Romans 10:17 (NKJV)
. . . Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

 

  • The need to belong is a driving force in our life.

 

Genesis 2:18
. . .  It is not good for man to be alone . . .

 

  • God’s cure for loneliness is community.

 

Psalm 68:6
God sets the lonely in families . . .

 

Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing, and perfect will.

 

Belong, Believe and Behave

  1. Avoidance – “Do I really need others?”
  2. Anxiety – “Will others really accept me?”
  3. Aggression – “Can I be weak and still belong?”
  4. Accommodation – “What do they want me to be and what can I do to belong?”

 

Proverbs 29:25

 

“When we take things in our own hands, we’re taking them out of God’s hands.” – Dr. Stoilis

 

Genesis 16:1-2
1 Now Sarai, Abraham’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave, perhaps I can build a family through her. Abram agreed to what Sarah said.

 

Genesis 16:4-5
4 He slept with Hagar and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said, Abram, “you are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms and now that she pregnant she despises me . . .

 

Genesis 16:6
“Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” . . .

 

 Genesis 16:8
He said, Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going? . . .

 

  • God knows our past, present and future.

 

Genesis 16:13
She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “you are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”

 

Psalms 139:16

 

  • God wants to anchor us in our identity in Him.

 

Ephesians 1:5 (NLT)
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

 

Ephesians 2:10

 

  • Jesus modeled community.

 

Romans 12:5
. . . In Christ, we though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

 

  • Belonging makes us better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Questions:

  1. What did you hear from the Holy Spirit?
  2. What will you do because of it?
  3. How can we pray for you?

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