Untitled Sermon

Drift from Fellowship

Dereck Redman runner tore Achilles and dad came around him.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

NIV

They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.

The Message

FELLOWSHIP — What is it?

Fellowship… A great word. Greek word is Kononia… basically means together because of something in common. What do you have in common with the person to your left? To your right? Take a couple of moments to find out.

What was it? Do you like the same foods, color, music, maybe you live in same neighborhood? Maybe the thing you have in common is that you sit in the same pew with each other. And this word fellowship that they and us are to be devoted to… that’s not really what it’s talking about. Fellowship here means being brought together… unified in 1 common interest… and active participation in that interest and in each other.

Your God experience. What is that? It’s what we talked about the last 2 weeks… Salvation… Sanctification. That you have surrendered your life to God and He is in control. That is what we have in common. That is the fellowship of the believers.

And its here in this word fellowship that you have participation… sharing…partnership… with Christ and others. We see this in verses like…

God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

NIV

God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord

NLT

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all

() NIV

To see this… let’s hop back into the Old Testament. .

we think that our story starts in . We know that chapters 1 and 2 happened… but when you of today, our life and the struggles we go through… we tend to trace our story back only to . What happened in ? The Fall… Sin entered into the world. And we know that sin breaks this fellowship that we are to have with God. This life that God created us to have has been marred by sin. The enemy tries to steal, kill and destroy. So we tend to think our story starts in … The Fall.

But actually it starts in ! Fellowship of man and God. Fellowship with each other as He created Man and woman. There are 2 rhythms that we see as we read through & 2.

Day 1… God created the light. He saw that the light was good. The first day there was evening and morning.

Day 2… God created the the sky. And it was good. The 2nd day there was evening and morning.

Day 3… God created the land… which would produce vegetation, seed bearing plants and trees. He saw it was GOOD. The 3rd day there was evening and morning.

Day 4… God created the sun, moon and stars. And He saw that it was GOOD. The 4th day there was evening and morning.

Day 5… God created great creatures of the sea and every living thing in water… every winged bird. And He saw it was GOOD! The 5th day there was evening and morning.

Day 6… God created living creatures on the land, wild animals, livestock. He also created mankind in His own image… in His likeness. says…

So God created mankind in his own image,

    in the image of God he created them;

    male and female he created them.

And God saw all that He made and it was very GOOD! The 6th day there was evening and morning.

Day 7… What did God do? He was finished with creation and the Word says He rested. He rested from all His work because it was all GOOD! And the 7th day there was evening and morning? NO!

Days 1-6… there was evening to close that day of creation and then there was morning to start the next day of creation. Interesting progression. But day 7… there was no evening… no morning to start day 8… no matter how hard we try to get in an extra day in our weekend. Why is this significant?

We were created that there would be no end of this constant fellowship with God. Made in His image… male and female… shows that this fellowship was with God and each other. That is where our story starts… that is what we are created for.

And this fellowship is to be one of united together… not discord. This is what the church in was devoted to. This is what God’s Word calls the church today to be devoted to. Not just the fellowship of just you and God… BUT ALSO the fellowship between each other. Devoted in helping each other in life. Living life with God… Doing life with each other. As our vision statement for our church says…

Being united together. Flip over to New Testament and Jesus calls us to this.

“My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. 10 All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. 11 Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name;[b] now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.

NLT

As you read it you might say… That sounds great Doug, but actually in that passage, Jesus was praying for the disciples right there at that time. And you would be right… That’s why Jesus continued and prayed for you and me…

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

NLT

Jesus prays for this fellowship between us that we would be one. That we wouldn’t let the enemy drive wedges between you and others. United together for the common goal of Jesus Christ. Together as a single unit… working together as the body of Christ. What does that really look like. To much of the time, I believe, we tend to think that is on Sundays and Sundays only. For 1 hour a week we come together to worship corporately. Even then… if things don’t go the way we want them to… and they never do… we are tempted to be upset with the body and go into what I call…

The Island Perspective…

(Show pictures of Hawaii islands)

This is a picture of Hawaii. Anybody been there? I haven’t yet. I hear it’s beautiful. All these little islands out there just sitting in the middle of the ocean. Now, is Hawaii easy to drive to? No… why? Because it is not connected to where we are at. And even if you get there… in order to go to other islands, it’s not easy enough to drive… you need to hop on a plane or a boat and go. They are separated and not connected to the whole.

The Island Perspective is just that. Separated and not connected to the whole. If we are not connected to the body of Christ… to the Family of God… then we risk being spiritually separated. And the enemy would love for you to live a life of “Island Perspective”… not connected to people and ultimately not living the life that Jesus prayed that you would have.

We have to be connected to the whole… It’s loving God and loving others. Not just loving God only… not just others only… it’s not an either/or… but a both/and. And when we do that… we fulfill the call that God has for our lives. Connecting with each other more than just a Sunday morning… but also throughout the week. Calling someone and check up on them. Our men’s Bible study this week… we encouraged our men to pick someone out and pray for them and check up on them throughout the next couple of weeks.

The early church devoted… committed themselves to this. And because they did… a great sense of AWE came over them. God started to do something big in the midst of them. Want God to do something big in your life… in our church… let’s be devoted and committed to the things He call us to be devoted to… not the things we want.

And when things come up that we have a tendency to split hairs over… The enemy would like to drive a wedge between you and someone else… The body… Ask this question…

Will this make an eternal difference?

And if the answer is no… this won’t make any eternal difference… then let go and let God. If the answer is yes… because people are going to be impacted for Christ… then be united together in fellowship with Christ and with each other.

You laugh together, cry together, spend time together… just like you would friends and more than just a place of learning. You wanted to get to know each other better. It was intentional and deliberate. You challenge one another and you love one another.

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

() NIV

Ways to fellowship with God

Reading Bible daily… Start a Bible reading plan… See Scriptures in bulletinSpend quiet time daily listening for God. Obeying God when you hear Him talk to you.

Ways to fellowship with each other.

Small groups… talk about different types of groups with Brenda as the leader. Contact her.Coming together… Trunk or treat… fall fest… chili and pieserving together… S.O.S daysWorshipping together… no matter the style you like… worship is worship. When we get distracted by styles, we get focus off of who we are worshipping and goes to what we are worshipping.

We are created for fellowship! So let’s be united together and come to the altar today… worship God together. Maybe you want to do just that… come to the altar today and worship God. Bring someone with you today… let’s be devoted to the fellowship with God and each other.

Sing

Pray