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  THE TRUE MEANING OF FELLOWSHIP
  by Zac Poonen
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Summary: The true meaning of fellowship is a divine relationship with
God, where we give up our old boyfriends (worldly attitudes) and are
entirely God's.

Duration: 1:09:02 Topics: "Church Fellowship", "Body Of Christ"
Scripture References: 1 Corinthians 3:3

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of true fellowship with God and
with one another, highlighting the need to move beyond mere names and
titles to experience genuine fellowship. It discusses the significance
of honesty, integrity, and commitment in building a church that reflects
the body of Christ. The breaking of bread is explained as a symbolic act
of proclaiming the Lord's death, signifying a fellowship in the body and
blood of Jesus Christ and a unity within the body of believers.

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CONTENT
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In 1980 and 81, we were building our first building on Wheeler Road
extension in Dacosta Square and those days we were known as Christian
Fellowship Center and we had the name on the front and while I was
watching that construction, somebody who lived in that area said, what
is this building for? I said, see the name there, it's for Christians
and it is for them to have fellowship and this is a center where they
come together for that. Now the question I've had through the years is,
is that only a name, Christian Fellowship Church or do all of you who
want to be a part of CFC forgotten what the F in CFC stands for? It's
fellowship. In the world they talk about evil as an F word.

For us it is fellowship and if you don't have fellowship it's an empty
word to say I belong to CFC. You know if you read through the whole Old
Testament, the word fellowship never comes even once in terms of
fellowship with God, not even once because there was no fellowship
possible in the Old Testament. Friendship yes, you read about friends.

In Proverbs you read about a friend that sticks closer than a brother.
Friendship is a worldly thing. There are many worldly people who are
friends.

Jonathan and David were such good friends but fellowship is an
altogether different thing. Jonathan was even willing to give up his
position as king and never wanted to harm David. It's amazing.

Jesus said there's no greater love that a man can have than he lay down
his life for his friends. People are willing to lay down their lives for
their friends and in the military particularly, in many cases of people
who have risked their life to save others it's a tremendous sacrifice
for friendship. But fellowship is an altogether different level.

Friendship is a human thing. Fellowship is divine, it's godly and in the
Old Testament they could not rise to the level of a godly life and that
is why in our church from the beginning we have emphasized the New
Covenant. The Old Covenant was established by Moses with Israel and
Jesus when he died and rose again established a new covenant which was
sealed on the day of Pentecost with the sealing of the Holy Spirit and
there are many many aspects of this new covenant.

It's a new agreement that God has made with man and we have spoken about
it so many times in this church. It's not enough to know about it
intellectually but we must know about it and experience in our life. For
example, one of the most prominent things that we have spoken about in
relation to the New Covenant is the ability God gives us to overcome sin
in our life and we have spoken so much about that in these last 42
years.

In the Old Covenant they only had forgiveness of sins. I want to make
this so clear for many here are new and you haven't heard these things
in other churches. They had forgiveness of sins.

Psalm 103 verse 3 says bless the Lord who forgives all your sins. David
said that 1,000 years before Christ. He was looking forward to the
coming of Christ but he could not say bless the Lord who saves me from
my sin.

No, he couldn't be saved from even adultery and murdering Bathsheba's
poor husband. He couldn't be saved but he repented and he was forgiven.
You read Psalm 51 what a tremendous prayer of repentance it was.

Bless the Lord who forgives all your sins but he can't save you from
your sin. But in the New Covenant the very first promise as soon as you
open Matthew's Gospel is chapter 1 verse 21. You shall call his name
Jesus because he won't forgive people's sins.

He will save them from their sins. There's a lot of difference between
being forgiven of your anger and being saved from your anger. A lot of
difference being forgiven of your lustful thinking and saved from your
lustful thinking.

You know the difference. Many people live in this endless cycle of
repentance, forgiveness, repentance, forgiveness. Repentance is an Old
Testament message.

All the prophets preached repentance and the greatest prophet John the
Baptist of the Old Covenant preached repentance and forgiveness is an
Old Covenant message. But salvation is not an Old Covenant message. The
Old Covenant they were only saved from their enemies, from their
Moabites and the Egyptians and the Syrians who attacked them.

They were not saved from sin. But in the New Covenant we don't have
earthly enemies. We only have spiritual enemies in the devil in the
flesh, the lust of the flesh.

And salvation is from sin. If Jesus only forgives us, he's not our
Savior. He's our forgiver.

When he saves us we can call him our Savior. And we are saved from sin
and finally saved from hell and separation from God. So that's one
aspect of the New Covenant message.

The other is as we read in Hebrews 8 that the under the law people tried
and tried to keep God's commandments. The Old Testament law and the Ten
Commandments was thou shalt, thou shalt not, thou shalt, thou shalt not
or in modern English you shall, you shall not. You shall not take the
Lord's name in vain.

You shall not worship idols. You shall keep the Sabbath day holy. You
shall honor your father and mother.

You shall not commit murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall
not bear false witness.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife etc. But in the New Covenant in
Hebrews 11 Hebrews chapter 8 verse 11 is God says I will write your law,
my law in your heart. I will put it in your mind.

I will forgive your sin and I will not remember it anymore. And I will
be a father to you and you will be my sons and daughters. It is God
doing it.

In the Old Covenant it was man's response. You shall, you shall, you
shall and they tried for 1,500 years under the law and everyone failed.
Why did God give the law? To teach man.

You can never in your entire life come up to my standard by your
struggle. The amazing thing is people haven't learned it even today. So
the Lord poured out the Holy Spirit on all those 120 people in the first
church.

That was the first church 120 people praying and they had been they had
spent their life struggling, struggling, struggling and they failed. And
then they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they suddenly found they
had a power to do this. It's the difference between pushing a car and
getting inside and driving the car.

It's a lot of difference. It's another picture of the Old and New
Covenant. Old Covenant is push, push, push the car and sometimes with
the brakes on it's quite a job.

But getting inside and driving the car it's some other power that's
moving you from one place to another. These are pictures but they are
very accurate pictures of life without the Holy Spirit's power and with
the Holy Spirit's power. And I know in my own life I was born again 58
years ago but for the first 16 years I did not know how to overcome sin.

I knew how to be forgiven. I did not know how to overcome
discouragement. I did not know fellowship.

I had friendship. I never knew fellowship. So I may have spoken and sung
about fellowship but I didn't know anything about it until God filled me
with the Holy Spirit.

Just like on the day of Pentecost. He's just the same today. The God who
lived in the time of Peter, James, John and Paul.

It's just the same today. And what he did for them he'll do for us and
the amazing thing is the Bible teaches that what God the Father did for
Jesus he will do for us because of that wonderful promise in John 17 23
that he loves us as much as he loves Jesus if we are his disciples. You
can't claim that promise and say Lord do everything for me that you did
for Jesus if you are not wholehearted like Jesus was.

There's a condition. Jesus said in John 17 10 all that I have father is
yours and so all that you have is mine. Remember that.

All that I have is yours father and so all that you have is mine. Then
it goes to verse 23 the father loves us as he loved Jesus. Many people
have tried to claim that promise and it doesn't seem to work.

They get worried in terms of difficulty even though the father cares for
us as he cared for Jesus. It's because they have not gone through John
17 10. They haven't said to the Lord all that I have is yours and so all
that you have is mine.

It's a wonderful exchange. I've often used the example of a beggar woman
sitting with her tin can. An ugly beggar woman sitting with a tin can
with probably one rupee or two rupees coins inside it.

That's a picture of me as a sinner and then this handsome rich prince
comes driving by in the Mercedes Benz and gets out and says I'd like to
marry you to this ugly beggar woman. That's Jesus Christ coming and
inviting me to be married to him but I have there's a condition. I'll
give you all my millions of rupees but you got to give me everything you
have too and this beggar woman looks at her two rupees inside her tin
can and says I want to pray about it.

Can you imagine anything more stupid? That is exactly like many
Christians who hesitate to give their all to the Lord. Exactly. I cannot
think of a more perfect picture.

They keep praying should I give everything to the Lord or not? Should I
say Lord you plan my future. I give up my ambitions. I'll give up.

What is your two rupees? Your ambitions for the future? Your plans for
the future? All the things you can do for the Lord? You think you can do
for the Lord? Two rupees. The Lord is willing to give you his billions
and saying to the beggar woman let's have a joint account. I'll put my
billions and you put your two rupees then you can draw as much as you
want.

I can draw as much as you want. Say I want to pray about it. I want to
see if there's any I'm being cheated in this process.

I want to tell you every one of you sitting here this if that is your
attitude that is the main reason why you grumble, why you complain, why
you cannot give thanks in everything, why you do not rejoice always, why
you are anxious and why you cannot overcome sin and why you are not
filled with the Holy Spirit or you don't have or you may be once you
were filled with the Spirit but you're continuously filled with the
Spirit and that's the reason for all the tension in your home and I
would even say that's the reason for your perpetual being perpetually in
debt and for all your unusual financial struggles. It's one thing you
have not said to the Lord all that I have is yours. John 17 10 and so
the Lord has not said to you all that I have is yours.

You give 10% to God, God says I'll give you 10% too. You may not even
get 10%. I don't want 10% from God I'll tell you.

I don't want a marriage where my wife is 10% mine and 90% somebody
else's and Jesus does not want a marriage where you are 10% his and 90%
your own ambitions in the world and so many other things and so I want
to say to you my dear brothers and sisters I'm trying to show you not
the highest form of Christian life no no no no the only form of
Christian life there is no highest Christian life which you can choose
if you want and there's another option to choose a second class like in
a train you don't go first class you go to second class no there's no
such thing in the Christian life there is only one and that is not God's
highest that is God's normal the normal Christian life is where a
Christian comes to the Lord and says Lord all that I have is yours that
is the normal marriage you

think that's very demanding supposing before a marriage this bridegroom
asked the bride I want to know one thing are you going to be hundred
percent mine or I know you have had boyfriends in the past you know all
of us spiritually speaking we didn't follow Jesus in the past life that
is we had old boyfriends that is our worldly attitudes were our
boyfriends our love of money was a boyfriend our craze after sex was a
boyfriend and all the other things in our life for all our boyfriends
our anger and our bitterness and the Lord says I know you had boyfriends
in the past are you willing to give up all of that and be entirely mine
every day of the year 24 hours a day seven days a week are you going to
be mine and if that wife says well I want to think about it so let's
postpone the marriage

till you decide being born again is being married to Christ and exactly
the same demand you expect from your wife or you sisters expect from
your husband the Lord is not expecting anything more less or more than
that from you would you like your wife to go fool around with some other
man one day in a year or one hour in a year the Lord also doesn't want
us to fool around with sin even for one hour in a year oh you see that's
a very high standard well then you're making a very high standard for
your husband and your wife why don't you allow her to go fool around
with one man for one woman for one day one hour in a year it's not too
much is it you see we expect so much from the Bible says Christ is the
head of man and man is the head of the wife but you expect total
devotion from your wife

the Christ expects total devotion from you see that is human nature is
such I want others to do their part to me I don't want to do my part to
Christ now the reason I'm saying that is I believe that many of you have
a very unsatisfactory Christian experience if you're honest you have to
admit you don't have a type of Christian experience that the New
Testament speaks about always in triumph and free from anxiety and
rejoicing and being able to love those who hate you and bless those who
curse you and forgive everybody and never murmur or complain most of you
don't have that and the reason is you have not said to the Lord all that
I have is yours your life will be completely changed and you'll suddenly
rise up to a far higher level and your struggle with sin also will
become very much less

I'm not saying there won't be a struggle with sin Jesus prayed with loud
crying and tears but he was like in the PhD class struggling with a
subject whereas most of us are in the kindergarten struggling with
mathematics and altogether different level there is a struggle with
mathematics at every stage you struggle with maths in the first standard
second standard and all the way to PhD as well and beyond so Jesus also
struggled with sin but he wasn't struggling all the time with anger and
sexual lust no no don't misunderstand it you get past it you get past it
till those things don't pull you anymore you can come to a life where
you never get offended you never get angry you never lust after women
you may what a life that is and little by little you it's like saying
you go from second

standard to third standard you have learned addition but the
kindergarten student says oh boy addition is so tough but how is it is
not tough for you it's exactly what some people say oh brother
overcoming anger is so tough but there are people who can say it's not
not for me it's over it's because the person who pursues you know
education with a passion learns these things the casual person who goes
to school just for fun does not learn addition even after many years so
if we really seek God wholeheartedly you can come to a very satisfying
Christian life and a very satisfying Christian marriage and in that
atmosphere you can bring up your children in a really godly way and you
can be a very effective useful member of this church even if you don't
know how to preach one sentence preaching

is not the main thing in this church that is a gift God has given to a
few it's a gift and the Bible says he does not give the same gift to
everybody just like different members of the body have different
functions but you will have some function if you integrate in into the
body and become one with it it's very very important when we talk of
becoming a member of this church it begins not with friendship it begins
vertically with fellowship with the Father you know there's a great
significance in the two arms of the cross vertical speaks of our
fellowship with the Father horizontal speaks of our fellowship with one
another both are necessary there is no single stick cross you can't have
a cross with just one vertical bar or one horizontal bar it needs both
and that's symbolic that there

must be a fellowship with the Father and with one another for true
Christianity that's why we call us as Christian fellowship church
fellowship with the Father and with one another and the other thing to
remember is the vertical arm of the cross is always bigger than the
horizontal arm teaching us that fellowship with God is much more
important than fellowship with one another one comes out of the other
the first commandment is not love your neighbor as yourself the first
commandment is love God with all your heart with all your strength all
your mind that means my whole life must be passionate in loving Jesus
Christ if you don't begin there you can't have a cross so it's not the
reason why fellowship with your wife or husband or with other believers
breaks down is not because of that

other person as you always know he's a difficult person my wife is a
difficult person my husband is a difficult person those are all silly
excuses you make because your vertical bar is not right your
relationship with Jesus Christ is not what it should be that's the
reason for all fellowship horizontally problems so if you turn with me
to 1 John in chapter 1 I always look at John's letter turn with me to 1
John in chapter 1 there are people who studied history who say that John
wrote his letter after he wrote Revelation it's quite likely in which
case 1 John may be the last of the 66 books written of the Bible but I
can imagine that because he saw the condition of the churches around him
and we see the condition of seven of those churches in Revelation 2 and
3 five of them were so

terribly backslidden planted by the Apostles in 60 years 60 or 70 years
60 years they had gone from the faith and love that they started with
even Ephesus was such a wonderful church you read that in Ephesians but
he'd read in the second letter to the Ephesians which is Revelation
chapter 2 you find that they're backslidden so badly that the Lord says
I'm going to go away from this church I'm going to remove the lampstand
means I'm not going to be in your midst anymore you 500 people will
still have your meetings and your songs and all but Jesus won't be there
it was so bad just about 30 years after Paul left Ephesus or 35 years it
had backslidden so badly and the church in Sardis only had a name the
leader even the leader he had named that he was alive maybe he was a
great preacher but

his life did not correspond to his word and Laodicea was so bad that the
Lord said I'll spit you out of my mouth and told that church I'm
standing at the door can you imagine a church where Jesus is outside the
door and saying can I please come in and they were singing songs to
Jesus inside the church that's just like the Pharisees who crucified God
outside Jerusalem and then went into the temple of Jerusalem to worship
God can you imagine something so stupid they'd already killed the Son of
God outside and then they go into the temple to worship the same Jesus
that's what a lot of Christians are like that Laodicea was like that
Jesus was outside the door saying I stand at the door knock and inside
the church they're singing songs and it happens to a lot of Christians
they pray and Jesus

is not in their heart he's not in their life he's not in their home and
so John saw all this and that must have been the condition of he's
written about seven churches and revelation that must have been the
condition of many churches because the Apostles planted many many
churches and many of them had come to that terrible state by then and so
he's writing with the burden in his heart from the Holy Spirit to sort
out this situation in the churches and what does he say please turn to 1
John chapter 1 he says what we want to speak to you about is fellowship
that which was from the beginning what was that the Word of Life the
life verse 2 was manifested an eternal life which is the life of God
which is from the beginning when nothing else existed you know John
always goes back to the

beginning even in his gospel he says in the beginning was the Word and
the Word was with God the Word was God he goes back beyond Genesis
chapter 1 to the real beginning and here also he says in 1 John 1 about
the beginning John was really burdened to bring Christians into that
life which was there from the beginning eternal life not a religious
life see a lot of Christians have a religious life it's not that eternal
life which God had right from the beginning in that eternal life there
was perfect purity it was perfect love and there was perfect fellowship
between father son and Holy Spirit you know there are people who say we
have three gods no we don't have three gods we have one God in three
persons see God had to be more than one person I'll tell you why God had
to be more than one

person right at the beginning because God is love and you cannot love
unless there's one other person minimum so if you're only one person
there's no such thing as love you just love yourself and there's no such
thing as fellowship we are only one person so that is why every religion
that talks about one God with no persons is a false religion that cannot
be the true God God is love and so it says that which was from the
beginning which we have heard he's talking about Jesus we heard this
life speaking to us in the in a human form we saw with our eyes how he
lived and we've looked and we've touched that life not just touch this
body we touch the life when we touch Jesus and that is the life that was
manifested on earth we have seen it and we testify to that we are
witnesses about that

life we are not witnesses about a doctrine saying you must be baptized
in water sisters must cover their heads the tribulation comes before the
rapture no no no no it's all doctrines I appreciate all of them but it's
a life that we testify to that eternal life verse 2 which is with the
Father and which is manifested to us in the person of Jesus Christ that
was the first body of Christ and the church is called the body of Christ
because it is supposed to manifest the same life that was manifested in
Jesus so that people who come in touch with you and me should be able to
say we've also heard something different from all the other people in
the world we've seen and looked and touched another type of life not
just they heard a doctrine from your mouth but they've seen there's a
man we have

seen who's always calm not in a panic at any time there's a woman I've
seen who's never complaining or grumbling there's a man and woman I've
seen in my life who seem to be so heavenly not like these sannyasis and
monks who lock themselves up in a monastery always and never talk to
anybody and say we are talking to God that is a vertical bar without a
horizontal one and that vertical bar is fake Jesus was not a monk he
never expected any of his children to be monks and nuns locking
themselves up in monasteries and convents no we had to mingle with
others that otherwise how do you manifest that life if you lock yourself
up in a room and say I have fellowship only with one or two people who
will agree with me now wonderful no you got to live in the midst of
wicked people and manifest that

life the light is needed in darkness you don't need the torch in
sunlight you need the torch where there's darkness the world is full of
darkness and that's where the Lord has told us to be the light this is
our calling brothers and sisters not just to tell people I'm a Christian
and to give out tracts and books no but to manifest a life and John
writes this because he says those churches if they had concentrated on
that they would not have ended up as such backslidden churches and those
Christians would not have ended as backsliders if they had always
concentrated on that life and he says we have seen that and we have
heard it verse 3 and we proclaim that life to you not a doctrine and the
purpose is by proclaiming this life you can have fellowship see that
wonderful word which never

comes in the Old Testament with us and we can have fellowship with the
father and his son G through his son Jesus Christ and with his son Jesus
Christ and that is why we call ourselves Christian fellowship church
church is the body of Christ which manifests that life in other words we
are seeking to manifest a fellowship with the father and a fellowship
with one another which is more than friendship which is more than
religion very different but it's easy to have a name Christian
Fellowship Church sounds wonderful but to manifest it so that we are not
actors hypocrites claiming ourselves to be Christian Fellowship and our
standard is just like that of other human beings that's wrong let me
show you a verse in 1 Corinthians where the Holy Spirit rebukes the
Corinthians you know for what 1

Corinthians and chapter 3 verse 3 listen carefully 1 Corinthians 3 verse
3 you are still fleshly because there is jealousy and strife, strife
means you argue and quarrel with each other is that jealousy anybody
here jealous of somebody else anybody here please examine yourself don't
examine other people are you jealous of anybody else in this church for
any reason jealousy usually comes because you feel he is more gifted
than you or he's more blessed than you or he's got more money than you
or his children are better than yours or his wife is prettier than yours
or some stupid reason like that jealousy and strife, strife need not be
fighting and hitting each other it's pure quarreling, quarreling with
others you know all our quarrels are about earthly things what do you
quarrel with your

husband and wife for is usually in some earthly thing which is going to
disappear when the Lord comes what do you quarrel with porters in the
railway station about or auto rickshaw drivers is always some earthly
thing or with neighbors always some earthly thing and he says that
proves you're fleshly and says you are just walking like ordinary men
ordinary human beings and you say is it a crime to behave like an
ordinary human being absolutely aren't you walking like ordinary men if
you call yourself a born-again Christian it is a crime to behave like
ordinary human beings an absolute crime that's why I wanted you to see
that verse because you are claiming to have fellowship with the father
and his son Jesus Christ and it's not true you're not manifesting that
eternal life as which is with

the father from all eternity before any angels or any universe was
created there was father son and Holy Spirit having wonderful fellowship
with each other loving each other this is the God we worship one God how
to explain that with our mind we cannot understand just like a dog
cannot understand geometry I'm not surprised if I can't understand the
Trinity if the dog can't understand geometry I can't understand Trinity
that's not surprising that's a dog I can understand geometry but I can't
understand Trinity because that's above me and much more above me than
I'm above a dog so I don't try to explain the Trinity I believe it so I
say it is wrong for us to live on earth like other human beings if
you're a Christian then you must say I'm not born again I'm just
pretending to be a Christian

I'm just like anybody else and what is it that makes the difference it's
the Holy Spirit I have to say my life was completely changed and God
filled me with the Holy Spirit but I had a hunger and a thirst and a
longing for it for many years and I prayed and cried and longed for it
because I wanted it more than anything else on earth and I'll tell you
something those of you are not sure or don't experience this wonderful
life spiritual life the day you want it more than anything else on earth
God will lead you into it you shall seek me God says and find me when
you search for me with all your heart I'm sorry that is the price you
say it's too expensive you can't get it forgiveness of sins that's free
come and take it it's like a lot of things kept on the table take it
take it all

everything is free but fullness of the Spirit and living in the fullness
anointing of the Spirit there's a price for it and the price is not that
it's not money it just means you have to give everything it's like
saying I cannot occupy your whole house unless you give me the key to
every door isn't that a reasonable request the Holy Spirit saying you
want me to come and fill your life I cannot come and fill your life if
you don't give me the key to every door or you don't open doors of
certain rooms I'm sorry I can't come in so think about that so I want to
encourage you this today to value fellowship fellowship with God pursue
it and say Lord I don't want just to be just a word I don't want CFC to
be a slogan I want that middle F fellowship to be real in my life not
any type of not

earthly fellowship Christian fellowship I want to be part of a Christian
fellowship church I want to live in Christian fellowship with God and
with my fellow believers and he says our fellowship was three is with
the father and his son Jesus Christ and I want you to have fellowship
with us John was such a great Apostle it probably lived an overcoming
life for 60 years and he's telling these ordinary believers you can have
fellowship with me you may be born again yesterday I've been born again
65 years ago John says but we can have fellowship as equals because we
are both children of God John did not feel I'm superior to you you know
even when he writes Revelation see how he addresses him and Revelation
chapter 1 I like this Revelation 1 verse 9 I John your brother he was an
Apostle but

that was function but in relationship he was a brother it's like you may
be an engineer or a nurse or a teacher or a doctor that's not what you
you when you've seen fellowship in the church you don't say I'm a nurse
or an engineer or no no no no I'm a brother I'm a sister so Apostle
prophet that is function like engineer doctor it's a job it's a job in
the church like that is a job in the world so all these people who call
themselves Apostle and pastor and prophet they don't have a clue of what
it means it's not a title reverend right reverend Bishop Metropolitan
Pope what about John your brother learn from him this great Apostle who
had walked with God for 65 years I John your brother the reason why Paul
called himself an Apostle at the in his letters was because he was not
one of the

original twelve Apostles and so he had to convince people that Jesus had
made him an Apostle from heaven that's the only reason why he says Peter
an Apostle so that people know who he was today we recognize it but
during the first century they would not they would say you're not one of
the twelve he says I'm not but Jesus appointed me that's why he calls
himself an Apostle otherwise all these people they wanted to be known as
brothers their function was Apostle but they were brothers there is no
brother in CFC who is superior to another there may be one who's more
spiritual there may be those who are more gifted and different functions
but we are all brothers and sisters in Christ we must we never choose
any title other than that and so John says I want you to fellowship with
us we

fellowship as equals under the headship of Jesus Christ just like in
this body every member is equally important there are visible members
there are invisible members like the heart liver kidney all are
important in a church of Christian Fellowship Church there are some who
are very visible like me and some of the elders here more visible
because we come up to the pulpit that's because that's our gift it is
not because we are superior to any of you I honestly say I do not
consider myself superior to a single person sitting here not even to
someone born again yesterday you are a sinner saved by grace I am a
sinner saved by grace and when we get to the throne of God the only
thing that will give us entry into heaven is recognizing that we are
sinners saved by grace that we are damned but

Jesus died for us it doesn't matter how many years we've been born again
that's the only thing that will qualify us for heaven so we have
different functions of some are more visible than others but don't think
that because you're not so visible you are not important you think the
kidneys are not important have you ever seen your kidneys I've never
seen mine but if they don't function I'll have a problem there are many
invisible members like that in Christian Fellowship Church if they
really are willing to be hidden think of a kidney that says to the head
I'm willing to be hidden all my life never to be seen never getting any
honor do you know there are many human beings who don't even know
they've got a kidney because they're not educated I mean if you know
you've got a kidneys because

either because you had a problem with it or somebody taught you
otherwise you would not have known about kidneys but kidneys not seeking
for honor it functions in your life even if you don't know about it even
if you don't care about it your heart is like that keeps on functioning
never asking for honor never asking that every once in a while you get
up and say hey I've got a great heart that works fine no you never
probably said that in your life but the heart is not seeking for honor
it just keeps on functioning and I praise God for wonderful wonderful
unique brothers and sisters of Christ like that who keep on working in
the background something like some of your wives do some of your wives
they don't people hardly even know them you're the great man who's seen
in front but there she's

working working working slogging away at home making life easy for you
and if she's a good wife she's not seeking honor it says in Proverbs 31
about this wonderful wife and it says her husband is known in the public
place in the church and she not known there are brothers and sisters
like that who not seeking to be known but keep on working cooperating
high doing things in secret cleaning the toilets picking up the garbage
putting it in the trash can doing little little things and helping here
and there completely unknown you don't even know their name and they've
been here for years do you think the church can function without them
impossible do you think you can work without your kidneys and your liver
and all the other organs in your body no so don't think that your
function is

unimportant but you must have fellowship with God if you want to
function those kidneys may be invisible but 24 hours a day they must be
in touch with the head obeying the commands of the head the head says
come on purify the bloodstream purified purified purified and make sure
the chemical balance in the blood is correct absolutely correct point
one milligrams or whatever of this very small small amounts of different
chemicals and the kidney has to do that it's a very important job but
it's never seen never honored and it's a wonderful thing when we have a
Christian Fellowship Church with people like that who are willing to do
who don't just give their name yeah I volunteer for cleaning and never
turn up those are not even members of the body they are hypocrites they
want honor they want

to put their name I'm coming for the cleaning team and they never turn
up or if for some emergency they can't turn up they don't even send a
substitute but they don't inform anybody I don't even I wonder whether
such people are even in fellowship with God you can't be in fellowship
with God and tell a lie because the only chief liar in the world is the
devil Jesus said he's a liar from the beginning and anyone who tells a
lie is in fellowship with the devil if you say that you'll come for the
cleaning team and you don't turn up my dear brother sister I have to
tell you the truth you are in fellowship with the devil not with Jesus
Christ Jesus Christ is the truth now it is possible that you can't come
because of some reason but then you will inform somebody in a day when
everybody has a

phone you didn't play I can't come today or you'll try and send somebody
else or maybe you can't send somebody else no I'm sorry I can't come
today otherwise don't put your name there nobody's forcing you to put
your name say I'm sorry I can't come don't put your name but don't ever
ever ever from now on and I hope you will listen to this ever give your
name for something and then fellowship with the devil and don't turn up
no better not to give your name like we read earlier Ecclesiastes 4
better not to make a vow and make a vow and not keep it to tell a lie in
God's house it's a terrible sin it's worse than telling a lie in the
Supreme Court so be very careful there's nothing wrong God loves a
cheerful giver we don't ask that anybody give money in this church we
don't ask that anybody

come and serve in this church no everything is voluntary if you can't do
it voluntarily don't do it but don't give your name if you can't do it
it's better not to give your name and then come along and help that's
much better much much better so I'm just telling you some of these
practical things fellowship with God makes us very strict in relation to
speaking the truth living truthfully not being a hypocrite those are not
impossible things even a prostitute can be truthful if she says I am a
prostitute you don't have to be a great saint to be free from hypocrisy
do you know the one person Jesus said is completely free from hypocrisy
was an unbeliever just like the one person Jesus had had the greatest
faith was a non Jew it's amazing sometimes you know we despise some of
these

non-christians but some of those non-christians are less hypocrites than
some Christians turn with me to John's Gospel chapter 1 in John chapter
1 we read about the only time when Jesus said about somebody there is a
man who is completely free from hypocrisy hundred percent free from
hypocrisy he was not saying he's a spiritual man no no no no no he was
not spiritual he was not even born again like you know if a prostitute
says I'm a prostitute she's hundred percent free from hypocrisy that
means no acting no pretending to be something which they are not in John
chapter 1 the Lord found Philip in verse 43 and he said to him follow me
and there was something wonderful about these early disciples they
immediately said hey once I found Jesus I must bring somebody else to
Jesus I wish all of

us had that passion I found Jesus I must go and find some friend of mine
some relative of mine and bring that person to Jesus too you read that
these people always did it you know they found verse 40 for example John
someone heard John follow him was Andrew Andrew came first Peter came
later Andrew verse 41 first found his own brother Simon and brought him
to Christ who brought Peter to Jesus Andrew his brother Peter did not
come first Andrew and same way Philip as soon as he found Jesus he said
to immediately he goes to find Nathanael was 45 and says we found Jesus
and Nathanael despises it and ah there's Jesus I don't want your
Christianity have somebody told you like that I don't want your
Christianity they're all hypocrites he says please come and see don't
give up just because he's

rejected it the first time I love Philip he didn't give up he persisted
prayed for him and say you got to come and see this man this is
different it's not like all the other dead churches you went to come and
see this and he comes and before he meets Jesus listen to this Jesus saw
Nathanael coming from a distance and he said there is a man in whom
there is no deceit no acting no pretending what a testimony I read that
once and I said Lord if you can say that about me there is a man is that
woman in whom there is zero acting zero hypocrisy what you see in him in
public is exactly what he is at home what you see in him publicly is
exactly what he is in his financial matters in his purity matters what
you see in him is exactly what he is and this was said of an unbeliever
why can't it be

said about you and me much more it should be said about you and me he
wasn't saying there's a man who's a great saint no no no no I'm not
asking Jesus to say about me oh there is that one is a great saint no
Lord I'm not yet there but can you say about me there's no hypocrisy in
him there's no disease he's not acting how many of you will long for
this commendation from Jesus forget all the other things spiritual man
holy man and I'll leave all that aside that's many years ahead let's
start with there is a man and a woman who's no acting that doesn't mean
you got victory over your anger no it means that you don't pretend that
you got victory over your anger yeah I'm still fighting with it no
hypocrisy you're still defeated by anger you're saying honestly yeah I'm
brother I'm still fighting

with that there's no hypocrisy I want to tell you this is the first step
to fellowship with God and fellowship with one another no acting it is
very difficult impossible for me to fellowship with an actor you know
like some Hollywood movie where the guy is acting like John the Baptist
and in private life he's divorced five times and drunkard so when I meet
him I'm not sure whether I'm meeting a drunkard or meeting John the
Baptist hey are you John the Baptist or you five times divorced drunkard
I don't know because at different times he's different things on during
the act and when the movie is being shot he's John the Baptist he goes
home me some somebody else are you like that here in the church when the
movie is being shot ah you are the holy man when you go home here's
somebody else

no I'm not saying we should get up and confess our sins in public that
is stupid no you never see people doing that in the Bible the only verse
in the Bible where it says confess your sins to one another is in
relation to prayer for healing in James chapter 5 confess your sin if
the sin is the cause of your sickness and that also in the presence of
elders only and he's telling the elders also he's got some sin confess
it otherwise your prayer will not be heard Psalm 66 verse 18 says if I
regard sin in my heart God won't even pick up the phone I look at the oh
this is from somebody I'm not gonna pick up the phone let it ring ring
ring have you had that experience where you dial a number and probably
he sees your name there I'm not gonna pick it up I don't want to talk to
him he's there at

home you know God is like that when there's sin in your life he sees on
the dial whose name it is let him keep on ringing you find unanswered
prayer like that you find God is not even responding to you you pray and
pray and pray and it does looks as if he doesn't even pick up the phone
see if there's some sin in your life somebody you have not forgiven some
sin you have not confessed some fight you had with your husband or wife
which you didn't go and apologize for some problem you have with the
brother where it was your fault and you didn't apologize for it if it is
his fault forget it but your fault I want God to pick up the phone as
soon as I ring as soon as when I call him and he said here I am there's
a promise like that in the Old Testament you call and I'll say here I am
the Lord

says I want that so that'll come if you start with this lesson no acting
and it's a great encouragement for me to know that it was spoken about
an outright unbeliever who was not even born again at least I'm better
than him I'm born again and if Jesus can say that about an unbeliever
why can't he say Lord I want to be like that I want to encourage all of
you sitting here my brothers and sisters you want to have the first step
of fellowship with God and with one of the first step where you come to
the next step where you say Lord all that I have is yours before you get
there start with getting rid of hypocrisy don't pretend before God don't
say words to God that you don't mean and everybody is singing all to
Jesus I surrender be quiet and say Lord I can't say that yet I'm not
gonna sing it

you will God will honor you for that he listened to you and he won't
listen to the other people singing all to Jesus I surrender because
they're telling lies he'll listen to you where you say to him Lord I
can't surrender everything imagine God listening to you saying I don't
surrender everything and not listening to all those other people who say
all to Jesus I surrender this is the God we believe in one who
appreciates honesty I've always believed honesty is the number one thing
God wants from us then we can move on to giving our all to him then
we'll come to this fellowship with one another I want to say this to you
in the Old Testament they could not be a body it was a congregation a
pile of members there are different illustrations we can use of that
like a pile of stones a pile of

stones is not a house this building was once pile of stones but now it's
a building that was a congregation this is a church that's the
difference those same stones are put next to each other cemented and
joined in a way that they cannot escape it's more convenient to be in a
pile of stones you can get up and walk where you like go where you like
and walk away if you want stones here can't walk away like that because
there's one stone on top another stone underneath another stone to the
left and right it's a little inconvenient to be in a church because you
have authority elders on top of you like a stone on top but that stone
on top protects the stone underneath from being stolen that's why God
puts a stone on top you're in that pile of stones anybody can walk off
with you any day

there's a protection in the church when you become integrated with the
body and don't live as a lone member visiting here once in a while and
not really interested in being integrated with the body that is a
congregation we are building a church it's not a congregation the other
and sometimes you can have a good friendship and you call that a church
it's not it's a club a club is where you come together some people come
together because they want to play cards some people come together
because they want to play golf some people come together as a club where
they drink and they say here is a club where they be study the Bible
it's not a club club is different from a body a club you come and go
when you like when you have time you come and you don't have time you
don't come a body is not

like that you're permanently connected to through the head not because
we spend time with each other those who spend time with each other only
are a club in the body we are connected through the head that means my
fellowship with you does not depend on my spending so many days with you
every year I may not have time to spend with you in 10 years but you're
connected to the head and I'm connected to the head we love wonderful
fellowship every single day it's different this is the difference
between a congregation and a club and a church it's very important to
understand that because these things are not taught clearly in many
churches in the new covenant we not building congregations we're not
building a club we're building a church so I hope these things will sink
deep into our hearts I

want to say one more thing before we finish and that's in 1 Corinthians
what does the breaking of bread mean it means two things 1 Corinthians
remember the two arms of the cross the this is only bread and only grape
juice but it is a picture of the body and the blood of Jesus Christ we
are not like some old time denominations which teach that this becomes
the body and the blood no it doesn't I mean you got to be honest when it
when you eat it it still tastes like bread not like meat so it's crazy
to believe that this is the body like I don't know how these people say
this becomes the body I asked them what does it taste like when you eat
it you're deceiving yourself or what there are Roman Catholics and some
other churches that preach that this becomes the body of Jesus and I
said when

you drink that have you ever tasted blood when you drink that grape
juice does it taste like blood this is absolute hypocrisy pretending we
don't believe that I see this is bread this is grape juice it symbolizes
the body the blood of Jesus Christ so in 1 Corinthians 11 it says verse
26 as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the
Lord's death until he comes so what am I proclaiming when I eat this
bread and drink this cup Jesus died for my sins as a result of which I'm
in fellowship with God so when I'm taking that bread I'm not just
admiring it I'm not admiring Oh Jesus Lord what a wonderful sacrifice
you made for me and you don't want to go that way then when the bread
comes to you and say oh what lovely bread and pass it on don't touch it
but we take that bread

and eat it we take that cup and drink it saying I want to be one with
Jesus in this death to this old life I lived I want to be in fellowship
with Jesus because the only way to get out of the old life into this
life of fellowship with God is through death I have to die to one life
to get into another life and that's that's what not preached in many
places people are just being told to sign a form and say I've accepted
Christ or repeat some words like some mumbo-jumbo no it's not like that
there has to be a death to my old life I don't want to live the way I
lived so far I want to die to that and then the Lord will give me a
resurrection through the Holy Spirit so that I can have fellowship with
the Father that's the first thing I testify in the breaking of bread the
second thing I testify

1 Corinthians 10 previous chapter see here it's very clear about the
body and blood what exactly it is we're 16 1 Corinthians 10 see the cup
of blessing which we bless is not the blood of Christ let me repeat the
cup of blessing which we bless is not the blood of Christ the bread
which we break is not the body of Christ what is it it is a fellowship
that's the word in some translations are sharing a fellowship in the
blood of Christ a fellowship in the body of Christ I'm fellowshipping
with Jesus in his death on the cross and not only that I'm also
fellowshipping remember the horizontal bar of the cross with the others
who are in the body because there are other people sitting here we're
also taking part in the same bread and drinking from the same cup it may
be poured into little cups

but it comes from the same jar and so we all partake of one bread why
we're 17 because we are all one body I mean this little finger doesn't
walk off sometime and saying well I'll see you later it never says that
to me it's with part of this body forever this is what commitment to
Christian Fellowship Church means commitment to Jesus Christ and
commitment horizontally that is why I say think before you do it just
like you think before you get married once you're married that's it
there's no divorce but it's not like that in the church I mean if you
discover after some time that the standard is too high you're welcome to
leave instead of continuing to be a hypocrite here being part of CFC is
not like getting married you can leave anytime but don't sit here and
pretend to be committed and

not be committed that's all I'm saying when you say I can't go by these
standards be honest and say I'd like to leave I don't agree with you
something or I find it's too difficult to live by these standards I
don't want to be a hypocrite brother sister we love you and if I see you
on the street after that I won't turn my face away from you I'll greet
you and say I hope you are following Jesus I have never in 42 years ever
asked anybody to be a member of CFC never and I'll never do it that is
that person's choice he has to choose whether he wants to be a part of
CFC I invited people to be a member of Jesus Christ give your life to
Christ but I never asked people come and join our church if they choose
it they must realize they themselves have chosen it that is how we want
to build

Christian Fellowship Church and that is what we testify to when we break
bread and I hope whenever you break bread in future you'll remember this
always it speaks of the vertical and horizontal fellowship in the
breaking of bread and let me not be dishonest or a hypocrite in future
let's bow our heads in prayer Heavenly Father as we bow before you
please help us all to understand these very simple but important truths
blessed truths and Lord we know this is impossible without the power of
the Holy Spirit and I pray in everybody's heart here you'll create today
a thirst for the power and fullness of the Holy Spirit we know we cannot
do it any other way and I know that anyone who's heard this challenge
today will realize this is impossible for man but it is possible through
the power of the

Holy Spirit to live this life of fellowship with you and fellowship with
one another and I pray therefore that that thirst will be created so
that we can respond to your invitation where you said if any man thirst
let him come and drink from me and from his innermost being will flow
rivers of living water we want everybody here everybody Lord we want
everybody here to experience that type of fullness of the Spirit where
they're always fresh like a flowing river even if there have been
multiple failures in the past I pray there'll be a new beginning here
for many people and that people will not give up but persist until they
are actually filled with the Holy Spirit and live in that fullness every
day we thank you father in Jesus name Amen

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/w-ujQrtg8dQ.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/the-true-meaning-of-fellowship/
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