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Thank you for joining us here at Deeper Fellowship Church for this week's message. Our desire is to cultivate a deeper fellowship with God and one another, and we would love to hear how God is using this ministry in your life. So take a moment and visit us online at deeperfellowshipchurch.org find the share your story button and tell us what God is doing in your life While you're there. You will also find useful information about our church and other resources that will bring you closer to Christ. Thanks again for joining us and we hope you enjoy today's message.
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Let's stand on our feet together. I'm aware that because of the first service, I will not finish what I start today. And that's okay. We're going to have a spiritual conversation. How about that? And we'll we'll do that around the Word of the Lord. I want to read Philippians Chapter two. Starting with verse one, I'll read the first four verses of Philippians Chapter two and we'll trust the Holy Spirit to lead us through our time together. Scripture reads this way. Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy. Of course, the Apostle Paul talking by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another and working together with one mind and purpose. Don't be selfish. Don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interest, but take interest in others too. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for the power of your Word. I thank you for what you are inviting us into as a result of pursuing you who has pursued us first. Now Father, I pray that you make this ground fertile, make the soil of our hearts fertile so that the seed of your Word would not meet resistance but instead would be received. Father, that it would literally go deep into our hearts and produce a harvest of change Living Father, I pray that by your spirit you would move. You would anoint me to communicate your heart and your Word. I pray as always that the words of my mouth and the meditates to my heart be acceptable in thy sight. Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. And because of your goodness and grace as we've seen time and time again, would you do it again in this moment, both in the room and around the world? For those who are watching, would you reveal Jesus, especially to those who are coming to saving faith? Would you awaken them to their need for you and Father, give them the courage to respond to your invitation and save them. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. You can be seated. I can tell you right up front that I don't have today. Well, it depends on how you respond. But I don't have a shouting word more than I have a thinking word, one that will cause us to think quite a bit, maybe take some notes and really have a conversation. So I'm not going to preach you today, I don't think, unless the Holy Spirit takes me in a direction that I wasn't anticipating. Amen. I will also start out transparently. I shared this with the first service, and I'll share it with you here as well. I have been approaching this time with a little bit of, I would say, trepidation from the standpoint that the Holy Spirit does something every once in a while in the life of a believer where he will just bother you about something. And I know that in the early 90s or early to mid-90s, particularly in the charismatic movement, there was phraseology that would say the Holy Spirit is a gentleman, as if he would not actually lead you into anything that was uncomfortable. The problem with that is the scripture. The scripture will show you time and time again that he absolutely will do that. And. And so when I use the word bother, I'm actually. I'm using it as another word for invitation. However, invitation sounds too nice, because he will bother you with your thoughts until something begins to change in you, you begin to pursue something. And so he does that from time to time, where theologically, he'll just begin to bother me about some things that may be comfortable or even practice widespread, that you just kind of accept it without thinking. And what he will do is he'll begin to say, hey, I know that you accepted this because this is what you are used to and what you grew up with, but have you actually sought me about how to do this? And one of the things that he began to bother me about years ago was how we take communion in the American church, in the Western church. He began to bother me about it, and I didn't fully know what that was going to look like. I didn't fully, fully know what that meant. That is the genesis of what became heaven on earth here at the church. But that's not the totality of it, because as I began to give myself over to study in this particular way, what I discovered was that it wasn't just about how we take communion. It's actually about how the Western church lives. The Western church takes communion as it lives individually. And so as a result, the Lord began to bother me about it. So I went for years, began to study this particular thing and became. Developed a deep theological conviction not only about how we take communion, but communion actually is the word koinonia, which most of us know is the word for fellowship. They are the same word. And so that the Lord began to really challenge me and open my heart and open my eyes to what that looks like specifically. And so I began to dig into that and then begin to try to teach us as a church in the best way that I could. Not that I'm an expert or anything like that, but just in the best way that I could. How the Lord was teaching me and how he was bothering me and changing me to begin to provoke us to actually live a certain kind of way. And I would just you that the way he was inviting us to live was uncomfortable for me. Can I just be honest? I said, we're gonna have a conversation, all right. So it was uncomfortable for me, but I knew that it was scriptural. And so for that reason it's like, okay, let's begin to go down this path. However, I will tell you that as we begin to go down the path, because I was actually looking back even at some of my notes and things from that time period, just kind of refreshing my mind on some study. And I realized that the time when we were talking about it the most also coincides with one of the seasons. Now, when I say season, I know some of us think a season is a few months. I personally went through a five year season of spiritual warfare. I'm saying season because I'm hoping. I'm like, at some point you're going to turn this around, God. So I went through a five year season of this. And now the interesting thing about it, and the reason why I'm saying this to you up front is because as the Lord began to talk to me and have us begin to implement and talk about what it means to live Christlike in community with each other, it came with a high personal cost. With a personal cost for me. I'm just being honest with you, with some of my closest relationships dissolved. That was the cost. Because the devil was like, I am okay with them thinking that they have a deeper fellowship with God. Just don't let them get a deeper fellowship with one another. Because if they get a deeper fellowship with God and a deeper fellowship with one another, they'll begin to model something in the earth that other people will want. And I can't let the Body of Christ start to see that you can be deep with God and each other. So what I gotta do is I gotta launch an attack against them. So I don't mind if they worship. I just don't want them to love each other. So I'm telling you this ahead of time. To tell you this, I entered in with some trepidation. But I also am saying it so that we can just uncover and expose the devil and say we are not gonna be afraid to love one another. Amen. And we're gonna pray for one another. So as we begin to talk about this over the course of time, I want you to pray for one another. And the reason why I want you to pray for one another is because I am utterly convinced that this scares the devil. Amen. If you were to ask, or if someone were to ask you the question, what is God doing in your life? There is an answer. There is an answer that everyone can give. You don't have to wonder what that answer is at all times. God is like Christ. That is the answer. If someone asks you, what's God doing in your life right now? What's God doing in your life in this season right now? The answer is, he's making me more like Christ at times. Not only will so he's doing that, but he will also make you aware that he is doing that. And the reason why he will make you aware that he's doing that is so that you will cooperate with him. And then once you begin to cooperate with him, what will begin to happen at that point is you. You'll begin to intentionally pursue being like Christ. The reason why it's important that you intentionally pursue being like Christ is because we've made a statement as we've been talking about spiritual formation. For those of you who have not been here, we've been talking about spiritual formation for a while now. And the reason why we've been talking about spiritual formation for a while, so that we can understand what God is doing in our life, how he is doing it in our life, and how it ultimately plays out in our life. And as we've been talking about that, we've also been talking about the fact that it is not just an internal work, but it has external expressions. And so for those of you who are coming into the conversation, I'm gonna catch you up, but it's gonna sound kind of heady and academic for a little bit. But just stay with us. Amen. You can take some notes if it interests you. If you go back and look at our YouTube page. You'll see all the messages on it and you can catch up. Amen. One of the other things that we did, and I'm gonna do some review here. One of the other things that we did begin to, through the Holy Spirit, to invite ourselves to recognize the context in which we are situated and then by default, see how the context that we are situated, which is the global west, shapes our worldview and specifically how we see Scripture, how we see God, and how we see each other. And one of the things that we've been doing is we've been challenging the Western mindset, influenced by the age of enlightenment that can easily be adopted, that if not intentional, the only manifestation of spiritual formation is internal. We've been challenging that, and we've been challenging that with this thought. That hidden communion with God is not meant to remain internal in Scripture. What is cultivated in secret eventually becomes visible in character and authority and in community. We've been saying this over and over. And one of the reasons why. Why we've been saying this is because one of the reasons why the Holy Spirit also began to bother me was the fact that there are believers in other parts of the world who are reading the same Bible but having different experiences. Believers in other parts of the world who are reading the same Bible and having different encounters. And I know that at some point that must start to bother you. At some point, and also to cause us to recognize that no matter what we've experienced, there's always more. We should never grow stagnant in our relationship with God, because God, in God, there's always more. If you've been walking in authority, there's more authority. If you've been walking in a miraculous, there's more miraculous. If you've been seeing that, there's always more of God. There's no end to God. You can't exhaust the end of God. And it's like, okay, you've just come to the end. There's nothing else to know. And so now you just gotta let everybody else catch up. There's no end to God. There's always more. Somebody say there's more. I won't make you talk to your neighbor. I don't think so. What we've also been saying then, is that formation produces fruit and fruit is meant to be expressed. Formation produces fruit and fruit is meant to be expressed. Fruit is what comes from the tree, not a decoration that's placed on the tree. This is very, very important. Because if you are in God, if you are rooted in Christ, there will be Things that will come out of you. We got too many people who are trying to put things on you instead of things coming out of you. And so it's very, very important that we understand. Fruit comes from the tree. So in the biblical context, fruit is always meant to be expressed or observed by others. And so it has different applications in the world. Fruit to the world, fruit is evidence of Christ. The fruit that you bear is the evidence of the existence of Christ. To the believer who fruit is your assurance of salvation, and to God, fruit is connected to the purpose of him being glorified. So we've also said that in the context of spiritual formation, that fruit is expressed in at least three dimensions. I mentioned them earlier. I'll mention them again. And for those of you who think I'm going really fast, I am, and I'm reviewing. Fruit is expressed in character, in authority, and in community. And we've spoken, spent some time on these. We spent time talking about godly character. We've spent time talking about the theology of authority and its expressions and the environment in which authority is produced. And then we begin talking about community. And one of the things that we recognize is that there is a correlation. There is a correlation. When people are truly formed by Christ, they begin to look like him, which is expressed in character. They begin to minister like him, which is which is expressed in authority. And they begin to love like him, which is expressed in community. I'm going to say it again. I know I'm going fast. I'm going to say it again. When people are truly formed by Christ, they begin to look like him, which is expressed in character. They begin to minister like him, which is expressed in authority. And they begin to love like him, which is expressed in community. This is why it is important that. That we resist the idea that spiritual formation is solely for the benefit of the individual being formed. Your formation is not just about you. What takes place inside is ultimately supposed to be expressed externally as well also. Now, if you remember, what we've been doing is we've been progressively expanding our definition of spiritual formation, also known as Christian formation. I know I'm giving you a lot, but stay with me, y'. All good. All right. We said initially we started simple because we wanted to understand this in a simple way. This is how we started. We said spiritual formation is the Spirit's work of conforming us to Christ. Then we also added to that that while deformation is the world's quiet work of conforming us to its. Now the thing that has been clear throughout all of this is if we are not intentional about being formed in the image of Christ. The world is very intentional about its plans for you. In the Kingdom, there is no such thing as neutral. Can I say it again? In the kingdom, there is no such thing as neutral. Which is why we must be intentionally going towards God. Because if we're not intentionally, intentionally going towards God, like a rip current, we are being pulled towards the world. So anyone who is coasting, I just need you to know you don't coast to God, you don't drift into God, you drift away, you coast away. But if you're going to go towards God, you must be intentional. So spiritual formation is the Spirit's work of conforming us to Christ, while deformation is the world's quiet work of conforming us to, to itself. Now what we also did is we began to broaden the definition. I'm going progressively by layer so that we can understand this. As we begin to broaden the definition. We gave a little bit more academic or scholarly definition when we said spiritual formation is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit received through obedient participation that reshapes desire, character and allegiance towards creation, Christlikeness within the people of God. They're on the screen so that you can take a picture if you need to. All right. Spiritual formation is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit received through obedient participation that reshapes desire, character and allegiance towards Christ likeness within the people of God. Then subsequently, as we continue to layer it even more, I see some of the phones up taking a picture. You're good. I know you're taking a picture of the screen and not me. Amen. Subsequently, what we did was we framed formation as a practice or a way of life by defining it this way. We called it the journey of orienting life around the presence and way of Jesus in a spirit dependent community that joins God in mission. I'm gonna say that one one more time. The journey of orienting life around the presence and the way of Jesus. In a sense, spirit dependent community that joins God in mission. Now this brings out something beautiful and important. Remember I told you this is the conversation. I'm not preaching at you today. All right. This brings out something really beautiful and important and that is this formation cannot be completed alone. Spiritual formation cannot be completed alone. This is critical for us to understand and embrace. Because if we think that formation can be completed alone, we, we don't recognize that we've been indoctrinated into a thought that is anti God. I'm going to go there Deeper in just a moment. Formation cannot be completed alone. In his book and what I've been doing, I'm reading three books at once right now and literally immersing myself in a thought process that is necessary because I've been immersed too long in a different thought process. Now, when I say a different thought process, I'm not talking about something I learned. I'm talking about something that's been taught to us just by living in America. In his book Invitation to a Journey, Robert Mulholland defines spiritual formation not as a list of activities, but as a single holistic movement. He defines it, I gave you this two weeks ago. As well as a voluntary process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the of sake. Sake of others. A voluntary process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others. Spiritual formation, a voluntary process of being conformed to the image of Christ. For who? For the sake of others. Now, for those of you who are like, okay, I thought I came to church and not school. It's both. It is called deeper fellowship, not shallow fellowship. I want to lean in again. I started this a couple of weeks ago. I want to lean in again on this last part of the definition for a moment for the sake of others. Formation cannot be completed alone and was never intended to be pursued apart from community. I'm going to say. Say that again. Formation cannot be completed alone and was never intended to be pursued apart from community. This is one of the primary reasons why God places you into local assembly God places you into a local assembly for the sake of our maturity. Now, now, now, I. I'm. I'mma stop here for just a second because you didn't know that the reason why God put you at Deeper was not because of the worship, it wasn't because of the preacher, and it wasn't because of the programs. Most people in America, we choose our church based on the preacher, the program, or the music. Okay? Y' all ain't gotta say nothing. Y' all like, well, I mean, I'm kind of here because I do. I know some of y' all like that because that's why you complain when we take the worship down. I just had to mess with y' all for a second. Y' all got so tight, y' all was like, uh, I want to see Pastor Chris and Tamla and Matt. God put you here because of the person sitting next to you. You ain't gonna have too many clapping points, so you might wanna clap right there. God put you in the church that he put you into for the sake of your maturity. He put you here not for the preacher, not for the programs, and not for the music or worship. He put you here for the people. Churches that survive understand that. I'm gonna say it again. Churches that survive understand that we just, for example, we just passed our 12 year anniversary this week. Amen. That's a good place to give God praise. God has been very good to us in 12 years. God has been very good to us in 12 years. We've seen things in 12 years that some people never see. So we're very, very grateful for the things that the Lord has allowed us to see. However, I'm after 112 years and beyond, or I should add that the phrase that the generations before us would say should. Jesus, Terry. And I'm like, lord, anytime now, you. Yeah. In order for a church to get to 112 years it has endured or experienced. I won't say endured. It has experienced. Multiple pastors, Like, I have zero plans of being alive a hundred years from now, in eternity, yes, but not here. Multiple pastors, multiple attacks of the devil, they've endured. And what happens is that community now maybe carrying along the same vision with some different iterations, different leadership, different things of that nature. But one of the things that they do is they now recognize the only way that you, you can endure for 100 years or more is that you are committed to the community that God has put you in. You're not committed to the personality, you're committed to the community. You're not committed to the personality, you are committed to the community. I'm going to say it again because listen, we got a sacred cow in America. God puts you where he puts you. Not because you like the preacher, not because you like the program, not because you like the music, but because he intended on you growing in that community. He does that for the sake of our maturity. He does not intend for you to pursue formation apart from community. Robert Mulholland later expands the definition to understand spiritual formation for the sake of others. This way. Here's another, another way that he says it. He says spiritual formation is a process of being conformed to the image of Christ. A journey into becoming persons of compassion, persons who forgive, persons who care deeply for others and the world. Persons who offer themselves to God to become agents of divine grace in the lives of others and their world. In brief, persons who love and serve as Jesus did. Now, do I expect you to remember all that? No. That's why you can take a picture. That's why it's on the screen. Spiritual formation is the process of being conformed to the image of Christ. A journey into becoming persons of compassion, persons who forgive, persons who care deeply for others and the world. Persons who offer themselves to God to become agents of divine grace in the lives of others and their world and breathe. Persons who love and serve as Jesus did. Now, I told you, I was reading three books at one time. In his book when the Church was a family, Dr. Joseph Hellerman writes that this spiritual formation occurs primarily in the context of community. Now, I read this particular thing and I was excited because it let me know I was on the right path because I preached this thing two weeks ago before I read this part. So I was like, okay, good. I'm not the only one thinking this. Amen. Spiritual formation occurs primarily in the context of community people. I'm quoting now Dr. Joseph Hellerman. People who remain connected with their brothers and sisters in the local church almost invariably grow in self understanding, and they mature in their ability to relate in healthy ways to God and to their fellow human beings. This is especially the case for those courageous Christians who stick it out through the often messy process of interpersonal discord and conflict resolution. Long term interpersonal relationships are the crucible of genuine progress in the Christian life. People who stay also grow. People who leave do not grow. Now, I'm gonna. I'm gonna put a pause right here for a second because I want to speak to something. There are actual genuine, biblical and natural reasons to transition from certain communities, but they're not at your whims. Listen, if you are being pastored by a wolf, you should probably leave. If you are being pastored by someone who is after your money, you should probably leave. If you're being pastored by someone who is after the women in the church or the men, you should probably. I'm just saying, if you are pastored by someone who gives self help more than the Bible. All right, so there are legitimate reasons to leave. But because Sister such and such didn't talk to you. Okay, let me get back to Joseph Hellerman because y' all don't like me. Y' all, like quote him. People who stay also grow. People who leave do not grow. We all know people who are consumed with spiritual wanderlust, but we never get to know them very well because they cannot seem to stay put. They move along from church to church, ever searching for a congregation that will better satisfy their felt needs. Like trees repeatedly transplanted from soil to soil, these spiritual nomads fail to put down put down roots and seldom experience lasting and fruitful growth in their Christian lives. End quote. Now, if we are honest when we hear these kinds of things, they challenge us. They challenge us because we're like, okay, wait a minute, I don't know about this. And I know why. They challenge us because our context has taught us to live life and view life through a lens that scripture does not assume soon. Now, this is one of the reasons why I told you I began to immerse myself in a different kind of context, a scriptural context, something that forces me to think scripturally and not culturally, because I'm going to expose to you in a moment that our cultural thinking is anti biblical. So I want to say something to us again because I'm aware that most of us heard it and we assume that we got it when I said it. However, our context might be robbing us of right understanding. I'm going to say again what I said a few minutes ago. We've been saying that the fruit of spiritual formation is expressed in at least three different dimensions, character, authority, and community. We said that when people truly are formed by Christ, they begin to look like him, which is expressed in character. They begin to minister like him, which is expressed in authority. And they begin to love like him, which is expressed in community. And I also said this is why it's important. Literally, this is the rewind of 10 minutes ago, why it's important that we resist the idea that spiritual formation is solely for the benefit of the individual being formed. Why did I say it again? Not because I just wanted to repeat, it's because I know something. We can understand character and we can understand authority. But I want to suggest that. That we cannot fully understand community until we fully embrace the idea that Western society does not lend itself to the idea of community because it was built on individualism. Our culture was built on individualism. In fact, it is the American way. We don't recognize that we have been built around the idea of expressing our individuality, our personal freedoms, our personal this, our personal debt. And everything is about individual identity. And so therefore, our culture is obsessed with this question, who am I? Now, the reason why I want you to sit for a moment and the reason why I said it's a conversation is because I recognize that if I were to try to teach you about community while not tearing down the stronghold of individualism, like trying to add a stone to the cornerstone, you'd be trying to fit a new understanding into an old framework. And it will never work. So therefore, what we actually have to do if we want to live biblically, we then have to understand that culturally we are not living biblically. Now, I know that most of us don't recognize that we've been indoctrinated. Most of us don't recognize that, that that's how we live. And so let me help you for a moment. I said this in the first service. I want to say it again here, because I am not throwing a stone at another minister. I need you to hear me. I'm not throwing a stone at another minister who is a very well respected minister who is a very well respected author. I'm not throwing a stone. All I'm trying to do is show you what individualism has done. It has nothing to do with the pastor. It has nothing to do with his book. It has everything to do with individualism. Are you ready? I just gave you a whole caveat so you can't sound bite me and think I'm coming against somebody. I am not. Listen, unless it's a wolf that we have to point out, I'm not throwing stones at other pastors. Y' all ain't gotta clap right there. Listen, we got a whole culture that literally makes money on YouTube off of criticizing other pastors. Ain't gonna do it. That is not God. There are no divisions in Christ. I am not coming against it. I just want you to see. I just want you to see how our culture has trained us to think a certain way outside of the scripture. For a number of years, the number one Christian book in America was the Purpose Driven Life. I am not against the Purpose Driven Life. I am not against Pastor Rick. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that individualism has caused us to pursue trying to understand who we are. That's all we want to know. What's my purpose? What's my calling? What's my gift? What's my this? What's my that? And we don't recognize that we have been baptized, indoctrinated into an understanding that doesn't care about anybody else. And I want you to know that the scripture is not written with that kind of mindset. We are obsessed with who I am, who am I? It's what scholars call ontological individualism. Some of y' all like, what is that? Ontological individualism is the deep sea, that I am the center of my own reality and that the church is a resource that I use to improve my life. Can we have a conversation, y'? All? Ontological individualism is the deep Seated belief that I am the center of my own reality. And the church is a resource that I use to improve my life. And so because most people use the church as a resource to improve their life, that's why they choose the church for the pastor. That's why they choose the church for the program. Because they're looking to see, can the pastor and the program add to me? And they never see can I add to the community? You not coming into a church saying, how can I serve? What can I bring? What can my relationship? What can my gifts do? Here instead is the pastor feeding me? And am I growing? And am I, I, I, I? And I need you to know that individualism is a stronghold. It is a stronghold that must come down. We must understand that we have been indoctrinated in a way that has made us the center of everything. And we've been indoctrinated in a way that causes us to choose our church based on what it does for us. And we never ask, what am I supposed to do with the community? The devil is a liar. We need to understand that the place that we have been born into has given us a framework that is anti Bible. I didn't do all that in the first service. It's a stronghold. It's a stronghold. What is a stronghold? I know for those of you who grew up charismatic, you think it's a demon. A stronghold is a fortified thought that you defend. That's what a stronghold is. When you are pulling down a stronghold, you're not pulling down devil, you're pulling down a thought. Are y' all here? It's a stronghold. It's a stronghold. Why you do it like that? My mama did it like that. My grandmama did. That's a stronghold. There's another word for it in 2026, if you don't know what your strongholds are, they're also called triggers. Whatever triggers you is probably pointing to the stronghold that you need to pull. And in our nation, in the global west, individualism is a stronghold. Many of us don't even recognize it, and we won't accept it. But the American way is built on individualism. Do what is best for you. In fact, it's so built on that that we think that the strongest moniker that you can actually have in the American culture is self made. But if you truly understand how society works, there is no such thing. Thing is self made. Because you can't do anything from nothing. The only person that can do anything or something from nothing is God, the creator. Everybody else had to Use something to get something. So there's no such thing as self made. But you think so because you have a stronghold called individualism. I made it myself. So we asked a question. We don't know that it's a stronghold. But the question that many of us wrestle with is who am I? Who am I? But the New Testament does not know that question. The New Testament does not wrestle with that question. In the New Testament world, that question didn't exist. The question was not who am I? The question is whose am I? Whose am I? Is a more important question than who am I? Because the Scripture now assumes that the reader understands this, that the reader does not have individualism as his lens, but the reader has collectivists as its lens. Because if you begin to read the Scripture through the lens of collectivist, it will begin to understand and make sense to you. So that way the things that bother you you when you read them, they won't bother you when you read them. Because if you have collectivist as your understanding, when the Scripture ask you to be generous, it's not a problem. If you have collectivist as your understanding, when you begin to read Acts chapter two and it says they shared and had all things in common, it's not a problem. But individual says, you can't have my stuff. I earned it. But can I tell you how the church survived? Not because they had a bunch of individuals and oh, by the way, it ain't just the Acts church. I don't mean to be segmenting or racist right here, but can I tell you how the black church survived in America? Oh, y' all don't want to talk right here. You want to know how HBCUs got to where they are today? It wasn't because some businesses got together. It wasn't because some individuals got together. It's because some churches said if they won't let us into their colleges, let's put build our own. And so the church. Y' all don't want to have that conversation. All right, I know we are multi ethnic. I just had to give you a modern example. Don't be offended. All right, you back now. Bible. If I were to be honest, as I studied and pondered, I've been utterly confronted with how uncomfortable the idea of collectivism or group thinking is to our western individual, which is a weak group surroundings actually is because I started to look at how the Scripture begins to define how we're supposed to live. And as I started to look at how the scripture defines how we're supposed to live, I began to think about how uncomfortable that makes me. Now, I'm saying me because y' all won't say it for yourself. But the reality is, I was reading an author, and the author gave an example. And when the author gave the example, I was like, ooh, I don't like this. And I also realized that not only do I not like it, I realized that if I gave it to you, none of you would like it. So I'm gonna give it to you. Cause none of you are gonna like this. You know why you're not gonna like it? Because we live in the West. And in the west, everything is about do what's best for you, follow your heart. That's the West. And as a result, now when I give you this example, you're going to check out on me. You're going to say, no, I'm serious. You're going to say, I don't want to hear the rest of this message, because if that's where you're going, I'm going to find another church. I was reading this author, and he gave an example of how collective just collectivist thinking is. And I was like, oh, not only am I uncomfortable with this, but if I say this, everybody else is going to be uncomfortable. So I want to get you uncomfortable with me. Who in this room has seen this is not a trick question. So you can raise your hand. It's not a trick question. I'm not about to switch it up on you. I know every time a pastor asks a question, people are like, I ain't raising my hand because I don't know what he going to say next. This is straightforward black and white. Yes or no, who has seen the Titanic? The movie. Okay, good. If you haven't seen it, you've had, like, 20 years. So. The movie was a movie because it was a story in the movie. Otherwise it would have been a documentary. It wasn't just the facts of what happened, although all of us were interested to see how that was going to play out. But what really captivated our attention was the fact that the movie Titanic was actually a love story. We were not just following the events of the Titanic. We were also following the events of Rose and Jack. Yes. Now here's where you're going to become really uncomfortable. Rose was betrothed. She was engaged to be married to an aristocrat class person. Her family was also, at one point, a wealthy family, but apparently the father had died. And so because of this, this was their last chance to stay in the aristocratic class. But as children, fate would have it. Rose did not like the person that she was engaged to be married to because he didn't seem to be very good as a person, as a man. She actually met another young man named Jack. Jack was a person who was not a part of the aristocrat class. He was not wealthy. In fact, he won his ticket gambling. And so he was a kind of a happy, go lucky, free for all kind of individual. And that appealed to Rose. And so we. We follow their love story throughout the. The. The. The. The moving of the Titanic as they're going along. And what makes us satisfied at the end is that ultimately, in our minds and in our hearts, Rose chose right. That's what makes us happy about the thing, because she. She fell in love with Jack. They didn't get married because she wouldn't let him on the door,
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y'.
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All. It had to be big enough. He just in there just freezing. Let the man on the door. Y' all float together. Come. On. The challenge is that feels good to us because we are individualists. Follow your heart. Do what's best for you. Forget your family. Oh, now y' all getting. What the author posed was this idea that collectivist identity would have caused Rose to say, my family will be good for the rest of our lives if I would make a sacrificial decision. That's why y' all didn't clap. Cause y' all like, oh, heck, no. I'm not about to be uncomfortable for others. So we felt good because she did what made us feel good. And that's our lens. The scripture does not see that Lens. One, clap. Amen. That's why it's important that we situate and reorient our minds to the biblical narrative. The gospel does not ask, first, who are you? It asks, whose are you? Because whoever you belong to shapes who you become. Yeah, whoever you belong to shapes who you become. First God and then your family. Whoever you belong to shapes who you become. Now, I can't go here this week, and it's not in my notes this week. And I'm giving y' all some of my future study. Jesus even reshapes what family is. We can't talk about that this week because some of y' all like. That's why I don't like my family. Anyway. Who is my mother? Who is my mother? That's right, Jesus. Tell him. That's why I don't talk to my daddy. Who is my daddy? But those who do the will, okay? Our identity comes from our belonging. Identity in scripture is covenantal. Before it's individual. I'll say it again. Identity in Scripture is covenantal before it is individual. The Western stronghold of individualism says things like this. We identify this. You've heard this before. Faith is private, salvation is personal. Morality is individual, and spirituality is self directed. But the Scripture rarely speaks that way. The Bible almost always frames believers as members of a people, not isolated spiritual agents. In modern Western thinking, identity begins with self definition. Who am I? In Scripture, identity deals with belonging, which is who to? Who do I belong to? So the Bible repeatedly frames the people of God not primarily by internal or individual individual traits, but by relationship and ownership. So the scriptural narrative is always a people. God's people are his possession. They are his inheritance. They are his flock, they are his children, they are his servants. They are his people. Look at the language of scripture. The primary focus is not who am I, but whose am I. If you look at Exodus, chapter 19, for example, God chose a people. Not a person, a people. Can I say it again? God chose a people. I know you like God chose me. I get that. God chose a people. You are a part of a people. If you. I'm. Listen, what I'm after today is that at least you leave and you recognize I'm a part of something bigger than me. I am already aware that I cannot finished my notes today. But I at least want you to leave and say, I'm a part of something. I'm a part of something. It's not just about me. I know our languages. He would do it just for me. I get that. But it ain't just for you. So we have to now situate biblical understanding. God chooses a people. Exodus, chapter 19, verse 5. Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples of the earth. For the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation. This is the message you must give to the people of Israel. God did not just choose a person, he chose a people. Deuteronomy, chapter 7, verse 6, 8. I'm closer to finish than you realize because I know I can't finish it all today. So we're good. Don't get nervous. The food will still be there at the restaurant. They don't start making it till you order it. For you are a holy people who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on the earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure. The Lord did not set his heart on you because and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations. You were the smallest of all nations. Rather, it was simply because the Lord loves you and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. And that is why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. Psalm 100, verse 3. Psalm 100 was the first scripture I learned in memory when I was a little kid in Bible in Baptist church. Sunday school. The Bible school. My mom said Sunday school, Sunday school, that's right, we're Baptist. Wasn't Bible school, we were Baptist. It's Sunday school. Acknowledge that the Lord is God. When I was a kid, I knew it in the King James vernacular. Know ye that the Lord, he is God. It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves. I still remember Shakespeare was not the first time I learned the King's English. It was the Bible. Amen. Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us. We are His. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. What we are outlining here is a people who belong to God. When God sent Moses to Pharaoh, he did not say to Moses, go and tell Pharaoh, let the people go. He said, let my people go. There was an ownership, there was a. A collective understanding that we are part of something. Their identity, family was that they belong to God. That was their identifying mark. We are the people who belong to God. If you were to ask an individual Israelite who they were, their most likely answer would be, I am an Israelite. A part of the special group of people who belong to Yahweh. They would probably not tell you their name. They'd probably tell you their God. There's something about belonging to God and there's something about being called the people who belong to God that's more important than your own name. This ain't in my notes. If it was about people, God said to Abram, I will make you into a nation. God always had a people, people in mind. Somebody said, let's go deeper. And I'm almost finished. I am, I am. Because I'm just going to hard stop. We got baptism. I'm just going to stop. The scripture carries over the signification of a people into the New Testament. But it doesn't stop with Israel as a nation because concern Son and the church who are believers in Christ. It ramps up, not down. The language begins to ramp up, not down. Because the lens of the New Testament allows us to see that what wasn't as clear in the Old Testament as it relates to the Fight over ownership. Introducing ransom language. What the New Testament does is it introduces ransom language, which indicates the liberation from the control of another. Y' all gotta get this right here because this will help. You know what it means to be a people. There are individuals who are under the control of the devil, but there are a people who have been liberated by God. Oh, y'. All. Y' all don't understand that. What happened at the Fall was there became individuals, but what God did is he ransomed a people. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Mark, chapter 10, verse 42. Because of the original sin, Satan was claiming ownership over man and holding death over our head. He was saying, I control them, and because they sin, they have to die because you said so. You said that was a penalty. God said, okay, I got you, but you ain't gonna win. So Jesus called them together. Mark, chapter 10, verse 42 through 45. You know that the rulers of this world, the rulers in this world lorded over their people and officials, flaunt their authority over those who taunt them. But among you, it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be a servant. And whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. I love that it says many because he doesn't just say you. Because if you said you, your individualistic tale would say, God saved me just for me. But that's not what he did. He gave his life for the ransom of many. Can I read another scripture? Colossians, chapter 1, verse 13. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sin. Which is to say that there was a rat ransom that was paid. A price that we could not pay for the person who was keeping us trapped to sin. But because of what Jesus did. Jesus didn't just do it for one, although he would have done it for one. But he did it for a people. He did it for many. And you are a part of the people who are called. You are a part of the people who are blood washed. You are a part of the people who he paid for with his blood. You are a part of a people who he ransom, who he bought back, who he brought back. It's not just me. I'm a part of a family that Jesus died for and he paid for. I'm a part of something. We're part of something so much bigger than ourselves. Somehow we took that truth and made it about us. And now we pursue who am I? And we minimize who am I? Our culture is made about the individual. That's why I live with my grandparents used to say to my mother and her siblings, when they leave the house, they say, remember who you represent. That has so impacted my mother. I'm using you as an example today. My family says, we don't like it when you do that. If you never will. See, my mother dressed crazy. She's always dressed. We mess with her some. We mess with her sometimes. We like, okay, you know, it's gonna be casual today, so, you know, wear something casual. She's like, okay, I got you. And she's still gonna show up dressed to the nines. Just, Amen. That's a good. We should. But I used to be like, mom, why you dress up all the time? Because she still represents Met and Ethel Leggett. They've been in heaven for a while now. But she is like, I represent my father in heaven. I represent my parents. My grandmother, I remember when we would go to the mall, she would dress up like, we're going to church. My wife's grandfather used to wear suits to the amusement park. Some of y' all, like, I don't know nothing about that. There was something. Okay, all right. This is gonna make us in Florida very uncomfortable. You ready? In Florida, this is gonna make us very uncomfortable. Cause it's hot outside. But do you know that most church people dress up to church because they're saying, we belong to somebody. I know. See, you know how I know? There was a certain generation that clapped. The rest of y' all was like, I'm wearing what I'm wearing. The Bible says, come as you are. I came as I am. That's what I felt like wearing. I get it. I get it. I get it. But there was something about, if I'm going to church, you're gonna know it. I'm not gonna wear something better for you than I wear for God. That's the way people used to think. I'm not telling y' all to come. You know, I grew up. I grew up where dress down Sunday was a thing. Now we have to have a dress up Sunday. I'm making a little bit light for a moment, because what I really want us to understand is that our individualistic lens. And I'm landing the plane. Our individualistic lens has caused us to believe. And everything that we do is about us. We don't think about how we represent our Father. We don't think about how we treat one another. Because we think that the whole point of church is to make us better. Remember I told you I'm not throwing stones. I'm not throwing stones at any pastor, any church. Some of the biggest churches in our country are the ones that people go to to try to improve their life. I'm not thinking about talking about anybody specific. What I'm saying is that the American church has a problem. The American church's problem is everyone comes to church for themselves. That's not the biblical way. Which is why I told you in the beginning, when we started trying to pursue a way that said, okay, we're gonna pull the walls down. We're gonna begin to try to love Christ and love each other in a way that causes us to be vulnerable. It was uncomfortable, but we began to implement it. And as soon as we began to implement it, the devil said, oh, no, I gotta mess with this. I gotta come and attack this. I gotta come and try to tear this down. Because if I can tear this down, then I can tear down the witness of Christ in the earth. Can I give you one more thing? I landed somewhere differently in the first service, but I'm gonna land differently here, and I'm gonna just give you this. Evangelism has two forms. You ready for this? Proclamation. Which is what we think about when we think about evangelism and demonstration. Those are the two forms of evangelism. Proclamation and demonstration. Here's the thing. We think about proclamation. We think about preaching or telling. And that's a part of evangelism. When we think about demonstration, we think about signs, wonders and miracles. That's what we think. The signs to follow those who believe for the proclamation of the gospel. That's what we think. Can I tell you one of the greatest demonstrations of evangelism in all the world? They will know that you are my disciples. By the way, you love one another. Can I tell you this? This is the part that if we could get this, it'll literally turn the world upside down. Or at least Orlando, or at least your family. Let's start there. Your love for one another is proof that Christ exists. Did y' all hear what I just said? You think it's what you said? No. When you love people sacrificially. When you love people like Christ loves, it proves that Christ exists. Because it proves that you were under. Under the control of another kingdom. The kingdom of this world is individual. The kingdom of our Lord and his Christ is communal. It's fellowship with one another. It is the very proof. It is the very proof of the existence of Christ. I started with Philippians chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. And the reason why I started with that was because I was going to talk about what it actually means to live like that, or at least the first part of what it means to live like that. Because to be honest with you, to live truly in community or to express the fruit of community or formational fruit of community, what it requires is vulnerability. Vulnerability is something none of nobody wants. So how do we get to vulnerability? Well, the scripture in Philippians chapter two, there's a verse that we quote a lot in churches without its context. And the verse that we quote a lot in the churches without its context is Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. That's why the most. If you could fill in the blank right there, but contextually, let me just read it through the message as it is right there on the screen. Contextually, the first four verses lead up to that. It says this. If you've gotten. I'm reading the message now because it just helped you get it faster. So I can sit down. If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if His love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care, then do me a favor. Agree with each other, love each other, be deep spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front. Don't sweet talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. You know what verse 5 says? Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. Can you, my goodness, having this mind among yourselves which is in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God to be a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death of a cross. And of course we know. Therefore God has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above everything. We know that part, right? The mind that is in Christ Jesus is one that in community is humble. Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. If you're going to live in community, the first way that you actually become vulnerable is live with humility.
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Thank you for tuning in to this message from Deeper Fellowship Church. If this message blessed you, or if you gave your heart to Jesus Christ today, we would love to hear about it. And you can do that by staying connected with us as our extended family through our website, deeperfellowshipchurch.org on social media via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Or the easiest way, by downloading the Deeper App from the App Store of your choice and telling us about your decision. Until next time, God bless you.