Living an Ordinary Week: Seeing God in Simplicity预览
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. (Acts 2:42-44 NIV)
“Fifty-five.”
That number represents the approximate number of hours annually a person will devote to gathering in church for worship. That assumes attendance each Sunday morning of the year plus special services.
The remaining 8,705 hours of the year are devoted to various other activities.
If you devote 55 hours to worship and around 2,300 hours to work, you still have 6,405 hours with which to honor God. Therefore, in this chapter, I want to draw your attention to Tuesdays.
Why Tuesday? Well Tuesdays are the days on which the teenage students and children of our church gather for small group time. Our adults participate in small groups either on Tuesdays or another day. So, for consistency’s sake, I chose Tuesday to emphasize community.
Return to the number fifty-five.
Here’s a question. Can anyone sustain a thriving relationship with the Creator and Savior on fifty-five hours a year?”
No. In addition to the time we dedicate to worshipping within community we too need relationships with people who are like-minded in faith. God’s words about Adam’s need to share life with another was not just about romance. In addition to gaining a great intimate companion Adam found the need for community. When God called Abram, He promised to make a great people, not person. God brought millions of Hebrew people across the Sea, not just Moses. Jesus called Twelve. He also sent out 72 in pairs. Except for Philemon every New Testament letter was address to a gathered people. We need each other.
Acts 2:42-44 (NIV)
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common.
Question: Why is community important? Christian community?
读经计划介绍
Living a good life is not simple. The ease of doing so is challenged by mundane things such as—busyness, fatigue, lack of focus, forgetfulness. Pastor Mark T. Goodman advocates for appreciating the less-than-extraordinary aspects of life. The simple life includes extraordinary events and less-than-ordinary experiences; yet, ordinary things fill up most of our days. Mark invites you to give The Ordinary Way a try.
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