On Your Mark Get Set—GROW! Message 2

On Your Mark Get Set—GROW!

Acts 2:42

Message 2

Koinonia

Me:

A lonely life

a. My best friend

i. Tina

ii. This has been my solid rock

iii. When comes to family

iv. Fellow pastors – We told to have a mentor

1. Someone we can lay our burdens on

2. (I never did)

3. I have always just winged it

b. Don’t feel sorry for me

i. My church family

ii. I don’t lay my burdens on you

iii. But I love your fellowship

iv. It’s top priority for me

v. I pray after today it will be for you also

We:

Why is fellowship important?

a. Lots of churches put in their name.

i. Google – Grace Fellowship Church

ii. 16 million results

iii. The problem with putting fellowship in your name you must live up to it.

iv. A lot of church with fellowship in the name, have zero fellowship

v. We don’t want that

b. What makes fellowship so important?

i. Simply put because Jesus and apostles made it important

ii. God has put in our hearts to be together

We are better together

God:

Koinonia

We are in a partnership

i. It essentially means sharing the life of Jesus Christ that we have in common with each other.

ii. It is not just a social gathering, it’s a spiritual gathering.

iii. We get social when we are together, but we are being social over spiritual matters.

God’s purpose for the church

i. Our churches are filled with people who outwardly look contented and at peace

ii. However, inwardly they are crying out for someone to love them … just as they are.

“One another”

i. One way to understand how much God values fellowship is in the phrase “one another”.

ii. It’s repeated 60 times in the bible

iii. That should give us a clue right there

iv. Romans 12:10 (NIV) — 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Romans 12:10 NIV

Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

v. That’s just one verse and it used it twice

d. It’s how the church grew

i. Acts 2:42 (NLT) — 42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.

Acts 2:42 NLT

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.

ii. Verse 47 says this “And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”

iii. In a perfect world we would never have problems, never have disagreements, never have church splits

iv. It’s not a perfect world

You:

Christian fellowship is messy

a. Authentic fellowship is messy

We are broken people

ii. We have hurts, habits and hang ups

iii. When you get real with another person, it’s messy and it’s dangerous because it means you have to open yourself up to another person and be real.

iv. A lot of you don’t want to do that

v. You have been hurt before

vi. You have been burned

vii. We put our walls and go on defense

b. How can you overcome this wall of defense

Submit to “one another”

ii. Ephesians 5:21 (NIV) — 21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Ephesians 5:21 NIV

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

iii. That is empty yourself of pride and the need to control other people, mutual submission.

iv. James 5 says to “confess our sins to one another”

v. Colossians 3 says “forgive one another”

vi. Galatians 6 says “bear one another’s burdens”

c. Now that is real Christian fellowship,

i. I long for that.

ii. Don’t you all?

iii. That’s real fellowship!!!

Just imagine:

The secret of our growth

a. We love one another

i. We take you just as you are

ii. With all your warts your hang ups, habit, and hurts.

b. Let’s take it to the next level.

i. Lay down your burdens

ii. Lay down your hurts

iii. Lay down your pain

iv. Lay down your doubts

v. Love one another.