The BluePrint - LIVE at the Table - Pastor Chris Britton

Good morning everybody. How y'all doing? I'm doing good. Thanks for asking. How are you?

Sometimes you get a question back. All right. Hey, my name is Chris Britton. It is an honor

to be here before you to continue our series called The Blueprint. And obviously if you're

here, you know that our church is called The House. Right? You know our church is called

The House. And we use The House kind of terminology to define some of the things that we do here.

So if you're joining us for the first time or if you've been here for a while, you probably

have realized some of the names that we have around here. Like we have Treehouse, Kids

Ministry. We have what's the Teen Ministry? The Shed. Shout out to the Shed. You like

the Shed. The Shed. We have our Framework Team. Right? All the volunteers in here. Yeah,

for sure. We got one clap for that. We've got one volunteer. No, I'm kidding. The Framework

Team and even some of the practical ways that you can live out our faith we call, wait for

it, The Blueprint. So it's obviously like Greg likes HGTV. No, I'm just kidding. He

doesn't like camping. But we have kind of those plays on words and we've been in this

series called The Blueprint where we're laying out these practical ways that you can live

out your faith. And in some ways we even call that a basic kind of plan for discipleship.

Some might be interested in this. Not sure if you are or not. But Greg actually has a

book that he came out with about these things. He doesn't ever get up here and advertise

that. But if you're interested, it actually lays out all those things. I think it's even

on Amazon or whatever. But it's not a plug to buy that. But I'm sure that we could get

one in your hands if you're interested in seeing it laid out in that way.

So we're in the second week of our series called The Blueprint. And today there might

be some of you that might not rock with this message because we're going to talk about

coming together and some of you that don't like your food to touch on a plate. We're

going to talk about togetherness and community and fellowship when things get messy. It's

like don't touch me. So I think that we can all agree that in our day and age there's

a lot more things that we can find out about ourselves and we can use more excuses like

this is my Enneagram number so I don't have to be a part of this. Or I know that this

is how I am so I don't have to partake in this. So thank you for telling me. But I'm

good. I've studied this. I know I can stay clear away from people and I'm fine and blah,

blah, blah. So I know we're all studied and we can find out our personality types and

all this and we can easily brush this off if we're one of those types of people that

well. He just doesn't know this is how I am. But I pray regardless that you will listen

to the Bible has to say about what happens when churches like truly come together in

fellowship and they actually agree on being on the same plate and things getting messy

and what life might look like when people agree that you know we're not like this but

this might be the best way for us to live as community together and promote hope and

change in the love of Christ on this planet. All right. So we're going to kind of talk

about that and it might get messy a little bit. All right. So I'm going to pray real

quick before we jump into it. God thank you so much for your word and I thank you God

that we are able to just unpack the blueprint some ways that we can practically live out

our faith and today as we talk about community as we talk about fellowship I pray God that

we learn what it means to live at the table or to live at the at the table to be to be

seen by you God and to be to actually see others as well. So help me with my words may

they be yours and may they be edifying to you and may we be closer to you this morning

in your name. Amen. I've heard this phrase this feels like family from a lot of different

walks in my life not just Christian places I remember working in youth ministry and there

was actually a lot of people that came in our youth ministry sometimes and they played

basketball from different walks of life and I remember one time we had this Bible study

and most of the time we had an open door policy and these guys came in and I knew that here

I knew like he was really out on the streets like he was really living that life and when

I mean by that like he was really out there like living that life always respectful when

he came in and I asked him why do you why did you stay for a Bible study this time and

he was like man this feel like family. All right. I heard a student in my classroom one

time she graduated and she text and said I miss my family. I heard a teen that I knew

that his his heat from his words he said that in the living situation that he had him and

his brother would sleep in the hallway where their dirty clothes were kind of like their

mattress and he would stay and do poetry and all those kind of things and there's some

things that happen in his life and he said I miss family this that was family. You hear

this family concept and you usually it stirs up something where somebody feels like they've

been seen they've felt loved and somebody wasn't scared that they was on their plate

type thing and I feel like if we think about this and some of you might feel like this

here we hope that you like this is family I've heard that before as well. I know that

God has wired us to be connected to one another right and I've again I've heard this from

lots of different people from Christians from non-Christians from gangbangers the people

that's on the street for people that's homeless from people in the kids in the classroom this

feels like family. What if we all are kind of built hardwired to be on the same plate

with other people? That's in our soul it's in on the DNA of our soul and how God wired

us to be and I want to talk about that today what that might look like and offer hopefully

some some insight on what the first church had done and offer some suggestions to us

as well. We'll be reading from Acts 2 chapter Acts chapter 2 verse 40 through 47 so you

Acts 2:40–47

can get that get that out right now and you can stand if you're able in mind or spirit

Acts chapter 2 verse 40 through 47 and with many other words he bore witness and continued

Acts 2:40–47

to exhort them saying save yourselves from this crooked generation so those who received

his word were baptized and there were added that day about three thousand souls and they

devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread

and the prayers and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done

through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common

and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to

all as any had need and day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in

their homes they received their food with glad and generous hearts praising God and

having favor with all the people and the Lord added to their numbers day by day those who

were being saved you may be seated. Whether our family consists of people in our homes

or maybe people that we might visit often or even a small group of close friends I believe

that when we look at this passage when we look at scripture the Bible has some some

powerful values and practices that when we put them into practice it can make those circles

even more life-giving. As we see it's Peter as we see in the scripture right in Acts chapter

Acts 2 · chapter mention

2 right we have the the Holy Spirit falls and then we get the fellowship of believers

and the church is kind of starting in this in this place where imagine three thousand

people come to know Christ and then it's like hey what do we do now like how do we live

should we just all go our separate ways or what's going on and we see not this instruction

book that we get but we see the way that they kind of figured it out the best way to live

studying God's Word together eating at the same tables together sharing food not just

collecting money for their self but also distributing money towards those that are in need coming

together collectively the fellowship of believers we see this awesome example and I bet I bet

among those three thousand there was a high percentage of them that's like this feels

like family. So like family this is it probably not perfect but they were like this this feels

like family. Now when we talk about this morning I want to talk about what that means that

at church here we talk about leaving things on the table we have all this terminology

like I said before so living at the table and what we see that at the beginning of the

scripture the gospel was kind of being laid out and people were responding to it they

were responding to accepting Christ and surrendering all surrendering all and sometimes that's

kind of like I don't know what that means like what does that really mean to just surrender

everything because we hear about people coming to Christ or people saying the prayer and

we hear these formulaic things but sometimes we forget about the supernatural aspect of

the Holy Spirit entering into somebody's life and in wrecking it for the good. A lot of

you know that I do poetry and all this kind of stuff and I kind of got a couple different

options up here you guys want option A or B. A and B okay but when I look at my life

when I look at my experience as a Christian and I look at what it was like for me to lay

everything on the table what I found it wasn't just one day that I did that and it was like

over it's like here Christ here's my life boom all right. It was a continual process

that you have to come back time and time again throughout your life there's different seasons

of life when I was a teenager but the first time the first time I remember how it changed

everything and that's where I feel like the supernatural aspect of God's Spirit the Holy

Spirit that we forget about right. We might think of some movies where we see CGI stuff

and all this magical stuff has to happen. There's things that happen to some people

that you can't discount and other people like I didn't hear no voices ain't nothing happened

to me I don't know what all this stuff is about I just changed but whatever that is

we can't discount the power of the Holy Spirit because I didn't understand but there was

a piece that I had never felt before that I know that I didn't come up with it. There

was a restraint that's what I'll say to some of you youth out there or maybe some of those

adults there's some areas in our life where we need restraint in some things where we

don't have the power ourselves to say no to some things. You hear in the black church

sometimes they say help us Holy Spirit. So for all of us there's things that with all

the power lifting and all the strength that we might have we might not have the strength

to fight some of our own temptations and sin and we need God and we need to say God I give

this to you and that's the strongest move that you can make. There's a poem called

the dark side that I kind of frequent back here a little bit because some of my poems

are kind of like in the making for years I know it sounds strange but they just have

to sit with me for a long time and I go back to it and everything but this poem is called

the dark side because it was as if my dark side was was kind of talking to me taking

me on this journey of hey man you remember this like if my dark side was like bro you

remember because it's still here. I can't tell you when those testimonies about yeah

my dark side back when I was a teenager didn't it was gone. It's still like hey bro you should

do this you do this right. Sometimes I'm like what if the dark side is just like like almost

like likes me but knows that I can't resist it sometimes so it's kind of like hey you

remember this man I couldn't believe that you did that. You remember this. I care about

you even though I'm the part of you that's dark. Chris you remember what you used to

be on even I was ashamed that the place is your amusement park. You remember the first

time that you held crack and you stared as it sat in the universe of your palms. Chris

be honest you kind of felt like you kind of like the thought of having fiends orbit your

space just for a taste of stardust. Chris like the first time that you held a 38 I remember

the weight you felt the metal in your waist and I wondered what was you thinking. Chris

did you feel like God with the power to big bang life into extinction. Chris the first

time that that malt liquor hit you your brain triggered lust like fireball you didn't even

know how to ask for help. You were a young son bursting with hormones seeking to crash

land below a young lady's asteroid belt. Well Mr. Britton ain't you ever considering me

an important part of your life. I mean without me the darkness how can you truly appreciate

the light. You saw me often lurking long moonlit sidewalks that dark shadow when you were acting

irresponsibly often watching fear paint smirks across your face as you played in carnivals

of curiosity. See I was there when it was the devil's work that you delighted in then

somehow you start going to all the place inviting delight in but you're older now and somehow

you think that we are divided light and dark. Sometimes you just have to be reminded.

And there's times that we have to be reminded that there's this process where we still need

to put things on the table and give God these things because we're not meant to hold the

weight of them and I don't know what that's for you. I've been around long enough where

I know what it is for me that I need to keep putting back on the table and there's some

things that God will say like give me that give me that and there's some things where

Greg talks about this even in his book where there's things that God might leave on the

table. I mean if you go to a table you might see like hot sauce and salt and pepper and

some things that aren't really good good for you like you don't want to take the pepper

and just undo it and just like drink it like that. There's some things that are just there

that we have to learn and discipline ourselves and God's like I can't help you control some

of this but it's going to be around.

So the table figuratively in our life is like this altar of sorts. Greg and I had a chance

to visit the Holy Land way back it seems like years and years ago but we visited these biblical

places where we talked about it on our separate visits when we came back and I remember saying

like Greg like I was fascinated by every community that we visited have this altar of sorts

this start calling this high place where people would either worship God and this high place

or they'd worship these other things but every community that we visited that was in ruins

you could identify this high place where people gathered as a community and they were either

worshiping things of God or they found something else to put above that above God on this altar

and here in 2022 we're saying when we see this scripture what would it look like for

a church what would it look like for us to fellowship and know that we are a place that

is trying our best to live at the table and put God first and put and worship God above

everything else in our lives.

So the question that I will leave you with is have you done that first have you done

that have you started that's kind of like square one that doesn't mean like oh that's

just you know first base or whatever but that's an important step is imagine the disciples

being at the table with Jesus and Jesus seeing them do you know that you're seen by God that

you're loved by him that he's has the door open for you you said both of them.

This poem is called Beauty and the Change it's a poem just as I was contemplating years

ago just about me coming to Christ and what this battle going on in my head.

There are times I weep for change and search for my identity's freedom come out come out

wherever you are reveal yourself to my soul and I ask who am I who am I in front of the

cam who am I in front of my fam am I different in front of the sun does the moon see a different

side of me soon there will be no need to mask myself to Gotham my insecurities I sit signaling

Savior please rescue me soul projecting sounds to clouds and prayers to air is there help

on the way inside I know that help is here but there's a barrier a door longing to be

unlocked maybe maybe it's my pride caged inside like bird longing to touch skies freedom what

will it take for me to get open as evil desires comfortably entice I begin to take the light

in cage watching a door that seems to be cracked open I hope someone will save me enter my

story save me when the door is cracked open I think I think I see a light or pride tells

me to hide and seek self satisfaction pride says when it comes to action Savior so I sit

Indian style smoke signaling clouds of silence to my Savior Savior's message has always

been I am here at the table come to me I'm I'm right here come follow me but instead

I'm coddling convictions and waddling conviction toddling the fence instead of swallowing my

pride I want to feel change tangible as the air in these lungs so I finally flung open

the door to God's Word and fell in love with His love my eyes kissed the pages of James

516 and sent me to my knees proposed a confession professed the wretch in me I was once blind

but now as I was dormant there had always been a doormat welcoming me to knock the door

had always been open so why did I wait why did I wait for change why did I wait to be

rescued when I could have just walked into the arms of forgiveness transformed from a

strange to experienced and changed through Christ and toast His endless beauty there's

often talk about about change that we want in our life and sometimes it's easier than

we think when we just surrender and say man I'm done I just want to surrender all to you

there's another side of living at the table it's not just to be sitting and to know and

be known by God but also in the company of others and I hope in these next few moments

to explain how living at the table in community and rich fellowship means nurturing deep friendships

with people that push you closer to God and your goals who know both the good and the

bad about you and whose love is not contingent upon either who you can call at 2 a.m. if

you're in crisis and I want to pack a few reasons why you should have people like that

around you you often I don't know if you've seen the reality show storage wars storage

wars storage wars and the basic premise is that you know these people get to bid on these

storage bins and in hopes that there's something good in there that's salvageable or they can

you know and sometimes it's not good stuff and sometimes but you know it's oftentimes

really adults like we got this storage built up where we don't want nobody to get in there

we don't want nobody in our stuff man because we're saying when you pop that open but when

you have good people in your life and a good guy in your life they can pop that thing open

and be and they can find the goodness in there something of value that you might even have

missed yourself it's like all this is just an old do you know the value of this are you

serious you're an artist you know this no no that's just the old no we need people like

that I'm not an expert in antiques and all that kind of stuff but I understand why you

have people that are experts in that because they can speak the life into that thing that

you thought was dead you was gonna throw it away and we're like that with ourselves as

well and we need the guy to point that out we need people here around us that can be

like no I'll never forget early in my youth ministry years like I had this plan for this

creative art stuff a long time ago and I would tuck the files over here I'm not gonna talk

about that that's crazy I should just play my role do youth ministry hey Chris you got

any good ideas I'd be like mmm no cuz I was scared it's gonna get too messy I remember

like yesterday there was a project that we were working on for a grant and we had somebody

that's still a good friend to my wife and I but she worked at our ministry for about

three years she said Chris then I hear you say something about this creative art stuff

that should be the idea for the grant and I was like no we can't no no no she's like

tomorrow get that thing out and then I was just like oh man I was just showing like the

initial plans she said this is amazing we should present this to the city of Rock Island

and all this other stuff and I'm like no we don't wanna just talk about it long story

short like we went to the city of Rock Island for this is not a diss this is just what actually

happened they said no they we didn't get the grant but it wasn't their job they didn't

want to point out they was like close that garage we don't want to we're not giving money

to that but for me somebody pointed out the value of that and I articulated it to other

people and even when we left she was like they don't know what they're talking about

I think you should still do it we're gonna start doing some of this stuff in the youth

center and I was like for real okay I needed somebody in my life to point out stuff that

I thought like this is trash nobody's really gonna go for this I'm doing poems and stuff

all the time all right and there's been this legacy of things that have happened but deep

friendships is a part of God's plan and we look at the first church in Acts 2 which talks

about how they how the early church devoted the members were devoted to one another and

the truth is if we think about even outside of these scriptures in the Bible there's a

lot of things that happen in the language that the Bible is used where it's almost it's

almost like the Bible is saying like duh y'all should do this together like think about the

stuff that we recite up here all the time what's the first word for the Lord's Prayer

is it my the first word is our so it's just like this is the basics like y'all reading

this together our father it's not Chris's or it's ours it's this collective idea that's

already imprinted in the scriptures right and then prayer doesn't say my we're in this

together there's when you think about our physical bodies like we're born into a place

where God hopefully intends that we're not alone you know this is a dark world but the

intention is that we are together with people that care about us and in our spiritual rebirth

the Bible uses language like we're adopted into a family so littered in scripture there's

this language that already kind of assumes that y'all should know like this is a together

type thing this is our family when you're when you're physically you're not supposed

to you're not meant to be alone and even spiritually you're not meant to try to do this alone and

we see that there's a need for connecting with other people that's reinforced Jesus

modeled it and his close friendships one of the very first things that he did after beginning

his public ministry you know he could have went solo he could have went solo Han solo

his public ministry he got 12 disciples from among a broader group that traveled around

with him and within that group of 12 he was particularly close with about three and when

life got really crazy he leaned into them when Jesus sent his disciples out did he send

them out alone two by two and those aren't measurements for something that's like real

like two we're commanded to love one another there's all these scriptures that promote

this one anotherness one another we're command to love one another to encourage one another

to care for one another to serve one another to bear one another's burdens to be at peace

with one another to wash one another's feet respect one another submit to one another

forgive one another comfort one another pray for one another confess our sins to one another

and be hospitable towards one another every one of these commands requires that we are

in a relationship with another so this idea that we're created for community is all throughout

scripture and that friendship is almost a dis-expected part of a relationship but it's

hard when we think about cultivating loving nurturing relationships with others even if

it's assumed in the Bible we know that one other's point is that life life change happens

best in community that's Christ's probably one of our goals to become more like Jesus

and that means being more loving more kind more gracious and more patient and how does

change happen?

By the grace of God working our lives and the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our life

it's important that we include the presence of others in our life that can bring that

out as well that can point that out to us and be like you know I think you can be more

kind about that right?

We're not meant to have all these just yes men around us the people just like well you're

good no you're good that's cool that's fine that's fine but real people that really care

about your life they can call that stuff out and you know that it's from a place of love

not like oh you just hating on me we're not talking anymore unframed right?

We have these luxuries where we can just turn people off now literally and the Bible is

saying like the real people in your life the genuine people in your life that you actually

there's this reciprocal relationship that you have of this giving and taking where there's

sometimes there where you get checked.

I'm lucky that I learned that as a at an early age and I accepted that change in my life

especially spiritual change in my in my early life happened usually in the context of having

people around me like mentors and other friends so I kind of grew up kind of knowing that

kind of almost as the expectation and even in my adult years I always kept like some

people around me and so it was a little easier for me just because that's how I experienced

spiritual growth but I started to understand especially when I was adult that excuse me

it doesn't come as easy to some some people and I understand that I get that and when

you add in like church hurt and you add in abusive type relationships and other things

lying games and all these things it becomes very hard even for a believer to start trusting

people to develop real relationships it's this idea that we all want that we all want

it some of you might be like man I really want that but this happened and this happened

and this happened and it becomes this kind of like where's Waldo's like where can I find

him where can I buy a group of good friends like that like I would but I can't trust nobody

because this happened and this happened and this happened I don't have any easy answers

except to lean in don't stop to lean in to those that could possibly be trusted don't

give up that that fight to try to find good friends around you and don't you know there's

sometimes where there's people that have spoken to me about man I could never really trust

ministry folks or blah blah blah and then what ends up happening is that they kind of

take on the villain characteristics themselves they start kind of becoming the villain you

know like in superheroes sometimes the hero and the villain used to be close friends and

then there was something happen where something got sour then they turn you know right so

sometimes I find that people that kind of get hurt they hurt people as well it's because

things that happen to them so sometimes it's like yeah don't become that because that happened

to you as well right because we want to also have those components and those those those

fruits and in our lives that are attractive to others so sometimes I just tell people

like well make sure that you don't let that turn you into somebody that's not good to

be around or healthy to be around because that's not going to attract the people that

you want around you either all right but a good group of folks around you also can be

a safety net for you like I mentioned before do you have someone that you can call at 2am

and that's difficult right if you don't have that but somebody that you can call at 2am

that's somebody that you know that that would be mad at you if you didn't call them at 2am

they'd be like why didn't you call me you should have what why did you go through that

alone why did you do that at the end of the day I'm reminded of another reality TV show

if you ever watched the show called alone have you seen that show alone don't watch

it alone no but there's a reality show called nobody seen that show so there's a reality

TV show called alone where they get these these these folks that are supposed to be

like something they have some kind of experience in the wilderness and stuff like they can

be self-sufficient out there anyway they pick these contestants and they get all these people

from from wherever that submit these videos of how they know how to build stuff and they

can you know whatever they drop them off in different locations a lot of times in Canada

my wife works we watched that sometimes and beautiful places in Canada but dangerous places

where there's bears and all that kind of stuff and they drop them off kind of miles away

from each other and guess what they just have to do no they just have to survive so they

give them they basically make these commitments to this show for maybe they sign these contracts

for like hey I'm gonna leave my family for at least maybe six months if I'm if y'all

don't see me for six months we I'm winning this cash you know if y'all see me in a couple

weeks I gave up but what happens is they teach these folks how to use all the cameras they

got all these GoPros so in the contract they have to record all this stuff so they get

this these battery packs they get all this stuff they have to keep the cameras rolling

right they get the night vision cameras they set them up in their tent they get these tripods

so they can't really go find each other they have to kind of stay camped and if they want

to move somewhere they have to bring all of this equipment with them so a lot of times

they get there they get dropped off they have to build stuff they basically are surviving

on their own I have to tell you the fascinating thing about it is that there's a point where

some people you know I laugh I mean me and my kids we kind of laugh there's people that

they get out of there in like 24 hours and some people that lasted like three hours and

they're crying and they're just like I gotta go back to my family and I'm like look at

them they didn't even last long my kids are like dad how long you think that you will

last out there I'm like man once I see the vehicle leaving man I might be like all right

yeah it might be time to get out of here but if you ever watch a show you see the realest

moments in people's life especially at night when they're all alone and they're just looking

at this night vision camera and they're freaking out because they realize the light is gone

there's nobody there it's just them and you get these some of the realest gut talks about

how they're feeling about their family I wish I would have done this for I left man I'm

doing this and it's in some ways gut-wrenching but at the same time it gives you this idea

like bro you're not supposed to be out there by yourself right there's bears and stuff

that come up around the area but here's the thing that's what I want to close with today

they are alone but they're kind of not alone after watching a couple of seasons I realized

you watch some behind-the-scenes footage they send a medical staff out periodically to check

on them they have to do checks they can't give them anything but they have to just go

check so in the back of their mind they know every once in a while people are coming also

they get this GPS little device and you see them walking around with it sometimes they

get one call that they can make and it tells people the exact coordinates where they are

and if they do it first light in the morning no questions asked the team comes out and

rescues them and they're out of there so after the first season stuff after a while I'm like

I'm like but are they really alone someone are you yeah physically alone but the comfort

that they have is knowing that they can be heard at any moment if they needed it they're

alone physically sometimes we feel like that can we have the comfort of knowing that Christ's

spirit is right there to rescue us we're sitting here feeling alone or we feel like no one

sees us no one cares about us look I think about this show where they have it set up

where they're alone but at the same time they had to give them the hope and the comfort

of knowing that people are closer than they think because they get out there and then

they always have to have the camera set up on their their facial expression when help

arrives and they're they see people and then they almost start taking it back like oh I

shouldn't have left I should have stayed out here but this is the best decision I got to

go back to my family it's so good to see you and then they always are like I'm so sorry

for calling you guys out here and they're like hey that's what the buttons were we're

here they don't even talk about it they're just like get your stuff let's go but the

people are always just like yeah you should have saw man like I had bears around me and

the people are just looking at him like hey get your stuff we're gonna check you out no

but you probably would have got out of here too you don't know like oh this is crazy.

Living at the table means that we are putting everything on the table for God and we're

putting things on the table with one another we're doing life and sharing life with one

another and when we mix those variables that's when in the Bible says that we can experience

a fruitful life in our church we can experience and get some more mileage out of our relationships

and it can make things better. I often think about like you know some people might say

oh you guys telling me all these rules and these things that I have to do and that it's

not like that but the scriptures kind of tell us some best practices some best ways to live

and we should aim for those right maybe these are targets that we are trying to go forth

and this self reflection that we need to say what should I be doing to focus put in Christ

first what should I be focused on to reach out to others or maybe to become a better

and to look for ways I can be healed from broken relationships that I've had in the

past. That might be where to start as well and you can talk to Greg or Pastor Greg or

Pastor Jen or myself if you need resources to help you with that. So there's no there's

no it's it we have community tables going on so this isn't like a trick to make people

feel bad if you didn't sign up for them or anything like that but we purposely right

we purposely are talking about these things because we're saying hey we're offering these

things as well so it's not to trick you or to be like you're gonna tell me that you should

have joined the community no we're not trying to shame anybody about that but we're actively

saying like hey we have these opportunities at community table that aren't these threatening

things that maybe you're used to but that's why the format is a little bit you know some

people like man you guys do a should have a Bible study in these where you go through

this this and this or this the functionality of these is just to come together and to sit

at the table and fellowship with one another no strings attached in a place where you know

the hosts will love you as you are and invite you to the table period and that's what we're

about in that way. So I hope this morning that you've been encouraged in that way and as

you go that Christ's Spirit can meet you where you're at and you know that you are seen by

God and you can call on God and I pray that you will be blessed to have if not now work

towards having some life-giving friendships. Amen. Let's pray. God thank you so much for

your word and I thank you God that the example that you've shown us in Acts chapter 2. God

Acts 2 · chapter mention

I pray God that as we continue to move forward and we offer these things at our church Lord

we're not saying that we have all the right answers at our church however we do offer

places of fellowship of community of open table Lord for where anyone's invited to share

a meal be loved to be seen and gives us the opportunity to see others as well. So we thank

you God for the opportunity that we have at this church to do so in your name we pray.

Amen. Thank you.