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Fellowship is two fellows in one ship.  Well not really. These days we'd probably have to say two people in a flotation device. Or some such nonsense. But what makes Christian fellowship any different than a lodge meeting or an American Legion fish fry?  Well, lots of things.  We had this discussion in the teens Sunday school class this morning. I used the words communion as an acrostic for the kids to give their ideas about what fellowship is.  The came up with these thoughts: Have the same heart  Pray together  Have the Same thoughts  Deny one's self for another  Have Humor  Demonstrate Love  Have a Willingness to listen  Just to explain a linguistic thing. These ideas align with the letters for the português word "communion" (fellowship).  I thought this an excellent list of qualities in the explanation of what we have in Christ. We'll be talking more about them next week. Are these a continuing part of your Christian fellow...

If this is Kingdom Living, Do I Want it? Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. In a study of the Sermon on the Mount to this point we might be tempted to say, “I don’t want to be that happy!” If this is Kingdom living then I want to go to Disney World. This place is depressing.  What Jesus describes here seems to highlight all of the ...

  Matthew 10:23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. What was that? Excuse me? Could you please repeat that? The Son of Man will come? But, wait, isn't he You? The title is a hated passive sentence. However, it states the text key thought. Jesus is coming back. Jesus sent his men to preach the kingdom. They were the ones who would be coming back, right? If this is the same account that is related in Luke 10, then they came back  victorious, over the demons at least. Jesus hadn't left. One author states, "This is one of the hardest-to-understand statements of Jesus in Matthew." Talk about bad grammar! However, like he says, we've scratched our theological heads since the first time we heard this text. Or maybe you've never given it a close look. Our understanding is that here, Jesus is talking about this second coming. Or that is what I've ...

  Esau the rejected one. Esau the deceived one. Esau the one hated by God gets a chapter in the book of Genesis. The question is, why? Esau’s story plays a tiny part in Israel’s. He gave away his inheritance for his brother’s bowl of stew. He was the recipient of zero blessings from his dad because of his brother’s bowl of stew. He had a chance to cook his brother’s stew when they met in the land of Seir. But he didn't. Esau is a dark character. He married women whom he knew would displease his parents. He became the nation that the angel told Rebekah he would. His family is described in this often skipped or skimmed chapter of Genesis. Esau loses here too because his chapter comes just before the cool story of Joseph begins in chapter thirty seven. But why does he get a chapter anyway? The account was being recorded by Moses to prepare the Children of Israel for their entry into the Promised Land. There would be many enemies and some distant relatives. They needed to be aware of w...

  Revelation 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. Sounds pretty straightforward doesn't it. I mean, for a fisher guy, how complicated could this authorial effort be? John is the Apostle of love. He uses the word love 53 times in his New Testament works, more than any other author of the Bible. What could he say in 22 chapters that might leave the world a tad scared? Plenty! It's not that the Revelation is complicated linguistically, because his vocabulary isn't really difficult. It's not a long read. An average reader, me for instance, can read it in a little more than an hour. Really. It took me one hour and seven minutes. On several attempts.  Revelation is just different. One of the most important aspects to know about the letter, which Revelation is, a letter to seven churches, is that it is apocalyptic literature. The Apocalipse literal...

Do you remember the Lone Ranger? Near the end of many of the episodes someone would ask that nagging question, "Who was that Masked Man?" To which the answer would be, "That was the Lone Ranger!" In Joshua 5 there is this Mysterious man who meets with Joshua just before the Promised Land entry. He is standing strong with a drawn sword in his hand as Joshua approaches to ask, "Are you sir, for us or for our enemies?" Here you would think that this man would say, "I am for you of course!" However, he doesn't say that. He says simply, "Neither." He goes on and says, "As commander of the LORD's army I have now come." Wait, this "commander" is leading the Lord's army? What army is that? Where else do we see a heavenly army being lead by someone? Oh right, in Revelation. So, this Commander would be Jesus, correct? Correct. So, why was't he for Israel and against the enemy ? Mercy. Grace? Opportunity. Y...

  25 Brothers, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. ( 1 Thess 5:25-28) Ending this short letter to his beloved church in the grand city of Thessalonica Paul give some parting direction.  Pray for us - He knew the power of prayer and had already told the believers that he was praying for them. Now it was their turn to pray for him. He wanted so much to be with them. Maybe God would open that opportunity for a return visit if they but prayed. We never know what God will do until we ask him.  Kiss the brothers! - Some of our teens would love to practice this request. What was Paul really saying? In fact, our Brazilian brothers do kiss on the cheek. It is a common greeting and nothing out of the ordinary. It is a way of expressing a special bond. In this case that bond was even greater because it was in Christ.  Read...