SPEAKER_01: Hello, this is Pastor Roman Gerlock and Pastor Jim Anderson.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Resurrection Church Pioneerist.
SPEAKER_01: Each week we bring you Sunday's message from Resurrection Church right here in Racing, Wisconsin.
SPEAKER_01: So whether you're listening on the womb, driving to work, or just folding some laundry, or avoiding folding laundry, we hope this encourages your faith, challenges your perspective, and reminds you that resurrection isn't just something that happened.
SPEAKER_01: It's something God is still doing.
SPEAKER_01: Enjoy this week's message.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Happy Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Today's reading is from Hebrews chapter 10, verses 23 through 25.
SPEAKER_00: Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching.
SPEAKER_00: The word of our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_02: Well, good morning, everybody.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, you look all also dappered this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, you're so nicely dressed, John.
SPEAKER_02: Uh he he used to steal my clothes in college, and I think somehow there's a conspiracy, buddy.
SPEAKER_02: Like, like, look, what's we are literally wearing the same thing.
SPEAKER_02: Oh boy.
SPEAKER_02: Uh how do you even like do you call my wife Andrea?
SPEAKER_02: And you're like, what's he wearing today?
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna match my no?
SPEAKER_02: All right, all right, because my wife dresses me and wondering if that's a thing.
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, we've been going through a sermon series called Back to Basics.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we're just going back to the root, the heart of what Christianity is all about, from following Jesus to getting uh deeply embedded into prayer, living generously and beyond.
SPEAKER_02: And today we're talking about what it looks like to live in community, not only a general community, but a community centered in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: So, with that, dear church, let us pray.
SPEAKER_02: Good and gracious God, you are indeed good, you are indeed gracious.
SPEAKER_02: For all those times we miss that, pull us together on our low days and our high days.
SPEAKER_02: We know that you have called us to be a church, to support one another, to make you famous, and to grow uh just your kingdom by loving others and welcoming strangers in a holy way.
SPEAKER_02: And pray this in your holy name, as all God's people say.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: So, since we're talking about community, there's a lot of things as technology progresses that we can do on our own now.
SPEAKER_02: We we have grown up and we can do things on our own.
SPEAKER_02: And we actually don't need a lot of other people for these random things.
SPEAKER_02: Like we can shop without even entering a store, right?
SPEAKER_02: We just do the Amazon thing and Jeff Bezos brings it to your house.
SPEAKER_02: You can work without even entering an office, you can work from home.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, those numbers just increased uh the over the last couple of years.
SPEAKER_02: You can watch a cinematic movie without ever going to a theater.
SPEAKER_02: It's still impossible to watch without popcorn, though.
SPEAKER_02: You need that.
SPEAKER_02: You can order this amazing restaurant quality food without even talking to anyone.
SPEAKER_02: You can just Uber Eats or Grubhub or whatever you do, and it's at your doorstep.
SPEAKER_02: You don't even need to look at anyone.
SPEAKER_02: They just drop it off, right?
SPEAKER_02: You can do banking without talking to a teller or going to a bank, and you can even, you can even do church without leaving your house.
SPEAKER_02: You can listen to a podcast, you can watch our streaming service.
SPEAKER_02: You don't even have to get out of your PJs, you can sip your coffee from your couch, but for some reason, you all chose to be here on a Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, praise God to that.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I I think there's there's something that we've discovered is that community looks better when we're together.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: There's a bad year I'm gonna bring up.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe some of you blocked it out.
SPEAKER_02: Uh it it's it's called 2020.
SPEAKER_02: I know we're gonna go there for a little bit.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's funny listening back to like old old sermons or preachers preaching around uh this time of year because they're all like it's the new normal, abundance of caution, all these keywords we're using because it was a scary time, I get it.
SPEAKER_02: But my wife was wearing a shirt the other day that my old church from Orlando made, and I'm like, I don't think that makes sense anymore.
SPEAKER_02: It says Jesus loves you, but please wash your hands, which was great for 2020.
SPEAKER_02: But now it's like that's odd.
SPEAKER_02: What denomination are you?
SPEAKER_02: You know, okay, wash your hands.
SPEAKER_02: Is that does that mean something?
SPEAKER_02: Is that a minute?
SPEAKER_02: But we we all the church leaders out of abundance of caution, we told you all to stay home.
SPEAKER_02: We told you to stay home, and we also told you it's it's the same thing, it's the same thing.
SPEAKER_02: And I knew in my heart it was somewhat of a lie, but we abundance of caution, right?
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna be honest with you because that's what we do.
SPEAKER_02: I'm being honest with you, for the first couple weeks, it was amazing.
SPEAKER_02: Blamed my calendar was wide open, and I blamed everything on COVID.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I can't do that, it's uh COVID stuff, right?
SPEAKER_02: But at the same time, as uh my introvert side excelled, there was a growing amount of loss.
SPEAKER_02: There was grief happening in this season of 2020.
SPEAKER_02: My heart was aching for something more, and it was my community, my faith family.
SPEAKER_02: I missed it greatly, not even as a pastor, but as a as a human being, as a Christian.
SPEAKER_02: I missed my brothers and sisters in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: So today we're looking at the book of Hebrews, and they were going through something just uh tremendously uh impossible for us to even comprehend.
SPEAKER_02: They're getting persecuted by the Romans, they're getting persecuted by people, uh, and people from their congregation were just disappearing left and right because it got too hard.
SPEAKER_02: They'd experienced hardship, persecution, and some of them were just beginning to pull away from what it looked like to gather as a faith community.
SPEAKER_02: And so we're looking at that today.
SPEAKER_02: We don't know who the author was, but we assume it was someone that loved this church deeply because there is some rich stuff that was brought up in this text that we read.
SPEAKER_02: But there's some science I want to throw at you real quick.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, if you don't like science, just close your ears.
SPEAKER_02: But researchers discover that when people are deprived of community, of social interaction, the brain responds in the same craving circuitry as when we're deprived of food.
SPEAKER_02: Our brain lights up because it's hungry.
SPEAKER_02: It's it's this primal need of something more, this something that we need to survive.
SPEAKER_02: It's the same exact thing as food.
SPEAKER_02: Like we need community for our nutrients, for our health, our well-being.
SPEAKER_02: And it's just community is not just something nice to have.
SPEAKER_02: We were created for each other, not just solo.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, it's not a solo sport, right?
SPEAKER_02: Life.
SPEAKER_02: Here's another one for you.
SPEAKER_02: The mortality, this is a big one.
SPEAKER_02: The mortality of impact of being disconnected from community is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.
SPEAKER_02: Community is good for you.
SPEAKER_02: They're saying that being disconnected from a social source is is just physically bad for you, mentally bad for you, and spiritually bad for you.
SPEAKER_02: We were never meant to do this alone.
SPEAKER_02: It's easier and easier to be locked up in our own little fortress.
SPEAKER_02: But not life, not faith, and not church never ever meant to be alone.
SPEAKER_02: We were designed for something bigger for each other, for God.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna show you a piece of art.
SPEAKER_02: This is called a Lego brick.
SPEAKER_02: They're magnets for bare feet, uh right.
SPEAKER_02: On its own, it's pretty much worthless.
SPEAKER_02: What can I build with this?
SPEAKER_02: This one block, absolutely nothing.
SPEAKER_02: It is pointless.
SPEAKER_02: Throw it away, it's gabbage, not much, you can't build anything.
SPEAKER_02: But to they were made to connect, they were designed to build something together, they were designed for each other, and that's exactly what we were designed for.
SPEAKER_02: Listen to this text, it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_02: Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
SPEAKER_02: Spur each other on.
SPEAKER_02: I love that because there's so many things we see that are we're trying to press buttons to get a reaction.
SPEAKER_02: My wife is I'm I'm famous for that.
SPEAKER_02: I'm just like a little kid sometimes.
SPEAKER_02: I just like to poke her buttons, right?
SPEAKER_02: Like I like to uh get people get riled up and just get it.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: It's what I do, it's who I am.
SPEAKER_02: And if you've ever competed with my my buddy and uh brother in Christ, John Anderson, with anything board game uh bags, he even though the points are higher or lower, that doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_02: He will get in your head and he will win, he will rile you up, he will spur you on so that even if he loses, he really wins.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Chris, you know that for a fact, right?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, amen.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but here's here's the thing with this: this is not spur one another on to get a reaction.
SPEAKER_02: This isn't clickbait, this isn't rage bait, this isn't Racine has the worst Kringles in the world.
SPEAKER_02: No, you don't say that be uh out of this.
SPEAKER_02: This is spur one another on toward love.
SPEAKER_02: Well, what does it look like to push people's buttons to love them more and to let them know that they are loved and to push them to love more?
SPEAKER_02: What does it look like to go above and beyond to let that person know that they have dignity and worth and to spur them on into a manner of love?
SPEAKER_02: That is church.
SPEAKER_02: It's so holy and and good deeds, not giving up, meeting together.
SPEAKER_02: And he's talking about some other churches or some other uh congregations that stop doing that, but encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching, the day of our Lord coming again.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna give you a little secret.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe we didn't know this.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe we think that when we show up to church, God's like, oh, my day is just better, which is true.
SPEAKER_02: God loves it.
SPEAKER_02: It's a sweet song to God's ears when we worship together.
SPEAKER_02: It's beautiful, but God doesn't become better or worse because we show up.
SPEAKER_02: God doesn't need us coming to church.
SPEAKER_02: The reason he commands us to come on a Sabbath day is because it's for us.
SPEAKER_02: He knows it's good for us, he knows it's life-giving for us.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, we're all worshiping God together, but we're also doing this for one another.
SPEAKER_02: A lot of times I leave church thinking a very consumer mindset.
SPEAKER_02: What did I get out of worship today?
SPEAKER_02: The worship was great, sermon was a little bit too long.
SPEAKER_02: His there's like a reflection off his head, it kept blinding me.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna bring sunglasses next time.
SPEAKER_02: But what did I get out of worship today?
SPEAKER_02: I I just went to a movie with my son, the Spider-Man thing is pretty awesome.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was pretty good.
SPEAKER_02: But it was a very consumer mindset thing.
SPEAKER_02: I got the good spot, I got the biggest screen, I got the biggest popcorn, now I got a biggest stomach ache.
SPEAKER_02: Whatever it is, it's very me, me, me.
SPEAKER_02: It's all about consumerism.
SPEAKER_02: Whereas sometimes if we do it wrong, church can be all about me, me, me.
SPEAKER_02: I gotta sit in my pew, gotta get the right angle, looking at the pastor so he doesn't blind me with his forehead.
SPEAKER_02: But if we get come in here thinking it's all about us, we become complacent and it stops being about worship.
SPEAKER_02: What if we asked ourselves, not only what did I grow, how did I grow and get transformed today, but what did somebody else receive because of me?
SPEAKER_02: What if we looked around and saw that person and just decided this is where God is calling me to love today?
SPEAKER_02: Today, someone needs your encouragement, your laugh, your story, your wisdom, your presence, your prayer, you name it.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, God doesn't need us to be sitting in a church building, but people need you absolutely.
SPEAKER_02: And God calls us to be this together.
SPEAKER_02: That's called church, that's called community.
SPEAKER_02: And guess what?
SPEAKER_02: You need people too.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I I absolutely need people too.
SPEAKER_02: I'm the first one to admit I'd be I'd go above and beyond to help you, I promise.
SPEAKER_02: But if you offer help, I'll be like, nah, I got it myself as my back is breaking, doing whatever I'm doing.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes just letting someone help you is holy in itself.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: I'll give you another quote as we wrap up.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, Roman officials investigated Christian communities, the early church.
SPEAKER_02: They sent spies because they're hearing these things.
SPEAKER_02: Are are they cannibals?
SPEAKER_02: I hear they're eating the body and blood of their Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_02: What's happening here?
SPEAKER_02: Are they doing these things?
SPEAKER_02: Are they gonna uprise?
SPEAKER_02: Are they gonna try to overthrow us Romans?
SPEAKER_02: But they sent their people in and they came back with these reports that saying, man, they really love this Jesus guy.
SPEAKER_02: They love him so much, and it's crazy.
SPEAKER_02: They really love one another.
SPEAKER_02: A quote from a historian says, See how they love one another.
SPEAKER_02: We see that all throughout Acts, these people that just love, love and give and give.
SPEAKER_02: All throughout scripture, especially the New Testament.
SPEAKER_02: We see how they love one another, serve one another, forgive one another, bear burdens of one another, encourage one another, pray for one another, welcome one another.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: And you know this you can't one another by yourself.
SPEAKER_02: You cannot one another by yourself, and we're called to do this holy thing together.
SPEAKER_02: Life in communities holy.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, you have no idea how many times um, you know, as in college that John and I, there's times like I was up, he was down, and we'd lift each other up, I was down, he was up, we'd lift each other up, and that's just the beginning of what it looks like to be church together.
SPEAKER_02: Communities holy.
SPEAKER_02: I pray that church that we can find a way to to make this not a consumer uh thing, right?
SPEAKER_02: Where we can come in here, we can worship.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, it's a very passionately private thing, but it's also a very communal thing.
SPEAKER_02: We say we a lot.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, in first century Christianity, it was there wasn't really an individualistic way of doing it.
SPEAKER_02: It was always a we mentality, a culture, a tribalism, whatever you call it.
SPEAKER_02: So, church, my holy call to you today is what does it look like to grow in this church community together?
SPEAKER_02: What does it look like to before you before you even greet your best buddy sitting next to you, you go out and meet that stranger and love on them in a holy way?
SPEAKER_02: What do you say?
SPEAKER_02: Is it is that good homework for y'all?
SPEAKER_02: Should we end it there?
SPEAKER_02: Let's do that.
SPEAKER_02: All right, let's pray.
SPEAKER_02: Good and gracious God, we pray that we can be church together in a holy way.
SPEAKER_02: As we reflect on what it looked like uh back in 2020, where we were kind of shut in and alone and isolated, we pray that we can remember what it looks like to be together.
SPEAKER_02: God, thank you so much for the fact that we can get together and worship you in a community.
SPEAKER_02: Help us help our brothers and sisters in Christ and reach out to the stranger and let them know they are loved.
SPEAKER_02: We pray these things in all Christ's name as all God's people say.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.