Spiritual Nomads No More!

Good morning Zaik Church family. It’s great to see you all here today and we are honestly just so humbled and honored that you all made the commitment to either attend in person or tune in online. Man, I am so excited to share today. So just to start off, I am not Pastor Stephen. You’d be surprised at the number of times we’ve been mistaken. Not sure if it’s the whole being Hispanic and brown and rocking beards and it probably doesn’t help that we are on the same soccer team that gets to people, but just always find that funny. He’s like a whole foot taller than me. Spiritually and physically. However, it is an honor that he would open up the service today for me to share on a topic that I am very passionate about.

Last week Pastor Stephen led us through the topic of living in community with one another. He mentioned the fact that God never intended for you and me to live in isolation. That even from the beginning of creation, we were made to be in community. In fact, let me just recap a note that Stephen brought up last week that is going to help propel us forward this morning:

God designed life in such a way where our community with Him is only as strong as our community with other people.

In other words, you and I help each other grow in our relationship with God. So to start this off, I need to just quickly spend one minute or two to give some background on my journey in order to drive home why I am so passionate about the topic of community, and more specifically, the need to be involved in a community group here at Zaik Church.

A little over ten years ago I re-dedicated my lift to Christ in an experience I can only describe to you as a beautiful encounter with the living God that I had tried to outrun from. Anyone feel me or with me on that statement. Now, while I felt received by God, and I knew he had revived my life with His Holy Spirit, I know in my heart that I would not be here today without transformative discipleship through community.

See God brought brothers and sisters into my life who opened up their homes and invited me over and let me see heaven in their eyes, hearts and mouths as they took the time to walk side by side with me and created an environment of humility, transparency, and vulnerability. What has transpired over the years is that I am at my closest to God, when I have grown with the people around me. And vice versa. He didn’t create us to be either or when it comes to this. I hope you all are Ok if we dive straight in this morning.

Pastor Stephen did a phenomenal job last week of explaining why you have not been called to be spiritual nomads, but rather to flourish in community. If I can, I want to share with you one more quote from the brilliant German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. What a name. He was executed and hung in 1945 for his stance on God and refusing to give in to the Nazi agenda. Anyhow, there is a quote from him book, Life Together, that I want to share with you:

“It is by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in this world to share God’s Word and sacrament. Not all Christians receive this blessing. The imprisoned, the sick, the scattered lonely, the proclaimers of the Gospel in heathen lands stand alone. They know that visible fellowship is a blessing… The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy.” -Life Together

Think about the power in those words. Especially coming from a man who was seeing and experiencing the persecution of the church during World War II. We have brothers and sisters throughout the world who cannot meet. Missionaries completely alone who would trade so much to have where they are at what you and I many many times take for granted. This is currently happening in Afghanistan. We must not take for granted community.

So let me share with you and remind some of you what we are about here at Zaik Church:

We exist to help all people belong to Jesus, transforming them to become a part of God's mosaic masterpiece.

You and I are a part of a mosaic masterpiece. And just like a mosaic piece of art, we too are made up of different people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, testimonies who come together to be unified and one. What a beautiful picture of the church amen! But don’t forget one of the key words in this statement. Transforming, or Transformation. God desires that all of us become deeply rooted in HIM, especially over time. You guys tracking with me? Not only does he desire for you to come to Know Him (salvation), he desires for you to live with HIM (life with a purpose) and with others. I truly believe God causes transformation in our lives through the people around us. Let’s read what Acts 2: 44-47 says:

Acts 2:44–47 CSB

44 Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. 45 They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

There is something powerful about Godly unity. Something so radical about seeing someone genuinely loving others. That’s why so many admire to this day Mother Teresa and her work. The power of giving to others your time, love, devotion is incredibly powerful and follow me on this. It is contagious.

Do you see what the early church was doing here? They gathered together in the temple, but it didn’t just end there. They also did community from house to house. It’s almost as if they knew that they needed each other and it was a privilege to be able to gather together. Friends imagine how much our lives and world would change if we took these verses seriously. If we took community with others throughout the week seriously and prayed for each other, and carried each others burdens. Imagine how much suicide rates would decrease, and anxiety levels relieved if someone didn’t feel like they had to face everything alone.

Imagine how powerful it would be to see the chains and bondage to pornography fallen if there was a unifying commitment between communities to fight back against it and hold each other truly accountable and pray for miracles to occur!

Image marriages flourishing and children growing up knowing where there identity comes from because of the healthy and strong bonds of community groups that focus on God’s agape love. That is his unconditional and serving love.

For you to know that the person in the seat right next to you has your back. They are your brother and sister. And man who would sell their possessions and give it all willingly? You see the characteristics of the kingdom of Heaven? It’s what Jesus taught. What you are seeing is what Jesus said it means to be a citizen of His kingdom. You serve others, and you give freely and you do community together. And furthermore, it doesn’t end with you. The last verse says every day more people were being saved. So the question needs to be asked. Was Jesus smart by the way he taught and demonstrated community? Was he right?

What was the early church community doing different that made them spread and grow all over the world?

Let me demonstrate the power of community groups. Ok, so let’s take a look at two different ways of building the church. The first method is what we will call the traditional method. Now, in this method you have a charismatic passionate person who I mean they preach like no one you’ve ever heard. They are bold, courageous, and just on fire, especially behind the mic. You picturing this with me? Ok, so let’s say this man or woman knows that God wants them to have all of Wichita (a population of around 400k people) belong to Him.

So our charismatic ordained speaker here goes out everyday for an entire year and preaches those bomb sermons that just cut you to your heart and you are like Ok, I’m convinced. I’m in. So let’s say that our preacher here is able to have 10,000 people commit their lives to God every year for ten years. You guys still with me? One person, preaching and seeing 10,000 people give their lives to God every year for ten years. At the end of ten years how many people do you have?

10,000 * 10 = 100,000 people who professed Jesus. Pretty cool right right. But because this method is based on being a crowd, and no sustenance and depth is created, this image of 100,000 is purely misleading. Because hard times always come up in life. And even the most charismatic preacher can only preach you inspiring sermons so many times that if you are not rooted in community but in the speaker, you start to wither. So the 100,000 is actually reduced to a quarter at best for the sake of this illustration, let’s just say 25,000. Still impressive.

Ok, now let’s take a look at another method, the method we see the early church take and the one that Jesus taught about when he said references about his kingdom starting out small, but growing so big and so large that it spreads all over the world. And friends, please please do not mistake what I am about to show you. Look past the numbers here. Stephen brought up the verse from Hebrews last week which taught the importance of gathering corporately as we do today, but also throughout the week in community groups. Ok so let me show you what we’ll call the Faithful Discipleship Method.

Now in this method, we have a person who opens up their home and invites 5 other people to do life with for an entire year. What I mean by that is that for one year, this community group meets up frequently, and during these gatherings people pray for one another, they fight for each other, not against each other, they feed each other the word of God, and let’s be real a good ol’e potluck is amazing as well. Not only that, they are transparent, and vulnerable to each other revealing hidden secrets and sins that have been keeping them in bondage. During this year, you see miracles happen, deep roots forming, and lives transformed (remember our mission statement). Now, here is what happens during the year as well. Persons within the community group are seen not only as the sheep of God, but also as future shepherds of God. This means that by the end of the year, the people in the community group have been taught discipleship, the great commission, and the beautiful, awesome responsibility we all carry when we profess Christ as Lord’s, which is to go and make more disciples who make more disciples baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. Here is what we see happen:

The one person who discipled 5 go out and each now disciple 5 other people. As you can see by the slides, by year 10 we would have make 11 million, 7 hundred thousand disciples who know how to live out their faith and make more disciples. We must not play the comparison game or we’ll see the other method as more appealing at first. Furthermore, if you use the faithful discipleship method I just showed, by year 13 you are more than doubled the U.S. population. Don’t tell me revival isn’t possible. Don’t tell me God can’t use you and your family to make a difference! It starts with us realizing that what God is doing in your life, He also wants to do through you to others! Friends I repeat again, I am here today because of the atoning work of Christ, and because of community!

Was Jesus smart, I do believe so. Imagine how Wichita and the surrounding areas would be impacted and revived if we only would allow ourselves to trust God and be in community.

Now it also must be pointed out that what I described is not easy. It s not fast (at first). It requires work, time, and commitment. A lot of prayer, a lot of follow ups, and a lot of patience. It’s like when my son tries to eat by himself.. A mess everywhere, grabs the spoon wrong, misses his mouth 9 times out of 10. But on that 10th time, we celebrate like no one else. Seeing him grow is so beautiful. But it takes time.

Which brings me to my next point.

You cannot microwave meaningful relationships

One of the upsides to the crazy year of 2020 was that my wife was pregnant. During her pregnancy, she had a lot of cravings for sweets and desserts. Which was awesome for me because I have a sweet tooth myself. I totally inherited it from my dad because he is the same. It’s not a great thing because he did develop diabetes and sometimes I overdue it myself.. Anyhow, not the point. The point is that my wife had one night where she was craving roasted marshmallows. The problem was that we didn’t have wood to burn and lighter fluid and matches. But because pregnancy allows for no patience when those cravings come in, she microwaved the marshmallows we had. Do you know what happens to marshmallows when you microwave them? They expand and swell. But they don’t cook evenly. And the more you eat it, the more you despise it and throw them away. You guys following me here?

In the same way, you cannot treat community groups like a microwaved marshmallow and expected a fire roasted marshmallow. What I am trying to say is that meaningful relationships can’t be microwaved and sped up. They take time. They grow deeper over time. The sustenance is a result of experiences and moments made together over time! The accountability becomes firmer and stronger over time.

The love is expressed over and over again time after time and then you start to see for yourself that the people in your community are your brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, children. So that when Jesus looks at the disciples who had given up everything to follow him, he can tell them without lying, that no one who puts Him first will fail to receive a hundred fold. He was talking about the church. About community.

But it involves knowing that Accountability is a very real thing. Vulnerability. Transparency. Knowing that good and bad times will arise just like in any family. However, unity must always prevail because of Jesus. Self sacrifice must always be a factor because of Jesus. Serving others must be the norm because of Jesus. Honoring others because Jesus honored others.

One of the best known and famous stories in the New Testament is the conversion of Saul to the Apostle Paul who would end up transforming the gentile/non -Jews world. In Acts 9. I want to recap this to show you the power of opening up your home to someone else. Acts 9: 1-6 says this:

1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest

2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Interesting that Jesus makes it a point to say that persecution and hurt towards his community of people, is persecution towards Jesus himself. Makes you ponder and pray for our brothers and sisters currently being persecuted overseas. Furthermore, also makes you ponder if Jesus is also hurt when we hate or refuse his community. Perhaps its a sign we are refusing Him. Sip down 3 verses and continuing in the story, we see in verse 9 that Saul is blinded. Let’s read the rest of the story starting from Acts 9:9 - 15 (describe this portion instead of reading line from line).

Acts 9:9–15 CSB

9 He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink. 10 There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” “Here I am, Lord,” he replied. 11 “Get up and go to the street called Straight,” the Lord said to him, “to the house of Judas, and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him so that he may regain his sight.” 13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites.

Imagine being Ananias. Actually, imagine being the other guy named Judas who opened up his home first before anyone else to Saul.

This is the power of community. Judas, Saul, and Ananias. What would have happened if Ananias refused to go? What would have happened if Judas refused to open his house? You see the power of taking risks and living in community?

We are all faced with the choice of doing life with others. So many times we make it about us. “I don’t like the way so and so talks or acts.” “I don’t like their food.” “They talk too loud, or their music is outdated, or their music is too mainstream!”

What if we looked at it the way God looked at the situation here. That you may not think you need community, but someone else needs to meet you, and see you and be transformed by you! What if we opened up our homes to allow for encounters between Saul’s and Ananias’. The same reason that people criticize Christianity, the people, can be the very same thing that transforms them and the world! But do not mistaken this. It is a choice and you can refuse it.. But in doing so you are taking the risk that Saul and Ananias never meet.. Today this room is full of Judas’s (the good one from this story, not the bad disciple), Saul’s and Ananias that God wants to bring together to transform Wichita. I am not exaggerating that part. I truly believe it. True revivals and awakenings are not only within ourselves but also amongst ourselves.

Let me read you one of my favorite quotes about discipleship:

“Discipleship is about placing a crown a few inches above someone else and watching them grow into it.”

In community, you place a crown on others lives and you see them grown into it, being the leaders and people God has called us to be. You are a royal priesthood, a chosen people of God! Here is what happens in the story of Saul, Judas, and Ananias. Acts 9:17-18

Acts 9:17–18 CSB

17 Ananias went and entered the house. He placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.

Something like scales felll from his eyes, he is liberated from his bondage in darkness, and he is filled with the Holy Spirit!

Don’t you all desire to see this happen! I believe you do alongside with me! But it takes us emphasizing and being in community together.

Are you guys ok if we do something right now that can be very special and liberating for some? Let me get very real and personal now. I must admit before all of you today that I have been allowing fear to rule my routines lately. I’ve had traces of anxiety and depression and I’m someone who never really has had that before. Furthermore, God is doing something special through Chi Alpha, the ministry that I get to be a part of and direct. However, growth and change has been plaguing my heart and just like Moses, I have been questioning my ability to lead a growing ministry. Why am I sharing this?

Because I want us to have time to respond today to release our fears at the altar up here today. I want us to confess and release the bondage that is holding you down today whether that is confessing here at the altar to God your struggles with belief, anxiety, pornography and unfaithfulness, identity. Whatever it is. I want to invite you to take a huge step of faith and get out of our comfort zone, your seat and make the journey up here. And I want to ask any leaders or family members or friends that if you see someone come up here to pray for them. put your hands on their back (I know covid is still a real threat, but please don’t ignore this), and pray for your brother and your sister.

I want to lead the charge today by releasing my fear here so I am going to be one of the first ones at the altar today and I would love to have some of you come and pray for me. This is very real to me, and I conclude the way I began. I am here today because of God’s work on the cross, and the transformation he has done in my life through community. Let me pray and then ask you would follow suite with me.

Get down at the altar and pray.