The Invitation To Belong

Uh we are in a series. Uh last week we launched the series. It’s called The Invitation. And the idea of the series is that you have been invited to a big life by God. But that big life doesn’t come without your participation. And last week we had three points just by way of review. The three points were this: God offers better, not just more. Happy and comfortable aren’t the same thing. Three, the life you were made for is on the other side of yes. And so if you’re taking notes this morning, I’m gonna briefly talk from this subject, the invitation to belong. The invitation to belong.

Psalm chapter 92, verse 12 says this.

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree. They will grow like a cedar of Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age. They will stay fresh and green, proclaiming the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is no wickedness in him.

Can I get a good amen on that? Heavenly Father, we’re so grateful to be with you today. We’re grateful with what for what you’ve already done in this service. And in these few moments we have uh to dive into the word, we would ask that you help us to understand and to implement uh the things that you would show us. We’re so grateful. And Lord, we pray that you would be with uh the Jacksonville Jaguars as they take on the wicked and evil bills today. Amen. Lord, just as you were with David. Wait, wait okay. It doesn’t hurt to try, you know.

Uh so you know this about me, I’m sure, but I grew up a Christian. My mom started attending this church specifically when uh she was pregnant with me. So I have been here my entire life, and I just want to let you know for the record, I love church. I I I do. I love like it’s it’s all I’ve ever known. Church. I’ve been a Christian so long, like even my junk mail is Christian. Yeah. You know what I’m saying? Um, but I know that for a lot of people, that’s not necessarily their experience, right?

Uh I don’t know if y’all remember at Facebook, I don’t even know if it’s like this anymore, but back in the day uh with Facebook, it you would do uh relationship status. Y’all remember that? Relationship stat. So you would write single, you would write married, you would write in a relationship with blah, blah, blah, or the best one, which was this relationship status is complicated. I love that it’s complicated. Um, and I think for a lot of people, if you’re being honest, that’s how they would describe their relationship with the church. It’s kind of complicated.

Mine, though, has been pretty simple. I’m just telling I’m just telling you, there has never been a season in my life that this church was not a blessing to me. I want you to know that. It doesn’t mean I haven’t been hurt by people, it doesn’t mean that I haven’t been wounded by people. That’s true for all of us. That’s even true when you’re a pastor, but there is zero percent of me, listen, zero percent that thinks my life or anyone’s life would be better without a place like this. Zero percent. I am confident that my stickiness to this church and the church as a whole has not just helped me personally, but has been has enabled me and opened opportunities for me to do really amazing things in the lives of other people.

But lots of people, I understand this, their experience of church is just like a lot different than mine. And I get that. Because if you’ve lived long enough, I’m sure that you have experienced this that you can be hurt by the church. That’s true. Right. And you you’ll you’re gonna have experiences that are hurtful. The re the reason for that is not because there’s anything wrong with the church, it’s because you, if you commit to church, you you are committing to be in relationship with people who are just as fickle and frail and fragile and imperfect as you are, right? So that’s so that just that just happens, you know. Like if you’re in church, you will be hurt. And you know what? If you’re in church, you will also do a fair amount of hurting yourself, even if you don’t mean it. Right? It’s just it’s just imperfect people. That’s just how we do.

But there’s a lot of people when they’re hurt by the church, they end up getting this posture. They’re good people, they’re people who love Jesus, but they say, like, I love Jesus, but I just don’t need the church. You know what I’m saying? It’s like, it’s like I’m spiritual, but I just don’t do organized religion. And here in Albuquerque, here in New Mexico, we’re free spirits, right? So we just follow the wind. I just we just follow the spirit leads. Well, if you’re not careful, that wind is gonna blow you right off the path. And you and you end up floating from place to place to place to place with no accountability, with no roots, with no commitment.

And I want to suggest to you this morning, again, briefly, that that mindset of just being able to float here and there and here and there, while it might sound good, is actually working against you. And the reason is this is because your life can’t be fulfilled. The purpose of your life, the call of God on your life can’t be fulfilled without other people. There’s just no way. You can’t do what God has called you to do if you are outside of relationship with other people. It doesn’t work. Unless you’re real, unless your calling is like to minister to cats. Then I guess you can do it. But even then, you’ve still got to be surrounded by cats. But for us who are called to be fishers of men, it requires that you learn how to do relationship well and be planted in a community. I’ve got three points for you this morning briefly.

Isolation is the enemy of your purpose

Number one is this isolation is the enemy of your purpose. Isolation is the enemy of your purpose. If if you get into any close human relationship, any relationship will bring with it pain, disappointment, frustration. And so if you want to live a godly life, what you’re going to need to do is you’re going to need to learn how to do relationship with imperfect people. But there’s some people that are just like expecting everyone to be perfect, and then the disappointment comes, and what they do it in order to maybe guard themselves is they come up with this posture. And they think they’re protecting themselves, but what they’re really doing is they’re cutting themselves off from one of the primary ways, not the only way, one of the primary ways God moves us forward in life.

And that’s always been that’s not a new phenomenon. This is how God has always worked. Look at this. From the very beginning, uh, God said this, Genesis chapter 2, verse 18. I’ve got it on the screen. It says this.

The Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.

Now you gotta understand, like this is not just a marriage verse. This is this is a life verse. It’s a friendship verse. It’s a it’s a church verse. When God looked at Adam, and think about this that God was God was looking at a man who is in perfect fellowship with him, perfect relationship. He was living in this perfect place called Eden. There was no sin, there was no drama, there was no betrayal. And God still looked at one man by himself, and he says, like, that’s not good. Why? Because God knew that Adam needed help to fulfill his destiny. You understand what I’m saying? Right? That God knew that what he called Adam to do, he couldn’t do by himself. And if that’s true before the fall, before the sin, before the mess, how much more do we need each other? That that for me, I’m called to something, right? I believe that I’m living in what I’m called to, but I want you to know this that I need you to do what I’m called to do. I need you. And just like for you, you’re called to something too. But without community, you can’t do it.

Uh, you think about like a uh pinky finger, right? Pretty valuable, right? I mean, I don’t know exactly what it does, but I assume because it’s here, you know, it’s pretty, it’s pretty, it’s pretty important. But if you were to cut this pinky off from the hand, right, that then it’s not valuable anymore. It can’t do anything. It’s just like a weird little finger flopping around on the table. That the pinky is only valuable in its connection to the hand. Thumbs, right? Opposable thumbs, great idea. Right. But you cut one off, it has no value. The value of the thumb is in its connection to the rest of the body. And so, and like, look, like I thank God that you’re saved and you’re sanctified and you’re filled with the Holy Ghost and you love Jesus. But if you’re not connected to the body, you’re still just like a weird little pinky finger. You know what I’m saying? Like you’re you’re still you’re just you’re just moving around. And so you might be a Christian, but if you’re not connected with other Christians, other believers, other people, you’ve lost your functional value for your assignment. You understand what I’m saying? Like, like, like what is it that God could possibly call you to that could be accomplished just by being in isolation in a cabin?

My my my parents know that when I was uh a kid and they asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up, I said a mountain man. I said, I want to be a mountain man. Like Kevin McAllister. When I grow up and get married, I’m living alone. That’s what, but like what could you possibly contribute? You know what I mean? Just in a cabin by yourself. Uh Tim Keller, uh great pastor, not the mayor, uh great pastor that went to be with the Lord uh in New York City, uh, went to be with the Lord a few years ago. He says that that a lone Christian is like a totaled car. That it’s still a car. It didn’t just stop being a car, it didn’t just disappear, but it’s completely incapable of fulfilling and doing what it’s supposed to do. Same is true for an isolated Christian.

And I just want you to think about church for a minute. That’s what I’m going to talk about. I’m going to talk about church. Church reveals your gifts. There are so many people here, young people, that they’re like, oh, I would never have known how to do that if it wasn’t for the church. I would never, you know, it’s like, where else in the world do you get to be like a 16-year-old operating a multi-million dollar sound and light set, you know what I mean? It’s like there’s nowhere else. And so the church, it reveals your gifts. And as we’re paying attention, if the leaders are doing our job, as people volunteer and serve, we’re saying, oh, John Maxwell says that like two-thirds of leadership is recognizing potential. That that like when you serve at the church, sometimes all of this stuff can get peeled away, and then we can see, and you can start to recognize, and we can start to recognize what your gifts are. But the church reveals your gifts. And if you’re never part of the church, you would never know that you’re an incredible preacher. You would never know that. You know what I mean? You would you would never know? Man, I’ve got this gifting for meeting people and praying with it. You would never know that if it weren’t for the church. The church reveals your giftings.

And so if you’re thinking, like, I don’t know what to do, just start serving. Just start doing something. And then, and as you do that, more and more layers start to peel away. You know, Preston’s like incredible with recovery. He’s gifted, he’s called to recovery. And it’s like, where did you find that out? In church. And is it because you started right there? No, you started wherever. You started, you started where there was a need, and the church reveals those gifts. The church activates your gifts. The church gets you out of your comfort zone. To have you do like other things that you’re not comfortable with. And uh lastly, is this the church connects you to God’s mission. That it’s like you’re gonna be here for however many thousands of days, like that’s how long you’re gonna be on this planet. And the question is, do you want in any way to be connected with the mission of God here while you’re here? And if the answer is yes, I’ll say one of the primary ways that happens is through your connection with the church.

And so, and so you’ve got to you’ve got to learn to do relationship because you can’t you can’t get life right if you get relationships wrong. Right? If you if you never prioritize the right relationships, if you never push through to be in relationship with people, even though they bug you. Look, plenty of y’all bug me. Not you, but you know what I mean? I there’s plenty, but but but I know that my my purpose is is connected, intimately connected to being in a community like this. And I’ve told you this that the Christian life is not a solo sport, it’s not it’s not like it’s not what’s a solo sport. Bowling, it’s not bowling, it’s a team sport, and you’re only as good as a team. And you only can treat, you can only play football. Like, are you a good football player? Yeah, but if you don’t have a team, you can’t win. That’s that’s how it is in in the church faith. Right?

I don’t know if you think about this scripture, but but but Jesus comes and he says, Hey, hey, the things that I do, you’re gonna do even greater things than that. And I don’t know about you, but like I think Jesus did some pretty cool stuff. And that’s kind of intimidating to me. That’s like I’m supposed to do something greater than blah blah blah. And it’s like, how do you do that? Well, one of the ways that you do that is by contributing to something that’s bigger than you. Right? That all of a sudden it’s like, oh, there’s a Christmas outreach, and we’re able to we’re able to like provide food and provide gifts for like 400 kids, 300 kids, 200 kids, you know, giving out Thanksgiving meals. Like you couldn’t do that by yourself. But when you’re part of the church, it connects you to God’s work in the world. And and like individually, we can do small things, but together we can do really big things.

And so, can you be a Christian and not go to church? Of course. But you could you can also be a zebra and leave the herd. Yeah, you know, you’re just probably gonna be lion lunch. That’s just what I’m thinking. And so it’s like you’re you’re still you’re still a zebra for a little while. You know what I mean? But but but it’s safer in the pack. It’s it’s safer in the herd. And I’ve told you this before. You you will find yourself in a time. You’ll find yourself in a time where you need your church family. You you’re gonna, and maybe for you, it’s like I’m not no, that’s not, I don’t really need church family because I’m awesome and everything’s going great. That’s fine. It’s coming. Is that too negative? I don’t mean it to be. There’s a time when you’re gonna need people around you. Right? And it’s it’s just coming.

And that’s one thing that’s interesting for me, and being pastors, you guys are gonna learn all about this. Is that when you’re a pastor, you’re always experiencing all seasons of life and all stages of life simultaneously. What do I mean by that? Pastor Shirley could tell you all about this. Well, at any given time in a church our size, there’s at least 20 people with cancer that we know about. Always. Always. There’s always five people that are close to going and being with the Lord. Always. There’s that there’s never not, there’s never not a time that that’s not true. But at the same time, there’s always 10 people engaged. You know what I mean? There’s always there’s always new babies. And so, like being part of being a pastor is you have to like enter into this season, and then the very next person is like, you got a new baby. Oh my god, what’s their name? And you know, you’re like kissing the baby in the back of your mind, but you’re in all of these different seasons of life.

And I just want you to know this that you in your season of life, even if it’s just one of you, you’re gonna go through all those seasons too. You’re gonna go through the season where life is just so great and so incredible, and then you’re also gonna come across some really hard times. And some of those seasons you could do them without church family, you shouldn’t, it’s less fun, but you can get an amazing promotion at work without your church family. It’s more fun to get an amazing promotion and celebrate it with your church family, but you can go through those seasons and you’re fine, but then there’s other times and life will come upon you where where you don’t have any strength, and you and you’re gonna need the strength of the people around you. There’s there’s gonna be times when like you don’t even know what to pray, and you need the prayers of the people around you, and that’s why it’s so powerful to be a part of the gathering, it’s part of the invitation that God gives us to a big life is to be a part of something that’s a gathering together, where you can come into this room and you can say, Pray for me. Hey, pray for me. This is this is terrible. I’m really going through it. I need a miracle. Like I just need to know that I’m not alone right now. To have a community around you that can support you. It’s one of the ways that you survive, but it’s also one of the ways that you experience God’s big life for you.

Look at this, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 25.

Let us not neglect meeting together as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching.

Let us not neglect meeting together as some have made a habit. Number one, isolation is the enemy of purpose.

Planted people flourish

Number two, if you’re taking notes, I’d like you to write this down. Planted people flourish. Planted people flourish. So if isolation is the enemy of purpose, what’s the solution? The solution is this to get planted. That’s the solution. Get planted. Psalm chapter 92, verse 13. I’ll read it again. We read it at the beginning.

Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.

Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish. Planted, they will flourish. I love that word flourish in the Hebrew. It’s it’s uh that word means to break out or to break through. So you’ll flourish, you’ll you’ll break out and you’ll break through. So some of y’all are like stuck at the same level and you can’t break out. You’re stuck at the same level in your finances, stuck at the same level in your marriage, stuck at the same level in your spiritual life, and you and you can’t break through. I want you to know this. Some cycles don’t break until you’re planted in God’s house. And you might be thinking, like, well, you you’re supposed to say that because you’re a pastor. You’re right. But it also happens to be true. And I can and I can I can look at faces here, and I can tell you all kinds of different people who God did miracles, and uh an instrument uh a key part, instrumental in their miracle was what this place brings them. Preston, right? He he he’s right here, so I keep using him. Uh celebrating recovery. You know, you know how recovery can be maintained long term, I bet he’ll tell you community, right?

But planted people flourish, and people sometimes people are like waiting for that thing to happen, and sometimes it’s not just a what, it’s also a where. Let me explain to you what I mean there. So uh I call it the principle of the place, and the principle of the place simply states that it doesn’t just matter who you are, it doesn’t just matter how you are, it also matters where you are because you see this in scripture over and over and over that God’s provision, protection, and purpose are tied to a place. You hear that? They’re tied to a place. You might be thinking, uh, give me give me a give me an example. You got it.

So Passover, you think about that, right? When the angel of death comes in Egypt uh to kill all the firstborn. Remember that? And then what did they do to protect themselves? Right? They smeared the blood on the door. Where did you think they put the blood? They didn’t smear it on their forehead. It wasn’t the person that was protected, it was the house. And by being in the house, what was true of the house became true for you. And so, and so the the protection was not about, and so if you would have been outside of the house, it might have gone poorly for you. And it’s not because God judged you, and it’s not because God didn’t provide a solution for you. It’s because you weren’t where the solution was placed. Right?

And so, and so there’s there’s all kinds of this kind of stuff in scripture. Uh, God at one point, he goes to Elijah, his man, and he says, like, hey, go to this particular brook. There’s like a tree and there’s a brook, and go there. There was a drought, so everyone was dying. And so he says, Go to this brook, and look at what he says. He said, God says, I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. Isn’t that interesting? Past tense. So before he even tells him, he had already provided the provision. So before before he even told Elijah to go to the place, he he had already sent provision there. And so the provision had been sent before Elijah even arrives. Now let me ask you a question. Let’s say Elijah says, nah, I don’t like brooks. I don’t like trees. I want to go stay in my house. You know what would happen to him? He would have died. And it’s and it’s not because God didn’t provide. It’s because he wasn’t at the place that God sent the provision. It’s the principle of the place.

And so, like, maybe, maybe you’re you’re wondering why God hadn’t provided for you. Maybe the issue is not God’s not providing. Maybe the issue is you’re not in the place he sent the provision to. You know what I’m saying? There’s protection in the house. There’s blessing in the house. There’s provision in the house. And look, I’m not taking an offering after this. You may be thinking, like, I’m just trying to help you. Because I’ve been doing ministry long enough to I can I can tell you that like when Christians drop off, that’s like uh it’s an off ramp to the faith. Like I want you to show me some Christian who stopped coming to church 10 years ago and is a stronger Christian now than they were 10 years ago. It will not exist. And like that’s the tragedy about youth ministry is like we understand that when we look at these people, not all these people are going to be serving God their entire life. Statistically, I’m not confessing. You gotta be careful around here. I’m not confessing that, I’m just saying statistically, there’s plenty of people that won’t follow God. And I I can tell you this that one key principle, one key differentiator differentiator from following God versus not following God is whether or not they’re planted in church. It just is.

Christianity doesn’t long survive without the church. You can see this in individual scales. You can also see this in national scales. You go to like Europe and some of these, some of these post-Christian nations. What happened? Well, well, when when a church dies, Christianity dies. And so you might be thinking, like, where do Christians come from? Like they can tell you, one of the places they come from is church. Through these places that have dedicated our our whole mission is to spread the gospel, to make disciples. That’s that’s why we’re here. And so I just hope you don’t. I hope you don’t think like, oh, Dave’s just trying to build. I’m I’m I’m doing it for you. We don’t need the numbers. We don’t. But but but we want something for you. And I want you to know this that if you want to flourish in life, if you want the big life that God has called you to, and you’re thinking, why ain’t it happened? Just one thing to consider is not just how you are, not just who you are, but where you are.

And there’s a difference between attending and being planted. Attending is showing up when it’s convenient. But but planted is if I can be there, I’m there. Attending is deciding on Sunday morning whether or not you want to go to church. Right. So you so you wake up and you know you ask so what do you think, honey? Like that’s that’s attending. Attending’s cool, but that’s not being planted. Planted is we don’t even talk about it. We get up and we get ready. Right? Like come Monday morning, you gotta go to work. It’s not like where are you going, sweetheart? What are you even doing? Like no, you just know. You just know. Sunday morning, I wake up. I just know. We don’t decide, and it’s like, well, you’re the pastor. Even before I I’ve been following God my whole life. Even before I was a pastor, I didn’t decide to come to church every Sunday. I decided, I decided a long time ago that if I could be there, I’d be there. There’s just a difference between attending and being planted.

And you don’t you don’t you don’t you don’t plant a tree and then every couple of weeks, like dig it up, seeing if there’s a better spot. The tree’s never gonna flourish because there’s no opportunity for the roots. It needs to stay in one place long enough for its roots to grow deep. And like you can keep moving a plant from pot to pot to pot to pot, and even if it manages to survive that five years from now, it’s gonna be the same size. And that’s life. There’s people who’s like they’re they manage to survive. Yeah, I’m still a Christian. That’s really it’s really cool. Yeah, yeah, and you’re exactly the same as you were ten years ago. Because you didn’t have the root system that could support real growth.

That’s interesting. You know, in the verse we read, it talks about a palm tree. Something interesting about palm trees in ancient times, uh, when they would plant a palm tree, they would plant a seed and then they would put a boulder on top of it. And for years, it the palm tree wouldn’t grow above ground because there’s a big boulder on it, but below the ground, the roots were going really deep, deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper. And then one day they remove the stone and boom, the tree shoots up. And and and I and I want to encourage you that a root system doesn’t grow without being planted. And and and you can get away with surface Christianity without having roots. But when the rubber meets the road, when the cards are on the table, that’s when you can tell whether or not you’ve developed roots. And that only comes by being planted.

And I want to talk to just a second to parents, if you would allow me to. If you make church optional, don’t be surprised when your kids find God unnecessary. That’s good. What you treat as optional, they treat as unnecessary. Right? And so it’s like, well, I tried to bring my voice. It’s like no, make it part of your life. Like that’s that’s one thing I was so grateful for. My parents would say they’re not perfect. We were in a perfect family. But you know what? My my mom and dad, every Sunday, we didn’t talk about it. We knew. We knew where we were coming. And now here we are, 40 years later, you know, me and Holly, like serving God, loving God, deep roots. Because why? It just developed over time, over time, over time.

And you might be thinking, this is my first Sunday. I’m scared of you. Start today. Start building roots. And listen, this is something another pastor probably will never say. I’m not even saying it has to be here. But I’m saying it’s got to be somewhere. Right. And and and if you think, well, you know, I’m gonna go to that. That place is gonna have that place gonna have problems too. It’s not about the problems, it’s about finding a place, finding where God has, and it’s not about your preference, it’s about where God wants you to be. And so you so you you seek God and you learn that, and then you’re planted. And it’s like, God, unless you tell me differently, I’m gonna be there.

And and and of course we know that like church brings structure, and that’s kind of hard. Right? Because it’s like, I’m gonna show up, I gotta be on time mostly. You know what I mean? Like I gotta get involved, there’s a commitment. Now I got planning center, and I gotta hit accept when people are booking me. It’s all that and like you might not like that, but but I want to encourage you, embrace the structure because structure is good for you. Having things that are dependable is good for you. It’s like I just like to float, and I just like to decide which church I want to go to. Just don’t do that. All I can say is don’t do that. Because that will always be look, church hopping will always be about you and never about other people. And church people and church membership, church attendance, church being involved, and church, it’s not supposed to be just about you. It’s supposed to also be about you contributing and giving back and living the big life. The living the big life is not about you feeling good and having lots of money. It’s also about you fulfilling your purpose. And that only happens when you’re planted.

And let me uh submit one more idea and then I’m gonna move on. Maybe the things you don’t like about your church are the things that you need the most. Oh, come on. Uh church, uh one thing I love about church, it’s really fun if you think about it, is it forces you to hang out with people you otherwise wouldn’t. I love that. Look at me. Y’all think you think just like outside of this place that we’d be friends? Right? But but now, like I’ve got this huge family of people. I would give my life for for you. I I and I do, I try to give my life for you, and I love you like my own family. But without church, we would never be, you know, and you’re gonna think super differently than me about things. I’m gonna think super differently than you know what I mean. Every time I say anything political one way or the other, we always got people leaving us, that’s like always gonna happen. But but but maybe the things that are challenging about church are also the things that make it great. It’s just like a relationship, you know. It’s like it’s like there’s things that Jordan doesn’t like about me, I’m sure. Bound to be. I mean, it’s hard, you know. Just kidding. But sometimes it’s the hard things in relationship that make you better. Sometimes, right? So we celebrate the good things, we celebrate the good things, but just know that if if it there’s ever like, man, I was a message, Pastor Marshall preached, and I really didn’t like it, it’s not made me feel angry. Just understand, maybe it’s making you better. Maybe it’s making you better. Because you don’t, you don’t want a church that only just always agrees with you and just pats you on the head and says you’re so great, that would be boring. And more importantly, you wouldn’t be getting better. It forces you to be in relationship with people you wouldn’t normally choose. And that’s not a bug, that’s a feature. It makes it better.

Uh, you know, I was thinking uh a few years back, there was this thing that happened um called COVID. Y’all might have heard of it. It was a thing. And it was a weird time, you know, we were all fighting for the toilet paper. It was like a it was a really weird season if you remember the toilet paper. We have a group chat with my family, and my mom would text, we’d go to all the different stores, and she’s like, I found three rolls, I can spare half a roll. Who wants half a roll? Who needs to go the you know? It was a strange time, and we were still trying to do church, and we’re still trying to figure out what it is, and so we’d get up here and we’d turn on all the stuff, and we’d sit down and we, you know, we’re preaching our message, and we’re like, it’s great to see y’all incredible, you know. Turn to your neighbor and say, It’s like nobody’s there. And we did our best, but this is something something that I learned is that church without people ain’t church. It’s just not, it’s just not the same.

I love that I can watch Steven Furdeck on YouTube. I I’m grateful. You’re great, it’s fantastic. It’s not the it’s not the same though. The thing the thing that makes this great is is the gathering. And I’m super grateful for online streaming. Disclaimer, right? If you’re watching in the stream, we’re so glad you’re here. We love you. I love streaming, I support it, we invest in it, I use it, I’m a big fan. But you can’t really call a live stream the gathering. Right? Who are you gathering with? It’s just like you and your cats. It’s it’s the gathering to get. That’s one of the things that makes this powerful. Is that you know for sure in the West, we just want to be like, I just I just want I just want a personal relationship with Jesus. A person, and part of your relationship with Jesus is personal, but we also have a communal relationship with Jesus. And you and you need both.

Here’s my big thought, and then I’ll move on. To the degree we live apart from the local church, we sabotage our own spiritual health and development, and we hold back the mission of Jesus in the world today. But when you’re planted, you flourish. When you’re planted, you break out, you break through. Number one, isolation is the enemy of your purpose. Number two, planted people flourish. Did I say that right?

You have a part to play in something bigger than you

Number three, you have a part to play in something bigger than you. You have a part to play, and you, not just not just me, not just Noah, not just you have a part to play in something that’s bigger than just you. The plan of God is never just about you. And paradoxically, that’s why you’re so important. Because you’re playing a part in a big story. You’re not the main character in a small story, you’re a small character in a big story.

Like I think about maybe if you would think about that chair you’re sitting in right now. It’s not bad, right? Padded. It could be worse, it could be worse. It’s and I so I want you to know this: that I did not buy that chair. I didn’t buy that chair. You probably didn’t buy that chair, but somebody brought that chair. Somebody bought people who bought those chairs or put it putting the offering, their money in the offering like decades ago. I want you to know that when they were doing that, when they were giving money to buy those chairs, they saw you. And it maybe not like specifically you and your features, but they they saw you, and someone sacrificed for that chair, and they saw you with the eyes of faith. And so, and so just understand that that that’s also your responsibility, too. That you’re not you’re not just attending, your life is a continuation of a great story, and you have a part to play in it.

Genesis chapter 12, God calls Abram, he be launches this huge thing, and it continues on. It’s the same story, it goes through Jesus, and it goes through the apostles, and it goes through tomorrow. The story that you’re that you’re in right now, it didn’t start with you, and it doesn’t end with you. And once you see that, it changes everything. This was for me, it’s such a transformational concept to understand that it’s like I’m just part of a bigger story. And on one hand, it it lets some pressure off of me, because like you know, if I if I don’t do my job and I and I fail, well then, well, then God’s plan is still gonna happen. So I don’t inflate my own self-importance. But I also want to know, I also want to do everything that I can to do my best and bring my best and contribute something that matters because this story is so much bigger than just me.

And you see this in the uh book of Hebrews, there’s this section called the heroes of the faith. And it talks about all these amazing people of the faith in the old testament, talks about Abraham, talks about Moses, talks about Joseph, talks about Rahab. And then it says this look look Hebrews chapter 11, verse 39 and 40. All the heroes of the faith. It says,

These were all commended for their faith.

So these were amazing people in the faith. Listen,

yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us, so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Isn’t that interesting? He says they were amazing people, like they’re awesome and we commend them. He says, but but their but their promise hadn’t been fulfilled yet. Because God planned something really amazing that includes you. And so Abraham is waiting on us. Isn’t that amazing? Moses is waiting on us, and their promise isn’t fulfilled until we do our part. Because it’s a it’s a it’s a relay race.

And if you can see yourself like that, you can see yourself as a player in God’s story, then you stop being consumed with preference and start being stuck, you start being consumed with purpose. You stop asking, like, what do I like? And you start asking, what is my responsibility? What’s my responsibility here? I love this. I love worship. I love, like, I’m so glad, like, our worship team is awesome and all that stuff. But but honestly, when I’m coming in this room, I’m not just thinking, like, what do what kind of music do I like the best? What songs are my favorite? Now I’m coming into this room and I’m saying, like, God, I believe that you’ll you’ll care for me, but also I want you to use me in cool ways to minister to other people. And so I’m coming into this room, not as a consumer, but as a contributor. Because I can’t minister in the way that everyone deserves to be ministered to by myself. I can’t do it. And so I so I need I need the participation that comes with all of us. But but if we all come into this room and we all start asking, like, God, how can you use me to be a messenger of the gospel in big ways, in small ways, at my job, in my family, when I come to church, then all of a sudden, like the gospel starts to spread. And it’s not a story that’s about you, it’s a story about what God is doing through the generations.

But you have to stop seeing yourself as just a consumer. I go to that church. Why? Because I like their worship better. That’s cool. You’re missing the point. Well, I’m going to that church. Why? Because I like the preacher. That’s cool. It’s not about you, though. You know what I mean? It’s and and what’s amazing, Matthew chapter 6, is that when we seek God’s kingdom, all the things that we need will be, and for me, some of the most impactful, some of the times I’m most filled with the Spirit and blessed and come out of this room feeling like a million bucks full of faith. It’s not because that message hit me directly, it’s because I had the opportunity to minister faith to somebody else. It’s it can change, but you have to start thinking about yourself not just as someone who’s like out here, but you’re someone who belongs in a community. And it’s a community that we receive from, but it’s also a community that we give in.

Think about it like this Christianity is always one generation away from extinction. Always. All it takes is one generation to drop the ball, and this whole thing is over. And so what what what we what do we have to do? Right? So this is our time. We talk about it all the time. This is our time. So what do we do? How are we gonna spend our time here? Right? Well, I well, I’m I’m gonna say for me and for my house, we’re gonna serve the Lord. I’m gonna give it everything. And then like, and like when when when people when people bug me, I’m gonna push through it because I belong here. I’m planted here, I’ll be here. And I believe I believe that God blesses me, blesses us when we’re faithful to what He’s called us to. And when we’re planted here, what’s been promised of the house becomes promised to me because of the principle of the place. And there’s another generation that will be either blessed or burdened by who you become. And so your decisions matter, your priorities matter, how you invest your time matters, not just for you, but the people who come after you.

I’m done, but I just a quick story. So I had when I was a teenager, I had two youth pastors. Um, and it’s interesting, I was thinking about them. Neither neither of them live here anymore, and neither of them are even in ministry in like a traditional sense anymore. But I was just thinking about them, and and a couple uh a couple years ago I reached out to each of them individually, just when we were kind of talking about this transition, and I just I just want I called them up and I just said, I just want to thank you because I wouldn’t be where I am now without you. And they’re like, Oh, I don’t think God did anything, blah blah blah. And I don’t know what I was like to youth pastor, I don’t think I was a particularly good kid, probably not horrible, unless you asked my mom. Then I was great. I was a great kid. But is and I was just thinking about it, and it was like an emotional experience for me to acknowledge the part that they played in my life. Imperfect, but it and you just never realize like sometimes in these how God uses like these small interactions and these small seasons, how it can really change someone’s destiny and turn their life around.

You know, I think about Noah, who we just prayed for, and like his time, his time uh with Owen and and doing football and like showing up, and it’s like, did you change his life? We don’t know yet, but you might have. And I’m and I’m thinking about like all the opportunities that we all have to impact people’s lives for something that really matters. Um, Pastor Lauren, I know she’s I told you last week she took 22 young people to Passion Conference in Texas. Quite the adventure. But it’s like this huge conference, there’s thousands of people, and they’re all praising God, and there’s these famous worship leaders and these famous pastors, and they’re all praying, and and it’s interesting that when you’re someone like Lauren and you’ve got like 22 young people with you, that like when you’re in those conference times, it’s like you want to receive from God, but you’re really thinking about them. And so, like when you’re worshiping, you’re worshiping with one eye open because you because you’re wanting it to be incredible for them, and so you’re like, oh, you guys sit here, this is a better view, blah, blah. And you’re just trying to experience it through through them. And and I’m I was just thinking about that, and I’m thinking about like, yeah, the people that that Lauren is ministering to now, that Jensen’s ministering to now, Noah’s ministering to now, Shirley’s ministering to now. That it’s like, I think 20 years from now, people are gonna call you up if phones are still a thing. Probably won’t be. They’ll probably just think it and you’ll just get it. But you’re gonna get calls 20 years from now saying, like, hey, no, I just want you to know that you changed my life. And it’s like, really? Right, I just did this tiny little thing. It didn’t even, you know what I mean? I just I just took you out for it. It’s like that’s how God works though. And it but you only have those opportunities when when you’re part of the house. That’s where the opportunities come. And it’s not true for just pastors, that’s true for everybody. But in order to do that, you have to move from personal preference to like, God, I want to be part of something bigger than me. It’s it’s not it’s not just about me, it’s about it’s about your work in their life. And so I so I want to link arms with all of these people and really make a meaningful difference.

Last scripture, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great, great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. What do you think that means? Well, he’s talking about these great heroes of the these great cloud of witnesses, and so just know this that we’re not doing this alone, and that’s what I like to think. I like to think of this this picture of thousands of people across thousands of years linking arms to do something really cool together. Like I think about like Pastor Marshall’s pastor, how his arms are linked with Pastor Marshall’s, and then my arms linked with Pastor Marshall, and then whoever comes after me, their arms linked here, their arms linked here, their arms linked here. And it’s just this incredible thing that you are invited to, an amazing life, a big life, and it’s an invitation not just to go and do something, but an invitation to belong, to be a part of this, and it’s a great privilege. You know, it but we’ve got to be able to do our part, and you’ve got to be planted.

And I’ll I’ll say this. I’ve got my closing statement. If you’re not planted somewhere, I’ll I’ll say this. I think this is a great church to be planted in. Not perfect, not because we need members, but because you need family. And and and there’s people after you that need you to take your place. Here’s my closing statement. Big life doesn’t happen alone, it happens when you’re planted and playing your part in God’s story. One isolation is the enemy of your purpose. You need help to fulfill your destiny. Disconnected from the body, you can’t fulfill your purpose. Two, planted people flourish. There’s a difference between attending and being planted. God’s provision is tied to the place He’s called you to. Three, you have a part to play in something bigger than yourself, bigger than you. Move past preference to purpose because there’s a generation coming after you who needs you to take your place. Come on, somebody.