Making a House Into a Home - Part 3

And then well, before I jump into the sermon, we got

something pretty cool happening. We're going to do baby

dedication. So would Keyshawn and Amanda

come on up here and bring your family, if you'd like, Born in

November. Is it November 8th?

Got it here. We got a slide that we can put

up there. There we go.

November 6th. That was so close.

All right, so come on up here if you guys like, oh, can't.

OK, That's all right. Come on.

Let's do it down here. Don't you grab me the oil, baby.

We'll just adapt. We'll keep the family together.

Sorry if it messes up your sound.

I'll be back up there in a second.

So thank you. It's really cool.

So Kairos. Beautiful, beautiful name.

We talk about this, you know, there's a couple of words that

are used as time in the scriptures, and there's Kronos,

which is like chronological time, like like what you guys do

when you get hungry. And I'm on my second point, and

you're looking at your watch. That's Kronos, right?

Kairos is when conditions are favorable, when the time is

right and it's something that is used like in the scriptures when

it talks about Jesus came at just the right time in history.

That doesn't mean the right year, minute and 2nd.

It means conditions were favourable for his son to come.

And so Kairos is pretty big. But also I wanted to say Elliot

comes from Hebrew roots connected to the word Elijah,

which means the Lord is my God. And not only that, but Ness,

which is like the the River Ness and everything represents

stability and resilience. And then even the last name,

even Campbell, the Campbell's back historically were known to

be protectors and leaders. So taken together, this child is

a person born for the right moments, grounded in faith,

steady in their character that will carry a legacy of strength

and leadership and protection. That's a powerful name, isn't

it? Come on.

So, so I know it, this family, what I just ask is that you just

lift your hand towards us. Don't pray too long, but listen,

your, your hand. It's just symbolic that we are

blessing this family and we're doing this in unity.

And then Father, we just speak every single blessing over

Amanda and Keyshawn and Kairos that you have for them.

Father, everything that is laid out in your destiny for Kairos,

we just pray that it would come to pass.

Not just that it would come to pass, but in its correct time as

well. Father, I thank you so much that

he is surrounded by a family who loves you and serves you and

that he will have such wonderful examples as he grows up.

So Father, we ask that you would protect the protector, that you

would place your angels around and protect him from anything

that would distract him from his destiny in you.

We thank you so much for this gift of life and the future that

lies ahead of him in the name of Jesus and everybody said Amen,

Amen. Thank you.

Congratulations. Absolutely.

We the ones. Yes, Sir.

Yeah. All right, Well, if you'd like

to to read along in the Bible this morning, we'll be in Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, the 1st place that we go.

I heard AI heard a few woos when we talked about returning our

midweek service to 7. We shifted it to six because it

seemed like that would be helpful for a lot of people.

But have you ever done something that seemed like it was a good

idea and then it didn't work out to be as helpful as you thought?

So 7:00 it is. Before we get into the scripture

today, I want to start with a true story, and it's around

something that you're familiar with, but maybe not a story that

you are specifically familiar with.

And it's from around the time of 911.

So while most of the nation was watching the the tragedy unfold

on TV, most of us who were old enough to we, we can remember

exactly where we were at that moment.

Obviously, there's a lot that's talked about there, but a less

obvious crisis happened because of 911.

And this is because lower Manhattan was suddenly sealed

off. But you do imagine how many

people live in that area. Bridges were closed and the

tunnels were shut down and trains weren't running and cell

service was unreliable. Some of you are like, it still

is. But there were hundreds of

thousands of people that were stranded and they did not have a

clear way to get home. And that's when something that

was pretty cool happened without being asked, without any sort of

centralized plan, without a, a, a solid leader behind the

movement, without asking for permission, There were a bunch

of boat owners that began to respond.

And when I say boats, I mean boats.

I'm talking about tug boats, ferries, fishing boats, private

yachts, dinner cruises, anything that could float.

There were over 500 different kinds of vessels that showed up

all over the place. And over the course of a few

hours, nearly half a million people were evacuated and given

away to get home. Now, in the wake of a terrorist

attack, it's hard to then put your focus on some of those

smaller things. Yeah, I know that you're stuck.

I know you're stranded, and we'll get to it.

But right now, we've got this. But think about all the people

that were out there that couldn't do anything about the

terrorist attack immediately. But they said I can do something

about this problem. What makes that story powerful

to me is not the scale of how big it was.

And it was big because it's the largest maritime evacuation in

history, even larger than the evacuation of Dunkirk during

World War 2. The size of it is impressive,

but more impressive than that is the motive behind it, because

these people didn't know each other.

It was not one company that sent out all of its boats.

It wasn't one organization of people that said we'll step up

and do something. It was literally anybody who had

a boat and knew how to use it in that area, put it to use.

What caused that? Well, it was a tragedy, but more

specifically, it was a great need.

And these people who got in their boats and did this,

there's no evidence that they got repaid for their fuel or

their time or whatever. And I guarantee you, if they

lived around that area, they also had loved ones that they

were worried about. But maybe they had that similar

thought. There's nothing I can do about

them right now, but while I'm waiting to hear back, I'm going

to do something for somebody in a way that I can.

They didn't think about themselves.

They could have isolated. Can you imagine how scary that

must have been in New York right after that happened?

I would want to go and hunker away.

I would want to go and hideaway somewhere.

And they went out there sitting ducks in the water, not knowing

what was going to happen and helped people.

That story is inspirational, but to be honest, it's also

confrontational. If you think about it.

Why does it take a 911 for us to start doing things for people

when they need something? Community sounds beautiful until

it becomes personal. Everybody talks about family.

Family's so important. If you go to Hobby Lobby or

Michaels, I'm sure there's nobody who spends too much time

there. But but if you go there, how

many pieces of artwork are you going to see that are going to

say something around the Word family?

And yet for a lot of people, family also feels like an F word

of a different variety. And the truth is family is

important, but it is not perfect community, any sort of close

knit relationship, it sounds good.

And then you get there and you realize the hard work has just

begun. This is this is a shout out to

everybody who thought one day I'll find the person that I

love, I'll get married and everything will be easier.

We were so wrong. And I have a very good marriage,

but more people, more problems. That's the way that it works.

Beautiful blessing and Kairos another person, you got another

set of problems and you have to decide that your relationships

are worth it because the ones that God gives you are worth it.

But there are complications that come along with it.

And so that's the way that it goes for church too.

In America, especially post COVID, it's become so easy to be

isolated and to be removed. And so today may feel a little

challenging for some people, but community actually asks for you

to be known and not just no other people.

These rows tend to feel safe when you first attend because

you can come in and sit down and sing a few songs, hear a

message, and you can leave. Because you know, when I'm

starting to wrap up and then the musicians come up, you're like,

this is my time. I won't get caught in the

parking lot. I'll be the first one to the

restaurant. But from the very beginning, God

never designed his people to thrive in isolation.

He never intended your faith to be something that you lived out

alone, and he never called the church to be a weekly gathering

of spectators. So Acts 2 being where we start

today, is going to be in the face for some people.

Thank you for being here. Now, if you leave in the middle

of the sermon, everybody's going to know.

So I got you for a few minutes. All right.

Acts 2 is not a snapshot alone of the early church.

It is the birth of a new way of living.

This is not the way that the Jewish synagogue services

happened and then it just carried over into the New

Testament church. The New Testament church was

completely different. It was radical.

It was not conventional. And I'll explain what I mean.

This happened right after the, the, the Pentecost where tongues

of fire descended on the believers and people heard

everybody speaking in their own native languages.

And, and, and the Lord was purposely doing this to bring

unity. And so now you've got the Holy

Spirit poured out on ordinary people.

They are not seasoned Christians.

They are all new converts. A lot of them are pilgrims who

have travelled there. They don't even have a home or a

family or a lot of connections in Jerusalem.

But they ended up encountering the Holy Spirit in a life

changing way. I want you to imagine this.

All of these people came from different regions and cultures

and backgrounds, and a lot of them didn't have anything there

except for their faith. And this would have been

radically different culture. I mean, radically different.

We had a leadership trip over the weekend and my wife was was

educating somebody who's not from around here on how to

pronounce a lot of the names on the road signs.

Why isn't it topsail? Why is it topsail?

It's spelled like topsail, right?

And all of these different names that we have, if it is that

different around here, I want you to place yourself 2000 years

ago in a Middle Eastern culture where people came from different

countries, where they had different customs and different

full on languages. This is what's happening there.

And listen to what they chose to do in Acts 2, starting in verse

42, all the believers devoted themselves to the apostles

teaching and to fellowship and to sharing in meals, including

the Lord's Supper and to prayer. And I don't want you to miss

what it says here because a lot of times we look at that and we

say, OK, well, they got solid teaching, they got prayer, and

they learned to get along with one another.

Why is it that fellowship and sharing and meals are two

different things here? Have you ever noticed that?

They devoted themselves to fellowship?

They devoted themselves to prayer.

They devoted themselves to sound teaching, and they devoted

themselves to sharing meals. All of these things, they

devoted themselves to it. Now we would pick on somebody

today if we were like, Hey, what's your ministry to the

church? I am devoted to sharing meals

with people any chance I get and I'm true to it.

But it's more than that. Breaking bread together,

including the Lord's Supper, it says, which means God is still

the center of it. Sharing a meal is great because

when you share a meal with somebody, you're both there for

a set amount of time. You get to know somebody.

There's a built in end time also, right?

So you can, you can detach and, and do what you need to.

But what is fellowship? I mean, Pastor Jared talked

about this a couple months ago, talked about a little bit when

Michael, when you were doing your intern sermon, you talked a

little bit about it because the community in communion, by the

way, man, if you missed the Wednesdays over the last like

couple months, we had Tom Hines and Joy last week and Michael

all sharing messages at the completion of their internship.

Did they not do a great job for those that were here?

The same God speaking through three very different

personalities with different messages that do not contradict

one another. It's almost like we got a book

full of those. So cool to hear it.

I was so proud of every single one of them.

So what does it mean to be devoted to fellowship and to be

devoted to these things? It's hard.

In fact, it's harder than it is to be devoted to a religious

regiment of prayer and all of these different things.

It's harder because you're vulnerable to a person when you

get into fellowship, but listen to what happened when they did

this in verse 43. A deep sense of awe came over

them all, and the apostles performed many miracles,

miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met

together in one place and shared everything they had.

They sold their property and possessions and shared the money

with those in need. They worshipped together on the

temple each day. They met in homes for the Lord's

Supper, and they shared their meals with great joy and

generosity. That means they didn't do it

begrudgingly. They they liked it.

The idea of having somebody over for your house stresses some of

you out right now you're like your chest is getting tight.

I don't have enough notice. I have to get it ready.

So they don't know how we live. Verse 47.

All the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the

people and each day the Lord added to their fellowship those

who are being saved. This was so radical.

And today we pray that God would add numbers to his church.

We pray that souls would be saved, but we normally do it

from behind a locked door. God, would you just move?

Would you do this? I want you to know that in Roman

society, where they were, it was very difficult because

everything was set around what you had.

Everything was around status, everything was around where you

fit within society. And this early church was just

not like this. It was comprised of Jews,

Gentiles, men, women, servants, leaders, I mean it was all of

them all rolled into one and under the banner of the church.

They knew that they had equal footing because they had the

same dad. Old Testament Psalm 68 verse 6

Psalms 68:6

says this. One of my favorite Psalm verses.

Psalm 68 six says God places the lonely and families.

He sets the prisoners free and gives them joy, but he makes the

rebellious live in a sun scorched land.

What happens when God tries to place the lonely in a family and

the family won't answer the door?

Just want to think about that for a moment.

Psalm 68, written long before Jesus walked the earth, was

during a time when Israel was reflecting on God's power and

his deliverance and his faithfulness.

And it was a Psalm that was celebrating a God who rescues

and restores. But tucked into that Psalm is

this one verse that says God doesn't just rescue you when he

rescues you. He doesn't say, well, there you

go now you're out of danger, have a good life.

He rescues you from danger and he places you into a family.

And the reason he does this is because to be isolated was

considered as being too vulnerable to the world.

You are easily picked off. You are easily targeted by

criminals or people who don't have the best intentions.

It's like every National Geographic documentary you've

ever seen. They don't go for the one at the

heart of the the, the herd of deer.

They always go for the one that's lagging behind and God

doesn't just pull you out of bondage, He pulls you out and He

brings you into a place that you belong.

Feeling like I belong took me a lot longer than it should have

because this is a great church and I first attended this church

towards the end of 2004. And it was an amazing group of

people at that time, much like it is now.

But I struggled to feel like I belonged because I felt like I

had to become somebody in order to belong here.

And I want you to know how wrong I was.

You don't have to become something to belong here, and I

cannot promise you that every person's opinion in this

building or this church is always going to be the right one

because they're made out of people just like you are.

But what I can promise you that in this building we will honor

the Lord 1st and we will endeavour for unity and love for

one another at all costs. That's what it's all about.

I wish I hadn't taken so long to get to know people in a

different way because my whole life was changed through the

relationships that I made. So please hear me when I say

this. We're not just talking about

something that the early church did.

We are talking about what God is inviting us to build right now.

And we have an opportunity to create something so beautiful

here, a place where people don't just attend, but they belong to

one another. And people get strengthened

through their relationships. And it could be a giant family

where burdens are shared. And when you have something

going on, great people rejoice with you and they celebrate with

you. And nobody has to walk alone.

Show of hands. Is there anybody here that says

well, I wish some people here would have to walk alone.

Anybody. All right, Good.

You're paying attention. Man, that that could have been

awkward. First thing I want to talk about

is belonging always comes before becoming.

And let me tell you something. If you're here and you like it

here and you want to be here on behalf of everybody here, let me

tell you, you belong. You belong here.

You might say, well, I'm weird. You don't know the things I've

been through. Yeah.

You want to play that game. You don't know the things I've

been through. We'll sit down and have a chat.

Nobody wants this to be a building full of perfect people

because then we'll just compare ourselves to the perfect people

and feel bad about ourselves. We want this to be full of

authentic and genuine people. That's what it's all about.

And when we talk about community, one of the biggest

misconceptions that we carry is that we have to become something

in order to belong. Well, I don't really know how to

pray. Well, I'm not really sure what I

believe when it comes to God. Well, I'm not really sure you

know, if, if, if the Bible is true or these questions say

them, say them out loud. Get with a group of people and

talk about it. Not so they can try and convince

you or talk you out of it. Have those open discussions.

I'm never afraid of those chats because I feel like God is true

and truth is never afraid to be found out.

So let's go down the rabbit hole.

What are your doubts? What are your fears?

What are the things that hold you back from a deeper

relationship with God or with people?

Let's go down that rabbit hole together and see what God has

for us at the end of it. I'm confident in that.

Go ahead and go to Ruth chapter 1.

Ruth 1 · chapter mention

I want you to know that a lot of people feel like they need to be

healthier, they need to be more mature, they need to be more

spiritual. One day I'll I'll finally get

through and I'll read the whole Bible.

Then I'll get involved. Then I'll start working with

kids, then I'll do whatever it is.

Scripture consistently flips this assumption on its head.

Everybody, just about everybody that is chosen and picked

throughout this book full of Scripture is not somebody we

would have picked is not somebody that if we had scouts

watching the congregation. We don't.

But if you had scouts watching the congregation, I'm looking

for people that look like church folk who can really run this.

The these are not the people that God chose ever.

He chose people that deceived and lied and Abraham's called

the father of our faith, but twice he was like, well, I'm

afraid they're going to kill me because you're so beautiful to

his wife. He's like, so tell them you're

my sister and go spend some time with the king.

Terrible decisions all throughout the Scripture.

I don't have time to list all the terrible decisions in the

Bible, but when you know that you belong to the Lord, you know

he has grace for the moment, you know that he'll lead you through

it. You know that he'll correct you.

And this truth is really shown early on in the book of Ruth.

And I want you to know this before I read some of the

Scripture. We'll we'll start in verse 8.

But Ruth is not a success story to begin with.

It's highly depressing. In fact, the only reason

Christians that we're not very depressed when we begin to read

the book of Ruth now is because we've read the book of Ruth.

And we know how the story goes, so we don't feel so bad at the

beginning. But if you had no compass for

this, you had no idea where it was going, and you read the

beginning, you'd be highly depressed because at the

beginning you wouldn't have even known that Ruth was the main

character that was getting highlighted here.

Naomi leaves Bethlehem with her husband and two sons during a

time of famine and settles in Moab.

It's a land outside of Israel, and it's outside of God's

covenant people. And while there, Naomi loses

everything. Her husband dies, her two sons

die. And what remains is just grief

on top of grief on top of grief. You have now a woman who has

lost her husband and both of her sons, and what she is left with

is two daughters in law who have lost their husbands and they're

now highly vulnerable because especially in the Old Testament

era when this book was written to be a woman, and that day, you

would not have had a lot of opportunities.

There were no equal opportunity employers or things like that.

Women could not even file for a divorce, but if their husband

wanted one, they just had to go along with it.

Women just did not have these rights.

So now you have an older woman and two younger women that

aren't even really related to her, especially not anymore, and

the three of them are in trouble.

That's the scene that we're looking at.

We have no idea where our next meals are coming from, how we're

going to sustain ourselves in the future.

And so she has two daughters in law named Orpa and Ruth.

And here's what she says in verse 8.

On the way, Naomi said to her two daughters in law, go back to

your mother's homes and may the Lord reward you for your

kindness to your husband's and to me.

May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.

And then she kissed them goodbye and they all broke down and

wept. No, they said, we want to go

with you to your people. But Naomi replied, Why would you

go with me? Can I still give birth to other

sons who could grow up and become your husbands?

Thankfully, no, no, my daughter's returned to your

parents homes for I'm too old to marry again.

And even if it were possible and I were to get married tonight

and bear sons, then what? Would you wait for them to grow

up and refuse to marry someone else again?

Thankfully, no, she says. Of course not.

My daughters, things are far more bitter for me than for you,

because the Lord himself has raised his first against me.

She's going through it, isn't she?

And again, they wept together and Orpa kissed her

mother-in-law goodbye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi.

Look, Naomi said to her, your sister-in-law has gone back to

her people and to her gods. You should do the same.

Was Orpa when she walked away? Was she in sin?

It was her choice and she did go back to a place where she felt

like she belonged and she did it at the urging of her

mother-in-law. She was endeavoring to honor her

and she was only doing what was requested.

She did right. Ruth had another idea in her

mind though. And verse 16, Ruth replies,

Don't ask me to leave you and turn back.

Wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live.

Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.

And wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.

May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to

separate us. And when Naomi saw that Ruth was

determined to go with her, she said nothing more.

Ruth's decision changed everything.

And normally when you hear these verses, it's in a wedding

ceremony and it's in reference to like, a husband and a wife.

But that's not what the case was here.

You had severe loyalty. She trusted Naomi so much.

Think about this. Put yourself in Ruth's shoes

here. She trusted her so much.

She said Your people will be my people.

Your God will be my God. May the Lord punish me if I

allow anything other than death to separate us.

How many of Naomi's people do you think that Ruth knew?

They're in Moab. She's from a different place.

She was like blank slate over there.

Don't know what's over there, but I know you and you have my

loyalty. So if you say it's good to go

there, I guess I'm going there. She didn't wait.

And then say, what shall I have to do in order to become Jewish?

How shall I convert to your way of thinking?

Tell me about the land there. What kind of opportunities are

there for a lady like me? She didn't try to become

something before she went there, so she would fit in.

She said, if I belong with you, I'll belong with them, so I'll

go with you. Do you understand the intestinal

fortitude that it takes to make a decision like that?

But she does. She doesn't say the future looks

promising. She doesn't say, well, I've

heard that the economy is really doing great there and housing is

low cost. And she just says, I'll go with

you. But this book is named after her

when all is said and done, not because of anything that she did

at the beginning, but because what she did, she understood

that she belonged, and so she stayed with her.

She's not wealthy, she's not powerful, she's not spiritually

refined. At that point, we don't even

know if she really knew the God that we worship at that point.

She's just a grieving, displaced widow making a relational

commitment. But I want you to know that

spiritually, this challenges the way that we often approach

church and community, especially in America.

But in the year 2025, what we do when we're looking for churches,

Well, I want to know about the programs.

I want to know about the opportunities.

What do you have for my family? What does all this sound like?

Very few of us say I'm looking for a place that I can belong.

Now, that being said, if you're only looking for a place you

belong and you have no discernment, you will end up in

a cult. So don't hear what I'm not

saying. OK, But a church is meant to be

a part of the church, which means you are supposed to

belong. Sometimes when you feel like you

don't belong, it's a sign that you're supposed to find another

church building where you do belong with those people.

It's OK. It's a big Kingdom.

Lots of good churches out there. This one's my favorite one.

I'm not allowed to leave now, I've been here so long.

But I want you to know that Ruth's becoming is impossible

without her belonging. If she didn't already feel like

she belonged, what would have happened when she followed Naomi

there? Now she's in a foreign land with

foreign people and foreign customs.

How's she going to feel? Maybe bitter, Maybe resentful.

Maybe. Man, I was really moved with

emotion. I made a commitment.

I wasn't really ready for this. And now here I am in this land,

and you want me to do what? And I can't have bacon.

Didn't want it to get too happy. When When's the next donkey head

to Moab? You know, I'm trying to get out

of here. Listen to me.

Ruth becomes the great grandmother of King David and

part of the lineage of Jesus himself.

But none of that happens if she waits on the sidelines until she

feels prepared or feels like she belongs.

It's like the first time you have a child, you're never

ready. I love telling people that when

they're like, well, I'm just not ready to have a kid yet.

I'm like, that's cool. I'm not going to tell you do it

now. But just so you know also, you

will never feel ready. It's not speaking out of

baggage. I love my kids.

I'm just telling you, you're never ready.

But community is not a reward that you get for being

spiritually mature. And I want you to know that this

is the environment where spiritual maturity is actually

formed and grown. You don't get healthy and then

join the family. You join the family and then God

uses it to heal you. You don't figure everything out

and then commit. You commit and then God builds

who you are over time. This house is not a home on its

own. It becomes a home when everyone

inside of it decides that they're going to help everybody

inside of it, not when everybody inside of it has everything

together. Does everything work out

perfectly in your home? Does everybody have it all

together in your home? Sorry, it's not about you today.

But think about this, right When a baby comes home from the

hospital, right? Nobody gathers around and looks

at that beautiful bundle of joy and says, all right, let's see

what you bring to the family. You are some additional bills,

so let's see what you bring to the table.

The baby doesn't contribute financially, they don't help

with chores, they don't understand the rules of the

house and they don't know how to behave yet.

They don't even know where they are.

But from the moment they cross the threshold of that family, do

they belong completely? Of course they do.

They don't earn their place in the family.

They don't prove their worth. They belong 1st and then they

grow. Is it any different when you

enter into the Kingdom of God? Learning how the family works

happens as they grow and as they learn to feed themselves and as

they learn to clean the room and as they learn what their own

tastes and preferences are. As they get older, they learn

boundaries, they learn what love looks like from their parents,

they learn responsibility and they learn identity.

And growth happens inside of this place that they belong, not

before they're in the home. Now, in the old biblical days,

this was the difference between adoption and apprenticeship.

There were two ways, into a family or into a household,

biblically speaking. And in apprenticeship, you had

to prove yourself before you could be trusted.

If you were an apprentice, you would only be allowed to do

certain things once they had seen that you could do certain

things well, and then they would allow you to continue.

But in adoption, an adoption was a full legal right.

And in the Roman system for adoption, much like today, when

you're legally adopted, you're legally part of the family and

you were legally allowed to have anything that is listed as an

heir would receive, biological child or not, you're adopted.

And that's the way that that works.

By the way, there's a whole covenantal doctrine of adoption

and the fact that we've been adopted into the family of God,

which is why we talk about being a Co heir with Christ.

It's a beautiful scenario. I guess what I'm just trying to

say is you don't gather with other believers because you've

arrived. You gather because you're being

formed and grown together. And you may say, well, Pastor

Blake, I've been on my own for a while and God is growing me.

You're probably right. God can do it and he does.

It is not the same in the same way that he grows you in a

community, though. You know, we had this

leadership, you know, trip three different times and we all like

spoke life into each other. We all spoke life and the the

good things that we saw into one another, staff and spouses and

things like that. Three different times I had like

revelation about something that God is doing in me that I didn't

know until somebody said it. How would I have gotten that on

my own? I wouldn't have.

Belonging doesn't happen by accident.

But I do want you to know it does always require an

intentional step. Ruth didn't drift into

community. She chose it and stepped into

it, and probably more boldly than any of us would have.

But that's why I have to be very practical for a moment.

Just tell you about something that's coming up.

One of the intentional steps that we offer here at Liberty

Church is something that we call the next steps class.

And this is not me stepping away to do APSA for it.

I'm just telling you, I'm watching God do something really

cool. We almost always do our next

steps class or membership class on a Sunday and we're like, hey,

be right after church. You're already here.

We will have lunch here and then we'll just, we'll roll with it

for a couple hours. Teach you what we believe and,

and where we came from and the vision of the church and where

we're going. In other words, we try to make

it as convenient as possible. Hey, you're already here and

we'll feed you. Do you want to join?

Right. And we had a couple families.

They're just like, man, Sunday afternoons just don't work.

So with about 5 people were like, OK, look, we'll do a class

on Thursday. We're doing one this Thursday,

the 18th at 2:00. It's Thursday at 2:00.

How inconvenient is that for most people, right?

At this point, I think there's around 14 people that are like,

yeah, no, no, no, Thursday at 2. Looks good, does it?

All right, come hang out. Now.

A lot of people will ask about membership.

Why do churches have membership? And all of this?

Valid question, right? Because it makes it sound very

exclusive, doesn't it? See that church?

I'm a member. Oh, really?

What do you get? I don't know, but I'm on the

roster. There are times that I have had

people, you know, go to another church and sometimes we'll get

an e-mail or a phone call from that church and they're like,

can you please transfer their letter of membership over here?

We don't have one. I e-mail them back and I say,

hey, we don't have one, but they are wonderful people.

Pray you all are blessed. And I mean it because I want you

to know like a membership class, the next steps class.

That is not a way to try to trap you in and make you work with

kids or something like that. It's just not.

It's a way where you can understand who we are, what we

really do believe, because nobody cares about the doctrine

of a church until they get offended by the doctrine of the

church and then they want to dig into all the doctrine of the

church. We want you to know who we are

and we want a chance to get to know you because right here on a

Sunday, it's one of the hardest times to get to know somebody in

the church. So membership means you

understand who we are and what we believe.

And you're good moving forward. So cool, let's get involved a

little bit more and you'll get to learn about us too.

So I guess part of what I'm saying, I'll bring it up again

at the end. If y'all are free at 2:00 on

Thursday, it's not capped at 14. Coming out to the church.

It'll be a lot of fun. You also don't have to become a

member. It's just informational for you.

You won't be trapped into membership and not allowed to go

anywhere else. Trust me, plenty of people have

gone somewhere else. It's OK.

It's one Kingdom, all right. Just want you to know about

that. But why do I say this?

Because I remember when I decided to join the Big Brother

program in Eastern North Carolina.

This is before I worked here and it sadly doesn't operate here

anymore, but it was this program where you were sort of a mentor

to a young boy and then the the girls would be in the Big Sister

program and you'd mentor a young girl.

And for a long time I wanted to do it.

A lot of it driven because of my childhood and, and not having a

lot of dad figures. And I just remember I kept

saying, ah, someday I'm going to serve with the Big Brothers

program. And one day I was just driving

the van for work. You know where I was working at

the time? I was driving down the road and

I saw a sign for it with the phone number.

And I just pulled over. And I pulled out my phone and I

called them and it was a Saturday and I knew nobody was

going to answer, but I left a message because I knew they were

going to call me back. Because organizations like that

are never like, sorry, we have way too many volunteers.

And when I got home, I remember like talking to my friends and

tell them that I did it. And they were like, why don't

you want to think about it for a little bit?

And I said, no, I've been thinking about it for a long

time. If I keep thinking about it,

I'll never do it. Later becomes never, but now I

have to do something about it because now they're calling me

back. And they called me back and I

got matched up with a nine year old kid named Daniel.

And he's like in his late 20s now and I haven't aged, but he

has and he's doing great. And the cool thing is I would

have never met him unless I just took a step.

I just took a step. When it's hard, I'll never

forget some of you don't judge me.

When he got into my car, he was like, do you like Eminem?

And I said, yeah, do you know why he asked that?

Because there was ACD on my floorboard of Eminem.

ACD is where we used to listen to music on Circles.

It was a physical product that you inserted into your car to

listen to music. There was no streaming, but

about two months later, something about Eminem happened.

And I'm like, what is your favorite Eminem song?

And he's like, I don't listen to Eminem.

And I said, why did you, why'd you tell me you listened to

Eminem and asked me about it? He was like, I just, I saw that

and I thought that would make you feel like we had something

in common that 9 year old was looking for.

What belonging do I fit in here? Will you love me for who I am?

Do I need to become what you are in order for you to love me?

And the answer is no. No, you don't have to become

what I am. Dear God, I have so many issues.

Please, why did you shake your head yes when I said I have so

many issues? You belong before we really

became like family. What I learned is this growth

almost always happens on the other side of discomfort.

It was not convenient for me to go and pick up that kid on a

Saturday and to spend 2 days with him most weekends for

several years. But man was it so good.

Brought him to church here, brought him to the youth group

here, introduced him to my family.

He's met so many people because of this one connection that we

made. And you know something?

I met a lot of people through him too.

Underneath everything that we have, we all want to be seen.

But right above our desire to be seen is this fear of being seen.

Have you ever noticed that? We really want to be seen and we

want to be accepted, but we're also afraid that once we're

seen, we'll be rejected. That's not how the church is

supposed to be. Some people don't step in the

community because they're afraid they won't fit in.

But I would be remiss if I didn't mention others avoid it

because they don't want to be seen.

Both of those responses are founded in the same place, so

please hear my heart when I say this.

But it is founded in self focus and I'm not saying selfishness

in like a harsh way or anything. It's a self protection that many

of us have. We ask, will I be comfortable?

Will I be accepted or will this expose me?

By the way, those questions all make sense because we are human

and we have been through some stuff, haven't we?

But in Philippians 2, it reminds us that we're called not only to

look out for our own interests but also the interests of

others. Some of us look at a group of

people and we say what could they possibly have to add to my

life? And we don't stop and ask.

I wonder what I could be adding to their lives.

And you don't even have to listen to Eminem.

It'll be all right. I don't even know his newest

songs. When we shift from will I fit in

to who might need me, something in US changes because we move

from I don't want to be seen to I'm willing to be known so that

others won't be alone. It's just like having that baby,

right? Nobody ever feels fully ready to

belong. But you don't become brave and

then step in. You just step in and then find

your place. So whether your next step is the

membership class this Thursday or joining a group or serving on

a team or just talking to somebody after the service,

that's all right. Just take a step.

We'll talk more about that in a minute.

Sounds similar, but the next thing I want to talk about is

not just belonging before becoming, but rows above

relationships. How to move from just sitting in

the rows to the relationships. Thankfully, I don't have to put

from pews to people because we don't have pews, because that's

that's an uncomfy word anyway. My pastor used to always say the

only place I saw pews were in churches and courthouses, and

most people were uncomfortable with both of them.

Once belonging has been chosen, something else has to happen.

You start moving and practicing your belonging.

Otherwise it just remains an idea instead of becoming a new

way of life. Romans 16 is where we're going

to be in a moment. It's one of the most overlooked

chapters in the New Testament because Romans is considered a

very meaty book. Lots of good theology.

But in Romans 16, it starts with a bunch of names, not a

genealogy, but names where we read through it and we're like,

what does this matter to me? Well, we'll talk about that in a

minute. It's one of the clearest

pictures of how real Christian community actually functions.

And before we read it, let me just tell you, Paul is writing

to a church he did not personally plant, but he still

knows people by name. He knows their stories, and he

knows their sacrifices. And he knows who hosted

gatherings in their homes, and he knows who risked their lives

for the gospel. Who laboured faithfully behind

the scenes and he knows who carries the weight of ministry

and he knows the people that serve without public

recognition. I want you to remember this.

Just like we talked about, Rome was a gathering of people that

were all jockeying for position. They all wanted status, but he

knew all of them. To join the church in that day

meant that it could cost you your status or your income or

your safety, sometimes your lives, and they still chose it.

So in Romans 16, Paul is showing us something important.

These are not just people that attended the same service.

Romans 16 starting in verse three, he says give my greetings

to Priscilla and Aquila, my Co workers and the ministry of

Christ Jesus. OK, well they're Co workers so

he knows them. In fact they once risked their

lives for me. I'm thankful to them and so are

all the Gentile churches. Also give my greetings to the

church that meets in their home. Greet my dear friend Epinatus.

He was the first person from the province of Asia to become a

follower of Christ. Give my greetings to Mary who's

worked so hard for your benefit. Greet Andronicus and Junior, my

fellow Jews who were in prison with me.

They are highly respected among the apostles and became

followers of Christ before I did.

Wow. Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend

in the Lord. Greet Urbaneus, our Co worker in

Christ and my dear friend Stacus.

Greet Apellis, a good man whom Christ approves, and give my

greetings to the believers from the household of Aristobulus.

Greet Herodian, my fellow Jew. Greet the Lord's people from the

household of Narcissus. Wow.

Give my greetings to Trophena and Trafosa, the Lord's workers,

and to dear Persis, who has worked so hard for the Lord.

Greet Rufus, whom the Lord picked out to be his very own,

and also his dear mother, who has been a mother to me.

Give my greetings to Asynchritis Flagon, Hermes, Petrobus, Hermes

and the brothers and sisters who meet with them give my greetings

to I did so well. Philologus, Julia, Nerius and

his sister, and to Olympus and all the believers who meet with

them. Greet each other with a sacred

kiss. All the churches in Christ send

you their greetings. I hope you never read that part

the same way again. Maybe you won't learn about all

those people individually. But again, we're not going to

look at this like, yeah, what does that Scripture have for me

other than look at how detailed the church was, Look at how

everybody did certain roles and grow in different ways and they

were connected to different people.

And he knew it and he could see it.

These people's names don't get mentioned in the Scriptures when

they're read from a pulpit half as often as so many others.

And they were all integral to the launching of the church.

Without every one of those names, this church may not even

be what you're looking and sitting in right now.

But it's not about us, right? So what's important to notice is

just how normal this text is. Paul does not single out people

to make a point. He's just reflecting on the

reality of the early church. He's like, oh, thank him.

His mom's like a mom to me. Thank these people.

They helped me when I was in the mission field.

They actually saved my life. Oh, thank this person.

He's really, you know, welcoming everything.

I mean, he's just like, here's all the great things about him.

One of them he says who God chose to be his very own.

We could sit there and we could say God's chosen all of us to be

his very own. Yeah.

But he highlighted it for him right there.

It was personal for him. It wasn't a program.

It wasn't some sort of thing that you just attended and

checked off, like your your perfect attendance Mark.

And I just want you to know that once you're part of the family,

faith begins to express itself in relationships.

And just so you know, it doesn't mean you'll be in an equal

relationship with everybody in your House of faith.

First of all, who's got time for all that?

Second of all, you won't like everybody in your family of

faith. You don't like everybody in your

family of origin. It's OK, But you can still

recognize that you got the same father.

You'll start to know the names instead of faces, instead of

knowing statistics or hearing that it was a great program.

You'll know because you saw it. Instead of assuming something

about somebody, you'll know the story behind the story.

I just want you to know that Romans 16 dismantles the idea

that community is built by a few visible Christian leaders.

Paul names women and men and Jews and Gentiles, just like we

were talking about before. And he talks about people who

preached publicly and those who supported quietly behind the

scenes. He talks about people that

hosted churches, people who travelled, people who were

working because everybody had a place and everybody mattered.

And it really challenges the way that we often think about the

modern church. It's really messed me up as I've

been studying this. And most people assume that

community will happen automatically if they keep

showing up. But showing up is only the

beginning. Relationships always require

initiative and intentionality. I'm now going to highlight a few

statements that are pet peeves for this pastor.

And I'm so sorry if this is something you said, take it to

the Lord because the one that I hate the most is hearing

somebody say I didn't go to church for three weeks and

nobody noticed. Here's why I don't like this.

Do you want a truancy officer assigned at the church?

Do you want somebody to call you every time you're not here?

You do not. That's cold.

It's informal. But if you have a friend here

and they look forward to seeing you and they notice you're not

here and they're like, hey, brother, what's going on?

I'm used to seeing you. Is everything OK?

That's totally different, isn't it?

Look around. Just look around for a second.

If a police officer came to your door this afternoon and asked

you to identify all the people here today, could you do it?

Neither could I. I might have a higher than

average number of them, but I couldn't do all of it.

It's so hard be part of the community.

Another thing that I hate hearing is, well, when I stopped

going to that church, people stopped talking to me from that

church. In fact, sometimes you'll see it

online. You know, we could still be

friends. We're not rival gangs or

something like that. Here's the reality.

When you walk through life with somebody, you have natural

connections. When you serve on this worship

team, you build friendships on this worship team.

When you go to a small group, you build friendships in a small

group. When you're serving at events

that are happening, when you're there for the fall festivities

or you're helping us out at the memorial picnic and you were

this close to beating somebody at horseshoes, but you got

second place this year. You'll get them next year.

When you go through these things with people, you have stories

and shared experiences. It's not that somebody's written

off because they're somewhere else.

You just have less time that you bump into each other, and it's

not about you. It's about the community that

you're committed to growing under the banner of the Lord.

That's all it's ever been about. It's only been about the Lord

building and reclaiming his family.

That's it. A house becomes a home, not when

it fills seats, but when it fills lives.

Jed, I didn't ask you in advance, but can can I use one

of these mics? Jay and Trevor, I'm going to ask

you guys to come up here for a second.

You got a preference, This one keyboard.

All right, this is so cool. I asked Jay and Trevor to come

up here because, man, Jay's like, I was breathing on my

neck. She's like, when can I get more

attention? So just kidding.

That's funny. If you cannot tell here, she's

not pleased with that joke. But here's what is so cool.

Listen, the leadership, we we plan to do this like team

building thing and like vision casting thing for the new year.

And it happened to land on the weekend where we were doing the

have what Christmas parade. So we were not able to be

involved in it because we were not there.

And so Pastor Kerry, Pastor Drew, they were looking for some

people. And so Jay and Trevor decided

that they would take on this this goal.

And if you haven't heard, we got first place in the Christmas

parade. Come on, there you go.

You don't need me in that picture.

Go ahead and get that one, and then I'm going to ask you a

question. OK.

But first, there you go. No, it's OK.

While she's taking a picture, everybody just stare at them.

Come on. Now, listen, while they're up

here, while he's wearing his Jumpstart shirt because we also

serve in prison ministry together.

Now, first of all, it wasn't just you guys.

So who helped you with the float?

It was Don and Sandra McLean. Kimberly Gardner, Joshua Merjo,

Kaiser, Crystal Austin and a few other people donated some some

stuff for us, yeah. We also had the Ochoa children

and we had Jack, who is Bernadette's son, and we also

had Emily's. Son.

Yeah, Joshua as well. Yeah.

So you had some people with their kids were like, we'll be

involved. Some people just donated, but

they couldn't be there. Some people helped put it

together. Some people are actually driving

it. Who drove the float?

Awesome. I'm telling you, man, like, I

mean, seriously, he's all put together now that being said,

how long have you come to this church?

You've. Been going there for three years

now. About three years or so.

Now here's what is so cool. Come on, let's step up so

everybody can see us all so much better, right?

All right, here's what's so cool about this.

I remember when you all came because when you first came, you

were engaged, not married yet. Now you're expecting your second

child and and you would sit by yourselves and kind of slip out,

which is cool because you're feeling it out.

So the parade is cool. But more importantly than the

parade, who made this feel like a home for you?

Can I start with, you were talking about Ruth, and at first

I was going to say like, they're yeah, everybody had made this

feel like a home. But originally, I think with the

perspective of Ruth having moved down here because my husband was

a Christian and I was not, and forcing him, honestly, it was

more not forcing, but like pushing him.

He told me like, we're going to go to church together.

I'm like, OK, let's go to church.

I don't know what church is like.

But so we came here, the Holy Spirit guided us, and the first

people that kind of made us feel like home, made this feel like

home were the Finches, the Ericsons, even Anna and Jed when

they came to pick me up and I didn't have a car to go to.

You can. You can skip them, no.

I'm not going to skip. That I'm just kidding, but.

I didn't have a car to come to like a ladies night and my

husband was working night shifts, so I kind of felt

isolated being home by myself. But there were a lot of people

that continue to make me feel like I belonged as a Christian.

And then slowly in time, my husband also took that leap of

faith as well. But a lot of that was you have

to make an effort as well and say yes and give your yes.

It's not just people are not always just going to come to

you. Some people do because they're

really nice. But when you are like us, where

we sit in the back and we didn't want to talk to anybody, we were

like, let's go, let's go, Yeah, You have to make a leap of faith

and talk to people. Do you want to say?

Something You got it? Yeah.

Hey, is there anybody here just, I mean, hopefully don't

backfire? Anybody here that Jay and Trevor

have helped make feel welcome? Wow, Look at that.

Three years ago, quiet and in the back, not involved.

Now you're a champion. Come on.

Thank you. Thank you both of you for who

you are. And by the way, again and all

the different ways that we do this, I've been waiting, I

wanted to to show this for a couple weeks.

We have a mock up for what the carpet's going to look like when

they put it in next month. Can you put that up there real

quick? You able to see this?

I think it's going to make it look so much bigger in here, and

I'm so excited for it. And all I can just say to you is

look at what you made possible, OK, from coming together.

Could you imagine if one person had to do this?

In the middle of this, we started raising funds and then

we found that we needed a new roof, but we did not divert the

funds from the carpet over to the roof.

We believe that God had told us to do this.

And we're not doing the carpet just because we like the colour

better, it's prettier. We're doing it because there's

places that are stained and won't come out and that are torn

and it's highly custom and we need to make sure that this

building is well taken care of. We're going into the new year

with a brand new roof and a brand new floor.

So when we cancel one of the midweek services in January,

you'll know why. All right, you can you can go

past that to Jane Trevor, thank you for coming up here.

I just wanted to highlight what they were doing.

I was going to ask them for a list of people that had helped

them and made them comfortable. And then when I was talking to

Jay this morning, I'm like, you'll say it better than me.

Do you want to come up here? And she was like, sure.

Have you ever had your your feelings hurt in this church?

Yeah, me too. Community doesn't deepen because

we agree with it. It deepens because we step into

it regardless. And thankfully for most of us,

that next step isn't dramatic. It's just something intentional.

So here's ways to get involved. All right, first of all, you

have to be willing to be present beyond just the service.

And for some of us, that means that the easiest habit of

slipping in later, leaving early.

We come early and we try to talk to people.

Maybe you're like, you're lucky. I get here at 9:45.

Cool, stay late. Can I just challenge everybody

here? Let this be the day that you

walk up to somebody you don't know after church and say, like

a child, I like your shirt. That's my favorite colour.

Do you want to be friends? Walk up to somebody?

It's not going to change until something changes, OK?

So choose to be present beyond just a service.

Now, if you're like, this is not my season or I'm leaving soon or

whatever, that's between you and the Lord.

I'm not going to make you do anything.

And if I see you later on in Walmart or something, don't look

at me and say, Pastor Blake, I know I left really quickly, but

you don't owe me an explanation. I'm just challenging you into

something that I think is going to be good for you.

OK, so staying a few minutes after service and introducing

yourself to somebody you don't know can really make a big

difference. Normally I'm back there in that

room and I get to meet people for the first time.

And unless we have some follow up conversations, it's hard to

remain connected. Plus you're like, well, that's a

pastor. They, you know, he's going to do

that. Meet somebody who's here.

The second thing I would say is find a circle.

There are large gatherings that are powerful.

This is a powerful moment because it's a corporate word,

but they're not designed to carry the full weight of a

relationship. That's why we encourage groups.

Groups give you a place where you can be known and ask

questions and pray honestly with people.

We limit those groups to run 1012 people so that you don't

really disappear in the background.

And you may say, well, I'm trying to disappear.

Have you listened to anything I've said today?

OK, you don't join a group because you have everything

figured out and you're worried. Well, I think they're all going

to know the Bible better than me.

What a great place to learn the Bible.

We have men's ministry that meets every month.

We've got women's ministry, the youth, the teenagers, they've

got a youth group that meets on Wednesdays.

C2 is for single adults up through age 30 and they meet

twice a month. North of 50 is for those that

are 50 and more northern, right? We've got, that's just some of

them. We've got so many opportunities.

And, and then we also have just small groups that meet in homes

or sometimes here throughout the community.

Find one. By the way, coming up on January

11th, we're going to have a ministry round table like we did

earlier this year and talk about different ideas we can do.

But also we're going to have a potluck over next door, good old

fashioned church potluck and have some stickers.

And if you're looking to be known or to find groups, we're

going to make it easy for you. OK, more info on that to come #4

or sorry, number number three, serve somewhere.

Serving doesn't mean just meeting needs.

It means building relationships. And when you show up regularly

and serve with the same people, trust grows.

You start to have conversations, you start to know them.

Those people in the tech booth would love your help.

And you don't have to be the most technologically advanced

mind in order to serve there. Listen guys, I've served there.

Some of it requires a great deal of training and some of it, can

you push some buttons for us? We could use your help.

All right, So hopefully that's a good sales pitch for TA.

We need some help there. But when people used to play on

the softball team, when that was happening, you got to know the

other players. When you work with somebody in

kids ministry, you get to know the other teachers.

And by the way, if it's not in the church, that's all right.

People that serve at the Gathering Place, they get to

know each other because they're serving together at the

Gathering Place or the Pregnancy Resource Center.

There's lots of opportunities out there where we can all get

to know one another. Number 40, by the way, serve

somewhere consistently. I talked about different groups.

Let me talk about these service related areas too.

Even though it's not directly service, I think it, it

ultimately serves other people well.

Conquer Ministry, Conquer ministry.

You got two ways you can be involved with Conquer Ministry.

There is the full on Conquer ministry, but then there's also

just arming you with some of the details and everything.

There's two groups that are basically forming over this next

year to help you men and create better relationships and get

free from some of the past baggage.

So if you're interested in that, I know Jonah would be happy to

talk to you at the end of service.

Jonah wavering. That's Jonah, right?

So he'll be back there, but not just not just conquer, but

legacy Ministry where we minister at a nursing home in

Morehead City. We try to do it about once a

month. Jumpstart Ministry will kick

back up next year where we're ministering to the prison in

Newport. It's an incredible ministry.

I cried at the graduation watching these guys graduate

after 40 weeks. We're not just in Newport, by

the way. We're also in Pamlico, Kids

ministry, tech Arts. There's lots of ways you can

serve, but #4 and this is where it really will change for you.

No matter where you find yourself, do this.

Learn names and stories. When somebody says my grandma is

sick and she needs prayer, ask the name of the grandma and

write her name down because you won't remember it to begin with

and ask about it. Once you Start learning names

and stories, it's different. Now.

It's not the awkward, oh, we're in the same Mexican restaurant.

I think he goes to the church now.

You'll get to walk over there and be like, wow, how are you

doing, Mark? And they'll say, my name is

Mike. And you'll be like, I was close,

but thank God you tried. Nobody's expecting perfection.

This is not a community of perfection.

It's genuine and real people. We all forget our names

sometimes. Some of us forget our own names

at times. But more than any of it, just

make one step today. And maybe it's the class, Maybe

it's telling us you'll be at the class.

Maybe it is meeting a friend, maybe it's trying to get

information about a ministry. Whatever it is, make one step so

that you can get connected into the community that God has

ordained for you. Now as we close today, I want

you to know that everything that we talked about today, as it

always should, always comes back to Jesus himself.

Community is not the end goal. Jesus is the end goal.

And the reason community matters so much is because it reflects

what He's already done for us. 2 scriptures for you.

First of all, Ephesians chapter 219 through 22 says this.

Now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners.

You are citizens along with all of God's holy people.

You're members of God's family. Together we are his house.

Built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.

And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus Himself.

We are carefully joined together in Him.

Do you hear the beauty of this language?

We are carefully joined together in him becoming a holy temple

for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are

also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by His

Spirit. It goes on.

Listen to this. That word cornerstone matters

because in the ancient world the cornerstone was not something

decorative. It was where it aligned the

whole position of the building. Jesus is the cornerstone of what

we do here. Please hear me on this.

We belong, but we belong because of Jesus.

We are no longer outsiders, and that's because of Jesus.

We are joined together because of Jesus.

So my question to you is, what if Jesus himself makes it

unmistakably clear what life inside that family is supposed

to look like? What will you do with it?

In John chapter 13, he says, now I'm giving you a new

John 13 · chapter mention

commandment, a new commandment. It's commandment, suggestion,

recommendation, commandment, love each other.

I can't just turn that on Jesus. Just as I have loved you, you

should love each other. Oh, that kind of love, your love

for one another will prove to the world that you are my

disciples. So when we pray for more people

to know the Lord from behind our locked door, we've got to get

out there and they've got to see it in us.

They've got to see you pouring into somebody and saying, I

thought you didn't like that guy and you're like, he's my

brother. That's all right, he doesn't

say. People are going to recognize

his followers by how much Scripture they can quote, or by

their polished theology, or by how many numbers show up on a

Sunday. They're only going to know by

real, visible practice. Love for one another.

And not just any love, he says, Just as I have loved you.

The good news is this. To have that kind of love is

easier than to have your natural affection for somebody.

I don't have to know you to love you.

I don't. I already know you belong.

This means sacrificial and patient love and forgiving love.

Love that moves towards people instead of away from them.

So just hear this clearly today, OK?

You belong here, everyone of you.

You belong here. But you don't belong here

because you earned it. You belong here because Jesus

made a way. You belong not because you are

perfect, but because He's perfect and because He's

faithful. You belong here because the same

Saviour who welcomes sinners and heals broken people and ate with

the overlooked people is still building his family today.

So that being said, I pray that you all will take a step,

whatever it is. I'll be back there.

We'll have a prayer team over there, and Jonah will be back

there. Just look for somebody who's

standing around waiting to talk to somebody.

Somebody will get you where you need to go.

OK, Let's take a step towards becoming a family.

Amen.