In week 4 of our series, The Life of a Jesus Follower, Pastor Scott taught from 1 John 4:11. The very best God has for you will never be experienced apart from relationships with others. Check out this sermon to learn more!
Hope Church LV Sermons
I Belong to God's Family
- Thank you for joining us today. We're excited that you came across this message. The sermon you are about to watch is from our teaching series, The Life of a Jesus follower. At Hope Church, we believe in connecting people to live the life of a Jesus follower. And we do this through abiding in Christ, connecting in community and sharing in the mission. In this foundational teaching series to the life of our church, we will discover together what it looks like to live the life of a Jesus follower. If you're joining us for the first time, I wanna be the first to say welcome to Hope Church. Go ahead and open up the Hope Church LV app or visit us at hopechurchlev.com. Click Las Vegas congregation and fill out the short digital connection card so we can get to know you better. Once again, thanks for joining us today. - Well, good morning Hope Church. My name is Mark Schum. I promise God I keep this under 15 minutes, but they took my script. So I'm gonna do my best, Scott. Yeah, I do wanna share a quick story. So I loved his curved cologne analogy last week and growing up in a small town in Southwest Ohio, my stocking usually had English leather. Yeah, bad news, bad news. Thankfully, my wife threw it away when we were dating and here we are 25 years later, you know, celebrating our 25th anniversary. Yes, thank God for Hugo Boss. All right, all right, here we go. So I've been a member of the church and my wife and I have been together now. Well, here's the church for 12 years and my, she and I are very involved with missions. My kids are both active in the young adults ministry over at Hope Henderson. So we love this church, just great things. And it's my privilege today to bring to you the scripture. So it's gonna be coming from 1 John 4 11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4 11, this is the word of the Lord and all God's people said. - Amen, thank you, Mark. Never know with an open mic, what's gonna happen with love it, love it. - Yes, so excited to jump in. I've highly got a chance to meet you. My name is Scott. I would love the opportunity to meet you before you take off today. But this week as I was studying God's word in my God time, I don't know how it works for you, but when I finish a book of the Bible that I'm walking through, sometimes I'm in a plan, sometimes I kind of have it mapped out where I'm going. Other times I just ask the Lord, okay Lord, what's next? And that's what happened for me on Monday morning. I asked the Lord, finished a book that I was studying and reading through and I asked the Lord, what's next? And he put on my heart to go all the way back to the beginning, literally the very beginning of the Bible, the first book of the Bible. It's been a while since I made my way devotionally through the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. And I started to read on Monday morning Genesis chapter one and I didn't get very far before the Lord just stopped me in my tracks. Many of you know this, but from the very beginning, God shows us what this thing is all about. From the jump, he lets us know exactly what this book is about. Ultimately this book is a story about God. Many of you know it, but let's revisit it. The first four words of the Bible say, in the beginning, God. I literally stopped because it was a simple but profound reminder for me Monday morning that in the beginning, God, he is the beginning, he is everything. This is ultimately a story about him. I want to remind you very simply of what I was reminded about on Monday morning, it does not say in the beginning, Scott, in the beginning, the devil, in the beginning, sin or space or the earth, all those things are in the story. Praise God, it's not just a story about God. We are written into the story, but ultimately the story is a story about God, in the beginning, God. The reality of, that reality is the premise of a book written by a man named John Eldridge. Maybe you've heard of that author, he's written several helpful books for us as followers of Jesus, but one that I want to talk about today is called Epic. It's the story of this incredible grand story of God, that's the whole book, it's an epic story, it's a powerful story, and he unpacks that in this little book called Epic. And I begin that way this morning 'cause I want to read a pretty lengthy quote from John Eldridge to get us started where we're headed today. So here's what John Eldridge says in the beginning of the book. He says, "Now I have a confession to make. Ever since I began to believe in God, I have pictured God as alone, sovereign, powerful, all that, but by himself, perhaps the notion spraying from the fact that I felt myself to be alone in the universe, or perhaps it came from religious images of God seated on a great throne way up there somewhere." Check this out. How wonderful to discover that God has never been alone. He has always been Trinity, father, son, and Holy Spirit. God has always been a fellowship. This whole story began with something relational. Now we're gonna dive into the deep end of the pool for just a few moments, 'cause I don't know if you ever thought about that. Like before God created all that we know, was he alone? See, as we read the story of scripture, we see that God has never been alone. Why? Because he had a community in himself because of the triune nature of our God. Let me show you from God's word, just a few verses in. Look at Genesis 1, 26. Then God said, "Let, what's that word?" Us, let us make man in our image in after our likeness. Notice this is not singular. And maybe you're here thinking, "Yeah, what's up with that?" That's exactly what happened for a friend of mine several years ago, right out of high school, I was working construction, and I got the chance to work with a couple of guys day in and day out. Just a small little construction crew. And I got to begin to share with those guys my relationship with Jesus. And one of them, a man named Mike and his fiance began to get really interested in following Jesus. And I'll never forget. He said, "Man, I'm gonna go out and get a Bible "and I wanna start learning about this stuff." And the next day he called me, I'll never forget this. He called me and the first thing you said is, "Hey, Scott, who's us?" I said, I said, "Mike, what are you talking about, man?" He said, "I'm 26 verses into this book that I just bought "and it says, let us make man in our image here." He says this, he said, "Who was there with God?" It's a great question. And I got to unpack from my friend the divine mystery of the Trinity. The Trinity is this biblical reality that we see all over scripture, that our God is one God in three distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. I did not say three gods, one God in three distinct persons. What that means is the Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Spirit and the Spirit is not the Father. Some of you are thinking, my head hurts. It's too early for this. I know, I know, I know, I know, join the club. The Trinity is clear in scripture, but we cannot fully wrap our heads around it. But what we see in the Trinity is the perfect picture of selfless love and relationship, perfect harmony. So God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, one God in three persons made us in his image, in his likeness. So it makes sense that a relational God created us for relationships. Let me show you just the next chapter in God's word. We see this in Genesis 2, 18. Then the Lord God said, it is not good. It is not good that man should be alone. We visited this in week one of our series, but if you weren't here, let me remind you, if you know your Bible is that sin did not enter the story until Genesis chapter three. Genesis chapter three is when sin separates us from God. So here we are in Genesis chapter two. And even though sin is not entered the story, we still see something that is not right, not good. What is it that man should be alone? That verse or that word good in that verse is a word that means best or beneficial. So what we just read is it is not God's best for us as human beings to be alone. I want to ask a question that I want some classroom participation at this 830 service. I want you to raise your hand this morning. If you would say you are trying to live your best life possible, raise your hand. People are apprehensive, like, here's the deal. If you're not raising your hand, like, why not, okay? I'm raising my hand. I'm out here trying to live my best life. Of course I am. Nobody signs up for average mediocre. Listen, if you gave me a choice, best life or mediocre life, I'm choosing best life every single time. I hope you are as well. If not, we have prayer volunteers at the end of our service. You can come and be prayed over. I know people are afraid to raise their hand 'cause they're like, I'm supposed to raise my hand. Okay, here's why I say that. We have been shown right here in God's word. It is best that we would not be alone. I want us to see from the very beginning pages of Scripture, the very best God has for you. We'll never be experienced apart from relationships with others. We just saw that from God's word. The very best God has for us. God's best will never be experienced apart from relationships with others. Why? Because we were created for relationships. We were hardwired by God who is a community in himself to be people of community with others. Over the last several weekends, we have been studying the life of a Jesus follower, a foundational sermon series for our church, a foundational sermon series for all of us as followers of Jesus. And over and over again on repeat, we've given you a foundational truth, not just for a sermon series, but for your life as a Christian. Here it is. The life of a Jesus follower is all about relationships. If you haven't been on the journey with us, you can go back and listen to a few messages where we've unpacked this, but we say this because Jesus' life was all about relationships. So now as we follow him, he is the one we're following. He is living his life in and through us by the power of his spirit. Our lives will also look the same, all about relationships. So we've said just by way of quick review, a Jesus follower has a relationship with God. A Jesus follower has a relationship with God. We've unpacked that over the last couple of weeks. We use the keyword abide. You'll see that all over Hope Church, 'cause we wanna remind you first and foremost, our relationship with God is the most important relationship in our lives. Following Jesus is about an intimate love relationship with God. We said that there was an overall goal to know God, but there was a daily goal to spend time with God. I pray that as people of Hope Church, we have been submitting ourselves humbly before the Lord everyday understanding that we need to spend time with God. That's how we get to know God and obey God and love God, and the cycle continues. And hopefully you've been stepping into that over these last few weeks if that hasn't already been a part of your daily rhythms. But being a Jesus follower isn't just about a relationship with God. A Jesus follower also has relationships with other Jesus followers. We use the keyword connect to talk about these relationships. That's what we're gonna dive into for the next couple of weeks. And we've said this, but it bears repeating. Although God did design our relationship with him to be personal, he never designed our relationship with him to be private. Your relationship with God needs to be personal. You can't take your spouse's relationship with God, kids. You can't have your parents' relationship with God. It doesn't work by proxy. That's not how God designed it. It is to be a personal relationship, but it was never designed to be private. God created us to enjoy fellowship with him by enjoying relationship with others. My relationship with God overflows into other relationships and same with you, to me and us. This was not just true in the Garden of Eden. We see this all over the story. All over the epic story of God. In fact, you can't read the New Testament, the birth of the church, which led to you and I being in the room today. You can't read the New Testament and not see people living in deep community. You'd be hard pressed to find a Christian out there living on a Christian island. Just love in God all by themselves. You do not find that in the scriptures. In fact, in case you didn't know, every single book of the New Testament, other than Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we call those the Gospels, the biographical accounts of Jesus' life. Other than those four books, every other book of the New Testament is either written to a community of believers doing life together in a city part of a church or it's written to affect a community of believers on specific issues. Here's what I hope you're picking up. If you are attempting to follow Jesus on your own, apart from relationships with other followers of Jesus, that is not the Christianity of the Bible. And if you're here today and you're thinking, well, you're talking straight to me. This is not shame. This is not condemnation. This is God's sovereign reminder for you, that just little grace for you this morning that he's invited you into his best. I believe there's many followers of Jesus maybe here at Hope Church that are not walking in God's best for their lives and today may today be a reminder that this is God's best for you, connecting in community. So very simply, we have three realities of belonging to God's family that we're gonna unpack, we're gonna do some more practical stuff next week. We wanna start kinda high level. What does it mean to belong to God's family? I give you three realities and they're very simple, but hopefully profound for you if you're not connected in community. Here's the first one. Because I have a relationship with God, I have a relationship with God's family. Because I have a relationship with God, I have a relationship with God's family. When you began to follow Jesus, like it or not, you became a part of a family. We all know this, but just to make sure we're all on the same page, you don't get to choose the family you are physically born into. I don't know anybody who got to sign up with a family that they were born into, it just happens. Under the sovereignty of God, you were born into the family you were born into only because he bore you into that family. But the biblical reality of being a part of a family is actually a bit different. I wanna show you. Look at John chapter one, verse 12, great verse. It says to but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, hear that followers of Jesus, he gave the right to become the children of God. He gave the right, that word right is a judicial term. It means the power and authority, and this is so good. What that means is Almighty God gave you, if you're a follower of Jesus, the right, the power and authority to be called a child of God. This is such good news. You have been given the right child of God to be called exactly that, a child of God. And we get to see pictures of this all over our world today. Maybe you've even experienced this in your own family or some family and friends that you know, by the way of adoption. Many of you know my family's story, but I'll put a picture here of my family. Many of you know my wife Candace, and these three kids on this side are our natural born children. This is Bryce, this is Avery, and this is Blaine. But this cute little girl over here was not natural born. She was adopted seven years ago by my family through the foster care system here in Las Vegas. And before I continue, I just always wanna make a note. I know we have a many adoptive and foster families in our church. And I just wanna remind you, 'cause the struggle can be real. And the highs and the lows of that journey. In the mountains and the valleys, God's grace is sufficient for you. I never wanna use sermon illustrations that make everything nice and rosy. God's grace is sufficient wherever you are on the journey. I'm so grateful for ministry lanes like fostering hope who come alongside us as foster and adopted families in the highs and the lows of that journey. But seven years ago, we adopted Aria into our family. In February of 2017, she began to live with us. But another thing happened that this picture represents. And on October 11th, 2018, as you can see, my kids have grown up a little bit. October 11th, 2018, eight months after we began to foster Aria, something happened. And it's called in the adopted world, Gotcha Day. That's what my kids are wearing that shirt that says, Gotcha Day, because that's exactly what we did. We gotcha, we officially adopted Aria Worthington. We stood before a judge and he declared this beautiful little girl in the pink to be officially a part of the Worthington family. And listen, there's this really cool thing that happens in the courtroom. It's not gonna Carly Sousa this week about that whole thing. She's our director of fostering hope. She sits in many of these hearings. I want you to hear what they read over that hearing as the hearing comes to a close. Here's what they say. They say as an adopted child, you now have the same rights to protection and inheritance as if you were a natural born child. What happened in that courtroom when they read that? Because of a judicial act, Aria Worthington now had the right to be called the daughter of Scott and Candace. She was outside of the family, but now she had been brought in to the family. Do you know what happened when that happened? Like it or not? She got a big sister and two big brothers. Like it or not, she now had some siblings. Listen, why? Because she was adopted into the family. Some of you are picking up what I'm putting down. If you didn't know, that story of adoption happened for every single follower of Jesus spiritually. Let me show you in Ephesians chapter one. In love, he predestined us. For what's that word? Adoption. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself. As sons, through and daughters, through Jesus Christ. According to the purpose of his will, this is such good news follower of Jesus that we should never get used to. The sovereign God of heaven, it shows you according to the perfect purpose of his will and providentially ordered every single moment of your life to lead to that moment. Whether you were six, 16 or 60. When you surrender the control of your life to Jesus and he declared you righteous by the good news of the gospel. And you were adopted into the family of God. That should never get old for us as followers of Jesus. Maybe what happened in the courtroom of heaven? I can't prove this, but we'll see one day. Maybe this was read over every single one of our lives. As an adopted child, you now have the same rights to protection and inheritance as if you were a natural born child. I know it's 830, but can someone give God some praise for the fact that you were adopted? We're clapping 'cause we were adopted, but you know what that means, right? Like it or not, you got some siblings. You didn't get to choose the siblings. That's what happens in adoption. Like it or not, you got some siblings. Don't miss this Hope Church. Following Jesus means you belong to a really big family. Some of you need to hear that today because you don't feel like you belong to anything. In fact, you've been told that you don't belong to certain clubs or certain families. Listen, if you are a follower of Jesus, you belong to an epic, massive, across generations family when you've been adopted to himself the sovereign God of heaven. It is a big family. You know why this is so cool? And I just spent so much time dwelling on this this week because it changes even the way you read the Bible. It changes the way you see news stories happen around us. What do you mean? Well, when you read the Bible, you're not just reading about historical figures by gone. You're reading about your family. So when you read about Moses, that incredible leader that God allowed to part the Red Sea and lead the children of Israel, that's just not some historical Bible story. That's your brother. When you tell your kids about that giant slayer, David, that shepherd boy, that's not just some story that's fiction that happened and that's your brother. When you read the Book of Esther and you see the faith and courage of this young girl in the face of sexism and tyranny, if you've ever read the Book of Esther, you know, listen, that's your sister. And all throughout the pages of scripture, Peter, Paul, Mary, all of the people that you read about, they're followers of God. These are your siblings, but it's not just your family in here. It's also your family all over the world. I follow an app called Time Hop. I know you've heard of that, but every day I check and it shows what I posted or what I took a picture of in the previous years. This time last year, Pastor Tom and I were across the world visiting our missionary partners. And I'll never forget when I sat under a hut, literally in the middle of a Southeast Asian village in the jungle. I couldn't understand their language, but they were worshiping the same God I worship. Guess what that means? You might not have ever met them. You may never go there. I hope you do, but if you never go there, you still have brothers and sisters in Christ. Those are your siblings. When we went to some houses and got to drink really thick, really thick coffee and some Iraqi homes of our brothers and sisters in Christ. You're like, I have brothers and sisters in Christ in Iraq. Yeah, you better believe you do. In the midst of a lot of things going on over there, you have some people that are worshiping King Jesus alongside you. These are our siblings. Well, when you read the book of Revelation, chapter seven towards the end of the epic story. And there's this massive family reunion of every tribe, tongue, people and nation around the throne of King Jesus. Listen, this is your family. It's not just your family in the Word and your family in the world. It's also your family on the road that you're sitting in right now. Let's be honest, sometimes lost to hardest, right? It's that person that kind of bugs you in small group. Right, they won't stop talking. That's your family. If they're a follower of Jesus Christ, like you are, you have been adopted into the same family. Listen, the ones that look different than you, the ones that think different than you, the ones that act different than you. And hey, because 'tis the season, the ones that vote different than you. Listen, Jesus doesn't need any clones in his siblings. He actually doesn't make us clones. And that's on purpose. I don't need somebody that thinks like, looks like, acts like me. I need somebody that can sharpen me and change me and help me grow into the diverse body of Christ that we've all been up called to be a part of. And sometimes I actually need to do intentionally be getting people around me that don't think, act like me, so I can be more involved in what God's doing in his bigger family. And I know some of us, that rubs some of us the wrong way. But God's family is big, and you are a part of a big family. That means I need you, and you need me. God has not made us to be clones. God has made the diversity of the body of Christ. So beautiful, we need each other. What we just studied is that God has not left on the table the option for us to do our own thing with Jesus. Because when you joined God's family, you became a part of something much bigger than just you and Jesus. That's his first reality, here's the second reality. It is impossible to be right with God and not be right with God's family. It's impossible to be right with God and not be right with God's family. Remember last weekend, if you were here, we taught out of John 14 verse 15. Let me remind you what it says. Jesus says, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." You can go back and listen that message, but we said obedience is not the focus of your life. Obedience is the fruit of our lives as we focus on intimacy with God. But if you keep reading John 14, he says it over and over and over again, this same principle. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And then after saying it four times in John 14, if you flip the page to John 15, look at what we read in verse 12. This is my commandment, okay? Lean in that you love one another as I have loved you. Don't miss that multiple times. Jesus says, "If you love me, you'll keep my commandments." If you love me, you keep my man. Hey guys, here's my commandment. That you love when it's as if to say, hey guys, here's the first chance you get to do what I have asked you to do out of the overflow of your love for me. Love one another. Here's what Jesus is saying. Hey guys, this relationship right here, between you and God, and this relationship right here between you and others and brothers and sisters in the Christ, these are not mutually exclusive. Listen, because of the gospel, this is good news. Because of the gospel, I have been reconciled to God. My sin has been paid for, my debt, my future is secure, my debt is gone, and I have been called and given the right to be called the child of God. But this relationship right here will impact this relationship right here. The way I know I've experienced reconciliation vertically is how I care about relationships horizontally. So put some Bible on that. I love how simple 1 John 4 is. It just cuts right to the quick. First John, chapter four, verse 20. If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have for men, whoever loves God, must also love his brother. Bible says, if anyone loves God, says he loves God and hates his brother, he's lying. You're thinking, okay, well, I hate the strong word. I don't hate anybody. You study that word in the original language. That word hate simply means having an ill will towards an action or D, or a word or action. As I read that definition, I thought yikes. We're all guilty. Alistair Begg said it pretty simply as we move on. He said, our relationship with God will never be right. As long as our relationship with others is wrong. Listen, our flesh is lying to us today. If we're thinking, no, I'm good here. It doesn't matter what's going on here. Me and Jesus are just right. Listen, this right here should impact this right here. Well, we need to talk about this right here. So how do we do this? What do we do? Maybe you're here today, anything okay? I'm leaning in, the Bible would tell us to make it right. Like today, make it right. Like maybe this is the application. Maybe this is why you came to the service this morning to hear from God's word. There's an issue between you and a brother or sister in Christ, and you today by the power of the Spirit need to make it right. Maybe that needs to happen before you even leave the building. I love that Jesus gives us a great picture of this. In Matthew chapter five, he's preaching on the sermon on the mountain, he's actually preaching on anger. Some of you have heard this, but he gives us such a great picture of what we're talking about. Look at what he says in Matthew five. He says, so if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, check this out, leave your gift there before the altar and go. Leave your gift at the altar, go first be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. Could you imagine the scene? Some people are like, wait a minute, Jesus, I'm in the middle of the worship song, I love this song. Can I just wait till the song's over? I love what's going on in this conversation or I'm doing this thing or I'm bringing my gift and can I just, wait, I promise you, I'll do it as soon as the service is over. Jesus says, no, don't wait, do it right now. You can come back to this, but unless this is right, this can't be right. Let's let the word of God bear weight on our lives, hope church, what does this mean? Some of you might need to leave right now in the middle of the sermon and go make a phone call in the lobby. They're like, that's a little intense, it's exactly what Jesus just said, leave your gift and go. And then come back, listen, we may need to see reconciliation happen in our midst. Listen, I don't love when a bunch of people leave my message, but if you're going to reconcile, praise God, go do it. Let's listen to the spirit of God and take seriously his word because we can't say this is right if this is not right. It is impossible to be right with God and not be right with God's family. Here's the third and final reality for us this morning. My relationship with God grows by fellowship with God's family. My relationship, your relationship with God, it grows by fellowship with God's family. Simply put, there are things about God, you and I will never learn apart from relationship with other believers. If you are married or have kids, you know this to be true. One of the most sanctifying tools in God's hand for my life has been my wife, Candice and those four kids. You're married, you got kids, you know, those are crucial relationships. Why? Because God has taught me so much about myself. Sometimes I wish he wouldn't teach me so much about myself using those five people. We all know that to be true. I've realized how selfish I am. I've learned so much about myself over the many years of being married to Candice and having children. Last week, I talked about Candice, I've been married for 16 years and it's funny to think about the different versions of Scott that she's been married to over those 16 years. Multiple different versions, why? Because I was 22 years old when we got married. Praise God in those 16 years, there's been some growth. But what did God use in my life in big ways? Well, the one who spends the most time with me in this world and that's her. So through that relationship, I've learned about some changes I need to make. Amen, husbands? I've learned in 16 years I need to make some changes if I want this thing to work out. But I've also learned some truth that I didn't know because of her in my life. Some things that I thought were true, but aren't true. And vice versa, I've learned some great truths. Here's one that I thought of this week. I learned how incredible God's gift is of guacamole. (congregation laughing) You think I'm joking, but when I first met Candice, I thought avocados are gross, that stuff looks mushy, I don't wanna put that in my mouth. Praise God through my relationship with Candice, my pallet has expanded, praise God. And now I understand the incredible gift of God's goodness that is guac, especially homemade guac. Some of you need to go to Chipotle right after this for the glory of God, get yourself some guac. (congregation laughing) That's a truth, I didn't know. But let's be honest, if you're married, you know, there's some truths I didn't know that were a lot harder to wrestle with. There were some things that God used her to teach me. Listen in the same way. God has designed us for relationships with other followers of Jesus to see some changes that you need to make follower of Jesus, to learn some truth that you didn't know. And there's some ways that we need to grow and how do you grow by fellowship with God's family? We need each other to grow. Best verse that we have in God's word for this, in my opinion, is Proverbs 27, 17. A verse you've probably heard of, it simply says iron sharpens iron and one man sharpens another. I guarantee it, you've seen that on a t-shirt, a bumper sticker, a coffee cup verse, and we say, "Oh yeah, iron sharpens iron." Have you ever thought about that? That's a painful process. Go Google yourself some iron sharpening iron. Here's what you're gonna see, sparks flying everywhere. This is tough. This is hard, but listen, this is how we grow. The Bible is literally saying, willingly put yourself on the altar to get some pain maybe in your life 'cause this is how I want to grow you. We've read that verse so many times. It's become cliche. But listen, you really wanna get sharpened? You really wanna grow? Get some people in your life that actually know you and can sharpen you up and I praise God for those people in my life over the years of following Jesus, why? Because that's how I've grown. How does this happen? It happens in relationship with other followers of Jesus in a Bible word called fellowship. There's a great Bible word. What on earth is fellowship? We hear it all the time. I wanna give you a simple definition. Fellowship is living out our relationship with God together with other believers. Simple, let me ask you, follower of Jesus. Do you truly have fellowship in your life right now? Listen, if right now you're thinking, I'm not living out my relationship with God with other followers of Jesus. Today is a sovereign reminder by a gracious God inviting you to his best for you. Is it gonna be easy? No, is it gonna be worth it? 100%. This is how we grow. Are you truly experiencing fellowship in your life follower of Jesus? It is God's best for you. Beautiful picture we get of this is the very beginning of the followers of Jesus gathering in the church. We're gonna study this passage in more detail next week, but look at what Acts chapter two talks about and how it talks about fellowship. And they, that's the new followers of Jesus, devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, living life together, living out the relationship with God together with one another, to the breaking of bread and the prayers and day by day, attending the temple together, breaking bread in their homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. What's happening in this passage? These people are living out their relationship with God together. They're living life with their people who are spurring them on and sharpening them towards their relationship with Jesus. I want us to understand this does not happen in the 90 seconds we gave you before worship started. That's great, we're super great. We do that on purpose. Get out of your seat, get to know somebody around you, but sharpening iron is not happening in those 90 seconds. Even the five minutes of conversation you're gonna have in the lobby in just a moment. Listen, those are great and good and I hope you get some numbers and exchange some time to actually allow sharpening to happen, but that in and of itself is not sharpening. Even this moment right here, I'm so grateful for the opportunity to teach and shepherd our church in this way. But I promise you, not a lot of you are getting sharpened right now with one guy talking to a room full of people. I hope you grow and learn the word of God and we will never stop doing this 'cause we're commanded to. But you don't wanna know how you grow? You get some people in a circle that actually get to know you and that's how you get sharp. That's how you actually grow in relationship with God. God created you for this. Not only did he create you for this, he's actually given us the context with which this flourish is best. It's called the local church. He's so good. He gave us the context with which this happens best, the local church. He established the community for this to thrive and to flourish. You don't have to figure it out. He already laid it out for us. Last spring, if you got issues with the church and I understand it, you've been burned by the church. You've got a lot of questions about the church. Last spring, we did a series for four weeks talking about the local church, talking about God's desire for the church that he established. You can go online and listen to that sermon series. It was called The Dearest Place on Earth. We unpack for four weeks, what is the church? But I wanna give us a definition that we studied to kinda tee it off and finish our time together today. Here's what the church is. The church is a local community of baptized Jesus followers, under biblical leadership, uniting together in doctrine, using their spiritual gifts to serve one another and being sent to make disciples. As I read that verse and reminded, or that definition, it reminded myself this week of what I've been called into. As a part of this church, I got reinvigorated. Why? 'Cause I'm looking at that definition. I'm thinking that is how Scott Worthington grows. By the people that God has given me in my life to help me and to sharpen me towards Christ. Listen, in Hope Church, we wanna create many, many avenues where you can get connected into this kind of fellowship. We're a really big church. Carissa said at the beginning of our service, if you were here, we're a really big church, but we're looking for more opportunities to make us smaller and smaller and smaller. Why? 'Cause that's how God grows us. But I don't wanna make any bones about it. We're a messy church. Many of you have understood that. There's some siblings in here that you might not click with. And maybe that's actually stopped you from getting involved in the kind of community that God has called you to as his best. It's messy, but it's worth it. It's messy, but it's his mess. And we trust him for growth. During that series, we had a statement we said over and over again that I wanna repeat. We said the church is not a place. The church is a people, a family. It's a people that have been placed together to live out the life of a Jesus follower. So maybe you're here today and you're thinking, I don't know, man. I've struggled. I'm skeptical. I've gotten involved in community. I've been burned. I wanna show you as we close a story of a man named Troy who had a lot of those thoughts and maybe even given up on community and God used, hope church, praise God, to absolutely change his story. Watch Troy's video. (gentle music) - My name is Troy DeAndria, and I've been a full-time support chaplain in the Nevada Army National Guard for 11 years. I work with amazing soldiers of all ranks in serving our country and this great state of Nevada. As a military chaplain, we are called to be military pastors who seek to come alongside soldiers in their darkest and their brightest days. I was born and raised in Las Vegas with a single mom and sister. Mom was a Blackjack dealer for 32 years, and I grew up with five different men that were in and out of our home, lots of caves. I didn't mean my biological dad until I was 16, and I was a mess. So what does a messy teenager do? He joins the military. And so while serving in the Air Force at 19, I met two friends who would tell me about Jesus. At first, I put Christ on the fiction shelf, but when I learned that Jesus would introduce me to a Heavenly Father that would never leave me or forsake me, I was overwhelmed with his love and surrendered my life to him. Early on in my walk with Jesus, I hungered for real community. Friends always came and the Father figures showed up and left. I hungered for community that would stay and not leave. This is what Hope Church has become to me, family. After joining Hope earlier this year, I found out that I would be deploying to the Middle East for a year in the fall of 2024. I joined the men's group on Friday mornings to try and forward some friendships before I leave. In these few short months, I called on them to pray for me when I was anxious or when I had health issues. They have become my brothers. Growing up, nobody stuck around. I depended on the church to have that staying power. They stay when it gets tough. They stay when it's messy. They stay when life is busy. They stay even when you have to leave for a year. To know that I have a group of brothers that will pray for me, support me, and pray for my soldiers while we're away is an anchor for me. I'm so incredibly grateful. - Praise God. (congregation applauding) - Two things Troy said in that video that I wanna just highlight before I pray. He said, "I hungered for community and Hope Church has become family." We've been praying. I believe there are some people here today that that's where you're at. That you hear a message like this. Hear God's Word and you're like, "Yes, I want that." Just trust the Lord and take the step like Troy did. In our lobby, you receive some stuff as you came in. Listen, we're not just trying to promote some small groups to get some small group people connected. We believe what we're saying from God's Word that this is the way God grows you primarily. Apart from your time with him primarily, he uses other followers of Jesus to sharpen you. So if you're not connected in community man, we have a whole team of people out in the lobby. Maybe you just need to take a step like Troy did just to say, "Hey, I'm available." And take a step into what God might have for you. All he did was show up. And God did the rest through the family of God. Wanna end where we began in first John chapter four simply says, "Beloved, if God so loved us." We also ought to love one another. As we respond, simply ask yourself, "Are you enjoying fellowship within God's family?" Knowing that it's his best for you. Are you living out your relationship with God with other followers of Jesus? Maybe your response today, if the answer that is no is, man, take that step. I'm gonna go get some info in the lobby. I'm gonna pray about what that looks like in my life 'cause that's how God wants to grow you. Well, maybe today you do have an issue with a brother, sister, or Christ. Listen, if this is not right, this cannot be right. So make that right today. Maybe today the gift of God was for you to hear what God's word says about leaving it up the altar, make that call, talk to somebody after service, whatever you need to do, it matters to the Lord. And with this question, who is sharpening you right now? If you can't think right now of numerous names, people sharpening, listen, as iron sharpens iron, this is how we grow. If you can't think of the names of people that are sharpening you right now, man, I encourage you. Get some information about getting some people around you that can sharpen you because it is God's best. Lord, thank you for today, thank you for your word, Holy Spirit, right now as we respond and worship, as we respond in prayer, we trust you. We trust you, Lord, I pray that you would move in this moment, convict, challenge, encourage, we submit to you, Lord, we wanna do what we sang earlier, make room for you to do whatever you want to. So thank you for your word, thank you for this church, thank you for your family, in Jesus' name. Amen, let's stand and respond as the Lord leads. [BLANK_AUDIO]