Message 2 - We Were Made for Each Other (Why Am I Here? )

hey North Coast we're so glad you're with us today my name is Alexis and I work over on our Carlsbad campus if you'd like today's sermon notes or just more information you can go and check us out online at North Coast Church comm today we're continuing in our why am I here series so let's grab our Bibles and dive in we hope you enjoy what's the point of all of this [Applause] [Music] what is my purpose why am I here how you doing good you look good Acts chapter 2 today Acts chapter 2 jumping right into it the big question we're asking in this series a little bit pervading may be more existential than we want to be but why are we here what is our purpose what is the where's our reason for existing what's the crescendo what's the point what's the precipice why are you and I breathing living why are we create in the first place why is mankind here why is there anything in our whole universe rather than nothing these are all kind of the questions we want to tackle in this series today we're particularly looking at the idea of why are we here being the church what is our purpose and really honing in on the first Christian Church to be established in Israel 2,000 years ago its original purpose its methodology for community and how we pick up on that 2,000 years later so in your Bibles Acts chapter 2 a little background here there's this disciple named Peter Peter as an idiot Peter all throughout Jesus's life speaks when he's not supposed to he doesn't speak when he's supposed to he can't really get anything straight but Jesus promises something to his disciples he says when I ascend into heaven I'm gonna leave because I'm in one place at a time but I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit who can literally live in every single Christian on the planet at the same time so he leaves 40 days later he sends down the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit comes and in dwells all the Christians and that's still today when we become a Christian when we become a Christ follower when we turn our life over to Jesus the Holy Spirit now lives inside of us with that newfound power this otherwise named Peter delivers the most poignant and effective message in the history of mankind but when you listen to the sermon it's an awful sermon his sermon was this and not so many words hey you Jews you killed Jesus he was God apologize here's how you do that all you need to get into a tank and get baptized and stop sinning do your best to live a life with Christ surrender your life go and would you know it three thousand people right then in there boom getting the tanks there baptized it's the creation the Christian Church now you and I sit here 2,000 years later continuing that same movement but it's gotten a little bit twisted along the way now Christianity is synonymous with holidays it's announced with people who are judgmental and they don't swear and they don't drink as much as other people sometimes right man this has kind of become how we're known but the First Christian Church it wasn't about a people who were morally superior it's about a group of people who were convicted and convinced that the person and work of Jesus Christ that he was a Jewish carpenter he died a perfect death in our place and he rose back from the dead proclaiming victory over death and that we believe that that sequence of events occurred and that we are staking both our life and eternity on its truth that's what a Christian is okay it's not the you send your kid to a Christian school it's not that you listen to Hillsong these might be different attributes of Christianity for some people but a Christian is not someone who has moral due gooded miss it is someone who is convinced by a series of events that is today and forever at the same time so Peter begins with not a preaching of moral do goodness but of a conviction of the life death and resurrection of Jesus the very next thing that happens as the Holy Spirit pervades and permeates the Christian culture as we see the inception of community in the Christian Church that says this verse 42 they being the believers devoted themselves for the Apostles teaching and to fellowship to the breaking of bread and to prayer everyone was filled with the many wonders and signs for performed by the Apostles all the believers were together and had everything in common they sold property and possessions to give to one another every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved all throughout the Bible that there's a there's a common pledge there's a common command a commission given to God's people to in community now here's the issue modern-day American value is all about number one rights although I it's me it's individualistic right we we become men we become women when we can afford things on our own we live life on our own the sharing of burdens and feelings and things of that nature are pretty prototypically unamerican things to do right I do my business you do your business I accomplish what I need you accomplish you accomplish what you need to accomplish I'm independent you are independent we are both strong independent people and that is kind of the the crux of of who we are and the Bible comes along and goes wait what what did you say you think the world's about you you think the life that you've been given the breath that God has given to you is so that you as an individual could fulfill some kind of intrinsic life purpose solely just for you you think you're why you exist it's a difficult thing for us to think because for 166 hours a week we are constantly consumed and we take these pills of media and culture that says it's you it's you if you have to lie to people about your age to make you feel good then do it you are the reason you exist your life your comfort your safety your protection your enjoyment your pleasure you you you you you you you so we tend to read into the Christian Church our common cultural understanding of the universe that when the Bible says certain thing it's all about me when the Bible says you are promised something we always think it's my promise when the Bible says I know the plans I have for you we think it's my plans it's all about me but the Bible says like you're not created for you but we very rarely as Christians in America particular actually reap the benefit of the idea of community that God gave us it's like a fine print on a credit card most of us who have a credit card use it for a way of paying and then we do or not pay it off maybe not but when you read the fine print of a credit card okay which some of us who have more free time on our hands do occasionally especially preparation for a sermon like this here's what I realized you know that a lot of credit cards offer something called price protection and here's what that means that means if you buy something on Amazon and in a kit in a course up 90 days if it changes value on Amazon let's say it drops $20 on Amazon your credit card company will give you $20 because it changed price it's called buyer protection or price protection there's even an app called Ernie ei rny it will do it for you it will plead to your company for you then they just send you a check in the mail and you get the difference and you did nothing don't ever say I didn't teach you something because if this this is a community sermon and a financial sermon all rolled into one a lot of credit cards if you book a rental car with your credit card it'll have rental insurance on it and then you use that card to pay for more rental insurance because you don't know and I would have known this either except I needed points for the sermon so I looked it up and I went wow how few of us actually reap all the benefits of the cards that we're using of the things that we're doing this is kind of Christianity for some of us we have a transactional thing that we use our card for but that's pretty much it Christianity for us is a transaction I come to church on the weekends he gives me eternal life let's just let's call it even and the great gift of God is grace for me is that it's it's the great infomercial of your life it's the only thing that's truly free that costs you nothing but there's other benefits to it that we just don't participate in and one of those is the gift of community and here at North Coast Church you're gonna be hearing us talking about hearing us me and the mouse my pocket you're gonna be hearing me this morning talk about life groups okay life groups and here's ironic my sermon this week was not supposed to be about life groups and I didn't even tell me when I was switching the message until I wrote it so we had sermon prep on Tuesday and I told everyone on the whole church that was producing notes what I was talking about and then I changed it completely and no one told me to do it I'm a rogue guy I do what I want right so I'm like here's why because when I came to North Coast Church I graduated from Concordia University in Irvine and they said about nine out of ten of our adults are in growth groups during the week and I went excuse me what now if you've grown up at North Coast Church Northcote that's that weird at North Coast Church that's so that's just a common fact for us we do like but for a lot of us who are newer to North Coast or we're new to the area or you're watching online from somewhere you're thinking yourself you guys do because for me growing up small groups or life groups were what like AP Christians did you know there was like our general IDI Christianity that was like me I was like can't we just and then there was like honors level Christian where you had like morning devotions and then if you were AP you actually met with a group too but we see it almost as like man people who who really want to sacrifice more for God but then the Bible comes on goes it's not about sacrificing more it's about you getting everything that the Christian life has to offer it's us missing out on something there's a great promise found in Christian community that a lot of us have chosen to see not as a mandate but as a suggestion but make no mistake the Bible mandates community for the Christian how could you ever one another any other if there's no one anothers for you to one another love one another give to one another encourage one another spur one another towards love and good deeds give to one another as they have need learn from one another if you don't have a one another who are you gonna win another you can't win another yourself that's not a thing the Bible it it you might go well it doesn't cost to get in life groups in the Bible that's because all the church waters was life groups it was so ingrained in who you were as a Christian to be in a group of people and and into a tight-knit community before Eisenhower had the freeway system you didn't walk around and go which church do I like you were in a little bubble and that's what you did Christianity with and so the Bible yeah assumes you're in one when it talks about the church the synagogue a right the ecclesia of the Bible it does not thinking about big building teacher on stage corporate worship it was everything was about being known and to know and to be known in community so I really want to make sure that we understand this when we're talking about life groups today life groups for North Coast Church is a tool but community is a rule community connection for the Christian is a rule it's a mandate you must be in community a tool that we use at north coast is called life groups but don't make life groups the rule if you have another way of experiencing Christian community where you're walking through life with people not your pretentious facade charade of a life but that's truly what makes you you life and you're doing with people great grand wonderful life groups is the tool that we use to satisfy a rule here at North Coast which is to engage in Christian community to be spurned to be grown to be pushed and changed to do life with one another it is the credit card fine print that few of us who are new might be participating in now I want to be very clear on what the Bible says about this so if you have your note sheet I've set a new world record today with most fill-in-the-blanks I'd like to thank my mother and my father for the encouragement but it was it was really born out of what are all the benefits of growth curve so I kind of sat now with a pen and a paper and you started listing them off and I ended up with 27 fill the blanks I apologize hey here's attention the tension exists and the fact that first of all community we were born and bred for community why Chris Brown told us last week we were made for community we weren't as made for community we were made from community and if we were made from community Father Son and Holy Spirit let us make man mankind anthropos in our image wouldn't it only make sense that if the US made us in the US nYSSA's likeness that we would have an innate desire for us miss we were made from us miss we are going to desire us miss we are made from seventy we desire creativity we it's it's the idea of being image bearers we desire and yearn for what our Trinity of a God Father Son and Holy Spirit is we are the very image of the invisible God so there was her name's Amelia and she's a she has her doctorate or PhD in social psychology psychology at Berkeley and she found that the same area of your brain that is triggered for desiring food and water is the same area of a brain that's desired for community it's not just that some of us want community it's that we as human beings expect community the issue is we have supplanted community with social media or things that might smack of community but they're not actually community so the tension here's the problem with attention socialization is not the same as thing as community it's not synonymous with community being around people isn't the same thing as being in community the Bible would never consider some social gathering where you walk around and talk about weather and fantasy-football as being sufficient for community okay I'm not bagging on fantasy football okay I have a fantasy football team myself which is the most confusing thing to explain to people but it is a thing okay just deal with it but we might go well I'm gonna finish it Football League and in a church softball league or in a softball league from somewhere else and we go well I'm around people but you and I both know you can be surrounded by people and feel very alone right there been in an airport it it it's not about just having people around it's about walking through the dirt of life with them conversely speaking is not the same thing as connecting just because you talk a lot doesn't mean you experience true community or true connection and the tension exists between community being point number one and vulnerability being point number two there's the problems community the problems vulnerability is simple if we are hardwired to expect community we because of sin Genesis chapter three are hardwired to reject vulnerability in fact it says very clearly in Scripture when Adam and Eve realized they were naked they did what they hid I don't want you to know anything god the omnipotent omniscient creator comes into the garden and Adam and Eve hide from him don't shoot her natural reaction me like what did you say he he knows where you are he's not bad at hide-and-seek like he knows everything but even if it doesn't make sense we still hide from God we still we still reject vulnerability because I believe this is what Bernie Brown talks about a guy named Tim half for Harford who also wrote a book on on vulnerability why his book is called why almost all success starts at failure and what he said is failure and vulnerability or trauma and vulnerability holds such tight hands in our lives that we have a hard time experienced and vulnerability without expecting trauma here's what I mean maybe you lost someone in your family maybe someone got diagnosed with cancer maybe you had a really bad diagnosis at some point in those moments where you are helpless a pervading emotion we can have is vulnerability I'm exposed I'm exploited I'm naked I have no help but I am NOT I can't do anything about it so you feel very vulnerable which we caricature eyes to mean weakness then in that moment of weakness I felt vulnerable so when we call each other to vulnerability we go you just call me a weakness no no no just because we experienced vulnerability in trauma doesn't mean that vulnerability itself is traumatic it just tends to appear most naturally in our lives when trauma is present when we are broken and we are on the outskirts and we are hurting we feel vulnerable so we rebelled against it we go okay I would never do that voluntarily because that was inflicted on me so why would I ever choose to feel that way but what we do when we reject vulnerability is we throw the baby with the bathwater because vulnerability in and of itself of being able to share life and do life openly and to be honest about who we are is so healthy for our soul and for our present condition Brene brown writes a book called daring greatly it's a great study on vulnerability and she says we have to get rid of the idea that all vulnerability is weakness when you meet someone who goes oh well I don't share my emotions I'm I'm a I'm a coffin of my own solitude does any of us go wow that person is of high character right no we go what is your problem see innately we think why are you so closed off but then we go will you open up we go no not me I think that's the tension we crave community but we reject the vulnerability and about what comes along and says you got to stop thinking of life that way you gotta you gotta Romans chapter 12 you have to renew your brain and transform the way that you think if you're gonna engage in Christian community the way it was meant to be engaged in a little case study on vulnerability on or isolation I should say man named David give you some references you can read their stories later if you're not familiar with them Old Testament character David he was a warrior hero he then became King and he decided when he became king he doesn't need to be around his guys anymore he had his mighty men he did war with and thought to himself now that I'm King I'm gonna stay home while all my friends go off to war the very next verse second samuel chapter 11 he sees a woman babe bathing on the roof and then he gives any commits adultery with her he impregnates her he kills her husband who's one of his really good friends and all this starts in a place where he said I'm strong enough to do life by myself and he's a man who God says this is a man after my own heart so ladies and gentlemen no matter how strong you are in your convictions or how strong you are in your Christian faith when we look at the heroes of Scripture and when they chose isolation they fail we cannot be so covetous in safe fixating on ourselves to think that we are superior to them were not and David said let me try isolation the very next verse he fell into sin isolation breeds sin Elijah is an Old Testament prophet who speaks on behalf of God has a great victory and then chooses to go sit in the desert by themselves so just by himself to weep and moan because this woman named Jezebel said she wanted to kill him so he goes off in the desert in a place after great victory and then he is so alone and feels so destitute that he asked God to kill him well how did that happen there's a connection in these things isolation is a breeding for sin it also breeds self-obsession when I don't have a one another to one another I fixate on me almost every way that we want to produce results in addiction in counseling in neurosis in narcissism is to focus on other people when my focus goes from me to others the problems of myself also tend to shrink the isolation breeds self obsession first Kings 19 tells that story there's a man named Jonah in the Old Testament where God says I want you to go witness to these people Jonah takes a boat in the other direction you know the story gets trolled by a fish you get spit out but we kind of reject God's will for our lives not his sovereign will in the end God's will will be done but Jonah said I don't want to do what you want me to do and that's where isolation gets us we can't one another one another when there's no other to one another and like if I asked you today and this is where we can get caught up in the trappings and trimmings of theology we go well I love God but I don't I don't really engage in Christian community well then I would challenge that you really do love God when guys asked in Scripture how we are to love him what does he say if you ask God today God how can I love you more his response would be love others maybe I put you on stage and I said alright they'll love God go well what would be your first action would you dance would you sing would you if you appeal the Bible and said well let me find out how I'm supposed to love God they'll know that we are Christians by the way that we love one another Jesus is they said Jesus when did we see you would need when do we need to love you and he said whatever you've done to Lisa these brothers of mine you've done it for me we've rejected a very foundational commissioning mission statement of all of Christianity when we say I don't I don't I don't live around other people I don't interact with them it's me and my and number one and it's all about I we have rejected God's will for our life as Christians which is to spread the good news to make disciples to be grown at the poor and to other people it's not about me so what are the cons to life groups let me tell you sorry Jesus Jesus I almost missed Jesus which is never good isolation invites Satan isolation invites Satan it says that Satan prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he will devour you ever seen planet Earth or watch the Discovery Channel or NatGeo you'll notice whenever there's like a herd of zebra and then there's that one a little bit aloof zebra that doesn't know the rest of the herd is moving on you hear that British guy come over the speaker and he's like and now the lion has found it's talked because there's one zebra that's like zebra zebra is so fun some he looks around it's like oh the packs over there I better go catch up it's like you're too late zebra okay because you're all by yourself Jesus spends 30 years and then three years in ministry on this planet and dies when he's 33 when Satan comes and tempts him is when Jesus is what alone now this crafty serpent looks around and he goes for 33 years I'm gonna watch and I'm gonna wait in the wings and as soon as he chooses isolation here I come we if we think we're better than David we'd better not think we're better than Jesus so what does Jesus do he calls twelve disciples around him you you you you you you we got a life group now okay and you go well not everyone has Life Group was beneficial you're right one of them betrayed him but he still calls it to him why we will find out in this next section that's fun this is like a cliffhanger Quentin Tarantino sermon next section Life Group cons let me give you it let me make it very clear for you life groups are awkward okay read a book called the road less traveled by M Scott pack the very first line of the whole book life is difficult why does he say that because once you've accepted that life is difficult you stop complaining about it it's just life right no one ever goes I ran a hard marathon the other day why would you ever qualify 26.2 miles as difficult we all know it's difficult it's not normal to run that much Tim Hartford the guy that writes that book about awkwardness says awkwardness come varner ability comes but awkwardness really comes from when we reach social contracts so why is your life group awkward let me tell you why it's gonna be awkward you ready it breaks almost every social contract we have as human beings life groups disrupts and it shakes the feathers of almost every social contract we have maybe you've been at dinner before with like your great-grandma and she's a little bit old-school in her beliefs and what she says and how she addresses people of different nationalities and you sit there with your hand and you're like oh my gosh would you please stop talking their embarrassments right there buffoonery is embarrassing to us but they keep talking why are we so uncomfortable right we get the little hairs on the back of our neck stand up and we dive deeper into our cranberry whatever we're eating for Thanksgiving like oh please stop talking because they breach the social contract don't talk like that okay quit saying those things like when someone brings up politics at dinner when everyone else is trying to have a good time and they're like well thanks Obama and it was like oh no please don't don't go down this road and you just continue into it this life groups break social contracts you know the social contracts are their unwritten things like this you do your thing don't worry about anybody else put forward your social media facade of who you are let people like that don't show the true status of your house when you haven't had it all clean when people come over make sure that you have in every bit of your life have it together don't have needs don't have wants don't let anyone see that you're vulnerable don't let them see a sweat make sure that you and this is all the social context we have as Americans so when you walk into a home and you say I'm here to talk about what the society tells me I should never talk about I'm here to be real about my brokenness my hurt my pain and the separation occurring in my marriage and the purity of singleness how difficult it is for me to do that and about trying to follow God but feeling like he's not there and having prayers that go unanswered and every facade of Christianity of floating around our church gets nailed and we have to say let's be real with each other you've broken every social contract so when it's awkward remember it's awkward for a reason because you are doing work that Satan can't stand he hates it where there is vulnerability shame can't live shame is a petri dish for Satan and sin and so what do groups do they come along and they eliminate it and you're gonna have this thing in the back of your neck that goes this is uncomfortable and it will be but then get over it because everyone else knows it's uncomfortable to that's okay you are embarking you are pro taking in something that the rest of our world can't understand and what Satan hates of course you're gonna be attacked with it secondly vulnerability can be uncomfortable we don't even touch on that anymore we talked about that a lot vulnerability can be uncomfortable your time is precious is number three your time is precious and a lot of us technology gave us this great promise 80 90 100 2000 years ago that as technology would increase we would find a more breathing room in our lives and we found something out unusual about us especially as Americans we create breathing room through technology only to do what fill it with more crap yes finally I've got a new program a computer now I can save an hour a week to fill with something else and our kids have to get that d1 scholarship and everyone's got to be the next ballerina and everyone's got to do the next thing and everyone's got to get the grey and everyone got to go to these camps and everybody do this other stuff and we are so confused with what's most important that we end up going mmm what's most important in your life God is watching a growth group because my time is precious do you get the disjunction between those two thoughts imagine if I asked you what's the most important relationship human relationship in your life and you said my husband 160 hours in a week 168 hours in a week how often do you spend with them one then I would go what a garbage thing to say then he's not most important to you no he is 168 hours I spend one with him in connection and community with him he is what's most important does anyone buy that you you go on it you go on a stand and you talk about parenting for one hour a week and then you talk about how much you love that kid you're getting that kid taken away from you it's called neglect but with Jesus who's the most important relationship we are really sufficient with that one hour a week in fact we think we're doing great well I went to church this week so I guess I can send a little bit more as if God's going thank you so much what a great transaction I gave my life for you you gave an hour a week fantastic what a great trade no he's called us to give everything and growth groups and light groups is a great way for us to go I'm gonna put even further these hours every week on to the altar to show that he is king he is ultimate he is everything let me show you a video I'm just just just watching why do we work so hard for what for this for stuff other countries that work they stroll home they stop by the cafe they take August off off why aren't you like that why aren't we like that because we're crazy driven hard work and believers that's why those other countries think we're nuts whatever were the Wright brothers insane Bill Gates Les Paul ollie where we nuts when we pointed to the moon that's right we went up there you know we got bored so we left got a car up there I left the keys in it do you know why because we're the only ones going back up there that's why but I digress that's pretty simple you work hard you create your own luck and you've got to believe anything is possible as for all the stuff that's the upside of only taking two weeks off in August mess but okay the upside of being work is stuff but all your stuff is tomorrow's garage sale items like everything that's precious to you will be in a garage sale at some point you're like everything okay you own new iPhone you you tell me you think in 50 years you pull out the iPhone that you just purchased and present it to anyone as being beneficial they will laugh at you right predictive text is gonna be me like oh my gosh look at my time you said the wrong word we're that'll it'll all be so obsolete so it's what Chris Burns talked about last week if life is really a it's a spritz of a breeze the sneeze it's a vapor in the wind why would anyone say well my life is my time is too precious to invest in the only thing that's gonna matter just listen that phrase I'm my life is to impacted to invest in the only thing that is going to survive me the only thing which is life everlasting it's your soul it's what makes you you so what are the pros to life groups number one we obey God as we engage in community Hebrews 10:25 do not lose the habit of meeting together a summer in the habit of doing remember he's talking to a life group Church that's all it was the father the household would go to sin the person would teach them a different part of scripture or or maybe they would correct them on something that they got wrong so Paul would come in a lot of times he would plant the church the church would go sideways and then Paul would come back or write a letter and then they would read it in front of church and go hey by the way we were wrong to stop doing that and then the father would go back to his household to his life group to his small group and go hey turns out we were wrong that's the way that they did Church that's everything that it was and so he says very clearly in Scripture remember the rule is community the tool is life group don't confuse those two but also don't get mistaken there is a command for community in Scripture so number one we obey God as we engage in community number two we are always refined when we open up God's Word that's why we that's why promote life groups so heavily here because our pastoral team over life groups asurs that every week when you go to your life group that you will open the Bible okay but here's what we get even in high school ministry I oversee the 11th and 12th graders here on the Vista campus no come to me and go well I'm not getting anything I didn't get anything out of the sermon last week so first of all I'm like oh you didn't okay well well I don't get anything out of my life group I don't think anything out of my growth group and I go well that's so ironic because here's what scripture says as a 55 as the rain and the snow come down from heaven they never go back to heaven without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater so in the same way my word never goes out from the pages of Scripture without returning to me with exactly how I want it to accomplish the exact purpose I had for it in other words here's what it says God's word when it is opened and sought never yields void results ever that's a promise we have when you open up God's Word and you don't learn anything it's because you didn't want to learn anything God's Word isn't different for you than it is for anybody else it says that God's Word is active and alive it's breathing it can separate sinews from bone from marrow from flesh it always has the ability to refine always has the ability to teach rebuke correct and trained in righteousness so the man and woman of God is equipped for every good work if you go to your life group and you're not learning anything take off the bib friends and feed yourself this what I'm doing today is a supplementary teaching in the history of the Christian Church there was no pastor there was no celebrity personally listen to on podcast the circles of your life was your church the Rose was supplementary as it is today the church exists in circles our supplementary teaching exists in Rose but the moment you stop coming to North Coast Church because you go the teaching isn't good the purpose of the church is not to teach you the English Bible you can read just because there's some pastors out there who go well did you actually know that one time in one case in one verbage in one dialect it doesn't change the fact the Bible says honor your father and mother respect your husband's love your wives treat your children with respect but we want to get into the nitty gritty details and we think that's what it means to be a good Bible teacher is you have to be confusing don't we oh they're really smart what does that mean it means I couldn't follow along what's different about your life I don't know but they use a lot of really big words I'm mocking myself a little bit here but that's what I get some time people even go we love it when you teach because we just feel like we really get something out of it when you teach and not the other guys and my knee-jerk reaction is like you know what awesome but really biblically biblically speaking that shouldn't be too flattering for me that means I have put this impotence on our congregation that I am here to feed here we go you ready mmm Bible Bible Bible here you go here's some more food for you we're not baby birds there's no like that you can feed yourself if you come here for additional teaching and instruction that's great but your life whenever you open up the Word of God that is where your primary source of instruction and teaching should be don't levy that on something else or even on your life group when the word of god is open up it always yields the results that it wants number three we our echo chambers are eliminated echo chambers are eliminated especially as introverts I'm an introvert which is weird because I talk on stages but I would rather be at home by myself than be out at a party any night of the week okay now with that introverts have another thing how many guys are introverts in here Carlsbad Ramona San Marcos Escondido okay uh we we introverts we think we've figured it out ahead of time when you present us with something I've already thought it through I'm not like you extroverts who need to verbally process junk okay I call that weakness okay I've I've considered all things and I've come to a conclusion which means if I'm not careful my introverted tendency is to ping-pong these ideas around in my brain about life marriage parenting family and God even and then I go what why would I need a growth group why would I need a life group I've got it figured out and then I walk into my life group and I'm going this is how I act this is how life is and your other people share stuff and I go what a selfish man am i what a Wow how did I not see that before it eliminates echo chambers in our lives but number four your marriage is less likely to end in divorce just the statistics alone your marriage is less likely to end in divorce the average divorce rate in 2017 is 41% 41% you go well isn't that lower than it used to be yes but don't be to encourage less people are getting married than ever before they're just cohabitating and then leaving each other okay so don't be like yeah the divorce rates going down the marriage rates also dropping so not super big win for us but forty-one percent of marriages in America will end in divorce the most dangerous people group to be in in America for your merits and in divorce is to be a nominal Christian the divorce rate among the general population increases twenty nine percent if you are a nominal Christian that means you go oh I believe in God but you're not active in church you're not in a life group you're not doing communing with people you don't engage in corporate worship you just check that box on Facebook because when it comes to spirituality that's the way the way you tend to lean internally you don't think that the Word of God is inspired and inerrant you don't think it's perfect you don't live your life by it you change it as you want to you're the editor of the Bible not the doer of the Bible you this concept is actually the most dangerous thing for your marriage this is a call for you who if you're part of what I just said you got to engage deeper this is not what the Bible was meant to be is for your moral checklist to go I agree with that I disagree with that I agree with that it's for us to go his word is authoritative and it is absolute and I got to bend my life around that not that around me when we do that here's what happens to divorce rates for people who are not nominally Christian but are actively involved in the faith process of becoming more like Christ engaged in life group engage in corporate worship your divorce rate drops from 41 percent to 16 percent non-religious people the increase is to is that forty one percent is the average obviously but for the common person the increase is 27 percent up if you're non-religious and 29 percent if you're nominally religious and it drops down thirty five percent if you are actively engaged in Christian culture and worship from the average variable in the United States why because I'll tell you how much my marriages improve since I've joined a life group everything is different all of a sudden I get in a room and I go wow we're not that bad but we're also not that good but then it allows me to go how can I pour and encourage you and then how can I learn from you otherwise you ever done this before we're like you're afraid to be around other couples because they start making you look bad but that's like the most selfish thing you can't claim to love your wife and then not want to be around people that push you to grow how do you love your husband and then you're you don't want to be around the other wife who supports her husband's you're like well I don't want him to get any ideas your time is precious which is ironic cuz I was also a con but I would postulate your life your time is too precious to not we model importance for our kids and peers proverbs 22 verse 6 proverbs is a group of probabilities not of absolute guarantees the proverbs 22 verse 6 says train up a child in the way that they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it here's what I love about my life group on Thursday nights it's the only time the whole week where we clean our house okay judge not lest ye be judged but every time we start picking up my son come up to me knee goes our jaqen not coming over tonight our Clinton and Lauren coming over tonight or chaunt you and char coming over tonight is Zack and Rekha coming over tonight why because they know every Thursday night when we start cleaning stuff up it's time for life groups I deal with so many premarital couples or newly married couples that they have big fights because what they grew up in and now they're trying to join someone else's culture in context with theirs and they fight about it my goal would be that we raise Peyton Harper and Brady so stringently that that the Bible and God's Word and community is so important to us that when they get married their fights gonna be well my parents did community night on Thursday night and they did on Monday night what are we gonna do right like I want their compromise to be that I don't know how to look Peyton in the eye when he gets older and talking about the importance of community when I'm not in one what am i what am i held to do as I say not as I do I'm busier I'm too busy for my spiritual walk I'm better than David I'm more absolute than Jesus is I'm more sufficient than Elijah I don't have anything else to stand on if I'm not practicing it we model it the importance for our children in our peers next we disciple others as we are discipled sometimes it's not about you learning it's about you teaching so there is about not about you learning from someone else's model it's about you modeling for other people when you when you have that selfish notion of it's all about me let me let me teach you a song that I just wrote you ready for it I wrote this about 30 seconds ago it's um it's to the tune of Simon and Garfunkel's feeling groovy you ready for it let me go like this doo doo doo doo it's not about you that's my whole song okay and the more you can learn that song and play it every day in your head it helps me in my existence whenever I go well I don't want you well I've had a long week well what if I don't learn anything then I remember that stupid song I just wrote doodly-doo do it's not about you well I don't want to help my marriage or I don't want to do the extra step I don't want to be patient with my kids doodly-doo - it's not about you that stupid song okay although it's on iTunes you can go pick it up when you go at home it's gonna go aluminum I can feel it it's like platinum just not as good Titus 2 talks about the importance of discipleship not just for us to learn but for us to teach we have a vessel for service and generosity it gives us it gives us a way to practice service in generosity the people around us in God's community the next it surrounds our lives in prayer James 5 verse 16 talks about the importance of being involved in a prayer community surrounding prayers it's a missionary tool to reach a lost world I think I think we would all be shocked by how many people are sitting in our pews and our rows and our chairs and in our life groups today because they witnessed a life group taking care of each other and they then were spurred to join a life group to join a growth going to join his church and they were baptized and saved because of just watching your growth group love one another it's a missionary tool it provides emergency support and encouragement first the Sonia chapter 5 the importance of encouragement it says we run a race sometimes we need to be encouraged on the race that we run groups can help us do that we are refined by every aspect of relationships if you have someone really annoying in your growth group perfect you can become more like Christ if you have someone who teaches you a lot about Jesus perfect you mean come more like Christ if you have someone who's constantly late and you can't stand it perfect you can become more like Christ every relationship and your life may not always bring you joy but it will always bring you holiness everyone if you choose to look at it through that lens I mean Jesus picked the betrayer in his group and every single day as he loves and pours into him knowing what he's going to do to him we have to understand that even the broken people they need level than anyone else the next one Jesus did it okay I that really our whole Pro section could be one wrong and if Jesus does it and he's the God of the universe we probably aren't superior to that Psalm 133 the next one life groups are fun they can bring us joy and enjoyment maybe not week one maybe not even week seven but eventually when you go I'm weird you're weird we're weird the social contract has been broken let's do life together let's go bowling let's have a potluck let's eat together it can become something that is so fun can keep us on track for eternity in heaven groups are met to push us to run the race with diligence so that we can acclaim the prize at the end of our life and lastly it's not about you nothing is about you why are we here if you're searching for an answer inside of you you're not going to find it it's not about you groups are not about you life in Christ is not about you the Bible isn't written to you it's not even written about you but it is written for you your life is not about you and I'm preaching to myself here and the difficulties that we have when we don't read the fine print of the Christian life we will sacrifice some of the most beautiful perks of walking with Christ these mandates and commands and life groups as a tools let me challenge you if Christianity is something that you do but not who you are if you live in that nominal section of Christianity would you take your wife's hand and yours would you take her out to that booth outside would you get signed up for a growth group for a life group if you're a single guy and you're struggling with your purity you're not gonna one day go wow I found strengthening up myself get involved in a life group get involved but Eva if you have another tool use that tool but don't get it twisted community is a rule for us at North Coast Life Group is our tool but if we are gonna move from Jesus being part of our schedule to the center of our life we have to begin to break down the structures in the social contracts of our world that say one hour is sufficient it's the proper transaction so they're not engaging in a life that Christ has called us to let's pray father you are community you are made you've made us in community we are made for community we are made to desire community and the sin as Paulo stole this away from community with you and in the meantime you have given us the Holy Spirit to push and prod us and you've given us each other to spur us on towards loving good deeds would we in bravery lean into those perks in a life with you that you've commanded us to in every pray amen amen we hope you were challenged and encouraged by today's message and as always before we close with a final word we love to connect with you online if you have any questions comments or prayer requests you can send them over to us at info at North Coast Church comm we want to thank you so much for your generous support if you'd like to give you can donate online or visit our North Coast church app and now here's our closing thoughts from today's message as you go wouldn't just be cool to be able to look around an eternity and see everyone else's face that's sitting here and all those who are gonna come into community with Jesus and and to know him and North because that's why we have these life that's where you have community it so that we can finish the race that we're running that is difficult in the world that we live in and I love that we have a church that provides that for us in one of the most incredible ways possible so I would challenge you once again if you're not in one get signed up we love you guys so much thanks for being part of our church we'll see you next week

Channel: North Coast Church

Views: 2,646

Rating: 4.909091 out of 5

Keywords: north coast church, larry osborne, pastor chris brown, north coast, churches near me, christian, bible study, jesus, god, bible

Id: 25uw2MNkJ3k

Length: 49min 15sec (2955 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 04 2018