The New Community

Well, good morning. It's, uh, good to be in the presence of God's people. And, uh, I want to welcome everyone here, and, uh, especially welcome to those of you that this is not where you typically may be, but today you find yourselves with us. We're honored that you're here, and, uh, we pray that your time together with us would be beneficial and would, um, help you in your walk with God.

In December of '24, I preached a sermon called The Case for Character, and at the beginning of that, I asked you three questions and, and reflection on the year of 2024. Those three questions were, one, what did I experience? The second one was, what did I accomplish? And the third was, who did I become?

And I focused predominantly on the third question. This was a this is a question of growth, a question of maturity, but also a question of character. Character is the values and virtues at your very core that govern what you do and why you do it. It's your operating system. It's what the Bible often refers to as our heart.

I also talked about Christlikeness or what it means to be a Christian. And when, uh, when, uh, God's people were first called Christians, it had the idea of little anointed ones. There's a quote by C.S. Lewis that says, "Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else."

A couple months later, I preached a sermon called The Character Connection, and the I attempted to answer the question of how do we get this operating system? How do we get the character of Christ? We looked at the character of God, and we looked at a little bit at Matthew 5 through 7 and Galatians 5, where it talks about the fruit of the Spirit. And we looked at the importance of a personal connection with God and that time equals influence. And the challenge was to analyze what where we spend our time and how much of that is with God. We looked at John 15, where it talks about the vine, that fruit. Took we talked a little bit about fruit this morning.

Fruit requires a connection. It c requires a connection with God. Fruitfulness is Godlikeness. Today, I wanna look at a part that community plays in this development of Christlikeness, in our development of character. And I wanna s especially focus on the community of believers.

The title of my message this morning is The New Community. I wanna define community a little bit and, uh, why I've chosen this word. Um, community the definition of community is community is a social unit, a group of people, organisms, or nations sharing common characteristics, interests, location, or values, often characterized by cohesion and interaction.

And I wanna focus on the word cohesion this morning. Cohesion is the act or the state of sticking together tightly. Related words to cohesion are consistency, continuity, continuity, hardness, integrity, stability, stableness, steadiness, sturdiness, and sureness. I re that really I, I really challenged me after I read over that.

I feel like this, this idea of community accurately more accurately describes what the Bible speaks of as our brother. In the New Testament, where they where the, uh, Jesus uses the word brother and Paul and throughout the New Testament, it comes from the Greek word, and I'm probably gonna butcher this, but this is how I read it, is aldephus.

And dephus, the last part of that word, means the womb, which has a idea of from the same womb, shared DNA. And I think that goes along with what we know of the body of Christ and His community, where it talks about us being a body as one of another.

I'm gonna start in the very beginning in Genesis as and talk about this idea of community. This is this was this idea of community was from the very beginning.

In Genesis 1:26, God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image. In the image of God, created him male and female.

Man's or-original purpose was for relationship, was for was for relationship with God, to be in community with God in the Trinity. We all know what happened. That did not last very long. Man sins. And as a result of that sin, that community, that stick that cohesion with God was lost. Genesis 3:22 says, "Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, man has become like one of us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and also take of the tree of life and eat and live forever, therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to the ground to the f uh, I'm not sure if I have that correct here.

Let me go to my I copied this into my notes. Let me go to, uh, Genesis 3. Make sure that's I'm, uh, reading this correctly. Genesis 3:22.

"Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, man has become like one of us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever, therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.'" In verse 24, "So he drove man he drove out the man, and he placed a cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life." That's one of the saddest verses in the Bible. God drove man out.

And as a result of this, this, this, this fracturing of this community that God created, anarchy reigns, and man becomes predatory. We see in Genesis chapter 4, we have the first murder, where Cain k-kills Abel. And a little, little, uh, a little further along, God said in Genesis 6:6, "The Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord God was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. So the Lord said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.'" Then there was the flood, and there was uh, when God said, "It's enough," and then there was a flood where He destroyed almost all of mankind.

But the flood did not fix this problem. In Genesis 19, we have the account of Sodom and Gomorrah and when the two angels went to Sodom to warn Lot. And we all know this, but I was I was I attended the Historic Faith Encounter, and, um, Jason Willis taught well, talked about atonement, and he, he talked about this situation, and he used it to illustrate how evil man was. And it was sort of shocking, uh, to me. And so I wanna read, uh, Genesis 19:4 and 5. And this was and this was after the angels left, uh, Abraham. They're now in, in Sodom, in Lot's house.

And this is where it says in verse 4, "Now before they lay down the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the men from every quarter surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, 'Where are the men which came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them carnally.'" This is complete depravity.

Two men, your visitors, show up at your house, and it is perfectly normal for the entire every male in the city to show up to violate that. Men and boys, it was expected out in the open. No wonder God rained fire down upon them.

But in the middle of this, God is busy at work. He is attempting He is beginning this process of sh salvaging His people. We have the covenant with Abraham. He sets apart and through Abraham, He sets apart these people, the Israelites. He brings them out of, of, uh brings us out of Egypt and brings them into the wilderness with, but with Moses. And they at out Mount Sinai, Moses goes up into the mountain, and God begive begins He gives them the law with the intent of restoring order.

I wanna look at the I wanna look at these te I wanna I'm just gonna briefly go over the Ten Commandments. I want you to think about them. These are all tied into they are all relational. The first five re are, uh, directly address relationship with God. "No other gods before me. No idol worship. Do not disrespect my name, and you keep the Sabbath day holy." The next six are interpersonal. "Honor your father and your mother. Don't murder. Don't cheat on your spouse. Don't steal. Don't lie about your neighbor, and don't covet what he has."

As you go through, uh, there in Exodus, they, they God follows up with laws about violence. Don't you can't lie and wait. You can't kill without, um, uh, you without proper, uh, guidelines, basically. It's the whole eye for an eye. It's this fairness. You, you poke out your m you someone else's eye, he can poke out your eye. He also has laws about property. You don't take stuff that's not yours. Um, it talks about animal control. If you have an animal that, that gores somebody and it has a history of goring people and you still don't keep it in its right place, you're supposed to die.

Um, this law is like in the in the end, it's like, "Don't be a predator. Don't prey on other people." And a lot of these laws are about restoring fairness. I found it interesting. There's very little said in the Old Testament about loving your brother.

There's one verse in Leviticus 19:18 that says, "You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." I wanna fast forward quickly to the New Testament in Matthew chapter 4. We've, we've been going through Matthew. This is a part we're very, uh, w uh, familiar with. Jesus chooses Jesus is on the earth. God's Son is on the earth, and He is choosing His disciples. He picks these 12 men to teach and disciple them. And He takes them uh, in chapter 5, He takes them up into this mountain, and He sits them down, and He begins to lay the foundation for His new community.

Once again, these what He these things He lays out, these guidelines and these instructions that He's teaching us, they are relational. Relationship where I really d he address our relationship with God and also our relationship with our brother. They're actually very similar to the Ten Commandments. And begins in this sermon in verse in verse in, uh, chapter 5, He begins by sh by talking about these characteristics of these of these people, of this new community, and is like, "This is the gold standard." And He talks like, "These people will be blessed." And, and, and verse 3, He said, "These people will be marked with humility, poor in spirit." In verse in, in verse 4, He said, "They will have a genuine sorrow for sin." 5, He said, "They are meek."

And I meekness is one of those I'm never sure what to what, what exactly does it mean. And I found a definition that added uh, some good clarity for me, and I'm gonna share with you. Meekness conveys a heart attitude of inward gentleness that manifests as humble strength under God's control. It is not weakness or being timid or lack of conviction. Rather, it is the gracious refusal to advance one's own cause by force.

These people will also in this new community will have a passion for righteousness. They will seek after it. They will also be pure in heart. They will they will have their their what they do will come from pure a pure motivation. They will be good from the inside out. They will be peacemakers.

They will be willing to suffer for the right. In verses, uh, th uh, 13 and 16, it talks about the impact or the witness that these people will have to the world as salt and as light. And then in, in, in chapter uh, chapter uh, in chapter 5:17 and 20, Jesus says, "Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say unto say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law to all that's fulfilled." So Jesus is bringing this old this, this law that He put in place back with Moses and the children of Israel.

This they will restoring this fairness and equity among themselves. He said, "It has served its purpose. It is complete." And then He in verse 19, Jesus queues up the new. He said, "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men to do so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever does teach them, he shall be called great." And He's getting ready to elaborate on this new community and the characteristics of its people.

But before Jesus does that, He issues a warning. In verse 20, He says, "For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisee, you will by no means enter heaven."

And I wanna talk a little bit about this about th about this warning. He's addressing these Pharisees. These the Pharisees were legalists. They believed that holiness was primarily focused on a list of dos and don'ts. And they really zeroed in on those dos and don'ts, and they got really caught up in the mi-minutia. But I'm not gonna this I'm not gonna s I'm not here to speak about legalism this morning, but I wanna I want you to look at a little bit of the, the way they approached the law and what they did with it, the impact that it had on the community or their community or, or the of, of cohesion or the lack thereof.

Jesus did not condemn them for their carefulness and say, "Well, you guys don't need to do these things." He but He said He did c He did condemn them for the mo their motivation and their attitude in their in their following, uh, the law to such i-in the in the minutia.

The thing I wanna think about this morning is that their carefulness became competitive. In Matthew 23:5 and 7 this is the chapter we're gonna we're gonna be in that sq soon in, in Sunday school. These are the woes that Jesus pronounced on the Pharisees. And in verse f uh, verse 5, He says, "But all their works they do to be seen of men. For it may them for they may broad their philanthropies and enlarge the border of their garments and love the chief place at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues and the salutations in the marketplace and be called of, of men Rabbi."

They had their performance with the law became I should say their, their, their in following the law, it became performative. It o-o-o-uh became this way of they kept the way they kept score of how they uh, and then they judged each other on their on their on their performance or on their score.

And this performance led to competitiveness. And they uh, when Jesus taught when Jesus, uh, uh, condemned them for some of their attitudes and w-what they did, the way they tied, the way they fasted, and it was all a show. It was all a method of keeping score.

Competitiveness is dangerous.

Competitiveness is a cancer that destroys community from the inside out. Why it why and why is it so dangerous? When we begin to compete and our what for what w the th when we're when our following of, of, uh, of, of doing right becomes competitive, it leads t it leads to competition or it, it is competition. And competition leads to arrogance, which leads to criticalness, which leads to disdain.

And, and in Luke and in Luke 19, Jesus exemplifies this the uh, exemplifies this in a parable. And He said, "Also, He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others." And this was the story He told. "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, or adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess.' And the tax collector standing there far off wouldn't m would not as much raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breasts, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.'" The other effe-effect of competition is exhaustion, which leads to discouragement and hopelessness and many times a giving up. And I think this is probably what Jesus something that Jesus was referring to for when He said, "For they bind heavy burdens upon they for they bind heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders."

I wanna go back to Matthew chapter chap-chapter 5, and I wanna talk more on this new community and look at this blueprint, Jesus's blueprint for the new community. And He's raising the bar. In verse 26 21 through 26, the old covenants the old law said, "Don't murder." But Jesus said, "I don't want you not only to not kill your brother, I don't want you to be angry with him." The old said, "Don't commit adultery." Jesus said, "I don't don't want you just don't do I don't want you just to avoid the act of committing adultery. I don't want you to even lust."

In 33 and 37, He says, "I want you to be honest." That's all just straightforward honest. And then He takes it up a notch. In 30 f in 38 and 42, He says, "You go the second mile." 43 to 48, He talks about loving your enemies.

In chapter 6, Jesus confronts the rivalry and the arrogance. He says, "You give in secret. You fast incognito that no one knows that you're doing it. And you build wealth in heaven."

This is not about fairness, but rather this is about sacrifice. In John 3:34, Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. As I have loved you, that you also love one another." This is a very high standard. We are called uh, we are not just we are commanded to extend the same love that Jesus did to us, to our brother.

Paul builds on this foundation. In Romans chapter 12, he says, "Don't think too high of yourself. Love genuinely. Be devoted to one another in honor preferring one another," which means to regard each other with great respect. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, he talks about the church being the body this uh, being a body. This uh, that and, and, and the body exemplifies this cohesion, this sticking together. In Ephesians chapter 4, he talks about being fitly joined together.

In Romans chapter 13, he follows this up this, this, this, this example of the church being a body. He follows it up by when he talks about love and the importance of it. He says, "Basically, if you do not have love, nothing that you all these things that you are doing, there is no profit in them."

And then he describes how love behaves, what love is and what it does, how it acts. And these are these are many these are two examples, two parts p-parts in the uh, scriptures in the New Testament that talk about these things. And these are there are many, many examples in the New Testament or instruction on how we're supposed to relate to our brother in this new community.

This is a direct contrast to what the Pharisees were engaged in. This is not normal. This is like Christ. In fact, Jesus said it is so abnormal to behave in this way, to love your brother in such a sacrificial way, that He says that and there where it says, "A new commandment that I give you give you," He says, "By this will all men know that you are my disciples.

By this way we treat each other." Christ's new community is where His children don't compete with each other but ratherly give sacrificially of themselves to help their brother succeed. And what is the purpose of this new community, of these people that, that relate to each other in this way?

The new com this, this new community provides the fertile soil in which the character of Christ or Christlikeness is grown and matured. It is the greenhouse. This community is the greenhouse of Christlikeness. We all know what a greenhouse is. You it's this structure that shields a pr it's basically a place where you can control the environment. It's then the benefits are contri uh, are the benefits of a greenhouse is that, that you can control the water. You can c control temperature. It's also where you can extend the growing season, especially in our day and age with grow lights and stuff like that. You can when the sun is down, you can still be growing plants.

It's also gives you the opportunity to provide optimal nutrients that it b that prov uh, that for, for whatever you're growing. This new community is not only the medium in which growth occurs, but it also i uh, but also by which it is accelerated.

I wanna look at f uh, Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4:1, Paul says, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling which which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is overall and through all and in you all." And I'm gonna jump down to, uh, uh, verse 11. This is when he's talking about the giftings. He says, "And he gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.

The reason? For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." And here's the result, "To we all come in the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotties, but speaking the truth and love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head Christ, from the from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part doth this d-does it share, causes growth with growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."

Why is this community so important for growth? What is w uh, and I d I this is this is a, a broad subject, but I'm just gonna share a couple things that, uh, I've been thinking about. One of the most important parts that community plays when we function and i-in this i-i-in this way is that it helps us to see reality.

We are all deceived. Every one of you is deceived.

And what I mean by that, our perception, how we view ourselves is never accurate, never. And, uh, if you wanna argue with me on that, I'll I-I-I'd be I'd be glad to, but that's, that's my opinion. I'm gonna I'm gonna share I'm gonna share a little bit of a story of you just sort of uh, a story to, to illustrate this. And I-I've told this here before, so bear with me a little bit. Um, but I was, uh I was having a conversation with someone that, um, knows me pretty well and someone I've, I've talked to a lot over the past three years. Um, and I we were I forget what we were talking about, but I w somehow we were talking about in-intuition.

And I-I made the comment that I've I have g I have good intuition. And he, he sort of smiled a little bit, and he's like he said, "You say that a lot." And so I was I felt a little bit called out. I'm like, "Okay." You're like and so and, and, and then and he started to explain he started talking to me. He said, "Actually," he said, "you're not very intuitive.

You're actually really bad." And this man has been right a lot, so I didn't push him too hard on it. And, uh, so I went home, and I, I taught was talking to my wife, and I, um, I said I t I told her, I asked her, I said, "A-Am I intuitive?" And I didn't she didn't even have to answer. This look crossed her face, and I knew, "No, I am not intuitive." And so we started talking about that, and she's like, "No, it-it's frustrating where what you, you, you do think you are, but you're really, really not."

Um, so I had to I had to eat some humble pie for sure and had to readjust my perception of myself. And that that was a little this was a little bit challenging, you know? Like, it was it was hard on me a little bit. But there was a certain amount of relief that came from facing that reality of myself because after I accepted that, it suddenly explained some people how some people ha reacted to, to me and in, in situations. And I blamed their reaction on all it was awful. I'm not even gonna I'm not gonna share those, but I blamed it on them. Like, "Well, they're this, and they're that. That's why they react this way."

And then when it went when it when it when I when I realized that, "No, I'm not intuitive," it suddenly explained people why people were reacting they were they were the way they were to me. And, uh, there was there was a there was a there was a, a relief that came with that, and there was something inside me said, "Yes, that's true." Outside of someone telling me that, I don't know if I ever would have come to that realization that I am not very a very intuitive person when it comes to other people. I'm just not. Now I know what to work with. Now I know I like, this is something where I can I can this is something I can work on and grow.

The most valuable relationship is someone that loves you enough to tell you the truth.

And this and in this community of people where we in honor prefer each other, we a treat each other with love, it creates the environment where we can speak truth to each other and help each other find the reality of who we actually are.

It also this new community is where w i-is where we find uh, is where we practice honesty, practice honesty with ourselves and also practice that being honest with other people. I believe that community and then working together with God's people, it is the primary avenue that the Holy Spirit speaks to us.

And this is from my personal experience. I have learned the God has spoken and shown me things. There have been sometimes where it's like something that you've got if I feel like I've sort of come to on my own. But it most of the things that God has shown me that have resonated within me, and I know that is true, it has been through someone else sharing it with me.

The community of believers is the place where we where we develop and practice Christlike character.

Loving people is hard.

And that is because people are messy. It's actually to actually truly love someone is pretty dangerous. It's, it's costly. And that is why I believe that it's that with, within the community of believers, it is where by practicing this command to love, to honor, and prefer our brother is where we have to exercise these character qualities of Christ.

If you wanna be fruitful, if you wanna grow, grow, go, love your brother. In Galatians 5, when it talks about the fruit of the Spirit, it's talking about love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, genu goodness, faithfulness, self-control. These are things that are fruit of s of the Spirit.

And these are all things that we exercise in, in our cohesion with each other.

Sometimes I think we get a little bit disillusioned with community because of sometimes a misunderstanding of what community actually is. Sometimes as we think I th-this, this is my words. Sometimes we think of community as more of like we all sit around, uh, uh, together and sing Kumbaya, and everything is ha everything is e we're all at peace. Everything is easy. It's just harmony, peace, and harmony.

And sometimes w because of the lack of that, we walk away from the very thing that creates true community and character. It's that tension at times. It's that working together, exercising these qualities of Christ t with each other. That is where it is created.

It is impossible to love the kingdom without loving the people.

And that can be very uncomfortable at times. It can be very awkward at times because when you go love somebody, you give them the opportunity to it's a little bit v i there's a certain vulnerability you create by loving someone. And, and, um, you give that person the opportunity to hurt you or to reject you.

But I wanna I want us to think about that. When we face that uncomfortabil uh, uncomfortability of loving our brother, to head straight into it because that is where growth begins. That is w s that is where it occurs is when we head into that com uh, uncomfortability and we give ourselves the opportunity to practice what God has commanded us to do into w with in, in relationship with each other.

People bond by doing hard things. If you have done anything hard with somebody, whether it's run a race or a project or anything like that, there is someth there's a camaraderie and a closeness that you feel by that.

I'm going to end with a couple of questions.

I want you to think about your motives in, in this community of believers. I want you to analyze yourself. Is the is there an if, if the is there any competition? Is there any competitiveness that motivates what I do?

It's really easy to look at the Pharisees and say, "Yeah, that's, that was them." But they the Pharisees weren't this special kind of awful or anything like that. They were human beings just like us. And they and w-when the things they struggle with are the very things that we struggle with and that are that we need to be careful with as well.

One thing I want you to think about is when you think about this idea of competition, it's one i-it's a it's ea it's, it's easy to look at our actions, what we do, and say, "No, I'm not. I'm not doing that." But I wanna take it a step back far uh, a step f-further back and say and f and ask myself and you go and you all to think about how do I speak about my brother when they're not around?

And then I wanna take it back a step one step further, and I want you to analyze how do you think about you and your brother? In Proverbs 23:7, he says, "As a man thinks, so he is."

Is there any com is there any level of competition even in your thoughts? And if you do feel that and you f you feel that, that, "Yes, I might be competing in some of the things I do," I want you to al I want you to also then go search for some of the some of the fruit of that competition. Is there any arrogance in your life? Is there any way the way what I do, is it anything out of out of i-it motivated by arrogance? Is there any is there is there criticalness as a result of that? And do I disdain anybody?

The second thing I want you to think about, would the way that you love if you take away everything out of your outta if, if think of think of think of your actions and your life as data. And if you take everything away except the way you love your brother, would it be would it be unmistakable proof that you are his?

I want you to ask yourself, "How do I prefer my brother? What does it mean to hold someone in high regard or, or unrespect somebody?" A lot of times, sometimes we th that we think this is somewhat optional.

And basically, it's like if the if sometimes we don't if the person is acting in such a way, I no longer have to follow. Like, we sort of give ourselves a, an out on this act of, of, uh, preferring and loving our brother. But I don't believe it is. I don't believe it is optional in any situation because it is possible to even if someone is acting in an interp i-acting there's something that needs fixed there. There's bad behavior. There is still a way to treat that person with, with honor and respect. And I want you to think about it this way. You can share truth with someone no matter what that truth is and still treat them with dignity and respect and with honor.

It is also possible to share truth and completely violate this commandment. I want you to think about your life as far as in your interaction with your community. If you are if, if this I if, if you are interested in growing and to becoming like Christ, do you have people in your life that tell you the truth?

And in and along with that, to look in, in areas of life of where do I need to get uncomfortable in order to stimulate into in order to encourage growth?

This process of getting close to s of getting this l-it sounds awful, but getting sticky with somebody, like get this c being cohesive, is not something that is just done on a Sunday morning like here this morning. It's not s but I i-it this is part of it. But it is much more than that. It is I would say that this cohesion often happens in, in, in more informal times together where we practice this is something that is done. I would I would say often in smaller groups.

This is something I am I am sold on. And it is it is purely because of a of personal experience, this idea of having someone that speaks honest honestly with you and to and, and to interact with someone on this level. Several years ago, I was highly frustrated. I was frustrated with other people. But ultimately, it was because I was frustrated with myself. And I finally got to the place where I said, "I need someone to help me because I am not I'm not getting anywhere. I'm dealing with the same problems. I need something more." And I was able well, actually, God is something me and Amy were praying about, and God led me to somebody that never saw coming that I f I finally sent a message to, and I said, "I, I, I am frustrated with my inability to grow and with some of the way I've r I've relate to life, and I s I really wanna change."

And I said, "Can you help me?" And he said yes. And he started, uh, on a process. He met with me three days I mean, three ever three out of four weeks. Every, every week, he met with me, and he sat down with me. And I did that for about two years. And I cannot tell you how much that changed the trajectory of my life.

It didn't happen quickly, but that, that constant interaction with the idea of becoming the man I'm supposed to be and to ve developing character, not looking at everyone else and blaming them for my problems, but taking ownership of where I'm at and saying, "It's on me to become the man that I need to be," has been revolutionary in my life.

And I'm passionate about that. I want every single person to be able to experience that.

It is very, very uncomfortable, but I encourage you to not shy away from that uncomfortability and to go first. Change and growth happens when somebody steps forward and says, "I need help. Can you help me?"

I wanna commend the sisters for some of the interaction you guys have had over the past couple of weeks. You've been interacting with each other around this subject of modesty and things like that. And I think if I would ask for raises of hand, there's been some level of awkwardness and uncomfortability in that interaction. But this is really, really, really important to do. And it's a real it gives you opportunity to exercise character and to grow in it. And I'm gonna put in just one more plug on the whole thing. You guys are doing it over text message, which is great. I want you to do it in person. And I want all of us to do it in person where we are able to sit down and d and, and, and walk into these things that are make us uncomfortable and create this little bit of tension because it is where we will grow.

A new command I give you, "Love one another as I have l-loved you. You must love one another. By this, will everyone know that you are not my disciples." And this then there's the new community. "Till we all come in the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.