{"id":875,"date":"2014-04-02T15:14:01","date_gmt":"2014-04-02T20:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/?p=875"},"modified":"2014-11-25T10:12:47","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T16:12:47","slug":"spiritual-friendship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/02\/spiritual-friendship\/","title":{"rendered":"Spiritual Friendship, A Mark of Discipleship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/sermons\/?sermon_id=34\">Audio Version<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Acts 2:42-47<\/p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/87-do78e8hc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><sup>42<\/sup>The community continually committed themselves to learning what the apostles taught them, gathering for fellowship, breaking bread, and praying.\u00a0<sup>43<\/sup>Everyone felt a sense of awe because the apostles were doing many signs and wonders among them.<sup>44<\/sup>There was an intense sense of togetherness among all who believed; they shared all their material possessions in trust.<sup>45<\/sup>They sold any possessions and goods\u00a0<em>that did not benefit the community<\/em>\u00a0and used the money to help everyone in need.\u00a0<sup>46<\/sup>They were unified as they worshiped at the temple day after day. In homes, they broke bread and shared meals with glad and sincere hearts.\u00a0<sup>47<\/sup>The new disciples praised God, and they enjoyed the goodwill of all the people\u00a0<em>of the city<\/em>. Day after day the Lord added to their number everyone who was experiencing liberation.<a title=\"\" href=\"#_ftn1\">[1]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Just what is a spiritual friendship?\u00a0 As I re-read the chapter on spiritual friendship, it reminded me of a couple of things.\u00a0 The first that came to mind was the text today from Acts.\u00a0 In the reading, we have a multitude of believers who are in community together.\u00a0 Day by day, they spend time together and they eat together.\u00a0 The community is a community of believers with sincere hearts.\u00a0 Being this close, doing so much together, you cannot tell me that there was not conversation around who God is, who Jesus is and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 This community is not one in isolation but through fellowship, they are insolated from the effects of the outside world.<\/p>\n<p>What is Christian fellowship?\u00a0 It is a time of discussion and time of togetherness, by other Christians, centered on Christ.\u00a0 This centering is where the conversations should be.\u00a0 This centering, with fellow Christians is the perfect opportunity to share, to explore one\u2019s spirituality, to question, and expand knowledge of who God is and how we can respond.<\/p>\n<p>It is during this fellowship time that we are protected from the outside world.\u00a0 The darkness of the world tells us that faith, God and spirituality are not and should not be the norm.\u00a0 Often we find that Christian fellowship has started to conform to secular idea and centered upon Christ. I have heard it said, \u201cFellowship has come to mean a noisy after-session at church with coffee and cookies and a lot of idle chatter about everything on earth but spirit things.\u201d<sup> <a title=\"\" href=\"#_ftn2\"><sup>[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup> \u00a0I have been part of this time of fellowship too.\u00a0 I have witnessed it and partaken in it.\u00a0 This is the time to foster spiritual friendship.\u00a0 How many Christian homes know how to converse about Jesus Christ?\u201d<sup><sup><a title=\"\" href=\"#_ftn3\">[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>In the book <i>Power Surge,<\/i> it says, \u201cSpiritual friends pray for and with each other, encourage each other, share insights into Scripture, and help one another reflect on the ways God is present and active in their lives.<a title=\"\" href=\"#_ftn4\">[4]<\/a>\u00a0 The second thing I thought of when re-reading the chapter on spiritual friendship, was about the friends I have had, the prayers I have shared and reflections of what God is doing in my life.\u00a0 Had I not had these spiritual friends, I would not be standing here today.\u00a0 Well, maybe I might be better off saying, because of God and my spiritual friendships, despite what I wanted and despite my fight to the contrary of what God wanted, I stand here today.<\/p>\n<p>Fellowship and spiritual friendship is more than just a friendship but it is not less than just a friendship.\u00a0 God is always working in the world and seeing this, through your own eyes and through another\u2019s, spiritual friends, allows us to experience the kingdom of heaven, today, here and now.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 311px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.goodcompany.ro\/ckfinder\/userfiles\/images\/friendship.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.goodcompany.ro\/ckfinder\/userfiles\/images\/friendship.jpg?resize=301%2C320\" width=\"301\" height=\"320\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spiritual Friendship enlightens us to see what God is doing in the world.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Where people ignore the common life of the Christian family, they become isolated, and often find it difficult to sustain a living <b>faith<\/b>. Where people no longer share regularly in \u2018the breaking of bread\u2019\u2026, they are failing to raise the flag which says \u2018Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection are the centre of everything\u2019 (see 1 Corinthians 11:26). <a title=\"\" href=\"#_ftn5\"><sup><sup>[5]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We can be devoted in our prayers, read the Bible, attend weekly worship and be committed to service to others.\u00a0 All of these marks of discipleship are good, great even.\u00a0 Without Christ at the center and having spiritual friends, we can stray from these marks.\u00a0 Without the spiritual friends, decrement of what God is up to becomes cloudy.\u00a0 Spiritual friendship is crucial to maintaining our sense of direction upon the road of discipleship and seeing what God is up to in the world today.<\/p>\n<div>\n<hr align=\"left\" size=\"1\" width=\"33%\" \/>\n<div>\n<p><a title=\"\" href=\"#_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> The Voice, Ecclesia Bible Society, Thomas Nelson, 2012, Acts 2:42-47<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><a title=\"\" href=\"#_ftnref2\"><sup><sup>[2]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a> Robert J. Morgan, <i>Nelson\u2019s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes<\/i>, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000), 322.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><a title=\"\" href=\"#_ftnref3\"><sup><sup>[3]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a> Robert J. Morgan, <i>Nelson\u2019s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes<\/i>, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000), 322.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><a title=\"\" href=\"#_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a> Foss, Michael W, <i>Power Surge, <\/i>Fortress Press , Minneapolis, 174.5 \/ 313<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><a title=\"\" href=\"#_ftnref5\"><sup><sup>[5]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a> Tom Wright, <i>Acts for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-12<\/i> (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2008), 45.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Audio Version Acts 2:42-47 &nbsp; 42The community continually committed themselves to learning what the apostles taught them, gathering for fellowship, breaking bread, and praying.\u00a043Everyone felt a sense of awe because the apostles were doing many signs and wonders among them.44There was an intense sense of togetherness among all who believed; they shared all their material &#8230; <span class=\"more\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/02\/spiritual-friendship\/\">[Read more&#8230;]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29,37,63,10,83,62],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-875","6":"format-standard","7":"category-community","8":"category-discipleship","9":"category-fellowship","10":"category-jesus","11":"category-sermon","12":"category-spiritual-friendship"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2m6h5-e7","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2913,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2022\/08\/07\/6-marks-of-discipleship-spiritual-friendships\/","url_meta":{"origin":875,"position":0},"title":"6 Marks of Discipleship: Spiritual Friendships","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"August 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"8-7-2022The Fifth Mark of a Disciple: Spiritual Friendships 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (NIV)Acts 2:42-47 (NIV)John 1:1-7 (NIV) https:\/\/youtu.be\/BFUN0L8mR_M?si=8-qBp0IZtTqhf-bP","rel":"","context":"In &quot;6 Marks of Discipleship&quot;","block_context":{"text":"6 Marks of Discipleship","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/6-marks-of-discipleship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/BFUN0L8mR_M\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2116,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2018\/11\/25\/6-marks-of-discipleshipspiritual-friendship\/","url_meta":{"origin":875,"position":1},"title":"6 Marks of discipleship:Spiritual Friendship","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"November 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"11-18-20182 Corinthians 6:14-18Acts 2:42-47John 1:1-7 https:\/\/youtu.be\/es_TwKtyOt8","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Discipleship&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Discipleship","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/discipleship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/es_TwKtyOt8\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":833,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2014\/03\/12\/mark-of-discipleship-weekly-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":875,"position":2},"title":"Mark of Discipleship, Weekly Worship","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"March 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Lent 2014 Theme, \u00a0Six Marks of Discipleship based on the book,\u00a0\u201cPower \u00a0Surge: Six Marks of Discipleship for a Changing Church\u201d, Michael Foss Audio Version [youtube\u00a0http:\/\/youtu.be\/R5SD3rjF07I] 1 Corinthians 11:23-26\u00a0 TVB 23I passed on to you the tradition the Lord gave to me: On the same night the Lord Jesus was betrayed,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Community&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Community","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beallwoodbaptist.org\/Portals\/0\/NewWorship2-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beallwoodbaptist.org\/Portals\/0\/NewWorship2-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beallwoodbaptist.org\/Portals\/0\/NewWorship2-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":883,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/09\/giving-a-mark-of-discipleship\/","url_meta":{"origin":875,"position":3},"title":"Giving, A Mark of Discipleship","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"April 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0Sixth Mark of Discipleship: Giving Audio Link \u00a0 Psalm 37:4,21-22,25-26, 29-29 \u00a0 4\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of 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[1] 21\u00a0\u00a0 The wicked borrow, and do not pay back, but the righteous are generous and keep giving; 22\u00a0\u00a0 for those blessed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Discipleship&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Discipleship","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/discipleship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/ehUZow6U5Lw\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2123,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2018\/11\/29\/6-marks-of-discipleshipgiving\/","url_meta":{"origin":875,"position":4},"title":"6 Marks of discipleship:Giving","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"November 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"November 25th, 20182 Chronicles 31:2-7Hebrews 7:1-10Matthew 6:19-24 https:\/\/youtu.be\/MLg7781mwHk Giving for a disciple is out of gratitude, not obligation. Giving for a disciple is an attitude of gratitude of response to God for what God has first given. 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