Essential People

Speaker 0 00:00:00 All right. Hey everybody. Uh, welcome to Valley Creek online, wherever you are and whatever's going on in your life. I am so glad that you are here with us today. Come on. Let's just go ahead and give a big, welcome to each other. Come on. I know it feels silly. I know it feels goofy, but we are welcoming each other in whether you are by yourself, you're hanging out with your family with a watch party. It reminds us that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves, that we are not on this journey alone. That God has planted you in a Jesus focused spirit, filled life, giving family. And if you'll stay rooted in that he promises you will flourish in life, regardless of what's going on in the world around you. And I'm so glad you're here with us today because we're in this series called the essentials. Speaker 0 00:00:53 What do I really need? And this has been a really good and really interesting series because in this season, we're all kind of asking ourselves this question, like, what do I really need? As so many things have been removed from our lives. Things that were comfortable and convenient, things that we could control have been kind of taken away from us. We've all been left, kind of scrambling, trying to decide what's non-essential and what's essential. And all these self appointed experts have arisen around us declaring what's essential and what's nonessential. What can I just tell you in this season, it's time for you to become an expert in your own life, where you get to define and declare. This is essential for me. Speaker 1 00:01:37 See, you see exactly. Speaker 0 00:01:40 Usually a gift of God. That's so much has changed. That's so much of the non-essentials of your life have been removed to make space for what's really essential. And as we stop complaining about the non-essentials that are gone, it helps us have gratitude for the essentials that have always been there. And what we're doing in this series is we're just taking a look. And we said that from Genesis to revelation from Adam and Eve, all the way to the second coming of Jesus, there are really five essentials that we need in life. And they're really simple. It's just the grace of God, Speaker 1 00:02:15 The spirit of God, Speaker 0 00:02:16 The word of God, the people of God Speaker 1 00:02:19 And the mission of God. These are the facts, Speaker 0 00:02:22 Five essential things you and I need in our lives. And we don't have to go get them. They'd been given to us through the grace of Jesus. And the question is, is, are you building your life around this? And I've told you, this series is a little bit different. It has a different tone. It's a little bit more teaching because honestly, these things just kind of stand for themselves. We just kind of have to put them out there. And then we get the choice of whether or not we're going to choose to build our life around them. And we've been going through one at a time. And this week we're at the people of God, Speaker 1 00:02:54 Okay? The people of God, if we're honest out this list, this Speaker 0 00:03:00 Is the one I think we all would say. We're like, eh, I don't know that we're bought into the belief that the people of God are really essential to our lives. But we think things like, Oh man, my life is busy and, and my life is full and I've already got lots of relationships in my life. So I'm good. I got a couple of hundred Facebook friends. Like I'm good. This isn't really essential in my life. But notice it doesn't say just people. It says the people of God and whether you want to admit it or not, this is essential in your life. Your life may be full of nonessential relationships and maybe it's time to build some essential relationships in Jesus name. The people of God, the citizens of heaven, the children of God, your brothers and sisters saints, the Royal priesthood, a Holy nation, the family of God, the church of Jesus disciples, destiny releasers. Speaker 0 00:04:10 And whether you want to admit it or not, they are essential in your life. In fact, all you have to do is go back to the story of creation. Like when God made Adam and put Adam in the garden, before he sinned, do you know what? Adam had four of the five essentials. He had the grace of God. He had the spirit of God. He had the word of God. He had the mission of God. Hey, you would think that Adam had everything that he needed. He knew who he was. He walked with God. He had a purpose and a mission for his life. And yet there were no people of God for him to walk with. And so in Genesis two 18 while creation is still perfect. Look what God says, the Lord, God said it is not good for the man to be alone. Speaker 0 00:04:53 I will make a helper suitable for him. In other words, God looks at Adam and we would think Adam has everything. And God says, Nope, there's still one essential thing. That's missing the people of God. And if it was not good for Adam to be alone in the perfection of creation, it is not good for you to live your life without the people of God, they are essential to you. You could, you could jump all the way to Jesus. Then if you don't like that, and we could just look at the story of Jesus and how he built his disciples. Like, isn't it interesting that Jesus didn't go and just get like a disciple. He made disciples and kind of brought them together in community, put them in circles. But like, can you just imagine that first day when Jesus came and called Peter to come and follow him, like, Hey Peter, come and follow me. Speaker 0 00:05:46 Peter's there with his fishing boat and he's got his business and he's looking at Jesus and he's making this decision. Like, man, I think Jesus is a better way forward in life than, than the world in my own business. So leaves everything he's got and he starts following Jesus. And for those first few hours, it was awesome. It was just like Peter and Jesus. It's amazing. And then I wonder how shocked Peter was a few hours later when Jesus introduces him to the other disciples. It says, Hey Peter, this is Matthew. And this is Thomas. And this is Bartholomew on John and James. They're on the journey with us. And I got to believe in my mind that Peter kind of said to Jesus, like, Hey Jesus, could I kind of just kind of just talk to you first, just, just come here. I'm like, Hey, I thought this whole thing was going to be you and me like, like, like I, I'm not so interested in them. Speaker 0 00:06:34 Like, look, I left my fishing business to come and be with, I thought was just gonna be me and the J man, just like you and me, Jesus and Jesus. When it looked right back and we said, Hey Peter, if you're going to follow me, you're going to walk with them. Cause this isn't just about you and me. This is about you, me and them. And we're doing this thing together. In fact, this is why in Mark chapter three, I love it. It says Jesus went on a mountain side and called to him. Those he wanted. And they came to him that they might be with him. Isn't this interesting talking about the 12 disciples that it wasn't just one guy following Jesus. It was them in godly relationships. The people of God that they might be with him because no one follows Jesus alone. Speaker 0 00:07:19 Hear me? I know that's a strong statement and I want to say it again. No one follows Jesus alone. And you say, well, how can you say that? Because if you're following Jesus, where is Jesus going to other people? So eventually he is going to lead you into relationships with other people of God. They are essential in our life. In fact, the people of God are one of the primary ways that God forms and shapes you into his image and to his likeness. Like you need it to actually be a disciple, but like check these verses out with me. Look at this. Next one is iron sharpens iron. So one man sharpens another. You might've heard this verse before. Maybe you got it like stitched on a Bible cover or like on a poster somewhere in your house, a knickknack. We liked this verse in theory, like iron sharpens iron. Think about when iron and iron hit each other. It's loud. It's forceful. There's friction. There's key. Things get knocked off, but eventually it becomes sharp. Okay? That is what the people of God are supposed to do to each other. And so the question I want to ask you is who's sharpening you. Speaker 0 00:08:36 Like who's asking you questions about your heart. Who's prophesizing into your life. Who's telling you about what God is saying to them. Who's building you and strengthening you and encouraging you, who is holding your heart in their hands and helping sharpen you to become who you are created to be maybe the reason we're dull and numb is because we don't have people of God in our life. Or how about this next one that says he walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm. In other words, whoever you hang out with, whoever you do live with, you're going to become like them. So if you hang out with the people of God, you're going to grow wise, you hang out with the people of the world, you're going to start to suffer harm. And I think for a lot of us, if we're honest, we spend so much of our life with the people of the world. We're like, I'm good. My life is full of relationships. Right? But that doesn't mean those are good relationships. And then we wonder all of a sudden why we start thinking like talking like acting like living, like and believing like the world. Cause whoever you hang out with, you're going to become like, and so if we actually want to become a person of God, we got to hang out with the people. Speaker 2 00:09:53 Oh God. Speaker 0 00:09:55 So maybe the reason it feels like we never actually change in our lives, change in our journey with Jesus is because we're not walking with the people of God. One more for you check this out. Two are better than one. We need the people of God in our lives because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity, the man who falls and has no one to help him up. In other words, we need the people of God in our lives because when we fall, not, if when we fall, we need someone to pick us up. Speaker 2 00:10:28 I go, so can I Speaker 0 00:10:30 Excuse the question? Who's picking you up in this season because let's be honest. I would bet you fallen down more in these past few months than maybe in the past few years. And maybe the reason we can't get back up is because we don't have any people of God in our lives to pick us back up emotionally and spiritually and help us move forward and live. Come on. Are you with me? The people of God are essential in your life. Speaker 2 00:10:59 Like, like Speaker 0 00:11:00 The primary analogies God uses to talk about his church. He says that the church is a family. The church is a field and the church is a body. Church is a family, a field and a body will in a family. You build longterm relationships. You're together for a lifetime of field. The plants grow their roots down in the roots, wrap around each other and they're anchored into the ground. A body, all the parts need to be together to make it work. Okay. Well, can you imagine for a moment, if every few months you just decided you wanted a new family, can you imagine every few months you just decided like, I want a new marriage. I want new parents. I want new kids. I want to go and live in somebody else's house. Or can you imagine if every few months you are a plant and you uprooted yourself and thought, I wonder if the grass is greener over there and your roots are running over here and you're getting all dry and weary. Speaker 0 00:11:55 Can you imagine if every few months your arm decided it didn't like your body, it wants to go and be a part of somebody else's body. It sounds ridiculous. Doesn't it? And yet, if we're honest, that's how we relationally engage with Jesus's church and each other. We don't see it as a family, a field or a body we separate when things are uncomfortable, when they're inconvenient, when they require something from us. When we get offended, because welcome to life with the people of God, you will get offended, but it's to expose something in you so that you can get healed. And if we do that and jump around all the time, we'd become narcissistic selfish and we never grow. This has been a season, even though we haven't been able to gather at our campuses in rows, that God has been inviting you to say, are you really a part of a family? Are you really planted in one field? Are you really part of my body? And are you willing to stay where I've positioned? You see, can I tell you something? I've been here for 15 years, for 15 years. And I've been walking with the same people for 15 years. For 15 years, we've done life together. 15 years, we've sharpened each other. We've picked each other up. When we fallen down, we'd become like each other. I am who I am today because for the past 15 years I've been walking with the same people of God. Speaker 0 00:13:24 And you can take just about any and everything away from me, but don't take that away from me cause that's life. So the question is, do you have people of God like that in your life? Cause you need them. And I know right now, some of you are sitting there and like, no matter what I say that to try to tell you that you need the people of God for you. I won't be able to convince you like I've, I've done this long enough now and preached enough messages to know that when you start talking about the people of God and our need for each other, a lot of us check out because we're convinced in our own minds, we can do this life by ourselves. Okay? So that's fair. So let me move on from that and move to this. What if the people of God are essential in your life and it's got nothing to do with you. Speaker 0 00:14:16 What if God says, the people of God are essential in your life? Not because of what he wants to do in you, but because of what he wants to do in them, maybe just maybe the people of God are essential in your life because God wants to prophesize through you into their life. Cause God wants you to sharpen them because God wants you to pick them up because God wants you to build or strengthen them. Maybe it's not about what God wants to do. And you maybe it's what he wants to do in them. In fact, look at this verse in Philippians with me about Jesus. Let's look at what this says, do nothing out of selfish, ambition, vain, conceit, but in humility, consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Speaker 0 00:15:03 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ. Jesus. You know what that says? Let's just the people of God are essential in your life for their good, like, think about it. Jesus came and built a relationship with you. Not because he needed it because you needed it. And it says, you know what? You need to have the same attitude as Jesus and consider others better than yourselves and look to their interests. Like, like maybe it's not about you. Maybe it's about them. And in fact, look at this, look at this next thing. Look at the one another's of the Bible, one another all over the, by forgive one, another, love one another serve one another build up on another, strengthen one another, encourage one another, accept one another. Do you know that those verses are all over the Bible and they are not primarily our mission to the world. Speaker 0 00:15:56 They are a primarily how we're supposed to deal with each other as the people of God. And you say, well, where do I get that? Literally the entire new Testament says one another. So maybe it's not about you. Maybe it's about them. In fact, look what Jesus says. If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. We're disciples, right? Like, like if you're here and you're listening and you believe in Jesus, you're a disciple, you're a follower. You're moving forward. You're supposed to be come like him. And so look what he says. He says, if we follow him, we must deny ourselves. So here's my question for you. When was the last time you denied yourself to follow Jesus? Speaker 0 00:16:58 When was the last time you did something that was uncomfortable, inconvenient, costly to you to do what was important to him? It says we need to lose our lives for the sake of the gospel. So maybe just, maybe God's asking us to build our lives around the people of God for their good. And part of that process is us denying ourselves for him and the sake of the gospel. And that's where we actually will find life. Like, let me be real honest with you. Pretty much. Most of what I've heard from people over these past few months, it's all about them. I'm busy, I'm overwhelmed. I'm afraid. I'm stressed out. I'm anxious, I'm worried. And all of those things are real, but at some point it can't be about you anymore. And it has to be, they're stressed out. They're anxious, they're overwhelmed. They're busy. Speaker 0 00:17:59 I need to deny myself to follow Jesus into their life because I want to bring his hope into their world. Not people who are lost, not the world. This is the family, the people of God they're essential in your life because God wants to do something through you and to them. It's essential. I mean, just, just, it's just think of a team with me for a second. Can you imagine a team that never practiced together and then shows up for the game? Be like a disaster, man. They didn't know each other. They didn't have relationship that in practice. They didn't hang out there. I'll show up for the game. They would get beat so bad up and down that field by the other team. Okay. Well, can I tell you that in so many ways is how the people of God live? We think the game is Sunday. Speaker 0 00:18:45 Hear me. The game is not Sunday. The Sunday service is the celebration. The game is Monday through Saturday and we need each other to be together in order to win the game. So many of us, what we think we need right now is to get back to a campus and sit in a row. We think we need to get back in and we need to be there. It needs to be convenient. It needs to be comfortable. It needs to have low cost. It needs to be no strings attached so we can consume some content. Okay. Hear me. What you actually need is to be in a circle that costs you, that's inconvenient. That requires you to sacrifice, serve, and have a conversation with someone else you don't need to just consume content. You need to engage in a conversation that will change you in Jesus name. Speaker 0 00:19:46 The people of God are essential for your life. And I know we start thinking things like, Oh, okay, well they weren't like in quarantine. We were not even having like services, but how do I find people of God? Well, man, let us make it really simple for you. Just getting a circle, just getting us are who look, this is a circle. A circle is an experience where we discuss the weekend message, engage the scripture and pray together. That's simple. A few weeks ago, we started on campus circles and the commerce and the what's happening in them is so incredible. And it's so amazing that we decided to just simplify it for everybody and not have circles and groups. We just were going to have circles. That's that's it. We just have circles. Some circles meet on campus. Some circles meet in the city. Some circles meet online. Speaker 0 00:20:32 It really doesn't matter. They're all doing the same thing, discussing the weekend message, engaging the scriptures and praying together. And this is where life begins to change. And so if you're in a group, it's a circle. You're good. You're on an on campus circle. You're good. You're online. And you live in another state or another part of the world and you want it. Let us get you in and on line circle. All you gotta do is just go on our website register. Let us help you. You want to lead a circle, let us help you start leading a circle. This is just like following Jesus. Like this is what it means and looks like to follow Jesus because nobody follows Jesus alone. And that is what I would say is probably the primary problem for most of us right now. Speaker 0 00:21:27 See this week as I was praying for you, the Lord gave me this really vivid picture and I saw a bunch of individual sheep in different places like backed up, hiding under a Bush individual sheep right here, just like hiding under a Bush, its ears back. And it's eyes wide open kind of back then this space trying to be in the shadow. And it's the sheep. That's just afraid. It's stressed out. It's anxious. It's trying to take coverage, trying to hunker in from the world and all the while the good shepherd is standing right outside that Bush, trying to call your name and call you out. Number. The Bible tells us that we're sheeping and he's our good shepherd. And I would say a lot of us we've backed ourselves into this cover. We're alone. We're isolated. We're hiding right now. And for a variety of reasons might be we're scared. Speaker 0 00:22:20 Might be our anxiety might be an insecurity. It might be apathy that you're just too tired to do anything else. It might be an offense that you got frustrated or offended. It's okay. We're all just kind of in these individual bushes, like spread all out. Well, remember a sheep's only defense mechanism is the shepherd and the flock sheep don't have camouflage, but sheep don't have horns and fangs and venom and teeth, sheep are not fast. Sheep are not smart. My friends, their only defense mechanism is to stay connected to the flock. We to good shepherd leading them. And I think Satan has common. He's tried to scatter the flock and we've all gone and hide in our little bushes. And we're kind of like, ah, ha. And the good shepherd said, Hey, you've been alone too long. You've been isolated too long. You've been by yourself too long. I know those things are stressful. I know you've been afraid. I know the Wolf has come by, but come on, you got to get back in the flock. You got to get, come on. It's time to come out. It's time to get in the fuck. It's time to get in a circle. You say I'm still too afraid of cold, but I can't be around it's time to get in an online circle. It's just time to get out of the Bush and get back with the flock. Speaker 0 00:23:39 In fact, think about it. This is what she's assessed my sheep. Listen to my, I know them and they follow me. He's a good shepherd and where his sheep. And if you're actually following him, you can't stay in the Bush. Cause he's always leading you to other people of God. It doesn't matter if you're on the other side of the world right now, watching online and you think you're alone. You are not alone. If you are following him and listening to his voice, he is leading you to other people of God, because they are essential to your life. Speaker 0 00:24:31 Satan wants to steal, kill, and destroy. He wants to divide and scatter, but the good shepherd wants to unify and draws back to one another. And I get it. Some of you are listening and you're like, bro, I been there done that game. It didn't work out for me. Okay. It's time to let go of the past and try again. Some of you you've never done it before. It's time to go online register and let us help you. Some of you, you have the best godly relationships you've ever had in your life. It's time to thank God for them and double down on them. Speaker 0 00:25:06 You see what you have to remember track with me. What you have to remember is that identity determines behavior, who you are, will always determine what you do. So we spend a lot of time in this church talking about living as beloved sons or daughters. If you really believe you're a beloved son or daughter, that's your identity. Then your behavior will to be, to live in spiritual family. If you believe you are spiritual orphan, you will live your life by yourself. So the question is, what does your behavior tell you about what you actually believe about who you are, is really hard to run around and say, you're a beloved son or daughter. If you never have any relationships with your brothers and sisters, I think so many of us, we like this identity statement, but we still live like a sheep hiding in a Bush, like an orphan fending for themselves. Speaker 0 00:26:19 When the good shepherd is saying, come on, it's time to come back to the family and not just a weekend gathering like a circle with other people who know you, who sharpen you, who pick you up, who you get to encourage and help them. This is how this whole thing works. And I get it. You might be sitting in here. You might be saying, yep, not interested in it for me. I can do my life myself. Not interested in it for others. There are other people that can take care of them. I'm still too busy. So I get it. You don't want to do it for you. You don't want to do it for them. Well, how about one more for you? What have you just did it for the father? Because if you talk to any healthy parent, what they want more than anything else is for their children to be together and what the father wants more than anything else is for his sons and daughters to see each other as essential and be willing to be inconvenienced, to pay some costs, to sacrifice, to serve, to get together with them. Speaker 0 00:27:24 This is why in John 17, Jesus talking to the father says I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. In other words, the father is glorified and honored when we choose to make each other, an essential part of our lives. So if you don't want to do it for you and you don't want to do it for us, do it for him. Because if you want to live a life that glorifies God, you have to treat his people as an essential part of how you build your life. Come on, all these nonessential, all these non-essential relationships that have been removed from your life. Don't go hunt them back down. Don't go chase them down. Don't double down on Facebook. No, no, no. It's like, God has allowed that to be pruned out of your life so that you can start building some essential relationships with the people of God. Speaker 0 00:28:25 At some point in time, you are going to have to activate your faith and take a step in the direction that the good shepherd is leading you and saying, okay, I'm afraid. I don't know how to do this. This is scary. Never been here before, had a bad experience in the past. And the good shepherd says, come on, come on, come on. You're gonna be safe over here. I'm going to protect you over here. And I'm leading you to green pastures over here. Come on, come on. Here's my last thought for the people of God, know the song in your heart and sing it back to you. When you have forgotten it, the people of God know the song in your heart and sing it back to you. When you have forgotten. My guess would be a lot of us have forgotten the song of our heart, the song of life and joy and hope and purpose and peace and redemption and righteousness and freedom and destiny. We forgotten that song. And so it's time to get around some other people of God and let them sing it back to us so that we would arise to the life Speaker 3 00:29:43 That God has for us in Jesus name, no one follows him. We need each other for our good, for their good and for his glory. So close your eyes with me. Let me just ask you today. Come on. What's the Holy spirit saying to you, like right now in this moment, what is the spirit of God saying to you about the people of God? What's he whispering in your heart or in your life? Maybe you've become aware that you've isolated and separated yourself from the flock and he's drawing you back out. Maybe you're realizing right now in this moment, how much more essential the people of God really are then than maybe you've given credit to. That may be for some of us. We're realizing, man, we think we're a beloved son or daughter, but we man, we're living like spiritual orphans. Speaker 3 00:30:57 What's he saying to you? Here's what I know. The five essential things in life have been given to us by God. He is given you people of God in this amazing church to build relationships with, to follow him, to change the world. But at some point in time, here's the line you're going to have to deny yourself and give something up to move forward, to take the ground that God has for you. So good shepherd Lord, Jesus. Would you draw us out of our hiding places? Would you draw us out of the places where we've gone to protect ourselves to isolate, to numb? Would you reignite fires and the apathetic parts of our hearts? Would you, would you remove the barriers and the blinders and the ways we think we have to do this on our own? And may we trust your voice? The good and gentle voice that leads us into green pastures. Speaker 3 00:32:12 And would we follow you out into the flock? I pray right now for the flock of Valley Creek church, that we would unite together and come together and follow you into the future. Protected knowing that it's the individual ones as we pull off, those are the ones vulnerable. So we refuse to be vulnerable. We pull in together and Lord, I pray that our church would be as vibrant and as full of circles. As we used to be on our weekend services, then we would have more passion to get in a circle than we used to have to come before March to, to come into these buildings and worship and hear the word of God, Lord. We love that. And we look forward to that again soon, but give us that kind of passion for sex, because you say that's, what's important in our lives. Spirit of God, draws to the people of God in your name. We pray. Amen.