1. June 18, 2017 Peace be Yours in your Father God!

2. The Importance of Fellowship in the Church! Acts 2: 42-47

6. What I want you to Understand!
*You as an individual Christian are so special, important, precious to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
*We as believers, children of God, and disciples are special, important, precious to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Local church)
Mt. 25:34/Kingdom prepared for you. (Foundation/World)
Jn. 14: 1-3/I go to prepare a place for you. (Cross)
*We were a big part of God’s eternal plan. (Mind)

7. The Importance of Fellowship in the Church! Acts 2: 42-47

8. Introduction: Church we were in the mind, heart, purpose of God, beginning in eternity. By eternity I mean before the earth was created and all that we know and are experiencing in the world and life we are living. Before time and space in which we live. The church (you), are very important in God’s eternal plan. We were the mystery Eph. 3:9, part of God eternal purpose Eph. 3: 11. We are important and special, He planned us long ago and
also planned who we would be individually, and what we would be and do in the church, Christ’s body. That’s not what I want to speak on today, but it has so much to do with what I want you to consider today from scripture. In Acts 2:42-47 we find the new church and amazing behaviors among them since they had accepted Christ and been added to the church, God’s Kingdom. There was intimate fellowship and communion!

9. Acts 2:42-47:. Devoted themselves to Apostles teaching. (Truth)
Acts 2:42-47: *Devoted themselves to Apostles teaching. (Truth) *Teaching (Demonstrated their belief) *Fellowship (Sharing of themselves) *Breaking of bread (Needs/Communion) *To Prayer (Communication with the Father) (Fellowship
Which led too: (Fellowship/Oneness, Unity) Holding hands.
Sense of awe, miracles, all things in common, selling/meeting needs, worship of God, joy, Praise of God, growing church.
All as the result of salvation in Christ, and fellowship with one another.

10. The Importance of Fellowship in the Church
*The Importance of Fellowship in the Church! Introduction: Poor communication has been the plague of mankind ever since the tower of Babel. Such statements as the following reveal that we face problems when trying to communicate to one another: “I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”
We can sometimes be misunderstood because of mispronunciation as when one man’s child told a friend that his father taught in a “cemetery” (Seminary). Sometimes sound alike phrases are misunderstood as with the child in a Christian school who was asked to draw a picture depicting the hymn “Gladly the Cross I’d bear” and instead drew a picture of Gladly, the cross-eyed bear. If we have problems understanding the concepts of each other, that is nothing compared to the problem we encounter understanding the concepts

11. of God, for His thoughts are not our thoughts, they are foreign to us
of God, for His thoughts are not our thoughts, they are foreign to us. But God has given us His thoughts in the Bible and explained them carefully, but as time has passed, they have become “greek to us” and we have warped His thoughts and reverted to our own practices concerning His word. One such concept that has been especially warped in its biblical meaning is the concept of
Christian fellowship. Today, churches have fellowship halls, fellowship dinners, and fellowship retreats, but very few have real fellowship. Yet for a church that seeks to be guided in principle and practice by the New Testament, fellowship is very important. Biblical fellowship is God’s method for the outworking of His will through the church. To understand this we need to understand what true fellowship is, why fellowship is important to the church, how we can practice

12. it here in the Riverton Church of Christ
it here in the Riverton Church of Christ. *The Biblical Meaning of Fellowship: 1) The first fact concerns the meaning of the Greek root. Our English word “fellowship” is the translation of the Greek word, “Koinonia.” Basically this word means “living in a community together,” “owning a purse in common.” and
“having a mother in common.” Fellowship means from this, “to hold something in common.”
2) Our second fact relates to the usage of the word, “fellowship.” The Greek word, “koinonia,” was used to described corporation, partners in a law firm, and the most intimate of marriage relationships. We can conclude that fellowship is a word denoting a relationship that is dependent

13. on more than one individual. It is an interdependent relationship
on more than one individual. It is an interdependent relationship. 3) A third fact is that “fellowship” was never used to describe man’s relationship to God before the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell the church. It is exclusively post-Pentecost relationship.
4) A fourth fact about the meaning of “fellowship” can be gleaned by comparing other New Testament words. Words that are over lapping but not identical to koinonia. Philos, which means love for outward characteristics; Hetairos, meaning a sharer in a common enterprise, Sunergos, meaning a fellow- worker, Metochos, a participant. Each word denotes a unity. This is true of fellowship but by contrast, fellowship is also an inner unity. (I Cor. 1:9) Spiritual unity with Christ, (II Cor.13:14, Phil 2:1)

14. 5) We must note that fellowship does not stop with being a inner unity for it is primarily and action word! Koinonia is used nineteen times in the New Testament an in addition to be being translated as “fellowship” it is also translated by the words, “contribution,” “sharing,” and participation.”
Fellowship. You see it is not just being together, it is doing together! Much of the time this is ignored.
6) Fellowship also focuses on our unique relationship with Christ. We have a relationship of being “in Christ.” We also have a relationship of being “a part of Christ’s body.” Fellowship is neither. It is not “being in” or “being part” but it is “doing with” Christ. It is our partnership with Christ in fulfilling God’s will.

15. 7) Our last observation may be gleaned from the last and it is this: that fellowship is not just doing anything together. It is only doing God’s will together. Our fellowship with others is only as good as our fellowship with Christ, our unity. We can only participate with Him in doing His will, for that is all He ever does! For this reason we must quit thinking of Christian fellowship as primarily doing things such as having pot luck dinners or
watching football or playing basketball with other believers. These have there place but they are only fellowship to the extent that rest, exercise, and eating are doing the work of the Lord. Fellowship involves actively doing God’s will. These things are not the primary meaning of the word.

16. Fellowship is God’s Way of Accomplishing His Plan of Glorifying Christ
*Fellowship is God’s Way of Accomplishing His Plan of Glorifying Christ. Conclusion: 1) The importance of fellowship of the church can be seen first in the fact that fellowship occurred naturally as a result of the establishment of the church and salvation in His Kingdom.
Nobody had to come to the disciples and other new believers on the day of Pentecost and say, “You need to practice fellowship.” The Holy Spirit had come upon these people and formed an inner unity and their natural inclination was to exercise it outwardly. (Acts 2:44-47) Fellowship are the outward acts we do with one another in doing God’s will. In loving one another, rejoicing together, carrying each other in challenging times.

17. 2) Fellowship is the indispensable means of accomplishing the God-given purpose of the church. (Eph. 3: 8-11) In this text we see God has an eternal plan, we are apart of it. The church has a part in accomplishing that eternal plan. The phrase “through the church” in vs.10 shows that the church is to be God’s instrument in accomplishing His plan, now, today, eternally.
The purpose of the church in vs.10 is to show to the world the manifold or the many faceted wisdom of God. When we fellowship with each other others see the will of God. We hold God up! No individual alone could fulfill this plan of showing every perfection of God for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So we can see that the very nature of God necessitates the Godly capacities of many individuals.

18. Conclusion: Fellowship is a relationship of inner unity among believers that expresses itself in outer co-participation with Christ and one another in accomplishing God’s will on earth.
This can happen if we get in and plow together. With the unity of the Holy Spirit knowing our divine purpose, and putting our shoulders to the plow, God’s plan can be completed.

20. Summary: 1) There is an example for us in Acts 2: 42-47
Summary: 1) There is an example for us in Acts 2: ) We the church are apart of God’s eternal plan and purpose. 3) Biblical fellowship is God’s method for the outworking of His will through the church. (Koinonia) “To hold something in common” “Unity and partnership in doing God’s will”.
4) Salvation in Christ bring an inclination to demonstrate the manifold wisdom of God. 5) Fellowship involves an inner unity and co-participation among the church.