Live at the Pace of Love // Unstoppable series (part 6) // Pastor Drew

Amen. Come on. Can we give a

hand for the band, for the Lord, for

what he's doing, guys? It is Memorial

Day weekend. Isn't that incredible? I

don't know about you guys, it's like,

man, that snuck up. That came up so

quick. I thought it was March and uh

it's almost

June. We are uh and and I want to I want

to take there's a couple different

things that this means. This means that

number one uh we had last week we just

celebrated our new life Sunday. We saw

12 children dedicated and 17 people get

commit and declare their commitment to

the Lord through baptism. Just

incredible. Just absolutely incredible.

I uh we were on just a high all week

long getting to celebrate all the things

that God has been doing and uh how

baptisms declare the the

stories that I don't know necessarily

everybody's story and exactly what it

looks like. Right? Sometimes you may

have a moment where you go this is the

Sunday that I decided that I'm going to

follow Jesus. And sometimes it's like I

it was sometime between March and June

that I just I just knew it right. And so

the baptism is the moment between all

those things that we get to celebrate

and things that are like I think we're

getting it that we get to celebrate

these transformations and uh and and I I

want to make sure that we do that and

that we celebrate this together. Uh but

then it also means that next

weekend we're not here. We are at

Millard North Middle School. And so

we're going to be moving for June and

July. All the Sundays in June and July,

we're going to be at Millard North

Middle School. And next week, we got a

location launch. We're going to have a

bunch of fun stuff right after service.

So, it's a perfect opportunity to invite

friends. There's going to be a lot of

guests there, so it's like, hey, you

aren't going to be the only new person.

It's going to be the perfect opportunity

to invite families, kids. We got fun

stuff that we're going to be planning.

And uh it's it's great to be able to

whenever you switch things up, let's use

it as a win for the kingdom. Amen. And

so that's what we're going to do next

week. Uh so you can show up here, but

then you got a short drive down to 144th

in center, about 140th and center, and

you'll see us right there. Uh but this

weekend is Memorial Day weekend, and

honor is a principle that we want to

make sure that we operate by here at

Collective. and I want to make sure that

we honor those in this room. So, I got a

couple different I got three different

uh groups that I want to honor in here.

First of all, I do want to honor I know

it's not necessarily the the specific

theme of Memorial Day, but I want to

honor anyone who is serving or has

served active duty or veterans. Can you

stand up in the room real quick? Can we

just I want to honor Thank you guys.

Come on. Come

on. Come on. Thank

you. And then I wanna I I want to stay

standing. But what I want to do is I

want to if if you are in this room and

you have lost a loved one, could be a

family member, could be a friend, could

be something. If you've lost a loved one

uh or and and that's what you are

commemorating and you are celebrating

this memorial day and going I am

remembering though the loved ones that I

have lost. Would you stand up now as

well and put your put a hand up as well?

Put a little hand up. Thank you so that

we can see. Come on. Can we give a thank

you? I want to honor you guys. I thank

you for standing in the gap.

And then one of the things that I have

stay standing, you can have your hands

down. But what I want to do here is one

of the things that I have been most

marked by this last

year

specifically is not only those who have

been lost so that we may operate in

freedom so that we may be here right

now. So that all the simple things that

we take advantage of and take for

granted every single day are afforded to

us. Not only those who have been lost,

but that which has been lost. For those

of you who have served, for those of you

who are family members of those who have

served as well, have have lost time with

family. Oftentimes, mental health,

there's new struggles, whether it's PTSD

or whatever it may be. There's there's

things that have been

lost. And if and and if you go, man,

from serving, there's no greater love

than to lay one's life down for a

friend. And to serve is to say, I'm

willing. I'm willing and I make that

commitment.

And that's where we see this incredible

love that there's no one loves that who

who loves their nation quite like

someone who has signed up to say I would

I'll give my life if it comes down to

it. And uh and for those of you who may

have said I may not have lost my

life. I may not maybe I haven't lost a

friend. Maybe you have. But for those of

you who

say there has been that which has been

lost, I have whether it's mental

illness, whether it is a family member,

whether it is a friend, whether it is uh

whether it is time with family. If you

go, man, I have it has cost me something

because of myself or a family member

serving in the military. Would you stand

up as well? And I want to commemorate

this as well. Come on. If you for that

which has been lost. Come on. Thank you.

Come on. Anybody else? I know we got

some more. Thank you

guys because it says sacrifice for more.

And I want to declare a blessing. I want

to declare a blessing. Heavenly Father,

I thank you. I thank you God that the

things that cost us the most are the

things that carry the most value. And so

Lord, in the mighty name of Jesus, I

just pray a blessing over every person

here. for those who have lost loved ones

for the sake of freedom. For those who

have given of themselves and have served

or are serving right now. And Lord, for

those who have lost

something, Lord, we offer it not not to

this

nation. We offer it to you. We offer

that which has been lost to you. We say,

"Father God, would you redeem? Would you

restore? Would you, the one who takes

that which the enemy meant for evil and

turns it for good, would you do exactly

that here?" I thank you, God, that these

do not have to be sacrifices that are

made without cause, but they are

sacrifices made for the cause of a

nation and for the cause can be made for

the cause of a kingdom as well. And so,

we give it all to you. We surrender all

of it to you. We release it. We release

unforgiveness. We release bitterness.

God, I pray that there would be a

healing of mental illness in this room.

God, I pray there would be a healing of

PTSD. Lord, I pray a release of those

things in the mighty name of Jesus. I

thank you, Father. In the mighty name of

Jesus, we all prayed. Amen. Come on. Can

we give one more hand? Thank you guys.

You can be seated.

So, summer is officially here and uh and

it doesn't feel like it. I was thinking

we'd be swimming or something this

weekend. We're going to be I'm like

bundling up this weekend. It's a little

bit different, but summer summer is

here. School is out and uh and it is

it's a time now collective this is a

this is a unique time. Collective

church, if you're not on a team, you may

not know this. We operate in seasons and

we kind of treat each season uh

according to the school year usually a

little bit differently in our fall

season, a summer season and a spring a

winter spring season that that we just

operate. We restart groups, we have new

classes and this week we have a new uh

marriage class that is starting. If you

have not signed up for that and your

marriage is not perfect, then you're

missing out. Please jump into that. Uh

we may even have a QR code here for

signing up for that. That's Tuesday

evenings. Uh but there's so we we get

these restarts that we

do. And it's intentionally for being

able to go I want to treat each season

according to what God is doing right

now, not just according to what we are

doing right now. And we're doing summer

a little bit differently. Our schedule

at Collective, our calendar is more is

is more cleared than any other summer

we've had. And I want to do this, we're

doing this intentionally.

We're doing this intentionally because

uh what what I want to do is anytime

that you get out of a groove, I don't

know about you guys, if you ever start

to get into like finally I've got my

Bible reading, I got my prayer. I'm in

this groove. I've got some habits. I'm

working out at the right at the right

pace and the rate that I'm trying to

work out. And then we get vacation. And

then I get time off of work. And then I

got whether it's a trip or whether it's

whatever it may be, then my schedule

just changes and it flips it all on its

head and I got to start

over. I got to start. So what I've what

I've learned is that I got to pre-start

new habits in preparation for those

changes that I know are going to be

coming. And that's what I want us to do.

I want us to treat and operate in these

habits in different ways. And I want us

to treat this season with

intentionality. So this Sunday is going

to be a little bit of vision. It's going

to be a little bit of preaching. It's

going to be a little bit of both. But

what I want for us to do is I want for

us to look at if there is one

thing, one thing that we want to focus

on that you want to focus on this summer

for your personal spiritual growth, what

is it going to be?

What is the thing that you say, man, at

the end of the summer, it's easy to use

summer as a coast. And what happens is

you get in this summer spiritual slump

and you kind of get stuck and you're

like, man, where's that fervor I once

had? So, what what is the thing? And and

and just take a second and go, man, God,

what do you want to grow in me this

summer? And how can I do that? Maybe

maybe I want to find someone. Maybe I'm

not in a group, but I want to talk to my

group host and I want to build a go out

for coffee every week or two and take

some time to just ask questions and grow

in disciplehip. Maybe that's something

that you want to grow in and and we got

a we got a disciplehip form. If you want

to be if you want to find a spiritual

mentor, you can go online and find that

form and go, I I I want to figure out

someone who can help to build me up and

I I don't know how to live this thing

out. Maybe that's it. But what I also

want to do is I want to ask at

Collective Church, what is going to be

our thing that we want to make sure

we're focusing on and we're growing in

specifically this summer. And so that

makes me in in the church world, there's

a lot of different things that you want

to see your church be good at, right?

When you go and you visit church, maybe

this is your first time and you're like,

"Hey, I want to make sure that the word

is being preached. I want to make sure

that this is a place where I can I can

grow. I want to make sure that they're

following the Holy Spirit. These are

good things. I want to make sure that

the people are nice, right? There's a

lot of good thing things that we want to

be good at in church. I want to make

sure the disciplehip is a big thing that

we do. That people have an avenue and

have connection with others to be able

to grow spiritually that we may mutually

encourage each other into closeness and

nearness to Christ. I want to make sure

that we're doing that. I want to make

sure that we have evangelistic efforts

that we are reaching out to those who

are not in this building that need to be

in the family of God, right? We want to

make sure that we are outreaching to our

city and just loving and serving our

city. We want to make sure that we have

our our our fingerprint all over the

world and seeing the lost and those who

have no access to the gospel be able to

get access to the gospel. We want to see

the we want to see all this stuff

happen. We want to help those who are in

need, right? We want to have compassion

things that when storms or tragedies

come and that's why we support Convoy of

Hope who can come in and and help in in

tragedies and moments like we want we

but there's so

much what is the

thing what is the one thing that it all

boils down to that if we if we hit that

on the

head we can as a church go okay I know I

may have missed a lot But I didn't miss

this. What is the one thing we want to

nail down? We'll see

this again and again and again and

again. It's actually repeated in

scripture. We've got a lot of different

passages here. It starts in Deuteronomy

that I want to go through. Deuteronomy 6

Deuteronomy 6:5

verse 5. We can get these passages

pulled up. Deuteronomy 6:5 says, "Love

Deuteronomy 6:5

the Lord your God with all your heart,

all your soul, all and all your

strength." Jesus in his ministry in

Matthew chapter 22, he says, "Love the

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

Lord your God with all your heart, soul,

and all your mind." Sound familiar,

right? This is the greatest commandment.

The second is like it. Love your

neighbor as yourself. When he's asked,

"What's the most important

thing? Love God. Love your neighbor."

Verse 40, all the law and the prophets

hang on these two commandments. John 13,

when Jesus is talking with his disciples

the night before he's about to be

betrayed, arrested, crucified, says, "A

new command I give you. I'm updating

this one that I just gave you." Matthew

22. A new command. Love one another, not

just as you love yourself, but as I have

loved you, so you must love one another.

And then he follows it up with, "By

this, people will know that you are my

disciples. People will know you're a

Christian by how you attend

church."

No. People will know you're a Christian

by how often you

smile. No way. People will know you're a

Christian by that cross necklace that

you wear and the tattoo that you got.

and make sure that you wear the right

brand that that's got of of clothes

that's got a message about Jesus on

it. No, they will know you are my

disciples by how you love. And he keeps

going. Keeps going. Next slide. Here we

go. In everything, do to others what you

would have them do to you. This is the

summary of all the laws, of all the

rules, all the prophets, the messages

that have come from God. That's the

summary. Now, these three things remain.

1 Corinthians 13, faith, hope, and love.

But the greatest of these is, come on,

whoever does

not does not know God because God

is I'd say, and then Galatians 5 hits on

this real

well. Says, the entire law is fulfilled

in keeping this one command. Love your

neighbor as yourself.

If you don't, if you're not catching the

drift, love isn't just a big deal. Love

is the big

deal. And what I want to do is I want to

ask

uh I want us to ask us a couple

questions

because if we look at how are we graded

based in our in our faith, what is what

does Christ look for in us? First

Corinthians talks about I could do all

these things. I could preach the

greatest sermon of all time, but if I

have not love, I'm just making noise,

right? I could serve in the most

selfless ways, but if I do it without

love, it's pointless. It's endless. It

has no no real power to it. Love is the

big deal.

Jesus says he gives he gives stories

about and parables about uh at at

judgment day and you're meeting Jesus

and he says either I did know you or I

never knew you and it's based on a

couple things you see one first of all

it's based on how you loved others when

you loved these people you were doing

that for me your extravagant love is

what he and even when he say I did not

know you. It's this Greek word gnosco

which means to like intimately

powerfully know that is more relative to

a husband and wife than to just like oh

I know that person. Yeah, we used to we

used to go to the same bank and I'd run

into them every Monday morning, right?

Like no it's it's this I know you. It's

this deep intimate knowing of a person

and that is that's what he's asking for.

It's all rooted in

love. And so if we are

to if if Jesus says this is a big deal

and it all sums up everything, then I

want to ask you guys question number

one is how would you rate yourself on a

scale of one to 10? 10 being the most or

one of the most loving people that I've

ever met. Right? So, reasonably

speaking, right? We're not talking about

Jesus, not perfection. We're all a 02,

right? Or like one like we're just we're

nothing. But but loving and like the one

of the most loving people I've ever met.

That's that's

10. And you don't have to you don't have

to say it out loud. You don't have to go

9.9 baby. Right? Like you don't have to

you don't have to do that, right?

Because I would automatically dock you

right

there. But just think about it on a

scale of 1 to 10 of a reasonable like

imperfect person level of love. Like how

well do I do with that? Where would I

put myself on that

scale? And now number

two, where would the people that you see

every week put you on that

scale. Watch out because things get

real. Usually for the majority of us,

it's like I'm six, seven, eight. I'm

pretty I'm pretty loving, right? I'm

pretty dang good. How about the people

around

me? That coworker I got probably

wouldn't say too much about how well I I

mean, I'd probably be Are the negatives

allowed? Like

Where would you That's really love is an

expression. The thing about love that we

that we often miss is love the Lord your

God with your heart, soul, mind,

strength. And a lot of times in our

world, we love to summarize it just as

as with all of our heart. Do I feel an

emotion, a positive emotion towards that

person, towards that situation, towards

that thing? or do I express and give

love sacrificially? That's what love

looks

like. Love is an expression. So my grade

on one to 10, if I was to grade that is

actually, it's not my first number, it's

my second number that's actually more

real. how the co-workers that I have,

how my neighbors would grade me, how my

how how my associates, how my uh the the

people at the the coffee shop I go to,

how my fellow uh uh athletes at the gym

that I go to, how the the people in my

extracurriculars, the people that I run

into, my old friends, where would they

rate

me on a scale of 1 to 10? intend being

the most loving people, one of the most

loving people they've ever

met. And what I want to do is is if we

look at if we look at who collective is

and who do we want to be and what do we

want to focus on this summer? This is

what I want it to be. I want us to focus

on this summer loving more

extravagantly than we ever

have to every person that we see. But

I'll I'll talk more specifically about

how we're going to do that. See, I

believe that a church is most defined by

how it loves a person in the same way

that a person is judged by how we love

our love of the father and therefore our

love of

others. Right? That is that that's the

expression. So when when we look at

this, it's the same all the laws and the

prophets. Can we pull up Galatians 5?

Again, all the laws and the prophets are

summarized keeping this one command.

Love your neighbor as yourself. Now,

this was not in Galatians 5. This was

this was not a new thing of like,

whoa, that's it. That's the summary of

it all, right? Like, if you if you were

paying attention, this has been stated

for thousands of years since

Deuteronomy. One of the first laws that

is given, the greatest law that is given

is love God. Leviticus then gets into

love others as yourself. Jesus updates

this. He's highlighted this. But then

there's a really good question. And we

hit on this about four weeks ago or five

weeks ago I think it was in our series

Love into the Light when a a

a religious leader walks up to Jesus in

Luke chapter 10 and he

Luke 10 · chapter mention

says, "What does that

mean? What does it actually mean?" And

we walked through this passage a little

bit and and I want to I want to look at

not just what it means like what it

looks like but I want to look at how it

looks

specifically and how it's done. And so

Jesus gives this this story and he says

uh where is it? Love the Lord your God.

Keep going. Verse 30. Here we go. A man

was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho

and we see attacks by robbers. They

stripped him of his clothes, beat him

and went away, leaving him half dead. A

priest happened to be going down the

same road. And when he saw the man, he

passed by on the other side. A priest,

he's got work to do.

So to a Levite, a servant, a volunteer,

someone who is on a team at a church, a

Levite when he came to the place and saw

him passed by on the other side. But a

Samaritan as he traveled came to where

the man was. When he saw him, he took

pity on him. Verse 34, and it says he

went and bandaged his wounds. pouring on

oil and wine. He put on the man on his

own donkey, brought him to an inn, took

care of him. The next day, took out two

daenery, gave them to the inkeeper, look

after him. He pays for all of this. And

then he says, "Which of these three do

you

think was the neighbor to the man who

fell into the hand of robbers?" Well,

the one who had mercy on him. They

didn't even want to say the Samaritan.

They hate

Samaritans. And he says, "Go and do

likewise. go and do likewise. So, we we

hit on this, but I want to highlight

something that that we get from this

passage and that I see through the life

of

Jesus that I think one of the things

he's trying to say is not just be

compassionate, but for us to live at the

pace of

love. We need to live our lives at the

pace of love. And this is why I for us.

This is why we've paired back on the

calendar for the summer because it's a

unique

opportunity that I don't know about you

guys in the

wintertime I look at the we live on a

circle and I look at the houses around

me and I'm like if I didn't see their

car move in and out of their driveway I

wouldn't I wouldn't even be sure if they

were still alive. Right? winter time,

we're just like, unless I'm shoveling

the driveway, I don't see my neighbors.

I don't see the people around me. It's

just there's we we kind of got be stuck

inside a little bit. Summertime, it's

totally

different. In summertime, we get

opportunities, but what do we love to

do? We love to fill our calendar. We

love to still do all these. And usually,

it's very good stuff. I don't know what

it doesn't say. Jesus doesn't say in his

story what the priest was going to do,

what the Levite was going to do, but he

does say that he was heading down the

road. It's a typical road. There would

be it'd be common for people to be going

down. The priest was probably serving

down in Jericho in order to uh like like

if the king's going down there and then

they got sacrifices. Long story short,

but but he probably had a job that he

was going to go do. probably had a real

good reason to make sure he keeps going

on his

way. But I'm I'm

amazed about how love has a

pace. Love

has a pace, a

speed. It has a a literal way that you

carry

yourselves, that I walk, that I operate

in

life. That's

different. I can pace myself and I can

pace my life at the pace of love or I

can pay it pace it at my

speed. As I'm coming to you with some

serious conviction, the Lord has spoken

this to me uh for the last few weeks

when when as I'm prepping for this and

I'm like, man, I'm not good at this,

God.

I'm like, I got crap to do. I gotta

focus on this. I got to make sure that

I'm moving. And uh I got I got coffee

shops I love to go to. I got places that

I love to go and I love to be. And I'm

like, man, people just aren't as

talkative as they used to, right? Like I

was trying like I I I I think I try and

I just it's hard to make eye contact

with people. It's hard to get

conversation started. And I realized

that love has a pace and it's slower

than I

am. It's slower than I'm

moving. Why? Because I'd walk in, I'd

grab my coffee, I'd like kind of look

around any. No, no one wants to talk to

me right now. So, I'm going to find my

way to my seat, right? Like no one's

stopping me saying, "Hey, you let's talk

about Jesus." Right? No one's done that

to me. I don't know about you, but I

would love

that. It never

happens. And so for for me when I'm when

when I'm going I realized I think some

of the problem is I got this I got this

stride that's like four feet long and

I'm going in and I'm like where's my

coffee cup? Here we go. Where's my seat?

Not that one. Not There we go. I found

my seat. Here we go. I found it. Man,

people are just quiet today.

In the last few weeks, I've

intentionally gone, I'm going to take

two to three minutes at

least to get my coffee, to take my time

to not just walk up to the counter and

grab it, but kind of walk up

and hey, how you doing? Right? Like just

a couple seconds just to if they look at

Did I miss something? Are they looking

for something? And I just wanna I just

want to go

slowly because love has a pace and it's

slower than you

are. It's slower than I am. And you

might be surprised, but conversations

are popping up every single time

now. People have suddenly become much

more

kind. I've slowed

down. Love has a pace. You see this?

This is modeled in Jesus so many times

in the way that he he walks. He he he

walks slowly enough that a bleeding

woman can catch up to him through a busy

crowd and can touch his

clothes. He walks he he operates in

ministry slowly enough that blind

people travel faster than he does catch

up to him and stop him.

travels slowly enough that the majority

of his ministry is actually just

interruptions. And he allows for space

to be filled with nothing until it's

filled with people.

And that brings to the second part and

that that love has a

space and it's bigger than you're giving

it. Love has time in my

calendar. And the reason I think a big

reason why we're so disconnected right

now is because if I ever have a second

of awkward, I've already got a solution

to the awkward sitting in my back

pocket.

Because it's not weird to see someone

doing

this. It's not weird to to get stuck on

your phone and texting and calling or

scrolling or emailing or like I got I

got to keep up, right? In this world, we

want people to know they I'll never see

him again, but I want them to know I'm

busy. I think a believer is supposed to

be the exact opposite.

I think you should be able to see a

genuine follower of Jesus through a

crowd, but not the person who shows,

"Don't you see how busy I am for the

kingdom of God? Don't you see all I'm

doing for Jesus? I'm on my way to serve

for the third time today." Right? Like,

I am so spiritual.

I think you should be able to see him by

the person that's eyes up waiting for

eye contact walking a little bit slower.

I make margin in my

life. Not for phone, not to be filled

with

any but just for

whoever may be

interrupting right

now. That's what I want for this

summer. I don't know who got that text,

but that may be that that might have

been divine right there. Watch out. So,

you need to watch this message or I

don't know what's happening. Like, just

text him back. I love you. I don't know

what. Let's go out for coffee. Like,

that was that was Watch

out. Love has a space and it's bigger

than you're giving it. We're becoming

more and more dependent on technology

and less and less dependent on people.

We're becoming more and more dependent

and and and prove to someone that we

will never know and that we'll never see

again. How

busy, how how important we are by the

pace at which we walk and how fast we

walk by

someone. What does that

communicate? The most important

people are too important for me, are too

important. those around them. Yet

Jesus, the only person that we can say

is the most important

person,

constantly gave

space, constantly gave time, and he

walked slowly, even in the most urgent

times. Hurry, my child is dying.

Okay, let's go. Hurry. Lazarus is

dying. All right, I'll get

there. He walks at the pace of

love. He leaves space in his life for

love. I wonder if following Jesus, if

you the sun comes up and the sun goes

down and there is no interruptions, I

can I can only imagine based off of the

life that I read about Jesus. I can only

imagine how odd that would have been.

How just peculiar that what happened

today? Like we got up, we did our

thing, we ate our meals, we're going to

bed. And yet that would how peculiar and

odd would it be for the majority of us

to go, I saw someone

on the side of the road. It looked like

they needed some help. I just pulled

over. I helped them out. They already

they already got some help. They had

someone bringing them what they needed,

but I just took a second. I prayed with

them. I just stopped and like I don't

know. I just I had an

interruption for it to be odd and

curious. Why? Why didn't I have an

interruption today? I think that's how

it should be as a believer that we

operate with such peace. We come in with

such love. Why? Because truly, if you're

filled with the spirit, you're filled

with a love that is greater than

anything else this world has to offer.

And it's like constantly having an

unlimited amount of blank checks in your

back pocket at all

times. And the next person that you see,

you get to give a blank check

to. Man, if I had that and I had an

unlimited amount and it's like, it's not

even coming from my account. This is

great. I'm like, I'd just be waiting for

that opportunity. I'd be so excited to

be able to like, who can I bless next?

And that's the reality. And yet, we love

to go, "Oh, man, but I'm so busy. Oh, I

got all these things. You don't

understand. I feel called to my job. You

don't understand. I got these people

that are important that I got to make

sure to prioritize." Good. Prioritize

that. But in your

margin, don't leave room for

scrolling. Don't leave

room for your shows. First, leave margin

for

people because I don't know how well how

how well you'd rate yourself on the

scale of 1 to 10, but I'll tell

you, you ain't strong enough

yet. Guarantee you

that. And I want for this summer to be a

summer where we and specifically and

this is our this is our audience. I want

us to do it at all times and but

specifically you may have heard me

allude to it to our

neighbors. I want look at the people

that literally love your neighbor. What

if it means your actual literal

neighbor? And it might even if you're in

an apartment, it might even be the

person that lives above you that just

tap dances all day long.

It might what if it means love your

neighbor, the person who actually lives

right beside you and in the summer I see

them and we actually know each other

exist. We actually get to and be outside

and and there's a challenge in in fact

as you look up as you look up studies it

says

75% three out of every four people of 18

to 49 year olds that's the vast majority

of people in here know only some or none

of their immediate neighbors the houses

right beside

them 75 know either some for none of

them.

That's that's a picture of the isolation

that we've been told is the way we ought

to

live. Or I open up my garage door, I

pull my car in, I shut my garage door,

and I walk

inside. And I want to challenge us. In

fact, there's this there's this book

called The Art of

Neighboring. And it's by Dave Jay Pathac

and Dave Ren. And uh it gives this

picture here and this is called the

block map. And they say right now I need

you to write down in these white squares

your houses in the middle. I need you to

write down the name of your eight

closest neighbors to your

house. He says, I've never been in a

room unless I've already talked there

and taught there and made this an

intentional practice. I've never been in

a room where more than 10% are able to

fill that out. We live in an isolated

world and we love to complain about it

when we're oftentimes the

problem. Could you name go through it

right now who lives across the street

from you? Just their names. You don't

have to know their stories. You don't

have to know their

birthdays. You don't have to know their

their pet's name. Sometimes it's easier

to know their pet's name,

honestly. What are their names? the

people that live beside you, the people

that live across from you, the people

that live to caddy corner to you. If if

you look at that, could you could you

list those names

off? When I first was presented with

this, I was like, I feel okay. I got

four or five

names, but there's a couple people that

I'm like, yeah, I haven't gotten to know

them yet. or I did one time and I don't

remember their names, but we've only

lived in our house for eight years.

So, okay, that's on me. That's on

me. What if What if you set a table up?

What if you set a bomb a campfire up

outside in your driveway? What if you

set your chairs up out there? What if

you what if what is it that you're going

to do this summer where you plan maybe

you're going to do what Morgan did and

you're going to sit and do your work or

hang out by the kind of near the front

door and when you see your neighbor go

out to get mail it's like oh looks like

I'm done here we go I'm going to go find

my I'm going to get me some mail as

well take some

time specifically for your neighbors and

I want to challenge us just to love our

neighbors

as best as we can. A practical real

expression of love for the people who

live right around you where they would

look to you and they'd say, "Yeah, they

they're up there as one of the most

loving people that I

know." So, if we can stand up here, I

want to I want to conclude with this.

Here in Omaha, there's a couple named

Jeremy and Don Gillespie. They live in

North Omaha. They lead what's called a

lighthouse, which is a house put on by

Abide Ministries that goes into

dangerous neighborhoods and is there

just to be the gospel and to do exactly

this. And Jeremy and Don said uh are my

lighthouse ministry leaders in North

Omaha. They they offer snacks. They have

become their house and their

neighborhood has become this the snack

house, the unofficial snack shop. Cuz

kids would just walk up and be like,

"Hey, how you doing? Can I eat your

food?" as he's grilling. And he's like,

"No, you can't." Like, "It's not even

done yet. How long it going to be?" Like

40 minutes. Like, "This is going to be a

little while. I'm smoking this thing.

It's going to be a little Oh, you got

anything else I can eat?" Well, kid just

as he's like, "I can do that. I can get

snacks for these people. I can just

provide what what can" And so, he

becomes this snack shop. And then, guess

what it says? Every this this is their

quote. Every Sunday evening, we're out

on the front porch interacting with

neighbors and sharing food. They set a

rhythm. They set a habit. Here's my

margin time and I'm going to use it

intentionally. Everyone is invited and

everyone is included. It's a family

environment. We interact with our

neighbors and we share food. They say

now when they're gone over the weekend,

they even have to update their neighbors

about when they'll return so everyone

can anticipate when the snack shop will

open

again. That's here in Omaha.

I love this.

In fact, if you look at what does a city

need most? What inspired the book The

Art of

Neighboring is these guys went to their

mayor and said, "What does our city need

most? How can the churches come together

and serve the city the most?" And guess

what? They gave the same

answer that Jean Start did months ago

when they when when she was or a year

ago when she was asked the same

question.

I just need you guys to be the best

flipping

neighbors

ever. What if we just impacted our

neighborhood? What if we just impacted

the little pockets of people directly

around us and that'll shape that'll

shape our neighborhood? These lighouses

in North

Omaha have absolutely transformed.

Police are knocking on their doors

going, "I keep hearing that it's your

house. This is the most dangerous

neighborhood. This is this most

dangerous block in North

Omaha and our police present hasn't

presence hasn't changed anything. What

have you done?" We've picked up trash.

We've loved on people. We've provided

some food. We've fixed some windows.

We've just we've loved

them. How can you love your

neighborhood? How can you love the

people around you intentionally? And

that's my challenge today. But here's

the reality is that it is it can be

exhausting to think about doing

this. To think about going, I got to

muster up this love for people that I

just don't love. Here's the

reality. It's not your love that you're

giving. So I can't give away the love of

Christ if I am not first filled and

convinced by the love of Christ for me.

Amen.

So, I get to give the love that is God's

love for them just through me. And so, I

want I want for us as well a couple

different things. A commitment. I'm

going to love my neighbors. I'm going to

love my and I'm going to make a plan

right now to set margin. I'm going to

walk slowly. I'm going to leave space

for love. I'm going to walk at a pace of

love. And I'm going to do that this

summer. And I'm going to be intentional

with that. Maybe set some set some

ideas. set what talk at your household.

How can we love our neighborhood? How

can we love the people around us? Well,

and then second of all, maybe it's I

don't feel like I got the capacity to

love and what I need is I need the love

of Christ in me. And if you've never

given your life to the Lord and said, I

am his, I am yours, God, and you are

mine, I would 100% I would never expect

you to be able to carry the love of God

within you. It's not possible if I

haven't surrendered to it. So, I want to

ask you to surrender to it this at this

moment right now, this morning. This is

it. And this can be a summer that

changes your life to say,

"God, I submit to your

love." And I want us to pray this

prayer. If you can just in your own

heart, in your own words, just loud

enough for you to hear, would you just

agree, just agree with this prayer that

I want to pray over you? You can pray in

your own words. You can totally o take

over the prayer time and and just pray

in your own words to the father. But if

you if you don't got any words to pray,

echo my prayers. Heavenly Father, I pray

right now over every single one of us

that we would first of all be filled

with your love. God, would you fill us

with your love? May we be a church

that's defined not by our services. May

we be a church that's not defined by our

greeting patterns, by our by by our

coffee. We may we be a church that's not

defined by the teams that we serve on.

May we be a church that is defined by

our love, by how radically we love those

around us, by how much we want to give

that love to those who do not have it.

So God, I pray first of all for those in

this room who are in desperate need of

your

love, who do not say, "I feel loved."

Who do not carry the identity of a loved

child of God. Right now, we surrender.

We don't fight for it. We don't beg for

it. We don't try to earn it. We don't

try to perform to it. We give it up. We

surrender to it.

I pray every single person in here that

needs to surrender to your love. Take a

moment right now and just say to the

Lord, "I surrender to your

love. I surrender to your

love. I receive your

love and I love you.

know me,

God. Father God, I

pray that as we are filled with your

love, Father God, would we give out a

love that's bigger than ours? Give out a

love that's greater than ours. Give out

a love that's supernatural. And would

the world around us not experience just

a smile, not experience just joy, but

experience something supernatural that

they cannot put their finger

on? Would they know whether they come to

collective ever or not, whether they go,

would they just know the love that you

have for them through

us? We surrender to your

love and we commit to give your

love to walk at the pace to live at the

pace of

love. Thank you, Father.

In the mighty name of Jesus we pray.

Amen. Amen. Come on. Can we give a hand

for the word of the Lord?

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