revival generation (part 3)
Posted by PropheticEdge | Labels: Revival | Posted On Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 3:28 PM
Acts 2:42 says, "They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."
In this post, I will address the second part of Acts 2:42: "They devoted themselves to fellowship." When thinking about being in fellowship, it is easy to say, "Yes, I am in fellowship. I go to church every Sunday." This is an easy trap to fall into. Before too long, going to church every Sunday becomes a routine. It is easy to go to church, say hello to a couple of people, listen to a couple of worship songs, sit through a message, and then go home. Before too long, we realize our life has no real substance. This is where the enemy steps in and easily convinces us that "church just isn't my thing anymore."
Why is this trap so easy to fall into? The answer is simple. Just showing up for church every Sunday is not true fellowship. There is so much more to fellowship than that. We are called to be in communion with God and man. Genesis 2 says that it is not good for man to be alone. You cannot have true fellowship when you are alone.
Fellowship can be defined as a partnership or a relationship. Both of these definitions can be broken into two words. The first part of each word, either partner or relation, speaks of more than one person being in community with each other. In the second part of each word, we see ship. A ship is a vessel to go from one point to another. When we join the two parts of these words, what we see is two or more people joined in community moving from one place to another.
Donald Miller says this about fellowship, “One of the things that fellowship does is it shows us that we are addicted to ourselves. Our own space; our own time; our own money. We realize that most of the time our mind is like a radio that’s stuck on one station. On us. In real fellowship
dialogue takes place where we actually take the time to sit down and tune our radio to another person’s station.”
As we "tune our radio to another person’s station,” we not only support each other, but we can also challenge each other. As we challenge each other, we grow. Some outward evidence of being in true fellowship is visible growth and maturity in our mental, emotional, and spiritual life.
Fellowship is not just being together, it is doing together. When Jesus left the apostles, He said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses." He instructed us to not only be together, but to go out and do what He did. As we step out in faith, doing what He did, our community supports us. Signs, wonders, and miracles become the norm while we see the Kingdom of Heaven expand when we step out in faith. As we see in the Psalms, fellowship is an inner unity that is expressed outwardly:
Psalm 133 says, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, coming down upon the edge of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon coming down upon the mountains of Zion; for there the LORD commanded the blessing-- life forever."
In my next post, I will be addressing the next point of Acts 2:42 – the importance of breaking bread with each other.
In this post, I will address the second part of Acts 2:42: "They devoted themselves to fellowship." When thinking about being in fellowship, it is easy to say, "Yes, I am in fellowship. I go to church every Sunday." This is an easy trap to fall into. Before too long, going to church every Sunday becomes a routine. It is easy to go to church, say hello to a couple of people, listen to a couple of worship songs, sit through a message, and then go home. Before too long, we realize our life has no real substance. This is where the enemy steps in and easily convinces us that "church just isn't my thing anymore."
Why is this trap so easy to fall into? The answer is simple. Just showing up for church every Sunday is not true fellowship. There is so much more to fellowship than that. We are called to be in communion with God and man. Genesis 2 says that it is not good for man to be alone. You cannot have true fellowship when you are alone.
Fellowship can be defined as a partnership or a relationship. Both of these definitions can be broken into two words. The first part of each word, either partner or relation, speaks of more than one person being in community with each other. In the second part of each word, we see ship. A ship is a vessel to go from one point to another. When we join the two parts of these words, what we see is two or more people joined in community moving from one place to another.
Donald Miller says this about fellowship, “One of the things that fellowship does is it shows us that we are addicted to ourselves. Our own space; our own time; our own money. We realize that most of the time our mind is like a radio that’s stuck on one station. On us. In real fellowship
dialogue takes place where we actually take the time to sit down and tune our radio to another person’s station.”
As we "tune our radio to another person’s station,” we not only support each other, but we can also challenge each other. As we challenge each other, we grow. Some outward evidence of being in true fellowship is visible growth and maturity in our mental, emotional, and spiritual life.
Fellowship is not just being together, it is doing together. When Jesus left the apostles, He said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses." He instructed us to not only be together, but to go out and do what He did. As we step out in faith, doing what He did, our community supports us. Signs, wonders, and miracles become the norm while we see the Kingdom of Heaven expand when we step out in faith. As we see in the Psalms, fellowship is an inner unity that is expressed outwardly:
Psalm 133 says, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, coming down upon the edge of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon coming down upon the mountains of Zion; for there the LORD commanded the blessing-- life forever."
In my next post, I will be addressing the next point of Acts 2:42 – the importance of breaking bread with each other.
I love being in fellowship. It causes me to go deeper in the things of God, & spurring one another on, encouragement, laughter, tears. I had missed it very much with the dissolution of my last small group, but I love the fellowship that is forming from meeting with the prayer leaders. It's awesome! Thanks!