SPEAKER_01: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grand Parkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, that's why we're here.
SPEAKER_02: It's why we're breathing.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: And so, Lord, get glory from what happens in this room today.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says, whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_02: So we want to eat to the glory of God.
SPEAKER_02: We want to drink to the glory of God.
SPEAKER_02: We want to spend money to the glory of God.
SPEAKER_02: We want everything we do to remind everyone around us how great God is.
SPEAKER_02: And so, Holy Spirit, illuminate the scripture today.
SPEAKER_02: Let it come off the page and get in our head and in our heart and live that in our hands this week.
SPEAKER_02: This is our prayer, God.
SPEAKER_02: We pray it in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You can have a seat.
SPEAKER_02: If you're having a seat, let me uh let me just say welcome.
SPEAKER_02: My name is Neil.
SPEAKER_02: I'm the lead pastor at Grand Parkway.
SPEAKER_02: If you're our guest today, make yourself at home.
SPEAKER_02: We're in a four-part series right now on our core values, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Core values basically are, hey, what are the four things your church is really all about?
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: And so basically there's four of them.
SPEAKER_02: They are gospel, community, mission, and blessing.
SPEAKER_02: We believe that the gospel produces a community of people that are on this shared mission, and central to that mission is a blessing.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody was here last Sunday and they said, man, your church is kind of stripped down and simple.
SPEAKER_02: I like that.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Yeah, we don't do a lot of lights and smoke and Rasmataz and motorcycles and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_02: Here's why.
SPEAKER_02: We don't want Sunday morning to be the experience.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: If that makes sense, say amen.
SPEAKER_02: So that's why our church is like it is.
SPEAKER_02: But now before I go any further, let me just acknowledge something.
SPEAKER_02: I want to ask something.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: That's glory to God.
SPEAKER_02: We're all for that.
SPEAKER_02: 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?
SPEAKER_02: Stay standing.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
SPEAKER_02: Uh long before what happened a year ago, Noah fell to the ground and died to be in a normal kid.
SPEAKER_02: I remember the first time I talked to him was right over there.
SPEAKER_02: He was kind of looking at me and I said, You got a girl in your life?
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, uh I said, You're a good-looking kid, you should have a girlfriend.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, This is weird.
SPEAKER_02: My preacher's talking to me.
SPEAKER_02: Uh and so these people are standing because of Noah's influence.
SPEAKER_02: And so I just want you to know that nothing's in vain.
SPEAKER_02: Still matters, okay?
SPEAKER_02: You guys can have a seat.
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh and so uh anyway, today, so last week we talked about gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Today we're talking about our second core value of community, and I want to talk to you about it like this.
SPEAKER_02: So, this is why I define community.
SPEAKER_02: Community is the context of becoming.
SPEAKER_02: Community is the context of becoming, it's where you go to become who the Bible says you really are.
SPEAKER_02: All right, and so here's what I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna start reading Hebrews chapter 10.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, if you don't have a Bible, if you have a Bible, you can look along.
SPEAKER_02: I'll start reading verse 19.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't, everything I say will come up on the screen.
SPEAKER_02: You can just sit there and just kind of check it out and take it all in, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Here's what we do here.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna teach the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: Today I'm gonna talk about six things about community from a passage in the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm gonna unpack what the scripture says.
SPEAKER_02: And then at the end, we like to think a little bit.
SPEAKER_02: Christianity is not just about feeling, it's about thinking.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: 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?
SPEAKER_02: So, the context of becoming this is what community is.
SPEAKER_02: This is how the Bible talks about it in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 19.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: Notice that the word day is capitalized.
SPEAKER_02: So it's not talking about just any day like Tuesday or Thursday or Saturday, but a specific day.
SPEAKER_02: We'll end on that note today.
SPEAKER_02: But I want to go back and start in in verse 19, verses 19 to 22.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the first thing about community.
SPEAKER_02: Community is available because of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: It's available because of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: 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?
SPEAKER_02: Let me give you some context.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: So it's not like God in the Old Testament, he's kind of angry at everybody, and Jesus is loving.
SPEAKER_02: We like him.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, but in the Old Testament, there there was a big emphasis on the holy otherness of God.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: But when you come into the temple, there'd be like it's called the bronze labor, it's like a big birdbath.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: And so when he would go in there, it wasn't a normal day, he would go through all these cleansing rituals.
SPEAKER_02: They would sew bells to the bottom of his robe, and they'd tie a rope around one of his ankles.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: They wouldn't go rock, paper, scissors, shoot, who's gonna go get him?
SPEAKER_02: They were like, dude, we don't want any of that.
SPEAKER_02: God just smacked that guy to the ground.
SPEAKER_02: They would just tug the rope.
SPEAKER_02: All right, we'll come back next year.
SPEAKER_02: And so there was a there there's a severity to God's presence.
SPEAKER_02: There still is, but but but but but he's also he's intense, but he's also accessible.
SPEAKER_02: Now, why do I tell you all that?
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: Now, having said all that, hear verse 19 again.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: This is what I mean when I say community is available because of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: So there's two kinds of people in this room right now.
SPEAKER_02: There's those that first that are trusted in what you do to make yourself clean and right before God.
SPEAKER_02: And then there's those who trust what Jesus has done to make you clean and right before God.
SPEAKER_02: But community is available because of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, one of those is religion, the other is relationship.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible's not about being religious, it's about being in a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the second thing about community: community is plural.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: Uh it's not Christianity, it's not singular, it's plural.
SPEAKER_02: And so, therefore, community is plural by nature.
SPEAKER_02: You are not intended to go it alone.
SPEAKER_02: You may be sitting in this room right now thinking, it's just me and God.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, so I just it's just me and God.
SPEAKER_02: That's not biblical.
SPEAKER_02: You were created to be in relationships with other people.
SPEAKER_02: This is what I mean when I say community is plural, all through the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: If you're like, hey, I just want to be left alone.
SPEAKER_02: I got the Bible, I believe in God, I'll figure it out.
SPEAKER_02: I would ask the simple question: how do you live out the one-another's of the Bible?
SPEAKER_02: Love one another, pray for one another, confess your sins one to another.
SPEAKER_02: This is what we mean when we say community is plural.
SPEAKER_02: I love what Ray Ortland said.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: Truth without grace is harsh and ugly.
SPEAKER_02: Grace without truth is sentimental and cowardly.
SPEAKER_02: The living Christ is full of grace and truth.
SPEAKER_02: We cannot represent him, therefore, within the limits of our own personality and backgrounds.
SPEAKER_02: Said differently, community is plural.
SPEAKER_02: Here's a third thing the Bible tells us about community.
SPEAKER_02: Community is intentionally deliberate.
SPEAKER_02: It is intentionally deliberate.
SPEAKER_02: The first part of the passage, verses 19 to 22, this is what Jesus has done on our behalf.
SPEAKER_02: This is what he makes available.
SPEAKER_02: And then the second part, starting about verse 23, is hey, this is how we respond to that.
SPEAKER_02: We respond to that by being intentionally deliberate in the relationships that we have with other people.
SPEAKER_02: It's verse 24 where he says, and let us consider.
SPEAKER_02: Let us consider.
SPEAKER_02: Let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_02: Don't answer this out loud, but you'll have an answer uh in in your head.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: Ladies, you kind of, oh, we're getting together with the Joneses, and your husband's like, Really?
SPEAKER_02: And it's not that your husband's antisocial, it's just, hey, he's telling you, we talk about the same things.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: This is what the Bible says community is.
SPEAKER_02: Can you fathom a world in which people were more loving and did more good?
SPEAKER_02: Would the news have anything to report?
SPEAKER_02: I've almost stopped watching the news, and I'm a nerd.
SPEAKER_02: I watch the news every night.
SPEAKER_02: I uh like I record 60 minutes every Sunday night, and my wife's like, You want to watch that again?
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, Yeah, because I gotta feed the beasts, woman.
SPEAKER_02: What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: Let me guess, somebody killed somebody.
SPEAKER_02: I can't be going to bed every Saturday night just watching somebody get killed.
SPEAKER_02: But if we just would if people would become more loving and do more good, the culture wouldn't have a context for that.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, All right, well, I want to meet him when he comes.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: If you've ever been in jail, say amen.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all are like, never mind.
SPEAKER_02: Uh I would say amen to that.
SPEAKER_02: It was a long time ago, about the 10th grade, but I was in jail.
SPEAKER_02: Uh anyway, see, you can be a winner too, kids, all right?
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: Can you come over to my house and we're gonna be on the video call?
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, Yeah, I'd love to meet your friend.
SPEAKER_02: So he's there, and we got a microphone, and I was like, Can we rap on this thing?
SPEAKER_02: Chuck, chuck one, two.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and we're waiting, we're like, it ain't gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02: Finally, God pops up on the screen, and he's all scarred up.
SPEAKER_02: He's got full sleeve tattoos.
SPEAKER_02: The guy looks incredible.
SPEAKER_02: That's some nice tattoos there, my man.
SPEAKER_02: And I we're just kind of talking.
SPEAKER_02: No one wants to meet a preacher for the first time when you're in jail.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_02: I'm in jail.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I just said, hey man, has anybody you got any you got any money on your commissary account?
SPEAKER_02: Because I ain't got nothing, man.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: Jail's not happy, you need snacks.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: So here's what I did.
SPEAKER_02: I talked to the guy, I said, Hey man, this was on Friday.
SPEAKER_02: 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?
SPEAKER_02: How about I drop 50 bucks in there?
SPEAKER_02: Because people in my church can put money in these wooden boxes by the doors.
SPEAKER_02: So I took$50 of the money you give and put it on his commissary account at the Fort Bean County jail.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Now you may be thinking, I tell you what, I didn't give that money.
SPEAKER_02: Hush, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Jesus said, Hey, well, I was in prison and you visited me.
SPEAKER_02: So I just thought, let's go visit him.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not ashamed of you.
SPEAKER_02: I think you gotta think about this.
SPEAKER_02: He said, Well, I can get out on a bond.
SPEAKER_02: I can get bonded out for a hundred bucks.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, See, you don't want to stop drugs just yet.
SPEAKER_02: People want to stop drugs, they don't mind peeing in a cup, amen.
SPEAKER_02: I wish I could see your faces.
SPEAKER_02: You're like, Did he just say that?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, see, you gotta consider.
SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm I'm considering.
SPEAKER_02: I I want to engage this person in a meaningful way.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I said, What do you want to stop doing?
SPEAKER_02: What do you want to start doing?
SPEAKER_02: Jail's a great opportunity to think about that.
SPEAKER_02: He goes, Well, I want to stop doing drugs.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: That's a good point.
SPEAKER_02: All right, well, I ain't hating on you, bro, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Well, while I'm there, we finish the call.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, hey, can you hang out?
SPEAKER_02: I'm always for hanging out, okay?
SPEAKER_02: We're on the back porch, we're sitting there, we're talking, having a good time.
SPEAKER_02: And I look up and there's something I will never buy ever in my life.
SPEAKER_02: Don't give me one because I'll throw it away.
SPEAKER_02: A wind chime.
SPEAKER_02: Why people buy things that make noise, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: But they got this wind chime on their back porch, and it's not just a wind chime, but it's cool.
SPEAKER_02: It's got a rope tied to it.
SPEAKER_02: 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?
SPEAKER_02: And she's like, oh no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: That see that rope?
SPEAKER_02: It goes all the way from our wind chime, all the way across the back of our house, over to our neighbor's house.
SPEAKER_02: She's in her 90s.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: That's what it means to consider.
SPEAKER_02: I'm on the back porch kind of going.
SPEAKER_02: Would it be inappropriate if I cried right now?
SPEAKER_02: And she's like, Yeah, because I just don't want her to think she's all alone in this world.
SPEAKER_02: And then she said, then I was like, Oh, yeah, something I can do.
SPEAKER_02: Get angry.
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, hey, listen, we will come over, we'll fix that, we'll get the wood taken off and replaced.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, if you know anything about carpentry, I need your help because I don't know anything.
SPEAKER_02: I just I can rip it out, but I don't know how to put it back.
SPEAKER_02: And we'll power wash the side of it.
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is the kind of church you go to.
SPEAKER_02: 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?
SPEAKER_02: Because we men love to power wash stuff.
SPEAKER_02: And here's why it's an instant sense of accomplishment.
SPEAKER_02: Marriage, not so much.
SPEAKER_02: We love you.
SPEAKER_02: This is like we're doing good, right?
SPEAKER_02: Keep going.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: Power washing, it's dirty.
SPEAKER_02: When I leave, it's clean.
SPEAKER_02: Walk away and for like a king.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, yeah.
SPEAKER_02: But he's like, hey, could I take care of that?
SPEAKER_02: And I say, Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, oh man, I would love to.
SPEAKER_02: So I get to go over today, ring the doorbell, the lady.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know, and say, hey, can we just bless you?
SPEAKER_02: Can we live out one of our core values and just bless you?
SPEAKER_02: We'll replace us right in wood, we'll clean the side of this thing.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because they live next door to a family that knows what it means to consider.
SPEAKER_02: What are you considering today?
SPEAKER_02: If the biggest thing you consider today is where you're going to eat lunch, you need to step your game up.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm all for lunch.
SPEAKER_02: Go somewhere good.
SPEAKER_02: Take me.
SPEAKER_02: I won't talk, I'll just eat.
SPEAKER_02: I said over at the kid table.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says community is intentionally deliberate.
SPEAKER_02: It's where we participate in each other's sanctification.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: I just thought, man, that is awesome.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: They just look out the window and go, what do you want?
SPEAKER_02: Open the door.
SPEAKER_02: I want to have community.
SPEAKER_02: You scare us.
SPEAKER_02: Get off the porch.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, let me have you change your mind.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the fourth thing about community.
SPEAKER_02: Community is consequential.
SPEAKER_02: It is consequential.
SPEAKER_02: It's verse 24 again.
SPEAKER_02: What does he say?
SPEAKER_02: And let us consider.
SPEAKER_02: What do we consider?
SPEAKER_02: How to stir up one another to love and good works.
SPEAKER_02: Ask yourself this question: Who do you spend time with that makes you want to be a better person?
SPEAKER_02: And not just a better person in terms of the way the world defines it.
SPEAKER_02: Who do you spend time with that stirs you up to be more loving and to do more good?
SPEAKER_02: You should have people in your life that they stir you up.
SPEAKER_02: You're just kind of like, because community is consequential.
SPEAKER_02: Now, when I say it's consequential, that doesn't mean it's confrontational.
SPEAKER_02: Community is not getting together with people like, hey, I want to confront you about your sin.
SPEAKER_02: That's part of it.
SPEAKER_02: But but it's not always a negative confrontational thing.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: Uh but one thing I did was I would try to watch TV, but like nothing really interesting.
SPEAKER_02: There's a show on called Love Island.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, ha! These people need therapy, so I can't watch that.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: It was on the Buffalo Bills.
SPEAKER_02: I thought I can't watch this.
SPEAKER_02: These people lose for a living.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: I'm thinking after the third year, just go, we're not coming, man.
SPEAKER_02: We know how this turns out.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, the Dallas Cowboys beat the brakes off them in one of them Super Bowls.
SPEAKER_02: But in the first one, they get down to the very end and they got a chance to kick a game-winning field goal.
SPEAKER_02: And Scott Norwood trots onto the field.
SPEAKER_02: It ain't long, it's makeable.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: Now, his teammates, he missed it.
SPEAKER_02: And they lost a Super Bowl because he missed a makeable field bowl.
SPEAKER_02: His teammates were like, oh man, that's okay.
SPEAKER_02: One of them said, Yeah, there was a Black Hawk helicopter.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not making this up, above the stadium, and the downdraft pushed that ball to the right.
SPEAKER_02: And you know what he said?
SPEAKER_02: He didn't say, I gotta, I gotta focus on my mental health.
SPEAKER_02: He said, I failed.
SPEAKER_02: When's the last time you heard somebody in this culture say that?
SPEAKER_02: He said, I just missed it.
SPEAKER_02: They said, Well, one of your teammates said there was a helicopter up there, and he goes, No, it didn't affect it.
SPEAKER_02: I had a chance to get it done, and I didn't get it done.
SPEAKER_02: 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?
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, this isn't gonna end well, but I can't stop.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm just watching.
SPEAKER_02: And they showed him at the press conference after the Super Bowl.
SPEAKER_02: He sat there and answered every question.
SPEAKER_02: He didn't send a representative and go, Scotch, not here.
SPEAKER_02: He is not gonna be receiving questions.
SPEAKER_02: No, he sat there and said, Any other questions?
SPEAKER_02: And they would ask, and then what happened?
SPEAKER_02: He said, I just didn't swing my hips through until the ball faded to the right, and it's on me.
SPEAKER_02: I'm the reason we lost the Super Bowl.
SPEAKER_02: Well, how do you feel about that?
SPEAKER_02: I feel terrible.
SPEAKER_02: Any other questions?
SPEAKER_02: I'm just like, hey man, how many ways can you ask the guy, do you feel bad enough?
SPEAKER_02: And then they flashed the modern day and they were talking to him.
SPEAKER_02: That brother's got gray hair now.
SPEAKER_02: And he's talking, they said, Well, what was it like?
SPEAKER_02: He said, Well, a couple days after the Super Bowl, they had a rally for the team down at City Hall.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, What?
SPEAKER_02: Who has a rally for the people that lose?
SPEAKER_02: I now want to go to Buffalo.
SPEAKER_02: And so he said, We're expecting 500, maybe a thousand people.
SPEAKER_02: 30,000 people showed up.
SPEAKER_02: And they showed it, and I was like, no way.
SPEAKER_02: They got banners.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: Hello, Fort Bend County.
SPEAKER_02: Stop giving everybody a trophy.
SPEAKER_02: Let your kids go, yeah, we we played hard, we lost.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, I'm watching the Little League World Series.
SPEAKER_02: I'm loving that.
SPEAKER_02: I think we should cancel all professional sports.
SPEAKER_02: I just love those little kids.
SPEAKER_02: But anyway, back to the rally.
SPEAKER_02: Nor would he said, yeah, I was kind of like, I'm the goat, which the goat back then meant bad.
SPEAKER_02: It didn't mean greatest of all time.
SPEAKER_02: He said, I'm behind the offensive line and the defensive line against the back wall, keeping a low profile.
SPEAKER_02: Like, hey, hey, hey, I'm the guy that lost.
SPEAKER_02: We all know it.
SPEAKER_02: Don't rub it in.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, 20 minutes into the rally, these 30,000 people begin to chant, We want Scott.
SPEAKER_02: We want Scott.
SPEAKER_02: We and he said, the linemen begin to grab me and push me through the crowd, and they showed it.
SPEAKER_02: He gets pushed up to the thing and looks out and just breaks down crying.
SPEAKER_02: And then he said, This, which made me cry.
SPEAKER_02: 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.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm reaching on the coffee table for a pen.
SPEAKER_02: That's community right there, boys and girls.
SPEAKER_02: I'm thinking about today in that moment.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, oh, I had to back up the DVR.
SPEAKER_02: Say that again.
SPEAKER_02: It is a humbling thing to stand before a group of people who refuse to let you believe the worst about yourself.
SPEAKER_02: And I would just ask you, do you have people like that in your life?
SPEAKER_02: Or when you screw up, are you just kind of kicked to the wayside?
SPEAKER_02: Some of you parents put so much pressure on your kids to be successful in school.
SPEAKER_02: They're neurotic.
SPEAKER_02: Their hair's falling out.
SPEAKER_02: They're breaking down inside because they can't take it.
SPEAKER_02: Or are you that president that just kind of says, as one of my daughter's friends says, hey, is it true?
SPEAKER_02: You don't care what grade your kids make?
SPEAKER_02: I don't.
SPEAKER_02: I just want them to do their best.
SPEAKER_02: You can make a C and be awesome.
SPEAKER_02: I'm a living example.
SPEAKER_02: Community.
SPEAKER_02: Community is consequential.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the fifth thing about community.
SPEAKER_02: Community requires consistency.
SPEAKER_02: It requires consistency.
SPEAKER_02: He says in verse 24, and let us uh consider how to stir up one another in love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.
SPEAKER_02: Not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some.
SPEAKER_02: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_02: But in the Bible, some people are kind of like, yeah, I became a Christian and I went to church and I went to community group and I went to small group and I went to Bible study.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, we got Little League and tap and jazz and ballet and we got the lake house and the beach house and we got the ski trip in Colorado and blah blah blah.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're just gonna take a break.
SPEAKER_02: They neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible comes along and says, hey, by the way, community, the thing you you rarely, if ever experience, it requires consistency.
SPEAKER_02: If you're not careful, you can be so committed to everything but the church, you cannot experience what you were created to when it comes to community.
SPEAKER_02: Said differently, you have no context of becoming.
SPEAKER_02: You have no context, no place, no people that when you get in the midst of these people in a sanctuary or in a Bible study or in a living room, around, around uh uh uh uh uh what's it called?
SPEAKER_02: A charcuterie board, uh, whatever that is, but it's tasty, by the way.
SPEAKER_02: Uh and it whatever.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't matter what's on the table, it matters what's in the head and in the heart.
SPEAKER_02: And these people consider do they stir you up to love and to good works?
SPEAKER_02: That requires consistently showing up.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I just point to something that I've never seen before.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna Christians in 1982, read this whole chapter before.
SPEAKER_02: He says, and let us not neglecting the to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 26.
SPEAKER_02: For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, here's my question to you what sin is he referring to?
SPEAKER_02: He says, for if we go on sinning deliberately, what's sin?
SPEAKER_02: Is it just like, hey, I ran out of things to talk about, so I want to talk about drug, sex, and rock and roll?
SPEAKER_02: No, no, what he's talking about, hear my heartiness.
SPEAKER_02: If you're visiting, I'm not the guy that's like you gotta be at church every Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: I tell these knuckleheads that are part of my church, hey, if you got a beach house, go to it.
SPEAKER_02: It's a sin.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't want to go, give me the keys, I'll go.
SPEAKER_02: You can preach one Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: You got a Harley, you better ride that bad boy.
SPEAKER_02: So it's not about jamming you up and making you come every time the doors are open.
SPEAKER_02: It's not that at all.
SPEAKER_02: It's about you orienting your life around and experiencing what you were created for.
SPEAKER_02: And that requires consistency.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, the sin when he says for if we go on sinning willfully, if you read backwards, the last negative thing he said was, do not neglect the habit of meeting together.
SPEAKER_02: John Calvin said it like this.
SPEAKER_02: He said, You cannot take God as your father without taking the church as your mother.
SPEAKER_02: You were created for community.
SPEAKER_02: You were created, it's a place you go to be seen, known, and loved.
SPEAKER_02: Here's how you know you have community.
SPEAKER_02: On the worst day of your life, some of the best people you know show up.
SPEAKER_02: And they don't say, What can I do?
SPEAKER_02: They know what to do.
SPEAKER_02: They know where your cups and glasses are, they know where you keep the paper towels, they know.
SPEAKER_02: They know when you don't want to answer the phone, they just know.
SPEAKER_02: They know when you're out of town, you come back.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't have a yard person, your yard is mowed.
SPEAKER_02: That's community.
SPEAKER_02: And it requires consistency.
SPEAKER_02: And I just want to say, again, not trying to jam you up, but I'm not gonna back away from what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_02: For if we go on sinning willfully, look at what he says.
SPEAKER_02: After having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
SPEAKER_02: Anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
SPEAKER_02: How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the spirit of grace?
SPEAKER_02: For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay.
SPEAKER_02: And again, the Lord will judge his people.
SPEAKER_02: It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
SPEAKER_02: Now, look at me.
SPEAKER_02: We're done in three minutes.
SPEAKER_02: You if you're if you're all for that, say amen.
SPEAKER_02: You quitters.
SPEAKER_02: Anyway.
SPEAKER_02: Is that a trick question?
SPEAKER_02: Now look at me.
SPEAKER_02: Am I saying, oh, God's gonna get you if you if you don't come to church?
SPEAKER_02: Not at all.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what what should translate that passage for the Lord will judge his people.
SPEAKER_02: That's talking about believers.
SPEAKER_02: That's talking about knuckleheads that show up about once every fifth Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: And because they're not consistent, all they can do is complain.
SPEAKER_02: They can't show up full and give, they show up empty and they gotta take.
SPEAKER_02: They know everything that's wrong, but not what's right.
SPEAKER_02: I have a friend that's this way.
SPEAKER_02: Love that guy, but every time I see him, I see him coming, like, hey, what's wrong with the world today?
SPEAKER_02: I tell you what, boy, I know it's open border, it's vaccine, it's this, it's that, dack, da.
SPEAKER_02: No consistency.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the last thing the Bible tells us today about community.
SPEAKER_02: Community is shaped by what is ultimate.
SPEAKER_02: It's the end of verse 25 when he says, you know, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.
SPEAKER_02: Day is capitalized.
SPEAKER_02: That's a reference to judgment day.
SPEAKER_02: It's basically here's what it's saying, okay?
SPEAKER_02: It's saying that you should see today and every day through the lens of that day.
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: What is that day?
SPEAKER_02: That day is a reference to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 10.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible talks about how we're all gonna appear before the judgment seat of God.
SPEAKER_02: Let me just read it to you from the Bible so you don't think I made it up.
SPEAKER_02: This is what it says, for we must all appear.
SPEAKER_02: Now look at me.
SPEAKER_02: This is I'm not saying this to scare you, okay?
SPEAKER_02: If you're visiting today, you don't know me, you're like, dude, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: I ain't that guy.
SPEAKER_02: This actually, I'm trying to encourage you.
SPEAKER_02: He says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he's done in the body, whether good or evil.
SPEAKER_02: Now, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says you may receive what is due.
SPEAKER_02: A guy said to me one time in council, he goes, Man, I tell you what, man, God owes me, and I just think, and I said, Yeah, and he's gonna pay you too.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody in this room, everybody in this world is gonna get what's due to them.
SPEAKER_02: Now, it's up to you whether that's good or bad.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: That's up to you because good matters.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says in community we ought to be stirred up to be more loving and to do more good things.
SPEAKER_02: Like yesterday, like this is my confession.
SPEAKER_02: Don't tell anybody.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I look around and I just think, is anybody else trying to do good?
SPEAKER_02: I think I'm the only person trying to do good.
SPEAKER_02: I know that's not true, okay?
SPEAKER_02: But I just look around and I just think, is it is everybody just so selfish?
SPEAKER_02: They all out for themselves.
SPEAKER_02: Yesterday, I'm having lunch at my new favorite restaurant, Pablo's, over here.
SPEAKER_02: I have some friends of mine that said, Hey, can you do lunch?
SPEAKER_02: I was like, Yeah, uh, you guys want to go to Pablo's?
SPEAKER_02: That's my suggestion from now on.
SPEAKER_02: I walk in, the guy's like, hey man, weren't you shhut it?
SPEAKER_02: We don't need no yip, yip, yip from you.
SPEAKER_02: We sit down, we start talking, the waitress comes over, I look into her eyes.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus said, the eye is a lamp of the body.
SPEAKER_02: I looked into their eyes, I was like, man, you are really sad.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't say that, but I was just like, so we're talking, and I'm like, yeah, that's no big deal.
SPEAKER_02: I just and every time she came to refill our drinks or whatever, I was just like, what is going on in your life?
SPEAKER_02: So finally I just asked her.
SPEAKER_02: I just said, Hey, by the way, she brought the check and I said, What can I put on this templine that would bless you?
SPEAKER_02: And she said, Oh, it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_02: Look at me.
SPEAKER_02: If you ever ask me that, that will not be my answer.
SPEAKER_02: Is 50,000 when that credit card holds 50,000?
SPEAKER_02: I got a kid in grad school and one in college.
SPEAKER_02: I'll drop a big number on you.
SPEAKER_02: And she said, Oh, it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_02: I said, What do you believe about yourself that keeps you from representing yourself?
SPEAKER_02: I don't, uh I said, that's more conversation than you wanted.
SPEAKER_02: I said, can be honest about masking because you just look, I look in your eye, I see a young woman who's got a lot of weight in there, a lot weighing on your mind.
SPEAKER_02: She said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I said, You go to school?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, I laid out this semester.
SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to get some things in order.
SPEAKER_02: I said, What's his name?
SPEAKER_02: She says, Not a guy.
SPEAKER_02: I said, Good, because them suckers are knuckleheads.
SPEAKER_02: They lie and they stink.
SPEAKER_02: And she said, Tell me about it.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, and I said, Hey, I'm gonna put something on here just to remind you if there's a God in this world, He ain't forgotten you.
SPEAKER_02: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want the manager coming over here.
SPEAKER_02: Why'd you make the girl cry?
SPEAKER_02: I said, I just I see you, and I just I just want to do something about it.
SPEAKER_02: Walked away.
SPEAKER_02: Now that credit card bill will come due.
SPEAKER_02: And my wife will be, what did you have at Pablo's?
SPEAKER_02: Did you feed half the town?
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, no, I just wanted to unleash good.
SPEAKER_02: There's young.
SPEAKER_02: I told her, I said, Hey, by the way, uh, and she says, Oh, it's great.
SPEAKER_02: She doesn't care.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, Yeah, wonderful.
SPEAKER_02: Always do whatever the Lord says.
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02: Now, why why why you tell why am I telling you that?
SPEAKER_02: Here's why.
SPEAKER_02: Because many in this room, you're the same way.
SPEAKER_02: You do good, and it's easy to do good and just think, man, you don't do good to get good back.
SPEAKER_02: You do good because you see today through the lens of that day.
SPEAKER_02: And on that day, look at me, we're done.
SPEAKER_02: The God of the world is gonna right all the wrongs.
SPEAKER_02: Because if you turn on your TV, all it's gonna feed you is injustice.
SPEAKER_02: And you're just gonna get anxious and frustrated and angry and like, I tell you what, you gotta see that day through the lens of the day.
SPEAKER_02: This is why the Bible says to you and me right here, hey, don't neglect to meet together.
SPEAKER_02: This is the habit of some.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but encourage one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I got some friends of mine, you're watching this podcast right now, different places all over the country.
SPEAKER_02: Some in Montana, some in other states.
SPEAKER_02: I love you, but if all you do is stay at home on your couch and watch me, that's not community, that's appreciation, and I'm grateful for it, but you were created to be in a room with other people where you're seen, known, and loved.
SPEAKER_02: And so, in the name of Jesus, get off your couch and get in the church.
SPEAKER_02: Technology has killed community because you can sit on your couch and watch your favorite preacher and compare your preacher to him.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the blessing these people here at Grand Parkway have.
SPEAKER_02: Their favorite preacher is their preacher.
SPEAKER_02: Amen?
SPEAKER_02: Hey, young lady in the front row talking to your mom, these people all just lied, okay?
SPEAKER_02: I'm not their favorite.
SPEAKER_02: They're gonna go home today and watch Matt Chandler.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, we love him.
SPEAKER_02: Great preacher, by the way.
SPEAKER_02: Watch him, all right?
SPEAKER_02: Look at me.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say it again and we're done.
SPEAKER_02: You gotta live every day through the lens of that day.
SPEAKER_02: And here's what it does: you don't have to be appreciated.
SPEAKER_02: Talk more about that.
SPEAKER_02: Not everybody has to know, they don't have to understand how hard it is.
SPEAKER_02: God does.
SPEAKER_02: You don't need credit.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because on that day you're gonna get what to do you.
SPEAKER_02: That shouldn't scare you.
SPEAKER_02: If that scares you, you're not living right.
SPEAKER_02: You should be like, oh, thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: I don't have to go around posting everything on social media.
SPEAKER_02: Look what I did today.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, why?
SPEAKER_02: Because I see today through the lens of that day.
SPEAKER_02: That engages my heart in what it was created for.
SPEAKER_02: And that's community.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: God thinks for the Bible, thinks that it's the truth, that it sets us free.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't jam us up with a bunch of religious nonsense, it sets us free.
SPEAKER_02: That's what you said to Adam and Eve in the garden.
SPEAKER_02: You said, You're freed.
SPEAKER_02: Eat of any tree in the garden.
SPEAKER_02: They couldn't handle that because you said this one tree, don't eat.
SPEAKER_02: And the Bible can be summarized by the fact that Jesus, you came and you lived a sinless life, died on the cross, was buried, rose again, ascended back into heaven to give us back the freedom that Adam and Eve forfeited.
SPEAKER_02: We were created for freedom.
SPEAKER_02: When we see what you did, that you parted that curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple, that the presence of God was off limits, except one day a year.
SPEAKER_02: And when you died in your flesh, you tore that veil and said, Ali and free, come out, come out wherever you are.
SPEAKER_02: You did for us what we could never do for ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: You made available community.
SPEAKER_02: And so, Lord, we want to just spend maybe a minute thinking about that right now.
SPEAKER_02: We don't want to miss it, God.
SPEAKER_02: So just Holy Spirit brood over us just for a moment.
SPEAKER_02: God, the Bible tells us today to hold fast our confession of hope without wavering.
SPEAKER_02: But sometimes we're gonna waver, sometimes we're gonna think, is this really real?
SPEAKER_02: Is this worth it?
SPEAKER_02: What if I'm the only one?
SPEAKER_02: When I was in the seventh grade, all my friends love Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Now that we're in the tenth grade, they're kind of flaking out, God.
SPEAKER_02: This is lonely.
SPEAKER_02: So I pray for anybody that's wavering today.
SPEAKER_02: That doesn't mean they're a bad person, it just means they're human and they feel it.
SPEAKER_02: There's a loneliness to obedience that it's hard to take, but it's so worth it and will be so rewarded, not just in heaven, but in this life.
SPEAKER_02: Because that little girl one day is going to meet a boy, and he's gonna say, Me too.
SPEAKER_02: I was in the 10th grade, I didn't get invited to the party.
SPEAKER_02: People want me to help them with their algebra homework, they didn't want to sin with me.
SPEAKER_02: In that moment, that young man and that young woman are gonna understand that being that boy and that girl was worth it.
SPEAKER_02: And so, Lord, don't let them waver.
SPEAKER_02: Don't let them waver.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for the gospel, it just always calls us back to what we were created for, and for that we're grateful.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for community.
SPEAKER_02: We say so in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: If you're our guest, let me say this.
SPEAKER_02: You're always welcome here.
SPEAKER_02: Uh you're always welcome here.
SPEAKER_02: Your questions are welcome here.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, if you haven't or and if you and you feel like it, there's a there's a guest card in the seek back pocket in your row.
SPEAKER_02: If you would, just take a moment, fill that out.
SPEAKER_02: And just a minute, when you're dismissed, just drop by the walk by these wooden boxes above the door, just drop that in there.
SPEAKER_02: And for the rest of you, if today's the day you worship God through obedience or generosity, that's where you take care of that as well, okay?
SPEAKER_02: We believe in community here at Grand Parkway.
SPEAKER_02: That's why it's one of our core values.
SPEAKER_02: We have different environments where we experience community.
SPEAKER_02: This is one.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but starting after Labor Day in mid-September, we kick off what are called our midweek classes and our midweek meal.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we have a video today to kind of remind you and reorient you around that experience of community.
SPEAKER_02: Let's check this out together.
SPEAKER_03: Hi, I'm John Johnston.
SPEAKER_03: This is my wife, Shelly Johnston.
SPEAKER_00: And we've been coming to Grand Parkway since November of last year.
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_00: So we did I did women's ministry.
SPEAKER_00: I joined the fifth team.
SPEAKER_03: I had some other opportunities to serve, so taking advantage of it.
SPEAKER_03: So it provides another opportunity to stay involved, to get more information.
SPEAKER_03: Hear the not only hear the gospel, but learn.
SPEAKER_00: And I and I think it provides another time for fellowship, another time.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, seven days is a long time, so to get to see people midweek and be together and be encouraged has been super helpful.
SPEAKER_00: I would recommend it to anyone that can get there on Wednesdays to come because you're there's something for everybody, um, from young kids up to adults.
SPEAKER_00: It was something that we could do as a family that everybody was fed and everybody grew from.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of, you know, sporting events, you're good, you're there, you're rooting for your kid, um, but it's really for your kid.
SPEAKER_00: This is the whole family benefits.
SPEAKER_00: And um it's just nice to be a part of something like that.
SPEAKER_04: We invite you to come and join us for midweeks this fall here at Graham Parkway.
SPEAKER_04: As you just saw, this could be an awesome opportunity for the entire family to become known and to get involved here at the church.
SPEAKER_04: We'd also like to challenge you to personally invite someone that you may know to come and experience midweeks for themselves.
SPEAKER_04: We have classes beginning Tuesday, September 14th from 9.30 to 11.30 a.m.
SPEAKER_04: for women only, with childcare being available for kids up to five years of age.
SPEAKER_04: And then again on Wednesday, September 15th, from 6.45 to 8 o'clock p.m., we have midweek classes for kids, students, and all adults, with child care being available for kids up to 5 years of age.
SPEAKER_04: Now, last but certainly not least, making a return this fall is our midweek meal from 5.45 to 6.30 p.m.
SPEAKER_04: You and the entire family can enjoy a Chick-fil-A entree, chips, fruit, dessert, and a drink.
SPEAKER_04: It's$5 per person or$20 per family.
SPEAKER_04: Now, to access any and all of this information, just head to grandparkway.org slash events, click on the midweek image you'd like to register for, and there you can also sign the entire family up for the midweek meal.
SPEAKER_04: We hope to see you guys this fall.
SPEAKER_02: Someone in the last service that was visited, they said, Where does that meal happen?
SPEAKER_02: I said, right in here.
SPEAKER_02: Uh we have a team that sets up round tables in here, and so we all eat together, then everybody scatters.
SPEAKER_02: The students they meet back in the warehouse and they they they eat back there because they're animals.
SPEAKER_02: But anyway, uh uh yeah, uh can we eat?
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02: Uh and so you're welcome to be a part of that.
SPEAKER_02: Let me just say in our classes that's kick off you know on the 14th or 5th, whenever it is.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, if you come to a class, no one's gonna ask you a question that's gonna embarrass you.
SPEAKER_02: No one's gonna call on you.
SPEAKER_02: You can come and just check it out, okay?
SPEAKER_02: We'll be we'll be pushing out more information about what the classes are.
SPEAKER_02: We'd love you to experience this, have this experience of community, okay?
SPEAKER_02: We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.
SPEAKER_02: So if you would stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_02: And if you're comfortable, hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_02: If not, no harm, no foul.
SPEAKER_02: You were created by God in the image of God, and you were created to be seen, to be known, and to be loved.
SPEAKER_02: Give yourself to the context of community so you can become who the Bible says you are.
SPEAKER_02: In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Bless you.