Week 2 – It’s About Connection

What's one step we can all take to feel less lonely and more connected? Join us this Sunday to find out! EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give). Get the fill in the blank bulletins my.harmonychurch.cc/bulletins. OPENING ILLUSTRATION: One of the things I always loved about having little kids is how quickly they can become friends.  If you’ve ever been around toddlers, you’ve seen it happen. They show up on the playground, walk over to another little kid - uninhibited and ask, “wanna play?”  By the end your kid is asking if you can do a play date with them and telling you about their new best friend - they’ve planned their whole lives together… Let’s be honest, as you get older, finding true friendship is hard. As a matter of fact,  “In early 2024, the American Psychiatric Association’s Healthy Minds Monthly Poll revealed that 30 percent of American adults felt lonely at least weekly over the past year, while 10 percent reported feeling lonely every day. Younger adults were particularly vulnerable, with 30 percent of those aged 18-34 saying they feel lonely daily or several times a week. These findings underscore the importance of prioritizing public health initiatives and interventions to combat loneliness on a national scale.” Have you ever wondered why we get lonely?  What that is about? b It’s because God created you for community Genesis 2:18 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” When God created humanity, He created us with an innate desire to be with other humans… God created you to be at your best when you’re with others - in community Remember last week I told you  Our hope for you is that you would become a fully activated disciple for Jesus b That doesn’t happen in isolation, it happens in community.   If it’s true that most of us are struggling with feeling lonely If it's true that we were created for community and if it’s true that it’s hard to find true friendship as adults b What do we do? I’m gonna be straight up with you today My goal with this sermon is singular.  I’m hoping you will sign up for a connect group at Harmony and give it a try. I want to give you  3 reasons You Need to Sign up for a Connect Group 1. Being in a group gives you people to stand with and to stand for Galatians 6:1-2  "Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” My guess is most of you have friends, most of you have people who stand up for you.  But my guess is very few of those relationships are intentional about challenging you to grow in Jesus.   ILLUSTRATION: Years ago I was struck when I asked one of my buddies how his relationship with Jesus was and he said, “no one has ever asked me that before…”  He had been a Christian for a long time and no one ever asked him how it was going…  What about you?  do you have people in your life who ask you how it’s going?  Who are there to carry your burdens and to confront you when you are stuck in sin?   Paul is encouraging the Christians in Galatia to watch each others lives carefully and to carry one another’s burdens. What would be different about your life if when your relationship was struggling you didn’t just have people who sided with you and told you to dump your spouse, but people who said hard things to you about your own attitude? What if when you were struggling with your kids you had someone who reminded you of the blessing they were that God had put in your life? What if when you had to rush to the ER to take your wife who was having appendicitis you had a group you could call who would rush over to watch your kids for you?   Why in the world are you going at this Christianity thing alone?   Who told you that was a good idea?   2. Being in a group challenges your assumptions and pushes you to grow Prov 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” ILLUSTRATION: Toyota has a cultural principle called Kaizen, right?  It’s the idea of continual improvement.  That nothing is ever a finished product. What would it look like to apply that concept to your faith? One of the things that a group does is push you on ideas you have held about God.  They help to shape you and to challenge you. ILLUSTRATION: There was a period of time when I dabbled at making knives.  I would always thing about this passage when I would use a file on a knife to smooth out rough parts.   Listen, as Americans we are fiercely independent, which can be a really good thing.  But when it comes to your faith, you need to see and experience others and be challenged by someone outside of yourself.  It’s the secret to turbocharging your experience with Jesus. The more you rub shoulders with people who are further along than you, the sharper your own faith becomes. 3. Being in a group provides encouragement when life is tough Heb 10:24-25 "24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." ILLUSTRATION: Just a moment of transparency.  A while back I was really struggling with life.  I went to David Burchfield, one of my friends at church and I said, “I really just don’t like life right now, I don’t need you to do anything, but I just needed someone to know”.   This is going to blow your mind, but,  if you’re not around someone, you can’t encourage them… The reason the author of Hebrews says to not give up meeting together is so we can spur one another on, encouraging each other.   Most people think of church as worship and preaching, but at its core, the church is the body of Christ gathering to encourage one other to stay in the fight! -preaching is my part in that, worship is Anthony & Teams part -you have a part to play too. I keep wondering, what would it look like if the entire church - every person sitting out there decided to be a fully activated disciple - it doesn’t take much more than being around Jesus and being around people.   CLOSING ILLUSTRATION: One of the reasons little kids can make friends so quickly is they haven’t learned a different way of life.  They haven’t been rejected, hurt, abandoned, mistreated, etc.  They just see a person and want to be friends with that person.  We get that’s not you.  You’ve had lots of these terrible things in your life.  That’s why we’ve done the hard work for you to put together groups you can sign up for. You can sign up and Amber will help match you with a crop that’s a good fit.   One of the most impactful things in my life has been the Christians I’ve surrounded myself with.  I still have a group of guys I go to that I met years ago that was formed into a group.  God created you for community are you ready to take the step to grow in your faith and become fully activated for Jesus?