The Marks Of A Healthy Church

Thanks to the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord. He is good and his mercy forever endures. Give thanks to the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord. He is good and his mercy forever endures. Amen and amen. Go ahead and greet each other this morning. He's a God of all of you. If you really think of him, let's lift Jesus up. Let's lift Jesus up and praise him. Let's lift Jesus up and praise him.

Let's lift Jesus up. God so loved the world that he gave his only son. Lift him up. He's the way, the truth, the life. And for you he paid the price. Lift him up. Come on people. Let's lift Jesus up. Let's lift Jesus up. Amen. And praise him. Let's lift Jesus up. And praise him. Let's lift Jesus up. You can praise him. You can love him. Never put a thing above him.

Lift him up. God so loved the world that he gave his only son. Lift him up. He's the way, the truth, the life. And praise him. Let's lift Jesus up. Jesus up. And praise him. Let's lift Jesus up. And praise him. Let's lift Jesus up.

Take your Bibles and turn with me to Acts chapter 2. We're still there. We will finish this chapter. Probably before the Lord comes back, although I wouldn't care if he came and we didn't finish it. Acts chapter 2. There is an urgency here. I pray that you will sense it from me. I feel such an urgency concerning the coming of the Lord. I've been saved for 27 years and I was

drawn to the Lord through Bible prophecy. I read Hal Lindsey's books and everything I could devour on prophecy. I believed at that time that the Lord's coming was soon. I have seen since that time the 73 war in Israel and all the things lining up for these final days. And with what's been happening in these last several weeks, it's just so close. I cannot emphasize that enough.

It is such a time for us to not play church anymore and realize that lives are in the balance and let God use us every second because we only have seconds left. And as we come to the end of chapter 2 in Acts, that's one of the things that I see with these four characters. The characteristics of a healthy church. These four marks of a healthy church that are listed in verses 42 to 47. It's such a sense of urgency there that not only this fellowship displays

those, models those characteristics, but it's imperative that we realize again that we are the church. The church is not a faceless organization called Calvary Chapel or First Methodist or Presbyterian or whatever. The church is the people, the body of Christ, the believers in Jesus Christ. And so when we're looking at this as the marks, of a healthy church, it is concerning a church body as a whole, but also individually, as individual parts of that body. This is what makes for a healthy part. This is what makes for a healthy

walk for us individually as Christians. These four characteristics modeled before us by the first church here in the book of Acts. And so in verse 42, it says that they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and to prayer. And everyone was filled with awe and many wonders and miraculous things. And so in verse 42, it says that they

The signs were done by the apostles. And all the believers were together and had everything in common. And selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And

the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. As you remember from our study last week, this section begins in verse 42 with the statement, They devoted themselves to these things. If you're reading King James, it says they continued steadfastly in these things. And we looked at the definition of that, and it indicated that they gave themselves to these things. They viewed these things as an absolute necessity. These things were

non-negotiables. It was something that they saw that they had to do. They continued steadfastly. Now, unfortunately, the idea of steadfastness is not seen a whole lot today. It's not a characteristic of much of the church today. Many believers, unfortunately, reflect the attitude of the following letter. I didn't receive this. I read this, but I want to relate it to you.

Letter written to a pastor. Dear pastor, you often stress the importance of attendance at worship, but I think a person has a right to miss now and then. I think every person ought to be excused for the following reasons and the number of times indicated. Christmas, once. New Year's, once. July 4th, once. Sleeping late, four times. Vacation, three times. Bad weather, six times.

Ball games, five times. Death in the family, three times. Easter, once. Labor Day, once. Memorial Day, once. Sickness, five times. Business trips, three times. Time changes, twice. Anniversary, once. Last day of school, once. First day of school, once. Family reunions, twice. Death in the family, three times. Unexpected company, four times. TV specials, three times. But you can count on us to

be in church on the fourth Sunday of February and the third Sunday, in August, unless it's leap year, or were otherwise providentially hindered. Signed, faithful member. They gave themselves to these things. They were devoted to these things. They saw them as absolutely necessary in their lives. The first one we saw last week was the apostle's doctrine, the apostle's teaching, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we talked about how daily they

would have gone over the things that they remembered that Jesus had taught them and the things that they remembered about his life. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over. Each one would have shared about those special things that Jesus had spoken of, the special things that they had remembered being with him when he did those particular things. But remember that couch underneath all of that, all of that hinged on the fact of the command that Jesus gave in John chapter 13. This is a new commandment that I give to you, he said, that you

love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. For by this, he said, all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another. So apart from, see, it takes it from just being a time of disseminating facts about the occurrences that they witnessed or heard Jesus say brings it down to the personal, relational part of that. So how does that affect my life? And how

does that affect my life where you're concerned? And that's what they devoted themselves to where the apostle's doctrine was concerned. It was a whole new way of living. It was a whole new way of life. And they devoted themselves to that. They emphasized that. And they devoted themselves to that. They emphasized the love of God and our need to love as he loved. And they immersed themselves in

that. They immersed themselves in God's word that way. And it's necessary for us to be devoted to that. Just as Paul would later warn that unless we are given to that, unless we spend that time with the Lord, we're going to have a tendency to be deceived, to be carried away by every wind of doctrine that comes along. So too we today need to be devoted to that, need to be devoted to the

time in the word of God together as well as individually. Or we too are going to be deceived and carried away by every wind of doctrine, cunning craftiness of men, Paul says in Ephesians. I don't know if you've been seeing, for those of you that watch TV, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the commercials on again. They're powerful commercials, tremendous commercials.

They touch a nerve. It's a tremendous offering. Were it not that they offer a false gospel, it would be awesome. But they're going to draw a lot of people to the church, because they show their care, their concern for the heart of the problem in America today. But it's going to draw a lot of people for the wrong reasons. And they're going to follow a false Jesus. It's not the same Jesus of the Bible that they present. And it's real easy to get drawn

away in these last days. Things are happening so fast. With the computers going as fast as they are, with information being disseminated as fast as it is, you and I can't keep up with everything. And it's so easy to follow the crowd. There is a lethargy, in this country right now, where the concern for this country is concerned. People are just letting somebody else do it and going along. Very few people are involving themselves in the things

that matter. It's just, I'm just going to go on with life as normal. And, you know, laws don't come near me. I don't care about it. But that's when we're easily deceived, easily swayed, and tend to go along with the masses, tend to go along with the group when we don't really understand or give ourselves time to think about what's going on. I received information on a freshman at Eagle Rock Junior High School in Idaho Falls, Idaho, who won first

prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair on April 26th of this year. He was attempting to show how conditioned we have become to the alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear of everything in our environment. Everybody's saying, you know, I've got to save the ozone, save the whales, I've got to save the rainforest and all that stuff, and all these reasons why it's happening. And he, his science project was devoted to how easily, how conditioned we've become to that kind of a thing and just going along with it without really checking it out. In his project, he urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control

or total elimination of the chemical dihydrogen monoxide. He said, for plenty of good reasons, since it can, number one, dihydrogen monoxide can cause excessive sweating and vomiting. Number two, it's a major component in acid rain. Number three, it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state. Number four, accidental inhalation can kill you. Number five, it contributes to erosion. Number six, it decreases effectiveness of automobile

brakes. Number seven, it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients. Now, he asked 50 people if they would support the ban on this chemical, dihydrogen monoxide, based on these seven circumstances, these seven conditions verified that it's involved in. 43 of the people said yes and signed the petition. Six of the 50 were undecided and only one didn't sign it because

he knew that the chemical dihydrogen monoxide can cause excessive sweating and vomiting. Number six, the chemical dihydrogen monoxide is water. H2O, dihydrogen monoxide. And yet it shows how easily people can be led astray. If we're not given over, if we're not devoting ourselves to the study of the Word of God, to the study of the Apostles' Doctrine, you will be deceived. There will be some way that the enemy

can stick his foot in and just put just a little bit of doubt or just turn you just a little bit. It's just, you can't help it. We have to be given over to the study of the Word of God, to the study of the Apostles' Doctrine. They devoted themselves to that. Secondly, in verse 42, it says, and they devoted themselves to the fellowship. The fellowship. What is that? They devoted themselves to fellowship. This is another article I read. It's a true story

from a man named John W. Schlatter. He writes about a gentleman, a boy, a young boy named Mark, who was walking home from school one day when he noticed the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all the books that he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove, and a small tape recorder. Mark came up and knelt down to help the boy pick up the scattered articles.

And since they were going the same way, he offered to help carry part of the burden. As they walked, Mark discovered the boy's name was Bill, and that he loved to play video games, baseball. He loved history, and that he was also having lots of trouble with his other subjects at school, and that he'd just broken up with his girlfriend. They arrived at Bill's home first, and Mark was invited in for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed pleasantly with a few laughs

and some shared small talk, and then Mark went home. These two boys continued to see each other around school. They had lunch together once or twice, and then they both graduated from junior high. They ended up in the same high school where they had brief contacts over the years. Finally, the long-awaited senior year came, and three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if he could meet

with him to talk with him. Bill reminded Mark of the day years ago when they had first met. Did you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day, Bill asked. You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn't want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away some of my mother's sleeping pills, and I was going home to commit suicide. But after we spent some time

together talking and laughing, I realized that if I had killed my mother, I would have killed my myself. I would have missed that time and so many others like that that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up those books that day, you did a lot more than just that. You saved my life. Fellowship. What is it? What does it consist of? Am I doing that? The disciples in the first church,

this model for the church down through history, did that and were devoted to that. They devoted themselves to fellowship. What is it? They devoted themselves to fellowship. What is it? They devoted themselves to fellowship. What is it? Well, as many of you probably already know, the Greek word that's used there is the word koinonia. It's used a lot today, even in secular circles. It's used 19

times in the New Testament. It's translated as fellowship, as it is here, 10 of those times. It's also translated as sharing, participation, and contribution. Thayer's lexicon takes and expands on that and adds that it also means intimacy, joint participation, and community. So these believers devoted themselves to an intimacy, a commonness, a participation with, a community, sharing. Warren

Wiersbe writes in his commentary, quote, the word fellowship here means having in common and probably refers to the sharing of material goods. If you look down at verse 44 for just a second, it expounds on the rest of this. Actually, these first four characteristics are listed in verse 42, and then 43 to 47 just expands those. It shows more how they were operated. In verse 44, it says,

all the believers were together and had everything in common, a oneness, a commonness. We'll talk about that more when we get down to verse 44 someday. It's a commonness, probably a sharing of material goods here. It's a word and a concept that you can't define with just a simple word. I can't just say that koinonia means fellowship. What do you picture? It's hard to picture in your mind. You might picture

a gathering together, and that's okay. They did gather together every day from house to house, but it's more than that. It's more. It's more than just coming in and going out. It's more than just a wave, you know, and a hi, how are you? And then you're off to do your own thing. It's more than just surfacy kind of talk. It's more than just a brief interface, and then we're off to our own personal affairs. It's an

intimacy. I like fairs where it says intimacy, and that means it's a deep personal involvement with one another. It goes below the surface. Now, let me ask you a question. If we are to be given to fellowship, and we're going to be given to fellowship, and we're going to be given to fellowship, and this fellowship is a knowing of each other, a deep personal involvement in the lives of each

other, really knowing one another. And let me ask you a question. How many people do you really know? I mean, really know. And how many people really know you, warts and all? We went out last night to a concert with a couple from the fellowship, and one of the things that really blessed my heart was as we were sharing over dinner, they said, we really enjoy our time with you because we're

just us. You see us as we are. We don't have anything left that's us that you haven't seen, and we feel comfortable that way, and we feel comfortable that way. That's the way we all should feel. You see? That's the way all of us should be experiencing fellowship is that intimacy with one another where I'm not afraid to let you see what I'm really like, and you aren't either.

But how many people do you really know that way? How many people here in this little fellowship in a Midwest community do you really know? That way. This is absolutely necessary for discipleship to take place. Discipleship won't happen unless that happens. Unless that kind of fellowship is going on, there is no discipleship. Discipleship is more than just going over scriptures together. It's more than just

imparting facts of scripture to one another. It's an intimate blending of lives together. In your bulletin on the inside cover, you have the two-part statement of our vision, our emphasis, of our purpose here at Calvary Chapel of Ark City. It's there every week, and I know it's easy to forget. You pass over it. I try to go through at least once a year just to remind us of what it is. We've used two acrostics, the word worshipers and the word

disciples, because we believe from scripture, John chapter 4, that Jesus wants us to be worshipers. That's what God is looking for, John 4, 24 through 27. And so we've broken that word worshipers down into an acrostic that basically says what a worshiper is and does. And then as we are worshipers, we see that he wants us to go. Make disciples. You can't make disciples unless you're a worshiper first. So you're first a

worshiper, and then you go seek to make disciples. And that's also been broken down into an acrostic in your bulletin, that we are daily involved sharing Christ, impacting people's lives, encouraging and serving. So there has to be an intimacy for lives to be impacted. We have to get to know each other for us to pass on the things of God that we want to impact your life with. I don't want to impact your life with me. I'm weak and shallow and empty.

But I want to tell you about Jesus in the midst of my weaknesses that I don't care if you see. Because if I don't, if you see my weaknesses, I don't have anything to hide. I don't have to worry what I came across to you as last week and what I have to come across as this week. This is just me, take it or leave it. But I want to impact your life for Jesus Christ. I want to encourage and

I want to serve you. That's the characteristics of a disciple. That's what a disciple does. That's what we are to make as other disciples who do that. And you can't do it apart from true, genuine koinonia, impacting people. Most people will identify with this. Most people are afraid of other people. We're afraid of developing these relationships. Could be we're afraid because we've been hurt before in other

relationships with other people, in other church fellowships. And so I'll just keep my distance. I love God and I love the word and I love the worship and I'll come and sing and praise God and hear the word. Now I'm going to go home because I don't want to get involved because I don't want to get hurt again because I've been hurt before. Some people are afraid to develop relationships with

others because they develop relationships, good, deep bonded friendships, and that person either moves away or they die. And they don't like going through the heart-wrenching time of losing that relationship and then thinking about trying to build another one with somebody else. It took too much work and too much effort. I don't want to go through that again. So both of those involve

pain. Thirdly, and perhaps probably even more common, is that we don't want people to get to know us because we don't think they'd like us. We don't want people to know us because we don't like the real us. We don't want them to know all of our imperfections, all of the things of our past. I have a wandering eye and if you've known me for very long you'll know that. I had a weak

eye muscle when I was born and back then, I won't tell you when, but back then they surgically attempted to repair lots of those and then they found out later that surgically attempting to do that they over-corrected them and so the eye would go the opposite direction and would probably either not be repairable again or if they did they'd have to do more surgery on it and I didn't want more surgery on it. So I have an eye that wanders. It kind of pulls out. They call it amblyopia. Many people have that today. I have control of it so

I can pull it in and look out of it whenever I want to. There's times I just let it go and look out of the other one and it really helps. I've shared it before when I'm, if I'm in a theater or if I'm at a lecture or something and somebody, you know, people sit in front of you and they sit over here, I just shift to the other eye. I don't have to look way around, you know. The other eye

just takes off and I watch out of there and then they move over here and I just shift back to the other eye. It's really a treat. But when you walk up to people, you know, they're kind of going, and I come up and I go, hi, and they go, you know, like I'm looking at somebody else. And those things really used to bother me and I, and I, so I hated to look at people. I hated to be around

other people because of that weakness. And all of us have weaknesses to some extent. All of us have those things in our lives. Maybe you have something in your life you just don't want people to know. Maybe you're the product of a broken home. Maybe you were an abused child. Maybe you were sexually abused or molested as a child. Maybe you've been raped. Maybe you've battled eating disorders or

you've battled drug or alcoholism. Maybe you've been raped. Maybe you've been raped. Maybe you've had alcohol addiction. Maybe you've been fired from a job and it's embarrassing to tell somebody that you were fired from a job. All of those things are things that we hate to tell people because we don't want people to know the real us because we're afraid that they're not going to

like us. Or we're afraid to get hurt or we're afraid to lose a good relationship. And yet it's in the midst of all of those that God seeks to minister his love and his grace and his mercy. And it's as other people know that you've been through these things and God has brought you through and his grace and mercy have sustained you and you've seen his faithfulness.

And they've lifted you above your affirmity or your affliction or your situation that they grow. And that's what fellowship is all about. That's what intimacy and fellowship is all about. And we have to be given to that. The church, the first church in Acts was given to that. And they modeled that and the world wondered, it says a few verses down, that they were in awe of what was going on.

And it's not so much that they were manifesting certain sign gifts that the world was in awe over. They were in awe that these people were in awe of what was going on. And they were in awe that these people were in awe of what was going on. And they were in awe that these people from all these different areas could get along so well and really, truly loved each other. And it was what Jesus said would be the mark of true discipleship,

this koinonia, this oneness. And so it's these very things that we think are reasons people wouldn't like us that God will use in our lives. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 1, Paul says that we've gone through these things, these pressures, these trials, so that we might be encouraged. And if you've gone through these, that you might be encouraged to encourage others who go through similar trials.

We can relate. Why do you think Jesus was born in a barn? So I want to say, forever my love, forever my heart, forever my life is yours. Forever my love, forever my heart, forever my life is yours. Till the heavens pass away. All your scars will still remain. And forever say, just how much you love me. So I want to say. And let's come into it out of the palace. So yeah, it's just one of those, you know, just one of them.

Over there, the elite. But he was born in a barn. It gave him relational opportunities. He could relate with anybody. He was intellectually, he was God. So he knew everything. He could argue with the best teachers, the most intellectual teachers. But because of his humble beginnings, he could relate to anybody. So God will use those things in our fellowship together. Turn to, you're in Acts

chapter 2. Turn to Philippians chapter 3. That's just a few books to your right. You go through Romans and Corinthians and Galatians and Ephesians and Philippians. Philippians chapter 3. We were in Philippians chapter 3. We were in Philippians chapter 3. We were in Philippians chapter 3. We were in Philippians a few years ago. Philippians chapter 3. Look down and follow along as I begin reading

in verse 7 in Philippians 3. Paul writes, But whatever was to my prophet, I now consider lost for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. Now verse 10. I want to know,

Paul says, I want to know Christ. And I want to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering. We spent a portion of time on this when we went through Philippians before, but I want to refresh your memory where this is concerned. I want to know Christ, he says, and the resurrection, the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings. The word that's used there is koinonian. It's a

derivation of koinonia. And literally he's saying, I want to know the fellowship of fellowshipping in his suffering. He's not saying, I want to know the facts about how Jesus suffered. And although those are amazing, and if you have not heard or really taken time to study the physical sufferings of Christ as he went to the cross, you need to. You need to see those medical studies that have been written on what

happened to his flesh when he endured the 39 lashings, how the meat was torn from his body, left open. He was slowly bleeding to death before he ever went to the cross. You need to read about the crucifixion itself. And from a medical point of view, the body was reacting at that time of the crucifixion. You need to read those things, but those are statistics that communicate an event. What Paul is saying is, not so much,

I want to know those things so I can remember those things. He's saying, I want to know personally, intimately, I want to fellowship with Jesus where he suffered. I want to feel those sufferings. I want to know those sufferings, not just about them. I want to personally experience those sufferings. Now, Paul, is Paul a masochist when he says that? Paul is a masochist.

Paul is a masochist. Paul is a masochist. Paul is a masochist. He's going to crawl down the streets in the Philippines with his knees on Easter, on Good Friday. So he crawls down the way so that his knees are bloody, carrying a cross and literally be nailed to a cross so he can feel that experience. That's not what he's talking about. That was but a moment, a light moment of affliction for Jesus, it says. It was a heavy duty deal, Hebrews tells

us, but for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising his shame. But it was what went on as a result of taking him to the cross that are the sufferings that Paul wants to experience. Now, what took Jesus to the cross was his offering to be a sacrifice for our sins. Now, we know about that. If you've been in church for any length of time, you hear that. But we have such a tendency

to hear, and because we've heard before, click off and it just passes over and we hear it, but it doesn't sink in. What does that mean? That he bore our sins, that he took our sins upon him to go to what does that mean? How did he do that? Second Corinthians 5 tells us that he became sin for us. How did he do that? It's a concept theologians have argued for centuries. They've never figured

it out, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't contemplate it. It doesn't mean we shouldn't think about it. See, it's easy for us, even as Christians, to see Jesus going to the cross and know that he died nebulously for the sins of the world. Ours are in there somewhere, thank God. But it's another thing altogether to think about Jesus when he was going to the cross,

somehow, because he was the God-man. I see him somehow, somehow, you know, they say that, and I don't know how they know this, they say that before you die, your life flashes before your face, you know, you kind of, in a one fell swoop, you kind of zip, and there's your life. Now, how they know that, I mean, I know they've done studies, but how accurate those are, I don't know. I mean, he's dead, okay, now bring him back to life. Now, what did you see before you died?

You know, I don't know. They say that. So, I can see Jesus going to the cross, and somehow before his eyes, each one of us appears personally. Face appears. See, the Bible says that he knew us before the foundations of the earth. It doesn't mean you were some spirit being floating around up there, and God united you with the body, like the Mormons say. That's not what the Bible says. It means that in the mind of God, he knew you,

body, soul, and spirit. He knew you completely before the earth was ever made, and literally, it says that Jesus was crucified from before the foundations of the world, and that's another one that just makes your mind go crazy. How did that happen? I don't understand that either. Other than somehow, God knew us personally before we were ever formed, and when Jesus went to the cross,

he took your sins and put them on Jesus, and my sins and put them on Jesus, and somehow, I think Jesus saw each one of us as he was going to the cross. He knew us intimately and personally on the cross, and he bore us, literally, to the cross. Our weaknesses, our infirmities, our lack, our deformities, all of that, he somehow took with him, put it upon himself, became made that for us to die on the cross. He bore our sins upon himself.

Now, if you think of it that way, and then you read other scriptures that emphasize the bearing of, it makes a lot more sense. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 says, and you know it's the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, 7 says, it starts off a four-part thing of love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and I can rattle those off real quick, and so can you, but it's stopping to think about what that means that really makes the effect. It is the impression, love bears all things. What does that mean? What in the world does that mean?

Well, that whole chapter deals with relationship. If I have not love, well, how do I know I have love? Well, is it just expressed in a feeling? No, it's expressed in a relationship with somebody else, and so love bears all things must mean it bears the things that happen to me in a relationship. It bears what other people have done to hurt me, those hurts that I'm afraid of,

because I don't want to get into another relationship because I've been hurt before. Those areas where I'm afraid that I'll get into a relationship and the person will either die, I don't want to get into that relationship again. The relationship where I don't want people to know who I am because I'm afraid they won't like me for who I really am, and I don't want to be hurt for that. According to 1 Corinthians 13, 7, love bears that. As a matter of fact,

the little verse right before that says, love does not keep a record or an account of wrongs. That's dealing with relationships. What does that mean? It means if there's really love in a relationship, then I'm going to bear with you no matter what you do to me. And isn't that what Jesus does with us? For the believer, Jesus has no more book of your wrongs. He keeps a record of what we do for Christ. That's 1 Corinthians 3. We'll get rewards for that,

what we do now after the cross. But the record of wrongs, your sins have been done away with as far as the east is from the west. Remember, he doesn't have a book of remembrances of those things for you and I. Why do we keep one for each other? Why is it so hard for me to love you? Because I remember. I remember when, by golly, and I know what so-and-so told me. But see, if I'm really going to

fellowship in the sharing of the sufferings of Christ, that page is gone out of my book and I will bear with you. I'll bear all things. That's love. Takes no account, keeps no account when others do it wrong. But not only that, Galatians chapter 6 verse 2 tells us, and you know this, bear one another's burdens. What does that mean? Does that mean I just know about your faults and

promise not to tell them? No, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Anybody else? No. Again, it means I know your faults and weaknesses and areas of sin and I come in beside you and I seek to help you. I bear you up. It's like if I'm walking along with a hobbled leg, I've hurt my leg. Well, love doesn't just come up and say, hurt your leg. How can you be a

pastor with a hurt leg like that? How can you effectively pastor a church with a hurt leg like that? I don't know. How can you call yourself a Christian and your leg is hurting like that? I really don't know. Matter of fact, I'm gonna go over here and talk to this person about that. Do you know his leg's hurting? How can he pastor? How can he be a Christian and his leg's hurting like that? Then you come

over and you talk to some more people and then, boy, you come over to me and you go, we don't like you because your leg's hurting. We don't think you can really pastor because your leg's hurting. That's not love. See, love is you see the leg hurting and you come over and you help them up and you pick them up and they say, well, I've got gangrene in my leg and that's okay. Well, I might have something that's contagious. That's okay. I'm gonna help you.

I'm gonna walk with you. I'm going to bear with you and keep walking with you towards Christ. We'll keep walking towards righteousness. I'm not going to condemn you. I'm going to walk with you because that's what love is. Love bears all things. That's interesting. In verse 2 of Galatians 6, that verse goes on. It says, bear one another's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law

of Christ. What is the law of Christ? Back in the apostles' doctrine, love one another. New commandment, new law, Jesus said, I give unto you that you love one another in the same way that I've loved you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. That's the law. And he says

through Paul here that as we bear one another's burdens that way, we fulfill that law. That can only happen in fellowship. That can only happen when love doesn't take account of things done wrong to it. It just goes in to bear up and hold up. Ephesians 4.2, Paul writes again, be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another in love, holding each

other up. Dawson Trotman was the founder of the Navigators, a real blessing of a brother. You need to read his biography sometime. Back in the 50s, he drowned. He was at a picnic and someone had fallen into the lake or the little lagoon right there and they were drowning. He couldn't swim. He ran and jumped in and held that person up until help could get there to rescue that person. He gave

his life. He couldn't swim. He held them up all he could and they finally got that person and he couldn't hang on anymore. Didn't know how to swim and died holding someone else up. That's koinonia. See, didn't know the person at all. Had no background to judge. Well, let's see. I've done that before and you got yourself into this one, boy. You need to get yourself out of that one. Didn't even think. I

can't swim. That person needed help. Jumped in to hold him up. That's what fellowship is. Doesn't point out the warts. Moses needed help. Had to hold up the rod while Joshua was down there fighting the battle. As he got tired and his arms started dropping, the Israelites started losing the ground. Aaron and Hur came up to support his arms, to hold his arms up. We have no record in

scripture of Aaron going, man, do you stink, Moses? None of that. Just held his arms up. We need to support each other without pointing out the warts. It's amazing how people change without you having to tell them to if you just love them. If you just love them along and support them and walk with them and bear with each other and you move towards Christ together, you don't have to point out the

need to be changed. God does a marvelous work. He did it in the first century church. He'll do it with us if we follow that particular model. And in Philippians 3, Paul says he was determined. He was, it was, again, just like devoted to in Acts chapter 2. It's consumed him. That's what he wanted to know was those things. And I believe personally it's what kept Paul going when he was

going through the roughest times in his ministry. Once in Corinthians, he talks about the fact that we are pressed in on every side and yet not defeated. We're crushed and yet not destroyed. Bearing about in our bodies the death of Christ and the life of Christ may flow through us. Remember? Then in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, where Paul goes through the list of his rights as an apostle, and he does it begrudgingly because these other guys are coming

in saying they're apostles. And he says, I do this. I'm a fool. But here we go. This is my credentials and I've been listed. And he lists them all from the shipwrecks to the stonings, to the beatings, to the floggings. And then he says in verse 28 of 2 Corinthians 11, and besides all this, I face the daily pressure. Of my concern for all the churches. Now Paul went through all that and he had all the churches.

I only, I'm only part of one fellowship and I'd like to die every day. It seems like almost with the things that go on. But Paul knew that that's where the joy was. And as much of a pressure as it was, and as much as he had times when Demas left him, forsaking him for the world, and he found himself alone, still he knew that in the midst of this koinonia between his Lord and the people, that that's where true joy was.

In the midst of that koinonia. For those of you who watch TV, I'm kind of into news programs. When I was growing up, I hated the news. News was a waste of television space, as far as I was concerned. Just interrupted good sitcoms. But I've come to really like the news programs. And last week, ABC had a news special on John Stossel was the host and it was called In Search of True Happiness. Some of you may have seen. And it was interesting

to me because this was all from a secular perspective and yet their conclusions were all biblical, which is exciting. When a secular news person can come to a biblical conclusion, without even seeking the Lord. But they interviewed a number of people. One of the things that they start off with showing was that happiness is not found in possession. And they had about

a half a dozen people that they interviewed that had won lotteries in different states. Anywhere from a million dollars up to multiple millions of dollars. And they were dressed very nicely, of course. And all of them, when they were talking to them, none of them were smiling. They were just all, you know, straight-faced unless somebody said something funny. But

all of them, when they were asked, do you consider your life happier or better? They were more enjoyable since you got this money. All of them said, no, not really. All of them had lost friends. All of them had lost relationships with family. Many of them were divorced as a result of winning the lottery. I mean, they were sitting there decked out. One guy's really

dressed, man, to the nines with a big hat. But none of them said that they were truly happy. And yet you go into anywhere, you go to Dillon's or Country Mart, you go into any one of these places that sells lottery tickets and people are backed up, man, buying them by the, I want to find true happiness, you know. Give me a dozen of them things. But they said that happiness was not, and we know that. The Bible says that. It's not found

in possession. They also interviewed a guy that was in a wheelchair. He was a quadriplegic, a result from a car, automobile accident. He had a little bit more mobility than Johnny Erickson does. He could kind of move his arms a little more. But they interviewed him as a result of his accident. Any bitter feelings? No? Or you feel like life's unfair? No? God

dealt me this. And he didn't actually say he was a Christian, but some of his comments really led to the belief that at least he knew the Lord. He might not be an outspoken Christian, but God dealt me this hand. I'm going to play it. It's good. And they interviewed psychiatrists who saw this and talked to the guy and all that. And they determined that this guy was genuinely happy. And they said a key to it

was his involvement with other people. You see, he was involved in several things, one of which was teaching English as a second language. And he met with this, showed his class that he met with. And you could tell there was a real rapport between them, that they felt like family, that they accepted his injuries because he was able to impart to them the gift of teaching.

He could teach them about English. And he'd hold a pencil in his mouth, and they'd hold the thing up here, and he'd point to wherever he was wanting to understand. And he'd say it and have them repeat it. And there was a real bond that happened between them. And they said the key was that his working with others. He was pouring his life into others. And their conclusion, this is their conclusion, quote, close, supportive relationships make

for true happiness. End quote. Amazing. Koinonia. Fellowship. Close. Personal, supportive relationships make for true happiness. They also went on to say, and this sounds funny. I mean, it sounded funny to the guys when they mentioned it on TV. He said that they found that to be happy, act happy. Remember the song, Long Fall? Not too many years ago. Don't worry, be happy. And they said, if you want to be happy, act

happy. And of course, the commentator said, well, that sounds kind of simplistic, doesn't it? I mean, it sounds kind of superficial. No. And he said that it takes, and you probably know this, it takes fewer facial muscles to smile than it does to frown. If you frown, it exercises more muscles and it hurts. I mean, it's painful to frown. But your face actually likes to smile. And when you smile, you feel refreshed. And so when you, it says,

if you want to be happy, act happy. And you think, well, boy, that's kind of stupid. It's kind of non-biblical. It's kind of non-Christian. No, it isn't. Paul said to rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. He emphasizes it in that section of verses several times. Why? Because, and you go back to the Psalms and you'll see David doing this, if you take

your time to reflect on your hurts and your disappointments and those that have wronged you, those facial muscles will be down and you'll be outcast and set aside and alone and nobody will want to be around you. But if you rejoice, God's in control. God, you got this by the handle. That's fine. You know, I'm with you. Your mercy never fails. You are faithful. I declare your faithfulness. I've seen your faithfulness. I've seen your

faithfulness. I just rejoice in you. If you want to smite me, smite me. If you want to raise me up, raise me up. I'm yours. And you relax in that. You relax and you rejoice and you smile. And it's amazing how true that is. That's koinonia with believers. It's koinonia. When we get together, we may come in, worship leaders, oftentimes when we get together, we pray before fellowship starts. And sometimes they're coming in and we've

been through tough times during the week and they say, pray for me. You know, I've just been through this and I really am bummed this morning. You pray. And then we come in together and we just begin to lift up the name of the Lord. We just begin to praise God. And it's amazing how God lifts us above that praise. If you're not spending time praising God and you're devoting your energies to all the things that

bum you out, you're going to be a miserable individual. If you just spend your time praising the Lord, knowing God's in control, God's going to work these situations out. And it fits with what they found out from this news program. Finally, they said, Stossel's conclusion was that the relational aspect is where happiness is. Do positive things to help others. Do

positive things to help others. Do good to others. Is that biblical? Absolutely. Love your enemies. Bless those that curse you. Do good unto them who despitefully use you and persecute you, Jesus said. Sermon on the Mount. So those that I'm not going to bear any record of wrong, well, how do I, how do I forget the fact that they hurt me? Well, I'll tell you what, if you start actively blessing them, if you start actively praying

for them, if you start actively doing good unto them, it's amazing what God does with your attitude. He breaks down that wall. All of a sudden there's a bond that begins to form between you and that detestable creature that hurt you so bad. And all of a sudden you begin to share in the sufferings of Jesus because we were all those detestable creatures that hurt him so bad. And that's the fellowship of his suffering. That's the koinonia of that

fellowship with his suffering. And God has provided us as believers with a tremendous opportunity to do that. And he calls it his church. Reading NIV, it says in verse 42, and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship. Definite article is not in the King James. Definite article is not in the Greek, but it's implied by the sentence structure of the Greek. It's a specific

doctrine. It's a specific fellowship. This is the fellowship, the fellowship. They devoted themselves to the koinonia among themselves as believers. And that's what attracted the world. That's what was so attractive to people. Through them, so that the gospel could be shared. One final statistic that they shared was that right now, 34% of the American people live alone. 34% of the American people live

alone. That means a third of the people in this room, for all intents and purposes, could be living by themselves. You're single, single parent maybe. But for the most part, you live alone. By 2010, which I don't think we're going to be here that long, but by 2010, we're going to be 50%. Actually, over 50% of our society will be alone, will be single. Many within the church, many within the body of Christ feel alone. They are alone right now

because to them, their faith is a personal thing. Between me and God, not according to the model here in Acts chapter 2. In Acts chapter 2, it says they devoted themselves to this koinonia, this intimacy with one another. And as we close, let me leave you with Hebrews 10, 25. Hebrews was written towards the end of the first century, towards the end of this century

of the first birth of the church. We don't know who wrote it for sure. There's speculation that it was the apostle Paul or Apollos or somebody else. I personally lean towards Paul. I like this. I see Paul in this. The Jews would have nothing to do with him. He tried to tell him when they arrested him. He said, wait a minute, you know, let me talk to him again. He tried talking to him again and telling him that God anointed him and called him to

be the apostle to the Gentiles. As soon as he said that, they went nuts and threw dirt in the air and tore their clothes and wooden earring. And so I see Paul is writing this anonymously. And just sending it, it doesn't have any authorship given to it. And I see him writing it and sending it to the church as one of those letters that people will read before

they figure out who it is and he'll get them. You know, they'll read it all and he'll get to say what he wanted to say that they wouldn't let him say before. He'll get to say it. And whether he takes credit for it or not, at least he gets to get his word into it, at least to share the gospel with. But in Hebrews chapter 10, he says, whoever the author is writes, and in verse 25, he says,

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing. But let us encourage one another. And all the more as you see the day approaching. Now, I know you've heard that verse if you've been in the church for very long. And I know you probably memorized it, most of you or some of you have anyhow. Don't worry if we ever stop to think about what it says. Break

it down. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing. Why did he write that? What evidently was going on towards the end of the first century when he writes this? Evidently people were giving up meeting together. He wouldn't have said that. Now, why did they do that? Why do you suppose they were giving up meeting together? Do you suppose it was because they were giving up meeting together? Why do you suppose they

were giving up meeting together? Why do you suppose they were giving up meeting together? Because there was some division in the church. Do you suppose it was because people were getting hurt? You read 1 Corinthians. There were factions in the church. There were some were of Peter and some were of Paul. And we're of this and we're of that. There were divisions

in the church. Paul writes to one brother and he says, Hey, between Euodia and Syntyche, get them back together. These two women have conflict with each other. Bring them back together. Help them forget all the stuff that caused the conflict and just love each other. Was there conflict in the church? Absolutely. Same as there is today. That's the number one reason people leave the church. That's the number one reason people drop out of the

church. That's the number one reason people drop out of the church. Don't like them hypocrites in the church. What does that mean to you? Well, somewhere in their life, they had some kind of run in with somebody in some church somewhere. Didn't like the way something went down and they left. Rather than purposing to stay there, not to change the system, but

to love the individual in the name of Christ. Just shower them with love and bless. And as we melt under that love, God forms us the way he wants us to be. And so you've got a church today that's scattered and splintered because of faction in the church. And yet the writer to the Hebrews says, let's not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. But he goes on to say, but let us encourage one another.

Encourage one another for what? To what? You can go back and find Paul saying that. Encourage one another to love and good works. Encourage one another in the gospel. Encourage one another in the blessing of the Lord. Encourage one another in the faithfulness of God. Encourage one another in the love of God. And all the more, he says, as you see the day approaching.

Now, there is a definite article, the, there, and in any translation, day. It's capitalized. The day is speaking of a specific day. And it's referring specifically to the day of the Lord, the coming again of Jesus. And as he comes, that seven-year period of