Community Connection Sunday

``And scripture says that when Jesus saw their faith, he healed the man. It says that the faith of their the faith of his friends healed him. I don't want I don't want that to just be passed by. He was healed by the faith of his friends. He was healed by the faith of his community. Sometimes, you don't need stronger faith. You need stronger community. [00:45:51] (33 seconds)  #FaithHealedTogether

Jesus was broken in isolation so that we could be healed in community. When our relationship with God was broken, Jesus came to restore it, not just so that we could be restored with Christ, but we could be restored with his people, like man with his wife, with Adam, Eve. Jesus didn't just die to save individuals, but he died to create a people to establish his kingdom. [00:50:21] (35 seconds)  #HealedInCommunity

On the night before the cross, Jesus didn't withdraw. He didn't leave his group. He didn't leave his circle when things got tough, when he knew suffering was near. He gathered his disciples around the table. He broke bet he broke bread, he shared a cup, and he prepared them for the suffering together. And in the end, he was betrayed by one, denied by another, and abandoned by most. Yet he still went to the cross to save him. He was abandoned by the few so that he could save the many. [00:33:34] (52 seconds)  #StayedWithHisCircle

Isolation says, I'm gonna figure this out on my own, but community says that you were never meant to. Jesus didn't save you to just leave you alone. He placed you in a body because he knows isolation hides venom. Isolation hides the sin. It hides the habits. It hides the shame that no one else can see. And if you haven't surrounded yourself by people that can point out the things that you can't see, you're gonna remain stuck in it. [00:41:06] (44 seconds)  #IsolationHidesSin

And a humbling reality is that if there was anyone that could do ministry alone, it was Jesus. Jesus is the only one that could do ministry without anyone else, yet he chose community. He chose to surround himself with people. And we cannot do ministry on our own. We cannot do life on our own. And if our perfect model and our perfect example could have, yet he still chose community, I think it's an example that we should follow. [00:32:33] (32 seconds)  #JesusChoseCommunity

There are seasons in life when you can't walk, you can't pray like you used to, you can't believe the way that you once did, and God, in his mercy and his sovereignty, has placed you in a community so that somebody else can carry you to Jesus. Isolation leaves you on the mat, but community picks you up and takes you to Jesus. [00:47:04] (32 seconds)  #CommunityCarriesYou

And the text doesn't tell us how long he had been that way. It doesn't tell us any of those things, but but we know one thing. He couldn't get to Jesus by himself, but he had friends, and he had a determined community. And these friends believe something powerful. They believe that if we can just get him to Jesus, everything will change. [00:44:24] (29 seconds)  #FriendsBringChange

You might have walked through season after season after season thinking that you have the faith for something, but maybe you just need to surround yourself by with the people that will believe that same thing with you. Scripture says that one man is vulnerable, but two is better because they can fight together, but a three stranded cord is not easily broken. [00:46:25] (26 seconds)  #ThreeStrandsStrong

When you're not alone, you ask, is this okay? And you answer your own question. When you're in community, anyone who loves you will say, that might not look dangerous, but it could be deadly. That's why scripture doesn't just say, believe together, but it says, watch over one another. In Hebrews 10 that we already mentioned, it says that that that that's why it says that we're told to stir up one another, to encourage one another, and to stay close enough to notice when something is off. [00:40:29] (36 seconds)  #WatchOverEachOther

And the only reason that she survived is because she was connected to a people who could see what she couldn't. That's what godly community does. It doesn't just comfort you, but it protects you. It doesn't just celebrate you, but it warns you. Some things look harmless when you're close to them, but they only become deadly when you don't know what you're looking at. [00:38:47] (27 seconds)  #GodlyCommunityProtects

Most people don't mess up their lives when they're in a season of confusion. They mess up their lives when they make the wrong decisions confidently. When you confidently make the wrong decisions, that is when a lot of people's lives take a turn for the worst. This is why we need to be in a community of people that are more experienced, that have done life longer, that have history with the Lord, that can speak to the things in our life that we can't see, that seem harmless. [00:39:15] (37 seconds)  #WisdomOfElders

When you're when you're by yourself, you might say, habits this habit is manageable. I can deal with it on my own. The financial decisions, this is small. I don't need input. You can have thought patterns that feel normal. And like I already mentioned, you can be in relationships that feel harmless. But isolation blinds you to danger, and community gives you the eyes that you don't have. [00:40:00] (29 seconds)  #CommunityGivesSight

So sin and shame can be the door where isolation enters, but it also works the other way around. When you isolate yourself, you are opening a door for sin and shame to enter. When you're by yourself and you don't have accountability, you don't have people doing life with you. When you're trying to do things in your own strength, sin and shame can take you over. [00:28:40] (29 seconds)  #AccountabilityStopsShame

And something that I wanna focus on is if we see that Adam and Eve had a broken relationship with God. And so before we know Jesus, we too have a broken relationship with God. And if we have a broken relationship with our heavenly spiritual father, what can we expect from our relationships with people? Broken relationships with God lead to broken relationships with people. [00:29:14] (33 seconds)  #RestoreGodRestoreRelationships

If you're hiding from God or you're ashamed of yourself, how can you expect yourself to be real or vulnerable or trusting of the people in your life? We're lucky that this is not the end of the story. Christ came to fix what was fractured, and he didn't just he didn't just talk about it, but he walked it out. [00:29:47] (24 seconds)  #VulnerabilityBringsHealing

Jesus didn't just want followers who listened, but he wanted disciples who walked with him, who did life with him. Jesus invited these people, this inner circle to do life with him. He invited them in to his meals, his travels. He allowed for questions. He showed them his frustrations, his prayers. Jesus did not pursue popularity, but he pursued proximity and closeness with his inner circle. [00:31:54] (31 seconds)  #ProximityOverPopularity

Jesus did not just model community, but he died to create it. In the same way that he was vulnerable, and he was open, and he was intimate with his closed circle, the way that he did life with them, the way that he was an example for them. He was a shoulder to lean on. He was a voice of advice. He is our model. He is our example. [00:34:26] (29 seconds)  #JesusModeledDiscipleship

Isolation says that I don't wanna be a burden, but community says that that's why we're here. And sometimes, more times than not, you're not the one on the mat. You're the friend picking up the corner and carrying someone and bringing them before Christ when they can't do it on their own. And this is another model that Christ showed us. One day, Jesus would allow someone else to help carry him as well. [00:47:36] (41 seconds)  #WeCarryEachOther

If you feel lonely, if you feel like you're in bondage, if you don't know what to do next, there is a place for you. There is a community that will rally around you, that will celebrate your your wins, that will be with you at the mountaintops, and they will comfort you, and they will hold you in the valleys in your lowest seasons. [00:49:43] (31 seconds)  #YouBelongHere

Stepping out of isolation isn't just a social convenience. It's not a it's not a social decision that we're making, but it's a response to what Jesus died to give us. So in this framework that we're following, design, model, execution, outcome. We know how we were created. We have a perfect model to follow, and we execute by following that model, and the outcome is life change. [00:50:55] (33 seconds)  #StepOutOfIsolation