This week we continue in 1 John with Pastor Duane Clayton teaching us about the power of showing Christ's love to everyone around us – not only those it's easy to love.

The bible says that by our love for one another they will know that we are his disciples! The reason why God wants you to love is because he is love. God showed that love by sending Jesus Christ to earth to die for you. Out of that great love, he is asking us to pour it back out on our friends, neighbors, family, and community so that they would see his love through us.

“For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.”
1 John 3:11-15 (NIV)

“Giving up on reality as a whole, either we place ourselves in one of the two realms, wanting Christ without the world or the world without Christ-and in both cases we deceive ourselves. Or we try to stand in the two realms at the same time, thereby becoming people in eternal conflict, shaped by the post-Reformation era, who ever and again present ourselves as the only form of Christian existence that is in accord with reality.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Ethics 57-58

We have to align ourselves with the way God sees the world and he commissioned the church to do it’s part of his great rescue mission! God sees and hears his people! And his heart breaks for the Israelites back then, but also for his heart is breaking today for the people of Little Rock. What does he do? He acts! And his call to us is to be a part of what God is doing.

“For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”

2 Corinthians 2:15

“The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.”

-William Temple

We must let the word and the Holy Spirit constantly challenge us to go deeper. This week we're asking you to let him search you and challenge you in what is next for you, whether you're ankle, knee, or waist deep - the call is go deeper. Not to be a fully devoted follower of Church - but a fully devoted follower of Christ.

"Then he said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.'"
Luke 9:23-26 (NIV)

Unity must be a core value of our local church. Part of maturing and becoming a fully devoted follower of Christ is learning how to maintain a pure heart so we can maintain unity. This week let yourself be challenged and search your heart if there are any ways you can fight for unity in our community. We believe through the grace Christ gives us relationships can be mended. Church hurt can be healed. And trust can be restored!

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
Ephesians 4:31-32

"The devil’s work is to accuse and divide the family of God, and to sow discord among them. When we harbor anger in our heart, we do the devil’s work for him."
David Guzik

Have you ever thought of yourself as a leader? You are! And no one you influence is more important than your family. Leading your family requires loving sacrificially, building trust, and cherishing each other’s differences. Doing this fosters a family culture full of understanding, support, and leadership.

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Ephesians 5:1-2 (NIV)

“Leadership is influence. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
John Maxwell

As a believer do you know that you have access to this same power and spiritual riches that Paul Speaks of in Ephesians? The enemy doesn't want you to be secure in this identity. He doesn't want you to know how God truly feels about you. Because he never wants you to have the healthy relationship with God that God desires and longs for.

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.”

Ephesians 1:4-6

Some of you are in a Spiritual battle — but still fighting a person. Your problem is not a person or a circumstance. Your battle is spiritual and God's will is to equip you for that battle in a spiritual way. Not with your own skills, talent, or equipment – but with the armor of God.

"...our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
Ephesians 6:12