We Are Rock Point | Part 2

And and in extension when you say what does it mean to be a church, you realize we kind of separate. When you say what does it mean to be a church, you're really saying what does it mean to be a Christian?

What does it mean to be the body of Christ? And and and and what does that look like? And and and last week we opened up with the beginning of it is the first thing it means is that God intended life to be about the journey, not the destination.

And that journey is a journey of getting to know Jesus. Getting to know our Lord. Getting to know God in a in a deep abiding way in a relationship.

And that was the first step. And that's why a lot of people got baptized. They put their faith in Jesus or chose to, hey, I'm gonna declare this relationship of grace that God loves me in my life.

But that's not where it stops. To continue on this journey, what I wanna talk about today is this idea that we weren't meant to go on this journey alone. We weren't meant to to to, know, Christianity is is a team sport kind of thing. We're meant to go on this journey through life in community.

And I was really reminded of this when I was on my road trip because one of the stops we had, I have a picture here. I stopped in and there's a that's a giant redwood tree. That's over in Chandler somewhere I think. No.

And you can see I'm I'm actually standing these things are that's just a common one. That wasn't even one of the bigger ones. We just pulled off the side of the road and I jumped on that one to get a picture. And these are huge trees and they've been around since like, know, those tree that tree was probably there when

George Washington was fighting the American Revolution. I mean, things live a long time and they're strong, they're huge and you'd think, wow, to be that strong and that stable, they must just have the biggest deepest roots ever. They don't have big roots. I'm standing on root there. That's what I'm standing on. But they they don't really go that deep.

So so you wonder how do these giant redwoods make it through storms, the high winds, and the and the struggles. And the reality is is how they do it is their roots don't go deep, they travel out far and they intertwine with the with the the trees around them. And and how they survive is as a community.

They survive by intertwining and being interrelated and connected to one another. And that's how they make it. That's why you will rarely if ever drive out down where these trees are and go through an open meadow and go, hey, look at that giant solitary redwood sitting out in the middle of that field. It doesn't happen.

They survive by being linked together. And that's really what God intends for his church, for us. We are meant to be in community.

And matter of fact, the big idea I just wanna unpackage for a few minutes is simply this. We are rock point when we grow in biblical community. In other words, we are not rock point when we just sit in rows. We are rock point when we sit in circles.

We need to be in circles not just rows. Now don't get me wrong. This environment is important. This is the time where we worship together. We celebrate together. We get we get taught the word of God by a highly engaging charismatic good looking pastor. I mean, this is the time when we have a good I'm I'm joking by the way.

But this is this this moment. This is an essential part of that journey. But this isn't it. And you're really not living out. You're not a part of a church. You're not being the body of Christ. You're not really living the life and going on the journey the way God intended if you don't have a circle of people that you are doing life with in what's called biblical community.

And and and we often think, I'll I'll do that if I have time. We think of community as optional. Community is not optional. It is mission critical. And it's critical for us. Matter of fact, I wanna read a passage to you. Remind me not to put my bible there. It'll smell of coffee.

But in Philippians chapter one starting in verse 27, it says this, above all, it's Paul talking to this church in Philippi, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the good news about Christ. So live as you go on this journey,

live together. Live out the faith. Because look what he says this, then whether I see you again or only hear about you, I will know. So he says, you're living out this mission, if you're living out and conducting ourselves the way God intended us to be, he goes, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose. You're interconnected.

But then look what he says, fighting together for the faith which is the good news. Don't be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they're gonna be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved even by God himself.

So that that's kind of a it doesn't sound like an optional thing. He's saying if you're gonna live out this journey and be who I've called you to be, you're gonna have to stand together. You're gonna have to intertwine. You're gonna have to have roots. You're gonna have to be united in the mission and purpose. Meaning a church, being a Christian is not about finding a place where you can go on your own little spiritual journey and quest and have this this spiritual moment and become a better person. That you on the way we become better people. On the way we have our personal quest. But that's not what it's about. It's not just about me. We are to be united

because there is an enemy

that wants to destroy us. It's talking about a spiritual enemy. There there is an enemy of God that just doesn't want us to go where God wants us to go. And matter of fact, he loves the idea of you coming to church and only sitting in a row. Because then you'll go on your own little private spiritual quest and never get where God wants to go because he says when we unite together and have real community, that destroys the enemy.

He'd rather us stand alone because then we feel like we're being spiritual, but we're not really getting anywhere. And if you reverse engineer that comment, if us uniting in community destroys the enemy, what happens if we try to stand alone? We lose. We lose. Biblical community is not an optional thing

that if my life gets less scheduled, less busy, I can do. It is a life and death critical matter. It really is. So so if if if that's true, if I'm gonna believe that, why do we struggle with it so much? Why does a church like Rock Point, which is actually considered one of the strongest in the country for doing this,

has about 40% of our adult attendance in community. 40%. That's considered massively successful. The average church has 20%. 80% of the people just sit in a row. And that's it. They come to church. We are double the average. So we're woo, we're great. But I don't know about you, but if you took a test and got 40%,

last I checked, well, I was in was an F. Who knows? Might be a b minus now. I'm not sure. But but it used to be F. Could you imagine? It's like, and that's considered good. So if it really is critical, if it really is, we will be destroyed if we stand alone. If it really is, if we don't unite and have community and get intertwined, we can't really be the unstoppable force. We can't really go where God wants both personally and corporately. We'll never get where we need to be.

Why does six out of 10 even in this church stay outside of it? It's interesting. I think I have a little bit of an answer because I struggle with the the the same things. I think there's a reason why we struggle. I why many of us just feel like I don't need it,

or I don't have the time, or I just can't seem to fit it. And a lot of reason we don't fit is because there's two things. I think it has to do with our communications

and technologies and things that have changed in the last generation. It's it's radically switched even the way we think about real community. Think we think about friendships. And the truth is, we have what I call a lot of false community, but that false community still takes our physical emotional energy.

And so it feels like we have a lot of plate spinning. And a lot of us the reason why we don't want to make the time to find real community is, we feel like I need another friend like I need a hammer up the side of the head. And for some of us feel like, I think I want less people in my life

because we have so many things. The problem is what we count as community is not the kind of community we need. And what I mean by that, there's two things. We have a struggle with images versus presences, and an individualism versus communal idea of how we communicate,

how we operate, and it's changed so radically. It's changing the way our brains think about this. And then it's influencing the way we come to church and try to live out what God says, this is the journey.

But we don't get it because we we've been fed and taught such a different way. What do I mean by that? Images versus presences. When I was a kid, this is one of those services like I become the old guy. Back in my day, back in my day, area codes meant something when you called somebody.

Most of you, if you're younger, you're like it's just irritated three other numbers you gotta punch in. But back in my day, if you if you remember, if you called another area code, what did that do to your phone bill? It

went up. And here's the thing, it wasn't like you had to call another country. The Phoenix area had multiple area codes. And and so if a friend moved to even just twenty minutes away,

it got expensive to call them. When I was in high school, I was in a long distance relationship. I know that it bothered my dad because the phone bill was ridiculous. And that that girlfriend I had lived all the way in Fountain Hills. We went to the same school.

But it's twenty minutes away, different area code. So if I talked to her for an hour, that's like a seven dollar phone call back then. And so what so if if that's true and the only thing he had is phone or a letter, what happened when a friend moved away even just twenty minutes away? They faded.

You might hook, you know, see them every now and again, hang out, but it just kinda drifted and you ended up and you would say, now that's my best friend for life, but you got a new best friend, didn't you? But now it's changed. We can call anywhere. We have FaceTime. You can actually see the person.

We have social media. We can stay really engaged with people that don't even live near us. And and but the only problem with that is we have the images and their words. But you know what you don't have? They're not fully physically present in your life. And as much as we wanna think that that's the same, it's not.

Because there comes a time when there's problems happening that you can't do anything about. You can't be there for each other unless you're physically present. And you know that because I've been reading all the blogs and all this stuff. People on on on the on the Facebook and stuff are getting so mad. I I read that with all the turmoil in the world that that people are starting to reject and saying, hey, if I read one more thing about a problem going on and someone just does the sad face emoji or says I'm praying about it, I'm so done with you. Acting like, if you if that's if all you're gonna do is say you're gonna pray in sad face emoji, I'm done with you. If you are far away from them and something happens,

what else can you do?

Need to be physically present for real community to happen. Matter of fact, Jesus proved this. When he wanted to help guide us in life, he didn't just send us the ultimate tweet. This is not his Facebook manifesto. This is not his version of that I'm fed up video while he's sitting in a car.

This came after he did something else. What was that? Physically incarnated as God became a man and dwelt amongst us. So the problem is we have this pseudo community that really can't do what it needs to, but it takes our time, it takes our energy, it drains us emotionally, And we get into all of this stuff,

and then we don't have anything left in the tank for what we really need.

And it affects us. The second thing that affects us with that is not just the images for those present, is the idea that we've become much more individualized even in the way we communicate, even in the way we make choices, even the way we do stuff. I mean, we've always been America,

know, but the reality is this. We're more less communal than we ever were. We don't even understand this idea of a communal experience as much anymore. For for example, back in my day, if you liked a song from a band, how did you get that song? You had to buy the whole album. And

if you went to a concert, you sat through the whole thing and you heard the two songs you liked. The reason you stayed is you got the t shirt, you're with your friends, it's a community experience. People come and go and they don't care and and and now you can just buy every song you want, put together your ultimate song list, you don't have to deal with the other stuff, you don't have to worry about it, you don't have to do anything with that.

I'm telling you, you could do back in my day. You could make a mix tape. And if a guy, ladies, if a guy made you a mix tape, you knew he was desperately in love with you. Because it took him twelve hundred hours to make that.

But now it's like you can just grab this song and that song and you can do the same thing. You can do it all over the place. You can you can On Google News,

we've even learned that how we get news and how we find out what's going on in the world, they have these little snippets. So I could sit there in a matter of thirty seconds, oh disaster happened, thousands dead. What's going on in sports? Who cares where LeBron James is going? You know what's happening here? You know what's going on over here? And and you could pick and choose and get it really quick. We have lost the ability to have any sustained attention on anything.

So we go to the next crisis from one to the next and we get all Facebook frenzied over it and act like we're all emotionally invested, but we're not physically present to do anything about it. But man, we're spent. We're spent because we're not really there.

And we haven't learned how to do it. Matter of they they they did a when it comes to even the way we relate to people, they they they it's not so much with movie stars, we kind of know they're weird. But but the idea of like a blogger that you really like, they connect to you.

People are now can't even differentiate between the friendship they feel like they have with them and the friendship with the person that's actually physically in their life.

And and they did a study. There was a recently New York Times just a study. There was a blogger that that she was well known for being really like light positive things about parenting and marriage. And everyone loved her stuff. Massive watch, she got a big accident not too long ago. And within two weeks,

her followers had sent over a $100,000. So you're thinking, Deville, that's that's going against what you said. There's community happening. Really? Because when they sent the New York Times went out and interviewed these people that sent money.

They said, hey, can you explain to us what made you feel comfortable sending money to a person you don't really know? And the writer used this particular word for said, everyone responded the same way that they asked this question. It says they snorted. That's a weird word to use, snort. Have you ever seen someone snort?

I mean, when do you ever snort? If you're about to laugh or if you're aghast or you're vexed. He described them snorting because they acted really again, they were they were like like, how is that guy doing that? Is snot going down his throat? What's happening? To snort means you were taken aback. Like

they were actually offended by the question like, how dare you ask that? What do you mean? Everyone of them said, she's my friend. Never met her. Then they interviewed her sister.

And her sister said, you know, she has a decent marriage. Her kids are cool and all, but but she purposely chose to say there's enough negativity in the world. I'm only gonna share the positive things about my life on this blog. Never shared one negative thing. I know all the part. They had this problem, they had this, they went to counseling once, and they're talking about the issues they had. Who really knew her?

That changes our brain chemistry. And then you get the idea that we can like be more we we we wanna individualize anything like life is a cafeteria and then we take that into our friendships. We pick and choose. Matter of fact, think you can just get any music now you want but they have noticed this classical musicians.

We're not talking rock stars, we're not talking think classical musicians. You know, have you ever been to a classical music? What was it? A concert? I guess it's still the same word. I don't know. I'm not highfalutin'.

I'm gonna go to the whatever, you know, and I don't know how they talk. But but but they they they come and they've noticed in the last few years, they're complaining that they said, you know, when you went to that, there was a cultural experience, community. You got there, you waited, you had it, you went in when they told you to, you stayed the whole time. They are now noticing that even at these classical concerts,

people are there's usually the first piece, the second piece, the third piece, and a lot of times they put their most popular thing in the middle. And and what's happening is since we're so used to just getting only what we want and leaving the rest out, people are coming to classical musical concerts skipping the first piece,

staying for the second, and getting up and leaving during the third. You know what? They're back in the day, the only people that did that was Dodger fans.

You laugh because you've been to a Dodger game. I mean, it it it does save me. If you're there the first three innings, you think, wow, the Dodgers don't have a fan base anymore. By the fourth inning, it's packed. By the eighth inning, they're cleared out because they wanna beat the traffic. That used to be the only way he did it. Now classical music concerts, people are like, I don't really want that part. I just want that. Now I'm done. Let's get out of here.

It's affecting us. We have false community and we have this really individualized idea of how how life should be for me. And then we come to church and we try to pick and choose.

And then you wonder why you'd be sporadic in your attendance. You wonder why you keep coming, you go it was fun, but it hasn't really helped me in my life too much. We need real community.

So what does that look like? What does that look like? I wanna go, if you go back a few pages from Philippians in the letter of Galatians, to this letter to this church in Galatia. I just wanna read a couple verses.

And and in here, these two these couple verses I'm gonna read and teach you, there are four elements here that describes community

that I'm gonna point out to you. And and and really, these are the four things that describe what biblical community is. It's not just getting some friends, it goes deeper than that. We need to have these four elements in our lives. We need them and we need to be them. And

what I'm gonna challenge you to do, if you're already in community, don't just check out, I get the a, I'm done with the test, I can stop. I want you to take this as a litmus test and evaluate your current community.

Especially if you're in one of our small groups. And what I'd love for you guys to do is this week, maybe reflect on this and talk to each other and say, how are we doing at these four?

And it might open a conversation and go, you know, we're really great at them or we're not or this one we're not so good at. And then talk about why are we not so good at this? Maybe we should do something about that.

So here we go. Let me read these verses. Galatians chapter six starts off with this. Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back into the onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.

Share each other's burdens and in this way obey the law of Christ. In those two sentences, there's four principles going on here. Four things that I think we need to have. And the first one can be seen when it says, if someone's overcome, you are godly should gently and humbly help.

That gently and humbly help the person. The first thing is, how can someone know you're caught and you're in a danger and you need help if they don't know you? See see, you can't have somebody come to you and try to help you out of the trap you're in if they don't know you.

And see a lot of people come to church and we just sit in the row all the time. Never get involved deeper. And then you're struggling and no one helps you and you say, man this church is terrible. I gotta go find a new row to sit in. And the problem is you're never gonna get help in a row. You gotta be in a circle. People gotta know you. So the first principle is I need to be known To really really be on this journey, to make it, to survive the enemy, to be able to really experience life at the level God wants me to experience at, I have to be someone who's willing to be known. And and what do I mean by that? It says here, real about myself and honest about where I am. But the struggle we have is the one place we act the fakest is the place we should be the realest. And that's church because we come in and we're like, I'm embarrassed. I don't want people to know who I really am. We're afraid of being rejected.

We we have all these issues so we put on our our church game face. And we we come in here and act a certain way. And that's why sometimes we avoid community because I'm like, I don't want people to really know my struggles. I don't want them to know my problem. I I because you're afraid they won't be gentle. They won't be humble. You think you're gonna be judged and pushed away and whatever reason. And sometimes we just we don't want to realize we have a problem. So we hide and we hide in plain sight. Let

me help you understand this.

Back when I was a youth pastor and just newly married, I I took a couple high school students who are baseball players and I just finished my baseball college career a couple years before. So so we we went to the batting cages because that's what guys do to grow together. They do stuff. So we we we went and I'm gonna mentor these guys, you know. So we're in there and I'm hitting. And while I'm hitting, I went in there and I took my helmet off because the helmet they gave me fit horribly and it smelled like the last person who used it died while wearing it. And and it smelled like a mix of kitty litter and wet dog. It's weird. It was two smells you don't want together. And and so I wouldn't wear it. And all of sudden he walks this little eight nine year old boy starts watching us. He's looking at me, he starts getting closer and closer and I automatically assumed he's impressed with my hitting skills. So I'm like, hey, how you doing? What's up? As I stopped for a minute he goes, hey,

you're not wearing a helmet. I go, yeah, I I know. I don't I don't need one. Yeah, you do. No, I don't. Yeah, you do. He was and he pointed the sign. He says, can't be in the cage without a helmet. He goes, you're breaking the rule, which I was. I didn't want him to point out. Now maybe he wasn't being very gentle.

He might have been humble, but I still didn't like that he was pointing out that I was in the wrong. I was violent. So I did the typical thing. I didn't wanna really be known. I didn't wanna deal with the problem. I wanted to be left alone. So I said, no, I can do this. No, you can't. Yeah, I can't. No, you can't. Now I'm arguing with an eight year old. And I said, you know what?

I don't have to wear a helmet. Because they have an unwritten rule here that says, if you've ever played in the major leagues, you don't have to wear a helmet. I never played in the major leagues by the way. And he goes, you? And I go, yeah. He goes, yeah. Right. And he walks away.

And now now in that moment, I I wasn't known. I wasn't real. I wasn't honest. I didn't wanna be helped with my issue. I didn't wanna be made aware that I was doing something I shouldn't be doing. So I just I just made something up and pushed him away. Doesn't seem like that big of a deal. He walked away, looked at two high scores are laughing. And we had this moment, felt a little bad but you know, it's just in jest, it's no big deal. Done with it. Few minutes later, I'm batting again and all a sudden you see him start scooting back closer again.

And this time he looks like the look on his face was, maybe he really is. And these two high schoolers who I'm there to mentor picked up on that. So as he got closer, they started playing into the game with me.

And they started, I hit a ball well and they go, man, that looks like that home run you hit against Detroit back in 1990. And so this kid's like, and we're laughing and I think it's funny, but I felt a little bad. I'm not really being honest. I'm not being real. I'm letting him believe something about me that's not true.

I should probably say something.

And I thought maybe I should, but you know it's kind of embarrassed. He'll get he'll feel dumb and I'll feel bad. Maybe I should. So when I finally turned, he was gone. So I'm like, okay. Alright. That wasn't the greatest thing to do. I looked at these guys, guys, it was fun, but he knows it probably wasn't the best thing to do. I don't know. But we're done. Alright? So I thought I'm over. We start to walk out to leave. We're going out towards the parking lot,

and all of a sudden this car goes pulls up. You see someone rustling around inside it. The door opens and out pops this kid with a piece of paper and a pen. And he's running up to me. Hey mister, can I have your autograph?

Now right then I'm thinking, this is a good time to be real and honest. But now I've gone this far in and it's getting worse. It's getting it's like I feel more ashamed. I go, how could I possibly tell him now? I I really but you know what? He's gonna be so disappointed. He's gonna be so lame. I I should probably tell him and right I go, okay, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. And right as I was about to do it, this person walks up. It's his mom.

She parked the car and walked up right as I was about to tell him. And she goes, you know what? Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you so much. The other Major League Baseball player that gives lessons here, the guy who actually was a Major League Baseball player, he's mean.

And you've talked to my son. So so thank you that you're willing to talk to him. And then I was like, I should tell her take the slap and be done with it. And right as I go on, okay, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna be honest. I'm gonna be real. I'm gonna be known. Right as I said, she grabbed me and hugged me. And

as she hugged me, she said, thank you for being a role model for my son. So she's showing me love and grace and acceptance. But do you think that helped me?

It didn't do anything. It made me feel worse that she's hugging me and accepting me because I for something I'm not really am, that didn't make me feel better. It made me feel worse. Because as I'm looking over her shoulder, I see the two high schoolers I'm supposed to be mentoring. They've let the guy who runs the batting cages in on it, and they're standing over there laughing hysterical.

One of them's on the ground. So I'm like not only does this not make me feel good, I came here to mentor them. And all I've shown them is pretend like you're something you're not and fool everybody. And

so I'm sitting here going, what am I gonna do? And so she lets go. She goes like, you're really young. You said you used to play. Don't you still play? And I go, no. I only played for a little while because I said tell her and I just couldn't do it. So I finally went all in.

And I said, nope. I put it in my knee scars and I said I had knee surgery. It affected my career. And I then I said everything I said, gave her all these stats for two years and all they were, they were exactly accurate. That's why I could lie like there's no tomorrow because I knew every one of them because I gave her everything I did in college and I just made it major leagues.

So then I'm still feeling bad as I'm doing it. I can't believe I'm hiding. I can't believe I'm doing this. So her love and encouragement and support and all that is not helping me. It makes me feel worse. And I think maybe,

maybe I should be real. Maybe I should be honest. Maybe I should let her be known. But now I'm so far in, this is gonna hurt so badly to say it that I can't help it. And then finally, he's like, I gotta get out of this. I just gotta get out of this. Instead of just being real, She finally goes, hey, well, can you sign the autograph? She goes, what's your name?

I'm like, god darn it. Did they ask my name? And they didn't wanna tell her my real name. So I said, Bill Josephs. That's my middle name. So I said, I'm Bill Josephs. What team? And I go, I signed it. I said, okay, here you go. And I I finally said, forget it. And I signed. Bill Josephs, number 17, my college number, 1990

and 90 '1. And I go, what team would a kid in California never know about or care about? I wrote Minnesota Twins. And I handed it. And he looks and he goes, mom. And she looks, her eyes like, go, that's his favorite team. He's like, do you did you know Kirby Puckett? Sure.

I know Kirby Puckett. I mean, I'm just like totally out there and and just all over the place telling him this, feeling horrible going this is no good. And he goes, thanks man. Thank you Bill Josephs. The mom gave me another hug and they ran off and they go this is the best day of his life.

And I'm like, this is terrible. This is gonna turn into the worst counseling issue of his life. All I could picture was I was so happy now that there wasn't Google and smartphones

but but he left and he's like, he all I can imagine this kid is what happened? Was he at school getting beat up saying, no I met Bill Joseph. He's real. Or or is he in a straight jacket somewhere right now leaning back and forth in the fetal position saying Bill Joseph is real? Bill Joseph's is real? Did did did he meet Kirby Puckett someday and say I met a guy that played with you, Bill Joseph. So Kirby Puckett say who?

Or maybe he's even a pastor now. And he talks about this hurtful moment when he realized someone has completely lied to him when he was a kid. I don't know. All I know is it started with, I was challenged with something that was off and I didn't wanna deal with it. So I hid in plain sight. And the further I got in,

the more afraid I was to ever try to get out of it. And even though that's a ridiculous example, the principle is exactly what most of us struggle with and many of us are doing right now. You're afraid to really be known because you've built your Bill Joseph story.

And you're afraid that if I was really known, I would be rejected. And that's why that says we need to have people that are humble and gentle because we not only need to be known, we need to be accepted. That's the second point.

We need to be accepted. You need a place where you can tell the truth. You can just be honest about your struggles. You could be real about where you're at right now and people won't run from you like you're a dinosaur in Jurassic Park. They're just gonna say they're gonna engage with you. They will accept you where you're at. In other words, you we need to receive the healing power of acceptance and show the humility to be able to offer it to others.

We need that acceptance. But it needs to go further than being known and accepted.

Could you imagine if our community was just about, alright, you shared your worst problem and I'm not gonna reject you. And that's as far as it went. I mean, if someone came to your group one night and said, I killed two people. They're in the trunk of my car. I don't know what to do. And you're like, that's okay. I love you. You and you hug them and say, you wanna borrow my shovel. I mean, is that is that is that where it should stop?

It needs to go beyond that. We need to be known, need to be accepted, and then the third thing is we need to be supported. And that's where it says in verse two, share each other's burdens.

And in this way, obey the law of Christ. Obey the law of Christ is love. He's saying that the Bible says the world will know we're Christians by our love. He's describing what that love looks like. It's real community. It's loving community. And one of those things is we need to share and support one another. And that means we need to be known and accepted at a deep enough level

that we can truly be helped with our burdens. Spiritual, physical, emotional. It doesn't mean that your immediate community has to solve all those issues. They might need to know how to direct you towards the support you need. But we need to have that support system to help us when we're struggling.

And it needs to be a physically present support system. It does. But some of us struggle with looking for that support because it's it's it's it's not even as deep as I I feel like I'll be rejected. Some of us struggle with this idea of everything I'm saying because you're like my youngest daughter.

She has a shirt that says like it's too people y in here. She she's not a people person. So she doesn't feel the need for this. But she knows she needs it. She went to a pool party with a high school group a few weeks ago, which she knew she would hate.

Her friend right there dragged her to it. And and and she goes, I'm going because what she realizes, I need to be with my friends. I came to pick her up. What do think of it? Hated it. But I'm proud of her. She did it anyways. Because she knows if she just lives in her room all the time, that's not healthy.

So she chooses to. And and some of us, that's your problem with community has nothing to do with everything I just said. You just struggle with being a people person, and you never feel the need to be around. A matter of fact, they cause you anxiety,

and sometimes you think since I'm not a people person, I don't need them, but that's not true. I wanna show you a short testimony video from a couple that got into one of our groups, and and in this story, the the the the wife is the one that doesn't wanna go. She's called herself a hermit. Matter of fact, she's wear what look at what her shirt says that she's wearing in in the interview.

And and and she was didn't wanna go and her husband it started off bad. Her husband heard a message on being in community like this and she just signed them up and said, we're gonna go to this small group. But it turned out okay. Watch their story.

From day one, Rock Point was like home. As soon as I walked in, we're there for the start of the spoiler alert series,

and nobody else could have been in there. It was all for me. The light was in my face. Bill was talking directly at me. At one point I looked over at her and my brother and sister-in-law and they're staring at me and I'm like, you guys call a hit or what?

Found out about the home groups from Bill pushing it in service and he's very adamant about getting out there in community. You have to have other people. He just came home and was like, I signed this up for small groups. And I was like, You did what? What? I am a hermit, so I don't like to be around people in general.

So just happening to be in someone's home that I didn't know and interact with people that I didn't know was really scary. Me, it was more getting comfortable with them in the group. Wasn't like we're getting together in the group. It was we're gonna go meet the friends that were there. They were very welcoming.

I felt very comfortable after meeting them the first time. Was like, okay, I got this. We can keep going back. Yeah, pretty much when we left there, was like, we liked them. I think I've just been able to allow myself to not be a hermit and being around people and connecting with them.

I felt comfortable, like I said, I could come in my pajamas if I wanted to, you know? And it's almost like you've known each other for years, but you just met like a minute ago. And then you see them in church and like familiar faces like, hey, what's going on?

Personally, I learned that it's not something that you can do by yourself, you know, in that walk. You have to have that alone time, but there's gotta be someone there with you.

Kinda cool. You see what her shirt said? It's way too people y outside. But look, she didn't think she needed it. But by the end she goes, I feel like I could come in my pajamas. Someone that's intimidated being around people would not wanna go somewhere in their pajamas.

She learned she needed it whether she felt it or not. And then I love what Mike said, as he learned in this process, he already loved the Lord. He'd come to church, but by being in community, he got further in his walk. Because he realized there's something critical we need in community.

And that's the fourth thing is we need to be developed.

We need to be developed.

So a lot of times you come and you get to this point where you're listening in church and you're like, I don't feel like I'm being challenged or fed as much as I was anymore. Congratulations. You're supposed to get that point. And one of the places that you need to be really challenging your faith is with each other.

The pastor's job. Read my job description in the scripture. It doesn't say to do the ministry. It says that a pastor's job is to equip the saints to do the ministry. Meaning, I preach the word and teach and we need to gather in circles

and encourage one another and grow. And one of the last things we need to be developed, developed in what? In the mission God giveth. That's back to the Philippians passage I read in the beginning. Our mission is to point people to Jesus by loving like Jesus because we know Jesus and what we've been talking about in the series that looks like this. We need to know, we need to grow and we need to go. And that's what we need to be challenged for. And so a lot of times, even in church groups, we stop short of the development because we don't wanna challenge each other, because we don't wanna offend them, we don't wanna have a problem, because we don't really be known. We just wanna have some bible study and have some fun and get some friends. But if you don't get to the point that you're looking at each other and say, hey, here's your issue. Let me help you back to the right path. Let's help each other. Let's be humble. Let's be gentle, but let's be real.

And let's become more like Jesus. And here's the thing that's funny is, and you still might resist it or feel like I don't need this, but there's also another side to this point. Not only do we need to be known, accepted, supported, and developed, we also need the people that know, accept, support, and develop.

Even if you don't feel like you need it, God wired us for each other.

And so we need to be in people's lives. We need to be that for other people too. So there's sometimes you're in a group, you're like, yeah, I'm just not feeling it right now. I'm not. But you know what? You might be in that group. You might need to be there because you need to be that for somebody.

And so sometimes when we think, well, I think community's optional because I don't really feel the need for it right now. Someone's missing out because you're not engaging.

Matter of fact, they had the same problem back here. Same problem because look what Paul says to this church in in verse three. And it is a a colossal throat punch of all throat punches. He says, if you think you're too important to help someone, you're only fooling yourself. You're not that important. Wow.

We're not that important, but we are loved that much. What he's saying is is is if I think I can't do this, I know and I don't think anyone in this church, I I really don't believe someone would come in and say,

my life is so important. I don't have time for the riff raff. I don't think you're gonna say that. But you know what we say? We say, my work schedule's too weird. I don't have time. My family is too weirded out. I don't I can't do this.

My my have you met my kids? You know, stuff like that. We say these things and say I I can't do it. And and we've actually feel sorry for ourselves. We act like

I'm a victim that I can't be in community. When the reality is when we make those choices, what you're saying is it's impossible. Something God says is a must. It's mission critical. You can't survive without it. And we say I can't do it. The reality is you are inadvertently saying my schedule is more important.

My time is more important. What I wanna do is more important than doing what God says you desperately desperately need and other people desperately desperately need it from you. That's what he's saying.

That's why I say we are Rock Point when we grow in biblical community. You are not really a part of a church until you get in a circle. You just attend a worship service if all you do is sit in a row. And you are left out in the open exposed to the attacks of the enemy. And we need one another.

And the bottom line is we need the entire thing. You need all four of those. You can't just pick and choose. We need them all. In fact, my favorite illustration for this is an Oreo cookie. Oreo cookie. Delicious. Maybe you are like a kid or you have kids. How do kids tend to eat Oreo cookies?

My kids, I don't know your kids. They would look that and then not touch the cookie part. I'd walk into the kitchen look like Oreos had a battle. They got their guts for one of them sitting and go, tell my wife I love her. You know, it's like it's awful. It's a carnage. And and and

and they only want the middle part. They just want the sugar. The feel good, the yummy taste part. They don't want the crunchy exterior. They don't. And that's how they eat it. You know what? It's not just kids.

Pastor Mark, Mark Collins, he was out at the World Wildlife Zoo a while back. He went to the monkey exhibit, and they were doing this thing where the trainer was talking about the monkeys. And what they do to get the monkeys to be a little bit more active so people can see why he's talking, they give them Oreos.

You know what the monkeys do? And then drop the the cookie part. But there was even one monkey that not only didn't want the cookie part, he seemed to be offended and angry that he was even given the cookie part. So he said he would grab it, lick it really fast, and then get mad and throw the cookie at the trainer.

And apparently the trainer was used to it, Mark said, because he would sit there and as he's talking, he'd be like and just dodge it like this this monkey. He's like, not only do I only want the middle, I'm mad that you're trying to give me the other two pieces.

Can I? Here comes my throw punch of the day. Many of you, that's how you act when it comes to us trying to get you into community. You act like a monkey. You want the creamy middle and then you're actually mad that we try to give you the s and you throw it back at us. How dare you? And what do I mean by that?

The middle is the middle of these four things. Acceptance and support. Everybody wants that. But we wanna be accepted without really being known. And we wanna be supported without being developed.

In other words, what we're drawn to, and sometimes groups just become this and no one's trying to really be in community. And that's why you might have had a disaster experience in the last community you tried. It might have been a whole bunch of monkeys that just wanted acceptance and support. Meaning we wanna come here and we want you to accept what I tell you about myself without getting to know me and give me what I think I want. Just give me what I tell you I want.

Give me that. I want this and this and this, but I don't wanna be developed. Don't challenge me. Just give me what I ask for and accept what I tell you. Don't know me. Don't tell me what to do, basically. Don't try to develop me. We just want the creamy inside. It doesn't work that way. The whole cookie is what's the best.

We need the whole cookie of community with a nice glass of holy spirit coffee or milk, same thing.

Well, that's the stuff. That's the stuff. And you know why we need the whole cookie? We need the whole cookie because of this.

When I am allow myself to be truly known and to know, and truly be accepted and to accept, that makes us vulnerable. Open to what God wants to do. And when I become vulnerable, I then allow myself to be supported and developed. That makes us unstoppable. That's what Paul was saying in Philippians. When we get the whole cookie,

we become vulnerable, which allows us to become unstoppable. And that's why the enemy doesn't want you to have the whole cookie. So I'm gonna challenge you when you leave. I'm gonna challenge you if you're not in community to fill out a cup cup one of these, preferably not coffee stain like mine. Find community.

Get in the community. We need the whole cookie. We desperately need the whole cookie. And matter of fact, we're gonna hand you Oreos when you leave. So yummy, you get to eat Oreo. But I'm gonna challenge you. If you're gonna fight me on this, if you're gonna fight the Lord on this,

I hope I've ruined your ability to ever eat an Oreo cookie again.

Because every time you see an Oreo package, an Oreo cookie, a commercial, it's gonna be a personal little delicious throat punch to remind you that you need to be known, accepted, supported, developed. And you need to know, accept, support, and develop. Because when we do that, that's when we are rock point. Father

God, I thank you, Lord. I thank you that you love us so much. And I thank you that you've invited us on this journey that we're not supposed to go alone. So what I pray that everyone in this room would know you, but they would choose to pursue growing in community with others.

That Lord that we would get our roots intertwined in ways that when those storms of life, when those winds howled and those the the lightning blast that that we will withstand those attacks. We will withstand those storms because we're better together.

So Lord, give us the courage to to find that community and to be that community. I pray this all in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.