Day Twenty-One: Protecting Your Church

"You are joined together with peace through the Spirit, so make every effort to continue together in this way." Ephesians 4:3

"Most of all, let love guide your life, for then the whole church will stay together in perfect harmony." Colossians 3:14

Stuff That Stuck Out:

• Nothing on earth is more valuable to God than His church.

HOW ARE WE TO PROTECT OUR CHURCH?

• Focus on what we have in common, not our differences.
• Be realistic in you expectations.
• Choose to encourage rather than criticize.
• Refuse to listen to gossip.
• Practice God's method for conflict resolution.
• "If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him--work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you've made a friend. If he won't listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won't listen, tell the church."
• Support your pastor and leaders.

Point To Ponder: It is my responsibility to protect the unity of my church.

Verse To Remember: "Let us concentrate on the things which make for harmony and the growth of our fellowship together." Romans 14:19 (Ph)

Question To Consider: What am I personally doing to protect unity in my church family right now?

Day Twenty: Restoring Broken Fellowship

"[God] has restored our relationship with him through Christ, and has given us this ministry of restoring relationships." 2 Corinthians 5:18 (GWT)

Stuff That Stuck Out:

• Relationships are always worth restoring.
• Because life is all about learning how to love, God wants us to value relationships and make the effort to maintain them instead of discarding them whenever there is a rift, a hurt, or a conflict.
• Since Christ wants his family to be known for our love for each other, broken fellowship is a disgraceful testimony to unbelievers.
• If you want God's blessing on your life and you want to be known as a child of God, you must learn to be a peacemaker.
• Peacemaking is not avoiding conflict and is also not appeasement.

HOW TO RESTORE A RELATIONSHIP

1. Talk to God before talking to the person.
2. Always take the initiative.
3. Sympathize with their feelings.
4. Confess your part of the conflict.
5. Attack the problem, not the person.
6. Cooperate as much as possible.
7. Emphasize reconciliation, not resolution.

Point To Ponder: Relationships are always worth restoring.

Verse To Remember: "Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody." Romans 12:18 (TEV)

Question To Consider: Who do I need to restore a broken relationship with today?

Day Nineteen: Cultivating Community

"You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy 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 (Msg)

"They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers." Acts 2:42 (Msg)

Stuff That Stuck Out:

• Community requires commitment.
• Only the Holy Spirit can create real fellowship between believers, but he cultivates it with the choices and commitments we make.

1. Cultivating community takes honesty.

• Sometimes this means caring enough to lovingly confront one who is sinning or is being tempted to sin.
• Real fellowship, whether in a marriage, a friendship, or your church, depends on frankness.
• When conflict is handled correctly, we grow closer to each other by facing and resolving our differences.

2. Cultivating community takes humility.

• Self-importance, smugness, and stubborn pride destroy fellowship faster than anything else.
• The proper dress for fellowship is a humble attitude.
• Pride blocks God's grace in our lives, which we must have in order to grow, change, heal, and help others.
  
• Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.

3. Cultivating community takes courtesy.

• In every church and in every small group, there is always at least one "difficult" person, usually more than one. These people may have special emotional needs, deep insecurities, irritating mannerisms, or poor social skills. You might call them EGR people -- "Extra Grace Required."
• Community has nothing to do with compatibility. The basis for our fellowship is our relationship to God: We're family.
• Real community happens when people know it is safe enough to share their doubts and fears without being judged.

4. Cultivating community takes confidentiality.

• Only in the safe environment of warm acceptance and trusted confidentiality will people open up and share their deepest hurts, needs, and mistakes.
• God hates gossip, especially when it is thinly disguised as a "prayer request" for someone else.
• The fellowship of the church is more important than any individual.

5. Cultivating community takes frequency.

• We are to develop the habit of meeting together. A habit is something you do with frequency, not occasionally.
• Community is built not on convenience but on the conviction that I need it for spiritual health. If you want to cultivate real fellowship, it will mean meeting together even when you don't feel like it, because you believe it is important.

THE NINE CHARACTERISTICS OF BIBLICAL FELLOWSHIP-

We will:

• Share our true feelings. (Authenticity)
• Encourage each other. (Mutuality)
• Support each other. (Sympathy)
• Forgive each other. (Mercy)
• Speak the truth in love. (Honesty)
• Admit our weaknesses. (Humility)
• Respect our differences. (Courtesy)
• Not gossip. (Confidentiality)
• Make group a priority. (Frequency)

Point To Ponder: Community requires commitment.

Verse To Remember: "We understand what love is when we realize that Christ gave his life for us. That means we must give our lives for other believers." 1 John 3:16 (GWT)

Question To Consider: How can I help cultivate today the characteristics of real community in my small group and my church?

Day Eighteen: Experiencing Life Together

"Each one of you is part of the body of Christ, and you were chosen to live together in peace." Colossians 3:15 (CEV)

"How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God's people to live together in harmony!" Psalm 133:1 (TEV)

Stuff That Stuck Out:

• In real fellowship people experience authenticity.
• Real fellowship happens when people get honest about who they are and what is happening in their lives.
• In real fellowship people experience mutuality.
• In real fellowship people experience sympathy.
• In real fellowship people experience mercy.

Point To Ponder: I need others in my life.

Verse To Remember: "Share each other's troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2 (NLT)

Question To Consider: What one step can I take today to connect with another believer at a more genuine, heart-to-heart level?

Day Seventeen: A Place To Belong

"You are members of God's very own family, citizens of God's country, and you belong in God's household with every other Christian." Ephesians 2:19b (LB)

"God's family is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth." 1 Timothy 3:15b (GWT)

Stuff That Stuck Out:

• We are created for community, fashioned for fellowship, and formed for a family, and none of us can fulfill God's purposes by ourselves.
• We discover our role in life through our relationships with others.
• Disconnected and cut off from the lifeblood of a local body, your spiritual life will wither and eventually cease to exist.
• The church will outlive the universe, and so will your role in it.
• The Bible says a Christian without a church home is like an organ without a body, a sheep without a flock, or a child without a family. It is an unnatural state.

WHY YOU NEED A CHURCH FAMILY

1. A church family identifies you as a genuine believer.
2. A church family moves you out of self-centered isolation.
3. A church family helps you develop spiritual muscle.
   
4. The Body of Christ needs you.
   
5. You will share in Christ's mission in the world.
6. A church family will help keep you from backsliding.

• God created the church to meet your five deepest needs: a purpose to live for, people to live with, principles to live by, a profession to live out, and power to live on.
• God's purposes for his church are identical to his five purposes for you. Worship helps you focus on God; fellowship help you face life's problems; discipleship helps fortify your faith; ministry helps find your talents; evangelism helps fulfill your mission.

Point To Ponder: I am called to belong, not just believe.

Verse To Remember: "In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." Romans 12:5 (NIV)

Question To Consider: Does my level of involvement in my local church demonstrate that I love and am committed to God's family?

Day Sixteen: What Matters Most

"No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love." 1 Corinthians 13:3b (Msg)

"Love means living the way God commanded us to live. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is this: Live a life of love." 2 John 1:6 (NCV)

Stuff That Stuck Out:

• Life is all about love.
• Because God is love, the most important lesson he wants you to learn on earth is how to love.
• God wants his family to be known for its love more than anything else. Jesus said our love for each other -- not our doctrinal beliefs -- is our greatest witness to the world.
• There are three important truths we learn through fellowship:

THE BEST USE OF LIFE IS LOVE

• Life without love is really worthless.
• Relationships, not achievements or the acquisition of things, are what matters most in life.
• The point of life is learning to love -- God and people. Life minus love equals zero.
• Love will last forever.
• Love leaves a legacy and is the secret of a lasting heritage.
• We will be evaluated on our love.
• One of the ways God measures spiritual maturity is by the quality of your relationships.

THE BEST EXPRESSION OF LOVE IS TIME

• The greatest gift you can give someone is your time.
• Relationships take time and effort, and the best way to spell love is "T-I-M-E."
• The essence of love is not what we think or do or provide for others, but how much we give of ourselves.
• You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.
  
• Love means giving up -- yielding my preferences, comfort, goals, security, money, energy, or time for the benefit of someone else.

THE BEST TIME TO LOVE IS NOW

• The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now.

Point To Ponder: Life is all about love.

Verse To Remember: "The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Galatians 5:14 (NIV)

Question To Consider: Honestly, are relationships my first priority? How can I ensure that they are?

Day Fifteen: Formed for God's Family

"God is the One who made all things, and all things are for his glory. He wanted to have many children share his glory." Hebrews 2:10a (NCV)

"See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are!" 1 John 3:1 (NLT)

Stuff That Stuck Out:

• You were formed for God's family. This is God's second purpose for your life.
• When we place our faith in Christ, God becomes our Father, we become his children, other believers become our brothers and sisters, and the church becomes our spiritual family.
• Every human being was created by God, but not everyone is a child of God. The only way to get into God's family is by being born again into it.
• Your spiritual family is even more important than your physical family because it will last forever.

BENEFITS OF BEING IN GOD'S FAMILY

• The moment your were spiritually born into God's family, you were given some astounding birthday gifts: the family name, the family likeness, family privileges, family intimate access, and the family inheritance!
• Here on earth we are given "the riches...of his grace ... kindness ... patience ... glory ... wisdom ... power ... and mercy." But in eternity we will inherit even more.
• In eternity...
• We will get to be with God forever.
• We will be completely changed to be like Christ.
• We will be freed from all pain, death, and suffering.
• We will be rewarded and reassigned positions of service.
• We will get to share in Christ's glory.
• Your eternal inheritance is priceless, pure, permanent, and protected.

BAPTISM: IDENTIFYING WITH GOD'S FAMILY

• Baptism is not an optional ritual, to be delayed or postponed.
  
• Your baptism declares your faith, shares Christ's burial and resurrection, symbolizes your death to your old life, and announces your new life in Christ.

LIFE'S GREATEST PRIVILEGE

• Being included in God's family is the highest honor and the greatest privilege you will ever receive.

Point To Ponder: I was formed for God's family.

Verse To Remember: "His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ." Ephesians 1:5a (NLT)

Question To Consider: How can I start treating other believers like members of my own family?