Part 2-Be the Church: Love One Another
Type of Event: Worship Service: Sermon only
Date Recorded: 22 Jul, 2007
Location: Pittsburgh, PA 
Topics: Charity / Life of Use / Service
Description: In part one of our series, we reviewed our individual responsibilities to the Lord as citizens of his kingdom on earth, the Church. They are to live a life of piety (praying, reading the Word, and worshiping the Lord) and a life of charity (repenting, shunning evils, and serving other people) so that we may be born again.
In Part 2, we are talking about how we can be the church to one another. In The Gospel of John, the Lord tells us, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." A very powerful and important way we can keep this commandment is by supporting each other in one another's personal spiritual journeys. True Christian Religion teaches that the Church as a person's neighbor provides true teachings and good deeds by which that person enters the Lord's kingdom. If each of us is to be the church, then each of us is responsible for supporting our spiritual brothers and sisters as they try to understand truths and to do good deeds.
It is because the church - which is made up of each one of us - helps us in this way that we are to love and honor our spiritual mother the church as one of the highest forms of neighbor. And when we are the church to one another and are loving the church in one another, we form a spiritual community of individuals striving to help one another to become better people. This community the Writings for the New Church call the "communion of saints".
But the communion of saints also includes people you have never met. In Part 3, we will look at ways we as a church can be a good neighbor to the rest of the world in "Be the Church, Part 3: Serve Humanity".
To see the truth of this message and to learn how to apply it to your life, read John 13:31-24 and True Christian Religion 145-146, and then listen to the full audio of this sermon by clicking here. This sermon, along with the rest of the series, is available through the Pittsburgh New Church (www.PittsburghNewChurch.org) where it was preached, TheoBlog.com, NewChurch.org, and for free at the Apple iTunes Store.
References: Text: John 13:35
Lessons: John 13:31-35; TCR 145-146; John 13:12, 14
Paused:
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1Be the Church 2: Love One Another - John 13:35 (Jul 12, 2007)14m 48s
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