Open Hearts, Open Doors
We're so glad you joined us!
Discover community, purpose, and hope at Flood Church. You’re invited to join us as we grow in faith together.
Sunday Flyer
Friday night through Sunday noon. Get away and connect with God, yourself, and other men. This year's theme is Spiritual Friendship. Enjoy your own room and great meals.
Join pastor Matt and Roxanne Hammett as we learn eight skills that improve communication and understanding in our relationships. Cost: $25/person for materials.
A time for anyone who calls Flood home to gather together, learn what's ahead for our church, and celebrate what God is doing in and through our community.
The Practicing the Way Course is an on-ramp to spiritual formation, exploring what it means to follow Jesus and laying the foundation for a life of apprenticeship to him.
A 6-week Learning Community for Engaged, and Newlyweds
Tuesdays, October 6 - November 10, 6:30-8:30pm, Room 206
Cost: $125/couple.
Connect with women of all ages as we hear guest speaker Tracy Carson, LPCC, speaking about our identity in Christ as women and the impact of social media on our brains.
“We can no more be conformed to the image of Christ outside communal spirituality than a coal can continue to burn outside of the fire.”
Robert Mulholland Jr, Invitation to a Journey
The Cross and the Colosseum: Epilogue (Romans 12)
MESSAGE NOTES - September 6, 2026
Losing Our Marbles
Pastor Scott Wildey
Romans 12:1-8 NIV
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
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OUR LONELINESS EPIDEMICFormer US surgeon general Vivek Murthy stated, “Loneliness is a growing health epidemic.”[1] In 2018, two years before the COVID pandemic, a national survey by the US health insurer Cigna using the rigorously validated UCLA loneliness scale, found that nearly half of US adults reported feeling like no one knows them well. 43 percent of Americans reported that they sometimes or always feel that their relationships are not meaningful and that they are isolated from others.[2] Researcher Julianne Holt-Lunstad, et al, conducted a study which found that the impact of loneliness matched that of smoking fifteen cigarettes a day in terms of reducing life span. Loneliness is also greater than the risk associated with obesity, excess alcohol consumption, and lack of exercise. Likewise, Dr. Murthy found that a growing number of research papers were reporting that loneliness was associated with a greater risk of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, dementia, depression, and anxiety. In other words, weak social connections can be dangerous to our health and detrimental to our well-being.[3]
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How did we get here?
Our modern understanding of "self" has been constructed by culture.
A Tale of Two "Confessions"
Augustine (354–430 AD) Rousseau (1712–1778 AD)
Confessions: Inward Journey Confessions: Inward Journey
Problem: Inside Self Problem: Outside Self
Rescue: from Outside Self Rescue: from Inside Self
Conversion: Praise God for Salvation Conversion: Defend Authenticity
Personhood: through Communion Self: through Uncovering
Uniqueness The Modern Self• The highest good is to be authentic
• Truth comes from inside
• Each individual creates, controls, and curates their own identity and meaning
• Thus, the self is performed
The modern self leaves us isolated and alienated. But, even modern science shows that human beings are created for connection.
If you had to make one life choice, right now, to set yourself on the path to future health and happiness, what would it be?
See: The Good Life, by Robert Waldinger et al.
"Medicine and technology may fail us at times, but human connection grounded in love and compassion always heals…Helping [people] feel known, helping them feel seen and loved, is perhaps the most powerful medicine we have.”
—Vivek Murthy, Together
Paul confirms this 2,000 years before modern science.
Romans 12:1-2
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.___________________________
Mind (Greek: Nous)The God-given capacity for reflecting, reasoning, and receiving God’s will.
"The capacity for seeing, loving, absorbing, being transformed by what is supremely real— the life of God, the Holy Trinity." –Rowan Williams
Even relational neuroscientist, Dan Siegel, defines the mind relationally as: "the system of mind is comprised of energy and information flow within the body and between the body and the world in relationships.... The mind is within and between us." —Daniel J. Siegel, The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are
God's Will
God's general will is known. Jesus is asked what the most important commandment is, and he responds by quoting the Shema and adds Leviticus 19:18.
God's general will is known. Jesus is asked what the most important commandment is, and he responds by quoting the Shema and adds Leviticus 19:18.
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[Deuteronomy 6:5] This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[Leviticus 19:18] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:37–40; see also: Mark 12:28–34; Luke 10:25–28).
Jesus commands his followers to do the same:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35).
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The Pattern of the Worldly Mind is Different than the Mind of Christ
The patterns of this world (mind) want comfort, control, and to curate relationships.
1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus...
"We grow in our capacity to receive the love of God through growing in humility. Humility is a gift from God and can be cultivated."
—Jared Patrick Boyd, Finding Freedom in Constraint
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What is Christ-centered community?
Romans 12:3-8
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.Marbles vs Grapes
Tim Mackie shares that the difference between loneliness and Christ-centered community is like the difference between marbles and grapes ("A Community of Good News", Exploring My Strange Bible Podcast).
Marbles: An Aggregation of Individuals Sharing Space. People who occupy the same space but remain separated. They might bump into each other, but there is no internal connection, shared life, or real interdependency.
Grapes: A Congregation of Persons Sharing Life. Personhood is shared, each one is drawing life from the same source and share a common outcome.
ONE ANOTHER
“One another” is two words in English, but it’s only one word in Greek: ἀλλήλων (allélón, ah-LAY-lone). It’s used 50 times for what love looks like in community. 60% of these come from Paul. Below are a few examples:
33% Are About Love
Be devoted to one another in love (Rom 12:10)
Love one another (Rom 13:8; 1 Th 3:12, 4:9; 1 Pet 1:22.)
33% Are About Unity
Be of the same mind with one another (Rom 12:16, 15:5)
Be kind and tender, forgiving to one another (Eph 4:32)
Seek good for one another... (1 Th 5:15)
15% Are About Humility
Don’t be proud: live in harmony with one another and associate with those of lower position (Rom 12:16)
Submit to one another (Ep 5:21)
Other One Anothers
Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ (Gal 6:2)
Do not judge one another, and don’t put a stumbling block in a brother or sister's way (Rom 14:13)
We need to lose our marbles
Step into Christ-centered Community
NEXT STEPS
Join a Group
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Retreats
Men’s: October 16-18
Women’s: January 22-24
BENEDICTION
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
2 Corinthians 13:14
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