The Fellowship Of The King Series

The Fellowship Of The King

OKAY – welcome to week 2 of our series, ‘One Another, Doing Church Together…’ (someone say, ‘together)

UNDERSTAND MGCC

IN - Matthew chapter 16 Jesus made a very bold prediction…

On this rock

(on this truth that I am, the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God… on Me, on who I AM…

I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. – Matthew 16:18

REMEMBER… Church = Ekkelesia = Called out ones

AND THEREFORE - Church has nothing to do with geography, a place or a building and everything to do with a people.

UNDERSTAND…

Jesus did not predict a place, He predicted a people.

JESUS SAYS - “I am going to build my people, He says that there is going to be a Jesus gathering, an ekkeleisa…

AND -nothing is going to be able to stop it. HIS death won’t be able to stop it, THEIR guys death is not going to be able stop it… not even the gates of hades will be able to stop it…”

AND – this Jesus Gathering grow, it will flourish, it will expand, and it will keep pressing forward to every corner of the world. AND HEY B/S – here we are 2000 years later, right?

A fulfillment of that bold prediction Jesus made on the road to Caesarea Philippi…

YES - Jesus made a bold prediction… and on the night of His arrest He prayed a very desperate prayer.

• For Himself

• For His guys

• AND THEN – for us who are sitting in this room 2000 years later in C’ville Virginia….

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

I have given them the glory that you gave me (The Holy Spirit)

I have given them the Holy Spirit…

that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.

Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. – John 17:20-23

QUESTION – what did Jesus pray for us? For me? For you? For the person to your right and left?

That we would be ONE.

That we would be brought to complete unity.

QUESTION…

WHY – mere moments before His arrest and hours before His death and crucifixion would Jesus pray only for that?

I MEAN – He didn’t pray that we would…

• Build great buildings

• Preach great messages

• Have great worship

• Do great things

INSTEAD – Jesus simply desperately prayed that we would be one and brought to complete unity.

BECAUSE - Jesus knows that the entire deal… that the spread of the Gospel and the redemption of mankind depends on us His followers being ONE.

GET IT?

AND LISTEN…

SINCE - the entire deal hinges on this when you look in the NT you find that…

The primary activity of the early church was to one another, one another…

WAS – to focus on: behaviors, actions, attitudes and lifestyles that would demonstrate to a watching world the beauty and power of being part of the family of God.

YEAH – the words that Jesus spoke to His guys in the upper room that Thursday night obviously penetrated deep into their heart and soul.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13:34-35

Someone say… “just as” “by this”

AND LISTEN – one sure way to ‘flesh out’ this command in our everyday lives,

IS – by obeying, by embracing, by living out…

THE – various ‘One Another’ teachings we find throughout the New Testament.

Get it?

AND MG – when we do this…

NOT ONLY - will we create an appealing and compelling Jesus gathering, BUT – our individual lives will begin to look more and more like the life Jesus lived, when He wore flesh and walked on this planet.

AND UNDERSTAND – as I said last week… the reason why the early church exploded with growth and was such an effective witness for Jesus…

IS BECAUSE - they had this Love GOD and Love one another thing down.

I MEAN EVEN…

The Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was a pagan ruler, and who had nothing to do with Jesus, said of the church: