Skip to content Rooted: Rooted in Community - Don't Do Life Alone Oct 7 · 34 min ...more
Rooted: Rooted in Community - Don't Do Life Alone
October 7, 2025 · 34 min
Pastor John Mark discusses the vital importance of church attendance, drawing on Acts 2 and compelling recent research that shows regular churchgoers are significantly happier across all demographics.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton October 7, 2025 · 34 min · "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton
Pastor John Mark discusses the vital importance of church attendance, drawing on Acts 2 and compelling recent research that shows regular churchgoers are significantly happier across all demographics. ...more Show the full description Show less Pastor John Mark discusses the vital importance of church attendance, drawing on Acts 2 and compelling recent research that shows regular churchgoers are significantly happier across all demographics.
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John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
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Rooted in Faith and Community 0:00 Good morning Cottonwood Creek. You glad you're in God's house today? Man, give God a hand. So good to hear you sing over and over again, great is the Lord. And that's what we're here for. If you are new here in0:12 person or online, we started a new series back in August. If you missed any of those, go online and find them. The series is entitled Rooted, How to Stand Strong in an Unstable World. And we0:23 certainly look around and see current events, not just in our own country or in our own city or own state, but around the world. And certainly we live in an unstable world. We started off talking about being rooted and0:35 grounded in our faith. The reality of it is, a tree doesn't withstand a storm because it has a roof over its head, but because it has roots in the ground. And so that's what this whole series0:47 is about, aligning all of our life groups, all of our daily devotions, all of our messages on a couple of key things. And so as we talked about at the beginning of this series, that we have a tendency,0:59 in every area of our life, whether physically or relationally or emotionally or even spiritually, to remain as we are. We talked about that as being spiritual inertia. There are some of you, you are just1:10 moving down the road, you're growing by leaps and bounds spiritually, and we want to encourage that. There are others perhaps that if you were honest that you've kind of been drifting a bit, And we want to begin to1:22 move you in such a way that we grow in our faith in a powerful and real way. There might be some here today where you're doing an honest evaluation. And you say, you know what? I've kind of been going backwards. I've1:33 been I've been I've been basically removing my commitment from my faith. And that's what this is all about. That let's start moving forward. Week 1, we talked about the idea of it starts with salvation.1:46 That Jesus Christ is the firm foundation. Week 2, we looked at the idea that it is a battlefield, our mind is a battlefield and we want to overcome, we want to win that battle with our mind each and every day, by1:58 renewing our mind. Then we talked about honoring God with our bodies. That we get 1 body, everybody say 1 body. 1 body. What you do with it matters. There are no replacement bodies that we're ultimately gonna get2:08 someday. We wanted to make sure that we honor God with our bodies. Last week, we talked about honoring God in our relationships and in our marriage. Which brings us to today, that we want to make sure that we understand2:20 that we should be rooted and grounded in a church. In a Bible teaching, Bible preaching, Bible studying church, that's the kind of church we need to be in. And here's what we need2:31 to understand, that just as a camper is drawn to the fire, a Christian ought to be joined drawn to the church. That I don't know how how often you've been hunting or been out camping and all of a2:43 sudden the fire and everybody starts coming around, you end up around the fire. Here's the deal, every Sunday, the fire is in the church. The fire is in God's word. That as God's children, God's people, we ought to be2:55 drawn to the church as Christians just like campers are drawn to church. Ran across an article this week when we think about the importance of church, came out back in November3:07 of 20 21. How many of you remember what happened in 20 20? Churches around the nation were closed, people weren't coming back, they were worried about getting3:19 COVID, and it did not take long for researchers to understand and realize that is horrible for humanity. And so as you look up here,3:31 empty pews, this is what it says in Christianity Today, they were looking at a couple of research articles, not necessarily Christian research, but it was in a Christian it was in Christianity Today. They said empty pews3:41 are an American public health crisis. See there's a direct correlation, I'm a show you a little bit later on when we attend church and we don't attend church. The3:53 positive effects from being in church and not being in church. And I want to tell you, when I talk about the statistics here a little bit about the importance of being in church, it cuts across all political spectrums.4:05 Doesn't matter if you're a democrat or an independent or a republican. It doesn't matter if you're a conservative, a moderate, or a liberal. Studies show the exact same thing. Those who go4:17 to church are flat out happier. So, as we think about being rooted and grounded in a church, in a community of faith, let's go back to our founding verses for this whole passage, this whole4:28 series. Colossians chapter 2, now notice, everybody say Colossians. K, everything you see in the New Testament, every New Testament was written to a church4:41 and a city and a people. So as we think about it, that's why the letters that you and I read including Colossians, they're written to churches, to people4:52 just like you and me. And so here's what we said initially, week 1. Says, so then, just as you have received Christ Jesus, that was week 1, Christ is the foundation. What do you want to do? He says, so5:04 if you receive Christ Jesus as lord, continue to live your lives in him or walk with him, that's his whole idea of a spiritual growth campaign, being rooted and built up in him,5:16 strengthened in your faith as you were taught. And then what happens? When we do all of those things, we can live lives that overflow with thankfulness.5:28 And so as we think about that passage, let's apply it to the community of faith, God's church, the fire of God's people, the fire of the Christian that we are drawn to. So let's go back and let me show you the the5:40 founding of the church in Acts chapter 1. Jesus is talking to his disciples, he's already washed their feet up in the upper room, he's instituted the Lord's Supper, he's been delivered into the hands of sinful men, Judas5:50 has betrayed him, Peter has denied him, Jesus was nailed to the cross by the hands of sinful men, he was buried in the tomb, rose again the third day. So he's now talking to his disciples saying it's about time for me to6:02 go go back up into heaven. And and the disciples didn't like that, and their question was, okay if you're gonna go back up into heaven with the father, the first question was in Acts6:13 chapter 1 verse 7, when are you gonna come back? How many of you would like to know when Jesus is gonna come back? Alright, I should write a book on that. I'd be wrong, but I'd enjoy making the money. Alright?6:26 And Jesus responded in Acts chapter 1 verse 7, He would say, hey it's not for you to know the seasons or the times, He says listen, the main goal of the believer in this life is not to sit here and predict or worry about6:37 when Jesus is coming back, the main goal is for us to be witnesses for Him. So let's look at Acts chapter 1 verse 8. Here's what he says, when Jesus say, when are you coming back? He goes, that is not your mission.6:50 Your mission is not to figure that out. He goes, here's your mission, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes. He says, when I go to the father, Holy Spirit's gonna come down in you and you will be7:02 my witnesses. Everybody say witnesses. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and even to the ends of the earth. I want you to know, because of their faithfulness,7:15 there is a church here called Cottonwood Creek. That they they weren't just witnesses in Jerusalem or Judea, Samaria, but even to the ends of the earth. Jesus is basically saying7:27 your job, your call, your mission in life, my mission in life is not to wonder when he's gonna come back, although there are some events that I'm like, Lord come. Today would be a great day, right?7:39 But he says that's not our mission. Our mission is to be witnesses or to be witnesses for him. So, jump down to Acts chapter 2, just 1 chapter over. Everybody say 1 chapter. Pentecost7:51 happens, here's where the church starts. Look at Acts chapter 2 verse 40, with many other words, he warned them and he pleaded with them, save yourselves from this corrupt generation. Look at verse8:03 41, and those who accepted his message were baptized and about 3000 were added, what? We're gonna see here in a second. To the church, to their number that day. So notice what happened.8:16 The Holy Spirit came, they began to preach. The church began to explode. Notice the 2 things that happened, or the 3 things that happened. Number 1, they accepted the message. That was week 18:28 of this this series. By faith, salvation comes by faith in Jesus Christ. He died on the cross for your sins, buried again and rose the third day. Then the second thing, after they had accepted the message,8:40 they were baptized. I loved after our marriage conference last weekend, right down here after the services we baptized 26 people who said, identify me with Jesus Christ.8:51 Fast forward last Tuesday night, our college young adults baptized another 3 right out in the atrium after their Tuesday night service. Give God a hand, right? And so here it is, they9:03 accepted. This is the Biblical pattern. And so child of God, I want you to see, have you followed this pattern? They accepted his message, then they were baptized,9:15 then they joined the church. They didn't join the church, they accepted, were baptized and then joined the church. Church is wildly important. So now let's continue to read on, alright. So we9:27 added their number, thousands who were being saved, so here it is. The whole point is don't do life alone. Don't do life alone. So what does church look like? I'm gonna give you 2 passages.9:39 Everybody say 2 passages. And you say, that sounds short. But out of these 2 passages, I'm gonna give you 10 words. That's where the long part comes. But here are these words, alright? They devoted themselves to the9:51 apostles teaching and to fellowship and to breaking in prayer bread and prayer. So here's what church looks like. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles and all the10:03 believers were together. Everybody say together. And had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Look at verse 46, every day. So here's what we knew,10:15 church doesn't end here. We just call the play, break the huddle, we run the play all week. Does that get it? So it says daily, they worship, they pray, that's why we always give you a daily devotion with all of our10:27 series, but particularly with this spiritual growth series. So we want you to know that church doesn't end here. The worship service or the preaching might end at some point, but it doesn't stop. It10:39 says daily, it says they sold their property, gave all their possessions, every day They continued to meet together in temple courts, they broke bread in their homes, they ate together with glad sincere hearts, praising10:50 God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord did what? He continued to add more to the number daily, those who were being saved. In other words, here's what happened. When someone had the gospel,11:02 said yes to the gospel, they were baptized to say identify me with the gospel and then they were like a camper drawn to the fire, Christians drawn to the church. And so child it is highly important. So11:14 that's what it looks like. 6 of our words that we're gonna talk about today that define the church are gonna come from that passage. The other passage I want to bring, just 2 verses. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24. He11:26 says, and let us consider how we may spur 1 another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but11:38 encouraging 1 another all the more as you see the day approaching. So, here's what he's saying, write the book of Hebrews, it's acknowledging there is a day that's coming, but that's not what we focus on. What do we11:49 focus on? Considering how we as a group of believers can encourage 1 another, can inspire 1 another toward love and good deeds, alright? Because that's12:01 the ultimate call of the church. But then notice all the way back in the first century, it's always interesting me I hear a lot of people talk about you know, the problem with the church today, the problem with the12:11 church today, problem with the church today. You know the problem with the church today is exactly like it was then. All the way back in the first century, some people got saved or baptized and then they said, you know12:21 maybe I don't have time today to go to church. Maybe I I got I got some I'm gonna sleep in or this is my time to rest or this. And I love what the writer of the book of Hebrews said, hey12:33 don't stop meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. And part of that is because it's where we get we get new blood, new12:45 fresh air from God, The Spirit of God moves in our life. We get encouraged from some people. Sometimes I'm the encourager along the line but ultimately, it is the best thing for you. I just want you to know, I'm12:57 a show you some statistics here in a few seconds and these aren't done by Christian organizations. That people who regularly attend church are the happiest people on the planet, statistically13:08 speaking. And it doesn't matter if you're a Democrat, an Independent or Republican, it doesn't matter if you're conservative, moderate or liberal, that is the fact. People who attend Christian churches13:20 grayed out in all surveys as happier than those who don't attend church, or those who are non religious. It's just that way. So word number 1 is devotion.13:32 Devotion. Hopefully you have your app open, I've always got a lot of verses that I'll never get to. Devotion. The idea of being devoted to some, it says and they devoted themselves to what?13:44 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, alright Biblical teaching, if God transfers you, moves you somewhere else, here's what I always want to make sure that you always look for when you look for a church, go13:56 in there and make sure that that when someone stands in the pulpit, you are seeing scripture everywhere, alright? It says they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.14:08 Open God's word, preach God's word, deliver God's word, deliver the truth. I love what Jesus said, kind of what I see myself doing every week. I'm not14:20 Jesus. Okay, not going there. But over and over in the New Testament, Jesus would be talking to his people and he would say, you have heard it said, but I say to you. You have heard it said, but I say to you, how many14:30 have you heard that? Alright, now he can say that. I will never stand up here and say, you have heard it said, now I say. See because Jesus was the14:42 word of God, so when Jesus was speaking he was the word of God. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. So Jesus could say, you have heard14:52 it said or taught, but I say to you, here's what church is and should be each and every week. Is me standing up here saying, for the last 6 days you have15:04 heard it said out there. But let me remind you of what the word in here says, does that make sense? For 6 days, if you've got kids, if you've got teenagers, for 6 days they have heard it said on15:16 your phone. You've watched it on the internet, you've read stories about it. Man, that's why we need to make sure we show up in God's house house so we can get a a kind of a control alt15:28 delete, kind of a reset, alright? Because Satan's a scammer and he will steal your thoughts, steal your mind, steal your future, steal your family, steal your heart. And so that's why we come into God's house, because15:39 you've heard it said for 6 days. But God's word says something totally different. That's why we always encourage you, man. Text plan to 77978, we'll send you a daily devo just for a little15:51 mental reset. As we make our make our way back to God's house. So here it is, truth isn't always popular, but we've gotta be devoted to it. I love what it says going back in the Old Testament. I wanted to16:03 pull this 1 out, first Kings chapter 8. Because a lot of times we think well the church is just a place that they just hammer things in. Here all the way back in the Old Testament, first Kings chapter 8 verse 6 61. It16:14 says this, and may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord, to live by his decrees and obey his commands at all times. So child of16:26 God, it starts here. We have to be devoted. How devoted are you to being in God's house consistently, listening to God's word be16:38 taught? And that's why we do groups as well. I wanna make sure you're not doing life alone. I want you to get into groups so you can encourage 1 another, be encouraged by others, and journey forward in your faith,16:50 understanding that for 6 days, you're gonna hear someone else say something. Sometimes it's the truth, sometimes it's the lie. But when we come to God's house and listen to17:02 God's word, we need to say, they said this but God's word said this, I'm going with God's word. Thought number 2, together. Everybody say the word together. Together. You see this word17:14 3 times in Acts chapter 2, they were together, they were together, they were together, they were together, over and over and over again. Time, listen, church is about God's people coming together.17:25 Now, here's what I also know, no churches are perfect. How many of you know that? You ever just walked in the hall of our atrium and say, we kinda look more like a reality show than a church? You know what I'm talking17:36 about? And you go, Okay. I mean, it's God putting all kinds of different people together in this tapestry of something called church with varying backgrounds, varying jobs, very uh-uh17:48 everything, careers, professions, family life, kids, and all of a sudden they're melded into this 1 group of people that are devoted to coming together over and over18:00 again to be together, devoting themselves to the apostles teaching, to the teaching of God's word. I just ran across this article,18:12 September 20 fourth 20 25. We'll put some stats up there. Here's what it says, new data on religious practice confirms people attending church are much18:24 happier than people who don't. And it cuts across all political spectrums. Okay, just came out, you can go read it for yourself. Here's 1 of the quotes from this article,18:36 highly active religious people are happier than non religious people. Burge wrote in his analysis of Pew religious landscape survey, there's no other way to spin the18:48 data than that this simple conclusion is the simple conclusion is this, people who identify as Christians are significantly more likely to be very happy18:59 compared to those who are non religious. That's not those aren't my words. Those are their words. Significantly more likely to identify as19:11 very happy people. Let me give you another quote, if you are 25 to 45 in here, 25 to 45, it is particularly impactful on your life and19:23 in your generations that you are in church. So if you're born anywhere from the 19 eighties and the 19 nineties, they started saying generationally speaking, the the older we get, the less19:35 we move or at least the slower we move, how many of you know that? But it's that group that's 25 to 45, here's what happens to them. Generationally,19:47 Burge also found out that the impact of religiosity on happiness is especially large among those who are between 25 and 45 years old.20:00 Why? Because I think it's an incredible reset. When I think back on on the seasons that when Jean and I were in that 25 to 45 years old, she's still 25, she stayed.20:12 But we were so busy, right? I was driving 3 and 4 times over to Fort Worth, to work on my PhD and then that was back before you had online education, then I'd drive back20:24 and I'd preach and do this. And then Gina started having all these kids and they started doing stuff and guess what? There were times that we were just worn out.20:36 There are times we will sit back, we love just to have a cup of coffee, sit on the front porch, and every once in a while, we'll start talking about the old days, the good old days, the old burned out days. And her, she20:47 will sometimes make this statement, I don't know how we did it. Anybody ever remember those seasons in your life, how do we do it? There'd be times on Saturdays, we'd have 8 ball games, right? Y'all heard me tell the20:58 story. That's why I kept leaving my kids at different places. Gina would call me and say, Do you have Jensen with you? And I'd go, Was I supposed to have Jensen with her? That's alright, Terry has her at the house, we'll21:09 pick her up later. And I'm like, Oh good for godly people, right? But if you're in that crazy messed up hard, let me tell you what, according to data, not according to John Mark, you21:21 are more impact if you will just make that commitment on Sunday morning and say, family, we're going into a reset. We're going into a reset, why? Because in Matthew chapter21:33 18, what did Jesus say? Where 2 or 3 are gathered, thou am I. Child of God, when you make the effort to show up in God's house, to be together, something21:45 special happens. I love what it says in Psalm 1 33. Here here it is, in Psalm 1 33 verse 1, how good and pleasant it is when21:57 God's people live together in perfect unity. Man, it's just good to being. Everybody say it's good It's good. To be To be. In God's house. In God's22:09 house. It's good to be there. And studies show it, over and over and over again get together. Here's here's another word, generosity. And it says all the believers were22:20 together, there's that word again, and they gave to everyone as they have need. That that they were a generous group of people, they were people that said, you know what someone has a need, someone has a need, someone22:32 has a need, we're gonna step up, we're gonna meet that need. They learned to live beyond themselves in their own trials and their own difficulties, always looking to help someone else. Proverbs chapter 11 verse 25 says22:43 this, a generous man will prosper and whoever refreshes others will themselves be refreshed. See, generosity is simply faith in action. It is faith22:55 in action. It's me saying, you know what, this is wildly, wildly important. So here's the next word, worship. Everybody say worship. Worship. They were praising God over and over again, they were devoted to the23:07 word, they were with each other, but they always loved to praise God daily. I love it. In John chapter 4, Jesus talked about that. He said he says, God is spirit and his worshipers must23:18 worship in spirit and in the truth. So what do we do? We worship in spirit, man we sing like crazy, we explosively sing like crazy, we23:30 pray for God's spirit to fall on us, but then we follow it up with the truth. Why? Why do I stand up and teach the truth? Even if it's hard and it's uncomfortable for you, let me tell you, truth23:43 truth is what ultimately heals. And so when we come together man, we wanna worship in spirit, we also wanna worship in truth. Here's a here's a little bit more from that study, we'll go back. Let me tell you a couple of23:55 things and let me just stop right here and and let me encourage you, let me talk to people online. Because this study talked about online worship And you hear24:07 me talk about it all the time, I didn't know this study was gonna come out. Hey, when you can't be here, join us online. So typically we have on Cottonwood Creek TV, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, all the other platforms,24:19 About 1400 people watching online in any given service, about average. K? So is that good for you? Same study. Online verse in per in in person. It's just people who24:31 attend the house of worship in person are significantly happier than those who attend who never attend. However, there is also a positive effect24:43 of online worship. Give our onlineers a hand, okay? There's positive effect. But I want you to hear the rest of this statement.24:55 There is clearly a positive effect for those who worship online as opposed to those who don't do any worship. However, it's muted. It's25:06 muted just a little bit. What is he saying? He's saying, man when you're in person, man it's significantly better. Now if all you can do is worship online, it's a little better. So here child of God and25:18 those of you who are worshiping online, we are glad that you are here. We're glad that you're joining us. This is a great place for you to be. It's gonna make you enjoy your life better, it's gonna make you find and25:27 fulfill purpose. But I also want you to know, we don't want you just to look, we want to be able to connect with you. So I would always encourage you, text the word app to 7 7 9 7 8. Text the word app to 725:39 7 9 7 8. You say, Pastor, you don't talk to the people online very much. Well, because it's just not how I was raised, right? But they're there, we're glad you're there so I want you to25:51 know give us a thumbs up, we're glad you're there. So whether it's in person worship, if you're traveling, and gather your kids around the computer, gather them around the TV in the hotel room and just watch worship26:04 together. Because ultimately it flat out matters. Here's another word, favor. Everybody say favor. Favor. I think we all like that word favor. I I like the word favor. I would rather be in favor instead out of favor. It26:15 seems like when I was in school I was always out of favor. But hopefully with God's word it's just, and they found praising God and finding favor with all people. So here these godly people, many of them who have walked26:27 away from a lot that they had, they found favor with others. Proverbs chapter 3 verse 14 says, then you will find favor when you love God, worship God and a good name26:39 in the sight of God and man. Cottonwood Creek, hey we're not a perfect church, But I want us to find favor with God as we worship with spirit and truth,26:51 but I also want us to find favor in this community as we love them, as we care for them, as we prepare for fall festival. Fall festival's expensive every year but we give it away. Why? Because we love this community. We27:02 love the kids in this community, whether they go to this church or not. We just want to be a part of this community. Favor, growing. Everybody say growing. I don't have time, okay? But27:14 I put Acts chapter 4 verse 4, Acts chapter 5, Acts chapter 6, Acts chapter 6, Acts chapter 9, Acts chapter 11, Acts chapter 11, Acts chapter 12, Acts chapter 13, Acts chapter 14, Acts chapter Acts27:26 chapter 16, Acts chapter 19. What does it say? And God added to their number, and God added to their number, and God added to their number. If you've got your at, go read them. And all the way from the beginning of Acts27:37 chapter 2 to the end of the book of Acts, the church was growing. Man, a healthy church will be a growing church. Now, let me switch over to the Hebrews passage, gonna give you 4 words. First 127:49 is spur. Says you wanna spur 1 another on towards love and good deeds. I I I How many of you ride horses? How many of you are like me, you're scared of horses?28:01 I don't get horses And they know, right? I had some bad experience with horses growing up, so someone will say, hey come ride my horse. And I walk up and they'll go, that's a great horse. I'll get on that horse, that28:12 horse does this and I'm feeling the same way. Right? But what do you do with your spurs? Sometimes it's a gentle spur, sometimes you light them up, right? And sometimes in God's house, we28:24 just need a gentle spur. Gentle word of encouragement, spur 1 another on towards love and good deeds. Sometimes, Jesus needs to light us up to get us moving. And so here's what I wanna28:36 share with you, when you think spur 1 another on towards love and good deeds. You may not know this, but you can go up to the mission wall and other places. We support as a church 35 missionaries that are worldwide.28:48 Give God a hand for that, 35. Some of them because of where they are we cannot even tell you their names. 8 church plants right now we are sponsoring, you are sponsoring, say saying we29:00 wanna see the gospel grow and in these new 8 churches. We support 26 different local missions and mission ministry organizations locally. Here on campus, we have 1829:12 care ministries like Divorce Care, Grief Share, etcetera, that most of the people that come to those are from the community not from the church. Now 1 of the most important things we do, and this is29:24 October, it's cancer month. You've seen this bag up here. We have a bunch of folks in our cancer ministry and their whole thing is not29:35 alone. Don't go through cancer alone. These bags are stationed in 1 of 3 places and I'm gonna spur you on toward love and good deeds. As you go out29:47 this door, you'll see them. As you go out this door, you'll see them to the left. As you go out that door, you'll see them in 3 different places. Each 1 of these bags has a number of books, a blanket, a prayer cloth,30:00 as well as a prayer cross. And all you have to if you have cancer and you don't have 1 of these, if you know someone that has cancer, if you work30:12 with someone that has cancer, I want to encourage you, I'm gonna spur you on toward love and good deeds. When you leave here today go by and just grab these bags. Our volunteers have made them,30:24 donors have given them, you don't have to pay for them, just grab it. Then there's a card that says we want you to know someone gave this to you who30:36 cares about you. But we want to know how we can minister to them. There's a QR code or they can just simply text the word cancer to 7 7 9 7 8. And church, we are part of being a30:48 church is that we spur 1 another on toward love and good deeds. So my encouragement to you, if you know someone that has cancer, we want to be the kind of church that shows up.31:01 It's part of their life. I love what Peter said, each 1 of you should use whatever gift you have in encouraging 1 another. Church,31:13 let's be that kind of people. There are a couple more words, encouragement's 1 of them and then the final 1 is living with expectancy. That there31:25 is going to come a day that as believers in Christ that either Christ will return or he'll take me there with31:37 my last breath. But either way, I live with an expectant hope that I'm gonna see Jesus face to face. Church,31:49 church matters. It matters for those who are 25 to 45, it matters for those who are 15 to 25. It matters to our32:01 community, it matters to your spiritual growth. Remember, the first model in the new testament, salvation by faith,32:14 baptism by immersion, identify with the local church. That's being strong because as we grow strong there's gonna come a day that a storm is gonna come into32:26 your life or my life and I don't want to go through that storm alone. I want to have roots planted deeply. Let's pray. God, thank32:38 you so much for church. God, I specifically right now thank you for every person who is online. God, we're32:50 grateful for them but we want to minister to them even more. God, I pray that they're inspired and encouraged by what they heard and saw today. God, for every person in this room, every33:02 person on this campus, pray that we would understand that church is not just an afterthought, but it's a primary place for God's33:13 people to gather on a weekly basis. God, let us never be the church that stops meeting together this summer in the habit of doing.33:26 But let us stay faithful all the more as we see the day approaching. In Jesus name we pray, amen.In this video 0:00 Rooted in Faith and Community
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