This Sunday at Likewise

Foundations - Community

Galatians 6:10 Hebrews 10:24-25

There’s a deep hunger in our world right now—not just for connection, but for real community. Not surface-level relationships, not occasional check-ins or check-ups, but a kind of life together where people are known, encouraged, and carried when they’re weak.

The writer of Hebrews speaks directly into that need in Hebrews 10:24–25 “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together… but encouraging one another.”

That word consider is intentional. It means we don’t just hope community happens—we think about it, we plan for it, we pursue it. Biblical community is not accidental; it’s cultivated. It’s a people who show up, who stir one another, who love and care for one another.

And then Paul pushes it even further in Galatians 6:10 “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

Community isn’t just gathering—it’s doing good. It’s active. It’s sacrificial. It’s choosing to invest in one another, especially within the family of God.

But if you’re anything like me you’re asking, “Why should we live this way? What is the foundation for this kind of community?”

The answer takes us back to Exodus 34:6–7, where God reveals His own character:

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness…”

This is not just who God is—this is who God is forming us to be.

In other words, Christian community is the visible expression of God’s invisible character.

So when we commit to one another, when we show up for one another, when we serve, forgive, and encourage one another - we’re not just building community, we’re reflecting the very heart of God to the world that desperately needs the intentional community of God!

See you this Sunday at Likewise

Pastor Josh

HEAD — What we’re invited to understand

Biblical community is not accidental — it is intentional.

In Hebrews 10:24–25, we are called to consider how to stir one another up toward love and good works. Christian community is more than gathering together; it is actively encouraging, strengthening, and caring for one another. The merciful and faithful character God revealed in Exodus is meant to be reflected through His people.

Let your understanding of community move beyond attendance to intentional care for others.

HEART — What we’re invited to feel and receive

God designed us to live known, encouraged, and supported by one another.

In Galatians 6:10, Paul reminds us to do good, especially to the household of faith. Community becomes the place where God’s compassion, grace, patience, and steadfast love are experienced in tangible ways. We are not called to carry life alone — we are invited into the kind of relationships that reflect the heart of God.

Allow your heart to open to the kind of community God created you to live in.

HANDS— What we’re invited to live out

Community is built through intentional love and action.

This week, look for opportunities to encourage, serve, forgive, fellowship, be generous towards, pray with, and care for one another (Acts 2:42–47). Christian community grows when people choose to invest in one another consistently and sacrificially. As we do, we become a visible expression of God’s invisible character to the world around us.

Choose to intentionally encourage and care for someone this week as a reflection of God’s love.

Likewise Sermons

Foundations - Abiding

Date: May 10, 2026

Category: God, The Church, Bible, Disciple

Speaker: Josh Burt

Passages: The Gospel According to John John 15:1-11

In Exodus 34:6–7, God reveals His name—His very character—to Moses: compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. This is not just a description of what God does; it’s who He is. It’s the heartbeat of the Father. And as the story of Scripture unfolds, we begin to see that this same character is not distant or abstract—it is made visible, tangible, and personal in Jesus.

When we come to John 15:1–11, Jesus doesn’t just teach about God’s love—He invites us into it. “I am the true vine… abide in me.” This is more than a metaphor for behavior; it’s an invitation into relationship. The same steadfast love and faithfulness declared in Exodus is now something we live inside of. The Father, full of mercy and truth, is the gardener. The Son is the vine, the very source of life. And the Spirit is the one who sustains that life in us, producing fruit we could never grow on our own.

To abide in Jesus is to be drawn into the very life of the Trinity—to receive the love the Father has for the Son, to remain in it, and to let it shape everything about us. This is not striving; it’s staying. Not performing; but participating. The God who revealed Himself as abounding in steadfast love now invites us to dwell in that love—to live connected, dependent, and transformed.

So it is not “Do you know information about Him?” or “What are you doing for Him?” - the question is deeper: “Are you abiding in Him?”

Because everything flows from that - and He wants us to be a part of Him!