SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hole.
SPEAKER_00: I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior.
SPEAKER_00: Embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Today, be encouraged with a word from my guest speaker.
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Born for War podcast.
SPEAKER_02: My name is Al McCosland.
SPEAKER_02: I'm one of the pastors here.
SPEAKER_02: How many by a show of hands have not heard me preach on a Sunday morning?
SPEAKER_02: So this is going to be fun.
SPEAKER_02: So fasten your seat belts.
SPEAKER_02: We're in for a ride.
SPEAKER_02: Today I'm going to be talking about community groups.
SPEAKER_02: I can think of no better segue than to introduce our newest member of our staff, and that's Shanna when you stand up.
SPEAKER_02: This is Shanna Corum.
SPEAKER_02: For those of you that don't know Shanna, she is a fire plug.
SPEAKER_02: And so she is our assistant community group director, which would be under me, but I am so excited about all the giftings that she brings to the table.
SPEAKER_02: So let's give her a hand.
SPEAKER_02: Can we just uh open in prayer?
SPEAKER_02: Lord, would you come?
SPEAKER_02: Would you open our hearts, open our minds to receive all that you have for us today?
SPEAKER_02: We invite you to come, come and have your way amongst us.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, I pray that the value of being in a community group would be saturated and permeated in every member today.
SPEAKER_02: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you, show of hands, would say that you know that you know the value of anything is determined by the price you're willing to pay for it.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_02: The value really of anything is determined by the price you're willing to pay for it.
SPEAKER_02: A Rembrandt will sell for millions of dollars.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because people value them very highly.
SPEAKER_02: It reminds me of a story about Walter and Ethel.
SPEAKER_02: Walter and Ethel were a couple that every year they went to the state fair.
SPEAKER_02: They had a routine.
SPEAKER_02: Ethel would get a corn dog, Walter would get a hot dog, they'd share some cotton candy, they'd play a few games or take a few rides.
SPEAKER_02: Then Walter would nudge Ethel and he'd say, Ethel, this year I would really, really like to take a helicopter ride over the whole state fairground.
SPEAKER_02: It would be really, really great.
SPEAKER_02: And Ethel would say, Oh, Walter, you know that's a lot of money for a couple like us.
SPEAKER_02: It's$50.
SPEAKER_02: And after all,$50 is$50.
SPEAKER_02: Walter would hang his head in shame and he'd say, Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right, dear.
SPEAKER_02: $50 is a lot of money.
SPEAKER_02: $50 is$50.
SPEAKER_02: This went on year after year, decade after decade, until this year.
SPEAKER_02: This year something happened.
SPEAKER_02: Walter turned$87.
SPEAKER_02: So this year they went to the state fair again and they had their routine.
SPEAKER_02: Ethel would get a corn dog, Walter would get a hot dog, they'd share some cotton candy, do a couple games, take a couple rides.
SPEAKER_02: But this year, Walter nudged Ethel and he said, Ethel, this year I'd really, really, really like to take a helicopter ride over the whole state fairgrounds.
SPEAKER_02: I think it would be really, really, really great.
SPEAKER_02: And Ethel said, Walter, Walter, Walter.
SPEAKER_02: We talk about this every year.
SPEAKER_02: You know it's a lot of money for a couple like us.
SPEAKER_02: It's$50.
SPEAKER_02: And after all,$50 is$50.
SPEAKER_02: But this year, Walter stood up for himself.
SPEAKER_02: He said, Ethel, I'm 87 years old.
SPEAKER_02: There might not be another year.
SPEAKER_02: And just as soon as he said that, wouldn't you know?
SPEAKER_02: The helicopter pilot happened to be walking by and overheard the conversation.
SPEAKER_02: So, guys, I'll tell you what.
SPEAKER_02: This year, why don't I give you a free ride, helicopter ride over the whole state fairgrounds?
SPEAKER_02: I won't miss a thing.
SPEAKER_02: But if I hear a word out of any of you, well, I'm gonna charge you 50 bucks.
SPEAKER_02: If I hear even as much as a peep out of you,$50.
SPEAKER_02: Walter smiled at Ethel, and Ethel smiled at Walter, and they looked at each other and said, We can do this.
SPEAKER_02: And Ethel said, After all, free is free.
SPEAKER_02: So the helicopter pilot took him up, and wanting to get his money out of the couple, he did a loop-de-loop.
SPEAKER_02: He did a death spiral.
SPEAKER_02: Not even a word out of either one of them.
SPEAKER_02: So he tried new death-defying tactics he'd never done before.
SPEAKER_02: Not even a peep out of every one of them.
SPEAKER_02: So a few minutes later, disappointed, he landed the helicopter and he said to Walter over his shoulder, You know, Walter, I'm pretty impressed.
SPEAKER_02: I thought for sure when I did the loop-de-loop and the death spiral, you guys would be screaming, but not a word out of any of you.
SPEAKER_02: And when I tried those new death-defying tactics, I'd never done them before, Walter.
SPEAKER_02: So when I did those, not even so much as a peep out of any of you.
SPEAKER_02: Walter said, Well, you know, I sure was tempted to say something about halfway through during the loop-de-loop and the death spiral and when Ethel fell out.
SPEAKER_02: But one thing Ethel's taught me is$50 is$50.
SPEAKER_02: The value of anything is determined by the price you're willing to pay for it.
SPEAKER_02: I woke up this morning and said to the Holy Spirit, let's see if we can ingrain the value of being in a community group to the congregation this morning.
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, community groups are called many things: small groups, life groups, cell groups, D groups, C groups, home groups, house churches.
SPEAKER_02: But the common denominators are all small groups and meeting homes.
SPEAKER_02: In 1976, Chris Christian wrote a song.
SPEAKER_02: And just think about that name for a minute.
SPEAKER_02: Chris Christian.
SPEAKER_02: If you want to evangelize your neighborhood, can you think of a better name?
SPEAKER_02: You know, it's like, what's your name?
SPEAKER_02: John the Baptist?
SPEAKER_02: You know?
SPEAKER_02: Chris Christian.
SPEAKER_02: So he wrote a song that says, We've got to get back to the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: And it goes something like this, and forgive my voice, because I've got a voice that makes old ladies run for blocks.
SPEAKER_02: So we've got to get back to the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: We've got to get back to the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: We've got to get back, or pretty soon we'll be running in the wrong direction.
SPEAKER_02: We've got to get back to the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: So let's get back to the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: If you have your Bible today, I've got a bunch of scriptures we're going to put on the screen.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm just going to go over them.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to read them kind of quickly, but anytime anyone's speaking up here, if you have the app, another good reason to get the app, you can look on there in their sermon notes.
SPEAKER_02: So you can print those off of your phone and you can write in.
SPEAKER_02: But the first one is Acts 2, 46, 47.
SPEAKER_02: So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all people.
SPEAKER_02: And the Lord added to the church daily those that were being saved.
SPEAKER_02: Acts 5 42.
SPEAKER_02: And daily in the temple and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
SPEAKER_02: How about Acts 12, 12?
SPEAKER_02: So when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered and were praying.
SPEAKER_02: Acts 20, 20.
SPEAKER_02: How I kept nothing back and nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly from house to house.
SPEAKER_02: Romans 16, 3 through 5.
SPEAKER_02: Greet Priscilla and Aquila and my fellow workers in Christ who risk their own necks for my life, who not only I give thanks, but also the churches of the Gentiles likewise greet the church that is in their house.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Corinthians 16 19.
SPEAKER_02: The churches of Asia greet you, Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord with the church that is in their house.
SPEAKER_02: Colossians 4.15.
SPEAKER_02: Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea in Nymphus and the church that is in his house.
SPEAKER_02: Philamon or Philemon, you can say it either way.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, when I first got saved, I knew nothing about God.
SPEAKER_02: For two years I thought Nebuchadnezzar was Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_02: So I thought Malachi was Malachi, the Italian prophet.
SPEAKER_02: So you could say this either.
SPEAKER_02: Philemon, Philamon 1, verses 1 through 2, Paul, prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved friend and fellow laborer, to beloved Athea and Archipas, our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house.
SPEAKER_02: The common denominator on all these is they met in homes.
SPEAKER_02: There's a reason for that, I believe, and I'll mention it in a minute.
SPEAKER_02: Another common denominator is they met daily.
SPEAKER_02: So that's what the Bible says about the early church.
SPEAKER_02: What does history tell us?
SPEAKER_02: Well, all this time the believers were being persecuted.
SPEAKER_02: There were two mass persecutions.
SPEAKER_02: One happened in 249 A.D.
SPEAKER_02: with the Emperor Decius, and again in 303 A.D.
SPEAKER_02: with the Emperor Diocletian.
SPEAKER_02: And they rounded up people.
SPEAKER_02: And the reason they didn't meet in big groups is because it was easier to round up.
SPEAKER_02: It's harder to round them up when they're meeting in so many different houses scattered throughout the city.
SPEAKER_02: But then something happened.
SPEAKER_02: A few years later, Constantine got saved.
SPEAKER_02: He became a Roman emperor.
SPEAKER_02: And in 313, at the Edict of Milan, he made Christianity legal.
SPEAKER_02: And so it was at that time after that that they started building churches.
SPEAKER_02: The other thing they did is they put the pastor, the bishop, or the leader up on a pulpit and speaking down at the congregation.
SPEAKER_02: I think those two things are detrimental.
SPEAKER_02: The church took a step backwards.
SPEAKER_02: It's much easier to minister to people in a small group and when you're speaking with them and not at them.
SPEAKER_02: So today let's talk about the six top values for being a community group.
SPEAKER_02: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_02: Number one.
SPEAKER_02: Community groups provide community.
SPEAKER_02: Go figure, right?
SPEAKER_02: Even the word community.
SPEAKER_02: Don't you love that?
SPEAKER_02: Come unity.
SPEAKER_02: Community.
SPEAKER_02: Come union.
SPEAKER_02: Communion.
SPEAKER_02: Who doesn't like unity and union?
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says where there's unity, he commands a blessing.
SPEAKER_02: And the place of unity is always the place of power.
SPEAKER_02: Community.
SPEAKER_02: Community groups provide a sense of belonging.
SPEAKER_02: I think people are born with three B's.
SPEAKER_02: Desire to be, belong, and beget.
SPEAKER_02: Even premature babies want to be.
SPEAKER_02: They struggle for survivor.
SPEAKER_02: People want to belong.
SPEAKER_02: They want to be a part of something that's bigger than themselves.
SPEAKER_02: And people want to beget.
SPEAKER_02: They want to create after their own kind.
SPEAKER_02: Be, belong, and beget.
SPEAKER_02: Community groups give you a sense of belonging.
SPEAKER_02: Community groups are a great place to develop long-lasting relationships.
SPEAKER_02: It's hard to develop that sometimes at church.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because the only time we really have to talk is before church and after church.
SPEAKER_02: During church, you have the sermon, you have worship.
SPEAKER_02: So there's 10, 15 minutes before, 10, 15 minutes afterwards.
SPEAKER_02: But when you go to a community group, you're going to someone's house, you might be there a few hours.
SPEAKER_02: You really get to know people.
SPEAKER_02: Think about it.
SPEAKER_02: We were created for community.
SPEAKER_02: Community groups turn a large church into close family-knit units where everyone knows and supports one another, and everyone knows your name.
SPEAKER_02: Remember the show, Cheers, everyone knows your name.
SPEAKER_02: That's what it's like at a community group.
SPEAKER_02: You know, we have like up to 400 guys on Tuesday for our men's breakfast right here in this room, and I'm meeting or greeting each one of them as they're coming in.
SPEAKER_02: I try to name off as many names as I can.
SPEAKER_02: I've yet to name off all 400, but but I know a ton of them, you know, so everybody likes to be recognized.
SPEAKER_02: We were created for community.
SPEAKER_02: Genesis 2.18 says it's not good for man to be alone.
SPEAKER_02: He created Eve.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, we were not meant to be in isolation.
SPEAKER_02: One of the greatest things or the worst things the devil does is he isolates us.
SPEAKER_02: When we're by ourselves, we just naturally think of worst-case scenarios.
SPEAKER_02: We need people, we need community.
SPEAKER_02: Typically, the smaller the group, studies have shown the smaller the group, the greater the engagement from people.
SPEAKER_02: People talk more when they're in smaller groups.
SPEAKER_02: They're less intimidated than when they're in a big group.
SPEAKER_02: Large groups promote passivity.
SPEAKER_02: It's easy to hide in a large group.
SPEAKER_02: When the group gets bigger, we become more of an audience and less of a family and less of community.
SPEAKER_02: You know, many people measure the depth of their, or the depth of their wealth by the depth of their relationships, the degree of their wealth by the depth of their relationships.
SPEAKER_02: There's no greater place to develop relationships than in community groups.
SPEAKER_02: I said before we can't do this on our own.
SPEAKER_02: No man is an island.
SPEAKER_02: No woman is an island.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you heard the expression, God wants to take us beyond our wildest dreams?
SPEAKER_02: Most people.
SPEAKER_02: I think the problem is for most people, we've forgotten how to dream wildly.
SPEAKER_02: Tonight, ask God to invade your dreams.
SPEAKER_02: Where you're dreaming the kind of dreams that are so big, so vast, so beyond your capabilities that you're bound to fail at unless God comes and intervenes or he sends people to your side.
SPEAKER_02: But know this when you dream a dream that God gives you, rest assured it will always come a couple sizes too big for you to grow into.
SPEAKER_02: Because you can't accomplish it on your own if God gives it to you.
SPEAKER_02: When a baby is learning how to crawl, I feel like I'm childlike, I feel like I'm always crawling.
SPEAKER_02: But a baby might see a toy 10 feet away, and it's like, whoo, you know, and it wants to get that toy.
SPEAKER_02: It's got to learn to reach and stretch and grow and do things it's never done before, move in ways it's never done before to reach that toy.
SPEAKER_02: Community groups help us do that, reach beyond our limitations.
SPEAKER_02: We need each other, we need community.
SPEAKER_02: Ed Cole, he's a hero of the faith to me.
SPEAKER_02: You may or may not be familiar with him.
SPEAKER_02: He had a national men's ministry and he had so many great quotes.
SPEAKER_02: I got six pages of Ed Cole isms.
SPEAKER_02: One is truth is absolute, but our perception of it is fragmentary.
SPEAKER_02: Meaning we only see part of the puzzle.
SPEAKER_02: That's why we desperately need others in our lives so we can see the big picture.
SPEAKER_02: We need that.
SPEAKER_02: One of my favorite sayings is just as metal shavings are attracted to a magnet, our vibe will attract our tribe.
SPEAKER_02: You can tell if you're talking to another believer within a matter of 30 seconds to a minute if they're swimming in the same spiritual stream as you.
SPEAKER_02: I always say it takes a long time to make an old friend.
SPEAKER_02: But you know, old friends had to start somewhere, right?
SPEAKER_02: When you get to a community group, let that be your somewhere.
SPEAKER_02: A year later, they might be some of the best friends you've ever had.
SPEAKER_02: Community groups just naturally speed up that process.
SPEAKER_02: Number two, community groups provide equipping.
SPEAKER_02: They're a powerful tool to provide equipping and training to develop spiritual growth.
SPEAKER_02: Smaller groups provide an environment where people can openly discuss their faith, ask questions, explore biblical teachings in a much greater depth, and they can do it without the intimidation of being in a large crowd.
SPEAKER_02: 2 Peter says, God has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness.
SPEAKER_02: If God has given us all things, what's he given us?
SPEAKER_02: Well, he's endowed each of you with characteristics and traits and gifts and talents and assets that set you apart from everyone else on earth.
SPEAKER_02: Steve, there's never been anyone else on earth like you.
SPEAKER_02: There'll never be a Steve like you in the future.
SPEAKER_02: And when God created you, Steve, he put so much of himself in you that he said, I don't need another Steve.
SPEAKER_02: One is enough.
SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, well, one is enough.
SPEAKER_02: He's pretty, pretty amazing guys.
SPEAKER_02: But they provide equipping.
SPEAKER_02: People are less intimidated to pray for someone in a smaller setting, or have a word of knowledge, or a word of wisdom, or prophesy for someone, or exercise their spiritual gifts and see them developed.
SPEAKER_02: What if they screw up?
SPEAKER_02: Well, you're surrounded by family and friends that are gonna nurse you back to health.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Corinthians 14, 26 says, whenever you come together, each of you have a psalm, a teaching, a tongue, a revelation, an interpretation.
SPEAKER_02: Let all be things, all things be done for edification.
SPEAKER_02: It's hard to do in a big setting for each of you to have one of those, but in a smaller setting, you can do that.
SPEAKER_02: Smaller settings allows everyone to participate and grow.
SPEAKER_02: Another thing smaller settings offer is confidentiality.
SPEAKER_02: And when that happens, people tend to open up.
SPEAKER_02: So, number three, community groups provide encouragement.
SPEAKER_02: If you've been around me for any length of time, you've heard me say this saying, and that is so many people have gone so much farther than they ever thought they could because someone else thought they could.
SPEAKER_02: When we believe in people, they end up amazing themselves and us two along the way.
SPEAKER_02: God has never looked in your mirror and wished he'd seen someone else.
SPEAKER_02: Even on your darkest days when you've really screwed up, he looks at you and he's giddy.
SPEAKER_02: He's happy to see you, he loves you.
SPEAKER_02: You know, we're all our own worst enemies at times, would you agree?
SPEAKER_02: We find ourselves in the holes that we've dug ourselves into, and then what do we do?
SPEAKER_02: We kick ourselves for being in the hole.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus comes along, sees the hole I've dug myself into, and it's deep.
SPEAKER_02: And he looks at the hole and he smiles, he looks at me and he smiles.
SPEAKER_02: And he comes and he puts his arm around me.
SPEAKER_02: Instead of busting on me for the hole I've dug myself into, he does just the opposite.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Ow, what a great foundation you've dug.
SPEAKER_02: Because instead of seeing me in the misery of my failure, he chooses to see me in the fulfillment of his purposes for my life.
SPEAKER_02: So probably about 25 years ago, I said, God, open my eyes so I can see the prisms of your presence, so I can see what you see.
SPEAKER_02: Open my ears to hear the frequencies of heaven so I can hear what you hear.
SPEAKER_02: Open my heart and my hands to touch and love people like you do.
SPEAKER_02: So I started seeing people, not for who they were or who they are.
SPEAKER_02: I started seeing them for these gifts that are within them and for who they can become.
SPEAKER_02: 400 people in the men's breakfast.
SPEAKER_02: I've probably taken, I would say 200 out for breakfast.
SPEAKER_02: My heart is to see the gifts, especially at men, draw those gifts out of them, equip them in their gifting, and release them to be everything they're called to be as men and women.
SPEAKER_02: You know, there's nothing in a caterpillar that tells it it's gonna be a butterfly.
SPEAKER_02: Likewise, in each of you lies the spectacular.
SPEAKER_02: We draw that out of people by encouraging them.
SPEAKER_02: God's not a mass producer, he's a handcrafter.
SPEAKER_02: He grows each of us a little bit differently, and we're all unfinished versions of what we can become.
SPEAKER_02: So we're all able to change.
SPEAKER_02: There's no greater place to encourage someone than in a community group, even smiling at people.
SPEAKER_02: I say smiling is contagious, try it and see.
SPEAKER_02: Turn to your neighbor and smile at them, see if they smile back.
SPEAKER_02: Smiling is contagious.
SPEAKER_02: I say smiling has the same effect, people, on people that sunlight has on an unbudded rose.
SPEAKER_02: It may allow a struggling life to blossom once again.
SPEAKER_02: I tell this story about smiling at people.
SPEAKER_02: Years ago, when my two of my kids were still at home, I have four kids, they're all grown.
SPEAKER_02: My grandbabies are growing up.
SPEAKER_02: My oldest granddaughter called me up a couple months ago and said, I'm getting married.
SPEAKER_02: I Can't think of a way to make my day more special than for you to perform the ceremony.
SPEAKER_02: Will you do that?
SPEAKER_02: And I cried.
SPEAKER_02: Then my number two grandchild called me up and said, I'm gonna be a mommy.
SPEAKER_02: And I thought, I'm gonna be a great grandpa, you know?
SPEAKER_02: And uh people said, How does that happen?
SPEAKER_02: I said, Well, when you have kids when you're seven, I guess that that happens.
SPEAKER_02: I wanted to wait till I was eight, but you know, I mean, I didn't have the willpower to hold off.
SPEAKER_02: But so I'm gonna be a great grandpa, and my and my one granddaughter's getting married, my other one.
SPEAKER_02: So um, smiling at people.
SPEAKER_02: So when my youngest two, Hannah and Sarah, Hannah Eileen means graceful bearer of the light, Sarah Elizabeth means princess set apart for God.
SPEAKER_02: When they were teenagers, but not yet driving age, they wanted me to take them to the mall during Christmas time for Christmas shopping.
SPEAKER_02: Can I tell you, I hate the mall with a passion.
SPEAKER_02: The big crowd and everything.
SPEAKER_02: If I go there, I'm on my own, I make a beeline for the shops I like, see a couple shades of blue, do a little power shopping, get the heck out.
SPEAKER_02: I hate it.
SPEAKER_02: But when I'm taking my kids there, I know I'm gonna be there for a few hours.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like a captive audience, right?
SPEAKER_02: But every mall on either end has these comfortable chairs, right?
SPEAKER_02: You can sit down in.
SPEAKER_02: I think they created them and put them there for guys like me.
SPEAKER_02: So the one year they said, Dad, you got one job, guard the packages.
SPEAKER_02: I said, I can do that.
SPEAKER_02: So these chairs are comfortable.
SPEAKER_02: I sat in that chair and I was really relaxed, and next thing you know, I'm snoring.
SPEAKER_02: I was there snoring for a good while.
SPEAKER_02: I woke myself up snoring.
SPEAKER_02: I woke up and I stretched, oblivious to the packages that were all around me.
SPEAKER_02: And I went to the other end of the mall and I sat down in that chair and I fell asleep in that one.
SPEAKER_02: The girls found me and they said, Dad, where are the packages?
SPEAKER_02: I said, Packages?
SPEAKER_02: And we went to the lost and found someone turned them in, thank God.
SPEAKER_02: Knock on what?
SPEAKER_02: They said, So the next year they said, Dad, you got two jobs.
SPEAKER_02: Stay awake and guard the packages.
SPEAKER_02: So I said, How am I gonna stay awake?
SPEAKER_02: I thought, well, maybe I'll just smile at people and see what kind of effect it has, right?
SPEAKER_02: But I didn't want to give them any old ordinary smile.
SPEAKER_02: I wanted to give them a cat that ate the canary kind of grin, you know, a big cheesy grin.
SPEAKER_02: So I did that with everybody I was walking by.
SPEAKER_02: Some people give me the thumbs up, smile back at me.
SPEAKER_02: Some people looked at me like this guy is weird, you know.
SPEAKER_02: I know I never get offended if someone thinks I'm weird.
SPEAKER_02: God told me a long time ago, the loudest boos come from the cheapest seats.
SPEAKER_02: And so he said, I like you, and that's all that matters.
SPEAKER_02: And so I was smiling at people.
SPEAKER_02: This happened Saturday and Sunday after church, it happened also.
SPEAKER_02: And this guy comes up to me Sunday, he says, You were here yesterday.
SPEAKER_02: I said, That's right, and so were you.
SPEAKER_02: He says, huh?
SPEAKER_02: I said, I remember you.
SPEAKER_02: You had a blue jean jacket on and a baseball cap.
SPEAKER_02: He said, That's right.
SPEAKER_02: He said, Let me tell you about my last three days.
SPEAKER_02: Three days ago, I came home from work and there was a Dear John letter on the table, and my wife left with my baby, the baby boy.
SPEAKER_02: I thought my life had ended.
SPEAKER_02: Yesterday, before you saw me, I went into work and they fired me.
SPEAKER_02: When you saw me, I was walking through the mall to go to the sporting goods store at the other end of the mall to buy some ammo for my gun to end it all.
SPEAKER_02: But then you saw me, and you smiled at me.
SPEAKER_02: And something happened, something changed.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe for the first time in years, I felt a little sense of hope.
SPEAKER_02: And I had to come back today to see if you were here.
SPEAKER_02: I had him sit down and told him all about Jesus and how much he loved him and that God had a purpose and a plan for his life, and he ended up accepting the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Folks, all I did was smile.
SPEAKER_02: There's no greater place than to build up people and encourage him than in a community group.
SPEAKER_02: Number four, community groups are a great vehicle for outreach and evangelism.
SPEAKER_02: It's the perfect platform to evangelize your neighborhood by inviting friends and neighbors.
SPEAKER_02: It creates this disarming environment where newcomers feel comfortable to explore their faith.
SPEAKER_02: There's a church in Baltimore called The Rock Church by Bart Pierce was a pastor.
SPEAKER_02: Or it was.
SPEAKER_02: I haven't checked in on them in the last good few years.
SPEAKER_02: But um, they had something called Adopt a Block.
SPEAKER_02: Once a month they'd take an offering called Adopt a Block.
SPEAKER_02: When they had enough money, they'd they'd buy a house, move a Christian family in there from church, give it to them free, and just said, have block parties every week till the whole block gets saved.
SPEAKER_02: I thought, what a great idea.
SPEAKER_02: So the last time I checked in on them was like 2007.
SPEAKER_02: At that time, they had bought 34 houses.
SPEAKER_02: They also had intercessors raised out raised up for every member of the Baltimore Police Department.
SPEAKER_02: So it's a great place to evangelize.
SPEAKER_02: When I was in first married back in the 18th century, we we were the youngest small group leaders in the church.
SPEAKER_02: 20 years old, we had the biggest small group, 40 families.
SPEAKER_02: It was like a church.
SPEAKER_02: Every week I'd knock on 40 doors, tell people to come, come and just eat.
SPEAKER_02: You don't even have to stay for the Bible study.
SPEAKER_02: I'd say that to the non-believers.
SPEAKER_02: And they'd eat and they'd feel compelled to stay, and 26 of those 40 families end up getting saved.
SPEAKER_02: So it's a great place to evangelize.
SPEAKER_02: Community groups can organize local service projects, volunteer activities, and other outreach efforts, extending the church's impact beyond its walls.
SPEAKER_02: I'd like to say we catch a lot more fish outside the boat than you do inside.
SPEAKER_02: That's what community groups can do.
SPEAKER_02: Number five, community groups they provide accountability.
SPEAKER_02: It's been proven relationships develop much quicker in smaller settings.
SPEAKER_02: People foster a sense of commitment and accountability to one another.
SPEAKER_02: If Betty and Bob are going to the community group tonight, I'm gonna go because I like them, they're fun, and uh, if they go, they're gonna be expecting me to go.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to let them down, so I'll go.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's one reason to go.
SPEAKER_02: Community groups are a great place to develop bloodstained allies.
SPEAKER_02: Pastor Steve coined that term years ago, and it's really people digging in the trenches with you, fighting the war with you.
SPEAKER_02: It's a great term.
SPEAKER_02: We tend to be like the five, six people we hang out with the most.
SPEAKER_02: Who are your five or six people?
SPEAKER_02: I give the illustration that when you die, you have six to eight people to pick you up and carry you as a pole bearer at your funeral.
SPEAKER_02: Wouldn't it be great to have six to eight people to pick you up and carry you when you're alive?
SPEAKER_02: That's what being in a community group can be.
SPEAKER_02: On our men's breakfast, we have sixty tables with seven chairs every table.
SPEAKER_02: There's nine, ten, eleven, twelve guys assigned to every table.
SPEAKER_02: I know lives are fluid, nine, ten, eleven, twelve twelve guys don't normally show up, but sometimes they do, and sometimes they're packed.
SPEAKER_02: Um, but they developed, they become blood-stained allies.
SPEAKER_02: Mentoring and discipleship are a natural byproduct of community groups.
SPEAKER_02: Proverbs 27, 17 says, as iron sharpens iron, so also a man sharpens the countenance of a friend.
SPEAKER_02: It's a great place to hold each other accountable.
SPEAKER_02: Number six, community groups help us define our priorities.
SPEAKER_02: You know, we tend to realize who we are in the context of other people.
SPEAKER_02: Have you noticed that?
SPEAKER_02: I think we're all addicted to speed.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody.
SPEAKER_02: The world has never gone faster than it's going right now.
SPEAKER_02: They say that knowledge in the earth is doubling right now at the rate of every 10 to 12 hours.
SPEAKER_02: It's never gonna get slower than it is right now.
SPEAKER_02: I say the biggest weapons of the enemy are weapons of mass distraction because there's so many things vying for our attention that we're addicted to speed.
SPEAKER_02: Because we think the faster we go, after all, the more things we can get done, right?
SPEAKER_02: But are we really getting the kind of things done that matter in life?
SPEAKER_02: The kind of things that matter in life, I don't believe, are conducive to being checked off on a to-do list.
SPEAKER_02: Things like spending time with your wife and your kids, developing relationships, developing community.
SPEAKER_02: How about this one?
SPEAKER_02: Loving your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_02: You know, I think we all do good, great, godly things throughout the day.
SPEAKER_02: We do them because they're good, great, godly Christian things.
SPEAKER_02: But for the most part, I don't think God's asked us to do hardly any of those things.
SPEAKER_02: We do them because we think they're the right thing to do.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus only didn't say what he saw his father say and do.
SPEAKER_02: I bet he said no to a lot of things.
SPEAKER_02: He would have had to if he only said yes to the things he saw his father say and do.
SPEAKER_02: So when we do all these good, great, godly Christian things, I believe three things happen.
SPEAKER_02: The first thing is we become distracted.
SPEAKER_02: Biggest weapons of the enemy are weapons of mass distracted.
SPEAKER_02: The enemy knows that if he distracts us, it can keep us from God's purpose for our lives.
SPEAKER_02: Number two, we become drained.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you just feel drained?
SPEAKER_02: Well, maybe you're doing something that God's never called you to do.
SPEAKER_02: His yoke is easy, his burden is light.
SPEAKER_02: If it's not, we're probably doing something he's never really asked us to do.
SPEAKER_02: And the third thing is by doing those things, it prevents the person that's supposed to be doing those things from doing them.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes less is more in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: In 2007, God woke me up at two in the morning.
SPEAKER_02: Said, Al, let's go for a walk.
SPEAKER_02: It was pitch blackout.
SPEAKER_02: I got dressed, headed out, I walked about a quarter mile.
SPEAKER_02: I sat down on the park bench, and God said, Al, you're so fast.
SPEAKER_02: I thought he was complimenting me.
SPEAKER_02: I said, Thank you.
SPEAKER_02: He said, Al, that's not it at all.
SPEAKER_02: You're so fast and you're so results-oriented.
SPEAKER_02: You see things five miles down the road.
SPEAKER_02: You're missing the people, the roses, your own family growing at your feet.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to jump off the rat race, Mary, go around.
SPEAKER_02: And I want you to begin to underwhelm your schedule on a daily basis, so I can overwhelm your soul again on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Right now, Al, you're just so busy that I can't even write love notes on the margins of your heart because there's no room.
SPEAKER_02: You're too busy.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes less is more.
SPEAKER_02: When things aren't adding up in your life, maybe it's time to start subtracting.
SPEAKER_02: Bob Goff, one of my favorite authors, says, Hey, it's Thursday.
SPEAKER_02: What can you subtract today?
SPEAKER_02: What can you get rid of today?
SPEAKER_02: How do you know when you've subtracted enough?
SPEAKER_02: When life's luxuries are no longer necessities, maybe you've subtracted enough.
SPEAKER_02: I tell people, if you're chasing two rabbits, you're not going to catch either one of them.
SPEAKER_02: What's the one thing God's called you to do?
SPEAKER_02: Find out what that is and do it with reckless abandonment.
SPEAKER_02: I believe God's speaking to some hearts even now about what I can do to prioritize things, to do the things that really matter, God.
SPEAKER_02: In a few days, I'm gonna be 65.
SPEAKER_02: That's still only a few years over nine in dog years.
SPEAKER_02: So I think I'm about nine or ten until I look in the mirror and it's like, who are you and what have you done with L?
SPEAKER_02: You know?
SPEAKER_02: So I but I think I'm young.
SPEAKER_02: Childlikeness is the standard for maturity in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: And to be overflowing with wonder and awe and hope and expectancy.
SPEAKER_02: I've never lost that.
SPEAKER_02: I wake up every single morning like a five-year-old on Christmas morning.
SPEAKER_02: And I think today could be the day that you break out in your sudden season.
SPEAKER_02: God, give me a do word and do season for everyone that crosses my path.
SPEAKER_02: But I'm at the age right now, I'm gonna be 65.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to play games.
SPEAKER_02: I'm tired of hype.
SPEAKER_02: I'm tired of church.
SPEAKER_02: I want God.
SPEAKER_02: I want a relationship.
SPEAKER_02: I want connection.
SPEAKER_02: I said, God, I want my life to matter.
SPEAKER_02: I want to win the world one heart at a time.
SPEAKER_02: Let my life matter.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the Forn for War podcast.
SPEAKER_01: We hope today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world.
SPEAKER_01: To connect with Pastor Steve's sermons, books, and blog, visit Steveholtonline.org.
SPEAKER_01: God bless.