The Bridge has officially begun . We have met for our very first, of what we pray to be many, gatherings. We hope you all were blessed as we were. Kelley and I are looking ahead to our next meeting which will be held Saturday October 12th at the church at 6:30. Like we spoke about Saturday we will be starting in with Greg Lauries "Essentials Volume 1". If you haven't yet ordered yourself a copy please do so as soon as possible. If for some reason you are unable to order a copy please see either Kelley or myself and we will try and figure something out. I'll post some links to the books again at the bottom of the page. Also we would like to buy tickets by the end of the week for the Friday 11/15 Hillsong United show in Boston. If you are interested in going please contact either of us in person, text, or email at ccbthebridge@gmail.com.
Like we spoke about Saturday we want you all to be involved in this group, we want you all, as Ryan put it, to be active participants as opposed to passive. Engage one another, challenge one another, pray for each other...love one another.
Christ has told us very plainly in Matthew 22:36-40 that out of the whole of the Law the greatest commandment is to love. To love the LORD with all your heart, soul and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. John 13:35 tells us that people will know we are Christians by our love for one another. Throughout the whole of scripture those who followed Christ never referred to themselves as Christians and only three times in scripture is the word actually used and twice it is used by others in characterization of the followers of Christ. (Acts 11:26 and 26:28)This is important because it proves out exactly what Christ spoke in John 13. They will know us by our love.
Our life in Christ should look like something. If you are born of the Spirit of God as believers we should exemplify that birth, we should be bearing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). If we were born as a kangaroo we would exemplify the characteristics of the pouch-ed marsupial.
Holiness. We are to be holy because He is holy (1 Peter 1:13-16 & Leviticus 20:26). This isn't some self righteous call to legalism, rather it is a challenge to repudiate the beck and call of this world and its trappings. The call of God for holiness isn't an issue of being separated from things so much as it is being separated unto Christ. Think back to your first boyfriend or girlfriend. Got it, good. Now think about how long it took you to essentially neglect all you other friends and loved ones to spend tie with this particular person. It wasn't that you were distancing yourself from your brother and best friends, but you were so immersed in who this love interest was that that was all consuming. This is the idea of our call to holiness. Not separated from, separated unto.
Don't waste your time with the temporal things of this earth. Invest in things eternal: the Word of God and the souls of people, these are what truly matter. By doing this you will display the love of Christ and naturally be fulfill our directive as followers of Christ.
Grace and Peace,
Chris & Kelley
Harvest Ministries Essentials bundle
Essentials Volume 1
Essentials Bible study
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