Transformed | Transformed Together

Welcome to Reach KC everybody, it's so great to have you with us. I just want to invite y'all to stand up and join in. I've searched the world But it couldn't fill me With man's empty praise The treasures I've made Are never enough I think you came along Put me back together Every desire is now satisfied Here in your love There's nothing better than you There's nothing better than you Lord, there's nothing Nothing is better than you I'm not afraid To show you my weakness My billions in gold Though you've seen them all And you still won't regret Cause the God of the mountain Is the God of the valley And there's not a place Your mercy is where you won't find me again Oh, there's nothing better than you There's nothing better than you Lord, there's nothing Nothing is better than you Oh, there's nothing better than you There's nothing better than you

Lord, there's nothing Nothing is better than you Yeah You come mourning today You give beauty for ashes You come shaming the glory You're the only one who cares You come mourning today You give beauty for ashes You come shaming the glory You're the only one who cares You come praising to Goddess You come boasting to armies You come seizing the highway You're the only one who cares You come praising to Goddess You come boasting to armies You come seizing the highway You're the only one who cares You're the only one who cares You're the only one who cares Oh, there's nothing Better than you There's nothing better than you Lord, there's nothing No, nothing is better than you Oh, there's nothing Better than you There's nothing Better than you

Lord, there's nothing Nothing is better than you You come falling to dancing You give beauty for ashes You come shaming the glory You're the only one who can You come falling to dancing ♪ You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one who can. You turn grace into goddess. You turn faults into armies. You turn thieves into highways. You're the only one who can. You turn grace into goddess. You turn faults into armies. You turn thieves into highways. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can. Jesus, we welcome you. Holy Spirit, we welcome you. God, we welcome you. Oh, Jesus. I love you in this place. ♪ ♪ The beer looks clean hands. The beer looks pure voice. Show us that's where the beer comes from. Beyond what I want, beyond what I see. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Cast your spirit on our praise ♪ ♪ Come now, Revival, fill this place ♪ ♪ Soar up, our faith, for greater things ♪ ♪ Though the earth we seek, ye praise ♪ ♪ All is gone, lift up and proclaim ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, our highest King ♪ ♪ Send us your powers like the wind ♪ ♪ Though the airs we seek, ye praise ♪ ♪ Pour out your spirit on our praise ♪

♪ Come now, Revival, fill this place ♪ ♪ Soar up, our faith, for greater things ♪ ♪ Though the airs we seek, ye praise ♪ ♪ All is gone, lift up and proclaim ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, our highest King ♪ ♪ Send us your powers like the wind ♪ ♪ Though the airs we seek, ye praise ♪ ♪ Though the airs we seek, we praise ♪ ♪ Though the airs we seek, we praise ♪ ♪ Though the airs we seek, we praise ♪ ♪ Though the airs we seek, we praise ♪ ♪ You can have me all strong, you can have me all ♪ ♪ You can have me all strong, you can have me all ♪ ♪ You can have me all strong, you can have me all ♪ ♪ You can have me all strong, you can have me all ♪ ♪ You can have me all, you can have me all ♪ ♪ You can have me all strong, you can have me all ♪ ♪ You can have me all strong, you can have me all ♪ ♪ You can have me all strong, you can have me all ♪ ♪ You can have me all, you can have me all ♪ ♪ You can have me all strong, you can have me all ♪ ♪ You can have me all strong, you can have me all ♪ ♪ You can have me all strong, you can have me all ♪ ♪ You can have me all, you can have me all ♪ ♪ Lord, I trust your spirit on our praise ♪ ♪ Come and revive us in this place ♪ ♪ Fill us by faith for greater things ♪ ♪ Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray ♪ ♪ For this the last of everything ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, the highest King ♪

♪ Send us your power like the wind ♪ ♪ Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray ♪ ♪ Lord, I trust your spirit on our praise ♪ ♪ Come and revive us in this place ♪ ♪ Fill us by faith for greater things ♪ ♪ Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray ♪ ♪ For this the last of everything ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, the highest King ♪ ♪ Send us your power like the wind ♪ ♪ Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray ♪ ♪ Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray ♪ ♪ Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray ♪ ♪ Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray ♪ ♪ Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray ♪ ♪ Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray ♪ ♪ Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray ♪ ♪ Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray ♪ ♪ Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray ♪ Thank you. Whoo! Whoo! Thank you. Thank you, John. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Three words. Rejoice. You give life. You are love.

You bring light to the darkness. God bless you, give hope, you restore every heart that is broken, and paid are you Lord. It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You only. How great are You, Lord. You give life, You are love, You bring light to the darkness. You give hope, You restore every heart that is broken. How great are You, Lord. It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You only. It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You only. How great are You, Lord. How great are You, Lord. How great are You, Lord. All the earth will shout Your praise. Our hearts will cry for Your praise. How great are You, Lord. All the earth will shout Your praise. Our hearts will cry these bones the same. How great are You, Lord. It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You only. It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You only. How great are You, Lord. How great are You, Lord. You unite, You love, You bring light to the darkness. You restore every heart that is broken. How great are You, Lord. How great are You, Lord. How great are You, Lord. How great are You, Lord.

It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You only. It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. It's Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You only. How great are You, Lord. How great are You, Lord. How great are You, Lord. UH we will shout of God Christ our Lord you are great! it's your grace I ask so we pour out our praise pour out our praise it's your grace I ask so we pour out our praise to you o' it's your grace I ask so we pour out our praise pour out our praise it's your grace I ask so we pour out our praise to you o' it's your grace I ask God, let us pour out our praise to you let us pour out our praise to you, God because we know that our praise inhabits the heavens with incense, God let our praise be a prayer to you, God that no matter what we are going through, Lord

that we will always look to the author and finisher of our faith that we will always look to the Alpha and Omega God, may we give you all the praise may we give you all the honor may we give you all the glory, God because you are worthy of all of our praise, Lord God, we just thank you we just give you praise Hallelujah Hallelujah God, we just worship you today in Jesus' name, come on, if you want to worship the Lord can we just give a big shout of praise come on, let's let the heavens hear us let's let the devil hear us oh, come on, the devil didn't hear us on that, can we do it one more time? there it is, hey, before you find a seat, turn to one of your neighbors turn to somebody behind you and say, hey, I am so glad that you are here today so wonderful to see you how many of us are excited to be here today? Amen well, I am just so glad that you are here and you know, after we showed that video last week you know, it just kind of got everybody pumped up how many of us are excited for the new facility that's coming? you know, I I just can't I just can't

series do not, rebuild the city I was thinking, do not rebuild Jericho, which was one series and then rebuild the city was another one but I preached this message and rebuild the city and one of the things that I had felt was I really felt like the Lord kind of starting to convict me in an area, because in the name of reaching broken people one of the things that I had helped do was actually condition our people to continue to look to only that kind of people and while that is good, because vision pushes it forward one of the things that God has really kind of just started convicting my heart on was hey, specifically at this new facility, because we're on the outside of the east side so we're right on the outside perimeter of it and he very vividly told us, stay on the east side We want you to stay in the inner city, but he also said hey I want you to be in a prime location because I want to rebuild the city in just more ways than one I Want to open up doors so that we can be a mender of Ethnic groups we can be a mender of different demographics We can be a mender of different races and just different and break down the walls of racism and segregation and just different things that he was and because in reality is what has happened is in the name of Reaching broken people is what happens is. I literally had somebody come here one time and Somebody in our congregation asked them who are you you don't look like you fit here Because they looked successful Seriously And when they told me that I cringed, and I thought I helped condition that

Because we love broken people so much that we almost hate people that aren't And It was almost like God was saying hey you guys need to be the people that when somebody walks in like that We are the very thing that breaks down the wall of people that look like this Because when people walk in there automatically if somebody walks into our church, let's be honest They're gonna be like okay. Somebody literally told me the other day they said You guys are breaking all of the religious laws And I was like nice. Thanks, man That's that's a that's a compliment. Thank you and he was like man, he only attended once he's a great guy and Not because of that he has another church. He just came to visit one time and and he said that and I always love feedback But he said that and I thought you know, that's what I want But I also want those kind of people to always feel like family When they walk in so that if somebody walks in and they feel like that that there is if they're just apprehensive originally just walking in that there is somebody that just Goes above and beyond to make them that person feel welcome You know what? I mean and so in the new facility like that's what is really going to be taking place and so I've been trying to speak in terms of just Moving in that direction and not trying to just point out one type of person but in that In the building that we've seen in a in the video last week There is getting ready to be about 700 chairs available in that auditorium with capacity to actually hold about 1200 and And So is what I want to do is because I'm thinking when we open up that much room Guess what? We're gonna all start have to invite some friends I mean, I know we already do because I mean it's just what happens But in that is we're gonna have to just open up the opportunity to hear watch this video real quick

Where's all the chairs I'm ready for service. I don't know about you. So just like this. I don't know where you're gonna sit though Hey So here's what we're gonna do Since you see no chairs in this room We used to have stationary chairs and you couldn't do anything else with this room But since this is such a big room We wanted to have a multi-purpose space Which would allow us to have the angel tree and Christmas party here. It allows So is what we're gonna do is we're actually going to kick off and adopt a chair and it's what we want to do is we want Everybody to adopt a chair and then adopt one for a friend of yours that you are believing that is gonna come to Christ And it's easy 50 bucks a chair and so that we can buy as many chairs as we need for this program Would you buy it? Come on? Come on, how many of us know a friend that we would like to adopt the chair for? Maybe a kid that ain't believing in the Lord yet Maybe one that has went wayward and we just we're just believing that hey if we open up an opportunity That they might be able to witness because how many of us know sometimes it's hard to actually witness to people But it's easy to say hey, would you come to church? would you come to church with me and then and then let the church do the heavy lifting amen let the church introduce them let the church be the one to witness to them and so if we could get some ushers to come forward you can you can adopt a chair on there maybe adopt one for a friend all you have to do is scan the QR code and give to earmark Kingdom builders and so we're gonna we're gonna just push forward and believe God for for big miracles and so Lord we just thank you God Lord we believe that you are who you say you are we believe that you will do what you say you will do and so Lord we just thank you for all that you are doing in Jesus name God we just give you power we know who you are you are the king of kings and the Lord of Lords and so Lord just direct our hearts guide our steps lead our path God so that we can honor

you and everything that we do Lord we pray that you bless the gift and that you bless the giver in Jesus name amen amen and amen hey as they come around I have a quick announcement that I'm excited for I hope that you guys are excited for and so if not before you will be by the time we are done with today but starting next Sunday everybody say next Sunday okay so next Sunday we are going to kick off signups for growth groups amen and so I let me explain because there's only about four people that are excited and so growth groups is going to be what everybody has been begging for but better because there has been a lot of people over the last couple of years that have been asking for midweek services and all of that different stuff and I just want to be able to provide community amen where real life change happens and we're gonna do it within a group setting and so we're gonna have growth groups kick off in April come on somebody the first week of April there's gonna be a group almost every night of the week that don't mean you go to a group every night of the week amen that means I know how some of y'all be and so is what it means is go to a group get connected become family be a part of a tribe that can care for you lift your hands up lift your arms up and go to battle with you whenever you're feeling battled and bruised and and just get connected and so we're excited because it's gonna be a great opportunity we're gonna have three sessions a year we'll take the summers off and we'll just continue to grow this thing until we got 150 groups amen amen so we are excited for that so you can be watching the app whenever you go on to your groups on your church app if you don't have it I would encourage you to download the church app and you can sign up next week you will be able to see who is leading those groups and be able to get connected with them and reach out to them and so we are excited for that in that I would love to just welcome everybody home and that's why we do what we do is so that you can feel welcome you can feel loved no matter where you're at in life no matter your successes or no matter your failures that everybody this would be a home for everybody to feel connected and loved and known so that you can walk in community with some people we've been in

a series for quite a while in the book of Romans but I kind of rebranded it to make it feel fresh amen and so we are in a series that is titled transformed right and we're talking about the last four book or chapters of the book of Romans and we're just looking at how what discipleship looks like through real community amen what discipleship looks like in real community and today I have titled my sermon transformed together transformed together because that's how it really works is we are best transformed when we are in the context of community I mean honestly if you take a single coal out of a fire and you set it by itself what happens at first it glows it may even still be hot but it may even look alive it may even look like it's burning for a moment but if you just give it a few moments it cools down it hardens up it begins to go dark but if you take that same piece of coal and you place it back into the fire surrounded by other burning coals guess what it heats up again why because fire was never meant to burn alone it was never meant to burn alone that's literally the picture of what growth groups look like because you can attend church and still slowly cool off huh you can attend church and still you can love Jesus and still slowly drift into isolation you can you can love the Lord you can have it all together you can believe all the right things you've got the tightest doctrine you can have all that and still lack the heat of transformation but when believers actually gather together regularly when they pray together come on somebody when you've got a group of people that can stand behind you and hold your arms up in the battle like Aaron and her and say hey I'm gonna believe with you I'm gonna pray with you your mother's healed in the name of Jesus your kid is healed in the name of Jesus and you know they're continuing to pray for you throughout the week when we confess together come on man nobody likes that but the Bible says that if you confess your sins to one another that it shall bring healing some of us are still stuck in the same situations that we've been in because we've been struggling with secret sin we've been struggling with stuff that and it doesn't always have to be this bad relationship or all this other stuff some people can literally just be hanging on to resentments some people can just be literally hanging on to unforgiveness some people can literally just be hanging on to pride that is silent and humble but inside they are they are

actually committing but but if we confess our sins to one another it shall bring healing when they challenge each other come on when they spur you on when they push you when they encourage each other something happens something reignites that flame it literally has the potential to start an untamable fire burning in your spirit I mean when you get the real ones I'm not talking about the ones that talk about you behind your back but the ones that actually spur you on to good works the ones that have your best interest at heart in spiritual reality the ones that want to see you walk in a relationship with the Lord at the best potential that you have possible ones that spur you on come on that's what the body is supposed to look like that's what I mean Sundays are powerful I get it but discipleship it happens best in the context of community it happens best that's why growth track is so powerful because you get to sit in a group of people and come and share your testimony and people begin to see the innermost parts of you and they know where you're faking it and where you're not that's why a lot of us don't like community because we don't want people to see the fake side of me we want to continue to put a facade on we want to continue to walk with a limp we want to continue to put this Sunday suit on and allow people to just see what they want to see but Romans 12 don't just say be transformed it actually immediately moves into love one another honor one another and live in harmony with one another see transformation is personal but it was never meant to be private it was never meant to just be private when we surrender our lives to the Lord like we talked about last week by the way if you haven't seen last week's message I encourage you to go back and and watch it that was probably one of my favorite sermons preaching I lost my voice doing it but it's okay but it's imperative that we don't when we live this transformed life it's imperative that we don't just attend church but that we get connected to the church amen we get connected to the body of Christ because it is the lifeline it is the it is the flow when Jesus left he said that this was going to be the place that was going to transform lives and that he would build something that even the gates of hell would not be able to prevail against I don't know about you but maybe you've been feeling like hell has been hitting your life constantly knocking you off of your queue punching you left and right and maybe you just need to be a part of something that the gates of hell cannot prevail against because I don't know about you but there was nothing else in life he didn't say that this marriage would be that he didn't say that relationship would be that friendship that job no he said the church would be the one thing that the gates of hell cannot prevail against that means anything could happen and if God is in it who can

be against it amen there is not anything that can and Paul he moves directly into chapter 12 from what transformation looks like to what connection looks like so he goes here's here's what I need you to be I need you to be transformed but here's what connection looks like and I don't think that it's accidental far too often someone gets on fire and then isolates they disconnect right they withdraw I mean the enemy don't even have to attack. He just has to sit back and wait. That's why the Bible says that the enemy is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He's prowling around. You know what a lion does? A lion looks for a impala that is away from the group so that they can so that he can pounce on it because it's easy prey. See that's why we can't isolate because when we isolate we're easy prey but we need somebody that can hold us accountable. We need somebody that can stand around us and help us fight off the lies of the enemy and the lies that we've been believing. I have literally watched men and women with kingdom incredible kingdom potential slowly lose their fire. Not because they stopped loving God but because they stopped living in community. Isolation is where pride survives. Community is where pride dies. And here's the truth is discipleship doesn't just happen in rose church. It happens in circles because transformation happens together. When we're a part of something maturity always grows in proximity. If you are around people that are on the same path striving to grow in their walk with God you can't continue to be immature around them. They're going to call you higher. You're going to be challenged. You're going to be corrected. You're going to be you know encouraged to move on and God shapes us through people. Whether we like it or not God has strategically placed what I like to call holy hookups in each one of our paths. He has put ordained relationships in our path but we have to choose to exercise those relationships and the reality is is oftentimes we don't even take into account all the responsibilities that other people have and then we get offended because we feel like people should have showed us more attention or they should have responded faster or they should have been psychopathic and known what I was going through and call me on a whim and know that what I was going for and be the voice to pray for me. But here's a here's a word for us is sometimes the ones that we need most in our lives requires us to put in work to seek them out. We can't be offended when we have not expended a hundred

percent of our capacity trying to get in relationships that mean something from us. I would even go as far to say this if the people that are constantly influencing your life just have as much time on their hands to influence your life maybe they shouldn't be influencing your life because people that add value to you have things that are going on in their life and so it's up to us to seek people out place ourselves around them and get some of what they got so that we can be spurred on to good works and so today thanking transformed together I want to look at four powerful keys if you're taking notes I want to look at four powerful keys to be transformed together amen number one the first powerful key to be transformed together is this humility creates space for growth humility creates space for growth and 12 Romans 12 verse 3 says this because of the privilege and authority God has given me this is Paul speaking I give each of you this warning don't think you are better than you really are he said humble yourself this ain't about you this is about other people this is about the body this is about the people that need to hear about the gospel he said be honest I think this is a word for somebody right here be honest in the evaluation of yourselves see when we inspect ourselves so often we look with the false lens and we're looking at ourselves through presuppositions we're looking at ourselves through insecurities we're looking at ourselves through pride ego all of these different things but he says be honest in your evaluation of yourself don't fake the funk is what he's saying measuring yourselves by the faith that God has given us in some versions it says to the measure of faith that God has distributed to every man that means every single one of us has a measure of faith and whatever that measure of faith is there is a capacity in it and God has given us capacity to walk within that measure we can't be a different measure have you ever tried to get ready in a fogged up mirror or a stainless steel mirror come on somebody visitations coming you got a visit coming and the only mirror you got has been scratched up more than a record you know and I mean you think everything is good until the mirror clears and then you realize you got this piece of cracked pepper you don't even remember eating cracked pepper but you got a piece of cracked pepper right in your tooth and you don't even know how it got there and you got a cow lick on the back of your head you thought the jail held it all down and if you're a man have you ever walked out and had a whole piece that you misshaven. I thought I had all of

that well community works just like that mirror because in reality by yourself you rarely see your blind spots but when you're in in isolation you justify your tone you can be slick with somebody you can you can talk greasy you can do whatever you want you can excuse your pride and nobody will even know it right but you right and you can you can do it I mean so often we'll even downplay our disobedience we will make ourselves believe that the lack of faith that we have in a relationship with God is justifiable because we'll downplay it because we don't have anybody mature enough to call us on our stuff and so we'll downplay our disobedience we will straight rationalize our way through resentments and then we will hang on to bitterness and unforgiveness and then wonder why three years down the road no relationship is ever working out I'm talking friendships because we've held on to bitterness and resentment and all of that I seen a post the other day that said somebody that don't have any friends was want somebody that loved a friend too much and isn't that so true like we get offended and we get hurt and then we build up these walls because we don't want to let anybody else in to ever have the potential to hurt us that much but listen if you ever want to love like Christ did you've got to tear down the walls you've got to break them down and allow yourself to heal and get into places to where you're not carrying these things but when you're in close relationship somebody should be able to lovingly say to you hey that didn't sound like you I've seen you grow over the last year and a half and that doesn't sound like you or I have noticed that you're hanging on to some things that is unhealthy in your life I've noticed some of the stuff that you're hanging on to and have you ever thought that maybe the perpetuation of bad luck in your life or whatever you know what I'm saying in your life would be because of the things that you're hanging on to and it's influencing the process of making your decisions or this is an area that I see in your life that you were just clearly not honoring God and why what are you holding back why are you holding back and in reality humility clears that fog why because you can't fix what you refuse to see you can't fix what you refuse to see we need circles

of people around us that can help us see our blind spots in the areas that we don't realize that are even there some of us there are some friends that aren't afraid to call out the stuff that we need to call out call out our flaws call out our mess that everybody else is intimidated to call us out on we need a good friend who won't passively sit by and watch us sin did you know a good friend won't passively sit by and watch you sin that is not if that is your friend quit being friends with him I'm just saying like I'm not hating on anybody but if that's it why because Proverbs 27 6 says this wounds from a sincere friend are better than the kisses from an enemy I would rather have a friend hurt me scar me by telling me the truth that is gonna actually better my life than having somebody continue to condone my my stuff my whole mess this whole thing this whole charade of what I've been living in I would rather have the the the wound from a friend than many kisses from an enemy because here's the truth pride keeps that mirror covered why humility lets others see people or lets us see clearly humility breaks that down and allows us to see ourself clearly you'll never grow in isolation because isolation protects your pride while community exposes blind spots I mean if they're not you're in the wrong community and here's the truth is you can worship in rows but you grow in circles you will grow when you get connected that's why growth groups create environments where we're known come on everybody is seeking purpose we are seeking validation we are seeking value we just want to belong somewhere we want to get connected somewhere we want people to to know us and know our names and and know ourselves situations that's why it is so important to get connected and it's a place there the growth groups are a place or just groups period or a place where we're corrected and I know it's never fun I hate being corrected and I hate correcting people but if you see the result of the correction it's always better if it comes from a heartfelt full of God than it would ever be to just let somebody continue on in the life that they're in it's a place where we're encouraged saying hey I know you're going through it right now but man have

you ever heard this verse BAM you give them a verse and then you spur them on to good works and you encourage them through that week because the next week you're gonna see him again and then you can say hey how's it how's life been for you I know that you was struggling last week man I could just tell that it was on your face and man can we just can we just stop the group for a minute guys because I want to pray I want to pray for Bobby hey can we just can we just can we just circle around him right now and just lay hands on him and just just let's just let's just really just invest into him it's a place where we're accountable you know you get out of prison come on somebody you ain't been able to smoke for three years yeah ain't nobody gonna shout me here in a second you ain't been able to smoke cigarettes for three years you come to group three times didn't smell like smoke and then week four all of a sudden you smell like cigarettes yeah whoo ain't nobody shouting now you should be in an environment where somebody could say hey man how come how come I smell cigarettes on you right now this isn't a place of condemnation this is a place of man you are clogging the pipeline of what God wants to do in your life because you're you're retreating back to some of the old behaviors that you well man I'm just stressed out that's why you lean into the Word of God that's why you seek a place of prayer that's why you worship the king that's why you get in groups of people so that they can spur you on to good works Paul is addressing to the Romans here what I believe that we still deal with today and I would bet almost every single in this person or person in this room deals with this sin and it's still wrong today as it was wrong back then every single one either struggles with thinking that they are better than others that they are more gifted than others that they deserve attention or the platform over others right that they are more talented to somebody did you know that that's actually Lucifer's theology did you know that that so so whenever you fall victim to believing that you are actually more valued than someone else that you think that you actually deserve what they have you're looking at what they got and you just don't understand because they don't honor God in this place and they don't

honor God there and you just don't know why they got that and got this that you are actually beginning to believe a doctrine of demons and then we justify some of the stuff or the other category on the other side of the spectrum spectrum is those that never think that they're good enough did you know that when you downplay and you only see yourself through your insufficiencies and insecurities that you are actually speaking against who God created you to be which basically in terms is kind of like a roundabout way of blaspheming the Holy Spirit because we're actually beginning to speak against God's creation except it's just well it's just I you just you know I just don't I'm just not very good at many things I I'm just not really good enough no you actually are good enough because the Bible said that you were good enough and it speaks to that particular situation and here's the truth is that we will self-destruct through this demonic reality of what's called the comparison trap did you know that you weren't created to be someone else so stop trying to mimic their anointing you weren't created you have your own lane quit fighting a battle with Saul's armor you weren't created to do that you can't fight a battle that you've been going through with somebody else's anointing you can't fight that battle that you've been going through with somebody else's calling so quit trying to be that person and I think that that's why some of us are struggling lately because we've been trying to walk through life acting like somebody else but God can't bless who you pretend to be he can only bless who he intends you to be see it is contrary to what he can actually physically do he cannot bless the version of you that you want to be that doesn't even align with who he's called to be. See it's different of trying to aspire in a godly ambition to be who God has created you to be. It's a different thing to try to be somebody else because you admire their gifting and you're way out of line. It's like walking around with two left feet. Like you're not even in alignment with who he's called you to be. The second powerful key to being transformed together is calling awakens in connection. Calling awakens in

connection. Being around people will spur something in you that you didn't even know. You didn't even know that it was possible. Romans 12 4 through 8 says this, just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function so it is with Christ's body. We are many parts of one body and we all belong to each other. You know what that means? That means that your calling is not even for you. Your calling is for the body of Christ and so when we begin to look at what God has called us to in an aspirational manner of what God is doing for me and through me then we have to be able to do that in a humble perspective because if we don't pride can well up and all of the sudden we begin to think that this wouldn't happen without me. No it would happen without you and it will happen faster than you think if that's the attitude that we're walking through life with because he will park you and set you down. He says that those that exalt themselves will be humbled. He will humble you. I promise you. He says in his grace God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. You catch that? He's given us each different gift so that we can do certain things well. Not all things. So quit looking at what somebody else does as better than what you're doing because you maybe you haven't even found your certain thing yet but you got to dig in close to the body. You got to dig in close to the Lord's presence so that you can find that certain thing that you're supposed to be doing. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously and if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Have you ever noticed that if you never use a muscle it don't just stay neutral? It actually weakens. It's what they call muscle memory. It actually will go back to a place and you actually have to start working it to get it back to where it was ever at which means this that you can have potential strength but still be ineffective. You can have potential strength and still be ineffective.

Spiritual gifts honestly work in much of the same way. You don't just discover your gift in isolation, you discover it in service to others. Encouragement grows when you encourage people, right? Leadership grows when you lead people well. Mercy grows when you show up to people that are hurting and you just give them mercy. Sometimes all people need is somebody to listen to them. They don't need somebody to always answer their problems. That's just sometimes they just need somebody. If you're not serving people, your gift is actually lying dormant. What good is that? You've buried it in the sand and when he comes back, he's gonna come back for that and then he could take it. Paul doesn't list a gift, a list of lists in theory. He lists them embodied. You don't discover your gifts sitting alone, you discover them when you're serving others. That's why mercy groups, I'm looking at the next line, that's why growth groups work so well in this because mercy gets practiced. When you got somebody that shows up, they've been beat down all week, they've been hurting, they've been going through it and they show up and you can just have mercy on them. I don't have to give you any answers right now but let me just hear what you're going through and then we're gonna pray and then we're gonna jump into this group and then we're gonna tap in next week and see where you're at. Testing gets tested, teaching gets tested. You get an opportunity if you got the gift to teach, hey guess what? We're gonna be talking and we're gonna be talking about the sermon notes and we're gonna be going over different biblical principles. Encouragement gets expressed. You can spur people on to good works. Leadership gets developed. You want to be a leader, you can start learning how to lead by submitting and serving and growing in that area. Your gift was never meant to sit in a sanctuary. It was meant to serve in circles. It was meant to serve and be a part of something that is bigger than us. The third powerful key to being transformed together is love becomes visible in proximity. Love becomes visible in proximity. Romans 12, 9, this is where people start getting offended, is don't just pretend to love others.

Really love them. It goes back to what I was talking about when I was talking about the chairs at the new building. Don't just pretend to love people, but really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. That means you ain't got no room for anything that is wrong because I'm holding so tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. Have you ever noticed that no one ever buys sandpaper for its caress? Nobody ever went and got some 60 grit sandpaper and thought this is going to feel good. In fact, if you're sanding something with it and you slip off and hit your hand, you will have road rash that will continue to remind you that sandpaper is not for its caress. It's rough. It's abrasive, but it smooths out things like nothing else can. I believe that some relationships can feel like sandpaper. They irritate you. They expose you. Somebody can get in and get close enough to you to know the intricacies of your life and then they can begin to call you on something. They expose you. They expose your heart. They challenge you, but let's be honest. Sometimes those are often the relationships that God uses the most to shape you. More often than not, offense takes root because someone calls out what we want to ignore. You ain't gonna talk to me like that. You ain't gonna tell me. Well, why not? Because I'll show you all throughout the Bible what I'm saying just because you upset because it hurt. If you take two pieces of iron and rub them together, what happens? There's friction. In fact, sparks fly. Come on. How many of us have ever been in a relationship where some sparks have flown? Three people looked at their spouse right there. That's messed up. We're gonna kick off a new counseling group after this as well. I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding, but there's friction. There's sparks. It creates heat because there's resistance, but over time those rough edges start to smooth and community works this way in the same manner. That's why Proverbs 27 17 says, as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. That means that in order to be sharpened, there might be some resistance. In order to be sharpened, there might be some friction. In order to be sharpened, there might be some sparks that fly, but just because there's friction in a relationship doesn't mean that they aren't friends. Sometimes it means that they are, and you should value that relationship. You don't discover how patient you are until someone interrupts you. That's a fact. You don't discover how gracious you are until someone misunderstands you.

You don't understand and discover how forgiving you are until somebody wounds you very deeply, and then all of a sudden this happens. That's why close quarters can create friction. Close quarters creates friction, but friction isn't the enemy. It's actually the tool because God uses people just like sandpaper not to irritate you, but to refine you, and here's the truth. If you isolate yourself, you may genuinely avoid friction, but you also avoid growth. You also avoid growing in who the Lord has called you to be. It's easy to love where there is no friction. It's hard to love when you always disagree with someone, and if you don't know somebody like that, you are that person, just so you know, but community doesn't just comfort you. It confronts you. Why? Because transformation isn't proven in comfort. proven in conflict. It's always tested. Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them, he said. Love proofs, love's proof requires proximity. You wanna see how somebody really is? That's what it looks like. That's why growth groups are so imperative because it turns acquaintances into family. Have you ever walked into church, you came a few times and then you quit going because it really wasn't all that you thought it was because you never felt welcomed there? And yet we didn't do very much to actually be welcomed. We walk into the church and we want them to feed us, we want them to do, I mean, the number one reason I hear Christians say that they leave churches is they're not fed anymore. Who needs to be fed? Babies.

Come on, come on. So if you're still needing to be fed, then don't be offended when somebody is trying to feed you the truth that offends you because you've been drinking spiritual milk and you've been choking on potatoes and steak. It turns acquaintances into family. It turns attendance into belonging. You wanna really belong to a tribe and belong to a group of people, you gotta get connected. It turns spectators into participants. It turns consumers into contributors. It really makes disciples, that's what happens, because you can attend church without ever really loving people. But you can't sit in a circle and fake it for very long. You come four or five weeks in a row and somebody's gonna call you on your mess. Then you're gonna go to the next group. And then leaders of those groups start to talk to the leader of the groups and then saying, hey, this person has begun to church hop the growth groups, stirring up problems in every growth group that's there, and then they're blaming the leadership, and then when we confront you, well, why is the church gossiping about you? We're not, we're holding you accountable. She said, that really sucks.

But love becomes visible in proximity. And then the fourth powerful key to being transformed together is grace gets tested in close quarters. Your grace gets tested, not the grace that saves you, but the grace that you extend gets tested in close quarters and the grace that saves you. It says, bless those who persecute you. Don't curse them. Pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't thank you know it all. That'd be a. Say it again. If it wasn't $800, I'd drop it. It said, don't thank that you know it all. Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see that you are honorable. Do things in such a way that the public eye can see that you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God for the scriptures say, I will take revenge. I will pay them back.

I will, says the Lord, instead, if your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads. Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. Man, I just wanna join a gym because I just love resistance. Said absolutely no one ever. Man, I just love, man, I just love the gym, man. I just, man, it is just so, I just love the resistance. In fact, I don't want just a regular gym. I'm gonna ask Aaron where he goes to the gym when he's out of town because I need that big boy resistance. Said nobody ever. Nobody ever joins a gym because of the resistance. In fact, many quit because of it. How many of you ever started out the new year with a. big dream. You was gonna do it big. You go in and try to pump as much iron as you can. The next day you wake up and you're like, what did I do to myself yesterday? You can't even use the restroom properly. You're like, ow, ow, ow, oh. Trying to roll out of bed and your abs hurt. You're like, oh, gosh. No, you typically join the gym for results. You don't join it for resistance, but results only come when resistance show up. You don't build muscle. That would have been a good time for some music. I'm gonna pull muscles. You actually build muscle when something pushes back. Because that's where the real growth happens. Did you know that community is God's gym? Awkward conversations, resistance. Different personalities, resistance. Misunderstandings, resistance in all caps. With no cap. You don't

grow grace in isolation. You grow grace when someone gives you a reason to withhold it and you choose not to. That's where growth happens. And here's the key line. The weight isn't there to crush you. It's there to strengthen you. Because if you quit every time it feels heavy, guess what? You will always be spiritually weak. Every time it gets heavy and you just walk away. Every time it feels heavy and you just give up. Because you're tired of feeling the pressure. You're tired of feeling the pain. But if you stay under the weight, grace grows. Close quarters don't create immaturity. They expose it. That's why it's so uncomfortable. God can strengthen those areas. Community doesn't create problems. It reveals maturity. It reveals our growth and where we're really at. Paul doesn't just write Romans 12 for strangers. It applies to enemies too. But it also applies to awkward moments inside a church. You know the texts that rubbed you wrong? The comment you misread because you didn't understand the personality or the tone that they was texting it with? The decision that happened in the church that you didn't agree with? Or the decision in a relationship that you disagree with? One that you say is what caused division. One that you say is what split something up. One that you say is what is hurting the body of Christ but in reality you don't know what happened behind closed doors. Or the correction that offends you. That is where grace really gets tested. That is where the areas of growth really comes from. Conflict doesn't cancel community. It confirms our character. That's why we've got to lean in. You don't know how transformed you are until you're inconvenienced. Spiritual maturity, it shows up when you're under pressure. Put somebody under pressure and see how they respond. I had a conversation with a guy one time that was looking to start a church. And I said, but man I've noticed some character flaws in you. He said, everybody's a prone to say the F word every once in a while. And I said, no they're not. You are if this This is your ceiling, but if that's the case, we shouldn't seek a place of position because Paul says that we're actually be held to a higher accountability. Grace, it really shows up when we're under pressure. You know how that drunk girlfriend that you had told you what she really thought of you and then blamed it the next day? Well, I was just drunk. You know I didn't mean that.

You absolutely meant that because the alcohol removed the walls so that you could speak the truth. That's what pressure does. And then we react in an ungodly way and then blame somebody else because of our misfortune. But when grace shows up, we bless instead of bite. We forgive instead of retaliate. We choose the higher road and we pursue peace instead of pride. This church is Romans 12. This is how we do life with each other. This is how we get connected. This is what the church is supposed to look like. This is exactly why we're kicking off growth groups too so that we can have people surround us because as the body grows, we have to get smaller so that we don't ever lose the touch of feeling connection and being a part of something that is bigger than us. Is there going to be friction? Sure. Is there going to be sparks? Sure. Is there going to be hard conversations? Absolutely. But if you grow through them, you will become the best version that God has created you to ever be. If I could have everybody stand with me for just a moment.