Excerpts from my message at Temple Brith Kodesh, the largest Synagogue in Rochester. This message was given January 16th at 8:00pm. My choir was there and they bellowed two of the finest and most befitting selections ever for an Interfaith Service. They are by far one of the best choirs ever! The word often used to describe them is "Professional" They are, yet spirit filled.
There are huge redwood trees in California and they are amazing,
They are the largest living things on earth,
They are the tallest trees in the world.
Some of them are 300 feet high,
Some of them are more than 2,500 years old,
They don’t have tremendous root systems, reaching down hundreds of feet into the earth.
Redwoods have a very shallow root system.
The roots of these trees are, however, intertwined.
They are tied in with each other; interlocked.
They are linked, joined together,
They are connected and interconnected,
When the storms come, the redwoods still stand,
When the winds blow the redwoods still stand,
With an interlocking root system they support and sustain each other. They need one another to survive. So do we!God has given us His
Temple,
God has given us His
Church,
We are
bound together in a community of faith.
We are
linked, joined together through Him,
We are
connected and interconnected,
When the
storms come, the Temple still stands,
When the
winds blow the Church still stands.
Belonging to God, we belong to each other.
Fellowship with God means fellowship with each other.
God has made us a family, a community of faith.
We have a God-given support system.
Times were tough and persecution was rampant.
People had to deal with Discouragement,
There were Temptations, There was Apathy,
There was Temptations,
There was Sin, but;
The early believers were bound together into a fellowship,
The early believers were bound together through community,
They needed each other;
There is strength in togetherness,
There is strength in unity,
There is strength in love,
There is strength in fellowship,God has not left us on our own to run this race,
God has not left us alone to fight the battle.
He has given us each other.
We are commanded in Hebrews 10:25
not to, “…GIVE UP MEETING TOGETHER, AS SOME ARE IN THE HABIT OF DOING, BUT LET US ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER….” God has a purpose for putting us together. Henri Nouwen points out,
“We are unified by our common weaknesses,
our common failures, our common disappointments and our common inconsistencies.”
God used this community of faith to do powerful things in the lives of countless believers, living in a pagan, godless world.
God’s plan hasn’t changed.He still desires to use His People to do powerful things in our lives.
The Faith Community is crucial to our spiritual well-being.
God desires that we find strength for the journey,
We face the inevitable trials, We face the inevitable troubles and inevitable tragedies of life on this sin-marred earth,
God intends that we be supported, strengthened, encouraged and empowered through the community of believers.
As we face the storms and temptations of life we must receive strength from each other. Such is God’s plan. When we are overwhelmed by trials, heartaches and the burdens of life we, must be strengthened and encouraged by fellow believers.
When we wonder if God really does love us and care for us we need God’s people.
When we are loved and cared for by another believer, especially during painful times, we gain a new sense of God’s love at work. We cannot afford to stand alone; to go it on our own.
In Leadership magazine, Carl Conner writes about the dangers of standing alone.
A few winters ago, heavy snows hit North Carolina.Near the highway stood several
large groves of tall pine trees.
The branches were bowed down with the heavy snow - so low that branches from one tree were leaning against branches of another.
Where trees stood alone, the effect of the heavy snow was different. The branches had become heavier and heavier. Since there was no trees to lean against, the branches snapped. They lay on the ground, dark and alone in the cold snow. When the storms of life hit, we need to be standing close to other Believers. We need each other; we can’t stand alone.The closer we stand in community, The more we will be able to hold up.
A group of porcupines were marooned one bitter cold night in the middle of a large frozen field. There was no way to escape the biting wind.
They could not borrow into the frozen ground.
As they huddled together to keep warm, their sharp quills began to pinch and hurt.
The closer they moved together, the more the pain increased. Some of the animals could not bear the pain and drew apart to sleep alone. In the morning they had frozen to death. In our humanness there are times when we hurt each other and the tendency is to pull away and go it alone. We must resist that tendency.We were created for community.
The journey of life and faith is often trying, difficult and painful.
Discouragement. Relentless temptation. Debilitating sins. Doubts.
Ridicule. Burdensome weaknesses. Heavy burdens. Unanswered questions.
Little wonder God has given us the family of God and the fellowship of believers. It is an absolutely essential source of strength and guidance.
