Greater Community

Well, it's so good to see you all tonight. Uh we're we're continuing with greater community. I told the leadership team uh Saturday, I said, I don't know if you noticed it or not, but we know how to drive a topic home. Spend a whole month and and it and it helps, right? Uh spend a whole month on something and you really have to get to know it. Um last year we we spent a whole month we spent spent the whole year on um the tabernacle eklesia um teaching and preaching a whole month on a single topic. Um and we we we did it a little different but like I was talking to Bri earlier about it and she's she's working on some she's working on a book for next year.

uh she's taking her notes and things like that and we're going to try and publish just like we do a journal, we're going to try and publish that journal as a book. Um we'll see how that works and and like for the year and review, that sort of thing. Um she's working on that and I was like, you know, I was like, I don't know how I I really don't know what content she's getting out of this. I was like, but it's going to be really I just want you to know some months. I mean, like I got off in some bug dust on some things because I was spending like eight services at least on a single topic. I was like, I don't know if you know this or not. That's hard. That's really hard.

I know y'all were like, "Oh my lord." Like one in particular I really struggled with was the brazen the brazen altar or no uh the pool the pool the brazen labor the the where they washed they washed I spent I spent a month on the candlestick I was like oh my lord there's only like five verses on that in the whole Bible how do you dig that out but it was it it somehow or another some way God just was very kind and gracious and and I find that in dealing and digging into the word of We can read it once. We can give it a passing glance. We can go through it and each pass. It just just takes a little deeper, right? And it applies because it applies at a different point in our life of different um different circumstances.

Then we've got some knowledge and learning in our own life. Uh point of references. those things those kind those guide us and help us understand how to interact with the word. Uh it it kind of comes into a lifestyle choice. Is that is that fair in 2026 to to talk about lifestyle choices? Absolutely. Yeah. Like everyone this is my lifestyle. It's like, dude, you know, like when what's there? There there's somebody made a skit out of this uh in the 1970s. It's like if you don't work or if you don't go to college, you don't get a good job, you're going to wind up in a van living down by the creek. It's like 2026, if you work really hard, you save up a lot of money, you can afford a van, and you can live out by the creek, you know?

It's like, wait, what? Yeah, it it depends on the frame. Apparently 40 years makes a difference. I was like, what? A mobile home. Lifestyle choice. Uh we we look at that and we think of those that people people live their choices. Uh they live their values on their skin now, right? you um the way I walk, the way I talk, the way I dress, the color of my hair, that all has to do with me and all of those things. That's that's a lifestyle choice. Um my cousin and I were talking about farming. I don't know how many of your grandparents or great-grandparents grew up on a farm. A lot. No, some. Yeah. Like that was very common about a hundred years ago for everyone to live on some sort of farm.

I don't know about y'all, but my family as quick as humanly possible left the farm. Like as quick as it was like they turned 18, got out of high school and they're like I will do anything else. Uh, I mean, Stephven's family corn pone. I mean, and in in up in Indiana, I know you can't escape the corn fields in Indiana. Like, it's just you like you try and leave the farm and you're just it's a corn maze. So you're just still on the farm in that in that because I we were talking about that in the sense of we feel like farming is an immersive lifestyle. You can't halfway farm. I mean if you do it kind of shows if you're a halfway farmer your cows are wandering around in everyone else's yard. Your horses are gaunt and skinny.

Your corn's just kind of like the middle of the winter, you're like, "Oh, now I'm hungry and I wished I'd killed the hog and made some bacon, but you didn't. Halfway farming isn't it isn't an option. It's just an immersive lifestyle. There's honestly I couldn't think of anything else that compares to that." Uh now I mean is there is there a job that that you do that's considered that's an immersive job? Anyone have like a job that takes every part of your being not drains every part of you? Presley but that's immersive that you you wake up at 5:00 a.m. 4 a.m. milk the cow 6 pm cook breakfast. Go get the eggs.

cook the breakfast is what kind of like do does any does anyone not work from home live where you work though like work from home's different I work from home different different context here I am not immersed in that okay who that's right that's three of them. They get seven days on, seven days off, though. I'm going to take it away from him on that technicality because they've been to the beach four times. And him and I were talking about this is a funny joke. He was like, "Yes, we get to go. We get to go." They were so pumped because they they hadn't gotten to in some time. And so, uh, immersive. Seth, is VW immersive? No. Presley, you shook your head. teaching is immersive or is that a choice and it's all day? Is it a choice?

Because all the teachers I've met, they make choices that are I wouldn't make. So, I'm asking I'm asking I'm picking on teachers, too. Sister Jen Was it was teaching immersive? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. Well, never mind. You milk the cows. All right. So, teaching is the closest thing we have to an immersive farm life. Okay. That's fair. Okay. Checks out. All right. You have to Yeah. Well, I'm not going to talk about that. I am the one being recorded here so I'm not going to make any more comments. Uh it to me that then that I was wondering how to apply that immersive thought to life as a Christian, right?

Because the reality is now we have uh worlds different worlds that we live in and then when those worlds collide we start getting a little nervous because what story we tell this world that this story this world doesn't know. Everybody's everybody's palms start getting a little sweaty like what these people know. Yeah. Our world's kind of like, you know, our kids know us one way, our our friends know us one way, our grand our parents know us or our grandparents know us one way. And then the reality is then if they all collide, then we're oh. So we're the lives we live are not immersive lives. They're segregated as a as a sense. We we segregate our conversation, our topics by who we're talking to, how we do that, uh our verbiage, right?

I hope that you wouldn't talk to me the same way you would your classroom, Sister Jim. Cuz I would feel like scared. Scared. Like, all right, children. Like, it's just me and you. What are we doing? I did wear Just so y'all know, this is a handy dandy pen. I am a Christian. There we go. See, I knew y'all would get that. This is a handy dandy pen tonight. Okay. I'm trying to draw the picture though that immersive lifestyle then has to if if we can take that thought and we can apply it, right? Because I do believe that that that most of the Bible is trying to help us and in life as a Christian is trying to help us learn how to apply Christian attributes in every part of our life. Every part.

so that if someone walks in on one part, it's the same as if they walk in on another part. But the reality is that's that's a lot easier said than done. It's a lot easier to to talk about. And so I wanted to I wanted to start out this tonight with that thought. And since we're talking about ethics or not ethics, since we're talking about community, I wanted to talk a little bit about values, morals, and ethics. And I wanted I wanted to ask you guys something. If everyone operated, if everyone had the same values, morals, and ethics as I do, and you ask yourself this, would the world be a better place? Depends on your Well, that's exactly. But like for you, would it be a better place if it operated on on yours or all on Okay.

on this side of the house all in Sister Pam's. I think so. You think so? Would would everything would people get along better? It's like, well, if we're all the same, it would. It's like, okay, but if we were all the same arguments, like I said, I'm going to talk to this side of the room. If we're all the same, right? If the whole world was just like you, what wouldn't get done? Kylie, don't don't look at him. This is This is This just Just look in the mirror for a minute. Don't If the world was just like me, what wouldn't get done? If the world was just like you, what wouldn't get done? What? Some of us it would be the most orderly place and no fun would be allowed.

Some of us it would be the most fun place but everyone would starve to death. Yes, Seth. Yeah. The most fun place. The most fun place. Yeah. So then then we know our values, our morals and our ethics values. what do I hold dear? Morals, what do I believe is right? And ethics is what does the group expect. Uh if we look at this in reverse, a a group can have group ethics that are not solid to the individual to the core. Right? So Japan is a considered a very ethical place. They teach they teach them that there's a cop especially in Tokyo. There's a policeman on every corner. Um the kids are trained to if they find something uh that like someone lost to bring it to the to the policeman and they'll reward them for that.

Like it's just in that policeman checks on that neighborhood on the elderly. Like they're very orderly in that and it's it's very clean. It's very structured. Uh but in 2011 when Fukushima there was a issue happened at Fukushima. uh the nuclear plant like there was tsunami nuclear plant was all that was going down all the surveillance and all the cops and everyone left. Guess what happened? Chaos. People raided people's homes like looters went in and raided everything. So, so the ethics of that culture did not prevail down to the morality or the values of the individual. And so a lot of times we look at that well this is this is what it is in my opinion like ethics or rules don't matter.

It matters what I value and if we don't have the right values then we don't build the right community. So they they're trying to build it from top down instead of bottom up. Jesus is all about bottom up. He he says, you know, like if you if you think in your heart, you've done it. It's like, oh, that's rough. It's really hard. Uh the the Sanhedrin would argue with him. The uh the Jews of that day, they were really good at just arguing with him, arguing the law to him. And that's what they did. He's like, just but what's the heart of the matter? And they're like, they're like, we'll shut up. We'll be quiet. You're right. And then they crucified him because he did that too many times apparently.

So that that then starts that starts the question is when I start trying to build greater community. Uh where do I start with me? How do I know what is right? Because if my values are there, what good are they? Right? Because like you guys said, like you said, brother Jackie, no, brother Larry. I'm sorry. I get the J and the L. It messes me up. I'm so sorry. Like you said though, uh the depends on what my values were. Well, I could value I could be greed greedy and the value that I have on that is in Well, that's not a good value to have. Uh, anybody have can you go can you go with me in your Bibles and and we'll do round robin on this. I want to start with Galatians.

Uh, I'm going to read several verses there because it is it it deals with this and you guys will understand where I'm talking where I'm going with this. Uh, I don't want to spend the whole lesson on this tonight, but I do want us to to we probably should reference the Bible. It's just a thought. Galatians 5 and13. We're gonna talk about the fruits of the fruits of the spirit. Look at those ethics kicking in. Galatians 5 and 13. And we'll go through verse 26. So we'll go through the end of the chapter, I believe. Anybody want to start us out? Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty. Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but to love serve by love serve one another. But by love serve one another. I think that's a cornerstone.

I wanted to start there because that's the cornerstone for the rest of the rest of that p for the rest of this passage. We're going to read through 14. For all the law fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if you are always Yeah. But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out. Beware. All right. Verse 16. I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Verse 17. For the flesh lust against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. Yeah. Verse 18, I apologize. You are not under the law. Verse 19.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, emulations, heresies. All right. 21. All right, I'm going to I'm going to read those in the ESV real quick because King James version uses some like language. It's some it's it's just some, you know, you got to translate it like four times through like four centuries to get to where we're at right now. Uh it the works of the flesh verse 19. Now the works of flesh were evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. So essentially, the works of the flesh.

All right. Verse 22. gentleness, goodness, faith, gentleness, selfcontrol. Against such things there is no law. Oh, look at that. Against such things there is no law. All right, verse 24. We'll we'll go ahead and finish it out. 25. Uhhuh. Those are pretty that's a pretty broad swath that that Paul here he's writing to the Galatians. He's just like hey get that out of here. You know, it's like uh he said, "But do these things. Have the have have the fruits of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." Those against such thing there is no law. Also, you could write behind beside that against and in such things there is no fun.

If you're could I mean I'm just saying like if that's if you're looking at this from a humanity standpoint of view, right? All of the all of the works of the flesh up here, guys. All of those, they're like self- advertisers. They do not need a salesman to sell them. The the fastest growing uh rate of addiction among young men is now online gambling. Yeah, it doesn't need I mean now they will if you're if you're between the ages of like 18 and and like 35, you probably get the the ads the targeted ads as a male. You probably get those couch you can bet on. It's a whole thing. It's a whole thing and you can bet on anything now. And so it's it's gambling. It it our our our women they've our poor girls have been eat up with social media.

2007 you can watch on a chart when social media came to a to a phone. Okay. Social media was invented. You can you can see on a graph the divide between the political views and the sexes. And it was correl it is correlation and I would say it's causation tied together in that instance of of how we view things and what we view and how we start to view ourselves starts then changing how we interact. There's a lot of a lot of phrases in there but you with me. It starts in those things the the works of the flesh. They don't have to be advertised. It's easy to have find something to fight with someone about. It's hard to find something to love somebody about sometimes. It's uh it's easy to have rivalries and enmity and strife.

It's easy to make idolatry out of something, make an idol out of something, but it's hard to find peace and patience and kindness. Ain't no fun in that. What do you mean? Now, there is. It just takes a little longer. So think about in greater community, we're we're we're focused on greater community. How do we how do we know those things? Those are truths about humanity. And yet, how do we build community that promotes the things of God? Um part of that is we have to find it in ourselves, right? First, we have to we have to acknowledge these things are real. And then we have to understand there's also ways not to do that. There's there's fruits that we can bear that are good.

I I believe this is that as we bear those things that people will see it. They're like, you know, that's not the chaos that I grew up in that ruined my that all that stuff that I I was trying to get away from. That's not that. What is that? How did I get that? Why is that person nice to me? They don't know me. Why are they why you know why when would they m you know public interacting with the public? God only knows, right? But why when somebody's mouthing the cash register gives you you're at the cash register and the person in front of you is just chewing out that person. You're like, "Oh my lord. I wish I could help them. Right? You you ever seen that? Usually I can't believe somebody would talk to somebody that way. You know what?

I hope you want to hug that the person working the cash register after that. I hope you want to. And I hope you find a way to apologize for that person, not because you did it, but because there's gentleness and kindness coming out of you as a fruit. Those are good things to to build a to build a community by. And I want to I want to ask you some questions here. Uh and and the first one is are you currently active in a local church? Uh and so in your local church, you know, are you currently active? Now that one you answer to yourself, that's an easy yes or a no. See? Okay. But then I want to ask you and I need some feedback on this. What do you feel is the greatest need in this area?

And I want to say in the greater Chattanooga area, in the in this community, what somebody got a thought, what do you feel like the greatest need is Jesus? Well, all right, then. Okay. All right. So, let's dig a little deeper. I think it's probably skewed just based off of my demographics and the demographics I'm looking opening day. Okay. But when parents reach out to me from the community, I would say 80% moving in from another area, don't have family close by, and looking for some ways. I would say connection. Okay, that's fair. All right. What about it? may not be what you're fishing for. I'm not fish I'm not fishing for anything. This is an open-ended question. Just plain and simple. Honesty across the honesty. Just honesty. Yeah.

You know, yeah, that's fair. Okay. What' you say? Okay. A lot of people the community in the south. I think a lot of churches and some people have skewed perspective on church overall church and really go Yeah. To be real, not trying to put on. Okay. How real are you going to be with them? I'm just a question here. I'm being a little bit of a devil's advocate with this. You forgot deodorant today, didn't you? No, I think just I think the attitude of acting now. So handing them a stick of deodorant is probably not what we should do. Okay. Right. I mean, that would be like that in action. You probably won't need this. I think it's a fear everybody go into a church and they feel like I'm not all that. Yeah. What if they're not acting?

It's a joke. It was a joke. Yeah. I hope. Yeah. Yeah. But that's for me. I'm with you. I got you. So, we got honesty, authenticity, connection. All right. What else? Seen. Okay. Sometimes even if you can't help somebody, just saying like I see you and you know I for you. You know, I can pray for you. I may not be able to fix your situation, but know that I do care with you. And then, you know, resources or whatever, but people just, you know, you walk by people and people struggling, they're going through even if someone's having a hard time, you know, chivalry is dead. That's fair. walking out of the store with bags and just you know things like that.

So I think people really if you let them know it's like the god who sees you know it's not the god who sees you know I think some people really seen all right so connect I I was thinking I was like so if somebody had a stalker with binoculars would they feel better or worse like I don't know at least I'm see Lauren said for me to stop making jokes So, so being seen and being dissected are different though. Oh, that's fair. That's fair. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I'm just I'm just making jokes here. So, yeah. Yes, sir. I believe a lot of what I've learned Yeah. Okay. sit around the circle and talk. Yeah. Quite often people will not mention what they're going through. Yeah. So a lot of times it's open. No judgment here. Nobody sizing you up.

Nobody trying to help. Yeah. I think that you see a lot of that as a community. And this church as a whole is broken down with a lot of outside people. It's not like we're all just next to Yeah. You know, so you got a lot more. Yeah. Okay. What else? What else do people What What's the greatest need in this area in your opinions? Sounds simple probably, but genuine love. I feel like one of the biggest issues we have is I think do more God, but they think that they have to settle on a to-do list before they can get to him. Yeah. And so I think showing them genuine love and saying, "Hey, you don't have to mark everything off this checklist to find a relationship. He's here.

You just have to accept him." And I think we live around a lot of people who a lot of conversations run into public that I feel like I have done too much or that I have to figure out before I can get there. So genuinely loving them and mirroring that I think to do. Okay. All right. So we've got connection, honesty, authenticity, uh being seen, being heard, and being genuinely loved. Okay. All right. In that, is there anything else? Is there even just named all of that? I did. I did. But that's hard to just say just yell at someone, right? Like Jesus is like, "Oh, okay." Right. I mean, it's not in a church setting, but in the mall sometimes it may not be appropriate. It might be. I don't know. We've been in the mall. What's appropriate?

I don't know. Uh in that. All right. So that's the greatest need. So I'm going to ask this now and some of you may you may may re reiterate this, some of you kind of hit on this a little bit, but why do you think most people do not attend church? So and and it may play off some of these answers, but why do you why would most people not attend that do not attend? Why why would they not? Okay. That's fair. Yeah, that's good. That's a good thought. They need to put on a facade before they're ready. That's fair. Yeah, I I've heard that quite a bit. When I get this right, I'll go. So, how you going to get right? I don't know. Okay. Well, I don't know how I'm just picking at that. But I'm with you. Um, what else? Judged.

It's funny that no churches like you can find a million church names but none of them to judge. That's true. It's hard to be Yeah. Nowhere encourages that that I know of. Yeah. I mean you Yes, sir. I was listening just a funny video but really it's kind of true guy over he wasn't going there there is that Yeah. Yeah. I'm just This is too fun or this is too this it's too easy this way. Yeah. He's like I was just trying to fix the AC unit. Like what happened? Okay. Um All right. So then I'm I turn this. Why do you think most people attend a church? So Ryan, to those that uh attend that do attend, why originally it wasn't to my wife. So your wife your wife made you. That's what I just heard. That's what I heard. Okay. God's all his fault.

But that's not who he is. Okay. The biggest push Anybody's searching for something new. Yeah, that's fair. Back row's been real real talkative tonight. Deep thinkers. Something's deep. Yeah. Yeah, that's fair. Yes, sir. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, that's fair. Okay. Well, then some of this I I'm going to this if you were looking for a church, what kind of things would you look for? And some of you probably have already stated that, but like personally, right, if you weren't if you were looking for a church, what would you look for? Yes, ma'am. Passion. So, no jokes. No. She said no jokes. I got a good joke. I was like I was like, "So, you got to have the Passion of the Christ plan on every TV when you walk in." I'm with you. Passion. All right.

Love. Love. All right. Who said that? What most people look for when they go to a church. Are they teaching what I believe. Okay. Not necessarily what the word of God is. Okay. But they're teaching what I believe. Yeah. And that's what I want to hear is what I believe. And that's where we got to put that aside and want to really hear What the word God said. That's fair. Yeah. Seth engagement. I thought you were married. Home one tonight. I I started drinking too. I put the coffee away. Put the coffee away. Uh yes, sir. me I can be and I would my authentic self meaning I can't always worship God when I'm working praise him yeah that's fair yes sir you You had you had something. people that are my age. Yeah, that's fair.

Often Yeah, I'm not going to make any more comments than that. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done with that. I'm gonna get myself in trouble in in this. So, what I what I've noticed and you guys probably noticed as we're going around the room, um, some of some of the needs of what do people need most? It revealed they revealed themselves either by what you were doing, right? So, you're doing something and because you saw the need or you were doing something and saw the need. Does that make sense? So like Tim for CR very very easy example you may not have truly known how much people needed to be heard until you worked in that and so now you're way more familiar with the need. You talked about the need for connection.

We can we can say everyone needs to be connected all day but now that you're seeing that on a day-to-day basis becomes more real. I would also turn this just a little bit. A lot of times what we see is what we need. Not all the time, but a lot of the times. And so I would turn this to us tonight as I'm coming to an end with this. If if we keep seeing something, one, we may need it. Two, it may be because God's trying to get us to see it. Okay? And whatever that is, if it's if it's authenticity, if it's connection, if it's if it's sinceress, if it's love, right, very very simply, and you guys you guys have to know this, love is the motive. Love is why. There's a church in town that's that's got that they just they just coined that term.

They didn't they just took it and put it on everyone's bumper sticker and they killed it with it. Like if y'all haven't seen the one in Udaw, love is wine, man. They just everywhere. They saturated the whole town with that. But John John 3:16 so easily for God so loved the world. He started with love and then became truth and then became the connection and then became the I am. He be he was the I am. Right? He started with love. If if I can if I can end with this tonight, if we will start with love and then we see those needs, we'll be motivated not by ourselves but by the need because it's in compass compassion. John uh very simply Jesus and it's easy for us to give Jesus a copout but he was fully God and fully man.

Matthew 14 finds finds John the Baptist. This was Jesus's cousin. Okay, it was he finds him getting beheaded. And we find in John, this is where the scripture that Jesus wept comes from. Like the one everyone knows because it was the shortest memory verse to memorize growing up, right? This is where he actually wept. Wrong context. I'm so sorry that was about Lazarus. I'm sorry. I lied. Matthew Matthew 14 though. Caught myself there. That was close. Caught myself. Uh Matthew 14, Jesus's cousin died, gets beheaded. John the Baptist gets beheaded and and it goes into he said he went ashore. He saw a great comp crowd and had compassion on them.

But before that, before the crowd followed him there, verse 13 says, "Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. He said, I want to be by myself. Leave me alone." He took a boat. It's like, "I'm going on a cruise. Leave me alone. I ain't doing church. Send apostolic at sea. Leave me alone." Like, please leave me alone. And they followed him. and he still had compassion on him. He didn't get any days off. He still had compassion. Personally, when we're building a community to have greater community, right? We're building community, guys, from the ground up, we have to be motivated by love, through and through. And when we do that, we will be our real genuine, authentic selves.

We'll be our we'll be honest and truthful. We'll be the connector for someone else. We'll be the we'll be what people need when they need it. That's that when Jesus said, "I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life." He was being the I am. He empowers us to be that, too. To be the connector for people. And when we do that as a church body, we've seen that in a programmatic standpoint. Okay? And we want to we want whatever it is, we want to do it in a sustainable manner. Celebrate recovery going on four years now. Incredible. We're just we're just getting off the ground with parents day out. We've got other programs, but that's they're not programs. They're they're love in action.

They're they're they're us putting putting structure to humanity's compassion. I I'll encourage you of this. Have it individually and then collectively. How can I be this day in and day out for others? But then how can we as a body serve the needs of our community? In that we will see more people saved, more people baptized. All these things we'll see more lives and families restored than anything we can imagine. The revival starts with love. Would you stand with me? Thank you for standing. Jesus, we love you. God, I thank you Lord so much for your goodness, your mercy. God for your grace and your kindness. God, I pray Lord tonight Lord that you would let your hand to be upon us.

God, I pray Lord help us to build a greater community a piece at a time, a step at a time, but let it start internally with us. God, let it start inside and work out. God, I pray Lord that you would allow us to be moved with bows of compassion. God. Jesus, help us, God, to see the hurt and the lost and the dying and God, to to reach them where they are, to pull them out of the muck and the mire that they're in. God, I pray, Lord, that you would help us, God, as a people, as a body, God, to act with the heartbeat of Christ. God, I pray, Lord, that you would help us. You would guide us and you would direct us, God. I thank you, Lord. I praise you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. I'll see you guys in the sanctuary for worship.