Love: Connecting People to God and One Another

One of the teachers of the laws came and heard them debating, noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer.

He asked him all of the commandments, which is the most important?

The most important one, answered Jesus, is this hear, o Israel, the Lord, our God.

The Lord is one.

Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, with all your mind and with all your strength.

The second is love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no commandment greater than these, mark 12.

Father, we thank you so much for loving us.

We thank you for our church family and we thank you for your son, jesus.

We pray, father, that you help us be doers of the word today In Jesus' name.

All God's people said amen.

All right, I'm kind of nervous to be up here with you after what you did to Jackson.

Jackson, I'm sorry, it's my fault, because I forgot to tell Jeff what the scripture reading was and I didn't think he would figure it out, and he did.

But speaking of Jackson, he was baptized at Winterfest, right?

Yes, yes, jackson, he was baptized at Winterfest right, yes, yes.

Jackson, where are you?

Jaylee was baptized at Winterfest.

Is Jaylee?

here, there you go, jaylee was baptized at Winterfest.

Then we have Alex and Claire and Crimson and Carson and Lakota all baptized.

So God's doing some great things.

And, jackson, I'm sorry, that's what happens when you get old.

Everybody loves a good story, right?

And I saw a uh survey this week.

It was a pleasant surprise.

Over 50 percent of the parents read to their children bedtime stories at night.

I thought that was pretty cool.

And out of that, whatever, it was 50 something percent.

84 percent of them allow their child to pick whatever story they want to read.

And here was the top picks of the stories.

See, if you read your kids any of these stories when the Wild Things Are came in at number six or seven.

I'd never heard of that.

How many of you read that to your kids?

All right, the Cat in the Hat, that was a good one.

Love you Forever, oh yeah, yeah, oh.

Hat, that was a good one.

Love you Forever, oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah.

You like that one.

That one's a tearjerker.

That's the one that you kind of cry a little bit when you read that one.

Did your mom and dad read that to you growing up?

I don't know.

Yes, she did.

She loves me forever, she said.

Goldilocks and the three bears, green eggs and ham.

One of my favorite, sam, I am.

And number one was good night moon.

That's a good one.

You like good night moon?

Everybody loves the stories.

Now, probably one of the best storytellers ever was Jesus.

He was a master storyteller and if you notice most of his teaching, he told stories.

Jesus would have flunked out of our preaching schools because he didn't have three points in a poem in exegete Greek.

He told stories and people were amazed at his teaching for two reasons.

One, they said he taught his woman with having authority.

He didn't quote a bunch of commentators, he didn't quote a bunch of rabbis, because back then everybody would say, well, rabbi, so-and-so says, and even preachers.

Today, well, I read in this commentary he just said here's what God says.

He spoke with authority and they loved him because he told stories.

And one of my favorite stories that he told involves a shepherd, a thief and it has a wolf in it.

And he tells a story with a shepherd, a thief and a wolf, and it's in John 10.10.

And right before this, in John 9, the Jews are upset.

The Jewish leaders are upset because Jesus healed the blind man and they kicked the blind man out of the synagogue and right after this he tells this story.

The group of Jewish leaders try to kill him.

And so it's in between this story he sort of tells the story of the thief, the wolf and the shepherd.

And he's really calling his Jewish leaders the thieves.

He said they're not real shepherds.

They say they care about your souls, but they really don't care about their souls.

And in the middle of his story, when he says I'm the good shepherd, and he says these other people that say they're good shepherds, they really don't care about you.

In fact, the way you can tell whether somebody is a good shepherd or not is when the wolf shows up, the thieves, the people who aren't the good shepherds.

They're going to run.

But the good shepherd will give his life for the sheep.

And he says I'm giving my life for you.

And so he tells that story to let them know that he's the good shepherd and he loves them.

And in the middle of that he says this the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I've come that you may have life and have it to the full.

And he describes what that full life is.

He's not saying promises us full life full of money.

But he says here's this abundant life, here's the life this good shepherd which I am, jesus says I'll give you.

You'll know me and you'll follow me, and there's great blessings from following me, and I'm going to give you eternal life and you will never die and no one will be able to steal you from my hand.

I will protect you forever because I'm the good shepherd.

And so that's the story he told about that.

Now, one of the ways God gives us a full life is by providing community that we call church.

Ross talked about how this is a church family and the great blessing that it has, and can you imagine what your life would be like if this group of people weren't a part of your life?

Could you imagine what your life would be like if, all of a sudden, we woke up tomorrow and the doors were locked and this church was no longer here?

Our life wouldn't be as full, because it is a church that gives us great blessings.

And so Jesus talks about giving a full life, and one of the ways he does that is through the local church.

There's a lot of misconceptions about church, and we'll talk about some of them in the next couple of weeks.

One misconception is this that the church is a place, it's a building, and it's not.

This is not the church.

The church are the people that are called out.

They're the ones who God, god, we don't go to church Technically.

I understand what you mean when you say, hey, I'm going to church, but you're going to a building.

The fact of the matter is, when we leave, the church leaves the building and goes into the world, because we are the church.

God never called the church a building.

In fact, there was no church building around when Jesus walked on earth.

The church is a group of people who go out into a community and touch people with the love of God, and that's what it is.

So we're going to talk about that.

We're going to spend the next couple of weeks talking about how being a part of a small group can help us in the church, how it can give us life and help us experience what this abundant life God wants us to have.

Because, let's be honest, we'll talk about that later We'll talk about the small group that God wants us to have, and so that's what we're going to do for the next couple of weeks.

We're going to take the word life and just explain to you what's a small group about and we even got some bookmarks for that and if you want to pick some up back there, if you're in a discovery Bible study or whatever, you can follow along this week and it's just L-I-F-E and how being a part of that group can bring you great blessings.

And then we'll give opportunities for you to ask questions and become a part of one if you would like.

Because, let's be honest, church growth growing.

If your only contact with church is this hour on Sunday morning, looking in the back of somebody's head, you are not experiencing the full life God wants you to have, because you really don't build relationships during this hour.

The way we design our assemblies doesn't foster community building.

I love what Ross said about Lord's Supper being part of community, because when Jesus, when Paul, says you need to recognize the body, not only does he talk about this body, he talks about this body.

Communion is a time for me to look around the room and say man, I'm so glad Dave's here.

What a blessing he's been to my life.

But the way we design our assemblies in many ways fosters loneliness, because you sit in a pew, some of us by ourselves, and we really don't, and so if my only connection to church is sitting in this pew, I'm really missing out.

In fact I'm covering my last point, so you don't have to worry about it In fact probably I'm not going to say the most important part, but one of the most important parts of our assembly on Sunday morning is what happens five minutes before we get started and five minutes after we get started, when we're talking to each other in community and encouraging each other.

And so we really want to encourage you to be a part of a life group, because it's there that you receive that abundant life, that full life that God wants to give you.

It's there that you really find the blessings that come from loving and knowing each other.

So, now that I've covered my last point, josh, you go on and just run with it.

Huh, go with it.

I don't know what I'm doing here.

Do you want me to?

I don't know.

It's been a while we haven't practiced, since it's Thursday.

I forgot.

Well, today we're going to talk about the idea of love.

If you've paid attention to the top of your Get Connected the word today we're spelling life over the next four weeks.

So the L stands for love.

And so, jackson, read it.

But we're going to read it again.

Here's Mark, chapter 12.

Mark 12 · chapter mention

And this is Jesus telling us a little bit more about love.

And so it says One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating, noticing that Jesus had given them good answers.

He asked of all the commandments, which one is the most important?

The most important one, answered Jesus, is this Hear O Israel, the Lord, our God.

The Lord is one.

Love the Lord, your God, with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind and with all of your strength.

And the second one is this love your neighbor as your home.

There is no commandment greater than these.

And so that's what Jesus says.

That's what Jesus tells us when he talks about love.

He tells us that these are the two greatest commands I want you to love God, love me and then love people.

And when Woody and I were studying this week and we were looking at it, woody said you know, I'll take loving people.

And I walked away from that conversation and I was you know, I'll take loving people.

And I walked away from that conversation and I was like, whoa, I got the easy one.

You know, that's the common idea.

I got the easy loving God, that's the easy one.

Loving people is kind of hard.

People are annoying.

People are annoying.

People chew gum loud, right.

People do things that I wouldn't do, and so I had that mindset walking away.

Woody and I just studied this and that's my mindset.

I got the easy one, but then I started thinking about it over the week and I really think I just got the one that's easier to fake.

See, loving God only has to do with who Me, and, and so I can, I can make everybody believe I love God, but really, inside, I'm wrestling with that.

You see, faking loving people is a little harder.

You got to try, right.

You have to put on a front.

You got to put on a mask.

You got to be overly nice, right, you got to seek out those conversations and do that.

You've got to be overly nice, right, you've got to seek out those conversations and do that.

So the truth is, I really do think this is the easier one to fake, and I can say that because I've done that, I've had to fake it before and the issue is that I don't always feel like I can give all of my heart, all of my mind, all of my strength, all of my soul.

I want to and hopefully you relate to this I want to, I have the desire to do that.

I want to love God, I want to give him everything, but I just don't feel like I'm lovable enough to give that love.

It's really easy to love someone when you feel loved, right, when you're feeling loved.

It's really easy to show that love to somebody.

But oftentimes I forget how God loves me and so I have found myself faking.

So the first thing we have to do is point number one there, remember this community is possible because of the love of God.

So in order to love God in this way with all of my heart, with all of my strength, with all of my mind, with all of my soul, I have to remember that, yes, in fact God does love me.

But it's difficult and it's hard, and I put this on the outline there.

Be aware, satan doesn't want you to believe that.

Satan is so powerful.

Satan will make you forget God's love so quickly.

Because if he can get you to forget God's love, guess what you're not going to do?

You're not going to reciprocate, you're not going to give it to God.

So if he can get me to the point of saying God can't possibly love me, then I'm not going to show love to God and, in a result, I'm not going to show love to people and so, in a result, the world's not going to see love.

Satan wins the battle if he gets me to believe that God can't love me.

Does that make sense?

It's pretty simple stuff, right?

We're just walking through this.

But here's what I want you to understand Satan throws everything at us.

He uses anything and everything.

He uses desires, he uses lies, he uses frustrations, he uses guilt, he uses pain, he uses suffering.

I know there's many of us or maybe I'm just talking to myself that have walked in here this morning.

We're trying, but we don't necessarily feel like we're lovable.

Satan's made us forget that.

He's made us forget how valuable and how good we are in the eyes of the Lord.

We don't really feel worthy.

I'll be honest with you.

I've walked in here on Sunday mornings after wrestling with my five-year-old about having to wear church pants, to the point where it's a yelling match in the living room that we can't wear the sweatpants that have a hole in them.

We need to wear pants or jeans for one day a week, like we just should do that.

And so I've had moments where I'm getting visually frustrated with him because he won't put on the church pants.

And then, right after that, I'd have a conversation with my three-year-old about how Tootsie Rolls are not breakfast, and you may have even seen me corner him here in the church building, here in the church building, telling him we cannot fill our pockets full of Tootsie Rolls.

I just told him walking to class 10 minutes ago.

This is not a parade, we're not here just to collect candy.

But the problem is is he's three years old, it is a parade.

And so I'm telling him you've seen me squatted in the corner over there, drew, give me all of the Tootsie Rolls.

And you put them in your pocket, and then I eat them, yes.

But sometimes we're laughing about it.

But in the moment I'm questioning everything Right.

And so then I'm frustrated with my two sons that think they don't have to wear church pants and don't need Tootsie Rolls.

And then guess where that frustration leads to?

Next, the easiest target my spouse, my wife.

And so then I lose my patience on her and say something that I shouldn't have said, say something that I shouldn't have said.

And then I have a little girl, but I haven't came up with one yet for that one.

But then it leads to sitting here on Sunday morning.

I've lost my cool with my kids, I've been frustrated with them, I've said something to my wife and I shouldn't have said.

And now I'm sitting here not ready to love God completely, because at this moment I'm questioning whether I'm even worth loving.

Right, hopefully you've been here before, hopefully I'm not just talking to myself today, but you're sitting here this morning and you're saying am I good enough?

Am I a good enough father?

Am I doing a good job as a mother?

Are we doing enough to raise our children to be responsible human beings?

Am I a husband that makes it known to my wife that she's loved and respected all the time?

And can you see how all of that adds up really quickly.

And then the thought gets to what could God possibly think of me?

Here I am, I've yelled at my kids, I've been rude to my wife, I'm faking a smile to all of you.

Guess who wins in that situation?

Satan.

Many of times, that's what Satan is trying to do.

He's trying to get your thoughts and he's trying to get you to that point to where you say how could God truly love me?

Now I'll be honest with you.

Our mornings probably look a lot different.

Some of you didn't relate with any of that, but we all have those battles.

We all have those struggles, and so my goal over the next few minutes is to make you remember how much God loves you and how much he loves me.

Genesis, chapter 1.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

God created everything.

Right, if we could just summarize it all in one he created everything, but there's a specific point where he creates Adam and Eve.

Right, remember that part of the story.

And when he creates Adam and Eve, he uses a statement that's just a little bit different than everything else that he's created.

When he got to Adam and Eve, he said they were very good and it was very good.

So, right from the beginning, the creator of the universe.

When he gets to you and I, when he gets to human beings, he says I've created them to be exactly what they need to be.

They are very good.

Now, if we read through Genesis chapter one, two and three, it quickly takes a turn.

Right, you have the serpent that inserts the story.

And it's funny because we're talking about life groups.

And if you're in our life group you're like okay, josh, just stole our life group lesson.

And here we go, because guess what Satan does in Genesis chapter 3?

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

He has a conversation with Eve that makes her believe that she could be more, that she's not good enough in the current state that she's in.

She could have more and then she would know more about God and God would love her more.

Satan's tactics haven't changed.

It's unbelievable.

It's unbelievable.

It's unbelievable.

They're just as effective today as they were way back in Genesis 3.

If he can get you just to question it just a little bit, he's winning the battle.

Fast forward through Genesis 3 just a little bit, when God kind of plays hide and seek and finds them right and he lays out the punishment right Now.

Labor's going to hurt the yard, work's going to be tough.

You're going to sweat when you do all of that.

And then he has the conversation with oh, who told you you were naked, right, because that enters the picture.

And out of all of that, when you think God would be frustrated and angry with his creation and would not want to love them, guess what he does for them Makes them clothes.

So, yeah, I'm frustrated, I'm angry with you, but here's this because you're still good to me.

One more story and then, hopefully, you walk away this morning knowing that you are loved, so that you can go out into the world and show some love to people.

In Matthew, chapter 18, jesus tells a story.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

What he talked about stories at the beginning.

We love stories.

Jesus knew that, so he told parables.

We love stories.

Jesus knew that, so he told parables.

He told stories.

He told stories about things that people cared about so that when they heard the story, they could relate to the story and know oh, that's what he meant, right?

He tried to make it real simple for us.

So in Matthew, chapter 18, jesus is telling a parable and it says if a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do?

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

Won't he leave the 99 others on the hill and go out and search for the one that is lost.

And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the 99 that didn't wander away.

I did this story with some of our FCA students this week and as we started into it I said, hey, what do you learn about people when we read this story, when Jimmy reads this story, what do you learn about people?

And what do you learn about God?

And some of them said you know, well, he loves everyone.

That makes sense.

You could take that away from the story.

Another kid said well, we sometimes are that other sheep that wanders away.

Right, we sometimes fall away.

And then, when we got to God, they said well, god loves us enough to look for us.

Those are some teenagers that I don't know how much Bible background they have, but they're connecting the dots.

And so we talked about this idea of being that one sheep.

We don't.

I don't.

I wish we knew more about how the sheep went astray, right, like, did it just see something that looked good and was like whoop, or was he standing there going?

Oh, I got a shortcut.

We're taking this route.

Come on, guys, follow me.

And then nobody followed him.

But one way or another that sheep got lost.

And when that sheep wandered away it probably got pretty dark.

It probably was scary.

That sheep probably started looking around going, oh I'm lost.

Remember when you were a kid and you got lost?

It was the scariest feeling, right?

I remember when Kmart was a big thing and it was the big big store right and they had the toy aisle.

Back then the video game section was the best because they had the actual game systems out for you to play, right, the GameCube was there and I remember a specific time where we're standing there playing.

I told mom I'm going to go look at the toys.

She said, ok, I'm going to be right here, come back in just a minute, ok.

So I go over and start playing the GameCube.

Well, that one minute turned into a few minutes.

Then those few minutes, I think, turned into like a half hour, and then I turn around and guess who's not where.

She was that exact moment when I walked away and, as a young kid, all the thoughts start spiraling.

Right, I'm lost forever.

I'm going to have to live in Kmart, which, honestly, you had food, you had the video game, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad.

But sometimes in our life when we feel like we've gone off the path, it's real easy to think about man.

I'm in the darkness, I'm in the shadow, I'm in a spot where nobody else has been.

I don't see any other tracks around.

I'm in a position where no one has ever been in the spot that I'm in currently, and so because I don't see any tracks where other people have been in this same spot, because I don't have any feeling that other people have been in this situation, I immediately start thinking.

There's thinking, there's no way.

There's no way that I'm going to get back, there's no way that God's going to love me through this, because I'm looking around in a spot where I don't see anybody else.

But we read through that story.

Guess what the shepherd does?

He leaves the 99 and goes and finds what the one.

Because he has a desire to find that one sheep, because that sheep is valuable to the shepherd.

I wish I would have put the picture up.

I forgot to put it in there.

There's a picture that's kind of floating around Facebook and social media where the shepherd is kind of grabbing a sheep and it's all dirty and it's all cut up and it doesn't look like that pretty sheep you see in all the other pictures, but it's dirty and it's cut up and you can tell it's been wandering.

That's what God's doing.

You feel like you're alone.

You're not alone.

I just read with the teens over across the street Psalm 139, where David says everywhere I look, you're there.

Even when I'm in heaven, you're there.

Even when I'm in the darkness, you're there.

Why do we forget that?

We have to remember this morning, before we get to any other thing, that Woody's going to say that he's already said, but he's going to say it again Before we love people, I have to be able to believe that God truly does love me.

Does that make sense?

Okay, so now we're going to love some people.

All right, Real quickly, since I've already said a lot of that.

The bottom line oh, you want that?

Yeah, that way I will know what I'm saying.

The second command is love your neighbors yourself.

And the only way we can learn to love others is by being in community.

You can't be a Lone Ranger Christian.

You have to be a part of that church family.

And that's why we need the small group because, like I said, this assembly doesn't benefit.

It's just not conducive to that assembly doesn't benefit.

It's just not conducive to that.

It's in a small group where I learned to be patient.

It's in a small group where I can learn to love people that are hard to love, because you have all different types of personalities.

It's in a small group that I learn how much God loves me, and it's in that group, with a group of other like-minded people, that I learned to pray with people and serve people and encourage people.

It's easy for me to love you from across the room.

It's easy for me to say, hey, Sam, how you doing?

And try to beat him to crack a barrel right.

It's easy to do that.

But when we sit down and we pray together and we study together and we share together and we do, and we pray together and we study together and we share together and we do.

That's when community is built.

And I find it interesting that Jesus tells the man who said, after Jesus gave him these two commands, the man said yeah, you're right, Master.

You're right, I'm to love you and love others.

And then Jesus said in fact, the man said, loving you and loving others is more important than all the sacrifices we're supposed to do.

Combined Right, In other words, motives matter.

You can do all the right things.

You can come in here and do all the right things without love and be wrong.

And then Jesus told this man, who was the religious leader of the day.

He said you're this close to getting into the kingdom of God.

You're right there.

I'm sure that guy was offended.

What do you mean?

I'm close, I'm a respected preacher.

You're this close why?

Because he understands the importance of love.

So that's why I need to be in part of a life group, because I can connect to people that will help me learn to love God better, help me feel God's love and help me love others.

So if you're saying, why should I be a part of one?

The first reason we're going to give you four.

The first reason is it'll help you learn to love like Jesus and experience God's love Oops.

All right, here we go.

So Woody just mentioned it.

The last part of that passage does say he says when you are right by saying that God is one and there is no other but him, but to love him with all of your heart, with all of your understanding, with all of your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is more important than all of the burnt offerings and all of the sacrifices.

So everything else is not important.

It's important that you love God, or it's not.

That it's not important, but it's more important that you love God and you put yourself in a position where you can love people.

And what is crazy to me is, as I was thinking about this idea of community and we're talking about the idea of being around other people, what is fascinating is to look back at television and to look at Hollywood.

As fascinating as to look back at television and to look at Hollywood and guess what they've figured out.

They have figured out that, as human beings, that we have a craving and a desire for community.

Watch this, here we go.

The show Friends.

How many of you watch it?

Okay, very good, it's a show that you can consistently turn on and watch over and over again.

Guess what?

The main concept of Friends is?

A group of random people that find themselves together and they do life together.

Community, right there.

From a young age we give this show to our kids A bunch of random characters that come together and figure it out.

It's community.

Some of you won't know this one, that's okay.

How many of you watch Outer Banks?

Okay?

How many of you have been waiting a whole year to figure out what's going to happen next?

We're close.

I think it's April.

Right, it's a show where a group of teenagers figure out there's treasure and they go find it together.

Now they go through a whole lot of stuff, but guess what?

They have Community.

They're doing life together.

I had to Google this one, but from my understanding, it's a group of people that get together and they are a community.

Some of you won't know this, but some of you will.

This is the show Stranger Things.

A group of friends get together and have to overcome a lot of stuff, but they do it together as a.

You can admit you watched the Bing Bang Theory, okay, it's fine.

It's a group of friends that do what Life together, and so they are a Community.

Any New Girl fans?

Or am I just a New Girl fan.

I'll be honest, new Girl is like one of my favorite shows.

That's fine.

That's fine.

And you know what we're going to start.

We're going to get a group together.

We're going to have a new girl group.

That's fine.

That's fine.

You know how this show starts.

It's random people that end up together in the same spot and then they do life together Community.

The greatest show of all time.

My childhood crush no, that's Topanga.

Yeah, that's Boy Meets World.

Yeah, it's a hard picture.

I could have picked a better picture.

It's Boy Meets World.

It's about a family and some friends that do life together and they have community.

And it's literally what's mind-blowing about this one is it just talks about how those kids got through everyday life challenges that they faced while they were in school, and they did it together as a community.

We've got a few more here Golden Girls, right.

Some of you are like, yeah, not as much.

No, I didn't have that.

They do what together Life, and they are.

Somebody said argue hey, but you know what?

Let's be honest, that's life, and if we are a community, we should be able to have a couple disagreements and be okay.

Right.

The office.

Right, some of you are like, yeah, I have a truth.

Okay, I've tried, tried and tried, I can't get into the office.

It fits every like description of the shows I like to watch, but I just can't.

I can't do it.

But I've watched enough to know that it's a working community that does sort of kind of life together.

It kind of fits the mold.

Any Seinfeld fans I just finished watching all nine seasons of Seinfeld.

I always have a.

Whenever we have a new baby, I pick a series to watch, and Seinfeld was the one for Geordie.

So at 3 am, when I'm bouncing on the exercise ball trying to get her back to sleep, I was watching Kramer.

Same concept, though, think about it A group of friends that overcome everyday life obstacles because they have community.

You see what I'm doing here.

This one's literally called Barney, and I don't remember being a huge Barney fan, but Justin was, I think.

Yeah, justin was a big one.

Any All-American fans?

Okay, just a few All-American fans.

But this one's the same concept.

It's a group of people that overcome a lot of things together and they're a community Full house.

Some of you a community, full house, some of you younger, fuller house.

Yeah, okay, yeah, group of people.

A group of people that.

A group of people that are together trying to raise a family right, trying to raise other human beings to grow up and be good human beings, right.

Community.

Last one had to, had to.

If you're a parent, you know what this is.

It's Bluey.

Bluey is great in many ways because it teaches all kinds of Bluey just makes you as a parent feel really good because, bluey, if you've never watched before, when they show scenes of them driving in the car, there are crumbs all over the seat of the car and if you're a parent, you're like I'm not the only one, right?

Yes, jimbo, no toy story.

I did all TV shows.

I did all TV shows.

I did all TV shows.

I think Toy Story is a great one too.

We could go.

You know, if you guys don't want to go eat, we can do this all day, I'm fine with it.

But here's what.

Here's what you're connecting the dots to right now.

Jimmy just did it.

So much of what we watch and we put in front of our face is the concept and the idea of community.

Think about all the movies that you watch.

All of it is people getting together for the same, trying to get through things, and so here's what I want to leave you with, or hopefully, you walk away with.

The world.

Hollywood has figured it out.

We have to figure it out what he said life has to be more than just this hour that we have right here.

This hour is great.

It's great, but in this hour I don't get to have a conversation with another dad that looks at me and says, yeah, I'm with you, Right.

Or moms don't get to get together and go.

Does your kid do this too?

Oh, okay, because that's what I really enjoy about life group too.

It's like you just get a sense of you're doing this together, you're not the only one, and so we are going to.

You're going to get.

You're not the only, you're not the only one, and so we are going to.

You're going to get tired of the word community and you're going to get tired of the word life group, because I think we're transitioning from disciple to community.

You've heard discipleship for three years now.

Now you're getting community.

Okay, but I, I truly believe that it's so important discipling community.

So woody is going to hang on to that disciple word for as long as he can, but I truly believe that it's so important Discipling community.

So Woody is going to hang on to that disciple word for as long as he can, and so we do truly want you to think about and to be praying about your community.

You know there are hundreds of people in this room right now that you can seek after.

I do have homework.

I almost forgot it's not on there.

Where did it go?

Okay, you have homework.

Is it on your outline?

Perfect, okay, great, your homework this week is the easiest homework you've ever been given in your life.

Ready, do something you love with someone this week.

That's your homework.

I love coffee, so somebody invite me for a cup, okay.

If you love the golf, take somebody and go.

I got the plastic community out here.

If you like disc golf, my dad's back there going.

You like disc golf?

Go, find somebody, invite them to play disc golf.

That's your homework, because what that's naturally going to do is that's going to start building your community, because if you get people together with common interest, I think we have those right common interest groups.

Sort of that's what we're going to do.

So I want to encourage you this week that idea of community, love God.

Hopefully you were reminded that this morning.

Hopefully you were reminded.

That's what we're going to do.

So I want to encourage you this week.

That idea of community, love, god.

Hopefully you were reminded of that this morning.

Hopefully you were reminded the importance of loving people.

And so let's pray, dear God, we thank you for this day.

God, we thank you for this time together, god, we thank you for an opportunity to get together like we do each and every week, god, and to praise and to worship you.

But, god, I do pray that, as a family, that we can be reminded of that great love that you have for us, god, that anybody that's in this room that just feels like they're struggling, anybody in this room that feels like they're just in a spot where they're alone, god, I pray that you will remind them that you will work in their life to show your presence to them, god, that they can be reminded of the great love that you have for us.

God and I just I pray that this morning, god, I pray that, as we continue to talk about community and life groups, god, that you will move in a way to align us and put us together so that we can do life together.

God, we're excited about the things that are going to happen.

We're excited for the ways that you're working in our life and we just pray that we can continue to do that, that we can continue to serve you and to love you.

It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.