WEBVTT 00:00:03.967 --> 00:00:10.907 You can open your Bibles to Acts, chapter 2, and we're going to be again one more time in Acts 2.42-47. 00:00:10.907 --> 00:00:19.710 We're in the middle of a series where we're talking about what the early church devoted themselves to in order to encounter the presence of God. 00:00:19.710 --> 00:00:28.289 And all of us should have a desire to encounter God in ever-increasing ways, and this is what the early church did. 00:00:28.289 --> 00:00:35.067 They practiced these things and the grace of God was made available to them so that they could encounter God in special ways. 00:00:35.067 --> 00:00:37.847 Last week, pastor Kelly did a great job. 00:00:37.847 --> 00:00:44.204 If you remember the hand that he used as an illustration, let's put that back up on the screen and you can see it. 00:00:44.204 --> 00:00:46.868 So how are we supposed to interact with the Word of God? 00:00:46.868 --> 00:00:53.112 We're supposed to hear it, read it, study it, memorize it and meditate on it. 00:00:53.112 --> 00:00:54.945 And if we do those things, guess what? 00:00:54.945 --> 00:00:56.191 God meets us. 00:00:56.191 --> 00:01:04.152 He encounters us as we study the Scriptures and all of the other aspects of relating to God through the Scriptures. 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:13.528 Today I have the privilege of taking the next message on the grace encounter of God that we get, and it's called Encountering God Through Fellowship. 00:01:13.528 --> 00:01:16.608 Encountering God Through Fellowship. 00:01:16.608 --> 00:01:20.209 So let's look at Acts, chapter 2, verses 42-47. 00:01:20.209 --> 00:01:26.152 And they devoted themselves to the apostles, teaching and the fellowship. 00:01:26.152 --> 00:02:14.592 If you write in your Bible, if you want to underline that or circle it, star it, or you can make a note on your tablet or phone, whatever you're using to the breaking of bread and the prayers, and awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles, and all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need, and, day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all of the people, and the Lord added to their number, day by day, those who were being saved. 00:02:14.592 --> 00:02:15.582 Let's pray together. 00:02:15.582 --> 00:02:17.582 In the name of Jesus. 00:02:17.582 --> 00:02:18.705 I thank you for your word. 00:02:18.705 --> 00:02:20.530 That is absolutely true. 00:02:20.530 --> 00:02:34.689 And, father, I pray that you would cause us today to have the capacity to be able to receive your word and that it would go deep into our hearts, that you would prepare our hearts even now to be good soil that the word of God can be planted in. 00:02:34.689 --> 00:02:45.171 And then, holy Spirit, would you water this word and cause it to grow and produce the harvest that you desire in our own lives, but also to the benefit of those around us. 00:02:45.171 --> 00:02:56.711 Father, I pray that you would open our eyes so that we might see clearly the things that are hindering us from walking and right fellowship and relationship with you and with others. 00:02:56.711 --> 00:03:05.502 Open our ears to hear clearly your truth that will make us free and we give you glory for it in Jesus' name, amen. 00:03:06.620 --> 00:03:13.372 So anyone who knows me really well knows that I'm not a huge fan of sci-fi or fantasy movies. 00:03:13.372 --> 00:03:25.010 Okay, so when I mentioned this in another service and I asked how many of them were fans of sci-fi or fantasy, I'd say 75 to 80 percent of the hands went up. 00:03:25.010 --> 00:03:26.885 So I guess I'll try that again. 00:03:26.885 --> 00:03:31.850 So how many of you in this room are fans of fantasy or sci-fi type movies? 00:03:31.850 --> 00:03:34.448 Okay, a little less, a little less. 00:03:34.448 --> 00:03:42.429 So I don't know if that's just because you're feeling bad for me, so you're like wanting to help me to feel some, you know, some connection or something. 00:03:42.429 --> 00:03:43.431 That's great. 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:45.787 I did have a strange thought this week, though. 00:03:45.787 --> 00:03:49.829 I thought what if there was an actual zombie apocalypse? 00:03:49.829 --> 00:03:56.705 And again, I'm not kidding, like I actually had this thought what if there was an actual zombie. 00:03:56.705 --> 00:04:04.206 Now, again, I want to make it clear for those of us watching online or for our first time guests I do not believe in zombies. 00:04:04.206 --> 00:04:08.647 Okay, yeah, I heard all the gasps in the room. 00:04:08.647 --> 00:04:09.931 I don't believe in zombies. 00:04:09.931 --> 00:04:13.169 I do believe in demons and other things, but we won't get into that today. 00:04:13.169 --> 00:04:15.187 Just send a message for another time, okay? 00:04:15.819 --> 00:04:29.148 So if there were a zombie apocalypse and I thought about if they were to interact with our society, how strange would it be for them, how different would they experience it, how different would their experience be from their own experience? 00:04:29.148 --> 00:04:32.762 And then I kind of had another picture, if you can imagine. 00:04:32.762 --> 00:04:51.632 They show up here on earth and they see a bunch of people dressed in pajamas walking around with a strange glow on their face from their tablets and their phones and their iPads and all of the different things that they're looking into. 00:04:51.632 --> 00:05:05.139 And then they would hear us talking in code like OMG, lol, r-o-f-l, a-s-e-r-e emoji meme. 00:05:05.139 --> 00:05:14.672 You know, I mean they did all of those things and the question that I had is would it really be that much different? 00:05:14.672 --> 00:05:24.456 And, by the way, when I say all those things, I'm talking about the grandmas and the grandpas in the room, because you know all of you have done something like that before. 00:05:24.456 --> 00:05:29.711 Maybe not the pajamas and Walmart, but you've walked around talking to your phone or to your iPad. 00:05:29.711 --> 00:05:36.588 By the way, I would recommend that, if you do talk to your phone and before you send that text, proofread it. 00:05:36.588 --> 00:05:49.889 Okay, I don't know what autocorrect is doing, but in my world, satan tries to get into my autocorrect from time to time, so make sure you read that text a couple of times before you send it. 00:05:49.889 --> 00:06:01.970 So, anyway, long story short, kind of a silly intro to what I'm going to talk about today, but maybe it wouldn't be that strange for them, right? 00:06:02.699 --> 00:06:09.632 My point is that, in some ways, technology helps us to remain connected, right? 00:06:09.632 --> 00:06:17.627 Like, how many friends do you have on Facebook or I don't know what they call the Instagrammers and the? 00:06:17.627 --> 00:06:20.572 It's not tweet anymore, so the X, whatever. 00:06:20.572 --> 00:06:29.428 How many people do you have that are part of your circle of people that you would call friends or connection points or whatever the case is? 00:06:29.428 --> 00:06:40.348 And then the second question is are you receiving everything that you need from a community standpoint, from those engagements, from those connection points? 00:06:41.019 --> 00:06:45.771 Have you noticed how difficult it is in our world today to have a conversation with people. 00:06:45.771 --> 00:07:01.988 Am I the only one Like you just start talking about something and within three to four minutes or less, you find that you don't have anything else to say and the other person's looking around like how can I get out of this? 00:07:01.988 --> 00:07:04.485 Their eyes are glassing over. 00:07:04.485 --> 00:07:17.870 You know you're talking to young people and I love young people, but they're so the attention span has gotten so diminished, right, that it's like, unless you do something completely crazy, they're not even listening to you any longer. 00:07:18.740 --> 00:07:31.983 It's it's sometimes the things that we consider convenience and improvements and technological advance advancements are actually, in some ways, diminishing the things that we really need in our lives. 00:07:31.983 --> 00:07:40.942 We actually need FaceTime, and I'm not talking about over screen, I'm talking about face to face. 00:07:40.942 --> 00:07:51.891 We need to be able to have conversations where we speak about truth with each other, where we hold each other accountable, where we share the joys of life and the sorrows of life. 00:07:51.891 --> 00:08:19.651 All of those things are very hard to communicate through an emoji, right, and so that's what I really want to focus on here today how can we make sure that we are living our lives in such a way that our relationships are real, and with God, first of all, and then with each other in such a way that the world around us recognizes there's something different about those people and I want it. 00:08:19.651 --> 00:08:22.036 I want whatever it is that they have. 00:08:22.677 --> 00:08:25.252 So in order to do that, let's go back in time together. 00:08:25.252 --> 00:08:27.177 I do believe in time travel. 00:08:27.177 --> 00:08:30.127 That's a joke. 00:08:30.127 --> 00:08:30.829 That's a joke. 00:08:30.829 --> 00:08:37.474 I don't believe in time travel unless you're Jesus or Moses or Elijah, okay, but I don't believe in time travel. 00:08:37.474 --> 00:08:43.801 But if we could, metaphorically, just for a minute, let's imagine back to the day that Adam was created. 00:08:43.801 --> 00:09:05.573 So God, the Father, god the Son, god, the Spirit decide that they're going to make a person, they're gonna make a man, and so they form him out of the dust of the ground, and then it says that they breathe into his nostrils the breath of life and he became a living creature. 00:09:06.937 --> 00:09:14.777 Imagine what it must have been for Adam when he first opened his eyes, was able to recognize what was going on around him. 00:09:14.777 --> 00:09:19.631 Relationship with God was normal. 00:09:19.631 --> 00:09:22.037 It was his first experience. 00:09:22.037 --> 00:09:35.433 It was so close that he could literally reach out and touch and hear and experience who God is in such a powerful, practical, personal way. 00:09:35.433 --> 00:09:41.371 That's the way that God created him to be in relationship. 00:09:41.371 --> 00:09:44.302 That's why he created mankind. 00:09:44.302 --> 00:09:49.879 It's not like God was sitting around heaven bored and so he came up with a project, right? 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:51.523 No, in fact. 00:09:51.543 --> 00:10:06.200 If you go back a little further, you know that the Father, the Son and the Spirit, the Trinity, were involved in creation and they said to themselves let us make man in our image, after our likeness. 00:10:06.200 --> 00:10:10.212 God decided to do that, and so he started with man. 00:10:10.212 --> 00:10:18.390 He started with Adam and he breathed into him life and he became alive and he began to walk and talk with God and experience relationship with him. 00:10:18.390 --> 00:10:22.682 God gave him tasks, he gave him one rule, which we'll talk about later. 00:10:22.682 --> 00:10:32.596 We maybe won't even talk about the one rule, right, but he encountered God in such a it was so natural, so normal. 00:10:32.596 --> 00:10:40.553 You see, we were made by God to relate to God and to relate like God. 00:10:40.553 --> 00:10:45.287 We were made to relate to God and to relate like God. 00:10:45.287 --> 00:10:49.846 That's how he made us, that's how it created us and that's we have to know that. 00:10:49.846 --> 00:10:54.139 That's part of the DNA, the spiritual DNA, whatever you want to call it. 00:10:54.139 --> 00:10:57.976 The fingerprints of God are on us in this way. 00:10:57.976 --> 00:11:08.620 He's put it in us, he's programmed us in the right way to be able to relate to him and to relate to each other. 00:11:09.542 --> 00:11:20.427 And if you read on in the creation story, it says and we know that the first, not good of creation was declared by God when he said it is not good that the man should be alone. 00:11:20.427 --> 00:11:27.322 I will make a helper for him it is not good that man should be alone. 00:11:27.322 --> 00:11:36.879 Now, a lot of the men in this room missed a huge opportunity in that moment to say a word that might help you for the rest of your life, or at least for the next week. 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:41.830 What would you say to the, to the saying of God it's not good that man should be alone. 00:11:41.830 --> 00:11:44.803 All right, thank you, just trying to help you out. 00:11:44.803 --> 00:11:48.094 Just want to remind you also February 14th is Valentine's Day. 00:11:48.094 --> 00:11:49.697 That's coming soon, all right. 00:11:52.461 --> 00:11:55.374 So Adam and Eve came together. 00:11:55.374 --> 00:12:00.788 God brought them together, ordained marriage and he began to. 00:12:00.788 --> 00:12:11.270 They began to experience life the way that God intended for it to be experienced, so they had proper relationship with each other and they had proper relationship with God. 00:12:11.270 --> 00:12:21.341 In fact, it says that God walked and talked with them in the cool of the day, and again, I would just love to be able to somehow be. 00:12:21.341 --> 00:12:32.791 You know something in creation that could have just been there to observe what was going on, to experience this great connection point between God and the creation that he had made. 00:12:32.791 --> 00:12:41.495 This is the kind of relationship that God intends for his children to have with him and with each other. 00:12:41.495 --> 00:12:55.120 Again, this is his design, this is his order First of all, vertical fellowship with God, like this, that is right and pure and holy, and then horizontal relationship and fellowship with others. 00:12:55.120 --> 00:12:58.155 That is a part of God, those that are part of God's creation. 00:12:58.155 --> 00:13:00.261 God intends for us to have that. 00:13:00.261 --> 00:13:12.181 Can you imagine, can you think of any kind of icon, any kind of visual, any kind of image that you could get in your head that would remind you of the vertical nature and the horizontal nature of fellowship? 00:13:12.181 --> 00:13:23.919 How about the cross of Jesus Christ, in which he made a way, with his father, for us to be made right with God and to be made right with each other? 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:25.504 That's powerful. 00:13:25.504 --> 00:13:30.099 These words are true, but how many of you know that we have opposition? 00:13:30.099 --> 00:13:34.130 We have opposition, yes or no? 00:13:34.130 --> 00:13:38.399 Yes, absolutely we have opposition, and we know that. 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:44.038 That Satan comes to steal, to kill and to destroy. 00:13:44.558 --> 00:13:50.511 We're gonna get back to the story in just a minute, but I want to tell you that the early church was devoted to the fellowship. 00:13:50.511 --> 00:13:52.456 That's what it's talking about in this passage. 00:13:52.456 --> 00:13:56.340 The word fellowship Kelly kind of gave a precursor on this. 00:13:56.340 --> 00:13:57.947 It's called Koinonia. 00:13:57.947 --> 00:14:17.893 That's the Greek word for fellowship, koinonia, and it means it's the close association between people, emphasizing what is common between them fellowship, participation, common sharing in, contribution, partnership with and the outcome of such close relationships. 00:14:17.893 --> 00:14:19.878 That's a powerful word. 00:14:19.878 --> 00:14:31.592 It includes a lot of different things and there are a lot of English words and a lot of scriptures in the New Testament that use the word Koinonia and in English tries its best to try to describe what it means. 00:14:31.592 --> 00:14:43.662 And so we're gonna, by God's grace, we're going to really be defining this and laying it out for each of us today so that we can understand what God has intended and how to walk in this kind of relationship. 00:14:44.832 --> 00:15:01.403 But before we continue to bask in this good news, let's go back to our story again and talk about the fact that in the garden, lucifer Satan came and he worked hard to try to undo anything that God had done. 00:15:01.403 --> 00:15:03.731 Remember, satan is not a creator. 00:15:03.731 --> 00:15:14.332 All that he can do is attempt to pervert or twist or lie or scheme and try to get us to doubt God, to try to get us to move away from God's intent or his purpose. 00:15:14.332 --> 00:15:15.879 That's all that he can do. 00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:20.514 And so he did that with this first family, with Adam and with Eve. 00:15:20.514 --> 00:15:25.331 Right, and you can go around and play the blame game. 00:15:25.331 --> 00:15:32.434 They did right, because after they sinned and they realized that they had sinned and God showed up, what did Adam say? 00:15:32.434 --> 00:15:35.041 Whose fault was it? 00:15:35.041 --> 00:15:37.611 It's the woman you gave me. 00:15:37.611 --> 00:15:46.537 Now I know that none of the men in this room have ever said to God or anybody else it's that woman you gave me. 00:15:46.537 --> 00:15:53.268 And I know none of the women in the room have said about their men that it's that man that you gave me. 00:15:53.268 --> 00:15:55.214 But maybe we haven't used those words. 00:15:55.674 --> 00:15:59.046 But do we sometimes express things that are similar to that? 00:15:59.046 --> 00:16:08.452 Right, the blame game is Satan's best weapon and humanity does it better than anybody else. 00:16:08.452 --> 00:16:10.360 Well, anything else right. 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:17.879 We are good at blaming everybody else for things that we're involved with, with sin that we are involved with. 00:16:17.879 --> 00:16:21.758 So in the garden, you see, the Satan hates anything that God does. 00:16:21.758 --> 00:16:37.135 He hates his divine order, and so he attacks God's divine order to bring chaos and division among between God and the people of God, between people and people, between God and people and between people and people. 00:16:39.100 --> 00:16:42.916 You flip the page again to the next story, the next page, and guess what happens? 00:16:42.916 --> 00:16:46.433 Adam and Eve's children, their two sons, cain and Abel. 00:16:46.433 --> 00:16:52.138 Cain is jealous of Abel's relationship, his vertical relationship and fellowship with God. 00:16:52.138 --> 00:16:53.363 And so what does he do? 00:16:53.363 --> 00:16:58.775 He strikes him and he kills him, kills him. 00:16:58.775 --> 00:17:07.792 The first murder ever committed in this planet happened between Adam and Eve's sons. 00:17:07.792 --> 00:17:12.417 And on and on the story goes. 00:17:15.701 --> 00:17:22.213 You see, sin and I used that word sin is the biggest hindrance to encountering God through fellowship. 00:17:22.213 --> 00:17:29.071 Sin is the biggest hindrance to encountering God through fellowship. 00:17:29.071 --> 00:17:30.334 We can't get away from it. 00:17:30.334 --> 00:17:37.444 I wish that I could find some other way to say it that would tickle your ears or that you would feel good about, but I have to be honest. 00:17:37.444 --> 00:17:39.153 We have to start with the bad news first. 00:17:39.153 --> 00:17:40.440 I've chosen to do that. 00:17:40.440 --> 00:17:47.201 I've loaded heavy the beginning of this message with all of the bad news and we will get to the good news, I promise you. 00:17:47.241 --> 00:17:55.482 But we must understand and remember the state of which we find ourselves, outside of relationship, proper relationship, with God. 00:17:55.482 --> 00:18:02.053 You see, our own personal sin is often rooted in pride and selfishness. 00:18:02.053 --> 00:18:12.134 It's whatever is best for me, whatever I can gain, whatever I can get, whatever I want, I, I, I. 00:18:12.134 --> 00:18:15.428 It's pride and selfishness. 00:18:15.428 --> 00:18:19.460 James, chapter four, verses one through three, describes this very powerfully. 00:18:19.460 --> 00:18:28.424 He says what causes quarrels and what causes fights among you and you would think he's talking to heathen people, he's talking to the church. 00:18:28.424 --> 00:18:34.420 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? 00:18:34.420 --> 00:18:36.162 Is it not this? 00:18:36.162 --> 00:18:39.968 That your passions are at war within you. 00:18:39.968 --> 00:18:50.008 You desire and do not have, so you murder, you covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. 00:18:50.008 --> 00:18:53.094 You do not have because you do not ask. 00:18:53.094 --> 00:19:00.631 You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your own passions. 00:19:00.631 --> 00:19:04.461 This is a problem. 00:19:04.461 --> 00:19:06.944 Sin is a problem. 00:19:06.944 --> 00:19:12.673 It's a problem in our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationship with other people. 00:19:12.673 --> 00:19:17.768 Sin is the issue that we must deal with. 00:19:17.768 --> 00:19:20.792 Things are not going to get better on their own. 00:19:20.792 --> 00:19:26.483 They're just not going to just change somehow magically, mystically. 00:19:26.483 --> 00:19:28.888 I wish that they would, but they won't. 00:19:28.888 --> 00:19:31.133 We have to deal with the root cause. 00:19:32.101 --> 00:19:33.563 How many of you love pulling weeds? 00:19:33.563 --> 00:19:37.210 I love weed eating weeds. 00:19:37.210 --> 00:19:56.460 Here's a problem with weed eating weeds they come back and when they come back, they bring their friends with them Before long, your garden is no longer a garden of fruits and vegetables, it's a garden of weeds. 00:19:56.460 --> 00:19:59.749 Now, they're beautiful when they flower, and all of those things, right. 00:19:59.749 --> 00:20:10.826 But in order to eliminate that problem, in order to cause that which is good and great and precious and all of those things to thrive and flourish the way that they need to, what must we do? 00:20:10.826 --> 00:20:17.426 We must get our hands in the soil and we must pull things out, those weeds out by the roots. 00:20:17.426 --> 00:20:18.890 By the roots. 00:20:18.890 --> 00:20:23.064 It has always seemed crazy to me. 00:20:23.884 --> 00:20:43.921 Maybe I'm the only one to see how easy it seems for the people of God, christians, to be more interested in strife and division than they are in walking in right relationship with God and with each other man. 00:20:43.921 --> 00:20:46.305 I wish I didn't have to say this, but it is true. 00:20:46.305 --> 00:21:08.393 The way that we talk about politics amongst each other is like if the world sees that and judges the church based on the way we discuss politics and we could go to any number of things that you could list it's somewhat embarrassing, to be honest. 00:21:08.393 --> 00:21:19.102 Strife and division, gossip, of course we wouldn't call it gossip, we'd call it prayer requests, right, would you pray for so and so? 00:21:19.102 --> 00:21:21.365 They've really gone off the deep end. 00:21:21.885 --> 00:21:23.489 I think it's cocaine this time. 00:21:23.489 --> 00:21:34.667 Come on Slander, anger. 00:21:34.667 --> 00:21:38.865 And here's when I'm saying these words, here's the thing. 00:21:38.865 --> 00:21:41.391 We can all think of other people that do all these things. 00:21:41.391 --> 00:21:47.270 We can think of them, we can list them, we can name them, we can blame them. 00:21:47.270 --> 00:21:49.842 It's the woman you gave me. 00:21:49.842 --> 00:21:51.305 It's the boss you gave me. 00:21:51.305 --> 00:21:53.469 It's the children you gave me. 00:21:53.469 --> 00:21:58.183 It's the president you gave me. 00:21:58.183 --> 00:22:04.281 It's the, whatever it is that you gave me Unforgiveness, bitterness. 00:22:04.281 --> 00:22:07.666 It's so much easier to live in that world. 00:22:09.769 --> 00:22:17.625 In some ways, my friends, marriages hang in the balance. 00:22:17.625 --> 00:22:22.541 This is not a game. 00:22:22.541 --> 00:22:41.933 Lives that are intended to be lived in a certain way for God's glory, for His kingdom, are being wrecked by Satan's schemes and our fleshest desire to be a part of that. 00:22:41.933 --> 00:22:47.844 Relationships are continually being destroyed. 00:22:47.844 --> 00:23:01.369 If somebody says something you don't like, I'll just block them, delete them, expose them, copy and paste them. 00:23:01.369 --> 00:23:10.169 How about reaching out to them in private message and saying hey, would you have time to talk? 00:23:10.169 --> 00:23:13.221 I'd just have some things. 00:23:13.221 --> 00:23:15.281 I'd like to run past you and see what you think. 00:23:22.189 --> 00:23:32.250 Is it possible that what we see, the division and strife that we see in the body of Christ, is an indication of a deeper problem. 00:23:32.250 --> 00:23:37.673 Is it possible that there's something at the core, that's at the root of this? 00:23:37.673 --> 00:23:47.355 Is there something that we're missing, that we're not seeing that clearly, that we need to, that we need the Lord to open our eyes to so that we can see it, so it can change? 00:23:47.355 --> 00:23:50.368 I say yes, I think so. 00:23:50.368 --> 00:23:59.113 Does our relationship with others reflect the state of our relationship with God? 00:23:59.113 --> 00:24:07.826 Sometimes the problems that we have out here are an indication of a problem that we have right here. 00:24:07.826 --> 00:24:29.336 Because when things are right, right here and we understand the mercy of God, the grace of God that's been poured out on me that I don't deserve, and the sin that I've committed and the fact that he forgave me and gave me another chance, gives me a lot of grace for this right here, a lot of mercy for this right here, a lot of love to be shared out here. 00:24:29.336 --> 00:24:36.709 But if this isn't right, then why should I have any ambition or drive or desire to make this right right here? 00:24:36.709 --> 00:24:39.971 But most of the time, we don't recognize it. 00:24:39.971 --> 00:24:46.689 We don't recognize that this is a problem because we're so, you know, just so enthralled with this problem. 00:24:46.689 --> 00:24:49.568 Those people, them, they. 00:24:54.164 --> 00:24:57.672 James Boyce writes, not James Boyd. 00:24:57.672 --> 00:25:06.606 By the way, james Boyce writes If you find yourself out of fellowship with God, you will begin to find yourself out of fellowship with other Christians. 00:25:06.606 --> 00:25:09.729 It's a direct result. 00:25:09.729 --> 00:25:11.826 It will come. 00:25:11.826 --> 00:25:16.493 You will say I don't really like to be with other Christians. 00:25:16.493 --> 00:25:19.972 I don't like to be with other Christians very much. 00:25:21.845 --> 00:25:22.866 They're all hypocrites. 00:25:22.866 --> 00:25:33.746 I'm sure that many of us unfortunately have family and friends who say things like that about church. 00:25:33.746 --> 00:25:37.313 It's just a bunch of hypocrites. 00:25:37.313 --> 00:25:42.848 And of course they're right. 00:25:42.848 --> 00:25:49.413 Hypocrisy has always been found in the church. 00:25:49.413 --> 00:26:03.550 It's always been found in the church in different levels, in different degrees, because we're all sinners in need of a savior and His mercies have to be new every morning. 00:26:03.550 --> 00:26:10.557 Can you imagine if all of us walked around completely sanctified, completely holy, completely pure? 00:26:10.557 --> 00:26:14.213 I mean, I can't imagine what the conversations would be like. 00:26:14.213 --> 00:26:18.433 But we're all in process, right? 00:26:18.433 --> 00:26:20.301 We're all being changed. 00:26:20.301 --> 00:26:26.928 We're all being made into His image and into His likeness, as the Holy Spirit works in us to sanctify us. 00:26:29.805 --> 00:26:36.932 Here's the problem with those who blame hypocrisy for their reason to get out of church, to leave it behind, to say it's no longer relevant. 00:26:36.932 --> 00:26:40.069 I don't need the church, I just need Jesus. 00:26:40.069 --> 00:26:50.989 A lack of fellowship actually reveals more about a person's own distancing from God than the state of the church. 00:26:50.989 --> 00:27:06.232 I have hardly ever in my life experienced somebody getting fed up with the church and leaving the church behind because of their relationship with Jesus and their relationship with Jesus growing as time goes on. 00:27:06.232 --> 00:27:08.969 In fact, the majority of the time. 00:27:08.969 --> 00:27:12.747 From my own experience, and I'm sure maybe you I love the fact. 00:27:12.747 --> 00:27:15.816 If you could think of an exception, let me know, that'd be great. 00:27:15.816 --> 00:27:35.375 But for the majority of the time, people who walk away from fellowshiping with other believers end up worse off than what they were before, and it's because God intends for us to walk in proper fellowship and relationship with Him and with others who are children of His. 00:27:36.444 --> 00:27:48.438 I once talked to a man who had been to many, many churches all over the world and has experienced that every one of those churches he experienced hypocrisy, he was disappointed, he was hurt. 00:27:48.438 --> 00:27:52.916 In fact, if anybody could qualify for church hurt, this guy could qualify. 00:27:52.916 --> 00:28:01.450 But you know the thing that was most amazing to me in conversation with this guy he still loved the church, he prayed for the church. 00:28:01.450 --> 00:28:13.236 He did everything that he possibly could in every scenario that he was put in, to bring about a peaceable change, transformation and resolution. 00:28:13.236 --> 00:28:30.451 This man's name is Jesus If anybody deserves to use the phrase I've been hurt by church is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and yet he still loves the church. 00:28:30.451 --> 00:28:53.067 The church is his bride that the Father has been preparing for him from the beginning of time, and we will be made one day into that spotless, perfect, pure, blameless bride and we will be with him forever and ever and ever, and that is good news. 00:28:53.067 --> 00:29:14.526 One of the things about church hurt and many of the people that I've talked to and I'm not trying to downplay the fact I have experienced in my life if I stood here and told you the stories of times that I have been personally hurt by life happenings within a church setting, we'd be here a very long time, longer than the three hours we're going to spend together right now. 00:29:14.526 --> 00:29:45.279 He said three hours, but I'm here to tell you guys there is something so something so sinister about the way that Satan works so hard to try to break people away from what they actually need to thrive To thrive. 00:29:45.724 --> 00:29:56.711 A lot of times, when people say that they leave the church because they're hurt by church, it's because somebody had the guts to speak to them and say to them hey, I'm concerned about this aspect of your life. 00:29:56.711 --> 00:29:58.250 Have you prayed about that? 00:29:58.250 --> 00:29:59.368 Have you thought about it? 00:29:59.368 --> 00:30:00.990 Have you went to the Lord about it? 00:30:00.990 --> 00:30:02.609 Are you concerned about it? 00:30:02.609 --> 00:30:06.855 Something bad is going to happen if this doesn't change in your life. 00:30:06.855 --> 00:30:23.946 You see, satan does anything he can and our flesh loves it when we can blame everybody else and then we can disconnect. 00:30:25.460 --> 00:30:29.846 But a disconnected Christian is a disobedient and unfruitful Christian. 00:30:29.846 --> 00:30:40.163 And, by the way, I'm not just trying to, we're not promoting this is not a church growth drive or a. 00:30:40.163 --> 00:30:42.529 You know, you must stay at Trinity Drive. 00:30:42.529 --> 00:30:43.805 That's not what I'm trying to say here. 00:30:43.805 --> 00:30:51.893 I'm trying to help us to understand the importance of being devoted to fellowship. 00:30:51.893 --> 00:30:54.711 We need each other. 00:30:54.711 --> 00:30:56.823 We need each other. 00:30:56.823 --> 00:31:05.287 God has created us with this capacity for fellowship, but sin has distorted our ability to enjoy it without conflict. 00:31:07.682 --> 00:31:20.744 How many times have you read a text or a message from somebody and you have misinterpreted their motivation or you've added to it a certain tone that was never intended to be read or understood in the reading of the text? 00:31:20.744 --> 00:31:25.061 Right, I have decided. 00:31:25.061 --> 00:31:36.991 A few years ago, I decided, after having a knock down, drag out, fight with one of my children on text messaging that I was not going to play that game anymore. 00:31:36.991 --> 00:31:43.525 If I had an issue that I needed to talk through, I was going to either meet with them individually or I'm going to call them. 00:31:43.525 --> 00:31:47.267 And again, please don't mishear me. 00:31:47.267 --> 00:31:48.770 Technology is great. 00:31:48.770 --> 00:31:55.928 It's a great gift and tool that we can use for the building of the kingdom of God, but please don't settle disagreements over text. 00:31:55.928 --> 00:31:58.603 How's that working for you? 00:31:58.603 --> 00:32:10.092 It's not Even the sins that many of us view as personal have a corporate impact. 00:32:10.180 --> 00:32:12.086 They affect the body as a whole. 00:32:12.086 --> 00:32:20.688 Your personal, our personal, individual sins affect the church and they must be addressed in order to have proper fellowship with God and with others. 00:32:20.688 --> 00:32:24.028 We're a part of a body. 00:32:24.028 --> 00:32:32.105 One part of the body suffers or is sick or is dealing with something, but rest of the body is affected by that as well. 00:32:32.105 --> 00:32:38.567 Right, let's flip the page and get to some good news. 00:32:38.567 --> 00:32:44.528 Jesus has made a way for our fellowship with God and each other to be restored. 00:32:44.528 --> 00:32:49.928 Jesus took our place so that we might be made right with God. 00:32:49.928 --> 00:32:51.304 Aren't you glad for this? 00:32:52.380 --> 00:32:54.866 Second Corinthians 521, for our sake? 00:32:54.866 --> 00:32:55.730 Who's sake? 00:32:55.730 --> 00:32:56.861 For our sake? 00:32:56.861 --> 00:33:06.887 He made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:33:06.887 --> 00:33:11.530 Jesus made a way for this relationship to be made right with God. 00:33:11.530 --> 00:33:12.942 Come on, it's the truth. 00:33:12.942 --> 00:33:16.742 You and I couldn't do it. 00:33:16.742 --> 00:33:18.368 We couldn't do it. 00:33:18.368 --> 00:33:21.423 We couldn't make it right, but Jesus did. 00:33:21.423 --> 00:33:26.527 There's a response required of us, isn't there? 00:33:26.527 --> 00:33:32.070 If we repent and believe on Jesus, god will forgive us and cleanse us. 00:33:32.070 --> 00:33:32.991 He will. 00:33:32.991 --> 00:33:40.163 There's no might or maybe, or hopefully, or if I say the right things in the right order or do the right things in a certain way. 00:33:40.163 --> 00:33:43.813 No, god is quick to forgive. 00:33:43.813 --> 00:33:45.345 He's slow to anger. 00:33:45.345 --> 00:33:50.348 He loves being merciful and gracious and kind. 00:33:50.348 --> 00:33:53.986 John 1, verses 5-9,. 00:33:54.448 --> 00:34:03.471 We read these verses as spoken to unbelievers, but these words are also very applicable to the church, to our relationship with God and with each other. 00:34:03.471 --> 00:34:04.984 It starts in verse 5. 00:34:04.984 --> 00:34:13.427 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. 00:34:13.427 --> 00:34:17.509 If we say we have fellowship with him, which fellowship is that? 00:34:17.509 --> 00:34:18.623 This one right here. 00:34:18.623 --> 00:34:26.961 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 00:34:26.961 --> 00:34:31.847 But if we walk in the light, if we're in proper relationship with God. 00:34:31.847 --> 00:34:37.442 This way, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with what One another. 00:34:37.442 --> 00:34:40.844 This way we have fellowship with one another. 00:34:40.844 --> 00:34:46.925 And the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. 00:34:46.925 --> 00:34:57.947 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us If we confess our sins. 00:34:57.947 --> 00:35:07.250 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:35:11.228 --> 00:35:12.771 Did you see the sunrise this morning? 00:35:12.771 --> 00:35:28.733 I was in my shower and above my shower I have one of those narrow windows and all of a sudden, purple and red and orange and pink and yellow light saturation started beaming through that window. 00:35:28.733 --> 00:35:30.565 Can I be honest with you? 00:35:30.565 --> 00:35:32.164 I started repenting. 00:35:32.164 --> 00:35:39.664 I started making sure I was right with God, because I literally was thinking, jesus, are you coming back right now? 00:35:39.664 --> 00:35:43.646 Because that was the way the sky looked to me. 00:35:43.646 --> 00:35:51.021 It looked that spectacular, that splendid the Son of God, the King of Righteousness, coming back. 00:35:51.021 --> 00:36:06.170 Maybe it was a religious of me to feel like my first thought was to repent, but I'm so thankful that his faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us. 00:36:08.900 --> 00:36:18.146 And the last thing about Jesus in this aspect is Jesus is praying for us to walk in unity with God and with each other. 00:36:18.146 --> 00:36:19.103 How do I know that? 00:36:19.103 --> 00:36:22.385 Because it's written down for us in John, chapter 17. 00:36:22.385 --> 00:36:47.606 I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that's us, that they may all be what One, just as you, father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me the glory that you have given me I have given to them. 00:36:47.606 --> 00:36:52.704 That they may be one, even as we are one, I in them and you in me. 00:36:52.704 --> 00:37:01.510 That they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me. 00:37:01.510 --> 00:37:05.789 That sounds like a God who just really doesn't want to be involved with humanity. 00:37:05.789 --> 00:37:09.088 He's kind of asleep somewhere in the distance. 00:37:09.088 --> 00:37:20.061 The cry of Jesus' heart is that we would be one, as the Father, the Son and the Spirit are one. 00:37:20.061 --> 00:37:25.447 Come on, this is good stuff. 00:37:25.447 --> 00:37:26.402 This is important. 00:37:26.402 --> 00:37:27.688 This is important. 00:37:29.304 --> 00:37:45.492 It's interesting to me that in Genesis, chapter 2, when God brought Adam and Eve together and instituted marriage, it says that the two became what One flesh unity, covenant, relationships, marriage. 00:37:45.492 --> 00:37:49.809 I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God. 00:37:49.809 --> 00:37:52.007 There's all these old songs that have been rolling through my head. 00:37:52.007 --> 00:37:54.182 Found us together, lord, you know. 00:37:54.182 --> 00:37:59.242 There's all of these songs that are so powerful from the past. 00:37:59.242 --> 00:38:05.530 Maybe we should write some new ones about us being together, fellowshiping. 00:38:07.139 --> 00:38:16.210 Fellowship involves the regular interaction of repentant believers who have a desire to provide for the spiritual and material well-being of others. 00:38:16.210 --> 00:38:36.442 I want to tell you right now I know that we're talking about change that needs to happen in our hearts but I want to brag on you because in all of my 40-something years of being in the Lord and being a part of church life, I've never experienced a more generous, caring, genuine church than this church. 00:38:36.442 --> 00:38:56.682 The reason that I can say that is because there are times when I show up in hospitals and people's homes and funeral homes in many different places, where you've been there first and you've been there to love on, to honor, to cherish, to provide food and shelter, whatever is needed for whoever needs it. 00:38:56.682 --> 00:39:04.572 That should be our normal rhythm of life, rhythm of grace. 00:39:04.572 --> 00:39:05.744 That should be an example. 00:39:05.744 --> 00:39:19.304 One of the things that's amazing to me is that the world should be beaten our doors down, not so that they can beat us up because they want to get in, because they're not experiencing any of the fruit that we get to experience. 00:39:19.304 --> 00:39:28.940 We're too worried about what so-and-so thinks about us, or on and on. 00:39:31.230 --> 00:39:35.311 The Word of God was the early church's motivation for fellowship and remember. 00:39:35.311 --> 00:39:43.137 These four devotions that are found in this passage are the apostles' teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers. 00:39:43.137 --> 00:39:50.615 The apostles' teaching was a motivation for fellowship, which is partially expressed through the Lord's Supper and through prayer. 00:39:50.615 --> 00:39:54.217 Fellowship is the fruit of receiving the apostles' teaching. 00:39:54.217 --> 00:39:57.599 Let's look at how the early church adopted the apostles' teaching. 00:39:57.599 --> 00:39:59.456 How do we know what the apostles' teachings were? 00:39:59.456 --> 00:40:13.623 Because, thank God, god gave Paul the apostle the ability to write a huge portion of the New Testament, and so we can read with our own eyes and understand the things that this early church was being taught. 00:40:14.891 --> 00:40:22.936 So the first thing that they that caused them to understand the value of fellowship from the Word of God, they shared in a common identity in Christ. 00:40:22.936 --> 00:40:26.976 First Corinthians 1-9 says God is faithful. 00:40:26.976 --> 00:40:29.501 By whom you were called into the what? 00:40:29.501 --> 00:40:35.961 The fellowship, the coinonia of his Son, jesus Christ, our Lord. 00:40:35.961 --> 00:40:42.500 I'm going to even know none of us would need to be here this morning if it wasn't for Jesus. 00:40:42.500 --> 00:40:49.320 We are here together, we are friends and we are a family because of Jesus Christ Right. 00:40:50.130 --> 00:40:53.760 Secondly, they shared in a common relationship with the Holy Spirit. 00:40:53.760 --> 00:40:56.875 In 2nd Corinthians 13-14,. 00:40:56.875 --> 00:41:17.255 The grace of the Lord, jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, the fellowship, coinonia of the Holy Spirit, be with you all, father, son and Spirit, all three a part of their relationship to this relationship and then also this relationship. 00:41:17.255 --> 00:41:21.398 They shared also in a common heavenly Father to whom they prayed. 00:41:21.398 --> 00:41:26.960 Remember Jesus's words that we should pray to our heavenly Father in the name of Jesus. 00:41:26.960 --> 00:41:30.456 They also shared in a common partnership. 00:41:30.596 --> 00:41:49.201 In the gospel they were on mission together Philippians 1-5, because of your partnership another English word for the word coinonia in the gospel, from the first day until now, they also shared out of their abundance to meet the needs of others. 00:41:49.201 --> 00:42:03.275 They had common beliefs and common possessions, and I know we might pause here for just a minute and then say to ourselves yeah, but they had it way easier than we do. 00:42:03.275 --> 00:42:17.563 They didn't have all the distractions, they didn't have all of the technology, they hadn't been through all of the wars and rumors of wars, they didn't have two political parties that were complete odds with each other. 00:42:17.563 --> 00:42:21.619 They didn't have all of these different things that we have to deal with. 00:42:21.619 --> 00:42:26.257 Are we being serious right now? 00:42:26.257 --> 00:42:29.414 So here's what we had. 00:42:29.510 --> 00:42:34.280 We had 120 people who were shell shocked as they're staring up into heaven. 00:42:34.280 --> 00:42:38.876 As Jesus ascends into heaven, the angel has to tell them he's coming back. 00:42:38.876 --> 00:42:41.342 But now remember, he told you to go to Jerusalem. 00:42:41.342 --> 00:42:42.173 They go to Jerusalem. 00:42:42.173 --> 00:42:45.197 They're waiting in the upper room for the promise of the Holy Spirit. 00:42:45.197 --> 00:42:48.157 The Holy Spirit comes down in power and might. 00:42:48.157 --> 00:42:55.958 Every single one of them is filled with the Holy Spirit and they begin to speak with other languages that were not their native languages. 00:42:55.958 --> 00:43:15.181 They spill out into the streets where there are people from every nation, no one to man, every tribe, every language, different culture, different race, different socioeconomic levels, different political persuasions, different financial situations. 00:43:15.181 --> 00:43:18.576 All of these people that were just in Jerusalem for these feasts. 00:43:18.576 --> 00:43:20.456 And what did they hear? 00:43:20.456 --> 00:43:52.862 They heard the gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time in their own languages, because the power of the Holy Spirit that had filled these 120 powerful people at this point in time, as they spoke with these new languages, god caused them to go across the vast sea of people and for them to hear the gospel for the first time in their own language. 00:43:53.369 --> 00:43:54.253 And then Peter gets up. 00:43:54.253 --> 00:43:55.496 This is mysterious to me. 00:43:55.496 --> 00:43:56.679 How did this work? 00:43:56.679 --> 00:44:02.914 But Peter gets up and he preaches a message, a gospel message, to everybody, and before he can finish they stop him. 00:44:02.914 --> 00:44:06.893 I don't get any ideas this morning. 00:44:06.893 --> 00:44:10.972 Okay, I can see some of you All right, that's enough. 00:44:10.972 --> 00:44:16.157 But they stopped him and they said what must we do to be saved? 00:44:16.157 --> 00:44:26.396 Peter, of course, tells them to respond by repenting, putting their faith in Jesus that they would receive the same Holy Spirit. 00:44:26.396 --> 00:44:31.840 So you have, in one day, 3,000 people added to a church of 120. 00:44:34.309 --> 00:44:38.260 Different cultures, different climates, different languages, all of the things that I said before. 00:44:38.260 --> 00:44:40.094 How do you think that's going to work? 00:44:40.094 --> 00:45:00.112 It would be like this if next week, 7,000 refugees were dropped at our front door and they came to church next Sunday From all over the world, from anywhere that you can imagine, every tribe, every language, how would we handle that? 00:45:00.112 --> 00:45:01.992 Would it be peaceful? 00:45:01.992 --> 00:45:08.293 How many of us would be running to the children's ministry to make sure that their kids were not going to be in the same room as our kids? 00:45:08.293 --> 00:45:20.418 How many of us would be concerned if they sat in our seats, because we all know we have our seats right. 00:45:20.418 --> 00:45:27.034 We don't have our name on them like they used to do in the olden days, but we have our seats. 00:45:27.034 --> 00:45:28.855 Do you see what I'm saying? 00:45:28.855 --> 00:45:45.896 Think about how much energy and focus they must have put into devoting themselves to these four simple things. 00:45:48.670 --> 00:45:56.539 One of the things that transformed the entire world from that moment in time moving forward, was the fact that they figured it out. 00:45:56.539 --> 00:45:58.416 Not perfectly, not entirely. 00:45:58.416 --> 00:46:01.518 We see throughout the book of Acts and several of Paul's letters. 00:46:01.518 --> 00:46:05.918 You see corrections and things that needed to change and people getting riled up. 00:46:05.918 --> 00:46:09.817