Video Transcript: Fellowship Ministry

Henry - Welcome back, Henry and Pam Reyenga, here with you as we're doing  a mini course on fellowship and hospitality. So today we're going to talk  specifically about fellowship, now the very end of last session, we talked about  the Greek world of fellowship with you find commonality around common  sources, and that's how often friendship, you hang around with people, you feel  that sweet fellowship. Or you often feel that in family too. So there is a family  fellowship. But in this particular course, we're focusing mostly on the fellowship  of believers, fellowship of believers or fellowship of others, that type of thing. So, so today, we're going to get right into it here. And notice that it's a fellowship,  where partners in Christ share a spiritual friendship. So Luke 5:10.  

Pam - And so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.  Then Jesus said to Simon, don't be afraid from now on you will catch men.  

Henry - Wow. So yeah, But here's the kind of a beautiful story of the calling of  the early disciples. And the first of all, it talks about how they in the Greek word  there they were Koinonia fellowshipers, were fishing. Right. Okay. It's actually  use the word partner, but the Greek word there is the word fellowship, Koinonia.  Okay. Okay. So then there's that partners in fishing. Now you become partners,  fellowshipers. So in some ways, I think that's a beautiful way to start the biblical  teaching that fellowship is partnership, in some sense of partners, but then it's in Christ, what does that mean to you? In Christ? You think about fellowship in  Christ. Well, how does that change things for fellowship?  

Pam - It changes everything I mean, deeper there's, you know, in Christ, we, we  know what that it's a walk with God. It's knowing that Jesus Christ is your Lord  and Savior, the Holy Spirit is in you. If you have that fellowship with other people in that same  

Henry - way, but even the people you do not know, first of all, you get to know  them through your hospitality a little bit, you get to know them just a little bit, if  they are in Christ, a new creation, like you are, it's a game changer, and you're  

already partners, with somebody you hardly know. And in this case, in Christ,  your partners in fishing for humans, that they might know Christ, too. So  theologically, that's the first foundational piece about fellowship, it's a  partnership, sort of closeness. So secondly, all right,  

Pam - a partnering in relational identity with theological teachings.  

Henry - I Corinthians 1:8-9, he will keep you strong to the end. So you will be  blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, God called you into fellowship  Koinonia with his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord is faithful. So partnering, fellowship

and the Gospel. And we also see that in I Corinthians 9:23, in Philippians 1:5,  that one's if we have any fellowship in Christ, and then we also see at the  sharing of faith in Philemon 6. So this concept of a partnering in relationful  identity with theological teachings, that that's something that is very interesting  to me. And why would something like that strike you, Pam, As significant is a  partnering and relational identity. What strikes you about that?  

Pam - It kind of already mentioned it earlier, just the whole idea that we do have that in Christ, that walk with God, it's the fellowship with God already. Father,  Son, and Holy Spirit,  

Henry - right. That's it. So before we talk about how we feel the fellowship, but  you actually took it one step further, we actually have with that's cool. You know,  like, if I go to South Africa, and I know there's another Christian, just because  they're a Christian, I already feel close to them. But this takes that one further.  It's not just I feel close because we are all called Christians. We are connected  to God together. So our fellowship is with the God of the universe. That is pretty  incredible. So it's also  

Pam - partners in Christ with the Lord's Supper that way, a partnering with  Christ and communion, the Lord's Supper. His death is your death, and his  payment for sin as your payment for sin. 

Henry - I Corinthians 10:15-17, I speak to sensible people judge for yourselves  what I say, is not a cup of Thanksgivings, for which we give thanks of  participation . That's Koinoniai n the blood of Christ.  

Pam - and is not the bread that we've raised a participation in Koinonia the  body of Christ. Because there is one loafwe who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.  

Henry - You know, when we think about community, we often think about a  comemberance, a remembrance of what Jesus Christ did on the cross to save  us from our sins. We think about it as a meal, celebrating the victory over sin  through the blood of Jesus Christ. But the Apostle Paul expands it to really the  second point, we mentioned, the last point starting the first point now is going  deeper and deeper and deeper. So it's like we're at God's house with him. He's  having dinner with us. And we're in his fellowship, and eating bread at his  fellowship dinner, because the many are one loaf. We who are many are one,  just like there's one loaf. Just theologically, God, agreement. It's so fascinating. 

Pam - It really is a beautiful image. Members in Christ in the complete story,  fellowship, partnership sharing with his complete work, living, dying, inheriting  and reigning with Christ.  

Henry - Philippians 3:8-11, sorry.  

Pam - What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing  greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I'd 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 to  faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.  

Henry - I want to know Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and the  Koinonia, the fellowship of sharing in his suffering, redundancy, sharing,  partnership, sharing, I'm sharing, fellowship of sharing in the suffering, becoming like him, in his death and so somehow to attain to the resurrection of the dead.  And we were going deeper and deeper. It's, it starts out with, you know, we  identify with other Christians. So that's a commonality for then goes deeper. And then we have fellowship with God, Himself in Jesus Christ to go deeper, and  then God Himself invites us to his home that's the Lord's supper we're now he  has his body and blood, our nourishment and we're in his fellowship. And now  the entire life of Christ is ours. Yeah. Right. All the way from living, dying,  inheriting and living with Christ. So when the Apostle Paul gets into this, we  have fellowship is the core to the church. Yeah, it really is. In so to be in ministry  to be an active Christian, or whatever part of ministry you're interested in  fellowship is key. Then,  

Pam - on top of all that, partners in Christ in the Holy Spirit, partnership and  sharing with the Holy Spirit  

Henry - in II Corinthians 13:14, May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the  love of God and the Koinonia of the Holy Spirit be with you all. You know, I find  that so fascinating that here we have the life, the work, the death, the  resurrection, the ministry of Christ is ours. And then when the apostle Paul, even ends the II Corinthians epistle, he makes sure he adds the fellowship, the  partnership of the Spirit. And I know that when the book of Acts are often called  called the Book of Holy Spirit, where we see the Spirit poured out at Pentecost.  And now, we also know in John 14, that we read how Jesus comforts his  disciples, and He talks about there's gonna be a another comforter, read that  passage.  

Pam - I'm sorry, I can't read it so quick. 

Henry - Okay, this verse fifteen,  

Pam - if you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father,  and He will give you another Counselor to be with you for ever, the Spirit of  Truth.  

Henry - Okay, so you can read all of John 14. Partnership, this fellowship is so  comprehensive, it's everything. And it all comes to the Apostle Paul knew that  foundationaly believers have this. And then we read that ultimately, its  

Pam - partners in Christ who share a spiritual friendship, right back to that  friendship right now where we're partnering with others or growing with  

Henry - others like us. We partner with you. You partner with us, we all are  grounded in the Word of God, we're grounded in the Holy Spirit and grounded in the fellowship with Christ, and look at Philemon  

Pam - Philemon 17-19. So if you consider me a partner, Koinonia, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has done you any wrong, or owes you  anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand, I will pay it  back not to mention that you owe me your very self.  

Henry - I mean, this is a serious issue with a runaway slave in those days. And  but notice, I love when you read that passage, because you just see, like, you  know, we're all in this and we're, in it to win it comes to fellowship with other  believers. In Christ, we are in it to win it. And we're going to talk about that  difficult issues, even, it's not going to just be some phony baloney fellowship,  that everybody has to agree on everything. We are all part of a higher cause and a higher purpose. You know, before we go, before we finish, and go on to  another subject here, there's one more principle in the Bible that we have to talk  about when it comes to fellowship. And that's this one.  

Pam - partner fellowship partners with believers in need.  

Henry - So we do read in Romans 12:13, the very passage we started the with  is,  

Pam - share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. That first,  part is what we're focusing on  

Henry – so our fellowship, you see that in the book of Acts, when they when 

they had fellowship in the early church, that with those with less that was not an  obstacle, and those who receive more, would share with those with less. And  this touches me in you know, greatly when it comes to Christian Leaders  Institiute, you know, people I get asked every week by more than one people  and it feels like and sometimes a lot more than that, is why have you made  ministry training, tuition free? And you know, what, the whole point and why do  people? Why do we ask for a vision partners, from those who have a little to  share little or those with more to share to keep it free? The end of the day, is  because about the fellowship? Maybe we can't solve every problem of some of  the troubles in life. But what we can do our best to do is to include in the  fellowship, those who don't have money for tuition, all the other stuff like that.  Everyone has an opportunity.  

Pam - Why wouldn't you offer it free? 

Henry - With that, I think we'll close today's session with these words, hospitality is deep and core to relationship with hospitality is relationship with God,  relationship with others relationship with those in need, that together, we might  proclaim the gospel and the kingdom of God is built. In doing this research, I  was impressed at how deep it really is. But it changed everything.