In John 15, Jesus tells his disciples to abide in him. We abide in Christ through the means of grace, such as scripture, prayer and worship. And when we abide in Christ, we remain in his spirit, and his spirit remains in us.

Jesus was asked by a lawyer, who was trying to justify himself, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus told the parable of the 'good Samaritan', in which he shifted the focus from "Who is my neighbor?" to "Who proved to be a neighbor?" The answer was, and is, the one who showed mercy.

Jesus is 'the light' that has come into the world. As followers of Jesus, we are called to be the light of the world.

There will be times when our humanness will come through and we 'do harm.' When that happens, God has given us a way to fix it, through confession, repentance and forgiveness.

This Sunday we begin our foundational sermon series on Discipleship. We will begin with Do No Harm: Do Not Contribute To The Darkness.

We are reconnected to God through Christ with the power of the Holy Spirit. Once we are connected to God we must maintain a strong flow of God's grace, truth and Spirit in our lives.

Over the last few weeks we have been looking at the entirety of the Bible through the concept of 'Connection'. We have seen how we were created for connection with God and others. We have learned that selfish use of the gift of 'free will' disconnects us from God and others. We saw in the Old Testament that God continually attempted to reconnect to us through covenants, law and the prophets. This week we will discuss God's ultimate planning to reconnect with humanity through Jesus Christ.

After being disconnected from God and others by selfishness, God tried to reconnect with us through covenants, the law and the prophets.

God has given us the gift of free will that allows us to love, but when used selfishly, it disconnects us from God and one another.

God created all things in perfect order and harmony and for a purpose. God’s purpose in creating us was so that we might have a love relationship with God and one another. God created us with free will. This free will is what allows us to love, but if used selfishly, is the root of our sin.