Day 19 - Cultivating Community

**Pastor's Message to come**

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The Purpose Driven Life - Finding Your Purpose


CHAPTER 19 - CULTIVATING COMMUNITY


Community requires commitment.

Only the Holy Spirit can create real fellowship between believers, but he cultivates it with the choices and commitments we make. If you're tired of fake fellowship and you would like to cultivate real fellowship and a loving community in your small group, Sunday school class, and church, you'll need to make some tough choices and take some risks.

Cultivating community takes honesty - You will have to care enough to lovingly speak the truth, even when you would rather gloss over a problem or ignore an issue. Often we know what needs to be said to someone, but our fears prevent us from saying anything.

Cultivating community takes humility - self-importance, smugness, and stubborn pride destroy fellowship faster than anything else.

Cultivating community takes courtesy - courtesy is respecting our differences, being considerate of each other's feelings, and being patient with people who irritate us.

Cultivating community takes confidentiality - having a safe environment of warm acceptance and trusted confidentiality

Cultivating community takes frequency - You must have frequent, regular contact with your group in order to build genuine fellowship.

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 13 - Worship that Pleases God

**Pastor's Message to come**

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The Purpose Driven Life - Finding Your Purpose

CHAPTER 13 - WORSHIP THAT PLEASES GOD

God wants all of you.

God doesn't want a part of your life. He asks for all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. God is not interested in halfhearted commitment, partial obedience, and the leftovers of your time and money. He desires your full devotion, not little bits of your life.

The kind of worship that pleases God has four characteristics:

1. God is pleased when our worship is accurate
2. God is pleased when our worship is authentic
3. God is pleased when our worship is thoughtful 
4. God is pleased when our worship is practical. 

When Jesus said, "Love God with all your strength," he pointed out that worship takes effort and energy. It is not always convenient or comfortable, and sometimes worship is a sheer act of will -- a willing sacrifice.


 
Point to Ponder: God wants all of me

Verse to Remember: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30

Question to Consider: Which is more pleasing to God right now -- my public worship or my private worship? What will I do about this?

Day 7 - Message from Pastor

Wednesday's Devotion from Pastor Scott:

6 In Jerusalem, the LORD Almighty will spread a wonderful feast for everyone around the world. It will be a delicious feast of good food, with clear, well-aged wine and choice beef. 7 In that day he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. 8 He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign LORD will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The LORD has spoken! (Isaiah 25)

The biblical world was one of scarcity.  The day was spent scrounging enough food to feed your family.  Often, this required back breaking work in the heat of the day for all able bodied family members.  And given droughts and famines, even that was not always a guarantee that there would be enough food.

Therefore, when the biblical authors spoke about the Messianic Age and the fullness of the promises of God, it usually included a feast with food beyond measure and wine from the choicest vines.  Psalm 23:5 reads, “You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.”

They didn’t have Costco.  They didn’t have diet fads.  New Year’s Resolutions did not include losing weight because there was no concern for trans fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, calories, high fructose corn syrup and processed foods.  Welcome to our world!

As we care for our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit, we realize that our world is very different from the biblical world. However, the idea of food being a gift is the same.  The question is whether we use that gift or abuse it.

Reminder:

40 DAY RENEWAL CLASS #1 BEGINS TONIGHT!
6:00-7:30PM @ CLC FORUM 

Come join us and learn all about eating foods that HEAL the body. This is not a fad or crash diet, this is a nutrition plan for life! See you all there!   

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The Purpose Driven Life - Finding Your Purpose

CHAPTER 7 - THE REASON FOR EVERYTHING

"The Lord has made everything for his own purposes." Proverbs 16:4 (NLT)


It's all for him.

The ultimate goal of the universe is to show the glory of God. Where is the glory of God? Just look around. Everything created by God reflects his glory in some way.

God's glory is best seen in Jesus Christ. He, the Light of the world, illuminates God's nature. Because of Jesus, we are no longer in the dark about what God is really like.  Jesus will give you everything you need to live for him

How can I bring glory to God?

• By worshiping him
• By loving other believers
• By becoming like Christ
• By serving others with our gifts
• By telling others about him

 What will you live for?

Point to Ponder:  It's all about him.

Verse to Remember: "For everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by his power, and everything is for his glory." Romans 11:36 (LB)

Question to Consider: Where is my daily routine can I become more aware of God's glory?