Hello everybody, it's ministeralt23 back with another video.
Today I want to discuss the topic of fellowship with believers.
Even when I wasn't in church, I go to church now, but before I was in church I understood
the importance of gathering together with believers and at least making an effort to
have fellowship with believers.
And that's one of the reasons why I sometimes do livestreams on this channel so I can interact
with people who are saved believers or people who believe the Bible and even just make videos
in general because I can discuss things in comments and so on.
And although we're not physically gathered together, tools like Google Hangout and other
I guess things like that, other apps that are similar to Google Hangouts, give us the
ability to still speak face to face sometimes with other people even if we're far away.
For example, Nathaniel Kuchenberg who lives in Indiana, I can still talk with him sometimes
over Google Hangouts or whatever, so we don't have to physically be together and we're still
fellowshipping and fellowship is not just a minor thing.
The Bible teaches it is an important part of growing in the faith.
Paul says in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 to 25, And let us consider one another to provoke
unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the
manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching.
So we shouldn't forsake our assemblies or in other words forsake a church.
The word church just means an assembly or a congregation of believers.
The Bible gives a few reasons why you would want to do this.
In First Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 9 to 15 it says, For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether
we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
Wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also ye do.
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in
the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's
sake, and be at peace among yourselves.
Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support
the weak, be patient toward all men.
See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both
among yourselves and to all men.
It says in First Corinthians chapter 14 verse 26, How is it then, brethren, when ye come
together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation,
hath an interpretation.
Let all things be done unto edifying.
Colossians chapter 3 verse 15 and 17 says, And let the peace of God rule in your hearts,
to the which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to
the Lord.
And whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by him.
So the purpose of fellowshipping with other believers is to edify one another, to admonish
or in other words to warn each other of their mistakes, and to worship God together with
other believers and to learn.
All of these things are important for our walk and our faith.
We all share the same Holy Spirit which teaches us so that the Bible even says in First John
chapter 2 verse 27, But the anointing which ye have received with him abideth in you.
And ye need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you of all things,
it is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
But the fact of the matter is that all Christians don't read the same things in the Bible.
Different things catch our eye because of the things that we need to work on in our
life or because of the things that we don't understand.
Each person has a different amount of knowledge.
Nobody knows exactly the same things.
Nobody has read the exact same amount of the Bible and knows the exact same things in the
Bible.
People read different places, pay attention to different places, they've heard different
sermons and so on.
Therefore as it teaches in First Corinthians chapter 14, those who come together may each
have a different interpretation or a different doctrine and so on to teach one another.
So fellowship is important for learning the Bible.
And I'll tell you personally, I've learned a lot about the Bible on my own.
That's where I get most of the stuff I do in these videos, just by reading it and studying
it.
But I think my learning process has definitely sped up since I started going to church about
two and a half months ago.
And the reason why is because I see new ways to interpret passages in light of other passages
because we don't know every passage or every verse in the Bible.
The Bible tells us to compare spiritual with spiritual and sometimes the lack of knowledge
of a certain verse is that passages can help us or can limit our understanding of some
other places in the Word of God.
So if we don't know a certain verse or passage which helps us understand another verse or
passage then it's going to be hard to interpret it sometimes.
That's why we need to read the whole Bible, but not everybody knows the exact same verses
and passages.
So I'll just give you an example.
This past week we had a guest speaker at the church that I go to, he was a pastor from
North Carolina and he was giving a sermon on hell and the lake of fire and he preached
out of Luke chapter 16 which talks about the story of Lazarus and the rich man.
And from that sermon I realized that the rich man that's mentioned there, he's not named,
he isn't given a name in the story because he doesn't have his name in God's eyes.
He doesn't have a name because his name was blotted out of the book of life.
While Lazarus, who has escaped hell and is instead in heaven because he has eternal life,
he has a name because he was in the book of life.
So fellowship helps us learn such things.
I probably wouldn't have realized that because I don't really pay attention.
I've never really, I mean I've seen Luke 16 but I haven't really studied it before.
So fellowship helps us learn and helps us grow as Christians to understand things in
the Bible.
And not only that, the Bible teaches that when we assemble together we are also fellowshipping
with God.
It says in 1 John chapter 1 verse 3 to 7, that which we have seen and heard declare
we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the
Father and with his son Jesus Christ.
And these things write we unto you that your joy may be full.
This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light
and in him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the
truth.
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another
and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin.
It says in Matthew chapter 18 verse 20, for where two or three are gathered together in
my name, there am I in the midst of them.
The Bible teaches also that a church or an assembly of believers is the body of Christ.
This says in 1 Corinthians 11 that it calls Christ the head of all men.
And there's a union here with the head and the body as with the union of man and his
wife which the Bible compares to the union of Christ with his church.
That's why the book of Revelation talks about the marriage supper of the lamb.
That's the union of Christ and the church coming together.
It says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 29 to 32, for no man ever he had hated his own
flesh but nourishetheth, nourisheth, and I don't know why I said nourishetheth, but
nourisheth and cheriseth, cheriseth, it's hard to say sheth, sheth words, nourisheth
and cheriseth, even as the Lord the church for we are members of his body, of his flesh
and of his bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife
and they too shall be one flesh.
This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
And then it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 12 to 20, for as the body is one
and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body,
so also is Christ.
For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit, for the body
is not one member but many.
If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore
not of the body?
And if the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore
not of the body?
If the whole body were an eye, where were they hearing?
If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased him?
And if they were all one member, where were the body?
But now are they many members yet but one body?
So we as all individual members of the body, of the church, are not independent but we're
one, we're united and thus we should fellowship together.
So that's the importance of fellowship and the meaning of fellowship in the Bible.
So thank you everybody for watching and goodbye.