eXXit mobile index: Today's title Today's passage Today's questions Today's practical help eXXit study index Want to Become a Christian?

It Takes a Community mobile index

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
Print, Study and Apply

Title: It Takes a Community ------------------- Date: 9/4/2002
Keywords: "community"
Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation.

Passages: Matthew 2:23; 4:13* mobile index

2:23. and came and resided in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He shall be called a Nazarene."

4:13. and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.

Judean Map

Questions mobile index

1. From the map, what do you notice about the two cities where Jesus settled, Capernaum and Nazareth?

 

2. There were other, bigger cities nearby - Sepphoris, Caesarea Philippi, Tyre, and still larger cities a bit farther off - Jericho and Jerusalem. Why do you think Jesus settled in out of the way places?

 

Practical help mobile index

This eXXit study is not a plug for moving from the city to a rural area. Rather, it is a meditation on the manner in which Jesus lived that suggests an important way to "follow" Him.

The two features of life in small towns of the first century Jewish world were the synagogue and homes that were attached to each other (called the "insula").

Jesus spent time in the big cities (at least He went to Jerusalem frequently), but lived, worked and was known in the communities of Capernaum and Nazareth.

Regardless of the size of town you live in, it is necessary to be a part of a community. The community which God provides for the therapeutic benefit of His people these days is the local church. Small churches have the benefit of being the community. Large churches that are healthy are made up of numerous small communities.

To follow Jesus involves following Him into community. If you are struggling with the issue that eXXit exists to confront — pornography — follow Him into community. If you are not attending a church in your area, find one that is centered on Scripture — and go! If you are not in a context in which you are building friendships, then follow Jesus into the smallness of a group that can know you, help you, and provide a setting in which you can grow.

eXXit homepage
Index of three-minute studies
Copyright 2002 by eXXit
*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."