Fellowship Hebrews 10:24 & 25

Fellowship Hebrews 10:24 & 25

The final spoke of the wheel is FELLOWSHIP. We blanket under this word everything from two people chit chatting over coffee to congregational dinners and picnics. There is so much more to fellowship than that. One of the things that growing churches have is a healthy fellowship.

1.      Consider how to

a.      Think about it

b.      Plan it

2.      Stir up one another to love and good works

a.      Churches are good at getting all stirred up, just not to love and good works.

b.      Stir = wiped, wound.

c.       The football team that comes out doing their warrior dance.

d.      Home team takes the field

e.      Cheerleaders getting crowd going.

f.        Cheerleaders for the church

g.      Urging each other to victory in our lives.

h.      Praise music – whip the team up to go and win this week

3.      Meeting together

a.      For your benefit

b.      For the benefit of others.

c.       Romans 12:3-8

d.      Eph 4:4-16

e.      Does anyone know what is going on with ___________?

f.        A test.

4.      Encourage one another

a.      This is personal

b.      This is close

c.       You can do this, you can beat this, I stand with you.

d.      Finishers go back and run with those struggling to make it.

e.      You did a good job, I like this. I’m proud of you.

5.      As the day draws near.

a.      Your day

b.      Their day

c.       Our churches day

This is what growing churches have going for them, real fellowship. We need to regain that sense of connectedness. Being a true Christian, a disciple of Jesus, is not a me thing it’s a we thing.

Will you get excited about doing God’s work?

Can you do more to encourage other people in the church?

Can we stir-up the church, be each other’s cheerleaders?

Do we believe God can use this church to change the world?

Will you join in the harvest?

Witnessing 1 Peter 3:15

Witnessing  1 Peter 3:15

There is that awkward moment when the opening to talk about your faith comes. It could be with a friend or it could be with someone you just met. Your heart says share and your head tells you wait or keep quite.

Excuses flow out like water. Who am I to tell someone about God? I don’t know how? I don’t know what to say? They might get offended? I might hurt their feelings? Or worse what if they want to listen?

In that awkward and strange moment you make a decision that might affect eternity.

 

God’s command

1 Peter 3:15

Matthew 10:32&33

Mathew 28:19&20

John 7:38 streams of living water not swimming pools or water towers.

John 4:14 a spring of living water

The time is now

Matthew 9:37&38

John 4:34-38

1 Peter 3:15 “in season and out”

What to share

1 Peter 3:15 “the reason for your hope.”

Why do you believe?

What has Jesus done for you?

Make a list and get to know it

 

When that weird and awkward moment come, will you be ready? Will you dare to step out in faith say something? Or will you let it go by? Will you confess your faith in Jesus? Will you give a reason for the hope you have in Jesus? Someone’s eternity may hang in the balance of what you choose in that moment. We need, we must, be ready to make the right choice.

Ephesians 3:20 “Dream Big”

Ephesians 3:20 “Dream Big”

In the first Star Wars movie Leia tells Hans that he would be rewarded with more wealth than he can imagine. Hans replies “I can imagine a lot”.

Our passage describes God as one “who can do far more abundantly than we ask and think”

This passage got me to thinking and it raised a question. Are our prayers to small? Do we dare to pray big? I mean bigger than ourselves? Will we dare to pray the impossible and keep on praying the impossible for however long it takes? One thing we need to learn and need to teach is that we need to pray big.

I have mentioned Dawson Trotman, the man who founded the Navigators and developed the follow-up ministry for Billy Graham. As a young man he and a friend started praying for their city, then the state, then our country and finally the world. They prayed that God would help them reach the world! God answered their prayers. Through Billy Graham and the Navigators Dawson Trotman reached the world. He still reaches the world, in fact he wrote the discipleship books we use for conformation class.

I wonder if God gets frustrated with the smallness of our prayers. He is able to do more than we can ask, yet with all that power we only ask for the possible not the impossible. While living in California, every once and a while I would get to see a real sports car. Jaguars, Porsches, Ferraris, and other cars like them, all capable of going 160 – 200 miles an hour. There they would be in a lane next to me crawling along the highway in stop and go traffic. All that power going to waste.

Consider some prayers of the Bible. Isaac prayed for his wife to have children, Gen 25:21. Moses prayed that pharaoh would let the people go, Exodus 10. Moses prayed and God parted the red sea, Elisha prayed and Fire came down and consumed the sacrifice. Gideon prayed and God sent most of the army home and they still won the battle.

Do we pray to small? Do we pray for things we see as possible? If we do pray for something big do we pray thinking it is a waste of time? James 1:5-8 says that we are to pray with confidence that God will answer.

We need to be people who pray kingdom size prayers. Pray for the salvation of our neighbors, our town, and our area. We need to pray for the growth of our church and be willing to follow God to the answer to that prayer.

James 4:2&3 says we do not have because we do not ask.

Notice what we will do. Kill, covet, quarrel and fight. Anything except ask and believe.

Notice the motive of prayer. Wrong motives, selfish motives hinder prayer. You can pray for good things for the wrong reason. “Lord make my neighbor a Christian so they will stop wakening me up with their drunken parties on Saturday night.” O Lord help our church to go so I will not have to donate so much to keep the church going and I will not have to give as much of my time to its work.”

Jesus wants His disciples to pray kingdom size prayers, with kingdom motives.

What questions does the college graduate in philosophy ask? “Do you want fries with that or should I supersize it?”  God wants us to go for the fries, the shake and the dessert as well. God wants us to supersize our prayers. Expand your vision and faith to kingdom sized prayers for kingdom size motives. Perhaps like Dawson Trotman God will give you the world!