Fellowship: Connecting With Others Developing Community Through Fellowship Sermon 1 Fellowship With...

Fellowship: Connecting With Others

Developing Community Through Fellowship

Sermon 1Fellowship With Enemies


Defining Community?

• NOUN!!!!• 1. A group of people living in the same place

or having a particular characteristic in common.

• • 2. A feeling of fellowship with others, as a

result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. "the sense of community that organized religion can provide"


Premise…

1. Fellowship and Community are being redefined.

2. There has been a change in society towards individualism and away from community.

3. This change impacts the church and the work of the kingdom.

4. God’s ideal for the church is not individualism but community and fellowship is His way for community development.


The Pillar of Fellowship

• Fellowship is a currency of the Kingdom. God calls us to interconnection which requires an investment of time and interest.


The Application:• Consider who you fellowship with and

expand your circle. • Expand your circle through the week by being

invitational, • Participate in and help plan Fellowship

events for the good of yourself and others, and

• Choose to use fellowship for evangelism, discipleship, ministry and worship.


Why Start With Enemies?

• Hard Things First.• Remembrance Day.• Nikka Said!• "If you want to learn

to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate," Nikka - age 6


Remembrance

• Thank You to Our Veterans!• Most Often we Are Called to Love Our Enemies.


Surprise - Not Everyone Supports

Your Faith!

• Our fellowship changes depending on the motivation of those who oppose us.

• We will be looking at three types of opposition and our response to these three types.


1. Opposition From Ignorance.

• John 15:18-20• “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me

first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.



• 2 Peter 2:12 – Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.



Matthew 13:18-23

• Matthew 13:18-23 the Parable of the Soils shows that people’s hearts have a different receptivity to God’s word. Some people oppose us because they do not understand who and what we are talking about. Fellowship can change that.


Making the Offer…

• When we face this type of opposition we offer to share the way, the truth, and the life and connect people to Jesus and His church.

• This opposition is an opportunity to the growth of the kingdom.

• How are you doing with this? • How does our church fellowship play a part

in making the connections?


2. Opposition from Different Beliefs

• Many of the people that oppose your faith, and test your fellowship, do so because of what you believe, why you believe it, and why you believe it so strongly.

• Relationship and Fellowship.


Difference in Belief Can Create Community

• Community is developed because we have scripture to discuss as we challenge one another to greater faithfulness.

• 2 Timothy 4:1-5• 1 Peter 3:15-16


2 Timothy 4:1-5• In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will

judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage— with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.


1 Peter 3:15-16

• But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.


From Saul to Paul…

• Obedience to God’s word requires the humility to question your beliefs and honesty when sharing what you believe and why.


3. Opposition from False Teachers

• Opposed by those who once taught the same and now no longer do, or those who have been shown God’s word and have not surrendered to it.

• In these cases community is developed by removing fellowship so the group is protected from divisive false teachings and false teachers.


2 Timothy 3:1-5

• But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.


Titus 3:9-11

• But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. 10 Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. 11 You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.


1 Corinthians 5:9-13

• I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.


1 Corinthians 5:9-13

• 12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”


Conclusion:

• People will oppose your faith and, unless they are divisive, offering to fellowship with them is a way to develop community.

• God’s word is truth and we need to know what it says as we interact with others.


Learning From Our Veterans

• If our Veterans can go back into the countries where they feared for their lives and help the enemy rebuild we can reach out to those who see scripture differently.


The Application:• Consider who you fellowship with and

expand your circle. • Expand your circle through the week by being

invitational, • Participate in and help plan Fellowship

events for the good of yourself and others, and

• Choose to use fellowship for evangelism, discipleship, ministry and worship.


Next Week:

• Fellowship With Believers: • Living the One Another Passages.

Fellowship: Connecting With Others Developing Community Through Fellowship Sermon 1 Fellowship With...

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