WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.640 This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church. 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:05.839 For more information in our church, please visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:06.879 Glad you guys are here. 00:00:06.959 --> 00:00:21.359 My name is Lance Williams, and I'm the Spiritual Formation Pastor here at Grand Parkway, which, as I've been told by uh some others, means basically no one knows what you do, and we can't hold you accountable because it's lofty words. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:36.240 But in reality, uh my privilege and joy is to oversee all the small groups, the spiritual formation groups uh here at Grand Parkway, as well as just getting you involved and making sure that if you want this place to be your home, that you actually make it your home. 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:42.159 Uh and so that is uh a lot, but certainly something that I love to do and gets me up every every day. 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:56.079 Uh so as the spiritual formation pastor, I would be remiss if I didn't just say, hey, if this is all that you and I experience uh with church, the big groom, I mean, you got, I don't know how many people are in here, a lot here at the 11 o'clock service. 00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:08.480 Uh if this is all you experience about church, you may come in and out week after week, month after one month, and even year after year, and never truly experience that which you were created for. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:18.159 And that is life change, transformational relationships that really can only happen, uh yes, it can start in a room like this, which we'll end on. 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:25.120 It can start in a room like this, but really is going to be cultivated and grown in smaller environments. 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:26.079 So let me just say this. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:47.200 We've gotten a good start off to the new year, but as a spiritual formation pastor here at Grand Park, I let me just say, if you're not involved in a Bible community, which is Sunday morning Bible study, our community groups which meet in our homes throughout the week, or a midweek study, which are starting in just a few weeks, it is imperative for your spiritual growth to be able to get involved and make it a priority for you to be able to do that. 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:53.599 If you've never done that before, please make that priority certainly as we go into the latter half of January. 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:58.000 Our community groups come back next week, and our midweek studies start that following week. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:04.079 So it's just a great opportunity for you to be coming and getting involved, and especially if you're checking out a new church. 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:07.439 Uh and I say that for all that, but also because of our current series. 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:09.360 Our current series is on uh the core. 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:13.439 It's what we value as a local expression of the body of Christ. 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:20.400 Last week uh we talked about gospel and the gospel, not just any gospel, but the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:27.039 And hope we hope over these four weeks from in January, we hope you see a bigger story being told. 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:36.639 That the gospel being the core and the root of everything should change and transform a community, which is what we're going to talk about today, this value of community. 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:50.240 It should change and transform us into a community that not just values getting and huddling up together, but getting some maybe some rejuvenation from that, and then going out for people to be on mission, which will be next week. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:58.479 And then as we are a people that have joined on to the mission of God, we go out with a purpose of blessing others, which is our fourth week. 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:06.080 We hope that that's the kind of the progression that you see as we get into uh days like today where we are going to look at the value of community. 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:12.319 And we're gonna be uh in Psalm 133, Psalm 133 for the remainder of our time together. 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:17.520 Uh, it's one of the shortest uh Psalms in all of the book of Psalms, only three verses long. 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:27.199 If you don't have your Bible with you, uh there is one on the end of your row, and so uh punch your neighbor, and then they'll punch them, and they'll punch the person next to them, and they'll finally get you a Bible. 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:31.199 We are on page 519 of that Bible. 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:43.759 So as you guys are turning there, the first thing that you're gonna see when you get to Psalm 133 is that it has a little heading at the top of it, usually in all caps, small caps, it'll say, A song of a sense of David. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:50.080 David wrote this song, but the part that I want to just set up for us today is the Song of Ascens. 00:03:50.319 --> 00:04:03.120 There are 15 songs of Ascents, Psalm 120 all the way to 134, and those songs are basically representative of what would happen in history, in our faith history, really. 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:14.159 Uh the Israelites, the Jewish people, from wherever they were all over Israel, about three times a year they would get together and they would leave their homes, they would leave what was comfortable, and they would journey into Jerusalem. 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:25.519 Jerusalem was where the temple was, and so for three times a year, very important dates of the year, they would leave, they would kind of gather together as neighborhoods, as tribes, and they would all get closer and closer and closer to Jerusalem. 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:34.639 And if you don't know anything about the topography, I just said the word topography, but if you don't know anything about the topography of Jerusalem and Israel, Jerusalem is up on a hill. 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:45.759 And so when we say Song of Ascents, this is a nation who is gathering together as one on a journey towards a destination, which is worship in Jerusalem. 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:48.319 And that should hit home for us. 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:53.519 Because we are all, no matter where we are, we are on this same journey together. 00:04:53.680 --> 00:05:06.160 And as we get closer and closer and closer to our destination, the songs will keep rising and rising and rising until we get to that point when we journey to Jesus and worship together like we never have before in eternity. 00:05:06.959 --> 00:05:08.399 That's who we are. 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:17.040 We are in Psalm 133 singing a song of ascent somehow, somehow, but let's sing this one today together. 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:22.800 And so let's read about this great Psalm of Ascent, Psalm 133. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:24.160 It's just three verses. 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:26.079 Let me just read it real quick. 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:32.000 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:38.160 It is like the precious oil on the head running down the beard on the beard of Aaron. 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:40.319 Can I just admit that I'm freaked out? 00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:45.519 Like that's that weirds me out that there's oil all over Aaron Cotton's beard right now. 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:47.040 That's what I'm thinking about. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:49.120 But I'm gonna keep pressing through. 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:56.959 It is like the precious oil of the head running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes. 00:05:57.120 --> 00:05:58.639 Think about community this way. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:02.240 It is like the dew of Hermon which falls on the mountains of Zion. 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:09.279 For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:14.560 And I would love to have the time, maybe you wouldn't, but I would love to have the time to preach through all three of these verses. 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:17.759 You'd think I'd get through a whole psalm, it's only three verses, but I won't. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:20.720 Instead, we're just gonna be focused on that first verse. 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:27.040 The first verse, behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:31.759 And so that leads me to our first point that I think jumps off the page, at least it did at me, and that is this. 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:39.920 Point one coming out of Psalm 133, when we're talking about the value of community, is this that community is family. 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:52.639 The community of God, all throughout the scriptures, is all about brothers and sisters coming together, being bonded by something greater than themselves. 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:55.120 Community is family. 00:06:55.279 --> 00:06:58.879 And our bond, by the way, is not a hobby, although I enjoy hobbies. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:03.839 I went to track 21 or whatever it was on Thursday night, and I thought I had nearly killed myself at one point. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:08.160 Uh I know that none of you would do this, but I'm I'm full throttle, right? 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:09.519 Coming around the turn. 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:14.319 Uh, and and I, you know, because I'm not vain, I just, you know, I'm not competitive, really. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:15.439 Uh not at all. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:19.600 Uh and I'm coming around the turn, full bore, and I look up at the scoreboard to see where I'm at. 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:20.879 I'm like, oh yeah, I'm second place. 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:22.079 I'm gonna get Wheeler Bemint. 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:23.360 Never got Wheeler Bemint. 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:24.639 Uh, but I'm gonna get him. 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:34.079 And I get to, I'm coming around, I'm coming around, and all of a sudden I take my eyes back off the scoreboard, back to where I'm headed, and I slammed right into the side uh of the barrier. 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:36.720 And then somebody hit me, and then somebody hit them. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:41.680 And we got out of there, and all of our ribs were a little bit sore, and my neck was certainly sore the next day. 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:43.920 I just remember thinking, I just remember breathing like this. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:46.800 Uh for like the next lap. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:49.680 So it's but it's not a hobby, because some people aren't into that, right? 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:51.759 That's why it's a mint ministry event. 00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:53.360 Uh but some people aren't into that. 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:58.800 It's not a hobby that bonds us, it's not a common experience, although that's probably something. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:01.920 Uh people that will root for the Texans today, that's an affinity. 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:04.000 That's something that bonds people. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:06.560 Uh, it's not even our life stage. 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:17.600 Instead, our bond is the family of God and our faith in Jesus, which is the most precious and firm bond that we could ever think of. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:21.279 Because what this does is that basically equalizes all of us. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:24.399 That we're just brothers and sisters in the Lord. 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:31.519 We're sons and daughters of God most high, which puts us all within the same filter, which is grace. 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:37.519 God's accomplishment on our behalf through his son, Jesus Christ. 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:46.159 We don't relate to one another anymore based on my accomplishments or your accomplishments or what I can do or what you can do or what I can't do or what you can't do. 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:56.559 That's all probably great, but that's not the bond of brotherhood, of sisterhood, of being in the family of God. 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:00.000 Instead, it is the blood of Jesus. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:03.519 It's kind of like our families of origin in some instances. 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:04.960 Uh, they're all different. 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:08.960 Every local expression of a body of Christ, a church, is different. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:13.679 Uh every family that we we represent so many different stories in this room. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:16.879 Uh my family, I mean, all this, they're all different. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:22.000 You kind of just start to realize how different they are when you start to ask people, so how many Christmases did you have? 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:29.919 Uh and I there was a time in our marriage early on when we didn't have anything to tie us down or anything, it was just whatever. 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:34.559 We had about six Christmases to go to in about a 24 to 40 hour period. 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:37.600 And we would get done, it would wear us out. 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:43.440 Uh, and so we thought to ourselves, what can we do to get out of this pattern of five or six Christmases? 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:45.279 Oh, I know, we'll move to Dallas. 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:49.200 And so we moved to Dallas and it was fine, and we still came back for the holidays. 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:51.679 I don't know why, but we did and did those five or six Christmases. 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:55.919 But then Reese came along and we kind of used her as an excuse, like, well, we can't travel. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:58.240 I mean, we've got the little one here, we're not gonna be going everywhere. 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:03.120 We'll pick and choose, and then finally, uh, as we came back to here, everybody comes to our house and it's great. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:04.960 We got one, maybe two Christmases. 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:06.320 Beautiful. 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:12.879 But anytime I'm home for the holidays, so to speak, there's some days when I just feel like a stranger. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:14.799 You ever feel that way amongst your family? 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:17.360 You're just like, I don't get these people at all anymore. 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:22.320 I don't know what's gone on, I don't know how we've all changed, but I don't know you and you don't know me. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:23.360 I don't know what's going on. 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:26.799 I know you're my brother, I know you're my sister, I know you're my mother, my dad, whatever. 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:28.960 I just don't feel at home here anymore. 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:43.360 I have a feeling that there are many of us in this room that when I say that this is the family of God, this is these are the brothers and the sisters that you're called, and really God has chosen for you to dwell with, that you just kind of go, yeah, all right, that's cool. 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:45.200 I mean, I've heard that before, whatever. 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:50.399 Uh but let me just say that just because you haven't experienced it doesn't mean it's not true. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:58.559 It's absolutely true because if you believe in Jesus, we are all united underneath the lens of grace, underneath the blood. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:03.279 And that obligates us to one another in ways that wouldn't obligate me to anybody else. 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:07.440 I'm obligating my sister in ways that I I can't be obligated to anybody else. 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:14.480 I'm obligated to you all, my brothers and sisters, in ways that I would never be obligated to anybody else. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:18.480 Uh yeah, uh I was thinking about family of origin. 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:20.159 Uh, they can be a little tricky. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:24.559 Uh matter of fact, when we talk about the family of God, it doesn't mean there won't be conflict. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:26.480 There will be conflict. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:27.919 It's going to happen, right? 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:34.480 I mean, you stay and stick here long enough and someone is going to disagree with you, let's hope, and uh, because that's great. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:43.279 It's good to have disagreements, but there will certainly be conflict within a family of any sort, much less your family of origin, but also here. 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:51.679 Uh when I was growing up, I've told this a similar story to this before, but when I was growing up, uh my sister could beat me up until I was like 26. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:53.759 And so uh it was just sad. 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:56.240 And I'm my therapist says it's gonna be okay, though. 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:58.480 Uh uh I'm just kidding about that part. 00:11:58.639 --> 00:11:59.200 Uh no. 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:01.120 Uh but no, she just beat me up, right? 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:02.480 And so like I was not strong. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:06.799 I mean, she was a gymnast and she was ripped, and I played baseball, and you don't have to be in shape for that. 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:08.320 I mean, just you just don't. 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:13.440 Uh and so I, you know, it was fine, it was good, but man, there were days when we got on each other's nerves, right? 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:18.480 And so there were things that I would do growing up just because I had to get crafty in my defense. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:22.559 I couldn't beat her uh until I was older, but uh until I finally did, and then that was it. 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:25.200 That was the end of fighting all of a sudden, once I got the upper hand. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:28.320 Uh but there was a time when I just had to get crafty in my defense. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:36.480 So one of the things I would do is uh there would be uh like this was back in the days when like kids played with stuff instead of on iPads and whatever else that they do. 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:37.440 Like I had marbles. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:38.000 Anybody? 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:38.720 Yes, marbles? 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:40.159 So I would I would shoot marbles, right? 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:44.320 We'd all have fun and hang out, do marbles, my friends, my cousins, whatever. 00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:47.360 Uh but but one of the day I got the novel idea. 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:50.639 These can be really handy in time of conflict. 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:57.440 Uh and so what I did was I got this really big brown dress sock that I never wore, and I filled it up with marbles. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:12:59.519 That's what I'm talking about. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:02.399 However, I didn't hit her, okay? 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:05.360 Don't don't cut I did not hit her, okay? 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:10.480 Instead, what I did was I cut a hole on the end of that bad boy, and and I just started swinging over my head. 00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:15.120 And I would retreat, and I was just swinging over my head, and you couldn't tell where the marbles were coming from. 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:16.240 She just had to duck and dive. 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:19.360 I remember her diving behind one of the islands, and I didn't throw it at her. 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:20.799 Hey, I was just swinging it, right? 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:22.080 So marbles would be going everywhere. 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:22.799 Thank God. 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:24.799 I don't know how I didn't break anything, but I didn't. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:31.759 But I would retreat back to my room, and I'd get to my room, and uh, and I'd get my that lock's only gonna hold so long. 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:33.600 She's gonna bust it down or she's gonna pick it. 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:35.200 I've already ticked her off, she's coming. 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:42.960 And so what I would do, and I don't know, this is just my era, but we had a Bee Gees record player in my room, and I don't know why it was Bee Gees. 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:44.879 Don't come to me and talk to me about that. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:46.799 But we had a, we had a but we did. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:51.120 We had a Bee Gees record player in my room, and uh, and so this was back when we had records. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:54.080 I I say record player like I know what everybody's talking, like everybody knows what I'm talking about. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:58.720 We had records, and then there was this transition when I was growing up from records to the tape deck, right? 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:09.840 You had cassette tapes, and so all of a sudden, these records that I had, you know, however Bee Gees and Michael Jackson and whomever else at that time, uh, we had all these, and I was like, all of a sudden, it was like these were going obsolete. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:16.799 And so what I did was I would sit on the top bunk of my room and I'd wait for her to come through, and I'd just go, pew, pew, pew. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:20.960 And so if she came through the door, man, there was like a Chinese star coming at her. 00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:30.639 She couldn't, she wasn't gonna, she was only gonna go so far, but eventually there's just a time came when I ran out of records, and you know, the inevitable would happen, right? 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:33.279 So I began crafting other ideas. 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:37.200 As I got a little older, they became a little more scheming and conniving. 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:44.559 So one day, I uh uh I got a jump rope and I knew my mom was coming home, and my sister had been mean or whatever all day. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:45.279 I'm sure she was. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:45.919 She has to be. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:48.399 It was you know, my reality, it has to be reality. 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:57.200 Uh, but so she was mean to me one day, and I knew my mom was coming home, and so what I did was uh I took this jump rope and I went to the garage and I just beat myself with it. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:01.120 Like on my back, just just just just hammered myself, right? 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:05.440 And uh, I know, I know, okay, pray for me, it's still in there. 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:09.120 I just ah so I beat myself with it, right? 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:10.960 And so my mom gets home shortly after that. 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:14.080 I'm I think I was crying that day because I hurt myself. 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:16.320 And uh my mom says, What's going on? 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:17.600 Why what's what's the matter? 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:21.360 And I said, Melissa's been meeting beating me all day with this jump rope. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:26.000 Uh just so you know, Melissa's the same, it's the same name, my wife and my sister. 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:29.600 Awkward at first, but once you get past it, it's okay. 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:32.799 So Melissa, I said, Melissa's been beating me with this jump rope all day. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:34.080 And she's like, No, she hadn't. 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:36.720 I said, Look, there's whelps all over me. 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:39.759 Uh, what's worse, I haven't shared this before, I think I just remembered this. 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:43.279 I would get in the shower and make it real hot to where it was real red. 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:46.159 Uh that's terrible, y'all. 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:47.919 Wow. 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:59.039 But I I tell you all that because we're talking about conflict, we're talking about brothers and sisters, and if we were to compare it to our family of origin, we get real crafty and how we hide from being hurt. 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:08.320 We get real crafty in the way that we make our defense and we back up and we kind of retreat back home because we don't want to get hurt. 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:15.600 We don't want to tell the truth to each other, and we've gotten to the point, and I'm not a big in this country, but in this country, we've gotten to the point where we can't tell the truth. 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:17.600 We can't have an opinion that differs. 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:20.399 Especially if you're a Christian. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:28.159 If you have an opinion that's based in the Bible, well then you're you're just you're worn out, you're old, your opinion is archaic and not relevant. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:34.480 We've got to come to the point we can articulate our beliefs, because by the way, the world is watching. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:41.519 And they're seeing if we can articulate what we believe without being just pompous about it, without being pharisaical about it. 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:52.960 And so it's about time that we start practicing and articulating what we believe, being truthful to one another, perhaps even wounding one another, so that we can grow up in the Lord. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:54.559 That's what Ephesians 4 talks about. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:17:03.440 He says, one of the main, primary means of maturity in your life and in my life is if we speak the truth and love to one another. 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:05.039 Don't forget the in love part. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:07.440 I'm real good about the first part. 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:09.279 I've made this joke before in my class. 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:12.400 I I will punch you in the mouth and then I'll offer you a Kleenex like I care. 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:14.079 Uh I don't mean to. 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:19.680 But to speak the truth in love to one another. 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:25.680 That is the way that we are going to become mature in the faith, and that is right in the context of the church. 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:33.200 If we suspect that our foundations, which I just said, our foundation is the blood of Jesus. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:37.039 There is no firmer foundation than that for our relationship. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:41.039 Brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of God. 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:43.920 There's no firmer foundation than that. 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:50.000 And it made me all think through this great quote that we have on our refrigerator at home. 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:51.200 That just drives us. 00:17:51.359 --> 00:18:00.640 It drives us in a lot of what we do and how we relate, uh, my wife and I to each other, to our kids, to our community group, but whatever, whatever we're doing, this is the quote that kind of drives us. 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:06.559 It's not in the Bible, but it's certainly founded on biblical principles, talking about speaking the truth to one another. 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:09.200 It's uh by a guy by the name of Paul Waddell. 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:15.599 Paul Waddell wrote a book called Becoming Friends, and he says this about telling the truth to one another and really what's at stake. 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:28.640 He says, if we suspect that the foundations of a relationship are fragile, we will say anything but the truth because we fear that the truth will only expose how frail the relationship really is. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:36.799 In such situations, people can be cheerful and friendly to one another, and to outside observers seem full of care for one another. 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:47.279 But they have an unspoken agreement never to be completely truthful with one another because they know the bond of their relationship is so threadbare that the weight of the truth would snap it. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:51.920 I don't know about you, but that reminds me of the church. 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:56.960 The part about uh to outsiders we look like everything's cool. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:02.000 But we've never really spoken the truth to one another about what we believe, about what we see. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:04.960 And I'm not saying you go around and you call everybody out for the sin you see. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:05.759 That's not what I'm saying. 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:08.240 I think more importantly, would be encouraging one another. 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:12.319 Somehow we hide from that responsibility that it is a command in Scripture. 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:18.640 But that's the church, and it's calling all of us to just be truthful in love. 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:25.759 Because if we don't do this, if we don't act like brothers and sisters, we're gonna miss out on some really fruitful things in the Christian life. 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:28.000 We're gonna miss out on the fruit of repentance. 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:31.920 How are you gonna know that you need to repent until somebody tells you? 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:35.440 How's somebody else gonna know that they need to repent until you tell them? 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:37.519 That's the harder part. 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:42.960 We're gonna miss on repentance, we're gonna miss out on rejoicing or mourning because we won't know what's going on in their lives. 00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:46.319 We won't know if they just got a job or if their husband just died. 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:54.880 We'll miss on perhaps the greatest fruit in all of this, but the greatest one that has most discipline associated with it is forgiveness. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:20:01.200 That is a discipline, that is something to be trained up in each of us to forgive as God has forgiven us. 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:09.599 We'll miss out on all of that if we don't start relating with one another through the lens of grace and the lens of family. 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:18.880 And perhaps this life of repentance and the art of forgiveness is the key to the second point, which is this community not is is it's not just family. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:21.200 The reason why it's family is because it stays. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:24.079 Community stays. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:25.920 Uh, it's right there again in the first verse. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:27.039 I can't move out of it. 00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:33.440 Uh behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:34.319 Dwell. 00:20:34.559 --> 00:20:39.680 That community, biblical community, Christian community stays with you. 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:41.759 That Hebrew word is yeshav. 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:43.119 Yeshav. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:45.119 Uh you can impress your friends at work with that. 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:47.039 Yeshav, you can even say that one. 00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:50.480 Uh it means to sit down, to remain, or to inhabit. 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:53.759 Now think about that one in context of your relationships. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:56.000 You have no intention of leaving. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:00.240 You have no intention of getting out when it gets too hard. 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:03.680 You have no intention or plans to leave when it gets awkward. 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:19.680 And I say that word purposefully because uh I didn't share this in the second service, I did share it in the first, but I feel like I need to now, and I I hate that I need to, but I'm going to. 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:21.599 Uh because it means I have to die. 00:21:21.839 --> 00:21:30.160 It means I have to die to what I really want to say and try and help, you know, impress, you know, basically manage your impression of me, which is pretty much death. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:39.680 But the reality is this I went on a uh I went to a conference last year, and the guy I went to the conference with uh had a great time with him. 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:47.839 Um and basically what it came out of there was, and all of you can go into my office right now, and if you ever go into my office, you'll see a no exit sign in my office. 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:50.079 Some of you even went with me to this conference. 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:53.119 But in the in my office, there's a no exit sign in my conference. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:22:01.359 And what that means for me, and what he gave it to me for, and he said, put it in your office, and whenever anybody asks you, you have to go to the Have to explain it to them. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:02.720 Awesome. 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:06.319 Let me save you a trip and I'll tell you what it is now. 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:13.440 It's a no exit sign, meaning, hey, when you run out of wit, when you run out of your own competence, you can't leave. 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:16.160 I know that's your tendency, but you're not allowed to leave. 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:26.640 And that's what he was telling me was I have a tendency that whenever I get into situations where I run out of wit or run out of competence, I go, all right, well, I gotta go talk to somebody else, see you later. 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:28.799 And I start, I mean, it's just basically the same thing. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:32.319 I'm just whirling a sock full of marbles up in the air, going, All right, I gotta get out of this. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:33.440 All right, see you later. 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:34.880 That's not the gospel. 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:38.160 That's a whole lot of me and not a whole lot of you. 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:43.519 And some of you have probably experienced that, to which I'll just say, I'm sorry. 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:45.279 But at the same time, you know what? 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:48.960 I'm I'm I've repented and I'm repenting of that selfish behavior. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:53.440 And I tell you all that because this is what community is. 00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:59.119 And I told my growth group on Friday morning, I have a feeling I'm gonna get painfully just transparent in front of everybody. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:04.480 But what other way are we going to understand the value of community if someone doesn't model it? 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:07.279 Because I'll just be real honest, I don't like telling that story. 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:09.440 I don't like when people tell it back to me. 00:23:10.319 --> 00:23:12.559 Because that means I have a some sort of deficiency. 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:15.200 But that's reality, right? 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:16.319 That's why I was saved. 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:24.160 That's why you were saved, and it is not comfortable, but it is absolutely necessary for us to just be able to stay. 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:31.359 For us to just be able to see each other's wounds or problems or sins and say, but I see something better in you, and it's Jesus. 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:44.880 To flesh that out a little bit more, uh, I have a friend of mine who is a dwelling relationship, and I haven't even talked about the historical background of this, that David is one who certainly experienced dwelling relationships. 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:52.000 That this guy named Nathan basically came and confronted him, his friend, after David. 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:54.720 What did he do when he wrote this song? 00:23:54.799 --> 00:23:57.680 Right before he wrote this song, years before, who knows? 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:24.400 But he just got done committing his sin with Bathsheba, which was adultery, and if that wasn't enough, he pulled Bathsheba's uh husband off the front lines of battle, and he brought him home and he said, Hey man, I just he was trying to cover up his sin, trying to cover up that he had just had uh sex with Bathsheba, and she's pregnant now, and she's another man's wife, and so he brings her home and he says, Hey, I've done a great favor to you, Uriah. 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:26.480 I want you to, I'm giving you a night with your wife. 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:29.119 You've been working so hard, I'm gonna give you a night with your wife. 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:30.400 Go on home and enjoy her. 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:36.319 Uriah, he's has much more character and integrity than David thought of at that moment. 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:37.759 But Uriah doesn't go home. 00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:39.279 Instead, he sleeps on the porch. 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:44.960 He says, How dare I go in and be with my wife when my men are on the front, the front lines of battle? 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:49.119 So David's conniving plan doesn't work, right? 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:52.559 Now remember, he's a man after God's own heart, so you can't get too down on him. 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:56.960 He does some unbelievably great things in his life, but this wasn't one of them. 00:24:57.279 --> 00:25:04.400 And so Nathan comes to him and he says, Hey, let me just tell you about a guy who takes some, the only thing that's precious to a man. 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:06.720 It's the only thing he can afford, it's the only thing he has. 00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:09.200 And there's another guy that has everything. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:17.119 And that guy goes and takes the little precious thing from the one guy that's the only possession he had, and then he takes it for himself and he doesn't care. 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:18.400 What would you think about that? 00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:20.160 And David said, Well, let's kill him. 00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:22.240 And Nathan said, You're him. 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:32.720 Now, I tell you all that because Nathan was courageous enough to, number one, be sent by the Lord and then go just show a mirror up to David. 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:35.440 But the result of that is a changed life. 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:44.240 David repented and moved on from that and became the great guy that we all know and respect and love in the scriptures. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:51.599 And so he writes that we are to have and how good and pleasing it is for us to have dwelling relationships where there's no exit signs. 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:54.240 As Neil said on the email yesterday, there's no doorknobs. 00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:56.559 I just immediately thought, exit sign. 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:09.680 But to flesh that out like I was going to just a minute ago, I have a friend of mine who called me not too long ago and he said, Hey, uh, I don't know what's going on, but I've been praying for you and I need to talk to you. 00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:12.640 And I said, Okay, you're gonna confess some sin, like I'm ready to hear your sin. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:13.359 Let's go. 00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:15.599 Uh and he goes, No, this is about you. 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:18.079 And I was like, Okay, I got I gotta go. 00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:19.359 There's a meeting or something. 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:21.759 I I don't know what I don't know what it is, but I gotta go. 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:23.759 And he just said, Ah, whatever, man. 00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:34.640 Just, hey, I just want to let you know, I don't know what it is, I don't know what's going on, but I can sense in our relationship that you're becoming cynical, that you're becoming guarded, that you're becoming jaded. 00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:39.279 And he said, Hey, that's the old lance, and you're supposed to kill him. 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:40.880 And he's coming back. 00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:43.359 And I don't like him, but I love you. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:48.880 And I sat there and I immediately went through, but I have all these reasons why I'm that way. 00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:49.680 Don't you understand? 00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:50.799 I mean, it's not safe out here. 00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:51.680 I mean, they're gonna hurt me. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:53.759 And he goes, Yeah, exactly. 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:55.359 That's my whole point. 00:26:55.599 --> 00:26:58.880 And then he said this, and this is the part where I knew the Holy Spirit was on it. 00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:04.240 He said, Hey, but just so you know, no matter what it is that's gonna hurt you or whatever, you have to stay woundable. 00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:07.440 You need to stay woundable. 00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:09.440 You can't just pull away, you can't just hide. 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:10.559 You can't, that's not okay. 00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:12.079 You're not allowed to do that. 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:19.039 And what he's charging me to, and he's what I'm charging you to, and my own life and my own failures, is basically this. 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:22.079 The Spirit of God dwells within us. 00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:23.759 That should change our lives. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:25.039 He set up shop. 00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:28.640 It's the same Greek word as the Hebrew word here. 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:42.799 That he has come and set up shop in us, and although we've tried to basically hide our sin and shove our sin into every crook and nanny of our lives and of our souls, Jesus has come, sent his spirit, washed all that clean, and said, I'm here to stay. 00:27:42.960 --> 00:27:44.559 You can't push me out. 00:27:46.319 --> 00:27:47.599 No matter what. 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:55.680 And so when my buddy tells me that I'm called to do that, to stay woundable, it's certainly uncomfortable. 00:27:55.920 --> 00:27:57.039 I don't like that. 00:27:57.279 --> 00:27:59.920 That doesn't, that goes against my control. 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:04.000 But it is absolutely necessary. 00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:05.599 Absolutely necessary. 00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:10.240 He said, you can't pull back from leading and living like you're about to be hurt. 00:28:10.480 --> 00:28:16.960 Instead, you've got to lean in and give yourself to everything and everyone, just like Jesus has done. 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:19.440 I mean, that's the gospel, right? 00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:38.160 This God who at the end of his life, in the midst of basically he's leaning up against all of his buddies at the Last Supper, and he just got done washing their feet, which included Judas, and then he's about to tell Peter, hey, Peter, you're about to deny me three times, and Peter's going, No, what are you talking about? 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:38.880 I would never do that. 00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:43.759 Right in the middle of all of that, Jesus says, I got a new command for you, men. 00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:49.599 I want you to, as I have loved you, so you love one another. 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:50.880 As I have loved you. 00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:52.400 And how did Jesus love us? 00:28:52.559 --> 00:28:53.440 How does he love us? 00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:54.240 He gave everything. 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:58.640 Philippians 2 says he was poured out, making himself nothing. 00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:02.240 And so he calls us as with all of that. 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:03.680 That's your fuel for life. 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:05.599 That's your fuel for loving one another. 00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:08.480 Not your accomplishments, not your comparisons. 00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:13.680 My love for you, and then you loving one another. 00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:16.400 If that's our fuel, it's never ending. 00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:21.119 We can love one another, no matter how awkward it gets or uncomfortable it gets. 00:29:21.200 --> 00:29:22.720 As a matter of fact, that's the command. 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:25.680 It's disobedient not to do it. 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:33.119 But that's the kind of love that's found in the power of the gospel, which is where we landed last week. 00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:39.599 It's the power that sets us free to be freely woundable people, which I've just done painfully. 00:29:39.839 --> 00:29:49.680 But a dwelling people, that's what this is called, what we're called to be, a dwelling people with no intention of moving on or saying, you know what, that was too wicked for me. 00:29:49.839 --> 00:29:50.799 I'm out. 00:29:53.599 --> 00:30:03.119 Dwelling people to be able to do that, finding reasons to reject one another, being driven by each other's weaknesses, whatever it may be, is not the call of God. 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:05.359 We've got to get beyond all of that. 00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:16.319 It's this kind of dwelling community that has no other option than to become united by these bonds, these bonds of dwelling with one another, which kind of leads me to my final point, and that's this, and we're done. 00:30:16.640 --> 00:30:19.359 Community is not just family. 00:30:19.599 --> 00:30:21.200 Community doesn't just stay. 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:22.960 Community sticks. 00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:24.480 It's sticky. 00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:27.599 Which made me, again, maybe uncomfortable, but it sticks. 00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:30.240 There's a unity there, exactly what David says. 00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:35.519 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity or togetherness. 00:30:35.759 --> 00:30:37.920 Uh uh Adam and Eve knew that unity. 00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:41.920