WEBVTT 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:04.080 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:08.960 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:10.720 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:19.440 We have always said at Awakening that we're not just a Sunday church, but we're an everyday church. 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:23.679 Now, that's notice how we phrase that, not just a Sunday church. 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:25.199 Sunday's extremely important. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:33.280 We just spent six weeks talking about how important Sunday is through that our last series called Not Your Ordinary Church Service. 00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:38.079 Sundays are extremely important, but that's not where church ends for us at Awakening. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:42.640 In fact, church begins on Sunday and extends through the rest of the week. 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:47.840 So that's why we're launching this series for the next two weeks called More Than Sunday. 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:51.359 So we are not just a Sunday church, we're an everyday church. 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:58.240 And what we want to think about for just two weeks is what does a good community look like? 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:00.799 What does a strong community look like? 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:04.480 Because all of us, you know, that's a buzzword today. 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:06.239 Like we want to be a part of a community. 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:16.959 We want to be part of a family that's not really our blood family, but is like this community, family, church is an extension of that that we want to feel a part of, that we want to be a part of. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:19.840 Well, what does a strong one look like? 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:28.560 And as we've thought about this question, I want to give you this verse at the top of the message and at the top of the series from Romans 15, 7. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:30.319 This is in your bulletin. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:32.319 This is also in your Bible. 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:38.480 Okay, so open your Bible to Romans 15 and look at verse 7 of Romans 15. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:46.400 It says this welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:49.280 Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:50.480 Here's something to consider. 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:52.319 What makes a strong community? 00:01:52.560 --> 00:02:02.000 Well, could you welcome people into your life and your community with the same way in which Jesus welcomed you into his? 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:15.120 Or if you're just joining a community and stepping into our life here at Awakening, could you step in and join into community here at Awakening with the same attitude as Jesus Christ? 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:20.639 Let's pray, ask for God's help as we consider these questions and many more. 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:27.199 Heavenly Father, um, we seek you this morning uh for a word. 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:30.400 And we do want that. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:37.039 We want something announced upon our life, something given to us from you. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:03:04.400 So please, Holy Spirit, use my weaknesses uh and and my abilities and inabilities to communicate what what you desire and help us as your church have ears to hear, have minds to understand, have hearts to receive the word that you want to give to us. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:11.360 And so we're leaning in right now, we're paying attention to what it is that you might have for us in the middle of this message. 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:12.800 So help us, Jesus. 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:14.240 We pray in Christ's name. 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:15.120 Amen. 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:16.319 Amen. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:24.400 Well, you might not believe this um coming from a pastor, but I do know what it's like to be new to a church. 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:27.599 And I know what it's like to step into community. 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:32.960 I know what it's like kind of recently, uh, of what it means to kind of step in. 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:36.800 And I'm not, I'm not actually talking about awakening because I had like a cheat code coming to Awakening. 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:38.080 I was on staff when I came here. 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:45.439 So it's like, you know, but I I know what it's like for some of you who are stepping into church for the very first time. 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:47.840 It was actually right before I joined Awakening. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:55.840 I had stepped out of a ministry position in San Francisco, and my wife and I, uh, I didn't have any any job lined up right away, and I was looking for what God would have for us next. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:04:02.240 And, you know, when you're married to a pastor like my wife is, like when when I left the ministry, we were like without a church, you know? 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:03.919 Uh kind of comes with the package. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:11.520 And for us, like for Ali and I, not being a part of community, not being a part of church was was not the option. 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:12.800 Uh it was just about where. 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:16.319 So we just kind of found this church in Menlo Park near where we were meeting. 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:18.800 And we went to like a startup kind of thing. 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:24.959 Like some of you just went to 50 plus of you were in a room over there, and you have a name tag and you show up and you're like, hi, I'm Chris. 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:26.800 And I remember that anxiety. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:35.439 And especially as a pastor, as someone who's very used to organizing and running those spaces, to step in as a participant was humbling in some ways. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:37.199 Just like, okay, I'm I'm here. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:39.040 But this is what matters. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:45.360 And it was really, I believe, what I know Allie and I really needed in that time was community. 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:49.920 And we stepped in and we sat at this table, and and sitting there, we're all strangers. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.560 We had never met before and never known before. 00:04:52.800 --> 00:05:03.759 And I remember at that table was Colin and Jen Meese, who we found out lived literally around the corner, like a three-minute walk from my apartment that we were living in at the time. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:09.600 And we got to know them, and there we felt welcomed into a community and started a community. 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:13.040 And praise God, Colin and Jen are some of our good friends to this day. 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:23.600 And God used just, I was thinking about that time, I was to think about you guys, because I was like, stepping into community sometimes, right? 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:28.480 You have the anxieties about it, you're like, my schedule, like, man, how's this gonna work? 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:49.600 But God will reward it in really strange ways because God is using that step of faith to step into community uh to meet something deeper in you, to meet something uh beneath your articulated need of community is a need for kind of roots. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:58.959 I think that when we think about community, sometimes we use that word and we don't understand the thing beneath the thing or the thing behind the thing. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:00.399 Why be a part of a community? 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:02.160 Why be a part of a church? 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:06.319 We don't just want community, we don't just want church community. 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:13.040 We need two things, I think, that community give gives us, a strong community gives us, I should say. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:20.079 The first is that root, those roots I was talking about, a level of rootedness, and also something I want to call resonance. 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:22.160 Resonance and rootedness. 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:28.639 Resonance is like that experience you have with someone where they're nodding your head at their head and they're like, oh my gosh, same here. 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:30.079 Like I resonate with that. 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:36.959 And there's some kind of mutual frequency you guys meet up on and see, and it carries on to your life, right? 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:40.319 When you think about resonance, I mean, I immediately think about music. 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:45.360 I think about like a concert hall, for example, and a room that has resonance, right? 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:54.240 Or an instrument that has resonance, where you hit that piano key in a large concert hall, and that one note can kind of echo, we might say, or carry on. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:55.519 It's amplified. 00:06:55.680 --> 00:07:00.959 There's not a lot of work, the same amount of work is being done hitting a piano key outside as it is in a concert hall. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:12.959 But when it comes into a concert hall, the resonance with which that instrument is uh brings it amplifies that sound as the space is made for that particular instrument or that particular note. 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:15.680 And I think we want that from community. 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:29.519 We want that tiny bit of effort, maybe, or that little, that two hours on a Thursday night, or that one and a half hours on a Monday night that you meet with somebody in a small group for it, that note to strike and it to resonate through your life as things go on. 00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:36.800 I had to ask specific, um, smarter people than me in the church uh about resonance because the physics of it make no sense to me. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:40.959 So I asked engineers, and oh, they all wrote back, and I didn't understand half of it. 00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:55.199 But it's about applying a certain frequency of energy into a system or an object, and it happens to be at resonance with that system, a sharply increased amplitude of energy results from that, right? 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:56.800 So you're hitting that piano key. 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:00.800 It's like one of the guys wrote back to me, said, It's like when you're pushing Jude, my son, on a swing, right? 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:08.480 It's like a little bit of effort can go a long ways, and a little bit of effort by putting pushing that piano key in the right space when the frequency is right, can amplify. 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:10.240 It's like this with our relationships. 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:11.439 This is what we're looking for. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:21.120 When we're looking for community, we want to be able to hang out with people and it to matter over time, for it to echo, for it to resonate with what it is that you and I need. 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:30.160 In other words, I think with resonance, it's about being accepted, like you feel right in the space, because it's a resonant space. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:32.720 And it's also an amplified experience, right? 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:36.879 When you're sitting with those people in that room, you're like, you're looking for that. 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:41.039 And we're so busy today that it's hard to find resonance. 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:45.919 Resonance asks the question, is this worth my time? 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:47.039 Right? 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:51.919 Will I spend a little bit of time here and will it matter next week? 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:54.080 Or will it matter the next day? 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:57.200 Resonance asks the question, is this worth my time? 00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:02.000 Rootedness, that asks the question, like, will this last? 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:05.279 Rootedness is also something we are looking for in community. 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:11.440 A consistent group of people who keep us grounded to our core values and commitments, right? 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:14.320 Uh maybe you're new to the Bay Area. 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:19.120 The Bay Area is famously an unrooted place. 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:22.639 We are not a rooted people here for the most part. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:24.480 People come in, they come out. 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:27.919 And so oftentimes at awakening, people are looking for roots. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:30.320 You know, my wife and I, for example, we don't have family here. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:31.679 You guys are our family. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.279 Without you, like we don't have rootedness here. 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:37.279 With you, we've got it, right? 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:39.200 We've got that consistency. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:44.240 Healthy families, if you grew up in a healthy family, you had roots and you had resonance. 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:49.120 You felt like people understand you, understood you, and it was somewhat predictable that your mom and dad would be around. 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:52.320 If you grew up in an unhealthy family, you didn't have these things. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:55.840 You lacked rootedness, things were always changing, things were never certain. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:00.720 You never knew when mom or dad would be there or when you would receive love and affection and all this, and you lacked resonance. 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:02.559 You felt like nobody understood you in your family. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:08.399 You felt so you see, healthy communities, strong communities, they have roots and they have resonance. 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:11.919 And this is where we pick up our text in Romans 15. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:14.399 I gave you the last verse, Romans 15, 7. 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:24.960 Now look back at your Bibles, look in your bulletins, open your apps, and let's go to Romans 15, chapter 15, verse 1, and let's think about what makes a strong community. 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:35.360 Romans 15, verse 1 says this we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:43.039 Let us each please his neighbor for his good to build him up, for Christ did not please himself. 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:50.960 But as it is written, the reproaches or the insults of those who reproached or insulted, you fell on me. 00:10:51.200 --> 00:10:57.279 Let's stop right here and just pick up one point of a healthy, rooted, and resonance community. 00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:03.200 A strong community is one where everyone is always thinking about everyone else. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:08.480 A strong community is one where everyone is always thinking about everybody else. 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:10.080 Look at this text, right? 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:14.320 It says, We who are strong, we have the obligation to not please ourselves. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:19.600 Verse 2, let us please the neighbor, build up the neighbor, because this is what Christ has done. 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:21.120 This is very New Testament language. 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:28.159 Galatians chapter 6 says, to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:37.919 Philippians 2, Paul says, like, have this mind among yourselves that everyone ought to not please themselves, but to think of others more highly than themselves. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:38.320 Right? 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:42.320 This is a very Paul, New Testament, Jesus kind of value, right? 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:43.600 To value other people. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:46.000 This text, it raises this question, right? 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:51.120 If you look at it, it says, We who are strong have an obligation to bear it with the failings of the weak. 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:53.600 So it raises the question, well, who is strong and who is weak? 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:55.120 Well, look at the text, okay? 00:11:55.200 --> 00:12:01.200 Get get get out of your notes for a little bit and just look at the text of scripture, these first seven verses in Romans 15. 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:10.159 And you'll see that a strong person, just by set in the context of it, a strong person is someone who is interested in pleasing their neighbor, verse 2. 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:15.919 A strong person is someone who allows the gospel to fuel that selflessness, verses four and five. 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:21.519 And it's also one that's just fiercely committed to Jesus and to other people. 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:23.600 That's verses two and three and verse seven, right? 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:32.559 If you just read the whole text, you'll see a strong person is just minded towards other people and not so minded towards themselves. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:37.919 The context of this passage, Romans 15, is at the end of the letter. 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:39.840 There's 16 chapters in Romans. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:43.200 It is history's theological masterpiece. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:49.039 It's probably one of the greatest writings of pure theology that we have in any faith system. 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:51.440 It's largely regarded as a masterpiece. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:58.960 At the end, Paul starts to unpack the implications of the theology that he has displayed and presented in Romans 1 through 11. 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:07.200 By the time we get to chapters 14 and 15, he's dealing with actually a specific issue, which Californians would have nothing uh to say about, but dietary issues. 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:09.360 Um that was a joke. 00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:10.720 Okay, you get it on the way home. 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:16.159 Um the spiritual and religious significance of dietary issues. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:22.320 I know no Californians know what this is about, but you know, I meet vegans who are like, it's my religion. 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:28.240 Um back then it actually was deeply, deeply, deeply a part of who they were. 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:35.360 Deeply a part of who they were, what they were all about as Jewish people, dietary restrictions were really big. 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:40.399 And when Paul starts to introduce what does it mean to be a strong community when you're disagreeing? 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:43.919 The point was people hadn't sorted out that theological issue yet. 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:45.519 Do they eat kosher, do they not? 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:46.000 What do they eat? 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:46.799 What do they not eat? 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:49.039 Do they eat food that was in a temple or not in a temple? 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:54.559 Do they meet food blessed by a Jewish uh you know rabbi, or do they not eat food that was blessed by anybody? 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:55.919 Do they just eat whatever they want? 00:13:56.080 --> 00:13:59.279 And people hadn't sorted out that theological theological issue. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:04.559 And Paul says this this is back in Romans, so you're in 15, now jump to 14, right before it. 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:14.320 14 verse 1 says this as for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:19.840 Welcome him, but don't quarrel over opinions. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:22.480 Is this not a word for the 21st century? 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:30.559 To welcome someone and to do so with the intent purposes to not argue. 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:35.519 To welcome somebody not to quarrel over opinions. 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:39.679 Paul said, they don't have that theological issue sorted out yet. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:42.879 Don't sort it out day one of your group. 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:46.320 Okay, they haven't figured that out yet. 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:49.600 Don't reorder their discipleship for them. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:55.679 Don't take what God wants to build in them six years from now and try to shove it into this year. 00:14:55.919 --> 00:15:02.799 Don't try to take what their journey will end up in and try to rearrange it and manipulate it so that you can prove your point, right? 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:06.480 Okay, now people haven't gotten there yet, is what Paul's saying. 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:10.879 So he says, welcome them and do it under the auspice of not arguing. 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:14.639 Make sure you are not arguing with people about specific issues. 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:18.559 Um, that this is this is an apologetic for us today. 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:19.840 Do you know what an apologetic is? 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:21.360 It's like a defense of the faith. 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:27.039 Like in the 90s and 2000s, we were like, case for Christ, like let's make a scientific argument for the resurrection. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:28.000 And there's great stuff there. 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:29.120 It was so helpful. 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:33.759 But do you know what an apologetic or in a defense of the faith is right now, today? 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:39.039 People who disagree with each other meeting regularly and praying for one another. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:41.440 That's a defense of the faith. 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:47.919 A defense of the faith is when people who articulate the gospel start acting like the gospel. 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:57.360 An apologetic of the faith is that Christians would actually do what they say they believe. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:02.799 That Christians would not just preach the gospel, but that they would embody it. 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:11.120 That the same way Christ welcomed you, which was, he didn't ask you to sort out your opinions about him first. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:13.200 He brought you in. 00:16:13.759 --> 00:16:15.360 That's what grace is. 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:20.559 See, sometimes we're a Christian long enough we forget why we originally became a Christian. 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:23.840 You didn't originally became a Christian because you sorted your life out. 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:28.480 You didn't put everything up on a nice pedestal and start to go, okay, I'm gonna just pick Jesus. 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:33.759 No, Jesus came to you, saved you despite yourself, not because of it. 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:41.840 Despite your failings, despite your weaknesses, not get your weaknesses and failings back in order, and then you're accepted. 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:46.320 So the gospel implication is start thinking about other people that way. 00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:57.759 You know, some of you guys know I started my doctoral studies this year, and when in we have this cohort now that I'm in that is crazy uh ecumenically diverse, meaning from different faith traditions. 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:08.240 I mean, there's Roman Catholic priest in my cohort, there's a Lutheran, there's a Methodist, you know, there's men and women, all different ethnicities coming together and we're studying theology. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:13.519 And we disagree about a lot, right? 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:17.119 There's a Catholic priest in the room, him and I have some differences, okay? 00:17:17.359 --> 00:17:18.720 We have some differences. 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:23.119 But the amount of things we actually agree on and can study is amazing. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:27.920 And there's actually kind of this freeing space I'm in right now where it's like we know we disagree with each other. 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:30.319 He's got a collar on, I don't. 00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:32.000 It's like, all right, we've got differences. 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:40.640 Like we know we're different, but we can still welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us and study together, learn together, grow together. 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:43.680 Because, see, so many Christians they say, I'm all about Jesus. 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:46.880 But then when it comes down to it, they're also all about their opinions. 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:55.839 They're all about their political beliefs and thought processes, and they think that they cannot set those aside when Jesus Christ Himself set those aside for you. 00:17:56.079 --> 00:18:00.160 Jesus set aside his own uh divinity, right? 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:04.799 He set that aside and said, I will die a human death as God. 00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:09.119 I will not consider my equality with God a thing to be grasped. 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:10.319 That's Philippians 2. 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:11.920 But instead, I will die for you. 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:13.920 I will die for you. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:26.559 The more committed you and I are to preferences, opinions, ideals, and ideologies, the less effective we will be with real human beings. 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:38.480 The more preferential you become about certain things, the less you'll actually be able to build friendships and have resonance and roots with people. 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:45.920 Some of you guys are distancing yourselves from people in this church because of something they posted. 00:18:47.119 --> 00:19:01.279 And you're not wanting to hang out with them because of something they said or something they posted about the recall election or vaccines or masks, and you don't want to associate with them anymore, so you've kind of taken steps back from them because of something you saw. 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:08.160 Because you think that you cannot be friends with somebody because you have a disagreement about a particular social or civic issue. 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:17.920 Could it be that these social and civic issues are not beware of having them become blocks to your spiritual growth? 00:19:18.720 --> 00:19:21.599 They are actually often invitations to it. 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:30.000 That that you would actually be able to learn to be more interested in others than interested in people agreeing with yourself. 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:35.039 And I am not saying this is easy. 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:39.680 I'm preaching this because this is stuff that I feel in me. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:46.559 I sense in me when so when that when I see somebody post that, or I just want to, I don't know if I want to talk. 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:48.799 But that's my that's what? 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:50.799 That's me thinking about myself. 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:55.279 If I'm thinking about the other person, I'm taking a step in, not a step out. 00:19:55.759 --> 00:20:04.480 Okay, and and beware not only of social and civic issues, but beware of just personal preferences, just lighter stuff than the the politics and things that are going on in our world right now. 00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:11.440 Just take personal preferences, beware of personal preferences being a roadblock to stepping into community. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:14.480 Now, at awakening, we work all the time with personal preferences. 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:15.359 We want to hear from you. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:22.720 Like, you know, if you want a group that's co-ed or you want a young marriage group or you want this kind of group that meets on this, dude, we will work with you. 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:31.920 But I want to tell you, watch out for those personal preferences kind of pushing you away from actual human beings, you know? 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:33.759 Um, because it's weird. 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:38.480 When those preferences become the thing, you're just gonna miss out on the blessing of community. 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:39.119 It's weird. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:53.680 Like, okay, the silly example that's actually real, and I this might convict some of you, but like you know, finding a group to find a spouse that's not a vibe. 00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:54.799 That's not gonna work. 00:20:54.960 --> 00:21:04.160 Like, you know, hear from hey, yeah, I'm 27-year-old dude single, I'm looking for 20s group, all women. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:08.160 Like, do you guys have that at awakening? 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:12.240 Like, what can you like connect me? 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:19.279 Um, you know, we want to work with your preferences, but we also want to have you grow spiritually. 00:21:19.359 --> 00:21:20.319 Like, I'm like, really? 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:21.680 That's what you need to grow spiritually? 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:22.160 Okay. 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:29.200 Um, or even like networking for a career, you know, like we can we can we can start to see relationships. 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:37.039 I think the Silicon Valley breeds this in this culture, is like seeing relationships as ways we can advance our career and stuff like that. 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:46.480 I would say this even beware of like the number one reason you wanna join a group or be a part of a community or come to church is to find friends. 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:49.599 Now here's the deal you come to awakening, you're gonna find friends. 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:52.079 You're gonna find friends, you absolutely will find friends. 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:59.599 But when the social aspect becomes the primary thing above the spiritual growth that God is inviting you into, it just is gonna backfire. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.880 As your pastor, I care about you, I don't want it to backfire on you. 00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:09.680 You've got to make the spiritual stuff the primacy, and you've got to make other people the focus, right? 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:11.759 You've got to look towards other people. 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:16.079 So a rooted practice, I have a rootedness and resonant practice for you. 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:18.880 The rooted practice, like how can I grow some roots? 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:21.039 Stick with your group. 00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:26.480 Join a group, stick with your group, not for your sake, but for others. 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:30.240 Because see, with roots, man, other people need you to show up. 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:31.920 Like, you see how it works? 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:34.000 Like, other people need you to be there. 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:39.359 Other people need you to not just sign up for a group, but to actually show up for a group every week. 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:42.079 Or show up to your community every week. 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:44.319 Or however often you meet, right? 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:46.640 The resonance practice is this. 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:48.559 Go into your group. 00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:50.880 How do you get resonance? 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:53.279 Well, don't think, what can I get from this group? 00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:54.960 Think like, what can I give, right? 00:22:55.119 --> 00:22:56.079 What can I give? 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:01.200 So when you're going there, don't be like, man, I really need, I really need encouragement from them. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:08.640 Pray on your way there or as you're about to sign on to that Zoom and just go, God, what can I give to somebody in this room tonight? 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:11.920 It will change how you think about community. 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:15.279 Keep notes on what people are asking for for prayer. 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:18.960 Um, this is what it means to be a strong community, according to the text. 00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:21.519 I love what the NIV translation says of verse three. 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:25.039 It says, even Christ did not please himself. 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:27.440 I love the even that the NIV throws in there. 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:30.000 Even Christ didn't please himself. 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:32.480 So if you're his follower, why would you? 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:39.920 This is from a sermon from like the year 380, John Chrysanthem. 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:41.039 He says this. 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:47.759 He, this is him preaching on this text in Constantinople in like 380, okay, years and years ago. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:24:01.920 He says this he hadn't, uh he, Jesus, had power not to have been reproached, power not to have suffered what he did suffer, had he been minded to look to his own things. 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:05.519 But yet he was not so minded. 00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:06.960 Look at this. 00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:11.119 But through looking to our good, he neglected his own. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:13.920 That is how Jesus has loved you. 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:16.960 He looked through his own needs to yours. 00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:18.799 Could you do the same? 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:21.759 To welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you? 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:23.440 That's how Christ has welcomed you. 00:24:23.680 --> 00:24:27.519 This is from a Middle Eastern church father from the night in the fourth century. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:29.119 This is our faith. 00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:30.960 You don't get to make it up. 00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:32.000 This is it. 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:34.880 This is what the gospel requires of us. 00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:43.119 And for how hard this is for me, how naturally I'm inclined to think of my own self, I must receive this word. 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:56.960 It's a word of life, it's a word for us as a church to grow, which is why the strong community doesn't just think of other people, the strong community is one where everyone is always thinking about Jesus. 00:24:57.200 --> 00:25:05.759 So not only is everyone in a strong community always thinking about everyone else, but everyone in that strong community is always thinking about Jesus. 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:15.759 After Paul quotes in verse 3, he's quoting Psalm 69, 9, he then writes this in verse 4, Romans 15, 4. 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:26.079 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:44.319 So may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you all, that's a plural you, by the way, in the Greek, you all, to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:46.240 Notice verse five. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:47.599 Live in such harmony. 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:50.160 That's where I kind of thought about the resonance thing, right? 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:56.000 Like living in harmony with one another, in accord with Jesus Christ. 00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:02.720 How a strong community operates is it is in accord with Jesus Christ. 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:10.240 It is living in a harmonious, uh, synchronous relationship with Jesus together, all of us thinking about Jesus together. 00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:18.160 In fact, the live in such harmony, that Greek phrase in there uh is the Greek word froneo, which is does not mean harmony. 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:26.559 It actually expresses uh kind of what you would think about when you're um all thinking about the same thing. 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:30.240 In other places, it's translated having the same mind. 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:35.039 It literally can mean thinking on the same thing, thinking about Jesus together. 00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:40.400 The verb's commonly used like to signify formulating and holding an opinion. 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:49.119 So Paul is saying, formulate your opinions, but make sure everyone in the community is formulating the opinion that Jesus Christ is Lord. 00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:56.319 As that becomes the ingredient to the community, you not only are thinking about everybody else, but everyone is thinking about Jesus. 00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:57.279 What does that mean? 00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:05.759 Well, Jesus, his scriptures, the Bible, Old and New Testament, his teachings, his wisdom, his church, his Holy Spirit that operates in all of you. 00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:13.440 Jesus and everything that that means is encompassed in the number one thing on the agenda of a healthy community. 00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:16.160 Because it gets the community outside of its own self. 00:27:16.400 --> 00:27:22.640 It gets the community focusing on a reservoir of love and grace that exists in the person and work of Jesus Christ. 00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:23.920 That's on the agenda. 00:27:24.079 --> 00:27:25.599 That's number one on the agenda. 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:31.039 That comes before everything else, your opinions, your even your emotions, how are you doing? 00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:34.400 The first thing we do is we look towards Jesus in prayer. 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:36.079 We look towards Jesus in his words. 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:45.119 It's not saying those things don't matter, it's saying we inform everything else around the centrality of the person of Jesus Christ and who he is, right? 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:51.519 You know, I hear a lot, like, uh, you know, I they say people tell me, like, Chris, I just want somebody to love me without an agenda. 00:27:52.319 --> 00:27:54.720 And I'm like, I don't. 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:58.240 I think when something matters, you put it on the agenda. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:02.240 I think when someone matters, you put them on an agenda. 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:04.400 You say, I gotta reach out to that person. 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:06.640 Say, hey, we need to talk about this. 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:08.319 This is what something we need to address. 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:09.519 This is something we need to talk about. 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:11.279 Hey, I want to talk with you about this. 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:14.079 Like, that's how healthy marriages work. 00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:19.519 Healthy marriages work with a level of planning and an agenda and priorities and values. 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:21.839 This is how relationships work, right? 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:28.240 And the church exists and works within the context of discipleship. 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:31.759 Discipleship is like learning to follow Jesus. 00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:34.319 And discipleship has an agenda. 00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:38.480 It does to help you and I become more like Jesus Christ. 00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:44.640 And discipleship is not limited to you and your Bible alone in the morning. 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:46.880 That's a small part of it. 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:51.519 A massive part of it is learning to live together with other Christians. 00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:54.559 We need Jesus on the agenda. 00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:57.359 That's why in verse 4, look at why do we need him on the agenda? 00:28:57.440 --> 00:28:58.960 Like, why, just to be religious? 00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:03.039 Just to have like our own priorities of religious that religious people have. 00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:03.680 No, no, no. 00:29:04.319 --> 00:29:05.039 Look at the text. 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:06.160 Verse four. 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:09.839 Why pay attention to what was written before? 00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:17.680 That through the endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:22.160 You and I need hope and we need endurance and encouragement. 00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:24.880 That's the rootedness and resonance that can come in. 00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:28.799 The rooted practice is that word endurance, right? 00:29:28.960 --> 00:29:30.799 You know endurance, that's what that means, right? 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:32.160 To keep things going. 00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:34.000 And that's what rootedness is asking. 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:35.119 Will this last? 00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:37.519 Like we all need endurance. 00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:49.680 I I'm telling you, it's nearly uh it's it's nearly impossible to think about somebody constantly following Jesus for 20 years without a community. 00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:51.359 It's almost impossible to think about. 00:29:51.599 --> 00:29:58.319 The biblical writers would have no idea what we mean when we say personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 00:29:58.559 --> 00:30:01.599 That's not a phrase from your New Testament, that's a phrase from church language. 00:30:01.759 --> 00:30:06.240 Now, it's not untrue, it's just interesting to note that it's not in the Bible. 00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:12.000 Because the Bible understood your relationship with Jesus as inextricably linked with your relationships with other people. 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:13.680 You cannot bifurcate it. 00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:15.440 They stay this together. 00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:18.880 So goes your relationship with Jesus, your relationships with other people. 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:20.000 Those things are interconnected. 00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:24.559 That's why bitterness and unforgiveness is one of the hardest strongholds to overcome. 00:30:24.880 --> 00:30:25.920 That's another sermon. 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:26.319 Okay. 00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:31.279 Um rootedness, your endurance through the scriptures. 00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:32.720 Here's my question for you. 00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:35.759 Who are you regularly reading the Bible with? 00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:38.880 Who are you regularly reading the Bible with? 00:30:39.039 --> 00:30:41.440 I know you go to coffee with people all the time. 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:43.680 I know you hang out with people all the time. 00:30:43.839 --> 00:30:46.160 I know you have barbecues with people all the time. 00:30:46.480 --> 00:30:49.759 But who are you regularly reading the Bible with? 00:30:50.319 --> 00:30:55.839 Because if you're reading the Bible by yourself, there's gonna come days where you just don't want to read the Bible. 00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:58.160 And you don't get anything from Bible reading. 00:30:58.240 --> 00:31:02.160 So you need someone to read scripture to you, with you, alongside you. 00:31:02.960 --> 00:31:05.359 That creates endurance from the scriptures. 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:07.440 So who are you reading the Bible with? 00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:09.759 Who are you reading the Bible with? 00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:14.799 And then the encouragement, the resonance practice. 00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:19.599 Who is praying for you and encouraging you regularly? 00:31:19.839 --> 00:31:22.880 Who is praying for you and encouraging you regularly? 00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:30.319 It's quite often that I meet with some of you guys in like pastoral counseling one-on-one or something like that, and you're going through a hard time, and it is a question I often ask. 00:31:30.480 --> 00:31:32.559 I ask, who is praying for you? 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:43.839 Because I, at some level, I'm interested in what you are praying, but when you're struggling, man, even when things are good, you need people who are regularly praying for you on your behalf. 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:48.799 It's called intercession to be able to ask the Lord for something on your behalf. 00:31:49.039 --> 00:31:50.799 So who is praying for you regularly? 00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:53.440 That's resonance when you share. 00:31:54.240 --> 00:32:02.960 My wife and I are struggling, or I'm really, really stressed at work, and my boss is, I cannot find be on the same page with my boss. 00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:03.920 It's driving me crazy. 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:04.960 I hate my job. 00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:06.480 Someone needs to pray for you. 00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:08.640 Your marriage is in trouble, somebody needs to pray for you. 00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:10.960 You're worried about one of your kids, somebody needs to pray for you. 00:32:11.119 --> 00:32:14.160 You're stressed about graduation, somebody needs to pray for you. 00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:16.720 Yes, you need to pray, but who's praying for you? 00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:18.240 Who's encouraging you? 00:32:18.400 --> 00:32:20.640 Who's speaking life into your life? 00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:24.720 Who's just saying, dude, keep going, you're doing great, right? 00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:29.759 Some of us walk around and join groups and we're just like, hey, will somebody encourage me? 00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:31.039 Will somebody encourage me? 00:32:31.279 --> 00:32:34.400 And we also forget we need to be an encouragement to other people. 00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:39.119 Maybe one of the reasons you lack encouragement in your life is you're not bringing in it to other people. 00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:40.160 Maybe. 00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:45.599 Like, how are you speaking encouragement and how are how are people speaking encouragement to you? 00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:54.319 I I've just found if I am encouraging to other people and I'm sending those text messages and speaking those words of life to other people, encouragement comes back to me. 00:32:54.559 --> 00:32:56.400 Encouragement comes back to me. 00:32:56.880 --> 00:33:01.039 Strong community, you're thinking of other people, everyone's always thinking about Jesus. 00:33:01.119 --> 00:33:05.599 And finally, a strong community is one where everyone is always receiving the gospel. 00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:09.519 And that's our final verse in verse 7, which I started this whole sermon with. 00:33:09.680 --> 00:33:14.559 Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. 00:33:14.799 --> 00:33:18.799 Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. 00:33:36.799 --> 00:33:58.559 You just started to receive Jesus, you just started to receive the gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ came, died for our sins, buried, rose in victory to provide us new life, to give us freedom, that God has loved you not for what you will do, but God has loved you because of who he is and what he has done. 00:33:58.880 --> 00:34:19.679 That God has welcomed you without having you sort through your life, but has brought you in simply because he has sorted his life to you, that he has given his life for you, that God loves you not because you one day will give your life to Jesus, but because Jesus gave his life for you. 00:34:20.159 --> 00:34:23.679 This good news should wake you up every morning. 00:34:24.559 --> 00:34:32.239 There's a fresh reception of such congratulatory news for you to receive every morning when you wake up. 00:34:33.199 --> 00:34:41.199 You and I will not live in a healthy community unless we realize we are profoundly loved. 00:34:43.039 --> 00:35:10.800 Because, you know, I've noticed in myself that when I show up to places and really desire that people want that that I really want people to like me, when I show up to places I really want people to love me, I realize the option and the solution is not that I should try to generate to be more loving or to be more self-confident or something. 00:35:11.199 --> 00:35:16.960 I actually realize at the bottom of that is my inability to receive love from other people and from God. 00:35:17.840 --> 00:35:23.039 That at the end of the day, I am most unloving because I don't believe myself to be lovable. 00:35:25.440 --> 00:35:37.920 And when we are loved by God, and when we know that through the gospel, we start to love other people with wild abandon. 00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:41.519 Because we're not insecure anymore. 00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:44.000 At least on our better days. 00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:51.599 When the gospel has deeply rooted in us, uh we we we no longer look for love, right? 00:35:52.400 --> 00:35:53.440 Because we have it. 00:35:54.639 --> 00:36:06.639 Because it's sitting here in this room, God's presence, God's word on your life, God's gospel is not, hey, clean up your act and then you'll get the blessings. 00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:10.320 The gospel says, come and eat. 00:36:11.199 --> 00:36:16.239 It's been provided through the character and work of Jesus Christ. 00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:21.119 Therefore, welcome other people as Christ has welcomed you. 00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:23.119 How has Christ welcomed you? 00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:28.719 Let's open our theological imaginations for a second and look at some of the words that God has used. 00:36:29.519 --> 00:36:35.840 When God saves us, some of the metaphors in Scripture are that He has adopted us as children. 00:36:36.719 --> 00:36:38.079 We get a new name. 00:36:38.559 --> 00:36:43.519 We have belonging, love, acceptance. 00:36:44.400 --> 00:36:47.599 We are adopted as his kids, right? 00:36:50.400 --> 00:36:57.760 You know, some of the language God has welcomed us in, he's ordained us as priests and priestesses in his kingdom. 00:36:58.000 --> 00:36:58.559 Ordained. 00:36:58.960 --> 00:37:01.360 He's given us purpose and a mission. 00:37:01.760 --> 00:37:08.800 Not because you've got something good to offer, but you have a good God who you offer other people. 00:37:09.519 --> 00:37:15.280 Not because of some talent that you have, but because of some treasure that you hold in the gospel. 00:37:15.599 --> 00:37:22.800 And God commissions you as someone who can be a priest and priestess, a minister of God for other people. 00:37:22.960 --> 00:37:27.119 You know, oftentimes ministers are, you know, they say, I'm doing the work of the Lord. 00:37:27.519 --> 00:37:29.519 The Lord's doing the work through you, though, right? 00:37:31.119 --> 00:37:32.880 It's really more that way. 00:37:33.440 --> 00:37:39.920 God has adopted us, God has ordained us, God has installed us as heirs, provision and a future. 00:37:40.159 --> 00:37:42.960 Heirs meaning the inheritance is yours. 00:37:43.199 --> 00:37:44.559 The inheritance is yours. 00:37:44.719 --> 00:37:51.679 There's nothing you need to be concerned about or worry about in earth or in heaven because God has made you his heir. 00:37:51.840 --> 00:37:54.159 He's put you on the will. 00:37:54.880 --> 00:37:59.599 All things have been given to us and given for us in Christ. 00:37:59.760 --> 00:38:10.639 It is with this kind of honor, this kind of intimacy, this kind of love, this kind of affection that Christ has welcomed you. 00:38:11.519 --> 00:38:29.280 And so now you are to welcome others likewise, to treat them as the adopted ones, to treat them as the ordained ones, to treat them as they receive Christ, as those installed as heirs. 00:38:29.360 --> 00:38:38.480 And that means you can humble yourself because you and they have been so loved by God. 00:38:39.039 --> 00:38:43.039 There's much to do together when you believe this. 00:38:44.320 --> 00:38:48.960 This is all completely undeserved and completely out of the grace of God. 00:38:49.199 --> 00:38:56.480 To be regularly humbled by this gospel is to be the greatest asset to any community you're a part of. 00:38:56.639 --> 00:38:59.679 Your family, your work, your church, your small group. 00:39:00.079 --> 00:39:12.960 To be this humble, that person, the one who like regularly receives that congratulatory news from God in Christ, they are always the most present, available, generous, courageous, and humble people in the room. 00:39:13.119 --> 00:39:14.480 And they're the people whom I admire. 00:39:14.559 --> 00:39:16.639 Many of you are that person to me. 00:39:17.599 --> 00:39:24.159 They lack insecurity, they lack selfishness, and they're there to give. 00:39:24.400 --> 00:39:32.480 And they're only there to give and love with such profound, with such a profound nature, because they have been loved and they've received love. 00:39:32.639 --> 00:39:34.639 This is why Colossians 2, 6 says this. 00:39:34.800 --> 00:39:40.559 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. 00:39:42.079 --> 00:39:50.239 Rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 00:39:51.039 --> 00:40:02.639 See you received Christ once, but it's time to receive him again, and to receive him again, because it says, just as you received Christ, walk in him the same way you received him. 00:40:03.679 --> 00:40:06.559 Continually receive the love of Jesus Christ. 00:40:07.280 --> 00:40:08.800 And that's here at communion. 00:40:09.519 --> 00:40:33.119 Here at communion is the ability to receive God's love, to repent of our self-focused nature, to turn away from our proclivity, to have people think about us first, and to realize that God in Christ has thought of us and he's died for us and he's given his life. 00:40:33.360 --> 00:40:37.440 And in our brokenness, we receive his broken body. 00:40:37.679 --> 00:40:41.599 And when we feel empty, we receive his shed blood for us. 00:40:42.159 --> 00:40:51.360 And so may we be a community that receives the gospel today so that we can live the gospel to other people in our communities. 00:40:51.840 --> 00:40:54.880 At communion, Christ welcomes you to the table. 00:40:55.519 --> 00:40:56.320 Let's pray. 00:41:01.039 --> 00:41:09.280 I pray that there would be a reception this morning from all of us of your love. 00:41:09.920 --> 00:41:18.320 And I'm aware of the various places people are coming from here. 00:41:20.079 --> 00:41:25.199 And God, would you meet them at the communion table? 00:41:26.960 --> 00:41:39.199 Um for those of us that are have trouble realizing we are so loved, uh give us your love through the elements this morning, through the worship this morning this morning. 00:41:39.760 --> 00:41:41.119 We are here as recipients. 00:41:41.440 --> 00:41:42.880 We are bringing nothing. 00:41:43.039 --> 00:41:45.119 And that's really the best place to be. 00:41:45.360 --> 00:41:52.400 And so as we bring nothing, we we we are counting on you to give us everything. 00:41:52.639 --> 00:41:59.679 Everything that we need for life, for godliness, righteousness, to be people of justice, humility, and hospitality. 00:42:00.400 --> 00:42:01.920 That comes from you, not from us. 00:42:02.079 --> 00:42:02.639 We need this. 00:42:02.800 --> 00:42:03.599 We need you. 00:42:03.920 --> 00:42:09.119 Fill us, love us, show us, guide us, God, and pray in Christ's name. 00:42:09.519 --> 00:42:10.159 Amen. 00:42:11.280 --> 00:42:13.519 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:42:13.760 --> 00:42:18.719 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:42:18.960 --> 00:42:21.280 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:42:21.440 --> 00:42:27.440 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.comslash card.