Class: Introduction To Relationships Series

Pursue Kingdom Ministry

Class: Relationships (Introduction)

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Thesis: Life was designed by God to be in relationships – There are two main relationships we need to be developing: First one is Connecting with God and the second one Connecting with people!

Over the last few week’s we have been helping you develop a deeper more intimate relationship with God the Father, Jesus the Son (Love personified) and the Holy Spirit (all God by the way). So, we pray you have started connecting with God like never before, by becoming more intimate with Him and that you are able to hear His voice and feel His presence more clearly.

Introduction:

But today I want to start this class by talking about the second most important relationship you need to be developing and that is with other people. Connecting with those around you on a daily basis “people:” these could be called friends, neighbors, church family, family, spouse, co-workers, classmates and the list could go on.

God designed us to be in relationship with each other! And people want this – no really they crave it and desire it!

Jesus said in Matthew 16:13-19: Peter’s Confession of Christ

13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Jesus said He would build His Church – The Greek word here is “Ekklesia.” This word means to called out and to be called into and it references that Jesus was calling people out of the world and into the Kingdom of Heaven. The assembly or the gathering together of the people of God to be in relationship with God and with each other is the essence of the church.

“Ekklesia” is God’s plan through Jesus to expand the Kingdom of Heaven and it’s culture. This designed organization also referred to as the Body of Christ is a living entity which focuses on 2 relationships. 1st is our relations or connection to God, 2nd is our relationships or connections with one another. The coming together as “Ekklesia” is to intentionally influence the culture of the world for good, we could also call this the culture of darkness. The Ekklesia united together under Jesus is to change the corrupt culture as we see in the book of Acts and NT.

Today we have seen the “cultural creep” of darkness infiltrate even into the church! The sad reality is darkness is influencing the Kingdom of Heavens culture rather than the Kingdom of Heaven’s culture transforming the world.

I believe the result of this creepy creep of darkness is because of the breakdown of the 2 relationships within the church – We are even in the church disconnected from God and truth, we have also disconnected from each other in the church and especially in the world. We cannot influence the darkness with strong relationships with God and each other.

Jesus also said “Love God and love your neighbor!” The focus of Ekklesia – developing these two main relationships is essential to the Great Commission!

Illustration: Les and Leslie Parrott – Talk about Relationships and the class they offered – Real Relationships Class

Story: Les Parrot notes, “In the autumn of 1992, we did something unusual. We offered a course at Seattle Pacific University that promised to answer questions openly and honestly about family, friends, dating, and sex. In short, its purpose was to teach the basics of good relationships. Colleges around the world offer instruction on nearly every conceivable topic, but try to find a course on how to have good relationships and you’ll look for a long time. We wanted to change that. As a psychologist (Les) and a marriage and family therapist (Leslie) teaching on a university campus, we had our hands on stacks of relationship research showing that, with a little help, most of us can make our bad relationships better and our good relationships great. And that’s exactly what we wanted to teach students to do.”

We all need to learn how to build healthier and whole relationship especially if - “We need a spiritual breakthroughs in our relationships.”