There are five fellowships mentioned in the Bible.1- Fellowship of the mystery of His will 2- The fellowship of the gospel 3- fellowship with His son. 4- fellowship with the Holy Spirit and 5- fellowship with His sufferings.
Fellowship in the Gospel is the first of the five fellowships we encounter in our walk with God.
Nothing I enjoy more than my relationship with God and there is nothing the enemy will try to attack more than our intimacy with God.
I am aware that my fellowship with God has become more exciting in the last year than any other time in my 40+ year journey with Abba Father.
LESSONS FROM THE APOSTLE JOHN
Interestingly, the apostle John, more so than any other apostle, was the one who seemed most able to see into the spirit realm. The entire book of Revelations is a series of visions.
Yet John was, after Paul, the leading theologian of His time. Jesus prophesied a coming apostasy within one generation.
The primary false theology of the great apostasy was Gnosticism, and John was the one, above all apostles, who argued against Gnosticism.
There is a valuable lesson here. John was the one who was closest to Jesus:
Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. John 13:23
He was the one whom Jesus entrusted with the Revelations of Jesus Christ.
He was the one the Lord entrusted with His natural mother after His death.
Moreover, at the same time, John was the one who wrote many of the epistles, that now in the time we are living have a greater significance than even Paul’s writings. John was the senior leader of the Jerusalem church and argued vehemently against Gnosticism. He was sound in his theology and had a great relationship with God that we should aspire to.
From John, we learn that seeing into the spirit realm requires a balance of good theology. But mainly, it involves intimacy of relationship with the Trinity. Unless our theology is right our visions of the spirit realm could be off, because they are stored in our brain, our subconscious mind and affect how we interpret what we are seeing.
We will learn in this series about friendship with Jesus, fellowship with the Holy Spirit and familiarity with the Father.
we must learn how to TRUST IN THE FATHER’S VOICE
But the Voice we know as God will ask us, do you trust Me enough to receive what I want to tell you, and I will teach you the doctrine later?”
The Holy Spirit will fill us with His glory and His Spirit afresh every day. And our effectiveness in the ministry projected into a new level of glory and power. And God will teach us the doctrine of glory.
SOUND DOCTRINE IS THE PLATFORM FOR SPIRITUAL REVELATION
Spiritual revelation can come before the sound doctrine. Usually, sound doctrine comes first, then followed by spiritual revelation.
Spiritual revelation sometimes comes first but must always agree with sound theology. If our theology is wrong, then our interpretation of spiritual revelation is wrong.
When our theology is right, then we are able to discern what the prophets in the church prophecy are true or off.
THE NEXT LEVEL
There are times in our lives when God will speak outside of our beliefs, but generally, He will only talk inside of what we currently believe. So it is with these five “fellowships with God”.
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
But his heart is not with you.Proverbs 23:7
May I encourage you to ask God the same question that I asked Him:
“Abba, show me where I have stopped growing.”
And:
“God, take me to the next level in my relationship with You”.
When you ask questions like these, you are opening yourself up to God, taking yourself to the next level, as David did:
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties; Psalms 139:23
Fellowship in the Gospel is the first fellowship that people have with God, the good news of redemption found in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection.
For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,
POSITIONALLY, WE SEE OURSELVES AS CHILDREN OF GOD:
I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. 1 John 2:12
The Holy Spirit comforts us as children, telling us God forgives our sins. It saddens me that some think that all they need is to have their sins forgiven.
They struggle through life in a cycle of sinning and asking forgiveness. Although they will go to heaven because of the New Covenant, they do not realize that they can have victory over sin and its consequences.
Sadly, we see this evident even in the life of great leaders. Saint Augustine had been promiscuous in his youth. Yet, on his deathbed, he was stuck in a cycle of repentance from sin, rather than confidently knowing God had forgotten his youthful sins.
Jesus died for our sins, and also the consequences of those sins. We can also walk free from shame, guilt, self-pity and condemnation.
HOLY SPIRIT BRINGS US INTO THE FAMILY OF GOD.
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.-”Romans 8:15
God replaces the spirit of bondage and fear with the spirit of adoption.
It is not God’s intention that we only have fellowship in the Gospel because he wants us to mature in Christ. He wants us to retain this fellowship but include four other connections.
Having all five will bring a thrill into our relationship with God and make us more effective.