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As it is about five past seven, we're gonna get started in just about 30 seconds. If you are there far by the entry, please make your way over to your tables, and we'll go ahead and get started in just about 30 seconds, okay? Thanks, everyone. (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) (audience chattering continues) Okay.

Well, thanks again, everybody. We are glad to see all of you. To see everybody come together, this is exciting. Feels like first day of school. People are excited with food and snacks. We are excited for this particular Bible study. Pastor Peter's gonna explain the topic, the theme, and how we're gonna really join our minds and our hearts as we think about how God desires us to build and edify his church.

Now, for the structure of the Bible study, you guys know in the previous session, we come together for worship like this. We have discussion, teaching, and more discussion for application. We're gonna keep it that same structure, so please know coming in, we'll always begin with worship, and we want you guys just to come in with worshipful hearts, and then we'll begin with the fruit of our labor during the week when we study passages and read the book, where we can begin with the discussions, okay?

Let's take a moment now to join our hearts in prayer. Our God, we are so grateful. We're grateful because we know it's a huge privilege to study your word together, huge privilege to join in the fellowship, privileged Father God to be able to be fed upon your teaching, and so with grateful hearts, Lord, we want to lift you up.

We ask God that each opportunity we get to join with our brothers and sisters, we pray, Lord, that it will be spirit-filled, we would fellowship, Lord, in the spirit and truth. We want to take time now to sing to you, God, to join our voices for you, Lord, and to lift you up.

It's in Christ's name, amen. The love of God. ♪ The love of God ♪ ♪ Is greater far ♪ ♪ Than tongue or pen ♪ ♪ Can ever tell ♪ ♪ It goes beyond ♪ ♪ The highest star ♪ ♪ And reaches to ♪ ♪ The lowest hell ♪ ♪ A guilty pair ♪ ♪ Bowed down with care ♪ ♪ God gave his Son ♪ ♪ To win ♪ ♪ His erring child ♪ ♪ He reconciled ♪ ♪ And pardoned from ♪ ♪ His sin ♪ Years of time.

♪ When years of time ♪ ♪ Shall pass away ♪ ♪ And earthly thrones ♪ ♪ And kingdoms fall ♪ ♪ When men who hear ♪ ♪ Refuse to pray ♪ ♪ On rocks and hills ♪ ♪ And mountains go ♪ ♪ God's love so sure ♪ ♪ Shall still endure ♪ ♪ On measureless ♪ ♪ And strong ♪ ♪ Redeeming grace ♪ ♪ To Adam's race ♪ ♪ The saints and angels ♪ ♪ Song ♪ Oh, love of God.

♪ Oh, love of God ♪ ♪ How rich and pure ♪ ♪ How measureless ♪ ♪ And strong ♪ ♪ It shall forevermore endure ♪ ♪ The saints and angels ♪ ♪ Song ♪ Could we with him. ♪ Could we with him ♪ ♪ The ocean fill ♪ ♪ And were the skies ♪ ♪ Of parchment made ♪ ♪ Were every stock ♪ ♪ On earth the quill ♪ ♪ And every man ♪ ♪ A scribe by trade ♪ ♪ To write the love ♪ ♪ Of God above ♪ ♪ Or drink the ocean dry ♪ ♪ Nor could the scroll ♪ ♪ Contain the whole ♪ ♪ Though stretched from sky ♪ ♪ To sky ♪ ♪ Oh, love of God ♪ ♪ How rich and pure ♪ ♪ How measureless ♪ ♪ And strong ♪ ♪ It shall forevermore endure ♪ ♪ The saints and angels ♪ ♪ Song ♪ ♪ Oh, love of God ♪ ♪ How rich and pure ♪ ♪ How measureless ♪ ♪ And strong ♪ ♪ It shall forevermore endure ♪ ♪ The saints and angels ♪ ♪ Song ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ All that I am ♪ ♪ All that I have ♪ ♪ I lay them down before you ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord ♪ ♪ All my regrets ♪ ♪ All my acclaim ♪ ♪ The joy and the pain ♪ ♪ I'm making them yours ♪ ♪ All that I am ♪ ♪ All that I am ♪ ♪ All that I have ♪ ♪ I lay them down before you ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord ♪ ♪ All my regrets ♪ ♪ All my acclaim ♪ ♪ The joy and the pain ♪ ♪ I'm making them yours ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I do ♪ ♪ Is it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my life ♪ ♪ Things in the past ♪ ♪ Things in the past ♪ ♪ Things yet unseen ♪ ♪ Wishes and dreams ♪ ♪ That are yet to come true ♪ ♪ All of my hopes ♪ ♪ All of my plans ♪ ♪ My heart and my knees ♪ ♪ Are lifted to you ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I do ♪ ♪ Is it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my life to you ♪ ♪ Everything I do ♪ ♪ Is it for your glory ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer my days to you ♪ ♪ Lifting my praise to you ♪ ♪ As a pleasing sacrifice ♪ ♪ Lord, I offer you my life ♪ Let's pray.

Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for the opportunity to worship you. We pray, Lord, as we come before you as a body, we would remember Christ in all things, remember Christ's sacrifice for us on the cross, that through him we're able to know you. We pray as we go into a time of a new Bible study session, would you teach us and remind us of what it looks like to be part of your church, what a healthy church looks like, that we would be faithful, that we would serve you with all of our hearts, Lord.

So we thank you, we love you, pray all this in your name. Amen. Okay, for those of you guys coming in, please go ahead and try to find your tables. The tables do have their numbers on there, so you can go get situated. But while I have all of your attentions, I wanna cover a couple really important announcements.

So we're just super thankful for an active body, and as you know, for us, we just carry the burden of cleaning our church together. Your small group is going to be assigned a specific month, and then we're gonna try to coordinate with our cleaning team, led by Martin Mao, so that we can really divvy up the load on when to do cleaning.

So really fast, I know the wording is small, but one, check your email, because you're gonna get a reminder. But just reading off really fast now, for the month of September, Daniel Eo, Alexi, Melissa, Grace Yellow, Keith Young, and Melanie Yi, these are the groups that's going to be assigned for the month of September.

Please do sign up, though, because we need to see who's available which month, okay? I'm not gonna read the other months, but you'll get an email with a reminder that we're gonna be coordinating and doing a rotation for the cleaning service. Next slide. What? Oh, it's up here. My bad.

Thank you. My fault. Hey, would you--oh, thank you. So, one, this is for specifically babysitting parents. For students who are in the Sprouts Elementary Ministry, there is a PTA meeting this Sunday. We need some extra hands to do babysitting during that time. It's Sunday, 1:45 to 4 p.m. It should be more like, yeah, 3:30, the little end.

So if you're available, please sign up for that. Some of you guys have questions about babysitting. Again, for the duration of the Bible study series, we do need hands, and we really appreciate you guys' sacrifice to take care of the children. A lot of the parents of children are actually small group leaders here tonight, and so we want to, you know, afford them the time and flexibility to serve in that way.

Please make sure you sign up for that. Again, check your emails. If you have any questions about babysitting, see our brother, Alex Coe. Next slide. Thank you, Eugene. For the sisters, this is an important announcement for you, that Women's Ministry is hosting an event called "This is My Story, This is My Song." Please make sure to mark your calendars for Saturday.

That's October 19th from 8 a.m.-- 8.30 a.m. in the main sanctuary. So you guys can do it now if you think you're going to forget, but mark your calendar for that. It's a sweet opportunity for all the sisters across various affinity groups to come together and fellowship that way, okay?

Okay, so I think-- can you hit the next slide to see if there's anything else? I think that may be it. Okay, great. So with that said, we're going to switch over to our discussion questions. Do I need to hit the button, Alex? He's got it? Okay. So this first portion, because it's the, you know, beginning portion, and a lot of you guys may see new faces within your group, please take this time to get to know each other, get acquainted and familiarized, and use these discussion questions about how you came to church, how you became a Christian, et cetera, and some factoids about yourself that people may not know.

Share openly, you know, share intimately. Get close. Tonight we'll get back together, usual time, which is 8 o'clock. Please make sure if you're going off or to a room to come back just a little bit early so we can start promptly at 8. All right, we'll see you guys in a little bit.

Thank you. Oh. Oh, sorry. For anyone who is assigned to the newcomers group, you're with me right here in the front conference room. So make your way over here at this time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If I can have all the groups to begin to wrap up, if you're not done, right at 8 o'clock, we're going to get started. All right, it's 8 o'clock. We're going to get started. Please grab your seats if you're not ready yet.

Okay. Obviously, today's Bible study or this session of Bible study is going to be a little bit different than what we had before because it is topical. We're not doing inductive Bible study. I want to explain what we're doing today and then to give you an idea of what the schedule is going to look like starting from next week.

Okay? So, as I said, how many of you have been -- this is the first time being in weekday Bible study? Raise your hand. Okay. I cannot -- yeah, can you raise it all the way up so I can see? How many of you -- for you, this is the first time attending Bible study?

Okay, that's that whole group over there, I know it is, and then there's a bunch of them over there. Okay, so there's quite a few of you. All right. So as you guys are attending the first time doing this Bible study, this is not normally the way we do Bible study.

We usually go through a text, through a book, passage by passage, and you have to do the study and then come back and share, and then we give you an overview of that text. But this session of Bible study, we're doing this, and let me explain why we're doing it.

So let me pray for us and then we'll get started. Father, we thank you so much for being gracious to us. Thank you for the opportunity for us to engage in this Bible study, Lord God, where we would learn and that you would really bring our mind and our hearts together, that we would be united in faith, united in commitment, and united in our love for you.

We pray that you would bless this time, and may your word and your instructions have its effect on us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, so let me explain again, to give you kind of a background. In Judges chapter 21-25, this is a period of Israel's history, right before King Saul is established.

And during this period, Israel had no king, and it was very deliberate, because God established Israel, and God himself was the king. So he didn't want them to be like any other nation. But what ended up happening during this period is summarized, and this phrase is repeated over and over again.

So if you've ever read the book of Judges, they would keep on this cycle of getting into trouble, forgetting God, and then the foreign nations would come and conquer them. God would raise up a judge, and then through that judge, revival would come into the nation of Israel. And that period is described this way.

In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. If you notice here, it wasn't that they were doing what was wrong in their own eyes. They were doing what they thought was right in their own eyes, right? Everybody thought that they were doing what was right.

But the problem was they didn't have a king. They didn't have a central king instructing them to unite them under God. So in their attempt to do what they thought was right, the nation began to each individually just kind of go off on their own, and they were weakened, right?

The reason why I read this is I think this explains what is happening in our generation with churches. Everyone is trying to do what is right in their own eyes. They're not doing what they think is wrong, but they're just trying to figure out what is the purpose of the church.

Why do we do this? Why do we preach this way? Why do we have Bible studies this way? But where do they get that? Paul says in Corinthians 9, 24-27, "Do not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives a prize. Run in such a way that you may win." Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things.

They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore, I run in such a way as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air. But I discipline my body, make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

I read these texts to you because everything that we're doing at church, we're doing it for a particular reason, right? You may have come from maybe a Presbyterian background, and you come to church and say, "How come our church doesn't do this? Why don't we do the Lord's Prayer or the Apostles' Creed?" There's a reason behind that.

We're not Presbyterian. We're Baptist church. And so we have Baptist doctrine that guides us in what we believe, right? What we believe that's according to Scripture. Maybe some of you guys come from a charismatic background, and you ask, "How come we don't pray out loud? How come we don't do this during worship?

How come we don't do that?" Because you have a charismatic framework of how the Holy Spirit should be working, and so you're trying to project that, "Well, isn't this what the Spirit is like?" It's because we're not a charismatic church. There are certain things that we believe the work of the Holy Spirit is and is not.

And so that's why even the way we pray, even the way we sing, is very deliberate, right? So whatever background you may come from, you may come from a different church, and all of it, we're not saying in and of itself, obviously we're not in agreement, is wrong in and of itself, but there's a particular reason why we do things at church.

Why do we pray this way? Why do we preach this way, right? Some of you may come from a Bible teaching background. So you project, "Because I went to this Bible teaching background, church, so we should be doing it this way," right? Even that, we need to ask ourselves, "Where does that come from?

From Scripture, or does that come from the culture that you came from?" And so we want to make sure, as a church, that as our church continues to grow, that we are bringing everybody together to understand this is the reason why we do it. And if you ask us why we do it, we want to show you where in the Scripture, while we were studying in the 27, 28 years that we've been around, what caused us to do ministry this way.

It doesn't mean that we're getting everything that we're doing, we're doing perfectly. There are some things that we're still trying to work on, we need to grow in. But there are certain things that we do and don't do specifically because this is what we see the Scripture teaching us.

And so we want to make sure that as our church grows, that we're not just adding number, that we, as a church, at least are together in understanding. And so at the end of this, you might come and say, "You know what? I don't agree with that. I don't see where you got that in Scripture." But we can't ask or demand of the church because I prefer this, or I came from that culture, or the church that I went to.

It's because we have different doctrines, we're viewing things differently. The difference, even the fundamental thing is that as a seeker-friendly church, and maybe a reformed church like we are, is because our doctrines are different. It's not simply the method, right? We want to reach the lost and so we have different methods.

We have different methods because we have different doctrines that we believe in. So part of the reason why we're going to go over the Covenant this session is so that we can bring you on the same page. And if you have questions while we're studying through the Ten Covenants, hopefully you'll have an opportunity to discuss it in your small group, or even ask us so that we can clarify it, so that we can be on the same page.

When our church was smaller, this happened organically. We'd have Bible study, or we'd have lunch, or fellowship, hang out at the park, and so we'd be able to explain how we came to this decision, why we're doing it this way. But because the church is getting bigger, we're not able to interact with you that way.

And so, again, that's why we felt the need to do this, to bring everybody together. Even though you've taken membership class, membership class only covers it like a very short period, and you're not able to go in-depth. And even those of you who've been here for a while, you may have had conversations, but it's been a while, so it may be a refresher for you.

So this is the reason why we're doing that. The three core books, the book that we're going to be reading this session is Master's Plan for the Church. But there's three books that our church requires. At one point in church history, every single member, as they were coming in, read these books.

We had discussion. Make sure you understood. And if you had to have any kind of paradigm shift, it happened as you were reading these books. But because the church is getting bigger, it's hard for us to even track who read it and who didn't read it. The reason why we have these three books, and this was started maybe about second or third year into the church.

One, holiness of God. And again, for the sake of time, I'm not going to go too deep into it. Holiness of God basically reorients our understanding of who God is. If you grew up in a church where the primary teaching and the focus was how can we meet your needs, how can we speak in a way where you're encouraged so you can be a better husband, better community, and you--again, in and of itself, it's not wrong.

But the central teaching of the Bible is about God before us. It's not about us. It's about God. And to reconcile people to this holy God. So if we have an incomplete and inaccurate understanding of who God is, everything that you learn about the Bible, the gospel, the church, community, evangelism, all is going to be misunderstood.

It's kind of like taking a gift and putting it into the wrong basket, right? So if you have a basket that's clean, then that thing's going to be clean. If you have a basket that's dirty, then everything putting into that basket is also going to be tainted, right? So it starts with the right view of God.

So this book, Holiness of God, helps us to understand who God is, that God is holy. So if you look at all of the Old Testament, two-thirds of the Bible, the main theme of the two-thirds of the Bible is to teach us that sinners cannot have a relationship with this holy God, that there is a chasm between this holy God and sinful man, so that when Christ came, that they would have already been prepared that they are desperate without some sort of savior, right?

And that's why the Pharisees were so rebuked, because they took what God was doing and they created a system of righteousness of their own. So in some way, if number one, the holiness of God, if our view of God is off or tainted or incomplete, everything you're going to be learning about the church, how you evaluate if a church is good or bad, it's all going to stem from a wrong understanding of who God is, right?

So if you haven't read that, I encourage you to read that. The second book, Gospel According to Jesus, if you have a wrong view of God, you're going to have a wrong view of salvation. If your whole perspective of salvation is God loves you, has a wonderful plan for your life, so once you're saved, you're free, and now he wants you to be happy, right?

And so if that's your paradigm, you're not going to have a right understanding of the gospel. Because a holy God has been offended, Christ appeased his wrath, and so when he makes us his children, he says, "Be holy, for your heavenly Father is holy." So salvation isn't simply wiping away sin.

Salvation is delivering us from the bondage of sin so that we can be free to be righteous. So an individual who is saved from the penalty of sin, but has not been saved from the power of sin, has not understood his salvation, period. Because he doesn't understand who God is, right?

That's the second book, Gospel According to Jesus. Third book, the one that we're going to be covering over, is the Master's Plan for the Church, is where is this applied? If God is holy, and our salvation is to deliver us from the bondage of sin, to be slaves of righteousness, where is that new life to be practiced?

Is it just between you and God? No. You hear a lot of people say that. During the pandemic, so many people fell out, and they have no need to go back to church, because they thought, their understanding of their faith is, "I'm saved, Jesus loves me, and when I die, I go to heaven, so it would be nice to go to church." It'd be good to go to church, but it's not necessary.

Again, it stems from a wrong view of God, and a wrong view of salvation. If Christ is Lord, where is Lordship practiced? Lordship is not practiced by yourself. Lordship is practiced in the community where God reigns, which is His church. And so, even the church, the problem that we have in churches, people don't know.

If I ask an average Christian, "What is a church?" And if you know even a little bit about the Bible, you'll say, "Where two or three are gathered in my name." Wouldn't be wrong. It wouldn't be wrong, but that's like a first-grader's answer. It's not wrong, but it is very superficial, where two or three are gathered in my name.

So, if I gather me and Holly, and we go over here, that's a church. Every small table here, that's a church. And then you jump into a pool, get wet, that's baptism. You have dinner, eat some grape juice, that's communion. So, because people don't have a biblical understanding of church, churches practice whatever each church thinks.

You know, we want our church to be this way. We want our church to emphasize this. Our church is going to be our mission. Our church is going to be our social justice. And so, they're picking and choosing what they think is going to help the people. Our primary calling for the church is given to us in the Bible.

We don't make that up. No church has the right to say, "Our church is going to be about this." Our church is about the Bible because the Bible teaches us about what He wants. We didn't just pick and choose, like, "That church is going to be about prayer. This church is going to be about evangelism.

This church is going to be about social justice." No, we emphasize the Bible because Bible is where we learn what God tells us what He wants, right? And so, it's not that we're just committed to the Bible. It's just that the Bible is the starting point of what God desires.

So, the master's plan for the church is, I think, does the best job and is more thorough. It's not the most easy reading. That's why next week, you're going to be reading two chapters because the first one is just an introduction. And then, second one, there's 13 chapters. So, because today's introduction, starting from tomorrow, we're going to do two chapters.

Then, after that, we're going to do one chapter each. So, when you come in and we sing our song and you get into your small group, the first thing you're going to be doing is to discuss the book, right? Then, I'll give you a quiet time passages, and I'll explain that a little bit later.

Okay. Now, having said that, because today is an introduction, I want you guys to maximize the small group time that you have. There's nine different types of small group members, okay? And as I explain this, I want you to ask yourself, "Is this you?" Because after we're done, I'm going to ask you in your small group to confess, right?

Which is you, right? And if you're not sure, we're going to ask people to judge you, okay? So, it's better if you're honest, okay? The first one is the dominator, right? If you have a dominator in your group, everybody is frustrated, okay? The dominator can turn any question into an opportunity to talk about themselves, right?

This is somebody that no matter what the question is, you can be a male and talking about rearing children and giving childbirth, and he's like, "Oh, yeah, I know what that's like," and then he'll go off, right? So, that's a dominator. It's like no matter what the question is, you know, eventually, he'll soak up the attention.

The dominators suffocate any discussion by monopolizing the small group where others are not given opportunity to speak because he speaks too much. So, again, ask yourself, "When's the last time you heard somebody else's voice in a small group?" Okay? So, in the context of talking, you say, "You know what?

I don't know what that person's voice sounds like." Then stop. Take a breath, go to the bathroom, and come back and give other people a chance, okay? If you have a dominator, one dominator could ruin the small group, right? So, if you're like, "Am I a dominator?" Ask somebody if you're not sure.

"Do you think I talk too much?" Before they come to you, say, "Do you think I'm a dominator?" And if they say yes, that's you, okay? Dominators tend to disengage when they are not the ones talking. So, because you're not getting an opportunity to talk or you're so eager to talk, you're just waiting for an opportunity for somebody to stop.

So, when you're not talking, you don't listen. You disengage. You don't make eye contact. You seem bored until it's your turn to talk. That's the dominator. Dominators tend to sidetrack the small group to whatever topic they think needs to be addressed. So, even though other people are sharing, the whole time they're thinking, "You know what?

I think we need to talk about this," and you're already thinking about how to change this topic. Dominators genuinely feel like they are helping by keeping the discussion alive and interesting. That's how they excuse themselves, right? That's how they articulate in their own mind, "I'm doing this for the glory of God," you know what I mean?

Because our group needs somebody like me to keep this discussion going, right? So, if you're not sure, ask somebody, okay? Because this person, I mean, maybe there's nobody in your table, but there's somebody, right? There's somebody at your table. One of the most common, when we have small group discussions and we ask, you know, "What are you struggling with in your small group?" You know, it's almost every session, there's somebody who's dominating some group and makes it hard for everybody else.

Make sure that's not you, okay? Two is the professor. The professor has an answer to almost every question that is asked, right? He knows the Greek. He knows the Hebrew. He's, you know, read every book, whatever topic. So, whatever topic we have, he has something to contribute, and he needs to make sure that you know about it.

The professor believes that he has more knowledge and insight than the rest of the group, so he is morally obligated to educate everyone about what he knows to be true. It wouldn't be right for him to stay quiet, or else you're going to leave in ignorance, right? So, the professor has to constantly be teaching, and you don't have to be a small group leader.

You could have been a Christian for three months, but if you have a professor's attitude, right, you have to talk. So, that's why the professor and the dominator don't get along, but it's usually the same person. So, the professor believes that he is doing God's work by speaking the truth, speaking in love, part, he is working to improve, but speaking truth, he has mastered.

He believes that if he doesn't speak the truth, then no one else will or can. So, he's doing God's work. So, if you're not sure if you're the professor, ask somebody, right, somebody that will be gentle, caring, right, but ask them, "What is your honest opinion? Do you think I dominate?

Do you think I'm kind of like—do I come off as a know-it-all?" And if they say yes, stop it. The next one is the feeler, okay? Feelers tend to think all this theology and study can lead to legalism, right? We're getting too much into this. Aren't we just supposed to love Jesus and that's all he cares about?

And so, anytime we go too deep into theology, it's legalism. They believe that if the discussions don't lead to more love and grace toward one another, it is a useless endeavor. What is the point, right? Jesus says he is looking for worshipers who will worship him in spirit and in truth, right?

It's not just as long as my heart is right, it doesn't matter what kind of theology you believe. No, it's spirit and in truth, right? But the feelers tend to be so heavily focused on the feeling that theology seems to not matter, right? It's not like they're not going to say that theology doesn't matter at all, but theology is like two or three where emotions are like nine or ten.

The feelers tend to tune out when deeper theological discussions are taking place. So, inwardly, you're judging the non-feelers. They tend to come alive during sharing and check out during Bible studies. You have a tendency to kind of like stay quiet until there's like sharing or somebody's in tears or you're sharing something very personal and then they come alive.

But any time you go a little bit deeper digging, asking theological questions, they kind of tend to zone out, right? They're looking at you, but they're not looking at you, right? These are the feelers. So, if you're not sure if that's you, feelers will tend to admit they're feelers, right?

So, you probably kind of know because you're in tune with your feelings. So, you might not have to ask, but if that's you, right? I was looking for people who worship spirit and in truth, okay? Directors, okay? What I mean by directors are not people who are directing movies.

This is the type of person who communicates everything very direct, right? Directors are people who tend to be direct and tend to come off as brash or insensitive. So, if you say something that they may not agree with, they'll just say, "That's dumb. Where'd you get that? Did you read?" Right?

"Are you doing your homework?" And so, these are the directors. Directors tend to be truth-tellers, but have not mastered the art of being tactful, right? And so, they don't realize that they're creating an environment that's hostile. And so, it creates the feelers to feel unsafe, to talk, right? And oftentimes, the directors are professors and the dominators.

It's the same person usually, okay? So, when you ask, ask them, "Am I too direct?" Right? "Do I tend to be a professor? Am I a dominator?" And if they say yes, what's the solution? Stop it. Okay. Directors tend to be--this tends to be me. Directors tend to be impatient and want to communicate clearly without wasting any time.

So, we know that people who tend to be direct, they're not trying to be hurtful to you. It's just that they're not patient. So, they don't have time to go around and take five minutes to tell something that you can get to the point in two seconds, right? I don't agree with that, period, and then move on, right?

So, it makes the feelers uncomfortable, right? Is that you? Devil's advocate. This is a person that has a rebuttal for anything and everything. They have to be the advocate. Their position in the argument will always lean toward whatever position is not being represented. So, it doesn't mean that they believe this.

They just think that the other side needs to be spoken. So, if all your group tends to say one thing, they tend to be the opposite. And then if they change their position, they'll go, "Well, you know, I'm not sure if that's all true either," right? They tend to disagree simply because there seems to be a consensus of something.

They enjoy stirring the pot even if it tends to turn into a heated discussion. So, if you are a devil's advocate, right, this person is not going to spoil the group. It sometimes helps the discussion, but oftentimes you will frustrate the group, right? You'll frustrate the group because you're not seeking truth.

You don't seem to be seeking truth. You just want to have a good discussion, right? So, sometimes it could be good. Sometimes it could be frustrating. So, just be mindful of that. Is this you? Peacemakers. Peacemakers are people who will never disagree with anything, right? If somebody says, "I agree with that," it's like, "Yeah, you know." Then, "No, no, no, no.

That's not right." It's like, "Yeah, I can see that too," right? They don't have a clear position on anything. Peacemakers tend to think that the worst thing to do in a small group is to make someone feel bad, right? Even at times, maybe certain things need to be said.

It's like just the fact that you hurt somebody's feeling, that was wrong. Peacemakers think that any lively discussion is not godly, prefers avoiding any discussion that may lead to anyone feeling uncomfortable. This person has mastered speaking in love but is always struggling to speak the truth, that this is somebody that everybody likes.

Everybody loves this person, but they're all frustrated with this person too, right? Because there's no movement. They're overly concerned about how other people feel where they're not able to tackle truth, okay? Again, this person is well-liked in the group, and people love that person. They make other people feel good, but oftentimes, it's very difficult to have honest and deep discussions with this person because they're always kind of pushing against any kind of lively discussion, okay?

Critiquers are always looking for opportunities to correct any little thing that needs correcting, right? Again, usually, these are the same people. The dominators, the professors, the critiquers, they're usually the same people. Critiquers usually are ignited during discussions that require critical thinking. Critiquers and dominators tend to clash since neither have the patience to put up with the rhetoric of others, okay?

Is that you, okay? Then the hiders. Hiders tend to stay silent and in the background unless they are personally called upon. There's always just as much as there is a dominator, like in a lot of groups, there's always a hider. In fact, we have more hiders than dominators. For every one dominator, I think there's four hiders from my experience, right?

Hiders tend to stay quiet. They don't like conflict for two opposite reasons. One, they have a low self-esteem or however you want to call it. I don't want to psychologize it, but they think, "I'm going to say something dumb," and then the critiquer and then the dominator, the professor is going to correct me, so I don't want to make myself vulnerable.

They just kind of stay quiet. These are the people who will never talk if you have somebody who's a dominator or professor or critiquer in the group, okay? Or the other part of it, hiders tend to be quiet because they don't think the other people will care, so they're judging you, right?

They're saying, "If you don't care, why should I share with you? You don't care if I share with you." You have either, "I don't know anything enough to share," or a bunch of, "You guys are not worth sharing to," right? Sometimes it's both. Hiders, again, you don't make trouble in the group, but you're very frustrated because the part of the small group is you want to get to know each other better, but if you're there and you're in the habit of disengaging or not talking, you may be doing that because you think, "I don't have anything to share," or maybe they're not going to care.

The way you'll come across is you don't care. They'll come across like you don't care, right? You may be projecting that to other people, but actually what's happening is they're going to see that you don't seem to care because you're not engaging, okay? Is that you, right? So any one of these people, and probably there's a mixture of all of this in our groups and in your personalities.

I share this because we have so many small groups and we want you to get the most out of the small groups as possible. And so the next session, I'm going to ask you, "Which one are you?" And then I have one more left, okay? And the last one is the Flakers, right?

Frosted Flake, okay? Flakers could be any one of those personality types. Flakers are those who see the small group as something to be taken seriously only when it is convenient, right? You have a member in your group where any little thing, like some of you guys have work that conflicts with this time, so obviously that's understandable.

There's things, emergencies that happen. You get sick, that's understandable. But I'm talking about Flakers where, you know, your favorite show is on and so I can't make it, you know? The Dodgers are playing today, so, you know, so this is not a high priority for you. So you'll make it when you can and you miss when you don't.

So what happens is if you are a chronic Flaker, it creates, you have, you need to be aware of how it affects other people, right? It's very selfish if you don't consider that you not taking that group seriously makes it difficult for that whole group, right? And right now because our small groups are so impacted that if we have one group and we have half of them not showing up half the time, we're not able to hold the group because we have so many people that we need to add.

And so that's why Pastor Peter Trunk, I think it was the last one or the one before, he said, "If you miss more than three, we're going to pull you out," and he said it very firmly, and it worked for like two months, right? Even in the home group, the attendance was a lot better for like two months, and then it went right back, okay?

So I'm not going to say three times or two times or four times, but generally speaking, if you're the Flaker, right, if you feel like, "I don't think I'm going to be able to be here for this many times," please let us know ahead of time, okay? That at least it's calculated.

It's because you see a schedule, you see something coming up, but if you're in the habit of, "My leg hurts. The weather's no good. There's a football game on. You know what I mean? My best friend, you know, wanted to have dinner tonight," that means that level of small group is going to go down to your level of commitment for everybody, and so it ruins it for everybody, okay?

So because this is our first session, if you're going to commit to it, commit to it. Do your best to come to every Bible study prepared. If you know that you cannot commit to that, please let us know ahead of time, okay? So either we will put you in a new members group or a Flake group, all right, where you will be with other Flakers, so you don't have to feel guilty, okay?

We're doing it for you, so you won't be judged, okay? All right. So these are the things, again, as we're starting, hopefully you understand. I'm going to give you, you may have known this before, but in your small group, to actively share, and I'm just going to go over this real quick.

There's four areas in people's lives. Me and others is a public life. This is like, you know, what people can obviously see. After you spend a little time, they say, "Hey, you're outgoing. You talk. You're quiet. You're introvert." These are things that are obvious. So what ends up happening is people who tend to put up a front are good at that part, right?

Because that's where everybody sees. But if you're only sanctified in that area, what do you become? A hypocrite, right? Because you're only good on the facade, and who you are behind the scene is not consistent, right? So if you want to really be sanctified, your outer person that people can see and your inner person is much closer, right?

That's me, others. Others only is your what? Blind spot. These are people who are dominators, and they think they're the feelers, right? That's your blind spot. And so how do you know that? When you're surrounded by people who are praying for you, caring for you, discipling you, they are the ones who will tell you.

Usually, your family has already told you, but you don't like them because they told you. But there's probably some truth to it. You have a tendency, and when your family tells you, they are usually direct. They don't care about your family, and usually it gets exposed when people are angry, right?

If you get in a fight with your husband and wife, they'll keep it to themselves for a while, and then you tick them off. It's like, "How come you always do this?" And they go, "What?" And then you realize that your sister, your brother, your mom, or dad probably, or somebody has already told you this, but this is a blind spot that you kind of are trying to hide.

But in a small group context, when you spend time with a lot of people for a long period of time, it gets exposed. But that area, if you're not willing to receive instruction, you're not going to grow either. Your blind spot is going to become bigger and bigger and bigger.

That's why these small groups are good, because you're in a context where you can share, and people who are praying for you are able to come alongside you, and hopefully, tactfully, lovingly, help you to see that and to grow in that. And then, me only is your private. It could be your private sins, things that you don't want other people to know, and they will only know if you share it with them.

And so, this part, you have to commit. Others, you have to commit to people who are committed to you. Me only, you have to commit. So, the best place to do that is in your small group. If there are certain things maybe you don't feel comfortable in, even in that small group, ask your small group leader.

If you have something that you're wrestling with, you want to confess something, to be committed to confess your sins, or confess other things. And then, the God only are things that God does. When you are sanctified in the other areas, you tend to be sanctified in the areas that you may not even know, and other people may not know.

So, small group is the best place to wrestle with this, and to commit to grow in all areas of our life. All right. Finally, starting from next week, starting from this week, next week we're going to be covering the first covenant. We're going to, I'm going to briefly review the chapter one and two that you guys discussed, and then we're going to go into the covenant, and along with the covenant, I'm going to be giving you five quiet time verses for that week.

So, these are the verses that pertain to covenant one that I'm going to be teaching next week. You understand? Okay, so, you should have gotten an email. This is already on Facebook or Messenger. Okay? If you didn't get one, make sure you get it. And so, there's five passages, and I don't want you to read all five before you come on Wednesday morning.

Spread this out. Do it like you're doing quiet time. So, tomorrow morning when you wake up, do one. And do it in this order. Okay? Because I'm going to be teaching in this order. And so, when you come next week, and I start to teach about the first covenant, and it's going to be about the church, that you'll have some basis of understanding of the text that I'm going to be looking at.

Okay? So, these are quiet time passages. So, some of you guys in your small group who are memorizing Scripture, this would be a good place to do your memory verses. You don't have to memorize the whole thing, but maybe like one or two key verses in those texts that you could memorize that and then check up on each other, if you choose to do that.

Okay? Any questions about this? Okay. So, for the rest of the time for tonight, okay, which one are you? Okay? Are you the dominator, professor, the feeler, the director, devil's advocate, peacemaker, critiquer, or the hider? Right? So, choose one. Don't say, "I don't know." Choose one. Okay? And then, how can you, if you're one of those things, how can you improve going forward in your small group?

If you have a tendency to never talk unless you're picked on, like, how can you commit to participate in this small group? Okay? If you're the dominator, give other people a chance. Right? Let them talk. How can you improve on your tendency? Number two, what is the biggest weakness in your spiritual life?

Okay? And what are you hoping to get out of this small group, socially and spiritually, and do you think you will be able to commit to the whole 13 sessions of the Bible study? Okay? So, for the next 30, 40 minutes, however long it takes, get into your small group and then discuss this, and then please do your five-verse quiet time and the first two chapters before you come next Wednesday.

All right? Let me pray for us, and then we'll wrap up. Father, we thank you so much for this new session of Bible study, and we pray that you would help us to use this time to really learn and to come together to be on the same page, Lord God, as we are doing our best to be deliberate about the church that you desire to build.

Lord, as you remind us over and over again that Christ is the head of the church, not any man, not any purpose, so we pray, Father God, that these sessions will help us to be united together under Christ. We pray for these small groups and the small group leaders and all the hard work that they are putting into it.

We pray that you would reward them to be able to see tangible fruit, and we ask for all the participants, Lord God, that not only knowledge-wise, but relationally, spiritually, in every way, Lord God, that we would become a tighter, more united community as a result of the Bible study we will have.

We thank you, Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.