After Adam and Eve fall into sin, God started in on the serpent (14). He would then address the woman, and finally, the man. But in speaking to the snake, He declared, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life" (14).

It seems that, by the time of Christ, the religious leaders had taken the Old Testament command to ‘love your neighbor’ to mean one should also hate their enemy. Their teaching was, of course, a perversion of God’s word. Jesus corrected, and then addended their teaching. “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). It would have been a difficult word had he merely said, “Love your neighbor and tolerate your enemies,” but Jesus went much further. His people, with His Spirit inside them, are to love their enemies, praying for them. But why? Jesus went on, “So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Mattew 5:45). Why would we want to love our enemies? Because in so doing we are of like nature with our Father in heaven. He is indiscriminate in his love, pouring out rain on both the just and the unjust.

Leaving Troas, Paul decided to take the land route to Assos. His team would need a boat for the rest of the missions trip, but the first part of the journey was shorter by foot. He put everyone else on the boat, but he went by land. Alone, he walked. What were some of the benefits of this decision?

At Calvary Monterey, we say we love community. The second pillar of our mission statement is to "Nurture Believers." We’ve decided to provide this through community and training. Community is what I will focus on here. There are many ways to develop community in a church. We’ve chosen the route of small groups.