Day 19: Cultivating community

Tweet

You can develop a healthy robust community that lives right with God and enjoys its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor. James 3:18 They commited themselves of the Apostles, the lfie together, the common meals and prayers. Acts 2:42 Community requires commitment: 1. Cultivating community takes honesty- you will never take enough to lovingly speak the truth, even when you would rather gloss over a problem or ignore an issue. speak the truth in love Ephesians 4:15 an honest answer is a sign of true friendship Proverbs 24:26 No more lies no more pretense - tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ's body we are all connected to each other, after all, when you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself. ephesians 4:25 *when conflict is handled correctly, we grow closer to each other * the tunnel of conflict is the passageway to intimacy in any relationship. 2. Cultivating community takes humility - humility builds bridges. * humility is the oil that smoothens and soothes relationships. * pride blocks God's garce in our lives which we must have in order to grow, change and help others. * humility is not thinking less of yourself, its thinking of yourself less. * give more honor to others than yourselves. Do not be intereted only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others. Phil 2:3-4 3. Cultivating community takes courtesy - courtesy is respecting our differences and being considerate of each others feelings and being patient with people who irrtitate us. - one key is to understand where people are coming from. - downfalling other people's doubts 4. cultivating community takes confidentiality gossip- cuases hurt and divisions and destroys fellowship. 5. cultivating community takes frequency relatinships takes time. Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead let us encourage aone another. Hebrwes 10:25 9 Characteristics of Bibllical fellowship: 1. share tture feelings- auntheticity 2. encourage one another - mutuality 3. support each other - sympathy 4. forgive each other - mercy 5. speak the truth in love - honesty 6. admit our weaknesses - humility 7. respect differences - courtesy 8. not gossip - confidentiality 9. makes group priority - frequency source: The Purpose driven life Chapter 19: Cultivating community By: Rick Warren