Paul's Practice of Fellowship
Fellowship • Sermon • Submitted
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· 4 viewsA brief message that explores the components of Fellowship that Paul exhibited in his own ministry.
Notes
Transcript
Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.
For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Pre-Sermon Ice Breaker
Pre-Sermon Ice Breaker
Three aspiring Psychiatrist were in college taking a course, William, Julie and Bubba. The professor asked each of them a question related to the contrast in emotion. He began with William - “William, what is the opposite of Sadness?” William thought for a moment and replied, “Happiness.”
“Julie,” the professor asked, “What is the opposite of Depression? She contemplated her answer and said, “Joy!”
Finally the professor comes to Bubba. “Bubba, what is the opposite of Woe?” Bubba was quite surprised. He eagerly replied. “Giddy-up”
Introduction
Introduction
Words mean different things to different people. The word fellowship is just such a word. Think about these statements...
“How about coming over to the house after church for some fellowship”
“What a great game night, boy did we have some great fellowship.”
“The fellowship at the retreat was just terrific!”
True Christian fellowship is really much deeper than sharing Coffee and pie. It is possible to be close to people physically and miles away from them spiritually.
Paul was in Rome, his friends were a great distance away in Philippi. In our text today we see that fellowship involves our heart, our mind and our prayers. Let’s look at them together.
I. I have you in my Mind - vs. 3-6
I. I have you in my Mind - vs. 3-6
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Paul says to his Philippian friends, “I thank God upon every remembrance of you.” What he is really saying is He is thinking about them. Do you think of your brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the week or are they only on your mind on Sunday?
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
Memory is a work of God, it is not something that you just do on your own. I would challenge you to search the scripture and see what all it has to say about remembering.
II. I have you in my Heart - vs. 7-8
II. I have you in my Heart - vs. 7-8
Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.
For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
Paul not only held believers in his mind, but he held them in his heart
Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.
Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Fellowship is an act of the heart a product of the love that comes from God.
III. I have you in my Prayers - vs 9-11
III. I have you in my Prayers - vs 9-11
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
Conclusion
Conclusion
Notice the progression that takes place.
Mind - Heart - Prayers
When we think about people then we begin to care about people.
If we care about people, we begin to pray about people.
If we pray about people. Prayer changes things. He begins by changing us and we will begin to serve and do things for people. This is the essence of fellowship and Christianity.
Are you in Fellowship today?