The Power of Connection

• If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

Why connect?• Two are better than one,

because they have a good return for their work:

Profit

Provision

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Why connect?• Also, if two lie down

together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone

Protection

Power• Though one may be

overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Does this sound familiar?

Don’t get too close

Depend on yourself

Don’t worry about someone else’s problems/issues

Fear of Connecting

The Protection

Establish • Plug in to a Christian environment

• Provide a Christian foundation

• To instill Christian values

Our Mission is to:

… People to live without limits!

Our Mission is to:

… People to live without limits!

The Provision

Encourage • Become motivated to learn and share

• Hebrews 10: 24 – 25

Our Mission is to:

… People to live without limits!

The Profit

Elevate • Capture and hang on to the reward

• Ephesians 4:11-15

Our Mission is to:

… People to live without limits!

The Power

Empower • Get the tools to live life without limits

• Helping others to enjoy

• Begin or lead a ministry

Matthew 22:36-40

• Vertical Connection - Love the Lord your God

• Horizontal Connection - Love your neighbor as yourself

Biblical Foundation: Two Basic Connections

Matthew 22:36-40

• Vertical Connection - Love the Lord your God

• Horizontal Connection - Love your neighbor as yourself

Biblical Foundation: Two Basic Connections

1. Faith in Christ– John 3:16– Ephesians 2: 8-9

Your Vertical Connection

You

God

1. Faith in Christ– John 3:16– Ephesians 2: 8-9

2. Obeying Scripture– 1 John 5

Your Vertical Connection

You

God

1. Faith in Christ– John 3:16– Ephesians 2: 8-9

2. Obeying Scripture– 1 John 5

3. Evidence of faith in everyday life– Philippians 2: 12 - 13

Your Vertical Connection

You

God

1. Love one another– 1 John 4:7-11

Your Horizontal Connection

You

God

1. Love one another– 1 John 4:7-11

2. Consider others as more important than ourselves– Philippians 2: 3-4

Your Horizontal Connection

You

God

1. Get the tools – You have everything you need

2. Spiritual transformation

3. Gain Confidence from the Bible

4. Draw Power from the Holy Spirit

5. Build character through trials

Prepare Yourself

1. Get the tools

2. Spiritual transformation

3. Gain Confidence from the Bible

4. Draw Power from the Holy Spirit

5. Build character through trials

Prepare Yourself

Prepare Yourself

1. Get the tools

2. Spiritual transformation

3. Gain Confidence from the Bible

4. Draw Power from the Holy Spirit

5. Build character through trials

Prepare Yourself

1. Get the tools

2. Spiritual transformation

3. Gain Confidence from the Bible

4. Draw Power from the Holy Spirit

5. Build character through trials

1. Get the tools

2. Spiritual transformation

3. Gain Confidence from the Bible

4. Draw Power from the Holy Spirit

5. Build character through trials

Prepare Yourself

How we lose connections:• Actively

– Galatians 5: 13-16– Never throw out anyone

Staying Connected

How we lose connections:• Actively

– Galatians 5: 13-16– Never throw out anyone

• Passively– Excuses– Drifting

Staying Connected

Confidence in helping others grows from:• Continuous renewal of the mind (Romans 12:2)

Habits that benefit others

Confidence in helping others grows from:• Continuous renewal of the mind (Romans 12:2)

• Confessing our sins (1 John 1:9)

Habits that benefit others

Confidence in helping others grows from:• Continuous renewal of the mind (Romans 12:2)

• Confessing our sins (James 5:16)

• Seeing privilege in assisting others (2 Cor 1: 3 -4)

Habits that benefit others

• The body can’t work without the parts

Importance of connecting

• The body cant work without the parts

• We need each other because of our different gifts

Importance of connecting

• The body cant work without the parts

• We need each other because of our different gifts

• Heaven is a speckled bird

Importance of connecting

When you’re faced with:• Participating in a church function or need

Situational Issues

When you’re faced with:• Participating in a church function or need

• Connecting with someone new

Situational Issues

When you’re faced with:• Participating in a church function or need

• Connecting with someone new

• Hanging with your “old” friends

Situational Issues

1. Love God, and Love People (Matthew 22: 36-40)

Strategies for Building Christian Relationships

1. Love God, and Love People (Matthew 22: 36-40)2. Prioritize relationships (Romans 16: 17-18)

Strategies for building Christian Relationships

1. Love God, and Love People (Matthew 22: 36-40)2. Prioritize relationships (Romans 16: 17-18)3. Be Happy (Matthew 5:14)

Strategies for building Christian Relationships

1. Love God, and Love People (Matthew 22: 36-40)2. Prioritize relationships (Romans 16: 17-18)3. Be Happy (Matthew 5:14)4. Manage conflict

Strategies for building Christian Relationships

1. Love God, and Love People (Matthew 22: 36-40)2. Prioritize relationships (Romans 16: 17-18)3. Be Happy (Matthew 5:14)4. Manage Conflict5. Listen

Strategies for building Christian Relationships

1. Love God, and Love People (Matthew 22: 36-40)2. Prioritize relationships (Romans 16: 17-18)3. Be Happy (Matthew 5:14)4. Manage Conflict5. Listen6. Share values and interests

Strategies for building Christian Relationships

Thank You!

Notes

• Hebrews 10:24-25 (New International Version)

• 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

• Ephesians 4:11-15 (New International Version)

• 11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

• 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

• 1 Timothy 6:6 (New International Version)

• 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

• 2 Corinthians 5:17 (New International Version)

• 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

• John 3:16 (New International Version)

• 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

• 2 Corinthians 3:18 (New International Version)

• 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect[a] the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

• 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (New International Version)

• 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work

• Ephesians 2:8-9 (New International Version)

• 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

• 1 John 5:3 (New International Version)

• 3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,

• Galatians 5:13-16 (New International Version)

• 13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature[a] ; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[b] 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 6 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

• 1 John 4:7-11 (New International Version)

• 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son[a] into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for[b] our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

• Philippians 2:3-4 (New International Version)

• 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

• 2 Peter 1:3-4 (New International Version)

• 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

• 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (New International Version)

• 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work

• 1 Peter 1:6-7 (New International Version)

• 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

• Matthew 22:36-40 (New International Version)

• 36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

• Romans 12:2 (New International Version)

• 2 Do not conform any longer 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.

• James 5:16 (New International Version)

• 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

• 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (New International Version)

• 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

• Romans 16:17-18 (New International Version)

• 17 I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.

• Matthew 5:4 (New International Version)

• 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

• Biblical Background of Connecting

• Why is it important

• Situational Issues

• Strategies for build Christian Relationships

The Connection Journey

Spreading the word:• John 17: 20 – 23

– 20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Importance of Connecting