03-Our Vision2026: Live, Love, and Learn Together”

Chapter 1: Series Recap and the Amazon Illustration

Well, over the past two weeks, we've been walking through our annual purpose, mission, and vision series. And we've been using the company Amazon to help us illustrate and understand these three words again, a purpose, mission, and vision. And we learned that Amazon exists to make money. This is why they exist. This is Amazon's purpose. and and that what they do in response to why they exist is that they have a mission.

They have a mission. That is what they do in response to why they exist. And that mission is to be Earth's most customercentric company. Now, this week we're going to be focusing even deeper on the word vision or more specifically how it is that we accomplish this mission. And in this case, how is Amazon going to accomplish this mission of being customer ccentric?

Now, there can be several layers to this, but one of the things is given recent news, the following headline of a way that Amazon is attempting to make money uh can help illustrate this to us. Now, stick with me. This is just from last month. The market soarses on Amazon, Amazon's eyepopping $200 billion investment in artificial intelligence. And here's how it could pay off.

Now, some of you turn heard 200 billion on AI and something in you tensed up. I've had conversations with some in this church. And when I mention AI, it causes all manner of consternation. And and you might even be thinking, how in the world can be investing in AI be customercentric? And that's a great question.

Well, let me see if I can give you a little bit of an answer. Do you enjoy getting your orders delivered to your door the same day or the next day or do you want to wait a week or two? Right? No. That's because of AI, right?

So, we get tensed up about things and then we don't necessarily know what it is that makes these things happen. It's almost like we want the result without the cause. And that's one of the things that can be very difficult. Now,

Chapter 2: When Change Is a Dirty Word

for those of us who have been at Sunrise for a period of time, you might know that we walked through a similar situation here throughout the last five years. And this is what I mean. 5 years ago, we made the decision to move to life groups. And in doing so, we let go of what was traditionally our Sunday schools and our Bible studies, at least as we had known them. And I'm just going to be honest with you, especially those of you that are newer, this was not an easy time. This was a difficult time.

It was a struggle. Uh some of you of you in this room remember this season. It was uncomfortable. It was unfamiliar. But we did it because we believe that in the end it would be better for us, for our growth, better for our families, and better for our our desire to fulfill the mission to go make baptize and teach.

And five years later, I'm just going to tell you from my perspective and those that I know that are part of life groups, it has been. But getting there required trusting the process even the even when it didn't feel good yet. And maybe you've experienced that in your life. You're like, I know I need to make a change, but I'm not sure that this change is going to work its way out the way that I think it should or will. There there's a little bit of trepidation that can be involved.

There's there's an uncomfortable nature of it. This is one of those reasons why this word change is what I call a non four-letter four-letter word. Change is a dirty word for so many of us because it does bring about this uncomfortable nature. And yet ta change done right and especially going towards something that is better is unbelievable. And so this

Chapter 3: Introducing Vision 2026 and Life Groups

is where we then move into our discussion on vision 2026. Now this week we're going to finish off our series on purpose, mission, and vision for this year. And again, we're specifically be talking about how how it is that we're fulfilling our purpose, how it is that we are fulfilling our mission. Again our purpose being why we exist. So we saw how and why Amazon exists but why do we exist and we saw that this was to love God and to love people.

This was two weeks ago. And then last week we saw our mission the what what do we do in order to love God and love people. And we saw that that was to fulfill the commission to go to make to baptize and to teach. We learned that that was being accomplished through what is called the great commission. So how we love God and love people?

How how do we go make baptize and teach? How do we do that here at Sunrise? And that specifically is through that term that we've been mentioning here and some of you have been hearing this more and more and more is through this idea of life groups. Now I will tell you that in the Christian church that term life group is pretty generic. It it really is.

It's kind of like there's different areas in the country where you can go where that that sandwich as it is on that long piece of bread like that can be a sub, a hogy, a hero or a grinder. Like depending on where you're at in the country, it's the same kind of thing. It's just called something different. Some of us call depending on where you're at in the country, it's a soda or it's a pop or it's a soda pop, right? So it can be a very generic terms.

And so when we hear about life groups, it's like, oh, I have in my mind what a life group is. Some people might say that a life group is just small groups. Some might say that it's well, it's just groups. These are just different names that you're going to find in the church. Some call them home groups.

Uh some the very antiquated one, this is back from the early 2000s, is cell groups. And then there's my personal favorite. This literally is a thing that's out there is groups. That's that's my absolute favorite. That's the one I really want, but I I I yielded to the team that said, "Hey, we should do life groups." But now for most of us, these are essentially the same thing.

Like I've been all over the country from east coast to the west coast and I've asked people or talked to people about them being part of life groups and they're like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I'm part of life group." And I asked them, it's like, "Okay, so is it basically a Sunday school or Bible study that's somewhere other than necessarily the church and not necessarily on Sunday morning? It's just a Bible study." and they'll go, "Well, yeah, this is the thing you need to understand. What we are attempting to have life groups be and they are being is Bible study and so much more." That's what we're going to be talking about today. Right.

Here's something worth noting also that's very important and you're going to see why this is as we come along. But I need to mention this because from the very beginning when things were coalesing around this idea of life groups is people had in their mind, oh this is great. See, I always wanted to be part and go to all five Sunday school classes, but I never could because they're all between 9 and 10:00 in the morning. But now I can be part of all the life groups as long as they don't conflict with one another. And I will tell you, no, that is not the idea behind it.

And this is why, right? This

Chapter 4: Jesus Committed to One Group

is this is laying some seeds for what it is you're going to see here in a second. Jesus committed to one group. I don't know if you thought about that. Jesus didn't commit to two, three, four, or five groups. Jesus committed to one group of 12 guys over three years.

And that depth is what produced transformation in the lives of these men. In the same way, we're asking you to commit to one life group, not because the other groups aren't valuable, but because you cannot live, love, and learn together. More on that as we continue. With people you only see occasionally. Depth requires presence, and presence requires commitment to people.

And now, I know one of the first things that comes, especially those of you that aren't part of groups, and even some of you that are part of groups, because here's the thing. I know a lot about your groups. But this is the thing that shouldn't surprise you. All of your groups are made of people. And you're going to hear me use this phrase as we continue on.

You, me, we are all a bunch of beautiful messes. And you're going to see this as we continue on with the disciples as well. But the thing that you're going to see as we continue is that we are better together. Amen. Okay.

But before we get too far, we begin again back at the beginning with Jesus and why he came. So Jesus, remember from a couple weeks ago, came to seek and to save that which was lost. Right? That is why Jesus came. He wanted to save us as humanity and he was seeking all that would come unto himself.

In like manner, Jesus extended purpose to his people that we call the church. And that is why we exist. We talked about that the loving God and loving people. and we exist to help him in the seeking part whereas he does the saving part. We saw that through the great commandments again a loving God and loving people. Now Jesus also had a mission what it was that he did in order to accomplish this purpose.

We saw this in Matthew 16 last week that Jesus came to build hear this when I say it his church. That is unbelievably important. See a lot of people go to their churches and they assume that their church is his church. That might be a very false assumption because if we're actually not doing what it is that he's called us to do, what are we not? We're not his church.

We're not being his church. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean you're not saved. But if we're being disobedient to the com to the commission, here's the thing. Do you love God? Yes.

Do you not love people? I don't love people. Well, then you're being disobedient to your purpose. If you're not going, if you're not making, if you're not baptizing, if you're not teaching them to observe everything that he has commanded, what are you doing? You are not doing the commission.

You're being disobedient to the commission. And you're not acting as his church. And so our job is to be his church. And then what he says is as you're being the church, I will build my church. Right?

This is what we call the great commission again about going, making, baptizing and teaching.

Chapter 5: How Did Jesus Actually Make Disciples

Now the question then becomes, all right, well then how is Jesus going to build his church? See, the great thing about Jesus is he's not like so many talking heads that you see on social media, YouTube, and the other things where they just spout off stuff and they don't necessarily do the thing that they're saying. Hey, this is what you need to do. And they they they themselves don't do those things, right? Jesus actually did these things.

And he communicates to us again in Matthew 4:19 what it is that he does in order to make these individuals who are going to go make baptize and teach. And he actually states it to us at the beginning of his ministry in Matthew chapter 4 where he says, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Now, an interesting observation. I've been using this this verse for a very long time. And every once in a while, it still amazes me how new observations are made. And and this is something you need to understand.

Jesus says he's going to make fishers of men and we can do that. But notice what's important with that. Follow me. Now, here's a little litmus test for you. Now, here this is where I look up.

If you are not making fishers a man, what are you probably not doing? Probably not following him, which means you're not acting as his disciple. My prayer for each and every one of us is that we would indeed be following him and then in turn he would be making us fishers of men. Amen. Okay.

Now to illustrate this, we need to ask a I need to ask you a few questions. So to an the answer will require that you've read the New Testament. Now I understand not everyone necessarily has read all of the New Testament. Uh ideally you've read a good chunk of the gospels. The gospels are are largely the the um teachings [clears throat] of Jesus and the story of Jesus from different directions and so forth.

But the thing we need to ask ourselves is when we think of the gospels, when you think of the gospels, when you think about the interactions that Jesus has had with his disciples, how did Jesus make disciples? How did Jesus make followers? Did he take them to the synagogue, which was the Jewish church, and sit them down at 10:00 on Sunday mornings and have a class? Oh, there's a lot of silence there. a lot of spinning, a lot of thought. Because one of the things I'm constantly getting from people is, "Hey pastor, you need to have a class on that.

You should do a class on that and you should do a class on that. You should do a class on that. Hey pastor, do you know of any classes or any books or any things that can help me do this thing?" And again, when you think of Jesus, yes, you do occasionally find him in a synagogue. You do find him. Open up the scroll of Isaiah and teach from Isaiah.

But those are so few and far between. What do you largely find Jesus doing? Living. You find Jesus living with the people that are around him. Every single moment is an opportunity to teach and to grow and and develop these men to be fishers of men who go make baptize and teach and in doing so fulfill loving God and loving people.

It's an opportunity for him to express and show what it is to love and it is also an opportunity for him to show them what it is to learn together. Now, at the beginning of the book of Mark, Jesus and his disciples are heading out of the synagogue. I mean, again, think of that like a like a church, right? So, they're just done with church service and they're heading out. We don't get a lot of detail from from that interaction.

It's not like you get a 45minute sermon from Jesus that we get to read the transcript. So, they're coming out from here and we're gifted with a beautiful real exchange that is short yet it is unbelievably powerful.

Chapter 6: Life Happens After Church

We're going to jump into Mark chapter 1 starting at verse 29. We're going to read this. Now, as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. But Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever, and they told him about her at once. And so he came and took her by the hand, lifted her up, and immediately the fever left, and she served them.

Do you see what just happened? They leave church synagogue. They go into a house and life happens. Life happens. A need is surfaced.

Simon's mother-in-law is sick. And Jesus responds immediately in that situation. Family, that's doing life together. Notice they didn't go and get the rabbi from the synagogue and say, "Hey, can you come and pray over Simon's mother-in-law because she's sick." They address that right there in that moment. Jesus is doing life with these men.

And that's what these life groups do. Now, I'm going to give you a vague example of something because this is one thing that I've learned about our life groups. And I love this about our life groups, but it also drives me nuts because I like specificity. But just be annoyed with me that you can't have the specifics. Just understand the heart behind what I'm about to tell you.

So in a recent situation, someone had been away from their home. They come to their home and their home is not in an ideal state and they are overwhelmed by the situation themsel. Anybody ever been there? You come back to a situation and you're just like, "What in the world am I supposed to do in this situation?" Now, I want to tell you this is one of the things that's amazing. I did not find out about what I'm the rest I'm going to tell you until after all of this stuff was largely taken care of.

But basically, the the life group shows up and begins to address the situation and help in this situation. They came in and began to do life together and help one another out in the situation. And some of you that are in the life groups right now have seen that happen in your own lives where another situation that happened was earlier this week someone lost their job and immediately the life group just kicked right into action and began praying and I kid you not, I kid you not, within hours that person had a new job. Not just an interview, a new job that started the next day. that that is the kind of things that can happen when God's people are doing the things that God's people can do and being in these communities together, living together. And the thing is, you're like, "But pastor, that sounds a lot like love as well." And you're not wrong because the thing that you're going to end up seeing is when you're doing life together with Christ, the love part and the live part are connected along with the learning part.

Chapter 7: Loving Like Jesus Did

Okay. Now, loving the woman caught in adultery is a great example of this. Now, if you don't know this picture, this woman ends up being surrounded by these Jewish leaders. This occurs in John 8:es 1-1. So, she's got all of these religious leaders around her.

And the thing you need to know, right, because we all know people who have been caught in adultery to a certain degree. And usually there might be a little bit of social stigma. There might be a little bit of shame associated with it. That wasn't the case in Jesus day. What happened in Jesus' day was if a woman was caught in adultery, her life was ended.

Like they literally would pick up rocks to throw at her until she was no longer living. That's what ended up happening. And so Jesus steps into this situation. Now, keeping in mind this is the God of the universe steps into this situation and extends love and mercy to this woman. He doesn't strike her down immediately.

Instead, what he does is he uses this as a teaching opportunity for all of those religious leaders that are there and say, "Hey, you know, here's the thing. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." This is the God of the universe. And that's the thing you need to understand. The only one there who had no sin and had the right to throw the stone was Jesus. And what does he not do?

He does not throw that stone. The thing is is our God is about loving on us. He wants to do life together and he wants to love us and he wants us also to extend love to others. Now I was trying to think through different examples and there's many different examples in the way that the life groups have loved but one of the things that h recently in the last year or so on a couple different occasions is one of the life groups has resurrected a ministry called angel tree. Now years ago we used to do angel tree.

We did all kinds of things. you already know about OC and we had Angel Tree and I made the decision myself is like look we only as the leadership of the church only have the ability to focus on this one thing during the Christmas season and so we chose operation Christmas child but one of the things the life groups can do it's like hey we have this passion is it all right if we go ahead and we do this thing in parallel to it it's like absolutely and this [snorts] life group literally adopted dozens of kids in Angel Tree by itself sharing love again with dozens of kids for the gospel throughout this community and it was able to do that itself. It was God's people again doing life together, right? They they collect the funds, they go out, they do the shopping, they do the wrapping, they do the distribution. So they're living and they're loving together in the community at large. Amen.

The thing is family we need to understand that the love is more than a word. It is a verb. Love has to be active. Love has to be living. Just saying that you love someone or you love a thing is not enough.

And we've all experienced this, right? Do you love it more when people that you love actually show you love or say that they love you and show you no signs? Makes total sense, does it not? And so love itself is a verb. It is active.

And this is the thing that we watch with the life groups is you need to be actively loving inside and outside of the church. [snorts] This is one of the things that often gets brought up. It's like, well, how do you keep the churches from becoming clicks or the life groups from becoming clicks? How do you do that? And it's this focus where we're constantly talking with the leadership of these groups. What are you doing to minister to the community that is around you family?

That inherently begins to break down the clicks. One of the things that the Jews struggled with so mightily throughout the Old Testament and then into the New was they turned in on themselves. God desired that that nation be a light to the world, to be a light for him in the world. And they did not to a large degree. They did not.

They turned in on themselves. And the thing is we have the church comes in and it's very easy for us to do that very same thing. Many of you have been part of churches that turn in on themselves. Maybe it took you a very long time to even connect with folks. You walked into that church and you felt like you were being otherred on a regular basis.

And then you become part of that church and then the thought of walking outside the walls and loving on the community around you was anathema. You can't do that. Those are those people. Those are those sinners that are out there. That is not the heart of Christ.

That is not the heart of our savior. That is not fulfillment of the great commission. That is not fulfillment of loving God and loving people. So the thing that we try and protect and to watch after so desperately is that these life groups are active both inside and outside of the walls of the church. The thing that we need to know about living loving and learning is that one when done right they flow in out and through one another.

They work together. While living you should be loving. in living and loving. You should be learning as you're doing those things actively. But

Chapter 8: Why Doing Life Together Is Hard

now there's an active elephant that's in the room as I mention this that is that many of us struggle with doing life together even with other believers. And quite honestly, it's because it can be difficult. It can be dangerous and it can be hard. I I want you to hear something that came out recently from the surgeon general. Surgeon General recently um called out that we have a loneliness epidemic in the country right now, a society where the average American has fewer close friends than in any point in the nation's history.

And if we're honest, part of the reason is that connecting with people can be very difficult. It can be very scary. It can be a struggle because real relationship requires that we actually be seen for who we are, not just that false perspective of what we think we want to be on social media. And and it's really messy. I mentioned this earlier.

Every single one of us, you, me, we are beautiful messes. But here's what the Savior knew when he gathered those 12 broken, ambitious, stubborn men together. That we are better and more beautiful together than we are when we are apart. The mess doesn't disqualify us from community. It's the reason why we need it.

But this is not was not new for the for 21st century America. We are not unique in history in this regard. As much as we like to say that we are so unique, we are still human. We are not as unique as we often think we are. Not all of Jesus's disciples were cut from the same cloth.

The Savior brought together men who were unbelievably diverse from one another. From a government shill to a political extremist and everywhere in between. Despite our differences, the truth is is that the Savior designed us for relationship. And he's going to show us in Mark that despite potential catastrophic dysfunction, I want you to hear that again. Despite potential catastrophic dysfunction, even with this group, we can and they did live, love, and learn together.

And yes, you heard that right. Even Jesus had to deal with real human dysfunction. This is a thing that we don't give ourselves credit for. If we see that we deal with something difficult, oh, it must obviously be my fault. There must be a problem with me.

Well, family, did Jesus have a problem with himself? No. He's the perfect example. And yet, he had to deal with real human dysfunction leading, guiding them through this dysfunction and how such things can be navigated spoke into the disciplehip of these men. And this example still speaks to us today.

So, for today's example,

Chapter 9: James John and the Power Grab

we're going to turn to Mark chapter 10. We're going to be in verses 35-45. Now, for some context, Jesus has just told his disciples that he was going to be going up to Jerusalem and he was going to die and that he was going to rise again on the third day. And with this context in mind, we're going to jump to Mark 35 and we're going to see that two of Jesus's big three, that is we have Peter, James, and John. So two of the big three, they have very human ambition that doesn't necessarily fit with the ambition of the entire group and that their ambition and their pursuit of that ambition is going to cause some problems within the rest of the group.

So this one is really going to speak towards those of you that are already in life groups because my guess is again, okay, I'm looking at yes, I know things. Some of you who are in life groups right now are annoyed with other people in your life group. And and this is this is going to speak towards that. Some of you are wondering, should I even become part of a life group? Because I've had experiences in the past.

The thing is, when you're dealing with imperfect people, you're always going to run into these things. You're always going to end up having issues. You can try and run from it. You can try and hide from it. But here's the problem.

When you run and hide from these things, you end up disobedient to the king. you end up disobedient to the Savior. You end up unable to actually fulfill the commission to fully go make baptize and teach and to love God and love people. And so instead, what we do is we take the example from what the Savior did with his guys and we learn from that and we grow from that and we allow that dysfunction, those difficult situations to be a fire that the Savior can use to mold us and shape us more into the image of the sun. Amen. Amen.

All right, let's jump into verse 35. Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him, saying, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask." We just me just sit on that here for for a second. See, one of the things that I've observed over the years is that these guys don't necessarily seem to totally fully understand who Jesus is. Because my guess is if you actually totally fully understood that he is indeed the God of the universe, the creator of all things, this is not the kind of thing that you would ask. I I mean I would hope, but again, humans are going to human.

All right? So this idea of whatever we ask, this is a bold request, but it doesn't line up with how many of us approach God. But doesn't it line up with how many of us approach God? You know though as though we are owed God's attention. We are again I'm not gonna lie.

We are an incredibly arrogant lot. Unbelievably arrogant. We are so self-centered and self-focused. And I know there's people in the room going, "Well, that's not me. I'm just going to let you rum on ruminate on that.

I'm going to let the Holy Spirit work on that with you." But we really are, as a general rule, we are very selfish, very self-focused. Why didn't God answer my prayer? And what that means is in exactly the way that I want. That should be enough of a seed to help you understand how we so often come for come before our God. These guys are not thinking about what this might mean for the other 10.

This is something that we need to observe. They're thinking about themselves and themselves alone in this moment. And Jesus turns around and he says, "What do you want me to do for you?" Now, here's the thing. He already knows, right? He is the all all knowing God of the universe.

He already knows what they're going to say, but he wants them to express it. And so, they said to him, "Grant that we may sit on your right hand and the other on your left in your glory." In your glory. Now, notice that Jesus doesn't agree to their initial request, right? He doesn't say, "Oh, sure. Whatever guys, whatever it is that you want.

There's no guarantee that they're going to receive their request." And then comes his response. He says, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" You don't know. How many of us think through our requests and the implications that could come from them before we ever ask? I mean, think about that.

How many times we pray a prayer and we don't even think about the implications of what could happen if that thing is actually answered. Now, Jesus here is attempting to teach these two that they've not considered what it is that they're asking. So, let me ask you a question. If God says something, is it true? I mean, of course.

But Jesus says, "You don't know." They don't know. Yet, despite that, we are able. Did you catch that? You don't know. But we are.

So Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with a baptism I'm baptized. With you, you will be baptized. They're saying, "You know what, Jesus? We're able. You know what, Jesus?

You're wrong. Jesus, we know better." And of course, they don't directly say this, but this is the implication. Now, does anyone see a lesson coming? I mean, maybe you're a parent here and you've seen some parallels uh popping up in your mind, right? But even if you're not a parent, if you've ever warned someone something and they ignored you, you can relate with Jesus in this moment.

But on the flip side, if you've been the one who's ignored advice only to have it blow up in your face, you can relate with where the disciples are coming from. These are the kind of interactions that we can get when we do life together. But this is also an opportunity for love through the truth connected with a lesson as well. Jesus informs them that they will drink his cup. Meaning that yes, they will suffer also in the future, but that suffering will not lead to positions in the kingdom.

Now, by the way, in case you were not aware, James and John were essentially asking for the number one and number two spots in Jesus's eternal kingdom. That's what they wanted. They wanted these positions of power. Now, though they're going to to suffer, these positions of authority are not for them. We continue in verse 40.

But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared. So James and John have come Jesus to Jesus covertly. They've tried to secure power positions for themselves, but they've been denied. Now things are about to ramp up because word of their shenanigans begins to reach the 10. Now we don't know exactly how it is.

Like was there just one or the other? Someone else kind of happened to walk by. Hey, these guys are talking about this thing. We better get in here and start talking. But somehow the other 10 get word of this and they come in and we're told that they are displeased.

Now I don't know if when you think about the word displeased, but that's kind of a neutered word to me. It's kind of been nice like, okay, you know, I'm displeased by the service that I got today at this restaurant or I'm displeased by the work my kids did on their room. I'm displeased by whatever it it's kind of a um a lighter word. That's not what this is. This word is more indignant.

Now, I don't know how often you use this word indignant. It's not something we commonly use, but I'm just going to tell you that it's intense. If we were to go back and open up Noah Webster's dictionary from 1828, my personal favorite dictionary that exists, and we were to pull up what Noah Webster and in the English language knew of indignant back in 1828, this is what this means. affected at once with anger and disdain. Feelings. Feeling the mingled emotions of wrath, of scorn, of contempt as when a person is exaggerated at one despised.

To me, that gives a little bit more than ah they were a little displeased. These guys were hopping mad. They were furious. They were angry at these gentlemen. They were ticked.

Now,

Chapter 10: They Didn't Shatter and Neither Should We

here's some insight into the future of this group. They don't shatter over this issue. Think about that. In our current world, man, we have the slightest little slight. I'm out of here.

I'm done with you people. You're dead to me. Slightest little slight. We've seen this in marriages and in jobs and family relationships. people just shattering over the silliest and I'm going to say it stupidest things. This kind of thing.

These guys are hopping mad and guess what? They get over it. In fact, they go on to change the world because they continue to live, love, and learn together. Family, just as in the case with Jesus and his disciples, if we're together for any length of time, one or many of us will do or say something stupid. we're going to offend each other. It's going to happen.

You know, you do it in in relationships, you do it in marriages, you do it with your kids, your kids do it with you, you do it at your job, those things are going to happen. And and if and if it happened to the disciples, there's a high likelihood it's going to happen to us. If these guys who walked with Jesus could not live perfectly in this life, perhaps we should give ourselves and each other a break for not being perfect. for saying stupid things from time to time, for being arrogant, selfish, prideful, or even ignorant from time to time. Because here's the thing, and this may annoy some of you, but frankly, it breaks my heart how many times I hear seemingly immature believers say that they can't be part of a life group or church because people are hypocrites. Or my least favorite, they're not like me.

And so, you realize how very different these men were. I alluded to this earlier. I want you to think about this because this is another thing too. We cross-section our society to the nth degree. You know, from football teams to ethnicities to the jobs we do to the cities we live in to the kind of car, the kind of phone, the kind of sodas, the restaurants, everything.

We slice and dice ourselves up in every single kind of way in order to separate ourselves or to exclude ourselves or to make ourselves exclusive. But these guys were crazy different as well, right? You had a white collar, you had bluecollar, you had government shill and shyer, you had fringe political extremists and everywhere in between. These guys were not like one another. And yet God used them to change the world.

In other words, Jesus surrounded himself with humanity. And it was Jesus who held them together. And it's Jesus who should hold us together. But here's another observation that needs to be made. As different as they were at the base level, they were the same.

They were at base self centered sinners. How do I know this? Well, it's right there in front of us. The 10 became angry and indignant. Now, you might say, well, I mean, James and John were sinful and they were selfish.

That's why these guys were angry. Of course, somebody else doing something sinful gives me reason to be sinful. Oh, here's the thing. They wanted it as well. It's just James and John were the first to verbalize it.

How do we know this? Well, listen to what comes next, starting in verse 42. But Jesus called them to himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lorded over them, and they and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to become great among you shall become your servant, and whoever desires to be first shall be slave of all."

Chapter 11: True Greatness Is Found in Service

James and John and seemingly the rest of the 12 had the desire for greatness in their hearts. But Jesus here takes the opportunity to teach them about true greatness. True greatness is found in the service of others. Another fantastic lesson from the Savior. The learned among you might say that learning here is the star, right?

Jesus is teaching them a lesson, but not so fast. Ask yourself, could Jesus have sat there and told them that same thing in the synagogue? He could have, but Jesus took an opportunity to do it in a real life situation. Because this is the thing about lived lessons. Lived lessons are learned lessons.

Loved lessons are learned lessons. Lived, loved, and learned lessons are mega lessons. And now Jesus is going to cap this living and loving lesson with one of the most famous passages in the Bible. For even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. And family, over the past three weeks, we've learned through the foundation of who we are as followers.

We've walked through the foundation of who we are as followers in Christ. We exist to love God and to love people. That is our purpose. And in response to that purpose, we go, we make, we baptize, and we teach. That is our mission.

And how we live this out, how we follow the Savior's own example is by doing life in life groups where we live, love, and learn together. That is our vision.

Chapter 12: The Challenge and the Gospel

So, here's my challenge to you today. If you are not currently in a life group, I encourage you to join one. When you walk out in either direction, you're going to find representatives from the Berean Life Group. There are representatives out here today. They're not just representing themselves.

They're representing the lifeg group ministry here at Sunrise. And you can ask them, you can talk to them, what is it you've experienced about life groups? How can I become a lifeg group? you can specifically ask them about their life group, but if you can't meet on those whatever, well, they meet right after service, but if you can't meet at that point, there are other groups that meet throughout the week that you can ask them about and they can help you find that information. Now, if you are in a life group, I want you to I want to encourage you to invite someone who isn't. And if you are in one and it's comfortable, I'll say that's good, but now let's get uncomfortable.

Let's get real because that's where growth happens. But maybe you're here today and this whole series has felt like it's for everyone else in the church. And if that's if that's you, I'm going to remind you where we started. We started with Jesus here desiring to seek and to save the lost. And that's where Jesus can meet you today.

If you're hearing his voice today, understand that he is seeking you. And all that's required is that you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. That's where everything begins to change and transform in your life. Family, we are all beautiful messes, every single one of us. But by his grace, we are better and more beautiful together.

So now let's go live, love, and learn. Would you join me in prayer? Father God, thank you again for this day and for this series, this reminder of what we can be. And Lord, I'm going be honest. For many, it's scary because it's different than maybe what they've experienced in the past.

There's there's more that we have to lay out in front of people. Making ourselves vulnerable in front of others, especially if we've been burned in the past, can be a terribly difficult thing. But I pray that you through your Holy Spirit would work through and in each and every one of us to connect and to grow as we live, love, and learn together. And that we would see this church continue to more and more be your church as individuals, but also corporately as life groups and as this body, this small C church here in the middle of West Valley that we would go make baptize and teach all for your glory and all for loving you and for loving others. We praise you and we thank you in your matchless name.

Amen.