Why We Crave Community

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Alright, good morning. First, I just want to start with saying happy birthday to PC and just say thank you for how you lead this church and how you've led me, just allowing me to do this internship. So today that I've been asked to talk about community, and the title of this message is called Compromising Community. To start, I want to start with the story. So this past year I went off to college. I went to school in Tennessee. I went there, I had no friends, no family. I didn't have a community when I first got there. But the community that I did find was absolutely amazing. You see, the church that I got involved with, they didn't just care about me on a Sunday morning. They cared about every other day. They were always asking me when my next baseball game was, how can they pray for me, how can they encourage me, and how they can help me mature in my faith. See, what you have to understand about community is that we all desire it. We all long for community. It's in our very nature to want and desire community. Because we're made in the image of the Father, who's been in community since the beginning, between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So it's in our very nature to desire and long for community. Whether that be your book club, whether it be your sports team, we all want community. And what better community is there than the very one God established, that is his church. See, the church wasn't just some random idea that someone had, it was God's idea. Speci might say it wasn't just a good idea, it was a God idea. So when someone comes to me and says, ah, nah, church just isn't for me, I disagree. Because it is for you, it was designed for you to help encourage you and help support you in your faith.

Hebrews 10 Sets The Standard

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Today we'll be looking at Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 through 25, to help give us a picture of what community is supposed to look like. It reads, and let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. Let's pray. Dear God, I pray just as we dive into your word, you just reveal yourself to us, God, and just open our eyes to what your community is supposed to look like, God. Uh, please guide us in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so we'll start right there in verse 24. It says, let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. Right there, it says, consider seriously how we can spur one another on towards love and good deeds. What does this mean? How can we motivate and push each other to be more like Jesus? To be more like Christ. When it says good deeds, what does that mean? Push each other to truly live out our faith. Not let it be something that we just put on the back of t-shirts or that we put in our Instagram bio or only that we talk about on a Sunday morning. But we take actionable steps throughout our day, throughout our week to truly live as Christ. Truly live out our faith.

Stop Treating Community As Optional

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Another thing about community that we have to understand is that it is not optional. Community is not optional. Verse 25 says, not giving up meetings together as some are in the habit of doing. Who knows how easy it is to neglect church? We make excuses. I'm not feeling it today. Ah, that's too early. I gotta get up and get to church. I gotta go get breakfast. You go, I'm just gonna stay home, I'm gonna chill, I'm gonna watch online. Don't get me wrong, watching online is great. It's amazing that we have that capability. But don't use washing as lying as an excuse not to come through those doors. But also understand that just because you do walk through those doors on a Sunday morning, that does not mean you are in community. You can be surrounded by community, but not in community. I did that for years. I'd walk through the door, not say a word to anybody. Community was happening all around me, but I was just observing it. I was letting it pass me by. I did not enter into the lives around me. You see, community is more than just meeting together on a Sunday morning, singing some songs, listening to a preacher, and then dip, right? You don't just walk out the door. That's not what community is. Community is connecting with people, getting to know them intimately, knowing their stories, truly entering into their lives. Acts

Acts 2 Shows Real Shared Life

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2, verses 44 through 47 show us what it looks like to truly enter into each other's lives. It reads, All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to what to one another who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. These people are truly entering into each other's lives. Verse 45 says they sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. They were making sure each other were taken care of, supporting each other. They weren't just saying, What's up on a Sunday morning and going home, not asking about what they need, how can they how can they help each other? Verse 46 says every day they continue to meet together in the temple courts. And that's important. It's important to come to church to meet, but what did they also do? They met in each other's homes, they broke bread together, they ate together, they entered into each other's lives, getting to know each other intimately. But why is it so important that we do this? Why is it so important that we truly know each other? If you jump back into Hebrews, verse 25, it says not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. But then it says encouraging one another all the more as you see the day approaching. The reason that we need to get to know each other intimately and on a deeper level is so we can encourage each other, so we can support each other. We have to understand about community is that it was not meant to be done alone. The pursuit of holiness, the pursuit of righteousness was not meant to be done alone. We need brothers and sisters around us to encourage us and help mature us. And how can I encourage someone if I don't know them? If I don't know the sin that they struggle with, if I don't know what specific aspects they need encouragement in. Let's look at the last part.

Invest Deeply As The Day Nears

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It says, and all the more as you see the day approaching. What day? The return of Christ. How much closer are we to that now than the early church was? So let's stop making excuses. Let's stop simply observing community and invest in it. All right. Now I'm gonna pass it off to Aura for another amazing message.

What Faith Really Means

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Okay, hi everyone. As has been said, I am Ora Olua. Um, and I realize I have gum in my mouth. Can someone hand me a paper? I don't want to joke or spit it on someone, so um, okay, while they do that, PC, happy birthday. Woohoo! Thank you so much. Oh, thank you. Okay. Um I just want to say thank you so much because you have been such an inspiration in my life. And I've been coming to free church since 2019. So a little over, no, a little under seven years. Um, and I think about who I was back then and who I am now, and truly, truly watching God flow through you, outpour from you onto me, has changed my life and changed so many of our lives in ways that we never thought possible. So I just give God all the glory for blessing me for coming here and blessing you for pouring out onto me. Um, happy birthday. Okay, so I'm talking about growing in faith. Also, y'all buckle in. I tried to get this under seven minutes, it's not. So we're gonna start in Hebrews 11. You know, if we're talking about faith, we gotta talk about Hebrews 11. Um, so verse one starts off saying the fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, this is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It is our handle on what we cannot see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. Then he goes on to say, or Paul goes on to say, By faith, we see the world called into existence by God's world, by God's word. Now listen, what we see that's created by what we don't see. So here, Paul is describing faith as believing in God, putting our full trust in God, even though we can't see him, nor do we know what his plans are for us. So the question is, how do we grow deeper in God? How do we, or sorry, how do we grow our faith? How do we grow deeper in our relationship with God when we can't see him or know what he has in store for us? And it's hard, um, especially in today's day and age where we are basically rooted in a society that seeing is believing. Um

Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

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so I was asking God what he wanted me to tell you today, and he's giving me these three things. Step one, become uncomfortable, being uncomfortable. Now, what does that mean? So in high school, I joined the gymnastics team my sophomore year of high school, second year, and I got pretty good, I've never done gymnastics a day in my life before then, and I got pretty good doing backward tumbling events. So if I'm going backwards, I'm amazing at those events. If you tell me to do a front flip or anything going forward, not today. No, no, I'm sorry, coach. Um, I'm sick. I can't do that. Um, and I realized that's because when you're going backwards, you see the ground before your feet leave the ground. So you can trust that, okay, I see it. I know where my feet are gonna go. When you're going forward, it's a blind landing. You can't see where you're landing. So if the ground's there, great. If it's not, mmm. So I got really good at going backwards, and then my coach asked me, Hey, do you wanna increase your gymnastic skills? And I knew what she was gonna make me do, but I was like, sure. And she's like, All right, let's practice your front flips. And I have a video, and this is what happened when I tried it for the first time. Yeah. Not ideal. Um, okay, we can stop playing it. Not ideal for my very first time trying out a front flip. Um, and at this point, I could have said, you know what? I'm done. If I wanna increase my difficulty in gymnastics, let me just increase my difficulty going backwards. I'm way more comfortable doing that. Why would I do something that I'm not comfortable with? And she told me, you gotta do what you're uncomfortable with because that's where you're gonna grow. That's how you're gonna get better. And so we kept practicing and practicing, and eventually I stopped landing on my face, I started landing on my feet, and I was able to continue on with my routine. And that's where it hit me. Growth rarely happens inside of our comfort zones. Listen, Romans 5, 3 through 5 states we celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, perseverance, character, character, hope, and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has given us. When the enemy comes and tests you, they're not gonna put you in a comfortable situation. No, no, no, no. They're gonna drag you out of your comfort zone into the uncomfortable and say, Oh, what now? What are you gonna do now? But if you're comfortable being in that uncomfortable zone saying, God, I don't know what you have in store for me, but I know that you're going to deliver me in that uncomfortableness, then the enemy can't say nothing. They can't break your faith. Okay. Second

Release Control And Trust God

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point, release your inner control freak, y'all. This is this hits me hard. So, as human beings, we're hardwired to control basically every aspect of our lives, right? You have like a five-step plan to get a better job, you got a timeline for when you're gonna finish school, you got backup plans for your backup plans, you got backup plans for your backup plans for your backup plans. And when it comes to your faith, you can't do that. You really gotta say, Lord, I don't know what you have in store for me, but I know that your plans are better than anything that I can ever come up with. So I just give all my trust, I place all my trust in you, and God is going to show up and show out in your life like he's never done before. Um, I'm reminded of a time I was going through a really rough time. Life was giving me like a one-two punch, it was not a good time. My family life was falling apart, personal life was in shambles, work was crazy, and I was doing slides or the presentation that we see. And that Sunday I woke up and I was like, you know what, I'm not feeling it. I'm just gonna come to church, do my job, and leave. And I get to church and worship was phenomenal. And then PC comes out on stage and he's feeling the Holy Spirit, and he's quiet for a second, and he goes, I'm not gonna follow my notes. I'm feeling led in a different direction. And all he did that day was just prophesy over people, right? Now, he never said my name, he never looked back in my direction, but yet the amount of power I felt flowing through this room, the amount of power I felt flowing through me from the Holy Spirit, where God was just like lifting all of my troubles and cares and removing that from me was insurmountable. I remember, so I make the presentations and I remember reading PC's notes, being like, ooh, this is gonna be a great sermon, ooh, this one-liner is gonna slap, oh, this verse is amazing. But the more I think about it, the more I'm like, if PC would have said, nope, I have a plan, I got notes, I'm gonna go on that notes, God's still gonna show up, right? But would it have been as powerful as it was? Would I have felt it when I needed it that the most? I don't know. All I can tell you is that the moment you release control, the moment you say, God, this is your life, work through me, then you become open to what God wants you to do. And not even what God wants you to do, but what God can do through your life. PC didn't know what I was going through. He didn't know that I needed him that moment to just prophesy over people and welcome the Holy Spirit in this room. Yet he did that, and God showed up, y'all, showed up hard. And I I've never, in that moment, I've never felt more relaxed in my life when I had no control. When I was like, okay, whatever. PC, you don't want to follow your notes? Awesome. Looks like I don't got anything to do. But I felt amazing in that time. And that's that's what you need to do. Proverbs 3, 5 through 6 states, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understandings. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. Listen, growing in faith is not about planning every step of your relationship with God. It is about saying or trusting God enough to lead you, stepping back and watching him work through you. Because again, when the enemy comes to test you, if you said, God, this is not my life, this is your life, or this is you working through me, and the enemy comes at you, he's not coming at you anymore. He's coming at you and God. And I don't know about you, but the God that I serve is undefeatable. The enemy can't break that faith, okay? So when you give up control, the enemy is not fighting you. And that's how, that's how you get in a deeper and stronger relationship with the Lord. All right, last, last uh way to increase your faith.

Pray Bigger Than Human Limits

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Stop placing limitations on what you believe God can do. Now, I got this from God, and I was asking him, what do you mean? You are all powerful, and I'm a I'm a mortal human. I trip on a flat surface. How am I supposed to limit your power? That doesn't make any sense. And I kept hearing him say, What are you praying for right now? And okay, to cut a long story short, because again, I'm way over time, um, my dad got diagnosed with prostate cancer, and he wanted to treat it in a certain way, and so we go to a doctor to get a consultation, and the doctor is uncomfortable with that way. So he's saying that he wants to basically get a second opinion from a panel of doctors. And so we leave the consultation, and me and my mom were praying, we're fasting, we're doing night vigils, so that the doctor can see my dad's point of view and treat him that way. Now, that is, those are not bad prayers, right? We need to be praying for wisdom, for treatment, for medical or sage medical advice. But one day I was doing my devotion and we were talking, or it was talking about full restoration of your health, of any of basically just restoring your entire body back to what it used to be, removing any illness, removing any cancer completely. And I heard God say that. That is what you also need to be praying for. And it hit me. I've been limiting God's work in my life because I've been thinking about what's humanly realistic. In my mind, fully curing my dad of cancer, that's just not possible. But you have to remember that what we consider to be a miracle, that's just God's normal Tuesday. That's just what he does. We sang it today. That's who he is, that's what he does. Okay? So when you are asking God for things, don't just ask about the process. That's important. Ask about the process, but also ask for full healing. Okay? Don't just pray for your interview. Pray for God to open open doors of impossible jobs. Okay, don't just do your work to set yourself right. Also leave room for God to work through you and in you. Okay? If you want to deepen your faith, you have to stop asking God for what you think he can do and ask him for what you want him to do in your life. Listen, Jeremiah 32, 27 states, Behold, I am the Lord, God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? Luke 1 declares, for with God nothing shall be impossible. And Ephesians 3.20 reminds us that God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Now, take a step back. I'm not, these verses, and what I'm not, what I'm saying is not that God will answer every single prayer, every single way that you want him to answer whenever you want to answer him. He's not just a genie, right? Faith is not about controlling God. Faith is trusting in his power, in his wisdom, and his goodness enough to pray boldly and then surrender the outcome to him. Okay? You surrender completely to him, and God will show up and show out. Because you have to remember what are God's promises in our life? They are and so why aren't we praying for our promises? Why are we praying for his promises in our life? The worst thing God's gonna say when we ask for his promises are and so why don't we pray for it? Why aren't we boldly asking God for what we know that he's already given to us, right? Okay,

Three Questions To Examine Faith

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so in conclusion, I want you to examine the areas of your life and think on these three things. Number one, where has comfort caused your faith to become stagnant? Number two, what are you attempting to control instead of completely surrendering to God? And number three, where have you allowed fear or disappointment to make your prayers smaller? Listen, growing in faith means becoming comfortable in the uncomfortable places, releasing control, and refusing to measure God's ability by human limitations. You do that, and God is going to move mountains in your faith journey and just in your relationship with Him in general. I promise you, you guys, it's going to change your life, okay? So this week, pray and ask God to move you beyond your control or your comfort zone, direct your path, and give you the courage to pray boldly for what only God can do. And then watch how he shows up and shows out. It's gonna be amazing, y'all. Okay, Ethan.

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Come on, come on, come on. Such

Thermometer Or Thermostat Influence

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a good word from Aura and Luke. Come on, I'm so proud of them and the call that God has on their lives. Well, before I preach today and get into this word, I just want to take a moment and just honor PC one last time. Just said thank you so much for everything that you do in this house. That is the vision back in when we started the when you started this 14 years ago, that you had this in mind, that you had the now generation, the next generation in mind. And I just thank you for giving us the opportunity to teach on this stage today. Well, before I get into the message today, I want to start off with a question. Are you willing to be a thermometer or a thermostat? I'm excited to preach God's word. Are you ready to receive it? Come on, I had to start it like that. If you're taking notes today, the title of today's message is Growing in Influence. Here's the truth. Everyone wants influence. We want our lives to matter, but God's definition of influence is very different of the world's. The world says influence comes from the amount of followers you have on Instagram, the title of your job, but in John 17, 16, it says that we are in the world, but not of it. We are set apart. So God's looking for influence that glorifies him and not man. Let's see what God's word says. Let's turn to Psalms 92, 12 through 15, and it'll be on the screen as well. This is one of my favorite verses. The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, and they will stay fresh and green. Proclaiming the Lord is upright, he is my rock, and there is no wickedness in him. So we are going to grow in influence. How are we going to

Stay Planted In God’s House

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do that? With number one. One, we stay planted. The passage doesn't begin with fruit, it begins with being planted in his house. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish. So before God is asking you to produce fruit, he's asking you to remain. He's asking you to stay planted on his foundation that he has set for you, the soil that he has set for you. So, Ethan, you might say, What does planted look like? And here's what I'll say about it. When you attend church weekly, young adults connected to agape weekly, and the youth connected to witness, not being the first, the last one to leave, but the first one in. We were never meant to do life alone. And this is biblical proof that when you are planted in his house, you will flourish. So, what are some other ways of getting planted? Joining a small group. Here's a short little plug. We've got small group Sunday coming up August 30th. And it's gonna be a powerful day where you get to grow in relationship, building a faith-based community so you don't want to miss out on it. Another way is becoming a member of Free Church. How do you become a member? Through the freeway. Once a month, we have the freeway, and it is a place where you learn the vision and the values of the house. In fact, our next one is August 16th. So register today. And as well, one last time is serving on Sundays. After going through the freeway, after going through groups, you get to serve on Sunday. And as Christians who want to stay planted, we are not just called to believe in Christ, but be more like Christ. So if we are called to be more like him, as it says in Matthew 20, 28, that he did not come to be served, but to serve, then we ought to follow after him. There is something special about being a part of the dream team here at Free Church. And it's serving in church. And as we're giving our time and serving others the way Christ intended. Because when we serve, that's how our roots grow. That's how they continue to grow. When we carry the values and the vision of the house of to know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and make a difference, your roots will grow deeper into the foundation that Christ has laid out for you. Which leads to the next point of growing influence. Part

Planted People Produce Fruit

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number two is planted people produce fruit. It says in verse 14, they will still bear fruit in old age. So what are the fruits of the Spirit? What are those fruits? In Galatians, it says love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. So as we continue to stay planted in his house, our lives produce more and more fruits, which helps shape our lives. As you stay planted, your roots get the nutrients that it needs to sustain joy, to show love and kindness, to know when to speak and when to hold your tongue. For it says in Proverbs, death and life are in the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Your words shape your world. So what are you speaking over yourself? What is the first thing that you say when you wake up? The first thing you say when you mess up. Let it be life. So choose joy and chaos, choose love and heartbreak, choose kindness over anger, and choose faith over fear. Because as we stay planted in his house daily and weekly, and his word daily, the fruits of the spirit grow. And as the fruits grow, so does our influence. Which leads to point three.

Honor Sets The Tone

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So we've learned how to stay planted and how planted people produce fruit. Now I want to go back to one of the first questions that I asked. Are you willing to be a thermometer or a thermostat? Are you willing to set the tone of the room or just take the temperature? So, number three, planted people set the tone. When you are planted in his house, you set the tone. We aren't called to just be somebody that reads the temperature of a room, but set it. So be present in the room, be seen, be known. And here are some ways that you can set the tone. And it's very simple, and it's with honor. At free church, we have a saying of we honor up, we honor down, and we honor all the way around. So who are you showing honor to? Is it your boss? Is it your coworkers? Is it those that you're helping lead? We are showing honor in every single step of the way. So here's some ways that you can show honor. Speak with respect. Listen before you speak. Be on time. Keep your word. Celebrate others instead of competing with them. Serve without expecting recognition. Assume the best out of someone instead of the worst. Protect people's reputation and when they're not in the room, and saying thank you often. Because why do we show honor? Because Jesus honored his father, his disciples, the children, and the overlooked, and ultimately gave his life for all of us. So we show honor because he showed honor first. So when your life is planted, producing fruit and walking in honor, people begin to notice something different that you're becoming that thermostat instead of the thermometer. Because in verse 15 tells us this and tells us why. Proclaiming

Influence That Points To Jesus

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the Lord is upright, he is my rock. The goal was never influence for ourselves. The goal is that our lives point people to Jesus. It's about setting the tone that our influence isn't about making our name known. I could do this, I would rather get rid of all the titles just to make his name more. Because in that song of Jesus be the name, it is Jesus be the name that gets all the glory. Not my name, but his name.