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August 13, 2024 · 38 min · Patria Sermons
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Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
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The Value of Community 0:00 Are you ready to dive into the word of God this Sunday morning? I trust that you are. You know, last week, Pastor Aaron did an amazing job at kicking off our new series called The Value of0:11 Vision. Was there anyone here that caught last week with Pastor Erin? Absolutely. Last week, we discovered that there, there are so many new families that are coming to Patriot Church. And0:23 so as a team, we said, you know what? Let's take 4 weeks to talk about what is the values of Patriot. Just like you and I have values within our home, what are the values of this home? And so we kick things off0:35 talking about our first 1, which is Christ. And as pastor Aaron rolled out our first value, he took a look at how Jesus chose to serve his disciples through the washing of their feet.0:47 And through the washing of their feet, Christ gives us the greatest example of servanthood. That he came as, like my wife said in generosity, Jesus came not to be served, but to what?0:59 To serve. To our second value. Our second value here at Patriot is all about community. Living a life1:11 that compels us to do life with others, which leads us all to using our gifts in the family, in the body to serve together. You know, it seems like everyone1:23 is desiring to be in community today. You could see it in Facebook communities. You could see it in sorority and fraternity communities. You could see it in run communities, book club communities,1:35 country club communities, and all those communities are great and wonderful. But there is something a little bit more special. There is something special when we find1:47 community with other believers in the body of Christ that desire to move in the same direction towards Jesus. There's something beautiful that can happen. I've1:59 yet to encounter anyone new that comes to Patriot2:11 No one's ever criticized us for having too much smiles on our face when you walked into church. Many neighborhood groups and options for me.2:23 No, not at all. And that is because every Christian is designed in our core to need and to be blessed by community. Biblical community2:35 isn't just about gathering on Sunday like we're doing right now. It's not about what you know. It's not about who you know. It's not about what you've done. But rather, biblical community2:47 is all about who you are becoming, where you are going, and who you are going with. That is what biblical community looks like. Today, we're going to take a look at2:59 3 aspects of community. And if you're taking notes, we're going to look at biblical community, devotes, it builds, and it unites. Through these 3 aspects,3:14 understanding of community and its role in bringing us closer to Jesus. Let's pray. God, we thank you, Father, for your word. We thank you, Father, for your presence that is already dwelling among us today, Father.3:26 Help to stir up, God, the gift and the love of community within each other. May I just be a willing vessel, Father, and the Holy Spirit move in this moment. In Jesus name. Amen. So we're gonna start off3:37 this morning by taking a little journey back. And we're gonna journey back to the day of Pentecost. Pentecost was 50 days after Christ was resurrected. And here we will explore3:49 and read firsthand what the first Christian community looked like and how it was so vibrant and transformative right off the bat. If you have your Bibles, turn to Acts4:01 chapter 2 with me. And as you turn there, I'm gonna read a little Let's talk a little bit about what we are about to jump in at. You see, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit4:13 fell among those that were there. And Peter gave this powerful sermon about proclaiming Jesus' resurrection. And he convicted many people that were there. And through4:24 their repentance, they accepted Christ. And about 3000 new believers were baptized and joined the disciples. These were the first Christians. These were the4:36 first Christians that began to gather in community. And here in Acts chapter 2, Luke gives us a firsthand account as to what this first generation4:48 of converts looked like, and what their community looked like. Will you stand with me for the word of God this morning in Acts chapter 2. We're gonna begin in verse5:00 42. And the word of God says, they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, and the fellowship, and the breaking of bread, and the5:11 prayers, and all came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were done through the apostles, and all who believed were gathered and had all things5:23 in common. You may be seated. The model of the early church was very, very simple. Devoted themselves to do 3 things that we5:35 just read. The first is they devoted themselves to the word of God. They desire to read scripture and know what scripture was all about. The second was they devoted themselves to kononia,5:47 which is simply fellowship. They devoted themselves to doing life together. To sit around a table, to sit around a couch, to break bread, to laugh and to cry with 15:59 another. And the third thing, they devoted themselves to pray. They desire to grow closer with God. And in order to do so, they knew that they needed to pray among each6:10 other in community. Same is true for you and I family.6:22 This is there is something that made the community of the early church so special, and the same is true for us. And that is the role of the Holy Spirit within our lives.6:35 It is the role of the Holy Spirit to make us look and act more and more like The role of the Holy Spirit makes a huge difference within our faith.6:48 You and I are comforted, comforted in, in that the early church, just like today, whole lot of x somethings with various7:00 backgrounds. And even in all their backgrounds and even in all their perfects, they came together with the goal to draw closer to Jesus. Hebrews 107:12 in verse 24 says, and let us consider to stir up 1 another to love and to good works, not neglecting to meet together as in the habit of some, but7:24 encouraging 1 another. Here's what I know, family. When you and I accept Jesus Christ into our life, we are not saved to an individual.7:36 Just me, you, and God on an isolated island where we gotta try to figure this thing called faith out at all. No. When we accept Christ into our life, we are7:48 called to a family. Body of Christ that is covered by the blood of Jesus. So Rick Warren has said, you are not the church of God by yourself.8:01 You are not the family of God by yourself. You are not the body of Christ by yourself. Only as we are connected together are we the8:13 family of God, and are we God's church. There are any tea drinkers out there this morning. Wow. Last service had some die hard tea8:24 drinkers. You know, here's the thing when it comes to tea. I've learned that there is an art to making a good cup of tea. To making tea. You have8:36 those that are like me. You grab a cup, you fill it up with water, you stick it in the microwave, you pull it out of the microwave, you grab your tea bag, you begin dumping it about 8 to 108:48 times, then you get over it and you're like, that's enough. You pull the tea bag out and you continue on to enjoy your tea, whether in the morning or if you're sick. Anyone like me? You don't you don't got time for8:57 anything else. But then, You don't you don't got time for any. And your that are like my My wife is Middle Eastern. So she likes to do a whole production when9:09 she wants a good cup of tea. So she pulls out her gorgeous ornate Persian kettle directly from Persia, passed down from generations.9:22 She takes her kettle because she thinks she's Queen Esther, because that's her ancestry. And she fills it up with water. Not tap water, the good water. She puts9:34 it on the stove, and she lets it sit until it boils. And once it reaches the desired temperature, she then gets loose leaf tea. Not a tea bag, no, no, no, no, she ain't going9:46 to do that. She pours loose leaf tea into the kettle, and then she lets it sit for another 10, 15, 20 minutes on the stove. All that for a cup9:57 of tea. But see, there's something that happens when she sets that kettle on the stove. As that tea sits in that kettle, it begins to saturate within that kettle.10:09 The water begins to change because over time, the flavor and the color is released more than the way I place that tea bag in. She puts loose leaf tea in because the10:21 loose leaf tea is not meant to be pulled out and to be removed. It's meant to stay in there. It's meant to saturate within the water because it grows and it expands. And the10:33 longer the tea sits in the kettle, the more rich and10:39 decadent and beautiful The tea becomes You know, family, our commitment in community looks a lot like these 2 different cup of tea. You see, when the10:51 tea bag is by itself, it's separated. Purpose when it is immersed11:02 into the water that it begins to take shape and it begins to come to life. Are you with me?11:10 Yes.11:10 You see family, most people when it comes to community don't mind looking like this first cup of tea because they don't mind being a dipper. Because being a11:22 dipper is easy. Being a dipper is convenient. I'm gonna dip into church, but I'm not gonna stay long enough for anyone to get to know me. I'm gonna dip11:34 into church so I can enjoy Pastor Daniel and that worship team, but I'm not gonna stay long enough to be vulnerable with any of you. You gotta be crazy. I'm a dip into church this week, but you ain't gonna11:46 see your boy for another 3 or 4 weeks. I'm out of here. I'm dipping in and I'm dipping out. And we wonder why we struggle the way we do. And11:58 we wonder why our walk is weak and looks like this. And we wonder why we come to church and say, oh, Patriot is just so big. I can't have community.12:09 Perhaps it's because we haven't allowed ourselves to be committed and saturated within the church and within 1 another, that we develop a beautiful12:21 community. The true community in the body of Christ looks a lot like the tea that is placed into the kettle, to steep. Because when we are fully committed and involved in12:33 church community, what begins to happen is our life over time begins to be devoted to 1 another. And over this time, we become so saturated in fellowship and doing12:45 life with 1 another. That through our commitment and through our vulnerability, our life becomes more and more rich within our faith. Because we are growing towards Jesus12:57 together. Community is looks like. It is possible to attend church every week,13:09 but not experience church community. Today every single week and not know their13:21 name. It is possible to come to church to the same service, the same parking spot, the same seat, and not know 1 person within this church.13:33 But if we desire to see the fullness of God within our life and within this church, and what God intended, then we need to understand that we need church community and not just13:45 church attendance. This is church attendance. Beyond these 4 walls is church community. That is what you and I need family. So So what does13:57 community look like here at Patriot? I'm glad you asked. And if you didn't, I'm gonna tell you anyway. This is what community looks like. The first is, we love neighborhood groups here. Neighborhood14:09 groups is all about making this room so much smaller. Neighborhood groups are groups consisting of hobbies and bible studies and everything in between. It is a place for you14:21 to know others and for others to get to know you. The second thing is is we believe in discipleship sprints. A discipleship sprint is a 5 week sprint of a specialized subject, where you're14:33 gonna grow closer to God, but the beauty is you do it around a table. And so every week you come together to meet new people. Community looks like our women and men of patriot nights and14:44 events. Our young adult nights where you are coming in community with brothers and sisters in the Lord. And lastly, community looks like when you make the decision to serve in the body of14:56 Christ, in a ministry. You begin to learn and meet new people, and realize, wow, we are all on this beautiful journey together. That's whatBuilding Together in Faith 15:08 community looks like. Community does. Community serves not only as15:20 a place to care for 1 another, but community also serves as a place for us to build alongside 1 another. Turn with me to Nehemiah chapter 3. Nehemiah is in the15:32 Old Testament, and you could turn there very quickly. And as we go to Nehemiah 3, and you turn there, I'm gonna just give a little bit of context as to where we are. So we are15:43 now going back. So now we're 500 years before Christ. And the story of Nehemiah takes place when Nehemiah is chilling, hanging out with his friends. They're having a conversation15:55 maybe over lunchtime with his Jewish friends. And Nehemiah discovers that the walls that once surrounded Jerusalem were still in ruins and were completely destroyed.16:07 And Nehemiah realized, oh my gosh, then that means Jerusalem is wide open to the attacks of the enemy. The condition of Jerusalem's walls was all because the Babylonians16:19 came and disrupted the city. And after the fall of Babylon, the Persian King who Nehemiah worked for as a cupbearer and a high ranking servant, he allowed the Jewish16:31 people to return back to their homeland. Well, when Nehemiah heard this, it broke his heart. It it burdened him. This was his ancestry. He didn't want his ancestry16:42 to suffer, and so he realized that something had to be done. So what Nehemiah did was he sought the Lord. And after he sought the Lord, he captured a vision. And when he got the vision, he16:54 laid out a plan. And he mobilized the community to come together to join and to help build. What's important for us to understand in this story is Nehemiah was not a construction17:06 worker. Nehemiah had no background of building walls. Nehemiah didn't hang out at Home Depot on the weekend. Remember, Nehemiah was a government worker. He worked directly17:18 for the king. But when God calls you and I and he wants something from us, none of that ever matters when God places his favor upon our life. And17:30 so what Nehemiah did was he showed his heart. He showed his willingness. He showed his obedience. And God is looking for the same with us. So now in Nehemiah 3,17:42 we're gonna discover who chose to build alongside Nehemiah. Are you with me? Yes. We're gonna go back to school for a moment because some of these names are gonna be rather hard.17:54 So I'm asking for forgiveness ahead of time. Alright? Priest, rose up with his brothers and the priests and they built the sheep gate. They constructed it and18:06 set its doors. They consecrated it as far as the tower of a hundred, as far as the tower of Hanel. And next to him, say next to. Next to him. The men of Jericho built and18:17 next to them, say next to. Next. Was Zarkur the son of Amiri. The sons of Hasina built the fish gate. And there they laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts and its bars. And next to Say next18:29 to. Them was Mihrimah the son of Uriah, the son of Hakas repaired. And next to them was Meshullam the son of Barakah, the son of Meshebal repaired. And next to them Zadok18:42 the son of Banna, and next to them, the Techoites. Verse 7, and next to them repaired Mephaiath. Verse 8, and next to them, Uzzel. And next to them, verse 9, next to them was Raphiah. Verse 10,18:54 next to them, verse 12, next to them. Verse 15, and Shalom the son, Kohazah, built the pool of Siloam. In verse 16, and after him, say after. After. Now we're switching. We were19:05 next to, now there's people coming after. And it says in verse 16, after him. Verse 17, after him the Levites repaired. And then after him in verse 19 was next to him, Ezer. Verse19:17 21, after him Are you with me? Yeah. We're not done. Verse 23, after them was Benjamin. Verse 24, after him was Banuai. In verse 27, after him was the Tekoites.19:29 Verse 28 was after them was Zodak. Verse 30 was after him. Verse 31 was after him, and it continues on. Next to and after19:41 him is mentioned 14 to 15 times each. Why was it so important that the author felt that he had to list every single name of individuals19:52 and families that helped rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Don't you think it could have been easy that the text could have literally just been summarized as they all came together to build. Period.20:04 You and I would have understood it. You and I would have got it. But no. God chose to list every single individual. Because I believe they wanted us to know, that God wanted us to know, that20:16 the walls of Jerusalem was not built by 1 family or 1 man. It was built by a community that came together to labor alongside 1 another. And those in front and those in20:28 back, brick by brick. Yes. Family, it is so important for us to realize that the people next to you and the people who come after you on this journey of faith20:40 will determine your level of success within your life. It absolutely matters who you are building and serving next to you. We are either building upon the things of this20:52 world, our own pride, our own endeavors, or we are choosing to build next to others in community for a kingdom purpose that is way bigger than you and I.21:04 Way bigger. Patriot Kids holding babies, or maybe down at generosity center giving food away on Saturdays, or maybe you21:16 serve on our legacy team through your gift of financial giving, or maybe you serve in growth track with a smile on your face as you welcome new family members to the church. Each and21:28 every week, you are a modern day reflection of Nehemiah 3, where you are building and serving alongside each other brick by brick together21:40 as a family. If you were here last week, Pastor Aaron shared how he got a hold of these special relics that he found in a museum in Israel. Well, I got a hold of a21:52 special special scroll of my own. The thing about this scroll is this is being written as I speak. This is a live scroll, because this is the narration of22:04 Patriot Church. You see, we read the narration of how the walls were built in Nehemiah in Jerusalem. I wanna share a little bit about what is being built here at Patriot Church.22:16 It says every week, Patriot is being built by Jason Houston in Patriot Kids. And next to him is Chris and Rachel Renfoe in assimilation. And22:28 next to them is Camille Singleton in Patriot Kids. And next to her is Andy Lopez in Patriot Youth. And after him is Carlos and22:39 Anita in Go Missions. And next to them is Amanda Wolfer back in Patriot Kids. And after her is Jennifer Gordon in Generosity Center. And22:51 after her is Harold Wheat back in Patriot Kids. And after him is mama Watson on the dream team. Family, there are hundreds and hundreds and23:03 hundreds more on this list. This list keeps going because each and every 1 of these individuals, the only thing that makes them different than you and I, is that they have23:15 chosen to build in the kingdom of God alongside 1 another. That is what makes the difference. And so I wanna ask you today,23:27 who are you building and serving next to you today? And if you're not, we gotta ask the question, why not? Why don't I have a brick in my hand?23:41 Narration of Patriot Church if I kept going? And if not, there's still opportunity for you to do it. Because God calls all of us to build within the kingdom of God.23:55 Last point this morning, I want to draw our attention very quickly to verse 15 in Nehemiah 3. In verse 15, it says that Shalom was the son of Khohezar, and he repaired the pool and24:07 he repaired the pool of Siloam. You see the pool of Siloam in Jerusalem served at such an important It served at such an important thing because it was a means of clean water24:19 for the community. 9, Jesus would be at the24:31 same pool except this time at the pool of Siloam, Jesus would go to heal a blind man. That's right. Do you think that Shalom realized24:43 500 years earlier, that the walls that he was building within Jerusalem would be the same pool and walls that Jesus would 1 day be at, and display his miracle24:54 working power to heal a blind man. Do you think he knew that? He may not, but what he did know was that he had to be obedient during that time. You25:06 see family, what you are building today may seem absolutely insignificant to you. But in the kingdom of God, what you are doing by serving and building the church, you are25:18 leaving a legacy of faith for tomorrow, for your generations and the generations to come. It ain't just about us right now.Show more In this video 0:00 The Value of Community15:06 Building Together in Faith25:21 Unity in Diversity
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