You Were Created for Community (Even If You Don’t Feel It)

And I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. God has begun working in you from the moment we met, and he isn't gonna stop. He's gonna continue to change you, and transform you, and heal you, and encourage you, and empower you so that you could continue to be a part of building his kingdom. And I love being a part of that with you. [00:10:50] (24 seconds)  #GodsWorkInYou

Always, in every prayer of mine, for you, all making my prayer with joy. Every time I think about you, I pray for you, and it just it lights me up with joy. These words just jump off the page because of your partnership in the gospel, because of binding to us together, the relationships fellowship that we have in the good news of Jesus from the first time until now, that's been persistent and consistent. We have these relationships rooted in Christ. [00:10:13] (28 seconds)  #RootedInChrist

that there is a good work that will be completed in you. Don't be discouraged because of my imprisonment or because of the afflictions that you might face in this life, the challenges that you have to overcome, the things that you are struggling with, do not be discouraged because God is at work in you and will continue to be so until Christ returns. He's not finished. [00:12:01] (24 seconds)  #GodIsNotFinished

This is the picture of what a church is supposed to be. This is the picture of a relational, friendly, kind, compassionate, generous, loving church. The picture of people coming together, being rooted in the gospel, the the good news of Jesus, but being bound together in deep relationships. [00:12:35] (22 seconds)  #RelationalChurch

It's a picture of community and connection that we all long for, isn't it? Can you imagine receiving a letter written this way? Look at it again, just verse three. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. Every time you come to my mind, I am so grateful that God brought you into my life and me into yours. [00:09:55] (18 seconds)  #GratefulForYou

As you read this, don't you wish somebody could write that to you? Don't you wish you could write that type of letter to somebody else? The encouragement, the tenderness, the care, the love, the intimacy. We're created for that kind of connection. [00:13:50] (20 seconds)  #CraveConnection

That we are created for community, that we long for people to know us intimately, truly, not not any sort of like mask or costume or disguise, but to really know who we are on the inside out. Even our deepest, darkest secrets that we desire to be known because that is a sense of freedom that we can experience, and that is the the sense of relationship that Christ offers. And so, [00:13:17] (24 seconds)  #KnownAndLoved

This is the partnership that Paul highlights, and and a couple of things that we see in this in this first section is just that Paul has this tenderness. He is exuberant. There's this energy about his words, but he is deeply caring for these people. He holds them in his heart. He yearns. [00:11:14] (22 seconds)  #HeartForPeople

He longs. He desires to be with them again. He misses their presence. He knows them and he loves them, and they know him, and they love him. He wants to be around them again. Sitting in a cell, he longs for his friends. And he also has encouragement for them, [00:11:36] (24 seconds)  #LongingForCommunity