The perseverance of the saints is one of the main agendas of God. He has promised it and He will carry it out. However, God’s main method of delivering his promise is empowering his people to take care of one another so that they do persevere.

God’s perseverance doesn’t merely mean "lasting it out." Instead, it is a victorious perseverance. Christians persevere together. The more an individual Christian separates himself or herself from Christian fellowship and community, the less likely that believer’s perseverance will be victorious.

The TOGETHERS OF PERSEVERANCE include:

Pray For One Another [57]

Run the Full Race Together [58]

Preserve One Another's Hope [59]

Face and Endure Hardship Together [60]

Hold To the Truth Together [61]

Look Out For One Another's Good [62]

Forbid Mistreatment of One Another [63]

Keep One Another From the Love of Money [64]

Keep One Another From Revenge [65]

The members of Downtown Church are poor, very poor. But they persevere and continue to do good in the Name of the Lord. Reverend Johnson has taught them "the togethers of perseverance." You would have to search far and wide to find people who prayed for each other as intensely. Prayers for kids, education, finances, safety, and a host of other concerns are always on their lips for each other at the Throne of Grace. [57]

Heaven is mentioned often at Downtown Church. It is the end of the course. Members want to complete the race with their heads held high, happy that they have been true to their Lord all the way. It is refreshing to see that foremost in their minds is the success in this earthly race of everyone in their church. They are always picking each other up from despair. Their songs are particularly powerful in keeping them going. [58]

When Shirley's husband ran off with another woman and her financial support disappeared, she had a trial of hope. Then one of her children came down with a serious disease, requiring much medical care and personal attention. Even all of the help of the church did not restore her hope in the Lord and His final deliverance. She said her hope was alive, but everyone could tell that it was not very strong. But Shirley's church friends patiently stood by her, helped her, prayed for her, and reminded her of God's promises. Even though nothing was changed, one morning Shirley woke up with renewed hope that has not wavered to this day. [59 & 60]

The people of Downtown Church hold to the truth together. They study the Bible in just about every church gathering. And they meet together in small groups weekly, spending at least a little time studying the Word of God. Particularly, they remind one another of the truth whenever they have contact. When 84-year-old Mr. Stephens was crying the other day in church, the pastor stopped the service and asked him what was the matter. (Everyone loves Mr. Stephens!) Through tears Mr. Stephens said that he was tired of living and wanted to go Home. Then Rev. Johnson asked people in the congregation, as they were led by the Holy Spirit, to share with Mr. Stephens verses of scripture that assured him that heaven would wait for him as well as verses that promised strength. Since he was so hard of hearing, individuals had to leave their pews and come stand right in front of him to read loudly their Bible verses. [61]

To persevere in this difficult world, the members of Downtown Church look out for each other's good. Single parents without families nearby are given a break from child-raising regularly. The living quarters of the church's older people are kept in repair. No one goes without food. [62]

Whenever anyone at Downtown Church has trouble getting help within the church or from governmental agencies, a church leader goes with them and advocates for them to the church committee or at the social agency. [63]

Having so little money, by and large, the people of Downtown Church are very prone to fall into the love of money. Since so much security is attached to having it, the love of money and the things it can buy is very attractive, especially since most other people in the city have things they do not have. Unlike Christians in wealthier churches who have to help one another fight the urge to hoard, the members of Downtown Baptist have to remind each other that happiness will not come with a new television or toaster. [64]

The hard pressures of daily life put people on edge at times. Sometimes the people of Downtown Church get mad. When Bobby Smith's car was stolen by another neighborhood teenager, he got a few of his friends from church to plan revenge. However, Elder Carver heard of this and met with the boys, talking them out of their plans, praying with them, and then taking up the long wait to see how God would bring justice. [65]

2 Cor 1:8-11; Eph 6:18; Col 4:12; **James 5:16 **

Constantly pray for one another's perseverance and steadfastness in the faith.

Christians are commanded to pray for one another all the time. While we are in spiritual warfare, perseverance and steadfastness in the faith depend on constant intercession for one another.

God has given us the power of community prayer to move Him to action on behalf of one another. When we do so, we worship God by reflecting back to Him many things including his great love for his people. We also reflect His own nature in imitating the constant discourse of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit on our behalf.

In small groups that meet over a considerable period of time, prayer for one another can reach new depths. When we get to know one another, how we see things, how we think, how we feel, then we can pray for one another at more specific and detailed levels. For example, instead of just praying for someone's need for a new job, we can pray specifically for the kind of job where we know they can find contentment in ways they have never before experienced.

When someone requests prayer in their small group, the other members should ask them detailed questions about their request. What are the person's motivations? Why does the person want what he has requested for prayer? Does he have the spiritual qualities that would be required if such a prayer were to be granted? How would others be affected if he receives the request? These questions are not asked out of animosity or to cut off the person's prayer request. Instead, they are a sincere effort to uncover issues that need to be prayed about and resolved before God will want to grant the prayer. It is the small group's responsibility to bring all aspects of the request out in the open and then pray obediently.

Christians persevere through prayer. While almost every larger gathering of Christians includes prayer, it is, unfortunately, usually only in thanksgiving for blessings God has bestowed. Prayer should also regularly seek strength for perseverance in the Christian life and faith. Even though life often feels like spiritual peacetime, that is a deception. We continually need to ask God for protection and power.

Christians should remember that they are really together in the church even when apart. We should continually pray for one another, specifically addressing situations that each individual faces. God wants us to talk to Him about each other. Asking God for things for others sends requests to God which are not hindered by selfish ambition, self-centeredness or proud thoughts. Although we are to pray for ourselves, it is the prayer of others (within God's will) that often makes the difference.

1. What do you think of the biblical teachings that prayers accompanied by group agreement are promised special answers?

2. When a whole group struggles over what is best to pray for before actually praying, what does that accomplish?

1. Each group member tell the group is they are faithful in bringing serious prayer requests for their family, friends or themselves to the group or other Christians for joint prayer. Discuss with each person how they might improve.

2. Each group member bring at least one prayer request to the group for discussion on agreement and then prayer.

2 Cor 8:11; Col 1:22-23; **Heb 12:1-4**

Help one another through the entire race from second birth to death. Do all you can to ensure that everyone finishes as a victor in Christ.

We are not on earth as citizens of heaven to soak up the pleasantries of this world, but to live and fight for God. The race path from second birth to death is not an easy one. Christians are to help one another make it through the whole race and finish together as victors in Christ. Christians are commanded to run this race together, not against one another, but pulling each other through the race as one or the other falters.

God has given us the power of community to see that we run the full race of faith. When so persevere, we worship God by reflecting back to Him his own steadfastness, consistency, and unchanging nature as well as reflecting back our Savior’s own perseverance as He declared, "Not my will, but thine be done" and continued on to the cross on our behalf to fully complete the plan of the ages.

The most dangerous times for Christians running the full race of faith is between the teenage years and the early 50's. During those times so many things compete for our attention. Teenagers struggle with acceptance by their Christian and non-Christian peers. Their faith can be shattered easily by rejection or a lack of acceptance. College students learn competing theologies and philosophies that challenge the whole legitimacy of a faith in a personal God. Their faith is tested severely. Young married people with their heads in the clouds want to experience all of life fully. Some of that competes with their faith. Other young marrieds find living together very trying. They find the biblical admonition to "stay together and make the marriage work" very difficult. Some throw away their faith to be able to get out of a marriage. Others stay together but become very disillusioned. This, too, challenges their personal faith. While young parenthood is often a stabilizing period for Christians, parenting is a struggle for some. They may become too tired to exercise the sustaining aspects of their faith. Parents of grade schoolers and teens can be so involved in the other activities of their children that they can be drawn away from the church because of a lack of time. For those who have been dissatisfied with church (possibly because of the lack of true biblical fellowship and community), this may be the first step of their drawing out of the church for years to come.

That is why it is important that all church members from junior high age through the early 50's be involved in small group community. We often have youth programs for junior and senior high kids, but those are almost always fellowship gatherings. These help with identity development, but all teens need to be involved in small groups, preferably eight or less in number, where they can come to know others well and become known closely enough to receive real help from one another and from the adult leader. These small groups can have a Bible study and discussion emphasis, but they must have the flexibility to deviate at any point in time to discuss real issues with which the teenagers struggle.

If we are to run the full race together, then small group community is a critical prescription for success. We're not commanded to start the race and eventually finish it. We're not asked to begin at the starting point and merely end at the finish line after taking some disastrous detours. We are asked by God to go from start to finish on the path of faith God has marked out for each of us individually and all of us together.

Larger gatherings of Christians are critical to make sure that everyone travels the full distance of faith in this life. Just notice how important church worship services and fellowship suppers are to the senior members of the church. As their bodies slow down, these older Christians look forward with great anticipation to each and every congregational gathering that they can attend. By the time they enter the hospital for the last time, these "old warriors of the faith" have persevered through years and years of meeting together with other Christians of all ages. There is great power for perseverance for running the full race in regular gatherings of the church .

Congregational fellowships are extremely important for all ages. It is in these larger gatherings that children meet people who love them. Kids eventually find a few adults they admire so much that, when they become rebellious teens, they will still listen to those from the larger fellowship they have come to know and respect. After they have moved through adolescent rebellion, they will choose these people as visible models of the Lord Jesus Christ and begin to pattern their lives of faith after those they met when they were small children. Just ponder the stabilizing effect children have in seeing the same Christians persevere over the first two decades of their life!

These examples illustrate the need for a great deal of interpersonal interaction when Christians gather in groups of twelve or more. Churches must guard against packing their larger fellowships with so many activities that there is not time for interaction between the old with the young (which helps the elderly in their hope of heaven) and of the young with the old (which provides the young with models for later life). People become comfortable with one another in structured activities . What a shame when time is not allowed for visiting and getting to know one another. Game Nights in the church where people mix up and play table games and get comfortable with one another can really be useful in this regard. This establishes the basis for communication in the aisles of the church for many years thereafter. Church picnics are okay, but they don't occur often enough and do not usually structure interaction across age levels. Monthly Game Nights are more effective.

As individual Christians talk to others in larger fellowship gatherings, they should be checking out how the race of faith is going for everyone they meet. The question, "How is it going?" often means, "Hello." The right question is asked but trivialized. The question is good and ought to be asked as precisely as it sounds. How it is going for each of us is one of the most important questions we can ask one another.

1. Christians are to help one another through the various stages of life. Start off my thinking about the age groups and situations represented by group members. If you were to be together in this group, which you will most likely not, what would you have to help one another with from now until death? (Examples: health problems, retirement, grandparenting, job losses, etc.)

2. Next think of those living with group members, such as children or elderly parents. What might the group need to help with these people in the sense of running the full race together?

1. Find out if any group member is facing some difficult change in life. Get in there and help.

Isa 40:30-31; Rom 15:4; 2 Cor 3:12; Eph 4:4; Col 1:22-23; 1 Thess 1:3; 1 Tim 4:10; 1 Tim 6:17; Titus 2:11-14; Heb 3:6; **Heb 10:23**; 1 Peter 1:13; 2 Peter 3:13

Keep each other's hope high. When bad times threaten hope, be right there to reassure others of God's sovereignty, His steadfast love, His past deliverances and His wonderful plans for our future.

Hope wavers during the Christian journey. Bad times threaten hope. But hope is an eternal quality, and Christians are told to keep each other's hope high. The Israelites celebrated holidays to preserve their hope based on God's past deliverances. We are to keep each other's hope alive by continually reassuring one another of God's steadfast love and past deliverance, as well as His future plans for us.

God has given us the necessary knowledge, faith and hope in community to preserve one another's hope. When we do so, we worship God by reflecting back to Him our belief in many of qualities, including his sovereignty, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience and his pure, loving character.

When despairing individuals do not attend the small group community in which they have been deeply involved, someone will contact them and discover that they have lost hope. Then the faithful small group will leap into action. People will visit the person who is knee-deep in struggle and pain. Individuals might even pick the person up and bring them to the small group, ensuring that they are in a setting where restoration of hope is most powerful and probable.

Honest discussions of trials and testimonies of a return of faith can be shared most openly in the small group. Most all of us have committed stupid sins and faced the terrible consequences. Our small group can help us know that there is hope, that there is light at the end of a time of darkness, that there is forgiveness in Christ and a new beginning, and that the Lord really does help us to prevail through the most difficult circumstances. Those with incurable illnesses can slowly and tenderly be helped to look toward heaven when they will be released from their sickness. They are helped in their hope by the tender caring of the other group members who share in their hurt, but not their hopelessness. In the small group, personal concern leads to the search for scriptural passages which will restore hope to the individual group member, passages tailored to the situation.

How easily God's past mercy to us is forgotten when trials hit. When difficulty and trial strike, many Christians feel something has gone terribly wrong. But when we realize that trials are part of God's plan for re-designing us into Christ's image (as well as the inevitable result of living on a sinful planet), then our hope returns. But if trials do not disappear within a short period of time, the second wave of despair can hit and Christian hope wanes.

In a church where there is no time made during fellowship for testimonies of God's deliverance, individuals feeling despair will probably not think of church as a place to go with their hopelessness. If the testimonies at church are always happy (and there are no true stories of God's provision during times of trial), it's very easy to conclude the church is not a relevant place to be for those in the midst of trials. Christians who want to obey the Lord's command to preserve each other's hope will make certain that there are times for all kinds of testimony. Just as a church has a Missions Month, it might want to have a Hope and Deliverance Month, where people can stand up and talk about the trials they've been through and the deliverance they've received while others can talk about the trials they are enduring and receive the fellowships' prayers, encouragement and love.

Sometimes small groups go through trials. Perhaps a small group has taken on a service project which is presently beyond its ability or more frustrating than had been anticipated. Possibly the group's hope is being destroyed because members felt they could be more powerful and successful than they are. Or, perhaps the small group is experiencing those painful difficulties in interpersonal relationships that accompany true growth in Christlikeness. During such conflicts, there can be much discouragement and a weakening of the group's hope. During such times, the group can collectively have its hopes raised by gatherings of the larger fellowship. It is in congregational fellowship that despairing groups are sustained and the hope of a struggling small group is restored. Church fellowships must take very seriously the responsibility to preserve the hope of the individual as well as of small groups.

1. Since the best way to preserve anything is to keep it from spoiling, what are the things the group can do to keep everyone’s hope high?

2. How does a good grasp of God’s sovereignty help in preserving hope?

3. Might a person’s hope conflict, as did the fairy tale King Midas, and therefore be unanswerable by God?

1. Ask each other what you are hoping for as individuals. Think about these things to first identify any unrealistic hopes or unbiblical hopes. Counsel one another about these.

Then look for conflicts between hopes or negative outcomes that might happen if the hope were to be fulfilled by the Lord. (Remember King Midas!)

Finally, more clearly define the hopes that seem biblical and legitimate. Discuss for the sake of the person who has expressed the hope how that hope might be fulfilled, what timing might be required or how long the person might have to wait, and other issues that will lead to realistic yet expectant hope.

Rom 5:3-5; Phil 1:29; Heb 10:35-39; Heb 12:2-3; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6-9;

**1 Peter 4:12-19**; 1 Peter 5:10-11

Help one another with the difficulties of the Christian life. Troubles are to be expected, but they are much easier to face together.

Many hardships are too difficult for individuals to handle alone. Knowing this, God commands us to face trouble and hardship together. Some difficulties will overwhelm individual Christians but be very easy for the small group community to handle. Note that the command is not limited to disastrous hardships. Hardships and troubles should be handled together because of the danger of an individual losing hope or faith.

God has given us the fortitude and resources in community to face and endure hardship together. When we do so, we worship God by reflecting back to Him his own endurance despite the disappointing sinfulness of his people and the whole human race, even as it kills people and little-by-little destroys the earth he created. Likewise, we have the privilege to follow in the path of Jesus who when on earth had no place to lay his head and faced continual persecution. When, together, we accept joyfully our lot in life, like He did, we reflect his character and so worship Him.

Long term hardship is often faced best in the community of a small group. One example of this would be a long term illness which has no promise of recovery. The larger fellowship may initially need to help with the cost of medical care and prayer for a proper diagnosis and recovery. But after the situation has been diagnosed as chronic and terminal, within months or even years, the waiting can be unbearable for the one who is stricken. This hardship of waiting must be borne by the person's small group community (as well as the person's family, when available).

The loss of a loved one is another example. Many people are available right after the death. But a year later, when the real loneliness and isolation begin to hit, the small group community, merely by being there, can meet the need of enduring the long recovery time necessary after the death of a family member. This is especially true during the prolonged mourning period that usually accomplishes the loss of a child.

In these cases of long-term suffering, the small group in community continues to talk through the pain, whether it is lessening through mourning or increasing through sickness. And people are not forgotten. Little acts of consideration and thoughtfulness continue because of the closeness of the relationships. In small group community there is no such thing as, "out of sight, out of mind."

Troubles and hardship are normal in the obedient Christian life. Once Jesus entered into ministry He was constantly facing trouble and hardship. In fact, any Christian who does not face trouble or hardship for a solid month is probably not following Jesus very closely, not dealing with personal sinfulness, or not serving the Lord significantly.

Unlike the non-Christian world, which justifies isolation by teaching that each person must deal with problems independently, the Bible says that Christians face trouble and hardship together. While this is closely related to bearing one another's burdens which grow out of our sinfulness, it is different. Trouble and hardship may not at all come from a person's sin. Serious illness, lack of employment, rebellious children, problems with non-Christian family members, car trouble, and a host of other heartaches and troubles are not necessarily linked to sin, but they are still hardships to be faced together.

In congregational fellowship, the church potentially has great power to deal with such evils as sickness and unemployment. Sometimes churches take up collections during their fellowship gatherings for those who are in need because of unemployment or medical expenses. Special ministries within the church are often organized for the purpose of facing and enduring hardship together. Teens may get involved with troubled youngsters in the church. A group might run a food pantry or clothes closet for members in need. Volunteers might even be lined up to watch over someone's elderly parents so they can get a break from 24 hour duty. The list goes on and on.

Some seem to think that gatherings of Christians should be only happy. But Christians are not told to deny their troubles. Victory is not always accompanied by smiling faces. After a long, hard battle has been won, there are often tired faces and losses to be mourned. Together in fellowship, Christians can face trouble and hardship and find strength in their friendships.

1. What kinds of hardships and difficulties come not as a result of the devil’s attacks or God’s correction for your own personal sins? (Remember the curse given to Adam and Eve for the whole human race.) These are just naturally difficult things that we have to face, like parenting, for example.

2. What is the danger of the American concept of privacy in obeying this command of Scripture? Might the saying, "mind your own business" be unbiblical? Considering healthy boundaries, what really is not your fellow Christian’s business?

1. Tell one another how addicted to privacy and self-sufficiency you are. Can you allow other Christians to dive right in and help you when things get tough? Pray together about these things so that group members can overcome the values of the West and adopt only the values of the Scriptures. Encourage one another to trust and bring to the group the hardest struggles of life.

Ex 20:1-17; Gal 2:14; Gal 5:7-9; Eph 6:14; **2 Thess 2:15**; 1 Tim 3:9; 1 Tim 4:16;

1 Tim 6:3-5; James 5:19-20; 2 Peter 2:2; 1 John 1:8-10; 1 John 2:20; 3 John :3

Practice truth together. With your closest Christian friends, keep trying out truth, stepping farther out than ever before to discover applied and proven truth.

Doubts continually arise in the active Christian mind. Those doubts raise numerous questions about the truth. The biblical concept of truth is knowledge practiced. Christians are to assure that others stay close to the truth, grow deeper in the truth, and continue to base their lives on the truth by trying out God's instructions.

God has wonderfully given us in community the power to not stray from the truth. When persevere in the truth, we worship God by reflecting back to Him that He is truth. Additionally, during those times when we hold to the truth together we reflect back to God his nature which never, not ever, strays from the truth.

The deeper doubts that we Christians feel can be worked out in counseling with the pastor or leaders of our church whenever a teaching from Scripture can clear up the doubt. But sometimes small group community will be necessary for the long term resolution of doubt which comes from a person's inability to perceive the truth that is addressed in Scripture. The obedient small group will stick by a person throughout their doubt, realizing that the person might not be able to understand the truth. This might occur because the new insight would make an unwanted claim on his or her life. Or it might be that understanding the truth would contradict a strong personal philosophy, bias or prejudice. The truth might also not be readily accepted because the person cannot yet fit it into the larger understanding of theology. With time together, the small group will eventually understand the doubt and identify the block to understanding the necessary Scriptural truth. Then the small group can effectively address the source of the doubt. This patient process can eventually end the group member's doubt.

Also, the doubt of one or two group members does not mean the whole group doubts. Holding to the truth together can be a group victory even when each of the individual members cannot claim such a victory. The doubting members will not hold the group back from its walk of faith, because those without doubt will carry the group when necessary. In such small group community, doubts are not dangerous.

In small groups individuals also expose misunderstandings of Scripture. During general discussions, a person's misunderstanding of Scripture will peek through, exposing a lack of clear understanding. When a person has applied Scripture in an incorrect way, the obedient group teaches the person a more accurate application.

The more you ponder Christian truth, the more there is to find. Just when we think we have mastered the application of a passage of Scripture we find the Holy Spirit teaching us another application which is harder to put into practice. We can be challenged or threatened by this, depending upon the attitude our church takes toward our incompleteness in the image of Christ. With the correct biblical attitude of acceptance without judgment, church fellowships can encourage people to hold tighter to the truth by delving into it more and more closely.

Congregational fellowship can also help with the problem of doubt. Doubt can be dealt with in Sunday School classes as well as in sermons. Speakers in every kind of fellowship meeting can present the truth in ways that resolve doubt. If a church can encourage an atmosphere of tolerance without judgment, then people will be able to freely express their doubts and receive tolerant responses and patient teaching.

1. This is related to contending for the faith together. Discuss John 8:31-32. Keep in mind that the Greek word used in verse 32 for "know" means practiced truth, truth known through experience.

1. Each group member identify at least one scriptural truth or principle that he or she wants to consistently live out and test the truth to make sure by experience that the truth is "known". Then at least one other group member commit to do it with the person and hold to the truth together. Stick with it until these truths are a part of your very being, not just in your head. Grab hold of the truth that is truly life and the life that is truly truth.

Gal 2:10; **Gal 6:10**; Titus 3:14; Heb 6:10; James 1:27; 1 Peter 4:19

Be on guard for others in your church. They do not always watch out for themselves and may get hurt by overworking or neglecting their own needs.

Christians active in spiritual warfare will, from time to time, neglect their own needs. In the church, this omission need not be dangerous, because Christians are instructed to watch out for each other's good. We are to make certain that basic needs are met. We should see to it that individuals get adequate rest from ministry and that our brothers and sisters in Christ are "doing OK".

God has given us love in community to look out for one another's good. When we do so, we worship God by reflecting back to Him his nature which always and consistently looks out for our good. By acting like Him, we offer Him the praise of our lives.

The more subtle needs people have can only be identified in the intimacy of small group community. A person's need for rest, respect, attention, or money for medicine are examples of things that will come out during small group community.

While it is somewhat difficult to watch out for each other's good in larger fellowships, there are some things people need that can be monitored in such groups. We can assure that no one is mistreated because of race, that people are accepted, that everyone gets something to eat at church fellowship suppers, and that there are ways for wheelchairs to get into the church. Also, at large informal gatherings of the church, everyone needs to be spoken to. Christians obediently looking out for each other's good will spread out and make sure that everyone is greeted and feels welcome. Because life in the world is difficult as we work for the cause of Christ, everyone needs warmth and a smile at Christian gatherings.

1. Help one another see what each needs to do to read the Bible first considering, "What does this passage teach me about God?"; second considering, "What is God saying to the church and to me and my Christian friends together about what we need?"; and third, "What is God saying to me or how does this passage relate to my life?"

2. How do people overcome a primary focus on self?

1. Go around the group, not necessarily in a circle, and tell each person how the group would like to see that person take better care of his or her own needs. Arrive at group consensus before moving on to a new person. Make sure the person understands what the group is suggesting. (The church is divided into those who take too good of themselves and those who take too little care for their own legitimate needs. Make sure group members who fall in the second category get a break.)

**Lev_19:1-18**; Prov 31:8; 1 Cor 12:21-26; Gal 5:26; Eph 4:29-32; James 2:1-4;

James 4:11-12

Allow no injustices within the church. Face unfairness and defeat it.

Christians are commanded not to stand idly by and watch injustices done within the church. Christians are called to face conflict among believers and defeat it. Rather than taking the easy way out, we are to see that fairness and justice are upheld.

God has given us the common sense in community to forbid mistreatment of one another. When we do so, we worship God by reflecting back to Him his own protective nature with his people for their perseverance over decades, centuries and millennia.

The hurt of mistreatment will most likely come out in small group discussion. The small group can effectively encourage a person to go directly to the individual who has caused the problem. The small group can also be of great help in choosing someone else from the group to go with the mistreated person in the second step of Matthew 18 reconciliation. Knowing the injured individual well will allow the second person to keep other issues from clouding the complaint. The close relationship in the small group community will also allow for gentle correction in the heat of the confrontation.

It is one thing for a person's needs to be ignored and quite another for someone to be deliberately mistreated. Sometimes people are mistreated during larger church fellowships. Perhaps someone is not accepted for the church softball team without explanation. Or perhaps a pastor makes a promise during a congregational meeting to get back to a member to address an issue but never follows through. Other mistreatments happen privately but might be exposed during the informal, off-the-cuff discussions that occur in church aisles. In any case, the church can best deal with these mistreatments through accessible leadership. Acts of mistreatment should be addressed within the guidelines of Matthew 18:15-17.

1. How do you forbid mistreatment of another person? What are the things you can do? How would you say things?

2. What are the different ways of finding out if a person is being mistreated?

1. Look into each other’s lives to see if anyone is being mistreated. If so, take action to forbid it. Also look into the lives of family members and friends of group members to see if anyone is being mistreated. If so, take action to forbid it.

2. Look at your church to see who is left out or mistreated. Go as a group to church leadership and express your concerns.

Matt 6:19-24; Luke 12:15; 1 Tim 5:8; 1 Tim 6:10; **Heb 13:5**

Expose and deal a deathblow to the love of money in your Christian friends, church or small group. It is the root of all evil.

Jesus labeled serving money as the biggest threat to Christian ministry. If we are to serve God, we must beware of serving money. Often the love of money is a sin deliberately overlooked in the church.

God has given us the relationships in community to keep one another from the love of money which the root of all evil and so preserves for us the opportunity of serving God, which we cannot serve both. When we do so, we worship God by reflecting back to Him his ownership of all things and his generosity to make them available to us only when it is for our eternal good. We also praise God by placing his worth above everything all the money in the world could buy.

In larger church meetings, it is mainly the diversity of economic status among church members that can help combat the love of money and the things money can buy. People prone to love the status money brings might back off from their pursuit of financial security as they identify with people of lesser means. Others prone to pursue economic wealth and material goods might back off because they see the needs of other church members. But, by and large, congregational fellowship is probably not very powerful in battling the love of money, which Scripture tells us is the root of all evil, because most churches are made up of people of similar economic means.

It is primarily in the small group that people can be kept from the love of money. The love of money, over-exaggerated pursuit of financial security, and the acquisition of many materialistic things will become evident in the intimacy of small group conversation. The gentle confrontation and counsel of the group can help people examine their values. Unfortunately, talking to people about their money is a very sensitive and touchy subject. Only a mature group is likely to have much success in dealing with the topic of excesses or abuses related to money.

1. Almost all of us love money in some way. Maybe we love the things it buys or the security it brings. Discuss the love of money.

2. Discuss the love of money as the root of all evil.

3. The love and service of money seems to be worse than Satan, according to Jesus’ words. How is it so?

4. Since we cannot serve both God and money, just how do we serve money and how can we avoid doing so?

1. Tell each other the fears that cause you to rely on money rather than on God who will bring the money if needed. Tell also the wants you have that cause a strong love of money. These wants can be material things (a safe and well-built expensive car) or concepts (be financially wealthy).

2. Remind one another that money is just money. It is not happiness. It really is not security either. It is far less necessary than we think.

3. Pray against the love of money in any of the group members’ lives.

Lev 19:18; Matt 5:38-48; Rom 12:17-21; **1 Thess 5:15**; 1 Peter 3:9

Prevent acts of revenge. Monitor the resolution of conflict and follow up to see that there are no leftover hard feelings.

Acts of revenge can destroy a church's witness as well as violate many of the other "togethers" of Scripture. Christians are to watch one another closely and prevent acts of revenge. This is especially true in preventing vengeful behavior within a marriage or family.

God has given us wisdom in community to keep one another from revenge. When we do so, we worship God by reflecting back to Him his exclusive right to avenge evil. We recognize Him as the only legitimate and righteous Judge and refuse to usurp his role.

The closeness of people in small group community will eventually reveal deep anger and resentment which could lead to revenge. It is the responsibility of the small group to check out how people are handling their anger and sense of injustice. Small groups can also help resolve feelings before acts of revenge are committed. Since revenge can be subtle, it is probably only in small group community that it can be headed off.

Letting go of anger is not an easy thing for some people to do. But with the encouragement, counsel and admonition of friends, it can be done. Those with friendships and other things to live for can more easily forget the injustices they have experienced.

Christians in congregational fellowship can do only a little to prevent church members from taking revenge upon each other or others in the community. An attitude against such vengeful behavior will help. Sermons can teach how it is wrong. Vengeful behavior will seldom be evident in larger fellowship groups. But when it is obvious, it must be corrected by church leadership.

1. Why is revenge so attractive or feel like a responsibility?

2. How do you keep one another from revenge?

3. What are the ways you can position yourselves between the revengeful person and the person targeted?

1. Ask each group member if they harbor wishes toward revenge. ( The group must ask in a way that creates safety for admission of revengeful thoughts.) Then rescue anyone who holds such desires.

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