Hey everybody, my name is Josh Myers. I'm the lead pastor at Destination Church. Thanks for checking out this video.

No, this is not Destination Church. We unfortunately had some trouble with our audio and our cameras this week and so we were unable to get the message. But I really wanted to re-record this one just so you could have this if you missed or maybe if you're getting to know us and the values of our church or if you're studying the book of Colossians and just want to follow along in this series.

And so really excited about everything that God is doing around destination. So, please come visit us on a Sunday. And this week we talked about how we are kicking off growth groups this week.

And it's kind of our way of gathering midweek and growing in relationship and growing with others and growing closer to Christ. And I I don't know how you're spending your midweek, but for me, I'm spending it with my kids and and playing different toys and games and stuff with them. And one of the toys I'm obsessed with that my kids play is this Lego Marble Run. You'll see a picture of it right here.

And this thing is one of those toys where I can be playing with it and lose all track of time and my kids have gone on to separate rooms and I'm still in the same room playing with this toy cuz I think it's fun. And I've been trying to teach my son how to build this Lego marble run. And he was getting frustrated over it because it kept falling over and crashing and and kind of going into pieces.

And I would explain to him, "Buddy, there's two really important things that you need to know when you're building one of these. Number one, that the pieces need to be connected to the base. There needs to be a foundation.

They almost need to be rooted like a tree in the ground. And that the pieces also need to be connected to each other. They need to be supported by one another in order to keep the structure from falling and breaking. And you and I by our unique design of God are designed the same way.

We're designed in a way to be connected to Christ and supported by other like-minded Christians. And so today we're digging into our second core value which is grow. If you're new to this message series, we've been going through the book of Colossians, but the book of Colossians also follows our core values as a church.

And the way that we kind of describe this core value of growth is that we want you to grow in your relationship with Christ and your relationship with others. We want you to be connected. We want you to be connected to people, connected to Jesus in such a way where you're not going to fall and be in danger like some of these Lego pieces, right.

But the problem is is we're not connected in this way as as a society, as Christians. Barner research reported that one in three people just report just generally feeling lonely, constant loneliness. And we see that we're constantly surrounded by people. , but we've never been more alone in the ways that we're connected. On the faith side of things, 56% of all US Christians think that their faith walk is entirely private.

That they do it behind the closed doors of their homes and everything from prayer to scripture to to just growing in your faith is done privately. And then 39% of all US Christians are not even engaged in any kind of ongoing growth or disciplehip alone. And so there's this lack of connectedness to each other and to Christ. And I think the danger is not that we'll stop believing, but the danger is that we'll stop growing and as a result fall further and further away from the people that God has intended us to be. And I think that this happens for a number of reasons.

Just some of them that I've heard in doing ministry over the years is I've just heard people say, "I I don't want to be in a small group. I don't want a a group of Christians because I feel like I'm always being the pursuer that I'm always the one that is supporting somebody and and it's just a one-way street. " And people will say, "I want a village, but the they won't want to be a part of the village. " And so we'll kind of have these superficial kind of connections that only hit surface level.

Another reason is I think people just have this misconception that that other people don't want a relationship with them. Like they've missed some kind of bus that they were supposed to get on is like, "Oh, there's all the connected people. " And I can tell you, especially here at Destination, that is so far from true. We don't know each other yet. We're a brand new church and we're all getting to know one another.

, another reason is just people have these incredible standards for friends. And I'm going to tell you, you are not going to find the perfect friend because the perfect person doesn't exist. The only perfect person is Jesus.

And so, every friend, every community, every group of people is flawed in that way. Now, going even deeper in your connection, not only to others, but to Christ, people will say things like, "I'm I'm just too busy. " Or, "I don't need to. I don't need to make that time.

And then when life gets difficult and things start to crash and break, then the story changes. You wish you had that connection to Christ or to others. Or here's another one that I hear. I just can't find any depth or I don't really know how to grow in my faith or get connected to others. And so that's the big question that we're going to be unpacking today.

Is what do we do to keep growing in Christ and growing in community. And to do this, we're going to be learning from the church in Colasse in Coloss in Colossians chapter 1 starting in verse 24. You can follow along with me here.

Starting in verse 24, Paul says this. Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regards to Christ's afflictions for the sake of the body which is the church. I have been become its servant by the commission of God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness. The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the Lord's people.

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of the mystery which listen to this line which is Christ in you the hope of glory. He is the one we proclaim admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom so that we may present everyone fully mature that is grown in Christ. To this end I that's Paul talking strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. Did you notice in the scripture how many times Paul says in me through me because of that you can you can do all of these things. This is what Paul is saying here.

In order to be connected to Christ and connected to Christian community, you have to be able to establish Christ in you and Christ in others. What Paul is saying here is look I am suffering and I am doing this suffering through the strength that God has given me through the strength that lives in me because of Jesus. And that same strength lives in you. And you can impart that same strength living in Jesus to others.

And growth starts when we realize that Christ is not only speaking to you, but speaking through you. And so the big idea here is that God is speaking to you and through you. This is something I pray for small groups in small group settings all the time that God speaks to us and through us because there's something beautiful that happens in community that Paul points out here that we are proclaiming, admonishing, and teaching everybody in wisdom.

So everybody can present themselves fully mature. It kind of works like this. I made a visual for you. This is kind of the makeup of of design of how our brains are wired by God is that we you and I learn something.

We learn something new either by watching a video, reading an article, maybe you're listening to a sermon like this. And learning things is great. But learning something only gets us so far until we apply it.

And so if you take something that you hear from this message and you apply it, you are more likely to remember what you've learned. And so we apply those things. And then what we do is if we want to take those teachings even deeper, we teach them or discuss them in a way that almost cements it into our heart because our ears are now hearing what our heart believes and everything is just getting deeper into our belief system.

And then we're if we have self-awareness, then we're refining those things. And this is what beautiful things happen in in community. And as you're growing in Christ is you start to reflect this image of Christ and people say, "You know what I love about you.

The way that you're so encouraging. You know what I love. When I'm around you, I just get so filled with joy because you're so filled with joy or whatever it is, right.

And so we are learning these new things and we're applying them and teaching. This is what Paul is saying here that we want you to admonish and teach everybody in all wisdom. Because what happens is if we are not learning and growing in Christian community, then we're being taught by the world around us.

And Paul addresses that next. Starting in chapter 2, this is what Paul says. I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Leodysia and for all who have not met me personally.

My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart, united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding in order to know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures and wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no may no one may deceive you by fine sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith is in Christ. And so how do we make a firm foundation in Christ is we establish community.

This is what Paul says is he says, "I want you to be together even though you don't know me. Even though you don't know each other, I want you to get together and I want you to be encouraged in love. Or I want you to be encouraged in heart, united in love, and growing in wisdom and understanding.

" And I think the big idea here is that you can be close without being connected. Think about it. You can come to church and you can sit next to people every week. You can be close to other Christians. You can be close to Jesus and hearing the message and and worshiping but not connected.

And the same is true the opposite way. You can be or think you have a closeness with no connection. Have you ever had that co-orker where you're like, "We're so tight.

Even if we weren't working together, we would still be connected. " and then one of you moves jobs and and you've lost touch completely. It was a closeness, but it wasn't a connection. And so what Paul wants here is connectedness.

And he says, "These are the three ways to build that. " Which is by the way how we intend to run some of our growth groups and how we intend to establish our growth groups is we want you if you join these groups to be encouraged in heart. It's the first thing that Paul says.

We want you to leave these groups more encouraged in your heart than when you left. Now listen, that doesn't mean happy. That doesn't mean you're going to leave growth groups and be like, "Oh man, I really love that that person called me out on some sin that I've been running towards.

" Like sometimes it's going to feel a little convicting, but I want you to be encouraged in your YouTube moments. Now, what I mean by that is I want you to see that you're encouraged by you being on this journey of growing in Christ. I'll give you an example.

, I was a part of a small group and one of my favorite conversations that we had was about meal planning. I hate meal planning. , it takes so long and I'm always curious to hear how other families are doing it. And so, I'm listening to people's the way that people do things and I'm learning new things and I'm like, maybe I'll apply that. Maybe I can try that.

See that from the the visual before. But then I'm also hearing struggles and I'm thinking, "Oh, you you struggle with that, too. " And it's not just on this superficial level through things like meal planning, but it can be on something maybe a little deeper.

Maybe that, hey, I'm not reading my Bible the as much as I should be. And you're like, "Oh, you too. That I struggle with that, too.

" and having these moments where you can be encouraged that everybody is a sinner and has fallen short of the glory of God, but that we're all loved by Jesus and saved by grace. And so, we're encouraged in that heart. And then we're united in love together.

I think one of the reasons that friendships so easily fall apart is we're not we don't strive to be united in love and resolve conflict. I grew up in a really large high school and I if if I wasn't getting along with friend A, I could move to friend B. And if I wasn't getting along with friend B, I could move to friend C. Now, in contrast, my son, who is homeschooled, has a little bit more of smaller circles, which is nice, but he also has to practice a lot more of conflict resolution.

Because if he gets in a fight with the neighbor kid, well, guess what. If you don't resolve that, you don't have a friend that you can play with in the neighborhood. And we've lost our ability to try and unite each other in this basic baseline understanding of who we are and who'sse we are in Jesus. And when we do start to seek to understand, we grow from some of these things.

That's the third thing that Paul says. I want you to be encouraged in heart, united in love, and complete in wisdom and understanding. To address the statistic before about 56% of US Christians living a private faith, this one debunks that because faith is not personal or faith is personal, but it's not private.

And so, if you go around and you think, man, I I don't know this about God. I don't know how to pray or I don't know why God created the universe or whatever questions that you might have on your mind or whatever things that you're trying to figure out behind that closed door of your home. You are missing out on the wisdom and understanding that other Christians can pour into you from their experience, from their testimony, from the ways that they've grown.

, and if we're not in these relationships where we're encouraged, united, and growing in wisdom, then what Paul warns us about is we are in danger of being deceived by the fine sounding arguments of the world. I wrote this in a journal that I had and I thought I'd share it with you today because I thought it was appropriate. Is that the route of the enemy is to pull you aside and tell you lies about who you are and whose you are because you are the most vulnerable when you are alone. However, the route of God is to get you around Christian community and remind you who you are and who'sse you are.

You need other people around you because not only do you grow in community, but you grow in Christ. And Paul gives us an image of what that looks like. So picking up in verse 6, Paul says this. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives rooted and built up in him, strengthened in your faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. And so Paul is saying look I want you to establish your faith. I want it to be rooted.

I wanted it I want it to be connected. And so the big idea here is don't stop growing. If you have found Jesus, if you would consider yourself a Christian, don't stop growing.

Don't stop there. There's so much more that God wants you to establish and root in him. And the problem is is we don't live like rooted, strong trees.

We live more like potted plants going from pot to pot to pot depending on circumstances and seasons. And so we'll bounce around from church to church, from friend to friend. Will skip around in the Bible from verse to verse and will never take any root.

But what Paul is saying is, I want your roots to grow deep in Christ. See to it that nobody takes you captive. And in order to not take somebody captive and take them away with this false teaching, they need to be rooted in the truth.

Not only does that help you in your sin, but that helps you in your struggle because the person who has deep roots in Christ has no reason to fear the storms. And so if a tree is wellrooted, then when the storm comes, it won't fall. But if the tree is not rooted, if it is in danger or dying, it is way more prone to fall in a storm. And so the big idea of these three things that Paul is saying is that you need to make time for God and make time for one another.

And you can do this in a number of ways. I'll just give you a couple of them to stay connected to God and to stay connected to one another. First of all, to stay connected to one another, just come to church. I again it doesn't look like this but it's great to be encouraged by other Christians and getting to know one another and being a part of a new church.

Join a growth group. Sign up for serving. Take the next step in growing closer to others and be encouraged by it. And then take the next steps in growing in your faith.

Read your Bible. Don't just do it because you want to check it off a box and and feel good, but do it because you want to know the author. Pray not as a last resort, but as a first move. Take a break. We are a busy generation and we don't take a break and just rest.

I'm giving you permission. Rest today and take a Sabbath cuz we can rest and know and have trust and faith that God is still working. And if you fail at doing these things, staying connected to God and to each other, I have too. And I can tell you the tactic of the enemy is to always make you feel guilt and shame and just just feeling terrible about not being in the habit of these things. And so we don't read, we don't pray, and then we think that we're a terrible Christian and that we shouldn't be in church.

And then why am I even calling myself a Christian. And we go down these trails and we completely miss where God is trying to take us. But listen to me, we do these things not because we have to, but because we get to.

We do these things because of what Jesus has done, what he's doing, and what he has yet to do. And that is the fourth and final thing that we need to do to establish our connection and grow in Christ and community. And to just end today's message, I just want to read for you this this big chunk of scripture and remind you why it is so important to stay connected to other Christians and connected to Jesus is because of what Jesus has done for you and will do in the future and has done. And Paul goes on to say this in verse 9. Look at how many times in this section of scripture it says in Christ and in him.

It says, "For in Christ all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands.

Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off. When you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, you were also raised through faith through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive in Christ.

He forgave us all of our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us and nailing it to a cross. Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them on a cross. Therefore, don't let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration, or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things to come.

The reality, however, is found in Christ. Don't let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. For such a person goes into great te detail about what they've seen, and they are puffed up by their idol notions and unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the head that is Christ from whom the whole body is supported and held together by its ligaments and grows as God causes it to grow. The big idea in this big section of scripture we just read is again you don't have to grow.

You don't have to do these things. And your motivation to do these things should not be a conviction coming from a sermon from me. It should be from the conviction of what Jesus has done for you. That in him you are a new person. We'll talk about that next week.

But I just want to share with you if it was not for getting connected to Jesus in this way and going towards growth in Christian community, I would not even be where I am today. You see, just like Paul describes, my old self was cut away when I when I accepted Jesus. But I didn't really understand this this whole next section that because of what Jesus has done, he's taken all of those things that I struggle with and he's taken them willingly to the cross and saying, "I love you this much. I'm willing to pay the penalty for the wrong and I'm willing to suffer for the ways that that you have struggled and that God and then I can lean into who God is and what God has done and who I am in him.

And when I read this section of scripture, I think if I have a God that loves me that much, I never want to stop growing to know him, to know his people. And so the question for you is, will you grow. Will you grow. Will you sign up.

Will you read. Will you do all of these things. Not because you have to, but because of what Jesus has done. And so that's the question I want to leave you with.

Let me pray for you before I see you next week. So God, I thank you so much for everybody watching this video. I just pray that you would be with them in the coming days that they would grow closer to you and closer to others in Jesus name.