This Day Forward
Week 3: Authentic, Life-Giving Relationships 

(Ecclesiastes 4:8–12 NIV) There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. “For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” This too is meaningless— a miserable business! 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: 10 If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. 11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

(Romans 12:5 NLT) …Since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.

1. : What I know and others know about me.

(Matthew 23:5 NIV) “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long.”

(Matthew 23:27 NIV)  “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.”(MULTILINE)

2. : What I know but others don’t know about me.

“You will always remain as sick as your secrets.”

(2 Corinthians 4:2 MSG) We refuse to wear masks and play games.…Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open…

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What?! You too? I thought I was the only one.’”—C.S. Lewis

(John 3:16–21 NIV) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

(1 John 1:9 NIV84) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

(James 5:16 NIV) Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

(Colossians 4:12 NIV) Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.(MULTILINE)

3. : What I don’t know but others know about me.

(Proverbs 27:6 NKJV) Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.(MULTILINE)

4. : What I don’t know and you don’t know about me.(MULTILINE)

(Colossians 2:19 NIV) …the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

What do I do?

1. Get in a group.

2. Join a serve team.

3. Pursue authentic, life-giving relationships.