The Gathering Surf City

So let's pray together.

All righty.

Our father,

we just bow before you now,

giving thanks and praise that,

God, you have made a way,

God, for us as families and individuals
to have an impact around the

world. God,

we don't know where this
shoebox is going,

but you know where it's going.

You know exactly what child
will hold this box.

So, God,

we just pray that you,

as you go before it,

because you always do.

We pray,

God, that you'd prepare her heart
and you'd prepare her family,

God, you'd prepare her community.

God, to hear your love,

to hear the good news,

to hear the gospel.

God, let them enjoy the box.

Let them enjoy the toys and the
things that are inside the box.

But, God,

let them recognize that there is real
joy in knowing you and that they'll

have that message when
they open this box.

God, we dedicate this box and every
other box out in the hallway,

every other box that will
come in this morning,

and every other box that will be collected
just throughout this country

and the world.

And pray,

God, that your kingdom goes forth,

that the gospel is spread,

and we give you thanks for it all.

In Jesus name,

amen. Tomorrow is Veterans Day.

You know,

it's particularly important,

I think,

for us as a community to recognize
Veterans Day because we are so

grateful for the liberties and the freedoms
that we have in this nation,

in this country,

and we particularly live in a community
where veterans are numerous.

And so I'm so grateful for that.

I always reference it on Memorial
Day and Veterans Day,

this idea that not only do they serve
our country or serve our community

or serve our ideologies,

they serve me.

You know,

it's a personal thing to me.

Those guys,

they sign up,

they go.

And, you know,

they could go,

any, you guys,

it's you guys.

I don't say they.

You. You're here.

A lot of folks from the military community
are here at the gathering,

and could be any given morning,

they go in and say,

all right,

here's where you're going in 72
hours or 36 hours or whatever.

And that's a big deal to me.

And so I want us to.

In a moment,

I'm going to read the text,

and then we're going to pray again.

But I just want us to recognize
that tomorrow is Veterans Day.

And, you know,

a lot of times I hear that thank
you for your service thing,

and I agree with that.

But so many times I see veterans go.

They really don't like the acknowledgement
or the recognition,

but we certainly want
to give it to them.

So thank you.

If you're a veteran
here this morning,

I'm so grateful.

It was only a few months ago that I found
out my dad had actually gone to

Vietnam.

I didn't even know that all my life.

I never knew that.

And then we're interviewing with
the pulmonologist and he goes,

oh, yeah,

I went to Vietnam.

What? Anyway,

alrighty.

Today we continue in our priorities.

As a matter of fact,

this is the last Sunday
that we'll talk about.

I'm way too loud up there,

guys. I can already tell it.

So call somebody out of the back
and tell them to adjust it.

Anyway, gathering priorities.

The identity that we bear is
we're a worship community,

passionate people living that
passion by loving God,

living Jesus and walking together.

So this is last Sunday we'll consider
the topic of our priorities.

Not the last Sunday that we'll
live out our priorities,

but the last Sunday we'll be talking
about as a part of the message.

And we're in.

First John,

chapter one,

verses five to seven.

You ready?

Here it goes.

It says,

this is the message we have heard
from him and declare to you,

God is light and there is absolutely
no darkness in him.

If we say we have fellowship with
him and yet we walk in darkness,

we're lying and not practicing
the truth.

If we walk in the light as he
himself is in the light,

we have fellowship with one another.

And the blood of Jesus,

his son,

cleanses us from all sin.

All righty.

Pray with me,

our Father,

Indeed, today we do thank you that we
can gather and we can celebrate and

we can proclaim the name
of Jesus and speak.

Speak the name of Jesus
as we just sang.

And part of that freedom and
part of that liberty,

God, is that God,

you have granted it to
us in this nation,

in this culture and community
that we live in.

And we thank you so much,

God, for those who give
of themselves,

not just the individuals,

but their families and indeed
our whole community,

God, because we recognize how important
it is as a nation for us to have

those who not only surrender and give
of themselves to serve the nation,

but God,

they serve us.

They serve me.

And I thank you for that.

I thank you for our veterans.

I thank you for all those that serve
in our military and their families

and pray.

God, you just continue
to be near God,

that you'd show up in their lives
and in their homes every day.

God, I thank you for this text.

And I thank you,

God, that John is encouraging
us today,

that John is giving us
not just instruction,

but God,

that John is encouraging us in
our relationship with you.

So God help us to hear John speak.

God help us to hear you speak.

We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen. So how many of you.

This is some feedback time.

You ready?

How many of you have spoken to someone
in this building this morning that

you did not come with or not
a part of your family?

Raise your hand.

Oh, very good.

Y'all did well.

Give yourselves a pat.

No, I'm just kidding.

So when we get together like this,

one of the things that we do is we
encounter those that we see maybe

every Sunday or on a regular basis,

or we encounter those that we haven't
seen since last Sunday,

or we encounter someone
that we don't know,

maybe be.

Maybe, oh,

you live in my neighborhood or we work
at the same place or didn't I see

you at.

Here's the one that I get lately.

And she's going to hurt
me for saying this,

but most of you know Angie works
at Harris Teeter now.

She shops.

She's good at it.

I'll just say that.

I knew that for years.

But anyway,

she shops for other people.

And it's funny how many people
at the gathering go,

oh, I saw your wife
at Harris Teeter.

Or somebody will say to her,

I saw you at Harris Teeter.

Well, yeah,

that's what she enjoyed.

I told her once she quit being the secretary
for the Presbyterian church

last year about this
time she started.

She took some time off.

She thought she.

I said,

just do something fun.

Well, this opportunity to
shop for other people,

get ready with other people's money,

came available to her.

Well, here's what she finds out.

She runs into people
from the gathering.

She runs into people
from the community.

She runs into people,

and she has these conversations.

And so it's become sort of a ministry
for her to shop for other people at

the Harris Teeter.

See, that's something that we as the
body of Christ need to always have

in mind,

is that God is the one who has
connected us to each other.

And that's what this
text is all about.

When we start to consider
this thing,

I'd love to ask,

you know,

all right,

when you talked to somebody else
in the building this morning,

what was the conversation?

What was it like?

Was it just about the weather?

Was it just about,

you know,

the football game yesterday?

Was it about,

you know,

what flowered his shirt
they're wearing today?

You know,

I don't know what the conversation
was about,

but God has a purpose and an intent
for our conversations,

not just in this building,

but when we as his people and as his
children go out into the community,

you see,

there's a purpose in
the conversation.

There's a purpose in community.

So when we look at this text,

it says,

this is the message we
have heard from him.

Heard from whom?

Heard from God.

John is the writer of this.

And I tend to be very,

very conservative about
the word of God.

I believe John wrote the gospel.

I believe he wrote these
three letters,

and I believe he wrote Revelation.

All right,

I believe that,

yes. I think he's the author.

And so when he says this,

he is communicating to a group,

a body,

call it a worship community.

In the first century,

probably toward the end
of the first century,

may have been even in the 90s A.D.

at this point that he's
writing these letters.

And I preached through
First John one time,

and all the time I preached
through First John,

I referred to him as Grandpa John because
he's an old man at this time.

And he's probably got younger men and
younger believers and younger

followers of Jesus sitting
at his feet,

you know,

as he's teaching.

And he's saying,

yeah, I remember the time that Jesus and
we all were following him and we

were walking along,

you know,

the Sea of Galilee,

and he's telling the stories and he's
telling the things that Jesus

taught him.

And so he says this in this letter.

He says,

this is the message we have heard from
him and we're declaring it to you.

God is light.

Now, what does all that mean?

Well, in the Greek community,

the Roman Empire,

all that sort of thing,

and really following the philosophies
of the Greeks,

that this idea of light's
a big deal.

Well, if you go back into the Gospels
and you see where Jesus starts

talking about,

I am the light of the world,

then he turns around and says,

you're the light of the world.

You see,

this idea of light in darkness is a big
thing because as we get ready to

do next week,

which is the first three
weeks from now,

not next week,

the first Sunday of December,

when we start into the Advent calendar
and we'll start taking light and

candles for the Advent wreath
and that sort of thing,

the first thing is the people who have
walked in darkness have what?

Seen a great light.

God is light,

and there's absolutely no
darkness in him at all.

If we say we have fellowship with
him and yet walk in darkness,

we're liars.

We're not practicing the truth.

See, that's all right.

That sounds like an indictment,

but it's an encouragement.

Honestly, it's the encouragement of God
through the words of John and the

pen of John,

if I can call it a pen.

It's probably some kind of quill
looking thing anyway.

But John's saying,

look, if you claim Christ,

if you've trusted Jesus,

if you receive the salvation that God
has offered in the shed blood of

Jesus, then walk in the light.

Don't run to the darkness.

Don't try to get as close to the darkness
as you can without getting in

it. Just stay over in the light
is what he's saying.

If we have fellowship,

if we say we have fellowship
with him.

So I started looking
at this fellowship.

What do we call it in the gathering?

It's two words.

Ready? Walking together.

We walk together as the
body of Christ.

We come together as
the body of Christ.

We go out together as
the body of Christ.

We run into each other at the Harris
Teeter as the body of Christ.

We're walking together.

We have a commonality.

Actually, according to Acts,

in the first several
chapters of Acts,

we have a unity as the
body of Christ.

You see,

we have common goals,

common purposes,

common, common salvation.

One body,

one spirit,

one baptism.

All that kind of stuff is
what unites us together.

And so we have fellowship with him,

we have fellowship with each other.

That's what this whole text is about.

We're walking together.

The word fellowship right
here in both places,

because you see it in verse six and
you see it again in verse seven,

is the word in Greek,

koinonia, K O I,

N O,

N I A.

Now, it's real funny,

I remember when in Bible college,

that word,

you know,

we had koinonia prayer groups.

Like koinonia prayer groups.

I don't.

Okay, I'll go pray with you.

But what does that mean?

Right? So I started even back then.

I studied,

I tried to figure this out.

So when you see the word koinonia,

it can be translated fellowship,

obviously it can actually be
also translated communion.

Well, wait a minute.

Don't we need some bread and juice?

No, no.

The idea of communion is this idea of
communing with God if we commune

with God,

or if we say we commune with
God but walk in darkness,

we're lying.

See that,

that's pretty sharp right there.

So what does it mean
to have fellowship?

Koinonia, walking together,

communing, definition wise,

American heritage or whatever.

All these dictionaries
you can Google up,

say, sharing or exchanging intimate
thoughts and feelings,

especially mentally,

intellectually, or spiritually.

All right,

y'all got it.

All right,

go. No,

I'm just kidding.

But what it can be characterized as,

is this intimate sharing
of life together.

Intimate sharing in life with God.

Intimate sharing together of life as the
body of Christ opening ourselves

up.

Can I go ahead and say,

making ourselves vulnerable
to each other.

You see,

man, we don't like that.

Mmm, I'm tough,

right? So when we start to
look at this communing.

Alright, so I am a child.

I was born in 62,

don't remember much about the 60s except
in 69 when there was something

happening at the moon.

They say,

all right,

But I am a child of the 70s and I
remember hearing about communes,

right? What's a commune?

It's where a bunch of people with long
hair that don't take baths live

together.

I'm just kidding,

y'all, please.

But you see my point.

What it is,

is that a group of people come
together in agreement,

right? To share of themselves,

to share of the things that they
have in support of each other,

right? This coming together in
a unity and in a oneness.

And the word commune can be.

Can be translated bond.

To bond together,

to relate together,

to click together,

to converse or to talk with
profound intensity.

Intimacy of thoughts and feelings.

So you see all of that and I'm just
going to bring it down to one word.

The body of Christ is connected,

okay? Can't get away from it.

It flies in the face of
those who will say,

I don't have to go to church
to be a Christian.

True, you don't.

But boy,

I'll just tell you,

if you are a believer and a follower
of Jesus Christ and you aren't

connected to other Christians,

you got a problem,

okay?

You just got a problem.

So we need to be connected.

We are connected.

We're supposed to be connected.

We are in communion with one another.

And so when I looked at this,

I thought,

all right,

what does the passage say?

Well, first of all,

if we say we are connected with him,

so there's a goal here,

that we be connected to God,

to Christ through the shed
blood of Christ,

that we have been given entrance
into the body of Christ,

the fellowship of believers,

the family of God.

So we're brothers and
sisters together.

I don't know if it's anybody's
first time here this morning.

I love it if it's your first time.

Woo, we love it.

Yay. Glad you're here.

If you come back.

Well, you knew what you
were getting into,

so there.

But the idea is that we come together
first of all because we've been

connected to Him.

He called us,

he made provision for our Salvation.

He adopted us.

And a lot of words go to
this word grafted.

Grafted into God's people
that we the Gentiles.

See, if you're not a Jew,

guess what you are.

You're a Gentile.

But here you go.

And I thought about this
grafted thing.

Any of y'all got pear
trees in your yards?

See, I used to have a pear
tree in my yard.

And at the height of pear season,

I don't know what that is,

but anyway,

the limbs would just be folded down to
the ground with so much of those

heavy, juicy pears.

Well, there was this one branch
on our pear tree,

and it was central to
the tree itself.

But there was this one branch that went
up and the fruit on that pear

tree on that branch were these little
bitty baby looking things.

And I was like,

what?

Man, that tree's not getting
enough to drink.

Something wrong with that
limb right there.

Something's a problem.

So I asked somebody about it.

Well, here's what I found out.

For a pear tree to actually
produce fruit,

there have to be two varieties of the
pear pollen to germinate the flower

to make the pear.

And so what they do is they'll graft
a branch of a different variety of

pear tree into the pear tree so that
in one tree you've got both

varieties so that it produces fruit.

Man, I love the preserves.

There was a lady at First Baptist,

Beaufort, Georgia,

she said,

pastor Bobby,

if you'll let me,

I'll come get the pears and make preserves
and give you half of them.

I was like,

that's a deal.

We were communing over preserves,

right? You see my point?

So this is the idea.

We're connected to him.

We're grafted into Him.

We're connected to the
light that is God.

God is light.

In Greek,

light is God.

God is light.

The is is a is an equal sign.

So in him there is no
darkness at all.

We are connected to God.

We're connected to his light.

We become the reflection
of his light.

And we're connected to each other.

We're to commune with each other,

see? So I don't know what your conversation
was this morning.

See, right now,

if you know Jesus,

if you've trusted Jesus,

you've received the salvation that God's
offered in the shed blood of

Jesus Christ,

then you are connected to God.

You're a part of his family.

You're a part of the body of Christ.

You have the spirit of
God living in you.

God is constantly pouring.

Don't you stop it up okay.

God's pouring his spirit into you.

You are connected to
the light of God,

and you are to be connected
to each other.

If you don't know Jesus
this morning,

we want you to know Jesus.

Okay? We're going to sing one more
song and give you an opportunity.

But after we sing that song,

it's not time to leave yet.

Because I got one more thing I want
to do before we leave this morning.

Okay? So I'm going to invite now.

They don't even know it.

Somebody shout down the hallway
and tell the band to come on,

because I didn't warn
them ahead of time.

Oh, that's Scott right there.

Okay. Where's the rest of you?

They're enjoying coffee
out in the hall.

I know what they're doing.

Oh, they're eating breakfast.

Well, Scott can do it all.

Oh, no,

there's the other half
of them over there.

Okay. Sorry,

I just don't pay attention.

Right.

All righty.

Let me pray.

We're going to sing if
you don't know Jesus,

we want you to know Jesus.

And then I'm going to give
you an assignment.

You ready?

Let's pray.

God, thank you for today and
for all that you do.

Thank you for your love.

Thank you,

God, that you loved us first.

God, that you called us yours.

But more than just calling us yours,

you made us yours because of God,

your incredible love for us.

And so,

God, I thank you this morning that when
we look at a text from the first

century written by John,

who says that if we
walk in the light,

as he is in the light,

yes, we have fellowship
with him in the light,

but, God,

you've also given us fellowship
with each other.

So God help us to love you.

God, help us to love each other.

God help us to love each
other communally.

God help us to have the fellowship,

God, that you long for your
people to have together.

God, we pray as we sing that we would
respond to you and we pray it in

Jesus name,

Amen.