Welcome And Ways To Connect

Seth 0:06

Hey, good morning everyone. We just want to welcome you to another episode of the Followers of Christ podcast. You know, it's been a little bit since we posted something, but we're excited to get back into it. And, you know, today we got something a little different. Not going to spoil it just yet, but I think you guys are really going to enjoy it, gonna get a lot out of it, and we welcome any interaction that you might have afterwards. So just as a couple of quick announcements, housekeeping things. As always, we have our hosts with us today, Jonathan, Mike, Stefan, and my name is Seth. If you would like to contact us, ask some questions, just interact after the show. There's a couple of different ways that you can reach us. The first is our email, contact at focpod.com, or you can go directly to our website, which is focpod.com. Also, we have a Facebook page, the Followers of Christ podcast Facebook page. There's a couple of other podcasts with pretty close names. So the logo that you see in the description wherever you're listening to this, just look for that logo as well. And that's just another way that you can reach out to us. But we're really excited to have you guys join us today. We know that the Lord is just gonna lead us through this conversation and just really set up some great opportunities. But as always, we'll kick it over for our gospel message to Mr. Jonathan.

The Gospel Message And New Life

Jonathan 1:27

Hey, good morning. Thank you for joining us today. Before I present the gospel message, let's just take the time to pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for everything that you've done, Father. Thank you for what your son did on the cross. Thank you that we just lift him high. Just be with us and guide us. Lord, use me, use me as a vessel to help somebody out there that doesn't know you. And Lord, I'm gonna not allow me to speak, but I allow you to speak through me, Father. So thank you for this day. In your name. Amen. So the the gospel message to me, I feel like it's something that I've kind of been going through recently, and I'll kind of explain a little bit in just a minute. But I want to read from Romans chapter 3, verse 23. It says And justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came that came by Christ Jesus. There was a verse that I was looking for that wasn't the one, but for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And I say that because recently I've I've been missing the mark. And it's been through God's redemption that He's shown me what salvation is. I am a believer and I do follow Christ. For those who don't know what the gospel message is, this is what it is. It's God sending his son to die on a cross for my sins and your sins. And then in three days later raised from the dead. That's that's a gospel message in a nutshell. God's been working on me recently, and there's a couple verses that I really want to read to you guys, and it stands out to me. And this is something that God's been working on me. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17, it says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature creation. The old has gone and the new has come. What that is saying is that when you receive Jesus Christ, your old simple nature dies and you become a new creation in Christ. Now that doesn't mean that it's gonna be very easy and everything roses and rainbows and all that. It just means that when you receive Christ, uh when the world is pulling against you, you know that God and Jesus are both with you. And then the last verse that I want to read is Galatians chapter 2, and it's verse 20. And it says, I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Y'all, these two verses have been hitting me really hard lately. And God is reminding me that while I am a believer and I believe in him, we still sin. With closing, I just want to say that put your faith and trust in God and Jesus and what Jesus did on the cross because there is no better life than giving your life to him. And with that, that that's the gospel message.

Seth 5:29

Yeah, thanks, Jonathan. That's a that's a good reminder. And you know, again, if anybody has any questions about that, if you you know are are feeling that tug on your heart, if there's if there's anything we can do to walk with you through some of these things, you know, please let us know. We are here to talk with you. We pray for you before every episode. We might not know your name yet, but we're praying for you. And we just want to take that opportunity to just come alongside you any way that we can. But with that, you know, brother Mike's gonna talk a little bit about our mission statement and why we're doing this.

Mission Statement And Today’s Focus

Mike 6:05

Good morning, everybody. It's your boy Michael Lo Michelangeloji. The mission statement is to reflect the love of Jesus by walking with our neighbors, nurturing faith, curiosity, and community along the way. We're in this together, we're here to learn together, we're here to grow together, you're here to share each other's burdens. We're not alone, you're not alone. Just just want to let you know that that you you know you you may be you may feel like you're alone, but there's people out there who are going through the same thing you're going through. And um, so that's all I wanted to tell you. So uh who's next?

Seth 6:58

That's gonna be Mr. Stefan. He's gonna set us up with the episode here and also introduce the exciting part of today.

Steffen 7:06

Good morning, everybody. Today's episode is all about community. And and I I've gotta tell you, this brother, I'm getting ready to introduce you now. He means the world to us, to me. He has been pivotal. God has used him and guiding me and leading me and pointing me in the direction that I need to go. We have had multiple conversations over the years, you know, and I'll never forget the the day when my eyes were opened wide, talking about the fiery furnace story. I'm back here talking to this brother, and he just got this smile on his face. Because of course he knew the story, but he just wanted to let me get my excitement out. You know, I felt like a little kid at a candy store. You know what I mean? This brother has played a huge part in my growth by the grace of God. This brother, his name is Derek Davis, Pastor Derek Davis of Countryside Baptist Church. Pastor D, welcome. We are so happy to have you, my brother.

Derrick 8:24

Glad to be here.

Steffen 8:26

Would you uh do a standard and share what's on your heart?

Derrick 8:30

Yeah, man. But first of all, I I love what y'all are doing here because as I was thinking about this, and like you talking about the kid in the candy store, that's what I feel like this morning. And and I was just thinking to myself, this is just when what you guys are doing here is just another opportunity, another tool, another way of sharing the gospel, of offering encouragement, bringing help, bringing support, and all of that. And uh man, I love uh what y'all are doing here, and I'm so blessed to be here, man, because uh, like you said, man, we you know, we've had a thousand, we've had a million conversations. And but anyway, when you asked me about this, and I didn't know your mission statement at the time. So I'm thinking, I'm sitting here thinking, like, man, boy, we right on point. We're right here in the Lord, because um, in your mission statement, y'all mentioned uh community.

Defining Community With Hebrews 10:25

Derrick 9:18

And when you asked me about coming on here, my first thought without hesitation was sharing on community. Community is a strong area in my life and in my heart. And especially with uh the church that I pastor, where it's located at, it's really, and I won't get into all that, but it's it's really community-oriented. I'm very much, very, very much implanted into the community. Actually, used to live in that particular community. And but I just want to just share through things, man, and then just kind of lay a foundation if that's cool. And then if we want to get into some questions, I have uh you guys more flow from there, but just to give um, just to give some type of um lay a foundation for us to build upon, if you will. And so I um, whenever I minister, man, you know, people some call it a key verse, some call it a foundational verse, and what have you. I call it a working verse. And so our working verse, when speaking about community, and then of course, you know, what the Bible says about uh community and as believers, and uh as the podcast name follows the followers of Christ, you know, what does community look like to us, you know? And so the working verse comes from Hebrews 10, 25. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. You can pause right there, you know, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, which is the manner of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day approaching. Boy, there's so much, there's so much, there's so much meeting and that alone. And but I know I'm not preaching a Sunday sermon, so I just I do my best to just share a little bit and then you know we get into some discussion and whatnot. So I looked up, I looked up just the general definition of community, and it said a community is a group of people connected by shared interests, identity, location, or purpose. They are bound together by social ties and a sense of belonging, support, and working together for a common goal. And if I was to back up, and when I saw identity, specifically identity and location, our identity in Christ is followers of Christ, our location, we are kingdom people, man. You know, in building this as far as followers of Christ go. We are members of this kingdom community, and that's that's how I look at that. But then also what jumped out to me there was the sense of belonging. That that is what this whole thing is based on. I'll share this quick little thing, and then you know, I'll pass it back to you in whichever direction you want to go, because you know, I'm loaded now. Uh I'm packed over here.

When A Crisis Exposes No Support

Derrick 12:17

But uh, but I was actually sitting in a small group and we would meet once a week, and one of the individuals in the group was involved in an unhealthy relationship. She would get in and get out. She's in, she's out, and uh, it was very unhealthy. And she ran into a situation, let's say like this, life happened. And in the group, she said, Yeah, I had to call so-and-so, you know, this particular guy. And and at that moment, no judgment by any means, at that moment, I thought to myself, she doesn't have community. She needs community. She should have been able to call, let's just say, for instance, she should have been able to call me, Mike, you, Seth, uh, Jonathan, Mary, Janice. You know, I'm just making up some names. She should have had community. And that's where this was birthed out of. And from that, I created a lesson and just been studying it and looking at it and whatnot, and just realizing the importance, even in my own life, where I remember, boy, I was, if it's okay to say it, I was in it. I was in deep, I was in some sin is seeing, you know, okay, you know, sin is sin, but you know, some have greater consequences than others. And I was in one of those. I was what I call big boy sin. But you know what? I didn't have community either. I didn't have nobody to, you know, to hold myself accountable and whatnot. But but uh amen. I'll stop right there because I take golf and don't know where I'll lay.

Steffen 13:58

He said big boy sin. I I love it. Well sad, brother. Well said. Oh man, uh I had seen the same definition because I was doing the same thing, looking up, you know, community as well. You know, and thinking about uh the church and you know, the building the church. We you know, we are the church itself, of course. You know, thinking about uh the individuals that I've met, you know, out well, correction, that we've met who are out and about doing things like our particular case, Athens, and that homeless community, you know, uh pointing people, well, getting to know people, you know. So we talked to several different people, can share several different stories, but you know, thinking about all you know, everything that has occurred and what God has revealed to us was his community. You know what I mean? It to me, I would say his community just coming up front, forefront, just just jumping out. You know, and it's like I I find myself now, since God has been doing this work in me, taking that step, you know. I'm gonna give you a prime example. Um, I'm sitting at the gas pump yesterday, right? These dudes walk up, hey brother, how you doing, man? I'm I'm I'm blessed, man. How you doing? Good. Hey man, we got a church right down the street. You want you to come worship with us, right? And I said, okay. I said, well, tell you what, we have a missions uh, excuse me, we have a ministry that we're stewards of in Athens. You can come and worship with us as well. You know, we would love to have you. Oh, okay. He said, Well, uh, I'm not sure when when we'll be able to come, it's okay. I said, it's just just that, just to know that they're God's people who are showing God's love, you know, building his community, inviting everybody they can to come join the community. You know, so whether you believe, whether you don't believe, you know, we we we'd love to have you. That's good. But yeah, that's uh and gentlemen, y'all want to uh share about last Sabbath they had uh Golden Corral. Anybody want to talk about that? Because that was that was powerful.

Men’s Breakfast And A Missionary Story

Seth 16:32

Oh yeah. No, I mean that so just kind of tying into this more, and you know, Stefan's already touched on it, just talking about how when you think of the church, like it's not just a single building you go in, you sit down on Sunday for an hour, hour and a half, maybe two if your preacher's a little long-winded, but you know, people get a little angry if their buffet time gets cut into too much. So I was gonna say, I'm sure you gotta you know what happens when you start seeing watches getting checked. But uh, you know, we we just we gather in other places, we try to have those opportunities to just gather, fellowship, worship, pray, just spend a lot of spend a lot of intentional time together. And I think intentional is an important part of that. But one of the things that we do is there's a men's breakfast, you know, first Saturday of every month at Golden Crow. If you don't have a Golden Crowl near you, I'm sorry. You know, you're welcome to drive down here at any point in time. We'd love to have you. But we just gather there and you know, it's always a great time just to talk, but we had a wonderful surprise and just a great moment of getting a chance to come together and do some things as the body of Christ, and that is an important part of this you know community concept that we're talking about here is that you know, Stefan talks about these guys walking up inviting people to their church, and that is beautiful, that's wonderful. I love it. We just have to remember that we're all part of the body of Christ together. There's not a separation in there, there's not like my church versus your church, those kind of things. We're all working together toward that same goal of spreading the gospel, of bringing people to Christ. But last Saturday we gathered a Golden Corral, and we were blessed to have a gentleman who's been a missionary in in Africa essentially for I think he said close to 50 years, if I remember correctly. And I mean, this this dude, he looked young, he looked good. You know, I wouldn't have gave him that long over there looking at it. So I was that that immediately floored me. But then the rest of his conversation, man, it it was amazing just talking about you know the work that's being done over there and just how the Lord has led him in so many different ways. It just opened wonderful opportunities. But then just an example of community is he he was talking about that he's going back to a lot of these areas, a lot of these, you know, places that are in you know a very strong put place of poverty. It's places where the gospel is not received well. You know, there's a lot of other hostile, I guess, factions and beliefs and things like that. So it is very difficult for a lot of these people who do come to Christ initially, like the the way that the what they're facing is odds that we're we just can't really imagine here in those ways. But you know, he mentioned, hey, I'm gathering some things, trying to get some items, trying to get you know some rice, and I have a shipping container, and I'm trying to, you know, fill it up essentially to make the most of the the fee that's associated with shipping it to make sure that there's plenty of things to hand out and distribute. And you know, he he has full faith that the Lord will provide there. And he mentioned that up front. But I mean, all these guys just came together and started saying, hey, how do we help? Hey, how do we help? How do we get you things that you need? How do we fill up this container? And you know, Stefan had the ability to actually kind of go see a little bit of where he's setting up some of the supplies, and you know, just got to see just how God's working through so many different individuals to just prepare these things and get them ready. But that was just a really cool way to see how you know none of us had really met this man before, except for the gentleman who invited him, and even then it's only been a short period of time, and just everybody come together and just work as the body of Christ, as that community. You know, we're sitting there talking about iron, iron sharpening iron, and I'm sure we'll probably do an episode on that a little bit more in the future. But it's uh, you know, just to see everybody come together in that moment and just want to work toward that goal, want to join in on what God's doing. It's amazing. And that sense of just, you know, that's our brothers and sisters, regardless of what country they're in, regardless of their background, we are all brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. And that's what we're trying to do is come together and work in that way.

Jonathan 21:06

Yeah, I can say that a meeting was extremely powerful for me because I think it it was like a turning point because I was struggling with some stuff, and I was like, going going back to what you guys are talking about, the community aspect of it, you know, the community, the body of Christ, like like Seth said, it's not just a church building, it's the people of Christ, right? And so it was good for me because when I went to the men's breakfast, the Lord was really laying it on my heart saying, Hey, talk to these gentlemen. And when I did, they they both told me the same thing. They said, Yeah, just get yourself plugged in. But God God is really doing something in a mighty way, and all of us on this podcast are Feeling it. God's God's moving in a mighty way and it's only going to get better.

Seth 22:06

Yeah, that's awesome, Jonathan. And you know, I know that Pastor Derek, you got a couple questions you want to go through here and just kind of bring the conversation through through that and just make sure that we kind of cover everything. So I don't know if you just want to dive into the first one and give a little bit of your thoughts on it, and we can just kind of chime in.

Derrick 22:25

Well, I tell you what, um, and I was going to read this passage before my uh phone did whatever it did, and I this will add some help add some

Acts 2 Blueprint For Real Fellowship

Derrick 22:34

context. And what I was saying was this butts right up to what y'all were talking about from last Saturday, Acts chapter two, verse, starting at verse 41, and this applies to strengthening uh community. Uh, then those who gladly received the word were baptized, and that about that day, 3,000 souls were added to them, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, good breakfast, and the breaking of bread and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now, all who believed were gathered together and had all things in common. That makes me think about what Jonathan was saying, and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. So continuing it daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. So, in my opinion, the Lord just gave us a rundown of how to strengthen community, you know.

Seth 23:46

Yeah, no, that's right there. That's awesome. And you know, that's that's it's key just spending time in God's word, because then you can you can see what he's laid out for strengthening a community. But have you seen anything about, you know, maybe what what might weaken it?

What Weakens Community: Selfishness

Derrick 24:05

No, from my standpoint, the opposite as they were, you know, with simple, you know, you notice I said with simplicity of heart. Well, then the opposite of that would be a hardened heart, and how they broke bread and shared with one another. The opposite of that. I'm looking out for my old pastor. Used to say, me, my wife, my two, us four, and no more. Yeah. And uh I say, get all you can and then get all you can, put it in the can, and sit on the can. And uh, and um selfishness and concern about self that weakens uh community and hinders the growth of a community.

Steffen 24:49

You're absolutely right, like because in uh Philippians 2, 3, right? Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather in humility and value others above yourself.

Derrick 25:07

Yeah, that's good.

Steffen 25:09

You know, so we as human beings, we know what we need to do, but do we we always do that? No, I've my hands, I think both my hands are up, you know what I mean? And also uh I got one more for you, Prov Proverbs 1628. All right, thinking about gossip, you know, and slander, which is you know, rubbing and rampant everywhere with everybody. All right, a perverse person stirs up conflict and a gossip separates close friends. Wow, you know, when we have um challenges or or or issues, whether it's at work or out here in the street, and and but then when somebody comes and says, Hey, so and so says you you feel this way, or so-and-so says you did that, or you know, this person told me about you. That's red flag, gossip. Point, point, stay away. You know what I mean? It's easier to get sucked into that and and start giving your own personal opinion of that. Walk away, you know, say, God bless you, talk to God about it, and and clear your head of look where we work at, it is easy, easy to get sucked in. Well, at every workplace, I should say. Easy to get sucked in because we, you know, it's everywhere. Everywhere. It's hard to stay focused, it's hard to stay positive, and the enemy knows that that's why he keeps coming at you.

Jonathan 26:53

Yeah, you said every place. And I was just thinking about my workplace, and you know, I work in a small I went from a big manufacturing company to a tiny, tiny little warehouse. But both places. Like Steph said, it's so easy to get suckered in and sucked into the gossip, and you know, one thing you know, you're just like blah blah blah blah blah, and before you know it, you're gossiping, and it's like, hold on, time out. And you gotta at the end of the day, you gotta go before the Lord and ask for forgiveness and be like, Lord, forgive me for gossiping, you know?

Steffen 27:37

Oh yeah, no, trust my no, no, exactly what you're talking about. Hey, check it out. So when the uh thinking about the strengthening, right? Looking that up at John 13 34. A new command I give you. Love one another as I have loved you. So much you love one another. Lift each other up, build each other up. It's easy to tear down. Do not tear people down, right?

Seth 28:16

Yeah, and I think what you guys are kind of touching on too is that you know, it's it's easy to be kind of pulled into the things that tear down community, especially when you're surrounded by, you know, I'm gonna put air quotes around it, you know, followers can't see that, but that's fine. Air quotes around the word community of like gossip or something like that, to where you're in a group of folks and everybody's just got this one target on this one person, this one group of people, whoever it may be. You know, it could be a group of people they're talking about something they saw on the news across the world, they don't even know anything about these people, they wouldn't have known they existed if it wasn't for a news article, but now everybody is just you know talking negatively, tearing it down. And all of that just kind of sits and it's like a little seed that just grows and grows, and you know, as you as you water it, as you spend time over that seed instead of over the seed of the things of God, that's what's gonna start to kind of fester up, and that can very quickly tear down a community. You know, if you're if you're looking at your local one, just a just a slight disagreement. You know, if you're if anybody out there is kind of a history buff, just go look into the the great schism in church history. And if you ever want to read about some some petty things turning into a giant divide in the church, I mean there's a lot more that of course happened around that, but literally started with some like personal differences between church leaders that ended up like a complete divide, you know, a thousand years ago, a little bit longer than that. So it's interesting. And I think it serves as a warning that when we're trying to protect community, when we're trying to be intentional in it, we have to be very careful about the kind of words that we use, about the conversations we engage in. You don't have to be, you know, just separate from people and things like that. But if they start to go down that conversation that's turning a little bit more divisive, that seems like it's negative in nature, it's you could either just choose not to engage in it or just say, hey guys, you know, let's talk about something else or something, just try to shift it away. Because I think as we dive into that and as we just step in and just start talking, sometimes we almost fall into this automatic thing and like this automatic way, you know, it's our it's our flesh. And it's very easy to just all of a sudden you're you're saying some very hurtful things about somebody because everybody else is doing it and you're just with it. But there's a there's a verse that you know, I've started kind of reading this at least once a day very recently, just to kind of focus my mind around some things. And you know, it's it's a couple verses in total, but this specific one that I'm reading here kind of I think if if we embrace this and if we follow this, we will be set up to not easily fall into the divisive nature that can break down a community. And it's it's out of James 1, verse 19. Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. And then verse 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. A lot of times when when things are breaking down and when communities are breaking down or being weakened, it's coming from you know, just a place of maybe anger, of hurt, divisiveness, just these different things that can kind of tear at it. And if you're if you're slow in those things, if you take the time to try to try to seek God and just come to him in prayer, spend time with him daily, and just in that moment, you're not immediately giving in to your you know emotional response, whatever it may be. I think that would produce just a lot more understanding and a lot more just people who aren't so quick to jump into those conversations that tear things down.

Steffen 32:24

Oh yeah. Well said, well said. Yeah, that's good. That's very good.

Why God Designed Us For Community

Steffen 32:31

Gentlemen, I was looking at uh the next question. Why did God establish the community concept? And we know there are a lot of uh different examples of community in the scriptures, right? But you go all the way back to Genesis 218, right? It is not good for man to be alone. It is not good for man to be alone, you know. God made us relational, right? So he he created a helper. You know, I guess uh you look at it, God himself, he's relational, right? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Sitting looking at that thinking about that. Being alone, it is rough being alone. I know. Remember that old saying, an idol mind is the devil's workshop. Yeah, that's something that we heard for years growing up, you know what I mean? All the churches back in the days we used to go to when we were young, and when we hear that, you know. That's true. That's true. Idleness can can lead to trouble. It can definitely lead to sin. The enemies look like, oh man, he ain't got nobody around him. Let me just whisper something in his ear. You know, give you that, give you that spirit of doubt, you know. Give you that that that quick question everything you you think and and yeah, man, should I have done that or should I have said that? You know what I mean? He's just he's just constantly, constantly in your head. And when you're by yourself, he's like, oh, he don't have community with him. He's not reaching out, or she's not reaching out to community. Let me go ahead and just keep poking and keep poking and keep poking. And the reason he keeps poking is because you're not his. Brother Jay, I'm I'm I'm falling, man. This this is driving me crazy. Oh, gee, oh gee, this person is making me mad, man. Why am I why am I feeling this? You know, we, you know, me and Ms. Dogs, we have had many conversations. He's like, brother, that that's the flesh. That's the flesh talking. That's not God. We have had many conversations to where it was, it was it is, was, and is such a blessing to have my brother right there, to have all of y'all that I can open up to and say, This is what's going on with me. And it's, you know, I'm understanding to hear those words, brother. That's the flesh. Convicted me right there and there. Like, you know what? You're absolutely right. What am I doing? Lord, take this from me. I can't do it. I can't do it on my own. I need you, Lord. Sorry, I just had to jump in there now, whatever jumping on at me.

Derrick 37:00

That's good, man. Because you know, that goes back to our working verse, and notice in there it says about encouraging one another. You know, I mean, obviously, there are times when we have, like David, we have to encourage ourselves in the Lord. It looked like ain't nobody else in the phone returning text messages. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. But you know, oftentimes, say, man, God didn't establish the church or establish family uh community because he didn't have nothing else to do. He just has a free time. Like, you know, I know what I do. You know what I mean? He did that, you know, he did that, he did that on with the purpose, as everything he does is with meaning and purpose. And um I don't remember the exact, I call it address, but I know Proverbs tells us that you know, there's safety in the council of many, you know, and community. Uh basically you could rephrase that there is safety in community. And and when you read that in Genesis, that made me think about it. This one I got, Ecclesiastes 4, 9 through 12. Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him that is alone when he falls, for he has not another one to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat. But how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not easily broken. And uh, you know, 2026, we would say hashtag community.

Seth 38:36

You're gonna go viral now with that, so you know throwing out the hashtag out there. Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's good. Well, we'll have to take that and put it on uh on a reel or TikTok or something, you know, get your little six-second video going. No, but that's yeah, that's a really good point. And man, it's hard to follow y'all because you just kind of you kind of cover it so well. And you know, you've you kind of all touched on this, you touched on the different things of it when I was kind of going through and reading about the community concept and just kind of going through a couple of different commentaries. I know we've talked about this tool in the past, but you know, if someone's listening for the first time, there's a free tool called the Blue Letter Bible. If you've never used it, you've never seen it. Highly encourage you to check it out. You can get it as an app on your phone or the website. And it just it makes, you know, reading the Bible, if there's something you don't understand, you just go hover right over the verse number, and boom, you got like 20 different commentaries you can go through. You got these Bible dictionaries that you can immediately reference, and it's free. You know, it's it's wonderful, it's a great tool. But one of the one of the guys who does a lot of the a lot of the commentaries is David Guzick. And what he just kind of he he gave five very quick bullet points on just kind of why we have community, why did God create this? And I just want to read those again. This is not from me, you know, I'm not this smart to come up with something like this, great like this, but David Gusick on here. He's saying that we gather to receive something from God, we gather to give something to God, we gather to encourage each other by our shared faith and values, which you guys have talked about. We gather to bless one another and we gather to work together. You know, all these things in a community, that's I think those kind of five points just kind of highlight it.

Derrick 40:39

Yeah, that's good. That's it on a nutshell.

Seth 40:43

Yeah. Yeah. And so it's just a just a good

Different Kinds Of Community Today

Seth 40:47

reminder. But, you know, I think kind of just rounding out the overall topic, you know, we we've kind of touched on this a little bit too, but I just, you know, I guess to formally address it, you know, there's different kinds of community out there. We've already talked about the church a little bit, we talked about family, we talked about a couple different things, but you know, just to kind of round that out and I guess give it a more holistic approach, do you guys kind of have any thoughts about the different kinds of community and how those can interact and work together?

Derrick 41:16

Man, I immediately immediately think of, especially with the name of the podcast being Followers of Christ, I immediately think of uh faith community. And and I we've all probably heard this example of of you know, like somebody on the grill and the and that one charcoal that's not in the power. It's amazing how you got these charcoals white hot, but then as one sitting over to the side you can pick up with your bare hand, you know, as you got a coat, and it's not a part of that community. And I think that's probably one of the best examples I can think of is you know, as believers being a part of the faith community. And I don't necessarily mean it, I mean like the you know, the the four or five of us, or even three of us, like that passage in Ecclesiastes, you know, and a threefold cord is not easily broken. You know, we have to have people in our lives. We have to. As much as oftentimes we may not want to, we have to. And so um, but yeah, but that that's that's that's my take on that. Is I think of I think of our faith in community.

Steffen 42:29

I know we have uh a lot of a lot of brothers. I don't know if there's any sisters that weren't cool, you know, gamers, I guess you could say, online community. See, um I'm from that that uh I guess you could say that generation that doesn't do a whole lot of gaming. Yeah, not that gaming's not cool, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that you know everybody has their own their own thing, right?

Seth 42:59

We'll get you set up on Xbox Live with a gamer tag. I love some wings, xx underscore or something like that.

Steffen 43:08

But it is x unders underscore old man who loves wings. Old grandpa.

Derrick 43:15

I come on, I come on and play this Pac-Man with you.

Steffen 43:22

I know that's right. Because I, you know, I I I hear the conversations, I'm like, man, what are you? Oh yeah, you know, we were able to do this and do that. Okay, hey, that that's God bless you. That's you know, more than what I can deal with. I uh, you know, I'm focused on other things, right? I know uh one brother, and um I can't remember who it was, but he told me he was playing his game, right? And this was mind blowing. He said that one of the uh not the characters, but something popped up saying Malachi. And it had triple sixes, right? He was like, oh, okay, time to get off. You know, I was like, oh, okay. Someway he was telling me, and this brother just recently started reading his Bible. Right. This brother just recently started talking to me about the Lord, you know. And he said, soon as I seen that pop up, I said, Yeah, no, I think I'm done playing this, you know. I said, Wow. Okay. I said, so you see something crazy pop up, and you just he said, I'm done, man. I just, you know, I can't do it no more. I said, hey, I don't know anything about the online community, but that would be an indication to me as well. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's but yeah, there's another brother that we know that he'll tell you admit it, he doesn't have friends, right? He doesn't like to talk to people, he doesn't need people, you know, which of course we figured out, and we we know this because of God's word, that yes, he does need people. And this one brother has communicated with me about some things going on in his life, and asked if we could, you know, sit down and talk one day, and I was kind of shocked. I was like, okay, well, not really shocked, but I was like, wow, yeah, of course we can sit down. So I know that brother has some some things going on, like we all do. But it brought me back to thinking about community that yes, that brother does need community. We all need community. He might not think he do, but God was showing him that he does. You know what I mean?

Jonathan 45:49

Yeah, that's good. I was I was thinking about a lot of stuff, and I was like, how can I tie this in? Because I'll uh I'll kind of briefly touch on the questions real quick and uh my personal take on it. So when I think of a community, I don't think of like a building or anything like that. I think of people, right? It's like everybody's been saying if I'm struggling with something, I gotta be able to come to the people and they have to be able to sit down and listen to me, right? That's a good sense of community. But on the contrary, if I'm struggling and I come to people and they say, Oh no, just kinda leave whatever have you, and I'm never gonna go back to that that community or those people. And something else that was mentioned was isolation. All of these things are connected somehow, somehow, right? Isolation, again, we all deal with isolation, but how do we go about, you know, not necessarily fixing that, but reaching out to people when they are in their darkest moments. But I'm I'm saying that from experience because I've experienced the loneliness, the broken community, and the uh flip side to the broken community, a community that takes you in and says, Hey, we'll talk to you, we'll do this and that, and that that. So, why did God create the community? So it's a simple statement. It's this it's uh God created the community for broken people to come to and for his believers to help those people that are broken. That's the simplest way that I can put it in my terms.

Seth 47:49

Alright, so I know I know that uh Mr. Mike has probably got some wonderful wonderful insights, and I just want to tap you, Mike, because every time you come in, man, you share something good. I just want to hear kind of what you think about all this.

Honest Confession And Needing Help

Mike 48:04

You know, I'm I'm I'm over here battling whether to say something or not, but I'm just Derek touched on it, and I'm that I'm that cold piece of charcoal, man. And uh you said uh you said a couple things that just like kind of like put me on blast, man. I'm just like, dude, I'm not the I'm I'm not the guy for this for this episode. I'm not uh by any means an expert on community. Like I avoided community my whole life, including right now. I haven't I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna confess and I know I said like I know I said earlier that we're not alone. Sometimes I feel like I'm alone and I said that for me and I haven't been in church in like almost two years, bro. I'm I'm you know, I'm the man of my house, I'm the only man in my house. And sometimes I feel like I'm living like I'm having an outer body experience because like I don't know what I'm doing in life. So I know I need community, and I know here lately I've been I've been feeling like I need it more than ever. And I know you guys invited me to all y'all's events and stuff, and I just like feel like you know I don't know. I'm just like like I'm missing the mark. I don't know what I'm saying, man. I really don't know what I'm saying right now, but yeah, man. With all that said, community is important, and you just can't do it by yourself. That's all I want to say.

Steffen 49:52

You are absolutely right, and thank you so much for sharing that, brother. Now, well, tell everybody I've I've like I've had the pleasure of of talking with Brother Michael G, and and we we talk about various different things, and he is a blessing to me. He's a huge part of my community. He he's helped me through some challenging moments. He might not realize it, but God used him to help me through some challenging moments. So praise God for that. You know, the uh thinking about the the isolation, you know, being alone. You know, Brother Jay touched on it, brother Mikey touched on it, that is is hard to deal with. But even though we think we're alone, we're not really alone. So to me, eight percent when I've I've had those really, really dark moments. Fellas, I'll be honest with you, you know, I get on my knees and just confess, you know, confess. Like, Lord, I can't do this, I can't do this without you. Look, I was so taken in a moment, right? Tears coming down my eyes, right? And I just had this feeling that I just can't describe. You know, I had a brother who had talked to me about a year ago. You know, we we were talking about church and you know talking about God. He said, Man, uh you know, I'm gonna do a lot because you know his mom at past God rest her soul. He said, do that, you know, and I in a emotional life like well, brother, it it's okay to be emotional. You know, everybody, everyone, man or woman, Christ. If it's on your heart, if it's heavy on your heart, there's nothing wrong. Jesus wept. So the Lord, our Lord Savior, he wept. So brother, I want you to, you know, this is me talking to that brother about a year ago. I said, this view of you know, being macho and oh man, I'm a man, you know, I don't do that. Yeah, I'm I'm this, I'm sorry, brother. No, but it's what's not your outside, not your physique, it's your heart. And we've touched on this over the past few episodes of the posturing of our hearts. Each and every one of you on here, I know you and I know your hearts. And praise God for that. It's a wonderful thing to be connected with all of y'all, and all of y'all are my family. And I just pray that someone somewhere out here in this world understands that it's about what's in and what's on your heart. Your parents means nothing. Your situation, you know, yes, that brother, he he lost his parents, and I think we all grieve in different ways, and that's what I was explaining to him. But it's okay to open up your heart and just let it go. Just give it to God, let everything go. The hardest thing it is, of course, for everybody is to lose somebody that's right, everybody deals with it differently, everybody agrees differently, like I stated earlier. I'm sorry to go you know off the topic a little bit here, fellas, but uh, just saying it's it's all about your heart. It is all about your heart. That's all I gotta say. My apologies.

Seth 54:19

No, and I mean I think what you touched on is you guys are both kind of talking about it, Mike, Stefan. That I mean, the fact that Mike can even come on here and just talk and share that from his heart, that is what community creates. He's not alone in a place to where he can't say something like that to someone who's gonna receive it and you know try to try to understand, try to respond in love and in care. And Stefan, what you're describing with the guy who is, you know, going through that loss and coming to you and talking about it like that, that is an important and essential function of community, is that having those people that you can turn to, having someone that you can say these things to and know that it's a that it's a place that it's gonna be received with love, and then you're gonna you're gonna get that back. You're gonna get understanding, you're gonna get someone who's who's genuinely interested, and someone who genuinely cares about you, about your burdens, about your victories, about all these things. And that is the beautiful thing that God has given us, especially in our faith communities. You know, it's it's unique in that concept that we have been just given this wonderful opportunity and blessing to step into each other's lives in these ways. And, you know, it can it can get heavy, it can get messy, it can be scary, but it can also be beautiful and wonderful and exciting. And it can be all those at the same time, depending on what's going on. Like you just you you never really know, but God has placed each one of us in each other's lives for a reason, for a moment, for you know, conversations just like this. And that's what we're ultimately trying to communicate, I think, is that this is all by God's hand, it's by God's design for a specific reason. He had a specific purpose in creating these communities and creating this opportunity for community. And we grow, we grow deeper in our love and relationship for him, and that just pours out into the community of the body of Christ, that pours out into the way that we serve other communities around us that maybe they don't know Christ, or maybe they're going through some type of difficult circumstance or something. It all comes through that. But yeah, Pastor, Pastor D, you got any final thoughts on that?

Finding Courage And Final Encouragement

Derrick 56:55

Yeah, I was gonna say, you know, we have no idea how many people will hear this podcast and where this podcast will land. And to them, I say, you know, like what Mike shared to everyone, I say, you know, experiencing that is not uncommon. In fact, more people do than you would actually think, you know. I think uh the enemy has a way of making you feel like it's just me. Oh, I mean, okay, well, it's just us two. Well, man, man, probably the majority of people on this earth, if not everybody, experiences that at some point in some time. So, you know, I'll just offer that. That is not uncommon. But then also, man, God is good. And the word says that he supplies all of our needs, you know, and and I say it like this all means all in Greek, Hebrew, whatever, all means all. And so, you know, we can actually pray for that, we can pray for community, we can pray for a safe place, ask God for that. Not only that, we can ask God, pray, and he will give us courage because there are now there are things that we run into in this life that God has provided for us, freely given us, but as a but here, but it takes courage to access it, if you will. And so, you know, that may be a prayer, Lord, give me the courage to enter into because you know, and I we know we don't have time to get into that, you know, childhood issues, family issues, blah blah blah, and all that different thing, you know. And but you know, we may have to pray, Lord, give me the courage to enter into community, give me the courage, give me the you didn't, you know, give me the courage because you did not give me the spirit of fear or the power, love, and a sound mind. And so there are times when I'll say this as nicely as I know how, because this is how I talk to myself. I I have no problem. Often I say to myself, Derek, get over yourself. You know what I'm saying? Just just and I'm not saying I'm not saying that to any video individual saying, hey man, just get over yourself. I'm not saying that. But what I am saying is we have to challenge ourselves. That just, you know, there are so many blessings, so many, so much goodness, and there's so many benefits in walking with the Lord. But boy, are there challenges and man are there times when it's like, Lord, do I have to? You know, and the Lord is like, yes, you know what I'm saying? And so sometimes we have to get out of our comfort zone. And boy, nowadays I live outside of my comfort zone, Lord have mercy, with all the things I have going on and whatnot. But I say all of this in line in encouragement that whoever's listening to this, however, you came across this, somebody sent it to you, you just stumbled across it, whatever. Know that God desires you to have community. You are not alone and don't believe that lie of the enemy that you don't fit in, that you are a misfit. That is a lie from the pit of hell. There is community out there for you. Now you may have to again pray for the courage to walk into it, but amen.

Steffen 1:00:21

Like I said, I just stopped right there, because yeah, God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and a sound mind. I love that verse. Yeah, I love that verse.

Derrick 1:00:36

Thank you.

Steffen 1:00:37

Thank you, thank you.

Derrick 1:00:39

Wow, I would have to double check. I want to say that's first Timothy 4 7. I would have to double check. Don't, don't, don't quote me over that. Copy that.

Steffen 1:00:50

Yeah. Copy that. Wow, fellas, that's God is moving. He's moving in a mighty way.

Seth 1:01:00

That's right.

Steffen 1:01:01

Praise, praise God.

Seth 1:01:03

I know. We were just gonna let you go. I mean, the way you were getting into that, Pastor D, we were like, all right, we're just gonna settle in for a sermon here because this is gonna be good.

Derrick 1:01:13

Oh, yeah. You know, you know the Bible tells you, don't you be tempting people. Oh my god.

Seth 1:01:22

We'll have to we'll have to bring you back and just kind of let you go at some point. Just let you do a sermon because that was good. I was getting into it.

Derrick 1:01:30

But no, really, man, I'm just really truly, I'm just speaking out of my own life. You know, I went through because you mentioned that you were sharing something earlier, and you talked about a dark time in your life, and I remember going to it was it was it wasn't dog, it was black. And but I didn't reach out to anybody. You know, I'm I'm depressed and I'm sitting on the couch looking at TV, staring out the window, woo is me, if you will, whatnot. I would go to church, and I specifically remember people saying, Hey brother, how you doing? I put a smile on my face, I'm good, how you doing? I'm about to break down on the inside, you know, get in the car and crap. You know what I'm saying? You know, yeah, but now see that right there. Now, see, that was on me. That was on me to say, Man, self, I need to talk to somebody, man. Man, Mike, I need it, man. I need help, brother. Man, I'm struggling right now. You know what I'm saying? You know that that that part, but God is like, okay, I dust community your way. I've sent people your way, but you tough guy. You I I'm good, I'm all right. Me and somebody said earlier, men don't cry. Right.

Seth 1:02:43

Man, wow. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, hey, I think I think that brings us through all the questions

Listener Interaction And Closing Prayer

Seth 1:02:51

here. So yeah, I mean, this is just a really good discussion on community. And, you know, again, we say it if not every episode, we at least try to mention it, you know, every other episode. That we don't want this to be just a one-way discussion. We want to hear what you guys have to say about community, what questions you have, what maybe you want to hear something more that we said. You're like, hey, you know, one of you mentioned this topic or that topic, and I want to know about that. You know, we have multiple ways that you can kind of engage with us either through the email, contact at focpod.com, our website, focpod.com, or the Facebook page, Followers of Christ Podcast. You know, just go in and look for our logo. There's a couple of different podcasts and and groups that are pretty close to that name. So just make sure you see the one with our logo on there, and you know, you can comment or post or send a message, whatever, and just it'll get to us. So, you know, again, we just want to make this a community because if we're if we're all the time just kind of talking in our own little our own little bubbles here, I guess, and you know, we we just want to hear from you. We want to know it could be something as simple as some prayer requests that you might have, you know. But we we again we appreciate you guys. We love you guys. We thank you that you take the time to to listen to us and you hear all of our corny jokes about wings and all that. And again, remember there's something important about that word now. I'm gonna plug our first episode. You go listen to our first episode. That's an important phrase or something, and no one has done it yet. So, I mean, listen, even if you're one of our friends, we've precluded family from participating in that. But if you're one of our friends, you can redeem that prize. So that's all I'm saying. You know, go back.

Steffen 1:04:41

Trust me, I would highly encourage you. Wink, wink. That's all I'm saying. Yes, yes. Well, let me uh I gotta throw one thing in here real quick. So, you know, it doesn't think about a community. You know, I go to another Bible study church, right? And you know, they uh they have different denominations everywhere, of course. And you know, it doesn't matter if you Baptist, Presbyterian, you know, what what whichever denomination that you are, we are all our identity is in Christ. Amen. That's good. Okay, so I just want to end with that. And uh if I can fellas, let's close it out. Father God, thank you. Thank you for this this fruitful discussion. Thank you for just just letting us to be able to share what is on our heart. Lord, we pray that that uh your word touches somebody somewhere and that it helps point them to you. We pray that they get to know you, we pray that they feel that tugging on their heart and that they want to know the gospel, they want to know about the goodness of God. Lord, we thank you so much for everything that you have done. We thank you so much for everything that you're doing, and we thank you so much for everything that you're gonna do. We love you with all our heart and soul. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.