Transcript GOD`S COMMUNITY AND OURS

Sharing God’s love in Community
GOD’S COMMUNITY AND
OURS
Penge Baptist Church
29th September 2013
Why community must be our
priority
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God exists in community
God in Christ modelled community
Jesus dreams of oneness for all Christians
God exists in community
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“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in
our likeness…..” (Genesis 1:26)
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
(Deuteronomy 6:4)
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness
was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God
was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let
there be light,” and there was light.” (Genesis 1:1-3)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the
beginning. Through him all things were made…” (John
1:1-3)
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“For where two or three come together in
my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew
18:20)
“God as being exists in community; the
natural and simple demonstration of God’s
communal image for humanity is the
gathering of the small group” (Gareth
Icenogle)
We need community – solitary confinement
kills
For God IS community and we are created
in his image
Jesus modelled small group
community
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“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a
son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means,
“God with us.”” (Matthew 1:23)
“Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a
small boat ready for him, to keep the people from
crowding him…. Jesus went up on a mountainside and
called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.”
(Mark 3:9,13)
“Jesus invested 90 percent of his time with 12 Jewish
men so he could reach the whole world” (Eugene
Petersen)
Jesus’ passion for Christian
community to be One
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“I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but
for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I
have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory
has come to me through them. I will remain in the
world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I
am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the
power of your name—the name you gave me—so
that they may be one as we are one.” (John 17:9-11)
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for
those who will believe in me through their message,
that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in
me and I am in you.” (John 17:20-21)
Why community must be our
priority
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God exists in community as a small group
God in Christ models community as a
small group
Jesus dreams of oneness for all
Christians….
….so we must weave community into our
church life by a network of small groups