Author: Pastor Howie

In this passage we are given our marching orders by Christ to make disciples. He then tells us how that is to be done. It’s power His power because He has authority in heaven and earth, and He passed on that authority to us. It’s in his plan through His people, to go to all places for the purpose of going, baptizing and teaching. It’s in His presence. His presence is seen in its fact, its frequency, and in its future. He would always be with us. Let’s do our part to share the gospel.

If we are going to serve others, we must surrender ourselves first to the Lord as Romans 12:1-2 tell us. Verses 3-21 then unfold what that serving looks like in our actions and attitudes. While there is a specific spiritual gift of service, every spiritual gift is, in a way, a serving gift as they each are used to benefit the body of Christ, His church. Whatever your spiritual gift is, you serve Christ and His church.

We apologize in that we had some technical difficulties and were unable to record the Sunday service. Please read John 10 and ask yourself if you know the voice of the true Shepherd.

What is it that binds people together in the body of Christ? Paul tells us that humility is the key to bringing the church together. He lays out the best example we can follow about what humility looks like. He gives us four measures of unity, four marks of unity and then four means of unity. What does it look like and how does it happen. The result is the blending of diverse people that bring glory to God.

Fellowship is a partnership and Paul is thankful for the believers in Philippi because they have partnered with him in not only spreading the gospel in Philippi, but also because they regularly contributed to him financially so he could continue to share the gospel in other cities. When we support missionaries, we are partners in fellowship with them as they reach people with the gospel. We are also partners in prayer and partners in perfection. We are all maturing in our faith and one day all of us will be made perfect in Christ when He appears.

It’s been said that the key to fellowship is agreeing with each other. Now, that doesn’t mean we can’t have differing opinions, but at the end of the day, we can agree to disagree and still walk together in unity. The passages we consider today speak of an expectation in fellowship, an entreaty for their fellowship, and an estrangement in their fellowship. We can agree.

The Psalm begins by recognizing that God is sovereign over everything. If that is the case, how do we approach Him? Pastor Jim lays out what it is to have clean hands and a pure heart so that we can approach Him.

If we aren’t in fellowship, we aren’t in unity. If we aren’t in unity, we aren’t glorifying God, which is what we are called to do. As we learn from our passage, we need to bear up, band up, and bring up. This brings God glory.

The importance of fellowship can’t be overstated. In our text today we see that fellowship really originates with God. It also states that if we aren’t in fellowship with God, we can’t be in fellowship with each other. If we say we have fellowship with God, but continue in sin, we are lying, not telling the truth. But we can be in fellowship with God because the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. Hallelujah for that! Are you in fellowship with God? You can be.

These passages challenge us to consider our role in the body of Christ to be burden bearers with one another. Often times people are going through deep hurts that no one else knows about. The hurt alone. We need to share those hurts with others, and we need to come alongside others to help shoulder the burden. Will you be a burden bearer? “Two are better than one.”