”It is a consistent truth in the Scriptures that the arm of God is not shortened and that His mercy is not exhausted by our miseries. It is His desire to perpetuate a life of holiness in men and women in every age. He always seeks out those who are willing to offer Him worship worthy of His greatness and majesty, and who, by the saintliness of their examples, can be models of virtue.” (Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawerence).

Nicholas Herman was a man that lacked education that was necessary to be a priest and was given the name Brother Lawerence of the Resurrection and had the responsibility to do the menial tasks of uneducated brothers. Brother Lawerence spent fifty-plus years working in the kitchen and shoe shop. Brother Lawerence was compelled with a question that should compell us all, which is, “how can one be in a spirit of prayer, even while peeling potatoes? This is, how can a person commune with God, even while performing the most mundane task?”

Throughout the book Brother Lawerence responds to this question by making a habit of thinking about God in all things, drawing near to God at all times.

This very attitude and lifestyle is part of the DNA that we at Community Church are attempting to live out. It is our desire to live out our lives as pleasing to God. We have been digging deeper into 1 John in our Community Group. 1 John 2:28 says, “ And now, little children, abide in him, so thatwhen he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at hiscoming” (ESV). One is able to not be ashamed because they have been abiding in fellowship with Christ. A result of abiding in Christ according to 1 John 2:29 is, ” If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure thateveryone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” Our lifestyle of worship helps others see the glory of God in our lives.

I would like to end with this: “To practice the presence of God is to take pleasure in and become accustomed to His divine company, speaking humbly and conversing lovingly in our hearts with Him at all times and at every moment, especially in times of temptation, pain, spiritual dryness, revulsion to spiritual things, and even unfaithfulness and sin”.

“ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:34, 35

Yes, Jesus is challenging all believers to love as he has demonstrated love. The reason why Jesus called it a new commandment was because the Mosaic Law stated to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). Jesus was now giving it a new standard. Instead of loving others as oneself, Jesus set the standard of loving as he has loved.
During our Community Group time we have examined some of the “one another” verses in Scripture. As we desire to create the DNA for our church, we recognize that authentic Christian community (as opposed to pseudo community) must be the fabric of who we are as a church family. Christianity is not a Sunday event; it is a way of life. As we live the Christian life, we are to serve the Lord by being bondservants for the kingdom of God. As we are bondservants, we should then desire and seek missional living. Missional living is a way of life, not simply a weekly event. We recently had the opportunity to spend several days fixing up the house of a member of our body. What an encouraging reflection below:

“I thoroughly enjoyed spending the weekend with all of you and feeling God’s pleasure on our family. I was so very pleased that my son saw God’s family serving and loving ‘one-another’; I truly believe Saturday and Sunday were just as (if not more) impactful on his little spirit than any Sunday morning in Sunday school.” – Brad

So please, let us remember that as Christians we are to live missionally for God that He might be glorified. People in the world do not just need to hear us talk about Christ, but more importantly they need to see us live out Christ.
Grace and Peace!

One of the core beliefs that we as a church embrace is to be missional. Our aim is to promote missional living which is a servant minded lifestyle that looks and prays for daily opportunities to serve for the Kingdom of God. One of the ways that we as a church display this is on 5^thSundays. Instead of having a traditional church service on these Sundays, we use that as an opportunity to serve the community. We recently had the privilege of serving the homeless community downtown. We packed and distributed sack lunches and cold water. We were also able to pray with some, share the gospel, call loved ones for them, and ask about other needs they had. This was truly a blessing for the body to experience.

It was great to see familiar faces and to have some of them remember us from previous weeks of service. We desire to build these relationships and create a presence in the community – not just serve once or twice a year.

We at Community Church are excited about what God is doing in the city. Luke 10:2 reads, “And he said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (ESV).

Have you ever taken the time out to walk to clear your head or to make an important decision? Often when we decide to take a walk we prefer to walk alone and to isolate ourselves from everyone else. We often do this because we believe that everyone else is a distraction and to really make a wise or correct decision then we need to walk alone.

When I look at the Christian life, this is one area that I know that we should not walk alone. Satan and sin causes us to isolate ourselves and pursue loneliness and solitude. When we sin the easiest thing for us to do is to hide and continue to walk away from the light (righteousness), instead of walking in the light and exposing our sins and struggles.

All of us struggle with some form of sin. 1 John 1:5 Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. 1:6 If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth. 1:7 But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (Net Bible)

The issue is not that we all struggle with some form of sin, but the question is whether we are walking alone or in community. Christ intended for us to live life in community and as we are experiencing hurt, frustration, sin, temptation, etc, it is the love and accountability from authentic Christian community that will prevent us from walking alone. 1 John tells us that we cannot have a lifestyle of walking in darkness and identify with Christ, because He is light. So often we hear that only God can judge me. Yes, God is the only one who will determine where one spends eternity, but God has given believers the responsibility to represent Him well and to hold one another accountable. If I am professing to be a Christian, but yet my lifestyle is walking in darkness, it is not man that is judging me, but the scriptures says that we lie and not practicing the truth if we claim to have fellowship with God and continue to walk in darkness.

I would like to encourage all of us to no longer walk alone, but let us pursue authentic Christian community were we will never be alone.

Let’s Get It!!!!