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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 Part 5, I wanna talk to you about this, the power of community. Hey, everybody. At all of our locations in house, take out your notes. They look like this. Make sure that you fill in the blanks and follow along with us.0:11 We do this to encourage you to get deeper in the word of God. Take out your bibles. We're gonna go to a bunch of scriptures today, but we're gonna read specifically from Mark chapter 3 right0:23 now. So at all locations, stand stand with me right where you are, and we will read Mark chapter 3. I want to look at verses 13 to 19. We will look at them later in the0:35 message. But reading God's word together, we stand for the reading of God's word. Here's what it says. And he, that is Jesus, and Jesus went up on the mountain and called to himself those whom he desired0:47 and they came to him. This is the calling of Jesus' disciples. This is this is the apostle's calling and it says, he appointed 12 whom he also named apostles so that they might be with him and he0:58 might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. He appointed the 12, Simon to whom he came gave the name Peter. James, the son of Zebedee. John, the brother of James, to whom1:10 he gave the name Boagneres, or that is sons of thunder. Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, we all know Thomas from his day of doubting. James, the1:22 son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, look at his name, Simon the Zealot, what's that all about? We'll talk about that in just a moment. And verse 19, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. This is the reading of god's word. Let's1:34 pray together. Heavenly father, we pray that in this moment, our ears will be open to hear your voice, that our hearts will be receptive to receive the seed of the word of god,1:46 and that our eyes will see Jesus. Him and him him and him only. In his mighty name, pray, and everybody said a good Amen. Amen. God bless you. Have a seat. I'm talking to1:58 you today about the power of community. At Waters Church, we do life groups. They are the heartbeat of our church. We like to say circles are better than2:10 rows. Right now, at our locations, you are in rows, but that is just the front door of Waters Church. There's a whole lot of house left to explore. When you go visit your2:22 neighbors, imagine if they just kept you in the foyer the whole time. How are you doing? Good to see you. Let's have some food in the foyer. That'd be awkward, wouldn't it? What's up with this? They're not very2:32 comforting. They're not very homey. They're not very hospitable. But Waters Church, the Sunday morning experience is the foyer of our of our house. And and so we wanna2:43 welcome you in here, but but then we wanna direct you to the family room. You know, know, we wanna take you to the the guest room first. The more, you know, proper guest room where you have first time guest here.2:55 And then if you're lucky, we'll bring it to the TV room where everybody eats popcorn and there's a stain of Coca Cola on the cow carpet, all that kind stuff. And then, you know, and we'll and we'll hang together. And3:04 then if you get to really know us, you'll get into our kitchen and we'll have food around the countertop and we'll just talk about life. That's what we call the small group, the life group of our church.3:16 Those areas where you start to face 1 another and grow together as you learn from 1 another. Hey, it's it's been the model of Jesus' church since the3:27 beginning. The church was not just a gathering of people to hear 1 guy preach for 40 minutes and then leave. No. No. No. Here's what it says in Acts chapter 2 42. Look at it with me on the screen. It says,3:39 they, that's the church, devoted themselves to the apostles teaching to the fellowship. Somebody say fellowship. Fellowship. And to the breaking of bread and the prayers.3:51 Notice, they devoted themselves to these things. The apostles teaching, that's what we're doing right now. I'm teaching you about Jesus, teaching about the word of god. Then, that next word to the fellowship and this is4:02 in Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 is the birthday of the church. This is when the church was born and the very first thing that you see, the very first sign that the church is live is that they were devoted to god's4:12 teaching and they were devoted to each other and they fellowship and later in that text, it says that they broke bread in their homes and they praise god together and god added4:24 to their number. So, they go to temple and worship and they go to their homes and they eat food together. There's a whole bunch of Christians don't realize4:36 you need a small group. You need a life group. We have 3 kinds at water church. We have small groups which get together and talk about the scriptures on Sunday and talk about the message and unpack how we live that out.4:48 Then we have e groups which are through video Zoom calls, and that was kinda like the birth child of the pandemic. And so we started those a couple years ago, and then we have action groups. And these are for the people4:59 who just love to put their hands to work and go and rake someone's lawn and shovel someone's driveway and move someone to a different house because they just love to serve. And so there's 3 kind of groups. We want you to5:09 get in them, and I want you to hear me say this. I want every single 1 of you in some kind of life group at Water Church. Your faith depends on it. I say5:21 this ad nauseam almost every week. I need to say it again. There is a pandemic going on, and it's not COVID. It's the pandemic of loneliness, the pandemic of isolation, the5:32 pandemic of just me and me alone. I found this stat out this past week, was shocked by this stat. Everybody's lonelier than ever before in this country since they started5:44 taking statistics on this, but there's 1 particular demographic. There's 1 particular group of people in the United States that are severely lonely. You'll never guess who. 80 percent5:57 of men between the ages of 25 and 35 consider themselves constantly lonely. I want you to think about that stat again.6:09 80 percent of what? 25 to 35 year old men. And it's so ironic because the last 50 years of this6:21 culture has been telling men, don't tie yourself down to anybody. Don't get married. Put that off into your thirties and forties. Have fun. Party. Sleep6:33 around. Enjoy pornography. You don't need to commit to any. Live for yourself. It6:46 won't help you. And years, decades of this have done the exact opposite of what it promised. Our young men are far6:57 more isolated, far more lonely, far more depressed than ever before. You know why? Because you're not meant to live like that. God wants you to have a7:09 family, young man. God, there is nothing better. You wanna talk about slaying the dragon. It's amazing how our video games, we slay the dragon, rescue the princess, or or shoot down the enemy commander and7:21 rescue the the the captives or the hostages, and and we play it. Young men play those games digitally. You need to start playing those games physically. You need to start fighting for your wife, fighting for a wife and7:33 a house and a family and children. But even if that's not for you, you need to have a fight in you for community in the family of God. And not just young men, everybody. Amen.7:45 See, we gotta come out of this this season that we've just been through of isolation and separation. We gotta get back to community. And I'm telling you, as god is my witness, I am a7:56 living, breathing, walking example of the power of community. My life was shaped by small group, by close knit relationships to people, listen, to8:08 whom I was not physically related to, that have shaped me, encouraged me, changed me, challenged me, and molded me into who I am8:20 today. So I'm gonna give you 3 points about community to inspire you to get out of the rows and get into circles and face each other and8:32 grow together. Here's 0.1. Write this down in your notes. The first thing Jesus did was start a small group. Yeah. The first thing Jesus did8:44 was start a small group. Now when he now when I meant when I say the first thing he did, I'm talking about when he's began his ministry. So Mark chapter 1, Mark is the third of the gospels. Matthew second of the8:56 gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Luke's the longest. Matthew's written to Jews. John is written to Greeks. Mark is the shortest of the gospel. If you wanna get the cliff notes version of9:08 Jesus' life, Mark's gospel from beginning to end, 16 chapters, very fast paced. They call it the gospel of action and it's very clear right on the first page. It's the gospel of action because god because here's what9:19 happens. In verse 16, it says, passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, We're just we're just 16 verses in. Look what it says, passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he, that's Jesus, saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of9:30 Simon, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen and Jesus said to them, follow me and I will make you become fishers of men and immediately, they left their nets and followed him and a group is born. Jesus'9:41 life group is born with Peter and Andrew, Simon and Andrew. Now this is on the heels of 1 verse that talks about his baptism. That's Mark 1 9, not on the screen. There's 1 verse9:53 that talks about his temptation in the wilderness. That's well, 2 verses, Mark 1 12 to 13. There's 1 verse that talks about the fact that he that g that John was arrested and Jesus starts preaching, and then you get to10:04 verse 16, 2 verses later, and Jesus is starting a small group. Let me just say it as clearly as I can. If Jesus needed a small group, you10:17 need a small group. Amen. Because you're not Jesus. You're not god the son, but god the son in emptying himself, Philippians 2, in emptying himself of all10:29 of his divine prerogatives and becoming fully human, the first thing he does is he starts a small group. Now let me talk about what happens to this group. This is what happens when they get into10:41 group, and we see this play out over the course of the gospels. Write this down. The first thing you see happening is this group found identity in Jesus. You wanna know who you are? Get into LifeGroup.10:52 Amen. You wanna know who you are as a Christ follower? Get around Christ followers. You gotta learn from people who are already11:04 doing it. This is imperative to you. That's how you know who you are. You cannot be a a powerful Christian if you have no Christian11:15 friends and people who love Jesus that you do this whole thing with. They will shape you. They will encourage you. They will bless you. They will teach you. They will train you. And that's11:27 exactly what happens with these guys who follow Jesus. Luke chapter 6 verse 13. Look at what it says. It says, when day came, he calls his disciples. He called his disciples and it says this, he chose from them11:39 12 whom he named apostle. He gave them identity. When he when Jesus names them, he's saying, this is what you are now. You are my apostles. I am sending you out. That's what apostle means. It means sent11:51 1. So they get identity as they hang with Jesus. Except, you gotta understand this as a Christian. You're never gonna act like a Christian if you're not like around other god fearing Christians. You're never going to. If12:01 you think you can have all non Christian friends and be and know who you are, you are sorely mistaken. You will become just like them. This is why some of you can't get over certain addictions in your life. This is12:13 why some of you can't get joy in your life. This is why some of you don't have any love for the word in your life because you don't spend time in community with other Christians. They will empower you to remind you to12:24 know who you are and act like that. Number 2, this group got opportunity for ministry. Write that down. They got opportunity to serve others, and this is12:36 where we find our identity and opportunity. So identity and opportunity is found not in facing me but in facing each other. That's what Jesus did with these guys. Look at Matthew chapter 10 verse 1. It says, he12:48 called to him his 12 disciples and then he gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast out demons, to heal every disease, and every affliction. Like, this is where their opportunities13:00 were born. I can attest to this myself. Now, when I was growing up, my whole church was a small group because it was about 30 people strong, and I don't think you need small groups in a church that's about 30 people.13:11 It's it's just basic math, basic socio sociology. Anyway, I learned who I was through that community. And that community, we gathered not just on13:22 Sundays, but we gathered on Sunday night for for a smaller tight knit fellowship and then we gathered on Tuesday night. Remember back in those days, it was Tuesday night, bible study and then we would have Thursday night13:32 youth. I mean, we were always at the church and that always reminded us who of who we were. Here's what I found though. I also learned how to play the drums at church. I'm a drummer and not so much anymore but that's how13:44 I learned to get involved in music. I learned to play the guitar by being in communion. I learned how to play piano. I learned how to sing by being in communion. I learned how to study god's word by being around people13:53 who knew how to study god's word and I want to just tell you, wanna remind you, everything that I am right now is not because of me, it's because of the people that god put in my life and that I I surrounded myself with.14:04 And he it's just a rule of life. Somebody gotta listen to this very carefully. You will become in 5 years the summation of your 5 closest friends. You will. You will become14:16 whatever they are if you spend time with them over 5 years. So who are you spending time with? Who are you letting give you identity and then where are you finding opportunity? That's exactly what14:28 happens with the disciples. Then, this group, write this down, became Jesus's friends and this is awesome because you don't start out as friends. It goes all the way through14:40 to John 15. We get to the last supper. Jesus is at the last supper with his disciples. And then at at the end of 3 the14:54 to be the in in of We're became his friends. Hey, listen to me. Some of you bail15:06 on life group and small group before you really see the benefit of life group and small group. You bail before the benefit. And here's the thing, you go into a small group and you're, like, nervous about it, and I got it15:18 all, and and then the devil plays tricks on you, and the tempter comes in and says, you don't need this, and you bail. Like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'll just do this myself. And you miss out because if you just hang in there,15:27 you're gonna learn to love these people, and they're gonna learn to love you. And anybody who's had any friend knows this, it takes time to develop friends. Hey, it also takes trials to develop friends. Do you know your15:39 closest friends are the people that have suffered with you? Your closest friends are the people who have struggled with you, and it takes time, and it takes testing to develop deep friendships. So don't bail15:51 before the benefit. Don't don't come to small group night. You know, the the time of small group and be like, I'm not gonna go tonight. No. You gotta force yourself to go and show up because if you16:03 show up, it will start to shape you up into what god wants you to be. Then lastly, on this point, I want you to write this down. This group also ministered to Jesus himself.16:15 I mean, I want you to think about that for a moment. They weren't just ministered to, they actually reciprocated ministry back to Jesus. Yes.16:27 Yes. So Jesus had the 12, and that's, by the way, why the rule for our life groups is no bigger than 12 because if it was big enough for Jesus, it's big enough for us. And16:38 then inside the 12, he had 3, Peter, James, and John. Look at Matthew chapter 26 verse 37. As the soldiers are coming with Judas to come and arrest Jesus, it says this, he16:50 took with him Peter and the 2 sons of Zebedee. That's James and John. So Peter, James, and John, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. And he said to Peter, James, and John, he said, my soul is very sorrowful even17:02 to death. Remain here and watch with me. He asks them to pray for him. Do you ever think about this moment? The god of heaven and earth is17:14 asking the very people he made to pray for him. Now this is a mystery theologically, but it's a picture for us physically. It's a mystery theologically because17:26 the incarnation itself is a mystery. How is Jesus fully god and fully man at the same time? That's a mystery. There's really no way we can fully comprehend it. We take17:38 it by faith but in becoming a fully human being, Jesus needed somebody. Think about that. And if17:50 he needed people, so do you. Please do not give me the excuse. I don't believe if you tell me this, I don't believe you. I'm doing fine by myself.18:02 No. You're not. No. You're not. That that is so prideful. That is so you're basically saying I can do Christianity better than Jesus. No, you can't. You need18:14 others. I need others. I would not be your pastor today. I I state this with absolute conviction. I would be out of the ministry. I would be probably out of the18:26 church today. If it wasn't for the close friends in Christ who pray for us, meanwhile, my wife, who lift us up, who bless me, who empower me with18:37 encouragement, and are with me through ups and downs. If Jesus needed a small group and I need a small group, you better believe your sorry self needs a small18:49 group or a life group or an action group or whatever. You need a community. Okay, that's point number 1. Point number 2, this is great. Jesus' life group was deliberately diverse. Write this down. Jesus' life group was18:59 deliberately diverse. Now this is also a hurdle for a lot of Christians to getting into small group. The hurdle is, well, they're not like me.19:12 Let me just say, thank god they're not like you. You know, if everybody was like you, you probably wouldn't like the world. Honestly, let's just be honest because19:24 if we're real honest, there's a lot about us that we don't even like. And so what Jesus does, he does the strategic thing. When he brings together the 12 disciples, and we read the passage, Mark chapter 3,19:37 he brings really different people together. Look what it says first, and again, we're gonna back this up. It says, he called to the he called to him those whom he desired. Another word for desire is these are the people19:48 he wanted. These are the people that he wanted in group. So these are his kind of people. And notice what it says. They came to him. He appointed them. He he he anointed them. So that that's the identity20:00 and the opportunity and then the intimacy. That's all there. Those are the 3 things from 0.1. Identity, opportunity, intimacy. But then verse 15 I'm sorry. Verse 16, now the names. Look at this. Simon,20:12 that's Peter. James, John, then there's Andrew and Philip. By the way, James and John are called the sons of thunder because there was a moment in James and John's life20:24 where they saw people rejecting Jesus, and they turn to Jesus and they say, hey, do you do you want us to call that fire from heaven to consume them, Jesus? Like, these are the kind of people that when you mess up the20:35 church, they wanna burn you at stake, man. When you don't show respect to the house of god, they wanna kick you out and that's James and John. So, they get the nickname, sons of thunder because they were just like kinda20:43 bodacious like that. They were kinda they were kinda like loud like that. Anyway, Andrew and every time you see Andrew in the scripture, he doesn't say much he's always bringing people to Jesus. Do you know that Peter20:54 came to Christ because Andrew was the 1 who originally went and got Peter? Do you know that the boy with the 5 loaves and the 2 fish at the miracle feeding of the 5000? That boy came to Jesus21:06 with his lunch. Do you know why? Because Andrew was a connector between that boy's lunch and Jesus' miracle working power. Do you know that the Greeks in John chapter 12 come to meet Jesus and and they talk21:18 to21:46 Yeah. He he was literally betraying his people, his Jewish friends and family by taxing them and overtaxing them to empower the occupying empire that was ruling over the21:58 Jews' life. Like, was working he it'd be like someone working for the FBI loving you, being in a relationship with you. And this is who Matthew is. Thomas, we know him, the22:10 doubter. James, son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon, the zealot, and I wanna talk about that and Judas who betrayed. So there was even some false believers. There was even some false Christians. Listen. Never judge a church22:20 by all the Christians in the church because in every church, there's some people who aren't really Christian. That's right. Even in Jesus' group, there was a guy who wasn't really with it. So so don't judge the church by22:29 1 bad apple, man. That's just life. That's how it goes. But I wanna talk to you for a second because in Jesus' day, and you need to know this, in first century Judaism22:41 Judaism was the the the faith of the Jews. Okay? There were a bunch of different sects of Judaism, s e c t s, sects. So these these people22:53 had different think about how novel this is. Different Jewish denominations. Nothing changes. I'm telling you, nothing changes. Different kinds of churches23:05 in Judaism. So they went from far left to far right. I'm telling you, nothing is new under the sun. On the far left, there was a group of Jews. They23:17 were called the Herodians. They loved the government. They loved Herod. They thought Herod was the answer to getting Judaism strength in their culture. And so they were really reliant on the government. If if if if23:29 doctor Fauci says wear 5 masks, they wore 6 just in case. They were far left. And then there were that next to them, there were sadducees, and these are people they didn't believe in a resurrection. That's why they were23:39 sadducee. Stupid preacher joke. But anyway, they didn't believe in the next life so they wanted this life to be all really good. They believe in social justice. They believe in working for the poor. They believe we need23:51 to make people's lives better because this is the only life that they have. And then to the right of them were the Pharisees. We could we could equate these to people like us, the evangelical Christian crowd, the people23:59 who believe the Bible, the people who believe in God, the people, the people who really were devoted to the practices of their religion. That was the Pharisees. And by the way, who does Jesus challenge the most? The24:08 Pharisees. Come on. And then to the right of the Pharisees were the Essenes and the Essenes, these would get called these like the homeschool Christians. These are the these are the Christians that go and hide from24:20 culture and they were the Jews who would go in a cage and they would hide because the world was bad at evil, so they would hide and they would stay away. And then to the right of the Essenes were the zealots, and the24:32 zealots were insurrectionists. The zealots believed that they needed to overthrow Rome by force. That's what their24:43 that's what their charter said. We need to violently overthrow the Roman Empire. Man, I'll tell you, nothing changes 2000 years later. You got people24:55 who think the government is the answer, and you got people who wanna destroy the government. And look at who's on this list. Matthew, the tax collector.25:07 Matthew, who would have been over here working for the government, working for Caesar. And Jesus says, I want you in my fam. I want you in my group. Your25:19 vision, your view, your life matters to me. Come on in. Then he goes and he finds Simon the salad who probably wanted to25:31 kill Matthew. And he says, you who thinks the guy Matthew's working for is evil, you come on in too. This25:42 is the life group that Jesus created. Now I am not suggesting that you go get yourself a far lefter and a far righter and put them in your small group. That's not what I'm25:54 suggesting because let's be honest, only Jesus could put up with a group like that. But the point that I am making is not everybody was the same. Not everybody was the same.26:06 They were diverse. And this is what keeps some of you out of life group. This is what I I'm gonna be honest with you. Some of you don't wanna go because some people aren't like26:18 you. And, again, get over yourself because we're all thankful that not everybody's like you. We are not automatons. We are not robots. We are different and unique26:30 and everybody has a different story and everybody has a different upbringing and everybody comes from a different genetics and a different background and a different sin different history of hurts and hang ups26:42 and hardships and we need to have some grace for each other and then we need to learn to listen to each other and we need to have some hearts for others who can teach us about a different side of26:54 Jesus. Amen. Some of us needed Jesus to heal us for 20 some odd years and we know Jesus is the healer and then some of us have been fighting in the spiritual realm, fighting the battles of of the flesh,27:06 fighting against culture, and we are war, we are war weary, but we need to get with the healing people and they need to heal it. That's the that's the power of the community of Jesus. Some of you are27:17 raising toddlers. You need to be in community with people who are raising teenagers so that they can tell you that this season of raising toddlers, this too shall pass. Some of you are raising teenager. You need to get27:29 to some empty nesters. I need to listen to them and say, yeah, I've been there. I went through the terrible teens and I know what it's like, and you will get through it. If we could get through it, you will get through27:37 it. And you need people who are different than you because Proverbs 27 17 says what? Iron sharpens iron. Yeah. And 1 man or 1 woman sharpens another.27:49 Amen. Hey, you wanna be sharp? Get in LifeGroup. You wanna have a sharp Christian faith? Get yourself in LifeGroup. Here's point number 3.28:01 Jesus' life group was called to shine in different ways. This is this is my favorite point. This is my favorite. I'm so excited to share this with you. Okay.28:12 Remember that John chapter 1 says, Jesus is the light that came into the world. It says, he was the true light giving life to all28:24 men. It says that the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome the light. Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Then we28:36 have to remember that he also called us, those who would follow him and place our faith in him. He called us the light of the world. Look at it. Matthew chapter 5 verse 14.28:49 You, if you are a Christian, if you believe Jesus died for your sins and rose again and is lord of lords and kingdom of kings, if you say yes to that, Jesus says you're the light of the world.29:01 Because as we walk in his light, we become the light. And it says this, a city on a hill cannot be hidden. In other words, stop hiding. Don't you go be a seening on people. Don't you go hiding in your cave and29:11 segregating from society and thinking that you're you're supposed to just stay away from everybody because everybody else just else will take you. No. You gotta come out from your hiding place. A city on a hill cannot be29:21 hidden nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. They put it on a stand. They're proud. Can I just tell you, god wants to show you off? He wants you to be seen. And I wanna talk to29:33 somebody because I know somebody's feeling this right now. You say, I have nothing to offer. I'm no good to anybody. Surely, there's no good gifts in me. Wrong. There's something in you that29:45 god wants to put on a stand so29:59 father who is in heaven. You got a light in you. You, if you are a Christian today, you gotta shine. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 8 says, at 1 time you were darkness, but now30:11 you are, say it, Light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Philippians chapter 2 verse 14, do nothing. Do I'm sorry. Do all30:23 things without grumbling or disputing. Another another translation says, do all things without grumbling or complaining. Oh, that was tough. So that you may be blameless and innocent children of30:34 god without blameless without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you what? Shine as what? Lights in the world holding30:46 fast to the word of life. John chapter 8 where Jesus says, I am the of the world. In verse 12, he says, I'm the light of the world and whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the30:58 light of life. Friends, hear me this morning. Please note this. Remember31:10 this back to our illustration from last week. You are the light of the world. God has put light in you. Now you need to31:22 understand, physically, there are different kinds of lights for different kinds of purposes. Remember I said in in week31:34 1 of this series, I said that there's that Genesis chapter 1 is not just telling us how god created the world. It's a picture. It's a picture of truth. I wanna bring you back to Genesis chapter 1.31:45 Genesis chapter 1 verse 3, he says, let there be light, and there was light. But did you know that you gotta get to day 4? Day 4 in the 6 day creation before there's a sun in the sky and a moon in the sky31:57 and stars in the universe. Did you know that? Did you know you gotta read it because look what it says here in Genesis 1 14. Look what it says. And god said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate32:06 the day from the night. So so he's putting the sun. Look what it says, and let them be signs for seasons and for days and for years. They all got they all got a purpose and let the lights be in the let them be32:18 lights in the expanse of the heavens and give light upon the earth and it was so and god made 2 great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the stars and32:29 god set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth to rule over the day and over the night and to separate light from darkness, and god saw that it was good. I want to remind you. I want to say it32:40 again. These lights and everything that happened to creation is not just telling us how god created the world. It is a spiritual picture for32:52 how god works in his church. So god says, let there be light. Jesus comes into the world, gives birth to the church, and god fills the33:04 kingdom of Jesus just like he does in day 4 of creation with different kinds of lights. Did you know before we had calendars, before we had iPhone calendars, before33:16 we had all these kind of technology that they tell they they told the months by the stars in the sky. The stars purpose was to tell us what month it was. The sun tells us33:28 what time of the day it is. The sun also provides photosynthesis in plants to produce crops. The sun brings vitamin d into our body. The moon helps33:39 us certain stars that navigate sailors on the sea. They can get lost without a compass and without33:51 any technology. And if they properly watch the stars, they can find their way home through different kinds of lights. I'm trying to show you something about the church.34:04 Just like in the physical world, there are different kinds of lights for different purposes. So too in the church,34:16 there are different kinds of lights for different kinds of purposes. And I wanna explain that to you with an illustration. And I need to give credit where credit is due. I saw this34:27 illustration from a preacher named Joquim Lundquist in Sweden. I'm totally ripping it off just so you know, give credit where credit is due, but it applies. I adjusted it for this message. It applies to what we're34:39 talking There's all kinds of different light bulbs, aren't there? And a lot of Christians are like different kinds of light bulbs. The first kind of Christian I wanna talk about is the comfort light. Yeah.34:52 These are the warm, cozy Christians. These are the Christians when you have a sickness, they are at your front door with a casserole at 9 AM. They're like, here, just heat it up in the microwave for 3 minutes. There you35:02 go. There the chicken cacciatore, whatever it is. And they're just ready to feed you. They're ready to pray for you. The scripture talks about them in second Corinthians chapter 1. It says that they're comforted in35:12 themselves so that they can bring comfort everywhere to everyone around them. They've been through some stuff and they love to pray for you. Oh, man. If you need to talk to somebody on the phone for 6 hours, this is your35:23 Christian right here. Call them up. They will not let you off the phone. Thank god for some comfort lights in the house. Oh god, can we give them a hand for the comfort lights in the house? Oh, yeah.35:35 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But let's be honest. If the whole church was comfort lights, after a while, it'd be like too much Jolly Rancher. Anybody know what I'm talking about there? So what god does is he balances them out with35:47 some fire lights. These are the Christians who are always on fire for god. They just love to shout. They love to35:58 praise. They love to raise their hands and worship. They think you're backslidden all the time. They think you're never in love with Jesus enough, and they wanna fire you. They pray for you constantly that you36:10 will get right with god. They're always casting out demons. Everything's a demon. They have a flat tire in way we're, it's a demon. We're gonna cast it out. I mean, they are fired out for god but let's be honest.36:22 And and by the way, let's let's give some let's give a hand for our fiery Christians. I wanna make sure we appreciate every single 1 but let's be honest. If the whole church was firing up Christians, man, that would be36:33 like too intense, too intense so god bounces out our fiery friends with thy these groups of Christians. I love these. These are the party Christians.36:44 Raise the roof, Christian. These are the people who love to party. They they will throw the barbecue on Memorial Day. They will throw the barbecue36:56 on Labor Day. Heck, they'll throw the barbecue on April April to Albert Day, and they don't care. They're always looking for a a chance to celebrate, and they don't call it fellowship because that's too spiritual. That's37:06 too spiritual. They call a party, and there might be beer. So be warned and thank god because because37:42 next light. I love these Christians. These are our classical Christians. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They they are the people. They're probably in their sixties, seventies, and they love old school church.37:55 These are people that are currently offended right now by the tears in my jeans, okay? These are people who don't think I should have jeans on at all. They're wondering where's my shirt and tie? But I thank god for these38:06 people because they've been in the church for years. They've been holding on to the faith from before I was born. They were the ones who fought the battles for Christ before we got here. Can38:18 we give some thanks to the classical Christians? Man, they love the songs that were written before your great great great granddad was was born. They love the old hymns. They love the old Bibles. They love the King James38:30 version. Man, thank god for these Christians that keep us rooted in our history but they also gotta get with other people, and they gotta learn from some partiers and some fieries and some comforts. And then38:41 these guys look at this little guy right here. Looks insignificant, doesn't he? Let me explain to you who this is. You know who this is? This is the appliance bulb. You know who these people are? These are the people38:53 that can survive extreme conditions. You can put this light bulb in a 500 degree oven and a negative 30 degree freezer and they don't stop39:04 burning. These are the people who suffer well for Jesus. And some of you, man, that's your story. You don't understand. Why does god always put you through it. Why does god always bring you through? Why does god alwaysShow more
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