have you ever noticed how you can be in
a crowded room full of people and still
feel
alone have you ever noticed how your
schedule can be really full but your
life feels kind of
empty have you ever noticed that you can
have lots and lots of
conversations but have little authentic
connection it's a problem in our world
today and um I was reading an article by
a mental health expert that said
interestingly enough most people in our
culture today they're actually
seeking
Independence they don't want to need
anybody else and they don't actually
want to be needed by anybody else and we
see it nowaday as people kind of um just
scroll safely at a distance on social
media without any real intimate
interaction or we'll go to school or the
gym with our head phones in a hoodie on
telling everybody essentially just leave
me alone I got time for you or we Bank
online shop online even watch sermons
online seeking a life where we're not
needed or known and I would say it this
way that many people were
intentionally pursuing a life that
destroys our mental health and robs us
of real joy and Lasting commitment we're
pursuing a life that is contrary to what
God wanted us to have God never intended
it to be that way so how do you live a
life of
authentic connection and genuine
Community where where you belong and you
have not just an individual purpose but
a shared Purpose with a group of people
well we're going to look today at the
words of Paul in the book of Galatians
Galatians Chapter 2 uh Galatians chapter
6:2 and Paul said this he said
carry each other's burdens now watch
this and in this way you will fulfill
the law of Christ if you want to do what
you were created to do if you want to do
what God commanded if you want to be
like Jesus if you want to fulfill the
law of Christ what do you do you carry
each other's burdens what do you not do
you don't ignore everybody's burdens you
don't tolerate their burdens but you
actually get close enough to know what
those burdens are and to actually share
them um today we're going to do
something different and I'm really
excited about it I'm actually going to
share this message with three young
communicators at Life Church we don't
believe the emerging Generations the
future of the church we believe that the
Church of today and so so a few weeks
ago we had 104 different communicators
preach God's word and today we've chosen
three of them to team teach this message
and I hope you're going to help them do
it
today
because I'm going to share the blessing
of preaching God's word what do we know
in real Community well we're going to
discover today that we share our
food we show our flaws
and we fight together so please today at
all Life church locations help show some
love as we welcome our first Speaker
today from Life Church Rogers we have
Pastor Quan
Johnson oh come on life turns come
on well as Pastor Craig mentioned my
name is quayin Johnson and I get the
honor and privilege of serving as a
youth pastor in Life Church Rogers in
Arkansas Rogers friends stand up let's
go um but listen man and I speaking of
family I I'll show you a little bit of
my family this is my wife Maggie behind
me this is my daughters Tatum and Lila
and this is my cousin SJ who's lived
with us for some time and uh when I say
it's an honor to be
here I remember the first time I walked
into Life Church Midwest City in
Oklahoma and I was broken in more ways
than I could
count I was trying to find my identity
and everything else besides
Jesus and I sat down in a chair and I
looked up on the
screen and I thought to myself who could
hear Jesus on the
screen and then I saw Pastor Craig be
vulnerable in ways that I've not seen
vulnerability teach God's word that made
sense to me that I could
apply and because of God's grace and
Pastor Craig because of your
faithfulness
I just want to say thank you and can we
give it up for our
pastor by the way by the way you can
hear from Jesus on the
screen I hope you realize today that we
are
product of people's investments into our
lives and as Pastor Craig said my point
is we share our food now I can you know
right now you're smiling at me but you
know when it comes to
food some of y'all ain't willing to
share at all right especially me when it
comes to Thai food but I I think our I
think our uh my daughter has a good a
good face to show you a little bit of
what she looks like this is a picture of
my daughter come on a video of her look
as I put my hand on her
plate look at
that cute look look she brings a smile
with it come on and then the eye roll
y y'all got to pray for me
man we're all like that right especially
when it comes to our
lives our first thought is to guard and
to protect what matters
most which raises the
question what are you
guarding so I want you to look back here
we're going to go through the scripture
in Acts 432 and this is is how the early
Christians thought it says all believers
were United in heart and mind they felt
that what they owned was not their own
so they shared everything they had they
felt what they owned was not their own
so they shared everything they
had brand new Believers in Jesus trying
to learn how to live amongst each other
and apply the teachings of the
disciples and they shared everything
they had in other words they shared
their lives
they shared their
food which raises the question for
me how many people in your
life have refrigerator
restrictions versus refrigerator rights
now you may be asking what that means
and I got a picture of my own
refrigerator up here with some things in
it that's okay um but if you were to
grow up if you were to come to my house
when I was growing up one of the things
that I know is that you have
refrigerator restrictions you could just
walk inside of my house and open up the
refrigerator and grab anything out of it
why because you didn't pay any bills and
you might actually catch a phantom smack
you know what I mean my mom would have
told you go sit down somewhere right but
I had some friends that I could go and I
could get into the refrigerator get
anything that I
wanted because I had trust because I had
access so what I what I'm asking you is
who has access in your life who has
trust in your your life I had a friend
of mine come over to my house and he'
been over my house plenty of times his
name is Logan and he went to the
refrigerator This Time by himself
without asking now my cousin SJ comes up
to me and he's like does Logan
know that you don't just go into
anybody's refrigerator and grab anything
out of there right and I'm like I'm
laughing but what it made me realize is
that Logan didn't have refrigerator
restrictions he had refrigerator lights
rights because we share our
food and what I'm learning is that in
life we're going to need people who have
refrigerator
rights early on in my
marriage my wife and I were struggling
relationally we were
alone we needed community and truthfully
I was in panic because I didn't know how
to share my life with my wife or become
one with another person and truthfully
to call it how it is
I was team Q instead of Team
Johnson and I never forget the
day that I walked into our one-bedroom
condo and my wife was laying across the
bed and I looked over at her as I sat in
our office chair and
said I don't think we should be married
anymore we were
struggling and at this time two people
came into our
lives and we were doing some Community
shopping some people know what that's
like you go out and you hang out with a
group of people and you try to figure
out who you click with the
most and we were playing intermural
basketball when James and Dom walked
into our
lives now you know when you find your
people you want to do everything
together so in the middle of 2020
everybody knows what was happening in
2020 me we binge watch shows Legend of
cor yes I'm grown and I still watch
cartoons
right we cooked out we double dated we
did everything
together and what I love the most about
James and Dom is that my wife could go
to Dom and process things and I could go
to James and process
things and what was interesting was that
they would show us support they would
listen to us but they always point us
back to one
another see James and Don weren't team Q
or team Maggie they were Team Johnson
and we got to do the same for them in
their marriage why because we had
refrigerator rights in each other's
lives and across all of our
locations and online today 100%
guaranteed you're going to actually have
a
need and are you are you going to stay
guarded are you going to stay protected
away from everyone are are you going to
give and allow people to have
refrigerator
rights it might be time to
go Community
shopping because what I know is in order
to go far we have to grow close and in
order to grow close we have to share our
food
speaking of
sharing I get the chance I get the honor
to preach with two communicators today
that are amazing would you please help
me welcome my friend Tiffany
Peters than J
sir my name is Tiffany Peters like you
said and I have the honor of being the
life kids pastor at our Life Church in
Mansfield Texas shout out to all my
Texas people this is my family they are
there there they are my handsome husband
Doug he brought out the cowboy hat just
for you guys our beautiful daughter Lexi
and our handsome boys Tucker and Canon
and I believe that we all probably have
a few things in common right we all have
a little food to share and we all have
flaws to hide we all have things that we
are insecure about things that we are
embarrassed by but in a community that
honors God we bear each other's burdens
like to said we share our food and point
number two we show our flaws now you
might be thinking wait what did she just
say did she say show our flaws no flaws
are meant to be covered up they are
meant to be hidden they are not meant to
be shared in today's society we have
gotten so good at covering up the things
that we do not like about ourselves but
in a community that honors God we show
our flaws now I know that life can be
hard we've all been through things or
maybe we're going through something
right now that we would rather no one
else know about maybe you're in a
mountain of debt maybe you have a past
that you would rather forget maybe you
are struggling with an addiction or
maybe your marriage is on the Rocks we
all struggle but so often the fear of
rejection causes us to struggle alone I
get it really I do I have a past and it
affected me for a long long time and if
I'm being honest sometimes still does
and I didn't grow up in the church and
so when my family first started coming
to Life Church I was an adult and I had
this idea in my head that I had to have
it all together and since I didn't have
it all together I definitely pretended
like I did and the longer that we came
to church the more that we heard Pastor
Craig talking about joining a life group
and having Community around you and how
life is better together so we join
joined a life group we met some amazing
friends and one of the nights that we
were at our life group a friend of ours
opened up about something that he had
been struggling with he talked about his
sexual sins in his life and how they
were still affecting the relationships
that he had to this day and this was
crazy to me because with these people
church people you don't talk about
things like that in my mind if people
knew the things that I had done that I
would be judged would be rejected but
right here in this moment when Chris was
being honest he wasn't
judged he was
loved I had read in Romans before how
Paul says to accept one another just
like Christ has accepted us but I had
never seen it play out in a setting like
this and I couldn't believe what was
happening here I am literally suffering
in silence for years over the things
that I had walked through in my life and
here he is just being open and honest
honest and he wasn't judged he was
left in that moment I began to
understand what Pastor Craig says how we
might impress people with our strengths
but we connect with people through our
weaknesses and that is exactly what was
happening here our life group felt so
connected in that moment remember
Galatians 62 tells us to carry each
other's burdens and Chris opening up in
our life group in the response that he
received that is exactly what was
happening and that stuck with me I
wanted that for myself I wanted it so
bad I wanted real relationships with
people who knew the things that I had
walked through in my life the things
that I had done and they still loved me
anyway so in that
moment even though I was afraid I
mustered up literally all the courage
that I could and I opened
up I was sexually assaulted when I was
15 years old by a boy who took something
from me that wasn't his to take and in
that moment when it happened I was so
afraid and so confused I thought that I
should have known better that I should
have done something different and so I
blamed
myself my selfworth was
shattered I was hurting
and I was
alone I tried to numb the pain in the
worst possible ways I drank a lot and it
led to even more Brokenness I gave
myself away to anyone who showed me any
ounce of attention because I thought
that that was all that I was good
for I did things that I am not proud of
in an attempt to take control of a life
that felt so out of control and I was
was ashamed and I let it become my
identity I believed the lies that I was
telling myself that I was
disgusting that I was
unworthy and I was
unlovable and when I said all of those
things out loud in our life group I
couldn't believe what I had just done I
literally wanted to run away and hide to
take it all back because I was so afraid
of their response but just like Chris I
wasn't
judged I was loved my life group
confronted the lies that I believed
about myself with the truth about who
God says that I am and I can still hear
them speaking these words over me today
they told me that God says that I am
forgiven that I am worthy and Christ in
me is enough and some of you today you
need to hear me say those same things to
you you are
forgiven you are are worthy in Christ in
you is enough when we open up when we
are honest about the things that we
struggle with God tends to speak through
the people that he has placed around us
directly to those broken parts of our
hearts Proverbs
28:13 says whoever conceals their sins
who hides the things that they are
ashamed of who hides the things that
they are struggling with they do not
Prosper but the one who confesses and
renounce is the one who brings them to
the light who opens up you find Mercy
not judgment not condemnation but mercy
and that same Mercy is available to you
today in community maybe you feel
trapped I get it under the weight of it
all you are afraid of rejection but in
Godly Community we bear each other's
burdens the heaviness that we feel the
load that we have been carrying it
becomes comes lighter now the details of
our stories may be different but I do
know that the same truths that were
there for me then are here for you today
you are not what you have done or what
has been done to you you are stronger
than your addictions you are an
overcomer in Christ all things are
possible including your recovery your
Redemption your restoration and real
lifegiving relationships you are not a
burden your struggle are not too much
healing is available to you through
Jesus and in God's people in community
life and freedom are waiting for you on
the other side of vulnerability in Godly
Community we share our struggles the
load is lighter when we bear each
other's burdens remember we may impress
people with our strengths but we connect
with people through our weaknesses help
me welcome our next speaker Mr Tanner
Newman to the
space so my name is Tanner Newman and
for the last six years I've had the
privilege of being the youth pastor at
Life Church in Shaunie shout out to all
my people in Shaunie
Oklahoma and for the last 10
years I have made this place my home and
to be on this stage is more of an honor
than I could possibly say for the last
10 years my life has been impacted by
Pastor Craig's example his leadership in
this church and I am forever different
because of what has happened here and
what have we learned we've learned that
we all have food to share we have flaws
to show and also that we fight together
because what combines everything that we
walk through in life what unifies us all
is this is that we we have a spiritual
enemy who wants to do nothing but steal
kill and destroy in our life and it
happens in different ways for every
single one of us it's the little
Whispers of shame that says no matter
how hard you try you will never be good
enough you will never get over this or
it could be the the anxiousness that
grips your chest that makes you feel
completely alone in your
experiences it's the Brokenness in your
home that nobody knows about it's it's
the way that you've been praying and
asking God to change something in your
child's life yet still you watch them
suffer every day it's the way that
you've been carrying the burdens of your
family and nothing is getting better we
have a spiritual enemy who wants nothing
but to steal kill and destroy in our
life and I'm grateful for the words of
Peter who was a disciple of Jesus and
who had his own fair share of ups and
downs in life and this is what he said
in 1 Peter 5 verse 8 be alert and of
sober mind your enemy the devil prows
around like a roaring lion looking for
someone to devour resist him standing
firm in the faith to resist him in the
Greek what Peter actually writes there
it means to fight against it is a active
posture meaning that whatever comes your
way it's not a matter of if but when
when the enemy comes what do you do you
fight in faith
see the truth is is that we do have a
spiritual enemy but we also have a
savior and his name is Jesus and because
of Jesus because of who he is and what
he's done for us he provides peace he
provides
healing he is our God who loves us and
who sees you today we have a savior who
knows you and so when it comes to the
battles that we walk through in life we
don't fight for Victory we fight from
Victory now what does that look like
what does that mean that means that that
thing that you think will never get
better the thing that you've dismissed
the thing that weighs heaviest on your
heart God is Not only with you in the
middle of that situation but God is also
surrounding that situation he is bigger
than anything that you will ever go up
against because that's how good and how
great our God is he is for you today
that is something that we can stand on
and believe we have a savior who sees us
who fights for us and who loves us so
what do we do we carry one another's
burdens but we also allow someone else
to carry our own in 2021 my wife and I
found out that we were pregnant with our
first child which was incredible news
this is something we've been praying for
forever but the thing was is that
because of some medical conditions that
my wife had this was also incredibly
scary news so we knew going into
starting ing a family that there was a
pretty high likelihood about a 50/50
shot that if we had a child it was a
possibility that they wouldn't make it
past the age of 15 so this was a huge
decision and as we met with doctors and
geneticists the weight got more and more
real the ways that we begin to process
and talk together Lauren and I my wife
we we would sit and we would just wonder
why would God tell us to do this but
this feels so heavy this feels so over
overwhelming and I got to a point where
I just could not handle it anymore and
it was in that time that began to talk
with my life group about what we were
feeling and what we were walking through
and so the day comes where Lauren has
our son Noah and it's the most beautiful
day in the world a day I will never
forget and this is a picture of our son
right after he was
born despite the circumstances what we
knew and believed is that God knew this
baby and that he created him for a
purpose no matter what that looked like
after he was born there was tests that
had to be done and we had to wait seven
days and that was the longest week of my
life because here I am a brand new
father holding a baby for the very first
time and I'm I'm holding my son and I'm
looking at him and I'm wondering does he
have
it is he going to be
okay and all I can think of is what what
have I done why would God ask me to do
this why would he tell me to do this
because what if what if the worst fear
in the world is a parent that you lose
your child what if this happens and I
walk into the doctor's office and I'll
never forget it I walk in and I looked
at my wife right before we walked in I
said no matter what God is
good and we walk in and I go to sit down
and the doctor knew about the
circumstances before I could even sit he
says your son is completely
healthy and in that moment my friends I
felt a joy that I have never felt before
and I fell to my
knees and I called my family I called my
mom my dad my sister my brother-in-law
and tears were everywhere snot was
everywhere but the next call was to my
life
group because for weeks for months i'
had been calling my friend Michael and
Aaron and I was saying guys I just need
to say this I don't even know if you're
going to look at me the way anymore but
I need you to know this is where I'm at
right now and I remember sitting in my
living room in Sierra and nelli and
Sarah looking at my wife and saying you
didn't cause this God sees you he cares
about the cries of your heart and it was
that that carried us through up into
this moment because the reality was we
had this moment to celebrate but here's
the thing that's
true had it not been what we wanted and
what we prayed for I still had that
group of people that were there for me
no matter what that loved me no matter
what that loved our son Noah no matter
what and I want to show you a picture of
him today this is my son
today he is beautiful and perfect and as
I think about this picture and what it
represents it is a culmination of
prayers of God's Providence of God's
sovereignty and I think about what that
moment represents to celebrate with
somebody but to also know that whether
it's a high moment or a low moment in
life God's people were there with
me they loved me so much and what I want
to think about and process with you here
right now as you're watching whether
it's online or one of our locations
somewhere what does this look like for
you as you're carrying the weight of the
world on your shoulders what does this
look like for
you because the truth is your burden may
be too big to
carry by
yourself because believers who followed
Jesus they desperately knew that they
had to come together they needed one
another to carry one another's burdens
and we seem to know that but have
forgotten
it today your life could look different
and it could simply just start with
sharing your food showing your flaws and
fighting together right now let's go
back to Pastor
Craig yeah come on church can you tell
our speakers thank you today for sharing
God's word in a way that um impacts Our
Lives God is going to call you if you
want to fulfill the law of
Christ to carry one another's burdens
and so some of you it's time to take a
step of Faith toward real community in
fact there will be a QR code that will
come on the screen and what I'm going to
do is I'm going to challenge you right
now God did not not create you to do
life alone if you're ready to find your
people if you're ready to take a risk if
you're ready to open up your
refrigerator and share your life in your
food and show some flaws because there's
healing when we do and fight together
with the people of God who will stand by
you and help you live a life that will
honor God and defeat the Prince of
Darkness who comes against you you
cannot do it alone it is time to take a
step of faith into very real community
and this is so emotional to me because
of what God has done in our lives here's
a deal in order to carry one another's
burdens what do you need to do you need
to carry someone else's burden don't you
and that's kind of easy to do because
that makes you feel good when you help
somebody else but here's what takes even
more courage sometimes is not to carry
someone else's burden but to let someone
else carry
yours and I just want to say to my
church
[Music]
family thank
you thank you for praying for me when I
lost my dad and loving me through the
tears thank you for helping to raise my
kids like the church help raise my kids
a few weeks ago my son uh Stephen he got
married to his best friend Ashlin he
tried to kiss her like five times in the
wedding before they got to the kissing
part
and um they went to our family place for
23 years we go to Steamboat Springs
Colorado and so he went there for his
honeymoon and the first morning after he
got there on his honeymoon Sunday
morning you know what he did he texted
me see on vacation we go to church
because we're people of God that's what
we do we always go to church so he text
me the first morning of was honeymon he
said dad dad what church do we go
to on his
honeymoon the kid wanted to take his
brother red on the first day of his
honeymoon to church Community now let me
tell you why that's so special because
you go a few years back and Stephen
would be the first to tell you in fact
I've heard him talk about it in sermons
and I learned things about him I didn't
know in
sermons is that he wasn't taking god
seriously in some seasons in his teens
and that was a burden that we shared
with our
community and David you helped Mentor
him and there were other men in our life
group in our community who were examples
to him and would be a father figure to
him and there are people who prayed for
him and loved him into the strength of
who he is today and so I say thank
you for carrying my burdens sharing my
Joys I need
you you need each other and you are not
created to do like life alone it's is
Dumb Dumber than dumb D call yourself a
Christian and not be engaged in the body
of
Christ we talk a lot about having a
personal relationship with Jesus I'll
tell you what's even more biblical is a
shared relationship with
Jesus because we share our food and we
show our flaws and we fight together
that's what we do there's a fundamental
difference between the first century
Christians that shared everything and
Christians today I'll tell you what it
is the first century Believers
desperately needed each other and they
knew
it and Believers today desperately need
each other and they forgotten
it so I want invite you we call them
life groups we come together different
days of the week open up God's word get
to know each other we do life together
what do we do listen we share it all we
share our food we show our flaws and God
still loves us and we stand together
we're better together because we fight
together and God wants you to have that
so
God stir within our
hearts give us the faith to step out to
take some risks to get to know others to
let them in God help us to fulfill the
law of Christ by carrying the burdens of
someone else who needs our
strength and God give us the courage to
let someone else in who can carry
ours as you're praying today wherever
you are those of you who say I want even
deeper community in the family of God
would you raise your hands all of you
raise them up right now I'm just telling
you right now I want deeper Community
that's what you want that's what we need
we are the body of Christ we are the
family of God we don't do this this
alone God I just pray that your Holy
Spirit would make Divine connections I
pray God that even before people would
leave the building they might meet
someone and invite them to lunch there
might be someone who prays for somebody
else God you might speak to someone to
give something to someone God create
Community God give us the desire Lord
even in the lobbies to talk to someone
and say help me find the right life
group God take us to our people that we
could be the body of Christ and carry
one another's burdens and fulfill your
law God help help us to love and be
loved to share and even receive God
thank you that we're not alone we have
your power of your spirit we have your
presence and we have your
people to do life with help us to let
them in to trust to need your family and
to give what we have to bless
others as you keep praying today let's
talk about Community God's kind of a
community Father Son and Holy Spirit
three in one he kind of a community God
created us why not because he needed us
but because he he loved us he wanted to
love us God sent his son Jesus why not
to make us religious but because he
loved us for God so loved the world what
does he want he doesn't want you to be
religious he wants you to be in a
relationship with him I grew up thinking
you had to follow a bunch of rules I
didn't realize God is a relational God
the first thing he did was he spoke he
created Adam he said it's not good that
you're alone he created Eve to be a
helpmate for Adam because he wants us in
community and he wants us to know him
and be known by him there are those of
you today you may believe in God but you
don't know him you may have a head
knowledge of him but you don't have a
heart relationship with him guess what
you are not here by accident because a
loving God is loving you and drawing you
right now what do you do you just say
yes to a relationship with him what
blocks it well our sinfulness blocks it
God is a holy God and when we cry out to
his son Jesus he forgives our sins it
removes the bar and we begin a
relationship with him but guess what
you're not just going to start an
individual or personal relationship
we're the people of God we have a shared
relationship you enter into a family the
moment you call on Jesus wherever you're
watching from today those of you who say
I need that I need I I I need I want to
know God I may be know about him but I
don't know him we're going to step away
from our old sinful life and we're going
to call on Jesus and when you do your
sins are going to be forgiven and you're
going to be new and God's going to
reveal himself to you and you're going
to get to know him in a very personal
way Wherever You Are those who say I
need him I need forgiveness of my sins I
want to know him today I give my life to
Jesus that's your prayer lift your hands
high right now all over the place today
as we have people saying yes to him lift
up your hands and say yes Jesus I
surrender to you I give my life to you
online just type it in the comments
section I'm I'm surrendering my life to
Jesus I'm surrendering to Jesus and
everybody would you pray pray heavenly
father today
help me start a
relationship with you through Jesus
forgive me of my
sins save me make me brand new fill me
with your spirit Spirit so I could know
you so I could live for you so I could
share your
love thank you for New
Life give me a community
that knows
you to do life with to love and to be
loved thank you for saving me in Jesus
name I pray for the family of God the
people of God say thank you worship God
for who he is and welcome those born
into his family
today