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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We're so glad

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Speaker 1: to have you as a listener. Today's topic is Life

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Speaker 1: is Better Together. We'll be read back with a brief

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Speaker 1: message from our sponsor, Life is Better Together, written by

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Speaker 1: Laura Bailey. Read by Laura Bailey. They devoted themselves to

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Speaker 1: the Apostles, teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread,

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Speaker 1: and to prayer, Acts two, forty two and IV. In

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, the US Surgeon General's report by Vivic

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Speaker 1: Murthy found that more than half of US adults will lonely.

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Speaker 1: He then goes on to say that our nation has

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Speaker 1: a loneliness in isolation epidemic. While loneliness results from the

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Speaker 1: lack of social connection, social isolation is characterized by a

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Speaker 1: lack of time spent in the company of others. A

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Speaker 1: study published in the Harvard Gazette found that loneliness and

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Speaker 1: isolation are typically related. What were there reasons given for

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Speaker 1: an increase in these two areas the decrease in marriage

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Speaker 1: and church attendance, whereas we know it as the lack

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Speaker 1: of community. In an interview with oprah Vivek, responding to

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Speaker 1: questions on how to address the epidemic of loneliness and isolation.

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Speaker 1: He said that he believes three factors contribute to these feelings. Relationships, service,

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Speaker 1: and community. When we focus on connecting to something bigger

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Speaker 1: than ourselves, that's actually when we find joy, he told Oprah.

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Speaker 1: It's why service is one of the most powerful antidotes

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Speaker 1: to loneliness. Marthy shares, while marthe is speaking in general terms,

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Speaker 1: considered these three factors in the context of Acts two

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Speaker 1: forty two through forty seven. Where are there built in relationships, services,

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Speaker 1: and a sense of community the local church. It's actually

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Speaker 1: more detrimental to our physical, mental, and spiritual health to

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Speaker 1: live life alone than to be among other people. Let's

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Speaker 1: look at the contexts of our key passage Acts two

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Speaker 1: forty two through forty seven to better understand the importance

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Speaker 1: of being a part of a Christian community. Examine the

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Speaker 1: words used in the above versus. They were devoted, not

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Speaker 1: just attending church when it was convenient or when they

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Speaker 1: were on good terms with the congregation. Their church attendance

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Speaker 1: was non negotiable unless you think the ancient church was

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Speaker 1: without its problems. The majority of these people were having

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Speaker 1: to learn to get along with people they hated, for centuries.

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Speaker 1: The majority of the New Testament addresses the groups of people,

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Speaker 1: urging them to reconcile, lay aside, pass heerds and current differences,

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Speaker 1: and move forward in unity because they're yengted in Christ.

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Speaker 1: Everyone was filled with all They were excited to hear

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Speaker 1: God's word and be in the presence of their brothers

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Speaker 1: and sisters in Christ. When was the last time you

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Speaker 1: were genuinely excited about going to church? Did you fully

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Speaker 1: grasp the privilege of openly hearing God's word? In the West,

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Speaker 1: especially for those who've grown up in the pews, we've

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Speaker 1: lost our spiritual fervor. We are most certainly lacking in

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Speaker 1: zeal We're coming before God on Sunday mornings and all

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Speaker 1: the time in Betweens, not out of gratitude, but out

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Speaker 1: of obligation. We've become so focused on what the church is,

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Speaker 1: not the numerous ways our preferences go unmet, feelings hurt,

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Speaker 1: pride wounded. We've become fixated on the people rather than

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Speaker 1: the person of Christ we are called to worship. We've

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Speaker 1: lost our perspective. The believers and acts were hyper focused

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Speaker 1: on their purpose as a church. I'm confident that there

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Speaker 1: were conflicts as they sought to know God and make

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Speaker 1: Him known, but they didn't allow disagreements to distract, divide,

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Speaker 1: and hear them from their work. They didn't walk away

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Speaker 1: from the mission of the church because someone inflicted emotional

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Speaker 1: or spiritual pain. They were so outward focused that they

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Speaker 1: didn't have time to linger on their inward feelings. They

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Speaker 1: grasp that the church wasn't about them individually, but rather

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Speaker 1: what they could contribute corporately. Another thing we see in

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Speaker 1: this text is that their early believers weren't just church friends.

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Speaker 1: They didn't regulate the meeting of the saints to a

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Speaker 1: particular time, day, or location. Yet they were in constant community.

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Speaker 1: In our modern day we refer to this as doing

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Speaker 1: life together. They found their tribe and what do we

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Speaker 1: see the gift of community. Further, blesses Christians who moved

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Speaker 1: through relationships outside the walls of the church. They hung

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Speaker 1: out in public, invited each other to their most intimate

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Speaker 1: places their homes, and ate together, filling both their physical

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Speaker 1: needs and spiritual souls. Their hearts are glad because they

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Speaker 1: united by a mutual love for the Lord and a

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Speaker 1: desire to do his work. Intersecting faith in life are

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Speaker 1: you involved in a local church community. If se great,

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Speaker 1: consider how you can continue to encourage and engage with

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Speaker 1: the body of believers. If not, take some time this

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Speaker 1: week to visit churches and get plugged in. For further reading,

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Speaker 1: check out Proverbs twenty seven, seventeen and ten reasons you

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Speaker 1: need community.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to today's devotional. If you liked what

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Speaker 2: you heard today, we want to make sure you know

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Speaker 2: about our sister podcast Your Daily Prayer. When you follow

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Speaker 2: grow in prayer or start your day with your heart

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Speaker 2: to you each morning.

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Speaker 1: You were using a