Fight for Fellowship, part 2
Last week, I began to make the argument that we need fellowship. This week, I will begin to give some reasoning that extends beyond the scriptural commandment to have fellowship. First of all, fellowship has a lot to do with evangelism. Acts 2:44-47 says this:
44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; 45 and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. 46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
What was going on in the beginning of Church history? Many things! Observe in verse 44 that the believers “were together.” What does that mean, exactly? We don’t know for sure, but based upon the scripture, it appears the early believers were together as much as possible. Verse 46 indicates that they were meeting together, “day by day,” and daily taking of the Lord’s Supper in different people’s homes, “breaking bread from house to house,” and, “they were taking their meals together.”
Since so many of the first Christians consisted of people that had traveled from many different regions to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, there were many people who became displaced from their homelands and needed financial assistance. Because of this need a fund was put together for the common good of all in need. That’s what verse 44 means when it says, “all those who had believed were together and had all things in common,” and there was an ongoing assessment of what was needed and verse 45 says, “they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.”
This wasn’t a model for a society, as I have heard some attempt to argue, but this was a group of people that just discovered Jesus – the best news they ever could have hoped to hear – and they didn’t want to leave the apostles. They wanted to hear as much as possible and to learn as much as possible before they had to go home. This required financial assistance to pull this off, and the church came together to pull off this great early fellowship.
If you’ve ever participated in a mission effort with the church, or spent a week at a church camp or attended a multiple-day Christian conference, you may have experienced the same swept up euphoria of Christian fellowship that happens when Christians are together over a period of time – learning together, sharing experiences together, remembering Christ together.
But also notice verse 47 – as this great Christian fellowship was occurring, the joy of that fellowship spilled over to other people who didn’t yet know Jesus, “and having favor with all the people.” And people didn’t know what it was the new Christians had, but they wanted it too. And when those people entered into the fellowship to see what it was all about, look at what it says the Lord did in verse 47, “And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
The Lord used Christian fellowship to produce new converts. And He will do the same today, but we first must fight to maintain fellowship. One light might be easily ignored, but one hundred lights shining together commands attention.
Much Love and Fellowship!
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
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Fight for Fellowship, Part 1
We live in a society that is segmented. We are separated in many ways, by many means, most of which are very basic. The ways in which we are separated are historically unique as well. Here’s what I mean.
At some point in our American history, we decided against collectivist culture in favor of individualist culture. An example of what I mean is, whole families typically don’t live together in the United States, in fact, people count themselves fortunate if their family lives within a reasonable driving distance.
After all, we’re individuals, why should we all stick together?
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Wisdom from Unlikely Places
In an interview I was watching recently, a celebrity was asked, “Does all of your fame and fortune and success make you happy?” He said it didn’t, which didn’t surprise me, I’ve heard similarly from other rich and famous people that the things they thought were going to make them happy did not.
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The Authority of God
One thing that I think is easy to miss when reading about Jesus’ instituting the Lord’s Supper is his divine authority.
In the upstairs room at the home of a man that called Jesus his teacher, Jesus did something that only God has the authority to do. He created a new ceremony and then he gave a commandment to his followers to continually perform that ceremony.
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A Strange Opportunity
I recently had a strange opportunity to praise the Lord. As far as I know, I have never contracted influenza in my entire life, that is, until last week.
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Hallelujah!
I once worshiped with a man that, instead of saying, “amen,” as is the custom of most, would say instead, “hallelujah!” And he didn’t just say it, he really belted it out. I always found it peculiar, I think, because of how rare it was that I heard that word said. I’ve heard it in songs a lot, both here and at every other church I’ve worshiped with, but I’ve rarely heard it spoken outside of song.
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Fun With 20:22
Keeping with tradition, here are the verses in the Bible in the books the have twenty chapters and twenty-two verses. Can you apply any of these verses to this upcoming year? Let’s see:
Exodus 20:22 – 22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.
Leviticus 20:22 – 22 ‘You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not spew you out.
Numbers 20:22 – 22 Now when they set out from Kadesh, the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.
Judges 20:22 – 22 But the people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves and arrayed for battle again in the place where they had arrayed themselves the first day.
1 Samuel 20:22 – 22 But if I say to the youth, ‘Behold, the arrows are beyond you,’ go, for the Lord has sent you away.
2 Samuel 20:22 – 22 Then the woman wisely came to all the people. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, each to his tent. Joab also returned to the king at Jerusalem.
1 Kings 20:22 – 22 Then the prophet came near to the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself and observe and see what you have to do; for at the turn of the year the king of Aram will come up against you.”
2 Chronicles 20:22 – 22 When they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed.
Job 20:22 – 22 “In the fullness of his plenty he will be cramped; The hand of everyone who suffers will come against him.
Proverbs 20:22 – 22 Do not say, “I will repay evil”; Wait for the Lord, and He will save you.
Ezekiel 20:22 – 22 But I withdrew My hand and acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.
Matthew 20:22 – 22 But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to Him, “We are able.”
Luke 20:22 – 22 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
John 20:22 – 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
Acts 20:22 – 22 And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,
How many of these verses were you familiar with already? How many brought to mind the surrounding context that you know so well from many times reading?
Putting this together was a fun activity for me, but all fun aside, there are only a few things that truly matter in life and knowing the Bible is one of them.
By whatever means necessary, I urge you to make reading, studying and knowing your Bible a top priority, not only for 2022, but for the remainder of your life.
Much love and happy reading!
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
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Nehemiah – Someone Like Us
I love to study the Book of Nehemiah. Frankly, there isn’t any Book of the Bible that I don’t love to study, but each has its own wonderful distinctions.
The distinction that I enjoy most about Nehemiah is that he is very similar to us. Sure, there can be arguments made to the contrary. You could argue that we have virtually nothing in common at all with Nehemiah. But there is one very specific spiritual way that we can relate to Nehemiah.
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Physical Pictures of Spiritual Realities
The Old Testament is full of the very graphic and, for the most part, tragic history of God’s people.
Something that will help you tremendously when you study the Old Testament is to understand that the physical things that you are reading are most often representations of spiritual realities.
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Another Favorite!
This week we’re discussing another of my favorite people from the Old Testament, King Josiah.
There are four chapters committed to Josiah, 2 Kings 22 & 23 and 2 Chronicles 34 & 35. I cannot recommend enough that you read these four chapters this week and do a deep dive into everything that Josiah did as king.
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