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Change Is A Community Project

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The story is told of a pastor who visited a member of his church.  The church member had stopped attending services regularly.  It was a chilly evening and the man was home sitting before a fire.  The pastor took a pair of tongs and picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side all alone.  As the ember’s flame grew dim, there was a glow and then the fire was no more.  The member said: “I shall be back in church next Sunday.”

         It is a biblical truth that no Christian can grow in isolation.  In fact, Proverbs 18:1 gives this warning: “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.”  As Bruce Milne states, “The Christian life is inescapably corporate.”  We are meant to grow together in the body of Christ “until we all attain to the unity of the faith” (Ephesians 4:13).

     Tim Chester writes, "Your church is not a collection of random people. Christ has specially selected each one to create a perfect fit... It’s as if God has put us, like rocks, into a bag and is shaking us about so that we collide with one another. Sometimes sparks fly, but gradually we become beautiful, smooth gemstones. Remember that when someone is rubbing you the wrong way that God is smoothing you down!"

     May we all experience the smoothing, sanctifying work that only comes to us only through biblical fellowship.  God bless you as you engage in this community project