Romans 12:15- Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

• What happens at the table?
• • Communication, or connection, can be defined as three levels
  • • Shallow - external facts and stories
    • Midlands - internal facts of experience or feeling
    • Depths - internal reflection and resonating with someone else's internal reflections
• Romans 12:15
• Jesus' path to complete joy
• • Love leads to joy
  • • Galatians 5:22-23
    • John 15:9-11
  • Jesus sharing joy: Mark 14 - The Lord's Supper
• "Being able to participate in someone else's joy is good for them, good for us - and good for everyone around us! Rejoice together and feel yourself grow lighter and more joyful." - Vivek Gambhir, Leadership Expert and Author
• When it's hard to rejoice: Choose Joy.
• • "Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day." - Professor Henri Nouwen.
  • • A Case for Choosing Joy from Neurology:
    • • Survival brain and the 14:1 ratio of anxious thoughts
      • Neuroplasticity and God's Design
      • • Neurons that fire together, wire together
        • • We can grow our "joy center" in the brain by choosing joy
    • A Case for Choosing Joy from Scripture: Rejoice Always
    • • Philippians 4:4-8
      • Sharing Sorrows the Jesus Way: Jesus knew sorrow.
  • Mark 14:32-34
  • A Case for Sharing Sorrow from Psychology:
  • Community's impact on Trauma Recovery
  • The Impact of relational support in developing resilience
• A Case for Sharing Sorrow from Scripture: Bearing on another's burdens
• • Hebrews 10:24-25
  • • "Encourage" - Greek parakaleo, verb of paraklete, noun for the Helper (the Holy Spirit)
  • Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
• What breaks community
• • Covetousness breaks our ability to share joy
  • • Luke 12:13-15
  • Contentment builds community
  • • 1 Timothy 6:6 - But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment
  • Pride breaks our ability to share sorrows
  • • Romans 12:16 - Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.
  • Humble Unity builds community
  • • 1 Peter 3:8 - To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit;
  • Gossip breaks our ability to build trust
  • • Proverbs 16:28 - A perverse man spreads strife, and a slanderer separates intimate friends.
  • Listening and speaking wisely build community
  • • Proverbs 10:19 - Where there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.
    • James 1:19 - This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
• Our Hope for Real Community: Jesus prayed that we would be unified in Him
• • John 17:20-21 - "I don't ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me."
• Next steps to build community
• • Get around a table; get real with people.
• Spiritual preparation for community
• • Confess: Covetousness, Pride, Gossip
  • Ask: Contentment, Humility, Wisdom to listen and to speak