The Rock Covenant Church

The Rock Church Worship Service

Paul
Let Your Kingdom Come (Holy Spirit come and search us)
Faithfulness (Great is your faithfulness, like the sparrows flying freely)
This Is Amazing Grace (Who breaks the power of sin and darkness)
Mighty To Save (Savior he can move the mountains)
Beautiful Things (All this pain I wonder if I'll ever find my way I wonder if my life could really change at all)

Jon
In the middle of a series on being a Spirit-filled community
Gospel is an explosion around us
God shrapnel all around
Talk about the family nature

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
Romans 12:9-13 (NRSV)

The non-selectivity
The non-privacy
I like that phrasing, mutual affection
Phileo has to do with brotherly and sisterly love
Storge has to do with devotion
You don’t choose your siblings, you are born into a family, it is a gift given to you, a natural kind of love
He uses storge because there must be something deeper going on
It’s like mothers and their infant
Paul is pushing this deep bond, this level of intimacy, this storge phileo
Find yourself hanging out with people you wouldn’t normally choose
Gospel-centered kind of love that you should normally experience
Transforms you at the deepest parts of your human experience
This bonding transcends affinity
What we long for is a deeper community
Paul gives us a litmus test

I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints
Ephesians 1:15 (NSRV)

Phileo love for ALL God’s people
I no longer belong to me any longer, I belong to my brothers and sisters
Christian and non-Christian I am connected to them
There is a different bond/connection with those who are saved
Normally I connect with people over watches or bikes or The Lakers
But I can connect deeper than that
If you believe, you are connected. Period.
We are Christians FIRST
Because we aren’t there yet, because we are waiting for the future, wee need to have patience with one another, long suffering with one another, calling out the best in one another
The church is not a club
Clubs are about common interest and your private life is your private life
Families aren’t like that AT ALL
Who you date matters, how you spend your time and money matters because it affects your brothers and your sisters
Yes, you do have a certain amount of privacy, but there is also non-privacy
Our Paul reminded us a couple of weeks ago about being accountable and iron sharpening iron
Brothers and sisters have a certain claim on you, on your possessions
If we take this stuff seriously (never be lacking in zeal, etc)
That’s a lot of work as that plays out in community

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Romans 12:15 (NRSV)

Notice the order: rejoicing then mourning
We rejoice with your brothers and sisters but we also mourn with you
It’s not emotionally safe to be a brother or a sister
You’re going to want to run away, but we’re called to this
To be devoted to one another
When you hurt, we hurt
When you leave or aren’t here, it affects us
The moment you said yes to His life, His death, and His resurrection, you became part of a family
As a Christian, I realize that my life is no longer my own

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