Feb. 15th 2015- Family on Mission-Overcoming Individualism

While our country was founded on the biblical notion that every individual has inherent value and dignity from God, it has also reached the excessive point of idolizing the rugged solo act, the one who can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and be an island unto themselves.  In this message we will explore the spiritually devastating effects of trying to live alone and in contrast the awesome promises God has for us when we learn to live in healthy community.

If you want a study tool to go along with the podcast, see Lift Notes here:

Family on Mission: Overcoming _______________

February 15th, 2014 by Kasey Crawford

Today’s Passages: 1 Corinthians 12:13-14, Genesis 2:18, Mark 3:13-14, Galatians 6:2, James 5:16

 

Our Mission: We are _____________ to be a family of followers of Jesus doing life together to see the Kingdom of Heaven transform earth.

 

One American ideal, that has roots in the Christian separatists who believed that every person was made in the image of God, is that every ________________ has God-given value and dignity.

 

Yet over time God got removed from the equation in the public mind and the individual was thought to have power in ______________.

 

How does individualism keep us from being the church?

 

1. It tells us we don’t ­­_______ each other. And that misses the very essence of being His gathered people.

For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Now the body is not made up of one part but of many…The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”   1 Corinthians 12:13–14, 21

 

2. We are not made to ________ on our own.

“…it is not good for man to be alone.” -God         Genesis 2:18

 

3. We are made for _____________.

Even Jesus set up his life with intentional community!

He called to him those he wanted…He appointed twelve…that they might be with him…” Mark 3:13-14

• They had different personalities and different gifts but as they did life not as individuals but as a ______________ family; they strengthened one another and become a force that turned the world upside down.

 

• Jesus kept his inner circle small because he knows that the more people you have, the less deep you can go. Christian community has miraculous ___________ when it goes deep in relationship.

 

• Yet, the rugged individualism that is so idealized has paved the way for ______________ and patterns to creep in that keep us apart.

 

If you are not intentionally ________________ towards these relationships, then you won’t have them, because our culture pulls us like a riptide in the other direction.

 

God thinks us living in covenant family is so important, he put the power we need for success in ____________ people.

 

In the letter to the church at Galatia, Paul tells the people to “bear one another’s burden’s and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2

 

How about this doozy: “confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.                                 James 5:16

 

 

Living as a Disciple in His Kingdom…

• Who are your 3?
• Who are your 12?
• Who is your extended spiritual family?
• How are you investing towards a community of depth?

 

What is God saying to you ?

 

 

What can you do about this in response?

 

Answers: Individualism, learning, individual, themselves, need, thrive, community, covenant, power, structures, investing, other

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