What is Gospel-Centered Community?

Called Together: What Is Gospel-Centered Community?
Acts 2:37-47
Page # 1090

I. Why Community?
     1. The gospel restores community.

Ephesians 2:13, 16 – “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought nearby the blood of Christ… and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”

     2. The gospel draws us into community.

Ephesians 4:11-13 – “And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

     3. The gospel makes us a community.

Romans 12:5 – “So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

II. What is Gospel-Centered Community?
     1. Devotion (vs 42)
     2. “Togetherness” (vs 44)
     3. Self-sacrificial Love (vs 45)

John 13:35 – “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

John 17:20-21 - "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

     4. Frequency and Longevity (vs 46)
     5. Worship (vs 47)
     6. Supernatural Life (vs 46-47)

Is community worth it?

John 17: 20-21

Faith Sheet

Transformation Verse (October) – “Let us consider how to encourage one another to love and good deeds.”  Hebrews 10:24

~ Faith in the gospel makes us a community and draws us into community.
~ Community is a gospel-centered family.
~ Gospel-centered community results when God’s people are devoted to
   growing together, self-sacrificially serving each other, are frequently and
   consistently gathering together, and God is working in them, through them,
   and for them.

 #1- Reviewing This Past Sunday
Called Together: What Is Gospel-Centered Community?
Acts 2:37-47

1. Read Acts 2:42-47.
2. Discuss with someone how you have seen faith in the gospel result in
    creating community in your life or the life of someone you know.
3. Why is gospel-centered community vital to a disciple of Christ?
4. What barriers do you face that keep you from being devoted to growing
    with other believers in authentic gospel-centered community?
5. What blessings have you experienced in your life from being in gospel-
    centered community?

 # 2- Preparing for Next Sunday 
Called Together: Virtues to Keep Community Together
Colossians 3:12-17

1. Read Colossians 3:12-17.
2. Make a list of the spiritual disciplines you see in these scriptures.
3. In what ways could disobeying God’s commands in verse 13 have an
    adverse influence in any family or church community?
4. Pray verse 17 for yourself and your family.