Sermon Central
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Community
Contributed by Delray Lentz on Nov 29, 2023 (message contributor)
Summary: In this past week, did you? Did you share the Gospel with someone? What did you do that brought God glory? Church, when I ask you these questions each week, it is actually a self-evaluation for me. Some weeks I score touchdowns. Some weeks I fumble miserably!
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Since we are hosting 5th Sunday tonight, I’ve been thinking about Community in the last 10 days or so.
So, this week I’d like to examine:
• The Purpose of community
• The Importance of community
• The Responsibility of community
• And wrap it up tonight with:
o The Inspiration of community
Beginning with:
The Purpose of Community
1st John 1:7
• But if you walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
o John spoke many times about Jesus being the light.
? Undoubtably John was touched when Jesus said “you are the light of the world”.
? I believe John understood that we become the light of the world when we walk in Jesus’ light.
• One purpose of community is that we walk in the light as a community. A city on a hill cannot be hidden!
• Another purpose of Community is accountability.
o Many of you here today, know this or are learning it.
o 2nd Samuel 12
? Nathan tells David the story of two men in a city. One was rich, the other poor. The rich man had a huge flock of sheep. The poor man had one lamb that he bought and raised.
? A wayfaring stranger came into town and the rich man gave the stranger the ONE lamb the poor man had, instead of one from his vast herd.
? David became enraged about the rich man’s greed and lack of gratitude.
? Nathan said “hold your horses there David. God gave you everything, in fact He would have given you much more.”
? Need I remind you that you had Uriah killed, so you could have Bathsheba?”
?
Another purpose of community is found in:
1st Corinthians 12:12
Stand with me as we honor God while reading His Word.
Read v12-30
Just a few examples of The Purpose of Community are:
• Using our gifts for God’s glory as found in:
o 1 Corinthians Chapter 12
• Holding one another accountable as found in:
o 2nd Samuel Chapter 12
• And being a light for the world as explained in:
o 1 John 1:7
Another example of purpose of Community:
• To be a blessing to others.
o My heart surgery
o This week alone:
? Food
? $
As many of you know, I’ll close out on any given Sunday by saying “Go be a blessing to someone this week. It isn’t that hard to do.”
Have you ever felt that God’s love is distant or non-existent?
• Sometimes the purpose of community is to:
o First; recognize when someone is in that spot of doubting God’s love or even His existence, and second:
o Stand in the gap- in Ezekiel 22:30 we see that God was looking for ONE person to stand in the gap for Israel- Is that you? Will you stand in the gap for that person who needs to feel God’s love?
Let’s consider:
The Importance of Community
Redwood trees grow as tall as 300 feet, and many are hundreds of years old.
• You’d think that trees that tall would have an incredibly deep root system.
• In fact, the root system is relatively shallow, but all the trees in the forest are intertwined by their root system. The strength is they are tied to one another.
• It’s the same way in the Christian Community.
Acts 11:25-26
• v.25 Then Barnabus departed for Taurus to seek Saul.
• v.26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So, it was for a whole year they assembled with the church, and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
o Points to consider:
? Barnabus went to seek Saul. He knew he couldn’t do this alone.
? For a whole year, they assembled with the church.
• Both of these are illustrations of the importance of church.
o We can’t do it alone.
o It takes time to build community.
Hebrews 3:13 advises us and warns us about the importance of community.
“but exhort one another daily, while it is called “today”, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin”.
Hebrews 10:25
• Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
o Let us be cautious here and understand that church is not built from one event to another, but rather it is built in a daily walk!
• Psalm 133:1
o Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.
o The last 5 letters of the word community is UNITY.
