WEBVTT 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:07.280 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:11.599 We exist to awaken this generation to a new life in Christ. 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:16.399 Thanks for tuning in to find out more at awakeningchurch.com. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:19.440 Wow, Awakening. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:22.879 I mean, last Sunday was incredible. 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:26.399 And I think last Sunday was so good for a couple of reasons. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:27.679 One, God is faithful. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:29.120 Our church is eight years old. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:29.839 Amen. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:31.199 And praise God. 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:43.600 Um, but secondly, it was just good to have a slice of normal church Sunday, albeit social distanced, masks, driving through, all of the precautions we took. 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:50.719 It still felt so good to have a Sunday that was a little bit like what we remember Sundays to be. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:53.600 And that's that's a little bit what I want to talk about today. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:01:04.560 I want to talk about the change that we've undergone through this pandemic, but particularly how it's affected church and how it's affected our experience of what church is. 00:01:04.799 --> 00:01:10.239 You know, the birthday was so great because Sundays have been a little odd and a little different. 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:14.239 We're experiencing Sundays all in isolated environments. 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:17.120 To come together was so, so great. 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:18.560 But you know what's so funny? 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:22.239 I've been thinking about as Sunday has been different. 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:27.599 Um, I've been thinking about what we believe the Lord is leading us in as a church. 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:38.239 You know, back in January before the pandemic, we shared some vision pieces of the church, and Ryan said, one of the things we believe God's calling us to be is not just a Sunday church, but an everyday church. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:52.719 Well, now that Sunday has been, you know, changed up, it's maybe put more emphasis not on the one hour of Sunday, but the rest of our days in how we live our life for Jesus through the week. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:54.640 That's what I want to talk to you about today. 00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:59.920 I want to talk to you about the 167 hours that you have coming up. 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:07.359 The series is called 167 hours because that's how much time you have in this week after you log off this service-ish, right? 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:09.439 These services about an hour long. 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:15.039 Afterwards, you'll have 167 hours through your week and you'll do all the things you do. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:27.840 You'll walk your dog, you'll hang with your roommates, you'll be with your kids, you'll zoom on some meetings, you'll scroll through your phone, you'll eat some dinner, you'll fall asleep, you'll wake up, you'll live the pandemic life for 167 hours. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:33.919 Well, where does your faith come into play through those 167 hours? 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:45.520 If the one hour on Sunday is digital and different and strange and not always like the birthday we had last week, well, how is that gonna affect how you live your life through the week? 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:50.719 You know, community formation and church, it's actually really difficult right now. 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:52.000 I want to just start right there. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:54.960 Forming community is difficult right now. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:57.439 It's just really, really hard to do. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:07.439 And church is all about forming a community that glorifies Jesus Christ and helps us grow in our faith and pushes us into those 167 hours that we have every week. 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:08.960 But it's hard to do right now. 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:11.199 And I think it's hard for several reasons. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:16.319 The the first reason I think community formation, it has more obstacles than ever right now. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:21.759 And you might be thinking that, Chris, my 167 hours, they're just complicated. 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:24.000 Like I don't know what's happening. 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:27.199 Every day I wake up and I try to just deal with it. 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:37.520 And it's complicated and it's difficult for me to form community, to do church, to even think about church, whether it's Sunday or not, because things are complicated. 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:42.719 Or what about the 167 hours just being really precious, right? 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:48.560 You might think community formation, it takes too much time, and my time is too precious. 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:49.919 It's too important. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:53.840 Or community formation right now, it takes too much time. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.080 So it's just like, you know what? 00:03:56.319 --> 00:03:58.400 My 167 hours are booked. 00:03:58.560 --> 00:03:59.840 They're just booked up. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:03.439 I've you maybe your type A, your whole calendar is just filled. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:09.680 Well, I want to talk today about what we should maybe prioritize because that has to be the question for a lot of us. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:13.039 What do I need to prioritize through my week? 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:26.879 Like, how do I live the Christian life for these 167 hours after I log off of church and life gets booked up, complicated, the time is precious, we're cycling through all these difficulties. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:29.040 How and what should I prioritize? 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:32.560 You know, Jesus was actually asked this question in one form or another. 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:36.639 You remember at some point, somebody came up to him and said, What's the greatest commandments? 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:39.199 Of all the teachings you give, what's the greatest commandment? 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:53.120 And if you're familiar with the New Testament, you'll know he said very simply this in Matthew 22, verse 37, he said, should love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:58.000 Then two verses later, you're familiar maybe with this, he says, you know, the second is like this. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:00.319 You should love your neighbor as yourself. 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:05.439 And so we've always understood the Christian life to be hanging on these two verses. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:08.480 To love God and love neighbor is the Christian life. 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:15.759 In other words, the best way to spend your 167 hours is by loving God and loving neighbor. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:18.079 That's the best way to spend your time. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:24.319 But you know, when Jesus was saying these things, he wasn't actually saying anything new. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:28.399 Jesus instead was quoting from the Old Testament, if you know this. 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:35.839 Jesus was not inventing a new command so much as hyperlinking us back to an old command in the Old Testament. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:42.639 It's almost as if you double-click on this, you'll be sent to a larger landing page of commandments from the Old Testament. 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:55.680 And when Jesus said you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, the original audience of Matthew would be actually causing, uh, being caused to kind of read backwards towards the Old Testament. 00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:59.439 Matthew's audience was uh Jewish primarily. 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:13.040 And so they would look back towards the Old Testament, hear, oh, love the Lord your God, and they'd be sent back, hyperlinked back to Deuteronomy chapter six, where is uh the command called the Shema. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:20.639 And in Deuteronomy chapter six, the Shema, that's a Hebrew word that just means um listen or obey. 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:22.079 It was one and the same word. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:25.920 That's almost the whole sermon that we could go down with with listen and obey being the same word. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:27.439 So fascinating. 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:33.040 This prayer was called the Shema, and the Hebrew people they they would recite this in the morning and at night. 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:38.079 And so when Jesus replied this, being the greatest command, it shouldn't have been shocking too many Jewish people. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:39.920 This was an obsession of theirs. 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:44.959 But you know, I think the context for this verse is actually super important for us today. 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:55.199 You see, Deuteronomy, as we're gonna look at in a second, if we're if we're sending our minds back to Deuteronomy, let's send our minds back to the context of Deuteronomy. 00:06:55.439 --> 00:06:56.639 Maybe you don't know this book. 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:01.920 It's in the first five books of your Bible, and the word lit the word Deuteronomy literally means second law. 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:05.439 It's because this was the reiteration of the law. 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:15.920 It Deuteronomy is a book, it's a collection of sermons from Moses, and it's him impressing on the people the most important commandments from God and his promises. 00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:27.279 It's a beautiful book, and there's a series of talks in the book of Deuteronomy where Moses is just reminding the people this is who you are, and this is who God has been to you and who he will always be to you. 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:28.879 It's a constant reminder. 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:31.199 Now, the timing of Deuteronomy is important. 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:42.639 The series of sermons that Moses is giving, impressing upon the people the identity of God and the identity of people, happens after Egypt, being freed from Egypt, and before they enter into the promised land. 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:50.079 It's what the scholar Carmen Imams, she says, it was a liminal space that God was working in the people. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:55.120 Liminal means transitionary, it means a space of transition. 00:07:55.519 --> 00:08:01.920 Liminal is like the time that you have already gone to past something, but you're not yet to completion. 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:03.600 Liminal is the road trip. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:07.600 Liminal is the space between home and your destination. 00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:11.519 And that liminal space, God does work in that liminal space. 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:19.600 And Deuteronomy, it's all about the important lessons that God is building into his people before they arrive at the Promised Land. 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:22.639 And I've been thinking, this is kind of where we're at today. 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:24.399 We are in a liminal space. 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:28.079 We're in a transition or transitionary space as a as churches, right? 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:34.159 Like we no longer gather together physically on Sundays and we don't know when we will again. 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:41.120 But you know, I get a little frustrated when I hear people just obsess over getting back together again. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:43.200 Like it's the only thing that matters right now. 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:46.320 Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a pastor. 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:49.440 I don't prefer preaching to a camera. 00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:52.000 I would love to get together with all of you. 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:58.240 And being at the birthday a couple weeks ago, being socially distanced and everything, it felt so good to be together. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:00.559 But you know what I've been thinking about? 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:05.919 We can't miss the lessons of the liminal space we're in right now. 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:17.039 Could God be forming in his church something so important in this liminal space that if we miss it, we will not be the kind of church he wants us to be on the other side of this? 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:20.240 You see, God is doing something right now. 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:22.799 He's not waiting to do something right now. 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:24.960 We have a liminal space. 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:27.840 He is active within it. 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:31.679 So Deuteronomy picks us up in that space of tension. 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:35.440 If we have ears to hear, what are the most important things God has for us? 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:39.279 Deuteronomy chapter 6, a famous passage, says this. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:44.240 Hear, O Israel, and that hear means sh uh in Hebrew was Shema. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:47.200 Shema, O Israel, hear and obey. 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:49.120 The Lord your God is one. 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:54.240 You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your might. 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:58.000 And these words that I command to you today shall be on your heart. 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:07.279 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit at your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise. 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:14.720 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and you sh and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:19.919 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:31.039 Deuteronomy says, in this liminal space, the most important thing you can do is love God with everything you have with everyone around you. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:47.759 You should love God in the liminal space, take the 167 hours, however crazy they are, in this transitionary period, the most important thing the people of Israel had was to love God with everything they had with everyone around them. 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:50.080 Let's look at three aspects of this. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:55.440 The first aspect is that loving God, quote unquote, it introduces a community to us. 00:10:55.679 --> 00:11:01.039 Notice that the text is addressed to a group of people, the nation of Israel. 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:02.799 Hear, O Israel. 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:06.240 It doesn't say, hear, O Israelite, individual. 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:08.480 It doesn't say, hear, O Moses. 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:10.159 This is not just about Moses. 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:12.320 It's not about a particular Israelite. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:13.759 It's about the nation. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:21.919 And this is because in the Old Testament, in particular, the people of God did not understand their relationship with God as individual. 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:23.759 They had no concept of this. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:27.919 They had a complete communal concept of what it meant to love God. 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:30.799 Either we all love God or we all don't. 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:32.639 We're all in this together. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:46.720 And the New Testament kind of takes a little bit of this family-nation metaphor into the church, saying, now every nation, tribe, and tongue is placed into a community upon meeting Jesus. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:52.240 This is actually a major emphasis in this great book I read by a man named Joseph Hellerman. 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:55.440 He has this book called When the Church Was a Family. 00:11:55.600 --> 00:12:06.480 And he's a New Testament scholar at Biola, and he says, there's actually no biblical precedence for what evangelicals call a personal relationship with Jesus. 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:11.600 Personal relationship, personal savior is not something you find in the Bible. 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:19.679 God, in his monstrous salvation work, does this for all people and on behalf of all people. 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:21.759 And he's always worked this way. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:26.000 Now, do you have personal interactions with God by yourself? 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:26.639 Yes. 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:29.759 Do you yourself have a personal relationship with God? 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:30.159 Yes. 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:33.840 But it's always in the context of a family, of the church. 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:40.879 Likewise, the Israelites all had individual relationships with God, but that was set in the context of being an Israelite. 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:54.320 You and I, when we love God, we are introduced immediately to a community, simply put, and maybe a little, you know, interestingly put, I don't think you can love God alone. 00:12:54.559 --> 00:13:05.360 I think you can experience the love of God alone, but I don't think it's possible for us to experience the fullness of God's love without the fullness of the family that he expresses it through. 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:09.360 You see, this has been an important thing from the Old Testament to the New Testament. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:12.320 Hellerman opens his book with this powerful quote. 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:18.399 He says this spiritual formation occurs primarily in the context of community. 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:28.480 People who remain connected in the local church almost invariably grow in self-understanding and they mature in their ability to relate in healthy ways to God, to their fellow human beings. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:34.799 Long-term, interpersonal relationships are the crucible of genuine progress in the Christian life. 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:36.399 Look at how simply he puts this here. 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:39.200 People who stay also grow. 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:42.159 People who leave do not grow. 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:45.840 In his study on the church, that's as simple as it got. 00:13:46.080 --> 00:14:06.799 Just as the people of Israel were given the opportunity to rededicate to their community before entering the promised land, to spend their 167 hours through every week they had to dedicate to the community, so we today have the opportunity to rededicate to the church before this pandemic is done. 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:13.360 You have the opportunity to step more into the community you are introduced to than step out of it. 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:15.200 And that's the liminal lesson. 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:17.279 I'm gonna have little liminal lessons for us. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:18.639 Here's the first one. 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:22.960 Step into community right now and don't drift away. 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:25.360 Step in and don't drift away. 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:26.879 It's my experience as a pastor. 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:30.960 Most people don't step out of community, they just drift away from it. 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:34.639 But everyone who's in it steps in intentionally. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:35.679 So it's weird. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:39.440 You don't drift into community, but you totally drift out of it. 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:47.840 And so today, could you rededicate, just as the Israelites heard, hear, O Israel, could you hear this? 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:50.159 Hear, awakening church. 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:53.279 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:57.200 This is to us as a church to experience the love of God together. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:58.960 Well, what does it mean to step in? 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:04.480 Well, that's secondly, is that loving God, quote unquote, it actually will clarify what community looks like. 00:15:04.639 --> 00:15:06.639 It's gonna clarify community. 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:14.159 As we step into this, it will, we will understand what it really means to love God as a community and what that community means. 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:16.320 Because that's the place the text goes. 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:22.879 After it says, love the Lord your God with art, all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, look at what Moses says. 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:23.600 Look at this. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:26.080 I've highlighted some of the emphasis here. 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:40.159 Talk with of them, of the statutes and the commandments, when you sit, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rot uh rise, bind them, write them on the doorposts, put them on your gates. 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:43.679 You know, this is actually a current Jewish practice. 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:48.159 There's something called a mezuzah, which is a small, usually kind of metal object. 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:50.000 It's like the size of a pencil. 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:51.600 They'd stick it on the doorposts. 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:54.080 And if you have Jewish friends, they some of them will have this. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:16:06.879 On their doorposts, a small little metal piece that they screw into the doorpost, and it has the Hebrew word shema, which is to point them as they're entering their house to the reality that they love God in a community. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:10.639 You know, if you open the door to my house, by the way, we've kind of sort of done this. 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:17.360 And right when you walk in my house, there's this little thing that one of my former students made for me, and it says, delight yourself in the Lord. 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:19.200 It's from Psalm 37. 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:20.799 And what does that do? 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:27.200 It's just when you walk in the door, it reminds you who I am and who I'm connected to. 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:29.840 I'm connected to God and I'm connected to his community. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:36.159 This is another way to say to clarify community is it means that we're going to be kind of immersed in the love of God. 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:45.759 Like Ajeeth Fernando, he's a Sri Lankan scholar, and he notices the levels that Moses breaks down here for how clear the community is. 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:52.960 He says, it's personal, meaning on your hands and your foreheads, write the law on your hands and your foreheads. 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:53.919 It's familial. 00:16:54.080 --> 00:17:01.759 He says, talk about the love of God and his commandments in your houses when you're going to sleep, when you're waking up. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:04.720 So personal, familial, and then civil. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:09.519 He actually, you know, Moses says, we're gonna put these on the gates of our city. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:15.759 Like, this is how immersive the community and love of God should be in our lives. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:23.920 So, how are you surrounding yourself with the love of God through your relationships and through your practices? 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:29.920 I love one of the scholars I read said he would translate loving the Lord your God with all of your strength, quote unquote. 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:33.680 It's a hard way to translate from Hebrew to English, I guess. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:38.079 And he says, I would just translate it this way, with all of your muchness. 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:47.680 It's like with everything you have, how are you surrounding yourself with the love of God through the 167 hours that you have through the week? 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:51.519 In what ways do you have that sticky note on your laptop? 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:53.440 Do you have that reminder on your phone? 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:56.480 Do you have that friend who texts you to remind you of things? 00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:59.359 When you need prayer, do you have that person to reach out to? 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:07.759 You see, it's not just the Israelites did not understand loving God as a thing they learned about on Sunday or Saturday. 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:12.640 No, the love of God was something they surrounded themselves with in community. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:14.880 And so what are those practices? 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:17.839 And again, you might be thinking, Chris, I don't know if I have time for this. 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:19.440 And you know what I've learned? 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:33.119 The rhythm and the practice of what I'm talking about right now, surrounding yourself in the love of God, surrounding yourself in the people of God, the rhythm and practice of that, it certainly changes through season of life, right? 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:35.519 But the importance doesn't. 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:42.400 You know, sometimes I think about back in college, it was like my life was one bubble, you know? 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:44.960 My whole world was one thing. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:49.680 It was on campus with my friends in my classes, they all went to the same church. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:50.880 It was like a bubble. 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:54.960 That doesn't really translate the older you get, you know? 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:58.160 Now you have all these other little bubbles as you age, you know? 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:01.279 And you have kids, then you have this whole other community, right? 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:05.359 And all these different communities kind of bifurcate your community life. 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:09.680 Life will never be like that again for me in college, maybe. 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:13.200 But as the rhythms and practice changes, you know what I've realized? 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:16.240 Community only becomes more important in my life. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:21.279 To dedicate to surrounding myself in God's love becomes more important. 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:27.200 All of the things change in the way that is that you practice community, but it will not change the fact that you need it. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:31.359 You need people to remind you of God's love. 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:39.039 And um amidst this pandemic, you guys, I think it's clarified for us what true community means. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.400 You know, Silicon Valley is like an expert in fake community. 00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:46.319 Now hear me carefully here. 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:57.200 Like when you get a job in tech around here, as many of you have that I talk with, like the HR rhetoric is so big on community. 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:01.599 You're a part of the Twitter family or you're a part of the Apple community, right? 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:10.880 And all of this speak about, you know, human resources and PR, it really makes you feel like your work is your family. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:17.440 And the only problem though is how can your work be your true community if they can fire you? 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:24.559 You know, it's as much as they say that they want to be family with you at the end of the day, if you don't perform, you're out. 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:36.799 You know, this is something maybe you've recognized too, is that work was maybe the one place you went to every day and filled your 167 hours mostly hanging out with people at work and now you're working at home and you don't have those relationships. 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:40.559 See, your best work relationships actually transcend work. 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:46.400 They they go beyond the company you work for and other interests and things that you value. 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:50.480 And Derek Thompson was wrought about this last month in The Atlantic. 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:54.799 He says work, it doesn't necessarily make for the ideal community. 00:20:55.359 --> 00:21:01.440 But in the past few decades, the office has served for many people as the last community standing. 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:13.519 In an age where various associative institutions are in retreat, including the church, by the way, moving on, he says, there is one place where the majority of adults ages 25 to 55, they just kept showing up, right? 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:14.640 Almost every day, every week. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:15.599 It was work. 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:17.839 Work was the place we were showing up. 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:19.440 Now we're not showing up there anymore. 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:31.680 And some of you, I think, have been relying on your work community in a way that is not only no longer available now, but would have never lived up to the promises you think they were making. 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:43.759 See, now we have this liminal space where we get a lesson here and we realize we actually need to make some of our social bubbles a spiritual bubble. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:50.400 Okay, we we need to think about who are the people I'm actually in community with? 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:59.519 Who are the people that even if I got fired, if I lost my job, if I had a debilitating disease, that they would still be there for me. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:03.039 This is the local church. 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:10.000 The church of God is the community that no matter what happens in your life can be there for you. 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:27.200 The community that whether you work at a tech place or you don't work at a tech place, whether you have a career or you have a job that you just need to work to get by, the church exists in multiple levels of socioeconomic classes and exists why? 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:28.799 For the love of God. 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:37.759 So right now, you and I, we don't have um the luxury of relaxing into other communities. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:43.839 At this point, we must, friends, listen, we must create spiritual bubbles. 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:47.839 Okay, now let me use this bubble metaphor a little differently, this pandemic. 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:51.759 A lot of us, um, we have our bubble of our family, right? 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:56.079 And we're trying to shelter in place and continue to socially distance. 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:02.720 But what we've noticed at Awakening is that a lot of us um have involved other families into our bubble, okay? 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:04.160 Or roommates, for example. 00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:07.839 Some of you are all roommates together, that's your little social bubble. 00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:11.759 Well, some of you are dating people and they end up in your social bubble. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:17.839 And what we've just noticed is we've seen a lot of community formation happening through these social bubbles. 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:26.880 You hang out on Friday or Saturdays, you'll go eat brunch outside socially distanced or in a park, you'll, you know, hang out on blankets. 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:34.960 And one thing we want to encourage you to think about is to take whatever social bubble you have and turn it into this spiritual bubble. 00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:35.920 Here's my point. 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:46.799 If you're hanging out with people in your own little quarantine bubble, a couple families, on Saturday morning, why not make that a Sunday morning experience too? 00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:51.599 Hang out together at 9:30 and watch the service and have some discussion afterwards. 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:53.279 We have some families doing this right now. 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:55.599 We have some roommate groups doing this right now. 00:23:55.759 --> 00:24:02.400 That on Sundays they gather together and they listen to the sermon and they respond to Jesus and they pray for one another. 00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:05.920 Again, as they are comfortable, it's great. 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:10.880 I know for some of you, your social bubble actually, they don't go to church, and it's awesome. 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:13.119 You like have this great witness to them. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:21.519 But for some of you, some of your social activity is with awakening people, and all we're saying is, hey, why don't you make that a spiritual bubble? 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:24.000 And we're calling that church with friends. 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:31.839 Church with friends is just a simple way to say, how can we serve you as you just have church with the friends that you are around? 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:36.720 We can't organize it because there's so many complications to this right now. 00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:44.319 We understand that different people have different levels of comfort, but here's the deal: we want to support and we want to pray for you. 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:48.960 Would you go to our website, awakeningchurch.com, and click on church with friends. 00:24:49.279 --> 00:25:05.440 There's actually this simple form that if you so happen to say, hey, you know what, I've been hanging out with a few people, and yeah, I want to just hang out with them on Sunday mornings, watch service together, maybe pray together, maybe immerse myself in the life of God, not just have this social life, but have this full spiritual life. 00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:09.599 You can go to our website and fill out this form and we'll find ways to support you. 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:12.720 We're not gonna send people to you, okay, because we know these are bubbles. 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:21.839 We're not gonna, you know, infiltrate your space, but we're gonna pray for you and encourage you and start to see maybe how this community can be formed. 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:23.599 Here's all we're saying. 00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:31.200 We want to commit to growing in our ability to gather as a community when and where it's possible. 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:33.200 We understand it might not be. 00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:36.319 We understand for you, it just might not be the season. 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:38.960 We understand it's not at your comfort level. 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:52.559 But for those that are maybe having a social bubble, I want you to really think about this is your time to become the spiritual community God has already made you to be, to surround yourself in the love of God. 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:54.640 I can't emphasize this enough. 00:25:54.799 --> 00:26:03.920 I I don't think you and I can afford right now to just have friends that are social but not spiritual. 00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:06.400 We need people to pray for us, and this is why. 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:14.240 Very finally, guys, loving God, when we truly love God and community, it actually solidifies community among us. 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:20.079 Let me just give you this final last liminal lesson in the space of transition. 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:27.680 God's community around us reminds us of God's commitment to us. 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:35.599 You see, this is why you need a spiritual bubble if you can make it happen. 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:42.880 If you've got even just a roommate that you could watch service with, um, this is why you need it. 00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:50.480 Is because when we surround ourselves with community, we actually hear God's love for us in a different way. 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:57.519 Um, you know, my group has recently gotten back together over Zoom every Wednesday night. 00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:06.960 And I just realized for Ali and I, for my wife and I, we need our group because we need to hear God's love coming from other people. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:20.799 I hear it from God's word, I hear it from the preaching on Sunday, I pray on my own, but I need someone else in my group to go, this is God's love for me, and sharing that. 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:26.720 And that's what Deuteronomy actually says, you know, a couple of verses later, Moses says this. 00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:30.559 He says, There's gonna come a time where your son comes to you and asks you, like, why do we love God? 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:34.319 Look at what is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules? 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:35.440 Like, why are we doing this? 00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:36.240 Don't you love it? 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:40.000 Leave it to a child to ask the most obvious but best question. 00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:41.200 Why should we love God? 00:27:41.359 --> 00:27:43.279 Why should we dedicate to community? 00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:46.079 Look at, he says, this is what you're gonna say to your son. 00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:50.400 We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out. 00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:52.880 Why do we love God? 00:27:53.440 --> 00:27:55.279 Why do we commit to community? 00:27:55.519 --> 00:28:00.160 Why in this liminal space do we have to receive this word from the Lord right now? 00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:06.960 Why do we have to emphasize a spiritual community more and above social and work communities now? 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:10.880 Because you need to remember that God has rescued you. 00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:13.200 You need to remember the gospel. 00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:21.680 See, in the Old Testament, the people of Israel said the reason we are a community is because God brought us out of slavery. 00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:30.400 And the New Testament community says, we love God and are dedicated to a community because we've been freed from the slavery of sin and death. 00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:36.319 Because Jesus Christ on the cross purchased for us the life that we could never purchase for ourselves. 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:45.440 And maybe most beautifully and succinctly, the apostle John put it this way: We love because he, God, loved us first. 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:56.000 You love God and you dedicate to community and you exist in your 167 hours dedicating to the love of God and the community of the love of God. 00:28:56.160 --> 00:28:56.799 Why? 00:28:57.359 --> 00:28:59.359 Because we were once slaves. 00:28:59.839 --> 00:29:03.839 Because we were in Egypt and God brought us out. 00:29:04.319 --> 00:29:09.599 And if God brought us out then, will not God bring us out again? 00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:17.279 If God has done what he has done, will he not bring us through this liminal space into a kind of promised land? 00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:20.240 We don't know what the future holds, but we know this. 00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:25.039 God has loved us, therefore, we will love one another and love him. 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:26.799 Let me pray. 00:29:27.839 --> 00:29:29.519 Jesus, we need you. 00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:42.240 Father, show us your ways and show us your love so that we might love you in return and love one another. 00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:44.240 We need your help with this. 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:46.079 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:46.960 Amen.