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00:00 Have you ever noticed how you can be
00:04 in a crowded room full of people and still feel alone?
00:09 Have you ever noticed how your schedule can be really full,
00:14 but your life feels kind of empty?
00:16 Have you ever noticed that you can have lots and lots
00:20 of conversations, but have little authentic connection?
00:25 It's a problem in our world today.
00:27 And I was reading an article by a mental health expert
00:31 that said, interestingly enough,
00:33 most people in our culture today,
00:35 they're actually seeking independence.
00:39 They don't want to need anybody else,
00:43 and they don't actually wanna be needed by anybody else.
00:47 And we see it nowadays, people kind of just scroll safely
00:51 at a distance on social media
00:53 without any real intimate interaction,
00:56 or we'll go to school or the gym with our headphones in
01:00 and our hoodie on telling everybody,
01:02 essentially just leave me alone, I got time for you.
01:05 Or we'll bank online, shop online,
01:08 even watch sermons online,
01:12 seeking a life where we're not needed or known.
01:16 And I would say it this way,
01:18 that many people were intentionally pursuing a life
01:23 that destroys our mental health
01:26 and robs us of real joy and lasting commitment.
01:31 We're pursuing a life that is contrary
01:35 to what God wanted us to have.
01:39 God never intended it to be that way.
01:42 So how do you live a life of authentic connection
01:47 and genuine community where you belong
01:52 and you have not just an individual purpose,
01:54 but a shared purpose with a group of people?
01:57 Well, we're gonna look today at the words of Paul
01:59 in the book of Galatians, Galatians chapter two,
02:02 Galatians chapter six, verse two.
02:04 And Paul said this, he said, "Carry each other's burdens."
02:09 Now watch this.
02:11 "And in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ."
02:16 If you wanna do what you were created to do,
02:18 if you wanna do what God commanded,
02:20 if you wanna be like Jesus,
02:21 if you wanna fulfill the law of Christ, what do you do?
02:25 You carry each other's burdens.
02:28 What do you not do?
02:30 You don't ignore everybody's burdens.
02:33 You don't tolerate their burdens,
02:36 but you actually get close enough
02:38 to know what those burdens are and to actually share them.
02:42 Today, we're gonna do something different
02:45 and I'm really excited about it.
02:47 I'm actually going to share this message
02:50 with three young communicators.
02:53 At Life.Church, we don't believe the emerging generation
02:56 is the future of the church,
02:57 we believe they're the church of today.
02:59 And so a few weeks ago,
03:00 we had 104 different communicators preach God's Word.
03:04 And today, we've chosen three of them
03:05 to team teach this message
03:09 and I hope you're gonna help them do it today.
03:12 (audience applauding)
03:14 Because I'm gonna share the blessing
03:19 of preaching God's Word.
03:20 What do we know in real community?
03:22 Well, we're gonna discover today that we share our food,
03:27 we show our flaws and we fight together.
03:32 So please today at all Life.Church locations,
03:35 help show some love as we welcome our first speaker today
03:37 from Life.Church, Rogers, we have Pastor Qualen Johnson.
03:42 (audience applauding)
03:48 - Oh, come on Life.Church, come on.
03:50 Well, as Pastor Craig mentioned,
03:55 my name is Qualen Johnson
03:58 and I get the honor and privilege
03:59 of serving as a youth pastor at Life.Church, Rogers
04:02 in Arkansas.
04:03 Rogers friends, stand up, let's go.
04:05 But listen, man, speaking of family,
04:09 I'll show you a little bit of my family.
04:10 This is my wife, Maggie, behind me.
04:12 This is my daughters, Tatum and Layla.
04:14 This is my cousin, SJ, who's lived with us for some time.
04:17 And when I say it's an honor to be here,
04:20 I remember the first time that I walked
04:22 into Life.Church, Midwest City in Oklahoma,
04:25 and I was broken in more ways than I could count.
04:28 I was trying to find my identity
04:31 and everything else besides Jesus.
04:33 And I sat down in a chair and I looked up on the screen
04:38 and I thought to myself, who could hear Jesus on the screen?
04:45 And then I saw Pastor Craig be vulnerable
04:47 in ways that I've not seen vulnerability,
04:50 teach God's word that made sense to me that I can apply.
04:53 And because of God's grace,
04:57 and Pastor Craig, because of your faithfulness,
05:00 I just wanna say thank you.
05:01 And can we give it up for our pastor?
05:04 (audience applauding)
05:05 By the way, you can hear from Jesus on the screen.
05:12 I hope you realize today that we are a product
05:16 of people's investments into our lives.
05:19 And as Pastor Craig said, my point is we share our food.
05:24 Now, right now you're smiling at me,
05:28 but when it comes to food,
05:31 some of y'all ain't willing to share at all, right?
05:34 Especially me when it comes to Thai food.
05:36 But I think my daughter has a good face
05:42 to show you a little bit of what she looks like.
05:44 This is a picture of my daughter, a video of her.
05:46 Look as I put my hand on her plate.
05:48 Look at that.
05:52 Cute, look, look, she brings a smile with it, come on.
05:57 And then the eye roll.
05:58 (audience applauding)
06:01 Y'all gotta pray for me, man.
06:03 We're all like that, right?
06:07 Especially when it comes to our lives.
06:11 Our first thought is to guard
06:12 and to protect what matters most.
06:16 Which raises the question, where do you guard it?
06:23 So I want you to look back here.
06:27 We're gonna go through the scripture in Acts 4:32.
06:29 And this is how the early Christians thought.
06:30 It says, "All believers were united in heart and mind.
06:33 "They felt that what they owned was not their own,
06:35 "so they shared everything they had."
06:38 They felt what they owned was not their own,
06:41 so they shared everything they had.
06:43 Brand new believers in Jesus,
06:47 trying to learn how to live amongst each other
06:49 and apply the teachings of the disciples.
06:52 And they shared everything they had.
06:56 In other words, they shared their lives.
07:00 They shared their food.
07:02 Which raises the question for me,
07:07 how many people in your life have refrigerator restrictions
07:12 versus refrigerator rights?
07:15 Now you may be asking what that means,
07:17 and I got a picture of my own refrigerator up here
07:19 with some things in it, that's okay.
07:22 But if you were to come to my house when I was growing up,
07:27 one of the things that I know
07:28 is that you had refrigerator restrictions.
07:30 You couldn't just walk inside of my house
07:33 and open up the refrigerator and grab anything out of it.
07:35 Why?
07:36 Because you didn't pay any bills,
07:38 and you might actually catch a phantom smack,
07:40 you know what I mean?
07:41 My mom would've told you, "Go sit down somewhere," right?
07:43 But I had some friends that I could go
07:46 and I could get into the refrigerator,
07:48 get anything that I wanted,
07:50 because I had trust, because I had access.
07:53 So what I'm asking you is, who has access in your life?
07:57 Who has trust in your life?
07:59 I had a friend of mine come over to my house,
08:02 and he'd been over my house plenty of times,
08:04 his name was Logan, and he went to the refrigerator
08:06 this time by himself without asking.
08:08 Now, my cousin SJ comes up to me and he's like,
08:11 "Does Logan know that you don't just go
08:15 "into anybody's refrigerator
08:17 "and grab anything out of there, right?"
08:18 And I'm like, I'm laughing,
08:20 but what it made me realize
08:21 is that Logan didn't have refrigerator restrictions.
08:24 He had refrigerator rights, because we share our food.
08:29 And what I'm learning is that in life,
08:34 we're gonna need people who have refrigerator rights.
08:37 Early on in my marriage,
08:41 my wife and I were struggling relationally.
08:44 We were alone, we needed community,
08:48 and truthfully, I was in panic,
08:50 because I didn't know how to share my life with my wife
08:54 or become one with another person.
08:57 And truthfully, to call it how it is,
08:59 I was Team Q instead of Team Johnson.
09:02 And I'll never forget the day
09:04 that I walked into our one bedroom condo,
09:08 and my wife was laying across the bed,
09:10 and I looked over at her as I sat in our office chair
09:15 and said, "I don't think we should be married anymore."
09:18 We were struggling.
09:23 And at this time, two people came into our lives,
09:29 and we were doing some community shopping.
09:31 Some people know what that's like.
09:32 You go out and you hang out with a group of people,
09:34 and you try to figure out who you click with the most.
09:37 And we were playing intramural basketball
09:41 when James and Dom walked into our lives.
09:46 Now, you know when you find your people,
09:51 you wanna do everything together.
09:52 So in the middle of 2020,
09:53 everybody knows what was happening in 2020.
09:56 I mean, we binge-watched the show,
09:57 "Legend of Korra," yes, I'm grown,
09:59 and I still watch cartoons, right?
10:01 We cooked out, we double dated,
10:05 we did everything together.
10:07 And what I love the most about James and Dom
10:13 is that my wife could go to Dom and process things,
10:16 and I could go to James and process things.
10:18 And what was interesting was that they would show us support
10:25 and they would listen to us,
10:26 but they would always point us back to one another.
10:29 See, James and Dom weren't Team Q or Team Maggie.
10:36 They were Team Johnson.
10:37 And we got to do the same for them in their marriage, why?
10:41 Because we had refrigerator rights in each other's lives.
10:44 And across all of our locations and online today,
10:50 100% guaranteed you're gonna actually have
10:54 a need and are you going to stay guarded?
10:59 Are you going to stay protected away from everyone?
11:05 Are you gonna give and allow people
11:07 to have refrigerator rights?
11:09 It might be time to go community shopping.
11:15 Because what I know is in order to go far,
11:20 we have to grow close.
11:22 And in order to grow close, we have to share our food.
11:27 Speaking of sharing, I get the chance,
11:32 I get the honor to preach with two communicators today
11:35 that are amazing.
11:36 Would you please help me welcome my friend, Tiffany Peters.
11:40 (audience cheering)
11:43 - Thank you, sir.
11:45 My name is Tiffany Peters, like you said,
11:50 and I have the honor of being the LifeKids pastor
11:53 at our Life Church in Mansfield, Texas.
11:55 Shout out to all my Texas people.
11:58 This is my family.
12:00 There, there, there they are.
12:01 My handsome husband, Doug,
12:03 he brought out the cowboy hat just for you guys.
12:05 Our beautiful daughter, Lexi,
12:07 and our handsome boys, Tucker and Cannon.
12:09 And I believe that we all probably have
12:12 a few things in common, right?
12:13 We all have a little food to share
12:16 and we all have flaws to hide.
12:18 We all have things that we are insecure about,
12:21 things that we are embarrassed by,
12:23 but in a community that honors God,
12:25 we bear each other's burdens.
12:28 Like Q said, we share our food,
12:30 and point number two, we show our flaws.
12:34 Now you might be thinking, wait, what did she just say?
12:36 Did she say show our flaws?
12:38 No, flaws are meant to be covered up.
12:40 They are meant to be hidden.
12:41 They are not meant to be shared.
12:43 In today's society, we have gotten so good
12:46 at covering up the things that we do not know
12:48 and we do not like about ourselves,
12:51 but in a community that honors God, we show our flaws.
12:56 Now I know that life can be hard.
12:58 We've all been through things,
12:59 or maybe we're going through something right now
13:01 that we would rather no one else know about.
13:04 Maybe you're in a mountain of debt.
13:07 Maybe you have a past that you would rather forget.
13:10 Maybe you are struggling with an addiction,
13:13 or maybe your marriage is on the rocks.
13:15 We all struggle, but so often the fear of rejection
13:19 causes us to struggle alone.
13:22 I get it, really, I do.
13:24 I have a past, and it affected me for a long time.
13:29 And if I'm being honest, sometimes it still does.
13:33 And I didn't grow up in the church,
13:35 and so when my family first started coming to Life.Church,
13:38 I was an adult, and I had this idea in my head
13:40 that I had to have it all together.
13:43 And since I didn't have it all together,
13:45 I definitely pretended like I did.
13:47 And the longer that we came to church,
13:49 the more that we heard Pastor Craig talking about
13:52 joining a life group and having community around you,
13:55 and how life is better together.
13:58 So we joined a life group.
14:00 We met some amazing friends,
14:02 and one of the nights that we were at our life group,
14:05 a friend of ours opened up about something
14:07 that he had been struggling with.
14:09 He talked about his sexual sins in his life,
14:12 and how they were still affecting the relationships
14:14 that he had to this day.
14:16 And this was crazy to me, because with these people,
14:20 church people, you don't talk about things like that.
14:23 In my mind, if people knew the things that I had done,
14:27 that I would be judged, I would be rejected.
14:29 But right here in this moment, when Chris was being honest,
14:33 he wasn't judged, he was loved.
14:36 I had read in Romans before how Paul says
14:40 to accept one another just like Christ has accepted us,
14:43 but I had never seen it play out in a setting like this,
14:46 and I couldn't believe what was happening.
14:48 Here I am, literally suffering in silence for years
14:53 over the things that I had walked through in my life,
14:55 and here he is, just being open and honest.
14:59 And he wasn't judged, he was loved.
15:03 In that moment, I began to understand
15:06 what Pastor Craig says, how we might impress people
15:09 with our strengths, but we connect with people
15:13 through our weaknesses, and that is exactly
15:15 what was happening here.
15:16 Our life group felt so connected in that moment.
15:20 Remember, Galatians 6, two tells us
15:22 to carry each other's burdens.
15:25 And Chris opening up in our life group
15:27 in the response that he received,
15:28 that is exactly what was happening,
15:31 and that stuck with me.
15:33 I wanted that for myself, I wanted it so bad.
15:37 I wanted real relationships with people
15:40 who knew the things that I had walked through in my life,
15:43 the things that I had done, and they still loved me anyway.
15:47 So in that moment, even though I was afraid,
15:52 I mustered up literally all the courage that I could,
15:55 and I opened up.
15:56 I was sexually assaulted when I was 15 years old
16:03 by a boy who took something from me
16:05 that wasn't his to take.
16:08 And in that moment when it happened,
16:10 I was so afraid and so confused.
16:14 I thought that I should have known better,
16:16 that I should have done something different,
16:19 and so I blamed myself.
16:22 My self-worth was shattered.
16:25 I was hurting, and I was alone.
16:30 I tried to numb the pain in the worst possible ways.
16:35 I drank a lot, and it led to even more brokenness.
16:40 I gave myself away to anyone who showed me
16:44 any ounce of attention, because I thought
16:47 that that was all that I was good for.
16:50 I did things that I am not proud of
16:53 in an attempt to take control of a life
16:56 that felt so out of control, and I was ashamed.
17:00 And I let it become my identity.
17:02 I believed the lies that I was telling myself,
17:05 that I was disgusting, that I was unworthy,
17:10 and I was unlovable.
17:13 And when I said all of those things out loud
17:17 in our life group, I couldn't believe what I had just done.
17:19 I literally wanted to run away and hide
17:22 to take it all back, because I was so afraid
17:25 of their response, but just like Chris,
17:29 I wasn't judged, I was loved.
17:33 My life group confronted the lies that I believed
17:36 about myself with the truth about who God says that I am,
17:39 and I can still hear them speaking these words
17:41 over me today.
17:42 They told me that God says that I am forgiven,
17:47 that I am worthy, and Christ in me is enough.
17:51 And some of you today, you need to hear me say
17:53 those same things to you.
17:55 You are forgiven.
17:57 You are worthy, and Christ in you is enough.
18:02 When we open up, when we are honest
18:05 about the things that we struggle with,
18:07 God tends to speak through the people
18:10 that he has placed around us directly
18:12 to those broken parts of our hearts.
18:16 Proverbs 28, 13 says, "Whoever conceals their sins,
18:20 "who hides the things that they are ashamed of,
18:22 "who hides the things that they are struggling with,
18:24 "they do not prosper, but the one who confesses
18:28 "and renounces, the one who brings them to the light,
18:30 "who opens up, you find mercy."
18:33 Not judgment, not condemnation, but mercy.
18:36 And that same mercy is available to you today in community.
18:41 Maybe you feel trapped.
18:45 I get it.
18:46 Under the weight of it all, you are afraid of rejection,
18:49 but in godly community, we bear each other's burdens.
18:53 The heaviness that we feel,
18:55 the load that we have been carrying, it becomes lighter.
19:00 Now, the details of our stories may be different,
19:02 but I do know that the same truths
19:04 that were there for me then are here for you today.
19:07 You are not what you have done or what has been done to you.
19:11 You are stronger than your addictions.
19:14 You are an overcomer in Christ.
19:16 All things are possible, including your recovery,
19:20 your redemption, your restoration,
19:22 and real life-giving relationships.
19:25 You are not a burden.
19:27 Your struggles are not too much.
19:29 Healing is available to you through Jesus
19:33 and in God's people in community.
19:36 Life and freedom are waiting for you
19:40 on the other side of vulnerability.
19:43 In godly community, we share our struggles.
19:47 The load is lighter when we bear each other's burdens.
19:51 Remember, we may impress people with our strengths,
19:55 but we connect with people through our weaknesses.
19:59 Help me welcome our next speaker,
20:01 Mr. Tanner Newman to the stage.
20:03 (congregation cheering)
20:06 - So my name is Tanner Newman,
20:13 and for the last six years,
20:14 I've had the privilege of being the youth pastor
20:17 at Life.Church in Shawnee.
20:18 Shout out to all my people in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
20:22 And for the last 10 years,
20:24 I have made this place my home.
20:27 And to be on this stage is more of an honor
20:30 than I could possibly say.
20:31 For the last 10 years, my life has been impacted
20:35 by Pastor Craig's example, his leadership in this church,
20:38 and I am forever different
20:40 because of what has happened here.
20:42 And what have we learned?
20:43 We've learned that we all have food to share.
20:46 We have flaws to show.
20:48 And also that we fight together.
20:51 Because what combines everything
20:54 that we walk through in life,
20:55 what unifies us all is this,
20:57 is that we have a spiritual enemy who wants to do nothing,
21:01 but steal, kill, and destroy in our life.
21:05 And it happens in different ways for every single one of us.
21:08 It's the little whispers of shame that says,
21:11 "No matter how hard you try, you will never be good enough.
21:14 "You will never get over this."
21:16 Or it could be the anxiousness that grips your chest,
21:19 that makes you feel completely alone in your experiences.
21:23 It's the brokenness in your home that nobody knows about.
21:27 It's the way that you've been praying and asking God
21:30 to change something in your child's life,
21:32 yet still you watch them suffer every day.
21:35 It's the way that you've been carrying the burdens
21:36 of your family, and nothing is getting better.
21:40 We have a spiritual enemy who wants nothing,
21:44 but to steal, kill, and destroy in our life.
21:47 And I'm grateful for the words of Peter,
21:50 who was a disciple of Jesus,
21:52 and who had his own fair share of ups and downs in life.
21:55 And this is what he said in 1 Peter 5, verse eight.
21:58 "Be alert and of sober mind.
22:01 "Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion,
22:04 "looking for someone to devour.
22:06 "Resist him, standing firm in the faith."
22:10 To resist him, in the Greek,
22:12 what Peter actually writes there,
22:13 it means to fight against.
22:16 It is a active posture,
22:18 meaning that whatever comes your way,
22:20 it's not a matter of if, but when.
22:23 When the enemy comes, what do you do?
22:25 You fight in faith.
22:28 See, the truth is, is that we do have a spiritual enemy,
22:32 but we also have a Savior, and His name is Jesus.
22:36 And because of Jesus, because of who He is
22:39 and what He's done for us,
22:40 He provides peace, He provides healing.
22:43 He is our God who loves us and who sees you today.
22:48 We have a Savior who knows you.
22:53 And so when it comes to the battles
22:54 that we walk through in life, we don't fight for victory.
22:58 We fight from victory.
22:59 Now, what does that look like?
23:00 What does that mean?
23:01 That means that that thing that you think
23:03 will never get better, the thing that you dismissed,
23:07 the thing that weighs heaviest on your heart,
23:09 God is not only with you in the middle of that situation,
23:13 but God is also surrounding that situation.
23:15 He is bigger than anything that you will ever go up against
23:18 because that's how good and how great our God is.
23:21 He is for you today.
23:24 That is something that we can stand on and believe.
23:27 We have a Savior who sees us,
23:30 who fights for us, and who loves us.
23:32 So what do we do?
23:34 We carry one another's burdens.
23:37 But we also allow someone else to carry our own.
23:40 In 2021, my wife and I found out
23:44 that we were pregnant with our first child,
23:45 which was incredible news.
23:46 This is something we've been praying for forever.
23:50 But the thing was is that because of some medical conditions
23:53 that my wife had, this was also incredibly scary news.
23:56 So we knew going into starting a family
23:58 that there was a pretty high likelihood,
24:00 about a 50/50 shot, that if we had a child,
24:04 it was a possibility that they wouldn't make it
24:06 past the age of 15.
24:08 So this was a huge decision.
24:10 And as we met with doctors and geneticists,
24:13 the weight got more and more real.
24:16 The ways that we begin to process and talk together,
24:19 Lauren and I, my wife, we would sit
24:21 and we would just wonder, why would God tell us to do this,
24:24 but this feels so heavy?
24:26 This feels so overwhelming.
24:28 And I got to a point where I just could not handle it
24:32 anymore, and it was in that time
24:34 that I began to talk with my life group
24:36 about what we were feeling and what we were walking through.
24:40 And so the day comes where Lauren has our son, Noah,
24:44 and it's the most beautiful day in the world,
24:46 a day I will never forget.
24:48 And this is a picture of our son right after he was born.
24:50 Despite the circumstances, what we knew and believed
24:55 is that God knew this baby,
24:57 and that he created him for a purpose,
24:59 no matter what that looked like.
25:02 After he was born, there was tests that had to be done,
25:04 and we had to wait seven days.
25:06 And that was the longest week of my life,
25:09 because here I am, a brand new father,
25:12 holding a baby for the very first time,
25:14 and I'm holding my son and I'm looking at him,
25:16 and I'm wondering, does he have it?
25:18 Is he going to be okay?
25:21 And all I can think of is, what have I done?
25:25 Why would God ask me to do this?
25:27 Why would he tell me to do this?
25:28 Because what if, what if the worst fear
25:31 in the world as a parent, that you lose your child,
25:34 what if this happens?
25:36 And I walk into the doctor's office,
25:38 and I'll never forget it.
25:38 I walk in and I looked at my wife right before we walked in,
25:41 I said, "No matter what, God is good."
25:44 And we walk in and I go to sit down.
25:48 The doctor knew about the circumstances.
25:51 Before I could even sit,
25:53 he says, "Your son is completely healthy."
25:55 (congregation applauding)
25:58 And in that moment, my friends,
25:59 I felt a joy that I have never felt before.
26:04 And I fell to my knees.
26:06 I called my family, I called my mom, my dad, my sister,
26:10 my brother-in-law, and tears were everywhere,
26:13 snot was everywhere, but the next call was to my life group.
26:16 Because for weeks, for months,
26:20 I had been calling my friend, Michael and Aaron.
26:23 And I'm just saying, "Guys, I just need to say this.
26:26 "I don't even know if you're gonna look at me
26:27 "the same way anymore, but I need you to know
26:28 "this is where I'm at right now."
26:30 And I remember sitting in my living room
26:32 and Sierra and Nayeli and Sarah looking at my wife
26:35 and saying, "You didn't cause this.
26:38 "God sees you, He cares about the cries of your heart."
26:41 And it was that that carried us through up until this moment
26:44 because the reality was we had this moment to celebrate.
26:48 But here's the thing that's true.
26:49 Had it not been what we wanted and what we prayed for,
26:53 I still had that group of people
26:55 that were there for me no matter what,
26:57 that loved me no matter what,
26:59 that loved our son Noah no matter what.
27:01 And I wanna show you a picture of him today.
27:04 This is my son today.
27:06 He is beautiful and perfect.
27:10 And as I think about this picture and what it represents,
27:13 it is a culmination of prayers,
27:16 of God's providence, of God's sovereignty.
27:19 And I think about what that moment represents,
27:22 to celebrate with somebody, but to also know
27:25 that whether it's a high moment or a low moment in life,
27:28 God's people were there with me.
27:30 They loved me so much.
27:33 And what I want to think about
27:35 and process with you here right now
27:36 as you're watching, whether it's online
27:38 or one of our locations somewhere,
27:40 what does this look like for you?
27:42 As you're carrying the weight of the world
27:44 on your shoulders, what does this look like for you?
27:47 Because the truth is your burden may be too big to carry.
27:53 By yourself.
27:54 Because believers who followed Jesus,
27:58 they desperately knew that they had to come together.
28:01 They needed one another to carry one another's burdens.
28:05 And we seem to know that, but have forgotten it.
28:07 Today, your life could look different
28:10 and it could simply just start with sharing your food,
28:14 showing your floss and fighting together.
28:18 Right now, let's go back to Pastor Craig.
28:21 (audience applauding)
28:25 - Come on, church.
28:26 Can you tell our speakers thank you today
28:29 for sharing God's Word in a way that impacts our lives.
28:34 God is going to call you,
28:38 if you want to fulfill the law of Christ,
28:40 to carry one another's burdens.
28:45 And so some of you, it's time to take a step of faith
28:49 toward real community.
28:51 In fact, there'll be a QR code that will come on the screen.
28:54 And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna challenge you right now.
28:56 God did not create you to do life alone.
29:00 If you're ready to find your people,
29:02 if you're ready to take a risk,
29:04 if you're ready to open up your refrigerator
29:06 and share your life and your food,
29:09 and show some flaws because there's healing when we do,
29:13 and fight together with the people of God
29:15 who will stand by you and help you live a life
29:18 that will honor God and defeat the prince of darkness
29:21 who comes against you, you cannot do it alone.
29:24 It's time to take a step of faith into very real community.
29:29 And this is so emotional to me
29:31 because of what God has done in our lives.
29:35 Here's the deal.
29:36 In order to carry one another's burdens,
29:38 what do you need to do?
29:39 You need to carry someone else's burden, don't you?
29:43 And that's kind of easy to do
29:44 'cause that makes you feel good when you help somebody else.
29:47 But here's what takes even more courage sometimes,
29:49 is not to carry someone else's burden,
29:51 but to let someone else carry yours.
29:53 And I just wanna say to my church family,
29:58 thank you.
30:02 Thank you for praying for me when I lost my dad,
30:07 and loving me through the tears.
30:09 Thank you for helping to raise my kids,
30:14 like the church helped raise my kids.
30:17 A few weeks ago, my son, Stephen,
30:19 he got married to his best friend, Ashlyn.
30:22 He tried to kiss her like five times in the wedding
30:25 before they got to the kissing part.
30:27 And they went to our family place for 23 years.
30:31 We go to Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
30:34 And so he went there for his honeymoon.
30:36 And the first morning after he got there on his honeymoon,
30:39 Sunday morning, you know what he did?
30:40 He texted me.
30:42 See, on vacation, we go to church
30:43 because we're people of God.
30:44 That's what we do, we always go to church.
30:46 So he texted me the first morning of his honeymoon,
30:47 he said, "Dad, Dad, what church should we go to?"
30:51 On his honeymoon, the kid wanted to take his bride
30:57 on the first day of his honeymoon to church, community.
31:02 Now, let me tell you why that's so special.
31:06 Because you go a few years back,
31:07 and Stephen would be the first to tell you.
31:09 In fact, I've heard him talk about it in sermons,
31:12 and I learned things about him I didn't know in sermons,
31:16 is that he wasn't taking God seriously
31:19 in some seasons in his teens.
31:23 And that was a burden that we shared with our community.
31:26 And David, you helped mentor him.
31:29 And there were other men in our life group,
31:31 in our community, who were examples to him,
31:34 and would be a father figure to him.
31:37 And there are people who prayed for him
31:39 and loved him into the strength of who he is today.
31:44 And so I say thank you for carrying my burdens,
31:49 sharing my joys.
31:51 I need you, you need each other,
31:55 and you are not created to do life alone.
31:57 It's just dumb, dumber than dumb.
32:01 Call yourself a Christian,
32:05 and not be engaged in the body of Christ?
32:08 We talk a lot about having
32:09 a personal relationship with Jesus.
32:11 I'll tell you what's even more biblical,
32:14 is a shared relationship with Jesus.
32:16 Because we share our food, and we show our flaws,
32:20 and we fight together, that's what we do.
32:23 There's a fundamental difference
32:25 between the first century Christian that shared everything,
32:29 and Christians today, I'll tell you what it is.
32:31 The first century believers desperately needed each other,
32:36 and they knew it.
32:37 And believers today desperately need each other,
32:42 and they've forgotten it.
32:43 So I wanna invite you.
32:47 We call them life groups.
32:49 We come together, different days of the week,
32:52 open up God's Word, get to know each other.
32:56 We do life together.
32:57 What do we do?
32:58 Listen, we share it all, we share our food.
33:01 We show our flaws, and God still loves us.
33:04 And we stand together, we're better together,
33:06 because we fight together, and God wants you to have that.
33:10 So God, stir within our hearts.
33:15 Give us the faith to step out, to take some risks,
33:21 to get to know others, to let them in.
33:24 God, help us to fulfill the law of Christ
33:26 by carrying the burdens of someone else
33:29 who needs our strength.
33:33 And God, give us the courage to let someone else in
33:37 who can carry ours.
33:39 As you're praying today, wherever you are,
33:42 those of you who say, "I want even deeper community
33:46 "in the family of God," would you raise your hands?
33:48 All of you raise them up right now.
33:50 I'm just telling you right now.
33:51 I want deeper community.
33:52 That's what you want, that's what we need.
33:53 We're the body of Christ, we're the family of God.
33:56 We don't do this alone.
33:57 God, I just pray that your Holy Spirit
34:00 would make the divine connections.
34:01 I pray, God, that even before people would leave
34:02 the building, they might meet someone and invite 'em
34:05 to lunch, there might be someone who prays
34:07 for somebody else.
34:08 God, you might speak to someone to give something
34:10 to someone.
34:11 God, create community.
34:12 God, give us the desire, Lord, even in the lobbies,
34:14 to talk to someone and say, "Help me find
34:16 "the right life group."
34:17 God, take us to our people that we could be the body
34:20 of Christ and carry one another's burdens
34:23 and fulfill your law.
34:26 God, help us to love and be loved,
34:28 to share and even receive.
34:30 God, thank you that we're not alone.
34:32 We have your power of your Spirit,
34:34 we have your presence, and we have your people
34:36 to do life with.
34:39 Help us to let them in, to trust,
34:41 to need your family, and to give what we have
34:45 to bless others.
34:46 As you keep praying today, let's talk about community.
34:49 God's kind of a community.
34:50 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three in one.
34:52 He's kind of a community.
34:54 God created us, why?
34:55 Not because He needed us, because He loved us.
34:57 He wanted to love us.
34:58 God sent His Son, Jesus, why?
35:00 Not to make us religious, but because He loved us.
35:02 For God so loved the world.
35:05 What does He want?
35:06 He doesn't want you to be religious,
35:08 He wants you to be in a relationship with Him.
35:11 I grew up thinking you had to follow a bunch of rules.
35:13 I didn't realize God is a relational God.
35:15 The first thing He did was He spoke.
35:17 He created Adam, He said, "It's not good that you're alone."
35:20 He created Eve to be a helpmate for Adam
35:21 because He wants us in community,
35:23 and He wants us to know Him and be known by Him.
35:26 There are those of you today, you may believe in God,
35:28 but you don't know Him.
35:30 You may have a head knowledge of Him,
35:31 but you don't have a heart relationship with Him.
35:34 Guess what?
35:35 You are not here by accident,
35:36 because a loving God is loving you
35:39 and drawing you right now.
35:41 What do you do?
35:41 You just say yes to a relationship with Him.
35:45 What blocks it?
35:46 Well, our sinfulness blocks it.
35:49 God is a holy God, and when we cry out to His Son, Jesus,
35:53 He forgives our sins, it removes the barrier,
35:57 and we begin a relationship with Him.
35:58 But guess what?
35:59 You're not just gonna start an individual
36:01 or personal relationship.
36:03 We're the people of God, we have a shared relationship.
36:05 You enter into a family the moment you call on Jesus.
36:08 Wherever you're watching from today,
36:10 those of you who say, "I need that, I wanna know God.
36:13 "I maybe know about Him, but I don't know Him."
36:15 We're gonna step away from our old sinful life,
36:17 and we're gonna call on Jesus.
36:19 And when you do, your sins are gonna be forgiven,
36:21 and you're gonna be new,
36:21 and God's gonna reveal Himself to you,
36:23 and you're gonna get to know Him in a very personal way.
36:25 Wherever you are, those who say, "I need Him.
36:28 "I need forgiveness of my sins.
36:29 "I want to know Him today.
36:32 "I give my life to Jesus."
36:33 That's your prayer.
36:34 Lift your hands high right now, all over the place today,
36:37 as we have people saying yes to Him.
36:39 Lift up your hands and say, "Yes, Jesus, I surrender to You.
36:43 "I give my life to You."
36:44 Online, just type it in the comments direction.
36:48 I'm surrendering my life to Jesus.
36:51 I'm surrendering to Jesus.
36:52 And everybody, would you pray?
36:54 I pray, Heavenly Father,
36:56 today, help me start a relationship with You through Jesus.
37:01 Forgive me of my sins.
37:05 Save me.
37:07 Make me brand new.
37:09 Fill me with Your Spirit,
37:11 so I could know You,
37:13 so I could live for You,
37:16 so I could share Your love.
37:18 Thank You for new life.
37:24 Give me a community that knows You,
37:28 to do life with,
37:31 to love, and to be loved.
37:34 Thank You for saving me.
37:37 In Jesus' name, I pray,
37:40 for the family of God, the people of God,
37:42 say thank You, worship God, for who He is,
37:44 and welcome the born-into-this-family today.
37:47 (audience applauding)