Living Light

Stirring The Deep

Tag Archives: assembly of believers


by 37 Comments

Unhealthy vs. Healthy Fellowship

Unhealthy vs. Healthy Fellowship

 

In the past years, the question of fellowship has come up more and more. Perhaps because of the times we are in. It’s a topic heavy on my heart as I see many who are in unhealthy fellowships, as I once was. They looked good on the outside, but the subtleties of what they supported or didn’t took me on a path away from God by thinking I was on the right path when I wasn’t. For example these fellowships entailed; the Word wasn’t really the focus, my time in the Word wasn’t critical, cultivating personal intimacy with God wasn’t the center, dependency on teachers was accepted, trusting the spirit to teach wasn’t emphasized, a works mentality was honored, as long as I was in church I was headed in the right direction, and so on. They had major impacts to my spiritual health.

Now, we are all fallen. Look at who Jesus hung out with. Fallen people but they had a hunger for truth and listened and followed His Words. He is The Word. He was the authority. As in His communities, is the Word really first in ours? Now contrast that to the Pharisees who didn’t listen to His Word, but were quite religious, who followed the doctrines of men, and thought they knew better. It is about our hearts. It is about who is our authority, who we truly trust, who we truly follow – God or man.

Others have a tremendous influence on us and it’s critical especially these last days to examine the fellowships we are engaged in. Fellowship to me means the gathering of believers with the goal to encourage, exhort, pray, serve, tell of God’s good works and praise among other purposes. Healthy fellowship enriches our spirits, while unhealthy destructs.

The questions we all need to ask ourselves:

1. Are the fellowships we are engaged in healthy according to God’s Word?
2. Are they what GOD desires of us? Or are we following the crowd?
3. Have we taken time to deeply seek God’s will in this area?

Here are some verses on what kind of fellowships NOT to engage in:

Psalm 26:4-5, 2 Timothy 3:5

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 “I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner–not even to eat with such a person 12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

1 Timothy 6:5 “useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. “

In these last days, the false prophets, teachers, leaders, and messengers, will be where the majority of God’s people are – in the church system. There are a multitude of verses warning us about this unhealthy association with others as well as the vastness of deception and lies in the end days. God knew unhealthy fellowship would be extensive these days and warned us over and over because its influence is powerful. Let’s take heed to His warnings. Let’s understand our ability to be influenced by those around us.

Our guard from being in unhealthy fellowships is abiding in the Word in faith on a daily basis. Psalm 17:4 It’s our responsibility to examine our fellowship in the light of God’s Word like the verses above and act according to His instructions not our justifications. Justifications like; sure they (their church) are off on some things but overall I think they are doing good. By whose judgment, ours, the church’s, or God’s?

Lies are damaging, yet too often we excuse them. 2 Corinthians 11:4 The other day a fellow blogger mentioned in her blog, God’s Promises are Real, that Satan’s only weapon is lies. But what an effective tool that is! I think Christians start compromising the truth when they fear of appearing judgmental, pushing others away, being alone, or being rejected. At least these have been some of my reasons in the past. But it is for the sake of our spirits and others that we need to hold fast to the truth and expose lies with a motive of love when we see them.

Right now most of us, if not all, are living in some deceptions and lies because we live in a fallen world and its influence is strong over us. But as we abide in God’s Word and He reveals those lies to us what do we do? Continue to accept and support them? The Apostle Paul encountered all sorts of issues among believers. What did he do? He exhorted them and if they didn’t take heed to God’s Word, he responded as in 1 Corinithians 5. He didn’t hold back, justify or ignore. When it was necessary, he said certian people needed to go if they didn’t heed instruction. He told them to not compromise by letting damaging behaviors slide. And in some cases, he told them to leave unhealthy fellowships. He understood that one bad apple ruins the batch. He did this because He loved them.

Healthy Fellowship

True, healthy fellowship is a wonderful treasure. What does it look like? Different fellowships hold different purposes, but here are some of the characteristics I see in the Word:

  • Informal gathering of 2 or more believers getting together being open, honest
  • Each person is in the Word being taught by the Spirit and He is the source of truth not a human teacher
  • What is spoken of is tested against the scriptures
  • Drawing near to God and love as the goal – not entertainment, not increase in numbers
  • Each actively uses their gifts
  • More mature ones help others to learn from God and be dependent on God not man
  • All parties are active, not passive
  • Time to encourage and exhort as lead by the Spirit
  • Opportunity to help others in need
  • A place where it is okay to question beliefs of others and okay to disagree
  • Where there are no man-made rules only the Word of God
  • No dominations, but unity in the Spirit
  • Intimacy to pray for one another
  • Minister to each other’s deeper needs because you take time to know them
  • Share God’s work in each others lives and praise God

Fellowship is a gift. God designed us to be connected to one another. But with this gift, as all gifts, we need to take heed to His instruction in this area so that we aren’t misled and the gift isn’t misused. It is a very influential area in our lives, whether good or bad. We each need to examine our fellowships in light of God’s Word and spend time seeking His will for where and who we fellowship with. Fellowship comes in many different forms. Let’s not limit Him or ignore His leading in this area. It is critical to our spiritual health.

 

Bookmark and Share


by 27 Comments

Out of the Church System – Into God’s Arms

Out of the Church System

Into God’s Arms

 

As I read and hear about all the unrest around this issue, I felt compelled to share part of my story with you. This is a difficult topic to talk about – no doubt. My prayer is that you will listen with an open heart and that you will get from it whatever God has for you.

This second video is my thoughts on an issue that is often raised when people mention leaving the church system – the assembling of believers mentioned in Hebrews 10:25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Some Unhealthy Fellowship Verses: 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, 1 Corinthians 5:9-13, Psalm 26:4-5, 1 Timothy 6:5, 2 Timothy 3:5

I’ll be posting more related videos in the following weeks.

First Video Transcriped . . .

Out of the Church System – Into His Arms (Video Transcribed)

Hi, I’m Rachel with Stirring the Deep and I wanted to talk to you about what has been happening in the church community regarding people leaving the church system – not the true church, the body of believers, but the system, the institution, the business.  I see a lot of restlessness occurring, so I wanted to share with you my story.  Now, I know this topic brings up an lot of different questions and issues. I want to address some of those – not in this video but in a later one when I have more time. For example, the verse Hebrews 10:25 where it talks about not forsaking the assembling together, issues about young Christians, fellowship and those sorts of issues.

But here I want to tell you about my story.

I grew up in the church. Like a lot of us that grew up in the Church, there comes a time when you have to make God your God and the faith your faith.  God brought me to a point in my life where He basically turned everything upside down. Where I was just tired of my life. I wanted God to take over. It came to a point that I wanted a relationship with God that was real. I didn’t want a religion. I didn’t want to go through the acts anymore. I wanted a real relationship with God.

So I started seeking Him in His Word. But now when I read, I was reading on a daily basis getting to know Him – asking God who are you? Show me who you are. I want this to be real because that is what a real relationship is, right? It is communication back and forth. It’s really getting to know somebody.  And God started to open up His Word to me. It was slow . . that development of a relationship with Him because I had a lot of things I had to let go of. It was a process. But that is what started to happen in my life, this relationship developing.  I was no longer reading to do a Bible Study or to “fix” myself. I was reading to build intimacy with God.

Around this same time, I was involved in a church, highly involved. My husband and I would go to Bible Studies and small groups. We helped out at the church, and built a great sense of community, friends and support. It was wonderful what we had. But over time, a gap started forming between the cultivation of our relationship/intimacy with God as we spent time in His Word one-on-one, listening to His Spirit in our life AND our church involvement. It wasn’t just that we disagreed about different truths in the Bible. It was more than that – it was a bigger gap happening underneath it all. This gap created a restlessness in us that at first we really didn’t understand. As this restlessness continued, we decided to take a break from the church. Whenever you are so wrapped up in something it’s very hard to hear clearly. We said, God we just want to be still and be with you and give ourselves time and not be influenced by all these other things, including our own thoughts because we had enjoyed all that community, all the social aspects and all that it offered.  We had to honor that restlessness and figure out what was going on.

We sat with God day after day seeking, reading in His Word – old prophets, Revelation, reading everything. Over time, from His Word and the prompting of the Spirit, we felt that God was calling us out of the church, not the true body of believers. We’re always connected with them, but the church system, the business, the institution. This was a radical thought, because I had grown up in the church. I had always been in the church. It was a part of my life. Can this be? But the more I prayed and the more I read, I felt YES, this is exactly what you’re hearing. I started seeking around and other people where feeling the same thing and had already left the church. It was incredible.

Having been in the church for so long, we decided to go back and see how we felt in our spirits. This is now we often are – we ask God and He answers us in His Word, confirms it in our spirits, and through other people, but we still say, are you sure God?

Leaving was such a big deal and it was hard because we had a community of friends. But when we went back, it was like the spirit was pushing us out the door. It was undeniable that we weren’t supposed to be there.  We haven’t been back since, that was 2004. It wasn’t to go find another church that is also something else that was very clear. It was to come out of the church system.

It was difficult and I continued to pray, why, is this right? Because I have friends and family in the church. But the message has only grown clearer and stronger over time. The basic message was, that I’m reading from God’s Word, judgment is coming upon the church. And part of that judgment is that the sanctuary, the house of God, will be given over to the enemy. It talks about this in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations and so on and it all connects back to Revelations – it’s incredible. That’s prophecy and that’s what is going to happen, I believe. God is going to call His people out and He will protect them. Those who are really listening to Him will follow Him, His voice wherever He leads. He will be their sanctuary, their Shepherd, and protect, guard and provide for them in every way. This message is what I’ve been seeing happening exactly. You see what the church is starting to and has become. How the enemy is taking over the sanctuary. How people are giving into a big delusion. The church has become the center and not God. People are trusting in the church and man for their provision, protection, comfort, and teaching. Everything is really centered on the church. They can’t pull away from it because they wonder what’s going to happen to them. That kind of dependency means that is where your trust is thus your idol.  And all of this is exactly what God’s Word talks about. Our trust should be in God. God can use different things, but who is the source of our trust – our dependency will tell us.

Anyway, God continued to unfold His Word and lay out this plan. It has been hard because being outside the system isn’t where the majority of people are. But the choice really came down not so much leave the church or not, because you can give all these reasons why church can be bad or good, but it was about whose voice was I going to listen to, man’s or God’s?

I hope that my story encourages you to seek God’s truth in this, not anyone else’s like your church’s, but what is God saying to you. What is His will? And give yourself time to really listen to His voice – that still small voice. If we truly seek and we really want to know the truth, then He will open up His Word to us. He will lead and show us His will for us. But we have to be willing to listen. We have to be willing to truly follow Him. It’s my prayer that you would have that seeking heart.

2 Thessalonians 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

Bookmark and Share