Welcome to Hub City Vineyard. To get connected
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this message you feel called to make a change
in your life, text CHANGEME to 9700. Thank you
and enjoy the message. Hey, good morning everyone.
How we doing? So good to see you. It feels like
spring's right around the corner. I tell you,
it's just special. when our community of faith
gathers and we sing in unison and worship together.
I mean, I was kind of standing in the back just
listening to the voices. And it's like you guys
are a choir just singing back to God. And it
literally brings chills to me and brings tears
to my eyes. And it's just a powerful time of
coming together and worshiping. So I was pondering
this week, what brings people together? And quite
often when people come to gather together, it's
with a shared interest. For example, people gather
for birthday parties and they celebrate when
we turn another year or celebrate going around
the sun another time. Anniversary celebrations
are big ones that people get together. Social
events to raise money for charity, you know,
or just couples going out to have dinner together.
In our society, though, I've found that sporting
events really bring people together. I'm not
really sure why that is, but whether it be baseball
or basketball or football, people love to gather
and watch the different games. And, of course,
there's no greater game to watch than the Super
Bowl that just passed a few weeks ago. And this
year was kind of unique for me in that I actually
watched the Super Bowl by myself. My son decided
to go to youth group. The rest of the family
was away visiting my daughters in Florida. And
I was sitting there watching the game all by
myself. And it's one of those unique things where
I've never done that before. It's been over 20
years that I haven't had people with me, whether
it was just family members or friends coming
over or a party here at HTV, that I've watched
the game with other people. And it just made
it kind of boring. I actually turned it off halfway
through the game, didn't even finish the game,
and began reading or doing something different
because there was nothing to bring me closer
together or draw me in. So current research shows
that people living in the United States are more
isolated than ever before. And it's actually
becoming increasingly rare within our culture
that people gather together in growing authentic
community. And I tell you, just like me watching
the game without others, you're at a loss and
you want to be with other people. And see, I
believe the reason for that is this loneliness.
pandemic that is sweeping across our country
is actually the exact opposite of what was happening
in the early church that we read about in the
book of Acts. See, Jesus followers pioneered
a completely different way of life, which of
course is called the way. And we are in week
two of our series, Rooted, practicing the way
of Jesus. And for the month of March, we're simply
going to be discussing the practices that lead
us to experience an abundant life. See, Jesus
daily invites us into a flourishing, life -giving
relationship with God, our creator, who we can
know on a personal level. And in John 10 .10,
Jesus makes this statement. Listen, he says,
my purpose, my mission in coming to earth is
to give them, which is you and me, a rich and
satisfying life. I mean, that's why Jesus came
to walk on this earth. And this morning, just
simply ask yourself, are you living a rich, meaningful
life that overflows with joy, meaning, purpose,
and love? Because see, quite often, for the average
person, the answer is no. I'm not living an abundant
life. I want more. I desire more from this life.
That I'm living. And I want you to know that
God's desire for you and me is to flourish. That
Jesus is saying to us, I came so that you can
flourish in this life. Living with meaning and
purpose and joy and freedom. And I believe everyone
wants to live in abundance. I really believe
that. I believe people are searching for abundance.
But the problem, not everyone knows the way to
experience this life. And Jesus, he actually
gives us directions in Matthew chapter 7, verses
13 to 14. And let me read these words for you.
You can enter God's kingdom only through the
narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad and
its gate is wide for the many who choose that
way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and
the road is difficult and only a few will ever
find it. And see, Jesus is saying to us this
morning. Church, you can't experience the promises
of God without putting into practice those things
that Jesus did. Not only following his way, but
applying his way to our life. If we want to live
the life that Jesus lived, a life of flourishing
abundance, you know, just being led by the Spirit,
then we have to do what Jesus did. We have to
follow the way. And last week, we discussed being
devoted to the way. And this morning, we will
look at how we are created for community. Intentional
community, a way of doing life together with
other Jesus followers is a spiritual discipline
that Jesus modeled for us. And why do Jesus live
in community? Well, that answer, it leads us
directly to our first thought. See, God lives
in community. God lives. In community. Now, a
few weeks ago, I began a Sunday talk with A .W.
Tozer's powerful quote that reads, What comes
into your minds when we think about God is the
most important thing about us. Whatever comes
into your mind when we think about God is the
most important thing about us. And what is that
statement? It's a wake -up call for us to examine
the connection between our relationship with
God and everything else. in our life. It literally
helps us to take a step back and reflect on the
connection, the relationship. What kind of God
do I believe in? What kind of God don't I believe
in? How might that belief shape my worldview
and how I live my life? Now, it's a powerful
quote that many people use all the time in sermons,
but as I continued reading, Tozerling is on the
right. The history of humankind will probably
show that no people has ever risen above its
religion. And our spiritual history will positively
demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater
than its idea of God. In other words, our view
of God has consequences not simply on the individual
level, but also for us at a level that is society,
cultural, and full of community. And why is that?
Because God lives in community. See, before the
creation of the world, God the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, they shared this dynamic
love and fellowship that exists only in community.
In Genesis 1 verse 26, notice, as God was creating
human beings, then God said, let us make human
beings in our image. To be like us. So God created
human beings in our image. In the image of God,
he created them male and female. He created them.
And notice that God uses this plural language
to refer to himself. Let us make human beings
in our image. And who is us? Well, it's the Trinity
that we read about in Matthew 3, 16 -17. After
his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water,
the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit
of God descending like a dove and settling on
him. And a voice from heaven said, this is my
dearly loved son who brings me great joy. A beautiful
picture of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
active and present in our world during Jesus'
baptism. And see, that provides a picture of
us of a loving community that they spend together.
Their early church fathers called this perichoresis.
And that word is defined as three persons of
the Trinity in a circle dance. Now, some of you
are thinking, what does that even mean? Well,
Meister Eckert, the 13th century German theologian
and philosopher, wrote these words speaking to
the Trinity. Do you want to know what goes on
in the core of the Trinity? I will tell you.
In the core of the Trinity, the father laughs
and gives birth to the son. The Son laughs back
at the Father and gives birth to the Spirit.
The whole Trinity laughs and gives birth to us.
The Trinity laughs and the result is creation.
I mean, a beautiful rendering of God creating
the world that we live in. Three persons, God
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit living in unity,
right? One God, Father, and all dancing together
in love. God lives in community. And if we were
formed in the image of God, we were created for
community with one another and with God, which
leads us to our next thought. See, humanity was
created for community. We were created to live
in relationship with God, but we're also created
to live in relationship with one another. But
something always gets in its way, and it's our
own pride, ego, selfishness, and sin. As people,
we put walls up to barricade ourselves in so
that we won't allow others to hurt us. Yet we
read in Genesis 1, 27, so God created human beings
in his own image. In the image of God, he created
them male and female. He created them. See, all
people are different, but we're equal in dignity,
value, love, and more importantly, divine worth.
In fact, every time God created something in
the book of Genesis, the Trinity literally steps
back from their creation and they say, that is
good. God says that five times in the book of
Genesis, chapter 1, verse 10, 12, 18, 21, 25,
these words are written. God saw that it was
good. Now, the Hebrew word for good is the word
tov. I mean, it's a really cool sounding word.
Everyone say tov. And it's like we can picture
God the Father, Son, and Spirit. They separate
the sea from the sky. And together they step
back and they say, man, that is tov. Right? However,
now it's interesting. When they created human
beings, their language suddenly changes. Genesis
1 .31. Then God looked over all he had made.
And he saw and said that it was very. In other
words, God looks down and he sees us, right?
He looks at Jim and he looks at Zoe and he says,
no, no, no, you, you are very good. You, you
are my best. See, men and women are the pinnacle
of God's creation. So entertain me, look at your
neighbor and say, you are Tove. Now, all of you
have a new vocabulary word that you can use this
week to reach out to your co -workers or classmates.
Right? Imagine looking at one of your co -workers
this week and be like, hey, you're Tove. Give
me a high five. They're going to be like, Tove,
what is that? You are great. You are special.
Why? Because loneliness is not good. It's not
Tove. It's not good. Because see, the only time
that we find God saying something is not good
is in Genesis 2 verse 18. Then the Lord said,
it is not good for the man to be alone. I will
make him a helper who is just right for him.
And see, up to this point, Adam was the only
human being created. Adam, he had companionship.
Think about it. He had all of creation. And he
had the animals. And he was naming the animals.
He had tons of companionship. But he did not
have community. And there's a reason God said
it's not good for man to be alone. Because loneliness
leads to negative mental and physical health
conditions, which include stress, negative life
outlook, hypertension, stroke, and can even cause
heart attacks. And in 2023, the U .S. Surgeon
General declared loneliness is now a public health
epidemic in the United States of America. Just
two years ago. About half of all American adults
report feeling lonely every single day. While
it only gets worse for the younger people, especially
those ages 18 to 24, despite being the most digitally
connected generation ever, nearly 8 out of 10
people in that age range recorded feeling lonely
daily every single day. And to take it a step
further, only one -third of young adults in that
same age bracket feels cared for by others. And
this is what I want to say to you this morning.
If that's you and you feel that way, welcome
home. Because God loves you, we love you, and
we desire for you to connect and be transformed.
Now, see, that word community is always thrown
around as this theological statement. But it
isn't just that. It's not just for the church.
There's now scientific research that supports
the value of connecting together with others
in relationship. Why? Because we were created
in the image of a triune relational God who encourages
community. He says, get together with other people
and celebrate all that I'm doing. We read this
in Ecclesiastes chapter 4, 9 through 12. Two
people are better off than one, for they can
help each other succeed. If one person falls,
the other can reach out and help. But someone
who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise,
two people lying close together can keep each
other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A
person standing alone can be attacked and defeated,
but two can stand back to back and conquer. Three
are even better for a triple braided cord is
not easily broken. And some of you sitting there
thinking, well, Chris, this isn't a wedding ceremony.
Why are you reading that? It's the only time
I've ever heard it read because those words,
those verses speak more directly to our Sunday
gatherings than a wedding ceremony. We actually
take them out of context to fit in a wedding
ceremony, which is okay because we want to celebrate
husband and wife and challenge them to be in
community and live in community. But those words
are for you and I more than they are for them
because God desires that we come together, which
leads us to our next thought. See, Jesus chose
intentional community. Jesus was intentional.
God the Father desired connection and community
with his creation. But sin had cut off that connection,
that relationship. So he sent his one and only
son on a rescue mission on giving him his purpose
to restore humanity. And what is the very first
thing that Jesus does is he begins his earthly
ministry. He creates a new community right here
on earth. Jesus starts a small group. by inviting
12 young adults to follow the way that will eventually
change the world. We read this in Mark 1, verses
16 through 20. One day, as Jesus was walking
along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw
Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into
the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus
called out to them, Come, follow me, and I will
show you how to fish for people. and they left
their nets at once and followed him. A little
further up the shore, Jesus saw Zebedee's sons,
James and John, in a boat repairing their nets.
He called them at once, and they also followed
him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat
with the hired men. See, those first four followers
of the way were likely, according to many scholars,
teenagers or at the best, young adults. And notice,
they were blue -collar working -class fishermen.
And why did Jesus choose these men? Because all
the best and brightest, they were memorizing
the Torah to become future priests and leaders
in the community. But you see, Jesus here, he
invites the leftovers, the forgotten, the outcast
into his group of followers. Can I get an amen,
please? Because we all fit into that category.
And let's see his next invitation, Matthew 9
.9. As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man
named Matthew. sitting at his tax collector's
booth. Follow me and be my disciple, Jesus said
to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. Now
we must remember, Matthew, he was a tax collector.
He was very wealthy. And since he was a tax collector,
he was working for Rome. And Rome, of course,
was the oppressive occupiers who all the Jews
hated. So Matthew was a complete outcast from
his people. And see, this invite, it did not
go over well with this newly found small group.
So I want to show you just a small excerpt of
what it may have looked like in this short clip
from the series, The Chosen. I love how he ends
there. Get used to different. That should become
our motto. Just get used to different. See, Jesus
intentionally chose diversity for his first small
group. An authentic biblical community doesn't
mean that we simply surround ourselves with people
that are just like us. You see here, he chose
blue -collar fishermen, a rich tax collector.
And you can see even from the clip, the fishermen
are like, what are you thinking? No one likes
this guy. Everyone hates him. And to take it
a step further, Jesus even chose a trained assassin.
I mean, I've never heard a sermon preached about
one of Jesus' first followers named Simon the
Zealot that was a trained assassin that we read
in Matthew 10 .4. Simon the Zealot and Judas
Iscariot when he was listing out the 12 in the
small group. Now, Simon belonged to a Jewish
sect known as the Zealots who wanted to violently
overthrow the Romans. And they were waiting for
the Messiah who would lead the Jewish insurrection
over Rome. They were wanting a war. And every
zealot would carry a hidden knife. He was literally
a trained assassin ready to kill a Roman at the
right moment. And when we read those words, suddenly
we have a different picture of this small group
of followers. Right, Simon. would have wanted
nothing to do with Matthew. In fact, Simon would
want to kill Matthew because Matthew gave in
to Rome and occupation was collecting the taxes.
He was working for Rome. The guys that Jesus
brought together, they had no earthly business
being together. And yet Jesus chose each one
to come together in unity to form what? Community.
They were a band of brothers. And this is the
power of God's love. When we spend time together
with people who don't necessarily look like us,
think like us, or even act like us, that is the
church, right? The church is a gathering of Jesus
followers who are called to reflect the image
of God. And we know in the book of Revelation
that we're going to at some point worship God
with every tribe. tongue and nation coming together
as one family for all of eternity. So Sunday
morning should not be the most segregated hour
of the week that Martin Luther King Jr. said.
It should, in fact, reflect the diversity of
what it looks like to follow God, which leads
to our final thought. See, the church is the
new community of Jesus. In the New Testament,
the church What is it called? It's called the
body of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12, 27. All of
you together are Christ's body, and each of you
is a part of it. See, the church is a new, living,
breathing family of God. Now that Jesus came
and lived amongst the people, he died on the
cross, he conquered sin, hell, and death by being
raised from the dead. You and I, we're no longer
strangers. We are now brothers and sisters in
Christ. and we read that in Romans chapter 12.
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part
is a special function, so it is with Christ's
body. We are many parts of one body and we all
belong to each other. See, we now have the power
of God, right? The same power that rose Jesus
from the dead, the Holy Spirit living within
us, uniting us as one family. And Jesus made
us this promise in Matthew 18. I also tell you
this. If two of you agree here on earth concerning
anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do
it for you. For where two or three gather together
as my followers, I am there amongst you. I mean,
it's amazing. Like Jesus promises to be present
with us when we gather together during a Sunday
morning. Like he's here walking amongst us. It's
evident when we are convicted of sin, when we
are worshiping and we sense and feel the tangible
presence of God, when we weep, when we cry, when
we want to kneel, when we want to move and dance.
That's God's presence. Jesus is present with
us when we gather together in small group, praying
for one another, encouraging one another, and
reading the Bible together. Jesus is present
with us when we gather together over a meal with
other believers, sharing stories about God's
transformation. I mean, Jesus had a small group
of people that he poured into and encouraged.
Do you? Because see, quite often within the church
of America, people feel alone. And left out.
And God is calling us out of isolation into authentic
loving community. Which means you've got to let
down the walls and begin to invite people in.
God gives us a seat at the table as we practice
life together. Not alone, but together. And there's
so many. There's so many people within the church
who now believe that gathering together is not
important. With the rise of the live stream,
we love you. We bless you. We do it. It's a tool.
We want people to be able to watch when they're
away, when they can't eat, when they're not feeling
well. But it's also comfortable sitting on your
couch. And that's not God's best. Following Jesus
is not individualistic. All throughout the Bible,
we read about God. What's he establish? Community
after community after community. And community
is one of Jesus' essential practices. And he's
now calling us to follow. This is a place where
we can welcome others, be honest with others,
and challenge one another to grow and change.
To practice the way of Jesus, we have to practice
community church. And we read this in Hebrews
10, 25. Let us not neglect our meeting together
as some people do, but encourage one another,
especially now that the day of his return is
drawing near. And some of you need to be encouraged,
especially you watching online, don't give up.
Be a part of what is happening here in our community
of faith and look to develop authentic community.
Walk away from isolation. Walk away from loneliness
and be around people and be encouraged, which
leads us to our action steps. Practice the way
of community. Now, in Acts chapter 2, we find
an illustration for us to follow in the early
church. And so many people, though, they question
it. They say, well, Chris, Acts 2, 42 to 47,
it's great when I read it, but how does it apply
to us today? Well, it's really simple. When you
break it down and look at what Jesus is challenging
us to, which leads us to our first action step,
we learn together. Acts 2, 42, all the believers
devoted themselves, there's that word devoted
again, to the apostles' teaching. And what does
that mean? That means we read the Bible. Like
right now, there's hundreds of you going through
the book of Matthew for the month of March. And
I love reading through the Bible with you. I
mean, my phone is constantly going off with alerts
of you posting what you feel about what you're
reading as you go through the book of Matthew.
God bless you. If you're not reading it with
us, start tomorrow, start today. We can share
the links with you. Because it's beautiful when
the church gathers to read about the Bible and
discuss it. And it doesn't just happen on Sunday
morning. That's why we have groups. So that we
work through the scriptures and understand how
they apply to our lives. Some groups read books
together. And we apply those principles to life.
The point is, we have to learn from one another.
All of us bring different experiences, encounters,
and ways of life to the table together, and it
causes us to move forward in our relationship
with God. If you're not in a growth group, I
challenge you, be a part of one. You know, we
have a whole list of growth groups that you can
go to on our website, and there's probably like
20 or 25 on there, maybe 30 at the most. We need
more. And some of you, you can start, you say,
Chris, I can start a growth group. Yeah, just
gather four of your friends and start reading
the Bible together. And we'll give you a plan
to follow. The point is, when you're in a group,
you are learning about God together, which is
so important, which leads us to our next step.
Not only do you learn about God together, you
spend time together. All the believers devoted
themselves to the apostles' teaching, their learning,
and to fellowship. Now, some of you are sitting
there thinking, well, Chris, that's obvious.
Well, yeah, but it's so obvious that we often
forget about it and overlook it. When in reality,
intimacy can only grow when we spend time together.
Right? When we share life together. When we cook
together. When we clean together. When we play
together. Softball. Right? When we serve together
on a team. When we get to know one another's
families and are able to pray for them. Right?
Today is Team Up Sunday. And it literally takes
you 10 to 15 minutes to gather with my wife,
Jess, and learn about the different teams in
our community of faith. If you're not on a team,
we want you on a team. Why? Because it encourages
you to be around people, to meet people. When
you're serving cups of coffee, you know people
and their faces, and you can learn their names.
So I want to challenge you. Go to the Welcome
Hub directly after this. Be a part of Team Up
and get on a team, which leads us to our next
step. We learn together, right? We spend time
together. We eat together, right? Who doesn't
like that? All the believers devoted themselves
to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, and
to the sharing in meals. Now notice, including
the Lord's Supper. Right? Apparently, eating
together is so important it gets mentioned twice.
Right? You eat food together and you celebrate
communion together. And that might sound funny,
but there's a reason that so many people, when
they gather together, it's often around food.
And when you read through the Bible, Jesus was
always hosting parties, having dinner, meeting
with people, gathering with people, because that's
how they grow. That's how relationship happens.
It's so much better, right, when you eat together
in your homes, right? But unfortunately, hospitality.
It's a lost art these days. So many people don't
know how to host people in their homes. And you
want to know what I believe the reason is? HGTV.
I blame it on HGTV. Because so many people, they
watch HGTV and they think, wow, that's a beautiful
house. Oh, I love that kitchen. Oh, this living
room, this dining room. And then they look at
theirs and they think, oh, that's rough. And
we're so insecure to invite people over into
our own homes. And we're worried about what our
house looks like. Here's the reality. Everybody
has a dirty house. I promise you. All of you
have mice in your house. I know. This morning
I was preparing and getting my outline ready.
I hear mice running in my cabinets. Right? I
hear them. They're there. That's why there's
poison there. Now, some people challenge me on
the way out, get a snake, it'll take care of
them. I'm like, bro, I'm not putting a snake
in my house. Like, what? Now, some of you are
there sitting there thinking, well, Chris, what's
this have to do with community? What's it have
to do with eating together? The point is, listen,
I told you all that about my house. Right? I
spent yesterday hours making candles. There's
wax on our kitchen floor. There's wax on our,
on our, but if I invited 10 of you over to my
house for lunch after this, you would come. True
or false? I knew you would. You would come. Even
though I told you there's mice in my cabinets,
you would come and you'd have dinner at my house.
Right? I knew you would. So why won't you invite
someone to your house? Right? Here's the reality.
Your bathroom's always going to be dirty. Clean
it before they come. It's fine. It's no big deal.
Like we need to learn the practice of eating
together and spending time together. And I want
to challenge you. This is my challenge for you
this week. Have someone over for dinner in your
house. Or after this gathering, go out to lunch
with someone. Right? Take someone to lunch. Wouldn't
it be powerful if as a community of faith, we
began to establish that Sunday was a time where
we just, after we gather, we go out and we eat
together somewhere. I mean, that would be powerful
because you'd be creating community, you would
meet people, you'd meet families, and you would
understand the power of coming together as one,
as one church. So do it. And some of you, come
to Thursday night, you get a free dinner. You
don't even have to cook. Right? Every other Thursday,
Jess and I, we realize we have this community
dinner in our cafe that's beautiful. Right? There's
100 people there every Thursday eating together.
Why are we going to that? So now we've established
that every other week we're going to the community
dinner. Why? To meet people, to hang out with
people, to spend time together because that creates
community. So do it. Invite people over. Go out
to lunch. Whatever it takes so that community
is established, which leads us to our next step.
We pray together. So we learn together, spend
time together, we eat together, we pray together.
Acts 2, 42, all the believers voted themselves
to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to
sharing in meals, including the Lord's Supper,
and to prayer. Prayer is carrying one another's
burdens. We pray for each other, right, when
we're together and we're apart. That's the point
of these crosses, right? These four crosses,
if you don't know, this got post -its on it.
If you have a prayer request and you have to
go, put the prayer request on the cross and someone's
going to take it and pray for that request, I
promise. How do I know that? Because I have four
post -its that I'm praying for now. I didn't
want four, I only had two. But then my wife took
her two and put them on our bathroom mirror.
So now I'm praying for her two and my two. I
didn't even want to pray for her two. But the
point is, we pray together. We believe in miracles.
We believe that God's going to move. And the
point of prayer is to not grow community. It's
to obey God and to communicate to God. But the
growth of community is often a byproduct of our
shared prayers. I believe that God is moving
in our community of faith. And the people are
coming here because we've been praying for years
for God to break in and move. And now he's doing
it. And how is he breaking in and moving? Well,
it's funny, Steve, right? He's one of our, he's
on our greeting team, our welcome team. He stopped
me this morning when I first got here before
our first gathering. I was getting ready to go
into a little office to pray and to get ready
and to pray for all of you. And he goes, hey,
Chris, can I have a minute? And I looked back
at him and I said, yeah, sure. Even though when
I looked in his eyes, I was thinking, I really
don't have a minute, but I'm going to listen
because I'm supposed to listen. And sure enough,
I was because he goes, I just got to share this
story with you. He goes, at the beginning of
the week, I saw my doctor and the report that
my doctor gave me that I had an enlarged heart
valve, that it enlarged to a 4 .1. I have no
idea what that means, but I'm just sharing what
he told me. And he said, I was a little concerned
about it and a little overwhelmed about what
that could mean. And every Thursday I go to the
6 a .m. morning prayer. So I was a part of that
group and I went to that group like I usually
do every Thursday. And when I went there, they
were all praying for one another, getting requests
from one another. And then they got to me and
they said, do you have anything, Steve? And he
goes, yeah, well, I went to see the doctor and
I have this enlarged heart valve and I've been
a little worried about it all week. And they
looked back at him and said, Steve, why didn't
you tell us when you got here? That's the point
of this group. So they stopped, put their hands
on his heart and prayed. They prayed for that
heart to be healed. As they were praying, they
finished and prayed for their other requests.
And as Steve was leaving and going out the parking
lot, suddenly he had these sharp pains in his
heart. Pains like he's never felt before. He
actually became more concerned because now he
had this pain in his heart. All the way home
until he got home and then the pain left him.
He went to the doctor the next day and the doctor's
report after again examining his heart was, oh,
your heart valve is fine. It's now down to a
3 .8. And I look back at him and I was just like,
Steve, God healed your heart. He's like, yeah,
I know. That's why I was supposed to share it
with you. I was like, I was like, well, thank
you, Steve. I'm glad I listened. So now I can
share it with all you because when we come together,
the early church came together and they prayed
for each other. And that's what we do here, right?
Which leads us to our final step, you share with
one another. They sold their property and possessions
and shared the money with those in need, right?
Caring for others through generosity builds community.
It heightens our awareness of others' needs and
takes our focus off ourselves. And being others'
focus is an essential building block of community.
I want to encourage you, if you're not a part
of our Facebook community page, try to join it.
Rudy will let you in or someone who ever sees
the page will let you in. And that page is for
sharing stuff. Like I promise if you put on there
that you need a bed, you'll have a bed. I promise
if you put on there you need a dresser, chances
are you'll have a dresser, you'll have a, heck,
you can get a TV. There's all kinds of things
that people have that they would share with you
if you post it and that's what that community
page is for so that we share our needs. Now,
I'm not promising a car if you need a car, okay?
You can put it on there, but not everybody is
just. Blessed with a second car that they can
give you. But the point is, when we're with others
and we're building community, when we're giving
and receiving both prayer and stuff and needs
that we may have, it gets us out of the way.
It breaks us down so that we don't have these
walls anymore and we begin to build connections
with one another. When we put into practice the
way of Jesus, listen to the results. Acts 2 .47.
All the while, praising God and enjoying the
goodwill of all people. And each day the Lord
added to their fellowship those who are being
saved. And here's the crazy thing. So many people,
they want purpose, they want meaning, they want
connection in this life. This is it. This is
the connection and the purpose, the meaning that
so many people are looking for. And as we put
into practice, right, this whole series rooted,
practicing the way, is elementary. And I mean
that. It's elementary. It's like Jesus for dummies,
right? And you say, well, Chris, why do you say
that? Because we're all dummies. And we need
reminded of what it looks like to put into practice
the ways of Jesus. But if we put these simple
steps into practice, then suddenly our entire
tri -state area is being transformed and impacted
through this community that is gathering here
because we're reaching out and we're seeing people's
lives saved and transformed. Amen? Will you stand
with me? So before we pray a simple prayer, which
many of you know that we pray every week, I want
to challenge you with homework. Your homework
this week is to have someone over for dinner.
Invite someone into your dirty house. Clean it
if you want. I don't really care. And have dinner
together. Break bread together. And have a conversation.
And if you don't want to do that, fine. Invite
someone out after this gathering to lunch. And
share a meal together. That's your homework.
Why? Because that's what God wants for us. Amen?
Now Rhett shared earlier about a lost sheep.
I believe that God brings lost sheeps into our
gatherings every single Sunday. And we pray simple
prayers because we believe that God wants to
bring them home. And if that's you, I invite
you to pray that prayer with all of us this morning.
Jesus. I'm broken. I'm full of doubt, shame,
regret, sin. Change me. I believe you're God's
son. I believe you died for me. Make me new.
Set me free. Fill me with your spirit. Help me,
God, to serve others. In Jesus' name, amen. Now,
there's four words of knowledge I want to share
with you. You have a muscle or tendon on the
outer right side of your knee. You have left
hip pain. The second finger next to the pinky
finger has sharp pain, possibly from a recent
accident. That's pretty specific. And also, I
want to add to that list, if you have any heart
issues, I believe God's in the healing business.
So if any of those of you or you have any other
need, our prayer team will be here on the right
to pray for you and meet with you.