One Another

Dannah Gresh: Do you realize how very much you need other people? Here’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Isolation and division in the body of Christ are tactics that Satan uses to bring believers down. If we don't have accountability, if we don't have encouragement, if we don't have our roots intertwined with each other, if we get isolated, or if we get divided; we're going to fall.

Dannah: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Adorned, for Wednesday, February 5, 2020. I’m Dannah Gresh.

Okay, Nancy, I've got a quiz for you. Are you ready?

Nancy: Okay.

Dannah: You’re all brushed up on pop music?

Nancy: Um, that's not really my genre. Well, now that I married Robert, he’s been educating me some. 

Dannah: Let's see how he's been doing. Have you ever  heard this song?

Song:

I can't see me loving nobody but you for all my life.¹

Dannah: You know who that is? Have you heard that song?

Nancy: Um . . . it sounds vaguely familiar.

Dannah: Vaguely familiar. Well, it was a big hit, Nancy. It was by the Turtles. It's "Happy Together." How about this one?

Song:

Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another²

Nancy: Yeah, I think I missed that one.

Dannah: You missed that one! Well, Nancy, some of our younger listeners are saying that, too. That was way back from the Youngbloods. It's called "Get Together." Are you seeing a theme here? How about this one? Have you heard this song?

Song:

Lets get together.³

Dannah: You know that one?

Nancy: No, I'm afraid I don't know that one. I heard the "together" word.

Dannah: The "together" word is there. That's Al Green—"Let's Stay Together." I have one last one for you.

Song:

It's not always easy and
Sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together.⁴

Nancy: There's that word again.

Dannah: There's that word again, yeah.

Nancy: It seems like there is a theme here. 

Dannah: There sure is. That's Jack Johnson with "Better Together." And all of those songs talk about togetherness, or being together. It’s true in romantic relationships, families, communities. And get this, if even unbelievers see the value of doing things, not isolated, but together, how much more should it be true of God’s people, the Church?

We’re in a series called “Who Needs the Church?” Today, Nancy, you focus in on the fact that, as the Body of Christ, we need one another. Let’s listen. Here’s Nancy.

Nancy: You say, "Okay, I believe in the Church—the Church, capital "C." I see why we need that. I see it's a body, it's a family, it's a bride, it's a building. I see God has a great plan for the Church. But I'm not so sure about the church, lowercase "c," my church, the local church." Perhaps you feel like this woman who wrote our ministry:

I'm struggling with the whole issue of going to church. I believe in God, heaven, and the Bible, but I feel very uncomfortable in church. Can a person reap the same benefits from studying and worshiping in the privacy of their own home, without actually attending services? Does God care where I worship?

Or as we've been calling this series . . . who needs the church? Do we really need not just the big Church, capital "C," but the church, lowercase "c."

I'm discovering as I talk with others that many, many, many believers, so-called professing Christians, are not part of a local body of believers. They don't see the need for it. Maybe they are disgusted or disillusioned or discouraged by past church experiences. Maybe they've never plugged in and just don't realize the need. They feel like this person, "Why can't I just worship in the privacy of my own home? Do I really need to go to services? Do I really need to be part of a local church body? Does God care?"

Or I see others who are flitting from one church to another—no loyalty to one local body.

Almost every time the word "church" appears in the New Testament, it means a particular gathering of Christians in one geographical location.

I was reading it this morning in the book of Ephesians, "To the saints in Ephesus . . ." (1:1). That's the local church. There's no concept in the New Testament of being part of the universal Church of Christ, capital "C," but not being part of the local church, lowercase "c." There's no concept of that in the New Testament. That suggests to me that our participation in the local church, flawed and troubled as it is at times, is not an option—not if you are a member of the body of Christ. It's not an option.

Charles Spurgeon had this to say to those who said, "I'm a Christian, but I don't intend to be a part of the church." Spurgeon said,

What is a brick made for? To help build a house. It's of no use for that brick to tell you that it's just as good of a brick as it's kicking about on the ground as it would be in the house. It's a good for nothing brick.

Then he went on to say in his own way,

So you rolling stone Christians, I do not believe that you are answering your purpose. You are living contrary to the life which Christ would have you live, and you are much to blame for the injury you do.

Wow. Those are strong words. You're not answering your purpose if you're not in a local church? Living contrary to God's Word? Causing injury? Is it really that serious? Well, let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. I want us to see how serious it is and why it's so important we be plugged into the church. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 uses this analogy, this word picture of the people of God being a body.

For just as the body is one [that's the unity of the body[, and has many members [that's what we are], and all the members of the body though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greek, slaves or free (1 Cor. 12:12–13).

Now in the New Testament that was unbelievable that Jews and Greeks, slaves and free should worship together in the same church! Incredible! This was the great mystery of God that He would bring these disparate parties into one new body.

And all were made to drink of one spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many (vv. 13–14).

It's not just you and God. You can't be a lone-ranger Christian and be the Christian God intended you to be.

If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body (vv. 15–16).

I mean, just imagine one part of your body saying, "Because I'm not some other part, therefore I'm not a part of this body." I mean, it's foolishness; it's ludicrous. The body is one. It has many members; they all have their part. They all have their function. They look different. They act differently. They have different gifts, but they're all necessary. You can't separate yourself from the body.

You can't be a lone-ranger Christian and be the Christian that God intends you to be.

My hand can't just say, "I'm separating from this body" and then go off and do its own thing and have a hand just wandering around there. It's useless without the rest of the body. You can't separate yourself from the body. Let me say it again. You can't separate yourself from the body. Like it or not, if you are in Christ, you are a member of His body. Every part is different, but all belong to the same body.

Verse 17, 1 Corinthians 12: "If the whole body were an eye . . ." Well, just imagine it. One great big eye rolling around, and it considers itself the whole body. ". . . where would be the sense of hearing? Or if the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?" The ear can't function by itself; the eye can't function by itself. The body needs all its members.

It wouldn't work if we were all the same. Remember that. When you start to go crazy over the differences of people in your church and you think, If they weren't just so weird or so different . . . You need them to be different. If they were all like you or all like me; well, I don't even want to think about that. It wouldn't be a body.

Verse 18: "But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose." That's what the Scripture says. God arranged the members; God put those members into your body, each one of them, as He chose. "If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts but one body" (vv. 19–20).

If God arranged the members in the body and placed them in different local churches as He has chosen, as He has directed and led, can I suggest that it's not enough to tolerate the other people in your church in the body of Christ? You need to thank God for them. You need to learn to embrace them, to value them, to appreciate them.

Verse 21: "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.'" Isn't' that how we often function? I mean, what's that part needed for? Who needs that person? We wouldn't say that, but don't we sometimes feel that? They're just in the way. We need each other. We're strange and flawed and needy as we are. We need each other.

Every member of the body is essential. No part is indispensable. If you aren't there, it makes a difference to the whole. You can't say, "It doesn't need me." It can't say, "We don't need you." If you're not there, if one part is missing, if I didn't have this hand, my whole body would have problems. You don't realize it till you miss a part. Sometimes you just take them for granted, and isn't that the way it often is in the body of Christ? We don't miss each other until we realize there's some function missing here.

We don't always know what the function is. There are parts of our body that I don't exactly know what they do or how they work or why they're needed. I mean, some of those parts that you can't see and don't talk about a lot. I mean, what's the pancreas, the spleen? Some of you know what all those parts do, but I really don't. But I assume if God put it in the body, there's a reason for it; there's a need for it.

We can't have members or parts of the body saying, "I'm not needed." If you're not there, it makes a difference. Even if it is the weaker parts, the less gifted, the less prominent. The Scripture says to those we give special care, special attention. We need each part.

And so as we think about the church, I want to make two points here. Number one: you need the body. And number two: the rest of the body needs you. First, you need the body. You cannot function alone without the body of Christ. You are not complete without the other members. You need the spiritual gifts that God has given to others that you don't have. You need those gifts working in your life if you're going to become like Christ.

You need the Spiritual nourishment and encouragement and accountability and counsel and insight and practical help and comfort in your life that the rest of the members of the body can supply. You say, "But they don't supply it." You're right. We don't do it the way we should, but that doesn't mean we give up on it.

It means we get in there and we pray and we serve and we ask God to make the body more like what it ought to be. We don't just discard it because it's not working perfectly or it's not always working as it should. You need the body; I need the body. We need each other.

But the rest of the body needs you. Not only do you need them, but they need you. The rest of the body cannot be complete or healthy without you. You may think, What's the difference if I pull out? What's the difference if I'm not regular in my church? What's the difference if I come and go? Who cares? Especially in some of these bigger churches you can get so lost through the crowds. Who cares? What does it matter?

It does matter. If you're not plugged in, it cannot be complete without you. It can't be healthy. It needs your spiritual gifts. It needs the function God designed you to have in the body. A friend said to me recently, "One of my concerns is that our parent's generation has retired and pulled out of the church in so many cases." I think some of those older people are thinking, We're just not needed anymore. Can I say—and you decide if you're older or not—you are needed. We need your wisdom. We need your experience. We need your example. The rest of the body needs you, and you need the body.

Dwight L. Moody was visiting with a prominent Chicago citizen one cold winter night when the subject of church membership and involvement came up. This man said to Moody, "I think I can be just as good of a Christian outside the church as I can be inside it." The story is told that without saying anything, Moody walked over to the fireplace, and he removed one burning piece of wood and just placed it on the hearth all by itself. Then the two men sat together and watched as the fire went out on that piece of wood; the embers died out. The fact is you cannot survive. You cannot keep a hot heart and a fervent passion all by yourself.

Have you ever been to the redwood forests in California? I had the chance to go there for the first time a few years ago and it really is—it's just unbelievable. These redwood trees . . . I'm told that they're the largest things on earth and the tallest trees in the world. Some of them grow over 350 feet high. Some of them are more than 2,500 years old. That's a long time.

Now you'd think that trees that large would have a huge root system growing down into the earth hundreds of feet. But actually, the redwood trees have a very shallow root system. Most of the roots don't go down any deeper than six to ten feet into the earth, which is not that much considering some of these trees are 350 feet tall.

You have to ask yourself, "How do these enormous trees stand upright for thousands of years?" Well, there's a secret. The secret is in the roots. These trees grow close together and all their root systems intertwine. The root systems are locked to each other. They're inextricably connected to each other. So when the storms come and the winds blow as they do, the redwoods stand, but they don't stand alone. They all support and protect each other.

I'm just reminded, as I think about those redwoods, of the fact that we need each other as believers. We don't stand alone. If we try to stand alone, we'll blow over alone when the storms and the winds come. We need each other. We need our roots to be connected to each other if we're going to stand strong and grow tall and live long.

The book of Hebrews in the early chapters is a book about drawing close to God. How can sinful human beings get close to God? That's what the first nine or so chapters of Hebrews are about. How can we draw near to God? But then when you get to chapter 10, the writer of Hebrews comes to an implication. He says, "Draw near to God," in verse 21. Then verses 24–25 he says, "Now draw near to each other." If you're going to grow up in your relationship with God, you've got to draw near to each other in the body of Christ.

Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24–25:

Let us consider how to stir up one another for love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. 

That's the final day, the day of judgment, the day of Christ. As you see that day drawing near, remember to draw near to each other so that you can help each other stand, so that together you can draw near to God.

Isolation and division in the body of Christ is a tactic that Satan uses to bring believers down.

Isolation and division in the body of Christ is a tactic that Satan uses to bring believers down. If we don't have accountability, if we don't have encouragement, if we don't have our roots intertwined with each other, if we get isolated or if we get divided; we're going to fall.

As you read through the New Testament, you find a lot of instructions that talk about how we're supposed to deal with one another. They're sometimes called the "one anothers" of Scripture. Among other things, we're to:

• greet one another,
• comfort one another
• greet one another
• comfort one another
• forgive one another 
• build one another up
• serve one another 
• bear one another's burdens 
• encourage one another 
• meet with one another 

These are all things you'll find in the New Testament.

• Be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving toward one another.
• We're to receive or welcome one another as Christ received us.
• We're to care for one another.
• We're to minister to one another. 
• To show hospitality to one another 
• To pray for one another.

And those are just some of the "one anothers" of Scripture.

Now as you hear that list, wouldn't you love to be a part of a group of believers that functions that way, that really lives out the "one anothers" of Scripture? I think the fact that we fall short of that in our churches is what makes some people give up and leave the church or just withdraw. They say, "It's not working." What we need to do, instead, is not wait for others to do these things to us or criticize our churches because people aren't doing these "one anothers" to the extent that they should. We need to get on the ball and do them ourselves. What you would have others do to you, do to them.

So begin praying for others, showing hospitality, caring, being kind, meeting with others, encouraging others, bearing other's burdens. You do it. Don't wait for others to do it. So many people on the church rolls today, so many people call themselves believers are reaping the consequences of a lack of this kind of community, this kind of having your roots intertwined with each other.

There was a tragic story that appeared in an article of MacLean's magazine. It took place in Winnipeg, Canada. One November day fifty-three-year-old Jim Sulkers, who was a retired municipal worker, got into bed, pulled up the covers and died.

Nearly two years later, on August 25, 2004 police who had been called by concerned relatives . . . (once you hear this, you'll wonder how concerned they were or how related they were). Police who had been called by concerned relatives entered Sulkers' apartment and found his body in a mummified state. Everything else in his tidy one-bedroom apartment was intact although the food in his fridge was spoiled (no doubt) and his wall calendar was two years out-of-date.

Mr. Sulkers' death went undiscovered for several reasons. This is what struck me as we're thinking about who needs the church. He was reclusive, the article said, estranged from family members, and he had a medical condition that prevented his body from decomposing and emitting odors. In addition, automatic banking deposited his disability pension and withdrew utilities and other expenses as they came. So no one knew the man was dead! No one knew there was a problem. No one knew there was a need.

When I read that story I thought, That reminds me of so many church members. Their names are on the church roll, but they disappear from the life of the church. They end up in a crisis, but nobody notices. Nobody knows until it's too late. Why? Because they weren't connected to the community. They were reclusive; they were estranged from the family.

Here's a situation we end up with. In some cases these people may not have physically disappeared from the church. They may be sitting in church every Sunday, but inside they're dead or nearly so.

Their marriage is dead, but nobody knows. They're not functioning spiritually, but nobody knows. Why? Because even though their body is there, they're disconnected from the community. They're estranged. They are lone rangers. It's like being virtually alive, but not really alive. Nobody comes around and says, "How are you doing? Really, how are you doing?" We're just bodies walking past each other and some of us in mummified states. What a picture of so many of our churches.

I think of Revelation chapter 3 verse 1 where Jesus said to the church in Sardis, "You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead." Listen, when you're in a community, when you're connected at the roots to the people of God, the family of God, you can't fall over as easily. But you have to contribute to that. You can't be reclusive; you can't be estranged, and neither can you blame it on everybody else. You've got to be willing to get involved.

Larry Crabb says this:

Community matters. That's like saying, 'Oxygen matters.' As our lungs require air, so our souls require only what community provides. We were designed by our Trinitarian God who is Himself a group of three persons in profound relationship with each other. We were designed by that Trinitarian God to live in relationship. Without it, we die. It's that simple.

It was in July of 2002 that we heard the story of the nine miners who were trapped for three days in Quecreek Mine in Pennsylvania. They were 240 feet underground in a water-filled mineshaft. One news report said that they decided early on that they were either going to live or die as a group. The 55 degree Fahrenheit water threatened to kill them slowly by hypothermia.

So, according to one news report, when one would get cold, the other eight would huddle around the person and warm that person. When another person got cold, the favor was returned. Those nine men, as the nation sat and watched the rescue efforts, those nine men faced hostile, life-threatening conditions together, together. They all came out alive together, together.

What a picture of the body of Christ. We live in a hostile world with life-threatening conditions. There are all kinds of forces that are threatening to destroy our faith, to strip us of our heart for God. That's why like those tall redwoods, like those Quecreek miners, we need to stand, suffer, live, grow, function, work, endure together. We need each other. It's not an option; it's a matter of survival.

Dannah: That’s our host, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, reminding us of the importance of the church, the family of God. We need each other! Nancy will be back with more in a moment.

Today she mentioned the "one anothers" of Scripture. These are commands we find in the Bible commands that all include the phrase “one another.” Well recently, the Revive Our Hearts team went through all of those one anothers. We organized them into four categories: our attitudes, our presence, our communication, and our actions. Those four categories make up the four parts of a special thirty-day devotional titled Living Out the One Anothers of Scripture.

We’d love to get a copy in your hands. In fact, we’ll send it to you as way of saying "thank-you" for a donation of any amount to Revive Our Hearts ministries. So contact us, make a donation, and we’ll send you this devotional. You can make your donation at ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1–800–569–5959. Ask for the devotional on the "one anothers" when you contact us with your gift.

Dannah: Are you searching for a church right now? Nancy has some helpful things for you to think through. Here’s Nancy.

Nancy: How many of you have had the experience of moving to a new location and having to pick a new church to attend? Probably ever hand, virtually every hand in this room. I've had that experience, and sometimes it can be a challenge. How do you know which church to plug into?

In most parts of this country we have options. In the New Testament they didn't have options. There was the church in Ephesus or the church in Corinth, but now we have lots of options. How do you pick a local church? What is a biblical local church? Unfortunately, today we often approach that question with a consumer mindset. What's in it for me? Do I like this? Does it entertain me? Is it fun? Does it have programs that I enjoy?

Unfortunately, today our local churches have bought into this mindset that we have to entertain people. We have to make them feel good. We try to make them happy.  We forget that the goal of the church is to build up strong believers who can go into the world and take the gospel of Christ. But it's so important as you look for a church . . . Maybe you are searching for a church home right now, or maybe you will be in the days ahead if you move. It's important to find a church where Christ and His Word are honored above all else. Then commit yourself to it knowing it will have problems, knowing it won't be perfect. Commit yourself to a church where Christ and His Word are honored.

Now if you're looking for a church at this point or perhaps you're dissatisfied in your current church and you're trying to evaluate: is this where we belong? It's important to remember the things that are most important. Don't lose perspective. In order to know what things are most important, I think it's helpful to take a look at the early church in the book of Acts.

If you have your Bible there, turn to the book of Acts chapter 2, and we'll begin reading in verse 41. I want us to just notice some characteristics of the early church. Now we're just going to look at several verses here. If you go all the way through the New Testament you'll find other characteristics. What are the things that are important in the local church?

Here was a church that hadn't had time yet to backslide. This was the very early church. They were still walking with the Spirit, trusting Christ, loving God, meeting each other's needs. You get kind of a visual here of what an ideal local church might look like.

Acts 2 verse 41: "Then those who gladly received Peter's word were baptized" (NKJV). This is right after the day of Pentecost when God sent the Holy Spirit to indwell the church. "That day about 3,000 souls were added to that church." So the gospel is being proclaimed; people have repented; they've believed the gospel, and they've been baptized not in order to be saved but as an outward sign of an inner transformation that has taken place in their hearts.

Let me just say, if you're a child of God it is very important as a matter of obedience to Christ that you follow your salvation with believer's baptism. It's an outward sign that you have been baptized into the body of Jesus Christ. So these new believers publicly identified with Christ and His people.

Now realize if these people believed and were baptized, that was their entrance into the Church. Your entry into Christ places you in the Church, places you in the body of Christ. And not just in the great big universal Church, capital "C," but in a local body of believers. As we said earlier in the series, there is no option. There is no conflict in the New Testament of being a converted believer in Jesus Christ and not being a part of a local church.

In this case 3,000 new believers were born in one day. Can you imagine what would happen in most of our local churches if we had 3,000 new converts in one day? We'd say, "Praise God, but can we handle it?" All these baby believers—what do you do? Well, we might look at what they did here because whatever it was worked.

Verse 42: "Those new believers who had recently believed in Christ and been baptized continued steadfastly" (paraphrased). They continued. They didn't just go down an aisle, sign a card, turn in their name, join the club and then drop off. They didn't drop out. The sign, the evidence that they had genuine faith was that they continued as part of the body of Christ.

We have these evangelistic efforts today where you have hundreds or thousands of people who make a profession of faith, and then you look a year later and you say, "Where are these people?" They're not in our churches. Well, one has to then wonder Were they truly converted? Now going to church doesn't make you a Christian. But once you become a Christian, one of the evidences is that you continue in the faith as part of the body of Christ.

They continued steadfastly in four things: the apostle's doctrine, (that's the ministry of the Word and that's the number one thing that's listed here, the apostle's teaching or doctrine), the fellowship (that's community, relationship with each other), in the breaking of bread (that's the Lord's Supper or Communion), and in prayers.

You want to make sure those four things are in your church—now again, not taking place perfectly. There will never be any perfect fellowship this side of heaven. But make sure that in your church there's the teaching of the Word, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer.

Then verse 43, here's the result: "Fear or awe or reverence came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles." As these believers began to grow in their faith, there was the sense of the presence of God in that community, in that body of believers. There was a fear of the Lord that came upon not only the church but the lost world around the church. Everybody knew God is here. That's a sign of a healthy local church. There was the power of God at work in that church.

We don't have apostles today, and we don't have the same need for miracles that they had, for signs and wonders that they had in the early church when the gospel was being authenticated or validated. But we should still be seeing the power of God at work in our churches, changing lives by the power of the gospel.

Now verse 44: "All who believed were together and had all things in common." They were a family. They were a body. They were a community of faith and as such they held their possessions loosely. They were unselfish. They were more concerned about the kingdom and the family of God than their own stuff. So they were willing to share with others who had need.

Verse 45: "They sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all if anyone had need." Now this is not socialism. This is voluntary giving of your abundance to meet the needs of others. They were sensitive to one another's needs. They were generous in meeting those needs.

"And so," verse 46, "continuing daily." Continuing—we saw that word in verse 42. They continued steadfastly. Now in verse 46 we see they "continued daily with one accord in the temple." You're thinking, Oh my goodness. It's all I can do to endure one day a week at church. Now you're telling me I have to go to church every day of the week if we're going to be like the early church?

No, but I am saying that we need to function as the body of Christ daily. You can't just be with God's people one time a week and expect to be all God wants you to be. You need to continue daily with one accord, one heart with each other. "Breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart praising God and having favor with all the people" (vv. 46–47).

You see some of the characteristics were fellowship, community, oneness, joy, worship, and a good reputation in the lost world. Wouldn't it be incredible if that's the way it was today? The fact that it's not often that way today doesn't mean we should just throw it out or give up on it. It means we labor and serve and pray and plead with God to revive His church, to revive His people, to bring us back to that state of healthy existence.

Then we see in the end of verse 47, "And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." There were always new converts coming into the church. The sovereign work of God—it's the Lord who added them as the church lived out the reality of their relationship with God and with each other.

So if you're in a church, stop and thank God for the church where He has placed you in spite of its imperfections, its faults, and its flaws. Ask God to make it the church that He wants it to be. If you're not connected to a local church, go to the Acts 2, go to Scripture. Ask what are the characteristics that should be true in a local church where I can plug in my life, connect myself.

Then ask God to direct you to one. Find it, get in it, get connected, get involved, roll up your sleeves, become a part of that body and watch God help you and that church grow in your relationship with Christ.

Dannah: Again, that’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, with some helpful advice on choosing a church. Be sure to check out the list of questions to ask when you’re choosing one. You can find them at our website, ReviveOurHearts.com.

Do you feel like rolling up your sleeves and getting to work at your church? I hope so. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about how we can all do a better job of being involved in our congregations. I’m Dannah Gresh, inviting you back for Revive Our Hearts.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth hopes you’ll intertwine your roots with others in your church. The program is an outreach of Life Action Ministries.

All Scripture is taken from the NKJV unless otherwise noted.

¹ The Turtles. "Happy Together." Save the Turtles: The Turtles Greatest Hits ℗ 2009 FloEdCo.

² The Youngbloods. "Get Together." The Youngbloods (Released 1970) ℗ 1988 BMG Music.

³ Al Green. "Let's Stay Together" Let's Stay Together ℗ 1972 Hi Records, under exclusive license to Fat Possum Records.

⁴ Jack Johnson. "Better Together." In Between Dreams ℗ 2013 Jack Johnson.