Lesson 29: God’s Sovereignty Teaches Us to Appreciate Fellowship

Hebrews 10:23, 25 - "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful…not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

One of the biggest dangers we face as Christians is this: the temptation to stop meeting together on a regular basis. Why? First of all, it has nothing to do with man-made legalism or dry stale religious ceremony. But it does have everything to do with our spiritual well-being. You see, if we do not meet together on a regular basis, we will miss out on a regular source of encouragement. I do not know if you realize this yet, but we need to be encouraged because we live in a wicked and discouraging world. It will only get more and more wicked especially as we see the Day of the Lord getting closer. Therefore, we need each other! But our problem is that we are tempted to not encourage ourselves in the things of the Lord. We want to be encouraged in the things of this world. But once we spend less time with the Lord and more time with the world, our zeal and passion for the Lord will slowly start to die out. It happens every time.

Out of mercy God allows a few difficulties to help us learn to appreciate the love and encouraging support of fellow Christians. We certainly know it is never coming from the world. Hopefully our eyes are opened to the danger of living a life of isolation.


God is not trying to torture us by having to go to church services; He is trying to protect us from spiritual danger. He knows if we isolate ourselves or get distracted by the things of this world, our zeal for Him and the lost will start to die out! And if He has to allow a few difficulties to come our way to get us to appreciate the need for fellowship, which is for our own benefit, then so be it! If we stop meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, then not only is our spiritual growth in jeopardy but so are the spiritual destinies of those around us. People around us are going to hell and if we really want to make a difference while we can, then we better get serious in our walk with God. This is especially as we see the Day of the Lord approaching! If we really love the Lord and want our loved ones to be saved, then we are not going to spend all of our time in the things of this world. We are going to meet together and work together to get the gospel out to this world!

* How have you seen difficult circumstances in your life become an opportunity to encourage someone else?