Michael Todd - Where U and I Belong Community

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Today we are talking about something we all need. So
open your hearts.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
As Pastor Michael teaches us about community where we all belong.
Somebody say community where you and I belong. So when
I look up the word community, write that word down
and I'm gonna give you a definition. Community is a
feeling of fellowship with others. Oh. That just tells us

(00:53):
something right there. You can't have community by yourself. It
is coming together with others. Okay. And then you say
as a result of sharing, coming, oh that I skip
the word sharing. When you come into community, you're going
to have to not think of yourself all the time.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
You're gonna have to share something.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Now. I'm saying this because these are two of the
things that keep us out of community. These are two
of the things that make most believers say, I'll come
and get what I need to get from the church,
and I'll come do what I need to do, and
I'll just bounce out. Because it takes two things. It
takes you coming together and being vulnerable with somebody else,
and then it takes you sharing. And you do not

(01:37):
have to teach anybody how to be selfish. You don't
have to teach you gotta teach them how to share.
Think about your children, Think about you, Think about when
you really don't want to husband and wife. Think about
when you don't want to share your food. See some
of y'all. How many people have gone to the restaurant

(01:58):
and ordered an extra because you know who whatever you
was with, was gonna want some of yours. Okay, See,
you have no problem being selfish, But we do have
a problem sharing. And what God wants community to do,
or belong groups to do, or coming together in smaller
groups of people and share. He wants us to be

(02:18):
able to give of what we have. He wants us
to give our testimony, our experience, our shortcomings, our failures.
Do you know that me and you together are better
than me alone? Do you know that if you come
together and share with me what God's done in your life,

(02:39):
the things that you're still working through being vulnerable and say,
you know what, I'm trying to change my language.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
But I cuss when I get mad.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Somebody else who has not even come into the fold,
they get encouraged by your testimony because right now every
other word I say is a cuss word. So now
you're getting better. I'm trying to get where you're at.
If I just share where I'm at. God called none
of us to be perfect, but he did call us
to share during the process. And what community creates as
a safe environment for us to get in a place

(03:09):
where we can begin to share with each other.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Now, when I look at this, it says a feeling.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Or a fellowship with others as a result of sharing.
Three things you have to share your attitudes, interest and goals. Attitude,
interest and goals underlining them when you write that down now,
as believers, I don't care where you are in your process,
no matter if you've been saved for fifteen minutes because
you just got saved today or you've been saved for

(03:35):
one hundred years. These are three things that you have
to make sure your community has and as according to
the Word of God, that tells us in Ephesians, Matthew
and Philippians.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
That our attitude should be christ like period.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
It tells us our interests should be kingdom Matthew six
thirty three. If you seek first the Kingdom of God,
or you seek first the interests of the Kingdom, then
everything else gets at it. And it tells us our goals.
According to John ten ten should be for us to
have a victorious and abundant life. And according to John
three sixteen, it says we should have be hav an
eternal life. So if those three things attitudes, interest, and

(04:16):
goals are supposed to be christ like, kingdom minded and
living on abundant and eternal life, my question is is
your community looking like that? Are the people you're around
in this current season of your life do they have
those three things centered around Jesus Christ? And See, this

(04:39):
is not popular because what happens in this moment is
you have to self evaluate, well that's my girl, that's
been my friends since this long, or we've been hanging around,
or they at least go to church. That wasn't my question.
I said, are their interest kingdom interest? Are their goals?
Living an abundant life in an eternal life? Are the
things that they are interested in? Are the things that

(05:01):
they are focused on?

Speaker 1 (05:02):
Are they things that are centered around Christ?

Speaker 2 (05:05):
See? Because God has a plan for your life and
he knows what type of atmosphere you'll grow in, and
most of us are expecting huge trees of success growing
in trash. Many of us believe that we can be
this great, big old something that people look at, but

(05:26):
our root system, what's around us, what we're planning in,
is the thing that is continuing to infect us from
the inside. And so I want you to think about
your seven closest friends, your bestie, somebody else says seven,
I got three?

Speaker 1 (05:42):
Come on, just think about it.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Okay, how many people have seven close friends?

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Come on, hands? How many less than that? Oh Jesus,
now watch this.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
I want you to see this because when I say community,
your community can be made up of your family, your coworkers,
the people you go to the gym with, the people
you hoop with.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
It could be people you.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
Just met at a training class or whatever you're doing.
But that is your community. My question is who in
your community is making you better? Are you the best
one in your community? Are you the only one that
knows how to pray in your community? Are you the
only one that knows how to deal with situations in
your sphere of influence? Are you the one that's always

(06:28):
given the encouraging word many people When I say who's
in your community, some of us don't have one.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
I call you the hermit.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
You're the person that only comes out enough to do
what you need to do and then you suck back
into your safe place. Now we're a hot church. That
means humble, open, and transparent. I need you to tell
on yourself today how many hermits do I have in
the room right now?

Speaker 1 (06:55):
You're only doing what's necessary, and then you're going.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
To hands high. Everybody, take a picture right now, take
a picture of them. Okay, okay, watch that's not healthy
as your pastor, as somebody who loves you, as somebody
who wants the best for you.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
Being a hermit is not healthy for your growth.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Okay. Now on the opposite end, there are people in
here that have no depth of relationships, but they just
like people around.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Now, as we are a hot church.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Again, how many people can honestly say that they feel
more comfortable when there's more people around?

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Hands high?

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Okay, Now there's a lot of people lying in this
room because that was only now watch this. Then there's
another group of people. There's a group of people who
you know what, I got community, I got people around me.
Then my girls, my boys, my best friend, my best friend,

(07:58):
that's my that's my dude, that's who I relate to.
We've been down since she was there.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
When But my question is, what are they doing for you.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
Now, many of us would rather be loyal than grow.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
Can I help you?

Speaker 2 (08:22):
We would rather stay around a person who has been
in decline for ten years and not be the difference maker.
I'm not saying disconnect with them. I'm just saying that
that can't be your primary association because what en is
up happening is then you are.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
A product of your community.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
Why certain people don't live in certain communities, it's not
because everybody's bad in that community. It's because the collective
group of who's ever there has given an impression of
that community. And I'm not about to come up in
that because I know there's nothing coming from that. I
can prove it to you. There's certain people that will
not live in certain areas. There are certain people that

(09:05):
will not go to certain McDonald's. If it's in a
certain community, it's like I'm not going there. There's certain
people that will not go to certain libraries movie theaters.
Why it's not because of the product that it offers.
It's how the community is around it. And so what

(09:27):
ends up happening for believers, there may be people not
coming around you because of the community that you're around.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
Your next blessing your next miracle.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
The next thing that God has for you is not
trying to get away from you.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
It's trying to get away from your community.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
They see how the friend that you're always liking on
Facebook is really a gossip. So it don't have nothing
to do with you. But just because you're associated with them,
they don't want nothing to do with you. The promotion
that God has for you, the things that God wants
to take you to in ministry, the things that He
wants to do, he said. He told me very clearly,

(10:04):
he said, Michael, if my people don't get in right community,
if they don't get in the atmosphere that will produce
their growth, If they don't get in places that may
be uncomfortable for a season but will produce everything that
they're looking for, he said, then they stunt their growth.
And today, as your pastor, I came to help plant

(10:25):
some people in different ground.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
I am committed.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
If you are a part of.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
This church, we have a vision.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
We exist to represent God to the lost and found
for transformation in Christ.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
That's the whole reason we're here.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
And if you are here and you're participating in this
transformation process, we are committed to your growth. I want
you to hear me say that very clearly, because some
ministries are not committed to your growth. They're committed to
their growth, to their name being made bigger. I am
committed to your growth. We pray, we strategize, we try
to figure out how can we help God's people get

(10:58):
to the maximum. I want you to hear me say this.
We're not trying to keep anybody here. Some of your
purpose is bigger than being right here at Transformation Church.
You will check in at church every month because God
is gonna have you all across the world. And some
people are intimidated by that. You better do you boo,
You better reach purpose, You better go after your goals.

(11:20):
If God put the dream in your heart, I want
you to reach it and I want you to be
everything for the glory of God. We're not gonna stunt
anybody's growth, but you cannot grow if you're not growing.
Some of you are believing for things that you're not
in the right soil to see. And what I desire
to do in the next few minutes that I have

(11:42):
to speak to you is give you an understanding why
you need to be in community, why you need to
be in a place where you belong. Why you need
to have somebody around you that can look at you
and say something's wrong with you.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
I'm fine.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
No, no, no, no no. I saw you last week and
the week before that, the week before that.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
We have rapport with each other. What is wrong with you?

Speaker 2 (12:04):
Matter of fact, you're not gonna say Nothing'm gonna pay
for you. Come on staying, I don't want to pray,
grab my hand, and then the spirit of God begins
to come in and they break down and say, I
didn't know that. It was so so hard. Somebody came
into my job today and it was Mother's Day and
I remembered my mother died and we didn't have a

(12:24):
relationship together.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
And then you get healing in the place of right community.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Or for somebody else that comes in and they're bringing
a loved one or a brother that doesn't know God,
and you still kind of lukewarm, so you don't know
how to share the gospel with him. But you're on
your journey, y'all gonna play. You know, half the time
you was saved, you was luke warm. You were still
doing this and you were still doing that. But you're
trying to lead somebody else to the thing. And so
you bring them to community where there are people that

(12:51):
are better than you. That where you can sit back
and be like, Amen, Amen, that's what I meant to say.
A place where you can get developed and develop somebody else.
That's what community will do for you. Community will be
able to allow you to be in a place with
your enemy and still love them. See, some of y'all

(13:14):
don't like people, but it's not until God's not removing
them out of your life, until you learn how to
live with them.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
You missed it. No, Amen's on that side.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
They're still here boom. You still see them all the time,
and you're like, God, just remove them. And God said,
I'm trying to transform you. I'll remove them when you
get transformed. And it's easier to transform in community. You
don't want to go out with them one on one
in coffee, but you get in a belong group and

(13:45):
they show.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
Up, me, oh my god, why, oh my God.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
I think I have to use the bathroom like you
start making excuses and the Holy Spirit says, go back
in that room. And then in community you can begin
to hear where the broken police places started. And community
then you can begin to develop a passion to be
able to pray for them and not hate them. See,
that's what happens when you get in community. And so

(14:11):
I want to help you understand because it's something that
I didn't understand. Can I be honest with you. I
grew up in a church that it was all about
the platform and the miracles and the signs and the wonders,
and they really never talked about the community part of it.
They didn't foster the relationship party. If you wasn't praying,
if you weren't on the worship team, if you didn't
have some amazing gift that everybody can goog an I over,

(14:34):
then it was kind of like you just come and watch,
watch how amazing this Man of God is. Amn, d
Man of God. I don't need to learn how to spell.
So when I grew up, I didn't understand the value
of being in community until I came to this church

(14:56):
and we started a ministry called so Fly, and then
I had to begin to develop a team around me.
And I only knew how to develop a team one way.
I knew basketball. So you know, on a basketball team,
everybody does everything. And so we get together and we
pray together. Everybody prays together. Then we get together and
we play together. Everybody plays together. And when then we
get together and we and we work together, and everybody

(15:18):
works together, and I begin to figure out, like, wow,
community is really cool, Like when you got people you
can call on, when you got people you can talk to,
when you got people that are going in the same direction.
But then God changed a lot of our lives and
he began to take us in different directions, and he
began to marry people, and then other people started to
go to other places to fulfill purpose, and then other

(15:41):
people started moving. And I didn't realize how much community
affected me being who I was supposed to be. I
didn't realize how me rubbing up against somebody else who's
sharpened an area that I'm weak made me better. I
didn't realize. And so there was a season, even as
me coming in just being completely transparent when I came
into pastoring, that I isolated myself because I didn't know

(16:04):
if I really had community the people only want to
be around because now I had a platform, are people around.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
See?

Speaker 2 (16:13):
This is the beautiful thing about true relationship and community,
that they'll love you when you don't have anything, and
they'll love you and support you when you have everything.
But the problem is many of us don't know the
healthy way. I did not know until I begin to
study the Word of God, the healthy way to form community.
And so I want you to have a better path
than I've ever had. I want to teach you how

(16:36):
important and how to have community. And it just so
happens that you're in a church that believes completely in
us having community.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
So today, as.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
I talk about this, I want you to just wipe
out what you've known. Wipe out the hurt, wipe out
the frustration, wipe out everything that you've seen. While I
was in a group one time and they just was
haters and it be turned into a clique and they
didn't stop. Just stop, Okay. For the next twenty minutes,
I just want you to hear me speak and see

(17:05):
that this is the biblical plan of God. And then
at the end of this, I want you to make
a decision do you need community. I'm not gonna tell
you that you have to, but I'm gonna tell you
that it would help you a whole bunch and that
it is the model of the Bible. So let's go
to our word.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
Right now.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
As we look at this and we look at this
title of community, I begin to look for examples, cause
you know, a lot of people can come up with
things that they want to happen and make it fit
into the Bible. But I said, God, what transformation church does?
I want it to be biblical. I don't want us
to be coming up and trying to make something up.
I want you to show us what you're trying to

(17:45):
do to build your church. And God said, oh, that's
all I'm waiting on you to ask me, and he
gave me two examples. I want us to go to
Exodus eighteen, and I want you to realize that small
groups or belong groups or anything like that that we're
talking about, this is God's intentional plan for the health

(18:05):
of the church and the growth of his people. He
wants us to have camaraderie and community. Okay, that's what
God desires for every person. And so I'm gonna just
give you the first point and then I'm gonna explain
this for the sake of time. Point number one, small
groups are the biblical model for a healthy church. Small

(18:26):
groups are the biblical model for a healthy church. I
want to let you know that God has prophesied over
this church many times that this is going to be
a megachurch. What we are in right now is the
beginning stages of a church that's going to affect tens
of thousands of people every week. If that is not
what you signed up for, you probably need to move

(18:46):
around real quick, because God's about to erupt in this place.
But when I say that we're not just gonna be
a big obese church, We're gonna be a healthy church.
I want to be very very clear about this. Robert
Morris writes in a book called The Blessed Church. He said,
you never ever need to worry about growth in any
area of your life. He said. The only factor that

(19:07):
you need to worry about is health. He said, because
healthy things grow. And it hit me. He said, think
about a plant. He said, if you put plant a
seed in right soil, you make sure it has the
right amount of sunlight, you make sure that it's being
watered properly. He said, you don't have to tell it
to grow. It does it automatically. He said. Look at
a baby, He said, a baby, as long as it's healthy,

(19:29):
you never ever have.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
To tell it to grow. It's just gonna blow up
my son right now, MJ.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
From last week, from last month to this month, he
has become a sumo wrestler. Now I'm not even playing.
Just facts, cheeks, just fat, just can't even move, just
like just beg And I said, what happened?

Speaker 1 (19:49):
And the Holy Spirit said, he's healthy.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
His mom makes sure he has food, You make sure
the climate is right, you make sure that his needs
are met.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
He said, you don't sit up every morning and.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
Say, Jay, today's the day. I really believe that you're
gonna grow. It's just happening all around because he's healthy.
The fact that many believers don't grow is because they're
not healthy. The fact that many churches don't grow, it
is because they're not healthy. The fact that many things
in our life are stagnant in places is not because

(20:19):
we're not doing something. It's because it's not completely healthy.
So when it comes to us growing as a church,
there's many ways to grow as a church. I could
offer food for everybody who comes in here every Sunday,
pizza pockets and gatorades, and we'd have tons of people
in here that wouldn't be healthy.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
You wouldn't be going spiritually.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
And so what God is saying is he wants this
church to grow healthy, and he gives us a model
in Exodus eighteen. Let me tell you what happens in
Exodus eighteen, and you can read the whole chapter. But
what happens is Moses is standing before the people and
he has a congregation of two million people. That's his
church size, one church, two million people. And it says

(21:00):
that Moses wakes up early in the morning and stays
up till late at night. And it says he stands
before all the people, and what he does is he's
their judge, he's their counselor he's their doctor. He does
everything for them. And he's starting to burn out. And
what ends up happening if Jethrow, his father in law,
comes and sees him and says there is a huge

(21:21):
problem here. He says, what you're doing is not good
for yourself and it's not good for the people. He said,
you about to die, and they ain't never gonna get
to see you. If you're the one million, nine hundred
and ninety ninth person, you're probably gonna be dead by
the time you see Moses. So what jet throw does
is give the first consultation. He says, what we're going

(21:43):
to do is we're gonna break your ministry down into
smaller groups so that everybody's needs can get met. So
he says, what I want you to do, Moses, is
I want you to appoint leaders of ten people, then
leaders of fifty people, and then leaders of one hundred people,
and then a leader of thousands of people. He said,

(22:03):
And what they're going to do is meet the needs
of the people where you can't get to them, They're
going to get to them and they are going to
be fulfilled.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
In this congregation.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
What is a leader of tim that's our small group facilitators.
I'm telling you we're a church of about five hundred,
six hundred people right now. There is no way that
every single one of our needs as we walk this
Christian walk is going to be met by your pastor.
I'm sorry, the human man only has about the capacity
of two hundred people to foster over. And if we're

(22:35):
going to be everything that God called us to be,
we have to look at the models in the Bible.
This is how this church was healthy and they grew.
It's that they broke down into smaller groups that got
in community, they got their needs met, and they all
became better because they were in a place where somebody
knew their name. How many people in this room have
come to a place where it's a lot of people

(22:56):
and you knew that the people in charge did not
know your name. What it creates for you is a
place to be able to slip in and slip out.
Do you know how many people have been coming to
a church in sin the entire time and nobody even knows.
Somebody who is sick about to die on the hospital
and nobody.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Comes to visit because nobody even knew.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
How many people are going through a trial that you
need a prayer answered, and your prayer answer is in
the building, but nobody knew that you were going through
that situation. It's because we're not in community how God
has called us to be. But it's time for us
to get into community. It's where you and I belong.
I want you to find somebody and say it's where
you point at them, It's where you and I belong community.

(23:45):
Let me tell you what happened from this and you
can read it later for yourself. In Exodus eighteen twenty three,
but it said because Moses did this. The people were
happy because they got their needs met. Moses was relieved
because he only met with the leaders and that that
whole congregation was better field and better suited to fulfill
God's purpose. And I'm glad God gives us an example

(24:08):
because I'm one of those people that say, Okay, if
you want me to be in a small group, or
you want me to get in community, I want you
to tell me why and show me how. Don't just
tell me to do something. I'm one of those tell
me why and show me how people anybody else like that.
If you come to fix something at my house, I'm
standing there the whole time asking you questions. Tell me
why you're doing that and show me how, because I'm

(24:30):
not paying you next time.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
Do you understand what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
I'm one of those people that if I go to
the food court in the mall, I'm going to taste
all of the samples. Amen, why because I want you
to tell me why yours is the best and show
me how good it tastes. Do you understand what I'm saying.
I'm one of those people God's not intimidated by when
he asked you to do something like get in community,

(24:55):
get in a belong group. Your first response can be Okay,
tell me why and show me how.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
Christians don't like that question.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
But God gave us his word to show us how
and to tell us why. Point number two. I want
you to see this very clearly. The church is supposed
to grow. The church, God's Church is supposed to grow.
I'm not just talking about our church, but I'm talking
about every church. It's supposed to be growing. And I

(25:23):
know people at this moment they have this thing. It
is not about numbers. It is not it's not about numbers.
I understand what they mean when they say that numbers
should not be the motivation, and I completely agree.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
But numbers do matter. Why do you say that, Pastor Mike.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
Because there's too many places in the Bible where they
reference the exact number of people of fishes of miracles,
of the number of congregation that was added. Why Because
the more people, the more salvations. So I always correct
people when they say it's not about the numbers. I say,
it's not only about the numbers, it's about the souls.

(26:02):
Bishop says it like this all the time. He says,
you can't disciple a chair. You can't catch and clean
as you can't clean a fish that you haven't caught yet.
And I say it like this, you can't catch a
fish in your backyard pool in the place of your comfort.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
You got to go out into the deep.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
Okay, what I'm trying to say to you is the
church is supposed to grow and it's the plan of God.
And so I'm going to take you through Acts really fast.
In five minutes, I'm gonna take you through almost the
whole Book of Acts, and so I just need you
to write down the scriptures. But I'm gonna show you
God's growth plan for his church. Everybody say, I am
the church. You are a part of the church. You're
the organism, and then God has the organization. And I

(26:46):
want you to watch how the church grew from one
man to twelve people to over one hundred thousand people
in twenty five years. And I want you to just
think about this. This is one church. What if we
committed twenty five years of our life, Think about how
old you would be. Some of y'all would up be
gone the glory. But just think think about if we

(27:09):
committed twenty five years watch this of our life to
building the Kingdom of God, whether it be here or
anywhere else. I'm not talking about at the church. I'm
talking about just building the Kingdom of God. What would
happen if this one local church grew to touch one hundred,
one hundred thousand people's lives every week? That's unfathomable for

(27:31):
some people. You mad because you've got a parking space,
only five hundred people in here, and you can't get in.
How we gonna do a thousand people? How are we
gonna do two thousand people? How are we gonna get
everybody in belong groups? God gave us a model, He
gave us an example. He shows us what in his words,
he's about to tell us how and show us why
he did it. I want you to look at Acts
chapter one, verse fifteen, and you don't even have to

(27:53):
look at it, really, because I'm just gonna go through
them Acts chapter one, verse fifteen.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
There was one hundred and twenty believers. That's it.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
This church started with one hundred and twenty people, okay.
And it first started with Jesus or Peter. Really, he said,
up on you, I'm gonna build my church. And then
there was twelve disciples with him, and then it went
to one hundred and twenty people and Acts two then
it goes to the day of Pentecost. Why are you
going through all this, pastor Mike, because I want you
to have an understanding.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
I don't want you to just be out here doing things.

Speaker 2 (28:20):
I want you to see that you are about to
participate in the plan and the purpose of God. So on.
In Acts two it goes to the day of Pentecosts
and most of us know this is in the Upper Room, and.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
We go to the Upper Room.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
And what ends up happening in the Upper room is
the Holy Spirit comes down and he meets the people,
and it says they get filled with the Holy Spirit.
Does anybody know how many people were added to the
church on its first day? Three thousand people were added
in one day. What does that tell me? When the
Spirit is somewhere, there's no telling what can happen. One

(28:54):
thing I know about this church. We may not be
perfect in every way, but the Spirit of God shows
up here every Sunday. And where the Spirit of the
Lord is, there's liberty, there's freedom, there's the anointing, the breakout.
Addictions can fall off, things can change in your perspective
where the spirit of the Lord is. That's why I.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
Don't care what church you go to, but you better.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
Make sure the spirit of the Lord is there, because
then it's just motivational talk. And I can get that
on YouTube anyway. Hear what I'm saying to you. So
it goes from one twenty to three thousand in one day.
And then it says in Acts, chapter two, verse forty seven,
and it said, and each day the Lord.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
Added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
Everybody say each day, if there's three hundred and sixty
five days in a year, they were adding at least
one person a day, three hundred and sixty five people
a year. I just want you to do some math
real quick. This is the year twenty and sixteen. If
we follow the model of the Bible, we should at
least be growing three hundred and sixty five people a year.

(29:57):
If just following three hundred and sixty five people should
be added to our fellowship a year in ten years,
that's three thousand, six hundred.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
And fifty people.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
Plus the five hundred people or the six hundred people
that go here already, that'd be forty two hundred and
fifty people. Two hundred and fifty of them gonna flake out.
So at least four thousand people should be a part
of this assembly ten years from now if we're doing
what the word says. But if we don't want to
be challenged and be stretching our faith and getting community,

(30:29):
we'll say stuff like this. It don't matter. We'll just
strew it over who God sends us. Yeah, we stew
it over who God sends us. But we go get
some more. When the work is actually being done, people
are attracted to the life transformation that God provides. So
what I want you to see is that this is
God's plan for growth. Then you go to Acts chapter four,

(30:50):
verse four it said the number of believers now total
to five thousand men, now counting women and children. Now,
if you know there's five thousand men there, how many
women and children you think is there? They didn't have TV.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
Back then, y'all know they was being truthful and multiplying.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
So what I'm saying is there's about fifteen to twenty
thousand people a part of the church in three chapters.
Now look at this, it says, Acts chapter five, verse fourteen.
And he says, and now more and more people believed
and were brought to the Lord in crowds multitudes, both
men and women. The word multitude means too many to count.

(31:24):
Acts Chapter six, verse one. It says, but the believers
rapidly multiplied. I love this one because it said they
went from addition to multiplication.

Speaker 1 (31:33):
The math changed.

Speaker 2 (31:35):
There's a level of adding and sharing the gospel and
being in community to the point where the math changed.
Where it goes from all we're adding one a day
to multiplication happens. Look at Acts chapter six, verse seven.
I'm just walking you through the Book of Acts and
seeing God grow the first Church. This is one group
of people who decided to believe God. Acts chapter six,
verse seven. It says the number of believers greatly increased

(31:57):
in Jerusalem. That's exponential growth. Then jump to Acts twenty
one twenty and then Paul comes back twenty five years later.
This is why I said it's twenty five years. Paul
comes back twenty five years later, and it says, brother,
do you know how many thousands of Jews have also believed?
The original Greek word right here is the word mariottis,

(32:17):
which actually means tens of tens of tens of tens
of thousands of people have started to believe because we
got into community and did something centered around Jesus. When
I begin to look at this, most of us want
to be a part of something that just affects us.
But God calls you to be a part of something
that affects your city. He doesn't want you to just

(32:39):
affect your block. He wants you to affect this state.
What we do collectively can be able to do something
to change everything. And everybody I started to study. I
went to see the movie Risen. I encourage everybody to
go see that. It's a very good movie. But I
went to go see this movie and it just started
to intrigue me because they were so scared of the

(32:59):
Gospel spreading in that area. And I said, what happened?
I begin to research, and they said, within twenty five years,
the first twenty five years, there was two hundred thousand
people in Jerusalem, they had spread the Gospel to over
one hundred thousand people. That's like us being in Tulsa
and half the people, one out of two are a Christian,

(33:19):
a believer, and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 1 (33:23):
Why don't that excite y'all?

Speaker 2 (33:32):
You want to change government, get somebody that hears from God.
You want to change schools, Get somebody in there that's
the principle that knows the Holy Spirit. You want to
change entertainment, Get Kanye saved for real. See you're praying,
but it's because we're so scared and we don't want
to be in community that will be able to present
Jesus in a way that people get getting changed, and

(33:53):
so we just want to pray for them. For from afar,
I'm asking God give me interest. I'll be the one
to be able to tell people and love them back
into life and be able to help walk with them
through their gray areas.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
Do I understand what I'm saying?

Speaker 2 (34:08):
They said the first three hundred years of the Church,
by the three hundred years, the Caesar, which was the
top of the world, the reigner of the free country
of the Roman Empire, he was a Christian in three
hundred years. Now look at this. We've had the cross
for over two thousand years, and most people in government
positions are not spirit feeld Christians. It must mean that

(34:31):
the Church is not doing something to create community where
we can begin to invite people in and let them
look at our life. No, I may not have as
much money as you, but I got peace that passes
all understanding. No, No, I may not have the connects
that you have, but I got the hot line.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Do you understand what I'm saying?

Speaker 2 (34:50):
I got direct connection to the one who can change
the whole situation. Stop comparing yourself and being and trying
to be in communities that will not reduce your growth,
your healing, your faith and this church who got in
the same mind and the same heart, begin to get
in the community to create impact in their city and

(35:12):
their region, in their world to where we're talking about
it two thousand years later. Will anybody talk about what
we did two thousand years from now? Skip two thousand.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
Will anybody talk about what you did next year?

Speaker 2 (35:31):
Next month? Are you a blip on the radar? Do
you not even show up? And I'm begin to ask God,
I said, God, I don't want to be one of
those who just lived and had a great plan in
my mind, but I didn't affect anybody. He said, So
you need to start getting around people and becoming better.
You need to get in community. You need to belong somewhere.

(35:53):
You need to get in where people can have your
sit down and shut up card, and they can I'll
love you through it card. Why because this is the
first plan of God. Can I prove it to you?
When Adam was in the garden with God, they were
in perfect communion. Because I see some of y'all say,
I'm good with God. Me and him, we already got

(36:14):
it together. Nobody else has to be in this. We
got a special thing. I don't way at everybody alms.
And look what God said. Adam was perfect with God.
And he looked at him and said, it's not good
that he's alone. It didn't say that it's not good
that he's not in connection with me. That it was perfect,

(36:34):
no sin. But he said he needs to be in community.
And so he created Eve to create community for him.
Now his community took himself and got him kicked out
of the garden. But when we see the example, God said,

(36:55):
I need for every man to be conjoined, every woman
to be associated with people that can potentially make them better.
The third thing that I want to say is the
church must grow larger and smaller at the same time. See,
because what happens in this thing, this church continues to grow. Okay,

(37:17):
but right now they're getting bigger, and are their needs
getting met? They're getting bigger. But there's people coming on
Sunday mornings, so there are worship experience. But how do
they facilitate all of these people? Where do they all go?
What do they all do? And God gives a plan
right here in Acts Chapter five, verse forty two. And
this is really the crux of what I want to
say to us, because many of us come, and we

(37:38):
come Sunday mornings, and we're here and we're a part
of this growing community, and we see what God's doing
in this church and how He's gonna use you, and
how he's gonna use us, and how he's gonna change
everything through you and your sphere of influence. But how
now do we get our needs met? How now do
we start meeting other people's needs? How now do we
get in a place where we can grow and cultivate?

(37:59):
And it shows us in Acts two and Acts five,
verse forty two, and this is basic concept. It says
they're one church in multiple locations with two types of meetings,
one church in multiple locations with two types of meetings.

Speaker 1 (38:15):
Acts Chai, verse forty two.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
It said they met day after day in temple courts
and from house to house. In temple courts and from
house to house. If you've ever seen a picture of
temple courts, it's basically the big places where all the
people came together.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
This church, the first church.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
They met in big worship experiences, and then they went
and they met at everybody's house. They had large worship
and small group fellowship.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
I want everybody to see this picture.

Speaker 2 (38:49):
They would come together to worship all together, and then
they would go back and talk about it in smaller
groups so that their voice could be heard and they
could get understanding. If this is a biblical model that
the church grew by, this is the biblical model that
this church will grow by.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
I want you to see.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
It's great that everybody's here on Sunday, it's great that
everybody's here today. But for many of us, this was
a good We're gonna post about it. We're gonna say, whooh,
that was good, and we're not gonna think about what
happened today until next Saturday night when we're deciding if
we're gonna come Sunday morning. How do you know passionwake
because I did it for years. I'm not saying something

(39:29):
that we haven't all done. We make decisions whatever. But
when you get connected in a group of people that's
helping you throughout the week to be able to say, yeah,
I heard what Passlonwake said, but I didn't understand that.
I heard what was going on right here. But why
did they do that? You know what? I felt like
God said this to me in my spirit. But am
I hearing God? Or is that just me? When you
get in fellowship of other believers that are going the

(39:51):
same way, that have the same interests, that have the
same goals, what ends up happening is you get in
a place where you become better, and you get in
a place where it grows everybody around you. And this
is what the first church did said they come together
in temple courts and in from house to house. That
means as a church, we have to grow larger in
our worship and grow smaller in our fellowship. We have

(40:12):
to grow larger on this weekend experience. We want lost
people to get in here on the weekends. Are you
religious people who are real churches? We won't lost people
in here during our Sunday morning experiences. That's why I
wear what I wear, That's what we do what we do.
I can't wait to be able to get a coffee
bar and give out free food and do all that
other stuff. Why we need to get lost people in here.

(40:36):
But when you start doing that in most churches, then
they say it's to, it's to, it's not, it's not
deep enough. Why they doing all of that, Why they
take that song, why they playing that? Why they don't
because we're not trying to attract you. You're ministering right now.
What happens when your seat is not the place where
you watch from, it's the place you minister from. And

(40:58):
what happens when we're in coomm unity so much that'd
be like, man, I didn't get much out of the
word today, But I know I'm going to my B
group and when I get around those people, They're gonna
have another perspective and another revelation and another heart about
what's happening. And I'm gonna get my AHA moment there.
But we're not in community. So we go from these
places and we complain. We go from the large worship
experience and talk about it was Pastor Mike sick this week?

Speaker 1 (41:20):
Was something wrong?

Speaker 2 (41:21):
Check his instagram? But I want you to understand that
my job is not to be the minister. According to Ephesians,
it says that I'm supposed to equip you to do
the work of the ministry. You're holding me to a
standard that I ain't even signed up for. My job

(41:43):
is to encourage you, equip you, train you, let you
know where you're supposed to be to grow, because if
you get in the right community, then God will send
you out from that place as a minister.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
I can't wait for the day.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
To where people be like, who is y'all pastor? Because
I'm telling you all them people from Transformation Church, they
bus business, they get people's life change. They're helping people,
they're serving people. They're working all over the place. They're
changing lives. They're CEOs, they're movie stars, they're people in
doctors' offices. They are the people. They're the ministers because

(42:15):
it's not gonna happen with me doing it. It's gonna
happen with you doing it. And when we do it,
then we make change. That's what happened in the first Church.
So God's plan is for all of us to grow.
So when we say this and this strategy that we're
talking about for the church to grow larger and smaller
at the same time. How we want to do that

(42:35):
here at Transformation Church is we want everybody to come.
I'm gonna be very very very clear in this church
in this next season of what we're calling to do
for some of you. It may be uncomfortable. I'm telling
you this is a mandate and God is calling you hire.
Please do not ignore the call. It's time for you
to commit to two things, large group worship and small

(42:57):
group fellowship. Well, I was hurt before, God says, I'm
setting a redo button. I'm sending people that know how
to help heal you, and I'm sending people, some of
them to get on your nerves so it can go
ahead and help refine you. You know a diamond is
only refined with agitation. You know a pearl How a

(43:19):
pearl is actually made is because saying gets into a
clam's mouth and the irritation creates something so beautiful. You
need to start thanking God for those people around you
who are irritating you when the last time you thank
God for that, because what they're doing is qualifying you
for your next miracle.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
While you're complaining, God's saying.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
If you were just focused on what I'm trying to
do and what I'm trying to build in you, you
would become everything I've called you to be. Does everybody understand?
So as we participate in this a great weekend experience.
I love what we do here on Sundays. I love it,
and I'm so glad that you come. But now I'm
calling you high. I don't got time. Yes you do.

(44:07):
Just look at the things that don't produce in your
life and eliminate one of them. You'll find an hour
and a half. Just one of them, You'll find an
hour and a half. Well, Pastor, I don't really know
if I'm called to be in a group setting. I
don't know if that's where God wants me. I need

(44:30):
to pray about that. It is his example in the Bible,
and he wants every person in here to be in community.
It's where you and I belong. I'm going to give
you five reasons as we leave of why we use
belong groups so that people can have an understanding. Okay,
the first reason is because it's biblical. I said it before,

(44:53):
But many people use the message of the Bible and
they don't use the methods of the Bible. Everybody got
the message of the Bible, but they don't use the message.
What's the first thing Jesus did after he got baptized
and started his ministry. What is the first thing he did?
He got a belong group. He got out the water
and he started walking and said, I need some guys

(45:14):
to be accountable to.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
Hey, fishermen, come with me. You're a text collector.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
Let's get around each other and walk together. Hey. I
know that you always mess up, Peter, but come on
and walk with me because you're a failure anyway.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
Just come on, let's all get in here together.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
He started calling people out of their spheres of influence
to walk with them. When I begin to look at this,
I said, Wow, it's crazy that God didn't do his
thing and allow people to get attracted to him.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
He went and found people to belong with.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
See, he coulda start doing miracles and he would have
had groupies out the wazoo. But God needs you to
be around some people who are with you before you
make it, before you get the blown up head, before
you get married, before you go into the next God says,
I want people to walk with you that have my
heart and that can keep you accountable. And if Jesus

(46:06):
did it, I just thought about this. If it was
a priority for the Son of God, it may be
for you. We need to be in a belong group.
So we do belong groups because it's biblical number two.
We do belong groups because it's personal. It's personal touch,
it's somebody who knows your name, it's somebody that you

(46:28):
can talk to.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
Do you know how many people have.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
A problem with things that I say and I never
find out about it. I mean, we have had people
leave the church passing. Mike is not about this. You
don't know that just haven't talked about it. We don't know.
It's because we don't have a personal relationship. And this
is the thing I can pasture you from up here.
And I'm the captain over a thousand. Do you understand

(46:50):
what I'm saying. But until we get in a room
together and you can feel my heart beating, you can
smell me, and you can know when me and my
wife are going through something. You then can become a
part of the process of helping.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
Me become who can do that for you right now?

Speaker 2 (47:06):
See, many of my young people get in relationships right now.
And you're in relationships with nobody around you can I
tell you that as the formula for the greatest sin
of your life. When there's no accountability. Then when there's
nobody that you can say, guys, oh my god, he
asked me out, you can come to a belong group

(47:27):
and said that I'm in a relationship now, and I
promise you they're gonna rejoice with you. They're gonna laugh
with you, they're gonna talk with you, and then they're
gonna watch and pray. Oh, come on, somebody, then they're
gonna watch and pray. Why because the enemy has a
plan for you and you're in cloud now. I'm telling you,
love will do something dumb to you. It'll make you

(47:50):
do stuff you ain't never thought you'd do. Well. I
felt like the Lord said that to lay pastraight before him,
and so we was just wanting to do that together
on this bitch. Shut up. That is sin and the devil.
You're gonna have a baby, Do you understand? But I'm

(48:10):
telling you those are real thoughts when you're not walking
in accountability. Why because I had them sneaking in and
out of people's windows, doing all those things, just talking
about we just need to talk. We need to pray together.
Stop it. What I'm saying to you is when you

(48:32):
come into an area or community where you belong, there's
wisdom there, somebody who's walked and they can see that. Yo,
my mom says, my nose is wide open. They can see, hey, baby,
this is we believe that that's gonna be good for you.

Speaker 1 (48:47):
This is what I would just encourage you.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
Let him date you, don't just chill at his house
and don't let him chill at your house. As matter
of fact, let's just.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
Pray about it right now.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
That's what happens in community, and what could have been
a one night stand or a fling or a heartbreak
turns into your husband because a community.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
Do you know, one of the greatest things that I have.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
The awesome power or awesome opportunity to do is walk
alongside of men and women who have been generals in
the faith for a long time. I mean, I don't
think that we know as a whole, but we don't
know who we have in this house. These people have
sown seeds and done things in the world that many
of us are aspiring to do. But I get to

(49:30):
talk to them in staff meetings Pastor Barbara Bishop, I
get to go with my parents, I get to see
and here. It's because when I'm in community, I'm better
because of them. Hear what I'm saying to every person
in here. Your next level is coming from somebody else.
I'm gonna say it again, your next level, well, Pastor Mike,

(49:50):
I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
But God was always a partner. He always asks you
to depend on the Holy Spirit. He asked you to
get in right company. He said it's not good for
two to walk a walk walk together unless they agree why.
He's always looking for community and he wants people to
be in places that they belong. So we use belong

(50:11):
groups because they're personal. You can ask a question in
belong group. I'm being very practical right now. You can
say I don't agree with that. In belong group, you
can get somebody to support you. In a belong group.
Many of you and we've had letters and different things
that have happened, and it happens in churches all over
the world. But there'll be people that get sick and
nobody even knows, and then people get bitter and they

(50:33):
stop coming to the church. And then you see him
at Walmart and be like, hey, where have you been?
And they be like mm hmm, And I said, well okay,
and they's like, well, I've been in the hospital for
three weeks and nobody came and saw me.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
That's your fault. You never showed yourself friendly.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
You never put yourself out there and were vulnerable enough
to say, hey, can I come with y'all? See? That
is we learn in school that if you have to ask,
then it's whack that you want people to just automatically
invite you in. This is the thing. If you ask,
you get to go, You still get there, and so

(51:18):
many people. I want to take that stigma off of you.
If you see people going out to eat, hey where
y'all going? Can I go? See? Jesus went and found
people who were already doing stuff and told him, Hey,
I need to be with y'all. We need to do this.
Do you know? And this is the great thing about it.
God did not change them when he walked with them.

(51:41):
Do you know how many times they caught fish because
he was with fishermen. Jesus didn't know how to fish,
but because he was surrounded by fishermen, he ate good catfish.
See do you know that he was a carpenter by trade,
but he got around people who look different than him,
who did different things than him, who are not in

(52:02):
and he started belonging in that place. Do you know
one of the dudes was a tax collector, so he
knew about money. I'm trying to just help you understand
that what God wants us to do is belong.

Speaker 1 (52:15):
In a group that doesn't look like us.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
If everybody does exactly what you do, then you're in
the wrong group. You have to cross pollinate. You have
to get with somebody of a different ethnicity, you have
to get with somebody of a different race, You have
to get something of a body with a different generation.
Some of you twenty year olds need to get with
some of these sixty year olds. Some of you forty
year olds need to get with some of these thirty

(52:38):
year olds. Why because twenty five is way different than
thirty five, and thirty five is sure different than forty five.
But where are we talking about it? Where? Where are we?
Where are we sharing our life experiences at? And that's
supposed to happen in groups that we belong. So we
use belong groups because they are personal We use belong

(52:59):
groups because they're flex they can start anywhere at any time.
This church is about to continue to move forward. And
many of us I got my job, I got my schedule,
I got my work, I got this and we understand that.
And so what we did instead of just doing a
Wednesday night service, whereas Wednesday night and that's it. Some
of you been asking why don't y'all have Wednesday night service?

(53:19):
Because we want people to be in fellowship, not just
a sit here while I tell you something and then
you walk away. We want you now to go away
with a group of people and talk about what we've
talked about and begin to apply it to your life
and maybe get a different perspective that somebody else is
not seeing. You get it because you're with them all
the time. We could come and have service all the time,

(53:42):
but I promise you your growth would be stunted.

Speaker 1 (53:45):
Nobody wants to hear.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
Me talk all the time. People come to a church
to hear a pastor, but they stay in a church
for relationships. Research sows that if a person gets in
a church and after a year has seven friends, they'll
stay in that church. If not, they tend to leave.
Why it's because relationships.

Speaker 1 (54:07):
Are the glue.

Speaker 2 (54:08):
Where where and who are you in relationships with? Why
am I challenging you with this today, passer Mike. Why
are you going so hard about us being a part
of a belong group.

Speaker 1 (54:19):
Why are you telling us that we need to be
in community?

Speaker 2 (54:21):
It's because this is where God put all of the
people who he called to be a part of his
first church. And this church didn't just take over an
area or a city. It took over an entire region
and then spread to the entire world. If we're gonna
make impact in our lives, we have to be ones
that are participating in the plan of God and not

(54:44):
just doing the message of the Bible, but we're.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
Doing the model of the Bible.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
I want to end with Acts two forty two, and
next week will be a lot more interesting for people.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
What does it do for me? And how do I
get stronger?

Speaker 2 (54:59):
And all this other But I just want to I
want to just tell you today what happened when this
church got together and did large group worship, and they
did small group fellowship. Acts two forty two. It says
in all the believers devoted themselves to the apostles, teaching

(55:20):
that means they were studying what was talked about on Sunday.
And to fellowship, that's sharing with each other, and to
sharing in meals they got to eat, Thank you God
for food, including the Lord's sepper, and to prayer my
needs and your needs being given to God together Verse

(55:42):
forty three. It says after all of that, a deep
sense of awe came over them. All they were amazed,
and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders, and
all the believers met together in one place and watched this.
They shared everything they had, They sold their property and
possessions and shared their money with those in need. They

(56:04):
worshiped together in the big temples each day, and then
they met in small groups and be groups in their
homes for the Lord's sepher, and they shared their meals
with great joy and generosity. Literally shared their food and
everything they had with joy and generosity. And all the
while they were praising God and enjoying the good will

(56:25):
of all the people. And watch this, and each day
the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.
The reason we do this entire thing is for transformation
in Christ. I don't want you to be in a
belonged group, or get in a community, or do those
things so that it can just be something you're doing.

(56:49):
When you get transformed in Christ, other people notice, and
then you begin to share the gospel. We're asking everybody
to take the darekasa. You spent ah old message talking
about this, yep, because it's that important. I'm telling some
of you the Holy Spirit. I've been praying for you
all week Again. I'm learning how to be pastor in

(57:11):
a whole new way. I'm learning that me preaching is
not about your response, It's about your growth. I can
preach stuff that get you respond, but you never grow. Me.
Me telling you things, me sharing these things with you
are for you now to be hungry? Is that really
what happened? Go study it in Acts two forty two.
Go study it in Exodus. When these people got in
temple courts, the big worship experience, the multiple locations, and

(57:34):
then they met in their homes, are in there in
their small groups every week, it said they begin to
grow exponentially.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
I'm just asking you, who's gonna know you changed? Because
they've been with you for a while.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
Who's gonna notice the difference Because they've prayed for you
and your marriage to be changed. Who's gonna be the
one that, at the moment that you are not feeling
like following God anymore, they can look you in your
eyes and say, I know there's better in you. I
know God has a plan for you. I know that
you more. Who are gonna be the people to celebrate

(58:09):
with you when you get married. One of the greatest
examples that I've seen in belonged groups, and there's many testimonies,
is that when people lose loved ones like we buried
Mimi yesterday, this woman had a very strong belonged group.
They met in Mimi's home every Tuesday. Was it Tuesday?

Speaker 1 (58:32):
Thursday?

Speaker 2 (58:33):
Tuesday? Tuesday?

Speaker 1 (58:34):
It was Tuesday, wasn't it, Miss Birdie?

Speaker 2 (58:36):
She told me they met every Tuesday. Mimi barely could walk,
she barely could do anything for herself, but she had
a group of about fifteen to twenty women that would
meet with her every week. I honestly believe when she

(58:59):
was at the your step of death, it was the
prayers of those people who kept her for a longer
period of time. Hear me, there were times that she
was in need that those people would gather together and
just be able to meet the needs of the people
who were in that belonged group. And then I watched
yesterday that she was an eighty four year old woman

(59:22):
and there weren't many people here, but there was a
couple of people here. It was her family and her
belong group. And I begin to think about it. I said,
who actually would celebrate me when I die? Who would
actually be able to know I would know that they're
praying for my family and would be able to help me.

(59:45):
I've been in belong groups or groups of people that
when I didn't have money and I begin to share
my prayer request, say y'all just be praying for me
because me and Alily are going through a tough time
right now. Those people would, without me prompting or anything,
just said, what do you need?

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
What can we do?

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
Well? If we don't get this, this won't be paid.
Don't worry about it. It'll be there tomorrow. Huh, what you're
gonna do? What they said? We love you, We've been
walking together, We've seen you step out on faith. We
want to be here because you belong and we are
better together. I'm telling every person who has been hurt

(01:00:29):
their pride has been tested that they just feel like
I don't need all of that. I'm telling you you
need that. Every person who's like that's not for me
is really for you. Why are you saying that? Because
the people that you're around they're not necessarily bad at all,
but you may be stifling the expansion that God wants

(01:00:52):
to bring you into and getting in community. Some of
you ladies who are in relationship, you need to get
with the all girls group. You need to start seeing
your worst before you for you settle. I'm just gonna
say how it is before you settle for that, because
he's not it. Some of you young, berried couples need
to get in these belonged groups with people who are seasoned,

(01:01:15):
and some of you old stale couples.

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
Just corny, just crusty.

Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
You need to get in a belong group with some
of these younger people and remember the love that you
used to have and share around the words. Some of
you people who your parents.

Speaker 1 (01:01:31):
Were racists.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
And taught you and raised you tonight to be against
other ethnicities, you need to get in belong groups where
you're the only drop of chocolate in that mug. And
some of you who are more vanilla. You need to
put the creamer in the coffee. Do you understand what
I'm saying? Why are you saying that because your expansion
is coming in relationship? I want to let you know

(01:01:59):
that the plan of heaven is for us to be
together forever, worshiping the King. It's not for these mansions
and the things that we can have here on Earth's
for us to be together. You know, the thing that
I found with my wife and my children is when
everything is going wrong, as long as we have each other,
everything's going right. And now God says, I want you

(01:02:21):
to expand it to the body of Christ. He said,
you can't be the body by yourself. So what I'm
doing today is I brought a very very very practical
message and brought understanding. I believe the most power in
this message is in application. Well, we do our own thing.
We have our own belong groups. Get submitted and walk

(01:02:44):
under the blessing of this house. If you want to
be a belong group facilitator, come to trade and talk
to Sister Breathe. Let's get you in here. But when
you're outside of the covering of whatever, well, I'll just
y'all't open up to everybody yet and da da da
da da dah. That's what God's trying to get you
to do. He's trying to let you see that you're
not in it alone, that there's nothing you've walked through

(01:03:04):
that somebody else hasn't walked through too.

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
And this is the thing.

Speaker 2 (01:03:08):
We don't put you and make you sign in blood
and you're a part of our belong group. This is
it us on set.

Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
It's not that we jump you out of it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
It's not that because I know.

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
Some people have experienced things like that before.

Speaker 2 (01:03:24):
Where if you join my belong group, it's this belong
group till we die. No, it's still I move because
y'all are crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
God what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
But what's supposed to happen is I'm supposed to find
a group of people that I feel comfortable with, that
I can grow with, that I can share my triumphs
and my failures. And I'm asking everybody for fifteen minutes
after this service to spend time going around to these
belong groups and find somewhere that you belong. They worshiped

(01:04:00):
in temple courts. That's this, and from house to house
that's small groups and They can meet in coffee shops,
in your living room, at the library, at your business.
I don't care where they are. And guess what, you
don't have to be a member of Transformation Church to
be a part of belong groups. We've asked you to
take a DARE that's discipleship, accountability, relationship and evangelism. We

(01:04:25):
want unsaved people to come to our belong groups. Why
because most people would rather come to your friend's house
with food than to church. It's all about how you
phrase it. You want to go to my friend's house
and eason food. We're gonna talk for about an hour.
But they good people, cool and watch how when people
get relationship with people, they'll look at their life. They'll change,

(01:04:48):
They'll begin Listen, you don't gotta be perfect. Come in
smelling like the weed and the alcohol. To the belonged group.

Speaker 1 (01:04:53):
We got air fresheners.

Speaker 2 (01:04:56):
Why it's because in relationship, that's when God's going to
change you. It's not about the habit. It's about the heart.
And if God can get your heart connected to other
people's hearts, that may be a little further along in
the process. I promise you you'll begin to become a
product of your environment. If you get in the right
community where you and I belong, and God begins to

(01:05:20):
do something in your life that'll change it for other
I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, for
every person in here that would take a six month
commitment to be a part of a belong group, you'll
never go back. You won't. And I just believe that
God's going to grow us so that we can impact
this city. But they're only gonna know us by our

(01:05:40):
love for each other.

Speaker 3 (01:05:46):
Our next Alive Baptism service is March twenty seventh. Let
the world know that you are dead to send and
alive in Christ. Sign up in the lobby today. We
like to invite all of our new partners and volunteers
to the next active orientation right after service. Our b
groups meet weekly in different places all over the city.

(01:06:07):
There's a group for everybody, so visit the connect corner
today to find out where you belong. Join us for
Monday Night prayer every week at six pm. Miss last
week's message. Visit our website to watch and listen to
past sermons at Transform Church dot us, and be sure
to stay up to date on all things TC by

(01:06:29):
following us on Facebook and Instagram, and we are Transformation.
Your twenty fifteen giving statements are now available online at
Transform Church dot us. If you don't have web access,
you can request your statement at the welcome desk. We
love hearing about the amazing things that God is doing
in your life. Share your amazing testimonies with us by

(01:06:51):
emailing Amen at Transformed Church dot us.