As we near the end of our week, focusing on tilling the soil of the heart,

today we're going to look at the role of community in positioning ourselves to receive all that God longs to give.

God is calling us into a deeper commitment to love others and be loved by others.

He wants to use us and those he's placed around us to guide us deeper into fullness of life.

So as we set our eyes on him, may he fill our hearts with compassion and love and desire to be fully known and fully loved by our communities.

Welcome to the First 15 podcast. I'm I'm I'm

The Our verse for today comes from Romans 12 verses 4 through 5.

Scripture says,

For as in one body, we have many members, and the members do not all have the same

function. So we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

One of the most useful gifts God has given us for making our hearts receptive to him is each other.

The church is both a beautiful and broken group of people.

Beautiful because of the grace of God working in each of us, making us more like Jesus.

Broken because we have yet to walk in the fullness of what Christ did for us on the cross.

Most of us have been wounded by something that happened in a church.

Most of us have felt anger, frustration,

or annoyance with a fellow believer.

But if we are to walk in the fullness of what God intends for us here on earth,

we must continually forgive and ask forgiveness from each other,

submit ourselves to a group of Christ followers,

and share life with believers in accordance with God's Word.

The Bible is clear that the best place for us to thrive

...