Relationships::
Lives are transformed through relationships…community and family relationships.  Our fifth core value is building relationships.   We do so strategically among the body of believers, which is the family of God.  As all of our families have rules, God’s family is no different.

“You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family…we who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.” ---Ephesians 2:19

Everyone who believes in Jesus is part of His family.  He has joined us together and He tells us we should get along.  He is the one who holds everything together.  He holds the world together, marriages together, he holds the church family together, and he holds personal relationships together.

“He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” ---Colossians 1:17

First Corinthians is quite clear that He put us together; we are one body and we are supposed to live like it.

“For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.  For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” ---I Corinthians 12:12-13

The rules of the family of God are clear and simple:  we are called to serve one another.  This is only possible through our relationship with Jesus.  To have a powerful and on-fire relationship with Jesus, you have to get your mind off of yourself and choose to focus on other people.  Christ always did this and He built His relationship with many people based on compassion, and he asks us to do the same.  In Mark 1:41, as Jesus spoke with a leper, He was “moved with compassion” and He stretched out His hand, touched the leper and healed him.
In order to be really connected with others at a deep level, we must be compassionate. 

The heart of a servant is a heart of compassion.  There is power in serving others and there is also a blessing in serving others.  As we come together in a right relationship with others, we are positioning ourselves to be blessed by God.

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