That's the third time I've been called lovely
today believe it or not Okay, it's the first
Good morning It's great to see you today. We've
got we've got somebody at every table and even
a few people at every table So that's fantastic
good to see a crowd I didn't realize that Barb
was going to be praying today, so it wasn't in
the notes, but got to give Barb a shout out.
Because if there wasn't a Barb, I don't know
if there'd be a Scott and Tashiana. Tashiana
was roommates with Barb in college. And I knew
Barb, though I don't think real well. But Barb
knew that Tashiana and I liked each other, and
she also knew that we needed some help. We had
never dated before, so we were pretty shy, and
I think our idea of getting to know someone better
was inviting them to a Bible study or a prayer
meeting. We didn't really know how to go past
that, so she invited me to their apartment, but
there was something a little barb about it. We
watched The Ten Commandments with Charles Hesterton.
It is her favorite movie. Yeah, that guy, is
that his name? All right, I went to Charles Hesterton.
But yeah, that guy, that guy, it's old. It's
really long. But we watched it for a while, and
that's one way to get started. So she definitely
helped us out and filled in some of the gaps
in conversation because we weren't really sure
what to do when a boy and a girl liked each other.
So thank you, Barb. So for Valentine's Day, I
used to take Tatiana to Wendy's because that
was the nice fast food restaurant. And I asked
her out in Denny's because it was a sit -down
restaurant. There was root to grow And still
is In today's about fellowship, so I mean it
all ties together Fellowship, we're going to
do a what, why, and how, which is appropriate.
And after we do what, why, and how, we get to
eat. We get to fellowship together. So it's a
good Sunday. Hopefully I don't ruin it. And we
get through. First of all, fellowship, what is
it? The definition that we're going to use today,
and it's not the only definition that could be
given, but I think it's a solid one. is coming
together in the same place for a similar purpose.
So fellowship is a little bit older word. It's
one that Christians still use sometimes, but
coming together in a similar place for a similar
purpose. And a lot of times our interests can
guide what we get together to fellowship for.
Got together with my friend Tim on Friday, which
means we got together for lunch. And we talked
about family and we talked about faith and we
talked about other interests that we share. And
so it was a time of fellowship and it was a good
time. When I was growing up, we had special Sundays
where we had potlucks and we would gather together
in a big room with tables and chairs. And there
was a kitchenette off to the side. And can anybody
guess what we called that big area? It was the
fellowship hall. So that area where we got together
and we ate food and spent time together, we called
the fellowship hall because that's what we did
there. We fellowshiped. We covered the what?
The why and who aren't going to be quite so fast.
But here we go. Why? Now. Fellowship is a good
thing to do. It doesn't have to be a faith thing
to do. But why we fellowship in the church is
important. It's a little bit more than just a
group of people that want to get together and
be nice to each other. It's a little bit more
than people just who have a common interest,
such as the Bible or even positive things like
that, making a difference in the community. It
goes deeper. And Paul was writing about that.
Paul was someone in the Bible who at first persecuted
Christians. He was a Pharisee. He felt that the
Christians were leading people astray. And so
the best way that he knew how to deal with people
who were leading others astray was to imprison
them and kill them. He took it seriously because
he took his faith really seriously. And he felt
like that's what the right thing to do was. Jesus
met him on the road through a vision on his way
to persecute Christians. And after he met Jesus,
he became a Christian himself. And he traveled
preaching about Jesus. He preached in different
cities and spread the news. He was as passionate
about preaching about Jesus as he had been about
fighting against Jesus before he met him on the
road in that vision. Drink break. One of the
places. That he preached was in a city called
Philippi. He loved the Philippians with a special
love because they were nice people. They brought
him a lot of happiness. They brought him a lot
of joy. They didn't fight as much as some of
the other churches. They didn't have as many
controversies. And so when he wrote to them,
it was a little bit more of a happy letter. But
he was still very concerned as a good father
is. And he considered himself their spiritual
father. He wanted to make sure that they stuck
together because he knew that fellowship was
the key to them staying united and them continuing
on the path. So I'd love for you to go to Philippians
chapter two. And we're going to read verses one
through four. There's Bibles on the table. There's
Bibles and apps. You may have brought your own
Bible with you today. And I'm going to go ahead
and read that now. Philippians says in chapter
two, verses one through four. Therefore, if you
have any encouragement from being united with
Christ, if. any comfort from his love, if any
common sharing in the spirit, if any tenderness
and compassion, then make my joy complete by
being like -minded, having the same love, being
one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out
of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather,
in humility, value others above yourselves, not
looking for your own interests, but each of you
to the interests of the others. Now, the first
part in there, Paul gives us a why, and then
he gives us more of a how. And this gets to the
why we fellowship. Most of us are nice people,
and that's a good reason to get together. Most
of us have faith. Many of us have faith, and
that's a good reason to get together. But Paul
really zeroes in on encouragement from being
united with Christ and a common sharing in the
spirit. The thing that makes fellowship in the
church special is that for many of us, we've
experienced. Christ in a special way. We share
something in common to know what it is to have
been forgiven for the mistakes that we've made.
We share in common that we know together what
it is to learn to forgive others. We are a forgiving
community. We share what it is to know the Holy
Spirit leading us in our lives, leading us in
how we interact with our family and how we interact
with our relationships and how we interact with
others in church. We understand that there's
something that binds us together in a special
way that we don't find other places that we go.
Now, Tim and I talked about baseball. I only
watch baseball in October. Some of you probably
know it's the playoffs. And we had a fun conversation
about baseball. But if that was the limit of
that conversation, it would be just a nice conversation,
a nice lunch. But we also shared about our faith,
what God was doing in our lives, how he was changing
us. And that brought us to a place that was deeper.
That gave us a bond in that conversation that
I'm not able to have with someone who isn't also
experiencing that. And so that is the why of
our fellowship. What makes it unique. Another
part of what makes it unique is Paul is talking
here is. that we do nothing out of selfish ambition
or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, we value
others above yourselves. We're able to value
others above ourselves in a special way. Humility
is valued as a whole. But when you understand
that someone gave their life so that you can
know them better. When you understand that someone
gave up their status, what they had and what
Jesus had as the son of God. To give you something
better, you're able to love one another in a
deeper way. You're able to give up selfishness
in a deeper way. And I want to give us an opportunity
here to do something. I'm talking about something
specific, but we're not all in the same place.
And that's one thing that I love about the house.
I know that there are people here who've not
made a step in their faith yet where they've
said, hey, my faith is in Jesus. I have a trusting
relationship with him. I know him in a special
way. And I experience the Holy Spirit in a way
that he can only be experienced when we know
him through Jesus. And so I want to take a moment
and I want to say a prayer. Again, not in my
notes, but if I'm inviting you to have fellowship
in a special way. I should invite you to also
have that relationship. And so let's go ahead
and pray right now. Father, I pray that as people
see the uniqueness of this community, the uniqueness
of who we are, that they would recognize that
it's more than nice people. It's something that
you do in us. It's your Holy Spirit at work.
And I pray right now for anyone who's still making
that decision of what that looks like for them.
And as we talk about sharing something in common.
That has to do with you. I want to invite anyone.
Who desires right now to just pray where you
are. And invite Christ to be. A part of your
life more than a part. For him to become the
person that you are focused on. For him to be
the person that you trust. And that loves you.
Deeper than any other love you've known. And
as we accept that, as we believe that. We can
sense God's spirit working in us in a special
way. That we're connected with him in a special
way. And that that connects us with other Christians
in a special way. And God, I pray for anyone
here that wants to take that step in their faith.
That you would help them to do that now. And
it's in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Pastor Greg's
right here in front. Pastor Jane, can you wave
hi? I didn't know I'd get to see you today. It's
good to see you. If you're still thinking more
about making that decision or you've made that
decision, I really encourage you. There's lots
of other people you can talk to. But those are
two really special people who know a lot about
that. And that you can trust to have that conversation.
All right, we talked about what it is. We talked
about some of the why of why we do it. Now I'd
like to talk about the how. And if our fellowship
is talking with each other and eating together,
which is what it'll be today, then we should
talk a little bit about how to talk to each other.
It may seem like an obvious thing, but it's getting
harder and harder for us to do. Have you noticed
that? I went to the store not long ago, and it
was a perfect trip to the store. And I'll tell
you why it was in my mind. I went in, and I didn't
see a greeter. I didn't have to say hi to anybody.
I went straight to the aisles I wanted. I found
exactly what I wanted. I didn't have to ask anybody
any questions. And no one asked me, what are
you looking for? I didn't make eye contact with
anyone, so I didn't have to say hi or how are
you today. I went to the self -serve kiosk. I
went through. Again, for me, I'm always happy.
Sometimes I drop things or need to ask for help.
I didn't have to ask for help. And so I went
through the self -service kiosk and I got straight
out to my car and I left. And it felt like a
perfect trip to the store because. I went in
the store, I got things, and I didn't have to
speak to anyone. Will anyone else admit that
that's a good trip to the store for you? Yes.
Now, well, that may be not as many people as
I thought. I guess I'm a little weirder than
I thought. That's okay. It's easier for us than
it's ever been before to not talk to people and
do things that we need to do. When you go into
Taco Bell now, there's the person at the counter,
but you can tell that rather than talking to
them, what would they rather you do? Turn around
and what? Order on the kiosk, right? So even
now when you go to eat, you order on the kiosk.
You can get DoorDash now. You can have any kind
of food that you can possibly imagine delivered
to your house, and they just leave it outside
the door, take it a picture, and send it to you.
I always have in my notes, do not knock. Now,
granted, part of that is because my dog will
bark if they do knock. But part of it is, too,
is I just want to open my door, pick it up, and
go back inside. It's easier to do than it's ever
been. And during the pandemic, we learned how
to live without conversation even more than we
had before. I used to get out of my house every
single day. That was my goal. I went days without
leaving my house. And I kind of went insane,
but not totally. And so I learned that I could
be in my house for long periods of time and not
have to talk to anybody and I'd survive. Except
for the people that lived in my house. But the
thing about that was it got us even further out
of the habit of talking to people. And then we
have the online influence now too. I can interact
with people of any type of interest you can imagine.
And I don't have to see anybody. And in some
ways, it's even more convenient because I can
have a conversation or read about things that
interest just me. And I don't ever have to say,
good morning. How are you? How's your family?
Sometimes I love to do those things, but I admit
sometimes I don't want to. And it can impact
the rest of our lives, even when we're face -to
-face when it comes to talking to each other.
And when we do end up in a room, we always, and
this is just human, we tend to go to the people
that we know, that we're most comfortable with.
But part of what makes our community unique,
both as the house, I think we do a great job
of doing this, We regularly see new faces, and
I think that's part of that. What churches are
supposed to do in general is connect with people
other than just the people that we know. But
there's almost always room to grow in that. How
many people can confidently say, I know everyone
in here's name? Yeah. I figured we'd get one
hand. I believe you. Dawn. Yeah. Yes. You've
been in the front row and had like six lame jokes.
You're loving it, aren't you? He is living his
best life. You do not need a microphone to keep
him rolling. You had one job, Andy, make him
behave. But it's good for us to continue to work
on that. And so I have an acronym for you, NP3.
And it's one that, it's actually an amalgamation
of three other sermons I preached, or parts of
them. But N, name. Asking someone's name that
you don't know. And while we do the fellowship,
I really encourage you to do that today. Even
if you've seen them at this church 10 times and
still don't know their name and feel really bad
about it. Guilty. Even if it's someone you've
talked to 10 times at this church and you really
feel like you should know their name and you
still don't. Guilty. I encourage you to do that.
It's okay. Lots of us feel that way, except Greg.
Because he's better at learning names. Do you
think a lot of that comes naturally, or is it
just like practice really hard? This is the only
place that works. Okay. For some reason, my brain
reserves y 'all to remember, and then I'll see
people out other places that I should remember
their names, and I don't. Yeah. That's a good
pastor. For real. That's a good pastor. And I'm
quick to ask, when I see Pastor Greg, I'm quick
to ask him, what's their name over there? I should
know it. So he's very reliable for that. Ask
someone their name. Again, we're having food
out there today. It's a great opportunity to
do it. The only person in here who can't learn
someone's name is Pastor Greg. So everyone else,
and feel free to test him. I would love that.
was at the door today, and I meant to text him
for it to be a name tag Sunday, and I forgot.
I'm the guy who asks everybody to wear name tags
usually once a month, but I've been off my game
lately. So some of us have them, but would it
be possible to set those out, Pastor Greg? He's
on it. So that you can get a name tag. If you
would, that'd be super nice. It makes it a little
bit easier for us. Then you can just look and
say the name's person and not feel as awkward
even though you're learning or remembering their
name. Hey there, Andy. Good to see you today.
P stands for Pokemon. What were some of the interests
that people had? Bowling. Yes, love it. Movies.
Writing. Very good. This side? Biology? You like
that? Or someone else did? Who likes that? I
was listening to a podcast on biology on my way
here today. So, yeah, if I can find that person.
So the reason I say Pokemon is... A while ago
in a sermon, I used an example where I think
Jesus would know about Pokemon because Jesus
loved kids. Jesus connected with them. And that's
a great way for us to connect with the people
around us is to learn what interests them and
to learn about it. So if you see a kid running
around with a transformer, is Archie here today?
Does he have a transformer? Okay, he took his
transformer back. All right, there we go. Connor
brought his. Ask somebody what their transformer's
name is. You will get way more information than
you ever imagined. These kids are smart. Ask
about writing. Ask someone what they like to
write. And that goes to three questions. I always
like to say the first time you ask a person a
question, you might get a one -word answer. If
you ask them another question. You might get
a few more words. If you ask them a third question,
they're going to realize that you really are
interested and you'll get a little bit more out
of them. What did you do this past week? I didn't
really do anything. Did you spend time outside
since it was nice? Yeah, I spent some time outside
gardening. What do you like to garden? Okay,
now we're getting somewhere, right? Three questions.
So name, learn their name, learn what their interest
is. Even if it's Pokemon and that's not really
your thing. And ask them three questions. It
could be about that or it could be about something
else. So NP three. All right. I will say one
closing prayer. I think Pastor Greg's supposed
to close us and I think he's still doing name
tags. Would you be willing to do communion, Pastor
Jen? If you want to go ahead and come up. Pastor
Greg, I asked Pastor Jen to help with communion
since I wasn't exactly sure when you'd be back.
I could hear you out there. Awesome. All right,
let's go ahead and say a prayer and then we'll
let them tag team. Heavenly Father, thank you
for today. Thank you for helping us to see what
fellowship looks like. In your community. Help
us not to take for granted. What that looks like.
Help us to remember that it's more. Than just
getting together and enjoying each other. As
important as that is. Help us to listen to your
spirit. As you guide us. And how we speak to
one another. And the things that we talk about.
Help us to be willing to put others above ourselves,
which means sometimes something as simple as
asking names and questions and interests to connect
and show love with one another, even when it's
not something that comes naturally to us. In
Jesus' name, amen.