Let's gather into our tables take our seats and we'll pray to get ready for tonight's Bible study All right, please join with me in a word of prayer Heavenly Father we are so grateful to you God. We're so grateful that you make our gathering possible you're the one and the reason why we join together and Lord God by the word that you provide the spirit you provide and the gospel you've provided We are able to have fellowship in this way we recognize God what a privilege it is to be able to have a United body and we again want to thank you for making it all possible according to your grace It is also our prayer that as we join together It's that as you're the one making it possible Lord that it is pleasing in your sight I ask God then that you would continue just to sanctify each and every single one of us cause our Theology our faith to be so full with the content of Christ cause our spirit to be so eager to worship To give you praise to learn of your word and grow that God the content of our faith and the attitude of our hearts would be Truly the sacrifice you desire to see and now Lord as we join in with our voices.

We do pray God that again you'd be honored and that we would be blessed throughout this Bible study. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen I will trust my Savior Jesus When my darkest doubts befall Trust Him when to simply trust Him Seems the hardest thing of all I will trust my Savior Jesus Trust Him when my strength is small For I know the shield of Jesus Is the safest place of all Jesus, only Jesus Help me trust you more and more Jesus, only Jesus May my heart be ever yours I will trust my Savior Jesus He has said His way is best And I know the path He's chosen Leads to everlasting rest Jesus, only Jesus Help me trust you more and more Jesus, only Jesus May my heart be ever yours Pour on that cross Pour on that cross How it was seen I can go now ever trusting In the one who died for me What can I bring For your gift is complete So I trust you, simply trust you Lord with every part of me Pour on that cross How it was seen I can go now ever trusting In the one who died for me What can I bring For your gift is complete So I trust you, simply trust you Lord with every part of me Jesus, only Jesus Help me trust you more and more Jesus, only Jesus May my heart be ever yours Jesus, only Jesus Help me trust you more and more Jesus, only Jesus May my heart be ever yours The splendor of the King Clothed in majesty Let all the earth rejoice All the earth rejoice He wraps himself in light Darkness tries to hide Trembles at his voice Trembles at his voice How great is our God Sing with me how great is our God And all will see how great How great is our God Age to age, age to age he stands Time is in his hands Beginning and the end, beginning and the end The Godhead, three in one Father, Spirit, Son The Lion and the Lamb, the Lion and the Lamb How great is our God Sing with me how great is our God And all will see how great How great is our God Name above all names Name above all names Worthy of all praise And my heart will sing How great is our God Name above all names You're the name above all names Worthy of all praise And my heart will sing How great is our God How great How great is our God Sing with me how great is our God And all will see how great How great is our God Let's pray.

Dear Lord, we just come before you this evening. It's privileged that we're able to just meet freely and to enter into your presence. We thank you for the sacrifice of your son. We thank you Lord for just all the blessings that you give us and all the things that we just don't deserve, that you still continue to love us, that you can still continue to just pursue us.

And yeah, we just thank you for bringing us here tonight. I pray Lord, as we just go into a time of discussion, that you just give us strength, give us energy tonight, allow us to be focused and attentive and allow us to have fruitful conversations. In your name we pray, Amen.

Okay, well I'd like to go over some announcements for you guys so you guys know what's coming up. The first thing is a family ministry picnic happening Sunday, October 20th from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and that will be taking place at Bill Barber Park. So there's going to be obviously some staggering with the services but please know you're welcome to come, both members and non-members, for some time of fellowship with the family ministry.

The next announcement is that we are hosting a child safety training. So anybody who would like to work with and volunteer with the children, anything from our Reformation Night that's coming up to future VBS, etc., or even just to babysit, we do require a safety training that's going to take place on 10/20 at 1.30 p.m.

in the main sanctuary. So please make sure you sign up for that so that we can know how many people to expect and put that on your calendar. For all the men, there is a men's ministry fellowship taking place on Saturday, November 9th. And that's going to go from 9 a.m.

till 12. There's some light breakfast refreshments. We'll have praise, discussion groups, a panel of some of the faithful men of our church that will be answering questions and more. So please make sure to sign up. It's only $10 per participant. And then finally, the last announcement I have is going to be for our regional Thanksgiving dinner.

So if you have not done it, take your phones out now and do the quick QR code to sign up and register. It's going to take place Sunday, November 24th at 5 p.m. across various homes that people have graciously volunteered to open up so that we can get together, have potluck or dinner.

And then we'll also have a service that will be broadcast from the church so that we can be on the same page with the worship and message that evening. Okay? Great. So please, for everything else, make sure you're on the app or go to the main church website and click on "Events" and sign up for the various things taking place.

Hope you guys have a great time in discussion. We'll see you guys back at 8. Thanks. 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chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) 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chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) (general chatter) All right, so, sometimes you may just simply just don't want to be in a crowd, or maybe there's some people you don't get along with, or just in your priority, just making friends is just not that important, right?

Some of you guys may know, the earlier part of the church, we had another elder at our church. He passed away a couple years ago. But that elder, he was one of those people. He was an elder, well, it was before he became an elder. But he was a faithful member of the church for so many years, and then he kind of woke up and started really growing in faith, and every week he would come and ask me for books to read, and he got really deep into theology.

But one thing that he refused to do is hang out with the church people, right? So he would be prayer, and devoted to scripture, and if we had prayer meeting, he's the first one, the last one to leave, but anytime we went out to eat, he would disappear, right?

And then he would actually reappear when we would finish eating, and then we're gathering to do something, right? And so I remember, 'cause he used to really be into triathlete, triathlon, so he would go and run 14 miles and then come back and then join us. And I remember sitting down one day with him.

I said, "How come you don't hang out with us?" And he's like, "I don't want to waste time." Yeah, you don't want to waste time. He wants to be productive. And I remember sitting, and I told him, and his name was Vince, and I said, "Vince, being part of the community is important." I opened up scriptures with him and basically went over this Bible study with him.

And at the end of it, he said, "Yeah, you know, I just have very little tolerance "for small talk. "So if you want to engage and really talk about God," he said, "but I don't have patience to sit there "and talk about Dodgers and talk about traveling "or Disneyland, you know what I mean?

"Stuff like frivolous stuff, right?" So I remember talking to Vince and said, "Vince, most people can't go from zero to 10 feet deep, right? "They're not going to meet somebody new and say, "'I want to share my life with you.' "It doesn't happen that way. "Most people are going to have to gradually work up to that.

"So you're going to have to start with Disneyland, "go to Dodgers, eat some food, hang out. "They start to feel comfortable with you, "and then you become friends, maybe superficially, "and then you start to go deeper with them. "But there are some people I know in this room "feel the same way.

"You don't have much patience for the in-between part, right? "Some of you are the opposite. "You're afraid of going deep, "so you want to stay at the shallow end, right? "But whatever the case is, right?" And I remember challenging him for that, and then literally next week he just stopped running, and then he would just hang out with us.

I remember the first time he would go eat with us, we took four hours to go eat lunch, you know, because our church would just hang out all the time because when the church was smaller, and then we would come back, and then you could tell he was so frustrated.

He said, "I can't believe we took four hours to eat lunch." And I remember telling Vince, "But during those four hours, what did you do?" And he said, "Well, I talked to people." I was like, "Yeah, we didn't waste four hours. "The four hours where you are connecting with people, "and then those conversations could turn to talking about God, "but you're not going to go from zero to 10, right?" And so without the gathering of the church, that doesn't happen, right?

You might meet somebody like you who's like, "Yeah, I really want to talk about God in quiet time," and that's good, but majority of the people usually takes time for them to trust you, for them to open up. So if you're in a habit of not gathering and rubbing shoulders and getting to know people and even the shallow things, those things will lead to more connections, right?

And that's why we say the gathering of the church is important if we want to build community. There's four things that I want to cover about biblical fellowship. One is biblical fellowship is always Christ-centered, right? Now, it doesn't mean that every time you get together, you're going to talk about Jesus in quiet time, but it's founded upon your relationship with Christ.

There is no fellowship with somebody who is not interested in following Christ. This is not just like any community, right? Everybody who has all interests, all doctrines, whatever they want to do, I just want to find friends, right? Church is a gathering of people who have been called out for the purpose of honoring and following Christ.

So the foundation behind true fellowship are other Christians. That's why the first covenant in our church is that I confess Jesus Christ as Lord and my Savior, right? And so the fellowship of the church is not just everybody coming in so that we can share life together. No, this is sharing Christ together is the foundation of the church.

Claiming to have union with Christ while living in sin is self-deception. And also, wanting to feel connected at church while embracing sin is also self-deception, right? If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. No matter how much you say, "I feel connected with Christ and I have fellowship with God," no matter how much you say that, the Bible says, because God is light, if you are embracing sin, you don't have fellowship, it doesn't matter how close you feel.

It doesn't matter how intimate you think, "You know, I'm so intimate. Me and God is like that." That's all in your head. That's not what the Bible says. God is light, and if you are in darkness, there is no fellowship. You're deceiving yourself. But also, along with that, only those who are communing with Christ is their true fellowship.

If we walk in light and He Himself in the light, we have fellowship with one another. Fellowship happens. Fellowship is not something that we force upon each other. It happens because in the context of other people who are pursuing Christ, when they gather together, fellowship happens. Because you're with like-minded people.

Your mind and heart is headed toward the same place. I know Dodgers is playing right now, and some of you guys are barely paying attention because you are fellowshipping in Dodgers, in your heart, even though you're not sitting together talking about Dodgers, watching Dodgers, but your hearts are filled with Dodgers.

So when you are gathered together with other Dodger fans, automatically there's Dodger fellowship going on. So in the same way, people who are in love with Christ, people who are following Christ, fellowship happens in the context of people who have already have their hearts toward Christ. You don't have to be talking about Christ to have fellowship.

You don't have to be having Bible studies to have fellowship. If people who are in love with Christ gather together, fellowship tends to happen because we're already--our foundation of our heart is the same. Number two, biblical fellowship is other-centered. Biblical fellowship is other-centered. Now, we're going to be looking at 1 Corinthians 10, 20 through 24, but I want to read these five things before I move on.

Freedom in Christ--anyone who's a Christian have found freedom in Christ that we are not bound by a code of conduct of this is what you should do, this is what you shouldn't do. We are freed by the law. We're not bound by the Old Testament law. Our code of conduct is higher code which puts others' conscience before ours.

That's what it means to participate and live in a community where I'm not coming in and say, "This bothers me. I like this, and I don't like this," and you're coming and you will expect everybody else to adjust to me because that's my preference. This is what I want.

Somebody who is self-centered will never find true community because that person, everywhere they go, wants everybody to adjust to them. There is no community with that person no matter where you go. Biblical fellowship is other-centered. I'm going to read that in the text that we're looking at. We are to do all things ultimately for the glory of God.

We are to consider others better than ourselves. 1 Corinthians 10, 23, 33, "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable." An immature Christian is always asking, "Is this sinful or is this not sinful?" If it's not sinful, if you can't find a passage in the Bible that says, "I can't do this," then I have the freedom to do whatever I want.

That is a very fleshly, immature Christian. As long as it's not prohibited, unless God said, "You cannot do it," then that's the standard that they use to what I can and cannot do. But he says, "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable." Why is it not profitable?

All things are lawful, but not all things edify. It doesn't encourage other people. He said, "Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor." Let no one seek his own good. Don't make fellowship about, "I like it. I don't like it. I don't want to go here because of this." But ultimately, how does it benefit the Church of Christ?

How does it benefit the Church? There are some things that we do at church that you might not like. I'm sure we do things that you might not like. You might not even agree with. Do we have to clean the church every quarter? Do we have to have a Christmas party?

Do we have to have a Thanksgiving? Do we have to do this? You can have your own opinion. But the things that we're doing at church is for the purpose of edifying the body of Christ. So if you use your preference as a standard for everything that, "I like it.

I don't like it," but it's like, "Does this edify?" Are there people who will benefit from this? Is the body of Christ built on this? Obviously, the leaders make decisions based upon what we think will edify the body of Christ. But if you have a church filled with people who everything that they do and don't do is simply, "I like it.

I don't like it," then it will be impossible to ever make any decisions in the church because we know somebody is going to say something. It says, "Does it edify? Let no one seek his own good but that of his neighbor." 25-29, "Eat anything that is solid in the meat market without asking questions.

For conscience' sake, for the earth is the Lord's and all it contains. If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions. For the conscience' sake." If anyone says to you, "This meat is sacrificed to idols," do not eat it.

This is in the context of meat sacrificed to the temple, and some people are saying, "You can't eat that because that's tainted." But Paul is saying, "It's just meat. There's no innately irreligious thing because it was at the temple. It's cheap. It's delicious. Eat it." You have the freedom to eat it, except if eating that is going to cause someone else to stumble for their conscience' sake, not your conscience' sake, for their conscience' sake, he said, "Don't eat it." If anyone says to you, "This meat is sacrificed to idols," do not eat it for the sake of the one who informed you for conscience' sake.

I don't mean that not on your own conscience, but the other man's. For why is it my freedom judged by another's conscience? If I participate with Thanksgiving, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks? In other words, this is not a matter of, "Is it right or is it wrong?" You have the freedom in that context.

But for the purpose of the conscience of someone else, don't eat it. In other words, don't simply think of yourself. Think of the other person. That's why he says, "Whether then you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all for the glory of God." Not simply, "I like it.

I don't like it. It bothers me. This is what I prefer," but for the glory of God. "Give no offense either to Jews or Greeks or to the Church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved." I'm going to go a little bit longer today because I have other things to cover.

What are some things in our generation? Obviously, meat sacrifice to idols is not an issue in our generation. But what's an issue in our generation? What you wrestle with, that may fall onto this category. Some of you probably may be wrestling with that right now. Say it. Drinking is probably top of the list, one of the top of the list.

How would we apply that to drinking? There are some people in our church who want us to ban drinking. "You're not allowed," covenant number 11. "Alcohol touches your lips. You cannot be a member." And they have some reasons behind it. They grew up in an abused family where the father was an alcoholic, or maybe they struggled with it, and they were in a halfway house.

I know some people who, because they struggled with it, had to go to a rehab center for months. I know some people who came to our church, and they said they were around Christians all through high school, and they were pretty much drunkards. And he said he had no respect for Christians because of that.

And so he came to our church, and he said he decided to come to our church because he didn't see that in the church. And then there are some people in the church who grew up drinking wine with their parents after Bible study. So to them it's strange that alcohol is even an issue.

It depends what your background is. So alcohol in and of itself, is it sinful? Yes. Just kidding, just kidding. I'm just making sure you're paying attention. Of course, alcohol in and of itself is not sinful. Jesus turns water into wine. Paul says to Timothy, "Drink some wine for the sake of your health." But the way you drink alcohol can be an issue like this, where you say, "I have the freedom." Yes, you have the freedom, but you're very childish.

Because you're not thinking about anybody else but your freedom. I mean, during the pandemic we had issues that came up where people were like, "I have the freedom." Say, "Yes, you have the freedom." But we have church filled with people who feel other way. You can say, "But I'm right." It's like, "Yeah, that's what everybody thinks." So there are other issues.

Obviously, drinking is top, and that's the easiest one. There's other things that happen. But the principle that we are taught is, "Think of others first." It doesn't mean that you can't ever do it, but do it with other people in mind. Paul says, "If it's going to bother other people, I won't eat meat.

I don't have to eat meat for the sake of other people." That's a mature person. A mature person is not somebody who says, "I know Christ. I've been free, so I have the freedom to do whatever I want." That's an infant. A mature Christian is somebody who thinks beyond that and say, "Even though I have the freedom to do that, it doesn't bother me, but because it will stumble some other people, I'm going to be careful." Again, Philippians 2, 1-4, "Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection of compassion, make my joy complete by being the same mind, maintain the same love, united in spirit, intent in one purpose." Now, how do you do that?

He says, "If Christ means anything to you, be one in mind, compassionate, having same love in spirit." How do you do that? Well, 3 tells us. How do you become united? "This is my preference, and this is what I desire. I'm going to fill my life with people who agree and think the same way." Is that how you become united?

No. He says, "Do nothing from selfish ambition, selfishness, or empty conceit, but with a humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourself. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." So if you're in a habit of not gathering with other people because some other people who have different views, different personalities irritate you, you are a spiritual infant because you're not thinking about anybody else but yourself, right?

And so here it says you can't find unity in the church if every person in the church is saying, "This is what I think," and everybody needs to think and act the way I think and act. And I only want to surround myself with those people, right? It says, "No, the only way that the church can be united, especially as the church gets bigger and bigger, if more and more people are unselfishly giving of themselves and considering others better than themselves." Now, we're not saying that there aren't times that we need to put our foot down and say, "This is the right doctrine.

This is what the Bible teaches, and I can't change," right? But there's a lot of things that is simply your preference that we need to consider others first, okay? And the gathering of the church is a place where we practice that. Third, biblical fellowship produces holiness, right? Biblical fellowship produces holiness.

Purpose of fellowship is to stir up one another on toward love and good deeds, right? Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own sympathy, as it have us some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the danger on it.

Consider, right? Contemplate. Think about. When you're gathering together, the word "stimulate" means to provoke very strongly that because of your presence, because of your relationship with that person, that person is constantly provoked on toward love and good deeds, right? The purpose of fellowship is to carry each other's burdens.

And I'm going to get to this verse after I read it. The ones who are spiritual needs to pursue those who are caught in sin, right? And you can't do that if you're not gathering, and you don't know how other people are doing. Like, my family's taken care of, my good friend's taken care of, my brother, my sister, so I'm good.

But the purpose of the community is not just here's 5, 10, 15 friends that I've committed myself, and then everybody else I can care less. You can't build a biblical healthy church with that attitude, right? Restoration must be done in spirit of gentleness. The pursuit must be done with self-awareness of your own shortcomings.

Bearing one another's burdens here means to bear the task of restoring a sinner to Christ. So biblical fellowship produces holiness. To brethren, if anyone's caught in any trance by you who are spiritual, right? Instead of being irritated and simply pointing fingers, it says if you recognize the sin of other people, right?

Instead of saying, "Why are they like that?" and pointing their fingers, right? And immediately going to judge judgment, it said the reaction should be to restore such a one in spirit of gentleness. Each one looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and therefore fulfill the law of Christ, right?

If you do regular Bible study on Wednesdays, and you do not practice the love of Christ, right? The Bible study is going to ruin you, right? It's going to ruin you because what humbles a Christian is the practice of love. If you do not practice the love of Christ, the Word of God is going to make you an arrogant person because the Word of God is going to be like a light that shines on other people's sin, on mistakes they're making, what are they doing, what they shouldn't be doing.

That's what's going to happen. But what humbles us is in the context of loving people that are difficult to love. It humbles us. It forces us to take the Word of God and to apply it in our lives, and it neutralizes arrogance. You cannot--arrogant people cannot love because to love somebody, you have to empty yourself.

You have to learn to step in their shoes. You have to learn to be patient. You have to accept their shortcomings, and you can't do that when you're filled with pride and stiff, right? And so the church, in order to fulfill the love of Christ, it's not just study, we're going to go evangelize, all these things are important, but first and foremost is to bear each other's burdens.

That's what it says, right? Fourthly, biblical fellowship produces God-centered, other-centered, holiness-producing community, right? I'm going to touch upon this because of the time. 1 Corinthians 12, 14 to 18, "For the body is not one member but many. If the foot says, 'Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,' it is not for this reason any less part of the body.

And if the ear says, 'Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,' it is not for this reason any less part of the body," right? He said God has deliberately given us different gifts. The frustration that we get into is that we look at someone else's gift and say, "I want that," right?

You may be the fastest person on your team, but then you end up coveting the tallest guy, but I want to be the center. So because you end up focusing your attention on what other people's gift is, you end up not being a good point guard, right? The speed that God gave you that that team needs, you end up not functioning because you have your eye always on what the other guy has, right?

So he says, "If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?" But now God has placed the members, each one of them in the body, just as he desired, right? Just as he desired. The gift that God has given you, God has given you uniquely.

Some of you are better at other things than others, but every single person God made uniquely, right? You have an unhealthy church. An unhealthy church is always coveting this stage, whatever it may be, to lead worship, to preach, to teach.