What The Guys in Our Church talked about on Saturday, 20 February 2010

Fellowship

(American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828, Noah Webster)

1.  Companionship; society; consort; mutual association of persons on equal and friendly terms

3.  Partnership; joint interest

4.  Company; a state of being together

7.  Communion; intimate familiarity

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the God of Fellowship

-within the Trinity (Gen 1:26, Matthew 3:16-17)

-walked with Adam in the Garden (Gen 1-2)

-gave Adam a wife (Gen 2:20-25)

-closed the door for Noah (Gen 7:16)

-went ahead and behind the children of Israel in the desert (Ex 13:21)

-stood with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in King Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace (Dan 3:16-25)

-mourned with Mary & Martha over Lazarus’ death before calling him forth (John 11: 33-26)

-offers reconciliation to rebels (2 Cor 5:11-21)

-invites the redeemed into eternal fellowship (I Thess 4:17)

We are to be like God – in fellowship…

With Christ (1 Cor 1:9)

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

With the Holy Spirit –

Brings conviction of sin (John 16:8)

When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:

            Illuminates the Word (John 16:13)

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

            Counselor (John 16:7) 

But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

            Gives utterance when we don’t know how to pray (Romans 8:26)

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

            Gives gifts (I Cor 12)

⁴There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

            Indwells believers

Ezekial 36:27 -  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

John 14:17 – …the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

1 Cor 3:16 - Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

With our pastor (Hebrews 13:17)

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Inside the church

Acts 2:42-47 - ⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. ⁴⁴All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. ⁴⁶Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Hebrews 10:25 - Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Paul – a mentor / walk with the wise (Prov 13:20)

He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

Barnabas – a close friend (James  5:16)

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

Timothy – a disciple / someone to pour your life into (Matthew 28:19-20)

AH-HUM:  for a father, your first “Timothies” would be your children

¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in^[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

With our wife –

            She’s our helper

Gen 2:18 - The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

Pr 18:22 - He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.

Pr 31:10-31 –

²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:

 ²⁹ "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all."

 ³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

 ³¹ Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

            One flesh

Gen 2:24 - For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

Eph 5:25-28 - ²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶to make her holy, cleansing^[a] her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

With our children (Eph 6:4)

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.  

With our parents (Proverbs)

Who (or what) should we NOT have fellowship with? 

Eph 5:11 “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness.”

The guys in our church are STRONGER TOGETHER through our fellowship with our Savior, the Holy Spirit, our pastor, one another, our wives, our children, and our parents.