[00:00:04] Speaker A: Good morning, Westgate family.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Y' all doing good?
[00:00:08] Speaker A: I got.
[00:00:09] Speaker C: I got some nods. Y' all ready to worship?
[00:00:11] Speaker A: Would you stand and join us?
Wandering into the night wanting a place to hide this weary soul, this bag of bones I try with all my might but I just can't win the fight. I'm slowly drifting a vagabond.
And just when I ran down a road I met a man I didn't know.
And he told me that I was not alone.
He made me up, turn me around and place my feet on solid ground. I thank the master I thank the Savior because he healed my heart and changed my name Forever free I'm not the same. I thank the master, I thank the savior I thank God.
All right. Oh, I can't deny what I see.
I've got choice but to believe My doubts are burning like ashes in the wind.
So, so long to my old friend.
Send them home burden and bitterness so you can just keep on moving. That's right. I'll get out of here.
Oh, from now till I walk the streets of gold I'll sing of how you saved my sou.
This wayward son has found his way back home.
You pick me up, you turn me.
[00:02:18] Speaker D: Around you place my feet on solid ground.
[00:02:22] Speaker A: I think the master. I thank the Savior because you healed my heart.
[00:02:28] Speaker D: You changed my name Forever free I'm not the same.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: I thank the master, I thank the savior.
I thank God every time he changes the heart. We celebrate. Amen.
[00:02:49] Speaker C: Come on.
[00:02:56] Speaker A: I am free.
I am free.
Hell lost another one. I am free.
I am free. I am free indeed. And hell lost another one. I am free. Free indee I am free. Oh, I am free.
The hell lost another one. I am free. I am free. This I am free. We shout it out.
Hell lost another one. I am free.
I am free.
I am free.
Free. Hell lost another world. I am free.
[00:03:32] Speaker D: Yes, I am free.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: You pick me up, you turn me around and place my feet on solid.
I thank the master I thank the Savior because he healed my heart. You changed my name Forever free I'm not the same. I thank the master, I thank the savior.
I thank God.
Oh, I thank God.
Hallelujah.
We're gonna learn a new song today. That sound good?
It's just called the Joy. I wanna read from Psalm 28, verse 7.
The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in him and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy. And with my song I praise him. You ready to praise the Lord?
Yes.
Oh, this is the day you made so I'LL rejoice and be glad. Rejoice and be glad in it. Yeah.
Oh, this is where I believe that you are more than enough. You're more than enough for me. You believe that you are faithful to. To your promise. You are strong when I am weak.
When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need.
The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength. It's more than a feeling. The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength.
Oh, my soul, bless his name.
All that is within me say the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength.
You got it now. That's all it is right there.
Oh, Jesus, come was made.
You are worthy of all, worthy of all my praise.
You are faithful to your promise. You are strong when I am weak.
When I'm standing in your presence, I have everything I need.
The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is, Is my strength.
Oh, the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
Oh, my soul, bless his name. All that is made me say the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
Let it rise up like a river overflowing, Holy Spirit.
Let it pour out with no limit over Holy Spirit.
[00:07:35] Speaker D: Let it rise up like a river.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: Overflowing Holy Spirit, Sing it out. Oh, let it pour out with no limit.
The joy of the Lord is indeed more than a feeling. Right. In good times and bad, we always have the joy of the Lord. Come on.
The joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
Oh, the joy of the Lord.
[00:08:43] Speaker D: The joy of the Lord is my.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: Strength, oh, my soul, bless his name.
[00:08:52] Speaker D: All that is within me say, O.
[00:08:56] Speaker A: My soul, bless his name all that is within me say, oh, my soul, bless his name.
[00:09:07] Speaker D: All that is within me said joy.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: Of the Lord, the joy of the Lord.
[00:09:37] Speaker E: Amen.
[00:09:37] Speaker B: Well, you can have a seat for a minute. I just want to add my welcome to you this morning.
[00:09:42] Speaker A: Morning.
[00:09:42] Speaker B: We are so, so glad that you're here. Isn't it such a. A joy and a privilege. I don't ever want to take for granted that we get to come together and worship like that.
So welcome. And if you hopefully you had a chance on your way in to grab the sermon notes from the tables out there, you can also find those in the Westgate Chapel app.
If you are a new person here, if you're somebody who's been here once or twice or even you've been coming for a while, but you just kind of sneak in the door and sneak back out. I know how that goes in a church this size. We would love to connect with you. We would love for you just to be like, hey, how you doing? And introduce yourself. Grab the connect card from the pew in front of you and you can fill that out and you can actually take it to guest services right outside these doors. We would love to meet you. That's one thing I love about our church, is just the way we support each other in lots of different seasons. Even those of you who are regular attenders, you can use that connect card to share any prayer requests or burdens. We love the chance to pray over those along with you.
We have been attending here for 26 years and I think about, I know I started when I was five, but I think about how many different seasons of life that I have been through and lots of different experiences and I have been loved well here.
And I know that as we near the holiday season, it can be a challenge depending on what you're walking through in life.
And so we are offering something called Hope for the Holidays. Surviving the Holidays actually, which is fair, right? I actually lost my mom 5 years ago this February and I was invited to attend one of these seminars. Some of, you know, grief share is something that we offer throughout the year, but this is just a one time seminar and it just really, I did attend and it gave language to things that I was experiencing. Did I want to go? To be honest, no. Because it's not fun to be walking into a room where you're going to talk about grief. But the bottom line is those of us who have grieved, who are grieving, it's there all the time anyway. And so being in a room with people who understand what you're going through and then having the presenters put words to things that you're experiencing, it makes it feel normal. And so I would just really recommend if that's something that you're experiencing or if you know some people who are grieving and you know it's going to be a challenging holiday season. We're actually offering two sessions this year, Sunday November 9th and Sunday, December 7th, both from one to three. Those are identical, so just come to one. And you actually register through the griefshare.org website. So I would just encourage you to consider that be praying about who might be blessed by that, that session. And we also have lots of other things coming up here in the holidays and Jules is here to share more about that.
[00:12:47] Speaker F: Yes, holiday season is here. Good morning, church family. My name is julieann and as you know, we are coming off an amazing Sunday to Sunday missions emphasis week. Thank you all for leaning in. It was incredible.
And as we were wrapping up last week, you know, we had our five ways to participate in missions. We were all invited to figure out for us to engage. Whether it's praying, sending, going, mobilizing, telling others or welcoming, we all want to take our next step as we walk with Jesus in our part of this big story. He's writing around the world. And when we talk about welcoming, we talk about welcoming international students. And so we have an opportunity for all of us to be involved. If you look in your sermon notes or on the app Friends online, you can find this online as well. We are talking about iFriends Thanksgiving. IFriends or international friends is a ministry we have here where we partner with UT and other organizations in the community to welcome international students to our church family. And for Thanksgiving, I think this is about the 20th one Westgate will be hosting. It has grown to our max of having 200 students join us for on a Sunday evening, the Sunday before Thanksgiving for a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner. And so we want you guys to be a part of it. And one of our church family members, this is Manila. She has been at Westgate the last two and a half years. You came from Nepal for undergrad. You're a bioengineering student and you got to attend in 2023.
And so tell us about what it was like as a person who had just come to America, never experienced Thanksgiving. What was your first Westgate Thanksgiving like?
[00:14:34] Speaker G: So it was my first Thanksgiving and I had no idea what Thanksgiving was all about. And when I came here, everybody were so good. I mean, welcome on the registration and then we had amazing food. I had a bunch of my friends on my table and I had my Rogers family here. And yeah, it was an amazing experience. They have been really great people and really a great family to me. They have become a home away from home to me. Yeah.
[00:15:03] Speaker F: So you connected with Rogers family. It was your first time eating Thanksgiving, your first time learning about all the weird things we do with our traditions and pardoning turkeys and just silly things we do in America, so culturally. And then also we talk about Jesus. So the second year you invited friends to come with you and served as a table host. Tell us what happened that year as you were really thinking about hosting friends.
[00:15:28] Speaker G: So when I was here for Thanksgiving for a second time, Julianne gave me the opportunity to host the table. And it was not just me, it was my Sister, cousin and my friends as well hosting the table. But it was really an amazing experience. I invited a lot of my international friends and co workers but I wanted them to experience how I experienced the American culture and how amazing, you know, sharing a table with the culturally different people.
So yeah, I wanted them to sit with a different family, Westgate family, I would say and I have my American friends on my table and yeah, we had such an amazing experience sharing the love of God and everything. It was a really nice, I would say experience and yeah, it gave me courage to invite more friends because I had never invited friends before to the church. Maybe I was too scared and it became a saving stone for me to invite more friends here. And I would really like to give thanks to Wastegate family who always support me for hosting a lot of tables and then invite friends and yeah, it's an amazing thing.
I would also say when you host a table or participate in such things, it's not just helping the other international students, but also international students like me who is already believer and gives encouragement to invite more friends.
[00:16:53] Speaker F: Yeah, I love that you are. Yeah, you said I never thought about inviting non believing friends. And so now she's been doing that for years and she's doing it again. And so we are excited to fill the room again with 200 students.
Most have never been in a church, have never met an American family. Some will have, but this is their chance to experience the joy of Thanksgiving but also family like Manila said. And so we are excited for you guys to participate. Obviously to pull this off. This is an all play. We're all doing it together. So Stephanie Bogner is in charge of all the volunteer coordination for this event.
Volunteer mobilizer. You're the best. How do we get involved?
[00:17:34] Speaker E: So two things I want to share with you. One, how you can serve and two, how you can sign up.
So there are so many needs that we have for this. Inviting 200 international students is not something that just a few of us can do. So we're hoping to have 30 families or individuals or friends sign up to host a table where internationals will be invited to sit at your table. And you will not have to prepare the food, but you could sit with them, enjoy the meal and enjoy the activities we'll have at the church. Another way is we need a lot of our international students do not have transportation so we need drivers to be able to go pick them up and bring them home at the end of the evening. We also need food donations or a cooking team. Activities coordinators greeters and registration. So many different ways you can participate. So ways that you can sign up and let us know that you want to be all in is through the
[email protected] serve at Thanksgiving or through our app you can find it. Or there'll be a team of us in the OW Cafe today to be able to answer questions or sign you up for today. Thanks.
[00:18:39] Speaker F: Yeah, we're so excited. It is fun. Like Manila said, it is fun. And so we invite you all to take your next step in missions and being part of our Westgate family. With that, we'd love for you to meet somebody new this morning and maybe give a high five or a fist bump and answer. If you were to eat a traditional meal in another country, what country would you want to go explore?
[00:18:59] Speaker A: Go.
[00:19:27] Speaker D: Thousand generations falling down in worship to sing the song of ages to them and all have gone before us and all who will believe we'll sing the song invasion.
Your name is the highest your name is the greatest your name stands above.
[00:20:04] Speaker A: Them all.
[00:20:07] Speaker D: All thrones and minions all powers and positions your name stands above them all and the angels cry holy.
All creation cries holy you are lifted.
[00:20:34] Speaker A: High.
[00:20:36] Speaker D: Holy holy forever.
[00:20:48] Speaker B: If you've been forgiven and if you've been redeemed sing.
[00:20:54] Speaker D: The song forever to.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: If you walk.
[00:21:02] Speaker D: In freedom and if you bear his name sing the song forever tonight oh we'll sing the a song forever and amen and the angels cry holy all creation cries holy you are lifted high holy holy forever hear your people sing holy to the king of kings holy you will always be holy holy forever your name is the highest your name is the greatest your name stands above them all above all thrones and dominions all powers and positions your name stands above them all.
Jesus your name is the highest your name is the greatest your name stands above them all above all thrones and dominions all powers and positions your name holy stands above them all and the angels cry holy all creation cries holy you are lifted high holy Holy forever yes you are hear your people sing holy to the king of kings Holy you will always be holy Holy forever you will always be holy Holy forever you will always be.
[00:24:16] Speaker A: Holy.
[00:24:20] Speaker D: Holy forever.
[00:24:23] Speaker A: Amen Sa.
[00:24:55] Speaker D: Worthy is the lamb who was slain holy holy is he.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: Sing.
[00:25:11] Speaker D: A new song to him who sits.
[00:25:16] Speaker A: On.
[00:25:18] Speaker D: Heaven'S mercy mercy seat Worthy is the lamb who was slain holy holy is he Sing a new song.
[00:25:46] Speaker A: To.
[00:25:46] Speaker D: Him who sits on heaven's mercy seat holy holy holy is the Lord God almighty who was and is and is.
[00:26:09] Speaker A: To come.
[00:26:14] Speaker D: With all creation. I sing praise to the King of Kings.
You are my everything and I will adore you.
Clothed in rainbow of living color, Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder, demons, Honor, strength and glory and power be to you the only wise king.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is with all creation. I sing praise to the King of Kings.
You are my everything and I will adore you.
[00:27:57] Speaker A: I adore you.
[00:28:06] Speaker D: Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder at the mention of your name, Jesus. Your name is power, breath and living water.
Such a marvelous mystery.
Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder.
Catholic mansion of your name.
[00:28:54] Speaker A: Jesus, your.
[00:28:55] Speaker D: Name is power, Breath of living water.
Such a marvelous mystery.
[00:29:10] Speaker A: Holy, holy, holy is our God Almighty who was and is and is to come.
[00:29:26] Speaker D: With all creation. I sing praise to the King of Kings.
[00:29:34] Speaker A: You are my everything and I will you raise your voice.
Adore you.
[00:30:14] Speaker D: Holy, holy, holy is the God Almighty who was and is and is to come with all creation. I sing praise to the King of kings.
You are my everything and I will adore you.
[00:30:57] Speaker C: Amen. You may be seated.
It is good to be here worshiping the Lord together. Amen.
It is good. And before we take our offering this morning, I just want to share a couple things with you. Julianne mentioned earlier that we're coming off an incredible week of our missions emphasis week.
Just really awesome to hear all that God is doing. And I wanted to share just three things that we can celebrate together this morning. The first thing is this. Over 50 people filled out a card to take their next step with Global Missions last week. And we are super pumped about that. And so we give praise to God for how he's moving and working in and through us and just leading and directing us. Second thing, we had over $12,000 come in for our love offering to bless our international workers. So thank you so much for your generosity.
We just celebrate that we had not only our two main international worker families that were here, but also a number of our other international workers that created content and were participating. And so thank you for that generosity and how we were able to bless each of them.
Lastly, we had international worker here this past week from Tea House, which is over overseas because we're on live stream. I'm not going to say it specifically, but you'll remember at last year's missions emphasis week, we had partners of theirs that were also on the field from another country and the husband came and spent time with us sharing about their country, sharing about everything that God was doing. But his wife couldn't come because she couldn't get a visa. Well, we got a special thank you from them, I believe just yesterday. Julianne, is that right? A video where they not only said thank you for the gift of that we sent them, but also to tell us that his wife finally got a five year visa from the US government and they are going to be able to come and join us hopefully in the near future. So we have been praying for that, that God would move and enable that. And so we're excited just to see how he is moving. And I want to say to you as we come to our time of offering again, thank you for your generosity. When you give to Westcott, you give to, to enable us to be able to support many of these international workers that are out on the field. And so thank you for that and especially for the love offering of this past week. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. God, thank you for this morning. Thank you that we can come and just magnify your name. We declare that you are the almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth, the one who is over all things and in control of all things. And we thank you God, that in spite of your power and your position that are so great, that you love us so deeply and that you invite us, God, into your mission of sharing the good news of the gospel that is around us. Father, we thank you for how you provide for our needs every single day and because of Lord, how you love us and how you provide for us. It is our joy to participate with you in what you are doing, to take the gospel to the end of the earth. And so this morning, as we give of our offerings and our tithes, we acknowledge God, that everything we have comes from you. And it's our joy to participate with you. So we give joyfully. And we ask, Lord, that you would multiply it and that you would make your name great. So we worship you together. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen. We're going to take our morning offering. And so if you're here on the center aisles, you can grab our offering buckets, pass them out to the sides. They're also in the corners in the balcony and you can pass those in. And we'll continue to worship the Lord as we take our offering. Before we jump into the Word together.
[00:35:02] Speaker A: Before.
[00:35:05] Speaker C: Before we jump into, into the Word together again. Just one other thing I want to let you help you be aware of that is coming up. Number one, thank you again for the number of you that are participating, participating in our 4,000 meal challenge that we Launched just a few weeks ago, again as a church. Over this next year, we're seeking to have what we call 4,000 meals, if you will, with people that God has placed in our lives that don't know Him. And I've been excited to see, I believe this morning when I walked in, there were four full rows on our display across from the cafe that were filled up. And I was watching more people come in and push pins in. And I had a question that was asked of me earlier this week where somebody said, hey, when people are putting pins in, does that mean that somebody said yes to Jesus, or do you have to have a meal, actual meal, with them? And the answer to both of those questions is no. The point of this 4000 meal initiative is really for us as a church to prioritize as individuals having spiritual conversations with people that God has placed in our life that don't know Him. And so it doesn't require that they say yes, but every opportunity that you get to have one of those conversations, we want you to celebrate what God is doing and giving that opportunity and how he is moving and working through you. And so as those happen, you can go up to that display that is there where it says love and big letters, grab some of the pins and push those in to symbolize what God is doing and the opportunities that he is giving us every single day. And we're gonna celebrate that all along the way. And it was exciting to see people doing that.
And one of the things that we're going to be doing as a church again this year to encourage that as we move into the Christmas season. Last year, one of the great opportunities we had to share the love of Jesus with people in our circles was Westgate at the Ribbon. It was one of our big Christmas events. How many people went to Westgate at the Ribbon last year? Let me see. Raise your hands. Wasn't it glorious out there ice skating or hanging out the beautiful snow that was falling? God blessed us incredibly. I was actually, during my sabbatical in July, sitting at Panera doing some studying by myself, and I heard a table of people off to my side talking. They didn't go to Westgate, but they were talking about how great our event was because they got invited to come to it. And I was like, oh, that's great. And I wanted to tell them, sorry, you're not going to be invited this year. Anyway, here's why. Here's why. Because what we want to do there is so much space at the ribbon for everybody, friends, churches, to have an event, but we want to prioritize. Cause there is limited space.
Two things. One, a church family gathering point for us, for us to come together as a church family. But most importantly, if you invite friends, we want them to be friends that are far from God, friends that don't know God, not like your friends that just go to other churches, bring people to continue that conversation.
That's why we provide this opportunity for us to gather, to enjoy that fellowship, but as well to invite people in and continue the conversations with people that God is giving us opportunity. And so that's going to be coming up very, very soon. I'd encourage you to watch the calendar for the registration when it opens up. It did fill up last year and so I'd encourage you to get registered. But begin thinking about who God might have you invite that needs to know him that could come and have a great time with your church family.
Speaking of family, this past week I had the opportunity to go and hang out with my family in Texas. My parents and my sister. It was great.
Flew out to Dallas on Wednesday and my sister, as you see on the screen, picked me up at the airport and we did. The first thing that was on my agenda was to go and to get some really incredible Texas barbecue. So amen brother. We went to Hutchins barbecue. You can see the pictures there, the big smokers that are out front as you go inside. The smells just permeate of all the wonderful meat that God has given us brewing in the building. It was great.
[00:39:10] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:39:10] Speaker C: It was wonderful. And if you look at my plate, you'll see that I spared no expense to have a wonderful meal with some brisket, some spicy sausage and one of those big old dino ribs. Now I know what some of you are thinking. Patrick, Pastor Rob, aren't you on a diet?
Let me help you with this. The Bible says there's a time for fasting and feasting. This was a time for feasting.
And so I went big. And let me tell you, I'm not weighing myself till next Friday. But it was a, it was a glorious meal. Then after we left, had a great time having, having a lunch with my family. We headed over to my parents house and I realized there's so many interesting things to see in Dallas like this. Like driving down the road.
Poop freedom.
A dog poop scooping operation. You can be hired to be a scoop soldier. Anyway, I don't know, I don't know why I thought that was so interesting, but I figured I'd tell you when Texas does things they do them big, and they do them interesting. And it's available for franchises on that back window. So if you're thinking. Thinking you need a business.
[00:40:14] Speaker A: All right.
[00:40:15] Speaker C: Anyway, later that evening, after I was sick to my stomach from all that meat, I went to another favorite of Gracie's in mind salad and go, I've written them two letters to move to Toledo, but they're not listening to me. So we had a great time. But really, my time there Wednesday until yesterday afternoon was spent with my parents and my family, and I got to spend good time with my dad and my mom. I am sure that they are watching this morning. So, hello, mom and dad.
My sister, my nephew as well was there. And it was just a great time of connecting with each other because I was flying in yesterday. I looked at Pastor Adam before I left and said, I hope you're ready to preach in case I can't get back. But we did make it back. But I will tell you one of the things some people have asked me. Why did you go? Like, it was a quick trip Wednesday, middle of the week, you fly back Saturday and you're preaching. And I'll tell you the reason I went. Some people are like, is there something wrong with your family? No, I just missed them. To be honest with you, I missed them. It's been about a year and a half since I was able to be with my parents. And so it was really good to go back and be with them, because I will tell you this, they know me better than anybody.
They love me more than anyone.
They know all of my faults and things that I tell them never to tell the stories.
They are the people that I can rely on and that I know that I always feel safe and loved and welcome. Isn't that a good feeling to have? They're my people.
There's nobody like them.
And you know what's interesting? I found in the 16 years or so that we have been here in Toledo that for Rochelle and I, this church family has also become our people.
You have become our family in the good times and in the hard times, in the lonely times, in moments of grief and in moments of great celebration, you are the people that we cry with. You are the people that encourage us, that challenge us, that consistently point us to Jesus.
And I will tell you that the church is a beautiful gift that the Lord has given to us, but he's given it to all of us.
And yet, in spite of that truth, it seems that there are times in our world today where the church itself doesn't quite resemble what the Lord created it to be.
Oftentimes, in our culture, the church is actually reduced to being nothing more than a building where people gather.
Or maybe it's a tradition that we feel obligated to uphold. Going to church, it can be a brand for some people that's meant to be marketed, and for others, it can be a weekend event that is among many other options for entertainment and to make yourself feel good.
But I've wrestled with the question, how much have we allowed our world to distort our own understanding of what God intended the church to be? And so together over the next many weeks, we're going to be taking a look at a new series together that is entitled Life the Church. And we're going to dig deep into understanding and returning to the heart of what God has always intended for his church to be.
And our aim in this, as we get into God's word in many different places, is going to be to rediscover God's heart and plan for our lives, but especially as his church together.
And so this morning we must begin with this foundation of how it is that we do life together as his church. Hopefully on the way in this morning you were able to grab sermon notes. If you have those, I'd invite you to pull them out as well.
If you've got your Bibles, you can turn with me to Genesis chapter two. We're going to be moving around in a couple of different books this morning, but that is where we will get started.
But as we talk about the church and doing life together, the first thing that I want us to see is that when we look in Scripture, specifically in the book of Genesis, we see that the Christian life is not meant to be lived.
Isolation for some people, we hate isolation.
We need people. We love being around lots of people and having community that surrounds us. And so we long for it, we search for it and we crave it. And yet there are people on the other side of the coin that don't necessarily love all of that community, but maybe they love isolation a little bit more. And if they could, they would do life away from people kind constantly. They would love it.
But here's the deal. What the Bible describes for us about the Christian life and life in general is that it was never meant to be lived in isolation.
Actually, we see quite opposite in Genesis chapter one and chapter two, letter A, what we see is that man was created by God and walked with God. And I want you to think about the profoundness of what we read here.
The book of Genesis tells us that God created the whole world and he created everything that is in it. Everything that we see ourselves included. And it tells us in Genesis chapter one, in this sprawling and beautiful picture of God's creative glory, that every aspect of God's creation, it says that God said that it was good.
The word good is the Hebrew word tov, and it has a couple of different meanings, meanings primarily. Tov refers to something that is functioning according to its design or purpose. When it does what it's supposed to do, it is good. An example, this past year, I finally got my family, my wife, my kids, all of us into what I call new used cars. So we got better cars, cars that work. We spent the last couple years pouring thousands and thousands of dollars into, into fixing broken cars. And we finally got to a place where we could get away from that. The bills seem to be gone. And it's good to have good cars that are functioning according to their purpose. I was actually talking about this with my family in Texas this last week, and the burden kind of being lifted for a time and maybe even bragging a little bit about it. And then driving home from the airport yesterday, the check engine light came on on my truck.
That is not good.
Now, I did call my good buddy Dan Lang. He gave me some pointers and that light has now gone off. Thank God for that.
[00:46:40] Speaker A: Woo.
[00:46:40] Speaker C: It's again functioning the way that it's supposed to. That is good.
You see, the Hebrew word tov would refer to something that is functioning according to its design or purpose the way that it was intended to function. It was good. Creation was because it was exactly the way God designed it to be. There was no brokenness. But the word tov also can carry the idea of an aesthetic dimension. In other words, not only does it describe something that is useful, but it describes something incredibly beautiful and pleasing, unlike anything we could ever imagine. God's creation is not only useful and operating according to its. Its function in the beginning, but it was beautiful and beyond our wildest imagination of what it could possibly be like to live in a world with no sin and no brokenness and no death and no shame and no guilt and no hurt and no sickness and all of that. It was perfect.
And its usage, this word tov of the creation being good in the book of Genesis was also a strong reminder of the very character of God.
Because as it tells us that his creation was good, it reminds us also that God himself is good and his nature is reflected in his work.
What I love, as we read Genesis Chapter one is that we understand this was Adam's experience of our world. Living in the most beautiful, the most perfect world, with no sin and no brokenness.
He was even given dominion over it. And that word dominion means the idea of stewardship over the entire world. All the plants, all the animals. It was incredible. And it tells us that he walked in a perfect relationship with the God who created him and everything that surrounded him. It was an experience of the depth of God's goodness.
And yet we come to Genesis chapter 2, verse 18 and we read letter B that yet not all was good.
Not all was good.
Genesis chapter 2, verse 18 says this.
Then the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a helper that is suitable for him among all the perfection of everything that was created.
Against the backdrop of Genesis 1, where over seven times we hear that everything about the creation was good, it is startling in this passage that we would see the divine observation of God was that something was not good. And what wasn't good? Man being alone, not having companionship with someone that was a fit for him.
And so what we see in letter C is that isolation is incompatible with God's design for humanity at large.
After this declaration that this was not good, we see that what God does is he brings all of the animals of the earth before Adam. And as he has been given stewardship over them, he goes through and he's naming each of them and giving them classification, distinction. But this phrase is made when this is completed that it says that there was not found a helper.
Amongst all that God could created. There was not found a helper that was fit for him. There was so much going on around him, so much that God had created. His life had purpose. He had stewardship over everything.
And yet his life was incomplete without intimate connection of being in community with other people.
He was not meant for isolation. And you and I know this to a great degree. We were not meant to live our lives in isolation. All we have to do is dial ourselves back to the year 2020, to COVID 19, when all of the shutdowns took place and we were told to stay home because staying home would protect and preserve our lives. The best life was being separate from everybody, wearing masks, hiding from everything, right to stay away from it. But what happened during that season of isolation?
People began to realize how miserable it was to be alone.
It was horrible to sit in our homes. The studies that have been done since then talk about how there was an incredible mental health crisis that plagued Our world. There were issues with child and teen development.
Workplace burnout and disconnection was at an all time high. There was a spike in domestic issues and for many people, they declared that during that season there was a loss of purpose and meaning because we were alone and it wasn't good.
You know, the three hardest times in my life have been those moments in my life where I felt alone. When I was in junior high, a loner, no friends, hated it. I wanted nothing to do with it. There were times where I wanted to take my own life, even though I was far too scared to do so. I didn't enjoy that feeling of loneliness. I remember as an adult moving to toledo with Rochelle 16 years ago, leaving behind our family, leaving behind our friends, our church community and coming here. It was a great church with a lot of great people. But it's hard to break into a new place.
And there was so much loneliness that we wrestled through. And it was misery in that season as well. When I got Covid for the first time and I realized I couldn't smell or taste anything. Those only symptoms I had. I remember telling Rochelle I was celebrating. I get 10 days by myself in the basement with a large TV. This is going to be phenomenal. I'm going to watch ESPN and sports constantly. I was excited. I was looking forward to it. And it only took 12 hours for me to lose my excitement and realize how miserable I was.
Like Rachelle and the kids went to church and I jumped on my bike, broke the rules and went for a bike ride because I couldn't stand being alone or being in a confined space. Those were the 10 longest days.
We hate isolation because it's incompatible with God's design for humanity. Letter D.
Because human flourishing is actually dependent on our connectedness to others. This was God's design. It's why God said, I will make a helper that is suitable for him. Speaking of Adam.
And when he said that he would make for Adam a helper. That word helper doesn't imply whether one person is stronger or one person is weaker. It's not even talking about an identity of the person. What it's describing is the idea that God was going to give Adam humanity.
Someone that was complementary and that there would be a sense of completion that would happen when there was that sense of community.
You know, I read this report. I didn't even know this report existed this last week. It's called the World Happiness Report, something that they put out every single year. And did you know that every single year at the Very top. The very top of the list. What creates happiness, they say, is social connectedness and support. Those are the top predictors of one's feeling of well being or of life satisfaction. It's because we were created to be in community with one another.
Now, not only were we created that way, but I want you to see as you look at page number two, God's design from the very beginning is also that we most naturally flourish in our relationship with him when we are deeply connected to each other as followers of Jesus Christ. And the Apostle Paul helps us to understand this truth. If you have your Bibles, you can turn with me to friends. Corinthians, chapter 12. But the apostle Paul helps us understand this truth through a metaphor that he uses as he writes to the church in Corinth. He compares the human body in all of its.
I lost the word. Somebody say it for me.
Thank you. That the mind went somewhere.
And it helps us to. He helps us to understand this comparison of the human body to how not only the human body is so interconnected and dependent on itself in order to produce real, true, good life.
In the same way as the church, we are meant to live interconnected with one another in order to experience the best of what God has for us. First Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 12 says this. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ. Paul says, man, the body is made up of the fingers, of the hands, the arms, the legs, the torso, the feet, the toes, like so many parts. And even if we were to do a scan and look inside of our bodies, there are so many small, tiny little things that are all interconnected and woven together, working together in order to bring about true full life.
And he says, so is it is with Christ.
For in one spirit we are all baptized into one body.
Jews and Greeks, slave or free, all were made to drink of one spirit. For the body does not consist of one member, but of many.
You see, in Christ we flourish in our relationship with him when we are deeply connected to each other. So letter A, what Paul tells us is our unity is the body of Christ does not mean uniformity.
Actually it's our diversity is what makes the body beautiful.
Especially this was significant to the early church that Paul was writing to. You see, the church in Corinth was experiencing an incredible amount of division for a number of different reasons. One of those reasons was allegiance that was developing even amongst the church and the believers towards specific leaders Factions were being created where people, people be like, I follow Paul or no, I follow Apollos or this teacher or that leader. And factions were breaking out and division was happening. It wasn't good, but as well, some of the division that was being created came from the culture and infiltrated the church. Was this value of social status of people that were seeking power and prestige and seeing themselves as greater or better than others around. And it sought to pole the church apart from one another.
The other thing that was a big issue is you'll remember that as the Gospel is going forward, it's going not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles who hated one another for centuries. And now what Paul is saying is that you are being brought together as one amongst all the differences that could possibly exist within the church. What he says is we are united in Christ, in Christ alone. He gives us a new identity and it supersedes all identities that we may have. He speaks specifically to Jews or Greeks here. And what I want you to see is this, is that the church most accurately represents God's intention when it resembles the nations who will worship around his throne. I cannot wait until the day where we stand before the throne of God worshiping and we have this very clear picture, picture of just how different we are. And yet it all melts away because our identity is that we are children of God. Amen.
I'm so excited we get to experience expressions of that in our own church. We, we have an Arabic church plant that is taking place on Saturday mornings. They have like anywhere from 15 to 25 people that are coming this morning. Right now in the middle school room upstairs we have a Brazilian community that, that is meeting for the very first time reaching out to Portuguese speaking people in our community. I am excited because what we see is that even in our diversity we are unified in Christ. And it is the most beautiful expression of God's church when our diversity comes together in him. But even more letter B. What we need to understand that Paul is communicating here is that not only does diversity make the body beautiful, but no one within the body of Christ is insignificant. Comparison and or insecurity will always distort our view of what God intended.
In First Corinthians, chapter 12, Paul makes this point again as we look at verse 15. He says, 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. If the ear should say I'm not an I don't belong to the body. That would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God has arranged the members in the body, each one of them as he chose.
If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
What Paul wants us to understand, and he communicates so passionately, is that each of us are significant within the body of Christ in our own way. And this goes beyond racial or ethnic differences, but it speaks to the many differences that we experience within the body of Christ. We come from many different backgrounds and walks. We have different personalities, different passions, differing giftedness, different economic statuses, different spiritual maturities, different ages and seasons of life. The list could go on and on and on as we pick apart the differences that exist within the body.
But the great danger that exists is that we move to a place of comparison in order to say that one is better than the other.
Or because that happens, that we move to a place of insecurity where we walk away from the body because we don't feel that we are a part or belong or that we are significant.
Paul wants us to understand that no matter how great or how small a part of the body you may feel or seem to be, that we are all equal and necessary within the body of Christ for God's design for us to flourish.
And here's what happens when we compare ourselves to others. It produces pride.
It produces pride in our lives that breaks apart and disunifies the body.
But even more, when an insecurity is created within us and we question whether or not we have value in the body of Christ, it tempts us to withdraw from that body that God intended us to be a part of. I've seen this happen in so many different ways. When people walk into the church, especially when they don't have a church background, and they might look and say, like, you don't know the things I've done or who I am.
There's this feeling that they wrestle with of insignificance, that I'm not good enough.
And they don't understand right away just how important they are to the body of Christ.
We may look at people that have different personalities, and we think, oh, I don't jive with that personality. So we want to push it away. But people are essential. Sometimes we'll look at others. Giftedness. You know, somebody might say, look at the gift that God has given to them. I'm not gifted that way. I'm not quite as important as someone else, or even more. I see it happen with age in the church. Teenagers who will say, well, the church is really for adults. I'm just here biding my time.
And what we fail sometimes to realize that even as teenagers and young people and children, you can have just a great of an impact in the life of other people as the oldest saints in this church. But do you want to see the other side of that coin? How many of the older saints in our church look at themselves and say, I'm not as important as I used to be.
My time has passed. And what I would tell you is the Bible, God's word, tells us something completely different. It says no matter whether you are young or whether you are the oldest saint in the building, that God has purpose for your life, that he wants to use you to make an impact within his body and even more so, that you are essential to it.
You see, comparison and insecurity are things that pull apart what God has intended for his church. Letter C Independence and or pride are a threat to our spiritual flourishing.
Independence and pride are a threat to our spiritual flourishing.
What does Paul say? 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.
And those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow greater honor. 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 with the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
If one member suffers, all suffer together.
If one member is honored, all rejoice together.
I say this to you, Church Spiritual pride separates us from the heart of God. When we allow it to seep into our churches and separate us from other people, it not only stifles our growth in him, because we are not experiencing the life that God has designed for us, but it makes our experience of the Christian life about us, not about him, not about what he wants to do in us, but also it stunts the growth that God wants to accomplish, not just in us, but also through us, impacting the lives of others, other people. And in the same process, spiritual pride destroys our Christian witness.
In the same vein, I will tell you this church, for those who like to pull away and be independent or isolate, away from community. I want you to understand that what Paul is telling us is that it stifles the growth that God wants to do in you and also through your life. Not only are there, there are things that he can only do in you as you are connected to other believers and followers of Jesus, but as well, he wants to use your life to be an impact in the lives of others. Thus, the church is essential for us in our growth in Him.
So what we see is this truth. Letter D is that the church was designed for unity amongst God's people, shared honor as his chosen people, all being important and deep mutual care for one another that models Christ's care for us.
If this is true, then we should be able to find a place in the Bible where we can actually see it at play. And we do. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn with me to Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two. We're going to close in this section of Scripture this morning.
I want you to see this true story today is that Acts chapter two gives us a picture of the body of Christ, the church in its very beginning, inception, and what I call in living color. You get to see it the way that it was designed to be. You'll remember that before Acts chapter two, what we hear is that Jesus has died. He has come and resurrected back to life. He has ascended back into heaven. He put his disciples on mission and he gave them the great commission. And Peter goes out in the book of Acts and he preaches this incredible gospel message. And he is bold, preaching the risen Lord and the transformation that can come to one's life when they surrender. And what does it say happens after he preaches this sermon? 3,000 people came to Christ. It was an incredible move of the Spirit of God as people come to faith in Jesus Christ, Jew and Gentile like people are coming to faith in Jesus.
And after that, after we get that account in the book of Acts, we come to Acts chapter 2 beginning in verse 42, where we get a picture of what that new early group of believers, 3,000 people, number what it looked like to be God's church. And here's what it says, Letter A.
They are described as those that were devoted to growing in Christ together.
They were devoted to growing in Christ together.
Acts 2:42 says that they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to the fellowship, and to the breaking of bread and prayer.
What we see is this beautiful picture of not only how they were rooted in Christ by listening to the Apostles teaching, which was super important. They were receiving the Word of God. They were growing in Christ, rooted in Him. But being rooted in Christ wasn't just their devotion to God's Word and to what was being taught to them. It also says they were devoted also to the fellowship.
In other words, to each other.
It says to the breaking of bread and to prayers. That breaking of bread, some people believe, and some commentators believe that it's a picture of the Lord's Supper. Others believe it is a picture of them just worshiping together and enjoying meals together and praying together, corporately coming together and seeking God.
No doubt all of this was happening, but being rooted in Christ meant to be now devoted not only to His Word, but also to community together, because that's the way God designed it. And I want to ask you these questions this morning. What steps are you taking to move into community with other people?
Have you allowed your life, at times, maybe even to get so busy that you don't have to time for that Christian community that God has designed for you? I would also ask, what steps are you taking to welcome other people into the family, into the church? What steps are you taking to create space for them? You see, when we talk about being devoted to growing in Christ together, it means that not only are we seeking to grow as those who are yielding our hearts and lives to him, but we are seeking to bring other people into that experience with us because it's how God sharpens us and God deepens us and how God allows that experience to expand and to grow to other people.
But it says not only were they devoted to growing in Christ together. Let her be. But the Spirit of God was moving powerfully among them.
And this is, I love this part of the passage, Acts 2:43 says. And awe came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles that as the church was yielding their hearts and their lives to God, there were things that were happening that could not be described by what they were doing. The very power and spirit of God was moving at such a pace in the lives of those who were surrendered to him that they couldn't even take credit for what was going on. It wasn't like, hey, look at the great church service Peter had and the message that he did. 3,000 people coming to faith, that's not something a man can do, only God can do. And as they were experiencing community and joy and love that we're going to read about in just a second, this was a move of the Spirit of God.
Too often in Our churches today, we boil down the movement of God to things we can produce.
But Church, I will tell you this. When the Spirit of God moves, no man can take credit.
Amen.
And Church, I want to ask you this question. We're going to dive into each of these deeper in the weeks to come. This one's next week. I want to ask you, does your heart long for the Spirit of God to move in your life, but also in your church to where you see him doing things that only he can do?
It came when God's people were devoted to him and devoted to each other and humbling themselves and allowing the Spirit of God to move church. This is what God designs and desires for us in our individual lives, but collectively together. The Spirit of God was moving because of the humble posture that they had so that he alone would receive all the glory. And because of this we see letter C that they cared deeply and intentionally for one another. As the Spirit was moving, it changed how they live. Acts 2:44 and 45. All who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. Forget the selfishness that permeates our culture and no doubt permeated every culture for all of humanity. They wanted to love and care for each other. It was a new work of the Spirit that was taking place. What does it say that they put one another before themselves?
Paul describes it best in Philippians 2 when he says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. They cared so deeply for one another that when they saw a need, whether it was a physical need, a monetary need, a food need, whether it was an emotional need, a spiritual need, they were attentive to see the need and respond and care for and love one another.
This is what the Spirit of God was developing among them. And letter D. Because of it, they were filled with joy. There was a joy that was inexplainable. Acts 2:46 into 47 says, and day by day they attended the temple together, breaking bread in their homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.
Now you read that and sometimes you forget the context of what's going on.
These early Christians are still living under Rome's heavy hand.
The Jews do not like them.
Persecution is coming.
And yet in the midst of that heaviness, they experienced a freedom and a joy that was inexplicable. It was a move of the Spirit of God among among them. Because their joy wasn't coming from the things of this world. It was coming from Christ and Christ alone. And it could only be experienced. As they came together to experience all that Christ and God had intended for them and all of humanity and their connectedness with each other as they sought him, they were filled with joy. And because of it, Letter E, an unbelieving world took notice.
The world that was around them saw that there was something vastly different.
Acts 2:47b. The Lord added to their number, day by day, those who were being saved.
This powerful move of the Spirit of God in the lives of those in the early church, as they came together, humbled themselves, sought God together, yield their hearts and lives, cared for one another, experienced the joy of the Lord, the world looked and said, they've got something that I need.
And day by day, people came to Faith Church.
Hear this as we go through this series together. Like I said, we're going to dig deep into many of those pieces over the next couple weeks together. But our intention is to understand amidst the distortion of what church has become in our world and culture, what is God's intent, why is it important, and what am I doing to be an active part of God's church? Because it's how he desires to grow me, but also to use my life to grow others closer to him.
And so church I'm would end with just simply those questions I asked at the beginning. Some of you may not be connected in fellowship here. You might be checking out Westgate Chapel. You're new to the church, you haven't found that community yet.
I want to encourage you to take bold steps to find that community.
Ask Pastor Adam, ask myself how you get involved. We would love to help you get connected into this family, to experience all that God has for you.
But church, family, those of you that have been here for a while and you kind of got your people. Can I also say this?
When is the last time that you looked to your left and to your right or in front of you or behind you as you sit in this pew and you actually saw the people that were there?
Have you ever recognized that maybe every single Sunday there's somebody sitting around you that is craving for that community, but nobody says anything to them and they sit and they wait and sometimes we want to put all the onus on them to reach out?
But would we be the type of community that God designed us to be, where we are drawing people in and inviting them into fellowship?
Are you welcoming people, but also are you making space for them.
Because so often we like to stay in our little clusters that are so easy to. To break into and yet other people sit on the outside. Maybe that means looking at your life group and having a conversation about should we split?
Should we allow more people to come in? Should somebody step out to lead a new group?
What is it that we can do to be the church God designed us to be so that more and more people would find and follow him and grow deeper experiencing the community that he designed for us to have.
[01:16:03] Speaker A: Church.
[01:16:04] Speaker C: This is God's intention and foundation as we move forward to understand who we are meant to be as his people, the church. Let's pray together. God, thank you for your word. How instructive it is to us. And I pray, God, that you would have put a passion within each of our hearts to never move our lives into a place of isolation, but to continually move into community with one another.
Where we're seeking to build unity together, to be unified and have our identity be in you, you and you alone.
But God help us also as we find that place of community and connectedness and as we're growing in you to be those who allow you to use our lives to welcome in others and to help others to find that path of community and growing deeper with you.
And so God, speak to us, show us what you want us to do today and receive the glory as we listen and we follow you. In Jesus name. Amen.
[01:17:31] Speaker A: People come together strange as neighbors Our blood is one Children of generations of every nation O kingdom come don't let your heart be trouble hold your head up high and fear no evil Fix your eyes on this one true truth God is madly in love with you so take courage, hold on, be strong Remember where our help comes from Always sing Jesus our redemption, our salvation his in his beloved love yes, it is Jesus the light of heaven Friend forever His kingdom come so don't let your heart be trouble hold your head up high and fear no go Fix your eyes on this one truth God, is manly love with you? Yes, yes.
Take courage, hold on, be strong Remember where hell comes from.
We celebrate so many things God is doing.
[01:20:17] Speaker C: Amen.
[01:20:18] Speaker A: Just like Jared, your praises can break down walls.
Let's sing it out.
Swing wide all you heavens Let the praise go up as the walls come down all creation, everything will breath repeat the sound all these children, clean hands, pure hearts, good grace, good God, what is his name? Jesus.
[01:20:51] Speaker C: Sing it out.
[01:20:51] Speaker A: Swing wide to swing wide oh you heavens Let the praise go up as the walls come down all creation, everything.
[01:21:05] Speaker D: We breath we beat the sky all.
[01:21:09] Speaker A: The children.
[01:21:11] Speaker D: Good grace good God Good.
[01:21:13] Speaker A: Grace good God his name is Jesus Come on break down those walls Swing wide hugging heavens Let the praise go up as the walls come down all creation everything with red Repeat the sound all this children clean hands pure hearts Good grace Good God his name is.
[01:21:43] Speaker D: Jesus.
[01:22:19] Speaker A: Let the praise go up as the walls come down all creation everything with breath that bring the sound of his children Lean hands Pure hearts Pure grace Good God his name is Jesus so we sing.
[01:22:42] Speaker D: Jesus our redemption our.
[01:22:48] Speaker A: Salvation his name is love always see.
[01:22:56] Speaker D: Jesus light of heaven Friend forever His.
[01:23:05] Speaker A: Kingdom come Amen Amen Church to give him praise.
[01:23:16] Speaker C: Go out and be the church Push deeper into community with each other.
Look for those who need to be brought in and share the good news of God's love with everybody you can this week. God bless you have a great week Serving him.
