Scripture

God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

~1 Corinthians 1:9, LSB

Quote

The Christian is one who has become a sharer in the life of Christ.

~Martyn Lloyd Jones

The Greek word for fellowship is koinōnia and it means to share or to participate with others. As Christians, we all partake of the same divine life. Peter said, For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. We all partake of the same divine nature, that is Christ. All Christians share something in common: the divine nature. It does not matter where you go in this world, wherever you find Christians, you will have immediate fellowship because we share the same life. When I was in Nigeria in 1986 the Muslims were not armed. They had rocks but thank God no guns or bullets. They tried to disrupt our crusade meeting every night but thank God they were unsuccessful. The color of our skin has nothing to do with our loyalties. My driver and interpreter were Christians. I took great comfort in their fellowship. There was a bond between us but not so with the Muslims; we had nothing in common.

The older I get the more important fellowship becomes. I look forward to each service and it is not because I am the preacher, but because I love the fellowship. It is good to be with other partakers of the Divine Life. I look forward to meeting with the preachers this morning. We have a lot in common but the one thing that brings us together is Christ. Thank You Jesus for good fellowship.

Extra

God is good and I thank and praise HIM for a good day. I had sweet liberty in both services and that is a precious gift to a preacher. Someone over heard a conversation in the service at Danville last night. One man had been out of church for awhile taking care of his mother. It was the first time he had heard me preach in two or three years. He said to his neighbor, “He can still preach can’t he.” His neighbor said, “Yes he can but he’s not very smart.” Someone told me about it after the service, and I am still laughing. I think it is hilarious. The truth is: I didn’t preach. I really believe the Holy Spirit filled in for me. If it edifies me, there is a good chance it was the Holy Spirit. Jack’s sermon turn my stomach.

I hope you have a great day and week. By the way, I am giving up college football and not for the reason you think: TOO MANY COMMERCIALS. I just can’t take it any more. I am still an Alabama fan and I will continue to talk college football but I am not watching anymore live. Too much wasted time and time is one thing I don’t have a lot of.

Extra/Extra

Kevin Beal gave me a prayer book: THE VALLEY OF VISION. It is a collection of puritan prayers. I have heard of Puritans all my life but never really understood exactly who they were referring to so I did a little research. Puritanism, a religious reform movement in the late 16th and 17th centuries that sought to “purify” the Church of England of remnants of the  Roman Catholic “popery” that the Puritans claimed had been retained after the religious settlement reached early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Puritans became noted in the 17th century for a spirit of moral and religious earnestness that informed their whole way of life, and they sought through church reform to make their lifestyle the pattern for the whole nation.

Here is a short list of some of the Puritans: Thomas Shepherd,Thomas Watson, Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, Isaac Watts, William Williams, Philip Doddridge, William Romaine, David Brainard, August Toplady, Christmas Evans, William Jay, Henry Law, Charles Spurgeon, John Foxe, William Laud, Jonathan Edwards and John Robinson.