WEBVTT 00:00:00.761 --> 00:00:02.944 Amen, family, it's so good to see all you guys this morning. 00:00:02.944 --> 00:00:06.854 We are going to be in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, 1 Corinthians 12. 00:00:06.854 --> 00:00:12.010 And we started a new series last week entitled Deeper, entitled Deeper. 00:00:12.010 --> 00:00:13.493 Everybody say deeper, ready? 00:00:13.493 --> 00:00:16.004 Okay, let's try it one more time. 00:00:16.004 --> 00:00:22.263 Hold on, I want the guys to say it, but I want them to say deeper, in the deep voice, okay. 00:00:22.263 --> 00:00:29.771 So, gentlemen, on the count of three, one, two, three, oh man, a lot of ladies were just impressed. 00:00:29.771 --> 00:00:33.603 Right, there we're in this new series called Deeper, and this is what we're doing. 00:00:33.622 --> 00:00:37.101 We're talking about the five rhythms it takes to grow deeper in our faith. 00:00:37.101 --> 00:00:41.781 Sometimes what can happen is we can look at our lives and we think there's no way I can grow deeper in my life. 00:00:41.781 --> 00:00:57.374 If you knew the past I had, if you knew the baggage I carried around, if you knew this, then you would know I can't grow deeper and I would say not true, bro, everybody can grow deeper if you'll incorporate these five rhythms that we see in Scripture. 00:00:57.374 --> 00:01:04.623 And speaking of Scripture, last week we learned the first rhythm and a little quiz question to open up this morning. 00:01:04.623 --> 00:01:06.853 Last week, the first rhythm to grow. 00:01:06.853 --> 00:01:10.521 Little quiz question to open up this morning Last week. 00:01:10.521 --> 00:01:14.290 The first rhythm to grow deeper in your faith is to consistently take time to read and meditate on Scripture. 00:01:14.290 --> 00:01:14.792 That's right. 00:01:14.792 --> 00:01:17.807 Somebody shout it out there, I think they were at the earlier service. 00:01:17.807 --> 00:01:22.971 That's right, though To take time and read and meditate on Scripture. 00:01:22.971 --> 00:01:28.031 And this week we're going to see rhythm number two. 00:01:28.031 --> 00:01:37.481 The rhythm that you must have in your life to go deeper in your faith is the rhythm of godly community. 00:01:37.481 --> 00:01:41.427 The rhythm of godly community. 00:01:41.427 --> 00:01:47.174 Now, all of us would probably agree community is important in life. 00:01:47.174 --> 00:01:54.183 If you agree that community is important, would you say amen If I said who in the room on the balcony lower floor who likes to be lonely? 00:01:54.183 --> 00:01:55.968 Everybody's raising their hand. 00:01:55.968 --> 00:01:58.754 We don't like being lonely. 00:01:58.819 --> 00:02:06.001 In fact, you could probably look back at times in your life where you did some things that you now regret because you didn't want to be lonely. 00:02:06.001 --> 00:02:15.062 Or maybe there was like a friend group, and you were like I want to be a part of that friend group, I want to be cool like them, and they were like hey, to be in our friend group, you need to do this or not do that. 00:02:15.062 --> 00:02:17.526 And you either did that or you didn't do that. 00:02:17.526 --> 00:02:34.191 And now you look back and you're like I should have done that or I should have done that and you did it because you wanted to be in that friend group or maybe, or maybe or maybe there was another situation in your life and you're like I don't know about that person, I don't know if I should be running with that person, I'm just, but I'm kind of lonely. 00:02:34.191 --> 00:02:40.330 So you start running with that person and then you look back and you're like why in the world did I run with that person? 00:02:40.330 --> 00:02:43.724 I'll tell you why Because you're lonely. 00:02:43.724 --> 00:02:50.026 It's interesting Even doctors doctors tell us that being lonely is actually bad for your physical health. 00:02:51.430 --> 00:02:54.965 They say it's equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes every single day. 00:02:54.965 --> 00:02:58.793 We know loneliness isn't good for us. 00:02:58.793 --> 00:03:00.342 In fact, this is why God said. 00:03:00.342 --> 00:03:10.393 God said, after he made creation and he made man, he looked at Adam and he was like dude, it's not good that you're alone, it's not good that you're by yourself. 00:03:10.393 --> 00:03:13.320 The kitty cats were not enough for Adam. 00:03:13.320 --> 00:03:16.467 Let's be honest, kitty cats aren't enough for any of us. 00:03:16.467 --> 00:03:24.567 But anyway, it wasn't enough and we need human community. 00:03:24.567 --> 00:03:27.431 This is what we were designed for and what God did. 00:03:27.431 --> 00:03:28.955 In his wisdom and his grace. 00:03:28.955 --> 00:03:37.794 He's designed the church to be a place where we can form this kind of community. 00:03:37.794 --> 00:03:42.610 And community is so important because who you walk with is who you'll be like. 00:03:42.610 --> 00:03:48.652 It's been said this way show me your friends and I'll show you your future. 00:03:48.652 --> 00:03:53.524 And all the parents in the room are like yes, kid, write that down. 00:03:53.524 --> 00:03:55.911 But it's true. 00:03:55.911 --> 00:04:08.471 And when we think of church and community within the church, let's just be real that church can kind of be a triggering word for some of us, that church can kind of be a loaded word for some of us. 00:04:08.752 --> 00:04:11.385 When I say the word church, you can have all kinds of things come to your mind. 00:04:11.385 --> 00:04:13.663 You can think of a bad experience you had growing up. 00:04:13.663 --> 00:04:17.737 Maybe you think of church you think of like a building that you drive by. 00:04:17.737 --> 00:04:22.786 Maybe you think of a band musicians, maybe you think of a pastor that teaches way too long and is kind of boring. 00:04:22.786 --> 00:04:28.776 We all have thoughts in our mind when it comes, when we hear the word church. 00:04:28.776 --> 00:04:35.189 But the word church actually comes from a Greek word and the word is ekklesia. 00:04:35.189 --> 00:04:38.086 Let's all say the word ekklesia together. 00:04:38.086 --> 00:04:39.670 Ready, ekklesia. 00:04:39.670 --> 00:04:42.947 Just learned some Greek Ekklesia. 00:04:43.459 --> 00:04:44.887 This is what the church is. 00:04:44.887 --> 00:04:48.750 It's a called out group or assembly. 00:04:48.750 --> 00:04:56.105 This is, biblically, what a church is, so what this means is that it's a group of people, it's a community, that have turned from their sin. 00:04:56.105 --> 00:04:57.750 They put their faith and trust in Jesus. 00:04:57.750 --> 00:04:59.901 They've come together in community. 00:04:59.901 --> 00:05:04.264 They've been called out from the world to glorify God. 00:05:04.264 --> 00:05:18.774 This is what the church is, this is what the church is supposed to be, and when the ecclesia is functioning how God designed it to function, it's one of the most beautiful, powerful, life-giving healing places on the planet. 00:05:18.774 --> 00:05:23.137 I was reminded of that just a couple services ago 845 service. 00:05:23.137 --> 00:05:26.103 Somebody came to me after the service. 00:05:26.103 --> 00:05:28.232 They had a tear in their eye and they said they've been coming over like six months. 00:05:28.232 --> 00:05:33.668 They said this church has changed my life, and I said this church has not changed your life. 00:05:33.668 --> 00:05:50.406 The God that we serve has changed your life, and when the ecclesia, though, is healthy and it's what God designed it to be it's going to be life-giving, it's going to be life-changing, and this takes us, actually, to 1 Corinthians, chapter 12. 00:05:50.908 --> 00:05:51.790 There's a guy named Paul. 00:05:51.790 --> 00:05:53.115 Everybody say Paul Ready. 00:05:53.115 --> 00:05:55.163 Paul was in a place called Corinth. 00:05:55.163 --> 00:05:56.309 Everybody say Corinth Ready. 00:05:56.309 --> 00:05:58.680 Corinth was filled with a bunch of knucklehead people. 00:05:58.680 --> 00:05:59.545 You know any knuckleheads? 00:05:59.545 --> 00:06:01.333 You sitting here knucklehead? 00:06:01.333 --> 00:06:02.076 No, I'm just kidding. 00:06:02.076 --> 00:06:04.882 Corinth was a place where you had these people. 00:06:04.882 --> 00:06:06.384 They didn't know anything about Jesus. 00:06:06.384 --> 00:06:09.206 They heard about the gospel, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus. 00:06:09.206 --> 00:06:12.992 They put their faith and trust in him and they were trying to follow Jesus. 00:06:12.992 --> 00:06:14.413 But they had no idea what they were doing. 00:06:14.413 --> 00:06:21.184 In fact they were doing some like wacky stuff, like just stuff that you read 1 Corinthians you're like, oh my goodness, that's not cool man. 00:06:21.184 --> 00:06:21.845 They were doing all this stuff. 00:06:21.865 --> 00:06:22.225 Paul goes to them. 00:06:22.225 --> 00:06:26.113 He had spent 18 months in Corinth and he's teaching them this is how you follow Jesus. 00:06:26.113 --> 00:06:29.690 And he's teaching them of this new concept, the ecclesia. 00:06:29.690 --> 00:06:37.932 He's saying as Jesus followers, you need to be a part of the ecclesia and this is what a healthy ecclesia looks like. 00:06:37.932 --> 00:06:49.795 And he uses a word in 1 Corinthians 12 that's kind of unique, to describe the church. 00:06:49.795 --> 00:06:57.831 In fact, it might not be the first word that comes to mind when you think of church. 00:06:57.831 --> 00:07:02.531 He says in verse 12, he says for, just as the what's the word? 00:07:02.531 --> 00:07:03.976 Just as the Body. 00:07:03.976 --> 00:07:06.545 He's talking to the church. 00:07:06.545 --> 00:07:22.214 He's saying your body is one in many parts and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also is Christ. 00:07:22.214 --> 00:07:29.452 The church is supposed to operate as a body. 00:07:29.452 --> 00:07:36.273 A healthy church functions like a body. 00:07:37.255 --> 00:07:37.937 Now you know what the body. 00:07:37.937 --> 00:07:39.242 You got all these different parts of the body. 00:07:39.242 --> 00:07:40.829 We got our pinky. 00:07:40.829 --> 00:07:43.884 We got our big toe, which none of us think everything about our big toe, unless we stub it. 00:07:43.884 --> 00:07:44.406 Then we all think of it. 00:07:44.406 --> 00:07:46.295 You got our big toe, which none of us think, ever think about our big toe, unless we stub it. 00:07:46.295 --> 00:07:46.798 Then we all think of it. 00:07:46.798 --> 00:07:47.240 We got the big toe. 00:07:47.240 --> 00:07:50.788 You got all these different systems in the body, like you have the respiratory system. 00:07:50.788 --> 00:07:58.300 Now we don't really think about our respiratory system and the importance of that a lot until we can't breathe and then we really see the importance of that. 00:07:58.300 --> 00:07:59.625 You got the cardiovascular system. 00:07:59.625 --> 00:08:06.901 You got all these different systems in the body. 00:08:06.901 --> 00:08:08.324 In fact, does anybody know how many systems the body has? 00:08:08.324 --> 00:08:10.088 Oh right, did you say that Smart right there? 00:08:10.088 --> 00:08:10.788 11. 00:08:10.788 --> 00:08:12.172 She's right, 11. 00:08:12.172 --> 00:08:15.641 I know that because I have Google 11. 00:08:15.641 --> 00:08:18.545 11 systems in the body and you would think the body systems. 00:08:18.545 --> 00:08:21.670 You would think, man, maybe they like, how do they operate? 00:08:21.670 --> 00:08:23.593 Do you have, like, the cardiovascular system over here? 00:08:23.593 --> 00:08:25.115 That doesn't really need the skeletal system. 00:08:25.115 --> 00:08:29.620 The skeletal system doesn't really need the cardiovascular system. 00:08:29.620 --> 00:08:33.750 They're not separate, they're not independent of each other. 00:08:36.821 --> 00:08:51.202 Watch this word, watch this word, watch this word, watch this word the systems of the body are interdependent on each other, dependent on each other. 00:08:51.202 --> 00:08:55.871 They're not just dependent on each other, but they're interdependent on each other. 00:08:55.871 --> 00:08:57.556 And this is what Paul says. 00:08:57.556 --> 00:08:59.519 The church, it's a body. 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:01.407 No, no, the church is a building. 00:09:01.407 --> 00:09:02.513 I drive by it all the time. 00:09:02.513 --> 00:09:04.955 No, no, the church is a pastor, like the short, stubby guy that teaches on Sunday mornings. 00:09:04.955 --> 00:09:05.437 The church is a building. 00:09:05.437 --> 00:09:05.907 I drive by it all the time. 00:09:05.907 --> 00:09:08.570 No, no, the church is a pastor, like the short, stubby guy that teaches on Sunday mornings. 00:09:08.570 --> 00:09:09.673 The church is a—Paul says nope. 00:09:09.673 --> 00:09:11.684 Wrong view of the church, bro. 00:09:11.684 --> 00:09:18.440 The church is a body. 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:28.881 The church is a body that contributes to each other, that depends on each other, that sharpens each other. 00:09:30.496 --> 00:09:31.100 But I have a concern. 00:09:31.100 --> 00:09:57.889 We all live in America, which is a good thing, but my concern is that, because we live in such a consumeristic culture that we can view the church like consumers and our view of the church can be like consumers rather than as interdependent followers. 00:09:57.889 --> 00:09:59.522 Now, let's just be honest. 00:09:59.522 --> 00:10:05.327 I mean, in America, being consumers, like there's just some things that we really love. 00:10:05.327 --> 00:10:08.821 For example, we really love Amazon. 00:10:08.821 --> 00:10:09.643 Can I get an amen? 00:10:09.643 --> 00:10:12.509 Come on, nicole, yes, yes, that's right. 00:10:12.509 --> 00:10:15.461 You know I'm talking to somebody and they tell me something. 00:10:15.461 --> 00:10:16.345 I'm like, oh, that'd be cool. 00:10:16.345 --> 00:10:18.017 I'm like I want that. 00:10:18.017 --> 00:10:18.538 This is what I can do. 00:10:18.538 --> 00:10:23.869 Pull out my phone, amazon app, order it. 00:10:23.869 --> 00:10:32.552 Amazon app order it and like, the next day it's at my house. 00:10:32.552 --> 00:10:33.195 What a time to be alive. 00:10:33.195 --> 00:10:40.731 And if it's not at my house in three days, I basically have a mental breakdown because we have a problem Like what are we doing? 00:10:40.731 --> 00:10:41.293 I consume Something else. 00:10:41.313 --> 00:10:43.559 They have these like, all these different like food delivery systems. 00:10:43.559 --> 00:10:44.462 You know, like you can get. 00:10:44.462 --> 00:10:46.600 They have DoorDash and Uber Eats and all this kind of stuff. 00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:49.702 And, man, if you've ever done that, let me tell you your life has been changed, bro. 00:10:49.702 --> 00:10:51.466 You just order food. 00:10:51.466 --> 00:10:53.000 It's just like it comes to your door. 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:59.842 It's like this is amazing and we have all these different things. 00:10:59.842 --> 00:11:03.398 And it's trained us, for good or for bad, to be consumers. 00:11:03.398 --> 00:11:09.682 And we can have this mentality about the church, but the church was never meant to be consumed. 00:11:09.682 --> 00:11:16.048 It was meant to be experienced, lived and shared together. 00:11:16.048 --> 00:11:17.929 If we can get the next slide up. 00:11:17.929 --> 00:11:20.731 The church was never meant to be consumed. 00:11:20.731 --> 00:11:28.557 It was meant to be experienced, lived and shared together. 00:11:28.557 --> 00:11:42.791 And what can happen because we live in 2025, and we have the luxury of having different churches all around us to some degree is we can be serial church shoppers or serial church hoppers. 00:11:51.294 --> 00:11:51.556 I went here. 00:11:51.556 --> 00:11:52.677 The worship was oh, kids ministry was, it was good. 00:11:52.677 --> 00:11:53.320 It wasn't great, but it was good. 00:11:53.320 --> 00:11:54.842 Pastor preached like 35 minutes. 00:11:54.842 --> 00:11:56.225 30 minutes is my limit. 00:11:56.225 --> 00:11:56.947 I can't do 35. 00:11:56.947 --> 00:12:00.379 Went to this church over here. 00:12:00.379 --> 00:12:01.864 Pastor preached 30 minutes. 00:12:01.864 --> 00:12:02.125 It was. 00:12:02.125 --> 00:12:03.398 I was impressed. 00:12:03.398 --> 00:12:08.642 It was like pinpoint accuracy 30 minutes Coffee in the lobby best of any of the last five churches I've been to. 00:12:08.642 --> 00:12:13.277 It's elite Kids ministry, though it didn't have a slide. 00:12:13.277 --> 00:12:14.440 I was expecting a slide. 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:16.885 I'm gonna go to this one over here. 00:12:16.885 --> 00:12:24.969 Man, I mean that church was pretty good until they asked me to actually do something. 00:12:24.969 --> 00:12:26.639 It was like weird. 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:30.360 It was like they wanted me to serve, Like who's got time to serve. 00:12:30.360 --> 00:12:37.482 I mean preaching was good, worship was good, kids ministry was good, coffee was good, but they asked me to serve. 00:12:37.482 --> 00:12:37.965 Can't do that. 00:12:37.965 --> 00:12:38.365 I'm out. 00:12:38.365 --> 00:12:40.596 This is what happens. 00:12:42.341 --> 00:12:53.183 We become serial church shoppers or serial church hoppers because our view of the church is one of consumption, rather than being an interdependent body that experience lives and shares life together. 00:12:53.183 --> 00:13:05.743 And because we have in the last 50, 60 years, we have the megachurch movement, it's even more easier just to consume, and I love megachurches and I think they're great, but it's like I can just slip in, slip out. 00:13:05.743 --> 00:13:12.923 Nobody knows me, I don't know anybody, I don't have to do anything, there's no accountability, it's all good and it's like I love this church. 00:13:12.923 --> 00:13:14.947 That's not a church experience. 00:13:14.947 --> 00:13:25.842 You love a spiritual show on Sundays every now and again and that the church is meant to be a group of people that are experiencing and living and sharing life together. 00:13:25.842 --> 00:13:34.767 And the church needs you Like you need people, every one of us. 00:13:34.767 --> 00:13:45.616 We need somebody that's 20, 30 years down the road in their walk with Jesus to encourage us, those of you that are more further along in your walk with Jesus. 00:13:45.616 --> 00:13:50.283 You need the younger followers of Jesus behind you, like we need the church. 00:13:50.283 --> 00:13:51.005 And I just want to. 00:13:51.005 --> 00:13:52.758 I want to say something that I totally get. 00:13:53.298 --> 00:13:58.336 It's like gathering on Sundays can be really hard to do For some of us. 00:13:58.336 --> 00:14:06.985 We came today and it was like it took everything in us just to show up here and you're here, but you were like dragged here or drag yourself here. 00:14:06.985 --> 00:14:07.635 I get it. 00:14:07.635 --> 00:14:08.378 It can be hard. 00:14:08.378 --> 00:14:17.586 You got work, commitments and the chaos of modern life and just everything, and Sunday mornings can almost feel like just another obligation. 00:14:17.586 --> 00:14:20.437 But here's the truth. 00:14:20.437 --> 00:14:24.227 Almost everything valuable in life is hard. 00:14:24.227 --> 00:14:25.657 Almost everything valuable in life is hard. 00:14:25.657 --> 00:14:29.344 It is Parenting is hard. 00:14:29.344 --> 00:14:31.988 Right, parents, that's what we've been told. 00:14:31.988 --> 00:14:37.581 Friendship is hard, marriage is hard. 00:14:37.581 --> 00:14:43.979 But it doesn't make these things optional, it just makes them worth fighting for. 00:14:43.999 --> 00:14:46.846 In the early church, the book of Acts, they understood this. 00:14:46.846 --> 00:14:52.640 They understood that they were interdependent followers of Jesus. 00:14:52.640 --> 00:14:53.566 They understood that they needed each other. 00:14:53.566 --> 00:14:56.277 They understood the power of praying together and relying on each other and serving together. 00:14:56.277 --> 00:15:02.419 And Paul tells the church at Corinth Paul had experienced that in the book of Acts, in Antioch and these different places. 00:15:02.419 --> 00:15:05.167 He had seen that, he experienced the encouragement. 00:15:05.554 --> 00:15:13.703 He goes to Corinth, where these people, their thoughts of the church, is all over the place and he's like guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, the church is a body. 00:15:13.703 --> 00:15:17.399 It's a body. 00:15:17.399 --> 00:15:22.125 And how is the body formed? 00:15:22.125 --> 00:15:25.441 The church, you need the church, the church needs you. 00:15:25.441 --> 00:15:27.126 And he tells us in the next verse how this body's formed. 00:15:27.126 --> 00:15:28.851 The church, you need the church, the church needs you. 00:15:28.851 --> 00:15:30.857 And he tells us in the next verse how this body's formed. 00:15:30.857 --> 00:15:32.221 He says we were all baptized. 00:15:32.221 --> 00:15:35.677 This means we were immersed by one spirit into one body. 00:15:35.677 --> 00:15:41.389 The Holy Spirit immersed us into the body of Christ, whether Jews or Greeks. 00:15:41.389 --> 00:16:06.350 Greeks notice that's ethnic difference, that's different backgrounds, slaves free, different classes of people the way they identified them, then Slaves free, different financial places, but they were all given one spirit to drink the Holy Spirit that brings us together. 00:16:06.350 --> 00:16:21.520 They were diverse and what the gospel does is the gospel unites what the world tries to divide In this culture Jews, greeks, different sides of the room, slaves free, different sides of the room. 00:16:21.520 --> 00:16:26.924 The gospel brings all of them together because Jesus brings people together. 00:16:27.725 --> 00:16:32.649 He says, indeed, verse 14, the body's not just one part, but many. 00:16:32.649 --> 00:16:45.307 If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I don't belong to the body, Is it not, for that reason, any lesser part of the body? 00:16:45.307 --> 00:16:48.096 Can you imagine that the foot's like, yeah, I don't belong, not a part? 00:16:48.096 --> 00:16:49.317 No. 00:16:49.317 --> 00:17:02.306 And if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I don't belong to the body, is it not for that reason any less a part of the body In verse 17,. 00:17:02.306 --> 00:17:03.788 If the whole body were an eye? 00:17:03.788 --> 00:17:08.201 In verse 17,. 00:17:08.201 --> 00:17:09.247 If the whole body were an eye? 00:17:09.247 --> 00:17:11.095 Can we just imagine that for a second? 00:17:11.095 --> 00:17:16.174 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? 00:17:16.174 --> 00:17:21.755 If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 00:17:21.755 --> 00:17:33.994 But as it is, god has arranged each one of the parts of the body in the body just as he wants it. 00:17:33.994 --> 00:17:46.234 Every single part, everybody matters, because every part matters. 00:17:47.595 --> 00:17:59.675 Maybe you have been in an environment or maybe you've been raised to think that you're less than, that you're not that important, that you don't have a part, that these are the gifted, talented people, your sibling, they're gifted and they're great, but you're not and you have been made to feel less than. 00:17:59.675 --> 00:18:05.319 And maybe you have that mindset and you're in a church community and you're like, yeah, I'm not that important, I'm not that big of a deal. 00:18:05.319 --> 00:18:09.462 Paul would say baloney, you matter. 00:18:09.462 --> 00:18:16.008 Maybe you're here and you think, man, I don't really need to be a part of a church, like, it's like Christianity, it's just. 00:18:16.008 --> 00:18:20.510 It's just, it's between me and God, it's a personal relationship with God. 00:18:20.510 --> 00:18:31.095 And you're right, it is a personal relationship with God, but it's not a private relationship with God. 00:18:31.095 --> 00:18:33.599 Christianity, my friend, it's a team sport. 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:46.535 Some of us think of the church like we think of a football game 50,000 people in the stands watching 22 people do all the work on the field. 00:18:46.535 --> 00:18:50.961 50,000 people badly in need of exercise watching 22 people on the field badly in need of rest. 00:18:50.961 --> 00:18:51.723 Some of y'all get that a little later. 00:18:51.723 --> 00:19:03.148 You know what I'm saying and we can think of the church like that, but Christianity is for all of us man. 00:19:03.148 --> 00:19:06.558 It's us doing life together. 00:19:07.161 --> 00:19:08.223 You think of the New Testament. 00:19:08.223 --> 00:19:09.247 There's these passages. 00:19:09.247 --> 00:19:12.001 They're called the one another's, and what the one another's are is. 00:19:12.001 --> 00:19:18.256 They show our dynamics of how we're to have relationship with other followers of Jesus, and there's actually 59 of them. 00:19:18.256 --> 00:19:21.382 They're actually commands that show us how we're to interact with other people. 00:19:21.382 --> 00:19:27.221 Some of them are as simple as be devoted to each other, accept one another, serve one another, bear one another's burdens. 00:19:27.804 --> 00:19:29.047 He goes on in different places. 00:19:29.047 --> 00:19:33.648 He talks about being kind to one another, which can be challenging. 00:19:33.648 --> 00:19:37.136 Have you ever met a difficult Jesus follower before? 00:19:37.136 --> 00:19:43.387 Don't say yes, okay, be kind, forgive. 00:19:43.387 --> 00:19:44.990 It's a tough one, right? 00:19:44.990 --> 00:19:57.299 Pray for one another and the way that we're going to live out these one another's will not happen on accident. 00:19:57.299 --> 00:20:01.106 This type of community doesn't happen on accident. 00:20:01.106 --> 00:20:03.900 This is the type of community that is forged. 00:20:03.900 --> 00:20:07.950 It's a type of community that people are committed to. 00:20:09.031 --> 00:20:11.678 Now I get the idea of like committing can be scary. 00:20:11.678 --> 00:20:16.588 Commitment can be scary, especially committing to a church. 00:20:16.588 --> 00:20:26.106 Committing to a church Church people are scary. 00:20:26.106 --> 00:20:27.211 I mean, I'm a pastor. 00:20:27.211 --> 00:20:27.815 Pastors are even more scary. 00:20:27.815 --> 00:20:30.278 Some of y'all think I'm scary. 00:20:30.278 --> 00:20:35.191 I see some of you guys walking out the door and you're like Pastor Nate, please don't even look at me, I don't have the cooties. 00:20:35.191 --> 00:20:36.454 I promise it can be scary. 00:20:36.454 --> 00:20:43.778 And what God has designed, though, is for community to happen so we can live out these things in relationship with each other. 00:20:43.778 --> 00:20:55.701 And for some of you, the step in your faith is for you to develop the rhythm of having godly community in your life, to you committing to that. 00:20:55.701 --> 00:20:56.423 It's interesting. 00:20:56.423 --> 00:21:00.626 Even Jesus was committed to a group of people. 00:21:00.626 --> 00:21:05.731 Every single person matters. 00:21:05.875 --> 00:21:07.337 Paul goes on in verse 19. 00:21:07.337 --> 00:21:09.564 He talks more about the body of Christ. 00:21:09.564 --> 00:21:17.482 He says if they were all the same part, if everybody was the same, where would the body be Boring? 00:21:17.482 --> 00:21:21.366 Yes, right, boring as it is. 00:21:21.366 --> 00:21:22.949 There are many parts, but one body. 00:21:22.949 --> 00:21:27.804 The eye can't say to the hand Paul's just trying to emphasize this again he's like you know. 00:21:27.804 --> 00:21:29.459 I talked about the hand and the ear thing. 00:21:29.459 --> 00:21:30.866 I just want to talk more about this, okay. 00:21:30.866 --> 00:21:34.238 Or I talked about the hand and the foot thing the eye cannot say a hand, I don't need you. 00:21:34.238 --> 00:21:37.561 The head can't say to the feet I don't need you. 00:21:37.561 --> 00:21:42.689 On the contrary, these parts of the body that are weaker, they're indispensable. 00:21:43.769 --> 00:21:53.546 I love that, those parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe these with greatest honor and our unrespectable parts are treated with greater respect. 00:21:53.546 --> 00:21:56.182 The jokes are in my mind, but I'm not going to say them. 00:21:56.182 --> 00:21:59.464 Verse 24, which our respectable parts do not need. 00:21:59.464 --> 00:22:10.807 Instead, god has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, so there would be no division in the body, but the members would have the same concern for each other. 00:22:10.807 --> 00:22:14.821 If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. 00:22:14.821 --> 00:22:24.255 If one member is honored, If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 00:22:24.255 --> 00:22:35.997 And every follower of Jesus has a responsibility and an opportunity to foster the kind of community of an interdependent body. 00:22:35.997 --> 00:22:37.417 You and I have a responsibility before God. 00:22:37.417 --> 00:22:39.778 You and I have a responsibility to each other. 00:22:39.778 --> 00:22:46.544 You and I have a responsibility to each other, but we also have an opportunity for ourselves because we need the body. 00:22:47.684 --> 00:22:51.267 Growing up, I didn't have a very biblical view of church. 00:22:51.267 --> 00:22:59.353 What I thought church was was we come on Sunday and we hear teaching and we sing some songs. 00:22:59.353 --> 00:23:02.778 Some of them I liked, some of them I didn't really like. 00:23:02.778 --> 00:23:03.339 I grew up in a church. 00:23:03.339 --> 00:23:03.961 There was a choir. 00:23:03.961 --> 00:23:10.580 Sometimes the choir was killing it, sometimes the choir they tried their best. 00:23:10.580 --> 00:23:19.261 They tried their best and I thought, okay, church was like I come, I get teaching, we go home, we have lunch. 00:23:19.261 --> 00:23:27.978 If I'm really lucky that's what I thought if I'm really lucky then I'm going to go home and on the way home we're going to stop and we're going to go out to eat, we're going to go out to a restaurant. 00:23:27.978 --> 00:23:33.222 It would be great, get church, see you next Sunday, guys with a friend. 00:23:35.734 --> 00:24:01.707 And as I started maturing and actually started studying this book and like what the church is supposed to be and this whole idea of like the church being a body and if the church is a body, then what that means is that I need people in the body it kind of made me uncomfortable, like I don't need people, I'm good, I got the Bible, I got Jesus, I don't need other people. 00:24:01.707 --> 00:24:04.598 I'm not going to open up to somebody and ask somebody to pray for me. 00:24:04.598 --> 00:24:05.721 Why would I do that? 00:24:05.721 --> 00:24:07.406 Why would I ask somebody? 00:24:07.406 --> 00:24:27.622 And as I started kind of dipping my feet more in community and like what like a biblical church is supposed to be, I started experiencing the power of having people pray for you and being open with people and sharing your struggles with people and walking through stuff with people. 00:24:27.622 --> 00:24:46.721 And it changed my life and I learned that the church is not just this consumer mentality, but the church is for me to be a part of an interdependent body, and it's not because I'm the pastor, I'm just a part of the body here. 00:24:46.721 --> 00:24:48.521 Even this past week I talked to some people. 00:24:48.521 --> 00:24:50.401 I'm like hey, can you pray with me about this? 00:24:50.401 --> 00:24:54.400 Like honestly, just pray, having people just encourage me. 00:24:55.663 --> 00:24:56.566 And here's what I'm saying. 00:24:56.566 --> 00:25:06.519 I'm saying some of y'all are missing out on what the church is supposed to be because you have a consumeristic mentality or maybe you're just scared to open up to people or maybe you're just scared to commit. 00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:10.095 And I'm just telling you if you would take that step and grow deeper in community. 00:25:10.095 --> 00:25:11.801 It would change your spiritual life. 00:25:11.801 --> 00:25:15.624 You would see the value of having people praying for you. 00:25:15.624 --> 00:25:20.086 You would see the value of having people that could kind of speak some life into you when you kind of need it every now and again. 00:25:20.086 --> 00:25:35.922 You would see the value of what God can do when a collective group of people genuinely believe that we are better than me, genuinely believe that we are not spiritual consumers just trying to get a Jesus high, but we are a group of people that come together for the sake of Jesus, to know him better, to make him known, to grow deeper. 00:25:35.922 --> 00:25:36.262 Why? 00:25:36.262 --> 00:25:39.268 So we can do greater things for God than we ever have before. 00:25:39.268 --> 00:25:44.444 So God can do something in us and through us that only he can do by the power of his Holy Spirit. 00:25:44.444 --> 00:25:46.217 But that doesn't happen by accident. 00:25:46.217 --> 00:25:49.866 That doesn't happen when we just hang out and like think church is cool. 00:25:49.866 --> 00:25:52.400 It happens when we commit to each other. 00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:54.544 We're a body. 00:25:55.506 --> 00:25:58.278 So here's how I want to wrap up and I'm going to just skip to the end here. 00:25:58.278 --> 00:25:59.882 What do we do with all this? 00:25:59.882 --> 00:26:06.481 I want to give you guys some homework, super quick One. 00:26:06.481 --> 00:26:10.834 Here's a homework assignment I want some of y'all to get a more biblical view of the church. 00:26:10.834 --> 00:26:15.461 That's just what I want and this is what it takes for some of you. 00:26:15.461 --> 00:26:22.648 Just need to take this book and just open it and say what's the church supposed to be? 00:26:22.648 --> 00:26:27.855 Just look like, well, what's the church supposed to be? 00:26:27.855 --> 00:26:29.734 Some of you, when I said when I described the church earlier, it was like a lot of things come to mind with church. 00:26:29.734 --> 00:26:35.851 Some of you guys thought building, you thought music, you thought pastor, guys, guys, we got to get a biblical view of the church that we're a body. 00:26:35.851 --> 00:26:38.532 We have to get a biblical view of the church. 00:26:38.553 --> 00:26:46.057 Number two for some of us, we need to come to Connect Lunch next Sunday. 00:26:46.057 --> 00:26:47.500 Pastor Cody was talking about it earlier. 00:26:47.500 --> 00:26:49.585 You're newish to FCC and God is leading you to make FCC your church home. 00:26:49.585 --> 00:26:50.846 Come to Connect Lunch. 00:26:50.846 --> 00:26:52.758 It's next Sunday after the third service. 00:26:52.758 --> 00:27:01.565 This is the place where God's leading you and I would say this if God is leading you to a different church, maybe you're here and just checking it out and you're like I'm praying God might be leading me somewhere else. 00:27:01.565 --> 00:27:11.266 Can I just say if it's a Bible teaching, bible, believing ecclesia, we fully support that and we want you to get neck deep in community wherever God wants you to be. 00:27:11.286 --> 00:27:23.963 But for many of us, god wants us to take a step and come to Connect Lunch, and my last homework assignment is for some of us to take a step to form deeper community here at FCC, and I don't know what that looks like for everybody. 00:27:23.963 --> 00:27:25.903 In fact, for many of us, it could be different. 00:27:25.903 --> 00:27:29.904 For some of us, what that means is we need to be a part of a group. 00:27:29.904 --> 00:27:32.481 For some of us I'm just being honest it's just us. 00:27:32.481 --> 00:27:40.761 Some of us, we come to church like once a month, maybe twice a month, and we need to commit to coming and gathering with the church on Sunday morning. 00:27:40.761 --> 00:27:41.624 That's what we need to do. 00:27:42.384 --> 00:27:47.884 For some of us and I saw this happen at the end of the last both services is we need to ask somebody to pray for us. 00:27:48.045 --> 00:27:53.244 We have people at these prayer next steps banners after the services and just ask somebody to pray with you. 00:27:53.886 --> 00:28:06.923 For some of you, what this means is for you just to open up to somebody, maybe just a little bit, and share a struggle that you're having in your life, and what that would do is that would allow you to be vulnerable, allow you to be open to them and lean into them for support. 00:28:07.494 --> 00:28:15.282 And it may feel weird, because you don't do that very often and maybe that's not kind of your MO, but I'm telling you, you will allow the church to be the church. 00:28:15.282 --> 00:28:21.003 How is God leading you to form deeper community in the church? 00:28:21.003 --> 00:28:27.964 And when you have this rhythm in your life, it's going to allow you to grow deeper in your faith. 00:28:27.964 --> 00:28:34.665 And next week what we're going to do is we're going to see the third rhythm it takes to grow deeper. 00:28:34.665 --> 00:28:39.357 First rhythm be people that meditate and read scripture. 00:28:39.357 --> 00:28:41.118 Second rhythm be people that meditate and read scripture. 00:28:41.118 --> 00:28:48.365 Second rhythm be people that form community in God's, the rhythm of community in God's church. 00:28:48.365 --> 00:28:55.832 Next week we'll learn the third one and if we do these rhythms, this is what's going to happen we're going to learn to grow deeper together. 00:28:55.832 --> 00:28:58.394 Let me pray for us today.