0001 Sermon: Rejecting The Chains of Isolation

In this Sermon, Pastor Jason Perry addresses the need for Christians to be in community and not isolated. 

Also covered is how Christ Forge Church is on a mission to redefine community and reject the isolation many face today. Through personal stories and insights, the episode emphasizes the importance of being part of a connected body of believers, encouraging listeners to actively engage and invest in their faith communities.

• Reflection on the transition from Patriot Crusader Mission to Christ Forge Church  
• Emphasis on the Biblical concept of community as the body of Christ  
• Challenges of balancing personal, family, and ministry roles  
• Importance of nurturing both Biblical masculinity and femininity  
• Description of hands-on activities and community engagement at the farm  
• Call to service and investment in one another’s lives  
• Encouragement for listeners to join and become part of a supportive community

Christian Warrior Talk is Sponsored by Trident Shield, your trusted ally in violence preparedness. Trident Shield helps safeguard your loved ones with expert training and consulting. Trident Shield, defending faith through empowered preparedness because together, we save lives."

Chapters

• 0:00 Name Change and Ministry Evolution
• 8:28 Building Christ Forged Church and Ministry
• 15:19 Christ-Forged Church Expansion and Community Building
• 29:29 Christian Community and Serving Others
• 40:49 Building Community Through Shared Burdens
• 58:05 Communion and Prayer for Believers

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:39

Okay, all right. Hello everyone. Happy Lord's Day to you. It's been a bit and I'm happy to be back. Last week was a recorded message from last year and, as you can see, a lot of things have changed. Not only are we out of the fall Thanksgiving set, which is, this is our house I converted my two car garage into a sanctuary I think two years ago now, or yeah about that and this is our Christmas tree, not a prop. Then, you know, we made it look nice and it's become our sanctuary, my office and podcast station or podcast, I don't know set. There you go, that's what I'm looking for. So we've also had a name change, intermission change, and I wanted to go over that with you guys today before I get into the service.

Speaker 1: 1:49

So I've been in a lot of prayer with myself and, you know, with Lauren and others, trying to figure out the right direction for this church and, as you guys know, we started as originally as Patriot Crusader Mission, because we never intended to be a church. We intended to be a mission sorry, a ministry where we took patriots, veterans and first responders and patriotic individuals, turned them into crusaders, warriors for Christ, and sent them on a mission. And then, you know, after about a year, we were constantly, you know, as I was sharing, when people would ask me about our truck, which is, you know, decaled up, or people would ask me about our webpage or where I pastor, when I'm speaking at conferences and things like that, and I would say Patriot Crusader Mission, and they would say, oh well, I can't go there, I'm not a veteran. So we're like, okay, well, this really isn't about this and we're not really just speaking to veterans and first responders, we're speaking to everyone. So we turned it to Christian Warrior Mission. But even then, you know, after speaking with my great friend, ken Peters and other pastor friends of mine, I would ask them I'm like you know, guys, you know what are some of the reasons and why we're not growing, or why this hasn't done better than it has with? You know, we do great with online attendance, right, we do great on online attendance. We've got people all around the country and even around the world who watch us and I thank you for your support.

Speaker 1: 3:42

But you know, we wanted to make an impact in the area that we were at and you know, my good friend, ken Peters from Patriot Church said, jay, you know, I've been planting churches my whole life and you're doing everything wrong and I'm like taken back and I'm like, you know, wrong is not the word I'd use. I'd say doing everything in the hardest mode. I mean, they didn't have church in my name and you know, in the name of the church, so, and we don't have a building, right, you know, this isn't in some fancy building somewhere. This is our house. We're a home church community, meaning that we're a home church where people come and, yeah, we can seat 30 to 50, depending on the way we array our house, array this room. But you know, we're a home church, we're not a. You know, when you drive by at the address that's online, it's a house. You know, it's a farm. Actually, it's a house on a 44-acre farm and we have a place where we do outdoor services, up at the cross, with 360-degree mountain views and it's beautiful. But it's hard to get up there, particularly if the weather's rough had been rough and the roads are wet. And you know, particularly if the weather's rough had been rough and the roads are wet.

Speaker 1: 5:07

And so, after talking with him and after much reflection, and after putting it to the community and having people vote, we came up as a community. I gave people choices and Christ Forge Church is where we ended, because we are a church, yes, we're a ministry, yes, we're a farm, and all those things interlock. The farm is part of the ministry and so is the prepping and the tactical training we do, but we really, you know, wanted us to feel more churchy and to appeal to families, because the whole reason why we decided to do the church thing and not just the ministry thing was the purpose of the sermon today, which is rejecting the chains of isolation. We came down here to start a community. We couldn't find a community that we would want to join, so we kind of started our own, based around our faith in Jesus, raising our family with a Christian worldview, raising our family with a Christian worldview, prepping, you know, having 44 acres here that God blessed us with, you know, of which we have cows and hogs and turkeys and chickens and ducks, and we've grown crops. We've grown thousands of pounds of potatoes, right, thousands of pounds of potatoes, right.

Speaker 1: 6:45

But you know, we really wanted to. You know we was attracting only men to this, which is great, right. Which is great because men, men is. You know, who we need to fix? We fix the men. We fix the families. You fix the families. You fix the churches. You fix the men. We fix the families. You fix the families. You fix the churches. You fix the churches. You fix the community. You fix the community. You fix the city. You fix the cities. You fix the state. You fix the state. You fix the country. You fix this country and you fix the world. And Postmill is true, and the whole world just drops for Christ in record time. Right, but as he wills it.

Speaker 1: 7:30

But we were just wondering why and there's a lot of reasons why, a lot of them my own, my own failures, which I have to apologize to you for failing. I'm not rich rich. I don't have any retirement, I still work and I'm an entrepreneur and I have my own company and that company pays the bills. But that company, when I came out as a Christian, was, you know, my company. Trident Shield is a workplace violence, active shooter, security and consulting business. And prior to stepping out and preaching and becoming a very vocal Christian, we used to have our business was the Fortune 500. We had a lot of household names that were our clients and we were doing really well, had a lot of household names that were our clients and we were doing really well.

Speaker 1: 8:28

And then we came out as Christians not as Christian light, but as real Christians, pro-life, pro-freedom, pro-second amendment, anti-tyranny Christians and we started walking out our view and I started talking about my view online and we got canceled by all of them and it was devastating because you know my business, our business, our family business Trident Shield took a 90% loss to revenue Thanks to COVID, because if there is no one's going to work and no one's going to and no one's going to school, they don't need workplace violence or any of those other, or security training or any of those things, because everyone's home. And that really hurt for a while. But God blessed me with a great job, bodyguarding Mike Lindell and doing a podcast for him called the Hope Report, which paid the bills for two years, and then I got let go with like no notice as Mike's financial struggles went, continued, and so all that to say is that we're not wealthy. You know, we're like you, we're battling it out and there are days when we look at our bills and we can't pay them all. So that's a long way of saying is I need to work 40 plus 40 to 90 hours in Trident Shield to make things work, okay.

Speaker 1: 9:52

Well, we're a farm, okay, and we're. We're a good size farm, you know, not good size as in industrial. They have hundreds and thousands of animals, you know we have. At the most I think we had 16 head of cattle, I think is what we were at at one point, 30 something pigs. At one point hundreds of chickens, but you know we're we're in double digits, I think, in cows are pretty close now to that, if not a little under that now. Pretty close now um to that, if not a little under that now. Um, you know, we have, we're down to six pigs, four of them are are permanent and um, you know, and we're you know, but when they have litters we blow up to 16 to 32 uh, pigs. And then when we do meat birds, you know our Freedom Rangers that we've done in the past we've had 100 of them plus, you know, 50 something egg birds, right, so again, it's just a lot of work.

Speaker 1: 10:52

So we were just doing farm stuff the right way, which we're not right. We're both reformed city people, you know, and I use, you know, lauren's not as urban as I was, but you know, neither of us grew up on a farm. Neither of us knew what we were doing. So we were doing everything as inefficiently as possible and believe I think we bled thirty, thirty thousand dollars last year just on the cost of the farm and it was probably more than that. So if you're doing the farm, that's another 40 hours a week, if not more. If you want to do that right, even though we're doing the farm, that's another 40 hours a week, if not more. If you want to do that right, even though we're doing kind of a scaled down thing. So let's just say you know, if you're doing that right, you know. So you say 60 plus another 30 to 40, that's 100 hours, right, and then we're starting a church and a ministry and a podcast. Five days Well, it was actually six days a week at one point and it was killing us.

Speaker 1: 11:49

It was killing me. I was becoming what I did not want to be and what I was preaching against, meaning I was pouring out for veterans and first responders and people all around the country, which is important, but I didn't have a lot left in the tank for my family. So we've been, we've been scrambling with, with better mixed success. You know, trident Shield is doing great it's doing better. You know we still could use anyone's business that wants to. You know, help us. We do a lot of work with classical Christian schools and Christian schools and Christian businesses. I market only now and try and shield for Christian businesses and I'll work with anybody who wants me to help save people. You know that wants to take care and save their people. But I market to Christians.

Speaker 1: 12:42

Our website is very Christian, everything's Christian, and I try to figure out a way. You know, and during that time, as you guys know, I had to go. We got so behind on bills. I had to go do some government contracting down at our border protecting the people who were working on the border wall. So I came back hot and heavy, jumped right back into it and started making the same mistakes because I was so hungry to do God's work. All I want to do is God's work. Well, we have bills and so you know you're working on all these things and you start feeling that you're not giving everything a 10 effort and if there's one thing that you want to do a 10 effort on, it's on God's work. So I know pastors that work on sermons for weeks. Guys, I work on my sermons the day of right. I do them in the evening right now and I work on them in the afternoon to now.

Speaker 1: 13:42

I'm not a full-time pastor. I am not a seminary educated pastor. I am a lay pastor who, as my biblical IQ rose, looked at the churches around me and saw that there was no place where I would bring my family or I would trust to minister to my family. Either they were doctrinally unsound or they talked biblical but they didn't walk out a biblical worldview, or they were crazy and charismatic, or reformed and so dead and cold and liturgical that the whole time I was just staring at a piece of paper racing from one syllable to the next to sound out something, and that didn't work either. So that's a very long wandering statement on how we got to where we are now and what the plan is now. So I want to welcome you to the soft launch of christ forged church, a home church, community ministry and farm that forges christian warriors for today's challenges. Okay, I'm going to read you our new mission statement. All right, that I worked on um. So again, I'm going to read this to you and then, after I get through these, we'll get into the sermon which is going to dovetail into all this stuff, okay.

Speaker 1: 15:19

Christ-forged church exists to transform lives by forging men into Christ-centered leaders, equipping them to disciple their families, build strong homes and serve God's kingdom. Rooted in Reformed theology, we are dedicated to restoring biblical masculinity, empowering veterans that's still very important to me and first responders and men to find their identity in Christ and fulfill their God-given purpose, which is leading their families. While Christ Church focuses on forging men into leaders, we are equally committed to nurturing biblical femininity for women. By embracing their God-given role, women are empowered to live out their unique callings as loving, nurturing figures and strong supporters of faith in their homes, churches and communities, reflecting God's love and grace in all they do. Through discipleship, the refining power of God's word and brotherhood, we aim to create a legacy of faith that strengthens families, communities and generations to come. Additionally, christ Forged Church prepares individuals to face the dangers of this world with courage and wisdom, equipping them to protect their loved ones and uphold the word of God. We accomplish this by training for both kinetic challenges, which is, physical challenges, ie self-defense prepping tactics and spiritual challenges, fostering resilience and readiness in every aspect of life.

Speaker 1: 16:58

Christ Forged Church services right now until the end of the year will be at Sunday nights at 7. Okay, on January 5th, when we do our hard launch, we will switch to 11 am Eastern Standard Time. Here are some things that will be different from what we've done before. We will host the service in person here and online not online like you're seeing now. We want you guys to be able to participate in the worship. We think the worship and singing and praising is very important for you guys at home in our online community. So we're going to be doing it in a Zoom meeting, which I can host up to 300 people in a Zoom meeting where we will stream the worship portion along with the entire service, so everyone can worship and sing along, no matter where they're watching from.

Speaker 1: 17:52

Okay, my wife Lauren and my mother Barbara will be helping people park when they come in and welcome people either at the door or outside during the weather, into the house, into our home church. Ok, we are a home church. We're not doing this around a living table. We converted, you know, a 20 by 25 space into a church for for this purpose. Church for this purpose. Okay, after worship, right. So when we finish our worship online, all right, we will have a separate mother's room where Lauren and other moms can bring the younger kids watch the sermon on TV and enjoy kids' appropriate Bible lessons. All right, sermon on TV and enjoy kids appropriate Bible lessons All right. So that is how this will be. All right. Now there's some other things I want to announce and then we'll get back to the service.

Speaker 1: 18:58

Christian Warrior Talk is back. Strength and Honor is back, starting Friday. This Friday, the 20th, at 9 pm on all social media channels. Christian Warrior Talk, which is a fellowship show where we discuss all things Christian life, prepping, homesteading tactics and new stories that affect us all. We'll pray for each other and that is where you'll see me consuming adult beverages online most of the time, but you don't have to consume the bulk beverage we toast, we welcome.

Speaker 1: 19:41

This is to help people who don't have a community, which is what this whole sermon today is about. It's what this whole ministry that turned into a church is all about. It's about creating community. God made us to be in community. Be in community. There will be no more daily Bible study. I can't do that and meet my obligations to my family and provide for my family. I wish I could. If you know, the ministry takes off and people support us financially. I might be able to do that more, but right now that is on indefinite hold.

Speaker 1: 20:28

We will be filming a welcome video to show people who are curious about coming to and joining our home church what to expect when they come to our home church. We're hoping to film this before the 5th and it'll be. It'll show you what it looks like from the road right where you're going to park, how you come in the house, how there's a separate bathroom for everybody in the church, where the worship space is, where the kids' room is or where the mother's room is actually sorry, and we'll put that out sometime before the 5th. So those of you who want to come to our re-grand opening, you'll know what to expect. Again, we want to get the spookiness and the creepiness out of a home church environment and just welcome you to our family here and to our fellowship and to you know we really want to build that community that we're all so craving, and I know you're craving it too, because I talked to you in Washington and in California, in Massachusetts, in Florida, in Texas, in Ohio, in Pennsylvania, wherever you're at, I know you're craving the same thing, and so be on the lookout for some social media posts that will appear with a welcome video.

Speaker 1: 21:56

We will also be filming a video that will show people how Christ Forge is different, including the farm and the ministry and the things we do outside of worship here. Worship is here, you know. It can be 60, 90 minutes and then fellowship time after, but there's so much more we do on this farm and you're welcome to be a part of it all. You're welcome to come work the animals with us. You're welcome to come enjoy in the bounty with us if you're working. You're welcome to come work out with me in the morning in the gym, or to go shooting with me out back, or to go hiking on our property with us when we do that, or to go hiking on our property with us when we do that.

Speaker 1: 22:43

Again, we want to be an asset to this community. We want to build a strong community that lives alongside one another, that doesn't just check in on Sundays, where we do so much together that we're like family. So those are all the announcements today and I know it's a lot and I know I rambled on there, but I know there's been a lot of changes and a lot of you are seeing this, the Facebook group that we have online. I'm going to probably be deleting that and starting a new one with a lot of the same things in there. I just want to clean out a lot of the gunk in there and streamline it and make it Christ Forged Church, and that'll be for members of the church only, okay, whether in person or online. But it's for that, for people who watch our services, whether in person or online, but it's for that, for people who watch our services, participate and want to do life with us. All right, so let's go to prayer and then we'll get into the message, okay, dear Heavenly Father.

Speaker 1: 23:50

Lord, we thank you for this day, for this Lord's Day and every day, lord, we thank you for our countless blessings, our countless blessings that we take for granted every day. Lord, it's a miracle we're here. For the trillions of cells that have to work near perfectly, for us to wake up in the morning, for all the protections that you've given us If something horrible didn't befall us in the night, for all the body parts of ours that are working flawlessly our saliva glands, our tear ducts, hearing, vision. For all of us who don't have the problems in those areas, we're so grateful. But, lord, life is suffering. It's suffering and many of us do have aches and pains and body parts that don't work right, or prosthetics or systems that are failing, and it's real easy to get lost in those. Lord, we ask you to help us be grateful for the things that do work well.

Speaker 1: 25:09

Lord, for every affliction we have, we have countless blessings and we thank you for your common grace. This universe, the star, the sun, the moon, this planet, stars, the sun, the moon. Lord, we thank you for the mountains and the oceans and everything in between. We thank you for sunrises and sunsets. We thank you for the smell of fresh rain in the morning, good home cooking, flowers, lord. We thank you for the touch of a loved one, a warm fire on a cold day and a cool breeze on a hot day. Lord, we thank you for the sound of children's laughter, for waves against the shore and wind, the rustling of leaves in the wind, songbirds maybe not roosters in the morning, lord, but the rest of it definitely. Lord. We thank you for the taste of good food and drink. We thank you for every loved one in our life. We thank you for the mercy of all the loved ones that we still have in our life and we thank you for the time that we have with those who we still have in our life and we thank you for the time that we have with those who still aren't in our life. So, lord, we surrender this time to you and we reach out to you with all we have. Lord, we are deliberately pursuing a relationship with you and to glorify you during this time. May it serve and glorify you and only you. May it please you and may we serve you with every beat of our heart and proclaim you with every breath of our lungs. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen. Amen, jesus' name, we pray Amen.

Speaker 1: 27:16

Now, lord, you also know that many of us are new to faith or slow with speech and tongue and don't know how to pray. Many of us were not raised with faith and don't even know how to start to have a conversation with you, like I did just now. But, lord, you told us how. Lord, your favorite prayer is the simplest prayer, the ones from the heart, the prayer of children, their innocence and their true faith. Their innocence and their true faith. The lack, no doubt faith of children shakes the foundations of the earth and moves the Lord. So we can pray like them, simply, tenderly, full of love and awe. But if we look for something more regimented, lord, you gave us an example when your disciples asked you how we should pray, and you showed us. In matthew 6, verses 9 through 13, we said pray like this our father, which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Speaker 1: 28:47

So I call this sermon Rejecting the Chains of Isolation, and it is a topical. So for you purists out there, I apologize, but it is very much needed. I'm going to start by reading you 1 Corinthians, 12, 12 through 26. First, I want to tell you to give hope for those of you who struggle praying. You know great man of God, paul Washer, who would probably cringe if he heard me call him that, but that's what he is to me.

Speaker 1: 29:29

I watched a video of him where he was talking at a conference and Paul gets emotional when he preaches and he was talking about how to pray the most powerful prayer he can pray. Paul runs a missionary group where people are in very dangerous places and has orphanages in some of the hell holes of this earth, and he's talking about challenges and murder and death and having to get kids out because persecution is coming and persecution there is, real beheadings and torture and so on and so forth, and he's listing all these problems and he said here's the prayer I pray with that. And he's listing all these problems and he said here's the prayer I pray with that and he says dear God, dear Heavenly Father, you know, you know, you know and I'm going to get emotional just thinking about how it feels sometimes. He's like you know, and that's why I can go to sleep right now as I turn it over to you. Some version of that is what he said and it was beautiful and it was powerful. So again, if you don't know what to say, god knows. Just let him just acknowledge that he knows Way better than you do. So I thought that would be encouraging.

Speaker 1: 30:59

So we're going to go to 1 Corinthians, 12, 12 through 26. And this is all going to be about community, why we need to be in community, how we're created to be in community. It's the theme today One body with many members. And Lauren, if you're watching this, you can hear me. If you could bring a drink or a refill, that'd be great, I'm really dry. Thanks, for just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, through many, are one body, so it is with christ, for in one spirit we were all baptized into one body. Jews and or greeks, slaves are free. All were made to drink of one spirit. For the body does not consist of one member, but of many.

Speaker 1: 31:48

When they're talking about member, they mean parts. If the foot should because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?

Speaker 1: 32:21

But as it is, god arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, if all were a single member, where would the body be as it is? There are many body parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you, nor again to the head or to the feet I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Speaker 1: 33:33

As a Christian, as a true Christian, you are part of Christ's church, which is the body of Christ. You cannot be a part of this alone and isolated. Here comes my amazing, beautiful wife on camera in three, two, one Say hi. Oh, come on, come on, come on in here. Say hi, real quick, hi, hi, Thanks the fifth. The fifth, she's shy. She's shy if you are a Bible-believing man or woman and you are alone on your couch, isolated away from everyone.

Speaker 1: 34:27

You're not doing what God designed you to do. Who are you helping there? Who are you helping there? Who are you serving there? Now that you have your salvation, what are you doing with it? Nothing, nothing.

Speaker 1: 34:43

The enemy of your soul wants you isolated and alone. The veteran community we see this so often and we see it in law enforcement. They get out or off a shift and people self-isolate because the more destructive their behavior and we begin to rot, Rot with sin. We begin to not grow in our faith. We don't serve anyone, we don't bear fruit for our Lord and Savior, our King. The enemy wants us to be a cut-off arm or a cut-off hand, sitting rotting in a room somewhere, slowly decaying until the end, slowly decaying until the end. And, as Paul says in Corinthians, that's not how we were meant to be. We're all meant to be part of the body, connected, and all of us are different. Some are good at speaking, some are good with their hands, some with their feet. Some are good with their hands, some with their feet. Some are good at carpentry and electricians and things like that. Others are great farmers, others are good shooters and others are engineers, scientists. Some specialize in healing and helping others heal from wounds, both physical and mental, and spiritual.

Speaker 1: 36:47

You can't know all these things. You can't be all of them. You can't be an eye, an ear, a hand. You know, a brain, a foot. You can't be all of them. You can't be an eye, an ear, a hand. You know a brain, a foot. You can't be all the members. It's. No one can know all that stuff.

Speaker 1: 37:02

Elon Musk sorry, I'm gonna probably just blow your ear, but comes out with that doesn't have a company of one. He's one of the smartest men alive Everyone's the smartest man ever and he can't know everything. He hires people to know things for him, and the whole purpose of this life is to serve other people and lead them to Christ. And if you're isolated and alone, you're not doing that, you're failing in your mission. So now let's go to Galatians 5, 13 through 15.

Speaker 1: 37:43

For you were called to freedom, brothers, only, do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, for your selfishness. Use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh for your selfishness. I got mine, so I'm going to sit back on a couch and eat and drink and watch movies until I die. That's what a lot of people do. That's what Netflix and Prime and all the countless, endless things out there are designed to do to you as you binge watch season upon season upon season upon season. Don't do that, but through love, serve one another, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

Speaker 1: 38:45

I want to use this brief moment to talk about the Reformed Brothers War. That's been going on for the past I don't know two months that I've been aware. I haven't been aware of it two months, but I've been aware of it maybe three weeks and I've wasted tens and tens and tens of hours trying to figure out what was going on. And people need to give each other a lot of grace and people need to repent, because all of us have fault in everything, and this younger generation is behind us. We have failed to disciple them appropriately. They're impatient, they're disrespectful and they're weak sauce. They're so weak and fragile. Millennials and Gen Xers it's just not every one of them. Of course we have amazing people in the military and law enforcement and others out there them, of course we have amazing people in the military and law enforcement and others out there, but on a whole I've been just listening to a bunch of men with great looking beards but thin skin and pathetic fragility. These men were called to stand and withstand, and these men have no respect for those that gave them the world patience, grace and kindness in his heart than just about anyone I know, and I hope God continues to bless him. Back to this. Galatians 6, 1 through 2.

Speaker 1: 40:50

Bear another's burdens. How are you going to bear another person's burdens? How you gonna bear another person's burdens if you're alone, isolated, not doing anything? You can't. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him. And the spirit of gentleness Is that what's going on in the Reformed Brothers' war? Absolutely not. Keep watch on yourselves lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. We are here to bear one another's burdens. We're here to bear one another's burdens. We're here to help one another. Hebrews 10, 24 through 25.

Speaker 1: 41:42

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Stir up to motivate, to uplift, to help them to love and good works, and I haven't seen a lot of that. I've seen a lot of snarkiness online and a lot of people that need to get slapped like real hard to wake up. Not neglecting to meet together, as in the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Not neglecting to meet together. We must come together. We must be physically present with other believers.

Speaker 1: 42:32

I'll tell you, guys, two weeks ago I was so alone, felt so alone, and we need to be around other people. I have brothers come to me and pour into me because I pour out all the time. People call me and I answer the phone. I've got brothers and sisters who do very hard jobs all around the world and break themselves and they call me to help them and I try my best to lead them to God, to help, because only he can fix them. And watching these Reformed brothers tear each other apart was so disheartening. The disrespect that I saw from the younger generation just guys with beards, but they're still children Stir up one another in love and good works Acts 2, 42 to 47.

Speaker 1: 43:59

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers, and awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles, and all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need, and day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to their numbers, day by day, those who were being saved. Now some people take this as a call to socialism or communism. It's not what it's about. It's about serving one another and helping one another. How about a church and a group of people in that church that invest in each other's lives daily?

Speaker 1: 45:05

Someone needs a fence? We all agree. We go. We build them a fence. Someone needs a deck repaired? We go, we do. We do that. Someone's moving, we help them move. This is what we need to do. This is doing the hard things together.

Speaker 1: 45:28

Everybody wants easy. Nothing good is easy. Building community and having friends and brothers and sisters in the faith takes work. Too many Christians want the world delivered to them. They want consumer-based Christianity. Show up childcare coffee, feed me, give me a performance, give me a sermon, send me home, and they do nothing. They invest nothing, they do nothing, they do not serve. Now, with online viewing, it's even worse. You have people out there watching and doing nothing, thinking that they don't tithe, they don't donate to anyone, they don't do anything. They don't help people in real life. The world will help somebody else someday when we find the perfect church. Donate to anyone. They don't do anything, they don't help people in real life. They all will help somebody else someday when we find the perfect church. If you can't find the perfect church or find a church, that's tolerable you start one. Ecclesiastes 4, 9-12.

Speaker 1: 46:37

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil, for if they fall, one will lift up his fellow, but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up Again. If two lie together, they keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him. A three-field cord is not easily broken. There is union in numbers. If you're alone, you're isolated alone. Two now you can spread out the load. Now, both of you don't have to know everything. When you're weak, they might be strong and they can help you. When you're tired, they might be full of energy. It's like marriage. It's what God designed us to be together, man and woman, completing one another.

Speaker 1: 47:59

Some of the best times of my life the best times of my life were not alone. They're always with people you love. Some of the happiest times of my life, I wasn't even a Christian. Some of the happiest times of my life, I wasn't even a Christian. I was a Christian in faith who had fallen away. My son, being autistic as a new Christian, gutted me, and I had a gym. That was part of Trident Shield. We had a gym and a training up component as well multi-tangent and going into the gym and doing hard things with men and women every day, watching them suffer to get stronger and better invest in one another Some of the best work I've done. That's what a church should be and, yes, it should have a physical component. Every church should have a gym, and in that gym, men should be working out together and then women should be working out together. I saw this in action with Ken Graves up in Calvary Chapel, bangor, and it was the most beautiful thing I ever saw Discipling taking action. I know I can learn just about everything I need to know about a man in the gym and a workout and where he needs help. We need to be doing more of that.

Speaker 1: 49:45

Colossians 3, 11-7. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, scythian, slave free, but Christ in all and in all. Put on, then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgive each other. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive, and above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. How do you love alone? You don't you love yourself. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed, you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, the Father, through him.

Speaker 1: 51:01

I know I'm running long. I'm going to keep going. I've only got a few more readings I have to do? Peter 4, 8 through 11. The Bible hammers home the need for community and service over and over and over and over Peter 4, 8 through 11. 1 Peter 4, 8 through 11. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Speaker 1: 51:31

Show hospitality. Why hospitality? Because during their time, most people couldn't afford hotels. They were expensive. So when Christians came through town, you were supposed to host them without grumbling. Hosting them without grumbling. Imagine that today. Yeah, not so much, not so much at all, as each has received a gift. Use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace. Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies Psalm 133.1. I only got two more.

Speaker 1: 52:38

A new commandment I give you John 13, 34, and 35, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this, all peoples will know that you are my disciples If you have love for one another. How will people know that you are my disciples If you have love for one another? How will people know that you are a disciple Because you love one another? How do you do that alone. If you're not investing in someone, you're failing in the Great Commission, you're failing in what God did for you. You're not pulling the next person onto the life raft of Christ.

Speaker 1: 53:16

And lastly, romans 12, 9 through 13. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Speaker 1: 53:28

Do not be slothful and zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. There's that word hospitality.

Speaker 1: 53:46

Again, we must invest in each other. Time is the most valuable resource that we can to invest in one another. There's also financially, which, if you don't have time financially, is another way that you can contribute. Prayer, which is time, yet again, is another one. But, man, we have to get better at pouring into one another and trying to build something that lasts, a community that can weather hardship, because hardship's coming. It doesn't matter who's president. Hardship is coming If Trump does all the things he has to do to fix this country. Very hard times are coming If Trump does all the things he has to do to fix this country. Very hard times are coming, so that's all I have for you Outside of the Lord's Supper which we're about to do.

Speaker 1: 54:54

It's lonely out there, I know it is. I know when you raise your standards of fellowship and friendship, when you're not willing to just hang out with sludge, your friend group goes from wide to extremely narrow. And yes, you have family if you're lucky're lucky kids, and that's great. But you need strong. If you're a man, you need strong men to fight for you, to pick you up when you fall and hold you accountable and to inspire you, to compete with you in life, to help raise your performance, to show you how to do things better. If you're a woman, you need godly women around you that you can share your struggles with, that you can lean on in hard times, that can mentor and disciple you and pour into you when you're empty.

Speaker 1: 56:12

So we believe in doing the Lord's Supper here every week. So we believe in doing the Lord's Supper here every week, and this is for baptized believers. I'll explain that and why now. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks of the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks. Judgment on himself, for that is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along in the world.

Speaker 1: 56:59

So now I ask you to close your eyes as you go to your wine and bread. Judge yourself, look at your thoughts, look at your deeds, look at your fruit. What have you not confessed and repented to the Lord? Bring it to him. How can you invest more in community where you are? Are there people at your feet that need you? Can you invest more in community where you are? Are there people at your feet that need you right now? I guarantee you they do. Or do you feel called to invest in some way with this church or another, with this church or another? Look at your life ruthlessly and confess and lay it at his feet.

Speaker 1: 58:06

Now let us remember what Christ did for us, what God did for us Humbled himself, coming down in the flesh, living a perfect life, crucified for our sins, sacrificed, enduring God's wrath, dying and going to the grave for three days, ascending to heaven to sit at the Father's right hand, waiting and working through us to bring the nations under his foot, as his footstool, the last nation we brought under him. See that victory. Now, as they were eating, jesus took bread and, after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said Take, eat, this is my body. Go ahead and eat. And he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which has poured out many for the forgiveness of sins. Go ahead and drink.

Speaker 1: 59:35

Heavenly Father, lord, we thank you. We thank you for this Lord's Day. We thank you for your Son. We thank you for our many blessings and your grace. Lord, thank you most of all for your divine grace, for choosing us before the foundations of the earth, writing us in the book of life and calling us to you, lord. Lord, we thank you for making us in your image, lord. You are three in one. Even. You are community in yourself. Lord, help us all to find others, draw others to us or draw us to others, to form pockets of light all around this world where we can multiply your light, the light of Christ, through us and through others, to serve and to make your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, we thank you.

Speaker 1: 1:00:46

I now pray a prayer of protection and peace for those suffering from the storms here in Tennessee and elsewhere, for the persecuted church all around the world, for our veterans of yesteryear here, our first responders at home, our troops overseas. Responders at home, our troops overseas. I pray for our leaders, lord, that you would give them peace and wisdom and knowledge. I pray that you would protect the world, lord, from going into a third world war. And, lastly, I pray that you would protect my beloved America. I pray that she would humble herself, turn from her sin, hit her knees and seek your face, and that you would see her and heal her, so that we could once again be one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Now I call this fellowship to put on the full armor of God, to strap on the shield of faith and then pick up the sword of the Spirit and to boldly step forward to join the shield wall, locking our shields of faith with one another, as we boldly march forward to take ground for your kingdom, for your glory forever. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Speaker 1: 1:02:23

I'm going to do something different now and I'm going to torture you guys with doxology. And I'm alone in here because everyone's in the other room. So Praise God, from who all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, son and Holy Ghost. Amen. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. God bless you.