Pre-Service 5-13-2018 - Connecting Intentionally Through Relationships of Care

We are starting a new series this week on "One-Anothering Below the Surface". It focuses on how we need meaningful relationships with others.

The main passages for today's sermon are listed here. Click each link or look them up in your Bible to reflect on the thoughts as we prepare for worship.

• Galatians 6:1,2
• Galatians 5:22-23

It is popular to view the Bible as a book we go to for spiritual encouragement. We memorize verses to remind us of things that help us get through life's challenges. That's a good thing, but today's passage reminds us the goal is to be spiritually mature.

One reason to be spiritually mature (or to "live by the Spirit" as the Bible says) is so we can bear each other's burdens.

Paul writes it this way in 2 Corinthians 1:3,4:

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."