3 Things About Walking:
- Walking is a Choice
- Walking is Action
- Walking is Progression
- “Your kind isn’t Welcome here." (1 Cor 12:12-14)
- “I’m not Needed here." (1 Cor 12:15-20)
- “You’re not Needed here." (1 Cor 12:21-25)
- “I don’t Empathize here." (1 Cor 12:26-27)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:01-00:04
This is so like I'm four, but I want to show you my boo-boo.
00:05-00:06
Can you see that?
00:07-00:08
Can you see that bad boy?
00:10-00:11
Do you want to know how that happened?
00:12-00:12
I know you're dying to know.
00:14-00:15
We got new furniture.
00:17-00:21
And how many people have ever done the, we got new furniture, but we're not used to it being there and I bang my leg on it?
00:21-00:23
Anybody else other than me?
00:23-00:24
Okay, a few of you have done that.
00:25-00:26
That's what happened to me.
00:28-00:36
We got this new bed frame, and I was sitting in my chair doing some work and had a high sense of urgency.
00:37-00:39
Got up from my chair, turned around, bang!
00:40-00:43
Right into that piece of furniture that wasn't there the day before.
00:44-00:48
And that reminded me of something that the Bible says.
00:49-00:52
The Bible says we need to watch our walk, amen?
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We need to watch our walk.
00:57-01:07
And actually the New Testament calls the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ, the life of a born again believer, do you know what the New Testament calls that?
01:07-01:08
It calls it a walk.
01:10-01:12
Here's just a few, I printed out a few verses.
01:13-01:19
I actually cut out a lot of them, but just in case you're not convinced, I want you to hear this.
01:19-01:22
Your life as a believer in Jesus Christ is called a walk.
01:22-01:25
Romans 4:12 says we walk in the footsteps of faith.
01:26-01:48
Romans 6, 4, "We too might walk in newness of life." Romans 8, 4, "Walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." Romans 13, 13, "Let us walk properly as in the daytime." 2 Corinthians 5, 7, "We walk by faith, not by sight." Galatians 5, 25, "If we live by the Spirit, let us also," guess what, "walk by the Spirit.
01:49-01:57
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand we should walk.
01:58-02:00
Okay, a couple of you are seeing a theme here, let's keep going.
02:02-03:59
Ephesians 4.1, "Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called." Ephesians 5.2, "Walk in love." Ephesians 5.8, "Walk as children of light." Ephesians 5.15, "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise. Keep your eyes," this is Philippians 3.17, "Keep your eyes on those who walk according to example you have in us. Colossians 1.10, "So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord." Colossians 2.6, "Therefore as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him." Colossians 4.5, "Walk in wisdom towards outsiders." 1 Thessalonians 2.12, "Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4.1, "You ought to walk and to please God just as you are doing that you do so more and more." 1 Thessalonians 4.12, that you may walk properly before outsiders. 1st John 1.7 But if we walk in the light, 1st John 2.6, whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 2nd John verse 6, and this is love that we walk according to his commandments. Those are just a few of them. But did you see a theme. So at Harvest Bible Chapel, when we say, "What is a disciple?" A disciple is someone who does three things. And the first one we looked at last week, a disciple what? Worships. A disciple worships Jesus Christ. And today we're going to look at a disciple walks with Christ. A disciple walks with Christ. Why Why did the Holy Spirit inspire that word, "walk"?
03:59-04:03
I've jot these three things down. There's many reasons, but here's three.
04:05-04:07
First of all, walking is a choice.
04:09-04:10
Walking is a choice.
04:12-04:12
Right?
04:16-04:24
You can either sit and do nothing, Or you can make a choice to walk, but walking is a choice.
04:24-04:29
Walking doesn't happen accidentally, no matter what your kids tell you.
04:29-04:31
Walking is a choice.
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Secondly, walking is action.
04:35-04:36
Walking is action.
04:38-04:44
It's our part in cooperating with what the Holy Spirit is doing in us and through us.
04:44-04:45
Like, what's our part?
04:45-04:47
Our part is to walk in the Spirit.
04:47-04:51
That's our cooperation, but it requires action on our part.
04:51-04:54
We need to cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
04:57-05:00
And thirdly, walking is progression.
05:03-05:08
I'm so glad that the Bible doesn't describe it as a run, because I hate running.
05:10-05:11
Can I get a testimony on that?
05:11-05:12
Anybody else hate running?
05:13-05:17
I know we got people in this church that like, That's what they do, like track and field.
05:18-05:19
And you know what?
05:19-05:19
Yeah, good for you.
05:20-05:23
That's what I did 20 years ago.
05:25-05:31
I don't like to run anymore, but the Bible says it is a walk, it's progression.
05:32-05:34
Progression is we're heading somewhere.
05:34-05:35
We are moving somewhere.
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And where are we heading?
05:40-05:46
Well, we're heading to heaven ultimately, But God's goal for your life as a believer is what?
05:47-05:47
Romans 8, 29.
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God wants you conformed into the image of his son.
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And as his Holy Spirit is working in you and through you and you cooperating with that, that is your Christian walk.
05:58-06:00
And there are two sides of your walk.
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First of all, there's your personal walk.
06:06-06:12
Those are things like being in the word and worshiping and being in prayer, witnessing to others.
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and we'll talk about those things down the road, but that's not what I wanna talk about this morning.
06:17-06:24
Specifically this morning, I wanna talk about your community walk, your walk in the community of faith.
06:29-06:34
So last week we looked at what worshipers are convinced of from Psalm 115.
06:36-06:47
Today, worshipers, disciples, those of you who are born again, Here's something else that you need to be convinced of, or many of you already are convinced of, is this truth in your walk.
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You can't do it on your own.
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And you were never meant to.
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This Christian walk was never meant to be done in isolation from other Christians.
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Never meant to.
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You're like, "Well, I'm going to need some Bible proof for that." Alright, challenge accepted.
07:23-07:34
Genesis 2.18, God said when he created Adam, "It is not good for the man to be alone." True, and a lot of times that verse properly is taught in the context of marriage.
07:35-08:31
true, but this verse also speaks to the fundamental need to connect with others in the human community. God could have just created Adam and said, "This is how it's going to be." But God says, "It's not good for this personal being that I created to live in isolation. So he made Eve out of Adam. And I want to remind you that that was pre-fall, okay? It wasn't as if Adam sinned and God was like, "Well, I better send somebody to help get him knocked back in line, so I'll create another person to sort of keep him accountable." This was before the fall of man, God said this idea of community, yeah that's my idea, people with people.
08:35-09:07
Like well I'm still not convinced that this there's this importance of being with a group of people to do this walk of faith with. I'm still not convinced of that? Well, let's talk about Jesus. Do you know Jesus had a small group? Did you know that? Actually, he had a group of twelve that he poured into, unlike the multitudes.
09:07-09:21
And even from those twelve, he had three that he poured into even more. You're like, "Well, yeah, you're talking Old Testament and you're talking Jesus.
09:21-09:23
How about a New Testament example?
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Do you have that?" Actually, turn in your Bibles with me to Acts chapter two.
09:31-09:33
Go ahead, nice and loud, turn there.
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Acts chapter two.
09:38-09:39
Don't rip the pages.
09:41-09:42
Sounds like somebody just totally ripped one.
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You did rip the...
09:48-09:49
All right.
09:51-09:53
Do we have scotch tape available at the welcome table, Ken?
09:55-09:56
All right, or a whole new Bible?
09:57-09:58
We definitely have that.
10:00-10:02
Your choice, scotch tape or a new Bible.
10:07-10:13
Acts chapter two, this is the description of the church in the infancy stage, so to speak.
10:16-11:09
And as I read through here, I want you to just kind of make a mental note of the ingredients. Like, what was the church about? We'll pick up in old verse 42. It says, "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship and And to the breaking of bread, and the prayers, and awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the Apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common." Now understand that last phrase doesn't mean like they were all Pirates fans. Like, "Well, this is good.
11:09-11:44
We got a lot in common. You know, it'd be kind of rough if we had like some, you know, Cincinnati Reds fans." That's not what that's talking about at all. The next verse helps clarify that. "And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need." What a sense of fellowship, to say, "What God has entrusted to me isn't really mine, it's God's." And they would just like bring stuff to church. I'm like, "Who needs it? Who needs it?
11:44-12:30
Well, you know what? I really need this. Okay, we have an extra one. Here you go." Or not even extra one, you can have mine. It was, "What's mine is yours, and what's yours is mine." And they would just like share stuff. You find out so-and-so needs something? Okay, let's get it to them. They had all things in common. And just make a note, you know, next week I'd like to take a special offering in addition to the offering we take for the ministry of the church, but we have we have an individual who has really been hit with, through the through the death of a loved one, just some financial burden. And reading through this passage this week, the Lord just really laid it on me.
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You know, what would the early church have done for that person?
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What would they have done?
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Tell us what they need and we'll get it to them.
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And I want us to do that next week.
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We'll take an additional offering and all of that is going to go to this person to help their need, okay?
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But moving along it says, and day by day attending the temple together And look at this last phrase.
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This is what I want you to hone in on.
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Breaking bread in their homes.
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They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.
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And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
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But notice that the early church met in homes.
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And at Harvest Bible Chapel, we are not a church with small groups.
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We are a church of small groups.
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But I want you to see from the scriptures that it's not a fad.
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Okay, there've been a lot of fads coming in and out of the church, right?
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This is not a fad.
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Like, oh yeah, meeting in people's homes, that's gonna be really cool.
13:53-14:01
and then like, you know, pegging your pants or butterfly collars, we're all going to be looking back in a few years going,
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(snickers)
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remember when we like got in each other's homes and we're like praying and stuff, boy, were we lame.
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That's not gonna happen, okay?
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That's not gonna happen.
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Because 2,000 years later, God's word still stands, it is what the church is to do, meeting in homes, the biblical way of doing life.
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You know, somewhere around 50 times in the Bible, there's the phrase one another, one another, do this for one another.
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Here's how you treat one another.
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And the question is, how can we apply these one another versus unless we are in intentional close relationships?
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The idea of, well, my walk with the Lord consists solely of 10 o'clock to about 11.20 on Sunday morning, in and out, unconnected with others.
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It's just not biblical. It's just not biblical.
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How are you fulfilling the one another teachings of the scripture?
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The answer is you cannot.
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And let's be honest, in our day, things have really changed, haven't they?
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Right now, the young people, and by that I mean 25 and under, are going to start the "Pastor Jeff showing his age again" speech, right?
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But how many people here can remember back in the day, I can, I know Darren can, you remember going to Grandma's house, and Grandma and Mom sitting on the swing, and people would just walk by and stop and talk.
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Do you remember that?
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Anybody else remember anything like that?
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There was a day, back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, there was a day that people would hang out on their front porch and people would just walk by and they felt totally comfortable to just sit down and talk.
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"Hey, can I get you something to drink?
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"Let's talk." And they'd sit and talk about everything and nothing.
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You didn't need an invitation.
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Nobody felt like there was an imposition.
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It wasn't like, oh, Merle's walking down the street again, you know, don't look.
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It was, hey, no, come and sit.
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Come and sit with us.
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What do we do now?
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We don't sit on the front porch.
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We build patios behind our house and put a fence around them, hoping that the neighbors can't see if we're outside.
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And if we do have to go outside, it's like we're staging a prison break or something, like, "Let me get out of here, I hope nobody sees me." There was a day, I'm really showing my age now, there was a day when you wanted to play a board game with someone. You'd actually have to be sitting at the same table with that person and it was literally a board game. You'd take it out of a box and there were pieces and you'd unfold it and you would sit together and play a board.
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Anybody else do one of these ancient things? Back when we told time with sundials, we played board games together. What do we do now? Words with friends.
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You It's scrabble, but it's scrabble that I don't have to sit at your table and play with you. It's scrabble that I don't have to look at you, okay? It just shows up on your phone, and when it's my turn I get a notification and I play my turn, and I don't have to sit down with you. I don't have to talk to you. I don't have to find out how your family's doing. You don't need to ask me how I'm doing, just play your word. There's a disconnect today. And then there's draw something.
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It's like Pictionary, but again it's on these highfalutin tablets and iPhones and droids and all these things, but you can actually play Pictionary on your phone without having to actually show up and be in another human being's presence. Sad. Our small group, we had a picnic. Tom, you remember We had that picnic and we actually played a board game.
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How fun was that?
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Seriously, that was a blast.
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I'm not quite sure who won that, I choose to forget.
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But Tom and I were sort of a tag team.
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That was a blast, wasn't it?
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It seemed like such a Stone Age thing to do.
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It's at the point now that we text each other while we're sitting in the same room.
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We've even lost the art of conversation.
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but understand this, this human disconnect is not biblical.
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It's just not.
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And look, I play these goofy games from time to time and I enjoy these things as much as the rest of you, but human disconnect is not biblical.
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It's just not.
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So I want you to turn in your Bibles with me to 1 Corinthians 12, and this is the passage we're going to land on for a few moments.
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1 Corinthians 12, easy carry.
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Turn there gently.
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Kate has a children's Bible with really thick pages.
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We'll see if we can get that for you.
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1 Corinthians 12.
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Now we're going to be looking at verses 12 through 27.
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We could preach probably half a year's worth of sermons this whole chapter, but we're not going to.
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You can read it ahead, or you can read it later, what's ahead and what's after this passage, I meant to say. But this passage we're going to be looking at is bookended with how the Holy Spirit empowers believers to serve in the church. God's Holy Spirit empowers believers to serve in the church. Those are sort of the bookends of this passage. Go ahead and read that when you get home. What I want to focus on is right in the middle, where the Apostle Paul describes the church, and he uses an extended metaphor here. But he says that the church is like what? He says the The church is like a body.
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The church is like a body.
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Now, there are a lot of reasons he used this metaphor.
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One of them is the body is alive.
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The body has a head that's Christ.
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The body moves and functions, but we're going to see his main point here the body, the human body, and the body of Christ, they consist of a lot of different members. I mean, if you just look down at your body, you see that your body is made up of a lot of stuff, inside and outside. Different pieces that all work together, but they all come together as one unit to serve a function. And that's the metaphor Paul's laying out here. He says, "So it goes with the body of Christ. So goes with the church. So in your outline, what we're going to look at, four things that church members cannot say. Not that like you're not allowed to, but the reality is, if you call Harvest your home, if this is the church that you're connected with and if you have a biblical understanding of what that means, these are things that you just can't say. Are you ready? The first one, let's look at verses 12 through 14. Here's something church members can't say. Your kind isn't welcome here. Look at verses 12 through 14.
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For just as the body, the human body, is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
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For in one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body.
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He's saying there should be a unity because we've all been baptized by the same spirit.
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But understand this next statement that he makes, especially in Paul's day, would have been extremely provocative.
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He says, Jews are Greeks.
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Slaves are free.
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And all were made to drink of one spirit, for the body does not consist of one member, but of many.
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So Paul just comes right out of the gate and hits us with the major dividing lines of the first century, Jews and Greeks in the same body.
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We're a little, in our culture, we're a little disconnected from that, but understand in Paul's day, that would have been like oil and water.
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That was part of the mystery of the church that Paul talks about elsewhere in scripture.
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beautiful plan is to take completely, from an earthly perspective, unrelated, unconnected people and make them one. And Paul says we've been baptized in the same spirit, we're all partakers of the divine nature. So no matter what your ethnic background is, we're all one in Christ. So whether it's a race issue, Jews Jews or Greeks, or whether it's a social demographic issue.
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That's why he says slave are free.
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And even in our day, it's still shocking to me that there are people that still wanna keep racism and class distinction alive.
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I'm like, seriously, why is that still a thing?
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Seriously.
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Racial discrimination, class distinction, There are people that are still waving the flag to keep those things alive.
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I don't get it.
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Seriously?
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That's still an issue.
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That's still an issue in the church sometimes.
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I've cringed when I've heard people say, well, that's, you know, we're talking about churches in the area, what's this church like?
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Well, that's a black church.
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What's that?
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Or, "Oh, that's a rich people church." What?
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Seriously?
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Do they like check you at the door for that?
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Well, here's a biblical clue, Revelation chapter seven.
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Do you know what it looks like in heaven?
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Gasp.
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John says, "After this, I looked and behold, "a great multitude that no one could number.
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from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.
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Standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb." What does worship in heaven look like?
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All colors, all nations, all languages, all one in Jesus Christ.
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Unified in worship.
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So let me ask you, what's this church supposed to look like?
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Isn't this supposed to be sort of like a preview of heaven when we come together to worship?
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This is like rehearsal, man.
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This is preview for heaven.
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that when we come at this church, all people, all colors, all backgrounds, all financial situations.
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That's one of the reasons I love to go to Harvest U every year.
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There are about 75 Harvest Bible chapels all over the world.
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So like in this one room, It's literally like Americans worshiping with Africans and Asians and people from all over the world coming together to worship Jesus Christ together.
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And just as much as that to me is a little preview of heaven that's what I want for this church.
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So are you holding on to some racist views?
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Not here.
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I would encourage you to get a biblical clue.
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Because if you're holding on to racist views, you might be uncomfortable in heaven.
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So, one thing that we can't say, as a member of the body, is your kind's not welcome here.
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Well, here's the next one.
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I'm not needed here.
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We're talking about community in the church.
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I'm not needed here.
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We're talking about connectedness in the church.
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Here's something else you can't say.
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I'm not needed here.
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Look at verses 15 through 20.
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Paul extends his metaphor here.
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Body's not one member, the body's many members.
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verse 15, "If the foot should say, 'because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body.
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And if the ear should say, 'because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body.
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If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing?
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If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
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But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose.
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If all were a single member, where would the body be?
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As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
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Honestly, this section of scripture is pretty kindergarten.
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And that is not a slam.
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I love it.
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I love it.
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Many different parts all working together.
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None of the parts with the ability to say, "I'm not needed here." looking at this young church, we have music and children's and finances and hospitality and setup and small group and running the soundboard and on and on.
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There are many different parts, none of which can look around and honestly say, "You know what? I'm not needed here." And the same goes for you if you happen to be sitting in a red chair this morning. You are not allowed to say, "I'm not needed here. So look at Paul's analogy here. This is kindergarten. I absolutely love it.
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These body parts like start talking to each other. Did you catch that?
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I thought it was funny too. If the foot should say, "Because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body." Now here's what I wanted to do. I wanted to to go to like one of these Halloween stores and actually get these body parts.
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But I thought that might scare the kids.
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So what I did instead was I got pictures of the body parts and I just thought it would be really fun to act this out.
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Who's with me?
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All right, two of you, let's do this.
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Here's what Paul's saying.
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Okay, first of all, we need a foot, okay?
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And we need a hand.
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And here's what Paul's saying.
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See, you can keep your kids in church.
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Here's what Paul's saying.
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How ridiculous would it be if body parts started having conversations and they went like this.
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I'm not a hand.
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Wait, was that way?
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I'm sorry, let me back up.
31:26-31:27
Was that a good foot voice?
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Deeper.
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I might need Darren for this one.
31:35-31:35
(clears throat)
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I'm not a hand.
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(laughs)
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And he turned Southern.
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Which I guess makes sense.
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I'm not a hand.
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Look at what the hand can do.
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That hand can do cool things.
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I mean, look at that hand.
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Isn't that hand cool?
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I'm not cool.
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I'm just a foot.
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Nobody even notices me because I usually have a shoe on me.
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But look at how cool the hand is.
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After all, there's even sayings about the hand.
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Nobody ever says, "Talk to the foot." The more I think about it, because I fail to match the coolness factor of the hand, I probably don't deserve to be a part of this body.
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How senseless is that?
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Seriously, do you get Paul's point or do I need to keep going?
32:43-32:46
Oh, I do because look, he keeps going.
32:46-32:50
He says, "And if the ear should say, "because I'm not an eye." So I have those.
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What'd you do in church today?
32:58-32:58
I don't know.
32:59-32:59
(audience laughing)
33:02-33:03
Sesame Street.
33:04-33:05
So here you have this ear.
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And the ear's looking at the eye, and the ear says, I'm not an eye.
33:19-33:19
Wait a minute.
33:20-33:21
What's a good ear voice?
33:23-33:23
What?
33:26-33:27
(laughing)
33:31-33:38
I'm not an ear. I'm not an eye. Because I'm not an eye, I'm worthless.
33:39-33:41
Is that a good voice? Okay.
33:45-34:17
Nobody ever walks up and says, "My, what pretty ears you have." But everybody walks up and says, "My, what pretty eyes you have! Therefore, I don't belong on this body!" That's what Paul's saying here, right? Like, Pastor Jeff at Sero Elementary. Is that what Paul's saying or not? It's silly. It's silly to entertain that conversation. Why is that?
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Well, look at what he says in verse 17. Here's the logical conclusion. If the whole body were an eye, where would be, excuse me, the sense of hearing?
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So if you walked in the church today, and this is all you looked like.
34:42-37:36
First of all, creepy. But if you walked into church today and this is all you look like, and I said, "Good morning, welcome to Harvest," actually Laura would say that, what would you respond? Nothing, because you wouldn't be able to hear her because you're just an eye, right? This is a great thing, but on its own it's pretty useless isn't it? It's pretty useless on its own. And he says, "Or what if your whole body were an ear?" Your answer would be Mike Tyson would try to eat me. He says, "If your whole body looked like this, you wouldn't be able to smell anything thing would you? Because this is only good for one thing. It's great for one thing. You know what a miracle the ear is by the way? God made it. It's an absolute miracle how this thing works. And when it does what it's supposed to do, this is an amazing thing. But if this was all you had, Paul says you wouldn't be able to smell anything. Right? So the point here is you can't walk in here and say I'm not needed. Failure to do your part in the church gets the same result as a body part failing to work. If you woke up this morning and for some reason your left leg just didn't work, would that affect your day? Would that affect your day, your left leg just completely goes limp. There's no explanation. It just doesn't work. Would that affect your day? Of course it would. Well, failure to use your giftedness affects the church. Whether God has called you to be an ear or an eye, or a hand, or even our friend Mr. Foot, whatever God's called you to, you need to fulfill that role. And it would be real easy to look around even a church like this, as small as we are at this point, but with the incredible talent and giftedness that we have at this point, it'd be easy to walk in and say, "Well, they don't need me here." It'd be easy to do that. Look, it's a small church, but there's two people running the soundboard. I mean, maybe they don't need me. I mean, the worship team, they sound phenomenal. Maybe they don't need me.
37:38-38:00
Children's, obviously, it looks like they have some things in place. Maybe they don't need me." Wrong! That's like the ear looking at the eye saying, "I'm really not needed because I'm not as important as another part of the body." That's not humility. It's not humility to say, "Well, they don't need me." That is not humility.
38:00-38:06
That is a lie. If you say, "Well, that church doesn't need me," it's a lie. Why?
38:06-39:47
because you're contradicting the Word of God. So to say, "I'm not needed here," we can't say that, right? Number three, here's something else we can't say, "Body, you're not needed here." Look at verses 21 through 25. "The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. Nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable." That means you can't do without them? "And on those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow the greater honor. And on our parts, excuse me, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require, but God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. So something else that a church member can't say looking at another church member is, "You're not needed here." So what do we need here? We need an eye and a hand. Right?
39:49-39:51
All right, we need a good voice for the eye.
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Oh, hand, thanks for showing up, but we don't need you here. As you can see, I have all the see, but I I mean, as you can't see, I have all the seeing covered.
40:20-40:21
I mean, after all, can you see?
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The answer is no, you cannot.
40:26-40:29
I see, therefore, you're unnecessary.
40:31-40:32
Is that crazy or what?
40:34-40:36
But that's the illustration that Paul's using.
40:37-40:38
He's like, this conversation can't happen.
40:42-40:43
Because the hand's like, oh, you know what?
40:43-40:51
I can't see, but good luck picking up your guitar, Mr. Eyeball, right?
40:52-40:54
Paul's not done and neither are we.
40:56-41:10
Notice the next one, he says, "The head can't say to the feet, I have no need of you." What's a good voice for the head?
41:13-41:13
You get the point.
41:16-41:20
For some reason I had like Sean Connery in mind with this one.
41:21-41:21
Like what?
41:24-41:25
I don't need your foot.
41:57-42:06
[The sound of
42:31-42:33
(crickets chirping)
42:51-42:53
The green light was totally started.
42:54-42:55
You didn't want to record this sermon anyway.
43:20-43:21
Well, we're good for another hour?
43:22-43:25
Oh good, just kidding.
43:28-43:29
God put this body together.
43:30-43:31
That's what he's saying.
43:31-43:36
In the church, all these parts come together and God put the parts there.
43:40-43:43
So your part is just as important as my part.
43:46-43:49
Understanding equal doesn't mean the same, right?
43:49-43:52
just like in marriage, equal doesn't mean the same.
43:53-43:56
We're all equal, but we all carry out different functions.
43:59-44:12
So with the thought of, well, we don't really need him because he just, you know, she's serving here, but that's really not necessary.
44:15-44:25
That's an issue you have to take up with God because he says, "I put this body together." Just as he put your physical body together, he put the body of Christ together.
44:28-44:33
So the last thing you can't say, I don't empathize here.
44:35-44:36
I don't empathize here.
44:36-44:37
What does empathy mean?
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What does it mean to empathize?
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That means to understand and share the feelings of another.
44:46-44:48
Look at verses 26 and 27.
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He says, "If one member suffers, all suffer together.
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"If one member is honored, all rejoice together.
44:57-45:04
"Now you are the body of Christ "and individually members of it." And we're gonna stop there in the text.
45:06-45:09
We talked about this a couple of weeks ago, so I'm not going to camp here.
45:14-45:18
But it's a truth that when one part of the human body hurts, it seems like the whole body hurts, right?
45:19-45:28
Like I showed you my boo-boo, my whole body was one entire shinbone for like 10 minutes.
45:29-45:30
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.
45:30-45:36
I wasn't thinking about how good my right elbow felt or how great my hair looked or felt.
45:38-45:42
All I was thinking of, that one part hurts, my whole body's hurting.
45:45-45:50
And then when it gets feeling better, there's a sense in which your whole body feels better.
45:50-45:51
You know what I'm talking about?
45:52-45:53
And that's how it is in the church.
45:55-46:07
Whether it's losing a loved one, or a job loss, or a divorce, or an affair.
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When something happens that causes a part to suffer, when you're part of the body, you're suffering too.
46:21-46:22
It's like your pain is my pain.
46:26-46:28
But the same is true with rejoicing, right?
46:33-46:34
When a baby is born.
46:37-46:41
in the new job, and I'm pointing to the empty seat beside Ken, when the new job is received.
46:43-46:46
Amanda's not here because she's working, allegedly.
46:50-46:51
But we rejoice.
46:52-46:53
We rejoice together.
46:58-47:01
Being a part of the body is more than just attending a church.
47:02-47:06
Being part of the body is more than just, I like those people.
47:09-47:13
It's feeling. It's feeling together.
47:17-47:25
Some people are looking for a church where they can slip in and slip out and stay unconnected with people.
47:25-47:28
I don't get it. I just don't get that.
47:31-47:35
I just want to slip in and slip out and I just, I hope I don't really meet somebody.
47:36-47:39
I don't wanna stay connected, I just wanna do my Sunday thing.
47:39-47:40
What's our mission?
47:41-47:42
Is it up here?
47:43-47:43
What's our mission?
47:46-47:49
To glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
47:50-47:51
What's the Great Commission?
47:52-47:53
Is making what?
47:55-47:56
Disciples, right?
47:56-48:00
The mission is, the Great Commission is making disciples.
48:01-48:02
That was Jesus' mission.
48:03-48:05
That was the mission he gave us, that's our mission.
48:05-48:12
So let me ask you, how can you make disciples if it's just slip in and slip out on Sunday, see you next week?
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How are you fulfilling this?
48:16-48:17
How are you doing that?
48:19-48:20
The answer is you can't.
48:22-48:23
You can't do that.
48:25-48:31
That's why it is so important to understand that being a Christian is being part of a body.
48:36-48:45
a body that God designed, and a body that God has called you to be connected to.
48:49-49:30
Now speaking of empathy, I understand we're gonna talk about small groups here as we close, but I understand the number one thing that people say in our day, "I'm guilty of too. I'm too busy. How many people here this morning are too busy? How many people here, when you look at your life in general, you would say I got more on my plate than I can handle? That's what I say. So listen, this isn't guilt trip at all. We have jobs, families, responsibilities, you know, kids involved in sports, which I think is a great thing.
49:32-49:36
And I'm not saying you should feel guilty about doing these things because they're good things.
49:36-49:38
But what I am saying is this.
49:42-49:48
How have you made a priority being connected to the thing that God's called you to be connected to? How have you made that a priority?
49:51-49:53
Without neglecting your other ones.
49:55-50:04
How have you prioritized the God-ordained priority of making disciples?
50:05-50:05
How have you done that?
50:07-50:20
And if I were to stand at the back door today, and as you went out single file, if I shook every one of your hands and just stopped you and said, "How are you making disciples right now in your life? How are you making disciples?" What would your answer be?
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And if your answer is, "Well, I'm really not," you know what my next question is.
50:28-50:29
Why not?
50:30-50:31
Was it unclear?
50:34-50:35
It wasn't unclear.
50:35-50:40
Jesus said, "Go make disciples." And I went to Bible college.
50:40-50:41
I studied the text.
50:41-50:42
Do you know what that means?
50:43-50:44
It means go make disciples.
50:49-50:49
Right?
50:52-50:52
Make it a priority.
50:53-50:56
And some will say, "But you know what?
50:56-51:01
"I don't get much family time." And I would say, "Can you think of a better "family activity?
51:02-51:08
"Take your family and go into somebody else's home, "get in God's word and in prayer together.
51:09-51:14
"Can you think of a better family activity than that?" Make that a family night.
51:15-51:17
This is one thing we do as a family.
51:20-51:21
Then go get ice cream afterwards or something.
51:21-51:22
Don't tell Amanda I said that.
51:23-51:25
But make it a family thing.
51:27-51:31
How have you connected with this church?
51:32-51:35
So at this point you're asking, well, how do I get plugged in?
51:36-51:37
How do I get plugged in?
51:38-51:40
How can I fulfill my function in this body?
51:44-51:48
Well, in Harvest Bible Chapel, the way that disciples are made is in small groups.
51:50-51:52
That's the way that disciples are made.
51:53-51:59
We're not offering you eight options to say, here's ways to make disciples pick one.
51:59-52:00
Here's how it happens.
52:00-52:01
It happens in small groups.
52:03-52:05
Now there's different kinds of small groups.
52:05-52:10
As many of you know, Chris Whitcomb has worked with some ladies, and we've been trying to get some things together for men.
52:10-52:15
But the main thing I wanna push for this morning is family small groups.
52:15-52:22
When I say family, it can be single lady, It can be, you know, dinks, remember dinks?
52:22-52:24
Remember that term from the 90s, double income, no kids?
52:27-52:28
You're showing your age again, aren't you, Pastor Jeff?
52:31-52:38
Getting in other people's homes, sharing life together, getting in the Word together, getting in prayer together.
52:39-52:43
That's the way disciples are made in Harvest Bible Chapel.
52:46-52:51
Now I've given you a lot of biblical reasons to get involved in a small group.
52:54-52:55
So now we're going to have open forum.
52:55-52:57
Can you give me some biblical reasons not to?
52:58-52:59
You can just shout them from your seat.
53:00-53:12
Can you show me anywhere in scripture where you would say being part of a small group, being part of an in-home Bible study prayer group is a bad idea and here's why.
53:18-53:42
I've read the Bible. I don't see any reason. I don't see any call to be disconnected. So here's what I want you to do. We're gonna take a couple of minutes as we close, if our worship team would head up. You should have received one of these small group cards when you came in. Did you get one? Everybody get one of these? Candidate, did you get one of these? All right, you should have one of these.
53:42-54:38
hold them up. Currently, these are the small groups that are being offered. We want to continue to grow this ministry. We're working on that. So here are some options. What I want you to do is I want you to make sure you put your name on it and some way to contact you at the bottom. There's a fishbowl at the back of the auditorium. You're gonna drop those off on your way out. But here's the options. Maybe you're someone that's like, "You know what? I would love to host a group of people in my home. I would love to just open up my home and let people come." Check that box. Just write down like what neighborhood you live in. I'll give you a call. We'll get that worked out. Or maybe you're sitting here saying, "Well, you know, I'd like to talk to Pastor Jeff about leading a small group." You don't You don't have to be Ravi Zachariah to lead a small group, okay?
54:39-54:46
But we do want to make sure that you're equipped to be able to get into God's Word and lead that discussion time.
54:47-54:53
So I'd like to talk to you about that. If you feel called to teach, if you'd just like more information on that, go ahead and check that.
54:56-55:18
Currently, here's what's being offered again. We're working on growing this, getting more groups involved. Here's a list of the groups and here's where they're meeting. And speaking on behalf of all of those leaders, you would be welcome at any one of them. I don't know about you, but I love our small group.
55:19-55:24
Like, how many people here are in a small group currently? Raise your hands high I feel like I'm in a small group.
55:24-55:25
Okay, look around.
55:25-55:27
This isn't like a couple of weird people church are doing that.
55:29-55:31
It is a fantastic thing.
55:31-55:32
And I love it.
55:34-55:44
Our group comes over, we usually spend, what, the first 45 minutes sometimes just hanging out and catching up and eating together and laughing together.
55:44-55:49
And then right now we're doing a series through Ecclesiastes so then we spend some time crying together.
55:49-55:51
And then we pray.
55:52-55:56
And then usually people want to stick around afterwards and it's fantastic.
55:57-56:00
It's almost like people don't want to leave. They're having so much fun.
56:01-56:04
And I'm sure that's happening at the other small groups too.
56:06-56:08
So if you're not plugged in, you're the one missing out.
56:08-56:15
And it is my job to make sure that you're not missing out.
56:15-56:16
I want you plugged in.
56:18-56:23
I want to assist you in fulfilling what Jesus Christ has called you to in making disciples.
56:25-56:26
Join a small group.
56:27-56:37
And if you're sitting here today and you're like, "Wow, you know what, I seem I need to, but I'm not even sure where to start with all this." Just put your name and number down and I will be glad to call you and talk with you about it, okay?
56:39-56:40
Let's make disciples.
56:43-56:52
Let's not be a body where the parts are sort of like scattered all over the place.
56:53-57:01
Let's be a body unified and working together.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-27
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.