"You're On Your Own"

   I used to be told all the time to join a group of believers - to grow in my faith, because without the support of others, one who was going through life solo would surely fall away. Even Paul had community! He had Timothy, Barnabas, and Luke among many others. ...But I didn't listen to them. So slowly but surely, I fell away.

What does it look like to have real community? And how is it formed? Is it just something that happens when we meet together regularly with other Christians? Or is there something more to it than just meeting and gathering? 

In this 2 minute video clip from a full talk at the Verge Conference, Francis Chan begins to answer the question that so many of us are asking – how can we have real community? The answer that Francis gives, though, might surprise you.

Think back to a time when you experienced deep and meaningful community. What were things that brought you together? Maybe it was a task, an ordeal or a cause that brought you together. Maybe it was an emergency, an unplanned event or a great vision. 

In this video, Francis shows us that the Bible is clear about community. He says that a simple reading of the Bible would not lead to focusing first on gathering. Instead, the Bible makes it clear that what is most important is the mission to make disciples. 

We are to go out on a mission to reach people. We are to teach them to obey everything that Jesus has commanded. And as we are on that mission to reach and disciple people, we would naturally find other people that are on that same mission. 

We would stick out because we would be some of the weirdest people on earth. We would stick out because we would be living lives that are radically different than most other Christians.
We would need each other. We would actually need brothers and sisters to come alongside us. We would need brothers and sisters in Christ to help us. We would need a community of people in order to accomplish the mission. We would need to work together and encourage each other to stay on mission. And we would even suffer together as a community.

(Source: http://www.vergenetwork.org/2011/09/13/francis-chan-how-to-have-real-community-video/)

What is your life?

 Life. We can get caught up in it - making the most irrelevant seem most important...whether good or bad...prosperity or sufferings. But "what is [our] life? For it is but a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away" (James 4:14).

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     We all go through struggles and hardships just as Jesus said would happen in Luke 6:46-49. Whether you are built on the rock or have been built without a foundation the floods will come! But let us strive to finish the race (Philippians 3:13-14). For Paul "considered that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18). This truth is why Jesus told us to "not lay up for [ourselves] treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for [ourselves] treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matthew 6:19-20).

      What is the Kingdom? And what does it have to do with my life (and my stuff)? Jesus said, in Matthew 13:44, that the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.