Welcome to LIFEPOINT Online! LifePoint Online is a community of people all over experiencing God and connecting with one another like never before in history. You have found a place to encounter God and people who care about you —just as you are. Introduce yourself in the chat and let us know where you're from! Next Steps www.lifepointnv.com/new if you are new. www.lifepointnv.com/next to take your Next Steps www.lifepointnv.com/deeper to take share your Story See what’s happening at LifePoint: www.lifepointnv.com/events Follow LifePoint Online Like our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/lifepointnv Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/lifepointnv Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/lifepointnv Download the Bible App: www.bible.com/app Download the Church Center App: www.churchcenter.com/setup Fellowship - My Church Pastor Kile Baker - January 22nd, 2022 LifePoint Value: You can belong before you believe. What we heard from some Christians: This is wrong! The church belongs to believers. What we hope to hear from non-Christians: This is great! I don’t believe but I can still belong. Fellowship: to hold something in common. Christians aren’t made in the image of God, people are made in the image of God. Christians just recognize people should see God when they see them. What we all hold in common, is that we’re all made in the image of God. What Christians hold in common, is that we’re intentional about being like the image we’re made in. Ephesians 4:22-24 To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 5:1-2 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Christian Fellowship: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” Essentials: Deity of Christ (Col. 2:9); Trinity (Mt. 3:16-17, 28:19) Salvation by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9, Romans 10:13) Literal and physical bodily resurrection of Christ ( 1 Cor. 5:14; Luke 24:38-39) Inspiration & Authority of scripture ( 2 Timothy 3:15-16) Non-essentials: Modes of Baptism Social drinking views Validity of certain spiritual gifts Boundaries on the sabbath Celebrating various holidays All Things: All things. Fellowship isn’t about having the same beliefs, it’s about belonging to the same community despite the differences in beliefs. John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” One of the most loving things followers of Christ can do, is to help someone feel like they belong, even if they don’t fully believe. Acts 15:1-19 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: “‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’—things known from long ago. “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” LifePoint Value: You can belong before you believe. It’s easier to belong when you don’t make it difficult to believe. Making someone believe before they belong is false fellowship. If someone believes, what they belong to changes. “My church is a great place to meet great people.” “My church became my church, when it wasn’t my church. They took me in, like I was one of them.”