Speaker 1: What's up Free Church?
Speaker 1: Well, happy holiday weekend to you.
Speaker 1: This is the weekend that means life can get back to normal.
Speaker 1: Kids can be back in school.
Speaker 1: Come on, don't shout me down.
Speaker 1: Parents, we act like we love summer because our kids are home.
Speaker 1: We love summer because the weather's nice.
Speaker 1: We're thankful for fall because our kids go back to school.
Speaker 1: Amen, love our kids are home.
Speaker 1: We love summer because the weather's nice.
Speaker 1: We're thankful for fall because our kids go back to school.
Speaker 1: Amen, love our kids.
Speaker 1: We love our kids, but we love them in school.
Speaker 1: And if you're not a parent, you don't know what I just said.
Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense to you, but someday, by the grace of God, you will understand it.
Speaker 1: Well, welcome to Free Church everybody.
Speaker 1: Great to see you.
Speaker 1: To all of our guests we welcome you.
Speaker 1: We realize you could be anywhere this morning and we're so thankful that you've chosen to worship with us.
Speaker 1: We like to say at Free Church, there is no place like this place near this place, so this must be the place and we're so thankful that you're here.
Speaker 1: Church family.
Speaker 1: Welcome our guests today that are here with us maybe first time or first time in a long time, and for those of you watching online.
Speaker 1: Welcome Hope that you have experienced the presence of the Lord as richly as we have in this house, and I would certainly say something powerful is happening in this assembly, in our community, and it's the kind of thing that you need to like.
Speaker 1: Let others know about Amen.
Speaker 1: And I would just encourage everyone, as we get ready to go to two services next week, starting on birthday weekend, we'll go to two services a nine o'clock and 11 o'clock service, identical services for you to attend and bring your friends and family, and I know that going to two services is an opportunity for us to make room for what God is doing in this house and all summer long.
Speaker 1: Some of you might not notice it because you just you think you look around and you see somebody here one week and maybe they're out of town the next week and you're like, oh, okay, so but we have been growing this summer, so many new families, so many new people that are stepping in and excited about serving and wanting to be a part of free church, and so as we go into two services, it's going to change the momentum a little bit.
Speaker 1: It puts my dad used to say it puts the pedal to the metal or the metal to the pedal pedal, to the metal, metal to the pedal pedal.
Speaker 1: I said it right the first time.
Speaker 1: It just sounded wrong and um, and it really just is going to, um, create opportunity.
Speaker 1: I've always felt like in church life.
Speaker 1: When you have a 10 o'clock service on a weekend, you say like we want everybody to come to our church and then we only give you one choice to come to.
Speaker 1: Now we're saying you got a couple of choices.
Speaker 1: You can wake up early and go have brunch and then come to the 11 o'clock service.
Speaker 1: Or you can wake up early and come to the 9 o'clock service and then go have brunch.
Speaker 1: It's like, how great is that?
Speaker 1: And then you can worship one and you can serve one.
Speaker 1: You can help us expand the reach of our church as we grow.
Speaker 1: You could serve one.
Speaker 1: You can help us expand the reach of our church as we grow.
Speaker 1: And I am excited about the fall season coming up.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: Well, I am excited and ready to preach God's word.
Speaker 1: Are you ready to receive it?
Speaker 1: The year was 1988.
Speaker 1: And I was, yeah, the wonder years.
Speaker 1: It was 1988.
Speaker 1: I was a senior in high school and I've told this story before, so if you've heard it, you have to laugh like you've never heard it before.
Speaker 1: But if you haven't, then you can appreciate this.
Speaker 1: I was always the one in class.
Speaker 1: How many of you in class had a teacher that would tell your parents or tell you you'd be a great student if you didn't talk so much?
Speaker 1: Students you get that a little bit Like wow, you'd be so good if you would just focus, pay attention in class instead of talking so much.
Speaker 1: And so obviously I make a living by speaking now, and so it worked out for me.
Speaker 1: But I had, I had what they called a motor mouth and always just chatterbox, chattering, and I would often I think the line in the movie is like my mouth would write checks that my body couldn't keep.
Speaker 1: I would say things that would potentially get me in trouble, and even though I had the biggest mouth in the class, I was not the biggest person in the class, and I by big I mean like I didn't have the muscle support to back up what my mouth was saying many times and so.
Speaker 1: But I learned that I built this circle of friends that could be the muscle to my mouth, and so I remember this year, 1988, senior year I was talking some smack about some stuff and I was bragging on the small group of friends that I had accumulated over the years and their willingness and their potential to stand with me and support me and even, if necessary, go to battle with me.
Speaker 1: And so I was just jabber, jabber, jabber, jabber, jab, jab, jab.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure people were tired of it and we had an open campus so we could leave campus and go to lunch or go hang out and for lunchtime for lunchtime we sometimes would extend it past lunch.
Speaker 1: But we came back from lunch one day, pulled into my parking spot, got up, my friend and I got out of our car and we were immediately surrounded by a large crowd of people and the leader of that crowd of people was like rolling up his sleeves, like something about to go down, and I was watching what I was thinking, like what is happening?
Speaker 1: I'm surrounded by this big group of people and they seem angry.
Speaker 1: I don't remember what I've said and so I'm like what's going on?
Speaker 1: And he starts barking at my friend, like what would you be doing this for?
Speaker 1: Why would you be saying these things?
Speaker 1: And I'm the one that said it all.
Speaker 1: But he was yelling at my friend and I was like, oh man, we're in big trouble and I was thinking like, where's the rest of my friends?
Speaker 1: I was looking around and suddenly I felt a presence behind me and I looked back and it was about four of my other friends who were standing behind me Some of the bigger guys in my class and they were standing there and I said listen, he didn't say a word, it was me.
Speaker 1: But unless you want to go through these guys, you're not getting to me.
Speaker 1: And then I was able to use a little bit more of not such tough talk to kind of calm the situation down.
Speaker 1: But it's the year that I learned the group that's with you and the group that is for you is the group that will take you forward and keep you out of trouble.
Speaker 1: It's the year that a small group literally saved my life.
Speaker 1: Turn to your neighbor and say small groups can save your life, and turn to the one you've been ignoring all service, for some reason you've ignored them and just say, man, you look so good today.
Speaker 1: Today is small group Sunday and in the next 20 minutes that I have to share today's message man, what powerful worship, amen, powerful moment of worship.
Speaker 1: Many times when worship's going, I'm like we could just keep going, but the word has to be preached because we have to be moved to a next step.
Speaker 1: And many times the emotion of what happens in worship.
Speaker 1: We need to have an action point to take it to the next thing that God has in our life.
Speaker 1: So powerful worship today, but let's settle it with a point of action.
Speaker 1: Let's not just be hearers of the word but let's be doers of the word.
Speaker 1: Let us not just love the atmosphere and the flow of what's happening.
Speaker 1: Let us lean in and become obedient to what God is calling us to do.
Speaker 1: And so today is small group Sunday, and it's really one of our favorite Sundays of the fall season as we launch another season of small groups.
Speaker 1: And part of the vision of Free Church is Pastor Matthew said it earlier in his flow time that we get to know God on Sunday.
Speaker 1: That's where we get to experience God.
Speaker 1: Some of you get to meet God for the very first time or recognize that God is close to you or it wants to be close to you.
Speaker 1: He's drawing you by the power of his presence.
Speaker 1: So we get to know God on Sunday.
Speaker 1: But we want to find freedom, and we want to find freedom from our past hurts and our past habits, and we do that in the context of relationship in a small group.
Speaker 1: So the vision of free church, it actually has four components of it.
Speaker 1: We want to know God, and we do that on the weekend service.
Speaker 1: We want to find freedom, and we do that through small groups.
Speaker 1: We want to discover purpose we do that through the freeway and then we want to make a difference and we do that through the dream team.
Speaker 1: And so I'm going to lean into this moment of small group season and just really encourage you, because it is a part of our vision that we find freedom through small groups.
Speaker 1: What do you mean PC?
Speaker 1: What do you mean from freedom?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, maybe you have a habit that just can't seem to get over by yourself, or you have a hurt from your past that you can't seem to be healed in.
Speaker 1: And I want to tell you, in the context of relationship and small group community, as you grow together, you find freedom and healing from that past hurt or that past habit.
Speaker 1: It'll help you, because in the context of Sunday, in the big moments, it's hard to be real with people, but in the reality of a small group you get to know somebody, and I always say you need to know somebody.
Speaker 1: You have somebody that knows you and somebody that knows you they need to K-N-O-W know you, and then there's need to be people in your life that N-O-U know you, so they need to know you.
Speaker 1: You need to be real and vulnerable, and then there's need to be people in your life that N O you know you, so they need to know you.
Speaker 1: You need to be real and vulnerable, and then they need to know you saying hey, that's not a great idea.
Speaker 1: Only if in high school I would have had somebody that'd say just shut your mouth, be quiet, you don't have to say those things.
Speaker 1: It might be true, you might have a good support system, but you don't have to keep putting the pressure on them to stand up for you.
Speaker 1: Just be quiet, man.
Speaker 1: I think my life would have been a little easier Maybe not as much fun, but a little easier.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't always be running and ducking and looking for my group to save me, and let that be a lesson for somebody today.
Speaker 1: Life doesn't have to be this constant battle if you find the group of people that you can move forward with, and so it's small group season and it's part of the vision of our church that we find freedom in a small group.
Speaker 1: And this season I would like to just set a goal.
Speaker 1: I want to just say a vision for small group season.
Speaker 1: I'd love to see, this season, 185 people sign up for a small group this season 185,.
Speaker 1: Get involved in a small group this season 185.
Speaker 1: Get involved in a small group, grow, build community, care for one another, connect over things that are meaningful for life, age and life stage.
Speaker 1: And so, immediately following service and following my message time, in the next 16 minutes, you're going to get to go downstairs and you're going to get a chance to meet the small group leaders, connect with them.
Speaker 1: They've done an outstanding job of really presenting their group at a table and you're going to meet them, meet the leaders, find a group that fits your life age and your life stage, a group that's just for you, and register through Renee for that group.
Speaker 1: And if you can't figure out Renee, we got a Renee help desk down there to help you.
Speaker 1: But all you're gonna do at the end of service is you're gonna send a message to Renee, dmrenee forward slash groups and that will give you the list of groups that you can sign up for and some of you are doing that already, but I'm thankful for that.
Speaker 1: 185 of you today and through this fall season how incredible would that be if 185 of us build community and connect and care for one another in a new way?
Speaker 1: We've been in this series titled Like Jesus and we spent a bunch of weeks in the idea of we need to think like Jesus, that if we think like Jesus remember I went through like 10 things that will happen in our life if we think like Jesus.
Speaker 1: And then Pastor Robbie, when he was with us in August, he preached that we can lead like Jesus.
Speaker 1: And today I want to just encourage you and challenge you that we can love like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Everybody say love like Jesus, love like Jesus.
Speaker 1: When I read through the gospels, I read and you can recognize this that we find the reason why Jesus came to this earth.
Speaker 1: And we know the reason why he came to the earth.
Speaker 1: It says in the scripture that he came to save.
Speaker 1: Oh no, not yet.
Speaker 1: Don't give away the good stuff.
Speaker 1: Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost.
Speaker 1: And what was lost when man fell back in the garden was this relationship, this closeness, this friendship with God.
Speaker 1: And sin has a way of creating space.
Speaker 1: Sin isn't always what you do, but it is the space between you and your heavenly father, the God who made you, the God who loves you and the God who longs to have a relationship with you.
Speaker 1: And sin places a wedge or a gap between us and our heavenly father.
Speaker 1: And so Jesus Christ came to this earth and he died on a cross.
Speaker 1: He literally spread his arms out this wide to bridge the gap between us and our heavenly father.
Speaker 1: He died for our sins.
Speaker 1: So the Bible says he came to seek and to save that which was lost.
Speaker 1: That's why he came.
Speaker 1: But sometimes we don't really look at and consider how he came.
Speaker 1: So he came to save us, to save that which was lost the authority, the dominion, the relationship.
Speaker 1: But how did he come?
Speaker 1: Well, look at this in Luke, chapter 7 and 34.
Speaker 1: It says this the son of man came eating and drinking.
Speaker 1: That's why I love Jesus so much.
Speaker 1: He came eating and drinking.
Speaker 1: Some of you just realize you're more like Jesus than you thought he came eating and drinking.
Speaker 1: Why do you think?
Speaker 1: Everything we do around church life typically surrounds itself around a table and around good food.
Speaker 1: Oh, we're going gonna have a small group.
Speaker 1: What kind of food's gonna be there?
Speaker 1: Oh, we're gonna have the Dream Team Gala to recognize and celebrate and support and just cheer on our Dream Team.
Speaker 1: Who make a difference?
Speaker 1: What kind of food you having?
Speaker 1: Oh man, we got an email a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 1: Herschana and I had a little message in Renee and it was Bert who helps lead the prayer team and Bert was like hey, pc and Pastor Hirsch, we're having a little get-together for our prayer team and we'd love you to come and it's on a Friday night.
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, typically Friday's my day off and on my day off I wanna play golf and take my wife out for a nice dinner on a date somewhere.
Speaker 1: So I was like I was just thinking I don't know it's a Friday night and he says let me tell you what's on the menu.
Speaker 1: So I read what was on the menu.
Speaker 1: I'm like we're coming.
Speaker 1: I went home and I said, babe, I got to tell you about Friday night.
Speaker 1: She said, oh, we're going to Bert's house.
Speaker 1: Did you see that menu?
Speaker 1: It's one of the ways we're like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Jesus came eating and drinking, in fact, so much in the way that Jesus came, how he came eating and drinking.
Speaker 1: If you see, in the scripture they literally called him a glutton and a drunkard because he ate and he drank so much with all of the people who they were like you should never be around.
Speaker 1: But that's how Jesus came, because the important theme and the central theme of Jesus coming not just why, but how was.
Speaker 1: He came to build a relationship with his people.
Speaker 1: He came to be in relationship and when we read scripture all the way through, we read things like the breaking of bread.
Speaker 1: In fact we broke bread this morning together as we took up the blessed sacrament of his broken body.
Speaker 1: That's called the communion.
Speaker 1: My dad used to say it's the meal that heals.
Speaker 1: It's the body of Jesus was broken so I could be made whole.
Speaker 1: His blood was shed so that I could be washed clean.
Speaker 1: We just sang about it and that is the Passover meal.
Speaker 1: When we read about all of the great banquets in the New Testament and in the book of Revelation it says the last supper, like literally part of heaven, is us gonna be around a great big banquet table and there's gonna be an incredible meal.
Speaker 1: I hope you like to eat and drink Because it's going to be a part of our experience in heaven.
Speaker 1: And so this idea of breaking bread has another word for it, called fellowship.
Speaker 1: And in studying through history and theology in Old Testament and New Testament, man, the table is very important.
Speaker 1: Meals are very important, in fact, meals had.
Speaker 1: It was more than just about the food.
Speaker 1: It was the opportunity to sit with the people you love and the people that you're getting to learn about and have deep conversation.
Speaker 1: And so the breaking of bread was more than just the food component.
Speaker 1: It was the interaction of the people at the table, and Jesus came showing us the importance of fellowship and community.
Speaker 1: I read a book one time.
Speaker 1: It was called Never Eat Alone, and it's one of the things I hate the most.
Speaker 1: If I'm out and I'm hungry, I hate to go into a restaurant and sit at a table by myself.
Speaker 1: It's the worst, I think.
Speaker 1: Well, it seems practical because I'm by myself and I'll just grab a quick bite to eat, but I'm like is there anybody I can find around me that I can have lunch with?
Speaker 1: If I'm around here in the office, I'll come into the room and say guys, does anybody wanna eat?
Speaker 1: Anybody eating?
Speaker 1: Let me get some Jimmy John's or hey, walk with me down to Mulatta and we'll grab an empanada together.
Speaker 1: Ooh, I felt the Holy Spirit on that one.
Speaker 1: Closed on Sunday.
Speaker 1: God bless them.
Speaker 1: But Jesus was showing us the example of building community, relationship, fellowship around the table.
Speaker 1: And Jesus met if you read through scripture how he came eating and drinking.
Speaker 1: He met with every person at every life age and every life stage.
Speaker 1: The Bible says he always, he was always at the table with people that the religious world did not think he should be at the table with, that the religious world did not think he should be at the table with, and he would sit with sinners and tax collectors and the people that were marginalized in society.
Speaker 1: Jesus pulled them in to community and relationship.
Speaker 1: So I want to just lean into this space and talk to you about the power of a small group and how, in a small group, it helps us learn to love like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Are you ready?
Speaker 1: So the most famous passage of scripture in the book of Acts that talks about small group is the book of Acts, chapter two, and let's read this.
Speaker 1: You can read through it and I want you, if you have a real Bible, if you have your Bible with you, I want you to take some notes today and I want you to circle the words as I read them that stand out to you and, if you're just taking notes in your phone with the Bible app, highlight the passage of scripture and then, or take a photo of it and circle like, mark it up like let's interact with this scripture, because I think it's so powerful for us.
Speaker 1: Acts, chapter two, verse 42.
Speaker 1: They who's they?
Speaker 1: It's the early church, it's the disciples, it's the people that were waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1: So, just a few verses before this, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon 120 in the upper room, peter preaches this life-changing message about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit blows in like a fresh wind.
Speaker 1: Fire of tongues.
Speaker 1: Sit on people to demonstrate the infilling of the Holy Ghost and it spills out into the marketplace and people are being saved and people are being filled with the Holy Spirit and the church is born in one day 3,000 people saved.
Speaker 1: And this is what happens.
Speaker 1: It says they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship.
Speaker 1: They devoted themselves, man.
Speaker 1: I'm so thankful for a church that will stand on the word of God, but devoted to the word of God, for making decisions in their life for recognizing that this is the book of God.
Speaker 1: And it's just not a good book.
Speaker 1: It is God's word, it is spirit inspired, it provides the answers for my life.
Speaker 1: The Bible says it is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that it is going to order my steps, righteously moving forward, and it's going to help me know when I'm in the right or when I'm in the wrong.
Speaker 1: It's going to help me know and feed me.
Speaker 1: It's the word of God, it's the bread of life and literally we are devoted to this book and we don't just love the good stuff that's in it, we read the whole thing and sometimes it challenges us.
Speaker 1: And the Bible says the word of God is a two-edged sword that cuts asunder the things in our life that might not be right.
Speaker 1: And listen, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God and salvation into my life and when I read it it comes alive.
Speaker 1: It's not just a few words, but it literally is God breathed, igniting my life, filling me.
Speaker 1: The Bible also says within its pages that it is the washing of the word.
Speaker 1: So even when I don't feel right, I can read the word of God and it's washing me clean.
Speaker 1: And this is what they were devoted to the apostles' teaching.
Speaker 1: And then it says they were devoted to the apostles' teaching.
Speaker 1: And then it says they were devoted not only to the teaching and the fellowship, but the breaking of bread.
Speaker 1: There it is.
Speaker 1: Thank God for a church that's devoted to eating and drinking.
Speaker 1: Come on, it's gonna be birthday Sunday next Sunday and what's gonna be in the lobby?
Speaker 1: Something good to eat, eating and drinking.
Speaker 1: Come on, some good coffee in the house, iced coffee like no other.
Speaker 1: Every church wishes they had coffee like free church.
Speaker 1: They were devoted to the apostles teaching, to fellowship I'm never going to get through this and the breaking of bread.
Speaker 1: And look, and they were devoted to prayer.
Speaker 1: Devoted to prayer.
Speaker 1: I'm so thankful for a church that loves to pray.
Speaker 1: Listen, before you walked into this space today, our prayer team gathered and they were praying over this service.
Speaker 1: They anointed every seat that you're sitting in.
Speaker 1: They prayed over your life.
Speaker 1: You didn't even know it.
Speaker 1: You don't even lift up, you didn't have to ask God to do anything.
Speaker 1: They were praying for you on your behalf already that the Holy Spirit knows exactly what you need before you got here and is meeting your need right now.
Speaker 1: In fact, we start prayer back on first Saturday Prayer coming up this Saturday, first Saturday of September, nine o'clock.
Speaker 1: Listen, I encourage you to come.
Speaker 1: I have a vision that someday, saturday prayer will outpace Sunday morning worship.
Speaker 1: Sunday Saturday prayer will outpace Sunday morning worship Because we're devoted to the apostles teaching, we're devoted to the fellowship, we're devoted to the breaking of bread and we're devoted to prayer.
Speaker 1: If we're ever anything as a church, it's because we're a praying church and prayer can be simple, as simple as asking God, seeking God, talking to God.
Speaker 1: Prayer can be complex and interceding for other people, but let it just be prayer first.
Speaker 1: Let it be our first response and not our last resort.
Speaker 1: So that's what they are devoted to.
Speaker 1: Everyone was filled with awe, filled with awe.
Speaker 1: I don't ever want us to lose the awe and the wonder of what is happening in this place, of what God has done in our lives.
Speaker 1: Like, I don't know about you, but if I could just take a minute just to thank God for what he's done for me this morning, chris Pender, who started the service, taught in our team rally and he shared his testimony.
Speaker 1: And Chris, I want to tell you don't ever be ashamed of sharing that testimony.
Speaker 1: You share it as often and as many times as you can.
Speaker 1: And when people seem to get like, oh, we've heard this, remind them again Because, listen, I don't want to ever lose the awe of the miracle working power of my God.
Speaker 1: And for those of you that don't know, chris and Jayla, a few years ago, back in 2021, they called us on a Saturday morning, raya.
Speaker 1: Their daughter was about to turn one and she had lost all movement and feeling in her left side, could not stand, could not move, could not raise her hand, her whole face, everything was on her left side, was paralyzed.
Speaker 1: And they called us and said we're headed to the emergency room.
Speaker 1: Urshana and I and Pastor Matthew, we met them at the emergency room.
Speaker 1: I literally Now recognize this is 2020.
Speaker 1: When, like you, have to have a 2021.
Speaker 1: We're still not really out of wearing masks.
Speaker 1: They don't want people in the hospital.
Speaker 1: And I remember looking at Chris and saying I got to get back there and pray with them.
Speaker 1: And so Chris came out and was talking to Shana and I went in with Jayla and the nurses are working on rye and there's codes they're calling off and I had the anointing oil.
Speaker 1: I want you to know it was not me, but I walked in there with the confidence to pray over her and to anoint that bed with oil that every nurse and every doctor would have the wisdom and the understanding to treat Raya in a way that she would be healed.
Speaker 1: We prayed for them at church.
Speaker 1: I met them that morning.
Speaker 1: That was Saturday evening.
Speaker 1: I met them Sunday morning at the hospital again.
Speaker 1: They would not let me go this time back into the room, but I prayed with him.
Speaker 1: I said, chris, the whole church is praying.
Speaker 1: We took a moment in service and prayed.
Speaker 1: They later transferred her down to the children's hospital.
Speaker 1: When she got there, one of our family members of the church her sister is a doctor down there rushed them, said oh, I know you guys from Free Church, come on, come this way Right back into the emergency room.
Speaker 1: Got them set Listen.
Speaker 1: All that to say the word of the doctor originally was not good, the report was not great.
Speaker 1: But somebody inside of this church Chris and Jayla standing with a body of people saying listen.
Speaker 1: The report may not be great, but we'll believe the report of the Lord.
Speaker 1: And the report of the Lord says she's healed.
Speaker 1: The report of the Lord says she's filled and that she's freed.
Speaker 1: And listen, it was just a few weeks later.
Speaker 1: Raya came home from the hospital and now and now, at just a little over three years old, she's running.
Speaker 1: She's downstairs, running through those classrooms.
Speaker 1: To God be the glory.
Speaker 1: May I never lose the awe of my wonder-working God that he is able to do exceeding and abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine.
Speaker 1: The wonder-working power of our God.
Speaker 1: They were in awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.
Speaker 1: And let me just tell you, if God's not moved in your life in a way that powerful yet you don't always want to sometimes we're like, oh God, move in a miracle way, but sometimes the miracle mentality means I'm going to have to go through something terrible.
Speaker 1: So I love the wonder working power of my God.
Speaker 1: I would rather be safe and protected, but if something happens that seemed impossible, the God I serve says all things are possible.
Speaker 1: Ora, you better turn that clock off right now.
Speaker 1: I am not watching that thing.
Speaker 1: And then it says all the believers were together and had everything in common.
Speaker 1: They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need Every day.
Speaker 1: Well, let me just stop.
Speaker 1: They sold property and possessions to give to everybody in need what they had.
Speaker 1: Developed such relationship with one another that if there was a need, they were like, hey, let's meet that need, let's meet that need if there was a need.
Speaker 1: A few weeks ago one of our dream team members came up to me and said hey, pc, I've heard that one of our team members, one of our family members, has a need.
Speaker 1: Team members, one of our family members has a need.
Speaker 1: Her car has been broke down and is not running any longer.
Speaker 1: The other car in the family there was an accident and it totaled the car.
Speaker 1: She just has a need.
Speaker 1: And they were like, because of the relationship, we just feel like the Lord's impressed us to give towards that need.
Speaker 1: And I was like, well, let's find a way to help meet that need.
Speaker 1: And so they wrote a check to the church and said will you help us give this to this person?
Speaker 1: And so, terry, I want you to, ethan, show Terry how to get around the back real quick.
Speaker 1: Serves, serves, serves this house.
Speaker 1: I love Terry because every Sunday she's like Pastor.
Speaker 1: That was a great message.
Speaker 1: It really moved me.
Speaker 1: Today I'm like we all need a Terry in our life, to build us up like I can leave this place thinking, man, that is a terrible message I preached today.
Speaker 1: Terry's just so encouraging.
Speaker 1: But listen, this is, um, this is just a start.
Speaker 1: This is $3,000 to start to start a car for Terry Hunt.
Speaker 1: Do you want me to tithe off of this?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, that is sweet of you to say do you want to tithe off of it?
Speaker 1: How about this?
Speaker 1: We'll tithe for you and you put that towards a car.
Speaker 1: Why do you accept this?
Speaker 1: Well, you accept it because we love you and you're a part of this family and if you want to help Terry, you can give her.
Speaker 1: She's good ground, her life is good ground.
Speaker 1: If you want to help her, you can give her directly to her, give it to me, give it to the church, not to me, but give it through the church and we'll extend that $3,000.
Speaker 1: I think we can do that today.
Speaker 1: You can give towards that, just as a way to help you.
Speaker 1: Just take, move forward, move forward.
Speaker 1: We love you, ethan, come meet her on the side.
Speaker 1: Just Just, the New Testament church in action.
Speaker 1: They saw a need and they met the needs and then it says every day they continue to meet together in temple courts.
Speaker 1: There it is again.
Speaker 1: They broke bread in their homes.
Speaker 1: Man, I hope some of you will leave this place after signing up for a small group and gather a group of people and just go take over a restaurant.
Speaker 1: Last week we got a picture which, by the way, last week's student takeover how incredible it's reasons why we say there is no place like this place near this place, because literally to watch our students, the now generation, lead from the youngest, little allegra, leading in worship, just hands raised, singing, she's got the most beautiful voice to our students and them preaching the word of God and the energy in the room.
Speaker 1: Pastor Matthew, thank you for what you're doing for our students, thank you for how you're leading them, literally, our students and our young adults.
Speaker 1: They are a representation of this passage of scripture.
Speaker 1: So they broke bread and anyways, I said I'll say that they sent us a picture of them taking over the restaurant, uh, echo, here in Oak Park having tacos and just like took over the whole place.
Speaker 1: Come on church, gather a group of people and go eat together today, like it is, it is part of what makes us the church is when we break bread together.
Speaker 1: Anyways.
Speaker 1: They broke bread in their homes and they ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people, and the Lord added to their number daily, those who are being saved.
Speaker 1: My question for you is and I'll never get through this message I'm done Because they're playing me out Like what am I going to preach?
Speaker 1: Preach another hour with you guys, tell me I'm done with my message without telling me I'm done with my message.
Speaker 1: Listen, is that the kind of community you're experiencing?
Speaker 1: And if it's not, it can be.
Speaker 1: Attending on a Sunday service should not be the full experience of your church life experience.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's great, who's got it better than us?
Speaker 1: I mean, this amazing band, great's got it better than us?
Speaker 1: I mean, it's amazing band, great worship, sounds good, beautiful building in the heart of Oak Park, most desired neighborhood in Chicago.
Speaker 1: Like, oh, who's got it better than us?
Speaker 1: But it doesn't just have to be this.
Speaker 1: So if your community that you're experiencing is not what we've just demonstrated today, what do you do?
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what you do.
Speaker 1: You get in a small group and you get to know people around you that want to know you and know you, and and get around people that will help you grow in your relationship with the Lord, because great preaching is going to inspire you, I hope.
Speaker 1: I hope this message inspires you, but great relationship is what grows you, and I just think small groups saved my life.
Speaker 1: I might have been an 18-year-old loud mouth, always in trouble, but you know what?
Speaker 1: The small group saved my life and there's a small group for you that will save your life.
Speaker 1: Last year, first gathering of my small group last fall, I've shared this testimony before.
Speaker 1: Christian is back there, sitting back there.
Speaker 1: By the way, you're gonna start sitting up front with me, christian.
Speaker 1: I just decided I don't like you back there.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be right here.
Speaker 1: Christian comes into our small group and as we close the first Monday night football group, at halftime we're gonna do prayer and I say a few words about the message or about the church and I was like I open up for prayer requests and typically the first time the guys are like I'm good, I'm good, I'm good, like the women's small group.
Speaker 1: They're all crying and like they fix the entire world in the first 45 minutes of their small group fix the entire world in the first 45 minutes of their small group.
Speaker 1: And the guys were just having a cheeseburger, like I barely finished my fries.
Speaker 1: And Christian's like listen, I didn't even want to come today because, honestly, I've been having I've shared this testimony before and he's like I've been having thoughts of self-harm Do I really, is my life really worth it?
Speaker 1: Do I really matter?
Speaker 1: And in that restaurant, that little pub, out on the patio watching Monday night football, a group of guys got up out of their seat and stood next to and around encircled Christian, and we put holy hands on him and we prayed for him in the middle of the entire deal and just prayed over his life.
Speaker 1: And I watched the men of God in that group, some men just beginning their relationship with God, some strong and sure in their foundation of faith, begin to speak to Christian and encourage him.
Speaker 1: And through the week, through that Slack channel, I watched as they would text him and say, man, you're going to be all right, you're going to make it.
Speaker 1: And Christian would say I'm praying about this for my life and my career.
Speaker 1: And they would say you got this, you got this.
Speaker 1: And, man, two or three weeks ago Christian got engaged to be married because God is good Literally went from a space of does my life matter to loving Jesus, serving in the church, filling the house with praise and taking the girl of his dreams with him for the rest of his life.
Speaker 1: God is so good.
Speaker 1: I could keep going, but I need to stop.
Speaker 1: Our small group leaders are gonna get up right now and I want you guys to go down the front stairs right here, so you have to walk like towards the front if you're sitting further back.
Speaker 1: But our small group leaders are going to go down and take their spot in the lobby and our Renee help team, the help desk, is going to go down there and get them a chance to get set up and be ready.
Speaker 1: Give them a chance to get set up and be ready.
Speaker 1: Listen, it's very clear in scripture two things.
Speaker 1: I'm closing right here.
Speaker 1: I didn't even get to love like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Let me just tell you it's in your notes you gotta love unconditionally, you gotta love sacrificially and you gotta love transformationally.
Speaker 1: You read those scriptures.
Speaker 1: Read those scriptures.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'll come back and preach a message about it later and pick this back up, but the Bible's very clear.
Speaker 1: We go to God for salvation and we go to one another for healing.
Speaker 1: The Bible says confess your faults to one another and you'll be healed.
Speaker 1: If you've never begun a relationship with Jesus, I hope today's service has showed you there is a God who loves you so much he sent his son to die on a cross for you that if you'll just believe that and, like Paul said in Romans 10, nine, confess it with your mouth, you'll'll be saved.
Speaker 1: We go to God for salvation, but then I want to.
Speaker 1: So there's two parts of this close number one if you've never made that decision, would you just raise your hand and say, pc, I want to make that decision right now, all over this room.
Speaker 1: I'm not even going to have anybody close their eyes or look away, because this is nothing to be ashamed of, but I'm going to make a decision to follow Jesus today.
Speaker 1: Let me see your hands all over this room.
Speaker 1: Let me see I see hands back there.
Speaker 1: I see hands.
Speaker 1: Come on, all right, good.
Speaker 1: We go to God for salvation.
Speaker 1: We're going to pray a prayer in a minute over that.
Speaker 1: But the next thing is we go to one another for healing and one another going to one another is the context of a small group, and I'm going to tell you what it is a commitment.
Speaker 1: It's about eight weeks of commitment.
Speaker 1: It will change your life and you could be the next Christian, going from a place of feeling alone to having your whole family surrounding you on the most exciting day of your life.
Speaker 1: And your family, your small group family.
Speaker 1: They're going to love you, care for you.
Speaker 1: They might buy you a car, I don't know, but you never know.