2. Building a Strong Church

3. The Importance of Building Strong Community
Strong Community is essential to God’s Plan for us
In a strong church community no one is left out – Galatians 3:28; Romans 15:5-7
Strong church communities work together to make sure everyone is cared for! – Acts 4:32-36; 6:1-7
Strong church communities prepare God’s people for works of service and build them up – Ephesians 4:11-16

4. The Importance of Building Strong Community
Most of the New Testament is focused on this!
In the Gospels, Jesus presents a vision of the church
The book of Acts records the early beginnings of the church – Acts 2:42-47
The Epistles give directives on how to build and maintain strong church community

5. 2 Attitudes that Destroy Community
1. Antagonism – active hostility or opposition
Antagonism has many faces – Galatians 5:20; Romans 16:17-20
Antagonism must be confronted – Titus 3:10-11; Hebrews 12:15

6. 2 Attitudes that Destroy Community
2. Apathy – lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern
Apathy is one of the devil’s favorite tools
Jesus strongly condemned apathy – Revelation 3:14-22
We can not allow ourselves to be apathetic– Romans 12:11

7. Some things You can do to Build Community
Love your neighbor as YOURSELF – Matthew 22:34-40
How do you show love to yourself? – Luke 10:25-37
Love is the fulfillment of God’s Law – Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:14; Matthew 7:12

8. Some things You can do to Build Community
Practice the “one another” Scriptures
There’s an abundance of “one another” passages in the New Testament!
Do your best to practice them every chance you get – Hebrews 10:24-25

9. Some things You can do to Build Community
Trust and Obey – It all boils down to this! – Prov. 3:5-6
Trusting God and Obeying His commands is a choice
God doesn’t expect perfection, but He does expect us to really work at it! – Matthew 5:48