So, have you signed up for a LIFE Group yet? If you haven’t heard, we unveiled our 2021 Fall Semester LIFE Group Catalog last week! You can go to our website right now, check out all the different Groups and sign up today.
But why? Why should you sign up for a LIFE Group? Let me give you 3 good reasons. First of all, I need others to WALK with me. In other words, I need people to help me grow spiritually. Colossians 2:6, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him…” The Bible often calls your spiritual life, your walk. Why? Because life is a journey. You’re always growing. And all through the Bible we’re instructed how to walk this walk. But this is important: God never intended for you to walk through life alone. Never. Now some of you might say, “Well what’s wrong with walking alone? I like to walk alone. I prefer to walk alone. I get my own way when I walk alone.” Well, that’s part of the problem, you’re not learning cooperation. You’re not learning relationships. You’re not learning love.
Hebrews 10:25 says this, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.” I need people to encourage me in my daily walk. And how do you do that? He says, “By meeting together.” He’s talking about community. It’s possible that you don’t have community when you come to Coastal for worship. Community is what develops over time when you do life with a small group of people. You get to know them, and they get to know you. You see, you could be in a crowd, you could come to church every week for years and still be lonely because you never know anybody. We need a few people in our lives that we know really well, and they know us really well. And we all need a place, a group, where we can practice relationships and learn to love.
Another reason you need to join a LIFE Group, I need others to WATCH OUT for me. I need people who will defend me, who will protect me, who will stand up for me, who will help me stay on track, who will warn me. I need people to watch out for me.
Philippians 2:4 says this, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Now that’s a countercultural statement because in America, everybody says, “It’s all about me, my needs, my interests, my hurts, and the rest of you, forget you because it’s all about me.” And yet the Bible says, “Look out for one another’s interests.”
What do we do when we go out of town? We find people to watch our pets and our stuff – because those things are important. Well, let me ask you, do you have anybody looking out for your soul? Because your soul is more important than your stuff – right? Is there anybody who is helping you out in your spiritual journey? Who’s watching out for you? To make sure that you’re still growing? To make sure that you’re not getting discouraged and depressed and feel like giving up?
Ecclesiastes 4:12, “A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back to back and conquer. Three are even better for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.” That’s why you need a LIFE group. Who’s watching your back right now, spiritually? And who’s back are you watching out for? You can’t expect anybody to watch out for you if you’re not watching out for anybody else? That’s one of the values of LIFE groups. It gives us support.
A third reason you need a join a LIFE Group, I need others to WAIT AND WEEP with me, to wait and weep with me. What am I talking about here? I need people who are going to be there in the inevitable crises of life. Now as your pastor, I feel this one really deeply because I see it all the time. There are many situations in life that nobody should ever have to go through alone. Nobody should ever have to sit alone in a hospital, waiting during a life or death surgery. No woman should have to wait alone while she’s waiting for a lab test from a problem pregnancy. No man or woman should have to spend the night alone when the wife walks out, or the husband has walked out. I could go on and on and on. No one should ever have to stand at an open grave alone.
Now the fact is some of these things are going to happen in your life. They are going to happen. We’re all going to lose loved ones. And only a fool would go through life unprepared for what they know is inevitably going to happen. You need the support network in your life now because you don’t know when the crisis is going to come. You need that support group. You don’t need a hundred, but you do need five or six people in your life who are going to be there when you need them. And the time to prepare is now. We need each other. We need other believers to walk with us, to watch out for us, and to wait and weep with us. Those are just 3 reasons for joining a LIFE Group. Check out our catalog and sign up today!
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
- ATTENTION EVERYONE:
Don’t forget that THIS Sunday, September 5th (Labor Day Weekend), there will only be ONE in-person service – the 9:30am service. There will be NO 11:15am service in-person. - Have you signed up for a LIFE Team yet? Our LIFE Teams are the volunteers who carry out the mission of Coastal. To see a complete list of our LIFE Teams go to our website and sign up today!
- UPCOMING OUTREACH PROJECTS:
Saturday Serve – The foundation of all of our serving opportunities at Coastal really starts with Saturday Serve – the first Saturday of every month. The next Saturday Serve is Saturday, September 4th. We meet in the Welcome Center/Cafe at 8:30am, project leaders make a “pitch” for their serving opportunity, and then we serve! Make plans NOW to be there!
PINK House – The PINK House is a community center in the Ardmore subdivision in West Ashley. We are going to be putting on a community Tailgate Party, Clothing Distribution, Saturday, September 11th, 10am-1pm.
Soldier’s Angels – We’ll be helping with the Veteran’s Mobile Food Distribution, Tuesday, September 14th, 8am-1pm.
Tricounty Family Ministries – We will be assisting with their Emergency Grocery Distribution, Wednesday, September 15th, 9:45am-1pm. Meet at: 2105 Cosgrove Ave. North Charleston.
If you are interested in serving in any of these projects, you can sign up on your Connect Card this Sunday or sign up now on our website. If you have any questions, please reach out to Pastor Chris Jones at 843-870-4613. - Waves Student Ministry (6th-12th Grade) is back and kicking off its Fall semester on Wednesday, September 8th! Doors will open at 6pm and all students 6th-12th grade are invited to come out and join in a night of fellowship and growth from 6pm-8pm. Food, games, worship, a Biblical message and small groups are all part of a Wednesday night at Waves Student Ministry, so invite and bring a friend! The Students are also going Bowling this Sunday night, 6-8pm at Ashley Lanes! For any questions, reach out to Pastor Ryan Spell at ryan@coastalcommunitychurch.org.
- Interested in serving in our Coastal Kidz Children’s Ministry (Birth-5th Grade)? Go to our website, check out all the different volunteer positions, and sign up today! It’s that easy! There will be a Training on Sunday, September 12th, 5pm-6:30pm. We will meet in the worship auditorium, but we will not have childcare because we don’t have a place for it yet. This will be a great time for us to pray, plan, and prepare for all that God has in store for Coastal KIdz as we move into our new facility hopefully in September. Plus you can get a sneek peek at our new facility! This is also a great time for returning or new volunteers to get connected in Children’s Ministry at Coastal. If you have any questions or to RSVP for a Training time, please reach out to Janet Rollins at janet@coastalcommunitychurch.org or 843-442-8299.
P.S. Have you considered automating your giving? It’s a great way to stay consistent in your giving. You can do that through your Bank, through our TEXT to GIVE provider (843-277-8337), or our Offering Envelope. If you have any questions you can call the church (843-571-1777) and Ashley will step you through it. Just remember that the Ministry and IMPACT of Coastal continues whether you’re here on a Sunday or not. And everything we do is made possible by your consistent, generous giving. You can give through our website or simply text ANY amount to 843-277-8337.
