Key points
- 1
1God designed human beings for community — isolation is never His plan.
- 2
2Psalm 133 celebrates the beauty and blessing of living together in harmony, which God has placed in our DNA.
- 3
3The enemy actively wages war against community, twisting truth just enough to make us believe a lie — just as he did with Adam and Eve.
“Community takes imperfect messy people connected with each other who will never agree on everything but try hard to build each other up without knocking each other out”
- 4
4Lie #1 — 'I'm fine on my own.' Pride and self-protection keep us from the community we desperately need.
“himself. He will always present a false enemy to distract you from fighting himself”
“The longer you protect something, it keeps you away from the things that you need the most”
A story from life
Clayton's wife's rope injury and the band-aid analogy she offered about protection slowing healing
Illustration
Getting lost driving home by ignoring GPS — an analogy for shutting out the voices of community
- 5
5Lie #2 — 'Community shouldn't be a struggle.' Paul calls us not to grow weary of doing good, because struggle does not mean something is wrong.
“God's plan a has always been each other. It's always been to get us connected with people, but you will never experience God's plan a until you burn your plan b”
A story from life
Clayton's wife completing a half marathon in Sedona shortly after their fifth miscarriage
- 6
6Even Jesus — on the night before His crucifixion — stayed in community with His disciples, sharing His grief with the very people whose lives had gotten messy.
- 7
7If community costs you something, it is worth it — and God's Plan A has always been for us to be deeply connected with one another.
“we're there. Bro, we were there. But you don't feel community because you shut yourself out from the very people that can speak into it”
“Could it be that when you and I get connected with each other and build solid deep rooted relationships, that's actually when the rest of the world sees Christ magnified through us because it's what he intended from day one”
A story from life
Clayton shares about five miscarriages including the loss of Ember, and his own retreat experience where he had isolated himself from his community
A story from life
Clayton's senior trip to Jamaica where a friend was attacked by guard dogs on a drug lord's property
Application
Pastor Clayton calls every listener to reject two specific lies the enemy uses to keep us isolated: 'I'm fine on my own' and 'community shouldn't be a struggle.' The antidote is not simply trying harder at relationships — it is recognizing that God's Plan A has always been deep, costly, messy connection with other people, and choosing to stop protecting yourself from it. Practically, that means showing up — to a small group, a conversation at a coffee shop, or a gathering of people you aren't sure you fully trust yet — and staying even when it gets hard. As Clayton's own story illustrates, the community you need may already be around you; you just have to take the band-aid off and let people in. Share each other's burdens. Don't give up. If it costs you, it's worth it.
