your life in rows, you're in trouble.

You need a circle.

I cannot be your circle.

I need a circle.

As a pastor on our team, we have 350, 400 people in our organ in our church.

I cannot be that shoulder to lean on for everybody.

You need a circle, you need to value your circle.

Even Jesus had a circle.

He had three, he had 12, he had his 70, he had 500, he had 5,000, but he spent most of his time with his 12.

Building, intentionally, relating, ideing with them, looking them in the eyes, touching their heart.

Where are you at?

How are you feeling?

What's going on in your life?

There was a value in that.

It's true.

I've seen people who have entered into relationships and into circles brokenhearted, but I I've yet to see someone remain brokenhearted once they're committed to a circle.

Because they've got the commitment of the circle to actually help lift them up.

One of our the points of who we are is our in our faith is actually to bear one another's burdens.

Share it together.

One can send a thousand to flight, but two can send a whole legion fleeing.

The power you have when you work together is exponential.

You can't leave it just to a small team.

You've got to find it in your community.

And we and it's my job to help provide those communities.

Help provide those connections.

Help provide those circles so that when you come on a Sunday, you're watching out for each other.

You're taking care of one another.

In rows, people can come and go, they can leave without connection.

They get up and they go and they think, oh, I was at church.

I was in that row.

But they can leave anonymous.

They can leave and float back and forth.

And we need to be people who are like looking at each other in their eyes.

It's better when we're together.

What we've observed is that everybody at one point of their life needs somebody.

And it might be because of something you did or someone else did, or it might just be life in general.

You need somebody.

You need somebody in your life, in your community.

Let's look at the first church.

The first church said this.

The first church Jesus left behind, that he left behind on a purpose and to connect with a certain pattern.

Let me just read the scripture for you and just quickly just tell me what you feel.

Tell me what you experience when you're reading this.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread.

They devoted themselves to prayer.

Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

All the believers were together and had everything in common.

They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple court.

They broke bread in their home and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.

Praising God, enjoying the favor of all the people, and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Let me tell you what I read in this scripture.

Number one, circles help you grow spiritually.

Circles will help you grow spiritually.

I can grow on my own with God to a level.

But when I put other people around me and the iron starts sharpening the iron, I grow.

That's where my maturity happens.

That's where my they they call things out of me and speak things into me and help me to achieve what God has created me to be.

They gathered together, they had prayer together, they taught together, they discussed things together, they had conversations together.

It was a community that helped establish them together.

They were committed to experiencing things together, leaning into each other together, teaching in prayer.

Number two, circles help us better help those in need.

Quite simply, it's just having a community around you, a circle around you allows you to help those who are in need.

That could mean in today's day, it could mean watching kids or or helping someone with a mechanical difficulty or or uh going out and providing babysitting so that the husband and wife can spend a date night.

You know, it could be something very simple.

It could be a physical need, it could be just even sharing the wealth of a garden, helping each other in need is important.

But when you have people around you, you're better.

Thirdly, circles help us emotionally and give us support.

There was a report that came out.

Uh it was a documentary by PBS called An Emotional Life.

And in this report, they came out with some shocking news.

The shocking news is that they found out that people are happier when they are with other people, when they're not alone.

And the shocking part is that introverts, this applied to introverts and extroverts, that overall the happiness quotient goes up when people aren't alone.

In today's culture, what we value is this like a disconnect.

We can be alone, we just shut down the phone, and we can have the superficial connection that we're actually in community when we're actually not.

But to have people who are with you actually creates what they called an upward spiral of happiness within a community.

So we find today that the world is swimming in this spiral that's going downward because they've isolated themselves from other people out of fear, out of discontent, out of like just anxiety.

They're separating themselves when what we need to do is actually come together.

Sometimes the best thing you need is someone beside you, someone walking with you, someone in your circle, someone who looks you in the eye and asks you about your heart.

That's what's most important.

Lastly, circles help us accomplish the mission that Jesus gave us.

The Bible says that at the end of the day, their numbers grew every day, those who are being saved, because the Bible said the world looked on and they saw their love for one another.

Do you know in the scripture there are 59 different one-anothers that as Christians we share?

We serve one another, we pray for one another, we encourage one another, we provide hospitality for one another, we we care for one another, there's we counsel one another, there's a heart that we have towards one another that ultimately is loving one another.

This is so important for us.

So let me be crystal clear here this morning.

I want everyone to be in a circle.

I want everyone to have a circle.

I don't want anyone to be alone in our church in KCC.

Everyone needs, everybody needs a somebody.

Everybody needs a somebody.

So let me just recap this morning.

Life transformation.

It will occur in circles, not rows.

And at every point, everyone needs a somebody, and you need to get into circles.

You need to find that place.

So we've got a challenge for you.

This challenge, and I believe that whenever the word of God goes out, there's like a reality connected to it.

There's a message, and it demands of you a response.

When the word goes out, you have to either like say, Okay, Lord, is this what you want from me or not?

You have to accept it or reject it.

And this is truth.

And I want you to look in your heart and say, Do I have a circle?

Do I have a circle?

And I just don't want to let you leave today without leave today saying, No, I don't, and then you just leave.

But afterwards today, what I'd like to do is uh even if this message just even connected with you on a 50% level, like you're like, I'm not quite sure.

I am, but I'm not.

Afterwards, we're gonna be connecting over here on the right.

And last service we had a full section over here on the right.

We're gonna be meeting and just have a little gathering together to talk about how we can actually build circles around you and your family and in your lives.

I guarantee you, you'll be better off because of the circles in your life.

I guarantee it.

And so if you're you have to pick up your kids, go down quickly, pick them up.

We don't care if they're running around or whatever's happening in here, but we're gonna be talking to you straight and we're gonna be helping navigate you towards a circle in KCC.

Amen.

Let's bow our heads.

Father, we thank you this morning for your message.

We thank you that you didn't leave us alone.

You didn't create us to be alone, you created us with community in mind, you created us with people around us, strengthening, holding us up, leaning on each other for support.

And today, Father, we want to live out the scripture.

We want to live it out.

And Father, I think even now, as we're winding down, I think about the time that Jesus Himself looked over at the people.

And he said, they're like sheep without a shepherd, they're just lost, they're on their own.

And I want to thank you, Jesus, for coming and making a way to the Father.

Jesus, you said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life.

And no one can come to the Father except through me.

And Father, today I just pray for anyone in this place today whose heart is moved and is saying, Hey, I don't know Jesus the way I need to know Jesus.

I don't know that community, I don't know that connection the way I need to know that connection.

And I pray this morning for your hand to just activate their heart at this moment.

And if that's you today, I'm just gonna pray a prayer.

And it's a simple prayer, it's called the prayer of salvation.

And it's a prayer that just opens the door to Jesus coming into your own heart.

And then I would secondly like to say, connect to a church, connect to a place, start putting down roots.

If you haven't found a circle yet, come sit in a row and make this your home.

And so I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna ask the whole congregation, everyone here today, to pray along with me as I pray this prayer.

And if you pray it for the first time, that's wonderful.

Just repeat this after me.

Dear Jesus, welcome into my heart.

I invite you in today.

Come into my life, forgive me of my sin, and I receive you now as my leader and my Lord.

I have hope in you that I will never be alone, but you'll always be with me.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you this morning.

Thank you for listening.

For more information on KCC and how to connect, visit us at kcc.net.