True Fellowship With A Real Purpose

WELCOME

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

PRAY

The question necessarily arises, “What kind of God desires and enables fellowship with the creature?”

Fellowship A word well known in church lingo, one that is the locus of bond between knowing a brother or sister of Christ and key to knowing God himself.

The Gospel restores fellowship, a new covenant is made, Fellowship with God is the goal of the Christian life.

Fellowships in the world. Book Clubs, Biking, Games etc.

Bar or party, forgotten-

1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

1 Cor 13:12

FELLOWSHIP-Definition

The sharing in activities or privileges of an intimate association or group; especially used of Christians and churches.

Definition

The sharing in activities or privileges of an intimate association or group; especially used of Christians and churches.

Fellowship = used 19X in NT

Key-oh-kneeah-Greek-, communion, participation.

The OT tells how God began to draw a special people into fellowship with himself. Enoch is described as a man who walked with God (, ). Noah, likewise, walked in communion with the Lord (6:9). And Abraham, the father of Israel, is called “the friend of God” (). No OT saint had deeper fellowship with God than did Moses during his 40-day encounter with the Lord on Mt Sinai (). Later in Israel’s history David wrote psalms that reflect a heart vitally in tune with the living God (; ; ; ).

The essence of heart religion is fellowship with God. It is the transcendent purpose of life and the source of happiness.

The essence of heart religion is fellowship with God. It is the transcendent purpose of life and the source of happiness.7

Jesus said wait-10 DAYS

Prayer meetings

START OF THE CHRUCH 1000’s

When Peter stood up the sermon of pentecost began with proclamation and 12 were right by his side.

They listened and followed.

The overall effect of fellowship is transformation. Altogether, this is a movement towards the decisive moment of cleansing from sin.

The OT tells how God began to draw a special people into fellowship with himself. Enoch is described as a man who walked with God (, ). Noah, likewise, walked in communion with the Lord (6:9). And Abraham, the father of Israel, is called “the friend of God” (). No OT saint had deeper fellowship with God than did Moses during his 40-day encounter with the Lord on Mt Sinai (). Later in Israel’s history David wrote psalms that reflect a heart vitally in tune with the living God (; ; ; ).

- is actually an active, burning thing.

John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

They listened and followed.

Campfire- OT- Judgment-NT symbol of the contagious gospel.

- is actually an active, burning thing.

Acts 2:42 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Acts:242And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

DEVOTION

They Listened and followed.

They saw this as something important. It was before the New Testament because they were living out the words before they were written.

- its hard at times.

Game day- Sunday-Practice

They listened and followed.

Devotion and allegiance.

The pursuit of holy habits, study of Scripture, prayer, service, are ways in which heart and mind take on the habitus of worship.

Campfire- OT- Judgment-NT symbol of the contagious gospel.

- is actually an active, burning thing.

Luke 3:16 ESV

John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Prayers 3 X a day, 4 on Sabbath and 5 on special holidays.

Prayer is fellowship, to pray is to talk to God, it is devotion in itself.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Acts 2:43 ESV

And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

Acts2:43

FIRE-PASSION

Campfire- OT- Judgment-NT symbol of the contagious gospel.

- is actually an active, burning thing.

John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Love

Eyes of Fire

Indivisualism

Consumerism, Materialism

Acts 2:44 ESV

And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

Acts 2:44

FELLOWSHIP

Paul’s “I want to know Christ” means “I want to draw near in fellowship.

Alone --Go up to the mountains- Even Moses came down after 40 days.

The motif “in Christ” in the thought of St. Paul represents a union of love, in which Paul’s “I want to know Christ” means “I want to draw near in fellowship.

Fellowship with God is a spiritual sphere of increasing knowledge of God by faith. John Wesley

The fellowship began once we said yes.

God’s ways are not mans, but mans ways should be God’s.

Fellowship with a believer, is beneficial to you and to those who you are with. Its Eternal.

Acts 2:45 ESV

And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

JESUS-MOST IMPORTANT

Seeking fellowship with God in a submissive attitude is worship because it is the acknowledgement of being the purchased possession of the one Lord.

To know God is to be in union with Christ, to be caught up in His vision of reality, to dwell in a new sphere circumscribed by Christ Himself. This fellowship is the direct revelation of Christ in the heart, the fullness of divine indwelling.

Summum Bonum. Latin meaning “the highest good”; the highest good Is communion with God.. nothing is more good.

Latin meaning “the highest good”; Is communion with God..

2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

1 john 3:2

1:John 3

The Lexham English Bible Chapter 3

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever he is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.

English Standard Version Chapter 3

2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Acts 2:46 ESV

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,

Acts 2:46 ESV

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,

Communion

The guy who is going to pray

GRACE-It is not a once-for-all impartation; instead, it is the fruit of moment by moment fellowship with God through the presence of the Holy Spirit, Every moment of fellowship with God is due to His gracious approach.

Every moment of fellowship with God is due to His gracious approach.

Communion/ Breaking Bread

Fullness of communion is wholehearted fellowship with God, which is made possible through entire sanctification.

Acts 2:47 ESV

praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Mission

fellowship with God is an ever-flowing wellspring, which finds deepening expression in love for God and one’s neighbor.

Fullness of communion is wholehearted fellowship with God, which is made possible through entire sanctification.

Heart religion, or true religion, refers to the transformative impact of fellowship with God. True religion is union with Christ, fellowship with the triune God, eternal life in the present. The “heart” of heart religion is this joyful fellowship with God.

The “heart” of heart religion is this joyful fellowship with God.

Fullness of communion is union with Christ

J

One last point. Whenever we talk of fellowship, however hard we try to be practical, our words are always filtered through the rather bland idea of fellowship that most of us have. Fellowship is something like sitting together around a warm fire on a cold day. That concept leaves out something important: the radical nature of true biblical fellowship. Far from being bland and passive, it is actually an active, burning thing.

The outflow of God’s holy nature reaches out to the creature for fellowship

A wonderful portrayal of this appears in the last chapter of Elton Trueblood’s study of the church, The Incendiary Fellowship. He shows that in the Old Testament the word fire characteristically carried overtones of judgment, but in the New Testament it became a symbol of the contagious, spreading nature of the gospel of Christ and the church’s fellowship. John the Baptist said that when Christ came he would baptize “with fire” (). Jesus spoke of people being “salted with fire” (). At Pentecost the disciples experienced “tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them” (). Trueblood says that, whatever else may be said about the fellowship of the early church, “it was certainly intense.” Those who had been set on fire by Christ and who maintained the blaze by their close contact with one another literally set the world on fire.7 We will see this even in our day where “body life” becomes a reality.

Inward transformation begins with the purification of the heart with holy love and flows into the dispositions that characterize human relationships

Demonstrations of unconditional love disclose the church’s function as God’s means of grace in the world, and only in this demonstration does the church fulfill its function as means of grace.

Consistent pursuit of the knowledge of God brings believers into entire sanctification and fullness of communion.

1,095 meals a year.

Jesus Loved meals, Laz, Tax Collectors

English Standard Version Chapter 10

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

How do we live a fellowship with a purpose?

1.We love the teaching of God’s word.

Acts 10:24-25

2.Fellowship

3. Communion, meals

4. Prayer

5. Mission.