Marc Estes

The Redwood Trees are the largest living things on earth and tallest trees in the world. Some are over 300 feet tall and more than 2500 years old. You would think these trees would have a root system that reaches hundreds of feet down in the earth, but that is not the case. Redwoods have a very shallow root system. The roots, however, are intertwined. They are tied up with each other; interlocked. They support and sustain each other. Hold each other up during storms, and depend on each other in order to survive.

This is a beautiful picture of what the church was intended to be. So  many treat church as a weekend experience only, and wonder why their lives are still filled with loneliness and lack of fulfillment. God had a perfect plan in mind, and that plan was to build a community that was the central component to a believer’s life.  Randy Frazee, in his book, “The Connecting Church” says, “The experience of authentic community is one of the purposes God intends to be fulfilled by the church. God intended the church not to be one bolt on the wheel of activity in our lives, but the very hub at the center of one’s life.”

The very thing that people are looking for today is the very thing that Authentic Community in the local church offers. There are four key components that are presented in the Book of Acts, that define God’s plan for you. These will only be found in the truest sense, in the context of doing life together in the context of the local church. These are:

1. Meaningful Relationships.
2. Genuine Care
3. Authentic Growth
4. Lasting Purpose.

I will be speaking on this subject during all CBC services on the weekend of February 20-21. If you can’t make it out, check out the message on our website, www.citybiblechurch.org or let me know and I would love to send you a set of my notes FREE OF CHARGE. Just send me an email at marc@citybiblechurch.org and I will get them into your hands