Closer

Pastor Jason Burns

Acts 2:42-47  //  They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

• Authentic, Honest, Life-Changing Relationships.
• Backbone

Ecclesiastes 4:8-12  //  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. “For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”. . . Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

• Soul Sick
• Types of Groups:
  • Season of Life
  • Support
  • Financial
  • Activity
  • Prayer & Bible Studies
  • Message Application
• Real life change happens in the context of relationships.

Romans 12:5  //  Since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.

• ARENA: I know and you know.

Matthew 23:5, 7  //  “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long.” “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.”>

• MASK: I know but you don’t know.
• I’ll always stay as sick as my secrets.

2 Corinthians 4:2  //  We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don’t maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don’t twist God’s Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God.

• “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’” – C.S. Lewis

John 3:16-21  //  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

James 5:16  //  Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

• BLIND SPOTS: I don’t know but you know.

Proverbs 27:6  //  Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Hebrews 3:12-13  //  See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

• POTENTIAL: I don’t know and you don’t know.

Proverbs 27:17  //  As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

• Everybody needs to be needed and known.
• Social Prescribing
• Join a Group
• Lead a Group
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