You know the box. There is a beautiful picture of the finished thing on the side, and inside there are six bags of screws, three wooden panels, twelve dowels, and instructions you immediately regret opening. None of the pieces looks much like the picture. Assembly is required.

In this first message of a new series, we turn to Acts 2:42–47 and Romans 6:1–11. Jesus rose from the grave to create a new kind of people. In baptism, we are joined to his death and resurrection and raised to a new life, but that life was never meant to be lived alone. God is assembling those resurrected people into a church.

There are fifty-nine “one another” commands in the New Testament, and every one of them requires another person. You cannot obey them by yourself. Bring your part. Connect to the people around you. Learn to love the flawed church God loves. And let the picture God intended start taking shape among us.