1. The Believing Community

2.  We are part of a community, though we live in a sinful generation  God interacts with community  God calls communities  We uphold our community before God  God will address a community.

3. Community 1.a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage. 2.a locality inhabited by such a group. 3.a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually preceded by the):the business community; the community of scholars. 4.a group of associated nations sharing common interests or a common heritage: the community of Western Europe. 5.Ecclesiastical. a group of men or women leading a common life according to a rule 6.Ecology. an assemblage of interacting populations occupying a given area. 7.joint possession, enjoyment, liability, etc.:community of property. 8.similar character; agreement; identity:community of interests. 9.the community, the public; society:the needs of the community.

4. Community (etymology) late 14c., from Old French comunité "community, commonness, everybody" (Modern French communauté), from Latin communitatem (nominativecommunitas) "community, society, fellowship, friendly intercourse; courtesy, condescension, affability," from communis "common, public, general, shared by all or many," (see common (adj.)). Latin communitatem "was merely a noun of quality... meaning 'fellowship, community of relations or feelings,' but in med.L. it was, like universitas, used concretely in the sense of 'a body of fellows or fellow-townsmen' " [OED]. An Old English word for "community" was gemænscipe "community, fellowship, union, common ownership," from mæne "common, public, general," probably composed from the same PIE roots as communis. Community service as a criminal sentence is recorded from 1972, American English.Community college is recorded from 1959. common

5. Acts 2:42 (NKJV) 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

6.  κοινωνός means “fellow,” “participant.” It implies fellowship or sharing with someone or in something  where the bond is that of relationship or love, which implies sharing a common enterprise  denotes “participation,” “fellowship,” esp. with a close bond. It expresses a two-sided 1. “participation,” 2. “impartation,” 3. “fellowship.”  Kittel, G., Bromiley, G. W., & Friedrich, G. (Eds.). (1964). Theological dictionary of the New Testament (electronic ed., Vol. 3, p. 798). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

13. Deuteronomy 4:32–34 32 …Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? … 34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the L ORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

14. You are a community

15. God interacts with Community Isaiah 63:7 7 I will tell of the kindnesses of the L ORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the L ORD has done for us— yes, the many good things he has done for Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses.

16. God Calls Community Matthew 24:31 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

17. We ought identify with community  In good or bad

18. Daniel 9:3–5 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the L ORD my God and confessed: “… 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.

19. A community is known by its people

20. Revelation 2:1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.

21. Revelation 2:8 8 “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.

22. Revelation 2:12 12 “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.

23. Revelation 2:18 18 “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

24. Revelation 3:1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

25. Revelation 3:7 7 “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

26. Revelation 3:14 14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.

27. To the Church at Granite Quarry What will be written?

28. Revelation 21:27 (NKJV) 27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.