Welcoming God's People
Series: Chosen by Greatness
September 22, 2024
Frank Foreman
As we move toward the conclusion of our series over the purpose of the church, this week we settle into the area of fellowship and the spirit of community in the church. Too often, our concept of fellowship simply evokes dinners at the church and the Christian terminology for spending time with one another. While those are wonderful aspects of our fellowship in the body of Christ, the reality is that it is something much deeper. ————— Full fellowship with Christ and the church involves working together in unity to accomplish the purpose and design that God intended for His church, sharing the Gospel and functioning as a single body to minister to each other and others around us.
Episode Notes
Matthew 28:18-20, And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The purpose of the church is to glorify our Lord.
Romans 11:36, For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.
Glory: The most important, significant, prominent, priority in our lives…
That is what we hold in the position of glory.
Big Idea: We glorify our Lord by welcoming God’s people through fellowship.
Fellowship: Partnership of unity among Christians only possible in Jesus.
Romans 6:3-4, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Buried: Old has gone.
Raised: New has come.
Ephesians 2:8-9, For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
1. Fellowship with Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:5, For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.
1st John 1:6-7, If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
2. Fellowship with Christians.
Romans 12:4-5, For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Ephesians 4:15-16, Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the Head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Entering into full fellowship:
Acts 8:35-37, Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the Good News about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”
Next Step: What is holding me back from full fellowship with Jesus and His church?
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