Selected Passages
January 13, 2019
preached by Doug Cooper
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“There can be no maturity in the spiritual life, no obedience in following Jesus, no wholeness in the Christian life, apart from an immersion in, and embrace of, community. I am not myself by myself.”

~ Eugene Peterson (1932-2018), American minister, scholar and writer

‘“Community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another. Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own. The question, therefore, is not ‘How can we make community?’ but, ‘How can we develop and nurture giving hearts?’”

“I am learning that the best cure for hypocrisy is community. Hypocrisy is not so much the result of not living what I preach, but much more of not confessing my inability to fully live up to my own words.”

~ Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), Dutch Catholic priest, professor and writer

“You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin – to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours – closer than you yourself keep it. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo. Anyway: there it is. We know most of what Gandalf has told you. We know a good deal about the ring. We are horribly afraid–but we are coming with you; or following you like hounds.”

~ J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), an excerpt from The Fellowship of the Ring

“Strange how people who suffer together have stronger connections than those who are most content.”

~ Bob Dylan (1941-present), renowned American singer-songwriter, author, and visual artist

“One of the most overlooked benefits of love is how God works through it to mature us. Part of why He puts us in each other’s lives is to create a tension in our lives, a redemptive pressure, that has potential to improve our character. If love and friendship aren’t leading us to grow in the virtues of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, then love and friendship are malfunctioning in some way.”

~ Scott Sauls, contemporary pastor and writer

Sermon Passage

Selected Passages (NIV)

Romans 12

¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

1 Peter 1

²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

²² Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.

1 Thessalonians 3

¹² May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. ¹³ May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

2 Thessalonians 1

² Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ We ought always to thank God for you,  brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. ⁴ Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

Philippians 1

⁹ And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.