Love Starts at Home (and No, the Verse Above Your Toilet Doesn't Count)

Some weeks the two campuses of Heart O' the Lakes Church feel like they planned it in a group chat. This past Sunday, our Brooklyn campus kicked off a brand-new series called Find Your Fit, and our Jackson campus wrapped up a two-week series called Committed. Different sermons, different illustrations (one had LEGO bricks, the other had candy bars), but the same big idea:

Real love for God shows up in real life, starting with the people closest to you.

Brooklyn Campus: Find Your Fit Starts at Home

 Watch "Find Your Fit: It Starts at Home"

LEGO Bricks and the Search for Your Place

LEGO bricks are a fantastic toy and the most painful thing you can step on in the dark. Every brick has a purpose, but not every brick fits everywhere. Brooklyn is building a LEGO mosaic for the hallway, and everyone will get to sign a brick as a commitment to find their fit. But not this week, because before you can find your fit in the church or the world, you have to find it at home.

Joshua 24: Remember, Then Choose

The message walked through Joshua 24, where Joshua gathers Israel at Shechem near the end of his life. Before challenging them about the future, he reminds them of the past: God called Abraham, rescued Israel from Egypt, parted the Red Sea, and gave them cities they didn't build and vineyards they didn't plant. Before God calls us to be faithful, he reminds us that he has been faithful.

Then comes the famous line in Joshua 24:15: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Plenty of Christian homes hang it on the wall (often, as the sermon noted, right above the toilet). But a verse on the wall doesn't mean much if the people in the house only see faith on Sunday.

As the sermon put it, "being in the same house doesn't mean you're building the same home."

Deuteronomy 6: A Seven-Day Faith

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 calls us to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and might, and to talk about him when we sit at home, walk (or, let's be honest, drive), lie down, and rise. In other words: "It's not just a Sunday Christianity, it is a 7-day Christianity from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep."

And here's the line that might sting a little in the best way: "Faith isn't just something you teach at home, it's something you live at home."

The good news? "Your family doesn't need a perfect you, they just need a present you."

Jackson Campus: Committed-ish, Week 2

 Watch the Jackson campus service

How Do People Know You're Committed?

Pastor Matt picked up from last week's verse, John 13:34, where Jesus tells us to love each other the way he loved us. This week's question: how do you actually show that commitment?

He reframed John 15:13 in an everyday way: "Love is willing to put someone else first." Like answering the call you were about to send to voicemail. (Felt personally called out? So did the whole room.)

The KitKat vs. Crunch Bar Problem

Imagine you love KitKats, and someone keeps handing you Crunch bars because they like Crunch better. Sweet gesture? Sure. Feel like love? Not really. As Pastor Matt put it: "I'm not meeting your need. I'm meeting my opinion of your need."

That's where Philippians 2:3-4 comes in: don't be selfish, be humble, think of others as better than yourselves, and take an interest in others too. And 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 reminds us that love is patient and kind, isn't rude, keeps no record of wrongs, and never gives up.

Learn Their Love Language

Using Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages (touch, words of affirmation, acts of service, quality time, and gifts), Pastor Matt challenged us to know how the people around us receive love. (Pro tip: a checkout-lane air freshener is not an anniversary gift.) If you don't know your spouse's, friend's, or even a difficult coworker's love language: "If you don't know it, learn it."

The Big Takeaway From Both Campuses

Side by side, these messages give one clear challenge: love God with everything, and let that love show up first for the people right in front of you. Brooklyn called it finding your fit at home. Jackson called it demonstrating commitment. Both pointed to a faith lived out all week, not just on Sunday.

Key Takeaways

• Remember God's faithfulness before you make your commitment. (Joshua 24)
• Faith is a seven-day lifestyle, not a Sunday outfit. (Deuteronomy 6:4-7)
• Love puts someone else first. (John 15:13, Philippians 2:3-4)
• Love people the way they receive love, not just the way you like to give it. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

Your Challenge This Week

Brooklyn's challenge: pick one person in your family (including the family you choose) and show up for them differently this week. That might start with "I'm sorry, please forgive me, and I'll do better." Jackson's challenge: figure out whether you need to listen better to what the people around you need, or speak their love language better. Then do it.

From the HOTLcast: When You're in the Dungeon

 Watch the latest HOTLcast episode, "In the Dungeon: When Faith Meets Doubt"

The HOTLcast continued its Dungeons and Dragons series with John the Baptist in prison (Matthew 11:2-11). From his cell, John asks Jesus if he's really the one. Jesus doesn't scold him. He points to what God is doing, then says no one born is greater than John.

The takeaway: "our faithfulness is not dependent on our circumstances," and "just because you're in a dungeon doesn't mean Jesus is not God." When life feels like a locked cell, take stock of what God has already done, and remember that "our perspective needs to be bigger than our own circumstance."

Coming Up at HOTL

Brooklyn Campus

• Find Your Fit brick signing: Sign a brick after service on Nov 8 and Nov 15 and become part of the hallway mosaic.
• Toy Drive: Starts Sunday, November 8. The Food Drive cart is in the lobby too.
• Community Cleanup Day: Friday, November 13, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the Star Theater.
• Free Concert with Loving the Outcome: Saturday, November 21, 6:30 to 8:30 PM at HOTL. They'll also lead worship at all three services on Sunday, November 22.
• Deck the Halls: Sunday, November 22, after church. Lunch provided!
• Decades Christmas Party: Friday, December 4, 6:00 to 8:00 PM in the Brooklyn Gym. RSVP with the QR code in the bulletin.
• Children's Christmas Program: Sunday, December 13.

Jackson Campus

• Nvember: Grab a name tag all month long and meet someone new.
• Hymn Sing: Sunday, November 8, at 4:00 PM.
• Board Game Night, Round Three: November 21. Open to everyone.
• Jamaica Mission Trip: February 3 to 10, 2027.

Come Find Your Fit With Us

Looking for a Brooklyn MI church or a Jackson MI church where you can show up as you are? Heart O' the Lakes Church has two campuses serving the Jackson and Lenawee County area, and you're welcome at both. Come sign a brick in Brooklyn, grab a name tag in Jackson, and meet a church family made up of, as the Brooklyn sermon put it, "various shades of broken" people trying to love God and love people.

Find service times, directions, and more at hotlstrong.com. We saved you a seat (and we promise not to hand you a Crunch bar if you're a KitKat person).