A Place To Belong

And the title of this message, actually this was originally going to be a stand-alone message, but it just kind of worked into this mix because I want to talk about a place to belong, a place to call home. I want to talk about home. I want to talk about home today, creating a place, cultivating a home for people. That's what the church is about, a home for people. And when I started Salt Church, I'm an evangelist by heart.

I love just going out and meeting people who are far from God, connecting with them, helping them see God and showing them God and connecting them to God. But you can do that all day long, but if you don't have a place to bring them, a family to bring them to, cultivating a place where they can actually connect and grow and be helped and be cared for with brothers and sisters in the Lord, then it's a tough job. And that's why Jesus gave us the church. And there's a lot, there's lots of church. There's lots of, let's just say home bases.

You know, this is like our home base, right? We come home base, we get equipped, we get together, we connect with people, we connect with our groups and things like that. And we get, and we're kind of getting the ammo so that we can go out and change the world. So if we're going to change the world, and it starts with our world, and it may be the people that are around us, how do we get there? By being here.

By being here. By being in fellowship. And as I mentioned in previous sermon, our duty, our job is to grow God's family. That's what we're called to do. The Great Commission is pretty much to grow God's family, to grow God's kingdom, to grow.

And we've got some seats to fill in here. I mean, right now it's COVID. I get that. We have to be spread out. But we'll add another service.

We'll add two services if we have to, right? Amen. We'll do whatever we can short of whatever, you know, as long as it's biblical, obviously, to reach more people for Christ. And if we have to do two or three services during this time, we will do it. And we've got a lot of work to do.

But God is calling us to build His family. And here's the thing. We're created for connection. We are. We're created for connection, but we drift towards isolation.

So many people drift towards... It's something inside of us that wants us to drift towards isolation. And everybody is longing for belonging. We all want to belong, right? We all want to belong to something.

In fact, I found an interesting statistic that said 40% of people feel they don't have a close friend. That's four out of ten people that feel they don't have a close friend. And that's why we want to cultivate a community where people belong. A community where people are loved. And that's the heartbeat of Salt Church is to reach people with the life-giving message of Jesus so they may become fully devoted followers and be connected to the family of God.

To be connected to a home. So we're cultivating an environment of home. A place where people belong. Look at Ephesians 2, 19 and 22. And I pulled this out of the message translation or the message paraphrase rather.

And I love how it says this. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here with as much right to the name of Christ as anyone. Let me just go back to that statement. You belong here.

You belong here. You belong here. If you're new with us today. If you're visiting. If you're a guest.

Can I just say that you are welcomed and you are wanted. You are welcome. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome and you're wanted. You belong.

You belong here as much and you have as much right to be named Christian as anyone. God is building his home or building a home. He's using us all. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundations. And now he's using you.

And I love this. Fitting you brick by brick. We are being built. See, the house of God was never intended to be a building, right? It's a people.

The house of God is a people. The building is the people. So he's building us brick by brick with Jesus Christ as what? The cornerstone. He is the cornerstone.

He is the foundation. He is the foundation of the home. So when we bring people to home, we're putting them and placing them upon a foundation. Welcome home. Welcome home.

Welcome home. We tend to drift. And here's the problem. People just tend to drift towards isolation. They drift towards isolation.

But it wasn't meant to be this way. It really wasn't. In fact, all of us inside of ourselves longs to be with people or a place or a purpose. Deep down inside of ourselves, no matter what we think of ourselves, no matter what we think of our personalities, no matter where we are in our walk, we have this deep down inside of ourselves drive, this deep down inside of ourselves desire to be connected with others. I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who's extremely, just doesn't like to be around people very much, very introvert guy.

And he has no problem being away one or two or three weeks at a time and just being away from everybody. You know, it doesn't bother me. But I was having a conversation with him the other day and he says, Leon, you know, I've always been the kind of guy that this type of stuff didn't bother me during this time of the COVID crisis and how I have to be isolated. You know, it didn't bother me, but man, it's really getting to me now. It's really, I mean, I'm starting to feel that I need to be around people.

I need to get back to normal. I need to be connected in some way. And it's amazing how something like this can kind of reveal what the heart really wants in a crisis, you know. I'm an introvert. We like to kind of proudly put that as a badge on our chest.

You know, I don't like to be around people if we don't like to be around people. But when push comes to shove, we miss connection. And we have a tendency to drift. But we want connection. Think about it.

Social media. Those of you who are social media people, when you post something online, people post online. Why? So that they can feel connected. And then when they go back after a few minutes and look at their post and nobody's liked it.

Why is nobody like my post? You know, like what's going on? And then we have the FOMO fear of missing out, you know, going on with people. Why didn't they invite me to that party? Why didn't they do that?

Why are they all out hanging out without me? Why wasn't I invited? Why do we feel that? Why does that hurt us? Why does that bother us?

Because although we drift towards isolation, we have this heart to be connected with something, a people, a place, a passion. We have that heart. This happens in marriages. Spouses tend to drift apart because they're not working towards connection. And if you aren't working towards connection, you will drift into isolation.

And then at some point in your marriage, you will come back and say, what happened to us? Why did this happen? And you've done things and thought about things that you never thought you would ever do or never say in front of God when you made those vows years ago that you would be with that person forever and you would honor that person forever. Because we have this drift within just what you hear of and you don't need to be with that person But, we're called to fight to drift. We're called to fight to drift.

We want to fight this thing called drift. And it's a fight worth fighting. So, what we do as a church, we're cultivating an environment of connection and community where we can be together. The first thing the Bible addresses is not sin. Interestingly enough, it's isolation.

If you go back to Genesis, God creates all the world. He creates everything. He creates nature for us. He creates the stars, the heavens. All there is, He creates these things.

And He puts men in the garden. He gives them everything He wants. But, He says this in Genesis 2.18, The Lord said, it is not good for man to be alone. It's not good for him to be alone.

The wisest king that ever lived. Solomon had everything. Everything he ever wanted. Had a hundred wives. Just hundreds of wives, right?

He had people around him. He had servants. He had ambassadors. He had people who thought well of him. And here's what he said in Ecclesiastes, There was a man all alone.

He had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil. Yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. We all have that drive to want to be connected. We drift, but we want to be connected.

So, I want to talk for a few minutes. I want to give you five things that are outlined in the book of John, the Gospel of John, chapter 13 through 17. If you want to go in there with me, you can actually go into the Bible app, the YouTube version, YouVersion, not YouTube, YouVersion Bible app, and connect with events. And you can find Salt Church there, and we have all of our stuff laid out there so you can follow along. And you have some of these scriptures that I just shared with you as well.

You can make notes as well if you want to follow along that way. We're not handing out notes right now. But we would love for you to follow along on that. And I want to give you some context for what's happening here. It's the Passover.

The Passover. They were having a meal together. Jesus is having a meal with his disciples. This is where we get the communion moment. This is where we get the betrayal moment.

We got all these things that happen right before Jesus is going to go to the cross. So, he's in this room. He's having a meal with the guys. And then he does something very interesting, and it kind of surprised the guys. He got up off of his chair.

He pulled off a robe. And he got down on his hands and his knees at their dirty, nasty feet. Now, why do I say that with such passion? Because I don't like feet. Feet are gross.

Feet are dirty. They're on the ground a lot. And although we have like socks and shoes and things like that, then they didn't have that. So, they were pretty nasty and they were pretty dirty. And Jesus says, he starts washing their feet.

And he gives over to Peter. And what does Peter do? He responds, Lord, you will never wash my feet. You're never going to wash my feet. You're just not going to do that.

And Jesus looks back at him and he says, unless you allow me to wash your feet, you can have no part of me. You can't be a part of what, you can't partner with what I'm doing unless you're willing to let me see your gunk and your muck. And let me see your feet. Let me see the dirt. You've got to get with people.

You've got to get in it. You've got to start releasing some stuff. You've got to start breaking some stuff. You've got to let go of those passes we were singing earlier. You've got to get into some of that stuff in order to get to where you want to go.

You've got to stop hiding your muck. Stop hiding inside your shoes. Unless we get to a place where we're willing to open up and people to see the dirt between our toes, we can't partner with Jesus. We can't partner with the community. So we need each other.

How about that? We need each other. Every one of us need each other. And I can't tell you the amount of breakthroughs we've seen in our church just by being with each other. We drift towards isolation, which is Satan's strategy to keep you away from the house.

Because if you're not with the house, then you're going to get that muck on you and you're going to hide that muck. But he wants you to get with the people. We need each other. So let me give you five things he outlines in scripture perfectly. I'm not going to read all of it.

So don't worry about that. Because some of you are like, well, are we going to eat today? You know, I've got to go to lunch here in a minute. So he's going to read through seven, eight chapters and study through them. No.

Let me just give you the first point here. And that's people need others who care for them. People need others who care for them. Look at John 13, starting with verse 12. It says, Here's the catch.

So if we're going to be a New Testament church, if we're going to be the type of church that cultivates a home and cultivates community, we have to be willing to care for others and let others care for us. It's a two-way street, okay? We've got to be willing to have people care for us, and we need to be caring for others. Look what Ecclesiastes says here, chapter 4, verse 9. It's better to have a partner than go it alone.

Share the work. Share the wealth. Because one day you're going to fall. It's just going to happen. There's something that's going to happen.

We all fall. We all fail. We all stumble. But here's what. But if you fall, the other helps, right?

We help. We kind of lift you up and bring you back. We care for you. But if there is no help, and I love how the message paraphrase says that, tough. You're in trouble.

If you don't have somebody to care for you, you're in trouble. Romans 12 says this, Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. Sometimes you need to rejoice with someone. In isolation, you can't do that. Let's rejoice together.

You need people to rejoice with. And there's times of mourn. There's times of grief. There's times. And when you're isolated, it doesn't work.

But when you're together, you can share and mourn and grieve together. Grieve together. 1 Corinthians 12, 26. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. Right?

See, this is why we have solid groups. Now, I love every one of you. And, you know, as your pastor, I pray for you. I pray all the time for you. I probably love some of you more than your mother does.

You know? And I do. I really care. And I'm really concerned. And it's something that, as a pastor, that I really want to minister to you.

But your best pastoral care is probably not going to come from me. It really isn't. I'll be there for you. I'll run there if you need me. But the best pastoral care that you're going to ever have is in a group.

And we see that in Scripture. A group. So, September 27th, we have groups laid out. We already have some that have launched. And you can get plugged in and things like that.

But I just want to mention that. That we're going to have, we're going to launch our SALT groups. And if you want to be a person who cares for others and you feel like you're being called, we need more groups. We do. We need more groups.

Some of our groups are filling up. We only have so many groups and they're filling up. And we need to get some more groups going. So, if you're called to lead a SALT group, I would encourage you to do that. So, we need people to care for us.

Number two, we need others who will encourage them. People need others who will encourage them. Encourage them and lift them up. Because some days you're just blue. Some days you're just down.

Right? I mean, it's just sad days and you need somebody to pick you up. Chapter 14, it says this. Do not let your heart be troubled. Because they were very troubled.

They were in a funk. But, trust in God. Trust also in me. In this world, you will have trouble. But, I have overcome the world.

Don't worry. I'm with you. Right? There's going to be trouble. There's going to be hurt in this world.

But, I'm with you. And, I have overcome the world. We need someone to remind us that it's okay. We need someone to remind us that, hey, you know what? You have it pretty good, comparatively speaking.

You have it really good. You need somebody to encourage you to say, hey, it's going to get better. Hey, there is going to be a dawn. There's going to be a day when it's better. You need people to pick you up.

You need someone to remind you that you are, in fact, alive and living. And, that's a beautiful thing. And, it's a powerful thing. Amen? You need people to encourage you.

Hebrews 3.13 says, But, encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. See, that's what sin does. That's what darkness does. Darkness and sin just puts that load on you, right?

You're discouraged. That's where discouragement comes from. It comes from sin. But, don't let that harden you. Don't let sin harden you.

Be encouraged. And, there's days, as a pastor, that I feel that way. I feel really down. I feel really, you know, I come into church, especially when we're at the other location. We'd have all kinds of stuff.

We had a lot of setup all the time. And, it was just so exhausting at times. You know, setting up and breaking down. And, things would happen. And, people would be complaining.

And, people would be, you know, it's like, you know, church people do that too, guys. It might, on the outside, it might look, oh, they're all loving. And, they're, no, no. I'm doing a lot of, you know, I got to help. And, I got to step in in a lot of areas to kind of bring peace and things like that.

It's just natural. That's who we are. We're real people, right? We're a real church. We're real people.

We're not fake, right? We're real. We don't come in pretending. We've all got things. And, we all need encouragement.

And, there's days where I felt like that. But, I've got pastor friends that will text me or call me and encourage me. And, I have this one pastor. He's always connecting with me and sending me notes. And, there was one morning I was just so down and out.

And, I was just done. And, I had to walk up here. And, I had to care, be with you guys, you know. Like, and he kind of looked, he sent this text to me. And, he said, I want you to know that I'm thankful for you.

You are an incredible leader. And, you have so many more people to inspire, help, mentor, serve, love, and encourage. You have more teams to lead. You have more people to impact. You have a world to change because the world needs a leader like you to change it.

You are loved. And, I am cheering you on. And, I want you to know that I am praying specifically for you right now. I'm calling out in the name of Jesus. I pray that you experience his presence today in a way you haven't in a long time.

May you be overwhelmed by the love of your father. I pray you serve him today with excellence and excitement. I pray that you love others like crazy. I pray that you stop long enough to recognize. That's what I needed to hear.

To recognize the beauty of relationships and the beauty of a family. Finally, I pray you experience true freedom in worship. And, I pray that you know you are loved and I'm cheering you on. And, I tell you guys, that just lifted. I went up on stage that day and I was just, the Holy Spirit was just present that day.

So, here's just a call to action for that particular point. Some of you need to do the same thing with each other. That's great. So, you know what? It's a good idea.

After church, y'all need to start exchanging some numbers. And, exchanging some phone numbers. And, start texting. And, start calling. And, start spending some time with each other.

Right? I want to say, hey, let me get your phone number. Let me get your phone number. Let's start. Let's get together.

Let's talk through some things. Let's, you know. And, then send encouraging texts to each other. Encourage each other. Call each other.

Spend some time with each other. We need to be encouraged. People need someone to encourage them. That's what a home is. That's what it's about.

Number three, people need others who will partner with them. Partner with them. You need somebody who you can link arms with and make a difference with. That you can regularly work with and live like it really matters. Do things that really matter together because you cannot do it in isolation.

You have to do it connected to a body of Christ. Amen? We do it together. John 15 says, Remain in me and I will remain in you. This is Jesus speaking to his disciples.

No branch can bear fruit by itself. Let me repeat that again. No branch can bear fruit. You long-ranger Christians out there, it says no branch can bear fruit by itself. Will I spend time with God out in the water surfing?

Blah, rah, rah, rah, rah. I don't need church. Well, I think Jesus says right here, no branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain, what? In the vine.

In the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. So we're tied to Jesus. I am the vine. You are the branches.

If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Two are better than one. Ephesians 2.10 says we are God's workmanship.

I've never seen this. I read this last week. Workmanship. I read this last week and it really got to me. It didn't say for I am God's workmanship or you are God's workmanship.

He says we are God's workmanship. Created in Christ to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. That's plural guys. We. We a body of Christ.

All of our gifts. All of our talents. All of our treasures coming together to make a difference in the kingdom of God. To grow his family. To expand his kingdom.

To expand his family. To bring and build his family as Jesus has called us to do and left us to do. Amen. He's done that. He's left us to do that.

So that's why we have church in general. An equipping center. A home base in which you can get trained and equipped. A great way to do that. Taking the next step is volunteer.

Be a part of a team. We've got a lot of serve teams around here. And as we grow. We're going to need a lot more people. We need.

Let me just be very frank right now. It may look like the band up here has. They're taken care of. They're really talented. They're.

They're doing an amazing job. Amen. They're doing a really good job. But if you ask one of them. Do we need more singers?

Yes. We need more singers. Do we need more guitarists? Yes. We need more guitarists.

Do we need more drummers? Yes. Please. We need more drummers. We need more people.

So that we can build a base. A home base. So this church can grow. So I want to challenge you. We're needed.

We're looking. We're actually looking for a new music director. Right now. I put out the. The resume.

And all that kind of stuff. You know. Stuff. You know. Our expectations.

And things like that. I put it out there. Because we really need somebody right now. And. But we.

But more than anything. We need people who are just willing to step up with the talent. And be a part of this. If you're. If you're an engagement hospitality person.

Man. You can be a part of that. Actually. We're such good. We're so good at hospitality and engagement.

We got. I mean. One thing that we build our church on. Is hospitality and engagement. And.

And we. Almost. Our team is like blowing up over there. You know. You know.

But I'll tell you. Another hospitality and engagement piece. And that's kids. Yes. We need.

We need. We need. Kids is. Is. Is.

The heartbeat of our church. Kids. Or. Families are the heartbeat of our church. And we need more people to.

Be a part of that. That's how you can begin to serve. You can be a part of a team. You can start bringing in your gifts. Maybe your administrative gift.

Maybe you have. Um. A mercy gift. Maybe you have a leadership gift. Whatever it is.

We need people. To be a part of what we're doing. To expand our kingdom. And this isn't just good for us. It's good for you.

To. That's really primarily what it's for. It's not just so that we can have. A bigger ministry. Which we want a bigger ministry.

Because we can affect more people's lives. By having greater ministry. And that's why we're building a foundation. And that's why we're doing what we do. That's why we're connecting people.

But really. It's not. About that. All the way. It's about coming together.

As a family. Coming together in a home base. And making a difference. For what really matters. Because.

What really matters. Is what God is doing. What really matters. Is that. We are doing this for his glory.

Because we want to glorify him. We do this. Because we absolutely love. And adore him. And it's good for you.

It comes back to you. It's what you were meant to be. And do. And it's a launching pad. For your entire life.

That's why we have a home base. It's an equipping center. We do outreach projects together. We do. We give together.

We give. We. We. Everybody's little 10%. Makes a big amount of money.

That we can do. And make greater. Do greater things. For you know. Like we can help him.

With his theater. We can do lots of other things. You know. These are things. That we can do together.

We. Right now. We're. We're supporting cancer. Childhood cancer research.

We had a young. Boy in our church. At the beginning of our church. That passed away of cancer. And to honor him.

And our. And our youth ministry. And things. And kids ministry. We've been giving.

We've been giving hundreds of dollars. To cancer research for children. Since the beginning of the year. We are. We are giving to church planting.

And church revitalization. We are helping other churches. Plant and revitalize. And as well. We're.

We're a small church. How do you do that? Because we believe in giving. We believe in helping. We believe in doing more.

Than what's right here. And guess what? God gives back. And God blesses. And God gives us more.

Because we're. Taking care of what we have. For his kingdom. And we do that together. When you take care of your world.

It takes care of the world. And it starts with you. And it starts with our church family. Our home base. And what we can do beyond this.

So we do this together. The fourth thing is. People need other. Others who will protect them. You need protection.

You need somebody who has your back. Look what John 16 says. Jesus says this in that scripture. That outline. He says.

All this I have told you. So that you will not go astray. So you need to be protected from the evil one. You. You.

You. You have a tendency to go. Get isolated. You have a tendency to walk in places. And do things that you don't want to do.

Oh. You know. Evil man that I am. You know. Who can.

Who can. You know. I am trying to quote Paul right now. Off the top of my head. And I just went.

Way over. Wherever I went there. But. Oh. Wretched man that I am.

There it is. It came to me. But. You know. And.

But. We. We. We do have a tendency to stray. But.

God. God. Puts a family around us. So it can help us. A team that helps us.

And. And. Has our back. That. That word.

Astray. In the original language. Is. Is. Is brought from a word that was.

That was. That means scandal. It's scandal. Basically. And it's literal meaning.

Meaning. You can enter into a scandal. You can go into a. Situation. That you don't want to go into.

But. I have told you this. Be together. So that you don't go astray. Ecclesiastes 4.

12 says. A person standing alone. Can be attacked. And defeated. But.

Two can stand back to back. And conquer. Three are better. Even than. One.

Or three are better than two. For a triple braided cord. Is not. Easily broken. It's not easily broken.

So. Somebody's got your back. Somebody's got your front. You are watching each other. You get.

You're working together. You're protecting each other. You're keeping each other from the enemy. You're building each other up. And you got to ask the hard questions too.

When you're. You know. This is why we have groups. This is why we get together with people. Who we can connect with a little deeper.

And a little better. You know. This is why we. We want people that we can. We can talk to.

You need to share it with somebody. You might. Don't share it with everybody. Okay. Don't go out there and share it with everybody.

But you need to share. What's going on with somebody. Everybody. I love how John Wesley. You know.

He was kind of the inventor of small groups. We think that this is kind of a new church thing. You know. It was Sunday school. Now it's small groups.

And now. You know. What is it going to be next? Well. Wait.

If you go all the way back. The founder of the Methodist Church. He had this method. That people should get together. And should ask hard questions.

And build each other up in the faith. That's how their movement started. That's why you have one of the largest denominations in America. Because of John Wesley's theory. Of having these smaller gatherings of people.

In order to build each other up. And they would often ask hard questions like. Have you been in a compromising situation this week? Or have you. And this is obviously modernized.

Have you had any financial dealings you've lacked integrity with? You know. These are hard questions. And we need to ask each other. Have you viewed any sexual explicit material recently?

Or have you spent quality time in Bible study and prayer? Right? Have you given priority and time to your family? Have you fulfilled the mandate of your calling? How are you doing that?

Are you walking in your calling? Or have you just lied to me? By telling me that you're not one of those things. Or are one of those things. Or you fit in the category of one of those things that we're asking.

Those hard questions. Don't tell everyone. But tell somebody. What you're going through. That's how we build each other up.

That's how we become stronger. That's how we become healthier. If you don't. If you are the only one that knows your secret. Then you're in trouble.

You need to share it with somebody. And then five. And lastly. People need others who will pray for them. You need somebody who can pray for you.

Who has your back in prayer. And spiritual warfare. Look what John 17. One. And then jumping over to verse nine.

It says. After Jesus said this. He looked towards heaven and prayed. And I want to get some context here. If I can go back just for a second.

His best friends were sleeping. They were not good friends. They were. One of them was getting ready to betray him. And things were going to happen.

Here he is. He's having this moment in his life. Where he's sweating tears of blood. Crying out to the father. Because he was getting ready to face the worst thing.

He would ever face in his existence. On this earth. And his friends weren't there. But here's what he prayed. I pray for them.

I am not praying for the world. But for those you have given me. See. He says. I care about the world.

But I care about you more. I care about the world. But I care about these people. That God has entrusted with me. Because they're the ones that are going to be the world changers.

They're the ones that are going to go out and make a difference. I care about them. This is a place. This is a home where we pray for each other. That we're concerned about those in the house.

So that we can make a greater difference in the world. We've got to be healthy spiritually. So we need prayer. We need people praying for us. Ephesians 6.

18 says this in the message. I know I'm using the message a lot today. But I just love how it just makes it. It connects it to our current reality. Prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare.

Pray hard and long. And pray for your brothers and your sisters. So we need a house and environment of prayer. And I can't say I taught Brett's message last week, man, he rocked it, he just had an incredible message about prayer, I can never say any more about it, as he did, but I'll tell you what, we need to get back to prayer, we need to get on our knees in prayer, and as I mentioned last week, here's our call to action for the next seven days, starting tonight, starting tonight. At nine o'clock, nine o'clock, before you go to bed, after you put the kids down, you know, I'm trying to make it convenient for you, I'm going to do a Facebook live prayer time, on my, well, on the Salt Church Facebook page, so connect to Salt Church, I also share it to my Facebook page, we can come together, I want you to send in prayer requests, there's going to be a standard, we're going to go through the next seven days just praying, for certain things, there's going to be specific general requests, things, but we're going to pray for our church, we're going to pray for the people in our church, we're going to pray for the future of our church, we're going to pray for a dynamic impact in Virginia Beach, Virginia, we're going to pray that God would open up a revival in Virginia, we've got a lot of churches that are going into 21 days of prayer and fasting, and we're going to do that at the beginning of the year, like we always do, but I'm going to ask even, you consider fasting something this week, as we do this, so that we can be in unity in this church, just fast something.

Fast something that hurts, you know, a little bit, well, I'll give up social media, you haven't been on social media all week, you know, so that's not, that's not fair, you know, you know, fast something, maybe it, maybe it's breakfast, for me, it's like breakfast, I love breakfast, gosh, breakfast is the best meal ever, and now I've put myself on the spot, so I have to give up breakfast now. Justin, hold me accountable on Tuesday morning, man, I can't eat breakfast, okay, breakfast is my favorite meal, but join me as we pray together, and we'll pop on Facebook Live, I'll look at some other alternatives, I realize that everybody doesn't have social media right now, and that's okay, and we'll have it posted later, the prayer request, we'll put it on YouTube, the prayer moment, and things like that, so you can go back later and kind of pray with us that, but if you can be there live, it's really, I think that's powerful, that's really super powerful, that's really super powerful, if we can, if we can be together, prayer is essential for ongoing warfare, so your call to action today is, is, is, let me just say this, it's time to take ownership, take ownership of your church, take ownership of your home, take ownership, don't just be, don't, don't just be an attender and a, and a tipper, go from, from, from, from just being here, to a partnership, partnership, and don't even stop at being in a partnership, be an owner, we want to move you to ownership, make this your goal, this is your family, this is your home base, that you're cultivating, so that when you go out there, and you make a difference in the world, when you're going out there, and you're, you're connecting with people, and you're inviting people in your home, and you're, you're sharing all these things that we've talked about throughout this series, practical ways, practical ways we can reach people, you've got to bring them into a healthy home base, you've got to bring them in, it's for you, and it's for them, so that we can be more effective, so let's cultivate a community, we can call home, a place where you and I belong, that's my heart, and that's my message, so volunteers, volunteer like crazy, make this, just do what you do best, to make this place the best place to come to, as we grow as a church, church, and then those who, the salt group leaders, you just do whatever you can to get people connected, and get people together in your homes, and, and, and, uh, coffee shops, and, and wherever, I didn't get a lot of claps on that one, come on now, people need each other, and we need each other, so in order to change the world, we've got to change our worlds, our spheres of influence, so when we go into our spheres of influence, and we meet, and connect, and reach the people around us, bring them to home base, bring them into the family, give them a place where they can be nurtured, and cared for, and equipped, so that they too can be world changers, amen, let's pray together, Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you, God, that your presence is here, and that fact, your word, is so practical, and so, so, such a reality to us, but I pray that we would take this, this word, this, this scripture, and this, this, this message, Lord, and it would just, it would, you would begin to speak through us about what is our next step, Lord, do I need to volunteer, do I need to go to the Welcome Center right now, and start putting my name on the list, do I need to go, you know, to start a small group, maybe there's something, place it on our hearts, Lord Jesus, what can we do to create an environment, to cultivate an environment, where we can be more effective in this world, God, we, we, we have a purpose, we, we have a purpose, Lord, so just give us that purpose, Lord, cultivate it, Lord Jesus, because we're expecting big and powerful things to happen through salt, church, because a little bit of salt goes a long way, and salt always makes a difference, salt always makes a difference, why? Because you said it, Jesus, staying in that same spirit of prayer, some of you, maybe you just need to connect with God, maybe that's your first step, maybe you need a home today, maybe you need, you need to make a decision for Jesus, Jesus, maybe it's time to surrender, to let go, I was having a conversation with somebody with all heads bowed and all eyes closed still, I just want to make this a very intimate moment, I know I'm sharing a little story with you, I was having a conversation with somebody last this past week on the phone, and they just felt so empty, they felt so empty, they had everything, they had every success in life, but they, they, they couldn't have anything anybody could ever wanted, and it was like, I'm, I'm empty, and I said, have you surrendered, have you given Jesus the will, Jesus take the will, remember that country song, have you surrendered the will to Jesus, have you surrendered it all, are you 100% in, are you willing to step fully in both feet, and say, God, I'm all yours, that's what he wants, maybe it's just a recommitment to Jesus today, maybe it's a full first time commitment that you've ever made in your life, and today is the day to do that, if you would just pray this with me, and there's nothing magical in the prayer, it's just you surrendering your heart to Jesus today, just pray this with me, Lord, I, I believe that you are the son of God, and that you died on the cross for my sin, and I believe that you have a purpose for my life, Satan tried to steal it, but I'm taking back that purpose, Lord, I'm giving it to you, God, come into my life, come into my heart, change me from the inside out, I'm all yours, I'm no longer holding back, I'm moving forward, I'm not letting my past hold me back, I'm moving forward, I know that I'm welcomed, and I'm wanted, and I want to be a part of the family of God, I want to be a part of your kingdom, I surrender to you today, thank you, Jesus, for saving my soul, and if y'all could give God a hand clap of praise, if you gave your life to Christ today, let me just say, we would love, just please, please, I beg you, I beg you, don't keep it a secret, let us know, let us know by connect, filling out a connection card, let us know that you gave your life to Christ, or connecting with us by email, we're not going to blurt your name out over the internet, or anything like that, we just want to know, we want to know how we can help, we have resources to help you grow, and take the next steps, God bless you guys, I look forward to seeing you next week, hold on, my wife's going to end the service real quick, but I look forward to seeing you next week, for dawn is coming, because indeed, dawn is coming, guys, there is victory in Jesus, amen?