fellowship of believers

R

rainydaygirl Sep 30, 2015

2 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe[a] came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved

Was there change or do we just settle and make excuses?

sermonindex Sep 30, 2015

rdg,

There was a "change". Not in the world, but in the Church. God will not abide excuses.

Unfortunately, Christianity has been classified under the category of religion and this is part and parcel because of the "great obfuscation" in play by the Adversary between the True Church and the False Church. People assume their own "religion" is harmless, holy and not applicable to being hijacked or being a counterfeit. Never would they think that or worse be an active player in it. ("Examine yourselves...2 Cor 13:5)

The False Church has emasculated the Gospel to the point that it no longer threatens any power structure in the world as it once did. The Church goes along to get along and does not engender hostility among "the Kings of the earth" (Psa 2:2) as it did in the first century. This is not because the world system has changed because indeed it has not, it is just as Anti-Christ as it has always been for "the whole world lieth in wickedness" and is an "enemy of God". (1 Jn 5:19, James 4:4)

No, the world has not changed, but the Church has and it is betraying the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In John's vision of Revelation given by Jesus, John sees the betrayal of the Gospel and it is traced to Satan's deceptions. This is why John describes the "Great Whore" as he does. He sees in his vision whoredom and adultery amongst Christians. John's symbols of parody are severe for a reason. He portrays the Church as a parody of a Prostitute and Babylon as the Church and the Beast as a Lamb. And the slaves of the Beast as a parody of the slaves of Christ. God is using this language to make people aware of their own apostasy. He used this kind of language in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.

Many do not understand that religion has nothing to do with the "New Creation". It is part of the old order of things.

Rev_18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

T

twayneb Sep 30, 2015

This is a critical aspect of the NT church that we need to guard carefully. I think that a healthy fellowship will be marked by this kind of fellowship. I think we in America are very busy people, and not in a good way. We fill our lives with so many activities and pursuits. This kind of fellowship calls for a lifestyle change and diligence in making it happen. But, if we are to be what God has called us to be, this is critically important.

C

crusader Sep 30, 2015

Hi Julius21

Good reply :) I agree whole heartedly

sermonindex Sep 30, 2015

crusader,

The subterfuge is so crafty that we have to constantly examine ourselves to see if there are any areas in our life (heart) that have been caught in this web of religion falsely masquerading as "Christianity". We cannot see this without the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

The spiritual pride of man, and association with their respective group as having the truth becomes scales on our eyes. Blinded by our spiritual pride.

Job 41:15 His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.
Job 41:16 One is so near to another, that no air (truth) can come between them.
Job 41:17 They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.

The Lord will test our heart right down to our loyalties to our brothers, or a doctrine we love. Anything we love more than Him, will find us wanting.

T

TMK Sep 30, 2015

It is not clear to me that the quoted Acts passage is a "command" vs a plain statement of what the very early church was like.

At that time all believers were right there in Jerusalem.

It is now 2000 years later. Times have changed.

I am NOT saying that fellowship with other believers is an optional concept. But I don't think we should feel guilty because we can't duplicate the very early church.

C

crusader Sep 30, 2015

Hi Julius21

yeah i agree, i suppose i would be likened to a watchman warning my brothers and sisters of dangers that the enemy is spiritually doing to invade the church. Most of the churches i have been in and have tried to show the dangers of whats creeping into their church or has already taken over are normally just disregarded or met with hostility. I don't take any denomination on as i found this made me biased towards what God was doing in other churches but they boil down to 2 different groups pentecostal and baptist as these are what i am mostly exposed too.

I personally examine how a church approaches a believes spiritual ground as this will tell what kind of fellowship and teachings the church is doing. The biggest mistake i see all the time is the 4 different grounds of the heart discussed in the gospels. Many unsaved people seeking Jesus haven't had the rocks dug out or the weeds removed from their spirit there fore they are failing in their walk with God under temptation and persecution, often times looking for other methods to self medicate and taking any doctrines on to cover these areas in their hearts.

Religious people use works and self righteousness to justify themselves against their own sins. Then you have the other groups that take on anything spiritual for empowerment with out determining or examining where it comes from. each of these groups are easily detected in motives by their words they use in conversation.

Both of these groups where they do not have a pastor watching over the spiritual well being of the flock can really damage peoples growth in spirituality through fellowship.

the other day i was at a men's Christians breakfast i was invited too and although they all came from the church everyone had a vastly different idea of spiritual manifestations. they couldn't defend their reasoning for their beliefs in the bible and just put in their hearts what they have been taught in the church.

I do feel that God is leading me into these churches to help brothers and sisters in this area as he has been teaching me ways to approach these subjects. But would i send a new christian or someone i loved into these settings no way as i see the destruction it is causing to the congregation.

In saying this i was apart a true church once and it really helped me to know the difference. I have seen some churches that have Gone of track but the pastors have submitted themselves before Jesus and i have the congregation grow spiritually despite a short fall.

T

Theophila Sep 30, 2015

Times have certainly changed!

But in every place where there is true fellowship amongst the believers, each one's physical, psychological and spiritual needs are met.

The most obvious difference between us and the 1st century church is that they had the awesome Holy Spirit actively working within and among them. For the most part, we don't and we have carried on quite nicely without Him.

And He doesn't dwell in filthy vessels. Until we begin to call sin by its proper name [in our own lives, not in other peoples'], we have yet to begin walking with Him.

Oh, there's been change alright, but the change is that we are like the 7 sons of Sceva attempting to do the Lord's work when the Lord of the work is far from us.

sermonindex Sep 30, 2015

We can have the "awesome Holy Spirit actively working within and among" us. But, we must come out of everything that is not of Christ for we cannot serve two Masters. We cannot have a divided heart.

sermonindex Sep 30, 2015

Crusader,

I am glad the Lord is giving you open doors to pull many out of the fire; hating even the garment (religious clothing of self-righteousness) spotted by the flesh. (Jude 1:23)

T

Theophila Sep 30, 2015

Not sure the intent of your post but....
Part of the ministry of the 'awesome Holy Spirit actively working within and among' us is that He leads us into ALL truth....including leading us out of everything that is not of Christ.

C

crusader Sep 30, 2015

Hi

for me unless i can walk amongst these churches that are lost to the holy spirit, then my past is for nothing and the skills and insight i have learnt is useless.

I still see the holy spirit working in churches but often times people are interpreting this as the enemy because it draws them to the thrashing floor which contradicts their foundations.

For God to prepare the good ground in people that have been deceived, he needs to open the ear, dig out the rocks and pull the weeds. I went through this after i was saved and it hurt because all of my foundations in teachings had to be torn down.

I thought i knew what the Gospel was asking of me because of what i allowed preachers to teach me, the main aspect that brought me to the true Gospel was the law and where i stood in this area with God. when i truly understood what kind of vile creature i was before God, it was with full amazement and tears that because of Jesus, God now saw me differently to i was "Amazing grace" had a new meaning to me.
The holy spirit leads people to truth even if it hurts our flesh to allow our spirit to grow in Christ and to steer us away from hell. This stopped self-righteousness in me and gave me a deeper passion for the lost.

there is a famine in the word amongst many churches and instead of seeking an understand of scripture through scripture and the holy spirit. many seek the answers through the pulpit and commentaries only, never learning to walk through the word with the holy spirit themselves, this is a practice that has been neglected over the last hundred years and i very rarely come a cross people today that still do this. 20 yrs ago i knew heaps of people that studied this way and they had solid foundations in Christ. and yet as i have visited many off these same denominations today, i have only found one person that relies on the holy spirit like this. it was reported to me that in non western countries these old ways of learning are thriving and the congregations grow in the spirit. whats interesting is that they do not have fancy bands, in there church or the wealth to have all the mods and cons but they are wealthy in spirit.

sermonindex Sep 30, 2015

Not sure the intent of your post but....
Part of the ministry of the 'awesome Holy Spirit actively working within and among' us is that He leads us into ALL truth....including leading us out of everything that is not of Christ.

Amen!!

sermonindex Oct 1, 2015

Matthew 6:2Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

There it is! The absolute easiest command that Jesus gave. I explained it to all my children with a demonstration of a quarter in one hand and the other hand behind my back when they were little children and every one of them got it.

Proverbs 22:6Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:99He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.

I have personally found this to be the core of my families financial success and yet there is virtually no Christians who obey it and forgive me but the overwhelming majority of believers I have met in 25 years are broke or in debt or financial time bombs.

Proverbs22:7The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

Jesus taught mammon was a far bigger concern to His people than Satan and of course it's true. But what does every Church in the modern world do.

Day one they go to the Government and sign over control of their money
Day two, apply for non profit statis.
Day three get the requirement list they must obey to keep their statis
Day four open the doors and tell everybody they have this statis.
Day five get you to write your name and record your giving
Day six total all your giving and tell the government
Day seven hold an open annual meeting to tell everybody in the church how much they got and what they did with it which also usually contains the giving they gave to other non profit organsiations.
Day eight sent you a tax receipt that you file with the government yourself in order to get your tax credit for donations.

Day nine your church stays broke, you stay broke, you have received your blessing from the government and Gods word is proven true. You have received your blessing in full from the cheap hand of man instead of the infinite supply of the Father because the church and believers are unwilling to obey the easiest command the Lord Jesus gave us.

marcmc