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The man was searching for something deeper. His heart yearned for something more.

His
life needed something better from the church but no matter where he looked he could not find
what he was looking for. He had been a Seventh Day Adventist his entire life but now that he
was grown he felt that something was missing. Then he figured it out, what he was missing was
friendship.
The friendship he needed was not the normal buddy buddy kind of friendship. Not the
kind where you stay out together on a Saturday night eating pizza and playing games. He needed
something more. He needed the kind of friendship that uplifted him to God; the kind of
friendship that made the Bible the center of the relationship. He needed a friend that would point
him to the throne of the Almighty to find strength. He needed a friend who would explore the
Bible with him. What he needed was real Christian fellowship and where better to find that than
in the church. At least thats what he thought.
After he had gone to several churches he landed himself in a church geared more for
young adults like him. He thought this would be a great church home. It even had the word
community right there in its name. Upon entering the church the first thing he saw was a table
filled with coffee and doughnuts.
All the Young Adults who had gathered around the table welcomed him warmly. He
grabbed a cup of coffee and a doughnut and joined the young adults. But soon a problem became
apparent. Their talk was all about worldly things; movies they had seen, games they wanted to
play, girls they wanted to date. A few of them even bragged about sinful things they had done.
God never came into the picture. To quote the man from the story, They couldnt offer the
bread of life because all they had was coffee and doughnuts.
Over time, with no fellowship to connect him with the Lord, the mans soul withered and
decayed to the point that he gave up on God and left Christianity. The greatest tragedy of the
story is not that a man lost connection to Christianity it is that the Church Fellowship had lost
connection to God. They had fellowship with coffee and doughnuts not the bread of life.
That church made an mistake that so many churches around America are falling into.
They have forgotten that fellowship is not primarily an activity it is primarily a relationship. In
Christian circles we tend to think you go to the Christmas party and that is fellowship. You go to
afternoon potluck and that is fellowship. You go to the annual Bonfire and that is fellowship.
Notice all those events are activities not relationships.
We face a problem in church today. Fellowship is no longer about connecting to God it is
only about connecting to each other. It is no longer about relationship it is about activity. Over
time the church started treating fellowship as a social gathering rather than as a way to grow in
God. The problem is Fellowship has lost the followship of God.
Now there is nothing wrong with laughing, eating, and playing games with each other,
but if that becomes the heart of our fellowship and does not point us back to God then like the
church in the opening illustration we are just fellowshipping with coffee and doughnuts, not the
bread of life.
This sermon series Gods Family in Fellowship is meant to correct that problem. This
sermon series is about moving away from activity for activities sake and into a communal
relationship that grows us in God. It is about getting out of the kiddy pool of idle chit chat and
diving into the ocean of deep Christian relationships. The relationship we share with other
Christians is different than any other relationship in the world. That is what this sermon series is
about. It is about exploring this relationship we call fellowship and what it means for our walk
with God.

In todays sermon I am going to give an overview of the entire series. Then for the next
four sermons we will dive deeper into each topic. We begin our study in the verse that first
mentions fellowship Acts 2:42.
Acts 2:42 says, They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to
the breaking of bread and to prayer. This verse takes place after one of the most powerful
sermons recorded in the Bible. Under inspiration from the Holy Spirit Peter preached a powerful
message and 3,000 were converted that day. Now being new believers we can understand why
they would devote themselves to the apostles teaching. Everyone should stand on the Bible. We
can even understand their need to devote time to prayer. If you are to ever grow as a Christian
than you must be connected to God. But devoting their time to fellowship? Why would
fellowship be just as important as prayer and Bible study if it was just a social gathering? True
Christian Fellowship is as essential to our spiritual walk with God as is prayer and Bible study.
Lets turn to the Bible and discover together what Christian Fellowship is all about.
As we turn to 1 John 1:3 we see the true principle behind Christian Fellowship. 1 John
1:3 reads, We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have
fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. This
verse shows us the true principle of fellowship. Our fellowship with each other leads to a
relationship with God! The reason we have a relationship with other Christians is so that we
can have a relationship with God. You see fellowship has a purpose; it is to point each other to
the Lord.
Im reminded of a story about a man riding in an elevator with seven other people. As the
eight of them traveled, all of a sudden the elevator shook and shuttered and came to a screeching
halt. The lights flickered and then went completely dead. The eight passengers screamed out in
terror. Then the man remembered he had a flashlight in his pocket. Pulling out his flashlight he
turned it on so all could see. Soon the terror turned into laughter and each one became calm
because they saw the light.
Christian fellowship works just like that. Just as the terrified passengers became calm
when someone showed them the light, so we sinful Christians become righteous as others show
us the light of Jesus Christ. Christian fellowship is all about pointing each other to God.
The Bible tells us there is a reason we point each other to God. We point others to God so
others can be like God. Philippians 1:3-6 shows us this dimension of fellowship. 3 I thank my
God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5
because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, That word, partnership
is translated from the Greek word meaning fellowship. It speaks of a relationship you enter into
to receive a benefit. So you enter into Christian fellowship for your benefit. What benefit do we
receive in partnering, in fellowshipping, with other Christians? The passage continues. 6 being
confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the
day of Christ Jesus. That good work is becoming like Jesus. God promises that when you
partner with other Christians to live out the gospel, He will come and carry you until you become
like Jesus. Just like people go into business together with the benefit of making money, so you
and I partner with other Christians for the benefit of becoming like Christ.
That places a very heavy responsibility on each and every one of us. This idea of
fellowship means I am not the only pastor here, you as well are called to shepherd souls. It is
also your responsibility to help each other grow in God by pointing each other to Jesus Christ.
Knowing that we have such a heavy responsibility how do we do that? How do we point each
other to God?

For the rest of our Sermon Series we will be answering that question. How do we point
each other to God but I will touch on just the highlights today so you can begin entering true
Christian fellowship this week.
The first way we point each other to God is by sharing with each other what Christ has
done in our own lives. Right after Jesus healed a man possessed by a legion of demons he said to
him, Return home and tell how much God has done for you. So the man went away and told all
over town how much Jesus had done for him. It is from the blessings we each receive during
the week that we can point others to Christ on the Sabbath. Colossians 3:16 also encourages this
practice. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one
another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with
gratitude in your hearts. It is from the message of Christ that dwells in us that we teach one
another.
We have this idea that when we come to church it is only the pastor who preaches the
sermon. Wow, how we short change ourselves. The sermon at church is not just in the pulpit
but in the pews. You, the believers, the congregation, also come with a message from God that
He begs you to share with your church family.
I think C.S. Lewis put it best. C. S. Lewis once surmised that each person is created to
see a different side of Gods beauty something no one else can see in quite the same way
and then to bless all worshipers through all eternity with an aspect of God they could not
otherwise see. The truth is you bring sermons to church that I could never preach because you
have been places I have never walked.
You must declare what God has done for you! Confess His good deeds! Proclaim to each
other His faithfulness. Speak how he helped you overcome anger in your marriage; how he
helped you control your temper. Share with a believer how God opened your eyes to a passage so
you could see new insights. Tell others how old truths have taken on new meaning and have
begun changing you. Sing with them the song that is on your heart. When we share with others
the blessings of the Lord, We share with others the presence of the Lord. In that moment of
sharing we have walked them to the throne room of God and said, Behold the Savior. It is by
sharing with each other what God has done in our lives that we can point others to Jesus Christ.
So we point others to Christ when we share our blessings but we also point others to
Christ when we share their burdens. The truth is being a Christian in a sinful world is, well lets
just say, it is a tad hard. We are pushed down not only by the world but by Satan. Sin pounds
loud at the door or our hearts; sometimes even louder than the knock of Christ. We, like any
other human being, struggle in our marriage, with disease, with finances, with doing well with
school, and sometimes the burden is hard to lift alone. The beautiful truth is we do not have to
lift it alone. We have a church full of Christian family who will also shoulder the burden with us.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, Two are better than one, because they have a good return for
their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and
has no one to help them up. As Christians we never need fear falling all the way. We have
brothers and sisters who will catch us and carry us to the throne of God.
As you can see Christian fellowship is so much more than just a social activity. Christian
fellowship is a relationship where we point each other to God. The fellowship the Bible speaks
of is a deep soul connection that joins all Christians together in godly living. Fellowship is about
relationship.
God is ready to give you that spiritual friend you need who will uplift you to the Lord. He
is also ready to use you to be the friend who points others to Jesus Christ. So this week what can

you do to enter into true Christian Fellowship? You can begin praying that God will send you a
spiritual friend. Also you can pray that God will use you to point your friends to Jesus Christ.
Brothers and Sisters I want this kind of fellowship. I want the kind of Church Family that
points me to God. I want the kind of Church Family who shares with me how the Lord blessed
them. I want the kind of Church Family that shoulders each others burdens and uplifts each
other to God. I do not want a fellowship focused on coffee and doughnuts. I want a fellowship
focused on the bread of life. I invite you all to continue this Sermon Series with me so that our
church may be blessed by this kind of fellowship.

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