Relational Health

Hey, what's up everybody?

Welcome.

Hope I'm about the 58th person to welcome you today.

So glad you're here and gonna jump into God's word quickly.

But I do want to take a moment and just uh draw attention to the incredible weekend we had last weekend at Easter, and um it was in many ways felt like a culmination of a lot of the the things that God's been doing over the last couple years.

You know, when when when COVID-19 hit, every everything shut down, um, everybody was dealing with it in their own way, whether it was in your family or your school or your business.

And certainly as a church, it put us in a place where we really had to just trust the Lord.

And I remember going, God, God, I don't know what you're gonna do with this, and you know, we're gonna have to sort of bat down the hatches for a while, but praise God, we were able to uh really in the last couple years probably have the most fruitful ministry we've ever had.

Because we had the cameras and we had um invested in some of the tech infrastructure, we were able to really actually reach more people than we ever have, uh, even within our own city here in Columbus, but especially to the ends of the earth.

And uh now that you know the mask things, mandates and all that have been lifted.

In fact, I see people taking selfies on airplanes now with no mask, you know.

Everybody's like real happy about that.

But um, with all of that, now obviously people are coming back to church, and this past weekend we saw it like, okay, this is the fruit of what God has been doing uh through our church.

So let me give you a little quick report uh from Good Friday through Sunday, so the whole weekend, we had over 5,000 people that came to church, they had one church, and another 2,000 that were live online, so we were able to just sort of be together with 7,000 people, both here and around um the world.

And uh it's just pretty amazing, you know.

It turns out when Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, he wasn't playing around, all right?

He meant it, and it's exciting stuff.

Uh, with that is, you know, we're gonna we we've got to sort of prepare our church and and and our facilities and everything for what God's doing next.

You know, we had over 750 people in overflow.

So we had people in the gymnasium, uh, I think we have 370, 380 in two different services, and we want to be able to make as much room as we possibly can.

I don't have any plans for you today, but we we're working on really anticipating what God has next for our church, and at some point we'll go forward with that.

But I think when you have a weekend like that, first of all, you gotta pause and just celebrate what God's doing and say, thank you, Lord.

You know, there are a lot of people that serve God around the world and never get to taste that kind of fruit.

So let's not take for granted to be in the middle of a movement of what God is doing.

And so I think you just gotta kind of bask in it for a moment, but then I think you step back and you go, okay, what conversations do we need to have now?

What do we need to think about and what do we need to work on now?

And what I I want to do is I want to have a very specific conversation uh with you and with us uh in terms of what type of church do we want to be?

Ultimately, a church is just churches are the body of Jesus, the body of Christ.

Jesus Christ is not physically walking around the world anymore.

He ascended to heaven, he sent his spirit to live in humans.

And so when somebody comes in contact with the church, they're coming in contact with Jesus' body.

We don't need to measure ourselves by other entities, we measure ourselves by Jesus.

Does this place sound like Jesus?

Does it feel like Jesus?

Does it look like Jesus?

Does it smell like Jesus?

I don't know what Jesus smelled like, but we're trying to smell like him, okay?

We want when you come in here, the same eyes of compassion, the same healing that took place in the ministry of Jesus takes place within the body of the church.

And I think it's important that we communicate well on this and that we don't just set our goal in packing the house.

Uh I don't think it's as important that we are big as it is important that we are healthy.

And healthy things will grow, but frankly, unhealthy things grow too.

Okay?

There's a lot of pus in certain things that will grow and be unhealthy, and I don't think we want to be a pus church.

We want to be a healthy church, and I want to talk about what that means.

And I think we got to communicate with one another better than we ever have.

Uh, it says in in the book of Proverbs, chapter 27 and verse 23, says, know the state of your flocks and put your heart into caring for your herds.

Proverbs 27 · chapter mention

Know the state of your flocks and herds, and and and I want to do that well as a shepherd.

At the end of the day, that's my heart.

My heart is to make sure that we're not just gathering folks in an event, but that we are serving people, that we are supporting people, that we're loving people, that we are a new covenant community.

And so today we're gonna work on that, all right?

Um, okay, I want to start out, give you a little uh something to kind of measure yourself on and to kind of give you some food for thought.

A few years ago, I I read through the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which are the account of Jesus' life, and I read through with a specific agenda.

I want to get better at managing my time and energy.

Uh, money's great, but money can be lost and regained, and you can multiply it, lose it.

Some people have lost and gained fortunes many times over.

Uh, but when you lose time, it's gone.

Uh, you lose energy, everybody out of energy?

Okay, it's not pretty.

So I I went back and I read to see how did Jesus budget his time and energy?

And uh, this is what I noticed that Jesus budgeted his time and energy in a similar way that a lot of wise people do their finances.

So he uh he gave, he saved, and he invested.

Alright, what do you mean by that?

What do you mean he gave, saved, and invested?

Well, uh, first of all, in the book of Mark, chapter 5, it shows us how Jesus just gave away.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

In Mark 5, Jesus um uh cast a demon out of a man, so the man had been bound and all kinds of bondage, and Jesus set him free.

And it says in in Mark 5, after Jesus set him free, uh in verse 18, it said Jesus was getting into the boat, and the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.

Okay, essentially, Jesus, you saved me, you freed me.

Now I owe you, and I'm gonna spend the rest of my life, you know, serving and following you, and I'll go wherever you go.

And look what Jesus says in verse 19.

Jesus said, Go home to your family.

He wasn't trying, uh He didn't heal the man so the man would reciprocate.

He was not looking for the man to owe him one.

Essentially, he's like, No, man, I've given you something.

Now go home to your family.

Go to your hometown, be a blessing there.

You don't, he wasn't trying to leverage this man.

And I do think that there is just a part of your life, a part of your time and energy and money for that matter, but but but time and energy that you just give away.

You're not trying to get something back, it's not even to feel good.

This is just, you know what, I'm gonna take a portion of it, I'm just gonna give it.

The second is that he saved.

Well, what do you mean he saved?

Well, it says in Luke chapter 5, it says in Luke chapter 5, that Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Luke 5 · chapter mention Luke 5 · chapter mention

Okay, lonely places, people, uh places like the wilderness.

He would sometimes go out on a boat where there was nothing but fish, and he would go out there to be alone.

Why?

He was building up his reserve, he was building up his margin.

He knew there would be some seasons that would take more out of him, and he had to have it to give.

If if all you do is give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, give, and you never save, you run out.

And you can run out of energy and you can run out of time because you're not setting aside.

So Jesus would go and he would build up some reserve.

And so I encourage you to take care of yourself.

There are some times, as much as you love people, you gotta go be alone.

You gotta go restore.

Think about the 23rd Psalm.

Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures to get a safe.

He leads me beside the still waters, he restores my soul.

You gotta build it up.

So that's what Jesus did.

He needed to in his humanity.

The third thing was he invested.

Of course, we it's well documented, Jesus spent time with people who were down and out, or people who were sick, or people who were uh outcasts, but he also invested a ton of himself and his disciples.

In fact, the book of Acts is the return on investment, the ROI of Jesus leadership and Jesus pouring into his disciples because he was going to hand them the baton, and they were gonna have to lead with the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, but his physical presence wasn't going to be there, so he invested himself into people.

Use this as a bit of a litmus test for yourself.

How are you in terms of commonality with Jesus?

Is there an area where you need to do more or less of some of this?

I don't know percentages, you know, 10%, 10%, 80%, something like that.

But for you to look at your life and go, have I checked these boxes and how am I doing, and do I need to change anything with it?

I say this because if we're going to be healthy as a body and as a community, we have to be healthy as individuals in how we're aiming ourselves.

Speaking of health, uh, I turned 41 this past year and I noticed when I turned 40, I started really noticing how my body feels.

When I was in my 20s and 30s, I didn't really notice that much.

I feel like I'd have a headache for two days before I realized it, you know.

I just, I don't know, I just kind of power through and just go.

And I know some of you, every every time I'm like, yeah, I'm 40 now, people who are 50 and 60 and 70, they're like, you're a pup, you're a pup.

And it's like, cool, that's cool.

I mean, I'd like to be a pup as long as I can.

You know, as long as I can have it, I'll go with it.

But um uh I don't feel like a pup as much anymore.

When I was 30 and 20, you know, you work out and the next day you're sore.

The day after you're kind of sore, the next day it's like nothing ever happened.

Um, I am finding myself, you know, going, like, where did that come from?

You know what I'm saying?

Like, I don't remember the collision.

Um, it feels like there was a collision.

I don't remember doing it.

I started noticing at 40 um inflammation.

Uh I would stay sore longer, I'd be sore for like a week.

Um, I started noticing some brain fog.

I was having some trouble sleeping.

Uh, and then some of you that have been around a little bit know I was popping tendons, okay, at 40 years old.

I was at my niece's graduation party, and my sister bought this big industrial spool and I'd been eyeballing it through the whole party.

Like, I wonder if I could flip that thing.

And so once the party thinned out, I was like, my sister's name, Kim.

I was like, hey Kim, do you mind if I try to flip the spool or whatever?

She's like, hey, you know, do you, man, whatever you feel like.

And uh I totally ruptured my my distal bicep.

I had to have surgery.

I'm actually part of Ortho One's business plan at this point.

I've got like frequent flyer miles.

Last year, about this time, uh, I did another tendon.

I was racing um a woman from our church in the lobby.

That's just true.

I swear, she was winning.

I'm not gonna lie.

It was we were running through the parking lot.

I was coming downhill, I was closing fast.

It was pretty.

I had high knees.

I was really coming with it, and I was about to shift into fifth gear when my my tendon just completely rushed.

I thought someone had, like maybe Godzilla had stepped on the back of my foot or something.

I went down and rolled and it was dead meat.

So I had to go get all that put back together.

So I'm like, you know what?

I think I need to go to the doctor and find out what's going on.

Somebody needs to get a look under the hood, and and we need to find out like what's happening.

Because I'm feeling I'm feeling all of these things that I know aren't right.

So they do a blood test.

They come back with a blood test, and they're like, dude, there's a good reason why you're not feeling so good because you you you're lacking this vitamin and and you got this issue.

And the blood test told me the story.

And so then we made some changes.

I take another blood test, and I find out that I am uh it's called Everly Wells.

Basically, here are foods that create inflammation in your genetics.

So I start cutting things out of my diet, then I start adding vitamins, and I start doing more of this and that, and pretty soon I start getting the brain fog go away.

I'm feeling energized, I'm waking up in the morning ready to go, because the the blood test showed me what was off.

So now I can supplement it.

I say that to you because I think it's very similar in relationships and life and your emotions and all of this.

Something feels off.

I don't know what it is, man.

I'm feeling lonely.

I don't know what it is, I'm feeling irritable.

I I don't know what it is, I feel like things are bottled up.

I'm feeling angry.

I don't know why something, I'm feeling hopeless.

I don't know what it is.

For some reason, I'm feeling distant.

I'm I'm feeling a tendency to want to put up walls or to isolate or whatever it might be.

And sometimes it's just your sensitivity to your feeling to go, it's some way I gotta look and I gotta have some kind of blood test to find out where are my levels and do I need, do I need some supplement?

I want to be clear about this.

As a church, we run ministries and we do some things to serve the body.

But I I really feel no need to sell you ministries that you don't need.

But I also think it's pretty bad when people come and need things and they don't know it's there.

So part of today is even me trying to help you understand the things that are available to you, but I don't want you to feel pressure like I'm trying to force you into something, or I have no interest in just filling your calendar.

All right.

Let me give you an example.

I was um I was walking through Kroger the other day and I had a revelation.

All right, anybody ever had a revelation at Kroger?

Am I the only one?

Okay, I'm going through Kroger, I'm walking through the vitamins, and all of a sudden, boom, I see this on the shelf.

Alright?

If you can't see it, they'll bring it up on the screen.

It says, good sleep.

Alright, that's what it says on there, and you walk away.

Now, this is not a bottle of good sleep.

Alright?

What is it?

It's melatonin, is what it is.

Um, quick poll.

How many of you in the room sleep good?

Let me see your hand.

Lift it high.

You have no problem.

You sleep good.

Alright.

How many of you, show of hands, sleep good with no melatonin?

You just you just sleep good.

Alright.

Now, here's the reality.

I'm not a melatonin salesman.

Um and I get no kickback from nature made, alright?

Um, but here's what I'm telling you.

If you sleep good, I'm not trying to sell you melatonin.

But if you're going, I don't sleep good, I don't sleep good, that's a big part of health, is sleep.

Sleep is a huge part of health.

It's as big as your diet.

It's huge.

If you're not sleeping good, then what I want to do is help provide a solution so we can get you sleeping good.

Within our church, we have ministries that help supplement your health, your spiritual health.

If you don't need it, if you're like, I've got it, I'm good with it, then I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to force melatonin on you, but what I don't want is you sleeping bad and you don't know where to turn.

So what I'm gonna share with you are five areas I want you to think about and to take a bit of a blood test, so to speak, in your own mind and heart to look and go, do I need some help here?

Because it may be one of the reasons things are feeling off.

Okay?

All right, I'm gonna start with what does it look like?

Healthy community.

Um, the first one is support.

If you're walking through something, you're walking through challenges in life, you need support.

The body of Jesus supports one another.

We are here for each other, we have each other's backs, we walk with each other through things.

I had a friend recently reach out, she's going through a really hard time, the hardest time of her life, she said.

And she's going through some things in her marriage, and and I my first question was, do you have support?

Do you have support?

Uh Ecclesiastes 4, 9 through 11 says, Two are better than one.

They get a good return for their labor.

But beyond that, verse 10, if one falls down, his companion can lift him up.

But pity the fool who walks that.

Come on, that's the Mr.

T version.

That's the Mr.

T translation.

All right.

Pity the fool who falls without another to help him up.

Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?

Romans 12, 15 says, Be happy with those who are happy, weep with those who weep.

Oh, I love that.

I love that.

To be to to weep with those who weep, but when somebody wins, be happy with them.

That's part of support.

How many of you know winning is tiring?

Winning brings fatigue, winning brings temptation.

You need people cheering with you when you win, and people weeping with you when you weep.

And that's part of support.

If you're walking through something right now and you are unsupported, okay, unsupported, we want to help you with that.

Okay, we have ministries, we have teams that have trained to be able to support people who are walking through something.

If you don't need it, I don't want to force it on you.

But if you need it, that's what we do, that's what we're here for.

And I don't want to just gather a bunch of people.

I want to, wouldn't that be sad?

If we were packing the house out and we we we build some big cathedral, and yet people are coming in unsupported.

They're walking through hard times and there's nobody there to be with them.

Uh Hebrews 13, 3 says, Remember those in prison as if you were there yourself.

Remember also those being mistreated as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.

The second is accountability.

Accountability.

Um I think it's sort of the young man's folly.

When you want to make a change in your life, an important change, you just think you can do it on your own.

And I think it takes some humility to come to a place where you're wise enough to go, you know, if I keep saying this is the last time, this is the last time, this is the last time, how many last times are you gonna have before you realize, you know, if I could do it on my own, I would have by now.

And if it's important enough, if it's important enough that the change needs to be made and needs to be sustained, and you've proven that your own human willpower isn't enough to get there, okay, you need to introduce accountability.

Accountability works best when it's self-imposed.

I've been in environments where people try to put accountability on me.

Hey, you're gonna be accountable for this, this, this, and this.

And I gotta say, I those sort of accountability relationships don't tend to work because if you can lie to yourself, you can lie to an accountability partner.

It takes a person who goes, This area is important, I'm willing to be held accountable, but I'm gonna introduce somebody into my life that's going to ask me hard questions, that's going to help to um uh maybe even tell me something I don't want to hear.

Look what it says in Proverbs 27 and 6.

It says, Wounds from a sincere friend, wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.

Psalm 141, 4 and 5, look at this.

Don't let me drift toward evil.

I think that happens a lot.

Drift toward evil.

A lot of people start out on the right track, they're trying to do the right thing, and yet somehow we drift, and accountability is how we keep from drifting.

He said, Don't let me drift toward evil and take part in acts of wickedness.

Don't let me share in the delicacies of those who do wrong.

Well, how would I stay away from that?

Okay, look at it, look what he says here.

Let the godly strike me.

Okay, he's not talking about physical abuse.

He says, um, he says, if they correct me, it's a soothing medicine.

Don't let me refuse it.

So he's not condoning violence.

What he's saying is, he's saying the correction, it feels painful.

It feels painful, but it's it's actually for my good.

Uh look, look what it says in uh Proverbs 28 and 23.

It said, He who rebukes a man, he who rebukes a man will later find more favor than the one who flatters with his tongue.

Some of you have seen this in your life where somebody said something to you, and in the moment it angered you, it frustrated you, it offended you, and yet over the long haul you look back and you're like, they're the only one that cared enough to say what nobody else would say.

They risk, they took a big risk because they cared and they loved me enough to sit down and have that conversation.

All right, so accountability is a huge deal.

Next fun.

Come on.

You know, I don't know where the paradigm of like once you start following Jesus, you gotta stop having fun.

I don't know where where that came from.

You know what I'm saying?

But I think sometimes you ever go into a church and I think they sort of equate being solemn with being holy, you know, and it's just like, you know, and you go in and you're like, does this smell like formaldehyde in here?

You know, like I think these people might be dead, you know.

It's just real austere, you know, and serious, and like, I don't know where that came from.

Because when you actually look, even in the Old Testament, their their festivities, their festivals, their feasts, put ours to shame.

Their parties put ours to shame.

This is why we we start doing one big party, and you know, we throw parties around here because people think um that they come to church after their party days are over.

So so I've so I partied all my life, you know, I got high, I hooked up with somebody, I barely knew, did a bunch of things I regret, and now that I'm done with that, I'll go to church and be serious the rest of my life.

It's like, what are you talking about?

Like, like, do you understand?

God created fun.

One of the first Of the spirit is joy.

Okay, God made laughter.

Okay, that wasn't our idea.

That was God's idea.

In fact, Jesus, by the way, Jesus went in Luke 7, when he was talking about his own reputation, he says in Luke 7, 34, he said, the Son of Man uh feasts and drinks, and you say he's a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners.

Jesus' reputation was that he had too much fun with bad people.

That was part of his reputation.

I was at a wedding one time.

I performed the wedding as a pastor, and then I uh it was a friend of mine staying that I was at the uh reception, you know, and I've been known to shut it down on a dance floor or two, okay?

Whatever, God's blessed me with it.

I'm not gonna hide it under a bushel, okay?

You gotta let it shine.

So I'm out there, and you know, uh, my wife was out on the dance floor, so I may or may not have been backing that thing up just a little bit, okay?

And so I'm out there doing a little dancing, you know.

Sometimes you gotta, you know, you gotta do your thing, you know.

You know, you gotta be out there.

So I'm out there, I'm a little sweaty, I'm a little sweaty, and this uh, you know, serious older gentleman came to me, and and he walks out there, and uh, I've already about half sweated through my shirt, and he looks at me, looks down his nose, and he goes, This is exactly what he said.

He goes, You're pretty light on your feet for a preacher.

I was like, My man, I was light on my feet before I was a preacher, okay?

God, God put me light on my feet before he made me a preacher.

I'm like, what Bible are you reading?

Isaiah 61 says he's given me the oil of gladness, a garment of praise instead of mourning, a shining crown instead of ashes, glory in the face of despair.

Read Habakkuk 3.19.

You want to talk about light feet?

Habakkuk 3.19 said, I'll make your feet like deer's feet.

Sometimes you gotta get on the hoof.

The man's over here talking to me, and I'm like soldier boys out there prophesying.

What are we talking about?

Let's get out on the dance, we'll have a good time.

You gotta have some fun.

Have some fun.

I'm not talking about filling yourself full of substances and making mistakes.

I'm talking about the people of God should be fun people.

We should have a good time.

Yeah, it's cool.

Read through the book of James together, talk about it, but it doesn't all have to be this.

Sometimes you can have a good time.

Go to pins or something.

I don't know.

What do you do for fun?

Do something fun.

All right.

I think it's a poor witness when the people of God don't know how to have any fun.

We gotta be having a good time.

I I could spend more time on that, but you know, actually, I will, okay?

Um Proverbs 17, 22.

Proverbs 17, 22 says, a cheerful heart is good medicine, it's a good supplement, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength.

I hate to move on, but I got to.

Here we go.

Next one is learning.

Learning.

We learn in community.

We learn in community.

Uh certainly you could you could uh read content or learn content in isolation, but I think a lot of the best learning comes in community.

You're kicking around ideas, you're talking about things together.

Uh also observing other people.

Like principles need a personality.

Principles need a personality.

What does it look like to be a woman of God?

What does it look like to be a godly businesswoman?

What does it look like to be a godly husband or a godly wife?

What does it look like to walk through a pandemic with peace?

What does it look like?

What does it look like to be angry and not sin in your anger?

What does it look like to have righteous indignation?

What does it look like?

What does it look like to not lose hope in situations that feel hopeless?

What does it look like to be positive but not put your head in the sand?

What does it look like?

How do we walk through these things, these things that we learn from Jesus?

When you look at the scripture, you know, you get the forest and then you get the trees and you get the macro concepts and then you got some specific things and trying to reconcile all of that.

A lot of that happens in community.

Um it says in uh back in Proverbs, it says in Proverbs 1, 5, let the wise listen and add to their learning.

Listen, listen and add to their learning.

In other words, you've already learned, but there's more to learn.

Proverbs 9 9, instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still, and teach a righteous man and he will increase in his learning.

I think we're not careful.

Sometimes human nature is we learn, learn, learn up to a certain point, and now we think we know everything we need to know, and we are now going to spend the rest of our lives enlightening others.

I just find it tremendously inspirational when I see somebody who knows a lot and is a wise person, has a lot of life experience, revisiting ideas and coming back and going, you know, I thought that way for 20 years, but they were humble enough to go, I don't know if I still do, and to add to their learning.

Um, you know, churches for years, pre-information age, uh, in order to sort of get discipleship, you know, to do discipleship courses and classes, there was a lot of classes, right?

So, like, that's cool.

Nothing wrong with classes.

Some of you like me grew up in Sunday school.

Anybody?

Anybody grew up in Sunday school?

All right, so you went to class.

That's cool.

You can do classes, some churches still do.

Um, but when you think about in the information age, there is a lot of content out there.

Of course, on the internet, it's not all good.

But yet, as a church, we we do some of those type things, but for the most part, we we want to equip you because if you can go find good content and learn, you can learn all the time.

You can learn on your commute, on your lunch break, at night, in the morning.

You have your phone, you have a lot of this.

So, what we've done as a church, instead of trying to fill your calendar with a bunch of classes, we have created and curated lots of content for people to know and learn.

Um, so ask yourself, are you learning at a good clip?

Okay, do you do you uh have an adequate amount of that happening within your faith?

Look at this, by the way, 2 Peter 3.18.

2 Peter 3.18 says, Grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I love this.

I think that right there, grace and knowledge in tandem is a recipe for maturity.

Grace and knowledge.

If you only grow in knowledge, and by the way, knowledge doesn't necessarily always turn out with an increase in knowledge and increase in grace.

No, it doesn't usually happen.

Knowledge has a tendency to puff up, right?

Sometimes you know enough, you just start thinking everybody in the world's dumb.

It's just like, man, people are so stupid.

You know, what's wrong with these stupid people?

The more you learn, knowledge can actually go to your head.

Knowledge can make you a less gracious person, but it but it's certainly not a virtue to be ignorant.

So he says, Peter says, grow in knowledge and simultaneously in grace, becoming more gracious.

That's a recipe for maturity.

I know more, but I'm a more gracious person.

The more I know, the more I become gracious.

Okay.

Uh last one is encouragement.

Encouragement.

Encouragement simply is building one another up.

In 1 Thessalonians 5, 11, it says, encourage each other and build each other up just as you were already doing.

Encouraging each other to be in an environment where people see the best in you and call that out.

And it's not always just with compliments.

Yeah, sometimes it is with accountability.

Sometimes it is somebody speaking life into you, but saying, look, you are selling yourself short right now.

You, the way you're behaving, is reductive right now.

You aren't living up to the full potential of what God's put in you.

Sometimes it comes in the form of accountability, but we are attracted to environments that see the best in us and call that out.

Call that out.

Uh I sometimes laugh under my breath when people will compliment me for public speaking.

I never wanted to be a public speaker.

My worst grade in high school was in speech.

I've told people this before.

It was my only D in high school.

First speech was on schizophrenia.

It was terrible.

It scarred me.

Okay, I was down there, I was just like, I didn't look up.

I did really terrible.

So I feel called into ministry.

I didn't really want to preach.

I just wanted to lead people and do good things.

But I didn't really want to speak.

So I take a preaching class in college.

Okay, and I'm like, oh man, this is gonna be an abomination.

You know, I'm gonna be terrible at this.

So I gave the first sermon, man.

I studied.

I everything that professor said, I devoured it.

I listened to everything he said, and I worked, and I prepared my heart out, and I got up and I spoke and I got done and I walked away.

I was like, I don't know how that went.

And my professor pulled me aside after the class.

He goes, that was amazing.

He goes, you could be really, really good.

I was like, really?

He's like, I'm dead serious.

He goes, Man, if you work at this, you got a gift, man.

It's in there.

I can see he's calling the lion out of me, dude.

I'm sitting there, I'm like, I think maybe I can do this.

If he had walked up and been like, hey, this isn't for you, honestly, that might have been a defining moment because I already didn't see it in me.

And then he saw it in me.

He was pulling courage, he put courage in me and then pulled it out of me, you know.

Our environment should be that way.

People seeing the best in one another and calling it out, calling it out.

So I ask you today to take a blood test of where you're at in community.

Something might feel off.

Man, I'm feeling inflammation, I'm feeling irritation, I'm feeling isolation.

What is it?

And maybe it's in one of these five five areas.

Alright, I'm almost done.

But I want to say this.

Jesus shows up, and this is gonna go quick with this.

In John 13, Jesus says, A new commandment I give to you, love one another.

When he said love one another, he's introducing a concept, essentially a relational ecosystem.

Think about water, who by the way, Jesus said compared himself to water.

Think about the circular nature of water.

It comes down, it goes up, it comes down, it creates energy for the world.

It's a renewable energy source.

Think what Jesus is saying: love one another, love one another.

Don't just take love, give love.

Don't just give love, take love.

Some people just take and they don't give, and some people give and never receive.

He's like, You gotta love one another.

If you don't, you're messing up the ecosystem.

He said it in John 13, he said again in John 15.

He said, Love one another, new commandment I give you.

By the time Paul started writing in the book of Romans, he said, Don't owe anybody anything in this world except one thing.

He said, the obligation to love one another.

Obligation, why would you call it that?

Because if you don't love one another, you're jacking up the ecosystem, you're depleting the resources of the community.

So you gotta take and you gotta give.

You gotta take because you need it, but you gotta give because somebody else needs it.

It's the ecosystem.

I want to know the state of the flocks and herds.

I want to make sure that we're doing this right.

I don't just want to gather a bunch of people in church and call ourselves a church.

I want to make sure people are supported, I want to make sure they're accountable, I want to make sure they're having fun, I want to make sure they're learning, and I want to make sure they're encouraged so that we are the body of Christ.

We don't just look like it and have a website.

So here's what I'm gonna ask you to do.

I'm gonna ask you to do a survey.

My friend did it after last service.

It took him a minute and 58 seconds.

And he's not that smart, so you probably could do it faster.

I'm just kidding.

He's right over here.

I love you very much, Mike.

Okay.

Minute and 58 seconds.

Okay?

And what this is, and basically we're gonna put a QR code up in a moment.

We're gonna have it on our website.

We're gonna, if you're in our text group, we're gonna put out a link.

It's the first part is some demographic information, so we we we know who you are, we can learn a little bit more about our church.

But we're giving you five questions, and it's this thing.

Do you feel adequately supported?

Yes or no?

If not, in a comment, let us know how we can support you.

Do you do you have accountability in the areas that you need it most, yes or no?

And you're gonna go down these five things, or I'm gonna ask you to, if you're willing to, you'll let us know.

Because here's the deal if you go down and you say, check, check, check, check, check, check, I'm all good.

I don't need anything from one church, I'm not gonna try to sell you melatonin.

But if you're not sleeping well or something isn't going well, we have solutions and we have community to support you on your journey.

And I want to make sure that you don't need something that is provided, you just don't know it and you don't get it.

So we got to be a healthy church.

So I'm gonna ask you to take this survey to go and to fill it out, and then we will respond to your survey with information uh anywhere that you have a need.

But if you come back and say, I'm all set on these five, I don't want any help, then we're gonna back off, but we can't read your mind.

If something changes, you got to reach back out so that we can give you what and help support you where you need it.

All right, all right, let's do this.

You got that QR code?

QR code with beautiful piano music behind it.

Oh my goodness.

What could be better?

If you wouldn't mind scanning that, okay, and sometime here, uh maybe today, if if you don't have your phone with you or whatever, again, we're gonna have it out on the website, we're gonna put it out on social media, we'll email it, we're gonna get it out.

You won't be able to look without finding the link somewhere, okay?

Want to make sure everybody that wants it gets it.

All right, to be able to do that.

Here's what I'm gonna do before you fill all that out.

I want to close this in prayer.