2023 Fellowship Meeting. Elder Larry Wise reminds us of the amazing love of God that was manifested towards us. God sent his only begotten Son to save us from our sins. Now, we are called to show that same love of Christ to others in our lives as well.

2023 Fellowship Meeting. Elder Joe Nettles takes the amazing victory of Gideon as an encouragement from fear. The dream of a loaf of bread gave Gideon the courage to defeat the Midianites. We see Jesus Christ as the bread of life that is broken for us. We can partake of Christ as the bread of heaven in communion with him in the kingdom of God.

2023 Fellowship Meeting. Elder Ben Shettles reminds us of the necessity of our eye being single and focused on the kingdom of God. We do not lay up treasures for ourselves on earth that are corruptible, but instead we lay up true heavenly treasures in the kingdom of God that cannot be corrupted in this world.

2023 Fellowship Meeting. Elder Rusty Wise preaches from Psalm 1 about the necessity of discerning our company through the word of God. We need to be sure to forsake ungodly influences in our lives. It is by testing our close fellowship with others through the standard of the scriptures that we are kept from sin in our lives.

The exclamation of John the Baptist on the Jordan River 2,000 years ago is the same message of all the Bible, of all eternity – Behold the Lamb! We see the theme of the Lamb all throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We see the Old Testament continually pointing towards the necessity of the shedding of the lamb’s blood to atone for sins. In Christ, the Lamb came and took away the sins of the world. Then, the Lamb is set to return to bring his precious bride home!

We see the pattern of evangelism of the original church – the rank and file members of the church went everywhere preaching the word. They shared their joy in the good news of Christ with everyone they came in contact with, and we should follow their example. The foundation of this evangelism is a godly life that is a witness to the gospel that we profess. Without an integrity and godliness within our daily lives, we have no credibility to share the good news with others. Our conversation should become the glorious gospel of unconditional love and grace that we profess.

One of the chief identifying attributes of the kingdom of God is a body of believers that are excited and zealous to share God’s word with others. Sharing God’s word with others should be a natural expression and overflowing in our lives from our love of the gospel. Evangelism is just as simple as declaring your experience – telling others your witness and testimony of God’s grace in your life.

We see John the Baptist as the forerunner of Jesus Christ. He was called to challenge the religious elitism of the day that put men in bondage. To tear down the prideful mountains of the Pharisees and to exalt the downtrodden poor in spirit oppressed by them. As with all the ministry, John was called to a voice, not to exalt himself. We should follow John’s example of simply being a voice to point others to the Lamb.

One of the most important identifying attributes of the kingdom of God, is a full time, fully invested ministry. The pattern today is rarely for a full time minister to be fully supported by the church, but that should be the biblical pattern that we should strive towards. The ministry is not a part time, weekend calling, but we are called to cease not to preach and teach, to give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

One of the most vital mandates of the original church was a commitment and focus on preaching the gospel externally to people outside the church. God’s ordained means of growth and expansion of the kingdom is the preaching of the gospel. We need to recommit to an external focus on sharing God’s word with those outside the church to grow and expand the kingdom of God.