Life in Connection 2.0 | Sunday, April 11, 2021

Days may be darkest, but Your light is greater. You light our way, God. You light our way. When evil is rising, You're rising higher with power to save, with power to save. You keep hope alive.

Because Your life was stronger, Jesus, You are. Because You're breathing, there's hope in the breaking, hope in the sorrow, and hope for this moment. My hope for tomorrow is that there's hope in the morning and hope in the evening. There's hope because You're living in us.

Hope, cause you're breathing in this hope in the breaking. You keep hope alive.

Jesus, you are alive. The head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned with glory now. The Savior knelt to wash our feet; now at His feet, we bow.

Oh hey, it's Pastor Mark. Welcome to Cross Connections online service! If you have a moment, why don't you invite a friend? You can get it at the address below. With that, we'll pass it off to Pastor Anthony for some more worship.

Let's pray.

Oh God, we thank You for today. We are so encouraged, Lord God, that You are for us. We can believe Your Word; we can believe Your truth. Lord, we agree with the Word that says Your love is better than life. God, we thank You for just the victory that we have in Your Son, Jesus. Would You do a work? Lord, would You sing songs over us—songs of peace and songs of deliverance? Would You sing over Your congregation, Lord, as we minister to You? I bless Your name in Jesus' name. Amen.

That's worship.

I searched the world, but it couldn't fill me. A man's empty praise and treasures of faith were never enough. Then You came along and put me back together. Every desire is now satisfied here in Your love, for nothing.

Nothing is not afraid to show you my weakness, my failures, and flaws. Glory, you've seen them all, and you still call me prayer. The God of the mountain is the God of the valley. There's not a place your mercy and grace won't find me again.

Nothing is better than you. There's nothing, nothing is. I know it's true. You turn mourning to dancing. You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one who cares. You give beauty for ashes and turn shame into glory.

You're the only one who cares. Oh, there's nothing better than You. Yes, Lord, nothing is better than You.

Welcome, and thanks for tuning in to Cross Connection Church today. We're so glad that we get to bring you church at home. I'm Pastor Garrett, and here at Cross Connection Church, we're all about living life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus Christ.

Part of the way you can be living life in connection right now at home is through prayer. We want to be praying with and for you this week, right now, today, whenever you need it. You can go to prayer.lifeconnection. I know there's a lot of stuff going on in our world and in our country right now, a lot of things to be praying for.

There's something specific right now: God loves our specific prayers. Here at Cross Connection Church, we believe that God hears every prayer and answers them too. Whatever you have going on, we would love to be praying with and for you. When you send your prayer requests into prayer.life in connection, it goes to our pastors and our prayer team, and we get to pray with them for you right then and there. So again, don't hesitate. It is such an important part of what we do here at Cross Connection Church and an important part of being a believer in Jesus Christ—talking with Him and praying to Him. He is such a faithful, gracious, and amazing God that we serve. We would definitely love to be praying with and for you this week.

Speaking of prayer, we would ask you to be praying for Dave Eubanks with the Free Burma Rangers. They are serving in Burma in an incredibly difficult and dangerous place to serve the Lord right now. The Burmese army has basically broken their treaties, and they are dropping bombs and conducting ground assaults. Dave Eubanks and the Free Burma Rangers are helping what they call IDPs, or internally displaced people groups. They are not only providing assistance to these people but also rendering medical aid. Most importantly, they are bringing the good news and the gospel of Jesus Christ to all those in Burma right now. They are doing this under incredibly difficult circumstances.

Please be praying for Dave's safety and the safety of his team, as well as for everything going on in Burma. The believers there are definitely facing heavier persecution that is hard for us to consider and believe right now. So, be praying with and for them. Dave Eubanks and the Free Burma Rangers could really use your prayers and support right now.

With that, we are going to be joining Pastor Anthony again. He is going to lead us in a song of worship. This is a time that we set aside for those of you who call Cross Connection Church your home church to worship the Lord with your giving. There are a couple of easy ways that you can do that. First, you can go to give.lifeinconnection.com online; it's a very simple way for you to give online. Second, you can simply text the number 84321 on your cell phone and send any amount. It will walk you through the process. Third, you can send your tithe or offering letter to our church address: 1675 Seven Oaks Road, Escondido, California.

So with that, let's go ahead and worship with Pastor Anthony. God bless you all, and have a great week! Let's worship our Lord.

Great God, together You are able to provide. You are faithful in perfect time. Through the fire, Your protection never fails. I will sing my great reward. I am Yours.

Seasons. You are bigger than you know. My fears. Through each day, I will say I trust You.

Lord, thank You so much that through all of these uncertain times, we can trust You. Even when we don't understand what's going on around us, Lord, we know that You go before us. We know that You see all, and Your plans are good. You have everything in Your control, Lord, and we are so thankful for You, our Father. We love You so much. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

After more than a year of closures and shutdowns, I think it's safe to say that each of us has learned a number of things about our government, our culture, the media, our local communities, and probably about our families and ourselves as well. I'm sure you've noticed that life can sometimes just go about on cruise control or autopilot. We all get into routines and patterns that just kind of repeat from one week to the next. Our lives are rather...

Algorithmically, we live according to a basic conditional: if this, then that routine. If it’s Monday morning, then this; if it’s Tuesday afternoon, then that. It is not until we hit some bump in the road, like a health issue, a job loss, a car accident, or COVID, that we find ourselves bounced out of our routine lanes. All of a sudden, we are, especially from a psychological standpoint, dysregulated.

When you find yourself emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, or behaviorally out of sync, you will inevitably be triggered. We have a reflexive reaction or a shock when those kinds of things happen, and you are then triggered to try to reorient back to something that is more normal. This is actually called the orienting reflex. Over the last year, nearly everyone you know has been shocked out of their normal routines, and everyone has been trying to orient back to something more steady, something more normal.

This happens to individuals on a micro level every single day, but it is rare that entire populations are subjected to the same triggering event at once. What I mean is that individuals experience dysregulating events in life all the time. Several years ago, one of my very good friends, and some of you watching this knew him also, had a bad stomachache over a weekend. By Monday afternoon, his world was utterly turned upside down when he received the terminal diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. That’s one of these individual experiences that comes in and shakes a person.

Twenty-two years ago this month, my youth pastor, Pastor Tony, who still faithfully attends Cross Connection Church, was seriously injured in a mountain bike accident. Everything changed for him and his family instantly on a Tuesday afternoon in April of 1999. So, people individually or as families go through these kinds of triggering events from time to time. They happen all the time in people's lives individually, but occasionally large populations are affected together by dysregulating events.

Terrorist attacks, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, floods, and so forth are examples of large-scale events that generally serve as short-term triggering events. Life typically orients back to a moderate level of normalcy relatively quickly after such occurrences. However, what we have experienced throughout the world over the last year has been a sustained event. This sustained bump in the road has been very challenging, and throughout all of it, we have been trying to navigate back to some sense of normalcy.

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of hearing the words "the new normal." I'm even more tired of hearing myself occasionally say them. But in reality, that's what we have all been trying to reorient back to. Unfortunately, through all that has happened in the last year, which is directly connected to the dysregulating event of COVID-19, there have been many other major life-affecting and culture-altering events that we have experienced as well.

Of course, there were things that were directly connected to COVID, such as shutdowns and closures, which were the biggest and most impactful. However, there were also other events that were unrelated to it, like the death of George Floyd, the protests, and the chaos that followed. The insanity of a chaotic political season has also contributed to the stress we feel. Have you been able to have a conversation with anyone in the last year that hasn't been mostly dominated by these topics? The fact that these issues come up in nearly every conversation at one point or another indicates that they weigh heavily on our minds.

Not only do they weigh heavily on our minds, but they also wear us out. Stress affects us in a very significant way; it impacts our sleep, our emotions, and even our children. We can see the effects of this prolonged, cumulative stress on our entire society. Mental health issues have skyrocketed in 2020. I was recently interviewing a licensed clinical social worker, and she told me that her practice has been bombarded this last year. I certainly don't need to go into all of the particulars, but we have witnessed all sorts of negative effects stemming from the degraded mental health of our society.

There has been an increase in various mental health disorders and problems. In some respects, I think we kind of miss the boring routine. However, one of the other things I have noticed in myself, as well as in my interactions with others—whether they are outside or inside the church—is that many people have come to realize that their old normal, their old routines, may not have actually been the best. They were comfortable for us, but perhaps not entirely healthy. They were routine and consistent, but maybe not totally sustainable.

Population-affecting and world-altering events, like what we have all experienced over the last year, provide us with an opportunity to reevaluate what we are doing and how we are doing it. I have definitely been doing a lot of reevaluating for myself, and I have realized that I actually like change about as much as the next person, which is to say that I don't like change very much.

I have also been thinking about how everything we have experienced as a church affects, alters, and changes us. I had a remarkably routine life until 13 months ago—a life I had grown pretty comfortable with. All of that has radically changed, and I will be the first to admit that I have internally wrestled with those radical changes a lot over the last year. However, the internal wrestling is somewhat pointless because we cannot avoid change in light of everything that has happened. We cannot simply go back to life as it used to be because that life no longer really exists.

It's like, and maybe some of you have had this experience in the past, when you were dating someone for a very long time, and then they break up with you. They might say, "I really hope that we can maintain our friendship," but you know it just doesn't work that way. You can't go back to the way things were after these major events happen.

So, I have been wrestling with how all of this affects the church—the larger corporate church and then the smaller body of Christ, our local church as well. What I want to do today, and for the next probably two to three weeks, is to share with you some of the things that I have been reflecting on.

I think these points are important for us both as a local church and as members of the larger Church, the big C Church, if you will, around the world. Going forward, what does church look like in a post-COVID world?

First, can I just say praise God that we are approaching a time where we will be in a post-COVID world? I think we're all looking forward to a post-COVID world, a world hopefully without masks, one that is much more reopened, where you can go back to movie theaters, concerts, dining inside, and church inside, and all that sort of stuff. Although, I hate to break it to you, I do think that ten years from now, you're still going to see people who wear masks, especially during the winter season.

However, there will be a post-COVID time. Also, praise God, in a lot of ways, church still looks quite the same in a post-COVID world because, at a very fundamental level, church has remained somewhat consistent for 2,000 years, even as the culture continues to change around it. Through a lot of cultural changes, there are still many things that remain the same for the church, and it will continue to be that way.

That said, there are some things that are going to change. What COVID has done, as I've said before, is accelerate global, cultural, and church trends. It has also stripped away a lot of unnecessary structures within society and within the church. In other words, COVID kind of caused a return to the basics for a lot of different things.

So, I want to talk a little bit about the basics—the basics of the church as a whole, the big C Church, but also the basics of our church as well. What I hope this will accomplish is to give you a little bit of information about what you are a part of as a member of the church, but also what you're a part of as a member of our church, Cross Connection Church. Hopefully, this will help you to plug in a bit more as a member of this church.

With all of that as a long introduction, I want to ask you some questions. Did you know that the church is not just an organization, although it is an organization? And it's not just an institution, although it is an institution? Did you know that the church is an entity?

It is a living body, and it has a God-ordained purpose. The church is a living body with a God-ordained purpose. What is that God-ordained purpose? Well, if you ask 20 different pastors what the purpose of the church is, you will probably get 20 different answers. However, each of those answers will have a lot of overlap. They might say things like the purpose of the church is to preach the gospel, or the purpose of the church is discipleship, or the purpose of the church is worship, or the purpose of the church is fellowship, ministry, missions, or social justice.

I know that one makes some people really uncomfortable. A lot of pastors, when they are doing their academic work, if they received a theological education before becoming a pastor, will at some point write a paper on the purpose of the church. Some pastors doing graduate studies will actually do their thesis on the purpose of the church. One well-known pastor even wrote a book about 25 years ago called "The Purpose-Driven Church." Pastor Rick Warren, in his book, writes what many pastors see as a good summation of the purpose of the church. He states that the church exists to grow warmer through fellowship, deeper through discipleship, stronger through worship, broader through ministry, and larger through evangelism.

So, those five things are what he identifies as the God-ordained purpose of the church: fellowship, discipleship, worship, ministry, and evangelism. All of those things are good, and all of them are important. I believe you could make a solid biblical case that each of them is a purpose for which God has called His church into being. It is from those things that every church establishes its mission and its vision.

Some of you are in business and part of large corporations where you are on the executive team that discusses mission, vision, and values. Many businesses, organizations, and institutions have mission statements, vision statements, and value statements, and they have a purpose for which they exist. The church has a God-ordained purpose as well.

The church has a God-ordained purpose, which is given to us expressly in the Scriptures. This purpose encompasses fellowship, discipleship, worship, ministry, and evangelism. Additionally, the church has a mission, which is to fulfill that God-ordained purpose. Let me say that again: the mission of the church is to fulfill the God-ordained purpose.

A church's vision is how it and its leadership envision or see themselves fulfilling that mission to achieve that purpose. At Cross Connection Church, we have said for many years that our vision, mission, and purpose are summed up in this way: Cross Connection Church exists to live life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus. We want to experience, express, and extend life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus. We believe that life, true and abundant life, is found ultimately through Jesus.

Jesus taught in John 10:10, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But I have come that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly." Just a few chapters later, Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." In John 11, He reveals that He is the resurrection and the life. The Gospel of John opens by telling us that in Jesus was life, and that life is the light of men.

For some of you, this is review; you've heard this dozens, if not hundreds, of times. However, sometimes it's good to be reminded of these important things. Important things need to be restated over and over again. Look both ways before you cross the street. Brush your teeth every morning and night. Chew with your mouth closed. Don't talk with your mouth full. Don't hit your sister. Important things need to be reiterated.

Garrett says it every week in our announcements: life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus. I say it frequently in my messages. Our name, Cross Connection Church, reaffirms what our mission, vision, and purpose are. Our website is lifeinconnection.com, and we use the hashtag.

Life in connection is an important theme that we emphasize constantly at Cross Connection Church. If this is your church, we want you to understand that life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus is our mission and vision. More than just knowing this intellectually, we want you to experience it. We want you to discover what it means to live life in connection, first with God, then with one another within the body of Christ, the church, and finally with the world through missions and outreach.

As we move into a new season as a church, I want to highlight the importance of this connection. Over the next few weeks, I will discuss how I hope this will be a part of our lives as members of this church. What does it mean to have life through Jesus? What does it look like to live that life in connection with God? How does this practically play out in our daily lives?

We can actually come into contact with the God of the universe, the God who made everything, and have those transcendent encounters with Him in our daily lives. I want to learn what that looks like more and more. How do we live this life in connection and fellowship with one another? What does it mean to be the body of Christ and fulfill the "one another" commands of Scripture?

What is our responsibility in bringing this life through Jesus, this good news that comes through the gospel, to those in the world who do not yet know this life? Think about those who live next door to you, those you work with, those you go to school with, and those your kids play soccer with. How do we bring that message to them?

All of this is especially important because you and I were created to live life in connection with God and one another. That was the way God originally made us. We will look at this more closely next week in the book of Genesis. You and I do not fully live until we have this life through Jesus. This life through Jesus, in connection with God and one another, is the abundant life that is spoken of in Scripture.

In John 10:10, Jesus gives one of His purpose statements: "I have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly." This abundant life is not only a life here in this world; it is a life that extends into eternity. It culminates and climaxes in eternity. This life in connection fulfills the purpose for which you and the church were made by God. Fellowship, discipleship, worship, ministry, and evangelism are all part of this mission and purpose.

As we return to the basic rhythms of church and social life, hopefully, we will reach a post-COVID life in the not-too-distant future. As we do, it is my hope that we can more fully experience these things. I hope that we can discover what it looks like to actually experience connection with God. I hope that we can build new routines of connection with one another, whether it's gathering corporately at the church, in small groups and homes, as service teams at church or in the community, or even on mission trips in other countries. Of course, this new rhythm of connecting and gathering with one another online is also important.

One of the things I have shared several times over the last few weeks is that Cross Connection Church is now focused on developing connection life and connection on campus, online, and in homes. This is something that you will hear a lot more about going forward. When I say this, I think it is really a return to the basics of the church. The church 2,000 years ago gathered corporately wherever they could, before they had buildings. It was in public and open spaces and in homes.

They used the technology of their day to share the Scriptures at a distance. They didn't have YouTube, the internet, podcasts, or social media. The technology of their day was letters carried by letter carriers. Paul would write letters and send them to the churches to encourage, strengthen, and teach them at a distance, just in the same way that we are using technology in our day to do that.

So that was the technology of Paul's day: letters. Thank God that he did write those letters, because we have them to be able to read and study through today to be encouraged as well. The technology of our day includes things like YouTube and podcasts. I am praying about and working toward this life and connection on campus, online, and in homes. I hope that you will help us make this more of a reality, because you are a part of that. If you are a part of Cross Connection Church, then you are a part of extending this life in connection with God, one another, and the world—on campus, online, and in homes. This is where we are headed, and this is what I hope to expand upon in the next couple of weeks.

As I close today, I want to read a portion of Scripture that has been one of the key passages I turn to every time I talk about this life in connection. In Ephesians chapter 2, beginning at verse 14, it expresses this whole concept very well. There we read these words: "For He Himself, Jesus, is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.

And that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross. This is life in connection with God, with one another, and the world through Jesus, through the cross. He brings them together in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him, we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Now therefore, you are no longer strangers, no longer foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. In Him, the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Interestingly, the verses that follow those in Ephesians chapter...

In Ephesians chapter 3, there is a significant parenthetical break, and then Paul returns to his thought in Ephesians chapter 4. After stating that in Jesus we are all built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit, he writes, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you. I beg you that you would walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all."

Life is about connection—with God, one another, and the world through Jesus. This is what you, I, and our church were made for. Father God, I pray that you would continue to unite us together as one body. We have one hope, and we have been baptized into one church. You are our Father; you are above all, through all, and in us all. We pray, God, that you would work in and through us, your church, joining us together in a powerful way.

May we begin to learn more fully and experientially what it is to be in connection with you through prayer, through study in the Scriptures, through worship together, and through serving together. Help us to connect with you in all the different ways you desire. Teach us what it means to connect with one another and to live out the "one another" commands of Scripture—to love one another, to pray for one another, to bless one another, and to care for one another.

Lord, teach us what it looks like to fulfill the "one another" commands of Scripture and to extend that to the world. May we go into all the world, especially in our own community in North San Diego County, and share the good news of your grace—the good news of salvation that brings us near and reconciles us, who were once at war with you, enemies of yours. Help us, Lord, to share that good news.

Reconciliation with the people that we live next door to, family members who don't know You, friends, co-workers, and neighbors who don't know You, Lord, pray that You'd help us to be a light, sharing the glory of Your grace and truth with other people.

So, God, help us to learn in this new season that we're coming into what it is to live life in connection with You and with one another, and to extend that to the world. This life is through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to know what that looks like and to fulfill that more effectively, whether it's on campus, gathered together, in homes, or online. However You want to use us, Lord, help us to do that, we pray. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

In the darkness, we were waiting, without hope, without light, till from heaven You came running. There was mercy in Your eyes to fulfill the law and prophets. To a virgin came the Word from the throne of endless glory to a cradle.

Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit, praise forever to the King of Kings. To reveal the kingdom coming and to reconcile the lost, to redeem the whole creation, You did not despise the cries. For even in Your suffering, You saw to the other side, knowing this was our salvation.

Jesus, praise the Father. Praise the Son. Praise the Spirit.

A key moment occurred when that stone was moved for good, for the Lamb had conquered death, and the dead rose from their tombs. The angels stood for the souls of all who come to the Father and are restored. The Church of Christ was born for the love of Jesus.

Praise forever to the King of Kings. Father God, would you pour out your...

Spirit upon your church this week and bless them. Cause them to be a bright light shining to those who are in darkness, to those who are in need of Your grace, love, and truth. Lord, work in Your church that we would be a conduit of Your love and grace to others. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

And now may the Lord bless and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. God bless you.

Hey, Cross Connection! We are just past Easter. We've begged you guys, pleaded with you guys, and even got maybe a bit threatening with you about inviting someone to church. The nice thing is, Easter's over, so you can take a break. Don't even worry about inviting people to church anymore. I'm kidding, of course! We're kidding. Invite someone to church, guys. Come on, please keep inviting people to church. Don't get caught not inviting somebody to church.

Put your hands back on the hood, and if somebody could invite a lawyer, we would appreciate it. It's still important. Keep inviting people to church. Invite someone to church. People need Jesus. Just go on the freeway; you can tell people need Jesus. Invite somebody to church online or in person. Invite somebody to church.