Isolation Is Making You Vulnerable | Game Plan Week 5

Welcome to church. We are thrilled to be with you. No matter where you're joining from today, if you're live at a campus, if you're watching live or later online, God behind bars. If you're new here, maybe you don't know. We have four campuses that meet in correctional facilities. Can we welcome those men and women? We're so glad you're here. We love you. We love you. We love you. We also have wind community gatherings popping up all over Tennessee and beyond. So God is moving in some unbelievable ways. I'm so excited for today. I'm here if you've never met. This is my amazing wife Rachel, and we're just excited to be with you today. It really has been an incredible season of what God's doing in our church as we take time to get into God's game plan. And God's game plan changes things in your house, not just on Sundays. These are habits that God gave His people thousands of years ago. And we know that in God's game plan, old habits still win new battles. Now baby, speaking of winning, I believe we have one of the biggest wins of the year coming up.

Oh, yeah, it's women's conference. Hey! [cheers and applause] Shout out to GBB at our blood cell campus. I got to go and be with those women this past week, and they are just -- it's such a joy to get to be with them and share some of the thoughts that I'm going to be working through a women's conference all throughout church history. We seek God to raise up women. And they show up to stand in the gap between God and His people to help them know what it's like to be in relationship with the Lord. And sometimes, showing up for God can feel like a really hard thing. And if showing up can feel like you have this thing you've got to do, and there's this way I have to perform, and there's all these things that are attached to it. And what we want to do is create an environment where you can come and experience the presence of God and receive from the Lord what it's really going to look like to show up as a woman of God. Now, this is probably going to be a sold-out event. So I'm going to give some instruction. If you're ready, say I'm ready. >> I'm ready. >> Get registered, like ASAP. Help us sister out so I can make sure we got everything that we need. But Friday night, for those of you who have already registered,

you would see in your email this past week, we want you to bring your one with you for free. So once you register, what that does is make a way for your one to attend conference with you on Friday night, and we want to have space for everyone. So please, get registered and get your ones in there as well. >> That's right, it truly will be. It is an unbelievable time. I love it, I kind of hide in the back, right, in the estrogen ocean that is women's conference. But it's amazing. >> The best ocean is winning. >> That's exactly right. So hey, husbands, men, make a way. Make a way for your wives, for your daughters to be there. These, the kind of ladies that you want your ladies around, okay? So make a way, find a way. You make a way to make the tea time. You make a way to make the game happen. Make a way to get, there's going to be reasons. Why she can't go, why she shouldn't go. You lead and make a way for your daughters, for your wives, for the women in your life. Okay, so hey, when you came in, there was a little sticker in your seat. And we'll talk about it a little later, but I need everybody to go ahead and take that sticker and go ahead and put that on you. Put it in a visible plate, don't put on your face, okay?

But go and put that sticker on you somewhere where we can see it, okay, where you can see it. - It's not red, it makes me think about Christmas. - Yeah, as well as not Christmas yet, so hey, put that on there, and then we'll come back to that a little bit later. - That's true, oh no, it's me. I'm supposed to say something about our series that we're in. Hey, in this series, we've hit parts of God's game plan that are part of his design for you to have a winning life. We use our gifts to serve others. We give God back the first of what he's given us, and we have all been commissioned and sent by God to tell the world about what he has done. These are things that God has made clear in his word that they are a part of you flourishing as a Christ follower, but it is really hard to win by yourself. And if I can just be honest, it's way less fun. It's more fun to win together, and God has designed you to win in community. And that's why we're gonna take one more week to talk about the habit of group, the habit of gathering in God the community, and in God's game plan, God's people gather in groups. - That's right, you are made to be in relationship. It is indisputably, it's indisputable in the Bible, I believe in your life, in society, that we were made to be in groups. So just before we get into the word, let me give you three ways that we know,

it's just indisputable that we were made to be in community, that we were made to be in groups. So, hey, the first one, the first level I want to see is on a God's design level. God designed you to be in group, to be in relationship. Now let me point this out to you. Whenever God created the Garden of Eden, He made the world and He made Adam. Every time God would make something, He would say, "It is good." Whenever He made the sun, whenever He made land and animals, He kept saying, "It is good." And then He made Adam in Genesis 2, 18. And it says, "The Lord said, 'It is not good.'" First time, it is not good for what? For man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him. Some of you guys think, "Okay, well, if my life was just better, I wouldn't need people. I wouldn't need, I wouldn't need group. I wouldn't need the stuff." It's just not true. We see when all the circumstances are perfect, God looks beyond circumstances at your design and says to Adam, to all of us through His Word, listen to me, it is not good for you to be alone. - So on an individual level, we've talked about how we did this survey

in the beginning of the year. Remember, pastors didn't talk last week about how we want you to have a growth plan. And so what we did was we gave you this survey, it had seven different areas of your life, and you ranked them about where you needed the most support and where there was the most opportunity for growth. And across the board, the lowest ranked was relationships. The devil is attacking our relationships, our one-on-one level. And there's one more level that we want you to see, that we see community impact, and that is a societal level. So we're gonna take just a few minutes to show you about what happens on a societal level when we don't do what God has designed for us to do individually. So 42% of American adults now say that they feel lonely at least once a week. Now that's up from 33% in 2025. Now this isn't our idea, we didn't make this up, this came for the American Psychiatrist Association, and so we've seen a 9% increase in loneliness in just one year. That's right, so we see that babe, come back here, give me a little van, a white situation. So here, we have 40% there, right? And then look at this, 15, listen, this is from the Surgeon General,

lacking social connection, carrying the same mortality risk as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Now listen, if you or a friend start lighting up, start ripping 15 sigs a day, would you have a little conversation? I don't know how many is in a pack, probably that many, right? I mean that would be an issue. You would start saying, "Hey, there's everything going on, "you seem a little stressed out, "you're stepping outside every five minutes." You would ask a question, or at least I hope, you would. What this is showing, the Surgeon General doesn't really care about your spiritual wellbeing, but this play in God's game plan is so deeply ingrained in us that if we don't carry it out, it doesn't just impact us spiritually, it impacts us physically. Now let me give you one more stat, and I pray that this one offends you. Now listen, we're not offended relationally, but we can get offended spiritually. Look at this last stat, and this is recent, the question asked among young people was, "Does your life ever feel meaningless?" And here's their response, look from 1990, look to 2020, look what's happening. Now listen, is it any wonder that anxiety, depression,

suicidal thoughts, gender confusion is skyrocketing? It's because they feel like their life's meaningless, so they're grabbing at anything and everything that they can. But listen, the game has not over. God has given us a play to run. When God's people gather in group, these do not have to be the final word. Okay, so there's one more thing I want you to show you here. Right here about is when we get the iPhone. - About 2008 or so. - 2008 or so, but we have this iPhone right here. And then in 2012, you see this dotted line, this is where we see this huge spike in these feelings of loneliness and meaningless, and that should break your heart. Do you know what happened in 2012? You got the front facing camera, you could take a selfie. And we began to learn the habit of being self-focused. Now to be clear, it's not the iPhone's fault that we are self-absorbed. But it is the enemy that's using social media to rob the social connection that God designed for us to have. Listen, the thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. And then we have the lockdowns hit, and this continues to elevate. Listen, people are profiting off of your loneliness, and not just your loneliness, but the loneliness of young girls in particular. TikTok was a $300 million company in 2019, and in 2022, they were a $10 billion company.

Now lockdowns exponentialized a problem that already existed. - Yeah. - And now we have a world full of isolation, particularly our young girls. If you have a daughter, this probably feels a little intense. You might start to feel a little stirred up. And you know what, you should be, because our soul, our spirit knows, something is not right. God did not design us to live this way. - That's right, and let me tell you, it's not game over. If you leave church discouraged, then you did it wrong, okay? I promise you, you should not leave discouraged. What we're doing right now is we're in the huddle. We're about to go out for the second half, and we're gonna run the score up on this. It's not game over, but we're gonna go out and run the score up on the enemy until Jesus comes back and it truly is game over. So why we have time to play, let's play. But here, I wanna show you some 2026 data. 2026 data, where Americans find belonging. 55% in their family, 44% in their friends, and 24% in their church. Listen, when we do church, how Jesus designed for us to do church, it's where we see the family, friends,

and the church come together, multiply, exponentialize, multiply the ministry and the impact and the life that God has given us. Can I tell you right now, I really enjoyed growing up. I had a great high school experience and enjoyed college, but can I tell you right now? I am getting the best friends I've ever gotten in my life. Where am I getting them in group? And not just in my group, but as people launch out of our groups and they start new groups and then I get friends out of their groups. And then because really the greatest uniter of people, it's crisis. And we have a crisis that we're fighting against and the play that God gave us to fight back is group. It's not game over, it's game on. But it happens. I didn't say it last service. Oh, that is good. That's pretty good. It happens in group. Listen, group is not therapy. It is identity, camaraderie and artillery. You find out who you are when you gather in community. You stop fighting alone. And when you get people who can fire back on your behalf, something changes. Everyone needs community. Every single one of us, us included.

Hey, our prayer is that 100% of our church would step into the design that God has given us. What is word commands us to do. And that is to be in group. It has changed our lives. And we want everyone here at Faith Promise to experience that. Can I just tell ya? It grieves our hearts. That there are people who come to our church every single week and aren't known in community like that. But what we're seeing in those stats, we don't want that to be your story. It'd have to be. And God has taught us something very clear in his word. Jesus tells us in John 10 10 that the thief comes only to kill, steal and destroy. But he, Jesus says, I came that they would have life and life to the full. Jesus came to give you life. Not someday, today. You were designed to bring heaven to earth right now. Every single day you get to experience the fullness of God. And one of the clearest things about Jesus' life, who was God, is that he had group. - That's right. Jesus lived his life in group. We see Adam needed people, we see Jesus needed people. So here's what I wanted to do, just to further push his head.

We want to tell you a couple stories of how God is bringing life through group right here at Faith Promise. And I'd like to start at the place where the battle is really raging the most, which is in the digital space. Let me just tell ya, here's, let me give you some stats about the last three weeks in the Faith Promise Act. Just the last three weeks. There's been over 42,000 prayers prayed. There's been 174 prayers marked answered. I don't know if you get those notifications. It's the best part of my day. Seeing prayers answered, seeing faith just rise up. This is new, that we've been updating in the app. Now you can give some updates on your prayers, on the doctor's appointment, on your marriage, on your kids, students, on your one. Right, you give updates. But this next part, I really love. This right here is, it shows the culture that God told us to have is catching. That roughly one in five updates are about someone who the writer loves who's far from God. 20% of our updates are about people that we love that don't know Jesus. I'm telling you, through group, through relationships, digitally and in person, we are taking ground back from the enemy. Okay, so here's our first story.

Now remember, these are real people. Someone shared in their prayer, I'm lifting my sister up to you. Please put it in her heart to accept the invitation to women's conference and to show up. people in her group were praying, and the update came in. Then she has agreed to go to conference. Can we just celebrate that God is on the move? (audience applauding) Hey, listen, prayers for your ones are being answered. Don't give up, continue to endure. I will never forget. I have been praying for one of my ones for over 20 years. And PC told me, Pastor Chris said, he had prayed for his brother for about 30 years, and he said, when you get to 30 years of interceding, then we can talk about you starting to be tired. We don't give up, we continue to intercede. We have somebody else who was praying just like this, and they said, they were praying for strength in God to stand in the gap, to build a bridge from Sam to Jesus, and they sent in their update, and they said, I don't know what his walk with Jesus is like, but what I do know is that God is moving, his heart is softening. I hugged him for the first time for several minutes last night. Thank you, Jesus, for healing that's happening in our home. It isn't over, it's just starting.

Can we just celebrate with God is doing it in their home? Christ, I love that. Hey, these can be your stories too. That's right, they should be your story. So let me switch over to students. So students, this is why we don't miss Wednesdays. Parents, this is why we don't miss Wednesdays. Their groups are on Wednesdays at students. I love this, a mom said this to him, this is so incredible. Her son is in sixth grade. Nehemiah, her son is in sixth grade, and she said Nehemiah came home so fired up from students last night. And he decided to start a Bible study, he decided to start a group at his school at 720. She said words can't describe how proud I am of him. So Nehemiah is texting his friends, having his friends ask their parents if they can come to church, art church. They can come to school early. If they can come to purgatory early, that's what they're saying, right? Why for a group? I love you. Can I push on you? This is an 11 year old young man who's asked to go to school early to start a Bible study. So whenever at the end of our service

and you're challenged by the Lord, let's not get out works by an 11 year old. You know what I'm saying? I'm not gonna let a 11 year old outwarp me and he turned him. Can I get amen, man, a guy? Amen. Okay, we're not gonna let that happen. You've got some presents, awesome, so good. Say, let me just quickly, I won't read these two, but just two more. One, we have Spartan groups on Thursdays raising up men of God. If you're a man, you're looking at, you're looking at just when your world Thursdays, it's just a bunch of dudes who are getting after it were warriors and had a friend of mine bring somebody from his work on Thursday. We chatted the lobby a little bit. First time ever being in something like that. I get a text about nine o'clock that night and said, "Hey, Zach, the guy that I brought for more "gave his life to Christ and I had a group, "gave his life to Christ, his life don't give me the same." (congregation applauding) And he's one more, one again, through groups, again, one of my new best friends, really, in the last year and a half. He and I were talking and I just asked him how a group and serving, specifically those, had impacted his life and he's successful.

He's got a great job, he's got beautiful wives, he's got great, healthy kids and he said, "Hey," he said, "This is the first time "that I can remember being proud "of how I'm leading myself, my family. "This is the first time I can remember that." And the catalyst for it was group and serving. That not could be, should be, your story. That is what God has set at the table in front of you. Our question, for you, God's question for you, are you willing to pull yourself up to the table and receive the gift that he has in groups for you? - And just like God designed, you're not gonna do it alone. We're gonna do this together as a church. So starting next week and all of our groups, we're gonna do what's called an alignment. And for five weeks, we're all gonna study the book of first Peter together. Now Peter was in Jesus' small group, so he knows the importance of God the community. And so if you've got your Bible, I just want you to flip to first Peter really quick. And we're gonna go to chapter five, and we're just gonna look at verses eight and nine. And this is what it says. It says, "Be alert, be sober-minded. "Your adversary, the devil prowls around "like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. "Resist him, stand firm in your faith,

"knowing that the same kinds of suffering "are being experienced by your brotherhood "throughout the world. "We resist the enemy as a family, as a community." When the devil got Peter alone, right at the crucifixion, right at the cross, Peter denied Jesus. is not the same as being known. When Peter denied Jesus, he wasn't physically alone. There were people around the fire with him. There were people all around. But the Christian community that knew him that could help hold him accountable, that would help hold his arms up, they were nowhere to be found. Peter was the most vulnerable when he was separated from Christian community. And hey, the devil's got most of you alone. Do you feel yourself denying Jesus in ways you know you shouldn't? Personally, maybe in your family, with your time? Gathering in groups is what helps you resist the enemy and honor the Lord. - That's exactly right. We see Jesus in John 10th and Peter, again, Peter was in his group, he learned how to talk and how to see the devil from Jesus. But they both describe the devil as an enemy, as a lion, that wants to eat you. He wants to kill you, wants to devour you.

And again, some of you guys are experiencing that right now. And some of you guys know how lions hunt. They're usually, they're hunting in a pack, but they're looking for, they're usually hunting herd animals and they're looking for the one that's isolated, getting them alone and eating them alive. That's how lions hunt. And some of you guys are being eaten alive. And can I tell you something that may sound like I'm not empathetic, but it's just not true. You are letting him eat you alive. Now that may sound mean, that may sound like, gosh, why would you say something like that? Let me help you understand it. There's something in science called the zebra effect. The zebra effect. It came from these scientists, they were in Africa, they were trying to study these patterns of these zebra's and how it impacted the individual. And they would start to study and they would look down and they'd look back up and they would lose track of what zebra that they were studying. 'Cause they're always the same, they could. And they were like, oh gosh, I don't know what zebra was. And so they're like, oh, we're not getting good data. So what they did is they drove up in their humby, or their jeep to it and they stuck a red dot with paint on the hind corner of that zebra. They stuck it right to it. They're like, oh, we got it.

We're not gonna lose it now, right? Well, here's what happened. Is the next day that zebras they tagged, it got eaten. And they're like, gosh, that's just the worst luck. I've finally found one. Over the next couple of months they did it, that every time they would mark a zebra, that zebra would get eaten. They didn't mean to, but they were destroying God's design that the zebra had for protection, for connection, for power of being together. Now, again, at fake promise, we're not playing games here. And again, nobody's looking around, but just between me and you. If you are in a group consistently, I'd say at least every other week, you're in a group, you meet with them, that y'all praying for each other, you're after it. If you are in a group, I just want you to pull that sticker off your shirt. If you are in a group, if you are not in a group, I want you to leave that sticker on. Just for today, at least for today. I need you to know for you, for your spouse, for your kids, for those that you love, the sticker's on you. And the enemy knows, this one's isolated. This one's not as strong, because you are not receiving the design that God gave you for connection, for protection, and for power.

And I pray that today, that you'd be able to take that sticker off with integrity. - So, if you still have your sticker on, we are not gonna receive any shame, or any guilt, or any condemnation. That's not what being in the presence of the Lord is about. And if right now, that's what you're experiencing, is guilt and shame, that's not the voice of the Lord. But the Holy Spirit will convict us, and He will call us higher. He will call us up into the places that He has designed for us. So, today, what we're gonna ask, is that if you still have a sticker on, we want you to be bold. In that scripture where I just read you 1 Peter 5, 8, 9, right before it, in verse six, it says, humble yourself, under the authority of God. So, today, we're gonna be bold, and ask you not to take your sticker off, until you talk to someone about being in a group, at all of our campuses and online, we have group leaders there who wanna talk to you, and help you find a group today. They're gonna help you look at your schedule, they're gonna help you overcome the obstacles, so that you can experience the freedom, the camaraderie, the artillery, And in a few moments, we're gonna ask you to leave early,

only the people with your sticker. - We're watching, we'll be watching. - And we're gonna ask you to be bold to go and find a group. - That's right, hey, in our prayer, genuinely, our prayer is that 100% of faith promise would be in group. That means like, if you're the holiest, you're like, I'm virtually a monk, Zach, I'm so holy. Well, get your rear end in a group and help other people be that way. Honestly, if you think that you're not in a group, you're confused, right? If you don't even know the Lord yet, and you're like, Zach, I was at the bar last night, somebody, I don't even know how I got here, you need to be in a group too. 100% need to be in a group, Adam needed it, Jesus needed it, you need it, and I need it. Before we let you go out early, if you need to be in a group, if you had that sticker, I just want to just, there's only one relationship for you today that's more important than being in a group. If you've never started a personal relationship with Jesus, get right now, if you saw that sticker on the, and there's people that took their sticker off, the new relationship with Jesus. Have you ever received the gift that God gave us in salvation? It says in Romans 3, 23, "For all of sin has fallen short of the glory of God, "but Jesus came, he was the perfect life,

"he died on the cross, and he rose from the grave. "He died on the cross to pay for our sins, "and he rose from the grave to defeat death "and offer us eternal life." Have you ever received that? Zach, I don't deserve it, you don't know what I've done. You're right, I don't know what you've done, but I know what Jesus did. And you may think that you're too broken. God is too much of a healer for you to be too broken. It's more about what Jesus did than about what we've done or what we might do. There's, I believe there's hundreds of people today that need to start a relationship with Jesus. And I know you still have questions, and you're still wonderful, and that's okay. But do not let your future questions keep you from the answer that you need right now, which is a relationship with Jesus. What we're gonna do is we're gonna pray a prayer in tell us in Romans chapter 10 verse nine, that if you need to start a relationship with Jesus, did you just pray this prayer? And we're gonna pray it. We're a family at Faith Promise, you do not have to pray alone. So across the state of Tennessee and beyond, will you bow your hand, close your eyes with me? And let's pray this prayer out loud altogether, say Jesus. - Jesus.

- I know I've sinned. - I know I've sinned. - But I know you came. - But I know you came. - To pay for my sin. - To pay for my sin. - Because you love me. - Because you love me. - Because you want me. - Because you want me. - I believe in my heart. - I believe in my heart. - And I confess with my mouth. - And I confess with my mouth. - That you are my savior. - That you are my savior. - Be Lord of my life. - Be Lord of my life. - With heads still bow, eyes still close, no eye looking around. Here in a second, I'm gonna ask you to be bold, I want you to start your relationship with Jesus boldly. I'm gonna ask you if you gave your life to Christ to raise your hand here in just a second. And I just want to put a piece of paper in your hand, your life is never gonna be the same, but if you can't be bold here, there's no way you're gonna be bold outside. So on the count of three, I'm gonna ask you to raise your hand if you gave your life to Christ today. Do not keep that hand down. Today's the day of boldness and it's the day of obedience. So if you prayed that prayer, start a relationship with Jesus.

On the count of three, I want you to raise your hand, one, you're bold. Two, you can do it. God bless you here for such time as this. Three, raise those hands up. Come on, raise them up. Awesome. Awesome. Hands all over. Raise them up. If you gave your life to Christ today, praise God. Give us just the same. Get these out. Come on, raise them up high. Raise them up high. Praise the Lord. We're bold. Our lives are never gonna be the same. Thank you, Jesus. Just one more second. One more second. Praise God. Can we celebrate with the people who gave their life to Christ? It's amazing. Amen. It's been a good day at church, hasn't it? Listen, in just a minute, I'm gonna count to three and we'll stand up, okay? And when I get to three, if you don't have a group, if you still have your sticker on, you're gonna sneak out those back doors. You're not gonna go to the car, you're not gonna leave early, you're gonna be brave and bold, a man or a woman of integrity who's humbled themselves under the authority of

God. And you're gonna get in a group, listen, we know it's costly. Well, boy, we've got soccer games and all these different things that we're committed to and places we're supposed to be and jobs to do and meals to cook. We get it. But I am telling you, the investment of your time in Christian community, there are no words for the return that you get, to have people who will sit with you in your deepest moments of grief, to have people who aren't jealous of you when you're standing on the mountaintop celebrating and all the moments in between, to have somebody who will look at you and say, "Hey, there's more for you, God's calling you higher, and we're gonna work together to follow Jesus. For our small group, it may not be your first try, you might have to try more than one group, and that's okay, I sure have. Had to try more than one. - If the people are weird, it's not groups aren't weird. They're weird. If the next group's weird, it's you. (audience laughing) - So, in just a second, when I count to three, we're all gonna stand up, and if you've got your sticker on, you're gonna be bold, and you're gonna walk out the back doors of your campus, or online, you're gonna type in the chat, "Hey, I need a group, are we ready?" - Before you do that, before you do that, - Oh, okay. - Hey, I went fishing yesterday

with a young man from the Blunt campus. Land is probably 2021. It's just tellin' me I was walkin' with God, and he said, "When I was younger, "I used to go up to the front to the altar, just to pray. "I just kneeled to altar, pray for my friends. "I'd pray," and he said, "I loved," he said it in front of my boys, my eight and a six year old. "I love my boys here and that." And so, also, there's people who go out for a group, but there's some people you maybe need to come for a prayer team and let them pray with you. Some of you guys need to home with yourself, and just come kneel at the altar, and pray for your one, or pray for the Lord's voice. Why would we come to church, and not leave different? Why? If you got that sticker on, you're gonna get in a group. If you need prayer, we have people up here to pray with you, but maybe you should have come and kneel up to altar, and say, "Lord, I just want more of you." Again, maybe I got a woman to God. I'm not gonna get outworked by an 11 year old, by a 20 year old, spiritually, or in any other way. So let's lead the way for a group, for prayer, for bonus. - Okay, one, you can do it your brain. Two, you're gonna make new friends. Three, stand up on your feet, let's on the Lord, let's worship together,

and let's get in a group. [MUSIC PLAYING]