WEBVTT 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:12.480 This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:17.920 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grand Parkway.org. 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:19.199 Amen. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:20.160 Let's pray together. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:21.280 Lord, that's why we're here. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:22.480 It's why we're breathing. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:29.679 It's to give glory to your name, not to be a bunch of mean-spirited religious people who are more famous for what we don't like than what we love. 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:32.880 And so, Lord, get glory from what happens in this room today. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:37.039 The Bible says, whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all for the glory of God. 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:38.960 So we want to eat to the glory of God. 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:40.960 We want to drink to the glory of God. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:43.280 We want to spend money to the glory of God. 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:47.920 We want everything we do to remind everyone around us how great God is. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:50.640 And so, Holy Spirit, illuminate the scripture today. 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:56.240 Let it come off the page and get in our head and in our heart and live that in our hands this week. 00:00:56.399 --> 00:00:57.520 This is our prayer, God. 00:00:57.679 --> 00:00:58.799 We pray it in Jesus' name. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:00.719 And everyone said, Amen. 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:01.200 Amen. 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:02.000 You can have a seat. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:04.239 If you're having a seat, let me uh let me just say welcome. 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:04.879 My name is Neil. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:06.319 I'm the lead pastor at Grand Parkway. 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:08.480 If you're our guest today, make yourself at home. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:11.680 We're in a four-part series right now on our core values, okay? 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:15.840 Core values basically are, hey, what are the four things your church is really all about? 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:16.239 Okay. 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:17.920 And so basically there's four of them. 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:21.439 They are gospel, community, mission, and blessing. 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:28.799 We believe that the gospel produces a community of people that are on this shared mission, and central to that mission is a blessing. 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:32.319 Somebody was here last Sunday and they said, man, your church is kind of stripped down and simple. 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:32.799 I like that. 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:37.840 And I said, Yeah, we don't do a lot of lights and smoke and Rasmataz and motorcycles and all that stuff. 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:38.640 Here's why. 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:41.599 We don't want Sunday morning to be the experience. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:53.280 We want you to be so equipped that you're the experience people have when they meet you, when they're in algebra class with you, or they work in the cubicle next to you, or they run into you, uh, your neighbors running to you in the driveway. 00:01:53.359 --> 00:02:01.840 But there's something about you that that's so stridently different, that's so winsome and joyful, people want to know how you got to be who you are. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:03.840 If that makes sense, say amen. 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:06.480 So that's why our church is like it is. 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:08.639 But now before I go any further, let me just acknowledge something. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:09.680 I want to ask something. 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:13.680 If you're here today and you came, you're like, hey, I don't go to this church, I go to some other church. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:14.800 That's glory to God. 00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:16.000 We're all for that. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:21.520 But if you're here and you're a guest of the Williams family, you're here to honor the life of Noah, would you stand up right now? 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:27.280 Stay standing. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:37.680 David and Joy Mile, I want to say to you, I was reminded of what John 12, where Jesus said, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:40.240 But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:46.560 Uh long before what happened a year ago, Noah fell to the ground and died to be in a normal kid. 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:48.719 I remember the first time I talked to him was right over there. 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:51.199 He was kind of looking at me and I said, You got a girl in your life? 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:54.319 And he's like, uh I said, You're a good-looking kid, you should have a girlfriend. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:55.280 He's like, This is weird. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:56.240 My preacher's talking to me. 00:02:56.719 --> 00:03:00.319 Uh and so these people are standing because of Noah's influence. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:03.840 And so I just want you to know that nothing's in vain. 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:05.280 Still matters, okay? 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:06.400 You guys can have a seat. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:07.680 Thanks for being here today. 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:12.400 Uh uh and so uh anyway, today, so last week we talked about gospel. 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:16.319 Today we're talking about our second core value of community, and I want to talk to you about it like this. 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:18.159 So, this is why I define community. 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:20.479 Community is the context of becoming. 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:26.080 Community is the context of becoming, it's where you go to become who the Bible says you really are. 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:27.599 All right, and so here's what I'm gonna do. 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:29.599 I'm gonna start reading Hebrews chapter 10. 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:32.319 Uh, if you don't have a Bible, if you have a Bible, you can look along. 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:33.599 I'll start reading verse 19. 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:35.919 If you don't, everything I say will come up on the screen. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:38.960 You can just sit there and just kind of check it out and take it all in, okay? 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:39.919 Here's what we do here. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:40.960 I'm gonna teach the Bible. 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:44.639 Today I'm gonna talk about six things about community from a passage in the Bible. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:49.759 I don't make things up myself and try to find a word in the verse in the Bible that has that word in it. 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:52.080 And so I'm gonna unpack what the scripture says. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:54.319 And then at the end, we like to think a little bit. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:57.280 Christianity is not just about feeling, it's about thinking. 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:04.319 So we'll just get real quiet, and Lindsay will come back and some questions come up on the screen, and we'll just spend some time just engaging our mind. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:13.280 Uh, Christianity is not just a feeling we try to maintain, it's a reality we want to understand, and we want to grow deeper in our understanding of this reality, okay? 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:16.560 So, the context of becoming this is what community is. 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:20.240 This is how the Bible talks about it in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 19. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:30.000 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that was opened for us through the curtain, that is his flesh. 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:41.199 And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:46.079 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:58.879 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:00.959 Notice that the word day is capitalized. 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:06.000 So it's not talking about just any day like Tuesday or Thursday or Saturday, but a specific day. 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:07.519 We'll end on that note today. 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:12.160 But I want to go back and start in in verse 19, verses 19 to 22. 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:13.600 Here's the first thing about community. 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:15.680 Community is available because of Jesus. 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:17.360 It's available because of Jesus. 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:22.720 Now, those three or four verses there, it's kind of awkward and clunky, and you're like, what in the world is the Bible talking about there? 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:24.000 Let me give you some context. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:31.120 In the Old Testament, before Jesus comes, uh, Jesus, God saying, you know, we we believe in the Trinity, God the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:35.120 So it's not like God in the Old Testament, he's kind of angry at everybody, and Jesus is loving. 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:35.680 We like him. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:40.720 No, no, but in the Old Testament, there there was a big emphasis on the holy otherness of God. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:49.279 So there was that God uh He he dwelled in the temple, and there was a thing called the Holy of Holies, kind of like a set off in the back. 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:53.600 But when you come into the temple, there'd be like it's called the bronze labor, it's like a big birdbath. 00:05:53.680 --> 00:06:06.399 And the priest would have to ceremonially cleanse himself, go through all these rituals where they would wash, and and and then there was a big curtain, big thick wool curtain that separated the presence of God from where the people, where even the priest could come. 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:13.040 And only once a year would the priests go behind that curtain into the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the sins of the people. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:13.519 Okay. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:18.240 And so when he would go in there, it wasn't a normal day, he would go through all these cleansing rituals. 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:23.920 They would sew bells to the bottom of his robe, and they'd tie a rope around one of his ankles. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:33.600 Because if he went in there and he wasn't, he had any unconfessed sin, he was on any level ceremonially unclean, God would strike him dead and they would just drag him out. 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:36.639 They wouldn't go rock, paper, scissors, shoot, who's gonna go get him? 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:38.399 They were like, dude, we don't want any of that. 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:40.079 God just smacked that guy to the ground. 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:41.519 They would just tug the rope. 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:44.160 All right, we'll come back next year. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:47.759 And so there was a there there's a severity to God's presence. 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:54.160 There still is, but but but but but he's also he's intense, but he's also accessible. 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:55.439 Now, why do I tell you all that? 00:06:55.600 --> 00:07:04.879 Because in the Old Testament, they go through all these things, cleansing themselves, purification rites, and once a year they go into the Holy of Holies, into the presence of God. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:08.160 Now, having said all that, hear verse 19 again. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:19.600 Therefore, because here's what it comes down to: everything we used to have to do in order to approach God once a year on this high holy day, Jesus has already done for us on the cross. 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:27.360 This is what verse 19 means when he says, Therefore, brother, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, they entered in fear. 00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:34.720 The Bible says we can enter in confidence by the new and living way that was opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:46.399 And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:50.160 This is what I mean when I say community is available because of Jesus. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:52.399 So there's two kinds of people in this room right now. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:57.600 There's those that first that are trusted in what you do to make yourself clean and right before God. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:02.639 And then there's those who trust what Jesus has done to make you clean and right before God. 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:05.600 But community is available because of Jesus. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:08.879 By the way, one of those is religion, the other is relationship. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:13.920 The Bible's not about being religious, it's about being in a relationship with God. 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:16.800 Here's the second thing about community: community is plural. 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:26.399 All through this passage, he says, Since we let us, uh, we have, let us draw near with our hearts sprinkled, our bodies, our hope. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:29.920 Uh it's not Christianity, it's not singular, it's plural. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:32.879 And so, therefore, community is plural by nature. 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:34.559 You are not intended to go it alone. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:37.759 You may be sitting in this room right now thinking, it's just me and God. 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:44.159 I want to love you enough to tell you that's not biblical, that it's not the way God created you to be, whether you're 10 or 86. 00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:55.039 God did not create you to be on this rugged individualistic track where a lot of people get, they say, you know, the church is filling the blank, a bunch of hypocrites, it's too this, it's not enough this. 00:08:55.120 --> 00:08:57.120 Uh, so I just it's just me and God. 00:08:57.279 --> 00:08:58.320 That's not biblical. 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:01.759 You were created to be in relationships with other people. 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:06.000 This is what I mean when I say community is plural, all through the Bible. 00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:08.559 If you're like, hey, I just want to be left alone. 00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:11.919 I got the Bible, I believe in God, I'll figure it out. 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:16.960 I would ask the simple question: how do you live out the one-another's of the Bible? 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:22.240 Love one another, pray for one another, confess your sins one to another. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:24.960 This is what we mean when we say community is plural. 00:09:25.039 --> 00:09:26.399 I love what Ray Ortland said. 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:34.399 He said, This love to ourselves, we will get it partly wrong, but we won't feel wrong because we'll be partly right, but only partly. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:37.120 Truth without grace is harsh and ugly. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:39.919 Grace without truth is sentimental and cowardly. 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:43.200 The living Christ is full of grace and truth. 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:49.279 We cannot represent him, therefore, within the limits of our own personality and backgrounds. 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:51.840 Said differently, community is plural. 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:54.080 Here's a third thing the Bible tells us about community. 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:56.159 Community is intentionally deliberate. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:58.159 It is intentionally deliberate. 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:03.519 The first part of the passage, verses 19 to 22, this is what Jesus has done on our behalf. 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:04.960 This is what he makes available. 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:10.240 And then the second part, starting about verse 23, is hey, this is how we respond to that. 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:15.360 We respond to that by being intentionally deliberate in the relationships that we have with other people. 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:18.399 It's verse 24 where he says, and let us consider. 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:20.320 Let us consider. 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:21.440 Let me ask you a question. 00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:25.440 Don't answer this out loud, but you'll have an answer uh in in your head. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:36.399 When's the last time you went to dinner with somebody that you're friends with, and you thought, either we're gonna run out of topics to talk about, or we're gonna talk about the same four things we always talk about. 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:41.279 Ladies, you kind of, oh, we're getting together with the Joneses, and your husband's like, Really? 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:46.080 And it's not that your husband's antisocial, it's just, hey, he's telling you, we talk about the same things. 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:58.720 And the Bible says, let us consider, let's give deliberate forethought to how we engage each other in such a way that everyone walks away and they are provoked to be more loving and to do more good. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:01.200 This is what the Bible says community is. 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:05.440 Can you fathom a world in which people were more loving and did more good? 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:07.840 Would the news have anything to report? 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:10.799 I've almost stopped watching the news, and I'm a nerd. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:11.919 I watch the news every night. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:15.840 I uh like I record 60 minutes every Sunday night, and my wife's like, You want to watch that again? 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:18.799 I'm like, Yeah, because I gotta feed the beasts, woman. 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:19.919 What are you talking about? 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:25.200 And she goes, but there's so much bad news going in the world like last night, 48 hours comes on a little news magazine. 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:27.120 Let me guess, somebody killed somebody. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:31.200 I can't be going to bed every Saturday night just watching somebody get killed. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:38.159 But if we just would if people would become more loving and do more good, the culture wouldn't have a context for that. 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:52.480 That's why the Bible says it let us consider, let us think about how we engage the world around us and each other in such a way that they're provoked to be more loving people and to do more good. 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:59.840 For example, uh, there's a young man in our church, he stopped me last week and he said, Hey, I got a friend that's uh I invited today, but he didn't make it. 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:01.840 And I said, All right, well, I want to meet him when he comes. 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:07.360 Like a day or two later, he contacts me and says, My friend didn't make it because he got a DWI and he's in jail. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:09.759 If you've ever been in jail, say amen. 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:14.000 Y'all are like, never mind. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:16.960 Uh I would say amen to that. 00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:20.480 It was a long time ago, about the 10th grade, but I was in jail. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:23.759 Uh anyway, see, you can be a winner too, kids, all right? 00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:30.159 Uh and so uh he said, My friend's in jail, and uh, I got a I've scheduled a video call Friday at two. 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:33.039 Can you come over to my house and we're gonna be on the video call? 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:34.720 And I'm like, Yeah, I'd love to meet your friend. 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:37.919 So he's there, and we got a microphone, and I was like, Can we rap on this thing? 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:39.200 Chuck, chuck one, two. 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:41.360 Uh, and we're waiting, we're like, it ain't gonna happen. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:44.320 Finally, God pops up on the screen, and he's all scarred up. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:45.759 He's got full sleeve tattoos. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:46.799 The guy looks incredible. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:49.039 That's some nice tattoos there, my man. 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:50.480 And I we're just kind of talking. 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:53.360 No one wants to meet a preacher for the first time when you're in jail. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:54.639 Hey, how are you doing? 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:55.840 I'm in jail. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:01.039 Uh, and I just said, hey man, has anybody you got any you got any money on your commissary account? 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:02.480 Because I ain't got nothing, man. 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:08.720 A commissary account, basically, you can go to the jail out here, Fort Bean County Jail, and you can drop money in their account and they can get snacks. 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:11.120 Jail's not happy, you need snacks. 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:11.600 Amen. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:13.039 So here's what I did. 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:15.279 I talked to the guy, I said, Hey man, this was on Friday. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:19.840 I said, I can't go today, but I'll go out there tomorrow, and you're gonna be in for like five, six more days? 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:21.679 How about I drop 50 bucks in there? 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:24.720 Because people in my church can put money in these wooden boxes by the doors. 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:31.039 So I took$50 of the money you give and put it on his commissary account at the Fort Bean County jail. 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:32.159 Yeah. 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:35.039 Now you may be thinking, I tell you what, I didn't give that money. 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:36.399 Hush, okay? 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:40.080 Jesus said, Hey, well, I was in prison and you visited me. 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:42.720 So I just thought, let's go visit him. 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:47.840 And I said, Hey man, when you get out, by the way, if you have a pastor, great, but if you don't, I would love to be your pastor. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:48.799 I'm not ashamed of you. 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:50.080 I think you gotta think about this. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:52.799 He said, Well, I can get out on a bond. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:54.240 I can get bonded out for a hundred bucks. 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:58.480 I'll come bond you out right now, but I don't want to mess with that because I gotta take a drug test and da-da-da. 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:01.039 And I said, See, you don't want to stop drugs just yet. 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:04.399 People want to stop drugs, they don't mind peeing in a cup, amen. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:07.600 I wish I could see your faces. 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:10.320 You're like, Did he just say that? 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:12.720 Yeah, see, you gotta consider. 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:14.399 I'm I'm I'm considering. 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:16.879 I I want to engage this person in a meaningful way. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:18.720 Yeah, I said, What do you want to stop doing? 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:19.679 What do you want to start doing? 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:22.399 Jail's a great opportunity to think about that. 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:24.080 He goes, Well, I want to stop doing drugs. 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:29.120 If you really want to stop doing drugs, you don't mind taking whatever test they're gonna give you because they're gonna help you stop. 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:30.639 That's a good point. 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:33.200 All right, well, I ain't hating on you, bro, okay? 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:34.799 Well, while I'm there, we finish the call. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:36.080 They're like, hey, can you hang out? 00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:37.840 I'm always for hanging out, okay? 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.960 We're on the back porch, we're sitting there, we're talking, having a good time. 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:44.240 And I look up and there's something I will never buy ever in my life. 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:46.480 Don't give me one because I'll throw it away. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:48.000 A wind chime. 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:51.600 Why people buy things that make noise, I don't know. 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:55.279 But they got this wind chime on their back porch, and it's not just a wind chime, but it's cool. 00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:57.120 It's got a rope tied to it. 00:14:57.200 --> 00:15:07.440 And I guess the the mom sees me looking at that, and I'm just kind of look over, and there's their fence, and then there's a stepladder, a two-step ladder against the fence, and I'm kind of like, did somebody fix the fence and forget? 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:08.879 And she's like, oh no, no, no, no. 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:10.000 That see that rope? 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:15.200 It goes all the way from our wind chime, all the way across the back of our house, over to our neighbor's house. 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:16.399 She's in her 90s. 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:21.840 Her daughter's gonna take care of her, but her daughter died of cancer uh a while back, and so she's pretty much on her own. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:36.639 And so I told her, we're gonna tie this string from our wind chime to your wind chime, and when you take your dog outside, you pull the rope, it'll ring my wind chime, and I'll walk over and stand up on the ladder and look over the fence, and we can visit so you can interact with somebody every day. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:39.360 That's what it means to consider. 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:41.360 I'm on the back porch kind of going. 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:45.679 Would it be inappropriate if I cried right now? 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:50.559 And she's like, Yeah, because I just don't want her to think she's all alone in this world. 00:15:50.720 --> 00:15:54.879 And then she said, then I was like, Oh, yeah, something I can do. 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:55.759 Get angry. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:15:56.240 No. 00:15:56.399 --> 00:16:02.960 She said, Yeah, the HOA is giving her a hard time because she's got some wood on the front of her garage just rotting and got some mold on the side of her house. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:08.080 And I'm like, hey, listen, we will come over, we'll fix that, we'll get the wood taken off and replaced. 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:11.840 By the way, if you know anything about carpentry, I need your help because I don't know anything. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:14.159 I just I can rip it out, but I don't know how to put it back. 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:15.679 And we'll power wash the side of it. 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:17.279 Now, this is the kind of church you go to. 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:24.399 In the first service, one of our men who's retired from Chevron walked up, and I mean, he's just like, hey man, can I power wash that? 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:28.080 Because we men love to power wash stuff. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:32.399 And here's why it's an instant sense of accomplishment. 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:36.159 Marriage, not so much. 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:38.320 We love you. 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:40.559 This is like we're doing good, right? 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:41.600 Keep going. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:42.720 Okay. 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:45.120 Power washing, it's dirty. 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:46.879 When I leave, it's clean. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:48.799 Walk away and for like a king. 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:49.759 I'm like, yeah. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:51.440 But he's like, hey, could I take care of that? 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:52.639 And I say, Oh, yeah, yeah. 00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:54.799 I mean, you know, oh man, I would love to. 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:57.840 So I get to go over today, ring the doorbell, the lady. 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:00.240 I don't know, and say, hey, can we just bless you? 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:03.279 Can we live out one of our core values and just bless you? 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:06.240 We'll replace us right in wood, we'll clean the side of this thing. 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:06.799 Why? 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:11.039 Because they live next door to a family that knows what it means to consider. 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:14.000 What are you considering today? 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:19.680 If the biggest thing you consider today is where you're going to eat lunch, you need to step your game up. 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:21.440 And I'm all for lunch. 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:22.400 Go somewhere good. 00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:23.519 Take me. 00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:26.319 I won't talk, I'll just eat. 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:28.480 I said over at the kid table. 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:31.599 The Bible says community is intentionally deliberate. 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:34.160 It's where we participate in each other's sanctification. 00:17:34.319 --> 00:17:40.799 I walked away from this family and I was provoked to love and good deeds, and they didn't even say they didn't tell me, hey, preacher, you should do stuff. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:43.359 I just thought, man, that is awesome. 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:51.200 I went home to my neighbors and said, hey, if I got two wind chimes and we strung a, they don't even open the door to me anymore. 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:53.599 They just look out the window and go, what do you want? 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:55.279 Open the door. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:56.799 I want to have community. 00:17:57.039 --> 00:17:58.319 You scare us. 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:00.400 Get off the porch. 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:02.960 Okay, let me have you change your mind. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:04.400 Here's the fourth thing about community. 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:05.839 Community is consequential. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:07.039 It is consequential. 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:08.319 It's verse 24 again. 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:09.119 What does he say? 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:10.079 And let us consider. 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:11.119 What do we consider? 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:14.240 How to stir up one another to love and good works. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:19.599 Ask yourself this question: Who do you spend time with that makes you want to be a better person? 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:24.000 And not just a better person in terms of the way the world defines it. 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:29.519 Who do you spend time with that stirs you up to be more loving and to do more good? 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:34.160 You should have people in your life that they stir you up. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:37.279 You're just kind of like, because community is consequential. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:40.559 Now, when I say it's consequential, that doesn't mean it's confrontational. 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:44.240 Community is not getting together with people like, hey, I want to confront you about your sin. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:45.440 That's part of it. 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:48.640 But but it's not always a negative confrontational thing. 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:57.359 Like, case in point, uh, as most of you know, I was on sabbatical this summer, so I did a whole lot of nothing in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen. 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:01.279 Uh but one thing I did was I would try to watch TV, but like nothing really interesting. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:03.200 There's a show on called Love Island. 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:07.519 I'm like, ha! These people need therapy, so I can't watch that. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:14.799 But anyway, I was flipping channels and one day I come across a 30 for 30 documentary on ESPN, and I'm like, yes, I can watch this. 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:16.160 It was on the Buffalo Bills. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:17.759 I thought I can't watch this. 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:20.079 These people lose for a living. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:27.119 And actually, it was about how they went to the Super Bowl in 1991 for the first time and they lost four Super Bowls in a row. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:30.079 I'm thinking after the third year, just go, we're not coming, man. 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:31.519 We know how this turns out. 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:35.359 I mean, the Dallas Cowboys beat the brakes off them in one of them Super Bowls. 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:40.640 But in the first one, they get down to the very end and they got a chance to kick a game-winning field goal. 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:43.039 And Scott Norwood trots onto the field. 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:44.640 It ain't long, it's makeable. 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:51.119 And that brother, he plants, boom, and it starts hooking a little bit, and then it starts just kind of fading off to the right. 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:53.440 Now, his teammates, he missed it. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:56.799 And they lost a Super Bowl because he missed a makeable field bowl. 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:58.720 His teammates were like, oh man, that's okay. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:00.960 One of them said, Yeah, there was a Black Hawk helicopter. 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:05.440 I'm not making this up, above the stadium, and the downdraft pushed that ball to the right. 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:06.480 And you know what he said? 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:09.680 He didn't say, I gotta, I gotta focus on my mental health. 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:12.079 He said, I failed. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:16.319 When's the last time you heard somebody in this culture say that? 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:18.160 He said, I just missed it. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:23.200 They said, Well, one of your teammates said there was a helicopter up there, and he goes, No, it didn't affect it. 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:26.640 I had a chance to get it done, and I didn't get it done. 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:32.799 And then I found myself leaning up off my couch, kind of, why am I drawn to this like a bug to a bug zapper? 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:35.440 I'm like, this isn't gonna end well, but I can't stop. 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:36.799 And I'm just watching. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:39.599 And they showed him at the press conference after the Super Bowl. 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:41.119 He sat there and answered every question. 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:44.240 He didn't send a representative and go, Scotch, not here. 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:46.240 He is not gonna be receiving questions. 00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:48.160 No, he sat there and said, Any other questions? 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:49.920 And they would ask, and then what happened? 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.880 He said, I just didn't swing my hips through until the ball faded to the right, and it's on me. 00:20:54.960 --> 00:20:57.039 I'm the reason we lost the Super Bowl. 00:20:57.279 --> 00:20:58.480 Well, how do you feel about that? 00:20:58.640 --> 00:20:59.519 I feel terrible. 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:00.880 Any other questions? 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:05.759 I'm just like, hey man, how many ways can you ask the guy, do you feel bad enough? 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:08.480 And then they flashed the modern day and they were talking to him. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:10.079 That brother's got gray hair now. 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:12.240 And he's talking, they said, Well, what was it like? 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:16.960 He said, Well, a couple days after the Super Bowl, they had a rally for the team down at City Hall. 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:18.000 And I'm like, What? 00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:20.319 Who has a rally for the people that lose? 00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:22.000 I now want to go to Buffalo. 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:25.039 And so he said, We're expecting 500, maybe a thousand people. 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:27.200 30,000 people showed up. 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:31.359 And they showed it, and I was like, no way. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:32.799 They got banners. 00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:40.960 People, they said men and women, parents took their kids out of school because they wanted them to see it's okay to do your best and still lose. 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:42.720 Hello, Fort Bend County. 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:44.880 Stop giving everybody a trophy. 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:49.359 Let your kids go, yeah, we we played hard, we lost. 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:51.680 By the way, I'm watching the Little League World Series. 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:52.319 I'm loving that. 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:54.720 I think we should cancel all professional sports. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:57.440 I just love those little kids. 00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:59.119 But anyway, back to the rally. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:04.960 Nor would he said, yeah, I was kind of like, I'm the goat, which the goat back then meant bad. 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:06.720 It didn't mean greatest of all time. 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:12.160 He said, I'm behind the offensive line and the defensive line against the back wall, keeping a low profile. 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:14.400 Like, hey, hey, hey, I'm the guy that lost. 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:14.960 We all know it. 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:15.839 Don't rub it in. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:21.920 And he said, 20 minutes into the rally, these 30,000 people begin to chant, We want Scott. 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:23.680 We want Scott. 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:27.759 We and he said, the linemen begin to grab me and push me through the crowd, and they showed it. 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:32.000 He gets pushed up to the thing and looks out and just breaks down crying. 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:36.160 And then he said, This, which made me cry. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:44.400 He said, It is a humbling thing to stand before a group of people who refuse to let you believe the absolute worst about yourself. 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:47.680 And I'm reaching on the coffee table for a pen. 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:51.039 That's community right there, boys and girls. 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:52.880