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

Tables: Who's at the table?

1 Corinthians 12:12-14, Romans 15:7

July 12th, 2026

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.” -1 Corinthians 12:12-14

-Matthew was a Tax Collector

-Simon was a Zealot

-Jesus chose them BOTH

- Jesus wasn't building a group of people who naturally belonged together. He was building a family whose unity would be found in Him.

1) The Body Needs All Its Parts

-Our primary identity is no longer found in our background, our politics, our age, or our status. Our primary identity is that we belong to Christ.

"A dwelling place requires not one big stone but many pieces of stone, interlocked and fortified together... together our unique shapes complement each other and create a more structurally sound building." -Brett McCracken

2) Living with Different People is Hard

"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."

Galatians 6:2

-Community isn't about finding people who never create burdens. It's about becoming the kind of people who help carry them.

"bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." - Colossians 3:13

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." - Ephesians 4:2-3

"In true community we will not choose our companions, for our choices are so often limited by self-serving motives. Often our companions will be persons who upset our settled view of self and world." -Parker Palmer

3) The Spirit Is the Bond That Holds Us

"For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body." 1 Corinthians12:13

-The church is not an institution for perfect people. It is a sanctuary for sinners saved by grace

"If I had never joined a church till I had found one that was perfect, I should never have joined one at all." - Charles Spurgeon

"Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” Romans 15:7

Listen to the podcast and take your own notes!