Get connected!
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Read Ecc 4:9-12
Being connected is extremely essential in our days! Facebook, Twitter, Messenger, WhatsApp, and similar platforms have become billionaires by exploiting man’s need to be connected to others.
Has it happened to you that you plug your device to the cable to charge it without realizing that the cable was not connected to power? Frustrating, isn’t it?
Don’t you think that you are more important than your phone, tablet, or computer? Do you plug yourself to the power daily?
The importance of being connected:
Being connected is natural.
Being connected is natural.
Man is a social being. He needs the company of others. Why? Because...
We were created to be connected to each other.
We were created to be connected to each other.
When God created the animals (birds, fish, reptiles, and mammals), He made them male and female. After that, He created man (Adam); but there was no companion for Adam:
The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.
God had the solution to Adam’s need:
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
We’re recreated to be connected to the Church.
We’re recreated to be connected to the Church.
As God’s children, we are placed into a family, the Body of God that is called the Church.
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
2
For the body is not one member, but many.
The body is the interconnection of all the members. Their connection is necessary for the body to function properly. All members are needed. Therefore...
1 cor
And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
A wolf without a pack usually starves to death; kangaroos need their mob; sheep need their flock; soldiers need an army; and believers need a church.
1 cor 12
It is the presence of the third strand that makes the chord stronger.
Being connected is important.
Being connected is important.
To keep the greatest commandments.
To keep the greatest commandments.
An expert in the Law of Moses, a lawyer, an interpreter of the Law, came to Jesus trying to test Him with a question, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus answered with another question, “What is written in the Law?”
And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
These summary of all the commandments indicates the importance of being connected, thru love, to God, and also being connected, also thru love, to our neighbor.
Luke 10:27-29
To answer the excuse of “who is my neighbor?”, Jesus told the man the story of the Good Samaritan. The first two passerby, a priest and a Levite, were of the same race of the wounded man (physical connection), but they did not connect with him spiritually or emotionally. The third, a Samaritan, emotionally connected with him and helped him.
That’s the type of connection you establish when you become a member of a church; not when you are an attendee or spectator. When you commit yourself to the church, the church commits herself to you.
To keep our mental sanity.
To keep our mental sanity.
“woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.” 10b
Connection to others is vital to maintain a healthy emotional life.
Solitary confinement is one of the worst punishment man can receive. It leads to craziness!
Why? Because you do not have someone to talk to, to share with, to laugh with, and to cry with.
Loneliness is a killer! It leads to depression!
Being connected is more convenient.
Being connected is more convenient.
It’s more productive. 9-10
It’s more productive. 9-10
“Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.” 9
Cooperative or teamwork effort is always more efficient that single effort?
Horse pulling a load...
A single draft horse can pull a load up to 8,000 pounds. So then we can logically speculate what would happen if we hooked up two draft horses to a load. If you instantly thought two draft horses could pull 16,000 pounds if one draft horse can pull 8,000 pounds, you would be wrong. Two draft horses pulling together cannot pull twice as much as one. They can actually pull three times as much. The two draft horses that can each pull 8,000 pounds alone can pull 24,000 pounds working together.
There is more strength.
There is more strength.
There’s more protection. 11-12
There’s more protection. 11-12
There’s more protection. 11-12
There’s more protection. 11-12
As a lonely strand, you will not resist much: “how can one be warm alone?” 10b
When you connect to another strand, together you will resist more: “if two lie down together they keep warm”. 10a
Did you know that is survival technique the Army teaches the soldiers?
But if those two strands get connected to a third strand, then the chord reaches its strongest resistance: “A chord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.”
Illustration: Resistance of cords
An important connection is represented in a chord of three strands: one strand represents you, another strand represents the church, and the third strand represents God.
Such connection is represented in a chord of three strands: one strand represents you, another strand represents the church, and the third strand represents God.
Slide 3 strands 1
It is the presence of the third strand that makes the chord stronger.
The connection in marriage is also a good illustration of it: Slide 3 strands 2
If the marriage is made of husband and wife (2 strands), the chances of breaking apart are much higher than if it is made husband, wife, and God.
No matter the problems you face as a couple, if God is part of your cord you can face them with the confidence that with His help you’ll overcome them.
Being connected is influential.
Being connected is influential.
You cannot influence anyone unless you connect with them. You cannot be influenced either unless you are connected.
We come together as a church to praise and worship our God, but also to influence each other:
“Let us think how to stimulate (be provoked, exert influence) one another to love and good deeds, not missing the meeting (service), as some do it, but exhorting each other; even more as the day draws near.”
This could be a good paraphrase of
and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
24
The Today’s NIV uses gives an interesting translation of this verse:
This could be a good paraphrase of Heb 10:24-25
“that we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”
How can we spur a horse that is not or is seldom in the corral?
heb 3:13
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Paul was a man of influence on the life of many other Christians. He exhorted them to imitate him:
“Therefore I exhort you, be imitator of me.”
And again,
“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”
Get connected to the church thru membership, be influenced by the leadership and become a good influence of others.
Make your marriage connection stronger by letting God be in control
Get connected to God daily and become a stronger and holier believer.