The Missing Link // Inner Circle (Part 1)

in a time where we have more friends and followers than ever before how can they still feel so lonely we need relationship that's deeper than the service we don't need people who just like us but those who will push us toward purpose we need a crew a posse a clique we need an inner circle [Music] [Applause] amen so we're gonna go ahead and get started I love starting brand-new series because I believe that each series is like a puzzle piece to our destiny if we're here at transformation Church I mean if you can just think about how many people have been here for over a year how many people been at transformation Church over a year okay like if y'all think back to some of the series that we've done and how they build on top of each other and like God's working in us and working through us I think this is another game changer and this series is called inner circle everybody say inner circle and I debated a lot about what to do for this month of February but for the next three weeks as we're gathering around community and what that looks like I really want to talk about our personal inner circle like like your inner circle I want to talk about like the people who around you that really know you like not the Facebook you or the Instagram you not the Enhanced you not not not the perfect all the time you I'm talking about the 4 a.m. you like like when you mad you some of y'all don't y'all don't oh not him oh not her but like I want who knows you who knows what you struggle with like who knows in your life who's in your life that has the sit down and shut up card si si uh no no no I'm a grown woman hold on everybody has blind spots and needs people to speak things into their life even when they don't want to hear it the question is who do you have in your life that you can call when it's inconvenient for them and you know that you still they would want you to call them and they would want to know who is that in your life and honestly as I begin to think about it and I look and I try and I ask people questions most believers most Christians do not have that and as much as we sit up here and we talk about it and we can be around church and me and my husband and all this other stuff do you have other marriages that you can be raw dog ugly with you you know what I'm talking about like I'm I am mad at her I am mad at him these are the reasons would y'all pray for us now cuz I'm about to cut him and cuss him or is it y'all know how you do when you get your argument all the way up into your friend's house ding-dong that opens and we pick it right back up when we close the doors of the car come on let's be honest who's in your inner circle and that's the question I want to start this series cuz before the next for the next three weeks we're going to learn the value of having right relationships that will lead us towards purpose because some of you are in here is like naw naw person like I got my I got my dogs I got my girls my besties like that's how we do but but I'm not talking about people who have the same interest as you I'm talking about people who will point you towards the interest of Christ see because we'll get it with people around makeup and fashion and gains and and whatever else we like and there's nothing wrong with that but then when it comes to moral compass when it comes to us making the right decision when it comes to us deciding whether we're going to to stay in a relationship or not a lot of times people will give you advice based on their feelings and not based on their faith oh come on y'all got that friend that if you ready to ride or die you don't even have no questions they're going to do whatever you doing we gonna say he broke up with me sisters she's gonna she ain't gonna say turn-the-other-cheek single say we're my Knights like Dennis said what I'm saying like you and some of y'all of those friends tell me how like yep yeah yep just let him do it like okay and what I'm saying to you is but just because they would be down for wherever you are emotionally that means sometimes that they're down for delaying your purpose too like they'll let you stay in a relationship and never say anything to you when God showed them that was the wrong person you won't even say it to him like you want I don't want her to do the same thing to me well then y'all really aren't in each other's inner circle like like like well I would never want anybody you really don't care the Bible tells us that better are our cuts or our slashes from a friend than kisses from an enemy and for some reason as believers we would rather kisses from people who don't even know us than the truth in love everybody got that but truth in love because some of you I'm just telling you how it is you're mean that's what you are okay the truth in love so that people can be able to move and this is what I'm convinced of is everybody needs a real inner circle everybody needs it everybody needs godly community I want you to write the word inner circle and then I want you to put equals godly community so that you can understand that this is what God wants for every one of us and and and this is really why the passion of this has come in my heart is because the goal for every person should be to reach purpose like why are you here like that thing that God placed you here for you need to reach purpose you need to do God's will for your life and a lot of people don't realize that there is some ingredients to getting God's will done in your life and today I want to share that with you go to Hebrews 13 2002 13 verse 20 and this is my prayer for everybody through this series as we lay the foundation today it says may now may the God of peace who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus and the great Shepherd of all the Sheep and and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood all that saying is now God is really big and really strong he even raised Jesus from the dead this is the man he says this is where I want you to focus in verse 21 may he quit you with all you need for doing his will like like that's why we come to church is so that God can equip you with all you need to do his will or to complete purpose or to finish the reason that you came here and I want to throw something out that I want to do a whole nother sermon series on but somebody just needs to hear this Jesus never reached his potential Jesus finished his calling and and I want everybody to hear me say this very clearly is because if we do not get into purpose we will be ran around trying to fulfill our potential see see a lot of us are here like well I have this in me and I have this in me and I have this in me and I have this in me and yes God gave you all of that but why did he give it to you what are you supposed to do with it and I've been told all my life you need to you need to get that potential out of you that this needs to you you need to reach your potential but if I look at the example of Jesus he could have done anything I mean he could have been the Caesar he could have been a Roman shoulder he could have done anything but when he climbed up on that cross and said it is finished everybody was like what is finished Rome still in power your disciples have all left you it this looks bad he wasn't finished with what he could have done he was finished with what he was supposed to do Oh y'all didn't come today to hear nothing and so that's why the enemy tries to get us caught up in potential I could be a business owner and then I could I could run from air and then I could do a crafting business and then I can blog and vlog and and I can do all of these different things but the question is what did God call you to do because busy people can die never reaching purpose and for our church that's not gonna be the case we're gonna have keys that help us be able to reach purpose and I believe godly community is one of those keys and I'm gonna explain it to you in the sermon today um God said I want to equip you with all you need to reach purpose so so this is going to be very simple and very elementary but I feel like it's gonna be very powerful for you to see let me introduce you to the circle of purpose this right here as I begin to think about what you need to reach purpose like what do I need to make sure I reach purpose well me I go start studying people that have reached purpose and I go study uhm secular people who reach purpose and then I study biblical people who reach purpose because I always want to know like what's the difference how do you do it and this is one thing that I've found out that a lot of times when people are disconnected to God you don't know if they reach purpose success and purpose aren't the same thing and see this is this is where we get we think money or accolades or fame or or the ability to do something that nobody else can do is purpose no that's something that maybe you contrived or you are good at or something happen at the right time in the right place and all that other stuff and God still looking at you saying you're you're completely out of what I called you to do this is why we have to divorce American culture and pick up Kingdom culture and I know this is uncomfortable for somebody but but that's why he told the rich young ruler go sell everything that you have and come follow me and we never hear from him again because according to culture he had everything but according to God he says if you keep your life you will lose it but if you give it up for me you'll actually find it everything in the kingdom of God is upside down and I know some of you who watch some of these people who are this big and all this other stuff God says that doesn't matter to me your heart matters to me if I can get your heart to be open to do anything now say I can give you that stuff but when I give you that stuff and your heart is tainted by it then I lose you and so what God's saying is I want you to repurpose but I want you to do it in my will so when I think about the circle of purpose like how I'm gonna reach purpose I found that there's four things there may be more but there's four things in biblical people reaching for purpose that everybody has and I want to talk about them the first thing they have is a relationship with God and we need an active relationship with God every person needs it look what the Bible says in John 14 says Jesus told him I am the way the truth and the life no one can come to the Father except through me what he's saying is you can do good things without God but you can't do God's will without God I need you I'm gonna say that again cuz that was good you can do good things without God but you can't do God's will without God and a lot of people we we mesh them together like man look how many how much meals they raise for the homeless and look look look at how they're impacting that community and look at how they're doing you can do good things without God people are doing good things all the time but I promise you they're not doing God's specific will for their life because if he's out of the equation he cannot be the center of what's happening and so what I'm telling everybody in this place is that for you to complete the circle of purpose in your life you need an active everybody say active Sundays to Sundays is not an active relationship with God like like I know I know as I but I've been coming to church fasting like my job as your spiritual tour guide is to help you get the most out of this journey that you can and what I'm telling you is if you've just started coming to church and you've been faithful with that let's go because this is about progression and not perfection but some of us need to take another step like you've been doing this for too long you spend hours on YouTube watching things that have nothing to do with your purpose watching people that will never speak into your life life watching funny videos or doing all these other things that don't add to you but actually you're taking the only commodity that we never get back which is time like it's robbing you of time and and what I'm saying is if you get an active relationship with God a true devotion life and I'm not talking about an hour and a half every morning or everything I'm saying whatever you can start with but you're gonna do it daily we have this thing called the thirsty thirty wears ten minutes of reading the word ten minutes of Prayer or ten minutes of worship and I'm telling you if you just committed to the thirsty 30 everyday for this year just just I'm thirsty for godlike as a deer panteth i need to drink from you and everyday I'm not gonna get a revelation but I'm committing to thirsty 30 I'm committing to 30 minutes that's less than most of the shows you watch that's that's less than the time we can be on hold for our bure eats or do you understand what I'm saying like it's less than the time I'm asking you to commit to that because if you're gonna reach purpose and God's will for your life you have to have an active relationship with God the second thing that you're going to need is you're gonna need to discover and cultivate your gifts like anybody that has ever reached purpose they were able to identify and start working on the specific gifts God has given them and some of you are saying like cousin might you know I don't really have no gifts yes you do I promise you you do and I'll prove it to you in the word let's go to Romans 12 6 it says in God's grace He has given us her different gifts watch this for doing certain things well what are those certain things you do well don't be deep right now like oh yes I prophesy and I see into the stop some of you organize well you you have a better tendency to be more organized than other people that's a gift some of us talk well so it's my gift and it's my job to cultivate and develop and this is the thing many times we get so caught up in a profession instead of purpose that we think that our gifts are our profession and we can't even see what God has gifted us with some of you are just gifted at giving if you have three of something your natural inclination is to give two of them away that's a gift read in the Bible about all the gifts and I just want us to start valuing what maybe we have put to the side because it's something God placed in us but we're judging it in an undeveloped state and what God is saying is stop judging your gifts in an undeveloped state start cultivating those things so they can become what he called them to become I could stay there all day but I got to get to the missing link today so you got to have a relationship with God you got to discover and cultivate your gifts let me give you the third one you have to answer the calling of God now I'm gonna explain this because I was confused on this for a very long time I had a relationship with God I knew I had some gifts but I didn't answer the calling and the calling is the intentional use of our specific gifts to impact the kingdom so what I'm saying to you is that no matter what realm God calls you to governmental education sports and entertainment God has given each of you are calling to make Kingdom impact with your gift see a lot of people is like well my gifts aren't in church they don't gotta be if you're in the workout arena kill that but God is giving you a calling to turn what your gift is into something that impacts the kingdom and this is where most believers get messed up is because once they find their gifts this is where money comes and this is where people start knowing them and they never answer the call but if you're going to reach purpose for your life you cannot just be gifted and figure that out and do something but you got to turn that gift and answer the call let me give you a practical example I've always been able to talk like I could talk from the time I got whippings for talking I got in trouble for talking I could talk my way out of something I've always that was my gift my gift was talking but it wasn't until I said yes to the calling of God cuz I could be a radio host right now like I could be a sports announcer right now I could I could read audio books for people and just keep my purpose in the column of gifts but what I did is when God took me out of the music industry and said I want to call you to speak to my people I want to call you to represent I had an option to say yes or no and most believers when it comes right here god I'm not ready for that God I've not been trained for that god it's too late for me I'm so old I can't even do that and God said if you would just say yes to the call I've placed on y'all some of y'all there are books in you did you said well I've never written before he didn't ask you that see cuz the beautiful thing about God is he doesn't call people that are equipped he equips people that answer the call and so God's called you to start a fortune 500 business well I didn't go to business go ahead and ask you all that I'm trying to because the enemy comes to give us excuses of why we can't reach purpose and God's saying I did not ask you for your resume I asked you for your yes well somebody needs to hear that today God did not ask you for your resume when he called you he said pick up the phone say yes to me and if you're gonna reach purpose it was never it's never about what you can do at this place which your gifting is just saying yes and then God begins to mold you and make you and change your desires and and and take off the rough edges if y'all want to see me as a pastor when I was a youth pastor I was cussing our preaches I some of y'all was here I say the n-word y'all I was rough you don't think I play all these white people like oh my god hear me I was rough around the edges but I said yes and what God has done over time is he put me on the potter's wheel maneet you know uh you can't do that you gotta yeah no no no he understand what I'm saying like he kept molding me and so what you see in what you eat of now it's because I said yes to a calling a long time ago and where I'll be five years from now five months from now and 50 years from now would be completely different because every day I'll wake up and say yes so I'm asking you if you're gonna reach purpose if you're gonna get this circle of purpose you got to have an active relationship with God you have to discover and cultivate take lessons get around people who are better than you and in your gifts but then you have to say yes to the specific way God's going to use it to expand the kingdom not your kingdom his kingdom so now we get to this last one after we get out okay try some I got my relationship I understand my gifts like I'm saying yes to the calling what's this last one and this it gets real complicated people try to make this real complicated they say man I can reach my purpose if I have a revelation yeah so if I can get a revelation Oh God came to me in a dream last night and that no no no no you don't need a revelation you don't need that what Pastor Mike what what if I have the right networking I you know I gotta work the people who who know me and I got to get on social media I got to make a name for myself that's how I'm gonna reach purpose you don't need that working what else I'm like what I need cuz I got God I got my gifts I got my calling I know what it is I need ambition yeah I need I need the car I'm gonna I'm gonna show my family i'ma show everybody that I'm somebody God says you don't need that so what do you need I begin to go through every giant in the Bible and this is the missing link for them and for all of us and it's very simple it's godly community and some of you like no it's not I already see I already see you like no it's not I'll prove it to you three examples let's talk about Adam the first man here we go so Adam we know he had a relationship with God he was the first man the Bible says they they walked in the cool of the day together so so so God and Adam had a relationship so this one's good okay gifts he had the gift of management how do you figure that he had to name every animals yeah big grey hippopotamus that's what you're gonna be like like he had he had the he had to manage so he had gifts right here so that's good he had a calling what was his calling to subdue dominate and rule over the entire earth as well as reproduce or multiply from Adam everybody was so he had a calling and he said yes to the calling the first time after all the creation that God said it's not good was when he looked at Adam with his God with his gifts and with this calling and he said it's not good for him to be alone and so what did God do out of his side he put him to sleep and he created godly community for him and her name was Eve and God I thank you for creating me because if you wouldn't have created Eve Oh in the god Natalie and Lord is she a blessing and I thank you what I'm saying to you is the thing that allows the circle of purpose to be fulfilled in our lives the missing link is godly community that wasn't enough for some of y'all cause something I was like okay Adam okay let's go to David because everybody like David David and Goliath the one who who slew and killed okay let's talk about it his relationship with God the Bible talks about him being a man after God's own heart even when he messed up he would turn he would repent he would go from what he was doing so he had a relationship with God his gifts david was like some of you he had tons of gifts I mean he was a shepherd he was he was a warrior he could play a mean guitar he was a musician he he was an expert with a slingshot and a star he'll kill you like do you understand what I'm saying he had tons of gifts but what did David do with his gifts he didn't start a ling shot company because I mean after you kill Goliath I mean all I'm trying to do is start the first Amazon Prime will happen to you in less than two days like do you understand what I'm saying I would have started a business off of that but what did David do he submitted his gifts to his calling and what was his calling to be the king of Israel like and he had to go through years of being persecuted he had to go through years of being on the run he had to go through years of people hating on him so what are you saying Pastor Mike somebody needs to hear this right now just because it's not working out doesn't mean that's what you're not called to like just because you got opposition and haters doesn't mean God's saying no he's saying yeah you got to go through that to build up the stamina to withhold the position that I've called you to because it's bigger and it all come on and it's higher and it's more than what you thought opposition does not mean that you were supposed to detour that's a whole nother that's that's something completely different so so he answered his calling but the Bible talks about Jonathan and David that he had godly community with the son of the person who was trying to take him out like like so what I want you to understand is the Bible you can go read it later for yourself because there's so much there it's like so much there but when you start looking at David's life and you start looking at Jonathan it says their hearts were knit together it said they looked out for each other let me let me help you understand how much they looked out for each other Jonathan was supposed to be the heir to the throne he was the one that was supposed to be in the position that God called David to and Jonathan was so in tuned that he recognized that he wasn't even the one for the position do you have people in your life who will say this is what I'm supposed to step into but your the one God called to do it answers no look everybody just neck is stiff like uh-uh no that's what Jonathan Jonathan saved David's life several times there's one specific instance where where Jonathan and David they were going to invite him to a party and David was like bro I mean Jonathan said bro don't come my daddy crazy he's trying to keep well I don't know if he trying to kill you I'll let you know if he trying to kill you I'll do some things I'll say oh oh and if I say oh that means get out of here bro and this man put his life on the line for his friend so that he could reach his calling or his purpose and ended up dying before his friend ever reached his calling but it was because he had somebody in his inner circle who truly cared about him that he was even able to be the King David that we know about see he wasn't able to reach purpose until he completed with the missing link being godly community one more person because some of y'all still sitting there just looking at me let's go to our example his name is Jesus now if anybody could have done this thing without godly community Jesus a son of God are you buying see I mean they understand what I'm saying like like did you like arms like D like like the Son of God okay so so we already know it's not like he had a relationship with God he was God okay so that one's taken care of but I just want you to see how powerful this is when they were sitting at the beginning before creation in Genesis he said he said um they were already in community this is how you know this is God's plan for us the father looked at the Sun in the Sun looked at the Holy Spirit and said let us oh come on y'all let us make man like it wasn't just one person that it they literally we're in community as the beginning so then when Jesus comes to earth he said I only do what I see my so now Jesus is God Jesus gifts are everything like I mean come on there is not water in the wine they invited him to all the party do you understand what I'm saying like he he could do walking on water like anything but what was his calming to save the world to die on the cross and and I mean if it was me cuz ya'll know Jesus didn't want to do that he was human and so it means that every every way out that a human would want he wanted it to he even as he said is there um is there any other way I mean we can and he said but nevertheless not my see I got gifts but not my will God I can make money with this or I can do this or I can but not my with your will what what you called me to be done and so if it was me and I knew I was going to the cross as soon as I got released into ministry I were to just walk straight up to the cross right about to delay this y'all come on I'm about to die like if it was me I would have gone straight up come on I'm coming back in three days but he didn't why cuz he had to complete the circle of purpose and so he chose godly community Oh y'all missed it he chose it he chose godly community he literally was walking past people hey bro I like you follow me fishermen hey follow me walk with me do life with me let's let's walk together well Jesus I'm not perfect like I don't matter we're just gonna walk together we're gonna do life together we're going to struggle together we're gonna we're gonna eat together we're gonna pray together we're gonna go to worship together we're gonna celebrate together we're gonna fight together I'm even wash your nasty feet I'm gonna get vulnerable before you imma let you see me in a place that nobody regular people can imma let you into my inner circle and he decide he chose to walk with people and even out of the 12 disciples see cuz some of y'all don't even realize that God's plan this is God's plan for all of us he he he begin to walk with these gentlemen but he had three guys they even let even deeper into his life Peter James and John they knew that Jesus had doodoo streaks in his in his uh in his robe some of y'all are so offended right now is just like y'all know all of them things were screaming something right that was wholly flagellation do you understand what I'm saying what what I'm trying to paint the picture is God was really human in Jesus like he had to use the restroom see he he had to go to shower he had and he allowed people to see him in his state of becoming my question to you is who gets to see you while you're still becoming see see because because if you're just showing everybody the finished product nobody even knows if that's real like what y'all come and present to us like y'all don't even know that that's real like like like like but my wife just prime example so over this past few weeks in my inner circle and over this this past year I've gained a couple lbs a couple pounds you understand what I'm saying and I had this outfit put together and and I mean this outfit I mean I think it looks great you know I'm saying I came up here I was like this is gonna be the and so my wife came up to me today as I was leaning I was like how do I look and she said the chef's just a little tight around the tongue and I said that's how she says yeah I was like girl please it started that tie it around my tongue but it was so she said she said come here and I said what she said I'm gonna cut a slit up the side so that it doesn't pull [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you see I'm good now I'm good but I want you to see the power of this that in my vulnerability my inner circle just saved me from an hour of embarrassment and I let her into my life enough to be able to see things that nobody would see unless I showed you that's a practical example but in in your life who are the people that can say come here your attitudes bad come here we got a cut we got a cut we we gotta leave you're too busy and so you're stressed out and that's when you fall into sin and and how do I know cuz I've been your friend for four years I've watched these cycles and I'm not gonna stand by anymore and just let it happen like who are those people John would have never known that but my inner circle does like when I take my when I take my shirt off in my office my brother Aaron who's in my inner circle he sees everything he knows when I mess up he sees when I come off this platform and just like that didn't make no sense they didn't get anything out of there he's he see because if you don't have godly community you cannot complete your purpose and so I so this is my thing if Jesus needed godly community what's your Excuse well I'm busy he had to save the whole world come on well I just don't like people like that maybe that's why you really do need godly community because you had bad examples of what relationship really look like and it's a dysfunction in your heart and you need godly community and somebody like well I've got community I didn't say community I said godly community people who are not perfect but whose direction is set towards Jesus because if you don't have those people that were only removed by your emotions and what we feel today and what we don't feel in the vibe is wrong forget a vibe because the vibe can be wrong at any time Jesus is the only thing that's the same his joy will be made perfect in our weakness his strength will be made perfect in our weakness he will be the one that lifts that we needs people who are set on the thing that we are set on and so my question is Jesus had all of this my question is where are you and I'm not talking a serial can you name your godly community no no I mean Suzie I mean yeah Suzie Suzie well if you last time talking to Suzie with seven months ago she's not your godly community well I mean my sister like must you're still lying to her though you never told her what really happened so you can't have godly community with lies some of y'all are so fake with your best friends let's be honest like they're my besties but you have not told them what really happened and what's really going and that you keep them that close because you're really jealous of them and so you get to see things before them so you can try to compare yourself and outdo them come on let's be honest all I'm saying is it may be time to re-evaluate our community and and this is this is the only reason I say that is because this is God's plan for us this is God's plan for expansion in your life and it's God's plan for the I'm gonna take you right now to Ecclesiastes 4 9 and you know this but I want you to see this Ecclesiastes 49 and it's so strong because it says two people are better than one period like that's the whole sentence and it says then for they can help each other what's that last word succeed what I'm telling you is your success is wrapped up in this missing link right here you need godly community and I know you're quiet and you're shy and all these other excuses and lies that the enemy has has tried to convince you of so you don't reach purpose but today we have to divorce that because the Bible says two are better than one if one person falls the other can reach out and help them but someone who falls alone is in real trouble I heard somebody say there's no I in team but there is a I in isolation and that's where the enemy would like to keep every one of you yeah you pray yeah you worship yeah you but you're alone and if you're alone according to the Bible you're in real trouble nobody even knows what you're struggling with they don't know how to pray for you they don't know and they can't they can't force their way in you have to let them in that's why this whole Christian walk is about about being courteous that's what Jesus doesn't try his way in to our life you have to invite him into your life and we need godly community verse 11 likewise two people lying close together can keep each other warm but how can you be warm alone a person standing alone look at this can be attacked and defeated that's why pornography has been able to wear some of y'all out because nobody even knows you're fighting it and so you go and you you fight alone that's why your marriages are following apart in some ways because you don't have any other couples that can speak life into your marriage that's why many of us are dealing with comparison because we're always so perfect and nobody even knows we're struggling it says a person standing alone can be attacked and defeated but two can stand back-to-back get that picture in your head they can stand back-to-back and they can think and fight brother Scott come here real fast I want you to realize this image and this picture right now if I'm alone the enemy can me cuz I can't see something but if I have somebody that's back-to-back with me and stronger than me and ball head and fight and how the police are training when the enemy comes he's got this side and I've got this side and if he comes and we got to start turning I'm not blind to what is happening because I got somebody that's got my back I need you to hear me say this there are people that God is trying to assign to your life that you can stand back-to-back with but see what we want to do is stand face-to-face with people I wanted to tell you about all my problems I don't tell you this and tell you all of that and God's saying that's not what you need to do you need to stop talking so much and get back to back and say do you got me okay and I got you so it's not about us seeing eye-to-eye on everything oh you missed it it's not about us seeing eye-to-eye well this is what I feel about this this is what I feel about it's a seeing what each other doesn't see it's about realizing that my blind spots are things that you can see clearly so so what's coming on that side am i dealing in pride and my Dillion anger has my attitude change am i becoming money-hungry I need somebody that can see what I don't see does everybody understand that somebody say I need an inner circle see see church as I end today I want you to realize one thing that we're not we're not going to be a church that just preaches the the message of Jesus we're gonna be a church that follows the method of Jesus see a lot of people preach the message but do what they want but God gave us a clear instruction for godly community this is my last scripture in acts 2:42 it literally is titled in my Bible the believers from a community like doing godly community and it said all of the believers devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and to fellowship and to sharing in meals including the Lord's Supper into prayer those are four things a deep sense of all came over all of them and the Apostles look at the atmosphere that miracles were performed in the Apostles performed many miracles signs and wonders and all of the believers met together in one place and they shared everything they had they sold their property and possessions and share their money with those in need they worshiped together at the temple each day like we're doing today they worship together in large group settings but then they met in homes for the Lord's Supper and they shared their meals with great joy and generosity all of the while they were praising and enjoying the goodwill of every person they weren't in competition they were completing each other in purpose and each day look at the result of them doing this each day the Lord not their publicity not their networking not other the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved every single day we would have to do less evangelism if we would do community Oh y'all in like that if you wouldn't have to tell people about Jesus because they would see how your life is and the people you do stuff and they're gonna ask what must I do to be saved the Lord added to them every day so this this is what I want you to know there are five elements to what grew the church and what grew people they worship together they chilled together they prayed together they transform together and they multiplied period I want everybody to get this as a church I'm here to set the culture straight as transformation Church if you're gonna be a part of this church I'm telling you my preaching is good but small groups and community is way better but because this is where you get touched guys our church is getting better bigger everybody's not gonna get to touch Pastor Mike and I ain't got nothing for you I'm just gonna point you to Jesus but but healing happens in community a lot of people want to come up to the altar and get prayer for me sorry boo I'm not the healer I only can point you to the healer and God gives us direction he tells us in James he says if you need to be here confess your sins one to another and ask each other for healing ask each other for prayer and you'll be healed see the church has gotten it backwards it's been glory to the man let the man of God touch you know tell your friend pray together Healing comes like I want you to realize this is not I'm just up here using my gift submitted to my calling trying to reach my purpose but I can't heal you from your emotional wounds and all that but being in a small group and telling those people in walking with those people and daily asking them to pray for you and healing God says that's where healing comes your marriage is broken get around some other married broken keep people and y'all keep pointing to Jesus and pray together and he said healing will come I just want you to see as a church this is what we're gonna do we're gonna worship together in enlarged temple courts that's what we're doing right now but then we're gonna meet and chill together from house to house that's what we're even pushing today and and offering to you today I know it may be difficult for you to find godly community this is the main thing that our church does is that we do large group worship and then we do house to house and we call it belongs because everybody needs a place where they belong y'all this church is only gonna get bigger thousands of people are gonna be coming to this church but why do I go to a big Church it's not a big Church when you're in a small group like like who knows your name who can you start developing relationship I know it's gonna take time for some of us to open everything up to everybody but God wants you to have godly community and listen that means you may have to divorce some of the friends that you've had I'll talk about the rollercoaster of a relationship next week but you may have to divorce some of those relationships because you can't stay in a relationship because of time served Oh y'all know we've been down since second grade we learn how to spell together well spell bye-bye do you understand what I'm saying because this is this is no longer because it's not taking me towards purpose and so we have to get into that and and so so what I'm saying is this is Jesus's plan and his method so it's our method - and this is what I really want everybody to know cuz I know you're saying well Pastor Mike that's not really what I want to do because that's not that's not how I do it this is this really I really want it to be all about me like my comfort me being me being in control of the relationships me knowing and God said my plan was never for it to be about you it was never to be me focused it's time remember the kingdom of God turns everything upside down as a church we're not gonna be me focused we're going to be we focus and and from now on as a church if you're going through anything alone it's because you've decided to reject godly community well nobody's here for me Pastor Mike wouldn't answer my phone call I'm not going to answer your phone call I'm not because my primary responsibility is to lead the leaders and feed the sheep and and and above all of that it's to Natalie Ava Bella and MJ I have to be the pastor of that home before our pastor anybody else and listen I'm figuring that out right now in my inner circle last night till midnight we are talking about my schedule with people who are in my people who don't have to to call me to come over people who have garage openers to my house see who has access like like cancer I'm coming in oh I wouldn't expect you it's okay I'm here and we need to talk about this because this is an issue and you were acting like it wasn't but it is well it is an issue I was just mad at y'all and I just didn't think that this was gonna work out so I was gonna act like it didn't exist well let's talk about it this how I feel this is how you feel and now got to get this thing together and let's pray about this and let's move forward in this and literally I'm telling you from last night to this morning as I stand here and preach to you I am better because I have godly community if you don't have that you are missing out on the circle of purpose that God is trying to give you there is a missing link that today God wants you to begin to fulfill I want to pray for every person that this concept you wouldn't just brush off because some of you gonna be three months from now I'm like why is everything not working because you can't complete purpose remember you can you can have all of these other things everything else relationship with God your giftings your calling but without godly community doesn't complete the circle true life change happens in small groups I'm challenging every person today get in a small group oh I'm busy I bet you are but you may be busy with things that aren't pushing you towards purpose and this can be another year of cycles or you can try something different and break these cycles well I have a huge company you still need community well I've been hurt in community before God is a God of second chances well I just don't know if I'll be heard I promise you if one group doesn't work another one will like but I'm just asking us not to just listen to the message of message of Jesus why don't we participate in the method of Jesus even those watching online you you may need to find a godly community within the internet on circle or go to a local church wherever you are and tell them I need community you need to be in community with other people I'm gonna pray for every person in this room father I thank you that today we heard your word God if Adam needed an inner circle and David needed an inner circle and even Jesus our example needed in a circle Father we believe we need one now help us find them lead us and guide us your word says that you delight in the details of our life and so God I'm thanking you for every person who is having a hard time with this father that you open their hearts and you allow them to take the next step father let this church be known for godly community let us do life together let us meet in temple courts and worship you but then meet from house to house and share father God let us be able to pray together and chill together and walk together and and suffer together father God and see victory together father God and transform together and see more people come to you together we trust you we believe you and we thank you for it in Jesus name we agree amen

Channel: Transformation Church

Views: 537,201

Rating: 4.9288592 out of 5

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Id: 1E3tSrrK16s

Length: 51min 29sec (3089 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 12 2018