Romans

Romans chapter 11 verse 11. Again, I ask Did they, that is Israel, stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all. Rather because of their transgression, salvation has come to the gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the gentiles.

How much greater riches will be their full inclusion bring? I am talking to you gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy.

If the root is holy, so are the branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, And you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in amongst the others and now share in the nourishing sap of the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do consider this, You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in, granted, but they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if god did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of god, sternness to those who fell but kindness to you provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in. For god is able to graft them in again After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? And now turn to acts chapter 2, and we're going to read from verse 36.

Acts chapter 2 verse 36. Therefore. Let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both lord and Messiah. When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to all the other apostles, brothers, what shall we do?

Peter replied, Repent and be baptized every 1 of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off For all whom the lord our god will call. With many other words he warned them, and he pleaded with them Save yourselves from this corrupt generation. Those who accepted his message were baptized and about 3000 were added to their number that day.

They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who's he had need And every day, they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts praising god and enjoying the favor of all the people.

And the lord added to their number daily. Those who are being saved. Now we've been going through, the book of Romans, and we're on chapter 11. And if you wanna hear a whole overview of chapter 11, that's what we did last week. And so I recommend that you have a listen to that.

If you haven't, been here last week. But I wanna take just some remarkable words from that Romans 11. Things that have been actually really struck me this week and I sort of wanna jump from those words to another passage. They are remarkable words. You get them in in verse 11, the second half of verse 11 of Romans 11.

It says salvation has come to the gentiles to make Israel envious, to make Israel envious. And then, look at verse 14. You get it again. Paul says in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people. That's the Jews.

To envy and save some of them. There are extraordinary words, and those words have been just sort of ringing in my head for a for a few weeks, actually. Let me explain what's going on here very briefly. The picture that god gives of his family, of his community in chapter 11. It's a very beautiful picture.

It's a picture of an olive tree, an olive tree. And that olive tree is a tree of grace. We are grafted into the root, if you like, into the stem of the olive tree by grace, with branches that are cut off or with wild branches, but we've been grafted into this this tree of grace, the olive tree, god's community of grace made up of people from all over the world branches from all over the world into this wonderful community of god and it really really is wonderful and it's so wonderful Paul has been arguing that it will make Israel itself envious and jealous. It's so beautiful that they'll want to be part of that. And they themselves will be grafted in.

There's all kinds of complicated arguments. I'm trying to make it simple to make the 1 point. Now what would make religious people that rely on their own good and their own obedience and their own family line and their own nationality What would make the and they look down on other people, what would make them envious of this olive tree? There's gotta be something that is deeply attractive in this community that is shaped by grace. That is made by grace, something so attractive that even these religious unbelievers See what's going on inside this community.

They're so deeply attracted. They say that's what I want. I've got it. I wanna I wanna be part of that. Now what is it?

Well, I think there's all kinds of things. First of all, when you know that god's kindness is to you, all of grace, nothing to do with you. It brings a massive security. There's a massive security. I don't have to prove myself.

I'm right with god. Doesn't matter what you think of me. I'm right with god and there's a massive freedom in that. But also this rightness, righteousness, the righteousness of God that comes when I'm I'm in this grace tree. I start growing fruit that is beautiful.

The right consciousness of god. So I can forgive people. I can love people. I can love my neighbor. I can love god, and it begins to grow in me.

And change me. And then this olive tree is just this family of grace. It's a very attractive family to be in. Because we love. We forgive.

We build each other up. We're not in competition to prove each other and to put each other down. And then the beautiful diversity of this tree. There are different branches grafted in from all over the world. It's a very beautiful thing.

Not everybody is the same, but we come the same route through the lord Jesus Christ. So there's diversity but unity. It's a very special thing to have in the world diversity but unity. I think all of those things make religious people like the Jews envious. And so we're told in Romans 11 that many of Paul's own people will see this grace community and be really they say, oh, that's what I want.

I wanna be part of that olive tree. I really want that. Now what I want to do, I want to take those that principle of the gentile nations making Israel envious. I want to take that principle of this olive tree making people envious. I want to apply it directly to the church today, to the church today.

And particularly in this area of community, I want to jump then from Romans 11 and go to acts chapter 2. So you need to open that up. Where we see the start of the church, and I've called this sermon, church, the envy of the world, church, the envy of the world. And I want us as Cornerstone church to reestablish the things that we deliberately work in this church so that we will be the envy of the world. We'll be the envy of Kingston.

As a as a society. Church, the envy of the world. Our country is in crisis. I mean absolute crisis on many areas, but there's a crisis in our country of loneliness People are lonely. So much so this government has appointed a minister for loneliness Did you know that?

Her name is Tracy Gooch. She says she's very proud to take up this job because of the, listen, generational challenge to tackle an issue that she says is affecting 9000000 people in the UK. 9000000 people. Are lonely in our world without community. The thing is though it's not just old people that are left and dumped.

It's increasingly young people. All of all of the, the surveys are done and the research are done. It's coming thick and fast is saying that there is a new epidemic amongst young people So I've been reading on this subject for for quite some months. And in a book, that is the rule by non Christians called IGen. The I Generation.

It's about teenagers. This is what the writer says. In short, I Jin teenagers are less likely to take part in every single face to face social activity. These fading interactions include everything from small group to 1 to 1 activities such as getting together with friends, to large group activities such as parties Did you know young people are partying less than they've ever done? They include activities with no real aim such as cruising in a car, and those that may have, more of a goal in mind, such as going to the movies.

They include activities that might be replaced by online convenience such as going shopping on in the mall to those that can't easily be replicated online such as going out with friends. Every face to face activity The group is getting smaller. Young people aren't doing it. It is now possible to have hundreds of Facebook contacts, but have no emotional contact with people face to face. There is a superficial friendliness that is concealing a distance and an indifference and even now a mistrust to anyone in relationships.

We are full of likes. Our world is full of likes as we tick the light box but it doesn't seem to be full of love. In a survey that's been running, since 19 91, they're saying that teenagers are lonelier in than ever in that whole period. And this has brought massive mental health issues amongst teenagers an increase in depression and our sense of meaninglessness. Of course, it has.

Now there are many reasons, and I'm not doing a talk on loneliness, although I'd quite like to. But there are many reasons for this. But 1 of the big reasons is is our individualism that's come in. The rise of individualism in our western society has basically cut us from relationships and, the whole idea of relationships as a fundamental component to what it is to be human and self fulfillment has become the watchword. And relationships are only important as far as they bring self fulfillment.

Now I want to say that you will never find self fulfillment you'll never actually find yourself outside of relationships and outside of community because we human beings are built. We're designed to function. We're designed to flourish. We're designed to flourish in interaction. In relationships, in community.

And what we seem to have done is brought about this self imposed individualism that's imprisoned us to stop us being what we should be. Humans in community, I don't know about you, but I always find it sad when I go to a zoo. Have you ever been to a zoo and you see a single animal in a cage. And it's either completely lethargic. It just doesn't do anything, and you're doing all of faces try and and it just doesn't even acknowledge anything.

Or it's got sort of madness. It does these weird actions, it paces, up and down, and then does its head. Paces up and down. I hate seeing animals like that particularly then when you read the sign and says this animal is normally in family units or packs or large groups, but it was born in captivity and it will never survive in a family unit anymore. So it's gonna be on its own for the rest of its life.

They don't usually say that bit. And it is actually less than it should be. And it's very sad when you see that. Our world desperately desperately needs to recover the meaning of community. And that sense that we have of mutual care and mutual belonging to 1 another is so utterly vital.

And it's very clear at the end of acts chapter 2, in Luke's mind, a Christian is not an individualist. No way, but a a Christian is not someone who enjoys a personal relationship with god, and that's it. A Christian belongs. It's never private. We belong to a community.

Sometimes that community is called the body of Christ, Sometimes that community is called the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Mostly, it's called the church in the bible. And this community, I'm saying, this community should be the envy of the world, should be the envy of the world. People should see this community and say, wow, I never realized. Church isn't an institution.

It's a family. Look at they love each other. Look at it. We should be the envy of the world. So we're going back to the beginning of the church, and I want to just show you some things here.

Bouncing off from that text then from from Romans 11. The first thing you see here in to 2 is the sign of belonging. It's the sign of belonging. Have a look at chapter 2 verse, 37 to 41. Of acts.

When the people heard this, so they'd heard preaching, they'd heard the preaching of the lord Jesus Christ. I'm not going into that. When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles brothers, what shall we do? Peter replied, repent. And be baptized every 1 of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, for all whom the lord, our god will call. But look at this. With many other words, he warned them, and he pleaded with them. Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.

Those who accepted that his message were baptized and about 3000 were added to their number that day. Now there's all the kinds of things that could be said here, but do you see that becoming a Christian is coming into a community So big thing that he say is coming in. Now, of course, we individually make a decision. We individually repent. We individually know the forgiveness of sins We individually receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In other words, we're individually born again yet absolutely but you're called from 1 group which is called here a corrupt generation. Almost the words by the way the minister for loneliness uses this generational problem. We're called from this corrupt generation to this new group called the fellowship. We're called from 1 group to another group. And you find this all over the new testament, The experience of god, the experience of salvation is very, very, very much tied up in the experience of belonging to this group.

You can't separate them. There's no you know, isolated Christian in the new testament. It's a solidarity thing. To be a Christian by definition was being a public member of a local church In other words, you're grafted in to the olive tree. You're not your own little sprout or shoot.

Someone wrote this. Have a listen to this. It's powerful stuff, I think. 1 of the commentators on Acts. We have been brainwashed by our western individualism Therefore, we see the church in the same lukewarm terms in which we see every other kind of community namely as a voluntary club that we join if we want to rather than as the people of god with whom we must identify if we would be Christians at all.

Cornerstone's not a voluntary club. It's not the gym that you like a bit of spiritual exercise when you fancy it. We're called to community. Otherwise, we're not Christian at all. Look at verse 40 of acts chapter 2.

With many other words, he warned them and he pleaded with them, save yourself from this corrupt generation. Those who accepted his message were baptized. Now the generation word there means a whole culture. A culture is something where people have things in common. They they think the same way.

They behave the same way. It's a generational thing. So that means that when we become a Christian, we come out of this generation. We remove ourselves from this generation, and there's a radical different life. My family now are not my physical family, I come out of the generation.

My family now are the church. Not in some culty way, but really My race is not that I'm English. I come out of being English from that generation. I actually now am identified as a member of the church. This new counter culture, this new fellowship thing.

It's leaving. It's belonging. So we live differently. Everything's different. My work, the way I think of work, the way I think of the world, the way I think of racial things, the way I think of my culture, the way I think of family.

Everything is touched. Everything is touched as I come out of the corrupt generation. So we believe And we're baptized into this community. Baptism isn't an individual religious sign or it isn't that only, it is a sign of belonging to a church. Now We have a baptism baptism service coming up.

And if you haven't been baptized and you wanna be part of this community, then be baptized. Come and see me. It's coming up in in, April sometime, I think. Is it April? Where's is where's Rully?

Is she here? She's not not even here amongst the family of god, but when she's baptized, she'll belong. You see? So we have a baptism. So she's getting baptized and if you want to do that.

So that's the first thing. That's the belonging, but how would it? What's the experience of belonging? Do you see it here? Very simple stuff this.

The experience of belonging when I belong is this. You get it in verse 42 and 43 to 43. Of, acts chapter 2. And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

They devoted themselves. You see that? They devoted themselves to the Apostle's teaching devotion to a corporate activity. It's corporate. It's not just them learning the Apostle's teaching, you know, from the internet on their own.

Or just reading books. It's a corporate devotion, a desire to learn together. It's a learning community So here we have a group of people who didn't wanna be spectators, didn't wanna be just looking on the sidelines or backbenchers or whatever you would call it. They wanna participate. Church for them is not just Sunday because it's not an institution.

It's community. Church forms the context of everything else they do in life. This is family. They may go out from family to do work but they come back to family and these people were were passionately enthusiastic about it. It's a new community and it's structured around teaching, around truths, the apostles teaching.

You notice that it is the apostles teaching And you notice that they're doing signs, and miracles because they are authenticating their teaching doesn't mean to say other people didn't do it but in the new testament, mostly it's Jesus and the apostles that do these things and it's to authenticate their words and they've been authenticated and we have them now in the scriptures. So these words of the apostles, the scriptures are not dry, deadly words. It's not just theology, They bring life. They bring healing to the very soul to the depth of our being. They change us and move us and their their light refreshing water that begins to flush out all of the gunk.

All of the sewerage we got blocked up in us. Is blasted out. You know, that's what happens. We get all kinds of blockages and wrong thinking in our minds. But here comes the hose.

I I imagine this is Dave laws, he's away at the moment with the young people, but I'm I am I don't know what he does. Dave laws, but he he's into sewerage. You know? And I imagine he has a great big hose pipe. It's blasting the blockage that's coming from Kingston humanity, you know?

It's all blocked up the massive great grease burger that was in the middle of Kingston. There's Dave laws, firing away at it, shipping away, block Well, that's what I've got him I've got I've gone off in my imagination now. Forgive me, but that's the apostles teaching. It's not some dry boring thing. It's unblocking us so that we understand grace that we so that we understand the lord Jesus Christ.

And we keep need to hear this truth. It's not that he does it once We keep blocking our lives up with more gunk and we need to be washing it and cleaning it under the word of god. This is a community of grace that is learning and growing and understanding and re understanding and recommitted to this word and researching how to apply it and committing it to each other, they are devoted. They devoted themselves. And I wanna say this isn't something that just happens.

I'm gonna pick this up right at the end. This is a worked out devotion, a commitment. They work at it. They're applying it. They're under it.

There's an accountability with each other and a responsibility to each other to be devoted and it happens daily Look at verse 46. Every day, their meetings. Not just a 1 off thing. This is family life. They didn't just see each other on Sunday and say, Hey, may the apostles word be with you?

It was a daily involvement with each other. And that's why we do things like we do at Cornerstone. It is deliberate. It is thought through this, why we have sisters act and fight club. We want to we want to teach our women and our men and encourage them to keep learning, keep learning.

And if you can be part of sisters act and fight club, then be part of it. You know? We need to keep learning, keep applying it. Some of you can't. That's okay.

But, you know, if you can, it's important. We need to keep freshening ourselves, be redevoted to these things. That's why we preach. That's why I am set free from the burden of doing work to earn money so that I can spend my time writing sermons like this It doesn't just happen, you know. You don't just press the internet and say, alright, sermons Romans 11 acts to print it off, Catherine, you know?

Let's have a first reading, maybe, or practice it a bit. It doesn't work like we have to devote yourself and you're devoted so that I can be set free to put some work and energy and time and effort And you want me to do that, I hope, to be devoted to preaching sermons that help us grow and understand and it applies it to your heart You see that? They're devoted. There's a there's a first sort of thing of belonging, experience of belonging. But here's the second thing.

Look, the second word that is used is fellowship. Now fellowship isn't some sort of mystical gas that sort of pervades Christian meetings. It's not some kind of sort of weird sense that you have It is a sense of belonging. That's what fellowship is. It comes from doing things together not just sitting next to each other, like you do in a cinema, you don't have Christian fellowship in a in a in a cinema, do you?

You just sit and watch a film. This is fellowship. This is doing things together. The word fellowship is the word coinonia, actually. It comes from a a deep association, a true communion, It it's it's actually seen in its highest example in marriage, in marriage.

So it's not just meeting and bumping into each other and shaking hands after a service, that's not really fellowship at all, actually. True fellowship is never superficial. It's vital. It's alive. It's people becoming 1.

As what happens in a true marriage. We're tied together. We're grafted into an olive tree. We're growing together It's quinonia. It's having stuff in common.

Look at verse 44 to 46. It's just so wonderful. Look, all the believers were together They had everything in common. Isn't that amazing? Beautiful picture it is.

They look but they're so committed to this they sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had in need. There's no needy people. In the church. Now this isn't some form of ancient communism. Commonism basically says, I want what you've got.

Give it to me by force. This is a deliberate love. We want everybody to to, you know, not be suffering. Every day, look, they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts Here's a group of men and women that have suddenly found intoxicating love as they express it to 1 another They're intoxicated.

All the believers were together and had everything in common. They are looking after each other in other words. They're caring. If you're an old person, we wanna look after you. If you're a young person, we wanna look after you.

This is a beautiful culture. This is a beautiful new fellowship. As people have been rescued from that corrupt generation of self and loneliness and brokenness. And individualism. Now this is why we try to do what we do in Cornerstone.

We do Sunday services. You noticed that actually they they met together in large groups and small groups? Did you notice that every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. That's a big group. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with Glad and sincere hearts.

There's large groups and small groups, and this is why we have Sunday meetings and small groups. I want to encourage you in those things. I don't know everyone can get to an evening small group, but you need to be part of a small group or cared for. By a small group. It's very important, large group small group.

We're committed to that. This is why we're trying to do church this way. Then there's a third thing. Did you notice it's breaking a bread and prayer? Let's put those together We could spend time separating them, but basically breaking of bread is reminding us of what the lord Jesus Christ has done.

He's died on the cross for us. This is a grace community. This is where we see that we're forgiven that the whole basis of us coming together is based on what Christ has done. And the lord's supper, the breaking of bread is just a picture of what Christ has done for us as a people. We're brought together and we have 1 father We have a father in heaven, our heavenly father.

We are his children. We are his family. He is our father. We're brought in by the blood and body of the lord Jesus Christ. Wonderful, isn't it?

And that is why we have a prayer meeting. And that's why we break bread at the prayer meeting. And can I encourage you to be devoted to that? If you can come come, it's vital. Here's a fourth thing that you get.

In experiencing this, community. It's awe. It's wonder. It's awe. Do you see verse 43?

Everyone was filled with awe. He's talking about believers, not unbelievers here. There's something of the sense of god of wonder and the beauty of god, our father, and that how he sent his son to die for us, it's an awe. It's tangible. It's you can feel it.

It's like, wow. Now, how does this all come? It doesn't come on its own. This isn't something that you can just work up at a meeting. You don't go to a meeting and sit and not know anyone and sense the awe of God.

That is not how it comes. This awe comes because people are devoted to the apostles teaching. They're devoted to fellowship. They're devoted to prayer they're devoted to the breaking of bread, reminding themselves of who Christ is, and that's when awe comes. Or isn't separated.

It doesn't grow. Without this soil to grow in. And there's a sense of god. And look at verse 40 46 47, it talks about glad and sincere hearts and praising God. How does real Holy Spirit praise happen?

Through people who are devoted to these things. And then there's a sense of, wow god, We see you tangibly working in people's lives who are coming and being grafted in who are full of all kinds of fatbergs and all kinds of stuff and have been grafted in and wee and washed out and understanding the goodness of god It's a beautiful thing as the olive tree gets more and more branches in and we put more of our sap into helping the new branch and loving them so that they will grow more olives. It's a wonderful thing. The awe of god, as you see god working, in the fellowship. And I have to say, this is a wonderful thing to see Cornerstone.

It's it's so lovely. I hate being away from Cornerstone. I often preach other churches, and it's so boring. You know? But here's the fourth here's the fifth thing.

This is really important. You ready? This is how to grow the church. Food. That'll grow us, make us fatter.

How do you want to get a bigger church? Food. Yeah. Look at verse 46. Every day, they continue to meet together in the temple courts.

That's the big meeting. They broke bread in their homes. That's the small meeting, home groups. And they ate together with glad and sincere hearts praising god and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the lord added to their number daily, those are being saved.

Do you see food is really important? That's why we do food at Cornerstone. We don't we haven't just hit upon it. We're devoted to food. Yeah?

And I want to encourage you in that. On Sundays, 4 ways of doing food. We have church lunch. That's next week, church lunch where we all come together. It's so good.

Do you know, it's an amazing thing, and I know for some of us, you know, I include myself now getting older when our hearing goes a bit funny and the noise of young people, it's quite intense. It it hurts our ears, but I want us not to be grumpy about that and somehow put some ear plugs in or something because I want to say that that when you go to a church lunch and you see a whole load of people talking. It is a massive testimony to fellowship. Because if you go to Kingston University to their refractory where they'll have more young people than we have in the refractory There is no conversation going on or very little. Everybody's in their individualistic world with their headphones in listening to their own music.

It's shocking when you see it, where young people aren't even talking, no wonder they're lonely. But you come into church lunch, and it's so noisy. It's hard to get in. It's beautiful. It's such a testimony.

It's such a witness. We have church lunch 1 week. We have hub lunch done by 2 different home groups, twice, twice a month. And now we have guest who's coming to lunch so that we can mix the pot up and meet people that we may not normally bump into This is Holy Spirit church. This is how they did church.

So we're gonna encourage you in those things. So here's a summary of what the church did. The church trained and educated its members. They devoted themselves to the was teaching. The church brought its members together constantly, actually, every day.

The church moved members into relationships of mutual support. They were together. They had fellowship. The church members met in both small groups and big groups. Homes in Temple Court.

The church remembered the lord's death, the breaking of bread. The church spent time praying together. The church practiced radical, stewardship, mercy ministries as they cared for people in need, and the church had a spirit of joy. There was gladness and sincere hearts and praising god, and that was an awe that came upon them. Now I want to say, if we have a church like that, then we're the envy of Kingston.

If people could just see church like that, with the envy of Kingston. I say to atheists now regularly When they say you can't prove God, I said, of course, I can. That'd be so silly. Absolutely prove God. I say this a lot now.

Of course, I can prove God. It's the easiest thing in the world to prove god. What prove him then? No. Don't think so because you won't take it.

You when I say it, I I tell when I give you the evidence, the absolute hundred percent evidence for god, you'll go like that. So I don't think you're mature enough to take the evidence. That gets them all worked up. If you really knew it, how dare you and all of that stuff, And then my answer is, if you I can prove I can prove god, come to church, and then they go, nah, nah, I went, if only you could get them into church, All those people desperate for community. We talk about homosexual communities and nonsense It's a vicious self promotion, self fulfillment thing.

Come to church, We talk about, you know, the feminist movement that we're we're together. It's just nonsense, full of division and bitterness. Come to church, see how women should be treated. It's an amazing thing. It shouts at the world and it was doing even then in acts chapter 2.

First thir 46, every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts broke bread in their homes, ate together with glad and sincere hearts praising god and enjoying the favor of all people and the lord added to their number daily those being saved. This grace community is such an envy of all the world goes on about, self fulfillment, joy, relationships. It's here. Here. If only we can get people to come to see church, Instead of seeing it as an institutionalized building and how churches really run then we will be the envy.

We will be the envy. And people will see, see how they love each other. So what I wanna do in this last point is to say, hey, and we can recommit to this Can we recommit to a lonely world that doesn't know how to do community? Can we recommit to community? I think it's something we need to do all of us all the time.

We need to repent of our Western individualism. It sneaks up on us and blocks us up like a fatberg. It needs blasting out. We need to repent of our Western individualism. And if See, what happens, isn't it?

You know, people talk about the 7 year itch or whatever it is, you know, when when people are married, after 7 years, you know, You've done everything basically. You've known each other. You've got your kids. And now, well, we need to go and experiment and move out. And it's happening all over the place.

I think Richmond isn't Richmond, the number 1 borrower in the in in in in in our country for adultery. Isha is isha number 1? Richmond's up there. We're we're in between those 2. So I guess we're on there.

You know, you gotta go and have a you gotta go and have a fling and that happens that happens in life and you've always gotta be aware of that fat bug that's gonna take you over. Yeah? And that happens in church I've noticed. We've been going for 15 years now, so that's 2 lots of 7 plus 1. Do you need to re devote to this?

Do you remember the early days where you were really going for it, you know? We need to recommit, don't we? All of us? I'm not having it. If you say, oh, you point your finger at me.

Yes. And me. If the hat fits where it come on recommit recommit to the prayer meeting recommit to being devoted to the apostles teaching. Repray for each other, recommit to community, recommit to food, you know? So wonderful thing.

Recommit to these things. Let's all do it. We should do it every year. We should probably have a little thing where we do it every year. I recommit to these things.

Let's repent of our Western individualism. If the 7 year itch has come in and we're starting to want church and we're stepping back a little bit because we've got everything that we want now in our life and we're stepping back a little bit and we're not Come on recommit, and we'll be the envy of the world, and maybe many will come in. And be saved. So we need to be devoted to these things so that the world will sea. It's 1 it's been wonderful having a building, haven't it?

Hasn't it? But the church isn't a building. It's wonderful having a building because that building is a bit like our sort of house. It's the house of cornerstone, we should call it. And people use it as a house We meet there and eat there.

Like we do, we do family in that house. Yeah? And it's a great testimony that's why I like the the windows. Oh, open up. Let people see on Sunday with a buzz going on.

Let them moan about the cars coming round. Fine. Let them see people. What's going on? Are they weirdos?

Yes. Cause we love each other. Let them see that. It's wonderful. So let's recommit to these things.

Father god, help us to live so wonderfully in community that the world will say, Hey, what is going on? And wanna find out about the message and come in to the family and be grafted in. We pray this in Jesus' name, our,