Do I Really Need To Do Life Together? - The Elephant in the Room

Good morning real life church. Awesome to see everybody today

want to just encourage you to stand to your feet.

Get those hands going. Let's have some fun today in the

house as we worship God. Let everything that is bread

praise the Lord, praise the Lord.

Let everything that is bread praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord. I praise in the valley and I

praise on the mountain. I praise when I'm sure, I praise

when I'm doubted. I praise when outnumbered, and I

praise when surrounded. This praise is the water my

enemies drowning. As long as I'm breathing, I've

got a reason to play the Lord Oh my soul, Lord Oh my soul.

Praise when I feel it, and I praise when I do.

Praise 'cause I know, oh, you're still in control.

My praise is a weapon. It's more than a sound.

My praise is the shout that brings Jericho down.

As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to pound.

Is alone. Oh, my soul is alone.

Oh my soul. I won't be quiet.

My God is alive. How could I keep it inside?

Is alone. Oh, my soul.

Come on, real life. Let's keep those hands going.

It's worship of big today. Let's declare this together.

Praise 'cause you're sovereign. Praise 'cause you reign.

Praise 'cause you rose and defeated the grave.

I praise 'cause you're faithful. Praise 'cause you're true.

Praise 'cause there's nobody greater than you.

I said I praise 'cause you're sovereign.

Praise 'cause you reign. Praise 'cause you rose and

defeated the grey. Praise 'cause you're faithful.

Praise 'cause you're true. Praise 'cause there's nobody

greater than you. There's the Lord, Oh my soul.

There's the Lord, Oh my soul. Come on with me, son.

Is the Lord. Oh my soul.

God is the Lord, Oh my soul. I won't.

I won't be quiet. My God is alive.

How could I keep it inside? I won't be quiet, Quiet.

My God is alive, how could I keep it inside?

Declare this, I won't be quiet. My God is alive, how could I

keep it inside? Is the Lord?

Oh my soul must keep those hands going.

So many ways to praise. Come on.

He deserves it all today. Let everything that has breath

praise the Lord, praise the Lord.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord, Praise the

Lord. Come on.

Amen. Give Him some praise this

morning. It's so good to gather together

as we praise and give God all the glory he deserves.

And so something I love about praising God is just the

opportunity we have to recognize Him for who He is, to see all of

His names, his attributes, and lift him up.

So let's do that. The Son of Man, the stories of

the Savior, holiness with human hands and treasure for the

traitor is nowhere is hard the way is seen the image of the

Father. Until heaven came to live with

me or rescue like no other. Lift him up today because you

are worthy. You are worthy of your name.

Yes, you are worthy. You are worthy of your name, my

Jesus, Because you did not speak, you made no sound, and

you died through your accusers. Because everyone and died, your

blood fell to the ground. You were redefined.

My future. The darkness around for cover

for the King of Kings has played his love now until ever.

Oh, worthy of your name? Yes, you are worthy.

You are worthy of your name. Jesus, I trust you.

You're my helper, my healer, my blessed Redeemer, my answer, my

saving grace. We're not done yet.

You're my hope in the shadows, my strength in the battle, my

anger for all my days. You are.

You stand by my side, and you stand in my place.

Jesus, no other name, no Jesus, no other name.

You all will be. Miss you all will be.

Love Your name, miss, you all will be.

You're worthy, God, you are worthy.

You're worthy, Lord, you are worthy, Lord, you are worthy of

your name. Yes, you are worthy.

You are worthy of your name. My Jesus, always say your name.

You're worthy. So we're well to die.

All the voices lift him up. You are worthy of your name.

You are worthy. You are worthy of your name, my

Jesus. Come on, give him some praise

this morning. He is so worthy of all of our

worship, of all of our praise. Man, what a joy and honor it is

just to be able to worship him together with you all this

morning. That's what we're going to

continue to do is just to praise him, to lift him up together.

I. Searched the world, it couldn't

fail me. Man's empty praise and treasures

of fate. I've never enough.

You came along and pulled me back together and every desire

is now satisfied. Here in your love.

There's my faith better than you, there's nothing better than

you, Lord, there's nothing. There's.

Nothing is better than you. I'm not afraid to show you my

weakness, my failures and flaws. Lord, you've seen them all and

you still can't refresh. Thank you, Jesus, because the

God of the mountain is the God of the valley.

There's not a place Your mercy and grace won't find me again.

There's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you,

Lord. There's nothing.

There's nothing is better than you.

Do you believe that this morning There's nothing better than you?

There's nothing better than you in the world.

There's nothing. There's nothing is better than

you. Come on.

Give him a shout at praise this morning.

That's right. You turn boy into dancing.

You give beauty for ashes, You turn shame into glory.

You're the only one who care. You turn Lord into death.

You get beauty for ashes, You turn shame into glory.

You're the only one who care. You turn crazy into garbage.

You turn close into Arbies. You turn seasons highways.

You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can.

Better than you, there's nothing.

Better than you, a Lord, there's nothing.

Because nothing is better than you, oh, there's nothing.

Better than you, there's nothing.

Better than you, a Lord, there's nothing 'cause nothing is better

than you, 'cause you turn crazy into goddess.

You turn bones into all these. You turn seasons and highways.

You're the only one who can. You turn the grass to turn games

into God it turn it forward and join on, turn bones into harmony

to make it away through the season.

Just sees into highways. You're the only one who cares.

You're the only one who cares. You're the only one who cares.

Come on, everybody, man, who's thankful for Jesus this morning,

Give it up. Come on, man.

Pastor Sean, now that's some worship right there.

Man. What a great way to kick off the

Sunday gathering at Real Life. Man.

We're so excited that you chose to join with us today just to

worship, man. Give some love back to Jesus.

We have a ton of new people online and with this in person,

can we show those guys some love too?

Give them a round of applause. Hey man, take these the next 30

seconds to greet somebody around you.

Hey, you guys can go ahead and be seated.

Man, what an awesome way to get started today.

Hey, I want you guys to know that you were sitting on an

awesome connection card and this is a magic card that makes all

your hopes and dreams come true. Hey, if you call real life home

in all, in all seriousness, we love it when you guys feel these

out. If you call real life home, put

on your prayer, request your praises.

We want to know what's going on in your life.

I'm not so good at chasing checking in on Facebook

sometimes where what most people put out what's going on.

But if you send this in, our leaders go over these, we can

week out. They pray over them.

We want to know what's going on. We want to stay connected to

you. Hey, if you are new or newer

with us, this this card's for you as well.

And our encouragement for you guys is this is that you guys

just take this time to get connected with us.

And again, I'm not going to ask and I promise nobody else is

going to ask anything else from you today if you're new, except

for this one simple thing. We would love for you to

introduce yourself to us. And when you fill this card out

to the level that you're comfortable with, we'll just

want to send you out some information.

That's all we're looking for, let you know who we are, real

life, what you can expect from us and why we exist.

And so we just love that. We'll let you guys know what to

do with these connection cards a little bit later in the

gathering and why we exist. That's our mission, right?

Our mission is to see people far from God discover their real

life and purpose in Jesus is Simply put, what that means is

this a week in and week out people walk through these doors

just like you did today and they walk in with problems, issues,

broken lives, messed up stuff they don't know how to fix.

And we don't have all the answers here, but we know the

one that does. And it's awesome to see week in

and week out people commit their lives to Jesus and they find

that purpose they've been searching for for their whole

life. And that is the only reason that

we're here today. So the reason why we meet during

life groups is to be on mission and to live it.

The calling that God has put on this church.

So we love it when you guys are with us and on that mission.

Hey, before we get started, one last first thing is tonight the

real life youth is going to sport in KC.

So it is man, they have 50 people signed up.

Can you believe that? Man?

It's going to be a great time. So if you're on that list, you

guys are meeting at Hope Center's reminder at 3:15.

And then we're praying for you guys, praying for youth just to

have a great time together and just get closer and connected.

We've been in the middle of a series called Elephant in the

Room and that elephant in the room is different probably for

every person in here. We all got that question that we

think we're the only person that's asking, but we're scared

to ask, right? So everybody sees it, but very

few people are willing to acknowledge it.

So today we're going to lean into what God's got for you,

whether you're dealing with some brokenness or questions about

faith or why God allows certain things to happen.

Today we're going to delve into how God meets you in that

moment, that struggle that you've got.

So as we continue this series, I want you guys put your hands

together and welcome my pastor Shawn as we continue Elephant in

the Room. I got a turtle man out there

somewhere. You guys remember that.

I guess I'm the only person I was using passive for 10 years.

Come on somebody right Well welcome you guys.

Can you get for base new and newer to real life again one

more time Let no love them Come on that worship was amazing.

So thank you guys for leading us in the worship today.

I noticed Diane was the computer crashed up here.

You would have no idea, but she was like working magic.

I think Jason saw this. I was like, all right, good job,

but man, the Holy Spirit's good. Amen.

It's really awesome. I want to encourage you guys.

There's something very special. Happy life for church.

We mentioned last week we've had 61 people come to Christ so far

this year. Amen that this is fantastic and

it's just our mission is to see our heart is to see God's heart

is to see people far from God discover Jesus that that is the

Great Commission. That is why we exist and it's

amazing to put part of the story, you know just a little

part of the story. So it's just amazing what God's

doing. We've had over 41st time guests

here last few months. We usually typically see about

501st time guests a year, maybe a little more, depends on the

big days we have, stuff like that.

But with all that said, we're doing something very special

come up this next season. We're creating a space for

people that are newer or new to get connected a little quicker,

to find community, to belong here in real life.

We're doing something called a real life welcome party and it's

going to have between the gatherings.

And so with that said, we're going to do a little shift of

our times. And so it's going to affect our

9 fifteeners and you're not going to sleep any farther.

We're going to 9:15 to 9:00. Somebody say 9:00, somebody say

9:00 who say 8:45, I love you. If you show up 9:15 this can

next week we're shifting time. So 9:00 and 10:45 stay the same.

So think about it, pray about it.

If you can get up earlier grade, that'd be amazing.

If you're like, dude, that's just too early.

Hey, 10:45, it's the same. Amen.

It's the same. So it is a purpose too.

We're not just trying to like pull the rug out, but we're

trying to create more space between the gathering so we can

do a once a month welcome party. And then with that, there's also

a first sort of Sunday that happens between.

So really excited about. Amen.

All right, we're gonna do it. So jump in and say elephant in

the room. Today is a very special day

because it is the kickoff of our fall life groups.

Amen. It can be good.

And so with that there's questions we have that I think

Satan uses or just or sin nature that keep us feeling alone.

Like can God use me after all I've done and we're probably

going to ask that question anybody like what you do in

life's messy or the doubts we have or why would God put me

through this? Like I I don't measure up for

God to use my life. Like do people really understand

if they if people knew the real me, would they even want me to

go to church? You ever felt that way before,

Like, man, like, yeah, if they saw, like, the peel back the

layers, like, what really went and saw like the inside the real

Sean Peacher, would they want me here?

There's a temptation inside of us to isolate ourselves and to

do life alone. And so the question of the pose

today is a very foundational question to really church.

But should I do life together? Is it really worth it?

And I've ran to so many people. They'll say, hey, pastor, you

know, my church is at the lake. You know, I'm out there fishing

that that's me and God. That's that's lake time.

That's church time. Or hey, I'm out there in the

field, we're hunting and I'm camping.

Like this is church. And I would encourage you today.

That is bad theology that the church is the gathering of

people. It's like almost everybody can

love everything about God, but just not God's people.

Amen. I'm just kind of done with these

people. I'm not saying has to be a large

gathering like this, but to isolate, it's very tempting to

say, I'm just going to do it myself.

I got my awesome podcast. I got my Bible app.

I don't really need all these people, but do I really need

community? And so once you dive into the

Bible, we're going to Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And just the first part here, Acts chapter 2 is a very famous

Acts 2 · chapter mention

piece of scripture is the launch of the New Testament church.

This is the very beginning of the very first Sunday, the very

first gathering in the church. Acts chapter 2, verse 40.

Acts 2:40

It says this with many other words.

He being Peter disciple Peter, the one that betrayed Jesus,

that Jesus restored. And now he preaches US first

message on Pentecost and he says with many other words, Peter was

full of words. He's a good preacher, right?

He warned them. He pleaded with him.

Some of the Jewish people, those at Pentecost, he said, save

yourselves from this corrupt generation.

He was talking about the Pharisees and the law and the

sin that was happening. He says those who accept this

message were baptized and about how many was to say 3000 were

added to that number or to their number that day.

I love this in the first action of the church, you actually see

two parts of the Great Commission actually come to

fruition. The Great Commission, Matthew

2819 says go there therefore and make disciples.

Some say make disciples. So make disciples is the mission

and you make disciples you happens by going he says make

disciples therefore go therefore make disciples by baptizing them

and they have father to the Holy Spirit teaching them all things

that command you and lo, I'll be with you always, even to the end

of the earth. And this commission's given

those disciples and here in the very first message on the very

first day of the church, you have the first two things

happen. They went they go to people who

are far from God, people who need Jesus and they share Jesus

and baptize. It's amazing to me like the very

first thing that happens in this New Testament church, go and

baptize. I hope you understand that it

stop making happens before somebody knows Jesus.

You understood that it was make disciples by going going where

first thing a church should do, going to lost people who need

Jesus, going to find a community of people who need the gospel.

Amen. Thank God the gospel found me.

Thank God somebody divided me into the gospel like that.

That's the number one thing we do as a church is to bring the

gospel outside these walls, outside of our home or

ourselves, or just being quiet and bring it to a work, live,

play where we study, we go find people who need Jesus, and we

share Jesus. And these people got baptized

first. It happened to the church, Amen.

That's a New Testament standard, Amen.

I mean, if you got this one thing right, the church would

explode. I mean day one, and it's not

just day one this because every day of the church, that's the

first thing you see. They found people who needed

Jesus, told about Jesus and they got baptized.

Verse 42, very next verse, it says they this is the Christians

that came to Christ. It says they devoted themselves

that that means fully gave their attention that they commit

themselves to these things to the apostles.

What's it say the apostles? What?

Oh, hold on, that's the third thing of the Great Commission.

Isn't that amazing? I literally he had he had the

first verse where they they go and then people got baptized and

now they're teaching all things committed.

This is amazing. Amen.

Is it just me? Is it just me?

Like I was only excited about that.

I mean, this is what Jesus wanted the church to do.

They would go out that we'd see people come to Christ, avenge

them as a part of disciple making and that they would get

baptized because they have faith in Jesus and a picture what God

did in their life. And they would teach them

everything, which would include them going back out that this is

this is what just happened in the 1st 2 verses the church

getting born. If this was just what we would

do, right? The word I keep thinking of is

together they're teaching to do fellowship.

That's that's community to break bread.

They're doing communion. They're sharing meals and to

what to say to pray that they were together that the church

wasn't a separate entity wasn't just do your little thing.

We'll see you next week. Since everyone was filled in all

at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

Since all believers were what to say they were together.

Let's do that together. They were together I know maybe

the different version on the screen still looking at like

what's going on. All the believers were together.

Some of you guys guessed really well come on somebody Jesus Paul

together and had everything in common.

That means their life would begin to the culture the way of

falling Jesus was looking similar to each other.

Their heartbeat was the same. This old properties and

possessions to give to anyone who had need and every say this

every day, say every day how often every day they continue to

meet together in temple courts, they broke bread in their homes

and they ate together with Gladys sincere hearts, praising

God and enjoying the favor of all the people and the Lord

because of their actions because the God was pleased with how

they put their life together. Added to the number of daily

those who are being saved. She asked the question, do I

really need to do life together? Do I really need to get together

in community with other believers?

Do I can I can I say like, oh man, I just go to lake.

I'm good. I got my podcast.

I'm good, man. I got my headphones.

I read the Bible. I got a personal walk with

Jesus. I don't really need other

people. I hear there's a lot as a pastor

and it really breaks my heart because it's people that make up

the church. Amen.

And when you don't bring the gospel and just share the gospel

and live in community, it's almost like the most selfish

thing you could ever do with the gospel.

You basically just said, the gospel is going to stop with me.

That's where it's going to end. Like, I'm not really too

interested in like helping somebody.

I'm really interested in getting poured into.

I've been hurt. Who knows?

Relationships, Relationships are messy, Amen.

It is it worth the mess? I mean, Jesus died for the mess,

Amen. I would say in this scripture

that when we leave church today and you say the words, hey, I'll

see you next Sunday, I would say that's unbiblical because the

goal wasn't to see you next Sunday, Amen?

The goal was like, hey, I'll see you this week.

Hey, we're going to do some life together.

Like I'm going to call, we're going to text, we're going to

sit down, we're going to grow relationships to the New

Testament church has moved into at least the American church a

week to week basis. You guys understand that and we

all do, right? Like, hey, I'll just come, I'll

sit, I'll come, I'll sit, I'll come next week.

Hey, man, I don't get too serious.

I don't get over committed. I don't get too involved.

I'm awfully busy doing these other things.

And Jesus has set the standard that the church meets in common

daily. Like there's a higher level of

walk than just hey, come listen to the dude talk on stage.

Amen. Together, think about New

Testament standard. You can no longer say, hey, I'll

see you next Sunday. And the thing about trying to

connect, we'll look to do life together and on mission, not

just with each other, but with people who need Jesus.

Like to think that you're the only representation of church

like like that. If if we all cease to exist,

you're the only Christian in our city, How would you actually

live? Like, how would you actually

live? You're the only person to do

Jesus. Like, what would your life look

like? Like, how intentional would you

be to get people to your house to, to have a meals together,

to, to, to see people come to Christ, start praying, to go

start showing the things of Christ Because it's like, hey,

I'm not, I can't bring him to somebody, so I'm gonna have to

do it myself. And that's the call for all of

us, Amen. The Great Commission was not

given to professional Christians.

There's no such thing as professional Christians.

I'm just another sheep. Amen.

OK, like you can't be like, hey, go to Sean, you get discipled.

No, you disciple them, Amen. Show them what you know, you're

accountable. You know, you know enough to

disciple somebody. Show them what you know about

Christ, show them the scripture, learn together, read together,

pray together, like follow Christ's called, do life

together, Amen. I think it's a tactic of the

devil to keep us isolated. Like here's the reality.

If you do not find community, you will stop your spiritual

growth. I guarantee you.

If I were to ask you, hey, can you tame the season where you

grew the most spiritually? You would say, oh, yeah, I was

back when I was this college class, or there's this youth

pastor, or it was just friend. It'd always go back to a person.

There'd always be a person associated with your growth

because it happens in community. Amen.

And when you're like, hey, I'm done grown, is what you're

saying, Like I'm done. And what happens is when you're

not in community, you're uncovered.

You know, that means that means when life gets hard, there's

nobody there to pick you up. There's nobody there to pray for

you. There's nobody to help you, that

the power of God in your life is being questioned in your, in

your mind. And you're just afraid to tell

somebody because you're not in community.

And the devil just snatches your back.

And you stop even coming even to the big gatherings.

You stop reading your Bible, you stop praying.

And we get a season of just kind of woe and poor as me and the

devil just keeps us silent, keeps us off mission, keeps us

victimized. This is what happens.

Amen. This is kind of doomsday picture

a little bit, right? But we're made to do life

together and we have a system for that here.

And as really multiple systems, multiple ways of doing it.

I think one of the best ways to do life together is serving on a

team personally, like I think just getting around people and

just getting your hands dirty, serving, being accountable,

having friends on mission together is is amazing.

Now life groups is an amazing place as well.

Amen. And today our life groups go

alive. So we have community.

We have people have kind of stood in the gap.

They've said, hey, look, I want people to know and follow Jesus.

We've vetted these people. Come on somebody, they're weird,

but they're not that weird, you know what I mean?

Like it's a little weird, you know, and we vet these people

and we believe in these people and they care about you.

And I, my encouragement is often times we wait.

And I, I, I was guilty of this for years and years and years.

I would say, man, if, if, if, if only would just somebody just

magically show up. And I like, I really want to

have a mentor. I really have somebody like we

can have like relationship and grow.

And I was just kind of waiting, like, OK, God, you just send

somebody. And I kind of encourage you like

don't wait for somebody to magically show up.

Like just don't wait. Like, oh, man, I wish somebody

just called me. Or like, I just, you know, like,

how about this? How about you go out and find

somebody and make it magical. Make it magical with me today is

be the person that leads. Like don't be the person that

sits back and say whatever life happens, I'll put a fleece out.

Nobody called me. Not going to group.

You know, like, why not be the person that says I'm gonna go

find somebody? And sometimes you're a, you're a

son, sometimes you're a brother and sometimes you're a father in

the faith. So God just gives you all three

relationships. So you're getting poured into,

you're doing life together soul to soul and you're pouring out.

You got that, Timothy, Right. And so I just encourage you guys

like, don't wait to be like, Hey, I'm gonna find community

next season. Oh, if it works out my timing,

my schedule, Hey, if you can make half the group show up, if

you want to jump on the team, we'd love to have you.

Like make it a priority to do life together.

It's way more than sit and watch.

Amen. Like that.

I'm, I'm totally done with that. Like the, the Philip Hugh kind

of thing. Like it's, it's cool, but the,

the, the work happens. The Holy Spirit works the power

God works in community. So what we're gonna do, we're

gonna share our our groups together.

We're gonna share what, what God's doing in our church, our

somewhat weird life group leaders come off somebody and

the leader of those Greek people.

All right, where's Holly at? So Holly, she leads our life

groups and she can tell you about what the passion is, the

power of together looks like in our groups and just share some

stories. And then we're gonna have each

of our life group leaders come up and just share a little about

their passion, their heart for groups.

So give it up for Holly. Come on, let me know you love

her. Oh yes, like Sean said, oh there

really is power in doing life together.

And I just want to share a short story of of just seeing that

first hand. A couple came to our life group

about 7 years ago and Drew and I's life group, they were church

shopping, feeling disconnected and really we're unsure if this

was for them if they would fit in.

And as the weeks passed, friendships formed, prayers were

answered, and they realized that at the end of the group, they

weren't just attending, but they truly were like family to us.

And what a blessing that is. They're actually leading a life

group this semester, which is so awesome.

But that is what community is all about.

It's about going to a place where people know your name,

where your faith can be encouraged and really do

recognize that hey, I don't have to do life alone.

And so a real life for life groups, we do it this way.

We meet in three semesters throughout the year that is

fall, spring and summer. We do it in that way just to

give everybody a fresh opportunity to jump in, to build

those relationships and find that life giving community.

In this semester, we're launching 9 life groups.

Most all of them are doing the talk it over questions, which we

are super excited about because we know that when you take God's

word, when you apply it, when you discuss it with others, it

truly can change your life. And so I want to give you an

overview of this morning, what that looks like.

Like Sean said here in just a few minutes, our amazing life

group leaders are going to come to this stage and really share

their heart of her life groups and why they lead a life group

and what that's all about. They're also going to be hanging

out in the hub after the gathering wearing these amazing

blue life group leader T-shirts. They're also going to have some

invite cards ready just for you. But my encouragement to you is

to take this step today to meet them, to ask questions, to find

a group, to find your community. They would love to help you find

that place. And today really is all about

connection. So my encouragement is to take

that step, ask those questions, find a leader, take that step

into community. Because at Real Life Church, we

really do believe that we don't do life alone here, but we truly

are Better Together. So I'm going to turn it back

over to Sean. He's going to intro our life

group leaders. Can't wait for you to hear from

them. Awesome.

Give it up. Come on.

So if you're interested in ever leading the group, Holly is the

one who will on board you and make sure everything she'd love

to talk to you, but helps on board you just helps you get

some confidence. We don't just throw you out to

the wolves. We want to help to grow you and

help you feel really confident what you're doing.

So our first group coming up. So Jared and Rose, maybe it's

just Jared. Come on, Jared, you doing talk

it over? And so are you going to talk

about what talk over is or you want me to do that?

OK, cool. So because I don't think if you

don't know, you don't know. So talk it over is a series of

questions that happen based on the message we preach on Sunday.

And so if you follow along in EU version on the on your on the

Bible app at the bottom, after all the message notes will be

talk over questions. It's also on an e-mail that

happens every Saturday. And so I encourage you guys to

use these with your family on the car at home or later on

Sunday or during the week. But we also have the life groups

that base their life group on those series of questions.

So that's what talk it over is, you know, for Jared, more time.

Come on, Jared. What's up guys?

I'm Jared Taylor and our life group is titled Talk It Over.

It'll be the best title of all of the life groups.

We are the Ogs. So anyone else that follows, if

they happen to have a title called Talk It Over, then I'm

kidding. We live in a world now where

connection is kind of the like. More and more people are seeking

out connection deep down, no matter what phase of life

they're in and no matter what they actually say.

But we also live in a world where there's more opportunities

to be connected than ever before, and Life Groups is a

part of that, and that's really awesome.

Life Groups is the more fulfilling version of that as

well. And I can speak to that because

I know that loneliness stops at life groups and I know that

being a community is what it's all about.

I know that these are like buzzwords that people just hear

all the time and we just say it, but it's because it's truthful.

So if it sounds cliche to you, it's OK to be a little cliche

when it's truthful. So I don't know about you, but I

go in a lot of phases in life. And one of the phases that I've

been through where I saw community really come out and be

there for me. It was one of the hardest things

that I've ever done. I'm trying to stay a little

generic because it's not really public stuff, but I was in a

community where people just started praying for me when I

was going through one of the hardest times and it meant the

world to me. And if you join our life group,

I'll tell you more about it more specifically.

But it was one of the hardest things I've ever been through.

And just being around a community of other believers, it

really is life giving and it's really awesome so.

I want to encourage you that that's one of the things that

you get in life groups and most of us have experienced that.

And some of us are in other phases of life too.

And I go through other phases where it's like learn it all.

And then sometimes it's teach it all and sometimes in a good spot

where I just want to give back. And it's not, I'm not going

there to consume anymore and I'm going there to be able to give

back and to help others through things or just facilitate and

see how others can help each other.

And so our life group is going to be all about that and talk it

over. It's going to be chaotic because

we got kids, we got families. Families are welcome at our life

group. It's a big mess.

Our capacity has freed up because of some past commitments

we've had that have changed. And now we're in a house and

things like that. So if you're in the Madison

area, in Raymore or anywhere you just want to connect, then

please come on out, bring your family.

It's going to be chaos. We're all going to learn the

skill of being interruptible. And even when praying, you know,

oh, that's a super serious prayer.

And then the kids do something that's just part of life and we

want to not like throw them into other rooms.

We want to bring them along with us.

And so if that sounds like something you're interested in,

then our live group is Sundays at six.

I know we're competing against the Chiefs a little bit.

So, but guess what? DVR it.

Come on. Like it's better you skip the

commercials anyways, right? Or just go play by play or we'll

have it on if you really want it.

So Rose and I both would really love to have you guys join our

live group and thank you so much for listening to me right now.

So keep on keeping on. Somehow I knew he was going to

end it with keep on keeping on. So it's funny you mentioned

praying for each other because that's the only thing like

there's power and prayer in community.

That's James 516. Matter of fact, there's a man

yesterday struggling with some health stuff and we were talking

about that on a text message. But to confess your sins of one

another and pray for one another to receive healing and healing

actually only happens in relationships.

There's a relationship with others.

And if you've ever been around somebody and had the words me

too, like where you've I've struggled and wow, and, and

somebody had something similar or maybe even identical, you're

like, oh, think the Lord about the only person that's ever

walked through that or felt that way.

That's the power of a group. But it's more than just that or

something very spiritual unlocked when we pray for each

other. And that cannot happen in

isolation. So thank you, Jared, for

sharing. I'm looking forward to your

chaotic awesome money or Sunday night group.

So it's gonna be awesome. All right, Next up, what do we

got here? I've got no, no Planet Fitness.

Oh no, I got Jana. I skipped it.

Sorry. Daughters of Grace.

I'm I'm way out of the loop here.

Daughters of Grace with Dan Bray.

I'm just kidding. Daughters of Grace with Janet

Jensen. She's she's going to hate me.

Come on, when you see Dan, you'll know if you don't know

Dan. So thank you, Gina.

I apologize in advance. It's.

OK, you could have skipped. Me.

Hey guys, so this morning I want to take a moment just to speak

to the ladies in the house that might feel a little

disconnected. Maybe you've been showing up,

you still feel unseen, Maybe life has pulled you in 1000

different different directions and finding time for real

connection almost feels impossible.

Do I speak to anybody today? Anybody.

Yes, me too. Me too, but let me remind you of

something powerful. God never intended us to do life

alone. From the very beginning.

We were created for connection and for community and for

relationships. Hebrews 1024 and 25 urges us.

Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and

good deeds, not giving up meeting together, but

encouraging one another. That's community that's showing

up, lifting each other up, pointing each other back to

Jesus. Ecclesiastes 49 and 10 says 2

are better than one. If either of them falls down,

one can help the other up. That's the kind of friendship

and support God wants for you. And it starts with a choice.

Sometimes we wait to feel like we're connected, but connections

begin when we choose to show up, open up, and reach out.

Some of the most life giving friendships begin where we

simply choose to be open and I know that can feel vulnerable.

I've been there. New church, new community.

Seven years ago that was me and my husband Jarrett.

But on the other side of that courage, there are friendships

that can last a lifetime and friends that I can personally

say are my family. Here we go.

Waterworks. Look at the women sitting around

you right now. They could come to be your safe

place, your prayer warriors, the ones who cheer you on when life

is good and hold you up when life is heavy.

You weren't. You weren't meant to carry your

burdens alone, and you weren't meant to celebrate your

victories alone either. God designed us to walk this

journey together. If you're already feeling

connected, that's great. Look around.

There's somebody who needs what you have found as well.

So today, take that first step. Start the conversation.

Say yes to the coffee invite, join a life group.

Ask somebody how they're really doing.

You may just find that the connection you've been longing

for is closer than you think. And remember, you're not alone,

you're not forgotten. You were seen, you were loved,

and you were surrounded by sisters ready to walk with you.

Awesome, I just told her she's the next pastor.

Dude, that's fantastic. You you had so many great verses

like I was going to use later. That's really good.

Thank you for sharing. And there's great community in

our church. And I mean, I love the hearts of

all these people sharing this. So Next up is Dan Bray and Josh

Cobley. Come on up.

They're doing talk it over, I believe early at Planet Fitness

at the gym. Look at these studs.

Come on, guys, who's talking Daughter of Grace?

I'm Dan, and this is Daughters of Grace.

Really. I'm done.

I'm Josh and we have to pump you up.

Yeah, on a serious note, no, we started a life group together of

a Planet Fitness. Oh, there, there we go.

I'm gonna take a long time talking as he just sits here and

does push ups. But yeah, we started a life

group up there, Planet Fitness in Belton, which starts at 5:00

in the AM or 5:30-ish if we're working around each other's

schedules and stuff. Also, we got workout programs.

If you want to be crying and hurting and your muscles spasm

as you walk out the door, or if you just want to be on the

treadmill and just do a couple of stretches or what not, we

have that too. So me and Dan decided to start

this group because we wanted to be ambassadors for God anywhere

we go. So we talked to people up at

Plaintiff Fitness about Jesus and everything and he still

hasn't done 1 yet. But yeah, we've we've had

interesting conversations with people up there at Planet

Fitness talking about Jesus and theological stuff.

Great job Dan, you did 2 push ups. 3.

But yeah, if you'd like to come join us, just reach out to me

either Dan, and we'd love to have you That's.

Awesome. Very good.

I think either two things would happen next gathering.

Either Dan's going to do 2 or Dan's going to talk and Josh is

going to show off a little bit. Now, Josh in his prime, he

actually set the high school record for the most pulps in a

minute at what, 6262 pulps in one minute.

So this guy's legit. But now he's old and fat like

the rest of us. Come on somebody.

All right, so Next up, talk it over.

You got Tanya Taylor. Come on, Tanya.

She don't know what she gonna do after that, but I'm not gonna do

push ups as you talk so. Me either, me either.

Everything's set so that Jana did a great job at talking about

women. It's hard to walk through some

seasons alone and I just found myself lonely sometimes and

finding women that can walk alongside you and the pain and

the tears and the struggles. So join me at 5:00 Starbucks on

Wednesdays and Raymore specifically.

But seriously, if you if the time and date doesn't work out,

reach out to me. I would love to join you along

Life struggles cheerleader on because doing life alone is

scary and lonely. And if it's not me, find

somebody else. It's I mean, we're going to say

that 10 more times today. But community, you need your

community, you need your women, you need your men, you need push

up Dan or you need Jenna. You need somebody in your life

to call you out, to hold your hand or to pray for you.

So do you have any Wednesdays that's.

Right, so you get to know her. Her story is laced with

community and how God has used people around her to shape her

and challenge her and continue moving her life in towards God.

So I'm excited for your group as always.

So Next up, let's see. Oh man, Alana, Larna, Alana,

come up here. There's some other weird dude in

this picture. I don't know, you sat all in the

back. It's.

Andrew's fault. Hi everyone.

I'm Alana. So I'm actually gonna start a

little bit different. So the past few days, my son, he

is 2, he has been obsessed with a new song on the radio, Life

88.5. And the song is called Dusty

Bibles by Josiah Queen. And after listening to it,

probably for the, you know, 50th time, I really started listening

to the words. And so I wanted to start by

reading part of it to you. It says, hey, how you been?

It's been a while and I'm just checking in.

I miss the way things used to be back in 2017.

And I just missed my friend. Hey, I've been fine.

I've been struggling to find some Peace of Mind.

It's the problem of our nation and in our generation.

We're too busy and can't find the time.

Are we busy or is it all alive? We got dust on our bibles, brand

new iPhones. No wonder why we feel this way.

And so I don't know about you, but that really resonates with

me feeling like it's easy to fill life with busyness with

kids scrolling and not taking the time to slow down and be an

intentional community. And for me personally, after we

had our first kid, Griffin, we were in Blue Springs, we lived,

we lived in Blue Springs. We didn't go to real life.

And I found that all the friends that I was really close to

before just kind of tapered off because they were in the same

season of life that I'd entered in.

And so it was really a hard time for me.

So for this group to talk it over and and I really want to

open our home just like others did when we came to real life a

couple years ago. And it just is going to be a

time where for people that are in the same season of life as us

is what we're targeting. So elementary kids and lower, if

you have middle school kids, they're not going to exclude

you. If you're pregnant expecting

all, all those types are welcome.

So we really just want to spend time together, go through that

season of life because it is pretty difficult at times.

Find grace in the chaos like Jared alluded to.

And for our group, childcare is provided so you can take a

breath. Your kids can be in the same

room if you want. We also have different parts of

the house, a play room, a ball pit.

That sounded a little pretentious, but your kids can

go elsewhere if you want. Or they can.

They can hang in our house. It's very child proofed.

I'm sure Sean could attest to that.

And where the adults will be, there'll be a gate set up as

well so you can take a breath and your kid can crawl around.

Thank you. So this is Alana Andrew, this is

their first group and they're going to do fantastic.

Amen. There's a lot of history there.

She's my sister. So excited to see what God's

going to do in this. So Packer group out ball pit.

Come on somebody. It's all there.

All mate. Jamie and Kelly Montgomery,

where these guys at? There they are.

Come on you guys like oh geez, it is it is you.

I make it awkward as possible for you.

I'm. Used to the mic.

All right, I'm Kelly and this is Jamie.

And we love leading life groups. We have done this since the

beginning when they were launched here at Real Life.

And our heart behind it is because we get to know each

other on a deeper level, which is to me what life is all about.

Yeah, so we've LED quite a few of these and we've had the

chance to make some really good friendships and really connect

with people like she said on a deeper level.

But we've been able to also be there for people as a lot of in

different ones of our life groups, we've had people go

through divorces, other family dynamics and health problems.

So we've been able to be like a really good support structure

for them. And you know, our whole group

was able to rally around them and get them through these

times. But we also have used this

groups for all the people. We have several other people

that either go to other churches or they just watch online.

So they are kind of missing a little bit of that

connectedness. And so we feel like they've been

able to come to our group as a little bit lower pressure.

They've been able to come and just get a little bit of that

community that they aren't getting otherwise.

And we've been able to use this as a way to bring those people

in and then invite them to church as well.

Are Mike our kids? Not my kids, They're our kids.

So Kate is in 10th grade and Luke is in 8th grade.

And this has been their life as life groups.

And one of the requirements that teachers had in elementary

school when they were younger was to write in their planner

every day. And it brought tears to my eyes

when I would sign their planner at night.

And they were like on Wednesdays when we used to have life group

on Wednesdays. They're like life group, all

these exclamation marks, like so excited because it was for them

as well. And so we realized when I would

do women's ministry or he'd do men's ministry, our kids are

being left out. So we really love getting to do

it all together. And just like in the book of

Acts, I think it's chapter 2, verse 42, we break bread

together. That's where we come together

every week and we have a meal. So it's one less meal for you to

have to plan and you get to have it with us.

And we provide a lot of the meals, which is also exciting.

And so our group is on Tuesday nights.

I got to get used to that. It's at 6:30.

You just come, come hungry. Families are welcome.

Both my kids will help with child care.

If you have kids, we have lots of people that come that don't

have kids, and that's also all right too.

So everyone is welcome and we hope you'll join.

Awesome. Thanks guys.

I like that little plug for food right there.

I think everybody is signed up immediately.

These guys always sitting around food.

The groups are always amazing. So I love you guys.

Thanks so much for your heart for serving and making your

place available. All right, Barry and Christy

Hardy, where you guys at? They started chanting something.

I don't know what it was they were.

Changing team Christy. Yeah.

I'm Christy and I would love to invite you guys to our group

Mondays and we have food too. It.

Is it better? I don't, I don't cook, so don't

worry about that. She's got it.

Before we get started, you guys need to join Josh and Dan's

group to keep some accountability because he might

have done a lot of push ups, but he skips leg day every time.

So I'm just saying, hey, what's the name of this church?

What's the name of it? So I know my job's not done

until I either get Diane Petri or Scott Cuyat to shake their

heads. And so I'm going to ask her for

some forgiveness. But I know my audience here,

right? So, and if they let me join a

life group, they'll let anybody join it.

One of my favorite scenes, one of my favorite quotes from a

movie is this. The guy calls.

He goes, hey, I need your help. You guys know this one.

He goes, I can't tell you what it is.

He goes, you can never ask me about it later.

And we're going to hurt some people.

Whose car are we taking, right? Hey, now we're not going to hurt

anybody in life groups, but what I love about this quote, hey, I

might have got that from Sean 316 too.

We might have had those conversations before.

Here's what I love about that. And, and, and you know, I'm

joking around, but if this is serious is like, who can you

call in the middle of the night when you really need something?

And here's the thing. I love hanging out with you guys

on set up, tear down, going to going to Sunday morning

gatherings. But life groups is where you're

going to find your people. And in that movie, he knew who

his people were. He knew who he could call and no

questions asked. And the cool thing about a life

group is, is that you're going to find your people that will

accept you no matter what you show up, warts and all,

brokenness and all, and no matter what season of life here

are, they're there for you. And the things that Christy and

I, we've got to do is we've seen some people just go some through

some of the crazy stuff in their life or they've come and they've

just laid it out. And again, I don't share a lot.

You know, Sean's probably my group of two or three people

that I'll share all my guts with.

But in life group, I've just seen people that just didn't

have anybody. And I, I, I, I, I've seen, I've

seen people that have come in and they've had broken

relationships. I don't know.

He's laughing about something over here, but I've seen people

come in with broken relationships with their parents

and share and and and struggle with the ideas of like can God

still use me? I've seen situations where

people walked in and completely just hosed over by another

church and do I really want to go to another church when that

happened to me at the last one, even the the most extreme 1 and

it still blows my mind as we were sitting in the second week

of a life group and this person was so comfortable.

She was in her in her 60s and and for the first time ever, she

shared that she'd been molested by her father in in that

community, she found she found people that loved her and she

felt safe and she was cared about all those situations.

And I can tell you story after story after story.

If you get in a life group, you will find your people.

The people you'll call in the middle of the night when you

don't have any of else to turn to.

And God will use them. Well, we might have the coolest

group of life group leaders of all time.

Come on, somebody you guys encouraged by these guys.

There's there's so many stories. I mean, just hearing all the

different pieces and you can be a story as well, right?

Like God can move you. Like you can start maybe at the

10 yard line and go to 20 like in you kind of move with the the

the pace of which you're connected, you know, the pace of

which you have real relationships and people you can

call on the middle of the night when you got issues, people

praying for you, when you're fighting uphill battles.

You know, it's all good till it's not right.

Like we don't really need anybody until we need somebody.

And it's sad because it in church, sometimes there's

orphans and I don't like to have orphans in the church.

Like I don't want anybody uncovered.

Like we're not going to be the best.

I mean, preaching here, not have the best worship, although it's

amazing. Amen.

But we want to have the best care.

We we want to have the best shepherding in our church like

we have the best disciple making in our church.

It's really not about coming here on Sunday morning.

It's about getting connected to each other in being the body

Christ and living on mission. And so I appreciate you guys are

stepping the gap. These guys are leading, taking

time out of their lives, cleaning, setting up, cooking to

pave the way for you guys to be a part of community and so give

for a life group. Life group is one more time

blessed by you guys. I would encourage you.

What season are you in? Like when's the last time you

had a season of deep connection? Like when's the last time you

were in a season where you had people around you, they did

mission you like you lived on life together.

Like it was just like that was the season I grew in and this

season can be that season, Amen. Like you don't have to take a

back seat to it. Like my sister talked about

reading the Bible and the the dust on the Bible.

It's like this could be a season of spiritual growth development.

Of course it's fun. You saw our groups have fun,

Amen? I mean, it's a good time.

But more than that, it's about Jesus.

And we can see your guys's lives changed and when things life

just can turn on dime and these people become your people and

you can grow with Jesus. It's just amazing to watch.

And so I would encourage you, every pastor needs a pastor,

Amen? Like, I need a pastor.

I need, I need people like that. I look up to that, that people

look poor in the meat. I've had guys I've called and

and there's there's the dance, right?

My buddy Dan Sutherland, I'll call him and I'll say, hey, Dan,

like, you know, I had this happen at church.

I'm really struggling with this. Like, what do you think?

And he's like, yeah, man, usually get stabbed right about

here, you know, and that's all right, man.

Sometimes you're a builder. Sometimes you're a firefighter.

You know, you don't get the pick usually.

And just walking through the season, I I leave so encouraged

that like, you know, might have two or three people get upset on

this or that and the other. And then he's like, oh, I had

20. Don't worry about it, right?

Like 200 or something, you know, and you just need people in your

life that can pour in you spiritually, Amen.

And I'm no different. Like I have to have people in my

life that that pour into me. And you have people in your life

that pour into you. But we also have to be cognizant

to pour into others. We have to, we have to shepherd

others. And when people say, Hey, I just

do church at the lake or I just do church online, which is a

place to do it, but you got to do any community, Amen.

You got to do it around the table.

You got to have people with you. If you do church by yourself,

that's not the gospel. It's not go make disciples.

Like where's the disciple making in community?

It happens all through community.

So go baptize, teach. That's what's gonna happen in

this. It's deeper than just showing up

and having a meal. It's the way God uses Amen.

And so maybe today God's putting your heart like man.

My passion for community rose today like I've got to do life

together, I've got to get in community.

I've been maybe the season isolation and today, the day to

get signed up. It's not just life groups, it's

it's life, Amen. And I would encourage you guys

to when you walk out today, not to say I'll see you next Sunday,

but I'll see you this week, Amen.

And so Father would come before you.

I pray for our church, God to be connected.

God, there would be a community. God will be strangers in the

house. God we'd be known.

People know a middle name. We get people's numbers and

community and we're able to have these deep friendships form.

We can call in the middle of night people that we can pray

with, people that that we open up and peel back the layers of

pain that babies happened. Or hurt.

Or. Questions that we have or just

me too. Or we can be a deep encourage to

somebody else, say, hey, man, how was your age when I was

walking through this season? Hey, I'm here for you no matter

what, I've got your back. These are the words we have to

speak to each other's words of life.

We could break bread, we have communion, we can pray together.

We can just be the church and when people show up, we

immediately get in the community.

If you don't sit and stay long in a Pew or a seat or on the

outskirts. Got to be really good at

bringing people into the family, really good at being a church

that's on mission, not just to reach people got but to grow

people, to invest in people, to shepherd people.

Maybe today you're a regular member of real life.

You're you're a Jesus follower in God's is pulling your heart.

Like I got to get in community, like I got to find a community.

I've been kind of isolated, but today it's making real clear.

I got a sign for a life group. I've got to be in community.

If that's you, just raise your hand high.

They'll be looking around you say that's me.

I've got to find community. I've got to get in the right

around the right people. Father, you see the hands, you

know, the hearts that help us to take that step, God to, to make

something magical, like to make this season, the season that we

grow, that we, that we just get around the right relationships.

God that we, we dream and we think and we, we believe in the

conversations we have around us. And so God change our

environment and through a community, God change us.

Yeah, we're desperate not just for you, but for each other and

help our church to model what real family looks like, what

forgiveness looks like, grace looks like.

All this happens around people. And so God, we're not going to

shortchange the process. God, we're going to just be in

life together. And God, you're going to move

through US. I'll pray for one more group of

people. That's those of you who

recognize that you need to be in community with God.

That the Ichi's leaders to open their house and their home and

take this extra time and energy, even finances to provide meals

and extra things is not an accident.

They're doing this because they deeply love you, because Jesus

loved them. The Bible says that Jesus came

2000 years ago because He loved us.

The Father said that I've given my son that whosoever believe in

him shall not perish. That everlasting life is a gift

of God because He loved the world and you were loved.

Today that love started with community because the Son saw

you and the Father saw you and came here and made a way to be

in a relationship with Him. Because of that, we get to reach

out and care for you. Be in the hands of the feet of

Christ. So today if you need the

ultimate relationship, you need the the relationship that

changes your eternity, the one that you can put your life stake

your life into for all the eternity, the one that died on

the cross for your sins. That's the love of Jesus.

You could experience love from each other, but it's just a

reflection of what God has done to us.

It's all because of Jesus. If this kind of grace and

hospitality and love for each other.

And so if you need a love of God in your life, Paulo says you

calling him the day's day of salvation that be saved,

forgiven and made new, that's only through Jesus, his name.

That's what Peter preached in Acts 2.

There's only one name under heaven, which men shall be

saved. It's the name of Jesus.

It's that name that they preached on day one when they

when they go his name they baptize under.

It's the name they teach. And so it's all for Jesus.

It's all his name to make his name a lights, his name famous,

his name gets his glory. And today if you need to humble

yourself and say it's all about Jesus, I believe you down the

cross for me. If that's you, that I'd be

looking around, just raise your hand high.

So I need Jesus today. It's making sense.

There's a lot more love in this room than I've ever felt like.

I didn't grow up with this kind of love and this kind of

relationship. My family didn't really look

like this at all. My my community I've been in

didn't look like this, but this is because of Jesus.

I need Jesus. If you raise your hand, we just

praise prayer. It's not the prayer that saves

you, but your heart towards him to say father God, thanks so

much for showing your love today through all these different

people from push up Dan come on somebody to all these different

stories that there's a common theme.

It's it's the love and it came from Christ and so God, I need

your love in my life. I confess my sin.

I'm a Sinner needed a savior gotten broken.

I've seen brokenness. I know what not to do but God I

need you in my life. God give me your spirit.

God change me inside out. God will follow you and I pray

this in Jesus name. The church said Amen.

Come on, give it up for Jesus one more time.

Hey man, just hearing all the stories from these leaders, just

the power of doing life together and being in community together.

Just a powerful and encouraging word today.

And so I just want to say if that's you and you prayed that

prayer to accept Jesus, Maybe you realized today that you need

that. You need community, you need

connection. You found that in Jesus today.

Congratulations. We are so pumped for you in this

journey that you're about to take with Jesus.

We have a couple things for you. If you would let us know that

you made that decision, you can do that by grabbing that

connection card and filling out information, but check that box

that says I committed my life to Jesus.

And by doing that it helps us just to be able to walk

alongside you to resource you this week.

And we'd love to drop you a free book in the mail.

It's a short read. It's called begin, but it really

will be just an awesome resource for you as you're taking these

first steps with Jesus. And if you pray that Prairie and

you're right here at Kentucky trail with us this morning as

you exit the worship center. There is a table with some red

bags. Please grab one of those as

well. Inside is a free Bible for you.

A list of resources from Pastor Sean that we would love to get

to you. We are just so excited for your

journey with Jesus to begin. Hey, if you're newer in the

house today, thank you so much for choosing to spend your

morning right here with us. We really just prayed for you

this week. We prepared today just for you.

We're just so glad that you are here today.

I know God had something for you today, but really we don't want

anything from you except for this.

And that's just to introduce yourself to us.

We'd love to know that you were here.

So if you can do that by grabbing that same connection

card, fill out your information on that, but check that box that

says first time here. You can take that to the new

here booth. As you exit the worship center,

just to your right is the new here booth.

You can turn that in there. We have a free gift.

We would love to get to you. Just our way of saying thank you

so much for being here today. And hey, I want to just say

thank you so much to those of you who give here at Real Life

Church. You really are putting God's

work on display through your generosity.

And this year alone, we've had 21 people get baptized in

Easter, which is so amazing. We had two people sign up for

baptism just last week, which is awesome.

But it is so much more than just a number.

It's about real transformation. It's about people finding real

healing and real freedom and real hope.

We're seeing marriage is restored and relationships

healed. People finding freedom, breaking

free from addiction, from old thought patterns, and ultimately

it's eternities of being changed.

And that baptism is more than just going under the water and

coming back up. It really is saying the old me

is gone, the new me has come. It's taking that step, like I

said, into freedom, into healing, into hope.

And so every dollar you give has a story like that.

It's not just a story of baptism, it's a story of

transformation. And we're not content with just

21 people or even 23, but we're believing God for seeing 50

people take that step of baptism this year.

And so if that's you, if you've been waiting to take that step,

can I just encourage you, let today be that day.

There's a baptism card on your seat.

You can fill that out, drop it in the Giving Bucks buckets.

You can indicate it on the connection card, and we'll reach

out to you. But if that is speaking to you

today, we would love for you to be one of the 50.

We're going to do baptisms on our birthday coming up in just a

couple weeks, September 21st. But even if maybe you just have

questions about baptism as well, fill that out too.

I'd love to reach out and just connect with you this week.

But man, every dollar you give is tied to a story of all of

these that I've just shared of hope, of freedom, of people who

have changing their life. Every dollar you give goes right

back to that. And as our generosity grows, our

impact really can grow. So thank you so much to those of

you who give here. I want to invite you to take

part in that today. If you call real life church

home, there are a lot of ways you can do that.

You can text any amount you can't.

I about gave you wrong information.

Check out the screen behind me. All the ways are there.

You can head to our website, scan the QR, you can text that

number. You can drop cash or check in

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

There's also a giving box in the back of that isn't working for

you. And as always, if you or your

family find yourself in immediate need of food, of

clothing, of shelter this week, would you please reach into the

buckets as they pass here in just a couple of minutes?

Grab any loose cash that you see there because we truly do want

to be a blessing to you and your family.

Man, did you guys have fun today?

Let's give it up for God. What he's doing through life

groups and he's going to do this semester.

Man, I'm so excited. Let's do it.

Give it up for God, can't we? There we go, there we go.

Hey, one last awesome thing before we get out of here.

We got a lot of stuff coming up. So you start marketing the

calendar. September 21st, we're having our

8th birthday party. Then we're pulling out all the

stops as you talked about doing baptism is going to be awesome.

And then it's September the 16th, It's a Tuesday evening,

6:30 to 8:00. We're going to have a huge party

for the Dream Team. So if you're on the Dream Team

or if you're interested in the dream Team, we would love I love

you to have you come out. We're having a whole pig roast.

Mandy is gonna be awesome. S'mores yard games.

Just a big thank you to the dream team for what you guys do

week in and week out. Pastor saw as good as to share

with this his heart for for what's next.

So we can't wait to see you guys there.

Hey, if you need prayer for any reason, we would love to pray

with you up here as individuals or families.

Can't wait to see you guys again next week.

At what time 9:00 or 10:45. And as always, remember, whoever

finds Jesus discovers real life and purpose.

This is the end of this podcast, we hope you've enjoyed it.

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