Making the Hard Changes in Me

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Well, good morning, everyone. How’s everybody doing? Well, I want to warn you, I’ve got 25 pages of notes. But I only have 30 minutes, so I’m in a quandary. And so, I am still determining where this is going to go. This is usually different from me. I’m usually very structured. But if you are showing up for the first time this year around here at Eastside. My name is Virgil Grant. I’m one of the leaders around here, one of the pastors, and we’re in a sermon series called Winning the War in Your Mind. And we’ve been talking about life. It’s tough. Life is hard. And we are asking, Well, why is life so hard? Why is life so tough? Isn’t it when you become a Christian that things are supposed to become easy? And the reality is, is that life is hard. Because we’ve talked about this, you and I battle three enemies day in and day out. Right? The first one is the world or the culture around us that we battle. There is Satan who comes against us. And then the third enemy we face lives within us. And that is the flesh or the carnal nature or the older man that resides within us. And so we’re battling these three things. And in fact, Paul tells us that when it comes to the old nature inside of us, once we become Christian, then we have the new nature that’s living in us. And there’s this old nature. That’s still at work. Still, it’s been put to death by Christ, but it still has an impact on our lives. And therefore, there’s this battle between the old nature that exists in us and the new nature that we’ve been given in Jesus Christ. And so we’re battling that now. I have some good news for you today for those of you that are perfectionists and control freaks. I’ve got some good news. Let me see who are my control freaks and perfectionists out there this morning? Raise your hand. Yeah. Now, I’ve got great news for you. I want you to listen to me. I got wonderful news for you. And here’s the news the Bible tells us that we’ve all blown it. We’ve all messed up, but no one is going to bat a thousand. No one is going to live the perfect life. So listen to me. To pretend like you’ve got it all together when everybody knows you don’t have it all together is silly. Amen. So take a deep breath and just exhale. Exhale. And just say it’s going to be okay. Now, look what the Bible says. Here’s a reason why I know that none of us are perfect because of Romans chapter three, verse 23. And Paul says.

“All have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 3:23 (NIV)

And here’s the reality is, is that we will never be sinless. But you and I could sin less. Now, you know what I said there. Some of you were dozing off. Some of you are thinking about the grocery list. Listen to me. Is that it’s impossible for us to be sinless, but it is possible for us to sin less than it is possible for us to address the destructive behaviors that cause us to sin more and more often. And so what I want to do today, I want us to look at the classic passage that talks about these destructive behaviors that you and I possess that cause us to stumble, to sin, that causes maybe the intensity between the old nature and the new nature to continue to fight. Now, again, the reason why we’re doing this sermon series is if you don’t understand the enemy, if you don’t understand the battle, if you don’t understand the old nature and the new nature, then it’s impossible to know the enemy and to fight the battle. And so we’re just trying to help you to win the war in your mind that we all face. And we’re looking at this classic passage from his Ephesians chapter four, verses 21 through 27, and I’m going to be reading those from the screen in a moment, but let me just say something we’re going to look at three things that you have to do in order to win the battle to get rid of these destructive behaviors. I’ve called these three principles for personal change. Now, obviously, in this passage, there are probably like ten different principles of personal change that we have to look at. But we don’t have time to do all ten of those, and that’s kind of the conflict that I’m having. And notice what Paul says here.

“Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.  24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God-truly righteous and holy. 25 So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. 26 And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil.”

Ephesians 4:21-27 (NLT)

Now three principles for personal change. To deal with those things, those destructive behaviors really enforce the old nature versus the new nature. And if you’re going to do this, the first principle is this.

PRINCIPLES FOR PERSONAL CHANGE

  1. Change requires learning the TRUTH.
  2. Change requires making CHOICES.
  3. Change requires honest COMMUNITY.

Change requires learning the truth. This is the first requirement. You know, the most famous quote of all, maybe, by Jesus? This is when you know the truth. Finish it up with me. When you know the truth. The truth will what will set you free? Like you know this. You’ve heard this before, and the truth is what will set. It’s free. Notice what it says in verse 21 of Ephesians chapter four.

“Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him…

Ephesians 4:21 (NLT)

Now, I want you to get something I’m about to say. This is maybe the most important thing I’m going to say in the message. Maybe one of the top five. Okay. One of the top five. The secret to personal change is not appealing. The secret to personal change is not a program. The secret to personal change. It’s not a process. It’s not therapy. It’s not a book. It’s not a seminar. It’s not positive thinking. It’s not psychology. It’s not anything else. The proof of personal change is found in the truth. It is found in the truth. And here’s the reality, is that you’ve got to know and face the truth. You’ve got to know and face the truth about yourself. You’ve got to know and face the truth about your relationships with your children, with your spouse, with your parents, and with your coworkers. You’ve got to know and face the truth about your past before you can change. Many of you don’t understand how your past, how your family of origin is still impacting your life today. And even though you’re 50, 55 or 40, or 35, it is still impacting your life. You’ve got to know and face the truth about God before you can change. You get to know and face the truth about your habits, your hurts, and your hang-ups. You’ve got to know and face the truth about your potential and your talents. You’ve got to know what you’re good at. You’ve got to understand and embrace what you’re not good at. If folks, I’m not good at a lot of things. But you know, what I’ve learned is that I’ve learned to get people around me who compliments my weaknesses with their strengths. And that’s what makes a great team. You have to understand those things. You have got to know and face the truth about others your mother, your father, your brothers, your sister, your aunt, your uncle, and your siblings. You’ve got to know and face the truth that God has a purpose for your life.

And folks, you have to understand that God has a purpose for your life. And the purpose of your life is not just to be here on Earth and to take up and consume oxygen. You have to know and face the truth about your finances and about your generosity. I mean, folks, the bedrock of a life that is well established in Jesus Christ is found upon truth. Because here’s the reality. If you don’t base your life upon truth, then what’s going to happen? You’re going to build your life up on a phony, fake false foundation. And what’s going to happen when the winds and the storms of life come your way? Your life is going to collapse. And so we have to build our lives upon the truth. Now, why is this important that you’re not built lives upon the truth? And here’s the reason why is because we lie to ourselves all the time. Now hear what I just said. We lie to ourselves all the time. The biggest lie to you is you. Pronouns should get an amen. I’m getting too close. Now I mean, come on, the biggest liar in your life is you to you. I lie to myself more than anyone else. I tell people all the time. I tell myself this. You know what? It’s not a big deal. In reality, what is it? It’s a big deal. And then when it’s not a big deal. I tell people that it is a big deal, you know? I just kind of reverse it, and I lie to myself all the time. You lie to yourself all the time. I mean, I got some people in my life. It’s never their fault. They will lie their way out of the lie and out of the lie and out of the lie because they can never face the truth themselves. They can never build their life upon truth. There are always lying to themselves about something. And here’s the reality that some of you said, Well, if we’re to build our lives upon truth, then what is truth? And the truth is what Jesus Christ Jesus says. I am the way, the truth, and life. And no one gets to the father unless they come. What? Through him. Jesus Christ is the truth. Well, where do we discover Jesus? How do we learn more about Jesus? We learn more about Jesus from the Word of God. Right?

Because you remember what God said in Amos Chapter eight, verse 11. It’s not in the outline, but the Lord says there’s a coming of famine in the land, and the famine that’s coming in the land is not going to be for bread or for water. The famine that’s coming is going to be what the word of the Lord is. And folks, here’s the reality. Here’s the reason why our country is so divided, in my personal, humble opinion. I’m not a political person, but I am a Jesus person. Let me tell you what. When you don’t know the truth, then everything is the truth. And you got to build your life upon the word of God. And here’s the thing. If you’re not involved in the word of God, if you’re not doing a devotion, if you’re not reading through the Bible, let me just encourage you to do something. Just pick up the Bible. Get the Bible app on your phone. I’ll help you do that. And just start in the book of Matthew. There are 260 chapters in the New Testament, and you can literally read one chapter a day for Monday through Friday. And you could read the entire New Testament in a year and let the word of God saturate your life. Now, look what Paul says in Second Timothy, Chapter three. He says this.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT)

In other words, the Word of God is designed to show us the path to life. So here’s the question. You want to know the path. You will know the will of God. It is found right here in the Word of God. That is the path that you’re to walk. It’s to show you that and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. So it tells us when we get off the path and say, Here’s what someone said. Someone had asked, Is it the Bible? Reading the Bible will keep you from sinning, but sinning will keep you from the Bible. That’s really good, isn’t it? And here’s the thing, is that when there’s some stuff that’s wrong in our lives. The Bible says here you’ve gotten off the path. But it also corrects us when we’re wrong, and it shows us how to get back on the path. And then there’s what it says and teaches us to do what is right and how to stay on the path. So it shows us the path. It shows us when we get off the path, it shows us how to get back on the path of life, and how to stay on the path. Notice what Paul says. God uses the word to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. And folks, the truth is the foundational point of being set free. And the truth is the foundational principle of personal change in your life.

Now, this leads us to the second principle is that change requires making choices. We have to make choices now. And obviously, these choices have to be good choices. They can’t just be bad choices. Now, what I’m saying here, it is not enough to want to change. If I were to ask you, do you want to change? Do you want to lose 10 pounds? Do you want to become healthier? Do you want to grow as a Christian? The answer is yes. I want to change. I have the desire to change. I’ve got a dream of changing. Folks. Can I just say something? Wanting to change, having the desire to change, or having a dream to change will not get you to change in your life. It will not happen. It does not happen that way. You have to choose to change. A lot of people are thinking about change. They’re planning on changing. They want to change. Someday I will change. Folks. Change does not happen without intentionality in your life. Let me just ask it this way. What’s going to be different about your life six months from now? What’s going to be different about your life at the end of 2022? What’s going to be different about your life spiritually in six months? What’s going to be different about your life physically from this point to six months out? What’s going to be emotionally different about your life? And here’s the thing. Nothing is going to happen. Nothing is going to change until you become intentional.

See, some of you are saying, well, I’m just waiting on God to move. Let me just say something to you. You, God, to move in your life. God’s waiting on you to take the first step. And when you step out in faith, when you become intentional, when you begin to actually do some changing, God will intersect your life with His power and His grace and his mercy. But God is not going to take the first step. You have to take the first step. Now, here’s what I’m saying. You have to become intentional about your life. What do I mean about becoming intentional? Number one, it’s getting in the word of God, basing your life upon truth. The second thing is what Paul says in verse 22. If you put up on the screen, Paul says.

“Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.”

Ephesians 4:22 (NLT)

Now, here’s what all of you are thinking. Well, what is the older former way of life? What’s the old nature? What is that? Could you define that? If you could define that for me? You know what? Then I can maybe throw it off. We have to intentionally let go of some things. What should you let go of? Well, you have to understand something. That Satan is the master of lies. He’s the king of lies. That’s what Jesus said about him, right in the book of John, that he’s the king of lies. And so you understand that all the things that you have to throw off are the false beliefs that you’ve held your entire life. Now, listen to my friends. I’m going into some deep water right here. Okay. So you just have to listen to me. Is that right now when he says, throw off the old self, the old ways of the old nature. What does that mean? It means to get rid of false beliefs that you’ve held on to, that you’ve been taught all the days of your life. And why have you been taught those? It is because Satan has been. Pounding it in your head from the moment of inception even to today. No. Let me tell you something. Here is Satan’s lie. Here is his formula. It’s very simple.

Satan’s Formula/Lie:

Self-Worth =

Performance + Others’ OPINIONS

That is old nature. That is a false belief. And there is much more. But this is the foundational principle. It is a foundational principle. Is that your identity? For most of you, your identity is found in your performance. It’s founded upon what other people think about you and what they believe about you. And this is the reason why you dress the way that you dress is that you dress to impress, and you want everybody to think highly of you. And listen to me, my friends, that there are four primary false beliefs that impact or undergird all of this right here. So we’re talking about identity. Our identity is in our performance. Our identity is in others’ opinions of us. And so this is a reason when somebody says something negative about you, what do you do? You tell spin. You go into a rabbit hole, and you go into depression. Because why? It is hit upon the fact of a false belief that you possess, and your identity is not found in Jesus Christ. Your identity is found in your performance and others’ opinions of you. Does any of this make sense? But you got to encourage me just a little bit. I mean, just a little bit of encouragement will go a long way. My identity is not in you, though. I just want you to know that. Okay. Now, here are four false beliefs that Satan tells you, and they back up these two principles.

False Beliefs Satan Tells You:

The Performance Trap: I must meet certain standards to feel good about myself.

Approval Addict: I must be approved by certain others to feel good about myself.

The Blame Game: Those who fail (including myself) are unworthy of love and deserve to be punished.

Shame: I am what I am. I cannot change. I am hopeless.

Number one, is this the performance trap? Some of you believe, and we deal with this all the time with volunteers. Well, I just can’t do it very well. You know, anything worth doing is worth doing poorly, right? Because our identity is not based upon our performance. Our identity is based upon the fact that we are secured in our salvation because of Jesus Christ. But Satan wants you to say, Hey, you know what, Andrew? If you’re going to be accepted by people, you’ve got to meet certain standards. And when you meet those certain standards, then you are everybody’s approval, and then you feel good about yourself. These are reasons why people, when they have failed in their life, what oftentimes do they do? They will commit suicide because why? Everything is tied up. The second one is this their approval addict. I must be approved by certain others to feel good about myself. I mean, folks, you can have 99 compliments, but somebody comes along and give one very, very small criticism. And what do you remember? Do you remember the one criticism? Why is because your identity is based upon having everybody’s approval. Is any of this make sense? The third one, is this the blame game? Those who fail, including me, including you, are unworthy of love. And we deserve to be punished when we make a mistake. We don’t deserve anybody’s love. We don’t deserve anybody’s approval. We don’t deserve anyone’s mercy or grace. Because you know why? Because we deserve to be punished, folks. You cannot be punished for something you’ve done. If you’re a Christ follower. Because why? Because Jesus Christ has already paid the penalty. He’s already paid the price. And then the last one is the shame game. I am what I am. I cannot change. I’m hopeless. Now folks, just think about this. These are the lies that Satan wants you to believe. And what happens is, when you believe them, and someone says something to you, then what happens is you get aggravated at that person. And when you get aggravated at them, you begin to have destructive emotions. Well, and those destructive emotions. Results in destructive What behaviors? But where did the destructive emotions come from? They come from destructive thoughts. Where do the destructive thoughts come from? They come from your false belief. Where does your false belief? How does it get energized? It gets energized by the situation.

Look at this. The trip in. So this is what I’m talking about. So here’s a situation. Here’s a common situation. You go somewhere, and there are mean-spirited people. I mean, there’s a mean-spirited person. But almost wherever you go, there’s a mean-spirited person. I mean, wherever you go, and you encounter this mean-spirited person, and they are mean to you. You become highly emotional, right? Because you go, Well, that guy was a jerk. Da da da da da da da. Hum hum. Right. I mean, like, you just go on and on, and you tell everybody, you see, for the next 24 hours, Right? And so it’s just like, this is your coping mechanism, telling everybody so that destructive emotion. We want to blame it on the person, but the person was only the trigger point. What happens is, is that person awoke, awakened, poked, and triggered a false belief in your life. And the false belief is that everybody is supposed to like me. Because if everybody doesn’t like me, then I don’t have any identity, that I’m not loved, I’m not cared for. And so what happens is we have to go. You know what? It’s not the person, but we have to go back, which is the false belief. And it’s a false belief. And we have to address that. And we don’t address that. And then once we address it, we’ll go, well, what is the truth? The truth is that I am completely accepted by God, which has nothing to do with my performance and nothing to do with others’ opinions. You know what? Not only am I completely accepted by God, but I’m also totally forgiven by God. I have nothing that nobody can hold against me. My name is secured and written in the Book of Heaven. I am. Totally loved by God. And on and on you go. And the truth is, is that when you begin to take the situation and go, regardless of what they said, this is what God says, and this is a reason why you have to be in the word of God. Now, look at this next verse on your outline Philippians chapter two. Does this make sense? All right. Philippians chapter two. This is what I believe. What Paul means is to take and get rid of your old ways, your old behavior. Instead, allow the spirit to renew your mind and thoughts. Notice what he says. Paul says.

“…Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”

Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV)

Now, Paul did not say. Continue to work for your salvation. That’s how we do it. That’s our rendition. We take Paul’s words. We’re Paul says, continue to work out your salvation. We take it, and we change it, and we go. We’ve got to work for salvation. There’s a reason why we’re in the performance trap. That’s the reason why we approve. And that’s the reason why we do the blame game. There’s a reason why we’re all caught up in the shame game is because why we’re working for our salvation. Paul did not say, Continue to work for your salvation. Paul said What? Continue to work out your salvation. A huge difference. Because understand there’s nothing that you can do to work for your salvation. You cannot pay any amount of money to get your salvation. You cannot do any amount of work or good deeds to get your salvation. Salvation is a free gift from God. And Paul tells us this in the features Chapter two, verses 8-9. He says this.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

Salvation is a free gift. You cannot earn it. You cannot work your way into heaven. Salvation is a completely free gift that God gives you. But notice what he says here. Paul says, Continue to work out your salvation. And as you go back to Philippians chapter two.

“…Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”

Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV)

Now, what does it mean to work out your salvation? Because I think this is what it means here is that my grandmother, when she was alive, She loved to work jigsaw puzzles and not just the 100-piece puzzle, but she would do what? She would do. The thousand-piece puzzle, right? And so when she was around her children and grandkids, they would get her puzzles, and she would take one of those puzzles, and she would open the box. And what would she do? She would dump all the pieces out on the table. And it’s just a big jumbled mess. Right. And then what she would do she would take the pieces that were in the puzzle, and she would begin to work the puzzle. She would begin to put it together. Now, she did not create the puzzle. She did not create the puzzle pieces. She just took the pieces, and she began to put them together. And as she worked out the puzzle that the Creator created, then she began to see a beautiful picture emerge. Sometimes like a picture on top of the box top, right. And then all of a sudden, she goes, Oh, there it is. It’s all coming together. Well, that is what Paul means by working out the salvation that God has given us. The Creator has given us all the pieces. He’s given us the Holy Spirit. We have got this old nature. We got these old lies. We’ve got this old formula where Satan tells us that your self-worth is equal to your performance plus others’ opinions. And you got all of these pieces. And he says, you’ve got to work it out. You’ve got to get into the work. You have to get into the truth, and you have to discard the lies that Satan is telling you. And can I just tell you something as your pastor? from the time that I was saved at nine years of age until I was 50, 45, and 44, is that I believed those four fundamental basic lies of Satan.

My entire life was based on those lies. My entire life was based on that formula. Now, here’s the deal, is that I went through a year of counseling, and I’ve been in a relationship with other people, and I’ve been working my way out of those lies for the last ten-plus years of my life because I want my life to be built upon the truth of God’s word and not the lies of Satan. And folks, it is a lot of work, and it is worth it because you know why? Because the mark with human beings keeps on being moved from one day to the next day. And here’s the thing. When you can understand and receive God’s grace and work out your salvation, it’s a beautiful thing. But notice what Paul says in Philippians chapter two, verses 12 through 13, he says something else, and he says. Work out your salvation. With what? What does he say with fear? And what trembling now does Paul mean that we should be afraid of God? Absolutely not. You know what he’s saying, Andrew? He said, Be afraid that you will miss out on God’s purpose for your life. Be afraid that you will waste your life. Be afraid that you will never understand the purpose that God has for you. Be afraid that you’re missing out on God doing mighty work in your life. That’s what he’s saying, be afraid of the fact that you would miss out on what God wants to do because you’re living out your false beliefs. Now he says what you need to do is take your life serious because you only have one life to live. And folks here’s the deal. You can either base your life upon false beliefs or based upon the truth of God. And notice what it says back to there, He says, for it is God who works in you. Now that phrase works in you is where we get the Greek phrase that gives us the English word energy. It is God who provides us the energy, which provides us with the will and the power to do his will and to act upon his word. And so God is at work in us as we begin to work out our salvation. Does this make sense?

All right, so how do we bring personal change about? Number one, it requires knowing the truth. Number two, it means that we have to make choices. But number three, the third thing we have to do is change requires an honest community. Change requires an honest community. Now, folks. Here’s the reality. Everyone in this room has something that they’re embarrassed about. They have something in their closet, and they have something in their life that they struggle with. There’s a sin. There’s an old, sinful way that still dominates your life. It’s embarrassing. If anybody was to find out about it, you would be embarrassed about it. But it’s deep-seated in your life. It’s hidden in the closet. But here’s the thing. You’ll never be able to overcome what that thing is that you’re embarrassed about. You’ll never be able to overcome it on your own. And this is the reason why we have life groups. This is a reason why. So you can make the connections that Josh is talking about. And I don’t expect Josh to share with his whole life group about the deep-seated problem that he has, the thing that he’s embarrassed about. But here’s what I do believe. I do believe that Josh will find someone in the group to connect with. He’ll find one other person, and he will share with that one other person, and that one other person will listen to them in confidence and confidentiality. Will pray for him, will accept him, will love him. Will pray with him. But I don’t expect him to tell the whole church? I don’t expect him to tell his whole life group. But we create life groups so that you can have an opportunity to make friends. And life groups are designed to do life together like Josh was talking about. You know life group is not just about, Hey, what kind of week did you have? Oh, you have a good week. Good. That’s not what we’re talking about. When we talk about having a life group. We’re talking about I had a rough week this week. Life sucks. Here’s what’s happened. And then you pray over that person. You try to fix them. You pray over them. We don’t have therapy groups. We do have counseling groups. We just have life groups where we do life together. Here’s what Paul says in verse 25.

“So you must stop telling lies. Tell each other the truth, because we all belong to each other in the same body.”

Ephesians 4:25 (NCV)

And here’s the thing, is that you belong in this body. We belong to you. You belong to us. If you’re ever going to become what Jesus wants you to become, then you have to belong. Because belonging precedes becoming. And here’s the deal. Some of you, you’re content to be lone rangers, some of you content to live in secrecy. Some of you are content and living in isolation. But here’s what I know. Revealing your feelings is the beginning of healing. Let me say it another way.

Two Choices:

Pretending like you’ve got it all together

or

Getting it all together.

It’s one or the other. And how do you get it all together? You get it all together with help from someone walking beside you. See, you’re never going to get better by yourself. I tried it for the first 40 years of my Christian walk, but when I let people in my life, I let people know what was going on deep inside of me. There are a couple of people that know everything about my life. You know, they loved me. They accepted me. They’re proud of me. And they’ll take what I shared with them to the grave. They’ll never share it with another person. You know, and they shared everything that happened in their life and every deep, dark secret that they’ve had. They’ve shared it with me, and I’ll take it to my grave. But here’s the thing, is that when you reveal your feelings, you reveal your secrets. Then you have a chance to get better. Then you can understand the amazing grace of God. And here’s the deal. We have opportunities for you to get into a life group. In fact, we’re starting ten new life groups. And I’m going to ask those life group leaders who are launching a new life group, I’m just going to ask them to come and stand on the stage. As they’re coming, I want you to understand that these ten groups are not the only ten groups we have come up with. Don’t be shy. Let’s give them a big hand for these life group leaders.

So we have these ten new life groups starting, and so sometimes you think, well, if I go to a life group, that’s going to be a little click as those people already know each other. Well, here are groups that have just lunch or are about to launch, and here’s an opportunity for you to get them involved in one of these groups so that you can do life together, so can find someone that you can trust, that you can share your deepest dark struggles with, and they’ll pray for you and walk with you and accept you and love you. And here’s the deal. You know, maybe you look at those group leaders and go, man, they look like thugs. I ain’t messing with them. Well, you know, we’ve got 47 other life groups that you can join. Okay. So where would you say these ten? We want you to see that this is just ten that’s just starting. We already got like 47, 48 regular small groups that meet, like my wife and me. We have a life group in our home that meets, and we meet every Sunday for the most part. And so we have other groups in. So if you go to one of these groups and you know, and you go, Oh, I think I’d try, another will try another one. You can try out multiple groups because all of our groups meet on different days, a different times. We have women’s groups, we have men’s groups, we have couples, and we have intergenerational groups where there are young people and older people. There are all kinds of different groups. So you just have to decide which group is best for you. And all of these people are going to be out in my people lounge. And there’s a picture. If you don’t know what my people lounge looks like, we have a picture. And these leaders and others are going to be out in the My People lounge, so let’s give it up for them, and then they can go. They can go to my people’s lounge. Yep. They can go out there with other leaders, and you go out and talk to them, ask them about their group. If if you’re if they’re not the right group for you, then they’ll help you get into another group or find a group for you to try. But the best thing is what I tell people. The larger our church becomes, the smaller we have to become. You see what I’m saying? The larger we become, the smaller we become. And here’s what happens. You look at this church in your man. This is a big place. This big place, we like 37,000 square feet, but 500 or 600 parking places, and we’ve got 14 staff members. And it’s a big place. And here’s the thing. But the way it becomes small, you get into a circle with ten or 12 other people, and you walk into the atrium, and you see your friends. For a lot of group life. This place just becomes much smaller. And so the larger we become, the smaller we have to become as well.