Speaker 1: Do that.
Speaker 1: Well, we're going to be in the Book of Acts this morning.
Speaker 1: We're going to be in the Book of Acts and we're going to start off with a really deep spiritual, theological question Are you guys ready?
Speaker 1: Did you watch cartoons growing up?
Speaker 1: Ok, how many of you guys are really worried?
Speaker 1: You're like, where are we going with this?
Speaker 1: How many of you still watch cartoons?
Speaker 1: Ok, awesome, wow, I guess those of us that don't watch cartoons, now we are in the minority.
Speaker 1: Ok, somebody tell me what is a cartoon that you either used to watch growing up or you still watch to the Tom and Jerry Tom and Jerry fans in the room yeah, all right.
Speaker 1: Dragon Ball OK, dragon Ball Z OK, dragon Ball Z.
Speaker 1: Yeah, scooby Doo Somebody said that at 9 AM service too.
Speaker 1: Scooby Doo, yeah, I heard SpongeBob.
Speaker 1: If you're a millennial in the room, like SpongeBob is like a staple right, like SpongeBob, spongebob's classic.
Speaker 1: What did you say?
Speaker 1: Flintstones, flintstones.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think I heard, I think from GI Joe, gi Joe.
Speaker 1: Can somebody remember what GI Joe at the very end of the show, the last line of the show of GI Joe, anybody remember what it was?
Speaker 1: Yo Joe, yo Joe, no, exact, phone Bam.
Speaker 1: Dramatic entrance.
Speaker 1: We planned this.
Speaker 1: Now you know, and knowing is half the battle Today.
Speaker 1: I want you to know something, but because you're intelligent, you probably already know.
Speaker 1: But here's what's interesting this is something that God in the world, but 100%, agree about, 100%, in fact.
Speaker 1: When God saw this thing, he said that's not good, that ain't good at all.
Speaker 1: You know what it is.
Speaker 1: It's not having community in your life, it's living your life in isolation.
Speaker 1: It's not having friends.
Speaker 1: Now, because of COVID, we've all experienced this to some degree of some loneliness, right, but every stat that we see we're still experiencing this.
Speaker 1: Even now, in fact, even after COVID, it's almost like it's kind of hard to make friends, like it's like everybody's got stuff going on, everybody's busy, who can I trust?
Speaker 1: How do I do this?
Speaker 1: And what can happen is we can live our lives lonely.
Speaker 1: In fact, some of you may know what it's like to be in a room, even like this, maybe filled with people, but you feel all alone.
Speaker 1: You and me were actually hardwired for community.
Speaker 1: You were built for community and this is why because you're made in the image of God, in the image and likeness of God, and God is a community the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: So, because we're made in His image, the only way we can truly flourish in life is if we have community.
Speaker 1: But so many things seem to be pulling us away from community and pulling us away from genuine friendships and pulling us away from the very thing that God says you need.
Speaker 1: And this is what we're going to do today.
Speaker 1: It's pretty simple.
Speaker 1: We're going to see a beautiful picture of what community looks like, and then we're going to see something that some of you don't believe.
Speaker 1: You don't believe this.
Speaker 1: We're going to see how you can actually have community, how you can actually have real, genuine friendships, and, and and and what this community will produce in your life.
Speaker 1: Because no matter what your background is, no matter what you look like, no matter how you even feel about this whole community, saying you want what community will produce in your life.
Speaker 1: Now here's what we're going to see.
Speaker 1: This beautiful picture of this beautiful picture is the first, the first church, the first church.
Speaker 1: By the way, a church is not a building.
Speaker 1: How many of you guys understand that?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 1: Church is a group of people.
Speaker 1: We have the first church in Acts, and they were very normal people like you and like me.
Speaker 1: Real struggles, real issues, lots of things going on, but this group of people put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: They had unified together and they were going to experience, and they experienced the very thing that is possible for you to experience, and it's not only possible but it's something that I hope every single one of you will experience, Because it's the very thing that will give your life meaning.
Speaker 1: So we're going to pick this up in Acts, chapter 2, this morning.
Speaker 1: If you are looking forward to being in God's Word this morning, would you say amen.
Speaker 1: Acts 2.42 is what it says.
Speaker 1: It says they.
Speaker 1: This is that first group of Jesus followers, that first community, that first church.
Speaker 1: They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching so, to gathering around the Word of God, to the fellowship, to hanging out with each other, to the breaking of bread.
Speaker 1: This is not just communion, like we just participated in, but it's also eating.
Speaker 1: How many of you guys in the room like to eat?
Speaker 1: Yes, co, my people.
Speaker 1: Right, this is what they did.
Speaker 1: Right, breaking of bread and to prayer.
Speaker 1: Let's skip down a few verses.
Speaker 1: Verse number 46.
Speaker 1: It says every day, they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple and broke bread from house to house, and they ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts.
Speaker 1: With joyful and sincere hearts, can we say that we're joyful together, ready, joyful, hey guys in the back.
Speaker 1: If you guys can possibly get the confidence monitor up, that would be great, because I'm not going to be able to preach without it.
Speaker 1: Not really, guys, I was just joking, but if we could get that up, that'd be great.
Speaker 1: With joyful hearts.
Speaker 1: Ok, now I want you guys to think about this Real community number one.
Speaker 1: This is what real community produces in your life.
Speaker 1: It produces joy.
Speaker 1: Now, think about this.
Speaker 1: Ok, here's a group of people.
Speaker 1: They lived in the first century.
Speaker 1: They had zero creature comforts.
Speaker 1: Imagine Imagine living your life without any air conditioning.
Speaker 1: Imagine living your life without any YouTube.
Speaker 1: Imagine living your life without any fast food, without any taco trucks.
Speaker 1: What would you do with your life?
Speaker 1: They had no electricity.
Speaker 1: The same thing.
Speaker 1: You guys were like I could go without electricity, I go camping for a couple of days and it's great.
Speaker 1: Live your life without electricity, right?
Speaker 1: Some of these people had none of that, but you know what they did have?
Speaker 1: They had joy.
Speaker 1: They had real joy, because community produces joy and community produces joy.
Speaker 1: And as these people came together.
Speaker 1: They had joy and they also had a meaningful shared experience.
Speaker 1: They had meaningful shared experiences together.
Speaker 1: Look what it says in Acts, chapter number Acts, chapter number four.
Speaker 1: It says or Acts, chapter three.
Speaker 1: It says Peter and John.
Speaker 1: They were going up to the temple for the time of prayer at three in the afternoon.
Speaker 1: A lame man who was lame from birth.
Speaker 1: He was carried there.
Speaker 1: He was placed each day at the temple gate, called beautiful, so that he could beg from those entering the temple.
Speaker 1: First century they had no government support.
Speaker 1: They were really on their own to try to get some resources.
Speaker 1: This man, verse three.
Speaker 1: He saw Peter and John about to enter the temple and he asked for money.
Speaker 1: Peter, alongside with John, looked straight at him and said look at us Now.
Speaker 1: Let's think Somebody's begging for money.
Speaker 1: And Peter and John try to get his attention.
Speaker 1: What do you think the lame man thinks he's going to get?
Speaker 1: What do you think the lame man wants?
Speaker 1: He wants money.
Speaker 1: So lame is rising and I'm getting.
Speaker 1: I'm getting some money.
Speaker 1: He turned to them.
Speaker 1: He's expecting to get something from them.
Speaker 1: But Peter said I don't have any silver or gold.
Speaker 1: I found the lame man.
Speaker 1: My first thought is well then, how come.
Speaker 1: You wanted me to look at you.
Speaker 1: What a let down.
Speaker 1: But what I do have I give you in the name of Jesus Christ, of Nazareth and Nazareth, get up and walk.
Speaker 1: Then, taking him by the right hand, he raised them up and at once his feet and ankles became strong.
Speaker 1: So he jumped up and started to walk and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
Speaker 1: This is a incredible experience.
Speaker 1: This is obviously a very Spiritual experience, is a very meaningful experience, and while this experience was very meaningful, these people were were doing life together, where they were having not necessarily Super spiritual experiences, but they were having experiences together.
Speaker 1: And this is really challenging for us right now, because something we've talked about before is we have a hard time separating and differentiating between digital communication and in-person connection.
Speaker 1: Digital communication and in-person connection Right, so most of us, a lot of us to some degree, we have some type of digital in-person connection and we can think that that's enough, right, and it's something.
Speaker 1: It's good, but it's different than in-person connection with people.
Speaker 1: I Was reading this week in the most recent stats say that most of us, the typical person, spends about three hours a day on their phone Three hours a day, so some about three hours a day on our phone for different things.
Speaker 1: Does anybody know, if you were to add that up over a year, how many days in a year that adds up to that?
Speaker 1: We spend on our phones every year in any guesses?
Speaker 1: 60 something.
Speaker 1: That's a little high, but 100 it's a little high.
Speaker 1: It's actually about 45 days a year on our phone.
Speaker 1: That's what we typically, so it's equivalent to us just looking at our phones for 45 24-hour days in a row.
Speaker 1: Now you think about this, I you think about it, and I'm not here to say like that's good, bad or whatever.
Speaker 1: But this is what I'm here to say is imagine what would happen if we took our screen time down 25% a week, or not even 25, let's just say 20% a week.
Speaker 1: That would give us four more hours a week.
Speaker 1: And imagine the power of spending four hours a week With in-person connection with somebody instead of just digitally with people like.
Speaker 1: Imagine the power of that.
Speaker 1: And what happened?
Speaker 1: Is these people here, this first community?
Speaker 1: They had in-person relationships, but they spent time with each other and because of that they got to know each other and then, when they had hard times and Difficult times, you know what they were able to experience support.
Speaker 1: They were able to experience Encouragement.
Speaker 1: This, this group of people, they up.
Speaker 1: They had something bad happened to a few of them.
Speaker 1: I Mean we all know that life happens, right, struggles, sickness, difficulties.
Speaker 1: Life happened here, a couple of these guys.
Speaker 1: They got thrown in jail.
Speaker 1: They didn't get thrown in jail because they were selling drugs.
Speaker 1: They got thrown in jail because they were.
Speaker 1: They were money laundering, right.
Speaker 1: They got thrown in jail because they were trying to make Jesus known to people.
Speaker 1: That's what they were doing.
Speaker 1: They were trying to make Jesus known and they got thrown in jail.
Speaker 1: And watch what happens after they got out of jail says in verse 23 of Acts, chapter 4 they were released.
Speaker 1: They went to their own people and reported what's that word?
Speaker 1: They reported everything the chief priests and the elders had said to them.
Speaker 1: When they heard this, they raised their voices together to God and said Master, you are the one who made the heaven, the earth and the sea and everything in them.
Speaker 1: And what real community does?
Speaker 1: It not only gives us joy and not only allows us to have shared meaningful experiences, but it allows us to have support and strength in trials.
Speaker 1: Those are some of us.
Speaker 1: Some of us think that we don't need anybody, that, amanda, that we're strong, like we can carry everything on our own.
Speaker 1: What have you lived very long?
Speaker 1: You know that after a while you're going to break with that mentality.
Speaker 1: In fact, some of us in the room we know what it's like to try to do things on our own and care our own burdens for a length of time, and then what happens is it breaks us, and the reason being is because God has designed us to live in community, and what community allows us to do is find support when life is hard, and it's not even so much something that somebody says, but it's just somebody's presence.
Speaker 1: It's just that they're there.
Speaker 1: You imagine what your life would look like If you had this community that produced joy, that produced meaningful experiences, that gave you support and strength in trials.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine what your life would look like?
Speaker 1: Can you imagine how you imagine he's?
Speaker 1: He can imagine it.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna imagine that.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine this?
Speaker 1: Here's the thing.
Speaker 1: This is possible.
Speaker 1: But did you know that this doesn't happen on accident?
Speaker 1: This doesn't happen accidentally.
Speaker 1: Sometimes there's this folly out there that I just need to find community, and I understand the idea of finding community, but community like this is not just found, it's forged.
Speaker 1: It's not just found, it's forged, it's built.
Speaker 1: So we don't drift into this community accidentally.
Speaker 1: It takes time, it takes us investing in this, but what this community requires is commitment.
Speaker 1: I want to show you, guys, how we can have this community.
Speaker 1: I want to show you how you can experience this as commitment, not as I was thinking through this message, I was like I wish I could find a better word than commitment, because commitments are really strong word that we don't like.
Speaker 1: Wish I could soften this word a little bit.
Speaker 1: Can I make it more palatable for the people?
Speaker 1: Nope, it says commitment.
Speaker 1: You remember in Acts, chapter 2, it says they devoted themselves.
Speaker 1: Now, do you think that these people of normal people like us, do you think they ever had any misunderstandings with anybody?
Speaker 1: Do you ever disagreed about anything?
Speaker 1: Do you think that they ever got annoyed or upset with anybody else?
Speaker 1: Yeah, some of you are looking at me like no, they never did.
Speaker 1: Yes, they did, but they were devoted to each other.
Speaker 1: Now think about two of the apostles.
Speaker 1: Okay, one was Matthew.
Speaker 1: Do you guys remember what Matthew's occupation was?
Speaker 1: Tax collector.
Speaker 1: Okay, so Matthew was boys with the Roman Empire.
Speaker 1: He worked with the Romans, he was connected with the Romans, he was a Roman sympathizer.
Speaker 1: That was Matthew.
Speaker 1: Now there's another apostle they're part of the church.
Speaker 1: We don't know as much about him, but his name is Simon the Zealot.
Speaker 1: Simon the Zealot you guys know what Zealots wanted to do Overthrow the Roman government, overthrow the Roman Empire.
Speaker 1: So they weren't like hey guys, let's go door to door and have this petition and let's all sign it.
Speaker 1: And then maybe you know some things can change in legislation.
Speaker 1: Now, no, these are like hey, let's grab the sword, let's grab the knives.
Speaker 1: Like, let's go over there, let's take those guys out.
Speaker 1: Romans, terrible people.
Speaker 1: Matthew's like Romans, they're not so terrible.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, we kind of work together.
Speaker 1: They help me, they scratch my back, I scratch their back.
Speaker 1: Simon's like no, you are the problem.
Speaker 1: What is wrong with you?
Speaker 1: This is what Jesus does.
Speaker 1: Hey, matthew, tax collector, come follow me.
Speaker 1: Hey, simon the Zealot, come follow me.
Speaker 1: Well, matthew here, simon here.
Speaker 1: Well, these guys are not in the same social circles.
Speaker 1: These guys are not liking each other's Facebook post at all.
Speaker 1: So now, now, now they're supposed to like spend time with each other.
Speaker 1: I eat together, help people together, serve in ministry together.
Speaker 1: What that's weird.
Speaker 1: Why would they do that?
Speaker 1: They should have been enemies.
Speaker 1: But what Jesus does is he brings people that should be completely apart on every different economic, socially, you name the scale and he brings people together.
Speaker 1: He allows us to be able to agree, to disagree on certain things.
Speaker 1: He allows us to be able to understand that Jesus is bigger than all of these other lesser things.
Speaker 1: There's this up, there's this false dichotomy that the world has created that we live in and it's agree with me and affirm 100% everything about me.
Speaker 1: Or you hate me, agree, or you hate me.
Speaker 1: Oh, you don't agree with this, you're the enemy.
Speaker 1: You're the enemy.
Speaker 1: But you know what the gospel does.
Speaker 1: The gospel allows us to say okay, we may not agree on this, I don't agree with you, but I can come and I can actually get to know you and I can actually say let me hear your perspective, let me understand you, let me see where you're coming from.
Speaker 1: And in the world's economy, what happens?
Speaker 1: Like these people, we're enemies, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: And God's economy happens to.
Speaker 1: We can come together.
Speaker 1: And this is why because in a loving, christ-centered community, loving people is more important than proving a point Loving people is more important than proving a point.
Speaker 1: In the world that we live in, we want to prove points.
Speaker 1: In the kingdom of God, god wants us to love people.
Speaker 1: So what we don't have to do is we don't have to be people that say, well, you're wrong and I'm right, and I'm going to prove to you that you're wrong.
Speaker 1: No, what I'm going to do is I'm going to listen to and I'm going to love you and say it's okay, we may be different, but God loves you and I'm going to too.
Speaker 1: And this is what that takes.
Speaker 1: That takes humility, that takes compassion.
Speaker 1: That's not something you're going to see on any one of these news networks, but that's something you're going to see in a Jesus-centered community.
Speaker 1: And when we do the messy, beautiful work of doing community with those who don't think, act, dress or even vote exactly as we do, we show that Jesus is greater than any differences we might have.
Speaker 1: I'm going to say that one more time because it's really good, because I didn't come up with it.
Speaker 1: It's really good, all right.
Speaker 1: When we do the messy, beautiful work of doing community with those who don't think, act, dress or even vote exactly as we do, we show that Jesus is greater than any difference we might have.
Speaker 1: That is greater, that we can be for each other, that we can support each other.
Speaker 1: I can be committed to you, even if you don't like the San Francisco 49ers, which of course means that I will be praying for you as well.
Speaker 1: A community requires us to be devoted.
Speaker 1: But number two and you guys know this community requires time.
Speaker 1: And actually after three, peter and John went to the temple together.
Speaker 1: Now, what Peter could have said?
Speaker 1: Peter could have said I'm going to take a nap today.
Speaker 1: Peter could have said you know, I'm just spending a little while, since I've had some me time the wrong me time, by the way but I'm just going to go spend time by myself.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to spend any time with you, john, but he didn't.
Speaker 1: They spent time together and I say, as a church, we are more committed than ever before to creating spaces and places where community can happen.
Speaker 1: In our church, we are more committed than ever before to create places and spaces where community can happen.
Speaker 1: And community takes some time.
Speaker 1: Community isn't made in a microwave.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you guys, but I really like microwaves.
Speaker 1: Any guys like microwaves?
Speaker 1: I use my microwave quite a bit these days and I can put a little something in there and three minutes later, voila, I got some food.
Speaker 1: Amazing.
Speaker 1: Now is it like amazing food?
Speaker 1: No, but it's good, fills the pit, fills the job.
Speaker 1: It's a microwave, but you know, if you want to have a really good meal, go take some time.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're not going over to your family members or friend's house for Thanksgiving in a couple months.
Speaker 1: You're not walking in and they're not going to be like, oh, let me stir the food in the microwave real quick and we'll be good.
Speaker 1: It requires time.
Speaker 1: Everything of worth requires time, and community is formed in a crock pot, not a microwave.
Speaker 1: Communities formed in a crock pot, not a microwave.
Speaker 1: I wish when all of you guys came in, what I could say is I could say okay, guys, take this pill and automatically you're going to have community.
Speaker 1: That's going to be amazing, it's going to bring you joy, you're going to have meaningful experiences, you're going to have support and trials and tribulations.
Speaker 1: All you got to do is just take this little pill and you're good and you're going to have it.
Speaker 1: I wish I could, but I can't.
Speaker 1: You know what it requires from every single one of us to get some time, to spend some time with each other.
Speaker 1: Now we know baseline for this is gathering with the church on Sunday morning, is gathering and worshiping God together.
Speaker 1: But beyond that, it's taking a step of growth.
Speaker 1: Growth happens one step at a time through our growth groups.
Speaker 1: We have this semester.
Speaker 1: We have nine different adult growth groups that are meeting just about every day of the week different times.
Speaker 1: We are trying to make groups accessible and easy for you to be a part of.
Speaker 1: Most of our groups meet about eight weeks long and they start next Sunday.
Speaker 1: We're actually trying something that we haven't tried, at least as long as I've been here the last few years.
Speaker 1: We're trying something that we're calling a community group.
Speaker 1: We're beta testing this, where a group will meet four out of eight weeks and they'll meet together just to do an activity together.
Speaker 1: It's a really spiritual activity.
Speaker 1: You know what it's going to be Volleyball.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 1: Somebody was looking on the website.
Speaker 1: That's right, volleyball.
Speaker 1: This is what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: So a group is going to meet together four out of eight weeks to play volleyball together.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because we want you to experience community.
Speaker 1: A couple of weeks ago, at team night, we shared that we're talking about going to a men's retreat coming up.
Speaker 1: Why do we want to do that?
Speaker 1: So we can have community with other people, and not just have community with other people, but have community with the right people.
Speaker 1: Because when you form community, your community also forms you.
Speaker 1: When you form community, your community also forms you.
Speaker 1: So if you want to see your future, just show me your friends.
Speaker 1: If you want to see the type of person you'll become, see the people that you're around.
Speaker 1: It's been said that when you were born, you look like your parents.
Speaker 1: When you die, you look like your community.
Speaker 1: When you're born, you look like your parents.
Speaker 1: When you die, you look like your community.
Speaker 1: You look like the people that are around you.
Speaker 1: And for us to experience some of this, what we have to do is we have to give ourselves to this.
Speaker 1: We have to take some time, even if it's just an hour and a half a week over the next eight weeks.
Speaker 1: But it's something where you can step out of your comfort zone to be in community with others.
Speaker 1: But it's really hard because all of us like our comfort zones.
Speaker 1: Right, and you know why we all like our comfort zones?
Speaker 1: Because our comfort zones are comfortable.
Speaker 1: They're really comfortable.
Speaker 1: But growth happens outside of the comfort zone and relational growth happens when we take a step.
Speaker 1: And for us to experience the fruits of community, we have to be committed to what it takes to experience community.
Speaker 1: Community requires commitment, community requires time and this third essential we could say for communities something that I'm learning, something that I don't stand up here and teach as somebody that I got this one down.
Speaker 1: Guys, I don't, and this is the scariest thing for a lot of us Community requires vulnerability.
Speaker 1: I know that we have to be committed to what it takes to help others.
Speaker 1: You guys remember in Acts, chapter four, when the guys were thrown in prison and they came back, the chief priests and the elders, those were not good guys.
Speaker 1: They were not good guys.
Speaker 1: I have no idea what they experienced in jail, I have no idea what was told to them, but it says in the verse that when they went back to their people, it says they reported everything.
Speaker 1: Did you guys see that they were vulnerable?
Speaker 1: They were vulnerable.
Speaker 1: They opened themselves up to say, hey, guys, this is what happened.
Speaker 1: Hey, guys, this is what I experienced.
Speaker 1: And, guys, vulnerability is powerful.
Speaker 1: Vulnerability is us being able to say, hey, man, I'm struggling with something.
Speaker 1: Hey, I just right now I'm going through this right now.
Speaker 1: This is kind of where I'm at and can I say I want to give you permission to not be okay, like there are times when all of us struggle and in those moments we have to be willing to say okay.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have a conversation with a friend this past week.
Speaker 1: Something happened to me, had happened to me for quite a while is I got triggered off something.
Speaker 1: And I got triggered and when I did, in that moment I was like okay, now I'm feeling a certain way.
Speaker 1: I was like all right, I'm gonna pray because I need help.
Speaker 1: I was like God help me.
Speaker 1: And then I processed this and I was feeling a little bit better and then I said this isn't enough.
Speaker 1: Like praying, that was great, that's not enough right now.
Speaker 1: I need to take a step that I did want to take.
Speaker 1: I need to talk to somebody right now, just for a minute.
Speaker 1: Just talk to a buddy, talk to somebody I know.
Speaker 1: And I took out my phone you can actually make phone calls on this, it's not just for texting and ordering food or whatever Took out my phone and I called a gobbly person that I trusted and I said I was praying about this.
Speaker 1: This happened.
Speaker 1: Praying about this, I'm feeling okay right now, but I just wanted to share it with you.
Speaker 1: I just want to share it with you, that's all.
Speaker 1: And this person, we're able to speak truth into the situation because of my emotions relying to me, my real, valid emotions that were real and were valid.
Speaker 1: They were telling me things that weren't true.
Speaker 1: You ever had that happen to you Right?
Speaker 1: And after this like seven minute phone conversation, I felt 100% better and I thought after that conversation, why was I fighting to be vulnerable right there?
Speaker 1: Why was I having such a hard time opening up when it literally just took that?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, okay, you know what it was.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to admit weakness.
Speaker 1: I want it to be strong, because I'm pastor Nate, okay, but when I stepped into vulnerability and showed weakness, that's when I found strength.
Speaker 1: And some of us are some vulnerability, away from experiencing real community.
Speaker 1: And community only happens when you're vulnerable to some degree, because you have to be known, you have to let people know you, and this is something that I'm learning.
Speaker 1: Again, I have not arrived, I'm learning this, but when you step out and you're vulnerable, it gives people permission to be open and vulnerable to you and sometimes people are just one person being vulnerable.
Speaker 1: That gives them permission.
Speaker 1: Then they can be vulnerable and it's like, oh wow, like we have this human connection that it's beautiful that God designed us to have.
Speaker 1: So where did we go with this message?
Speaker 1: Today, I want to make this really accessible and I want to talk about how we can just take this home really quick, because I want you to experience this, because you can't experience this.
Speaker 1: So what do we need to do?
Speaker 1: This is what we need to do.
Speaker 1: We need to one prioritize Christian community.
Speaker 1: We need to make Christian community a priority.
Speaker 1: Now I know some of us are thinking I don't have time, but remember, we have time for whatever's important to us.
Speaker 1: We just do right, I promise you.
Speaker 1: I think that everybody in the room and online probably prioritizes taking the shower every once in a while.
Speaker 1: Thankfully, most of us prioritize eating right.
Speaker 1: We prioritize certain things and you can never experience community until you prioritize community, and I know this is hard, but you can prioritize this because if you prioritize this, then you can experience this.
Speaker 1: Number two what you can do is you can decide to join an eight-week growth group.
Speaker 1: Decide to join a group.
Speaker 1: I'm amazed.
Speaker 1: Last week we didn't even announce groups and I checked on the sign-up spreadsheet.
Speaker 1: We had like 40 adults signed up for groups.
Speaker 1: We had not announced them one time.
Speaker 1: Here Y'all love groups, which is amazing, right.
Speaker 1: We had like 40 adults sign up.
Speaker 1: We never even announced them.
Speaker 1: But what groups are is groups meet again for about eight weeks or so and there's a group for everybody.
Speaker 1: I mean we have young adult group, ladies group, men's groups, just all couples groups, all kinds of different groups that are meeting and you can be a part of a group.
Speaker 1: Now, this is what it's going to require.
Speaker 1: It's going to require about an hour or two one night a week over the next eight weeks.
Speaker 1: But you can experience this.
Speaker 1: For some of us, we need to join a group.
Speaker 1: For those of us, let's get a little vulnerable with somebody, just a little bit.
Speaker 1: Just a little bit.
Speaker 1: Get a little bit vulnerable with somebody.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that you get vulnerable with a stranger, but maybe it's somebody that you serve with.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's somebody in your growth group or somebody you've been in a growth group with.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's somebody on the same serve team you're on, that you've fostered a relationship with.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's somebody else, I don't know but get a little bit vulnerable with somebody.
Speaker 1: Sometimes, when we sometimes we think about vulnerability, we think that I have to share my entire life.
Speaker 1: No, you don't Just take a step and just share a little bit.
Speaker 1: And what vulnerability is?
Speaker 1: It's a skill that we learn as we rest in the gospel and understand our identities in the gospel, and not what others think of us, but it's something that you learn to develop.
Speaker 1: Get a little vulnerable with somebody.
Speaker 1: And then, lastly, maybe you're in the room and you're not yet a Jesus follower.
Speaker 1: I would encourage you to become a Christ follower when you hear you know the Jesus stuff, ish.
Speaker 1: You know some things about the Bible.
Speaker 1: Maybe you have friends that try to get you to do this stuff and come, and maybe you're a family member I don't know, but you're just not.
Speaker 1: You have not come to a place where you've made the decision to follow Jesus and you probably have some legitimate reasons.
Speaker 1: You probably do, but Jesus is greater than any of those reasons.
Speaker 1: Like he came to die for your soul, like whatever's holding you back.
Speaker 1: It's just not worth it.
Speaker 1: Like he turned, he is.
Speaker 1: He turned these way too long.
Speaker 1: He turned these way too long for us to let these reasons hold us up, and Jesus invites you to come and follow him, and he will accept you just as you are, if you will come to him just as you are today.
Speaker 1: Let's be this community Today.
Speaker 1: Let's be a let's be a people that's experiencing joy, that's having shared meaningful experiences, that's experiencing support and trials and tribulations.
Speaker 1: We can do this, in fact, in many ways, it's beautiful.
Speaker 1: We are this as a church, so let's take a step towards this.