Why You Can't Build the Full Life Alone

Senior Pastors here at Christ Fellowship Church, and we're so glad that you're tuning in for service today. - Yeah, Christ Fellowship is one church that meets in lots of different locations, including right here with you. - Yeah, and our prayer for you today is that you would sense God's love for you. See, I don't personally know all that you're going through today and what you're up against, but God does. And here's your prayers, and he knows your name, and he's right here for you today as you call out to him. - Yeah, thanks again for joining with us today. We love you and we're praying for you. - God wants to exceed your expectations this year. What are you expecting God to do this year in your life? Those who are planted in the house of the Lord will flourish. - We are a church for the one who has lost that they will be found and they will find their purpose in Jesus, the one who gave it all so that we could experience life and life to the full. - God is more in store than you have in mind, and I believe so much more than it's gonna blow your mind. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Good morning, everyone. Welcome home. Welcome to church. What a joy and an honor and a privilege it is that we get together under the banner of Jesus' name. And today, as we worship, I wanna remind you that that name, Jesus' name is the highest name of all. It's the name of every other name. It's the singing with us. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) Change, break, drive, ooh, spray Oh, we say every time I call your name The gates of hell shake Every time I call your name, change, break Drive, ooh, spray Every time, I call your name The gates of hell shake Every time I call your name So we call upon the name of Jesus The most wonderful, most powerful Mighty is His name Mighty is His name The heralded is now Your sting and web Oh, grave, Your victory Oh, ever, ever, oh, death Is now Your sting Where, where, where, where, where, where is God My God stands for the end The heralded is now Your sting Where, oh, grave Call me, call me Death is coming on Death is coming on Death is coming on Jesus Death is coming on

Death is coming on Death is coming on Death is coming on The name of Jesus Death is coming on Death is coming on I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus. I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus. Come on, we know the Lord. He's wonderful counselor. He's mighty God. He is available today. His answer is yes. Come on, let's invite him into display. I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus. I call you Jesus, I call you Jesus. I call you Jesus. I know that you will keep your coming there. I'm calling on the God of Moses, the God who makes the way. Oh, one who opened the beyond chains. I need you now to do the same thing for you. Come on, everyone in this room, and if you're joining us online, would you lift your hands today as we see? Oh God, my God, I need you. Oh God, my God, I need you now. How I need you now. Come on, just a sign of surrender. Oh, I call you Jesus, I'm standing on your faithfulness. On your faithfulness. Oh Lord, I'm calling on the God of Mary. Oh, for my heart, whose favor rests upon the holy. I know with you all things are possible. I'm calling on the God of Davis. You made us pray. I'm free, I'm free school life But I've got my whole size Oh, God, my God, I need you Oh, God, my God, I need you now How I need you now Oh, yes Oh, I've got my love, I need you I'm standing on the table Oh, every season I remember you

Oh, God, my God, I need you Oh, God, my God, I need you Oh, I've got my love, I need you now We are people who need you Oh, I've got my love, I need you I'm standing on the table Oh, for your faithfulness Come on, call upon His name today Oh, my God, you're worthy of my praise Yeah, yes What a few years You heard your children You hear your children You are the same God You are the same God You enter prayers back in And you will answer that You are the same God Come on, let faith rise in you today Oh, Lord, you are provided Come on, provide You are your own Oh, you never care You are the same God You are the same God You are the same God You are the same God You are the same Hold on, you are the right key living You are the key living now

You are the same God You are the same God You are the same Lord You are the same God You are the same God You are the same God Hold on, my God, I need you Hold on, my God, I need you now How I need you now Oh, my God, I need you now You are the same God Oh, nothing else matters Oh, nothing else matters Oh, my God, I need you Oh, my God, I need you Yes, how I need you now You are the foundation Oh, my God, I need you I'm saving of your people I'm saving of your people Hold on, your faith Hold on, your faith It seems my soul My Savior, go to You Come on, let the church sing today How great Thou art How great Thou art We look to Him, the firm foundation It seems my soul My Savior, go to Jesus

How great Thou art How great Thou art Oh, church, give them some praise, say Great is the Lord And He is greatly to be praised Oh, I'm so grateful that my salvation Is not dependent on my works But on the finished Work of Jesus Christ on the cross Oh, His name His name has our salvation Well, welcome to church Whether you're joining us online Or you are in the room Welcome to God's house This presence is here on the cross. We know to become sons and daughters of God, it took a sacrifice. It took him going to a cross and giving up his life for us. And we want to remember that in our time of communion. Later on in our service, Pastor Cole will come up and lead us through a taking of the elements, which if you didn't get that on your way in, if you can kindly raise your hand up, our auditorium host would love to help you out with that. We want to remember what Jesus did. And I'm reminded of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, he says, "Examine yourself. If there's unforgiveness in your heart, if you need to repent, take a moment to check your heart and want to give you a moment as we continue in our time of worship, just the rest, to thank the Lord for what he's done. If you need to ask him for forgiveness, take a moment to pray, to meditate on him, to fix your eyes on him.

In this moment, if you need to sit, but we're going to continue singing together, just continue lifting up the name of Jesus, what we thank you, we thank you for your sacrifice, what we come with our hearts of gratitude, for what you've done, for who you are, for Lord where will we be without the cross? As I want to do, but every song must stand, still you never do. So I throw a mic, praise you again and again. All that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah, and I know it's not much, I have nothing else to do with for a key, except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. I've got one response, I've got just one who? If my arms stretch wide, I will rest in fear, so I throw a mic, praise you again and again. All that I have is a hallelujah, and I know it's not much, I have nothing else to do with it, I have nothing else but for a key, except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah. I just don't know how I could be quiet with good news like that, that Jesus would give everything for me, that He would set aside the rights and the privileges of heaven and that He would die on a cross, and we took His closest friends to that upper room, He said this is my body which is going to be broken for you, but He was broken so that we could be made whole, and whether you're in the room today or maybe you're joining with us online, I want to encourage you just to stop room and to grab something to celebrate communion with us, but if you peel back that top layer and He was broken so that we could be whole, mentally, spiritually, even physically, that Jesus can heal any infirmity, any disease, any mental illness that's good news today, it's worthy of celebrating. So today, whatever it is that we need to thank Him for, whatever it is, whatever wholeness in your life that you've seen Jesus bring, I want to encourage you just to reflect on that and when you're ready, you can take the bread, and as if the news couldn't get any better, then Jesus said this is No more running after heaven, no more striving, no more worried about where you're gonna spend eternity, but now because of what he's done, we have access to the Father. Now we know where we spend eternity

if we put our faith in Jesus. Now we know that because of his stripes, we are healed. There is so much goodness in this covenant. Today we should be grateful for the relationship restored, again, because of Jesus on the cross. Take a moment to reflect what he's done, and then when you're ready, you can take the cup. In church, I don't think there's a better response than right now with arms held high, and even out of your own mouth before lyrics begin to hit the screen that you just begin to thank God for what he's done, for who he is, because he's worthy, so come on, my soul. Don't you get shy on me today, lift up your soul. Come on, begin to sing, church. ♪ You've got a light in this side of those bones ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, come on your soul, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, come on, my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, don't you get shy on me, lift up your soul ♪ ♪ You've got a light in this side of those bones ♪ ♪ Oh, get up and praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Come on, my soul ♪ ♪ Don't you get shy on me, lift up your soul ♪ ♪ Oh, you've got a light in this side of those bones ♪ ♪ Get up and praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, get up and praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, come on, I get to praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, come on your soul, yeah ♪

♪ And praise you again and again ♪ ♪ Just all that I have is love ♪ ♪ Oh, come and praise ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, and I know it's almost ♪ ♪ I have nothing else that's for you ♪ ♪ It's just for our hearts singing hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ Come on, let's give him praise today. Jesus, you are worthy. We're still grateful for who you are, the sacrifice that you made. And God, if I do anything else in this life, God, every breath is gonna be directed back towards heaven, giving you all the praise and the honor and the glory, because you're worthy of it today. And the church said, "Hey, man, amen." Come on, give Jesus praise today. He's worthy. Hey, whether you're joining with us online today, you're here in the room at Gardens, we are so glad that you were here with us. Hey, why don't you turn to one or two people around you to give them a high five, shake their hands and you can grab your seats today. - We were working out in the garage, we saw them walking down the street, and before I realized that we've been talking for an hour. - We first meet Roger, dude's a tough guy. He served in the military, brandy dad, new to the area. Before long, Roger and Maggie became

some of our best friends. Maggie and I, we were definitely missing that faith-based community. As soon as we walked into this area, and especially to this church, it just clicked. - God made it clear, and he was leading us to exactly where we needed to find all of our people. Jake and Tatiana are the type of people who just bring everyone together. - As we kept showing up and meeting amazing godly people, something began to change in Lisa and I. Tell us what it really means to trust people, to be vulnerable, and to let others walk alongside you. I know this community is not one that happened by coincidence. It's the kind of community God designs. The kind that when you meet the right people, life's just better. - Some of you guys were looking for a gym, for a church, what did it mean to find real friendships in the middle of all of that? - Yeah, I met you, I think, in the green space, when one of your sons was playing soccer, and you invited us to be like, "Oh, we have a gym in the garage." And we were like, "No way." - The way, we need a gym. - I wanna go look at it. - I think we were standing on your driveway, talking for like an hour at least.

And then, yeah, the rest is kind of history at this point. - We moved out here, what, November 2022? like I said, couldn't have asked for better fronts. It sounds silly, but they were reasonable, they were nice, they were approachable, and it's like you pass like that next stage, and then you maybe you're opening up about belief systems, going to church, seeing them at church, and when you're in the gym, you know, suffering together, you're encouraging each other, yelling at each other in the best possible way, and it just builds that relationship, and then it just organically grows from there. It just gives you an opportunity to connect deeper with God, but also you're doing it with a brotherhood, you know, with you guys as a sisterhood. We didn't have any people really to like relate with, do life with, like kind of how we mentioned. So we were looking for a church, and then we ended up finding a home, and then once we found our group, right, like especially with men's groups, that's when I felt my faith elevated. Once I met a room full of men that are great men, great husbands, and great fathers, it's hard to not follow suit. It's almost like you have a little bit of impostor. I want to mirror, I want to copy off of you guys a lot too, so it's definitely helping, significantly. Yeah, one Sunday we saw a friend get baptized, a coach in the gym, that I respect, and then I saw Tatiana later that day. I remember she came to me and she's like, "I think I want to get baptized." I was like, "Yes!" I think I definitely was missing prayer. Like, I would pray every night, but to what extent. So, and now we pray together every single night, and that's just been super impactful for our relationship, but then also acceptance. It was hard, and I just didn't know how to accept it when people are like, "Oh, let me pray for you." And that, again, just like anything took a little time, but once I just fully accepted it, and now, you know, I catch myself praying for other people or let me pray for you. And a couple of years ago, even last year, you know, that just super out of my comfort zone. Sometimes you are in your lowest lows, and I was going through a season. Lisa was there for me, and it wasn't only her, right? It was our women's group. They were there for me. It's just a blessing to have your Christian friends. You're going through the hard times with each other. You have people out your back. It is doing life together. That's what it's all about. These groups are not

walking in, clocking in, and clocking out. You don't have to be all put together and have all your ducks in a row to get involved or to get in the group. Going to the gym together, seeing ourselves at church and saying, "Hi, it's sitting next to each other." It just is an amazing experience that I don't see myself living life any other way. Looking back now, I realized God gave me a community of people to love each other enough to celebrate together, grieve together, pray for one another, challenge one another, and help raise each other's children to know Christ. The beautiful part is that what we've found isn't exclusive to us. It's available to anyone who's willing to take that first step into community, to be known and keep showing up. I thought I was just walking back into a church. Instead, God was inviting me into a family, and it's one of the greatest gifts he's ever given me. Yeah. Hey, I want to welcome everyone joining us at all of our campus locations, everyone joining us online, and at our correctional facility locations, and a special shout out to all our men and women that are serving in the Armed Forces. We're praying for you, standing with you. And wow, what an incredible story that we just heard. I was in tears when I heard all that God is doing in that small group. I wrote a few things down that they said, that real change happened when they just kept coming back, that when they met the right people, that life was just better. We were looking for a church, but we found a home. Everything went to the next level when those random relationships became a group. They were there in the lowest of lows and the highest of highs. We had people praying for us that they found what they didn't even know they were looking for when they found this community. I love it. It's so, so powerful. And before I jump into the message today, Church, our teams put together a new resource for you on our Christ Fellowship app. It has all of our message notes and some of the key scriptures so you can take the word out of the weekend and carry it into your week. And if you... If you don't have the app, you can tap the disc on the seat back in front of you. And all of those notes will be there because we just want you to be able to take what you're hearing on the weekend and be able to take it into your week. It's gonna be so powerful.

But hey, as I was praying about this message, we're in this series, this is the life. And most of the time, when you hear that phrase, this is the life. There are certain images that come to mind. Like the epic vacation or maybe a career accomplishment, getting into your dream home, you're like, this is the life. And Jesus knew that down deep that all of us was long for the good life. That's why he tells us in John 10 10 that he says this, he says, "I have come that they may have life "and have it to the full, this abundant "over the top life." In other words, Jesus came so that you could find this life. He came so that you could find this life and you could live this life. And he came to give you this kind of life. And it's not necessarily found in the vacation or the dream house, even though there's nothing wrong with those things, but those things don't define the life that he came to give. That the life that he came to give is something different. He has a different vision for the life. It's this life that's connected to God. It's this life that in a culture that is full of dysfunctional relationships, that you would have relationships that would flourish. That in a culture that is consumed by consumption, that you would live a life marked by radical generosity.

And in a world that is out for themselves, that you would be able to serve others and make a mark, live a life full of purpose, that when you, at the end of this life, that you would have left a mark that would outlive and outlast you, that you would have this legacy. And a lot of times, you know, in 2026, you might ask yourself, is this life even possible? And what I wanna tell you today is that yes, this life is possible, but it doesn't happen automatically. It takes intention. It takes some intention. And Todd said it this way. He said, this good life isn't found. It has to be formed. This life that we're talking about, it can't be bought. It has to be built. And as I was thinking about this message, I started thinking about a question I wanna ask you. When was the last time that you said, wow, it doesn't get any better than this? Do you remember the last time you said that? We just think about it for a minute. It just doesn't get any better than this. That day, when the kids were all getting along, the five minutes, right? Or when your last child graduated from college and you didn't have any more college bills to pay, or maybe it was the promotion

that you had worked so hard for. And you found yourself saying it just doesn't get any better than this, the day at the beach with the friends and you're just feeling so rich and grateful. I remember there was a moment in time that is etched in my mind that Todd and I had a moment like this. And it was back in 2020. And if you remember back in 2020 what was happening, the world was kind of shut down and we were all separated from each other. And there was this window of time in the month of June where everything kind of opened up and it was considered safe to gather in groups of like 80 to 100. And this was the same time that our son Jefferson and his now wife Cassie were getting married. And so this was the day of his wedding. And there was this moment when we all gathered together. I think I have a picture of it. And this moment when we gathered together, and yeah, like we were looking across the floor and we were like, it just doesn't get any better than this. Because in the middle of being separated, we were in this room filled with people. Like mentors of Jefferson's that he had known since he was in middle school, Danny Zeyas, who had taught him to play the guitar. And mentored him, was now standing up with him at his wedding.

And there was our friends David and Marla who we'd been in groups with for years and years. And James and Lisa and Brandon and Michelle and Bethany and Dave who brought us a meal. The day that Jefferson was born. And in that moment that we had all been separated. Like that we were all together in this place. And it was just so valuable and so precious. And we were now together when we weren't on a Zoom call, right? We weren't, we weren't, we weren't on a Zoom call. of being in the room together. And it was just this sacred space. And I was thinking about the scripture in Second John when the Apostle John was talking about, we're talking to his writing to his friends and he said this, he said, "I have so much more I want to say to you, "but I don't want to do it with paper and ink "for I hope to visit you soon and talk to you "face to face so that my joy would be made complete." There's just something about relationships, face to face. There's some things that can't be communicated over text or through a DM. Something about sacred about being together in person. And when I asked you that question, when was the last time you said, "It just doesn't get any better than this." I bet you weren't alone. I bet you were with people that you cared about

and that it was a shared moment. You weren't on Zoom, you weren't scrolling on Instagram, but it was a time of deep personal connection. And this is because we were created for this. Like we were created for this face to face connection with others and so much so that God created us this way. He is a relational God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And he created us for relationship. As a matter of fact, the first thing in the Bible that God said wasn't good, it wasn't sin, it wasn't corruption, it wasn't the devil, it wasn't evil, it was actually isolation. He said in Genesis chapter two, it is not good for man to be alone. And so he created a partner, someone that he could do life with. And in the same way, it is not good for us to be alone. And today as I've been praying for this message, I've been praying that we would all leave here today with this deep conviction, with this deep conviction that comes from a revelation from God's word that we have all been called to live in community, that he has called us to community. And as I was praying about this message, I could not get away from this verse in Psalm 16. In Psalm 16, 11, it says, it says, "You make known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence." Another version says, in your presence,

there's fullness of joy. And what the Psalmist David is talking about here is that God has made known this path of life. He wants us to have this life that he came to give us. And that word path in the Hebrew means a well-worn road, a traveled way, a course of life. It's not just a direction. It's actually a way of living that has been walked before. And what the Psalmist David is saying here is that, is that he's not asking God to invent a new route, a new way for him, he's actually rejoicing that God has already marked out a way for us to live. He's already marked out a way for us to experience this full abundant over the top life. And this path, this path of life, it tells you right there where it is. This path of life is a pathway into his presence. It says into his presence. In his presence, there is this fullness of joy. And when we encounter him, when we encounter his presence, we actually experience this life. And the more we encounter his presence, the more of this life that we will experience this life and life to the full. And here's the deal. Is that everybody, everybody here in this room, we're all on a path. The question isn't, are you on a path? We're all on a path that's heading somewhere. The question is, where is the path that you're on taking you?

See, there's a lot of different paths that we can take. There's a lot of different directions that we can take, right? And many people are on the path. They're living their lives on the pathway to success. I have marked out the path and I am living every single day on the road to success. And I've met a lot of those people at the end of their life and they look back and they say, man, I wish I'd done it differently. And they come up empty. Some people are on the path of just getting as much enjoyment and pleasure out of life, experiences they can get. And so many of those experiences leave them empty. And sometimes, we don't even know how we got on the path what they did. And I remember some of you guys might have heard me tell this story before, but several years ago, I did that. I followed my husband down a mountain biking path, right? And when I got down the path, it ended in destruction with lots of broken bones and a permanent loss of a sense of adventure because I followed someone that was inexperienced down the path. Here's the deal. We're all on a path and we're all following someone, but look at this verse in Proverbs that says, "There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death." See, there's one path. There is a better way. There's this path that God has laid out for us, and it says in Psalm 16 that he's actually made it known. This isn't a hidden path or an obscure path. A lot of times we're thinking, "How do we find the meaning of life?"

And we think it's some great mystery. It's not hidden or obscure. I mean, this path is more like this path, right? The path he has made this path very known. The path of life is not hard to find, but you just have to know where to look for it. Dorothy had to turn around before she saw the yellow brick road, right? The path of life, this is so true for the path. We have to look in the right place in his word. We see that God has marked out this path very, very clearly. It's not a matter of if there is a clear path. It's a matter of we're looking in the right place to find it. So in his word, it says that the first step onto this path, it's very clear. Jesus is the way, the truth, the life. And when we experience a relationship with him, we step into a relationship with him. That is the first step into this life that he's called us into. Jesus said, "To come, follow me." When we make that decision, that is not our final destination, right? That's not the end. And there is a final destination, and that is heaven. And that's really, really important because there really is a heaven and there really is a hell. So that destination is really important, but Jesus didn't come to just give us eternal life someday. He wants to invade our life every day. He wants to bring his kingdom into our lives every single day. But this life that he's called us to, and it's not a stagnant one, it's not just one decision I'm saved, I'm good now, it's actually a pilgrimage. He says, "Come, follow me," and it's this pilgrimage that we take. And this path of life, it begins personally, but it's walked out together. And again, this is plain and it's made known in his word.

It's traveled together, just like Dorothy, she didn't go alone, right? And neither do we. There are people and places that God has waiting for us on our path, on the pathway to life, and the pathway to life is this pathway into his presence. He has people on the path that we can experience his presence with, where two or more gathering his name, there he is also. He has places for us to go on the path where we can encounter his presence because it is in his presence that we are going to find life. And so what we see in God's word is that we're, it starts out as a personal journey, that is walked out in community. And we see this in Acts chapter 2. And Acts chapter 2, after Jesus, left the earth, he sent his Holy Spirit to the earth, and it was the very first day of the church of Jesus Christ when Peter and the disciples went out in the streets and declared that Jesus had risen and people joined the church that day. 3,000 people were the very first day of the early church. And these followers, these 3,000 people were just trying to figure out, like, how do we stay on this path of life? How do we become the family and the church that God wants us to be? And they had this high responsibility. And we can learn a lot from how they lived their lives. And as followers, they didn't have the path quite as clearly marked out as we do. Because see, we have the word of God. And they were actually in the process of writing the word of God, right? And so, what they figured out, they figured out how to begin this journey, this pilgrimage on this path of life. And it says in Acts chapter 2, it says, "Every day, every day, every day, not just, you know, if it was a really great day for the boat, not that day." No, every day, or not, if we had something. No, it says every day.

Every day they continued to meet together in temple courts. They broke bread together in their homes and ate together with gladness to see your hearts. They were praising God, enjoying the favor of all people. There's another verse that says they met together in temple courts and house to house. Every day, see they realized that being the church, the church wasn't a building that you walk into. It's actually a spiritual family that you belong to. And so for us church, I want us to be the church, not just on Sunday, but when the service is over, that we would not forget who we are. We are the church. We are God's people, every one of us, every day, everywhere. Church is not a building, it's a spiritual family. And it didn't just impact one day, it impacted their everyday. And what the early church, there was a couple differences between the early church and the church today. First of all, the early church, the early church knew that they needed each other, knew that they needed each other. This is what it says, it says that the early church, here's some things they did together. They worshiped together, they studied the Bible together. Mind you, they didn't have the Bible we had, but they had the apostles teaching, it was still being written, they prayed together, they ate together, they served others together.

They were together, and their power, their strength came when they were together. And the early church, they knew that they desperately needed each other. They were under spiritual attack, they were being persecuted, they were in a battle, they needed each other. They, the early church desperately needed each other, and they knew it. They knew that it was a matter of survival, whether or not they stuck together. And can I tell you church, it's the same for us today. The church today, we desperately need each other. It's a matter of survival. You need someone who's going to pray for you and pray for your marriage. You need someone who's gonna pray over your kids when they're off doing crazy things. You need someone to encourage you. You need someone to help you heal from hurts of your past. We need each other. But the problem is, this is where we're different, that we desperately need each other, but somehow we have forgotten it. See, the early church knew it. But somehow, the church would say, we've just, we've kind of forgotten it. And this is not a blame game at all, because there's something that's happened in our culture that really contributes it,

because as a church, we actually live in a culture. We live in a culture that has become less and less interdependent, and more and more geared towards autonomy and independence. I mean, you think about it just over the last 50 years. We've traded long evenings on the front porch, with long conversations with, we've traded it for Netflix marathons, and two and a half hours of scrolling on social media. Dinners, where we used to talk to each other around the table. We've replaced that with Uber Eats, right? And we have it set up, so we don't have to talk to the guy who drops off our food. Like, we don't have to talk to anyone. We're moving more and more towards isolation. And this is the deal, is that privacy, like privacy, we need privacy. But when we value privacy over intimacy and authenticity, it becomes a problem. When we prioritize certain values over others, over time, it takes its toll. On our culture, it's taking its toll on us, God's people. When we value convenience and comfort over community, over time, it's gonna lead to isolation. And this has become a real problem, and you've heard us say this before. There's so much research around this that if you just, if you look at the person on your right and on your left, and now you've just kind of become a small group.

There's three of you, right? One out of three of you. One out of three of you would say that you have no one to call. No one to call in the middle of the night if you needed them. One out of three of you says that you can't even name one close friend. One out of three of you say that you are, that you're struggling with loneliness. And loneliness has become this pandemic in our culture where the search in general is actually issued a warning, that this is more dangerous to our mental and physical health than smoking cigarettes, than diabetes and obesity. That this has become a danger. It's not just a social crisis. to the full, but the part right before that says that there's a thief that's out to rob and kill and destroy. And if he can't take your physical life, he sure wants to steal your abundant full life. And he knows that his weapon of choice is isolation, because if he can get you alone, if he can isolate you, he can take you out. And you've heard us say it before, the only battle that you can't win is the one that you try to fight on your own. And this is why God did not leave us powerless, right? And he didn't leave us powers for the early church. They did something about this. They built their lives around this community and interdependence. There were practices and people, people that they saw every day and practices that they practiced every week that built their lives around this community and interdependence.

And we see this, the temple courts and house to house, the big gathering and the small gathering that both of them were important. And can I tell you, I love the big gathering, like I love Sunday. It's my favorite day of the week. I live for this, because I love you guys so much and I can't wait to see you. I love the verse in Psalm 84 where it says, "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere." I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than anything else. And that's me. I love, because let me tell you why, because when I was a teenager, I lived a thousand days, lost and alone trying to find my identity in things that were taking me down the wrong path. But one day, there was one day I walked in to the church and I found Jesus. And I found what I didn't know what I was looking for. And every day after that was different because of that one day. I'll tell you why. I love the house of God. Last week I was on the Boynton Beach campus. It was one day at one campus and I was holding the door and I was talking to people as they were walking in. And I met a dad who said, "You know, five years ago, my daughter was dying of cancer and the church prayed and now she's healed." I met a guy who came up to me and he said, "I want you to know that I was living in years in bondage to pornography. And the messages of this church, one day, God set me free. Three years later, three years later, I'm still free because I'm in celebrate recovery and I have people around me that are helping me walk free." I met a guy who was on the front row worshiping and after service I found out that he was in prison.

He had been incarcerated and he was desperate and alone and one day, one day our prison campus at Sago Palm showed up and he gave his life to Jesus and he is walking in victory and every day after that he was in prison. But he was set free. And can I just tell you that was one day? That was one day at one of our campuses. It was better. It was better than sitting at I-95 in traffic. It was better than, it was just better. And then that night I went to Trinity campus 5 p.m. As if I had four services, it wasn't enough. But I went and you know what, when there's something going on at Trinity campus, the worship was so sweet and I got to see my son leading worship and there's just, there's nothing better, better is one day. And what God does in his house, in his family, it's just better. And the key is that when we step in and we make this a part of our practice, it strengthens us. It reminds us that we're a part of something bigger. There's a whole study, like it's called the Harvard study of flourishing, the Harvard study of flourishing and of human flourishing and it's incredible and they did this whole study around religious community and it's remarkable. Like it says that regular, consistent religious service attendance is associated with greater life satisfaction, purpose, social integration, loneliness, anxiety, hopelessness, depression, greater longevity. And it says that the associations with flourishing were considerably stronger for communal religious participation than for merely identifying as religious or engaging in personal private practices. So apparently believing by yourself and belonging with other believers are not the same thing. And even secular research shows this, it tells us what Acts chapter 2 has already told us. And it also did a whole study on young people and it said that --

18% higher, they had a higher rate of happiness as young adults. They were 29% more likely to volunteer, 33% less likely to use drugs. And they said the key was consistency, right, and this is so important that we are consistent because again, that being in the gathering, in the big place that reminds us that we're part of something bigger, but as much as I love Sundays, as much as I love Sundays, that's not all there is church, that's not all there is, there's more to it and I'm not going to say it's not either or it's a both and. If I told you this week, I said, hey, in order to live this week, you have to choose. Do you want air, food, or water? Pick one. That's ridiculous, I need all three, and that's why I'm saying the early church, they didn't pick one, we don't pick one, right, we need, this is necessity for life that we gather together in the big group where we experience the manifest presence of God consistently, but then we get together in small groups and in these smaller groups where you're known and you're needed. And you've heard us talk about small groups and community before and here's some things that you've heard us say before, we've heard, you've heard us say that you can't have the right life with the wrong friends and it's true. You've heard us say, and I've said it already, the only battle you can't win is the one you try to fight on your own. You need, you need spiritual brothers and sisters fighting alongside you. Another one is that a small groups make a big church small and being in a big church can feel intimidating and you need, you need to have places where you can share your concerns and your burdens and you can be an encouragement to others. And here's the deal is that you're going to hear us talk a lot about small groups even more and one thing you're going to hear us talk even more about, something new you're going to hear us say is that we are not, we are not a church that has a small groups ministry, we do ministry in small groups. It's always been true but with our kids they have a gathering but they're in small groups. With our students they gather together but they're in small groups where they're known

and they know that they're needed because being in a small, this is where the transformation takes place. This is where healing takes place. In Hebrews 10, 24 it says this, it says that it talks about this being in proximity. So there's something sacred happens when we're in proximity with each other. And Hebrews 10, 24 puts it like this, let us consider how we may spur one another on toward loving good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. That used to be like the guilt verse when people didn't come to church. Let us not neglect the gathering of the saints but that's not what this is talking about. It's like what it's saying is that this isn't to shame you, it's to encourage you. But don't do that, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. When we get together it's to actually together fans the flame of our faith and God wants you to have a faith that is on fire. But when you think about a bonfire and the difference between a bonfire and then just a single ember when the coals are all together in proximity and when you've got coals together in proximity is what makes that fire burn. And if you take the coal out of the fire and the farther it gets away from the fire the colder it gets, it still has the potential to burn but because it's not in proximity with other burning coals it loses its ability to burn. And so it's the same way with us if you put it back in the rock begins to burn again. See we weren't designed to sustain the fire of our faith alone. And I want to talk to some of you seasoned saints in the room. And I know I'm preaching to the choir here but sometimes like as we get older in our faith and we know the word and we've paid our dues we served in the nursery all those years. I'm good. I know the Bible. We can think that somehow that we've outgrown community and we can start to separate ourselves from the other coals and we don't have anyone speaking into our life. So we don't even know that we're no longer a burning ember that we might have become

a lump of coal and that we're not actually reaching the potential that God's placed in us. And I can't even tell you how many times my heart has been broken over these last couple of years as I've watched people who have been walked away from marriages of 30 years, 30 years and they would even tell you that they read their Bible every day. They pray every day, but they separated themselves from community. God that they were reading. And so this is the deal. You know, Ryan said last week that, you know, I thought he said, "Hey, if I'm engaged in Scripture, that I'm going to lead the flourishing life." He did. But again, it's air and water. You need both. You need to engage in the Word and you need to be in community. And you can't fulfill your purpose by yourself. It'll be a lump of coal. It just can't happen. So this is why we're challenging them. This is connect weekend. It's why we're challenging you. And I'm asking everyone that calls Christ's fellowship, their home, that you put your foot on the path of life. You know Jesus, but you might be stuck on the path or maybe you veered off the path. Today, I'm just calling everybody that is time for us to take a step on the path. And I was thinking about that moment when I said it just doesn't get any better than this and that moment with all of our friends. And as I looked around the room, those were all friends that were, I didn't have to go looking for them. I didn't have to go search for them. God had them placed on the path.

He had them in the place on the path of church where I encountered them. And then those friendships became, they became more when we got into smaller groups, you know, into married groups and sisterhood groups and walking and praying groups. All of those relationships formed over time. And this is the deal is that God has put people in your life, not by accident. And the night that we went and filmed the story that you heard a little bit earlier, when we started talking about this group and what it meant to them, when we first started asking them to tell their story, they were like, we're not really a group. Like some of the guys are in a group group and some of the girls have done a sisterhood group. And we're like, wait a minute. A group isn't a meeting. A group has a meeting. A group is a set of relationships that meets together consistently. And so I want to just lift our lid on what a group is. See, all of those relationships that I got to experience and celebrate that day on Jefferson's wedding, they were all formed and forged. They were all committed relationships. They all started somewhere. They all started with a small step. And so over these last couple of months, we, our team, like we've been getting ready for you. We've had small group leader training and we are ready for you. And so many of you, some of you, you're on the wrong path. You need some new friends. We've got groups for you. Some of you, you need to jump into a Bible study and we've got groups for you. We've got some marriage groups that are getting ready to start off, that are going to be meeting onsite because we know that we want to invest in marriages. We've got all kinds of groups.

And today at all of our locations, we have people ready to talk to you, to connect you to take your next step into groups. But for some of you, you came in today and you're like, wow, I have a pretty busy life, actually. Like, my life is full and I already have a lot of friends. What can I tell you that there is a good chance that you are already grouping up. You're already in some groups and we don't necessarily need you to leave what you're doing to join us in what we're doing. We just want to come alongside you and help you get better at what you're doing. We want to be able to help you take your community to the next level. And we have all kinds of groups around here. Like, there's a guy named Mike out in Westlake who's really good at electrical work and plumbing. And that's what he's good at. So he gathered a few other guys that are really good at that and Todd will never be in that group. But they gathered a few of those guys that are really good at that. And they go and they encourage, they're helping other people. There are groups that, there are quilting groups and sewing groups and craft groups. There's groups that meet at the gym. Wherever you're already grouping up, we want to come alongside you. So maybe your next step isn't to join a group, it's actually, hey, it's time for me to host a group. Like, it's time for me to begin to spiritually invest in those around me so that we can encourage each other and grow with each other and light the fire of each other's faith. And some of you that you're already in groups and you're already leading a group, that's hundreds of you right now because you've been working up to this moment all summer long. And your step is that you're going to help somebody else, even today, to help them find their way. To find their way on this path of life that God has made clearly known to us. And we want to make it so known to you.

And I've given you lots of reasons to become a part, to join a community, to become a part of a group or to host a group. Lots of reasons. You've got a couple steps. You can join a group. You can host a group or you can help somebody. That's it. So, and I think that just pretty much covers everybody, right? Because here's the deal. I've given you lots of reasons, but the number one reason is, is because you can't experience the full life that Jesus came to give you apart from community. It's not possible. You can't fulfill your purpose. You can't fulfill your calling. You can't grow strong in your faith. You can't become all he's created. Apart from being a community. And so that's why I'm calling you to take that step. So where are you on the path? Where are you on the path? And today we're all gonna take a step together. And some of you today, you're not even on the path yet because you've never asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life. And that's your first step. And after service today, our prayer teams are gonna be down here at the front. And they wanna pray for you to take a step into a relationship with him.

But for the rest of us, I don't know what else to say. Like at this point, I would like pray this really long prayer over you. But I'm not gonna do that today. Because I've already prayed. I prayed so much about this message. I've been praying for you that you would step into community. I've already prayed long prayers. So I'm gonna ask all of our campus pastors to come up to the platform. And they're gonna share with you how you can take your step. But I am gonna pray for you. Let me pray. God, I thank you for your people. I pray that today, that they would obey your word and take a step on the path of life you had for them. It's in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. (audience applauding) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)