Fellowship

Today's sermon is going to be final in my series that I've been walking through on our spiritual disciplines. Over the last several weeks, I've walked through the topic of prayer, Bible study, fasting, and meditation. All of these disciplines working together as a package, you know, not one excluded, not one put up, sort of, and singled out over the others, but as a package. And walking through those, brethren, helps us to remind us of the fact that those disciplines not only help us to grow spiritually, in terms of our life and our spiritual maturity, but they bind us in a direct and personal relationship with God.

As I've mentioned all along, prayer, without Bible study, would in fact be lacking. We would not know even who to pray to or how to pray as we ought. What to ask for. The sacrifice that opened a way to make our direct relationship and prayer possible. The fasting, the meditation, these things that we engage in as well, brethren, they help to bring us along the way to knowing God. Not simply as we start, I've explained, we start at the point of knowing about God, but then that leads us to knowing Him through a personal and intimate relationship.

That's how prayer, Bible study, fasting, and meditation help to bring us along. They open the door to that personal and direct relationship. And just like you would come to know your spouse, right, not by simply a profile on an online dating service, but by getting to go out and spend time together and interact together, through these disciplines we interact with God and His Word.

And we come to know Him better. One more discipline, the spiritual tool box that I would like to take out and examine today is the topic of fellowship. Fellowship. You know, if you were to go online and Google spiritual disciplines or even read some of the articles that have been posted on our spiritual disciplines, you will find prayer, Bible study, fasting, and meditation, but oftentimes fellowship is not included in that list. But brethren, I believe indeed it should be.

In fact, that fellowship is something God has given us in order to grow our spiritual relationship with Him directly, but also with one another, and lead to the spiritual maturity in our life by what it is that we have to offer and to bring to the body through fellowship. When you hear the word fellowship, what comes to mind? You know, you might think of potlucks, barbecues, assemblies at one another's home. A couple weeks ago up in Spokane, we had a church picnic, and it was a potluck picnic. It was at Mirabou Park in the Spokane Valley, and it was open for whoever would like to attend.

The food was brought. We had a meal at a specific time. There was food. There was fellowship in terms of the interaction and the visiting between one another as brethren. There were games. There was scavenger hunt across the park. There was the volleyball net that was set up and volleyball games that took place, and it very much was a pleasant afternoon spent together as brethren. When you think of fellowship and consider that, what comes to mind? Is it only activity and conversation and sort of scheduled interactions, or is there more to fellowship and the fellowship than that? Well, certainly we should consider these interactions to be an important part of fellowship and what we think of as we think of fellowship.

But brethren, that's not the fullest of what fellowship is in terms of the biblical sense. Now, I've touched on this topic before, and I'm actually going to begin the sermon by going back and reminding us of some things that I covered on a sermon related to fellowship back after I returned from the feast this year, because I believe understanding what the biblical definition of fellowship is will help us to fully understand why the spiritual discipline of fellowship is so important in our lives today. I want to begin in Acts 2 this afternoon. This is the first account in the New Testament where we will find this term that's translated fellowship recorded.

Acts 2, verse 40, says, Here we find that on the day of Pentecost, as people came and responded to the message that was preached, as they accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, as they were baptized, as they received the Holy Spirit of God, it says that they continued from that point steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in the breaking of bread and in prayers.

The word that we find in the New Testament that is most often translated fellowship is quinonia, k-o-i-n-o-n-i-a, quinonia. Most often translated fellowship. And understanding the meaning of that word is important because it brings us back to the foundation of what fellowship is and the impact it is to have on our life. The Thayer's Greek lexicon on quinonia says that it is an association. It's a community. Fellowship is a communion and a joint participation. It helps word study, calls fellowship, this word translated fellowship, it says it is what is shared in common as a basis of fellowship.

So there's something that is common that brings people together in a community that binds them together in a relationship that we call a fellowship. Here on the day of Pentecost, 31 AD, 3,000 people responded to that gospel message. They were baptized again, they received the Holy Spirit, and they came together in the bond of fellowship.

And I use that word bond intentionally. When I committed to marriage with my wife, I covenanted to come together in a bond of relationship that would not be broken. It is a bond. When we came under the waters of baptism, covenanted in this relationship with God through the sacrifice of his son Jesus Christ, we were bound into a relationship, not only with God the Father through Christ and our elder brother, but we were bound together in a relationship with one another.

As you've entered that covenant, and I've entered that covenant, as the body of Jesus Christ, there is a bond that exists, the bond of fellowship among us. So the New Testament Church says that they continued steadfastly. They were given to these things. They were given to fellowship, but that fellowship is also listed separately from the breaking of bread together. So one is who and what they are, and were the community that was brought together through that common calling.

As a result of that fellowship, they broke bread. The relationship was expressed through these actions. As soon as actions of sharing brethren that we often label fellowship, and we can almost confuse the fact that we limit fellowship to simply being coming together, having a meal, what we need to recognize and remember is that those activities are what spawn out of the fact that we are a fellowship bound together in a relationship.

And what is produced among us then springs forth from that. So verse 42 again says, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. It says, then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

Now all who believed were together, and they had all things in common. They sold their possessions and goods, divided them among themselves as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and in breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and with simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

So this day of Pentecost, the beginning of the New Testament church, was a time of unity, it was a time of rejoicing as these people of the early church came together, and it was as an understanding, it was a result, it was an understanding of God's Word. Again, they heard the doctrine, the gospel that the apostles taught, and they responded. And that fellowship came as a result of that understanding and that commitment that they shared. Brethren, you and I today are a fellowship of believers as well. We are a fellowship of believers as well. We have been called by God, brought together, assembled, bound together as a fellowship through a relationship of commonality. Let's go to 1 John chapter 1, verse 1. 1 John chapter 1 and verse 1. John says, That which we was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen, with our eyes, which we have looked upon, which our hands have handled concerning the word of life. He says, verse 2, The life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness, and declared you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested to us. John says, that eternal life, remember John 1, 1, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So that eternal life that had been God with God from eternity had become flesh, walked among men, laid down his life as a sacrifice to reconcile mankind to God. John says, that which we have heard and seen, which our eyes have been held, which our hands have handled, that we declare to you.

In verse 3, That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. And so what John is doing here is he's showing the common spiritual bond which binds us all together. It's our relationship with God the Father through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. God and Christ are that bond that has brought us together, apart from the calling.

What did Christ say? Nobody can come to me except the Father who sent me draws him. But nobody can come to God also except through Christ. So it is a relationship by which God and Christ are both involved in our calling, in this binding together. It's a relationship that's taken place in my life and in your life. And John is saying, you know, truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. But that's not all. Because if your fellowship is with God and Christ, then we're going to have fellowship one with another as well.

He says, these things I write to you that your joy may be full. The fact that we can assemble as God's people and draw the strength from one another and be bound together by a common calling should bring joy to our life. Verse 5, this is the message which we had heard from him and declare to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. James says there is no variation or shadow of turning with God. Absolutely pure, pure light, which is symbolic of pure truth.

The purity of God, he is complete in that way. And it says, if we have fellowship with him and we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. So if God is light and we are darkness, there is no fellowship in a relationship between those two. It's like water and oil. They don't mix. You can't combine them. They will not be mixed. The relationship that takes place between us and God in this fellowship comes as we move from the darkness of this age and the carnal individual to the stature of the fullness of Jesus Christ in the light of God's Spirit in us. Then we have fellowship. Verse 7, it says, But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, you and I, among us here in the body. And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. So again, brethren, if you're walking in the light of God, and I'm walking in the light of God, there is a commonality, a bond, a community relationship that draws and binds us together in a relationship that is called a fellowship. The Church of God doesn't just fellowship. We are a fellowship. And from that fellowship springs forth various activities. Now take away these things. Take away the calling of God. Walking according to his word. Take away the doctrine of Scripture. Take away God's Holy Spirit. Take away the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And what commonality is there? What is it that would bring us here today on the Sabbath together? I dare say I would not be here in this room with all of you apart from the fellowship that God has called us into in the unity that it brings forth. Let's notice Ephesians 2 and verse 11.

Ephesians 2 and verse 11. Apostle Paul writing. He says, That's verse 1. Jumping to verse 11. Of course, 1 is where we start, right? Were we not dead in the trespasses and sins? Apart from the light of God's truth and the fellowship with one another, that's where we start. That's not where we are to stay upon God's calling. When we come to verse 11, Paul is now addressing the Gentile element here. There were Israelites that were the physical people of God who God was working with. But now there is the opportunity because salvation has been opened through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to all men who would respond, including the Gentiles. In verse 11, Paul says, He says, In verse 14, That is, Apart from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, there is enmity. Enmity between mankind and God, that's reconciled through the blood of Christ. Enmity between one another as well.

Again, apart from the sacrifice of Christ and the Spirit of God, there is that separation. Paul says, Verse 17, Through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the home building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

So what Paul was saying is, those who were once afar off and those who were once near have been brought together if you have indeed responded and entered into this covenant, and you received God's Spirit, and now you are a stone. Sometimes we like to think we're the whole structure. I am the temple of God, and that's all I need. I. Again, the point is here, we are stones, as Paul said, being fitted together, growing into the holy temple of the Lord. It's like you're stone, and I'm a stone, and everyone else that God has brought into fellowship is a stone, and we are lined out together, mortared together by the Holy Spirit of God, bound together by His Spirit in fellowship, and collectively God's Spirit dwells among us as the temple of God. Paul says, this is a fellowship. Again, we take those things away, and the commonality that we share in the fellowship would cease to exist.

What we need to understand, brethren, is that fellowship is intended to be an intimate relationship that glorifies God the Father and Jesus Christ, while bringing spiritual benefit to us as well. That's why I label it as a spiritual discipline, because apart from being involved in the fellowship and contributing to the fellowship, and growing from the fellowship, we would be isolated, and sharpening iron would not take place. What it is that God has given to you and to me to contribute to the benefit of one another would not be extended. Our spiritual discipline of fellowship adds to us daily if we indeed yield ourselves to it. Philippians 2, verse 1.

Philippians 2, verse 1.

Paul says, therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, see, we are bound together again in fellowship by God's Spirit, stones mortared together, if any affection and mercy, says, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love being of one accord and of one mind.

That's tough, isn't it? That's a challenge. That's been a challenge since I can remember, since I was a child walking into the door of the Church of God. Paul said, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love being of one accord and of one mind. So this is a fellowship that binds us together in one love, one accord, all walking the same direction, one mind. If we're going down different roads, if we're taking different paths, different directions, if we're doing different things, if we're speaking different things, then the result is the fellowship is going to become fractured.

And again, I would have to say that as I think back to my childhood, I came into the Church of God in the early 80s, that from my perspective, the fracturing of the fellowship has been a part of my Church experience for as long as I can remember.

I hate to say that it's so. I hate to consider that maybe I would almost be used to it or accustomed to it, but the fact is, it has gone back as far as I can remember. Now, there was a point where most all of us who are sitting in this room walked out the door of the worldwide Church of God, because the core doctrines that we held and believed and had built our life, belief, and relationship with God upon, those doctrines which come directly from the Scripture, you know, can I just say, maybe from my perspective, half the Bible went out the window. All right? So there was a point where we walked out the door in order to come together and continue to fellowship and to hold to the doctrines that brought us together in fellowship to begin with.

That was in 1995, and this has been our home since. Our children, my children, have been raised in this fellowship, and I call this a spiritual fellowship, as we are gathered together here. But again, it's just interesting. I'd have to say that the fracturing of the fellowship goes back as a part of the thread of my Church experience as far as I can remember. Yesterday I wanted to listen to a sermon. It had been a while since I just downloaded a sermon and listened to it. I went back on our archives, in our Spokane archives, going back 20 years now, and I found a sermon that I listened to from April 17, 1998. It was given by my friend and our former pastor, who served as pastor before me, Mark Mickelson. In 1998, April 17, he gave a sermon titled, simply, Unity. I thought, well, that's interesting. I wanted to pull that up and give it a listen. Do you remember what was going on in 1998? Early 1998? Early 1998, the first president who had been president of the United Church of God walked out the door. A number of ministers followed along. There was this sermon that was given on unity and the importance of unity in the body of Jesus Christ. I listened to that and said, you know what? I remember that sermon. Twenty years ago, I remember sitting and hearing that sermon. I remember thinking, I agree with that sermon as I sat there on that day. And I listened to the sermon again yesterday. And you know what, brethren? I agree with that sermon. I encourage you to consider it. Unity, April 17, 1998, given by our friend, Mr. Mickelson. I fast-forwarded my mind to 2010. I was in Nigeria in December of 2010. A Challenger program, Mark and I made my first trip over to Nigeria. We went with him. And I remember it was the morning of December 20-something. I don't remember the exact date. But I remember we were getting ready to head out to the airport and catch a jumper flight across Nigeria to another point of the country. To gather with the young adults that were going in on the Challenger program. We were hiking into the wilderness for 10 days. No cell phones, no internet, completely detached from the world. And I remember getting up that morning. It was still dark, the early AM hours. And Mark opened his computer, and there was this list of resignations from the United Church of God.

December 2010. And I remember we looked at that, and I remember the computer just being closed. And the comment was sort of like, well, we'll see what's left of the church when we hike out. So we went for 10 days into the wilderness. We conducted a leadership mentoring program with the young adults. This is leadership in your congregation, in your church, and in the back of my mind, wondering even what was taking place. What were we going to find as we came out? And again, it was a significant separation, and I would call it a fracturing that took place in the church at that time. And so as I look back, brethren, I would have to say that my youth growing up in the church, in my adult years in the church, the concept of the fracturing of the fellowship taking place has been part of the experience of my life. And I would have to say that as I have walked through it, and as I have come to, you know, over 20 years, 22 years down the road of the United Church of God, and as I've assessed those things over the years, my conclusion has been that I've had my fill.

I've had my fill. Again, Paul said, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection in mercy, fulfill my joy being like-minded, having the same love being of one accord and of one mind. Anybody think that doesn't take work? Significant work? My wife and I, again, bound together in a, I could call it a fellowship, a relationship, a marriage covenant, bound together in common grounds. I don't think we've never had an argument. Actually, I should say, I've argued she's been kind. I've married a wonderful woman. But, you know, if I spent my time considering what it was about my wife that irritated me, and made that maybe the focus of our relationship, I dare say our marriage would not last long. But we are committed to a lasting marriage. We're committed to working through any issues that may arise, not just so that we can tolerate each other, but so that we can move forward stronger than we were before, because we walk through something and overcome it together, and we carry on hand in hand in unity and as a family. The Church of God, brethren, is a family. It's a family of God. Verse 3, Paul said, Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And this is how the bonds of fellowship are strengthened. This is how difficulties are walked through.

This is how disagreements are resolved, maybe not in our time in every case, but in God's timing.

Do we believe Jesus Christ is the head of the Church, or do we not? Do we submit to His timing and His will, yes, doing our part. But how do we do our part? Again, looking out not only for your own interests, but the interests of others. Putting others first, in humility, and letting this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, which was what? A mind of sacrifice, of humble service, of laying His life down for those who were persecuting Him and taking His life.

It's quite the example that Jesus Christ set for us. That's how the bonds of fellowship are strengthened, rather than to the degree that we don't do these things, or to the degree that the fellowship will crumble. Do you think the fellowship has an adversary?

Does the fellowship have an adversary? Well, of course it has an adversary. The adversary is Satan the devil, and it's his intent to tear the fellowship apart any way that he can.

Over the years, we've had wood stove in our house, and firewood is obviously of the order. And in recent times, I've got firewood that's maybe a little easier to handle. But I used to get these big rounds, and they were solid. And what did you do if you were going to get that to fit into the stove? Well, you had to split it. Right? So how do you split? Well, I would take that splitting ball, and I would hit it a few times into a crack developed. And then I would take the wedge, and I would put it in the crack, and I would take that hammer, and I would hammer, and I would hammer, and I would hammer at the crack until the wood split.

We have an adversary that looks for a crack amongst the fellowship. And he looks to put the wedge in, and to hammer, and to hammer, and to hammer, until the fellowship splits apart.

And oftentimes, it's not, and his ploy is not to be satisfied with one split. I was never satisfied with one. You can't get necessarily half a log into the fire. You've got to split it again. And then you've got to split it again. And you've got to split it again. And Satan, the devil's tactic, is not to just leave a bunch of fractured pieces that are maybe three, four big pieces, but it's to split it again, and take those smaller pieces, and split it again, and take those, and split them again until there is what? Until there is dust. There's God's people, unity, working together, resolving our issues, and love, and dedication, and commitment to one another, because we've been bound together in this common calling, brother. Needs to be our focus. The purpose today is to remind us of the importance of the fellowship that we've been called into, and the activities that we engage in for the strengthening of that fellowship. Again, the things that we do are a result of the bond that has been brought in our life, and the fellowship we've been called into. The purpose of the fellowship is to help each of us on our journey towards the kingdom of God. To strengthen one another is to encourage one another. We must not forsake the fellowship or the assembling of ourselves together. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 23.

Hebrews chapter 10 verse 23. Paul says, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Because we are a fellowship with the common goal of the kingdom of God, we assemble. And we assemble for the purpose of stirring one another up to love and good works. We assemble for the purpose of exhorting one another for the good, for strengthening one another, for building the bonds, because what God has given you to contribute to the fellowship may be different than what he's given me to contribute. And I need what you have to offer, and you need what I have to offer, and to the degree that we cut ourselves off from what God has made available to us, is a degree that we inhibit our ability to grow spiritually according to God's manner and purpose. As a spiritual discipline, we need to be actively giving ourselves in participation to the fellowship. That's the point of the spiritual discipline. It's not just, you know, sit back on the long for the ride. It is God has brought us together in a relationship, and we need to be giving ourselves to and in participation to the fellowship. Again, the reason I consider this to be a spiritual discipline is because yielding to the relationship is the means by which God produces spiritual growth in us.

There's times we need to, perhaps, not become offended, or to get over an offense, or personally come before a brother and a sister in humility. Or there's a time where I need to make a course correction, and I need a brother or a sister to come to me and express such to me. We work together, brethren, lifting one another up, strengthening one another in the bonds of fellowship. Again, it is a spiritual discipline. Notice Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12, in verse 3, Paul says, For I say, through the grace that was given to me, to every one who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one in measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually, members of one another.

So the point is, God has called us into a body, the body of Jesus Christ. He's called us individually. God doesn't generally call on mass. The day of Pentecost was rather unique, but this was a working with people who knew God in terms of His Word. I think in some ways our challenge has been in reverse. Those Jews that had gathered together in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost had to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Savior, but they knew the Sabbath, they knew the Holy Days. They knew what God had given them, and they just simply had to acknowledge this is the fulfillment of the prophecy we see in Scripture.

Today's day and age is a little different. So many people around us say they've accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, yet they don't have a foundation in the understanding of the Word of God. And that's where the challenge lies. But again, God doesn't generally call people in on mass. It's an individual calling by which He has intervened in your life and you have responded. But He's brought us into a collective whole by which we function and contribute for the benefit of all, and the benefit returns towards us as well. Verse 5, verse 6, still in Romans 12, it says, "...having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith, or ministry, let us use it in our ministering. He who teaches in teaching, he who exhorts in exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor, giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints, given the hospitality." These are all ways, brethren, that the fellowship comes together and serves one another for the benefit of all.

Verse 14, bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind towards one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. It's amazing how many times the Bible ties humility into serving of the body. The fact that, apart from that, the outcome would not be according to what God desires, it would be according to what self desires.

God allows us to contribute to the whole of the body for the benefit of all, not because I'm so great of him by myself, but it is God's Spirit in me that he has given me to contribute with. The same to you. I began this sermon from the premise of fellowship being a noun, as in something that we are. But I also want us to consider it from the perspective of being a verb, which is something that we do. Because, you see, Christian fellowship is a practical reality. It's something that is to be acted on. Something that is to be lived and expressed as we come together. Fellowship as a noun and as a verb are not exclusive to one another. They are, in fact, complementary. They're complementary. We are a fellowship. That means that we are bound to one another in a relationship. And then from that relationship flows the additional sharing of our time, of our wisdom, of our experiences, of all that it is that God has given us to offer one to the other for the benefit of all. Outside the Sabbath and the Holy Days, we often have activities that we call fellowship. Again, it's a church picnic, it's a barbecue, it's a backpack, it's a campout. Whatever sorts of activities would be brought together, we call those things a fellowship, an opportunity for fellowship as we come together. And yet through all of that, we need to remember that the fellowship is not necessarily about the event itself, but it's about the relationship that is strengthened through the event. So we come together to do those things, to learn from one another and to grow, and to build not only our relationships with each other, but our relationship with God as we see God living in our brother and in our sister. As we reap the benefits of receiving what it is that they have to offer.

I want you to consider these questions for a moment.

Has your faith in God ever been strengthened through the faithful example of someone else?

Has your faith in God ever been strengthened through the faithful example of someone else? Has someone else going through a personal trial and maintaining a tremendous, godly attitude? Has that ever provoked a change in your attitude? You know, I was walking along feeling sorry for myself because of what I'm dealing with. Woe is me. But then you see your brother going through something so much greater, so much more of a tremendous load on their life. And yet they look to God, they trust in Him, they rejoice in Him, and you think, you know what? I need an attitude check. I need to turn this around.

Has an older or wiser member in the Church of God ever given you spiritual input that you took to heart?

Something that they offered to you that would help in your spiritual growth. Has visiting with brethren about personal Bible study that you're doing ever led to a deeper understanding of God's Word? You know, when we come together in fellowship, it shouldn't just be about the baseball game or the weather. It should be about God's Word. And has that discussion ever led to a deeper understanding? You know, here's what I'm studying this week. What do you think about that? How have you ever experienced the benefits of implementing this in your life? If you've answered yes to these questions, then you've experienced the spiritual benefits of fellowship and the benefits of engaging yourself in the fellowship.

We won't turn there, but Proverbs 13, verse 20 says, He who walks with wise men will be wise. Take advantage, brethren, of the fellowship that we've been given. Take advantage of the wise counsel and the positive attitudes that God has put in our midst, so that we can draw strength from those and benefit in our spiritual walk.

Somebody's getting married. I recommend that they go talk to people who have been married a long time.

Find out what's worked. What's been the benefit? What have you done in your marriage to walk through maybe some of the challenges that you've had now for longevity in your marriage? Somebody raising children, I would recommend you talk to people who have successfully raised children. Raised godly children. What did you do? What were the practices in your home? What was the Sabbath like in your house? Just learning about the Sabbath and Holy Days? There's many people here who can share those experiences with you. The point is, the fellowship here is not just here to be receiving. The fellowship here is brought together to be contributing one to another. It's a two-way street. We all need to be actively producing as well as receiving what the fellowship has to offer.

Additionally, we need to make a practice of fellowshiping wisely. Fellowshiping wisely and widely. Take advantage of the fact that we have many diverse people in our midst. It can be easy to come to church and have those two or three people that we visit with the same each and every week. It's normal, it's natural, it's good to have friends that are maybe closer than others, but don't neglect the fact that there are many others in the congregation that we can learn from, that we need to establish relationships with. So we need to fellowship widely in order to gain the diversity that God has provided us in His body.

In this life, we don't all go through the exact same circumstances as everybody else. Have you ever looked around the room and thought, I am sure glad I'm not going through what that person is going through? I thought I had trials, but they have all the more.

Have you ever considered the fact that what somebody else is going through may be in part for your personal benefit or my personal benefit? The fact that they're walking through a trial so that we can see how it is done by God's Spirit and learn ourselves.

That we can see what faith looks like on display up close and personal.

Perhaps our faith is lacking. Perhaps our diligence is lacking, but perhaps somebody else's is not. God allows them to go through something that brings into our understanding the faith and the stability and the calling that God has extended to us. The manner in which we derive the spiritual benefit from the experience of others is through, again, coming together, sharing those things, engaging in the fellowship.

Each part doing its share is not only about playing special music. I appreciate people that can play special music, and that is important. It's not only about even speaking from here. It's not even necessarily about who can move the chairs or who can run the kitchen. All those things are important. Each part in doing its share is about bringing to the whole the spiritual strengths and benefits that God is working out in our lives.

Putting those out there, not in some prideful way, but where we find opportunity to contribute for the benefit of others. Do any of us ever come to Sabbath services needing something from our brethren?

It's been a tough week. I'm discouraged. I need encouragement. I know I've walked in the door of the Church of God on many occasions saying, I need encouragement, and I have found it. And that is a blessing. And that comes, indeed, again by God's hand through the fellowship. As Christians, we must be actively engaging in acts of fellowship, verb, action, in order to benefit and spiritually strengthen the fellowship. Now, the assembly, the called-out ones that have been brought together as a body. Fellowship is a spiritual discipline that you and I need and must practice. I want to conclude today in Malachi, the third chapter. Malachi 3 and verse 16.

Malachi 3 verse 16. Brethren, our words of fellowship with one another, they're not only important to us, they are important to God. Malachi 3 and verse 16. It says, God is very aware of our conversations. He listens to us. He hears the words we speak. He takes note of what the righteous say in the midst of one another, but also it's in His presence. Here it says, Verse 17.

The level of fellowship, brethren, that takes place among the people of God is of great importance to God, and it must be of great importance to us as well. Let's never draw back from the benefits that this fellowship has to offer. God has called us together, bound us together in commonality. Let's be creative in finding ways to come together in fellowship, benefiting from the blessings that being a part of this fellowship provides.

Prayer, Bible study, fasting, meditation, and fellowship, they all work together to form a package of spiritual disciplines. They help us to grow spiritually in our calling before God, and they deepen our personal and direct relationship with Him. Brethren, I hope that you've found this series of five sermons helpful, instructive. Again, these are things that God has given us. They are for our benefit, the strengthening of our relationship with God. Let's be a people who go about putting these important spiritual disciplines into practice on a regular basis. Use them frequently and often. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. The blessings of such a relationship, brethren, are incredible.