A Lion’s Roar And A Lesson

Yes, I'm glad you're with us and everybody watching online. And we're just gonna have a nice haze in this room for the next few minutes. But listen, I'm ready to preach God's word. Are you ready to receive it today? The year was 2007, and uh I was we are living in Houston at the time. I had a chance to go with Pastor Nate Keller, one of our overseers of the church here, and uh we traveled to Mozambique, and then we traveled on to Swaziland. We were there to plant a church and launch a church in Maputo, Mozambique, that is still thriving, and uh and then got to go spend some time in Swaziland and see ministry happening with some partners in ministry. And between the trip from Mozambique to Swaziland, we stopped and we went through an incredible uh safari because when you go to South Africa, well, I mean you got to do a safari, amen. So we did the safari and uh we got there and uh geez, that thing is huge. Uh so we did the safari and we we got there at night, so it was already dark, and we were staying in this little thatch roof uh hut, and it was um, you know, it was secure and it had proper plumbing, everything was great inside, two rooms, a couple of bathrooms, and then but the roof was just like made of grass, and that was a little problematic to me. And that meant you could hear everything inside and outside, like it was so loud, and so all night long, it those the animals that move around at nighttime, those nocturnal animals, they were like, it sounded like they were running outside of my window, honestly, and just herds of animals going back and forth. And then in the middle of the night, this lion decided he was gonna let everybody know who's the king. And uh he roared, and honestly, it I almost like fell out of my bed. It was so loud. And uh it was it's just one of those moments where it was like um, oh my goodness, like nothing when they say the king, king of the jungle, there's a reason. And it was uh so incredibly loud. And then that morning, the next morning, we got up and we were headed towards uh oh, it's really smoking, I'm sorry. We were headed towards breakfast, and uh when we were leaving that little hut to go to the spot for breakfast, it was still dark, it was before the sun had risen. And as we were walking, all I could think about was all of those animals and that line roaring. And I thought, I know they told us we were behind a fence, but it didn't feel like that. And I literally was like, hey, listen, all I know, Pastor Nate, is if anything comes after us, I can outrun you. So I'm gonna be okay. I'm sorry for you. And um, so we got there, we did breakfast, and then we got onto this safari and we traveled and followed this road around. There's about eight of us in this vehicle uh with no roof over us, and we pulled up to the spot and there was a pride of lions there, and uh, it was so incredibly majestic. It was the the massive mane of a lion, and then about seven lioness, and then a couple of cubs. And so, you know, I I'm sometimes a thrill seeker, and sometimes I do things without really thinking about it. And um, and so I was sitting there watching, I was like, the lion's kind of like laying, looking away from everybody, and I'm like, I want to see the full mane. Like, I want them to look at me. And so while I was I was trying to figure out how could I do this, and so I was I was thinking, I got my camera ready, I'm ready to take a photo, and I just I just simply was like I whistled just like that. And uh, and that thing, that thing looked, but when he looked at me, all seven of those lines stood up and took two steps toward the truck. And the driver, our host, was like, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We don't we don't do that. And I was like, oh, okay. I did not, I did not read that instruction. I did read where you don't put your hands outside of the car, but I did not read that you don't make noises. And he said the reason why is because when we first pulled up, the line assessed like the vehicle and how many people are in the vehicle and like the size, and like determined, all right, it's a little too much for me to try to take on until you decide to instigate something. And that little whistle stirred something up, and then everybody in the pride got up and was like, all right, now it could be on what's happening. And so I had to pray for a minute for forgiveness. I was like, Jesus help us, and um, and we were fine, but it's the year that I learned you're only as strong as the group you're with. So turn to your neighbor and say, Hey, uh, I declare we're better together. And then um to the one you've been ignoring all service, just say, Jesus help this church not to burn down. It's looking good. We're in week five of our series, uh I declare, which is the marriage and relationship edition. And we spent the early weeks on marriage. Remember, first three weeks we talked about marriage? And uh our marriage retreat is coming up, it's just a couple of weeks away, and I want to encourage you, if you're a married couple and not yet registered, to register today because today is the end of the early bird discount for the hotel room, which means you can still sign up and come. You can you can register all the way through until the 20th and even that night, but you're gonna pay a lot more for your hotel room. And um, you say, Well, why would I go to a hotel room in Chicago to go to a retreat? Well, it's because it is a retreat, you're getting away. We want you to get away from your kids, get away from the family, get just the two of you away. And we believe God's gonna do something powerful. If you're in the Slack channel, the Marriage Retreat 2026 channel, uh, there is a survey we'd love you to fill out beforehand as Dr. Donna Baptiste and Urshana and I prepare for what we'll be sharing. This will be helpful. So invite you to be a part of that. It's gonna be a tremendous week and transformational. In fact, we're gonna close out this entire series on that Sunday, the 22nd, and then we'll launch into a new series. Got a lot of fun things happening as we move into the spring season. Last week, we uh remember I talked about marriage the first three weeks, and then last week we talked about the declaration was this I will speak life into my relationships and how we what we say and how we say it, our our words bring life, they create our worlds, and we can build people up or we can burn them down. So it's what you say is important, and I want to encourage you to be an encourager, be a life, speak life with every word you can. And um, but today, today's small group Sunday, and so essentially the the declaration today is this year with God's help and the power of the Holy Spirit, I declare I will invest my life in meaningful relationships for discipleship and growth. I declare this will be my most divinely connected year yet. So, what does God's word say about divine relationships? And I'm gonna begin right here in the book of Mark. I'm gonna share with you Mark and Matthew's quotes as they quote Jesus in the gospel. Mark says this, and to love him with all the heart, all the understanding, with all the soul, with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. So Mark is quoting Jesus saying, Listen, it's loving God and loving people is more important than any other sacrifice that you'll make. Matthew quotes Jesus, and he heard it differently, but similar, same principle. Matthew says it was, you must love the Lord God with all your heart, your soul, your mind. And this is the first and greatest commandment. The first commandment is that we love God, but the second, which is equally as important, is love your neighbor as yourself. And then look what Jesus says. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. So I would propose to you, you could love people and not love God, but there's no way that you can love God and not love people. It's impossible. In fact, before I dive into small groups, I do have to just pause here and just speak to the situation in our nation that took place this week. Um honestly, uh sorry. You know, I uh in the 21 days of prayer and fasting, I took uh a respite away from social media. So, and I just didn't feel compelled to get back into it, so I'm not on Instagram. I've deleted Instagram and Twitter from my phone for right now, but somebody made me aware of the uh terrible nature of the comments and photo that was shared from the office of our president this week. And um I'm sorry I'm so emotional about it. I wasn't that way in the first service, but um because of our church being such a beautiful picture of heaven, it grieves it grieves me that we still deal with the brokenness of humanity. And when I read this scripture the other day, preparing for this sermon, and then this last night, Ushawn and I were talking about it, and this sermon, this this scripture just was really fresh in my heart in preparation, and and it reminded me that Jesus loved life and liberty, but he wasn't a Republican. And Jesus wanted to make sure the overlooked and the forgotten and the underprivileged were were cared for and loved, but he wasn't a Democrat because he came to establish a kingdom whose government will never end. And he's not, he, he's not, listen, it's both sides of the party, both parties. Uh whatever aisle you would decide to stand on, can we agree that they both have lost the decorum of decency? Where now name-calling is okay, and finger pointing and un you know, unfounded violence. But listen, I just want to say in a church like this that has so many people and so many backgrounds, listen, we speak against any kind of racism. We're far past the moment of being flippant with what we post and what we say. And can we just, instead of being one side or the other side, can we just walk the kingdom straight down the middle of it? Love God and love people, the most important. Love God and love people. So I want to tell you that I'm preaching about small groups today, and so small groups, they're not just beneficial for you, but they are biblical. And that Jesus, Jesus did not begin his ministry on a stage. A lot of times, young people, young adults, people we say we want to get into ministry. We I want to be in ministry, I want to do ministry, and we think it really what they mean is I want to be on a stage. I'd like a title, I'd like a position, and I'd like a paycheck. That's ministry. Well, it's not ministry. But Jesus did not begin on a stage, he began in a small group. And he started with 12. And he spent time with them, he gathered them, he he rebuked them, he challenged them, he corrected them, he taught them, he showed them, and then he released them. And they turned the world, by the way, upside down. The Bible says that's what they did. But it all began through the context of a small group. And I'm gonna, you know, Jesus, he was perfect, but he still needed a small group. So how much more do you and I need a group of people around us when we all fall short of the glory of God every day? We need a group, and and the reality is like there's some carryover from 2020 that that has still impacted our lives. And it's this idea that our house has become more than just a fortress, it's it's really become kind of like our escape. And you know, in Chicago area, we didn't like you don't ever see your neighbors from like the middle of December to March something. Because you get home, you go through your garage, you go right inside, you see no one. No one's out, there's no reason to be out. It's cold, it's freezing, and if you have to shovel, pray to God you shovel before anybody sees you. And so we we have this position in our culture that we listen, we shop online, we get our groceries online, we bank online. I wonder if any of you know how to go into a bank and cash a check. No, no, we do it all online. We don't need people. We have a we have an app for that. And and and then we we we go out online, we order food to come to our house. Like it used to be you could get pizza delivered and Chinese food delivered, and now you can get anything delivered. The whole menu. Start with the appetizer, whatever you everything, the whole menu. Why? Because we just have found this place. The problem is it it when you isolate yourself, you um like you block out other people, you block out people who can help you. So it's no wonder then that depression has skyrocketed. Like, I just read this that one in five will have this week said they battled depression. Over 20% said this week they had traumatizing anxiety that crippled them where they were. And it's because, listen to this quote from 2020, we were never designed for the sedentary, indoor, socially isolated, fast food laden, sleep-deprived, screen addictive, frenetic pace of modern life. We were meant for connection. Oh, by the way, chat GPT is not a connection. You see, isolation doesn't just make you lonely, isolation makes you vulnerable. You see, the devil, his tactic is he wants to distract you. When he distracts you, he wants to disconnect you, and once he's disconnected you, you then he can destroy you. Why? Because you're only as strong as the group you're with. And when you're not with a group, you're singled out, you're vulnerable. So you need to lean in and get connected. And let me just tell you that you cannot heal what you will not reveal. And on Sunday, a crowd will inspire you, but a circle through the week will transform you. And I want to just give you then four reasons why you should be a part of a small group. You ready? Four reasons why you should be a part of a small group. Number one, small groups teach you how to love. Small groups teach you how to love. Because the Bible says, if you only love, Jesus said if you only love the people who love you, what what credit is there for that? Loving people who love you, yeah, everybody can do that. But a small group will teach you how to love people that annoy you. People that talk too much, people whose ideas are a little further out than what your ideas are, people that don't look like you. They might be life age and life stage, but man, they think different than you, and a small group will teach you how to love people. When you um, you know, it's it's interesting to me when you go to a gym, uh, ladies or guys, when you go to a gym and you lift weights, you're lifting weights, heavier weights, as time goes on, because you're trying to really break down the muscle that you do have so that when it it will get stronger as as you lift more weight. But you know, there's absolutely no value in going to the gym and watching other people or watching videos of people lifting weights. You're not gonna get stronger by watching everybody else lift heavy weights. And that's really what small groups do in our life. Small groups help us learn how to lift the heavy weight of relationships so that we can be stronger and we can love people that we didn't think we would be able to love. Those people that annoy us, those those people that, you know what, they cancel last minute and they were supposed to bring the snack. You still gotta love them. So the first declaration is this I declare, I will love like Jesus loved. Because a small group teaches me how to love. The second reason why you should be in a small group is because small groups provide a place for you to ask questions. It's impossible for us to ask questions in this environment. You cannot lift your hand in this sermon unless you're saying, Amen, hallelujah, way to go. I'm not gonna call on you to ask a question. We don't have time for that. But in a small group, you can ask questions. And listen, we have no, we there is no limit to the amount of information that we have available to us. But many of us have forgotten how to ask great questions. If you want information, you can Google it. But if you want to grow and connect, you gotta learn to ask better questions. Let me just lean in, husbands. Like when you want to grow closer to your spouse, wives, you want to grow closer to your husband, parents, you want to grow closer to your kids, kids, you want to get closer to your parents, siblings want to get more connected. Listen, this is what you do. Don't just ask how your day was. Ask, hey, what was the best thing about your day? Or what was the toughest thing about your day? Or husbands and wives, hey, what part of today did you feel the most loved and seen by me? Like that will open up the conversation rather than just, hey, how was the day? Great, wonderful. You ask my teenagers how the day was, good. That's it. You gotta ask a better question, or you're just gonna get one-word answers. And so small groups give us place to ask those questions. I've talked about our wedding day quite a bit. You know that Jesus asked 325 questions in the Gospels? Why? And every time Jesus asked a question, it helped somebody take a step closer to him. It challenged them. And I have a whole series of notes for you to read in there, but I don't have time to go through it right now. But it's just it's important to ask better questions. We talked a lot about our wedding day over the last few weeks. Um, and in the sermons, I've I've talked about it. Our wedding day was magical, it was beautiful. Urshana, still lovely today, even more lovely, but that day set apart in my mind, etched in my mind. I will never forget that image. And and meant the wedding day is pretty incredible, honestly. It's like everybody's dressed proper, like everybody knows what they're supposed to say, and um they they know when they're not supposed to say anything, like when the when the the minister says, Whoever doesn't think any these people should be married, speak now or forever, hold your peace. Like my cousin used to like drill a hole into my side to get me to say something at other weddings, but you don't want to say anything at a wedding. So, like, you know, like it's amazing, it's electric, it's fantastic, it's romantic, it's beautiful, it's all the focus of the day. But you you don't learn how to live in covenant relationship on a wedding day. It's the marriage that teaches you how to live in covenant relationship. And you know what? Church is a little bit like the wedding day. We come on a Sunday, the music's incredible, the band's off the charts, the singing leads us into the atmosphere of the Lord. It's just everything feels right, the preaching's wonderful and great and amazing. Just kidding. But you don't become a Christ follower by being a good Sunday attender. You learn the covenant relationship by being in relationship in a small group. The small group is like the marriage, Sunday is like the wedding day.

So

Reason 2: Ask Better Questions

Sunday Is The Wedding; Groups Are Marriage

Reason 3: Be Known And Be Told No

Reason 4: Strength For Hard Days

Fire Pit Analogy: Stay Connected

If the declaration is this, I declare I will grow deeper in understanding and not just attend longer. Like you can be a member of a church for a long time and never really become a great Christ follower because you never went through the covenant of relationship with people. The third thing, small groups are a place where you where people can know you and know you. Know you K N O W and know you NO. Because you need some people to tell you no. Not a good idea. Do not do that. In fact, don't not do that. Don't ever say it again. Don't think it. Just know. But you also need people who know you. Because what you won't reveal won't ever be healed. So you need people that know you. And that's the small group setting. And you know, it's important for us to understand. You could be, you could be a member of, you don't have to know everybody in this room to be a member of this church. But you do have to know some people. And not just the people you ride in church with. Because the people you ride in church with are most likely just going to put up with your stuff. And they love you. But it's the people that are in the small group that are going to help you grow. See, the crowd will show up for entertainment, but a covenant friend shows up because he's invested. And you need that investment of people who know you and know you. I thought about the airport. When you go to O'Hare and you're in the terminal and you're walking to your gate, you can walk past a thousand people who could care less who you are, what you're doing, what baggage you're dragging behind you. All they're worried about is getting to their own connection and getting where they want to go. And that's the way life is. Sometimes church feels that way. We just come in and go out, come in and go out. We run a destination. We got somewhere to be, somewhere to be. Everybody's already thinking about where you're supposed to be next. But when you go to the baggage claim, see, y'all don't even know what it used to be like to go to the airport before 9-11. When you could, man, you used to go to the gate and wait for that person. When Ursano used to fly, I used to go wait at the gate for her to come off the plane. And she would run off that plane and jump into my arms and hug me, and I would swing her around. What? One time, it happened one time. But now you go to the baggage claim, and that's where you see the families that have waited, and they come down and they hug and appreciate and welcome you home, and they help you carry your baggage out. And that's kind of what a small group is. People that will know you and know you and help carry the stuff you're carrying. So the declaration is I declare I will be known, supported, and surrounded. Sorry. And the last one a small group keeps you strong when life gets hard. And notice I put when life gets hard, not if. Because life's gonna get hard. It only takes one phone call. Doesn't matter what life age, what life stage, how well off you are, or how great everything is in this moment, we all are gonna get those calls because we're not promised an easy life. I'm just thankful we're promised a life that we won't be alone. So you need a group of people who knows you enough and who's around you enough to know if you're missed. If you miss Sunday, who's missing you? And who are you missing? And the reality is, like, if you don't ever get connected, you're hinging it upon our shoulders to figure out because some some of you sit in the same spot, so I know when you miss. I'm like, oh, they're not there. So thank you for sitting in the same spot. But some of you bounce around, and I don't know, I don't know. But you need somebody that knows when you're hurting, and in a small group, when the baby's born, the meal train shows up and feeds the family. And when there's a loss in the family, the small group shows up and there's a meal train to support and a group of friends around you. And when the wife or the husband has a medical procedure, the small group shows up with a meal train to help. And you gotta be a part of a group to experience that. I had this fire pit going because the reality is Sunday is a little bit like this fire pit. It's it's fire. It's fire. It's it's it's so it's so good. Sunday's so good. I don't know about you, but I come I come in I I come with the expectation, and every Sunday exceeds my expectation. I mean to see to see young people on their knees worshiping and jumping in exuberant praise in spite of what the world is telling them. To see families connected and united and joined together and go, yeah, going through difficult days, but we're gonna get through it together. So, all of that, that's fire. And the thing is, if you're a rookie in the barbecue industry, you put the lighter fluid on it, and the flame comes up, and you put the food on it, the the steak or the chicken or the ribs, you put it on too early. And it's really not hot enough to cook the right way. You should be able to sear a steak in just a few minutes per side, and it'd be perfect. Medium rare. A little it makes a little noise when you cut it. Don't do not overcook my steak. So the thing is most of us we get here's the thing. This thing is red hot. Red hot. Until I bring it over here for a few minutes. And when it's not disconnected, it goes from being red hot to cooling off. Did you know they tell you like when you do a barbecue grill like this with charcoal, you really shouldn't move it for 24 to 48 hours because together these little charcoal briquettes have the capacity to maintain heat for that long. But by the time you're signing up for a small group, you're done, and you're walking out the door, I'll be able to carry this off with my hands. Because the reality is as long as they're connected, they stay red hot. But as soon as you disconnect it, they lose the fire. Some of you are wondering why you go Sunday to Sunday, Sunday to Sunday, and you have such a fiery, passionate Sunday, but by Tuesday and Wednesday, you're cussing everybody out. I mean, you shout the aisles, church, the best church ever, and then by Wednesday, you don't nobody even knows you go to church. It's because when you're connected, you're on fire, but you get away and you lose that passion. God didn't change, you just got disconnected. And a small group will help you stay connected. Hey, where are you? Hey, well, I miss you a small group this week. I know I couldn't make it. Listen, what can I pray for you about? What are you struggling with? What area of life do you need some help in? Oh, don't forget it's coming up next week. Hey, here's here's the verses we talked about. Here's here's the prayer list so you can keep praying for everybody in the group. We'll see you next week. You stay connected, and the fire that God has established in your heart stays stirred up. Paul said this fan the flame which was placed inside of you at the laying on of hands. And it's not just the pastor laying hands on you to pray for you, it's literally God's hand of purpose and passion upon you, and that gets fanned and stirred up. And look, look, watch this. Started right back up again. Fan the flame. My parents, my dad had a wood-burning stove in our basement growing up in Michigan, and he had a little stoker. It was like this little pointy thing with the big flute thing, and then it had two handles. I don't know how to describe it. She's like, I feel like gilded age right now. And he says, he's you do like this, and when you do this, it pushes a little air out, and he'd say, Chuck, if there's wood in there and you see coals at the bottom, but nothing's burning, open that door and goo. And when you do that, you fan the flame. And that's what a small group does for you. It's just the of the Holy Spirit. Keep the fire burning. Keep the fire burning. Keep the fire burning. Keep the fire burning. You don't have to go cold from Sunday to Sunday as long as you're in a group. So today, my thought is this I'm trying to break the spirit of isolation off of some of you who have not yet connected on a deeper level than a Sunday service. And I'm trying to break the effect of the devil's lies over your life. See, the devil's telling you right now, nobody really cares about you. Nobody struggles with what you're struggling with. I'm just gonna tell you, we all struggle. We all have stuff. And if you don't think you got stuff, that's your stuff. It's called pride. The devil's telling you, if you allow yourself to be known, you'll be judged. That's a lie. Look, we don't have time to judge people. You know, you know, you want to hear my one of the old Christian sayings that I don't really love at all. In fact, I don't like it. You might even say, I hate it. If I can say that. It's this love the sinner, hate the sin. Let me tell you why I don't like that. I got too much to worry about my own sinful life to try to judge everybody else's sin. And if I start judging one, then I gotta judge it all. And I'm not the judge. So if you get in a small group and let yourself be known, you're not gonna be judged, you'll be encouraged, helped, fanned, stir up that gift inside of you. There's no way you can be transformed. I'm telling you, that's not true. That's not true. But here's where I stop. If you want the fruit of community, you must be planted in community. You don't get all these benefits without planting yourself. See, the one who flourishes is the one who's planted in the house. I was thinking about, you know, last year we declared this will be our best year ever. Amen. And some of you planted yourself in this house like you've never planted before, and guess what? The result? Your best year ever. So guess what? If you want this to be your most divinely connected year yet, it's time to plant yourself in community and get in a small group and stop living your life alone. So the declaration is this I declare, I will not go cold because I will stay connected. I will not burn out because I won't be alone. That's how I wrote it in the notes. Man. This is the overall declaration. I don't think it's in your notes because I forgot to send it to the team. But let me just say it one more time. This year, with God's help and the power of the Holy Spirit, say this after me. I declare I will invest my life in meaningful relationships for discipleship and growth. I declare this will be my most divinely connected year yet. Amen. Can you receive that word?