WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:05.040 The teaching text for today is from Acts 2, 42 through 47. 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:08.160 And this is what Luke writes. 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:14.160 He says, They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:23.120 Everyone was filled with awe at the many signs and wonders performed by the apostles, and all the believers were together and had everything in common. 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:26.879 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:29.920 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:36.880 They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:40.240 And the Lord added to their number daily those who are being saved. 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:41.439 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:43.920 --> 00:00:50.320 We're in a series right now called Welcome to Church, and just walking through kind of our vision as a church. 00:00:50.479 --> 00:01:07.040 Our vision is to build, we're seeking to develop a community of people who are followers of Jesus, who are practicing, literally taking his word and practicing it in their lives, practicing the way of Jesus, so that we see the power of God breaking into our lives and around us and in our time. 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:09.200 And so that's what we're trying to do. 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:15.120 And we've just been kind of fleshing out like what does that actually look like for us as a church to practice the way of Jesus. 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:18.239 And so we practice primarily through seven core practices. 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:24.319 There's a lot of things that you could do and to follow behind Jesus, but we're focusing on these seven as a church. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:27.280 We would we're gonna move you towards these seven practices. 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:30.719 And so today, uh last or two weeks ago, we talked about scripture. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:36.000 Today we're gonna talk about community and what it means to practice the way of Jesus in terms of community. 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:42.239 And so as you think of community, um, our church, you know, obviously that's our middle name as a church. 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:47.519 Um but there are a lot of um different things that are called community. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:49.760 It's very popular to call things community. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:02:12.240 So, for instance, there's the bird watching community, the frisbee golf community, the woodworking community, the online gaming community, the fitness community, the arts community, golf, baking community, just all these different things, it's just popular to use that term, which has kind of diluted the entire thing and nobody really knows what it means because if it's bird watching and online gaming, what am I actually doing here? 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:30.319 But when I think about like community, what what those types of communities primarily mean, the definition when they call themselves a community, what they primarily mean is we are a group of people who get together semi-regularly over a common interest that they all share. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:38.000 The bird watching community is a group of people who get together semi-regularly over a common interest that they share, which is bird watching for some reason. 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:42.879 But they call themselves a community, and that's pretty much the definition of what they what they actually mean. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:49.680 But that's not the community that I'm talking about, and I don't believe that's the community that's actually shown in the scriptures. 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:58.240 The type of community that I'm talking about and that I want to talk about today is one that actually practices or lives out the one another's that exist in the Bible. 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:15.280 And if you're familiar with the one another, there's all of these instructions given by God through the apostles on how the community is actually supposed to function, how they're supposed to treat one another, what it means to actually be community, and they give these, like, so therefore, treat one another this way. 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:17.759 This is what it means to truly be a community. 00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:45.199 And so a true community, according to God, is a group of people who, and I have this long list of all the one another's, is a group of people who love one another, there's a bunch of love one another's, greet one another, welcome one another, show hospitality to one another, have fellowship with one another, agree with one another, live in harmony with one another, be at peace with one another, be kind to one another, who forgive one another, who bear with one another in conflict and stick with them in the midst of difficulty. 00:03:45.439 --> 00:04:15.599 They bear one another's burdens, they comfort one another, care for one another, confess their sins to one another, pray for one another, encourage one another, build one another up, exhort one another, instruct one another, teach and admonish one another, sing with one another, stir up one another to love and good works, do good to one another, serve one another, wash one another's feet, wait for one another, be humble toward one another, submit to one another, speak the truth to one another, do not lie to one another, do not speak evil against one another, do not grumble against one another, do not judge, provoke, or envy one another. 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:23.600 And so, like, according to God, what it actually means to be community, and actually the definition of it is brought into these things. 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:26.560 These things are supposed to define what a community actually is. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:34.560 And the idea is you don't actually have the community that God wanted for his church if these things aren't being practiced and these things aren't living being lived out. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:37.920 We see this type of community that God wanted in Acts 2. 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:43.600 If you just go back through the verses, you see in verse 42, they agreed with one another on a common doctrine. 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:52.480 They welcomed one another, they shared with one another, they served one another, they sacrificed for one another, they were generous to one another, they met with one another daily, whether they had power or not. 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:58.160 They ate with one another, they were hospitable to one another, they praised God with one another, they showed favor to one another. 00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:01.120 And so this is the community that God wanted. 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:05.439 And you actually see this at the very first church gathering, like what's happening in the midst of this? 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:08.160 Like, they are practicing these things, they're living out these things. 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:13.199 And that particular community that God wanted is very different than, say, the quilting community. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:16.639 Like the quilting community is a great thing, and you make beautiful stuff. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:17.839 But it's very different. 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:21.920 Like, no one is asking the quilting community to bear the burdens of the other quilters. 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:22.879 No one's doing that. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:26.879 The golf community, no one's saying, confess your sins, one another, with a golf community. 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:30.000 No one's doing that, because you're all sinning on the golf course, anyways. 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:32.639 Um, it's just a funny golf joke there. 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:36.399 Um But no one's doing the online gaming community. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:39.600 There aren't rules for like, hey, in online gaming, you need to make sure you love one another. 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:41.439 Like, no, no one's no one's doing that. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:48.000 They're just like, look, just pay your dues, show up every now and then, and just share the common interest and try not to be a jerk. 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:51.199 And if you are, like, maybe we'll kick you out or something like that. 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:56.160 But to me, that's not what God wanted for community, and you don't see that in the scriptures. 00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:59.600 The truth is that those groups, whatever they are, they're not necessarily bad. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:01.120 I just believe they're inadequate. 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:04.079 I don't think they're actually everything that we need as people. 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:08.800 And I don't think that those groups were showing up semi-regularly, which the church can be that. 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:14.079 I show up semi-regularly, I pay my dues, or the tithe, and I we have a common interest. 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:15.600 I think Jesus is pretty cool. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:22.399 Like you could walk into those spaces and just make the church community that thing, but the truth is community isn't that. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:29.439 That is a shallow version or a lesser version or an inadequate version to what God actually wanted for his church. 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:42.319 Somehow, there are all of those types of communities, and you're calling everything community, and yet still, the Surgeon General issued this thing back in 2023 that says that loneliness is an epidemic that's happening in our culture and in our time. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:52.319 And so we have all of these different types of communities, the online community and all these different stuff, and yet somehow, still, in the midst of all of that, loneliness is still something that's actually plaguing people. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:54.319 And so I think those groups are great. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:55.600 I just think they're insufficient. 00:06:55.680 --> 00:07:04.720 I don't think they're actually going to be able to accomplish what we want to see happen in our own lives, and there's definitely not what Jesus wanted for us to experience inside the actual community of the church. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:12.000 And so, what I want to do today is I want to talk about an alternative type of community that we see in Acts 2, and then why we want that here. 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:16.319 So I'm going to look at that and just go like, why do we want the one another's practice in our community? 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:18.079 Why do we want to see those things happen? 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:19.920 And so, three reasons. 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:27.759 The first is we want a community that is living out the one another's, who is living out the vision that God has for his church. 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:38.480 Because in a community that's actually practicing the one another's and doing those things in community, in that space, people will encounter and experience the love of Jesus for themselves. 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:44.879 And so the church in Acts 2, they didn't just decide one day to go, like, I think we're gonna treat one another this way. 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:46.079 Like they're not doing that. 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:48.399 They didn't decide how to treat one another for themselves. 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:54.079 The reason they're loving one another and sacrificing for one another, the reason they're doing that is because that's what Jesus did. 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:59.519 Their founder did these things, and therefore they're just practicing the things that they saw Jesus do. 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:04.639 Jesus loved us this way, told us to love one another the way that He has loved us, and so they're just doing that. 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:06.240 And they're doing what Jesus has done. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:09.040 They're loving people the way that Jesus has loved them. 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:14.720 Because in the Gospels, you see Jesus got a small group together and he met with them and spent time with them regularly. 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:28.319 He loved them, he served them, he sacrificed for them, he forgave them, he was patient with them, he encouraged them, he fed them, invited them in, taught them, wept with them, bore their burdens, and then he's like, hey, everything that I have done to love you, love other one another that way. 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:34.559 And so the reason they began doing this is because it was like Jesus has loved us, and we want to love other people that way. 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:42.320 And so when we seek to love other people in the way that Jesus has loved us, they get to experience Jesus' love for them in real time. 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:46.080 They get to experience like what was it like to be in his presence? 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:47.519 What was it like to be loved by him? 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:50.159 What was it like to experience his patience and his forgiveness? 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:54.960 We're supposed to love one another that way so that people experience this is what his love is like. 00:08:55.120 --> 00:08:57.039 This is what his forgiveness is like. 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:05.840 Scott Hubbard says this, he says that the one another's to practice these things, the one-another are earthly displays of heavenly realities. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:09.519 They are the love of Christ played out on 10,000 stages. 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:21.759 And if everybody was practicing these things, it'd be the love of Christ played out through thousands or millions of stages, because it would be something that people would see and experience in different ways from me and you and other people around us. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:28.240 But the one another's are earthly displays of what Jesus actually was like and is like and how he loves. 00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:48.320 And the reason it's important for you and me to experience the literal love of Jesus in our time and experience that through one another, the reason I want you to experience it is because there are these moments in the Gospels where Jesus doesn't perform like a miraculous event in someone's life. 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:54.320 He just kind of spends time with them and is kind to them and he loves them, and that transforms their lives. 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:59.279 Sometimes he's like very exerting power, healing people, changes their life. 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:02.399 This guy couldn't walk, now he can, couldn't see, now he can. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:04.000 Huge life change in that. 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:09.679 And then sometimes he just walks up to people, spends time with them, talks with them, invites them in, and it radically changes their life. 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:12.320 And so you see this with the woman at the well in John 4. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:22.000 If you remember that story, she's got she's had like five husbands, the man she's currently with, she's not married to, and she's experiencing rejection, and she's an outcast from everybody. 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:23.279 Nobody wants to talk to her. 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:24.960 She's hiding everything she got. 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:28.240 She doesn't want to be around people, and people don't want to want to be around her. 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:40.159 And then Jesus, out of love for this woman, goes out of his way to actually spend time with her, to talk with her, to actually have this conversation with her, and just that interaction that he has with her. 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:41.679 There's no miracle performed. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:44.159 He didn't turn water into wine at the well or anything like that. 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:47.279 He just talked to her, invited her, didn't reject her. 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:48.639 Everybody else is rejecting her. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:56.559 And in a society where everybody's rejecting me, there's this one man that's being super kind to me and very patient with me, and it radically transforms her life. 00:10:56.639 --> 00:10:57.840 And she runs back into town. 00:10:57.919 --> 00:10:59.600 She was an outcast hiding from everything. 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:02.399 Then she runs back into town, no longer hiding, but shouting. 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:03.519 He knows everything I ever done. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:05.600 She's talking about all these different things. 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:07.840 And someone who wanted to stay away from everybody. 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:11.759 Now she's the one that's bringing people and talking to people, y'all gotta come meet this man. 00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:13.519 And she's leading people to Jesus. 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:19.440 And there was no miracle, it was just this love poured into her heart that something was shifting and changing. 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:22.480 Zacchaeus in Luke 19 experiences the same thing. 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:26.320 He's a tax collector, he's been cheating everybody and stealing from all these people. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:29.600 People hate him to the point where nobody even calls him by his name. 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:30.799 They just call him a sinner. 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:33.679 And then you have Jesus walks up and calls him by his name. 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:35.679 Like, people haven't called my name in a long time. 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:37.440 He probably hadn't heard his name in a long time. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:40.320 And Jesus looks up, sees him in the tree, like, what are you doing up there? 00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:43.360 And calls him Zacchaeus and tells him to come down and then invites himself. 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:46.240 He's like, I want to be your friend by going to eat at your house. 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:50.799 And like that interaction messes everybody else up, but it messes Zacchaeus up the most. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:52.879 He's like, What is this kind of friendship? 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:54.320 Like that is unexpected. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:56.159 Like you're the most holy man to ever walk the earth. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:58.080 Like, why would you treat me this way? 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:00.080 And it radically changes his life. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:02.720 And in a moment, he repents of all the stuff that he's done wrong. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:07.679 He gives half his possessions to the poor, repays anyone he's stolen from four times over. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:10.799 Like it's like Jesus didn't command him to do that stuff. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:13.440 He didn't say you're gonna burn in hell if you don't do this. 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:18.639 He just invited himself into his house, befriended him, called him by name, loved him where he was at. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:23.360 And like that love radically transformed something in Zacchaeus' life. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:29.679 Both of those stories experienced no demonstration of real power, exerting a miracle. 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:32.240 It's just like, man, I just spent time in the presence of somebody. 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:35.679 I have experienced an expansive love I've never experienced before. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:37.679 And I experienced it through this man, Jesus. 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:41.440 And it radically healed things and changed things in their life. 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:45.519 And that's what Jesus wanted to exist in the life of the church. 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:54.000 He wanted to love one another, love us in this way, so that we love one another in that way, so that we are able to experience his radical forgiveness that's unconditional. 00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:56.320 Just as much as you need, you can have forgiveness. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:00.799 He wanted us to experience his compassion, his grace, his kindness, even towards enemies. 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:03.440 He wanted us to experience what his patience is like. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:05.039 No one will bear with me. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:06.960 But like the people in the church bear with me. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:07.200 Why? 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:09.519 It's like because they love me like Jesus does. 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:10.960 That's what they do. 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:15.759 He wanted us to experience his generosity, his unexpected unexpected friendship. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:19.039 He wanted people to experience his love that transforms people. 00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:25.200 And it's so I have another story that I'm just gonna shift because I was thinking about this one. 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:27.840 I want that to happen, right? 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:32.559 Like I want you all to experience what it was like to actually meet Jesus face to face. 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:34.480 One day you will meet him face to face. 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:37.919 Um and I want you to get like get used to like what is his love like? 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:39.360 What is he actually like? 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:58.000 And uh I was with my family this weekend and talking to my dad, and um when my dad got divorced, um he was going to this church, and when he started coming back to church with me and my brother, he could hear people behind him making remarks, like, that's the divorced guy. 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:01.759 His name switched from what his actual name is to that's the divorced guy. 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:03.360 That's the guy that just got divorced. 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:05.039 And it drove him away from the church. 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:10.799 Like his experience inside the church was like, I'm not experiencing the love of Jesus, I'm experiencing the condemnation of people. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:13.919 And if Jesus is anything like that, he was like, I don't want anything to do with it. 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:15.600 I'm like, what a tragedy. 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:17.360 Like this space is supposed to be different. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:19.600 Like, there's anyways, messed me up. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:20.480 I hated that. 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:22.159 But he he did say this. 00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:27.679 He was like, but a couple of weeks of being gone, um, and like I'm not going back to that church anymore. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:33.120 They they talk mean about me there because I got divorced, having no idea what the story actually is. 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:41.200 The pastor reached out to my dad and uh called him on the phone and was like, hey, uh, you know, it's pastor so-and-so. 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:44.559 I just wanted to see if you wanted to get together and go fishing. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:48.080 And if you did, I'd bring a six-pack of beer and we could hang out. 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:50.720 And uh, I'd just love to see how you're doing. 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:52.879 And um, that's what they did. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:54.639 And they I I think they ended up doing that. 00:14:54.720 --> 00:15:00.000 And my dad tells that story, because some people are like, ah, the pastor's drinking beer, that's bad, like, whatever. 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:06.480 Like, my my dad is now a Christian, uh, and he uses that story of the of the pastor calling him. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:15.360 He doesn't use the story of the people in the church, he uses the story of the pastor going, all he wanted to do was hear my story, he wanted to hang out with me, he did not want to judge me, condemn me. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:17.919 All he wanted to do was spend time with me. 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:28.720 And so for my my dad, it's like he uses that story as a reason why the door to Christianity was shut in the church and then kicked back open by this pastor that just wanted to hang out with him. 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:37.759 And I'm like that minor example was supposed to be this expansive experience in the life of the church. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:42.159 And primarily what's actually experienced in the life of the church is the other one. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:46.320 It's the it's the people talking about you badly behind your back because of your sin. 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:51.919 And I just want to shout back to those people, which is not Jesus and me doing that, but I just want to shout, you're also a sinner. 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:54.320 Like you also have sin. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:16:00.799 Like, why would you ever condemn or judge somebody over the divorce that my dad had when you're actually dealing with stuff in your own life? 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:03.039 Like you should walk up to him and be like, it's hard, right? 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:04.879 Life's hard, marriage is hard. 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:13.039 And so, anyways, that's not in my notes, but I want my dad experienced the love of Jesus through a man. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:15.279 The patience. 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:17.279 Someone just wanted to hear his story. 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:25.120 And he was ready to shut the door on religion, ready to shut the door on faith because of his experience in the life of the church. 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:27.600 And it just popped the door back open. 00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:30.000 And now he's a Christian, and now he believes in Jesus. 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:34.399 And you know, it's like I we need that. 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:35.600 I need that. 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:40.000 And it's supposed this space was supposed to be a holy place. 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:45.200 And doesn't and like holy doesn't mean like it was supposed to be perfect. 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:48.879 It was just supposed to be set apart, it was supposed to be unique. 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:58.080 You were supposed to be able to walk inside the the doors of the church and sit with the people that are in the church and the community here and experience something that you cannot experience out in the world. 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:00.240 This was supposed to be different. 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:04.720 This was supposed to be the space where it's like everybody rejects me out there, not here. 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:07.759 No one forgives out there, we do here. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:13.200 No one shows grace to me, no one's patient with me, no one bears my burdens out there, we do here. 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:17.119 You were supposed to find something with Jesus that was different, and in the gospels, people did. 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:19.920 I found something different in Jesus than I found anywhere else. 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:24.400 In the church, you're supposed to find something different with Jesus' people than you find anywhere else. 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:27.039 And it was supposed to be so sweet and life-forming. 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:32.720 And it's not that we don't hold one another accountable and do those things either or challenge one another, we do that too, and I'm getting to that. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:39.920 But this is supposed to be a space where people had the greatest opportunity to be like, what was it like to sit in his presence? 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:42.160 What was it like to experience his affection? 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:45.599 What was it like to experience his gaze looking at me? 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:52.319 It's like, man, I should see that in hundreds of faces when I walk into the church and when I spend time with those people. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:56.799 I should want what the psalmist like, all I long to do is to dwell in your courts. 00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:05.440 Better as one day in your courts and a thousand elsewhere, because that's where I meet the people of God who have been transformed by God that actually get to show me the love that He has for me. 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:15.039 And I'm reminded once again that my failures don't define me, but Jesus does, and his grace covers me, and where my sin abounds, grace abounds, like all of this stuff is supposed to exist in the life of the church. 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:23.680 And I want it to, because when we can, when we do experience the love of Jesus, it will heal wounds and heal brokenness. 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:27.279 And it will shift and change things that like nothing else is going to change that. 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:29.680 You needed to be loved back together. 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:32.079 And Jesus is like, I can do that for you. 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:37.599 And I want the community to be a space where people experience my love by putting them back together. 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:38.960 And so that's the first. 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:45.759 In community that practices and lives out the one another's, you get to experience what Jesus' love is for yourself. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:47.359 And it's transforming. 00:18:47.839 --> 00:19:00.319 The second, we want a community that is living out Jesus' vision for community and living out the one another's because in a community like that, it will create an environment where people can grow, mature, and find freedom. 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:03.519 And an environment that's actually living out the one another's. 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:06.559 It's an environment where people can grow, mature, and find freedom. 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:13.039 All of us, some of us more than others, have annoying qualities. 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:13.599 Okay? 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:19.039 And if you're like, I don't, I'm a snowflake, that's your annoying quality. 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:22.720 But all of us have those things. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:24.640 We all have edges that need to be smoothed out. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:26.799 And some of us have more than just annoying qualities. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:34.480 Like many, all of us have like issues that we're wrestling with daily, things that we're dealing with, that we're dealing with. 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:37.839 Some smaller annoyances or smaller things that we deal with. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:39.839 Some of us talk too much. 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:41.440 I do. 00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:43.759 Some of us don't talk enough. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:46.000 Some of us make every story about them. 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:48.799 Some of us have to be right about everything. 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:49.839 That's annoying. 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:54.480 Some of us have bad grammar, slurp their food, eat with their mouths open. 00:19:54.559 --> 00:19:56.240 Some of us are bad drivers. 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:58.160 There's small things. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:00.880 Like, yeah, those are things that could be worked out. 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:04.400 But some of us have more serious issues, and maybe all of us. 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:05.759 Some of us are selfish. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:07.759 Some of us smoke too much. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:10.319 Some of us drink too much. 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:12.799 Some of us spend too much of our money. 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:17.359 Some of our marriages are suffering and on the brink and on the verge of being torn down. 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:20.160 Some of us aren't present with our kids. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:22.720 Some of us can't stop watching porn. 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:25.680 Some of us can't stop doom scrolling. 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:29.039 Some of us are angry and hateful and filled with rage. 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:30.000 Some of us lie. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:32.880 Some of us will not forgive, will not admit that they're wrong. 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:36.480 Some of us gossip about other people and slander one another. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:37.920 All of us. 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:43.759 All of us have annoying and or destructive qualities in our lives. 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:49.359 But the truth is, like, you're not meant to just keep those things till death do you part. 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:51.680 Like that's not the way it's supposed to be. 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:55.119 You're not supposed to be like, wow, this is just, I'm just, this is who I am. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:57.759 Jesus wants to cleanse you of those things. 00:20:57.839 --> 00:20:58.720 He wants to mature you. 00:20:58.799 --> 00:20:59.519 He wants to grow you. 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:02.319 He wants to sanctify you, and he wants to free you from that stuff. 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:04.160 And that's what the community is for. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:07.119 That's why some of the one another's are like, instruct one another. 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:08.079 Correct them. 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:13.519 They don't know, show them, instruct them, teach and admonish, which is gently reprove. 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:15.200 Like gently reprove them. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:18.000 That's why one of the one another says, build one another up. 00:21:18.079 --> 00:21:20.319 Like there are things that are lacking in people. 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:22.160 Things that like just aren't there. 00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:23.599 Like build them up in that way. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:24.880 They need something from you. 00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:25.680 They can't build it. 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:27.279 They don't have the hammer or the tools or whatever. 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:28.559 They don't have it, but you have it. 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:30.079 So build one another up. 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:32.319 There are things that are destroyed in their lives. 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:33.839 Build their life up. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:36.079 That's why those things are there. 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:42.319 And that's what the community is for, to help us actually be built into something that we can't get to on our own, to be free from something. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:45.440 The reason to bear with one another and to bear one another's burdens. 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:48.720 There are things that are so heavy that you can't lift off your shoulders. 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:52.000 Your marriage, your addiction, your struggle like it's just too heavy for you. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:53.039 And it's too weighty. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:58.559 You need somebody else to come alongside you and go, like, I can help carry that load and get that thing off your shoulders. 00:21:58.720 --> 00:21:59.519 And you need that. 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:10.400 And so the idea from the community and that Jesus had for this community of the church is that we would help one another grow and mature and find freedom, or we're just not going to find it ourselves. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:14.240 But it's not going to happen in the bird watching community. 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:17.279 It's not going to happen in the online gaming community. 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:19.200 No one's seeking to actually do those. 00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:21.200 They'll hear your story. 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:24.400 But it's just not going to happen there. 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:33.599 In a hobby community, you're not going to experience someone actually shaping you and sharpening you if you just meet semi-regularly over a common interest. 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:42.000 If we're actually going to help one another, if we're going to be a community that helps one another, instructs one another, admonishes one another, gently reproves one another. 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:51.119 We need to be a community that's close enough relationally that we've where we've built up the relational credibility to actually speak into someone's life some hard stuff. 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:54.880 Because if you have random people speaking into your life, they're just jerks. 00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:55.680 That's all they are. 00:22:55.839 --> 00:22:58.559 They're just people on the street yelling at you from behind in their car. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:03.359 But if it's somebody that you're in relationship with, it's like this is a friend saying something to you. 00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:12.640 I got this chart that I made of the four different types of people that we have relationships with and uh the impact that they can have in our lives. 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:14.160 And so four different types of people. 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:17.119 So the first, challenge and relationship. 00:23:17.200 --> 00:23:20.400 There are some people that are just low challenge, low relationship in your life. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:20.720 Okay? 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:25.440 They're just shallow conversations, people maybe you meet on the street, just an acquaintance, no real friendship. 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:29.839 And from this, you're gonna get no real change, no real impact, nothing like that. 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:32.559 It's just random conversations about the weather, okay? 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:35.359 Or football, which starts soon. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:38.640 Uh then you have the high challenge low relationship people. 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:41.119 These are people that always want to challenge you, but they don't actually want to get to know you. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:42.400 We call these Karen's. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:42.880 Okay? 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:45.599 I don't know what the guys are called, maybe Carls. 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:50.160 Um, but if your name's Karen, Lord bless you, we love you. 00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:51.279 You're welcome in this space. 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:55.200 But there's a cultural term for people like this, and it's called that's a Karen. 00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:57.279 All right, high challenge, low relationship. 00:23:57.359 --> 00:23:59.680 I don't actually want to get to know you, but I want to tell you everything you're doing wrong. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:00.559 We hate these people. 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:02.960 All right, we're not supposed to, but it's it's a struggle. 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:04.400 They're annoying. 00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:06.319 This is where church hurt comes from. 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:11.920 This is what my dad experienced from behind the random people in the church, being like, that's the divorce guy. 00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:15.039 Like, hey, shh, say less. 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:16.480 It's annoying. 00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:20.160 Those people aren't gonna change our lives. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:22.240 Then you have the low challenge, high relationship people. 00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:24.240 This is what we love, but does nothing for us. 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:26.000 These are yes men and yes women. 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:29.279 They're basically liars and cowards, people who won't be honest with us. 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:32.319 This is what most community is, this is what the bird watching community is. 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:33.200 We think you're great. 00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:34.240 We think you're so great. 00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:35.759 It's like, wow, I have a drinking problem. 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:38.400 It's like, yeah, but your bird watching skills are on peak. 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:39.680 Like, it's really good. 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:43.440 You get the best photographs when you're not falling out of the tree. 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:51.200 Um like the high relationship, low-challenge people are just yes people. 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:57.279 You share a common liking for knitting, but you know, in the knitting community, but you never delve into personal life. 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:07.519 And the issue with that group is one, you'll grow in your skill, uh, I guess, of whatever that is, your golfing community, um, but you're you're never actually gonna grow in your interpersonal life. 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:09.200 Like they're never gonna challenge you. 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:16.559 They're gonna they're gonna look at everything that you're doing, pat you on the back for your struggles, and then tell you, like, I'm you wanna go back on the course? 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:18.240 Like that there's just nothing there. 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:22.000 What we need is the high challenge, high relationship people. 00:25:22.160 --> 00:25:23.359 This is what Jesus is. 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:26.400 He calls you, deny yourself, lay down your life. 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:28.960 But he is like, but I'm gonna lay down my life for you. 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:33.440 I'm gonna love you with my actual death, I'm gonna love you to my death. 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:36.480 And I'm also calling you hard, high challenge. 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:38.960 I'm calling you to deny yourself, lay down your life as well. 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:41.119 This is what Paul did for Peter in Galatia. 00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:47.680 Peter's acting very racist in Galatia, and Paul relationally having that relationship, goes to him and says, This is not right. 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:49.839 You're not acting in step with the gospel. 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.720 And he reproves him and corrects him, and ultimately for his good, it sharpens him. 00:25:54.799 --> 00:26:00.400 This is why Solomon says, as iron sharpens iron, so one friend sharpens another friend. 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:03.200 Not some rando sharpens another person. 00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:04.240 Like it's not that. 00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:08.480 It's not somebody on the street that just doesn't like the way that you drive or the way that you treated your spouse. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:10.559 Like it's not that's not how it's gonna work. 00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:18.240 It's one friend being willing to risk the relationship to actually say a hard thing, but knowing I have built up credibility. 00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:25.039 I have the relational backing to actually say, you know, I love you, therefore, because I love you, I'm gonna challenge you on this. 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:27.039 That's what Jesus has, that's what Paul did. 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:28.160 And it makes us better. 00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:30.799 Those types of relationships make us better. 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:33.119 And that's what this community is supposed to be. 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:54.880 Not every single person looking into your baggage and into your life and correcting every single thing, but definitely a handful of people that have the relational credibility and the trust from you that they're godly individuals who are filled with the Holy Spirit and with compassion and Jesus' love that go to you and say the hard things, knowing that you might not like it, but I'm doing this out of love. 00:26:55.039 --> 00:26:59.039 And I'm not gonna be afraid, I'm not gonna be a coward, I'm gonna say this thing to you. 00:26:59.279 --> 00:27:01.200 That's what the community is supposed to be. 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:13.759 Look, sometimes in your life with Jesus, and I experienced this, sometimes he just wipes away issues that you had, just struggles that you had, like all of a sudden came to faith and things just went away. 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:14.799 It's like, what did you like? 00:27:14.880 --> 00:27:16.079 I don't know how, I don't know what you did. 00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:17.759 You just did this amazing miracle in my life. 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:19.759 That's the fame and deeds of God in our time. 00:27:20.160 --> 00:27:32.160 But also, sometimes what he wants to do is he wants to use the people in the church to actually walk alongside you as they bear your burdens, as they encourage you, as they build you up, as they bear with you. 00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:43.039 He wants to use those people to slowly, over time, through relationship, to sharpen you and change you and form you and to help you get the freedom that you need and to help even out some of the edges that are there. 00:27:43.200 --> 00:27:44.319 He wants to do that too. 00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:47.119 It's slower, but it's still the fame and deeds of God in our time. 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:52.960 It's still you being transformed into the image and likeness of Jesus, but it's through the people of Jesus that it's actually happening. 00:27:53.119 --> 00:27:57.359 And so I know sometimes he does it like this, and we're like, God, fix my marriage, God fix my addiction. 00:27:57.440 --> 00:27:58.880 Would you just would you just do that thing? 00:27:58.960 --> 00:28:00.480 And sometimes he does. 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:03.599 But many times what he wants to do, and he's like, I absolutely will. 00:28:03.680 --> 00:28:15.519 And actually, where that that fix comes from, that healing comes from that you're looking for, it will be found with my people, loving like Jesus, encouraging and challenging just the way that I would, walking with you, bearing those things. 00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:19.759 You want that gift, it is found in my bride, the church. 00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:28.079 And so we need the community to be this space where we actually help one another grow, hold one another accountable, bear one another's burdens. 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:34.720