community

  • Ephesians 4:2-3

    Cultivating Togetherness.

    Humans need to be together and to celebrate something bigger than themselves. We also need to be together as God's people. We prepare to be with each other, and we enjoy being with our Christian family. Our unity is based on our position in Christ and our disposition produced by the fruit of the Spirit.

  • Ecclesiastes 4:7-12

    Avoiding Self-Inflicted Loneliness.

    The next section of Ecclesiastes we will preach illustrates the importance of companionship where isolation reigns.

  • Romans 12:10-12

    The Character of Christian Community, Part 2.

    We are studying the third section of Romans 12. When people are transformed by grace (Romans 12:1-2) and functioning well in the body of Christ (Romans 12:3-8), we are able to love each other as God intends.

  • Romans 12:9

    The Character of Christian Community.

    Romans 12:9-16’s list of responsibilities may seem to have no rhyme or reason to their order, but they fit into the chapter context perfectly. Romans 12 begins the practical portion of the book as we seek to live God’s glorious gospel outlined in Romans 1-11. If the chapter is a 3-story house, verses 1-2 are the foundation. Verses 3-8 are the first floor named Community. The second floor, verses 9-16, is about Compassion. Verses 17-21 address our Commission.

  • Philippians 3:12-16

    God’s Mercy for the New Year. A Look Forward: Celebrating the Church.

    Knowing our history and considering the future both bring us closer to each other and the Lord.

  • Ephesians 4:14-16

    The Necessity of Interdependence to the Spiritual Life.

    Special Speaker: Pastor Matthew Walker from College Park Baptist Church in Cary, NC.

    God has ordained that the Christian life is to be lived not in isolation, but in conjunction with the community of saints. So how is it that Christians, particularly here in America, have become used to amputating limbs off of the body of Christ (which is the local church)? In 1 Corinthians 12:12-26, the Apostle Paul refers to the Corinthian believers as being eyes and ears and noses—body parts. This is the same kind of language that Paul uses in Romans 12:5 when he writes that we are members one of another.

    The Bible teaches that Christians are to be mutually reliant upon each other. This doctrine is incredibly important and should be a major heading in our ecclesiology (doctrine of the church). However, it has been almost entirely lost in American evangelicalism. Possible reasons include the American way of life that emphasizes independence and the rejection of denominationalism. American Christianity has become a complex collection of isolated congregations and an even more divided and isolated collection of Christians.