Week 3 - What on Earth Am I Here For Journal
PURPOSE #2 - I Was Planned for God's Family - FELLOWSHIP
Day 15 - Formed For God's Family
God wants a family and He created me to be a part of His family. God's family is the church and this is my spiritual family. My spiritual family is even more important than my physical family because my spiritual family will last forever.
As a part of God's family, here on earth, I get to share in the family fortune - the riches of his grace, kindness, patience, glory, wisdom, power, mercies. As part of God's family in eternity, I will get to be with God forever, I will be completely changed to be like Christ, I will be freed from all pain, death and suffering.
Ephesians 1:5a - His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Christ.
Day 16 - What Matters Most
The most important lesson God wants me to learn on earth is how to love - everyone and others in God's family. Life without love is worthless. Relationships are what life is all about and I must make time for the relationships in my life. The best expression of love is time.
Matthew 22:37-40 - Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, “Love others as much as you love yourself.”All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments.
Day 17 - A Place to Belong
God created me to belong, he created me for community. I was fashioned for fellowship, formed for a family. The family is the church, it is a body not a building, it is an organism not an organisation. Church life is more than just a commitment to Christ, it includes a commitment to others in my church, my family. I am called to belong, not just to believe
Romans 12:5 - In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Day 18 - Experiencing Life Together
God's purpose for me is to experience life together with other christians - that is called Fellowship. Real fellowship is experiencing life together. In real fellowship you find - unselfish loving, honest sharing, practical serving, sacrificial giving, sympathetic comfort.
Real fellowship can only take place in a small group when we become open about our lives:
Galatians 6:2 - Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ.
Day 19 - Cultivating Community
Only the Holy Spirit can create real fellowship between believers, but the Holy Spirit cultivates real fellowship with the choices and commitments we make. To cultivate real fellowship:
Day 15 - Formed For God's Family
God wants a family and He created me to be a part of His family. God's family is the church and this is my spiritual family. My spiritual family is even more important than my physical family because my spiritual family will last forever.
As a part of God's family, here on earth, I get to share in the family fortune - the riches of his grace, kindness, patience, glory, wisdom, power, mercies. As part of God's family in eternity, I will get to be with God forever, I will be completely changed to be like Christ, I will be freed from all pain, death and suffering.
Ephesians 1:5a - His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Christ.
Day 16 - What Matters Most
The most important lesson God wants me to learn on earth is how to love - everyone and others in God's family. Life without love is worthless. Relationships are what life is all about and I must make time for the relationships in my life. The best expression of love is time.
Matthew 22:37-40 - Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, “Love others as much as you love yourself.”All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments.
Day 17 - A Place to Belong
God created me to belong, he created me for community. I was fashioned for fellowship, formed for a family. The family is the church, it is a body not a building, it is an organism not an organisation. Church life is more than just a commitment to Christ, it includes a commitment to others in my church, my family. I am called to belong, not just to believe
Romans 12:5 - In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Day 18 - Experiencing Life Together
God's purpose for me is to experience life together with other christians - that is called Fellowship. Real fellowship is experiencing life together. In real fellowship you find - unselfish loving, honest sharing, practical serving, sacrificial giving, sympathetic comfort.
Real fellowship can only take place in a small group when we become open about our lives:
- when we are honest about who we are
- when we are honest about what is happening in our lives
- when we reveal our hut=rts, our feelings, our failures
- when we disclose our doubts and worries
- when we admit our fears
- when we acknowledge our weakness
- we are committed to building relationships
- we are committed to sharing responsibilities
- we are committed to helping each other
- we are committed to entering and sharing each other's pain
- we are committed to offering mercy to each other and be willing to receive it form we other
- we are be committed to forgiving each others
Galatians 6:2 - Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ.
Day 19 - Cultivating Community
Only the Holy Spirit can create real fellowship between believers, but the Holy Spirit cultivates real fellowship with the choices and commitments we make. To cultivate real fellowship:
- I must be honest and care enough to lovingly speak the truth even when I would rather gloss over the problem or ignore it.
- I must be humble by admitting my weaknesses, by being patient with others weaknesses, by being open to correction and by pointing the spotlight on others
- I must be courteous by respecting others differences, be considerate of others feelings and be patient with people.
- I must be a safe environment by accepting others and building a level of trust
- I must be willing to meet frequently and have regular contact with members of my small group
1 John 3:16 - We understand what love is when we realise that Christ gac=ve his life for us. that means we must give our lives for other believers.
Day 20 - Restoring Broken Fellowship
God values relationships so we have to make every effort to maintain them instead of discarding them whenever there is a rift, or a hurt, or a conflict. What causes broken fellowship - disappointments. When we expect anyone to meet a need that only God can fulfil, you are setting up yourself for disappointments. Never expect someone to meet a need so you will not be disappointed. Remember only God can meet your need, not someone else.
If there is a conflict talk to God before talk to the person, take the initiative to resolve the conflict and don't wait for the other party, respect their feelings and listen before attempting to resolve the problem, attack teh problem and not the person, focus on restoring teh relation and not resolving the problem.
Romans 12:18 - Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody.
Day 21 - Protecting the church
It is my job to protect the unity of my church, my spiritual family because unity is the soul of fellowship. It is the essence, the core, of how God intends for us to experience life together in His church. God values his church and He paid the highest price for it and it is my duty to protect his church from the devastating damage that is caused by division, conflict and disharmony.
I have to remind myself that church cannot be perfect because it is made up of imperfect people. Church does not have to be perfect to love it.
In church, we have people with different personalities, background, races, interpretations, views, styles and methods. But with all our differences we still have some things in common - we share one Lord, one body, one purpose, one Father, one spirit, one hope, one baptism, one love, the same salvation. To build unity, I must focus on the things we have in common so we can enjoy true relationship and unity.
God please give me the grace to focus on the things we have in common and not on our differences.
Amen
Romans 14:19 - Let us concentrate on the things, which make for harmony and the growth of our fellowship together.
Day 21 - Protecting the church
It is my job to protect the unity of my church, my spiritual family because unity is the soul of fellowship. It is the essence, the core, of how God intends for us to experience life together in His church. God values his church and He paid the highest price for it and it is my duty to protect his church from the devastating damage that is caused by division, conflict and disharmony.
I have to remind myself that church cannot be perfect because it is made up of imperfect people. Church does not have to be perfect to love it.
In church, we have people with different personalities, background, races, interpretations, views, styles and methods. But with all our differences we still have some things in common - we share one Lord, one body, one purpose, one Father, one spirit, one hope, one baptism, one love, the same salvation. To build unity, I must focus on the things we have in common so we can enjoy true relationship and unity.
God please give me the grace to focus on the things we have in common and not on our differences.
Amen
Romans 14:19 - Let us concentrate on the things, which make for harmony and the growth of our fellowship together.
Overview
My church is my family and it is the spiritual family I belong to. I have family responsibilities in church - to love my brothers and sisters. The number one reason God wants to love my brothers and sisters is so the world will see our love and will want to become part of God's family.
There are four levels of fellowship
The FELLOWSHIP of sharing together - share experiences and support
The FELLOWSHIP of belonging together - belonging to a church family
The FELLOWSHIP of serving together - serving together for one common purpose
The FELLOWSHIP of suffering together - sharing a hurt, walking alongside
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