The Power of Relationships and Community

Eager. Everybody say eager. Eager. Now watch. Why? What are we eager for? Great worship. Pastor's preaching. No. Eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning. In other words, we're not coming to church just for us. We're coming to church for each other. We're coming here to see who's here. And if you do need encouragement, to encourage you, if you did do need someone to love on you a little bit, we'd love on you. If you do need prayer, you got somebody who's praying for you so you walk out of here on Sunday ready to face the rest of the week. Amen? Amen. We're here for one another. Everybody say we're here for one another. We're here for one another. But you know if we're if we're gonna be here for one another, how many know we gotta be here? Yeah. [00:59:51] (52 seconds)  #HereForEachOther

And I think this is something that maybe is very often overlooked as something that is powerful in your life. But anyone who has them, if you have relationships with people in the body, in our church, and you're pretty closely connected with people who are in the church, you'll know that there are times you go through in your life when, you know, you're struggling to make it on your own. I mean, you're just struggling and discouraged, maybe troubled about something, and maybe it seems pretty overwhelming. And then you get with a friend who loves on you, who encourages you, and prays for you. And how many know it makes such a big difference in your life? Amen? [00:38:41] (51 seconds)  #LeanOnCommunity

I just would assume not to have to have conversations with people because what blesses her can tend to be work for me. But the thing is, I found out, you know, even though that is my natural band, it's not a good band, and that I actually need to develop relationships with people. Number one, because I actually need those people in my life to help me do what I'm doing, but I need to connect with them because God may wanna use me to speak into their life in that moment. Amen? Or he may actually use you to speak into my life in that moment. Are you listening to me? So God never intended for us to go through our life alone. He intended for us to have relationships. [00:44:19] (45 seconds)  #YouWereMadeForConnection

And then you come on Sunday mornings, and you are here as a part of the community, not just you and a friend or two, but you're a part of the greater community or whenever it is that we're gathering, there's just power in that. There's power in us gathering together. I'll talk about the power that's in that in my message today. But this is not something to just try. This is not just something where we say, you know, you need to have relationships in the church. It's why we have life groups because we want you to have more relationship with people in the congregation than just coming in here and saying hello to someone during meet and greet, and hi. How are you doing? And that's really the extent of your relationship. We want you to have so much more than that. [00:39:32] (50 seconds)  #GatherForPower

So he says, I think you still need to work on it. Probably right. I do. Amen. So everybody say, the power Power. Of relationships Relationships. And community. And community. Would you agree with me through what I've shared with you today, though I've done it in a very hurried way? Would you agree with me there is power in our relationships? I thought about about all the things I've taught on to this point, the power of the power of the power of which is the most powerful? Well, you can't choose because they're all needed at particular times. But I will tell you this, hands down, relationships and community are one of the most powerful things in our life. Amen. [01:31:27] (52 seconds)  #RelationshipsArePower

And what I mean by that is I've you know, I I'm just a student. I'm I've always been a student because I always wanna grow. But you know what? I've learned this. I can't grow getting around dumb people. I can't I can't grow getting around crazy people. Amen? Now I don't I don't know any dumb people who come to this church. So just chill if you yeah. Yeah. But come on. You you get my point? If you're gonna grow, you gotta get around somebody smarter than you. So whenever I whenever I decided, I you know, god spoke to me about starting a church, I got with people who were smarter than me about starting churches because I knew nothing about it, and I got wisdom from them. [01:03:25] (49 seconds)  #SurroundWithWisdom

And, you're thinking, I don't know why they're brats. You know, find somebody who has kids that are well behaved and say, hey. We need to hang around you because I got a feeling this is more than just DNA issues here. Come on. It may be that you know something about raising kids that I don't know, and then you get around them and you learn. Come on. Learn how to be a better parent. Amen. This is good preaching whether you realize it or not. And so there's just so many benefits to being in relationship with other people. [00:45:56] (33 seconds)  #LearnToParentBetter

Do you know the Bible says in Deuteronomy eight eighteen that god gives you the power to get wealth? And he does it in order to establish his covenant here on the earth. Listen. How can you be a blessing to somebody if you don't have anything to bless them with? Amen? I found out that if the more I have, the better I manage it, the more I'm able to bless other people. Right. Amen? But I got around people who were wiser in that area than I was when we were having marriage problems. I get around people who had better marriages than we did. Listen to what he says. Walk with the wise. In other words, they're in my sphere of of of friends. They're in my sphere of influence. These are people who are influenced me. Walk with the wise and become wise. Associate with fools, and you're just gonna get in trouble. And some of us have fools for friends because we like them, because they're funny, because, you know, we enjoy being around them because they know how to have a good time. But the truth is they're always in a mess, you know, whatever, and they're foolish. Amen? [01:05:24] (71 seconds)  #WisdomForWealth