Better Together: 40 Days of Community Sermons

Part 1 of the series Better Together: 40 Days of Community

Pastor Rick Warren kicks off the 40 Days of Community campaign. The focus is "What on earth are we here for?" This campaign seeks to deepen the fellowship within your church and help you reach out to the community beyond your church, both with small groups as the catalyst. Pastor Rick teaches that we need each other to fulfill God's purposes because we fellowship, worship, grow, serve, and reach out better together.

Part 2 of the series Better Together: 40 Days of Community

Pastor Rick Warren teaches this second message in his 40 Days of Community campaign, looking at the question, how can our small group "partner" to share the good news with others? In this message, Pastor Rick uses an acronym for the word partner to show seven ways to get the good news out within our small groups. We should pray together, appeal to our common interests, reach out in love, tell our stories, nurture our friendships, expect God to act, and represent Christ with our lives. Finally, he challenges us to be sure that there is at least one person in our small group who doesn't yet know Jesus, and to pray the "most dangerous prayer" that we can pray: "Use me".

Part 3 of the series Better Together: 40 Days of Community

Everybody has relationship problems, but God gives us four clear answers in his word to the four reasons that relationships end. Pastor Rick Warren encourages small groups as a perfect place to learn and practice our relational skills.

Part 4 of the series Better Together: 40 Days of Community

Pastor Rick Warren teaches this fourth sermon in the 40 Days of Community series on the importance of being connected in order to grow spiritually together. Four ways that we can accomplish this through our small groups are to affirm each other's worth, pray for each other's growth, admit our own mistakes, and encourage each other's commitment. This message is an excellent example of the invaluable importance of small groups in the church.

Part 5 of the series Better Together: 40 Days of Community

In Rick Warren's fifth message of the 40 Days of Community campaign he teaches that we serve God better when we serve as a team. To build a strong ministry team we need to earn the trust of those we serve with, have empathy and be interested in others, be accommodating and easy to get along with, and share the mission of our ministry team. This message continues the strong small group emphasis of the 40 Days of Community campaign.

Part 6 of the series Better Together: 40 Days of Community

Part 6 in the 40 Days of Community campaign looks at koinonia, or fellowship as it relates to our generosity. Pastor Rick teaches that generosity creates community, defeats materialism, strengthens my faith, invests for eternity, blesses me in return, produces happiness, and makes me more like God. He also teaches us how we can practice generosity, stressing that God is not interested in how much we give, but in the attitude of our heart.

Part 7 of the series Better Together: 40 Days of Community

This 40 Days of Community celebration is the seventh and final message of the 40 Days of Community campaign. Some things can only be learned through experience. This celebration Sunday sermon talks about what we have learned about worshiping, fellowshipping, growing, serving and reaching out together through the campaign. It is a wonderful message to encourage people to continue to fellowship in small groups.