New Beginning Community Church has grown upon a firm foundation of faith, with Jesus Christ being the Chief Cornerstone. As we reflect on the ministry of days gone by, we can see the fruit of the labor.N
We have come a long way and are truly blessed to celebrate 11 years together. It has not been a "me" effort but a "we" effort trusting and believing Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
He has been with us, loving us, leading us, encouraging us, providing for us and protecting us for 11 years. What a mighty God we serve!
Jesus calls us, as His followers, to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Him. “Taking up the cross” daily includes exercising some disciplines in our lives as His followers.
Paul commanded us in I Timothy 4:7, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.”
The Christian life is not only about our vertical relationship with God, but also our horizontal relationships with other people.
In that light, Shawn Thomas shared excellent thoughts with us from Hebrews 10:23-25, “The Discipline of Fellowship”; the importance of disciplining ourselves to fellowship with, and encourage other believers in the church:
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
I. The Prerequisite for Fellowship: the confession of our hope V. 23 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering”.
To give this verse a little bit of context, the Book of Hebrews is all about the writer encouraging his audience, a group of Christians with a Jewish background, not to forsake their confession of hope in Jesus because of the persecution they saw Christians undergoing.
He wrote to tell them that Jesus is God’s final revelation; that Jesus is far greater than the angels, that He is the great high priest, and the final, perfect sacrifice for sins, therefore they should not turn away from Him because of the persecutions.
So, when he says, “Hold fast the confession of our hope”, he is talking about the confession of the hope we have in Jesus as our Savior.
And it is no accident that this verse leads up to the famous “not forsaking our own assembling together”. In verse 25, because our common salvation, the confession of Jesus as our Savior, is the “glue” which unites those of us in the church and gives us fellowship with each other.
The word “fellowship” implies that you share something in common with someone else. When you have that “something” in common, there is a bond between you.
The same thing is true in the church. Every Christian has something in common which gives them a common “bond” which unites them together, and that “something” is our faith in Jesus: “the confession of OUR hope”; that hope in Jesus is the one thing that binds us together and gives us fellowship.
As we look to the future, it is important to know what we do today will have a far-reaching impact of people who we do not even know. As we seek to serve the Lord the fruit of ministry will touch hundreds as we remain committed to Christ.
The Command to Fellowship: in verse 25 “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some …” So as the people of God, saved by His grace, and sharing that common salvation, the Lord commands us to fellowship together.
He says we are to “not (be) forsaking our assembling together, as is the habit of some.”
The word “synagogue” is related to it. The “synagogue”, of course, was the local Jewish religious assembly of believers, similar to our “church.”
He was addressing Jewish Christians in this book, so they knew what he was talking about. He was saying, don’t miss your “synagoging” together — in other words, don’t forsake your assembling together in your local gathering of believers, in your church.
So, he gives us a command to gather together and fellowship with others who have been saved by faith in Jesus, in our local church. The blessings of fellowship in V:25b “but encouraging one another …” It means “alongside” to “call out” — it is the picture of a coach running down the sideline, encouraging and spurring on his players.
This is what we should be doing for each other in the church. We are be “running alongside each other”, calling out words of encouragement to each other as we run the Christian race.
As we move forward, I pray we continue to pray daily at 2 pm, there is power in prayer, that we continue to attend bible study and continue to worship together.
Through it all, Jesus continues to bless us.
It is truly a blessing for Barb and I to have had this opportunity, we truly thank you all for your support and love, it means so very much. We love you all.
Ephesians 3:20 says “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”
To God be the Glory.