Be A Community

we are going to look to the word of the lord tonight i have been asked to revisit some of the uh mission and purpose of our connect groups that will be starting next month so i've been asked to kind of revisit some of that and so this lesson will be a mixture of inspiration biblical teaching as well as information to hopefully get some more information into your hands and into your minds and into your hearts i do want to mention at the outset that there are brochures in the lobby and our ushers are going to have those for you as you exit tonight for easy access and that this covers a lot of information in here but some stuff is not covered and i will hope to cover that and if not you can come see me hunt me down for the questions that are burning in your heart about connect groups but i want to start off by just acknowledging what i have been feeling and what i have been hearing from you all as i've had conversations with you in the aisles or in the pews or in the foyer or online via phone but god is calling us i i feel like we have all heard that call in a new and in a fresh way god is calling us he is drawing us or compelling us as if a a rope were anchored into our hearts and and god is at the other end of that rope and he is just pulling us he is drawing us towards him drawing us yes towards him and by virtue of towards him away from other things just lesser things not maybe even sinful things but just lesser or lower things because he has something bigger and something better for us we are limited in our natural capacity to see all that god sees and to know all that god knows

and so he is calling us he is drawing us to something bigger and something better something outside of ourselves he's calling us to be involved in the work that he is doing he is calling for us for our world to revolve around him and his mission which is the church he's calling us into relationship with him and with others because he's calling us to fulfill our god-given purpose i could take you to a couple of sermons that have happened throughout the course of this year i'll just mention three by some guest ministers which is really remarkable when you look at the things that they have preached to us and you line them up with the things that our homegrown preachers are preaching to us and how there's just one solid voice that's been going on because it's god's voice and it's his message and there's just been this this solid stream of of unity and continuity in what god is saying but brother colin cressman and brother galen thompson and brother corey bibi were here through the summer and in the spring and brother cullen reminded us that we are all called to serve the kingdom and he encouraged us he challenged us to live for something beyond time to live for something eternal something beyond what we can we are limited by time naturally but god is calling us to his perspective which is an eternal perspective

and so brother cullen preached and he called us to live beyond time live for something that will outlive you live for something eternal brother galen thompson he reminded us that we are a royal priesthood and that every one of us has a role to fulfill in god's kingdom brother corey bibi he's a missionary to spain he reminded us on a wednesday night that god has a plan for our lives and we are not accidental we are not unimportant but god created each of us with a purpose and that purpose revolves around him and it supports his mission and in a couple of pre-service prayers over the last couple of services in pre-service prayer this is something that's kept coming to my mind god is speaking if you need a word from him if you want a word from him god is speaking and his voice comes to us of course through the preached word of god that's we know that and through the songs and through one another we've experienced someone coming to us and giving us a word of encouragement or a word of instruction and knowledge but god is speaking and here's what i have been feeling in pre-service prayer what i've been praying for us is that in our services together in our times together that he would be able to clarify and define for us what he has been speaking to us throughout the week because he has been speaking to you he has been drawing you he has been putting something in your path day after day whether it is a scripture whether it is a sermon thought that someone has preached he just keeps recalling it to your mind maybe it's in the you version devotions that you've been doing on your phone app or maybe it's in the journal that you have been keeping whatever it is god has been speaking to you he has been trying to get a message to you that's what i know about god because he wants to connect with us he he wants to speak to us he wants us to hear him

and so he has been speaking to you and i encourage you whatever you've got to do to hear that voice do that it's going to look different for everybody for me it's journaling i like to journal when i go to my prayer time i take this journal right here and i have it with me and if i feel the lord saying something to me i write it down and y'all today as i was finishing up the preparations for this lesson i went back to february of this year and i found something and i was like that would go perfect in my sermon tonight or lesson you know why because god is speaking and he's reiterating it enough times to where we get it and so if he's got to send a preacher to a pulpit or if he's got to send a fellow saint to a pew or to an aisle or in the foyer or connect with you via text message or through email whatever he's got to do he wants to connect with you he wants to get his message to you

and so i just encourage you be open to his message however it may come and be ready to receive it even with something as practical as just writing it down in a journal or underlining it when it's preached about or highlighting it on your phone app remembering what god is speaking because then when you go back and look i could take you through and i could take you through the thread of what god has been speaking to me for the past six seven months or so it's culminating in this lesson and with connect groups because this this is a god endeavor this is a god initiative this isn't something i dreamed up for a class at ugst or anything like that this this is a god initiative and a god directive and it's a god sanctioned time for what we are doing and there's just been confirmation after confirmation and there is for what god is speaking in your life as well there is confirmation of that if we will just be sensitive and we can push past all the other distractions and things that would try to cloud and crowd out the message that god is sending we can hear his voice because he is sending a message to us he does speak to every one of us you don't have to be special for god to speak to you and for him to impress upon your heart and for his spirit to impress you to do a certain thing or to say something or to initiate something

in matthew 22 and several places throughout the gospels a young man comes to jesus and he says what is the greatest commandment if you'll let me pull that into the apc context this year we come to jesus and we ask what does it mean to be the church what is the greatest commandment how do i be the church well jesus answered because he does he says the first of all the commandments is this hear o israel the lord our god is one lord and what do we do with that doctrine what do we do with that belief how do we behave because of that belief he doesn't leave us without an answer because he continues and thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy mind and with all thy strength this is the first commandment and the second is like namely this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself there is none other commandment singular greater than these what is the greatest commandment jesus how do i be the church jesus love god and love people it's really super uber simple not easy but simple not always easy to practice but simple to know what to do love god and love others because here's the reality our ministry to god our service to god is demonstrated in our ministry to others i cannot serve god if i do not serve others i cannot love god if i do not love others jesus said as much in john 13 by this shall all men know that you are my disciples that you love me that you follow me

if you love one another so our ministry to god is demonstrated in our ministry to others so we're called to love him and we're called to serve him and the overarching goal of our christian life is transformation into god's image to look more like him than we did yesterday that's the goal every single day simple not easy but simple and our transformation into the image of god into his image is demonstrated in our relationships with others so our ministry to god has demonstrated in our ministry to others and our transformation into his image is demonstrated in our relationships with others think of how easy it might be to let someone that you're marginally connected with you know let's just say the supermarket cashier you can put a smile on your face and you can love them be kind to them compassionate to them because for the 30 seconds to two minutes that you deal with them they probably don't rub you wrong and there's no conflict in that relationship now think about the people that are closest to you that know your buttons know where they are know how hard to press how often depressed our transformation into god's image how much we look like him is demonstrated in our relationships with those that we are close to and those that we have close connection and proximity to how we treat our friend how we treat our spouse how we treat our children how we treat our siblings our parents it all reflects our transformation into god's image

and so why do why do i say all of this well i say all of this because we're called to love god and to love others and so it requires that we connect with one another to do that god's provision for helping us to be transformed into his image is the body of christ it's the people that you're sitting with god has provided you a way and a means to be transformed into his image and they are sitting next to you and all around you it's the body of christ we help one another be transformed into god's image because we come into relationships with one another and we bible says iron sharpens iron so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend and we we help one another we we get in relationships and we have disagreements and we have to be spirit-led to say how am i going to live like christ in this disagreement how am i going to deal with this conflict the way christ would deal with this conflict how am i going to care for my brother and sister or bear their burdens or support them or encourage them or admonish them and all the other instructions of scripture how am i going to do that in this relationship where there's potential conflict or where there's potential opposition and there's maybe some negativity

and so it's it's it's really really rubber meets the road i understand that and it's it's very just brass tacks for us in talking about this but our transformation into god's image is tested through relationships for good or for bad and not all relationships are a testing ground hopefully you have some relationships that are encouraging that there's that mutual but when we get together when we get in relationship you know this just by virtue if you're married or if you're just in a family you know in relationships there is potential conflict there's there's times where we're going to butt heads and we're going to disagree but god's provision for us to be transformed into his image is to put us into a body of christ and to put us into relationships with one another where he we have to work on these things first corinthians chapter 12 and verse 7 i believe i have it on the screen for you is in the new king james version it says this but the manifestation of the spirit is given to each one for the profit of all so by his design we benefit one another we benefit one another we are to benefit one another i was reading a u-version devotion the other day with a friend and we came across ezekiel 37. i've heard ezekiel 37 the dry bones coming together i've heard that tons of times i have taught it tons of times in harvest bible college in scotland i never put it together with

first corinthians 12 before the first corinthians 12 of course is the body of christ where paul is talking about the church as the body of christ and how we're all members one of another members in particular were many members but were one body and i began to think about ezekiel 37 and how those bones were just scattered they were just dry bones there was not i mean there may have been like four ankle bones here and a shin here and a shoulder blade and there's you know part of a skull and it was just a mess which was part of the miracle that god was going to do through ezekiel this vision that he gave him and as i was thinking about it i thought you know what each of us in the body of christ we are a bone in a field of dry bones we are a bone in a field of dry bones everybody that we come in contact with in the church and outside of the church is a bone in a field of dry bones but we're called together and we know that ezekiel he prophesied and those bones began to come together to begin to form bodies

and so when we come together my bone comes together with your bone we make a body and then we are made alive by the spirit of god but only after we've come together can we then come alive through the power of the spirit to fulfill his purpose and connect groups is one means just one means of bringing bones together of building community so that we can function for his purpose and fulfilling his mission you can you can call it whatever you want to you can pair it up because we're going to see all of these things happen in connect groups evangelism and discipleship so we're going to be reaching outside the four walls of apc to connect dry bones out there to the bones that have come together in here so that we can be a complete body of christ so we're going to be reaching outside the four walls we want the people from your neighborhoods to connect this is going to be a great way for them to connect to the body of christ through connect groups so evangelism is part of it but also discipleship is part of it as well we've got to be discipled even us right even us we we need that continual growth we need that continual discipleship so evangelism and discipleship we pair words together all the time to seek and to save that's what we're going to be doing through connect groups reconciliation and transformation we're doing that in connect groups revival and harvest revival happens inside the church harvest is what brings people into the church so we've got to be revived and we're going to do that through connect groups and harvest we're going to bring in people that have not yet experienced this great gospel and this great salvation all of that's going to happen through connect groups because we are bones coming together to form a body and when we're joined together the purpose then is able to be accomplished we will hobble and stumble through life trying to fulfill even god's purpose unless we come together

and so here's two healthy ways for you to approach connect groups one everybody has a role to play and everybody has a responsibility everybody has a role to play in first corinthians 12 27 the new living translation says it like this all of you together are christ's body and each of you is a part of it all of you together are christ's body a bone in a field of dry bones we've come together god has brought us together by his spirit and so all of us together are christ's body i am not the body of christ you alone are not the body of christ one individual is not the body of christ it's not how god designed it he said all of you together are christ's body so in order for me to be the body of christ i need to be connected to you and you need to be connected to me and to others and then to others and to others because the body of christ is connection it is together and all so everybody has a role to play your role is important in the body of christ because you are the other that

i need in order to be the body of christ in order to be what god has is calling me and drawing me to be and then secondly everybody has a responsibility and here is my responsibility number one i need to grow i need to be a disciple i need to be growing in him i need to be taking the next step in my transformation into god's image i need to grow we've all got to enter our you can enter your connect group like this but really we should just enter our christian life like this i need to grow i am not the finished product of myself god is not finished with me yet thank you jesus the old children's song he's still working on me to make me what i ought to be took him just a week to make the moon and the stars sun and the earth jupiter and mars so how loving and how patient he must be because he's still working on me and i believe that that is the heart of each and every one of you sitting here i don't believe that any of you have said i've arrived welcome to my presence apc we would never say it in those words but we might say it

when we don't come to the altar when we know we should i'll leave i'll leave that for pastor he's he took care of that on sunday i need to grow i need to be prodded i i need to be challenged in the word i need to be discipled i i need you to teach me what you've learned from your life circumstance i need you to share with me what god is speaking to you about it and how he is talking to you sister hannah what you post on facebook and your stories what god is speaking to you that encourages me and it challenges me and i'm thankful for that avenue and and we've had conversations as well but just i need i need you to help me be a better disciple because i need to grow and secondly not only do i need to grow and i need to be a disciple but i can help others to grow i can make a disciple i can help disciple others this has got to get in us this this is the the culture that we've got to eat and live and breathe

i need to grow i need to be a disciple and then i can help disciple others i can help teach others i may not have a degree i may not have ever taught sunday school i may not have ever done you check off the box whatever you feel like disqualifies you i'm just telling you from the word of the lord he's called all of us together as a part of the body of christ and each of us has a role and everybody has a responsibility and so i can help somebody else it may be through a prayer that i say a note card that i write it may be an email that i send or a text that i give or a meal that i prepare it may be something so small it may be something so insignificant seemingly but i'm part of the body of christ and i have a responsibility to you i'm not responsible for you i'm not responsible for you in making the decision for you to live for christ or for you to take the next step in your transformation i'm not responsible for you but i am responsible to you to help you and to support you and to spur you on and to encourage you and to maybe disturb you a little bit or confront you a little bit or to be accountable to you a little bit to help you move and take another step forward because here's the reality we've got to be the church that he's designed us to be because there's a lost and dying world going to hell if we don't tell them and that's part of our responsibility

and so paul writes a lot paul writes a lot of verses about one another and he goes through a list and if you want to throw up that next slide it's just got a bunch of words on there just i mean there's more than this i've got a list happy to share them with you love one another be devoted honor one another live in harmony build up one another be like-minded accept one another admonish one another greet one another care for one another serve one another bear one another's burdens forgive one another be patient you get the idea there's a lot of things that we are instructed to do for one another these things and others demand relationships they assume relationships i've got to have an other to do these things to and for guess what you are my other i am your other for better or worse i am your other we are each other's other don't be confused these things require someone to be on the receiving end they require someone to be on the giving end as well

and so sometimes we're going to be the giver and sometimes we're going to be the receiver and that's okay that's how god designed when i am strong it might be a time when you're weak and i can come alongside you and i can help bear your burdens and i can lift you up and i can support you and i can encourage you and edify you and then when i'm walking through a dark place i'll lean on you and that's how god has designed the body of christ these things happen they are lived out in relationships and so they happen through connection i've already mentioned but we're on a journey of transformation and that involves a step what is what is your next step i mentioned earlier god has been speaking to you i know he's been speaking to you whether or not you feel like you've gotten the message or you know clearly what the message is that's not that's not up for debate it's not up to me that's for you and him and i'm just encouraging you to position yourself to be able to hear but i believe that god is speaking to you and i believe in this congregation that there have been some clarifying and defining moments even as recently as sunday as we heard that the coming of the lord is closer than we think there's some next steps that we know we need to take some next steps in our transformation some some priorities maybe that need to be adjusted or some whatever it is in your life some some new initiative that god is wanting you to consider and be a part of some service in the kingdom of god that he's wanting you to volunteer for and give your time and talent and treasure too what is your next step as we gather together as we connect with one another we will be transformed one step at a time because in these times

when we are being discipled we're going to be able to identify our next step as we learn the word of god as we hear the word of god and as we hear how other people are you know deciphering the word of god in their lives it's going to help us to know how to decipher the word of god in our lives and we're going to help one another to grow in that way and so i just heard you be thinking about that what is my next step maybe it's a step of commitment or maybe it's a step of dedication or whatever it might be involvement what is your next step and everybody's going to be at a different place in their walk with god and in our spiritual lives and so each of us are going to have a different next step to take and so as we end here or wrap up i want to talk a little bit more about the practical side of of what this will look like so some more of the information as was mentioned a couple of weeks ago in service we will be starting we will be launching groups on october the 10th it's a sunday every group will meet weekly on sundays and we've instructed our group leaders not to start any later than 6 pm because we want you to be able to get home we their groups will last about an hour and a half to two hours at the most

and so we um we want you to be able to be able to get home we know it's a work night a school night what have you and so the group leaders have been instructed not to start any later than six and so you will have a time on sunday evening where you can join a connect group and you can benefit from all of these things that we've been talking about already so we'll meet weekly on sundays in the homes of our connect group leaders now this is intended and designed to be a family ministry if you have kids we encourage you do not buy a babysitter and leave them at home and then go to your connect group there is a plan for kids kids of all ages there there are we've we've trained our leaders we've given them information they are equipped they're ready to to handle whatever ages are thrown their way we will encourage 12 and up to be sitting in the discussion and teaching time so if they are 12 years old enough they will be included in the teaching time and the discussion that will happen if they are 11 or under there will be a separate place for them whatever that looks like at the various homes um there will be somebody that's designated to be in there to help teach them as well we're not just going to put them in there they're going to play with you know bob the builder or superheroes whatever they play with nowadays we're not just going to put them in there there's going to have a good old secular time in there no this is a time where we're all going to be focused on spiritual things so there will be a lesson or there will be a video that they'll be able to watch a bible lesson video that they'll be able to watch so it's a family ministry so bring your family that's that's the point of all of this

i want to take you to the next slide which is the four essential elements of our connect groups four essential elements this is what you can expect at every small group every connect group you will ever attend number one casual fellowship just a time for you to just to sit down and shoot the breeze a lot of times this is gonna happen over food okay who doesn't like food michelle thank you for the fist pump there was a fist pump in the back over there food that's right so there a lot of times there's gonna be food okay and you may be called upon here's here's everybody has a role everybody has a responsibility you may be called them on to be in charge of bringing a dish or something whatever you're famous for do what you are famous for okay bring it to the group and feed feed the group so there will be casual fellowship we'll just sit around and eat i don't know how long your small group leader will allow that to go 10 15 20 minutes however long it needs to go but we will also make room for an activity or discussion this first time because it will be strictly lesson based that will be a discussion it will not be an activity um it will be a discussion so we'll have discussion over the lesson that we will watch which is the spiritual component i'm jumping ahead to the fourth element there so there'll be a spiritual component at every small group that you will attend we are going to be first of all starting with brother ken gurley's the four tables and we will watch it's like an 11 minute 11 12 minute video where he will instruct us and teach us

and then there will be time for that discussion where we'll just kind of say okay what in the world did that mean could you maybe provide some enlightenment or how did you take that or what did that mean to you or how do you see yourself uh applying that or putting that into practice so the discussion will be a part and of course prayer the bible says first of all prayer that should have been number one amber i'll fix it for next time but we're gonna have prayer and everything we're gonna be able to share our needs with one another be able to pray right then and there with one in homes this is the beautiful thing i love this that this is all gonna happen in our homes so it's going to start out at our connect group leaders homes but we want you to take this as a template and if you want to start a home fellowship if you want to start a connect group in your home come see us we'll get you the materials that you need we'll get you the resources that you need and when next semester comes around you can you can do this in your home you can open it up to your neighbors and your friends or your family and we'll have each of these four elements these are the four essential elements for connect groups casual fellowship we want to build relationships because discipleship happens within the context of relationships we're transformed when we're in relationship it's just how god works so we'll have casual fellowship we'll have a discussion time we'll have prayer and there will always be a spiritual component i have been asked the question or have been told that the question has been asked can we join multiple groups my question back to you is can you clone yourself we're going to all be doing this on sunday nights so you can't be in eight places at once so uh we are encouraging you to connect with one group for the simple reason that relationships develop over time and through a process so our desire is for consistency within the groups so that those groups can then form a cohesion or a bond

and so while we celebrate the desire and the interest of you that want to be connected to many different groups it would actually defeat the purpose which is to build meaningful relationships for the purpose of discipleship spending one week in each group would only allow for a marginal and shallow connection but spending eight weeks in a group that are focused on a particular topic does allow for deep meaningful and core connections to develop so you'll choose a group and then you will be faithful to that group the our vision is that you would be faithful to that group for eight weeks and then we'll take a period of break we'll have a couple of weeks where we do not have connect groups and then we'll relaunch connect groups in the spring and you can then join a different group if that's your heart's desire or you can join the same group or you could start your own group whatever you feel the lord is calling you whatever that next step is for you um as i mentioned the brochures they show you where the connect groups will be on the back there is um a map now i know that you understand the need for privacy we don't know where these will end up so we did not put physical addresses on here we just put the regions where they would be so we trust that you can look on there and find yourself find where you live and find the closest uh group to you and you can join that one you don't have to join the closest one to you can join whichever one you want but just so that you know which is closest to you so these are available to you we'll make sure they're in your hands the sign up process is vital and i will uh i will wrap it up with this sunday september 26th we've heard his fall fest day so we're gonna have a lot of guests on our campus we're gonna have a lot hopefully uh we're inviting people and our mail out has gone out

and so we we've sent to uh several hundred homes uh maybe over a thousand homes uh to invite people so we're gonna have a lot of people here hopefully and so we're gonna do our sign ups that day again in order to connect people to the body of christ the bone in a field of dry bones we want people to connect and so we're going to be doing our sign up on that sunday how sign ups will happen is through a link and you will get an email with all of this information and how to particularly do this but you're going to get a link and when you click on that link there's going to be a tab that says group finder and you'll go there and then you can sign up for the group of your choosing it's very simple painless process and your information is not going out to a third party it is coming right here to the apc office so it's it's all being protected and really all you actually have to give is your first and last name in an email contact so that's all that you will need in order to sign up and

if you do have issues with online we will have available people that can connect you um and and do that process for you if you if you do have issues with uh you know if you're not tech savvy or whatever we're not going to force you to be tech savvy i do want to mention the why we're signing up why are we signing up well the bible does tell us to do things decently and in order and in order for our connect group leaders to be able to prepare adequately we want we wanted a sign up process connect groups is a new venture and ministry of apc it's one that we see becoming an inseparable part of our culture much like our sunday school our youth our women's and men's ministry they all had a start date and they are continuing they are continuing on year after year connect groups will now be a permanent fixture for us at apc and it is so so very exciting so as we seek to build strong connect groups ministry we want to give them every opportunity for success and one of the ways that we're doing that is we're heeding some wise advice and counsel from other pastors and leaders that have a vibrant small groups ministry and they have encouraged us to start small to start well god even talks about this in his word in zechariah 4 10 he says do not despise these small beginnings for the lord rejoices to see the work begin so small beginnings are not are not scary they're not wrong they're not bad we start small to start well

and so we recognize that eight connect groups is a small beginning for a church of our size but it is not our intention to stay small okay we do intend to grow we envision growth in this ministry we intend for the amount of available connect groups to increase in the spring semester semester and then to continue increasing with each subsequent semester so your involvement is going to be key in that growth if you're interested in hosting or leading the connect group please come talk to me or once you get in a connect group connect with your connect group leader and let them know that you're interested in hosting or leading because we need you we need more than eight groups to service a church of our size and so we need more hosts and more leaders so please come and talk to us and so in order to fulfill our connect group mission which is to build meaningful relationships for the purpose of discipleship we are structuring our groups to accommodate up to 12 adults so you can do the math with eight groups that means 96 people we have a roster of over 250 probably over 300 people in our church so we understand that this is not going to service everybody this first time around but again we're not despising the day of small things we're looking forward to growth and we're looking and we're envisioning that this will grow and that this will expand

and so this is why our sign up process is vital we need you to sign up so that we know that you have a place and if the group that you wanted to be a part of has 12 people we will have to close that group but we can try to find you another group to be a part of we do have one home that said they can accommodate up to 30 people which is awesome and for the sake of the discussion we'll break that down into smaller groups so that it's more manageable so we we do have a little bit over we have over 96 slots available but uh just understand that if maybe this time around your the group that you want to be a part of is not available to you again we are looking forward this is going to be with us for a long time and so there are other ways um there are ongoing ways for us to be able to connect some connect points i'll just mention a few ladies ministry has a monthly meeting on friday nights naomi and ruth's journey men's ministry meets monthly on saturdays our thrive singles has a monthly meeting or forever young they meet quarterly these are ways to connect our tuesday prayer meetings celebrate recovery grief share all of these ways are ways that we can connect and build meaningful relationships we do want you to be a part of a connect group and we will do what we can we already are making plans for expansion and growing and offering more groups in the spring but again through the advice and the wise counsel of other leaders that said start small and start well start it strong so that it can grow and it can become a vibrant ministry

and so i'm thankful for what god is doing thankful for what he has planned to do in our small groups and through our small groups and i'll invite you to stand tonight as we close there's a story in the old testament of a community of believers we know them as the nation of israel they were building a tabernacle god had instructed their leader to build a tabernacle a place for reconciliation and they had come together and they were to be building this tabernacle which was a place for reconciliation and they brought their gifts for the benefit of all in exodus 35 there was a need that was presented and it says that all the congregation they came everyone whose heart stirred him up and everyone who his spirit made willing and they gave of themself if they could do the work they volunteered if they owned the item that was needed they brought it in verse 29 says every man and woman who was eager to help brought their gifts and gave them freely to the lord and that is a pattern that is also repeated in acts chapter 2 where it says now all who believed were together and they had all things common and they sold their possessions and goods and they divided them among them all as anyone had need so we see it in the old testament and we see it in the new testament so i know that it's instructive for us in the 21st century church that god does the work of rex reconciliation through the church each member doing what they can do offering themselves to one another and when everybody is giving what they can give there's more than enough nobody has to over give and nobody has to deplete themselves because in the next chapter in 36 verse 5 it says they actually had to stop the people from giving because everybody was doing what they could i'm thankful to be a part of a community like that i believe i am a part of a community like that can we just lift our hands and thank him for his design and for his purpose lord i thank you for the relationships and the connections that have already happened here at apc and that are being developed and i pray that you would help us in this initiative as we move forward that you would help us to do your work to do your will we thank you lord we thank you jesus we thank you god hallelujah hallelujah