1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:14,000 Hello, Go Church family. I'm Lara. I'm here with Pastor Matt Hataba. 2 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:15,000 Hi everyone. 3 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:16,000 And Gilbert. 4 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:17,000 Hello everyone. 5 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:18,000 Welcome back. 6 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:19,000 We're so excited. 7 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:20,000 Yes. 8 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:24,000 It's been great so far and this is getting better and better. 9 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:29,000 How was Grow Group this week? Did you guys have a good time talking about marriage? 10 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:30,000 Yeah. 11 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:38,000 I think Grow Group discussions, everyone should have the privilege of having Grow Group discussions. 12 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:39,000 Yes. 13 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:44,000 Grow Groups are really the best place to bring visitors. 14 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:55,000 And if you think, well, I'm not sure if my friends or family members would really enjoy my Grow Group. 15 00:00:55,000 --> 00:01:02,000 Well, then make it fun and enjoyable for them because it is where people should connect. 16 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,000 It's one place where people can connect with Go Church. 17 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:11,000 Absolutely. I mean, Grow Groups are a place where you get together with your family. 18 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:15,000 Right? I mean, we are a spiritual family. This is what church is about. 19 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:23,000 Obviously, we have fellowship, right? I mean, we talked about, we touched upon this last week and we'll talk about this in more detail. 20 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:32,000 Like fellowship is when we carry things together and we pick things up and we carry a common weight and we walk in a common direction. 21 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,000 We have a common goal. But besides that, we also have relationship, right? 22 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:44,000 Relationship is who I am to you and who you are to me. And the truth is we have friendships. 23 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:52,000 We have family relationships in church. And Grow Groups are a place where we can cultivate those and get to really enjoy each other. 24 00:01:52,000 --> 00:02:09,000 Yeah. The thing that Jesus said that he would build, Matthew 16, that he would build his church is not a building that holds a once a week or a once a month event. 25 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:15,000 It's a community. It's people living in complete unity. 26 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,000 Yeah, that's good. 27 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:27,000 People should come to Grow Groups because they will experience the care of our Ka'ak. 28 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:39,000 They will, from the moment they enter, they will see the care and the love between and they will want to get to know what's this love that will lead them to Jesus. 29 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:45,000 That's really good. I mean, in a nutshell, that's pretty much what we're talking about this whole month. 30 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Which is complete unity. Right? The fact is, so let me read the purpose because this is literally what Lara just said. 31 00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:08,000 So the purpose of our series is this. We want the Go Church family to grow in unity with the Father so that we can grow in unity with one another so that the world will be able to see Jesus. 32 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:18,000 When we love one another, we fulfill the commandment of God by showing Jesus to the world. And this is what we want a Grow Group to look like. 33 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:24,000 We want when someone walks into a Grow Group, we want them to be able to see Jesus in us. 34 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:38,000 We want them to be able to see that love which is not a love of the world or love from the world, but it is the love of God in us flowing from one to another. 35 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:49,000 And that is literally the commandment of Jesus. And to be honest, to me, there is no... 36 00:03:49,000 --> 00:04:01,000 You know, this is not a perfect message or a complete message unless you look at the commandment of Jesus and understand that this is what He has told us to do and this is how He told us to walk. 37 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:08,000 You see, in John Chapter 13, let's turn there together and read the commandment of Jesus. 38 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:24,000 John Chapter 13, verses 34 and 35 say this, A new commandment I gave to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 39 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:34,000 By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. That is literally the commandment of Jesus. 40 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:41,000 This is literally how Jesus expects us to live, how He has empowered us to live. 41 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:51,000 And this is a model of what living a spiritual life, living in Christ, living in unity with the Father looks like. 42 00:04:51,000 --> 00:05:10,000 Yeah. You know, anyone that knows me knows I believe in the supernatural. I'm constantly praying that the Lord will use you, the Go Church family, to pour out dynamic, notable miracles. 43 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:22,000 Jesus here is speaking to His disciples. His disciples are ones who He gave authority to heal the sick, cleanse lepers, raise the dead. 44 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:32,000 That's Matthew Chapter 10. We know that these disciples came back to Him and said, Lord, we did what you said and it worked. 45 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:41,000 Even the devils went out. That's in Luke Chapter 10. And Jesus said, Yeah, praise God. That's right. It does work. 46 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:58,000 And He said to them, the thing that will make you stand out and will let the world, the people that don't know me, know that you're my disciples, that you're following me, is if you love one another. 47 00:05:58,000 --> 00:05:59,000 Not the other stuff. 48 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:09,000 Not the other stuff. Right? The other stuff does not point that you're a disciple of Him. 49 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:13,000 So how much do you want to be a disciple of Him? 50 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:26,000 And here's the end of this week's discussion is how important is it that we reflect Jesus to the world? 51 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:38,000 It's very important. Well, how important is it if we measure how much we show the love that God has given to us to one another? 52 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:43,000 Yeah. Well, that's really good. Yeah. 53 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:58,000 There's a point where when people see the hand of God at work, this is a strange thought, but they could move on, explain it away, forget about it. 54 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:03,000 But when they really see the heart of God for them, they will never forget it. That's right. 55 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:15,000 And that's the truth. People can hear something amazing, see something amazing and then move on. But when they receive the heart of God, when they receive the truth, 56 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:26,000 when they, you know, the difference is that it is so personal to me and to you and to them that what God did, God did for me. 57 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:36,000 You know, and when they see that and when the world understands that, you know, it's not, you know, Jesus is Lord Jesus, but Jesus is my Lord. 58 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:45,000 You know, He's my Savior. He did this for me. If even if I was the only person in the world, He would do it again and again and again. 59 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:53,000 And that's that's the reality that He did it for me. And nothing paints that picture like the love of God. 60 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:57,000 Right. And we're going to talk more about this in an upcoming series. 61 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:10,000 But the the miracles that we see throughout the Gospels, 19 different accounts of physical healing demonstrated in the ministry of Jesus and Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 62 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:15,000 In each one of those, you see the compassion of Jesus at work. 63 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:23,000 And so if we're if we're starting from a place of power, we're wrong. It has to begin from a place of love. 64 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:31,000 Yeah. And Romans, Chapter five, verse four, if you're, you know, if you're thinking, man, that sounds good. 65 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:40,000 I'll do my best. I'll try. But, you know, I just I don't I don't really have love in my heart for this particular person. 66 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:53,000 Or I've I've had a lot of things happen to me in my life. And so I just I'm very guarded and I don't like to to show or share love because because I'm I've been hurt before. 67 00:08:53,000 --> 00:09:02,000 Well, Romans, Chapter five, this is one of these identity pieces that we talked about in our last week's podcast. 68 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:20,000 Romans, Chapter five, verse four says that perseverance, proven character, proven character, hope, verse five, and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been. 69 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:34,000 That doesn't say will be right. This has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who he has given us. 70 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:41,000 So if we have received the new birth, then the love of God is on the inside of us. Yeah. 71 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:50,000 Not something that's like the love of God, his love. Praise God. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. 72 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:57,000 And you know what? The love of God always pushes us towards unity for unity. 73 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:20,000 The the love of God will never, ever, ever lead us to a place where it is encouraging division between brothers and sisters in Christ or encouraging arguments or empty debates among believers or, you know, just just 74 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:29,000 neglecting the the reality of God's word just for an idea of I'm right. They're wrong. 75 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:35,000 You know, all of that is division. But the love of God always leads us towards unity. 76 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:50,000 And I want to read First Corinthians, Chapter 13, verses four through to eight, because this is really a it's like expounding on what what is the love of God. You know, what what does it look like? 77 00:10:50,000 --> 00:11:15,000 And all right, let me read this First Corinthians, Chapter 13, verse four. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. 78 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:23,000 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. 79 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:48,000 Not everything in there points towards unity. Yeah, everything in there points towards, you know, believing the best of someone else, lifting others up, helping others, seeing the best in others, never taking something to heart that was negative at the expense of someone else. 80 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:54,000 It's it's self-explanatory. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 81 00:11:54,000 --> 00:12:02,000 This one minister said that he was actually teaching from First Corinthians 13, four through eight. 82 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:13,000 And a man came up to him afterwards and he said, you know, if you acted like that, you would look very naive. 83 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:21,000 People would take advantage of you. People would just I mean, if you do these things, the world will just run right over you. 84 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:26,000 And you would just that's just naive to to act that way. 85 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:32,000 And he said that he said that without even thinking, the answer just came out of his mouth. 86 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:44,000 He said, yeah, I might look naive, but I would be victorious. Oh, yeah. Because the Bible says love never fails. Yeah. 87 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:47,000 Yeah. Love never fails. That's right. 88 00:12:47,000 --> 00:13:06,000 And there's a there's a there's a truth here that is sometimes you can get kind of caught up because you start thinking, wow, I got to do this and I can't do that. And wait a minute. This makes me think I have to think differently if I'm going to practice this. 89 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:09,000 But here in verse eight says love never fails. 90 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:18,000 First, John, Chapter four says God is love. So God never fails. And God is love. 91 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:36,000 So if I put love to work in any situation, especially the real sticky ones that I'm having a lot of hard time with, if I put the love of God to work in there, I'm actually turning God, the creator loose. 92 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:48,000 Right. And, you know, in last week's podcast, we were in Genesis. But if you start in Genesis one, it says in the beginning, there was chaos. Right. 93 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:53,000 Yeah. And in that chaos, what happened? 94 00:13:53,000 --> 00:14:02,000 The Spirit of God began to hover over the face of the water and the word of God came and set order and brought good. 95 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:08,000 Yeah. Guess what? He'll do the same thing today. 96 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:18,000 And it looks like this. Be patient, kind, suffer long. Don't keep an account of the evil that's been done to you. 97 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:23,000 Believe the best. Don't rejoice at unrighteousness. 98 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:32,000 I was doing pretty good for a while, I thought. And then I was just watching a TV show. 99 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:38,000 Nothing wrong. It's not not, you know, even rated R, just a regular TV show. 100 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:44,000 But in the show, the good guy in the show was a bad guy. 101 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:54,000 And so the point of the show, like the hero of the show was was breaking the law, but for good reasons. 102 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:58,000 But he was breaking the law and watching this show. 103 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:02,000 And it was one of these, you know, where you could watch episode after episode. 104 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:06,000 And in the in the midst of it, just on the inside, I heard this. 105 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:13,000 The Lord didn't speak to me. I just the Holy Spirit reminded me of this verse. Rejoice, not at unrighteousness. 106 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:19,000 I can't watch this show. Not not the Lord didn't tell me I can't watch the show. 107 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:25,000 I'm I'm not going to rejoice at unrighteousness. That's right. 108 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,000 There's there's other stuff to do. Yes. 109 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:33,000 You know what? The world will always tell you that the ends justify the means. Right. 110 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:43,000 But the word of God and the truth will say that the the the end is nothing without the means. 111 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:47,000 That's right. I'm cheapening it. It's not even matter. Yeah, that's not even right. 112 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:55,000 It's not even the right way to say it. But the but the nature that you reveal will reach will will lead to the right end. 113 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:59,000 Because it's our testimony. Yeah. Yeah. 114 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:03,000 Praise the Lord. You know, the the love of God never fails. 115 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:12,000 And the way that we are supposed to walk in love will help us see things and see people the way God sees them. 116 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:18,000 Because so in Matthew, chapter five, verse forty four, Jesus says, I say to you, love your enemies, 117 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:26,000 bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 118 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:35,000 that you may be sons of your father in heaven. And like Pastor Maggis said, 119 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:40,000 yeah, if you do those things, you look naive to the world. You know, people walk over you. 120 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:45,000 That's what the world tells you. But that's a lot. But that's and that's a lie. 121 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:52,000 And the truth is that when you do those things, you start seeing people the way God sees them. 122 00:16:52,000 --> 00:17:00,000 You take yourself out of that equation. You stop, you know, trying to find your own right and your own way among people. 123 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:08,000 You let you know, you let God reveal who those people are to him. 124 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:13,000 You start seeing people through his heart, through his eyes, and you're able to act accordingly. 125 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:21,000 You know, you're able to help people, minister to people, reach out to people, help them with your words, 126 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:27,000 help them with your actions and actually get people to a place where they need to get. 127 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:39,000 You see, you're not you're not going to be able to effectively minister to people or help people if you see them from your own selfish eyes. 128 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:47,000 But if you see them from through God's eyes, you're going to be able to really see who they are, 129 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:54,000 really see what they need, really see where, you know, where the love of God is going to fill gaps in their lives. 130 00:17:54,000 --> 00:18:02,000 Let me let me challenge challenge us all. You know, I'm going to read First John, Chapter four. 131 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:06,000 I quoted this, but we'll just read it. Verse seven and eight. 132 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:13,000 Beloved, let us love one another for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 133 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:21,000 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 134 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:38,000 By this, the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent his only begotten son into the world so that we might live through him. 135 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:43,000 Sometimes you might find people that will say you might hear this. 136 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:47,000 No one in the Go Church family talks like this. Thank God. 137 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:52,000 But you might hear people say, well, I love I love God. 138 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:59,000 I love the Bible. I love Jesus. I love to worship Jesus. I love to pray. 139 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:12,000 But I don't really like people. And I don't really want to volunteer in this area of the ministry or this area of the church, because I don't really like people. 140 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:20,000 Guess what? God loves people. Yeah. And you don't really know him. 141 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:25,000 If you don't love people. That's right. I'm going to say that again. 142 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:29,000 You don't really know him and you don't really love him. 143 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:35,000 And our our relationship with the Lord is a riff. 144 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:46,000 You can see your relationship with the Lord in your relationship with other people because he passionately loves people. 145 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:51,000 He passionately loves people that don't like him. 146 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:59,000 He loves people that curse him, that despitefully use him. 147 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:04,000 He he loves people who use him. 148 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:10,000 And he gave his very best to them. 149 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:15,000 That is our standard. Yep, that's right. That's our measure. 150 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:29,000 And so for for any for me to turn and look at someone that Jesus poured out his precious blood for and say, I think that you're wrong. 151 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:35,000 What you said was wrong. You didn't treat me right. And I'm just going to have nothing to do with you. 152 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:42,000 That is foolish, immature and ungodly. Yeah. Yeah. 153 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:46,000 Division is of the devil. It's absolutely of the devil. 154 00:20:46,000 --> 00:21:00,000 Yeah. And to to see that is to see him something most of many of you maybe have had the privilege of meeting Pastor Tripp when he was here for two years. 155 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:07,000 There would be no go church if there wasn't Pastor Tripp and Rachel there pastoring in the United States now. 156 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:13,000 But he said this once he he had to have a difficult conversation with someone. 157 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:24,000 And, you know, there was there was a lot of things had happened and he was going to have to just have a direct conversation with this person. 158 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:33,000 He said, so he's telling me about it. He says, so I got up real early because I wanted to pray before I talked to him because I knew I was going to have a hard conversation with him. 159 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:40,000 And as we were talking, I asked him, I said, so what did you pray about? 160 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:52,000 He says, well, I always I always take the time to pray for someone so that I can see them the way God sees them before I talk to him. 161 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:58,000 Wow. There's a lot of wisdom in that. Yeah. Yeah. 162 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:14,000 I find I'm learning that the more I pray about the people who I'm going to be honest, who annoy me on a regular basis, I'm not annoyed anymore. 163 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:25,000 Yeah. It lessons. Sure. Because when you see when you start seeing people the way he sees them, you can't see them the other way anymore. 164 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:32,000 Yeah. And then and then you're you're like, well, honey, you don't want to do that. 165 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:38,000 You don't want to act like that because there's this other thing that the Lord has for you. 166 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:44,000 And then you become an ambassador for Jesus. 167 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:59,000 And what Paul said, were you you pick up his voice and you through your voice, let them hear God's heart. Hey, be reconciled to him. 168 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:02,000 Yes. Yeah. I mean, you know what? 169 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:10,000 Like when I whenever I do come to God and, you know, I say it's prayer, but it's actually complaint. 170 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:20,000 I start talking to and I just of course, like if you're if you're in the wrong state and you started just, you know, Lord, this is what they did. 171 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:31,000 And, you know, why are they being this way? And this and to be honest, like the last time I did that, I'm sure I shared about this, but I'll share it about it again. 172 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:40,000 I started complaining and, you know, I don't feel like I was getting much out of him like, Lord, why don't you ever like entertain my feelings about this? 173 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:46,000 And like he he responded to my heart and he said, because I will never gratify your flesh. Yeah. 174 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:55,000 And that is the truth. When you are talking about someone else to God, you are talking about his child to him. 175 00:23:55,000 --> 00:24:05,000 You know, if I'm talking about my wife, who may have annoyed me, may or may not have annoyed me to him, I'm talking to him about his daughter. 176 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:13,000 You know, he he poured out his blood for her as much as for me. And he loves her as much as he loves me. 177 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:30,000 And more than that, I, you know, if I say that I'm, you know, spiritually mature, he expects more of me and more from me to see her and to see others the way he sees them. 178 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:43,000 And that is the reality. How could he trust me with taking care of his most precious possession, which is his children? 179 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:55,000 If I can't prove myself worthy of that in love, you know, and there, you know, this is something that we let's take a step further and talk about this 180 00:24:55,000 --> 00:25:09,000 because we're not only talking about unity as a whole, but we're talking also about unity in the church because we were baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ when we were born again. 181 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:21,000 This is what First Corinthians, Chapter 12, verses 12 and 13 say that when we were born again, the Holy Spirit literally picked us up and put us in the body of Christ. 182 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:32,000 You know, this is who we are. And actually, when you see it, where it pleased him. Yeah. He didn't say, hey, would you, would you prefer to be here? 183 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:49,000 He's connected us to a place and there's maybe this is a side point, but the Bible says that God set us in the body where it pleased him and where he set us matters. 184 00:25:49,000 --> 00:26:05,000 Yeah. Yeah. Because he's put us where there's stuff for us. I, you know, many of you have had the privilege of hearing from Pastor Mark Hankins. 185 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:12,000 He made a comment. He said that the Lord spoke to him once and said, there are things that you need to know. 186 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:22,000 I won't tell you because I've revealed it to people you're supposed to be in relationship with. I'm going to say that again. Yeah. 187 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:32,000 Because by the way, this is Ephesians, Chapter three. It's not just something extra extra biblical, but it came as a revelation to him. 188 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:43,000 He said there are things that you need to know, but I'm not going to tell you because I've revealed them to I've revealed them to someone that you're supposed to be in relationship with. 189 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:56,000 And why that matters is, especially in today's world where information comes so easily and we can get the idea that, well, I can go over here. 190 00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:08,000 But, you know, actually, I don't really I'm either bored over there or I got mad or I don't I don't feel like I fit in and I'm not finding myself there anymore. 191 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:19,000 So now I'm going to switch and go over there. And that's why I go church. We make a big deal out of we don't where you go to church and you shouldn't be just hopping around. 192 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:28,000 You need to be planted and grow. There's lots of great things that the Lord is doing all over the earth. 193 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:35,000 There's lots of great ministries and great ministers that are doing amazing things for Jesus. 194 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:41,000 I know where the Lord planted me. I know where he connected me. 195 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:50,000 And so I just I don't stray because there's stuff I need to get. 196 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:58,000 And it's where he put me in the body. He put us in the body where it pleased him. 197 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:12,000 And to divide myself from that, especially to divide myself from that over some emotional thing is silly. And it is the work of the devil to rob from me. 198 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:23,000 Yes. You know, the the picture of a body is is specific. And the the point is a body is a body. It's one body. 199 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:34,000 It's we're talking about unity. It's oneness. Right. It's not like we talk about different body parts and it helps us understand the way the body works and the way the body moves together. 200 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:43,000 But every body part is still part of this one body. And what you're saying about, well, I don't find my fit here. 201 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:53,000 I'm going to pick up and move there. I don't, you know, if my foot hurts, I don't just cut my foot off and say, here, Lara, you might need this. 202 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:57,000 I'm sorry for the gory picture, but that is that is the reality. 203 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:01,000 You know, you don't you don't just pick up and bounce from the body because your foot hurts. 204 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:14,000 You know, you don't how do you say even worse than that, you don't pick up or start dividing yourself against another member of the body. 205 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:25,000 You know what? This is this is something that is as clear as day to me. And I just I see it, you know, in the natural, if your body starts fighting itself, 206 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:33,000 that is one of the worst things that could happen. And you call that an autoimmune disease. Yeah. And yet in the church, you know, 207 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:42,000 it should be completely unacceptable that there is a body part or a member of the body fighting another member of the body. 208 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:47,000 That that is that is autoimmune disease. That is self destruction. 209 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:56,000 And that is by default something that goes against the design, the very design of the body. 210 00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:01,000 And so just looking looking at this picture of the body and this is something that, you know, 211 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:07,000 this is going to be the discussion point for this week's growth groups. And it's going to be such a great discussion. 212 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:14,000 It's such a, you know, such a nice way to look at how we are supposed to be working together. 213 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:19,000 Like, you know, we can only grow as much as we grow together. 214 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:23,000 And this is what you see when when a baby is born. 215 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:30,000 I always find it funny because the head is always way bigger than the body in proportion. 216 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:39,000 I somehow feel like this is this is what the church looks like until we start growing into what we were designed to be. 217 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:46,000 The head is always bigger than the body in the sense that, you know, Jesus is already who he is. 218 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,000 He's the head of this body. Yes. 219 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:58,000 And the rest of the body needs to grow together in order to become a fully functioning body to accomplish the things that it was called to accomplish. 220 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:06,000 And so we never want to stay in that babyhood state where we are completely. 221 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:20,000 How do you say not able to move, not able to act and we're just carrying around this massive head and we're just like little tiny body parts, you know, just kind of floating around waiting for nutrition. 222 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:30,000 We should be growing together, you know, the every single part of the body, you know, internally and externally just is supposed to work together and grow together. 223 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:37,000 And that is the Ephesians, Ephesians, Chapter three prayer. And it's it's not a coincidence. 224 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:51,000 And it's not, you know, it's not a random thing that this prayer is talking about comprehending with all of the saints, all of the body of Christ to comprehend the love of God. 225 00:31:51,000 --> 00:32:20,000 Because when we comprehend the love of God together, only then can we grow together and what God has called us into because we like like Pastor Matt was just talking about how how how Mark Hankins was saying this is that we are supposed to work with one another, feed off one another and and coexist and cooperate in order to accomplish the plan of God in order for us to go further. 226 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:27,000 So let me read Ephesians, Chapter three prayer in Ephesians, Chapter three. 227 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:31,000 So let's start in verse 14. 228 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:52,000 Paul says this for this reason I bow my knee, my knees to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named that he would grant to you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man, the Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. 229 00:32:52,000 --> 00:33:09,000 That you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints. What is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 230 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:25,000 So here he's talking about us growing together in this love that Christ may dwell in our hearts that we being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with with all the saints. 231 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:51,000 And all together, we would be able to see all these great dimensions of this love, so that we would know this love which surpasses knowledge because the love of God is not limited to my brain the love of God is is something that I can see and experience and and and and allow to grow out of my heart because the love of God is in my heart. 232 00:33:51,000 --> 00:34:00,000 And when that starts to happen, all together when we are in unity, then we are able to be filled with all the fullness of God. 233 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:11,000 And so, this prayer is is massively important and this prayer never separates one from another in the church. 234 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:30,000 So we're, we're we see that the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to pray that we would have a revelation of our connection, but then also that we would live in the reality of that unity. 235 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:44,000 And you may be maybe you're listening to this and you think, yeah, that all sounds pretty good, but, but, but they did me wrong. 236 00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:50,000 What they said was wrong it's not right. It's wrong. 237 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,000 And you know what? 238 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:57,000 The reality is, people will let you down. 239 00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:10,000 Not may. If the more confidence you put in people, the more susceptible you are to being disappointed. 240 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:25,000 And so it is very possible that you may have encountered a wrong at the hands of someone and maybe it's a fellow believer. 241 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:29,000 And you might say, well, what should I do? 242 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:34,000 And of course, if you ask me that question, I'm going to say, what does the Bible say? 243 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:46,000 And the Bible says in First Corinthians, Chapter six, is this is such this is such freedom and liberty. 244 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:50,000 If you hear it through the years of faith. 245 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:55,000 First Corinthians, Chapter six, verse seven. 246 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:58,000 Paul says. 247 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:04,000 Then it's already a defeat for you that you have lawsuits one with another. 248 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:07,000 So the case here is the church at Corinth. 249 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:15,000 You have members of the Corinth church family are actually taking one another to court. 250 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:25,000 And then Paul asked this question, he says, why not rather just be wronged? 251 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:30,000 So that's my question. Like you're you're nursing some hurt. 252 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:34,000 Someone did something or didn't do. 253 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:40,000 They said something that they didn't say they should have done this or they would have done that. 254 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:45,000 Why not just be wronged and move on? 255 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:53,000 Instead of building a prison for yourself in that in that hurt, 256 00:36:53,000 --> 00:37:01,000 why not set yourself free in the love of God and say, I'm OK. 257 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:04,000 That doesn't matter. 258 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:11,000 Because as important as you and your feelings are, 259 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:14,000 there is something greater. 260 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:17,000 And I'm not making light of that. 261 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:20,000 I'm saying there is something greater. 262 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:25,000 And that's First John, Chapter four, verse four, that greater one. 263 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:27,000 He lives on the inside of you. 264 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:35,000 And if you'll let your emotions not be your rule and do what Paul says, 265 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:39,000 just take the loss and move on. 266 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:46,000 You'll move on into that thing that we started reading about in First Corinthians 13, 267 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:53,000 the love that never fails. 268 00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:56,000 Yeah, praise the Lord. You know, that's that's a lot to digest. 269 00:37:56,000 --> 00:38:02,000 But once you do digest it, that is your path to victory. 270 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:10,000 You know, that that is your path to really seeing yourself grow in the Lord, in the plan of God. 271 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:19,000 Seeing, you know, the Lord can only trust you with as much as you grow. 272 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:24,000 And that is that is the reality, because he's not, you know, 273 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:30,000 he can't put more in your hands if you don't see what he sees with the things that he put in your hands. 274 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:38,000 And through the eyes of love, all of this becomes clear and people become clear and your purpose and your plan. 275 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:41,000 And, you know, let's let's go even further. 276 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:44,000 The the power of God starts to make sense. 277 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:49,000 The gifts of the spirit start to make sense. 278 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:55,000 Prayer and tongues and congregation, you know, and a believer's gathering starts to make sense. 279 00:38:55,000 --> 00:39:01,000 All of it starts to make sense when you understand, when you see the love of God. 280 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:15,000 This the people that I know that walk in the greatest level of victory practically in their everyday life are people who are completely unoffendable. 281 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:20,000 I love that. And it's just true. 282 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:23,000 And I've seen it all my life. 283 00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:33,000 You know, I thank God for my my upbringing, where I've I've witnessed different examples, not all of them great, but some of them very great. 284 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:42,000 And someone asked me once, they said, Matt, how do you respond when someone says something bad or hurtful to you? 285 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:47,000 And this person had recently been to a funeral. 286 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:53,000 So I just asked them, you know, the funeral that you were just at. 287 00:39:53,000 --> 00:40:04,000 If and I'm sure that you didn't do it, but, you know, maybe you could imagine walking up to the casket and opening the lid. 288 00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:15,000 And there's the the deceased person lying there and you look at them and say, man, you are fat. 289 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:20,000 Wow, you're fat and ugly and even dead. 290 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:24,000 You stink. That's rude. 291 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:28,000 Right. That's unmanor Lee. That's that's I even. 292 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:30,000 Yeah. 293 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:34,000 But, you know, it's. 294 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:43,000 A hundred percent guaranteed that the the dead person wouldn't care. 295 00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:47,000 Like they wouldn't care. They were like, no reaction. 296 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:51,000 No, no, not not even hear you. 297 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:53,000 Not even a little little tear. 298 00:40:53,000 --> 00:41:00,000 It's it's like they don't hear you because they're dead. 299 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:10,000 If you read the book of Romans, it says, I have been crucified with Christ. 300 00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:13,000 Galatians, Chapter 22 says the same thing. 301 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:16,000 I'm crucified with Christ. 302 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:23,000 Paul said it is a very little thing that I'm judged of you. 303 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:25,000 Yeah. 304 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:30,000 And to count myself as one dead, what do I mean? 305 00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:40,000 I mean, my my emotional state, my my fleshly opinions from. 306 00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:45,000 I don't put my happiness in other people's pockets. 307 00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:50,000 It's it's not based on what they think or what they say. 308 00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:54,000 It's based on who I am in Christ, which is what we talked about last week. 309 00:41:54,000 --> 00:42:00,000 And so I if I want to live free, I'm going to live unoffendable. 310 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:02,000 How do I live unoffendable? 311 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:06,000 I live like I'm that person lying in the casket. 312 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:12,000 You can come up and say the meanest thing to me, do the meanest thing to me. 313 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:17,000 And I'm I'm just going to do what the Bible says. 314 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:20,000 Why? Because I like being in union with him. 315 00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:25,000 And I like what we're going to talk about next week, which is the results of unity. 316 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:28,000 I like that more. Yeah. 317 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:35,000 You know, it's like Keith Moore when when someone like just walked up to him and said, I don't like you. 318 00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:41,000 He's like, no, you don't know me. If you knew me, if you knew me, you would like you'd like me. 319 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:43,000 I just I find that so funny. 320 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:46,000 But but it is it is so true that you know what? 321 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:50,000 If someone doesn't like you, they don't they don't see the love of God in you. 322 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:52,000 They don't see who God made you. 323 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:55,000 You know, they don't see everything that you are. 324 00:42:55,000 --> 00:43:07,000 But God sees you. And and so it's important to disconnect from the world's opinions and God's opinions and heavenly opinions. 325 00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:16,000 And so let me let me look at the flip side of this, which is, you know, division is considered carnal. 326 00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:25,000 It's considered if we are so in First Corinthians, Chapter three, verses one through to four. 327 00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:33,000 We are literally Paul is literally talking to the church and saying that I'm not speaking to you as spiritual people, 328 00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:40,000 but as carnal and as babies in Christ. And the reality is that when we entertain division 329 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:47,000 or when we allow division to come to the front of our thinking and our acting, 330 00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:53,000 we are we are likened to carnal people, to worldly people, and we are likened to spiritual babies. 331 00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:59,000 And the reality is division and strife are from the devil. 332 00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:07,000 These are the direct manifestation of the devil. And we we see this in a couple of a couple of examples. 333 00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:14,000 So in in Second Corinthians, in Chapter two, verses five through to eleven, 334 00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:19,000 Paul is talking to the Corinthian church about someone who did something wrong. 335 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:27,000 And the people in the church were were basically as far as what's the right word. 336 00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:33,000 They were, you know, they were trying to correct them. They're trying to correct the situation. 337 00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:41,000 Yeah. And and at some point, Paul talks about, OK, now we need to forgive him. 338 00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:47,000 Now we need to move on from the situation. Now we need to reaffirm our love to him, 339 00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:55,000 to restore him back into his place. And in verse eleven, he ties this up by saying, 340 00:44:55,000 --> 00:45:02,000 so that we would not be exploited by the adversary Satan because we know his clever schemes. 341 00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:12,000 He's literally talking about entertaining division in the church for too long is like entertaining the devil in your life. 342 00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:18,000 It's like entertaining the devil in our relationships, because this is his scheme. 343 00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:28,000 His scheme is to steal, kill, destroy. His scheme is to prowl around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 344 00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:34,000 As a child, I watched a lot of National Geographic, a lot of Discovery Channel. I know how predators operate. 345 00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:40,000 They look for the weakest person. They look not the person they look for the weakest prey. 346 00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:46,000 They look for the what kind of discovery channel I can explain. 347 00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:50,000 They look for the weakest prey. They look for the slowest animal. 348 00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:59,000 They look for the one that has a broken leg or is mad at the other, I don't know, 30 members of the herd. 349 00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:06,000 And it's just on his own or whatever. That is the one that gets attacked. That is the one that gets eaten up. 350 00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:16,000 And so causing division literally opens the door for the devil to walk in, steal, kill and destroy. 351 00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:20,000 Ultimately, his aim is to keep us useless. 352 00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:21,000 Yes, that's right. 353 00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:26,000 This word keeps coming in my heart while we're talking. Useless. 354 00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:35,000 He wants to keep us useless when we're divided, when we're up thinking about this person offended me, this person did that to me. 355 00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:39,000 I'm sad. I'm whatever feeling all my feelings. I'm useless. 356 00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:41,000 That's good. Right. That's true. Right. 357 00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:53,000 And if you think about it, that that turns that turns us from if I'm going to look at offense, I'm going to look at what someone's done or what someone said. 358 00:46:53,000 --> 00:47:00,000 I'm not looking forward. I'm not moving forward. I'm looking backward or I'm stuck. I'm withdrawing. 359 00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:08,000 I'm drawing back. And the scripture is very clear. Faith moves forward. We're not to draw back. 360 00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:14,000 We're not to be those that draw back. And useless is the perfect term. 361 00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:26,000 And when when we you identify it from Corinthians here as the schemes of the devil, that's what I want you to take away from that passage of scripture. 362 00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:41,000 The devil has a strategy. That strategy is to divide, divide who divide you from those who he has set you in the body together with. 363 00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:47,000 Now, if if the Lord sets us together, we should walk together. 364 00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:58,000 If we're walking together, it's probably going to happen that I'm going to step wrong and end up stepping on your foot or you're going to step on my foot. 365 00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:04,000 If we're if we're close enough together, we're probably going to bump into each other. 366 00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:09,000 And guess what? That's OK, because we have already been made one. 367 00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:17,000 So we just live unoffendable. Driven by love. Yes. 368 00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:23,000 Yeah, you should see Ciela and I in the kitchen trying to cook a meal together. 369 00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:28,000 Just keep bumping into each other. But at the end, it's like we're trying to make the same meal. Right. 370 00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:34,000 Do you want to eat tonight or do you want to have a fight? No, I'm just joking. 371 00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:41,000 But the but the reality is that, you know, the devil loves the vision. 372 00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:47,000 He loves getting, you know, your feelings worked up against you and you against you. 373 00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:57,000 And Laura, what you're saying is so good about he wants to keep us useless because the reality is all he needs to do is make me useless today. 374 00:48:57,000 --> 00:49:04,000 And then tomorrow when tomorrow's here and it's today, all he needs to do again is make me useless today. 375 00:49:04,000 --> 00:49:08,000 And then the next day, all he needs to do again is make me useless today. 376 00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:17,000 You know, if I'm if I'm if I have this issue against this person, this issue here, this issue there, they may not seem very big. 377 00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:22,000 But, you know, that's enough. That's enough to get me off track. 378 00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:30,000 That's enough to get me offended. That's enough to to disqualify me from more of what the Lord is trying to put in my hands. 379 00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:36,000 You know, and and so I know that we're running out of time. 380 00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:42,000 I know that we are probably over time. I don't know if this is the new norm. 381 00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:51,000 Well, I mean, the subject where I want to take, you know, time to kind of talk through this and what I'm hoping as you're listening to this, 382 00:49:51,000 --> 00:50:01,000 you're examining yourself and seeing areas where you can set yourself free in. 383 00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:13,000 And that's what I'm going to say. You know, the change and this all requires change, that change equals liberty for you. 384 00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:28,000 And that's that's my goal. And, you know, in our discussions, we're going to talk about the the picture that the Holy Spirit used to depict what the church is as a body. 385 00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:34,000 Gilbert, you mentioned autoimmune disease where parts of the body fight against one another. 386 00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:43,000 I see the same thing with cancer. Cancer is this terrible thing where things starts to grow against the body that it's in. 387 00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:48,000 Any of those any of those are great pictures. 388 00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:54,000 I will. I'll I'll finish us with this kind of anecdote. 389 00:50:54,000 --> 00:51:12,000 I say anecdote. It's, you know, growing up in churches means that for all of my life, I've always been around church and church things, church meetings, church families, church people. 390 00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:33,000 And occasionally I can remember even as a young kid, there being maybe a family in the church and they say, well, we're we're going to move away from where we live because maybe the husband or had gotten a job offer. 391 00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:46,000 So they're moving to a different city. And this one particular case, the the city where they were moving to the pastor asked this question. 392 00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:50,000 He said, where are you going to go to church there? 393 00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:56,000 And he and the guy said, I don't know, we'll find something. 394 00:51:56,000 --> 00:52:10,000 And I remember I wasn't, you know, I was probably I wasn't driving yet. I was, you know, at that age. And it just when I heard him say that because I was we were sitting around a table, I heard him say that. 395 00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:16,000 And I thought, I don't know why that's wrong. But that seems wrong. 396 00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:19,000 Just 397 00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:26,000 I don't know. You know, but I just a kid sitting around all the grownups are talking. 398 00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:31,000 And so then the pastor asked, you know, started asking some questions, more questions. 399 00:52:31,000 --> 00:52:39,000 And, you know, have you have you looked for churches there? Have you contacted anyone in that area? 400 00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:44,000 Of course, you know, this is back in the nineteen hundred. So there was no Google. 401 00:52:44,000 --> 00:52:49,000 But they are hundred. 402 00:52:49,000 --> 00:52:58,000 But yeah, that family, they moved away and they they actually ended up divorcing. 403 00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:16,000 And it was a really sad story. And the the kind of that signaled in my head or in my life, something like where where you are set in the body really matters. 404 00:53:16,000 --> 00:53:30,000 And later, the church that we were a part of actually planted another church in a different location, another campus and another location. 405 00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:36,000 And the Lord dealt with my father that we should be part of that new church plant. 406 00:53:36,000 --> 00:53:41,000 That was two and a half hours from where we lived one way. 407 00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:50,000 And so we drove to that church two and a half hours one way every time we went to church. 408 00:53:50,000 --> 00:53:54,000 And we didn't live in the house of do you want to go this week? 409 00:53:54,000 --> 00:54:01,000 You know, we we just what time are we leaving kind of family? 410 00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:13,000 Because my because my father and mother prioritized where we were connected in the body. 411 00:54:13,000 --> 00:54:20,000 There are things there are tragedies there. There are things that just never happen to us. 412 00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:26,000 Yeah, just we just never experienced them. Yeah, it gives it's a new dimension of right place, right time. 413 00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:38,000 Exactly. I'm telling you, there's like I had a when people ask me now in my adult years what my childhood was like, I'll say it was ideal. 414 00:54:38,000 --> 00:54:43,000 When I was a kid, though, it was so boring. Nothing ever happened. 415 00:54:43,000 --> 00:54:47,000 Thank God. Yeah, nothing ever happened. 416 00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:50,000 No one was in the hospital. We didn't have huge tragedies. 417 00:54:50,000 --> 00:54:54,000 Nothing burnt down. We didn't get robbed. There was nothing. 418 00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:57,000 It was just praise God. Yeah. Yeah. 419 00:54:57,000 --> 00:55:09,000 And why? Because being in the right place starts with where you are set in the body and the connections with the people in those places. 420 00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:13,000 Yes, because that that is the unity that we're talking about. 421 00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:20,000 You know, you cannot fulfill the commandment of God, the commandment of Jesus if you're not around people. 422 00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:24,000 That's right. Love one another. Love who? The wall. I'm sitting here alone. No, of course not. 423 00:55:24,000 --> 00:55:29,000 I'm supposed to be part of a church, part of a body. You know, I'm I'm called into a body. 424 00:55:29,000 --> 00:55:39,000 In fact, the Holy Spirit himself put me or baptized me or landed me in a place in the body. 425 00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:46,000 And this is actually our discussion in Grow Groups this week, which is we're going to read First Corinthians, 426 00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:54,000 Chapter 12, verses 12 through to 31 together, which is the picture of the body. 427 00:55:54,000 --> 00:56:01,000 And we're just going to dig into a conversation about different members, how they work together. 428 00:56:01,000 --> 00:56:09,000 You know, why does Paul compare the church to a human body? How do we see ourselves in the body? 429 00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:15,000 How do we see others in the body? If we really believe that this was like a body, how would we treat others in the body? 430 00:56:15,000 --> 00:56:20,000 Like, is their success my success? You know, all those kind of questions. 431 00:56:20,000 --> 00:56:25,000 We're going to talk about that in Grow Groups this week. It's going to be amazing. Yeah. 432 00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:32,000 Well, if no one told you yet, I want to know. I want you to know, rather, that we love you. 433 00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:38,000 And I also want you to think about everyone that you see this week, everyone. 434 00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:46,000 Jesus decided that they were worth his life. Yeah. Yeah. 435 00:56:46,000 --> 00:56:56,000 So you hear it from us. We love you. Let's show that love to others and spend some time praying for others this week. 436 00:56:56,000 --> 00:57:00,000 We'll see you in Grow Groups. God bless you. 437 00:57:00,000 --> 00:57:02,000 Thank you for listening to this message. 438 00:57:02,000 --> 00:57:09,000 We want everyone to experience the unconditional love of God, grow in his love and go with his love to the rest of their world. 439 00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:13,000 We invite you to connect with us at one of our groups for our next gathering. 440 00:57:13,000 --> 00:57:32,000 And if no one told you yet today, we love you and believe God's very best for you.