Church at Home | Better Together

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

What we're going to do now is we're going to transition into our service time.

And as you guys can see, we're our our our layouts are a little bit different today because we're going to have um some conversations are around this importance of us pursuing the community.

If you guys have been with us for the past couple of weeks, you know that we've been talking about this, the importance of pursuing the things of God.

One of the main things we've been kind of hitting on is that our pursuit determines our experience.

Because many of us know that we can have a lot of goals in mind, but if we don't pursue them, we don't often experience them.

And so over the past couple of weeks, we've been talking about the importance of pursuing the things that we want to experience, pursuing rest, pursuing the right relationships, pursuing the things of God so that we can actually get the things that God wants us to experience.

We've been looking at scriptures such as Matthew 6.33, our foundational passage here at Celebration Church saying, seek first.

That word seek, it's synonymous with the word pursue, seek, look.

Put yourself in a position to receive what God has for you, and all these things will be added unto you.

Matthew 7, 7, where it says, Ask and it shall be answered unto you.

Seek and you shall find knock and it shall be open.

You see this moment that God is creating for us, that the open door is available for us, but sometimes we have to step up and knock on a door.

We have to seek after, we have to pursue it.

But even in 1 Timothy chapter 6, it talks about how it's important for us to pursue godliness, to pursue faith, to pursue love.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

We see this theme throughout scripture where there's so many things that God has stored up for his people, but we have to position ourselves to receive it.

It's really important for us to understand that Jesus already paid the price, that it's already been taken care of, but what we have an opportunity to do is to position ourselves to receive it.

I like to look at it like this way you think about an inheritance.

We have an inheritance that's made available to us, but if you don't show up to claim it, it else then gets redesignated.

And God has a lot of things that He has designated for us, and all we have to do is position ourselves and pursue it.

We don't have to work for it, we do have to position ourselves to receive it.

Over the past couple weeks, we've been talking about these different topics, and if you missed any of them, I want you to go back and check them out because I do feel like there's a consistent theme of momentum that's being built.

But today we want to talk about the importance of community and how God has called us to be connected to community, about how God has called us to be connected to one another.

And I thought, what better way to demonstrate community instead of having one guy talk about community when I can actually have a community of people talk about the power of community?

It's a demonstration that we can actually show you.

So I'm gonna invite our friends and our family to come on up.

So can you guys show it up for our staff family that's coming up?

We have Pastor Nate, my wife Megan, and Lindsay that's gonna be up here with us.

Yeah, I think I do want to sit next to my wife Lindsay.

Thank you.

That is that'll that's very kind of you.

I appreciate it.

So let me just have a conversation uh around the the importance of community.

And and a couple of the theme scriptures I've been thinking about with with this idea of community is is a few that I really feel like it it really sets the tone for for what we're talking about here today.

Just to kind of give us the the groundwork today.

So so Lindsay, looking at Matthew 18, verse 20, it says this.

Matthew 18:20

It says, For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am among them.

We see another passage, Nate, where it says Ecclesiastes 4 12, it says, And if someone overpowers one person, two can resist them.

But a cord of three strands is not easily broken.

Again, we're seeing this theme of the power of being connected to others.

And then here in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 25, not neglecting to gather together as some make the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and and all that you see the more as the day is approaching.

Hebrews 10:25

What we're seeing in these passages is the power of being with other people.

Uh, I was looking um just throughout the the New Testament alone and saw that there are 59 instances in scripture where it talks about one another, doing something with one another, love one another, serve one another, care for one another.

You see these moments in scripture that really, really does center itself on the importance of doing things with one another.

And the thing about community is if you don't have the other, then you can't do it with one another.

Right.

And that seems to be a key tenet of what God talks about so much, not only in the New Testament, but also in the Old Testament as well, this idea of understanding the importance of community.

So I wanted to gather together for us to talk about the importance of community, because one of the things that I've loved about our church is the power of our incredible community.

Because I think we are better together.

Yeah, and and I think uh I think that um Mike seven, I'm on seven.

Check one, two, check one, two.

Hey Nate, I think you have to let's just switch on.

It's on it's on.

Check one, two, Mike seven, check two, check one.

Let me get that.

Hey, there we go.

Okay.

Uh anyways, I think the important thing to understand about uh community is that it's actually ordained by God before he even created the earth because of the Trinity.

Yeah the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

They're they they are a community.

So I think we have to look at that and understand that it's not just a New Testament thing or an Old Testament thing.

Like you thought it's actually God is a community in and of himself.

Yeah, he demonstrates that from the very beginning.

His very nature communicates that.

And I believe that's the that's one of the key tenets for us to kind of take away from this is understanding that that we're created for connection.

Right.

Like we're created for connection.

I I want us to think kind of like of a of a cell phone, and how a cell phone can do a lot of amazing things, but it's created for connection.

So many of us who travel know the know the feeling of when you're on the airplane and you put it into airplane mode, you're not getting any new downloads, it's just set as what it is, and you can't do anything with it.

But when you land and you take it off of airplay mode, all the things begin to get downloaded because it's it's supposed to be connected.

What I believe happens when we live in isolation is that we're not getting the downloads that God has for us to benefit from being connected to one another, and we're not strengthened.

So we may be functioning with old, out-of-date software.

Come on, I'm not even done.

I'm not I'm just getting started preaching.

We may be functioning with things because we haven't had a fresh download, because we haven't made ourselves available to be connected to the right sources.

Yeah, absolutely.

And we were even singing that song Communion, and I think um I think there may be some people in here who are who are struggling with the fact that they don't they don't feel like God's closer than their skin.

You know what I mean?

You you don't feel that.

And and I just want to say to you that uh take it a day at a time and just continue to ask God.

Continue to ask God to to to reveal himself to you because we can have community groups all we want to, but if God's not at the center of it, it doesn't mean anything.

So I just want to encourage you, like continue to seek God and continue to ask him to be to be closer than your skin because uh our community is built on that foundation.

Yeah, I love it how it's represented um at the table at the Last Supper.

You know, there was everyone was invited.

It didn't matter what background you came from, it didn't matter if you were a betrayer like Judas was.

Jesus invited everyone to the table, and that's what we we love about communities that everyone can come before the God.

So so I read this, I read this article recently that really spoke on the importance of a community.

And it was done from like a um uh a psychological standpoint, but it began to talk a little bit about how they did this this research on looking at communities and more specifically babies who were raised in thriving communities versus those who weren't.

And and what it what it indicated was is for the the children that were raised in these environments where they were encouraging words and they were connected to a network of of positive environments, that they that their brain development was actually more active and they thrived much quicker than those who lived in isolation.

It's literally showing that our community can determine the way that we are successful because it helps us to learn how to interact and how to engage one another, but also presence God in the midst of it.

So even there's some scientific data that helps us to understand the importance of us being connected.

And I think that what's exposed the reality of this, even if you're an introvert like me, is that going through a season where you're now like almost forced to forsake your community, disconnect from your community, so to speak.

I I think it's kind of been an eye-opening thing because I think about how I'm an introvert.

And so I would always define myself as saying, like, man, I'm at home, I'm with my family, I'm good.

But at some point, you get to a point where it's like, man, I need to be around some other people, like for the love of all that is holy.

Like I we we are we are wired to be around some other people.

Like I'm like, man, like all I got is my family.

Like that means that I'm just basically around only black folks.

Come on, somebody.

I needed to be around some other people, man.

I'm gonna go walk down the street, wave to some neighbors.

Like I needed to see other people, and I realized then more than ever just how much, even if you're someone who's a little bit more introverted, how we actually do thrive when we're around other people.

Yeah, for sure.

I think the one of the one of the first things that the community does for it is it's it's that support system for us.

Uh and uh I I remember uh first coming to Celebration Church and kind of being intimidated by our groups because there was so much to offer and you didn't know where to start.

And um, but I remember uh trying a group and and it not working out, we weren't really clicking right away, so trying another one.

So I want to you know let somebody know, give some freedom in here.

If you try a group and you're not really clicking with it, try another group.

That's okay.

You don't have to pick a group and then stay in that group forever.

So but but when I did when I did finally find a group of guys that that we connected, and um the support was incredible because all of us, it's we kind of joke about it now, but all of us were single at the time, and so we've we've all kind of helped each other walk through, like, man, I'm kind of feeling you know, digging this girl, should I date her, whatnot?

But we've all seen each other get married, we've been in each other's weddings, so that community can can help you provide that support where whereas you don't have to do it necessarily alone.

Indeed.

I mean, I don't know what else to say.

I mean you don't have to say anything.

You're preaching you're preaching the word right now.

Yeah, it's okay.

I mean it's it's it's true.

But but here's here's the thing that I that I found.

Like when when Megan and I came on staff at Celebration um a long time ago, the first role that I had was was the group's pastor.

And and and I was I was amazed at how how many people they they really wanted to get connected to community, but they were very apprehensive because they they felt that them getting connected to community was somehow revealing that there was a dysfunction in their lives.

Because sometimes, depending on what the group is, depending on what the context is, and again, what our what our imagery may be when we think about groups is we're thinking of like, okay, groups.

This is like an AA meeting.

We're all sitting around a circle, we're gonna confess all our deepest, darkest sins.

I'm not sure how like I mean that's that's a lot, that's very aggressive to to walk into for the first time, thinking like, hey, I don't know anything about somebody, but a group leader is gonna put a spotlight on me and ask me to confess them the mistakes that I made over the past week.

So, so let me disarm some folks right now.

That is absolutely not how it is at all.

But what I did see is just that showing up, it helped people to recognize that man, but but what if God has more for me?

That we're not supposed to live life in an isolated way.

But it what it means is it requires us to kind of enter into this space of being a little bit vulnerable.

Yeah.

And and I think that's the that's the thing about a healthy group dynamic is it's only successful if you're really willing to be vulnerable.

Yeah.

Because we all are familiar and have seen those instances where we're all here, we're we're all sharing, and we're all kind of built with one another, but there's those walls up, and you're and you're health, you're only as healthy as what you're willing to reveal.

And then a lot of times when we have those walls up, it makes it very hard for people to really be able to hear what God wants to do in a context of community if we don't allow ourselves to be vulnerable.

So I think when we talk about the support that is connected to being connected to community, it's recognizing that we're actually better together, that we that we actually need one another.

See, when I when I look at scripture, um there's these moments in scripture where you see that that even though the Bible is filled with like these individual stories, it's never about the individual exclusively, it's always about the community.

It's always about something bigger.

If we look at Abraham, yes, that's a story that we can preach, but it was always about the family.

We can look at Noah, it's about Noah saving his family, but it was about humanity.

So it's always been bigger than about a specific individual.

But what I love in the New Testament, specifically, as the church was being birthed, they all spent time with Jesus.

They all had these moments where they had these encounters with him.

But when they were trying to figure out how to make decisions, how to move the church forward, no one was sitting there like, hey man, I got all the answers.

They came together and they said, like, hey man, like what do we do with Gentiles?

What do we do with the with the context of what's going on?

We need to talk together as a community and to discern what we feel like God is saying, and then collectively we can recognize what the voice of God is speaking to us in these moments.

I think that's the beautiful thing that I've discovered in my own life when it comes to community, is that there's times when there's something that's on my heart, something that's on my mind, and I'm thinking about it, I'm processing through it.

But then when I presence it with community, you hear somebody else say, like, hey man, I I heard the same thing.

Or I was reading this scripture, and it was very similar to that.

Or no, I was actually thinking this, but what happens is you can discern it in community and you can recognize that it's being anchored in something that's just beyond your feelings.

Because let's be honest, we all can look at a scripture and make that thing dance and say whatever we wanted to say.

You can find justification for everything.

I have seen it.

I've been a pastor for a long time.

I've heard some people say, yo, hey, I was reading this passage, and it actually said it's okay for me to go after my best friend's wife.

Who's in your community, bro?

That's like who's who's led you in that journey that made you believe that?

Like, you need some people that can, like, hey man, like, that's actually not scriptural.

That's what I love about the power of community.

Yeah, and uh a good example of that is I've actually been in uh community groups with Pastor Mike, and if you know Pastor Mike and you know me, you know that we do not think the same.

Um, I don't think anybody thinks like Pastor Mike, but what I love about it is is the perspective that I get from him.

The way that he's been brought up is different than I've been brought up.

The the the way he reads the Bible and just the knowledge that he has of scripture has encouraged me so much in my walk, and just knowing that I can go every Tuesday night to hear what Mike has to say about a certain topic has has been super encouraging.

So that's a great example of kind of what you're talking about.

So when Mike talks, is it biblical though?

I just want to make sure that it's in the city.

For the most part.

For the most part, yeah.

Yeah, for the most part.

Mike has his own doctrine sometimes, but we're okay with that.

We we love him.

We love him.

What what about what about you, Lindsay?

What have you seen in communities that you've been a part of and and what support has looked like for you?

Yeah, honestly, um, I've been in a couple of different cities over my what I would consider my adulthood.

Um I'm not very old, but I'm still I'm in my 30s, so I have some street cred, I guess.

Um but during these different times, I think the same as you, I am an introvert, uh, true and true.

And so every time it requires me to kind of step out of myself.

And I loved what you were saying about the necessity of vulnerability to actually have real, true community.

Because every time for me is a little bit like oh gosh, if I open up, there is that risk.

And but I love that idea of we ultimately get to express our vulnerability, we get to express our faith in God and trust in this situation.

And honestly, this recent season here in Orlando, um, just being a new mom and all of that kind of stuff, I've really needed more than ever support.

If you're a mom, kudos to you because it is hard work.

And um honestly, I never struggled with postpartum depression with my first child, but my second one, I really think I kind of started dipping.

I'm gonna be really honest.

And it was hard for me as a staff member of a church to say, hey, I think I'm struggling here.

And um it just took me that one time.

I really I I am so glad looking back now that I opened up my mouth.

But I I shared with my friends, and um the these people are not not your friends that are just gonna show up and say, Hey, I love you, but they're gonna show up and be like, This is not you, this is not God, and they're gonna be right up in your face, like the true community.

And so man, I never saw support until I chose to open up, and so I know it's a scary thing, but man, the community that can birth from those true exchanges of need, it's okay to need people.

Yeah, that's actually expressing our need for God in a beautiful way here on earth.

So that's been my my story recently.

I'm a community vulnerability girl now.

I remember that like when you're talking about being vulnerable.

I remember when I was um recipient of a group, and um it was a topic on unforgiveness, and at the time I was um I I wasn't forgiving someone in my family that was really close to me.

And they spoke on that message, and I had a leader who was leading the group who said, you know, you have to forgive, and you know, that's in the Bible and stuff like that.

And I was just taking all the pain that I had experienced uh with this family member, and um the moment that I chose to obey what the word says and listen to that leader who continued to follow up with me and try to hold me accountable to what the word of God says, then I eventually um I eventually have forgiven as family member, and I'm telling you, once I experience that and the freedom that I experience um with forgiveness, I I said I never want to get back to that place.

So that is something that I actively work within my my life that if someone does something or something or I'm affected by someone else's actions, that I do not go into a place of unforgiveness, and that is something that I learned in a community group.

Yeah, I think all of these stories kind of point to the intentionality of finding community.

You know, it it's we try and make it as seamless as possible with helping you sign up for groups, but at the end of the day, we have to do the work in order to reach out.

I I mean when I first came to Celebration, uh I bothered people because I was like, I need good friends, you know what I mean?

I am not I am not in a good spot, so people probably got annoyed with me, but uh but eventually I was I just kept at it, I was intentional, and I and I kept I kept looking for those those people that could speak into my life, and uh eventually I did find friends and they're lifelong friends now.

I think I think what you just hit on with is so crucial, and it's it's persistence, it's pursuit and it's persistence.

I I often think about how we are so persistent when it comes to so many things in our lives.

We are we are so persistent whether it becomes to waiting until 10 o'clock when the new Jordans are gonna drop and trying to get the purchase before everybody else.

We're persistent, we're waiting in line for it.

We'll wait in line to get on rides in an amusement park, we'll do everything we need to do to position ourselves to get what we want to experience.

But when it comes to kingdom principles, we all we have some of them, we have some of the shortest attention spans I've ever seen.

Yeah.

Where it's like, okay, I didn't get this right, okay, what I must not be, and we're so quick to back away.

But I I realize this, and I just want to throw this out there.

If we really believe that the enemy is real, how do many of us think that his strategy may be will just be cause things to get delayed until we get frustrated and give up?

I believe that's one of the number one attacks that the adversary uses is that when we're right at the edge of our breakthrough, presenting enough obstacles and challenges for us, that the same energy that we will use for something else, we don't transfer that into our faith, and we can be so close to the finish line that we forfeit the promises of God because we haven't allowed community or persevering through some things to help us to get over it.

So I just want to encourage everybody in here that maybe you've dealt with some obstacles and some things that you feel like, man, like it seems like my breakthrough is just so far away.

You're closer than you think you are.

Don't you give up, use that same energy that you used when you needed to finish school, use that same energy that you needed to use when you're chasing down that girl that you was checking out.

I see you.

Whatever you needed to do to get after it, keep that same energy because I promise you that your breakthrough is on the other side.

Yeah.

Do you want me to get the podium now, or are you good?

Nate, you know what, man?

I don't even need a podium again.

All right.

So one of the one of the unquote unquote uncomfortable things maybe about community could be is speaking truth to one another.

And and and I think um the first foundation for being able to be truthful to one another is uh a true connection, a true friendship.

And and kind of when we were thinking about this, you brought up uh David and and the prophet Nathan.

Hello.

Uh and and I think that's such a such a great story to I thought of that passage because I knew we would be doing this.

Well, I appreciate that.

I wanted to throw a throwback to your own.

It means gift of God.

So well, you know, so Jen, good luck with that.

Um so so so here's the thing about about truth and and and accountability.

We we recognize that we we all want to to be around people that's gonna help us to be better.

We want someone that's gonna come in and be our biggest cheerleaders.

Absolutely.

We we all we all want that.

However, you also want someone that's going to sometimes making you better is letting you know that you're not good right now.

And I think sometimes we could be obsessed with wanting people to speak life, but I think what healthy community is, is speaking life also means identifying death.

Yeah, and and you need to have people in your life that can say, hey man, I see what you're doing, this is a good thing, but here's some adjustments that you need to make because I see the potential that's in you.

And so, of course, like if you're familiar with King David, um, the David who wrote so many of the Psalms, who who's this man that God has defined himself as being a man after his own heart.

Well, well, David, he he saw this chick named Bathsheba.

And come on, Nate, he pursued her.

He saw her in the distance, and it wasn't good enough that she was in the distance, so he pursued her, he put some things in place, and then he had this adulterous affair with with Bathsheba.

And then when she gets pregnant, and then the drama begins to unfold, he tries to cover it up, it gets even more complicated, ends up having her husband killed, it's a whole Messy situation.

But now he's on the other side of it.

He's trying to move forward.

He feels like he's covered his tracks.

But then there's this prophet Nathan who's aware of all this stuff and he confronts him about it.

He's like, I'm not going to cosign this.

I know that you're king.

I know that you're God's anointed.

But I also need to point some things out to you, bro, to let you know that, man, you're way out of line.

And sometimes it feels a little uncomfortable.

But how many of us know that David got better?

Because you know what can happen is we can live in a place of perpetual sin and we can begin to a place where the lack of accountability makes us believe that that's God's endorsement, and that we can find ourselves going down a path that causes a much more of a deeper ripple effect than if someone who we have a relationship with spoken to us earlier and kind of put us back on track.

It's so important to have people that can show up and say, Man, I see life in you, but you're also doing some things that can result in death.

I think 10.

Am I getting it right?

Okay.

The verse right before the one you you highlighted, I was looking at that this week and it says, Let us consider how we may spur one another onward toward love and good deeds.

And I had this visual of a spur.

Like I don't know if anybody, that's like old country, like I don't even know if anybody knows that any day, like today, but um the concept of a spur, I was thinking about like, oh, first time I've ever read the scripture and thought about that.

It's like a helpful, like, nudge to move forward.

And I was like, man, I I really think if we can think about that sometimes in those moments, right before those uncomfortable conversations, because a lot of times you see someone's blind spot before, that's why they're called a blind spot.

Um, and we're so scared.

We want to be this loving person, but then we forget the side of no, that actually moves them forward, that takes them from where they are.

And if we're honest, we all want to move forward, we all want to improve, but it requires that little helpful nudge to continue to move forward, not debilitate, like there's a definite difference.

But if you're not around people, that if you can look backward and see that you guys have moved forward together, that's probably not a faith community that is spurring you onward.

And I think we've all there's been times in my life, honestly, that I've looked back and thought, I thought it was in good community, but I really think we were just bonding over bitterness or bonding over this.

And and we may have all loved God, but we were not making God the center of our conversations, and we were not spurring each other forward.

And so that's some of the stuff that you have to examine about are you moving forward?

I love how you said that because that was one of the things I always desired to have sisters in my life.

Like, if if you're a female, like immediately I'm like, You're my sister.

And I would do that so often.

And so I I picked, I chose the wrong people.

And so it was heartbreak after heartbreak.

And sometimes I wanted to build up walls and said, I'm never talking to girls again.

It's just me and my family and God, you know.

Um, but I I had to pray about it.

I started to make a prayer.

I said, God, send me people like me who are positive, who love God, who will challenge me, who are there going to be with me through thick and thin.

And when I started praying those prayers, I didn't start seeking them, God started sending them.

So I stopped pursuing relationships and started letting God send them to me so I can know which ones I needed to have in my life.

That's good.

That's good.

I mean, I guess we can give it up for that, right?

We can give it up for that for sure.

You know, I I think one of the key things you said was was really was really key, which was um really trusting God to bring it into your life.

Because if we're honest with ourselves, if we if we solely build it upon our comfort or our preference, we can pursue the things that may not necessarily be the best for us.

They can they may they may create a codependency or or something that's unhealthy.

So I like the idea of praying and being open to the people that God sends into your life, and they come in all different contexts, but you begin to recognize why God has brought them in your life in the first place.

That's really good.

Yeah, speaking of prayer, one of the coolest things about having that group of friends or that community is the prayer aspect of it.

I I when I used to uh teach one of our uh next step classes, I used to always let people know that being able to send out a group text at any moment and know that six or seven guys are gonna be praying for me at the drop of the hat is just so encouraging.

Even if you can't pray yourself, just knowing that a community around you, wherever they are, they were gonna stop what they were doing and pray for you.

It's just such a great feeling to be a part of that.

I think I think that's one of the crucial components of our walk with God is knowing that people really do have your back.

Um, depending on your background, depending on your friendship context, all those things.

But when you know that, man, I can I can be vulnerable with somebody, they're gonna support me, they're gonna speak truth to me.

But when I ask them to pray, they're really gonna pray, they're gonna follow up to see how I'm doing.

Like that's that's called soul care.

That's people that really, really do have your best interest at heart.

And so I think that's one of the things that I've loved about getting connected to community.

But but if you look at the the progressive process of of being vulnerable, but then allowing people to hold you accountable.

I remember our first group, Megan, that we went to.

Um, so again, we we came from a different church context.

So when we came to Celebration Church, I guess almost 15 years ago, um, and we were we were okay, like we were hearing the pastors talk about groups, kind of like how I am right now.

I never thought that would be the guy saying, get in the group, and then there was, I was sitting in the seats like, nah, man, I'm good.

Like I re I I know exactly where you are.

I was literally in your seats.

Um, but I remember there was a season where like we were like, okay, you know what?

Let's begin to pursue some things.

And so we decided to go to a group, and our first group was what?

Financial Peace University.

FPU, come on, shout out to Dave Ramsey.

So so we went to we went to Financial Peace University, and and I remember just that that feeling of like, man, you know, money is a funny thing.

You don't want to get into all that type of stuff, but you nonetheless, I knew that we needed to get some wisdom on how to move.

Wait a minute, let me tell you about Keith.

Keith said, Don't tell them our business.

We're going in there and we're not gonna say anything, we're just gonna learn what they're gonna teach us.

So next week I'm gonna be talking about when your wife should be silent.

Um she just threw me under the bus.

But but for real, I mean, but again, that speaks to the to the vulnerability.

I'm like, man, like listen, I knew that I had made some made I made some mistakes with our finances.

In other words, your boy jacked some things up.

So I'm like, I don't want to go in, I don't want nobody judging me.

Like, bro, what did you do?

You bought a new Xbox, but you didn't pay the light bill.

What's wrong with you?

Like, you need electricity for the Xbox.

Okay, anyway, so so I didn't want to be put in a position where we where I had to deal with that.

So for me, I'm thinking, I got under control, we'll go ahead, we'll get some basic information, and then we'll we'll leave from there.

But I didn't anticipate the community and the life transformation that would take place, not only just from being around other people, but from the content.

But I remember we had to we had to pursue it, and literally, this is like 12, 13 years later, I'm still we still have relationships with a lot of those people.

We still um I still know all the steps that Dave Ramsey has laid out.

Like I s and here's the thing it took me years to put them all into place, but now you begin to have this this rhythm of success.

You begin to get the your breakthrough.

So it's again, it's understanding that me showing up at the group doesn't mean there's gonna be this instant transfer where everything works out.

Like literally, it's a group we went to over a decade ago, and we're still seeing it work itself out in our lives, but the seed was planted, and when we had to continue to cultivate it, and now we're beginning to see the um the results of it.

Yeah, Lindsay, uh gonna put you on the spot here.

Okay, but I know what group you're doing, and I read the description of it, and you may have like 40 people sign up for it now, but can you kind of share a little bit about what you're doing?

Because it's not only unique, but it's super powerful.

Okay, yeah.

Well, and and to kind of piggyback, like sometimes this may seem when you were saying, I can't believe I'm the person now that's like telling pitching people.

We've talked about this in our in our like behind the church staff conversations, and we've said like we don't want to pitch it because it's not like we don't get some reward or like prize for getting a certain amount of people signed up.

Not true.

We always want to actually give you a raise if we get more people.

Never mind, I take that back.

But honestly, we've experienced actual change from community.

So we feel compelled as the church to provide opportunities for connection, and so and we've been talking about we've got to switch the mindset from hey, this is where you show up and everything's gonna be handed to you and all of your community issue problems are solved.

Absolutely not.

This is just um a starting point, a catalyst, a beginning place that we're gonna create some space.

But if you already have some of that, I mean I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but that's awesome that you have that community.

You don't have to always sign up for a church group in order to experience a faith community.

Okay, so I'm gonna move on about the um the group.

I I I have been scared to lead a group, honestly.

I've waited for a long time.

And honestly, if I'm being transparent, it's because of that I need to be vulnerable with the people, but I'm scared as the church staff person to be completely open.

Like it just feels weird sometimes.

But God kicked me in the butt this time.

So I'm gonna do one.

It's called um mama bear apologetics, and it's basically I have two little boys, two and four months, and I feel ever more so than ever, this intense burden to make sure that they understand the truth of God's word because what society is telling us is good and bad, and that stuff ebbs and flows with the culture, right?

But if they can know God's word through and through, true, what is black and white, then regardless of what the society is saying, they can take it and apply it, and that becomes the filter in which they see whatever culturally is being pushed.

Because there's always good in some of the stuff that culture is trying to push, but it's not always holy God or true, yes.

So um it's called Mama Bear Apologetics.

We're gonna do a hybrid kind of uh group where I understand bedtimes are very important.

So after the bedtime, babes are asleep.

We can talk about this book chapter by chapter, but then I want to do like Saturday play date meetups because COVID, like at this point, I'm ready for my child to have some social interaction.

So uh yeah, so I'm just excited, but yeah, it's it's basically me where I'm at walking with God, and I just want to open up the circle a little bit and have the conversation with like-minded people.

Yeah, and and I think for those that are that are watching online too, like you're not excluded from this.

You know, we understand that you may have family members that uh you know you want to protect, or maybe you yourself are are vulnerable and and or and you need to stay away from from gatherings.

Like, we're gonna have options for you to be able to do that.

Um, I I loved what you said about the groups part of it, um, because it's not just about groups.

I think the ultimate goal is that the church never offers groups because we're so enthralled with community that we don't need them.

We don't we don't need to push them because everybody's already naturally uh has a like a propensity to be in community with one another.

Does that make sense?

It's like we don't need serving teams because everybody just shows up and they want to serve, you know, like I we don't have to push it.

So I think for for the overall big church, the big C church, that that's kind of our hope and our goal for that.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think what we what we realize is that you know, we're we're in the 21st century, and and there's a tension that that I often feel as a pastor and understanding that you know we refer to scriptures, and while we know that scriptures can transcend time, culturally there may be some things that were relevant then that may not be as relevant now, and the reason why they were there is because of the time in which it was birthed.

So when we think about how church is functioning now, we have teams, we have all these components that allow us to organize and create these convenient structures that we all need in the 21st century.

But the problem is we never wanted the system to become the thing.

We never wanted to be about like, hey, we need to get you in groups.

So this is when we have our group semester, and when and you get connected to a group, and when a group is over, you never talk to the people again.

Like that was just simply meant to be an easy way because we have so many new people that show up and on-ramp for them to get connected, but it's never meant for it to have an expiration date.

So, yeah, to your point, Nate, yes, we have to have these things in place just so that people can have a clear starting point.

But the our heart's desire is that, yeah, people can show up and serve, people can show up and get connected to community.

That's the way that it was in the early church, as I refer back to that, as people showed up and that God began to use them in the context of community.

So the end-all-be-all wasn't the large local gathering like what we're doing now, it was the smaller communities that were taking place outside of what we would typically do on a Sunday.

That's the that's the power of the church.

That's what's transformational.

So when we referred to that text in Hebrews chapter 10, talking about forsaking the gathering as other many as others have, it wasn't about them coming together exclusively on a Sunday to one large gathering and that's it.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

It was actually the community of faith that was meeting in different people's living rooms and homes, and then they would all come together to celebrate what God was doing in these small communities, and so their services were turning into revivals because you would see the woman, not just hear someone tell a story about somebody who got healed, but it's like, hey, we prayed for this woman in this living room.

She has sight.

Here she is, she's gonna tell you her story, and people would celebrate what God was doing.

Like that is what the church was supposed to be.

So let me just put it to you plain.

Church is not a performance, we're not here to put on a show.

What we want to do is make sure that the activity of God is happening in your homes, and when we come together, there's such a vibrancy and an excitement, and we're sharing the activity of God that people walk away feeling vibrant, they walk away feeling filled, they go back into their communities, they celebrate it.

God does things in your homes, we celebrate it in the church.

The church shouldn't be the only location where you experience a move of God.

That should be happening amongst your community.

Yeah, and and speaking of a transformational, you know, we kind of touched on it at the beginning, but there's all types of community out in the world, obviously.

You can get in in any type of group that you want to get into.

You can be in a biker gang, for goodness sake, you know, but um, which I'm getting my harley soon, hopefully.

But the difference with the church is the missing ingredient in the world is the Holy Spirit.

Yes.

And and the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that that that separates that veil between people and that brings us together.

And so we want to create a space for you right now.

Maybe you don't know Jesus, maybe you've tried groups before out in the world and and and it's not clicking, it's not working.

What's the missing ingredient and it's your relationship with Jesus Christ?

Absolutely.

I I think that's the that's the key component because we can have we have types of community, like you said.

We have we have communities that may gather around the same college we went to, around the same sports team, go Philadelphia Eagles.

We have community that are built around these varying things that we have a passion for, but the Holy Spirit is the thing that really brings life transformation.

The Holy Spirit is that component that allows us to work through things because here's the here's the tension that we run into with communities that are birthed in the world.

We have common ground, we have agreement, but the moment that we don't have common ground, the moment that we don't have agreement, then I just walk away from that community and go to another one.

Do you do you like I mean when you read when you read the early church, again, here is referring to the early church.

Back then, you didn't just get up and leave a church because you didn't like the worship set.

Like it it was like if it was like a big deal because you know what you had to do, you had to have the maturity to work through it.

We're gonna sit down, we're gonna pray, we're gonna agree to disagree, we're gonna work through some things, we're gonna figure it all out, we're gonna discern what God is doing, and we're gonna navigate through it.

What I think happens a lot of times in other environments, we've just gotten used to this, hey, you know what?

I don't like what that person tweeted, let me unfollow.

Now we allow that same psychology to work its way into relationships, work its way into the church, work its way into community where we're like, hey, I'm just gonna unfollow that.

I don't like that.

That's never been the way the community of faith is supposed to function.

So when it talks about being the ministers of reconciliation, that we're gonna be preaching about that in a couple of weeks, but that was like you have to stand there, have uncomfortable conversations and work through the difficulty, and you only can do that with the Holy Spirit.

That's what makes the faith community different than every other one, is that it actually challenges you to work through your differences and to become better together instead of going into your isolated corner, continuing to stay connected to your own personal think group that doesn't challenge you to actually see another perspective and you have people amen in you because you all are preaching to the same choir.

I think what the faith community is supposed to be is that I can recognize that we may have different perspectives, different voting habits, different upbringings, but as the community of faith and with the Holy Spirit, it compels us to work it out because that is what Jesus has commanded us to do.

That's that's what I love about the faith community is that it doesn't allow us to have an easy exit strategy.

So what I realize is that in moments like this, where where you may be sitting in here with us right now, you you may be you may be visiting here, somebody may have dragged you here, you may be here because you want to be here.

It could be a multitude of reasons.

You could be watching online right now, and and maybe the thing that you're missing right now is you recognize that you're not in a faith community because you haven't placed your faith in Jesus as of yet.

What I want to make sure that we do is we understand that that the ability to have healthy relationships around us all starts with having our vertical relationship right first, and that's our relationship with Jesus.

You see, I think the thing that's really important for us to understand is that when we talk about relationships, that our our most important relationship is our relationship with God.

And what Jesus did, you know, when we think about the community of faith and how Adam and Eve, when they when they were given the opportunity to steward this beautiful environment that God had created, that ultimately when they decided to do things their way, when they decided to partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, when they decided to go in a way that's distant from God, what we call that is that was an act of rebellion.

And with that subtle act of rebellion, we as human beings, we inherited that rebellious nature.

We inherited our sin nature.

So if you ever heard a preacher say, Hey man, we're born in sin, you're like, man, what did I do?

I was just born, I didn't even do anything.

Well, the same way that you inherit things from your family, you inherited it, oh, you got your mom's eyes, you got your mom's nose.

Well, as human beings, we inherited a sinful nature as a result of Adam and Eve.

We inherited that rebellious nature.

But then God makes it available to us.

He makes us, he gives us an opportunity to change our inheritance, where we can go from inheriting to that sinful nature to inheriting the life that God wants us to live.

And according to John 10, 10, that's a life of abundance.

That's exactly what God, He wants us to live a life of freedom and wholeness, and not living this fractured life where we're going from different sources to try to get the thing that we can all get from Jesus.

So when God sends Jesus to die in our place, to live a life and to model what does it mean to be a true follower, a person who images God in a healthy way, now all we have to do is place our faith in Him, His finished work, position ourselves and walk in the shadow of His finished work.

And as a result of that, we're able to inherit the free life and the eternal life that God has given us.

That's the beautiful thing about the gospel.

And every week we we have different messages with different topics, but it all brings us to that point of are you in the right relationship with Jesus?

That's what this moment is all about.

And so what I want to do is I want to pose that question to us right now, for everyone that's in here.

Maybe, maybe right now, if you were to do inventory of your heart, as I often say, you just recognize that you're away from God.

You know that your relationship with God is one that you've been probably doing things in your own way, and it doesn't mean that you didn't have a relationship with God at one point.

It just means that right now you know that you're away from God.

We want to create this space that gives you an opportunity to change your inheritance, to reposition yourself so that you can be walking in the favor and blessing that God has for you.

So if that's you, I want to I want to take a moment to just pause.

I want to invite the worship team to come up, and I'm gonna ask our team, you guys can go ahead and take your seats.

But I'm gonna ask the rest of us just in a moment of sobriety, in a moment of just soberness, in a moment of just prayer and reflection, begin to think a little bit about where about where you are, about your relationship with Jesus and the being a part of the community of faith.

If you know right now that that right now that you're you're not in right relationship with Jesus, that that you haven't fully submitted your life to Him, maybe you've confessed it, maybe you've lifted a hand, maybe you've prayed a prayer, but right now you know that you're not walking in the shadow of the finished work of Christ.

And as a result of that, you're kind of doing things in your own way.

We want to create a space for you to simply change your inheritance.

So with every head bowed and with every eye closed, I want to I want to lead us in a prayer.

I want to lead us in this moment where I think we're gonna have an opportunity to really experience this transition that God has for every single one of us.

This is the beautiful thing about the song we were singing earlier, about knowing that that we're all welcome at this table that Jesus has beautifully laid out for us.

So if that's you, you're ready to commit or possibly recommit your life to Christ with soberness, with with sensitivity, with with patience and with poise.

I want you to confidently just lift your hand up on account of three, just saying, I am I am ready to be part of God's community of faith, being a part of God's family.

One, two, three.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you, amen.

If you're joining us online, you can respond in the chat, but make sure you reach out to us at the end of service.

For those of us that are that are in this room, and we had several hands that went up just now.

Can we celebrate with everyone that is that is making that decision to make Jesus their their Lord and their Savior?

Man, I am I am so so proud of you.

I I couldn't be more excited.

You know, I I remember over 20 years ago sitting in the seat that you're sitting in, being raised in a Christian family, but but knowing that God had had began to nudge and stir my heart, to reorient myself, and and I began to think through what are the things I'm gonna have to give up, what is my life gonna look like?

I've I've built an entire life doing things on my own terms, but I know that God is compelling me to do something different, but I what I Loved is the moment that I surrendered, I got out of my own head and I allowed the Spirit of God to lead me, and it was the best decision that I've ever made.

I want to I want to commend and celebrate with every single one of you.

And the beautiful thing is, you don't have to do this journey on your own.

We've just spent the past 30 minutes talking about the power of community.

And while the church I was a part of didn't have organized groups in the way we're talking about it, we had a very strong, faith-filled community that walked alongside Megan and I both that allowed us to understand what does it mean to now be a son and daughter of God in the family of faith.

People that spoke truth to us, that encouraged us, that kept us accountable, that helped us to grow in our faith, and what does it look like to forsake all else and to truly walk this journey out with God?

That's what's available to every single one of us.

And I want to let you know that it's your church community.

We want to make that available to every one of us.

So whether you said yes to God for the first time today, or maybe you said yes to God, but you haven't connected to community and really walking that out.

Either way you put it, I want to let you know that your church family is here for you.

We're gonna go back into worship in just a moment.

So what I want to do is I want to ask us all to stand on our feet as we prepare to do that.

And I want to lead us in a simple prayer.

And if you've been around us for any period of time, you know that I don't believe that the prayer is the thing that saves us, but I do believe that it's our it's our belief, it's our faith, it's the posture of our heart that has the ability to transform our location.

So all of us as a family, as a community, even if you're watching us at home online, listen to this message maybe even later.

If you're making that decision, I want you to pray this prayer.

But for all of us, I want us all to pray this prayer together, helping along those who are possibly praying it for the first time, or welcoming someone back into the family that has left it.

But as a family, let's all pray this together.

Repeat after me.

Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins.

I believe that you died on the cross and that you rose from the dead, and it's because of that belief I am now a part of the community of faith.

Fill me with your spirit and order my steps in Jesus' name.

I truly believe that if you prayed that prayer from your heart, that you have now confessed Christ over your life, and that you've now gone from darkness into life, from death into life, and you are part of the community of faith.

In just a moment, Pastor Mike's gonna come up and he's gonna give you some next steps on ways that you can get connected to our community and the resources that we have to help you along.

I believe that this is the best decision that you ever could make.

But before we go back into worship, I want to pray a blessing over every one of us, believing that God has a community for us that's gonna strengthen us, that's gonna hold us accountable and encourage us.

So I want us all to lift our hands up as a sign of surrender and receiving what I believe God's gonna do as we go back into worship.

Lord, you see every hand that's lifted.

And God, as we discuss, we know that we are better together.

You never intended for us to live life on our own terms and in our own isolated silos.

God, there is no lone wolf in the kingdom of God.

So, Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that you begin to stir our hearts to pursue a faith-filled community, to get connected to other individuals who are in similar seasons as us, whether we're looking at someone that can help us to grow in our finances, people that can help can come alongside us in our marriage, Father, people who can just help strengthen our faith, or even if it's just relationship, God, whatever that may be, I pray that you stir our hearts so we can get connected to the right people.

That's gonna help us to be the best version of ourselves that you called us to be.

So, Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray that every barrier, that every obstacle, that every excuse begins to melt away as we passionately pursue everything that you have for us, including the community that is gonna help us to grow and to thrive.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Let's worship.

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