There is a lie that has permeated our culture and has fed upon the individualistic nature of us as Americans. What this lie has done is to create a series of traits that are absolutely detrimental to our development as Christians, even just as moral people.

The lie circles around the notion that we don’t need anyone, that we can be self-sufficient, that everything we need to live the life we want to live we already have within ourselves. These traits include things like selfishness, arrogance, entitlement, and while we think we have what it takes internally to become something, what we actually get is frustration, failure, and isolation.

Even in those moments, when we attain some level of success through our own ability, it always comes at a meaningful cost. We trade our time, we trade our sanity, we trade our peace, we trade our families, because this lie we have believed is driving us to prove one thing: that we alone are enough.

Are you enough?

If you were to stand before me and I drew a circle around your feet, would what is inside that circle be enough? Would what was inside that circle be enough for your family? Would it be enough for you to be what you would see as successful? Would there be enough inside that circle to live the life God called you to live?

In Genesis 1:27 we see God create man. In Genesis 2:5-7 we get a more detailed image.
5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
This is before the fall. This is mankind in perfection.

But look at Genesis 2:18
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Adam was created perfect in perfection, so why did he need a helper? Why was there a deficit? Because even in perfection, if you want to reach your potential, it requires something outside the circle around your feet. Adam was in perfection. We are far from it. If Adam needed to go outside the circle, we do as well.

That can be scary sometimes. Going outside the circle means you have to open up to people, let them in. You have to be willing to face the truth that you might not be as perfect as you thought. You are probably going to have to change some things.

You might find selfishness or entitlement, bad ideologies that need to die, good processes that need to come into your circle. But here is the tradeoff:
Either choose to stay inside the circle and limit your potential or go outside the circle and reach your potential.

In a last effort to convince you that you do not have what it takes alone in your circle to become who God made you to be, let me present to you every single person in the entire 66 books of the Bible.

Every single person needed what was outside the circle. EVEN JESUS.
We don’t like to think about God “needing” something, and at the end of the day perhaps that is true, but Jesus, while on earth, knew that his time was limited.
- His role was to bring the Kingdom to earth through his sacrifice and resurrection, and then he would be gone to Heaven!
- Jesus role was not to be the pastor of the first church (James) or the expositor to the early churches (Paul) or the apostle leading the faith (Peter).
- Jesus had a role and a responsibility and he needed people outside of the circle around his feet for that.

But he also needed to connect with his Father that we see in Luke 5:16
16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

But even to pick those people he would trust with his bride:
Luke 6:12-13
12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. 13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles

Like it or not, you cannot accomplish what God put you on earth to accomplish if you never go beyond your own circle.

John Donne - "No man is an island."

Let me give you three reasons to go beyond the circle, inspite of the fears of what people might see when they look inside the circle.

1. To grow
John 15:1-11
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Side note: Jesus gives us a clear pathway to producing fruit, abiding in God’s love, and being full of joy: OBEDIENCE. It is that simple.

I only want to take a moment on this because it should be very obvious, but you were not born as a complete package with zero needs. Until you were nearly to middle school, you needed a person for your basic needs. Until you graduated high school you needed supervision. In adulthood, you need guidance. But beyond those things, you need training, education, resources, money. You need to be known, loved, and challenged. (We hate the last one). We need people to confront us when we are wrong and encourage us when we’re on the right path. And we need godly people surrounding upscaling out the bad, speaking in the good,

Everything we need is outside the circle!
2 Peter 1:3
3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

YOU NEED JESUS! And if he isn’t in your circle, you need to get him in there asap! Along with him comes the Holy Spirit.

Don’t fall for the trap that you don’t need anyone or anything outside the circle. If that is you today, then please hear me outside your circle telling you that you have needs and Jesus and this church are here to help.

This is about potential! it is about growth!

Do you want to grow?
You ever see a time lapse of a seed growing? It literally breaks apart so that the shoot can reach up and the root can reach down.

Be wary of growth without breaking.
It may not split you in two, but growth always changes something.

Plant growth is interesting because the whole job of the seed is to produce the root for stability and nutrients, the shoot to reach up to the sunlight so that photosynthesis can take place, and from there, growing to the point where those nutrients can be used to produce a fruit filled with seeds, that will either be consumed or fall to the ground to produce the next generation.

Every stage of fruit production is about giving what is needed for the next stage to be successful. This is where most people get stuck.
They don’t realize that their growth is not about this stage, but it is about the next one. It is not about receiving, it is about giving. A plant only receives none stage so that it can give to the next.

How does this relate to going outside the circle?
Growth is in the giving not the receiving. Receiving is self focused. Giving is others focused. Receiving requires the recognition of what you want. Giving requires the recognition of what others want.

This isn’t about neglecting yourself. It is about prioritizing others. This requires humility! Look at Christ's example of humility:

Philippians 2:1-8
1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

What if your growth was being held up because you’ve focused so intently on what is inside your circle that you miss the nutrients God set aside for you outside of your circle? WHAT YOU NEED TO GROW IS NOT IN YOUR CIRCLE.

The getting trap is that if you don’t take take take you won’t have it.
That is ORPHAN MATH. Not God math.

Proverbs 11:25
25 Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

THAT’S God Math.

Here’s a paraphrase:
You focus on giving and God will take care of your receiving.

So why go outside the circle? TO GROW.

2. To Be Poured Out
I mentioned before that: Every stage of fruit production is about giving what is needed for the next stage to be successful.

Question…
How much energy is spent on what I want to be full now versus energy spent on helping provide what others need to be successful?

We have a big problem in the church today. Especially the American church. We’re selfish.
- I don’t like the music. I can’t worship to it.
- I don’t like the preacher. He talks too fast.
- I don’t like the people. One person said something I didn’t like

We will find the tiniest thing to be upset about. WHY?
Because we think it is about us.

If you want your Bible reading time to get exponentially better, stop reading the Word as a book about you and start reading the Word for what it is: a book about Jesus.

Don’t look now, but this is more of that inside the circle thinking.

While we do need to look into the Bible and glean from the pages and learn and grow and apply and obey, we have to realize it is not about us. We are not the center of the universe!

I find it interesting that the sun is the center of our solar system but not the universe. Our solar system is spiraling around a much bigger center, but the sun is the center of our little nine planet system. Pluto is a planet yall lol Yet the sun does not exist to receive glory. It exists to provide heat and light.

We are not the center of the universe, but men especially listen up, you might be the center of your family. God designed the family to be led by a father/mother team where the father is the head. But just like the sun exists to give not to get, come on dads, you exist to give not to get. That does’t mean you can be neglected and taken advantage of, but let’s focus more on what we give than what we get.

You might think I am back on point number one with growing, but I am not. Remember, I said selfishness is a big problem in the American church. Why? Because we’ve been more in love with being filled up that we have with being poured out.

We’ve idolized getting and scandalized giving.

We’ve made church about what we get rather than worshipping God and encouraging each other like Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us.

But we’ve also scandalized giving.

Example:
We don’t give financially because “the preacher just wants your money” or you’ve had past “bad soil” experiences. We don’t even pass a plate here!
We don’t serve because we don’t want to babysit in the back or we just want to come to one service because the Texans play at 12:30.

I PROMISE I am not trying to be mean here, but we have to realize this is nothing other than idolatrous, selfish, inside the circle thinking.

Your purpose is not to be filled up. Your purpose is to be poured out. God gives you gifts, talents, abilities, all for the purpose of using them on others. If you don’t believe me. then here’s 1 Peter 4:8-11
8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Being poured out is what God wants for us! But when we get locked into our own circle and stop looking beyond it, we begin to focus on our cup and how filled it is.

If it isn’t filled we try to find ways to fill it in our own power, causing us to be selfish and entitled. But you cannot fill yourself with only what is in your circle. Inside your circle is self contained! You only have what you have! At some point, the source will run dry.

This is why it is so important to start with God as your source and tap into him outside of your circle because his never ending supply that will always keep you filled.

The huge lie is that we should long to be filled. No! We should long to be emptied.
This is how Jesus lived. Consider when he predicted his death. Look how the disciples responded.

Matthew 16:21-23:24
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Looking at this passage through the lens of being poured out makes the las verse make so much more sense to me. What if taking that cross wasn’t about enduring the pain but rather about the joy of being poured out?
Because that is going to require you deny yourself!

Did Jesus really have joy in being poured out? Glad you asked.
Hebrews 12:1-3
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Paul understood. He understood the joy of being poured out.
2 Timothy 4:1-8
1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

When you love being poured out more than you love being filled up, you’re thinking outside the circle.

When we long to be filled we only care about what’s inside the circle, but when we long to be emptied we care about what’s inside and outside the circle.

I don’t want to be filled to be full. I want to be filled so I can be poured out.

I only come to that conclusion when I see what’s outside the circle as more important than what is inside of the circle.

So why go outside the circle?
TO GROW. TO BE POURED OUT.

3. To Change
Normally, we’d think of something changing as altering something or replacing an existing thing with a new one. That’s a pretty good definition, but to change, something has to happen. An idea or word or event, a force, has to initiate that change in us.

Billy Cox
Life will only change when you become more committed to your dreams than you are to your comfort zone.

If you want to change your actions, you have to change your beliefs.
If you want to change your beliefs, you have to change your thoughts.

There’s one change that will change everything, and it is where we land today’s message.

You need to change how Jesus fits into the equation of your life, and that has to start with what you think about him.

If he isn’t Lord, you’ll never reach your potential. John 15:5
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

This is an easy fix. Romans 10:9-10
9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

But if he is, then can I invite you to change how you see that circle around your feet? If you think all you need is inside that circle, then you are going to miss your potential.

You have to realize that what we need is outside our circle, including Jesus.
Why? Because until you realize that what you need is outside our circle, Jesus will always be the supplement, not the source.

There result is that you will try to power through in your circle rather than leaning on him outside of it.

Yes he will see your problems. He already knows. Most people do, too.
Yes he will see your struggles. He sees them already. Most people do, too.
Yes he will see your weaknesses, but let this verse change your thoughts:

2 Corinthians 12:9-10
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

If you’ll look outside the circle even now in this moment, not only is Jesus here to help, but you have a church family around you that is committed to you reaching your highest potential in Christ Jesus as well.

So what am I asking you today?

I am asking you to stop focusing inside the circle and start looking outside the circle.

I am asking you to give your time talents and resources.

I am asking you to find a spot to serve the Kingdom.

I am asking you to look beyond your own needs and discover ways to be a blessing to those around you.

When you are willing to pour out your life for those outside the circle, you will find how beautifully God will fill up what is inside the circle.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?