Y O U WER E

NEVER
M E A N T TO B E
AL O N E

A 5 - D AY D E V OT I ON A L
Life With God. Together. For Others.
I N TR O-
D U CT ION
 YOU This guide is provided to introduce you to the idea of a
life lived with God, in healthy, life-giving community, for
the sake of others. Each day covers a different core idea
that drives our community’s vision. These ideas are what
get us out of bed every day. They guide how we treat one

WERE
another, and they inspire our heart for the world around us.

We call this a “five day” guide, but feel free to take

as long you need to go through it. Each day you’ll find:

SCRIPTURE - these ideas that frame our lives come straight

NEVER
from the Bible. We encourage you to read the scripture
two or three times to get a feel for it before moving on.

REFLECTION - we share our thoughts on what the

scriptures mean to us, and how they guide our vision for
this community.

ME ANT
QUESTIONS - we provide some questions for you to
consider so you can reflect on how the text applies to you.
Prayer - we encourage you to take some time to talk with
God about what you experienced in the guide that day.

Our desire for you is that you would encounter the Living
God. We hope this guide helps you on your journey in

TO BE
some small way.

- The staff of Vineyard Community Church

ALONE.

4 YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE ALONE 5

 D A Y O N E

YOU WERE
NE VER ME ANT
TO BE ALONE
1
DAY 1

God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.”
So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds
of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the
Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named
the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn’t find a suitable companion.

God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced
it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman
and presented her to the Man. - Genesis 2:18-22

These verses are from the very beginning of the Christian Questions for Reflection:
Bible - in the book of Genesis. What we see here is a
deep truth: God created humanity with the need for 1. Think about a person you love dearly in your life.
relationship. He created us first to be in relationship with What do you enjoy most in your relationship with
Him, and then in relationship with one another. “It’s not that person? What brings you joy in that relationship?
good for the Man to be alone,” God says.
2. Keep thinking about that same person. What is most
This is why we don’t like to be alone. Human beings challenging in your relationship with them? What makes
thrive in relationship with God and one another. Isolation the relationship difficult at times?
is soul crushing. Solitary confinement is a punishment.
We were made to be in loving God-centered community. 3. How might that relationship be different if God’s
desire for loving community were at the center of it?
Then why is it so hard to connect with other human
beings? If we’re made for community, then why do so
many of us have broken relationships, estranged friends Prayer:
and lovers, and dysfunctional families? Thank God for the people you love in your life. Then ask
him to show you ways to love them even more. Finish
In the very next chapter of the Bible, Genesis 3, the Man by naming the people you love to God, and asking him
and Woman choose what they want over what God wants to do good things for each of them.
for them. With this decision, they leave behind God’s good
plan for humanity. And it’s still this way today: we are
born with a fractured relationship with God, which leads
to strained relationships with each other.

So, what has God done about this?

9
 D A Y T W O

2 GOD LOVES YOU

D AY 2
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this
is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole
and lasting life.” - Jesus in John 3:16

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God.
Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person
who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you
can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only
Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking
about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as
a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with
God. - 1 John 4:7-10

God loves you. God loves this world He’s created. Jesus a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as
himself tells us this in John 3:16. And because He loves a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve
this world, He made a way to mend our fractured relation- done to our relationship with God.”
ship with Him. He loves every person on this earth, even
the ones who don’t believe He exists! God loves you.

We were all created to be loved by God. Questions for Reflection:

He could’ve scrapped what He’d created. He could’ve 1. Do you believe that God loves you? Why or why not?
started over. He could’ve made the first Man and Woman
love him. There are so many ways He could’ve “fixed” our 2. What do you feel when you think about the idea
broken relationship with Him. of God loving you?

But instead, He chose to demonstrate His love for us, for 3. How might your life be different if you really and truly
you. God came down to earth as a man named Jesus, and believed that God loves you?
He experienced what we experience: the joy of friendship,
the laughter around a shared meal, the strain of disagree-
ment, the sorrow of loss, and the pain of betrayal. Then Prayer:
He sacrificed Himself for us, dying on the cross for all of Thank God for the love He has shown all of us and you.
us. When Jesus rose from the dead three days later, He Then ask him to help you see all the ways He has demon-
defeated death and made a way for us to be in restored strated His love for you in your life. Finish by asking God
relationship with Him. to make you more aware of His love for you today.

It was because of His love for us. As the gospel-writer

John wrote in one of his letters in the Bible, “This is the
kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon

12 YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE ALONE

 D A Y T H R E E

YOU WERE
CRE ATED T O
LOVE GOD
3
DAY 3

When the Pharisees heard how (Jesus) had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their
forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question
they hoped would show him up: “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most
important?”

Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’
This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it:
‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in
God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.” - Matthew 22:34-40

In this story, some religious leaders challenge Jesus to Questions for Reflection:
take everything God has asked humanity to do and distill
it down to one most important thing. His answer? “Love 1. Do you love God? What do you think that means?
God.”
2. How does the idea that you were created to love
God loves you. And He wants you to love Him. We were God make you feel?
created to be in relationship with God, first and foremost.
When we experience his love for us, and then we love Him 3. How might your life be different if you loved God
in reply, we start to understand what true love looks like. with all your “passion and prayer and intelligence?”
God desires for you to be loved, to love Him, and to love
others well. He shows us how to love, which teaches us
how to love each other the way He loves us. Prayer:
Thank God that he wants you to be loved and to love
This is why Jesus gives the religious leaders two answers. one another well. Then ask him to help you understand
“Love God and love others.” They’re in that order on pur- what it means to love Him in reply. Finish by asking God
pose. Our healthy relationship with God brings healing to make you more aware of His love for you today.
to our relationships with each other as we let God’s love
lead us.

When we love God, we learn to love others.

17
 D A Y F O U R

4
YOU WERE
CRE ATED T O
GROW IN
COMMUNIT Y
D AY 4
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you:
compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content
with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the
Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic,
all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None
of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word
of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives.
Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out
to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of
the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. - Colossians 3:12-17

God designed you to grow best in community. You God’s Church is made up of people, not buildings. Those
were never meant to be alone, because so much of what people - the ones who’ve decided to let God teach them
God wants us to experience happens in the context of how to love - are constantly learning and growing as God
community. teaches them. They practice the love they’re learning
with one another. They’ll get it right sometimes. They’ll
In these verses, the Apostle Paul paints a picture of the get it wrong sometimes. But they won’t be perfect. Unity,
type of community that God desires for all people. It’s rela- peace, compassion, and love are all things that can grow
tionship rooted in God’s love for us and our love for God. in a community that willingly puts itself under God’s lov-
And out of that love flows our love for one another. This ing instruction.
is a picture of what the Church should be like.
You were made to be part of a community that lets God
God intends for his Church to be a place that is known teach them how to love.
for its compassion, kindness, and humility. He wants it to
be a place where asking for and receiving forgiveness is Questions for Reflection:
normal. He wants it to be a safe place where people can
be truthful in loving ways, because they know they will 1. What do you think it means to be part of a
be loved. He desires for His Church to be a place of unity community that learns how to love from God?
where His love is made known to the world through the
people who follow and love Him. 2. How does the idea that you were created to grow
in community make you feel?
This is what God desires for His Church.
3. How might your life be different if you were able to
So why isn’t the Church always like this? There are times show more compassion, kindness, humility, and quiet
where the Church fulfills God’s vision, but there are also strength to others?
times when it falls short. This is because when we encoun-
ter God’s love we begin to learn how to love Him and one Prayer:
another. We don’t know how to love well on our own. Thank God that he wants to teach us how to love others
We have to be taught by God, because God is love. God’s well. Then ask him to help you grow in relationship with
Church is constantly learning to love well. others. Finish by asking God to make you more aware
of His love for you and others today.

20 YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE ALONE

 D A Y F I V E

5 YOU WERE
CRE ATED T O
LOVE OTHERS
D AY 5
“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten compan-
ion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let
them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time,
respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves,
your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and
the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all
you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply
say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does
that. - Jesus in Matthew 5:43-47

In these verses, Jesus shows us one of the most powerful We were made to love one another.
and challenging truths of following Him: you were made
to love others - even those who are different than you, Questions for Reflection:
even those you don’t like, even those you disagree with,
and even those who hate you and hurt you. With Jesus, 1. What do you think it looks like to “love your enemies”?
hate isn’t an option. Followers of Jesus don’t hate anyone.
2. How does the idea that you were created to love
God loves everyone, and so His followers are called to others make you feel?
love everyone. This is the natural outworking of God’s
love: He loves us, we love Him, we love others. It’s all the 3. How might your life be different if you were able to
same love flowing from God to us to others. show the kind of love that Jesus is talking about here?

This is how He intended it to be when he made human- Prayer:

ity. This is why it feels wrong to be isolated, alone, or sep- Thank God for the love that flows from Him to us and
arated from others. We were made to love God. We were then to others. Then ask him to help you love others
made to live in life-giving community centered in His love well - even those you disagree with. Finish by asking
for us. We were made to freely demonstrate His love to God to make you more aware of His love for you and
the world. the world today.

This is a world-changing love. It’s the kind of love that

sacrifices self-interest and self-promotion for the sake of
others. It’s the kind of love that brings peace and makes
space for understanding in times of uncertainty and dis-
agreement. It’s the kind of love that serves the widow, the
orphan, the outcast, and the immigrant, expecting noth-
ing in return, simply because it’s what God desires. It’s
the kind of love you were created to show to this world.

24 YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE ALONE

 LIFE This is the life of following Jesus.

God loves us.

WITH
We love him in reply.

Out of this relationship we learn to love others.

This love changes the world.

GO D
Here at Vineyard Community Church, we are rooted in
six little words that describe the kind of life we want to
nurture in our community.

Life with God.

Together.
For others.

TO GETHER LIFE WITH GOD - Everything in our lives begins with God.
He is the center of our community, the One who brings
us together, the One who fuels our lives in this world. We
live our lives from the inside out, nurturing a deep and
abiding relationship with God, allowing Him to shape us,

FO R
our community, and our expression of love to the world.

TOGETHER - We do this together in community. We prac-

tice loving one another well. We heal from past hurts. We
work out our relationships in an atmosphere of grace,
where failure is just part of the learning process. We wel-

OTHERS
come God’s shaping hand in our community and we expec-
tantly watch for his invitations to us, both as individuals
and as a community that loves God together.

FOR OTHERS - As a community we look outward and do

our best to demonstrate God’s love for us to the world.
We partner with our city to meet needs. We love our
coworkers. We look each and every day for God’s invita-
tions to show his love to the world.

This is the journey we’re on, and we invite you to join us.

26 YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE ALONE 27

Life With God. Together. For Others.