Friendships that Last Beyond a Life Time - Heaven Part 5

Oh man, I'm excited for today. A lot to celebrate one.

Very thankful last week. Although it was a bummer not

being in person, I was thankful we're online and got to share

heaven with the world. Amen.

It's fun to be online and I know some of you guys helped out

behind the scenes and just to connect with people, but I'm

telling you, the world needs heaven and you guys are hungry.

Heaven. It was really cool.

As a pastor, it's not very often that somebody says, man, that

only felt like 5 minutes and I wish you preached an hour.

Come on, somebody. Right?

And I had numerous people, man, I couldn't believe there was 30

minutes. It was so good.

If you get a chance to go back and listen to the message about

heaven and the restoration of earth, it is worth your time.

Amen. It's worth it.

So a little bit about heaven. Thankful for that.

Secondly, thankful for our 10 days of heavenly vision.

If you can follow along on the reels on on social media just to

get a little piece of having a little taste, little foretaste

and to challenge the world. I had so many people reached

out, say my friends were following, I shared it and they

liked it and they were commenting just all about these

little tidbits of having about family and and friends and

relationships. And I encourage you guys to get

a chance to share that kind of stuff.

And the world does not know what heaven truly is.

Most people think it's really boring or it's irrelevant and it

just is. It's something obscure we don't

know about. But to tell people about the

true heaven, I don't think people are going to reject the

true heaven. I think people are hungry for

heaven. Amen.

We get a chance to share that. So I appreciate you guys who

shared, like commented all the things.

It makes a difference. Just planting seeds.

I have people, my family, I have not talked to a long time,

distant relatives that are liking and commenting and

sharing. That's the word living.

Amen. Y'all scrolling for hours a day.

Come on somebody, you're on the toilet.

Oh, good job, Sean. I like that just right.

That's the Holy Spirit you're telling me right?

But man, it's it's been good last few weeks.

I miss being in person, but I'm excited back today and really

just talk about community kind of flow for the day.

I'm going to just share a little bit about the power of being

together and some things maybe you you've seen in scripture,

maybe we're looked in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

I'll have a life group leaders come up.

They're going to share a little bit of their life group, what

they're believing for, what they're praying for, and then a

wrap up, just like a little taste of heaven.

And it's it gets you guys into a target party so you can have

fun. We're going to flip this room.

I encourage you guys to stay a day.

We're going to flip the room. We have Cafe tables, round

tables, packing this place out and then hopefully you guys can

hang man, we, we have we have it all day, but hopefully we're

done by about 12:30. Come on somebody, because we got

tear on down. But oh, by the way, can you guys

give a big, big hand? There's a huge team that came in

this morning, our events that set up to make all this

possible. Can you guys let them know?

We love them for all the work they put in today.

It is a huge undertaking. So, but if you got your bobble

in Acts Chapter 2, we're going to look at the original launch

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Sunday. OK, we're all back to the

beginning. I want you to see how the church

started and it's really cool. This is 50 days after the

Sabbath, Sunday after Jesus resurrects on Sunday.

So the Sabbath and the following Sunday, the resurrection Sunday,

50 days, you have Pentecost and Peter brings a message and he

begins to share. You find Acts chapter 2, verse

Acts 2:40

40, and this is opening day. It says with many other words,

that's called good preaching. Amen.

Just keep the words coming, right?

And Peter had words to say, these people, it's a long

message. It looks like he warned them and

he pleaded with them. And that's what I love about

preaching. It's persuasion.

It's not just education. Peter's looking at that culture

and he is warning and he is pleading with them.

He says, save yourselves from this corrupt generation.

That might be a good message topic for 2026, Amen.

It is just crazy. The world, it just the world

does what the world does. Amen and the church has the

answers and Peter, he is just boldly proclaiming Jesus.

Verse 41, it says those who accepted his message, they took

action to me that they were baptized and about 3000 or what

helped me out added to their number that day.

Who knows? That's a good opening day for

the church, Amen. A Merrill Lynch day did not

quite pull off 3000 people, Amen.

But Peter, man just just spoken to that culture.

They're all coming in for this feast all across the world, and

Jesus has just showed them his power.

And I always encourage you guys. We're all being discipled by

someone or something. The Bible says in Ephesians 4

that we all once followed the world.

We're either as discipled by the world or discipled by Jesus.

And for some of you guys who came in today, you're like, man,

church is not my thing. Well, what is your thing?

Amen. Because it is not church, then

it's the world, right? There's not the things of God

that is the world. If you're not intentionally

following Jesus, the world will gladly disciple you.

And this is something we have to teach, not ourselves, but just

our children, our friends and family that we have to be

intentional followers of Jesus. And so this is what Peter does.

This is the first day the book of acts of the church.

The first acts of the church was a move people away from the

world and into a life giving relationship with Jesus through

list of this each other through each other.

It wasn't just hey, good luck following Jesus.

Grab a Bible on the way out. Come on somebody right and good

luck catch and release that This is not the New Testament

standard. It's not the New Testament of

church. This is the very next verse.

OK, so 3000 are added by the way they're added by who the Lord

add those people wasn't Peter it was the Lord verse 42.

Look at this, it says they want devoted themselves, man Wow,

that word devotion or devoted, This is really where you start

seeing the first followers of Jesus devoted themselves.

That means they became disciples of Christ.

They say I'm no longer going to follow the world.

I'm devoted to the things of God.

And so look, look what they devoted themselves to the

apostles teaching. So they learned together to

fellowship. So they knew each other to the

breaking of bread. So they ate together into

prayer. So they talked to God together.

That sounds good to me. Amen.

That sounds like a great New Testament standard for the

church that we just show up on a Sunday, we fill out the little

thing, some people pray for us and we go back to the world.

No, they live together. They ate together, they served

here, they prayed together and look at this whole the last few

verses 43. Everyone was filled with awe at

the many wonders and signs before by the performed by the

apostles. Verse 44.

All the believers were what helped me out.

They were what they were separate.

They came on Sunday only they hung out a little bit here and

there. Pray for your brother, right?

They were together and had everything in common.

Think about everything in common.

Like let this mind be a new which is also in Christ.

Use their mindsets the same, their faith levels the same, the

goals all of us come into the the same level of faith.

The maturity as a believer in Christ, their hopes the same,

their values the same and the matter of fact, they're going to

share physical things in common. Next you'll see this.

They sold property in possessions to give to one

another who had need. Dude, that's a New Testament

church. Amen.

You see somebody is hungry, you see somebody who's homeless, you

see somebody that knows Christ and there's an issue.

We just meet the needs, Amen. Amen.

And verse 46, every day, look, every day, not once a week, not

twice a week, not even 4 times a week, every day they continue to

meet. How together this amazing theme

in it and they met together in temple courts.

This is where they would have learned they would have

witnessed, they would have shown the world like this a better

way. The early church actually was

called the way we call ourselves Christians today.

The words Christians actually used as a derogatory comment

towards people that follow Jesus in the Bible.

It's like those are those Christians right and they

labeled us like little Jesus, like little Jesus followers, but

the original church was actually known as the way because they

lived such a different life than the rest of the world.

People could knew there was something about that's just the

way of Jesus. But they met together every day

and there it says this. They broke bread in their homes.

That sounds good and they ate how let's just say ate together

with the Gladys's seer hearts. These weren't the joy, the

joyless frozen chosen. Come on somebody verse 47,

praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

These people are blessed by each other.

These people had great communion with each other that fellowship

with each other and says this and the Lord what happened added

to their number daily. Those who are being saved there.

There is so much power in being together.

You you think about you saw all these different levels of the

church. It it was so much more than I

show up. I go home.

Hey, that's a great message, pastor love the message.

It's very little to do about what happens on the stage ask

you about what you guys do in the community with each other.

Look at they said they learned together that they they knew

each other deeply. They got fed together.

Come on somebody we love that evangelicals.

Amen. We're participating in the Nacho

bar today. Blessing to Jarrett who cooked

up, I don't know how many pounds of ground beef.

You'd probably know maybe 60 lbs of ground beef.

He sent me a picture yesterday and he said, dude, I hope

there's some, some jewels in heaven for this.

He's outside on his big, you know, awesome grill, you know,

and I was like, there is for sure, brother, there's some,

there's some, there's some meats to be cooked in heaven too.

Maybe we'll see. They talked, they talked to God

together. So they pray together.

They shared resources together, they praised God together and

they met together and enjoyed those blessings.

And what's really cool about this list is that these are all

just inputs. The imagine the outputs of these

things like this is them just what they did, but imagine the

marriages that were saved. The, the, the, the, the, the

marriages are healed, the friendships that came together,

the person that was lacking a resource and somebody just met

the resource. Somebody was homeless, but

that's somewhere to stay. Somebody had something heavy on

their heart and people prayed for them.

The miraculous power of the Holy Spirit, changing people, healing

people, delivering people, giving people boldness and

courage. How bold would you be if you had

a group human mouth every day and they're passionate about

Jesus and you're like, OK, they witnessed together, they live

life together, they shared meals together, they communion

together. There's so many outputs.

It doesn't even mention any of them.

But this is like the reps that go into the gym, right?

Like we lifted weights together. No one talked about the change,

right? It's just amazing.

I want you to think about this basic question.

Basic question. Show of hands.

Help me out. How do you guys think that these

people were cared for? Show of hands think they're

cared for. Show of hands real high.

I mean, how how many people think that they were shepherded?

Well, hands really high. I will say this.

If your hand isn't up right now, you have an impossible standard

of people in the church. Amen.

Because I don't know anybody's going to do better than it is

did right there. That is the standard.

And the reality is this, the people that are cared for well,

people are shepherded well. All of a sudden Jesus does

something. There's a direct correlation

between the, the depth and the ability to shepherd and care and

what Jesus does when he adds people to the church, Amen.

Like there's a direct correlation.

If you, if you're not getting shepherd or or cared for, if

somebody doesn't miss you when you're gone, if there's people

not praying for you. And I'm just going to be really

clear. It's not just the pastoral team

that can do this, Amen. Like we don't have enough meal

trains to help all you out, Amen.

They got to get in community with each other.

You got to be connected to each other.

You got to be connected to everyone, Amen.

When you all show up to the Chiefs game, you don't know

everybody in the stadium. You have two buddies, Amen.

But you, you have connections, you have relationships.

I would encourage a church is no no different.

You got to go deep with people in reality is when, when we are

together and we're cared for and we're loved on and we're prayed

over and we're praised, when God's doing something we witness

together and we're bold together, guess what?

The Lord's like, hey, we can add some people to that church

because they take care of the people, Amen?

There's a direct correlation between our shepherding

capacity, our care capacity, which is our life groups, us

getting connected and what the Lord can do.

He he's not going to give us people to neglect, Amen.

We can't have people show up and then hey, go back out to the

world. Let the world discipline you.

We had to be really, really intentional of opening our

homes, opening our tables, opening our hearts and actually

investing in people. That's a little scary Amen,

Because y'all done that before, right?

And you've been hurt by somebody and somebody let you go.

Now I think I think I'll get a big picture of heaven on this

Amen. You got to get a big picture of

heaven because the people you guys are going to hang out with

in these life groups that know Jesus, guess what?

Your relationship with friends starts now and literally lasts

forever. Some you're like, Oh no, right,

we can't know about that guy, but the reality is we get to

know these people forever. Amen.

And, and the, the, the way we forgive and how we love and the

grace we show it, it changes everything when we see heaven.

And I encourage you guys don't give up on each other.

Like we have an amazing group of live group leaders that have a

huge heart to shepherd and care. They're going to lead some

amazing groups. They're going to talk about some

amazing things, but their number one goal is to care and to

shepherd you. Amen.

That's pretty cool opportunity. Like I've always looked for

opportunities for people I can be invested in, and not just the

knowledge, but actually a love where somebody could point me a

direction. And so this is what they did

together. They met together in person the

first Sunday, and they never stopped being together.

It's interesting that the best part of church that has and

always will be the people. Amen.

Yeah, it's exactly how it is because church is not a

building. It is not a Sunday morning

facility. It's not a gathering like we

call. It's a gathering on purpose

because we scattered out. But it's because the church, the

body of believers, us together are together in a gathering, but

we are the church, Amen. Individually, the pieces, we

come together in community and we build each other up.

We pray for each other, we care for each other.

So it's not about a production or about a speaker or about an

awesome praise team moments. Here's the deal.

At our church, we hope that shepherding is the best thing to

get at our church, Amen. Like I can tell you right now,

we don't have the best preaching, Amen.

It just isn't. I'm just you can go listen to

the podcast. I know my place, brother.

I know my place. You know what I'm saying?

Like I know my routing ability. I know where I'm at.

But it's it's good. But you can go on and get a

better podcast. Amen.

I do. I'll go, wow, that's a really

great podcast. You get better worship too.

Amen. You can buy the CDs, the old

school, right? You get your stuff.

But here's the deal. You can't get better

shepherding. Ain't nobody on your podcast

gonna shepherd you. Ain't nobody gonna call you up.

No one's gonna pray for you. No one's gonna know who you are.

You can listen to whatever you want, other churches and go

online, do a thing. But here's the deal.

You have to be in relationships, Amen?

And that's what real life is all about.

That's what we strive towards. We felt that, Amen.

We're not perfect, but guess what?

We love you guys and we want you guys to connect to each other.

So today, the purpose is this. Be together we're going to talk

about these groups. Maybe the Holy Spirit moves on

you and says, hey, that's AI love that person.

I love that idea. I'm going to jump in and it

could be divine appointment that got us put you here today so you

can actually grow together. The the the problem about

American Christianity is American independence that we

are have such an independent spirit that we don't like to be

together because we've been hurt.

We have church hurt. We got a wound, we got a

problem. We just do you right?

And the reality is the church is built together and we got to get

really good this. So my goal today is every single

one of you truly prays and says, Lord, what group we have made to

be a part of and how can I play a difference of not just being

cared for, but to care for others.

Amen. So I'm looking for you all to be

like, Hey, I'm jumping in today. Life groups start the day.

They last forever, right? So I'm going to do, I'm going to

invite our our life group leaders to come up.

They're going to share. I gave them two minutes.

So if they get along, you can start coughing, right?

2 minutes each. They're going to come up,

they're going to share. All the leaders are coming up

one at a time from their groups. Just there's groups of leaders

that are coming up at the same time.

But I want you to give it up. First group is our freedom

group. We got Barry Christie and Rick

Lily. So come on up.

Give it up for them. Are you talking Christie?

She said no. You said we only.

Had two minutes. If you've been.

Here, anytime at all, you know where this is going.

There's some. Tomatoes with those nachos

aren't there, right? I get to, I'll get to eat.

All all. Joking aside, I'm up here with

two people that are really important in my life and they

made me talk because they have so much wisdom.

They'd be up here for a long time.

But see, I'm trying to dig my way out, Holly, I'm I'm doing my

best, so. One of the first.

Groups we've ever had here is a life group was freedom group.

And if you've never been a part of one, this is this is an

encouragement to jump in a freedom group.

And these groups are all great, but it's probably easier to tell

you what it is then it's not because I've had a lot of

questions like what's freedom group?

Because a lot of people think of like, is this an addiction

program? Is this a self help program?

And we'll address some of those issues.

Rick and Christy are so good at just finding people's hurts and

being able to just relate God because of just all of our life

experiences here. But here's really what Freedom

Group's about. And in this my easiest way, I

want you guys to raise your hands in almighty and say, if

you guys ever been to a church just royally hosed you, right?

And maybe that's a rough way to put it, but I've been in, I've

been in those environments where the place where you expect to be

spiritually shepherd, like Sean was talking about, turned into

manipulation, didn't it? And so a lot of relationships

turn into religion. And that's not how God meant it

to be. So freedom Group, the purpose

is, is to conform our lives to God's truth based on his

scripture. And so the best thing I can tell

you about freedom Group is, is that it will radically change

what you think about God and what he wants from you.

We'll address things like our past, how we've sinned, how

we've been sinned against. One of the roughest chapters

that people get worried about and you start looking ahead in

the book is forgiveness. Because forgiveness is something

that so many people struggle with.

And for most people, they struggle in one of two ways.

They either struggle to forgive others because if something's

been done to them. Or more likely.

They've struggled to forgive themselves because of a choice

they've made right. And so the beauty of this is

that when freedom group's done, our goal is this isn't this

isn't just stop with freedom group.

This is something to equip you to continue to read the Bible in

a way that God wants you to have a relationship with him.

The goal is this is not only to find your value to God, but your

purpose in his Kingdom. And so when you get into the

freedom group and it's here I'll end is is that and Sean

referenced this a little bit and we are we always say two things

as we start freedom group. What happens to freedom group

stays in freedom group. And there's a reason people get

very vulnerable. And don't let that be a

hindrance. Let this be an opportunity for

you to share with some people that'll be a safe spot to say,

hey, that's me too. And I've had seen that happen so

many times, from child abuse to to just alcoholic, you know,

parents and people just pour out their hearts.

And so maybe you're, you're, you're, you're here today and

you're like, man, I don't know about groups and I've never been

here. And I would encourage you.

Maybe freedom group is the one for you because it's the first

spot that we encourage people to go to, to find your freedom and

cry. So can't wait to see how life

groups kick off this while this one and a freedom group is

sounds good for you, man. We would love to have you.

Nice. How many guys have been to a

freedom group before? Show of hands?

Awesome. Yeah, a lot of you guys, right?

It's, it's amazing. We, we actually try to offer

this group every single semester just because it's so powerful.

So if there's something in your life is being just, you're, you

need deliverance from, right? And you're just under this one's

groups. Even if you don't say it and you

go there, you're going to be so challenged.

And I believe there's so many breakthroughs that happen to

that group. So I will say you can use the

QR, it'll take you to all the different groups.

This one's up on the screen and you can sign up for that group.

I'd love to be part of that. So Next up we have Rochelle

Morlock. Where's Rochelle?

There she is. Nice work, give it up.

She's doing a talk it over group and that wasn't really loud

enough for Rochelle, so we need to give some more to Rochelle.

There we go. Hi guys, So this is my third

time leading talk it over and what is that?

So if you guys don't know, every single Sunday there is on the

Bible app. You can go and click real life

church and it says live and it brings up the sermon that Sean

is doing and then you can save it.

And those are the questions that we talk it over.

So there's a lot of times that Sean gives a whole bunch of

stuff and then you go home and you're like, wow, that was a lot

to take in, right? Well, at the very end on his

sermon notes, it has typically 5 to 6 or 7 questions.

And then we get the opportunity to say, hey, what do you think

about this? And it's pretty fun and

interesting just to hear some of the different opinions.

And this is the first thing I will always say.

There is never a right or wrong right?

We are all at different levels in our faith.

So never allow that to stop you to say I'm not good enough, I'm

not strong enough in my faith to be a part of this group.

And it is organized chaos. So there are kids are welcome,

our kids will be there. And we have had a group as large

as 33 people in our house. So it is fun.

It is awesome. So it comes with dinner.

So come hungry and join us Sunday night 6 to 8 and start

your week out with Christ at the table.

Nice, nice. So the goal is to have 50 people

at her house tonight. Just kidding.

I know she she would do it. That's the part that's amazing.

So and there's talking overs, there's e-mail comes on

Saturdays. You can also download the

talking over stuff as well. If you're not part of the group,

I encourage you still use those questions.

It's great on the way home, a great conversation with your

family as well. So the next group is a group I'm

leading so I could play around about that financial freedom.

So this group was kind of burning my heart from going

through difference maker. And there's so many people that

are like, man, I like to be more generous, but I can't.

And there's some people that have never actually trusted

Lord, like with enough faith to add generosity into their actual

budget or their plan of stewardship.

And so this is designed really for people that are in the rat

race. They're like, I want to take

control my finances. I want to leave a legacy.

I want to get this right. I've been struggling, maybe

struggling for years or decades. And maybe you grew up like most

of us and we didn't learn a lot of money principles.

Most people don't talk about money.

It's like that taboo topic. I learned that money doesn't

grow in trees. That was my my discipline.

I learned growing up, but I didn't learn a lot about

anything else, right? And so I'll encourage you guys.

Here's some topics we're going to walk through the purpose of

money. So this week, you guys that come

out to the group, you'll actually write a a purpose

statement for your money making money, your slave, figure out

your net worth, looking at your liabilities, assets and where

you actually sit working together as a couple.

We're going to take some stuff from David Bach like smart

couples finish rich, just give them the same page like a date

night financially. And that sounds really sexy and

exciting, right? But that the good, bad and ugly,

just what are different debts and which ones to try to

eliminate and then strategies for controlling bad debt.

There's a lot of different ideas, whether it's a snowball

or an avalanche method. My favorite thing we're going to

walk through I believe is a no tracking budget that pays

yourself 1st. And so if you're tired of like

trying to do every dollar and doing envelopes or trying to

just match up everything every month, I'm just going to teach

you a different method that requires a lot less discipline

overall, But it, it, it had to have a moment discipline up

front. And you, you can live by paying

yourself 1st. And it's, it's an amazing

system. And then how to pay your bills

systematically because a lot of times it sneaks up and you're

like, man, Raymore, shut my water off.

Come on, somebody. And the strategy is to build

wealth. Just some some basic strategies

that the goal this isn't to like go in depth on all the different

types of savings and retirements and things like that.

And they'll live generously. And so each week we're going to

come together and walk through this.

I'm going to be really transparent where I'm at, where

I've been. I'm going to give you all my

stuff that I use to financially manage my life.

And you can take those things and tweak them.

They'll be different Excel sheets and things and hopefully

be a blessing for you guys. So that's my group, Financial

Freedom, and Diane is helping with it, but she's still in

Thailand. But she'll be back not this

week, but next. Come on, somebody.

So I'm praying. Anyway, Next up, we got Untangle

your emotions with Carrie Cubbley.

Come on. Yeah, I think your husband said

something probably nicer than Barry said.

I think yes, he's too. OK?

He knows. He knows.

So I just want to say this group has been something that's been

on my heart for a while. If you are a woman like me and

you have ever eaten a lot of carbs and been in your feelings,

this is probably a group for you.

We're going to be meeting at Panera to eat some carbs and

talk about things. I feel like it was pretty on

point. So but really just want to say

like emotions are just messy. We are all just in this world

where like our heads are kind of a crazy space to be right.

We can be overwhelmed. We can just be like tangled in

all of the like what ifs of what's happening in the future.

And it's just been heavy on my heart to have a group where we

can talk through a lot of that and talk through the truth that

really like our emotions aren't just like something to overcome,

but it's really something that God gives us as a tool to be

able to lean on him and to go to him.

And he wants to help us with those things.

So we're going to be doing a book by Jenny Allen.

Have you guys ever done any books by Jenny Allen?

If you haven't, she's incredible.

She just really has a lot of biblical truths to just help you

kind of unpack your feelings. So really it's just going to be

a safe place for women to just come together and to be able to

be vulnerable, talk about things that you're going through.

It's all really based around this verse.

I wanted to read it in Second Corinthians 10/5, which reminds

us that we take captive every thought to make it obedient to

Christ. And I just think that that's so

powerful because I think we can think we're victims to our

thoughts, and they don't really control us, but God actually

commands us to take control of them.

So if you guys are interested in coming, we're just gonna all be

going through a book. It's gonna be really casual,

just an opportunity to help together to untangle some of the

emotions. And I'll be honest with you, one

of her books I've read five times.

So clearly I'm not a master of untangling my own emotions, but

it is just a really safe place for us to get together and just

talk through things. We'll get the book later, but

come eat some carbs with me and let's talk about our feelings.

So that's all I got. OK, nice Hurt.

Two things. One, Barry, you cannot join it.

I know you're disappointed. It was ladies only getting your

emotions out. And two, there's no carbs in any

life groups. Amen.

Calorie free life groups. Amen.

So it's all free. So it's great.

The next session of life groups have a special types of groups

that we set up this year, this year for the very first time,

they're called the way groups. And what it is, I'm going to

trust this. I'm not going to roll off this,

I'll just grab it. But the way groups are set up

for you guys to really go deeper with Jesus really intentionally.

So maybe you haven't spent a lot of time in the Bible or it's

been a long time since you've had a life full of of prayer or

solitude or just been close to Jesus, or maybe a time you've

been closer to Jesus than now. And I would encourage you, these

groups are very intentional to help you just get in the Bible,

get in Scripture and add some practices or some habits in your

life to really walk with Jesus. And if you've met Jesus and

you've walked like you came to Christ and you have not really

been a disciple making relationship to open the Bible

and really know the things of God, I would encourage you.

This would be an amazing type of group to jump into.

And we got about four or five of these right now from different,

they're going to talk about different areas of practices.

And I'll encourage you guys to jump in.

It is a heavier type of group. So if you show up and you're

like, hey, I'm just going to come and hang out, That's cool.

But there this one actually a little deeper.

OK, so going to memorize scripture.

There's some journaling, some like a chapter day, reading the

Bible. But I'll encourage you guys.

It is life changing. Amen.

Some of you guys have been through this.

Last year, there was a group of us, probably about 22 that met

in two different groups all throughout the year, each

Thursday morning for the guys and ladies, me on Saturday

morning and they're going out and just said, hey, how can

reproduce disciples in our church?

And so I'd encourage you guys, if you've not yet dove into

scripture and been intentional with God, this would be a group

of these types of grouping for you.

So the way there's would be 5 or 6 of them coming up here, but

first guys coming up, we got Brett White and Jamie Montgomery

and they're doing the way of scripture.

So give it up for these guys. Here you go, Sir.

You really? Can't see up your Canyon so want

to thank you all for giving me the opportunity to do this.

This is my first opportunity that I have said yes, God to Co

lead a life group. And so I've been spending a year

with Sean on Thursday mornings at 5:30 and and this fine man.

And so the the scripture, you know, you don't really get to

know God well until you get into the Bible.

And I've been told, you know, read, read, read, but no one's

ever really kind of helped me figure out how to read.

And so this going through this began to teach me how to read

the Bible and how to make it make sense.

And you know, before I went into that, I know I knew 2 memory

verses, John 316 and Matthew, the Lord's Prayer.

That's the only two I knew. Now I know a lot more now if you

ask me to say it now, I'm not telling you So.

But anyway, it's going to be on Thursday night at six according

to that. And so if you really wanted to

learn, please come because we're going to be studying.

This isn't this is gonna be something that's that's gonna

work. And do you want to say anything?

OK, I guess. That's my 2 minutes.

That's. It mic that 'd be funny, Brett,

you should drop the bike next time.

That'd be great. So yeah, but yeah, he's doing

the way of Scripture and he has been passed about Scripture.

He's read a lot of her books outside the Bible just to help.

And he's going to be coaching you guys.

So be very, very good and encouraging.

So Next up, Alyssa Hardy, Where you at?

Alyssa? She's hiding back there.

The way of community here it comes right here.

Oh yeah. I'm just curious.

So young adult what what what age break is that at I think we.

Decided 18 to 25, but I'm not checking IDs, so if you're.

A little over a little bit, but. Yeah, so I'm Alyssa, and I'm

really excited to start leading this.

I think a few things about real life that I really love is that

we talk about not just the importance, but the necessity of

community because it's not something that you probably

should do or that's helpful. It's something that you can't

live without because we have to live together.

And then we also have a lot of really good spaces for people.

We have an amazing kids area, and we have a space for teens

and all kinds of adults. But I'm really excited to have

the opportunity to kind of break into the young little area

'cause we don't have really, we don't really have that yet.

So super excited to break into that area.

Yeah, I heard him a pastor the other day and he said he said

like. He said.

Sorry, he said that. He said disciples are followers

of Jesus that grow in fellowship with God and with others.

So I'm really excited to lean into the people around me as

they lean into me and as we all grow deeper with Jesus.

So if you're at all curious or interested, please reach out

because I'm really excited to break into this.

I'm excited to see the impact. We're going to be going deep.

We're going to be doing Scripture, Scripture

memorization, and of course, community, because community is

so, so important. Yeah.

So I'm really excited. This is my first time leading.

So if this is your first time joining, then don't be nervous

because we'll figure it out together.

So yeah, hope you guys come out. Thank you.

Nice, nice. Good job, Melissa.

That's good. That's good. 18 to 25.

I like that so, man. So Next up is Josh Cubbly.

Come on up, Josh. I know she picked solitude.

Busy man slowing down. Yes, So I did I.

Also got the opportunity to go through the way and.

Everything. About the way was great.

I absolutely loved it. Just the conversations that we

had and everything and just going through the Bible and

everything. And Sean asked me to do one part

of it and I didn't really know what you want to do because

they're all good. But one thing that didn't step

like jumped out at me with solitude because I really

struggle with that. I'm a super busy guy and I know

all of you guys are busy and you got families you going

everywhere and everything. And then TikTok takes over and

YouTube reels and all that stuff.

And next thing you know, it's been 2 hours after you've been

scrolling. And so one thing about solitude

is clearing your head and taking the time to listen to God.

You know, we all do the prayer, reading the Bible, so we all

forget the just sit there and listen to God, you know, just

take the time to meditate on him and so.

That really kind. Of changed me because I'm really

busy all the time and everything and just trying to unwind my

brain. It just goes knighting to

nothing all the time. And so it was a really struggle

at 1st and we did a walking through the park and everything

and I really prayed and just sat there and listen to God.

And it was, it was a definitely game changer for me and I would

hope it would be for you. So if you guys are wanting to do

something like that, you know, you're more welcome to join the

group, any man, woman, couple, whoever you can join.

But we will be doing some Bible reading, scripture and

journaling. Now I've never journaled my

entire life until this. And so I was like, I don't even

know what to do. But the more I did it, the more

I enjoyed it and the more I got out of it.

So if you've never journaled before, don't feel bad.

There was like a lot of us that never journaled before.

And so don't be scared of any of that stuff.

Don't be scared of you reading the Bible.

You don't have to be able to Bible scholar either.

You don't know I have to know everything or anything like

that. So we just go through the Bible

and just learn about it and everything.

So and they're just, you know, discuss it and all that stuff.

But you know, one thing I do ask is just get out of your comfort

zone and just be open for God. Thank you.

Let's work, Josh. Yeah.

Like they made like, hey, no experience required.

Amen. Like it's it's new for all of

us. And so it's been exciting, you

know, solitude on our culture. It is just stay busy.

And it's when Satan's tactics and you talk about experience

being the best teacher, it's really reflective experience.

That's the best teacher until you slow down and think about it

and learn what God has. You really don't learn all that.

God's trying to teach you. So appreciate leading that,

Josh. Next up, we got Kristen Baker

and Kayla Loveland leading a group on prayer.

Where they at? Oh, here.

OK, over here, hiding in plain sight.

I like it. You got some fans over there.

There it is. I like it.

Like, Hey, who doesn't love to pray, right?

Well, just in case you didn't hear or have forgotten, these

are like he was saying, these are all part of the, the

practicing the way set, I guess, of practices that Jesus did

things that we can learn to follow and emulate so that we

can be closer to God. And it's really based on like,

like transformation and just transformation as far as you

know, from the inside out. They start with like, I think

like adding a few things and then taking some things away.

Or I might have that reverse, I don't know.

So, so talking about prayer, it's just really this, this part

of it really focuses on the the way that Jesus did it.

We're going to talk about praying the way that Jesus did

as far as like the rhythm that he prayed in and the way that he

was so honest with God. He was very real and very

vulnerable in front of God when and where he went to go do what

he was going to do. And, and it's super, it's

honestly super transformational because it's, it's just

reframing and just really changing the way that, that we

think that prayer is supposed to look like.

And which is super helpful for me because I get stuck in one

thing in my head and then I can't, I can't move on from

there. And I it's goes bad from there.

But anyway, so it's just like really nice, like fresh

perspective of, of how to how to pray and and then just also

debriefing, I guess with that with a group of girls.

And so yeah, by the way, that's sorry, sorry gents.

This one's for the ladies. Lots of Coed groups this year.

So but yeah, so just genuine people trying to figure out what

what Jesus did and how to emulate that.

So. Nice, nice.

How many you can say? Man, I could grow my prayer life

a little bit. Amen.

We all, we all can grow. And I'm just encouraging the

pastor that we have people in our church that are actually

leading these things like how can we grow in prayer service,

community scripture? That's good.

Amen. I mean, we, we love having the

fun in the community, but it's amazing to have people are

stepped out and say, you know, I want to help teach other people

to walk with Jesus. So we got a couple more.

So Tanya Taylor, wherever she's at, you'll make your way up

here. Oh, I see you're the one

sharing. Nice, nice, so it's doing

service so this will fit right into you.

This is you in a nutshell. You picked it out, so give her

tiny one more time. Yes I I begged not to do

solitude. That was the roughest one for

me, being alone. It wasn't for me.

So thank you, Josh, for taking that one.

So yeah, we're going to do service.

We're going to go through James, some Acts and a little bit of

Ephesians and just finding ways of the heart of God and Jesus

that he serve people. It's one of the things you find

the most is service, washing feet.

Not saying we're going to do that, but serving others.

So we're going to walk together. There's going to be the three

study column we're going to do. We're going to have a scripture

every week to memorize. Mine's a little different.

We're going to meet one week in person and one online 2 some of

the cast in my house, but partly to check into.

There's a lot of us that have a crazy schedule and having one

online is easier for scheduling purposes.

But yeah, we're really going to dive deep into service and what

that looks like in the heart of God and finding community,

finding time to find solitude, prayer life, scripture life.

I encourage if this is not the one for you, that's OK, but find

one because all these 9 practices changed a huge group

of us and like even us that you got from the since the get goes

when we were little we still learned and grew through this.

So yeah, mine's service. Nice.

Thanks, Tanya. That's pretty amazing.

Yeah. And Tanya, she's taking care of

these kids at home and makes time for the things of God.

Amen. So I appreciate you doing that.

I'm inviting up two more people. They're doing something very

special. It's a year long kind of deal.

And so Chuck Smith and Rose Taylor, you guys come up here

real quick. So give it up.

I got the group full. That's Rose.

Rose recruited so many people, there's no more room.

So come on up here, guys. So these guys are doing some

very special behind the scenes for me and Diane.

We both LED groups, me and Diane last year.

These guys said, hey, we'll step up and, and kind of create the

next batch of disciple makers that could maybe go out this

next season. And so they're going to take a

group of people, I don't know how many guys sign up now,

131515 with you. OK, So that's pretty amazing.

Amen. So it says it's full.

It's full. Yeah.

Way to go, Rose. Way to go, you know, put her

group out. She goes, oh, I've already

contacted so many people. I was like, good job, Rose.

But Disciple makers. So the goal of their group is

that you'd go to the group and then over the course of the

year, you go through all nine practices and it's a little

heavier and it's more involved, but really spend a lot of time

life on life and then go out the next season and reproduce

disciples. And so Diane's self out with

Rose Chuck, I'm in with him on Saturdays.

So if you use the QR, that would be me and him.

There is some room still. So if you have a call in your

life, like I want to make disciples, I really want to

grow. Do what?

I'm an underachiever. He's the underachiever.

Sounds good, Chuck. Me too, apparently.

So we have some room and if you, if you're like, man, I'd like to

really grow deep of Jesus and see what God has.

I know everybody's not going to stay for the whole year.

We have some offerings built in, but we we'd love for you guys to

give it a try. And so if you're like, man, I

can see myself like really getting deep with God and

important to somebody else. That's what they're doing behind

the scene and behind the scenes. And if you can't make this

group, my goal is to reproduce more disciple makers and have

this opportunity to come more and more and more for you guys

to go out and really get deep of Jesus.

And they're taking all nine practices.

So but they're, you're going to see them on Saturday mornings,

the Hope Center, they're going to plug and chug for a year and

do great things. So give it up big for these

guys. Amen.

Behind the scenes Bacon disciples.

So thank you guys. Yeah, that was easy enough.

They're like what we do now. It's pretty cool in our church

to have the ability to share Jesus in this way.

Amen. I hope you don't take it for

granted. It it's really easy to just kind

of come and sit and go, but to actually get in your Bible to

actually pray, to actually serve solitude, community service,

these, these little pieces, they make a huge difference and you

learn so much. And it regardless if it's that

group or the other, I encourage you to get involved in

community. The biggest thing is you do it

together. And I mentioned this earlier

that your life with Jesus starts now.

Can your friendships start now? But it'll last forever.

And I want to share just a little bit about heaven because

when we leave earth, we actually take our friendships with us.

And it is a really cool passage in Acts 17.

This is Paul and he's preaching to the to the audience around

the unknown God in Rome. They have so many gods.

They had gods that didn't know just to make sure they got them

all covered. You know, I got my bases

covered. And this is what Paul says.

He says the God who made the world everything in it is the

Lord of where heaven and earth. He does not live in temples

built by human hands. Amen.

Thank you Jesus, you don't just live in the church buildings or

these places that people build. He is in everything, says he is

not served by human hands as if he needed anything.

The Lord doesn't need us, Amen. He is self-sustaining, He is all

glory, He's all power like we are just at his feet.

Says rather he himself gives everyone look at this life and

breath and everything else. Come on Paul.

I mean just as a standard of all things.

It says from one man he made all nations thought about Adam that

they should inhabit the whole earth and he marked out their

opponent times. This is amazing.

He put the times and history and the boundaries of their lands.

This is amazing. Like I don't know what the Lord

has in store for Greenland. Amen.

Right. But the Lord set up the

boundaries in the time of all the nations of the world.

And sometimes you get really freaked out because we see these

people grouped up and this is a treaty, and that's going this

way and you just got to know the Lord's in charge.

Amen. The Lord's appointed every piece

of the times and the boundaries for all nations.

And I just want to encourage you if you boil this down even

further, because I believe the Lord's in charge of everything

is the actually appointed your friendships.

It's he's put people in your life on purpose.

Like it's not an accident. Like your parents moved across

the nation when you're 16 or your cluster desk hit each other

or the cubicles are next door. Our offices are here or the

person next door at the apartment building or your

neighbors where they are. It's just not an accident.

Amen, Amen. It's not an accident when you

guys join a life group and the people you get to connect with,

like those are just divine deployments that God puts

together. Those are the places that God

meets. I think this Jesus is in charge

of the seating arrangement. Amen.

Jesus puts the right people in the right places at the right

time and it's pretty amazing. God always moves through

relationships. So I would encourage you to get

involved because when you talk about heaven, you're actually

talking about now like we, we don't take anything mature with

us. We don't take our stuff, which

is no, it's like a bummer for a lot of people because they've

built their whole life on their stuff.

But we do get to take our friendships, Amen.

We do. We do get to see our friends in

heaven and be really cool when you guys go to heaven and you're

like, man, we're back on that fall on earth.

Remember that weird preacher was on stage and he said, I'll get

to see you forever. I can't believe he was right.

Amen. Remember that time I grilled up

60 lbs of ground beef and -2° outside for the Real Life Life

Group kickoff tailgate party? What was that pastor thinking?

Amen. You can share all those stories

back on earth. It'd be so cool.

Like maybe you cut your thumb off and you built that house.

Oh yeah, man thank you. Jesus.

Resurrect the body, right? Like all the things we get to

experience now, we get to experience for eternity.

So I would encourage you be very disciplined and intentional with

your relationships. It's like these guys all settle

stage. We're so wrapped up, we're so

busy. We're talking about TikTok,

we're on social media. Do you make time for what's most

important? And the Bible talks about being

together. Everybody stay together.

That's the goal of our church. And this season right now is

that we do life together. So Father, we come before you.

God, thank you that we get to have friendships and people

forever. God, I pray for our community.

God that we would not be isolated.

We wouldn't just do our own thing.

God, we would pour to each other that we'd, we, we would not just

be teachers, but we'd be learners, We students and vice

versa. God, we get relationships and

care for each other. We support each other.

We might sell something to get somebody a hand up.

God, we might just pray for people.

God, we might praise what you're doing somebody's life.

God help us to be the church. Then people show up.

They know they're shepherd, shepherded, they belong here.

God, they're needed and known. They're cared for, not because

there's a group of us, but because all of us are doing it

together. And so today maybe Jesus is

speaking you and God just challenge you like I didn't get

any community like I need to find my people.

I need to do life together. If that's you without him

looking around, he just raised me and I say God just speaking

to me. Holy Spirit's telling me, man, I

need to do life on mission with each other.

The glory of God. Father, you see the hands God,

you know the hearts. God help us to to not be

isolated. It's not falling through the

trap of just doing their own Lone Ranger Christianity where

it's got my Bible and myself. But God we do with each other

and we spur each other on. We encourage each other daily.

It's a good work. So the root of bareness does not

take root. So God help our church to be on

mission together for you. I'll pray for one group of

people in that social house that recognize man, these people are

really serious about Jesus. These people have a true love

for each other. You might ask, where does this

love come from? What does this family talk

about? And it's all because we know

Jesus. It's not the end being this room

is perfect. We're just forgiven because of

Christ. And so today, if you want to

come into true community, it's only through Jesus.

And so Jesus says he's the way, the truth and life.

No man comes, the Father, but through him, when you call on

Jesus, you actually become part of God's family, the church

itself, the Saints together. And we get to be part of this

together for eternity. We have to love each other,

forgive each other to show the grace and mercy and gentleness

and kindness and forbearance all through the Spirit happens

because of Jesus. And so if you need a part of our

church, not just the sense of like shelter, real life, but the

church, the spiritual church that those that are forgiven the

way of God. It's only through Jesus.

The Bible says you call on Jesus to be saved, forgiven and made

new and so they only give an opportunity for those of you who

don't know Jesus to say yes to Jesus to yes, it forgives the

sins that you're no longer a disciple of the world, but you

are devoting yourself to Jesus and be a disciple of Jesus.

If that's you today and you'll put Jesus and on the Lord of

your life, you'll surrender your sins.

You're calling this a savior to ask for forgiveness to be in

community with him for the first time to walk out here with a

true relationship that you're a son or daughter of the king.

If that's you, we just raise your hand high then looking

around and say I need Jesus today.

Your relationship with Christ today.

See your hands, real son need Jesus today.

Well, I'm gonna give you an opportunity to pray.

The prayer does not save you, but it's just your heart towards

him. Just Christ say, Father God,

thanks so much for sending Jesus to love me.

God, when I was stranded in sin, God, you still loved me and you

gave your son for me. God, I surrender my life.

God, it's not me. That's not my ability, God, it's

my inability. But it's your ability on the

cross that is your finished work that you died for me.

God, thank you for loving me. God, thank you for a new life.

God thank you for the Holy Spirit we sang about and all

three songs today. God to come to my life and

forgiving my sins. God and change me from the

inside out. Got to pray that being a

community that be rich in relationships and I wouldn't do

life alone. So you got to thank you for this

amazing body that's pointing me to you and today I give my life

to you. I surrender you.

God use me how you will. I praise in Jesus name.

The church said Amen. Come on give it up big for the

Lord's doing today. God bless you guys.

Got it, Got it. Man, what an amazing day today,

man, it is so good. Just a reminder even that one

does not meant to do life alone, but the God created us to do

life together and in community. And man, I hope that was maybe a

light bulb for some of you this morning and recognizing your

need for community and to get into a group today, man, some of

you for the first time today recognize your need for Jesus

and he's been pursuing you and wants a personal relationship

with you. And if that's you and you raised

your hand and you prayed that prayer, man, we are so excited

for you as you we know the journey you're about to take

with Jesus. And so we would love to be able

to resource you, get you a free book in the mail this week.

So if you would grab that connection card that is on your

seat, fill out the information there on that top, and then just

make sure and check the box that says I committed my life to

Jesus. And you can drop that in the

giving buckets as they pass here in just a few minutes.

We'll get that free book in the mail to you as well.

Also, when you leave the worship center, there is a table with

some red bags. There's a free Bible and a few

other things that we would love to get in your hands today too,

if that is you. And hey, if you are newer in the

house with us today or maybe today is your first time here at

Real Life Church. Man, we are so excited you are

here with us this morning. What a great day to come.

It's going to be an amazing morning.

We're gonna have a tailgate party and some yummy food and

hang out and connect. So thank you so much for being

here with us today. Maybe we don't want anything

from you this morning except just to introduce yourself to

us. And you can do that simply by

grabbing that same card. Just fill out information there

on that top and then check first time here.

You can drop that in the giving buckets as well or out in the

new here. Somebody will be there as well.

Would love to take the card, get you a free gift and just say

thank you so much for being here.

And then we would love to see you back next week right here as

well. We would love for you to join us

again. Well, hey, Sean mentioned the

relationships that we make now, the godly friendships and

relationships don't just start now and, and, and now they last

for forever. And that's not just in a life

group, but think about your church family as well in that.

And so I want to invite, if you have been attending real life,

maybe you're newer in the last few months.

I mean, this next opportunity is for you.

And that is our welcome party. It is next Sunday.

It is in between the gatherings. We just meet right past the

restrooms in a room there. But this is for you.

It's a casual environment, about 30 minute gathering.

You'll just meet some other people maybe that are new or you

get to hear from our leadership, kind of hear who real life

church is, why we exist. And we would love just to help

you get connected and maybe take the next step in that as well.

So that is an opportunity for you.

We would love to see you there. You don't need to sign up or any

of that. You can scan the QR just for

some more details. But man, next week that would be

the place for you in between the gatherings.

We would love just to hang out with you there and I get to

celebrate some cool stats. And that is that this year so

far we've had 15 people plus some more people that raise

their hand in this gathering, accept Jesus and start a

relationship with him. Come on, you got to give it up.

It is so cool to see God moving in such amazing ways in people's

lives. And man, when you give here it

is so that other people can find Jesus, so that other people can

find him. And we would love for you to

partner with us and that man. We have a bold prayer and goal

for 2026, and that's to see 100 people baptized this year.

And together we can partner together to see more souls saved

and people sent out to move that mission forward.

And so if you call real life church home, there are a lot of

ways that you can take part in that.

You can scan the QR, you can text to give, you can give cash

or check in the giving buckets. They're going to pass in just a

couple of minutes. There's also a giving box in the

back as well if that is more convenient for you.

And as always, if you find yourself in any kind of

immediate need this week, it's food, clothing, shelter,

whatever resources it is that you need.

Would you please reach into the buckets as they pass here in

just a minute? Just grab any loose cash that

you see there. We really do want to bless you

and your family this week. Let's pray.

God, thank you so much for this gathering.

Father, thank you for just the people of God coming together

and the reminder, God, that you didn't create us to do life

alone. You called us to do life

together and so God, I just pray that you would bless our time

the rest of this day. God that we connect and just

make some good godly friendships today.

Father, I pray that you would just bless what we give to you

this morning. God that you would use it to

move the mission forward here in our city and beyond.

God, we love you, we praise you in Jesus name, Amen.

Amen. What a blessed day, right?

You guys have a good time so far.

Yeah, well, I've give you the encouragement.

Let's keep the fun rolling. I really could not emphasize

this enough. Please don't rush out.

Please don't Sprint to the parking lot.

Please stay with us and please get in community in just a

minute. I'm going to dismiss you all.

If you have kids, go out to real life kids, go get your kids.

And for everybody else, go ahead and go hang out in the Hub for a

second because while you do that, our events team is going

to be hard at work in here getting the whole room flipped

for everything that we're going to have going on.

We're going to have a Nacho bar. We're going to have inflatables

for your kids. We're going to have 9 square in

the air. This is going to be a great

time. We'll have fun together.

We'll relax together, we'll laugh together, we'll laugh

together, but most importantly, we're just going to be together,

right? We're going to spend some time.

If you're an introvert like me, I'm going to encourage you to do

something hard. Find somebody you don't know,

talk to somebody new, make a friend, start a conversation.

The heart behind that is like we're talking about with this

whole series. Heaven starts now and it lasts

forever. The person next to you, the

person behind you, the person in front of you you're going to be

worshipping with forever and ever and ever into eternity.

It's probably a good idea to get to know them.

Getting community here at church.

It is going to be a blast. Like I said, I'm going to

dismiss you guys here in a second.

If you need somebody to talk to or pray over, I'll have somebody

down here for you. Remember, I'll see you guys next

week, 9 or 10:45 when you discover Jesus cover real life

and purpose. Go ahead, jump out to the hub

and we're going to get this room flipped.

See you guys. This is the end of this podcast.

We hope you've enjoyed it. If you have, be sure to hit the

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