The VC “Lockdown Christian Fellowship”

[Surley]

I'm in! U.S.

 

[Wigi]

I'm in from France.

I was thinking about the following (it's from the book Mere Christianity):

If the whole universe had no meaning, we would never have discovered that it had none, just as if there was no light in the universe and there was no creature provided with eyes, we would never know the night. The word night would have no meaning.
[...]
We do not know if only those who know him can be saved through him. In the meantime, if you are concerned about the people left out, the most unreasonable attitude you can take is to stay out on your own. Christians are the body of Christ, the organism by which he acts. Any addition to this body allows him to work more. If you want to intervene with those who remain outside, you must add your poor little cell to the body of Christ, which alone can help them. Cutting a man's fingers would be a curious way to train him to work harder.

 

[annabanana]

I’m in! California.
Name is Hannah. I’m an apostolic Christian if you have to know. I’m married and in my mid thirties working in the medical field.
I don’t think I’ve ever introduced myself to VC forums officially ever before. I’m on the shy side and overly sensitive so I don’t put myself out there too much. It seems safe here so I’ll come out and talk.
Anyways, thank you for starting this forum. It’s nice to meet you all.

 

[Lisa]

I’m sorry I’m going to have to say I’m out now...I can’t be in if someone else who’s in won’t talk to me...that’s not building someone up but tearing a person down.

 

[Red Sky at Morning]

I’m sorry I’m going to have to say I’m out now...I can’t be in if someone else who’s in won’t talk to me...that’s not building someone up but tearing a person down.

I was just watching this on “relationships” which is perhaps one we can all take something from. We’re all works in progress after all ;-)

 

[Lisa]

I was just watching this on “relationships” which is perhaps one we can all take something from. We’re all works in progress after all ;-)

I’ve practically begged this person to talk to me so we might be able to work it out...

 

[Red Sky at Morning]

I’ve practically begged this person to talk to me so we might be able to work it out...

Sometimes things happen in their own time. We are all different characters with different backgrounds, strengths, weaknesses and gifts I guess...

 

[Lisa]

Sometimes things happen in their own time. We are all different characters with different backgrounds, strengths, weaknesses and gifts I guess...

Ok, I’m still out..I hope your thread becomes all you were hoping it could become.

 

[annabanana]

If it’s not to personal to ask, would you all like to share how you ended up becoming a Christian? I think that would be awesome to hear and encouraging as well.

 

[Douglas Summers]

I received a pastoral telephone call from someone at a church I sometimes attend. She asked me how I was getting on and we chatted for a minute or two. I then asked her what she thought was going on with the coronavirus and if she thought event 201 was suspiciously well timed. The conversation froze! I came to think that there are some things that I just can’t talk with all of my Christian friends about, but need to with some in order to make sense of what is going on in the world!!! In this forum, we deal with some pretty dark stuff that certainly isn’t for every Christian. This got me thinking...

With churches closed and half the world in isolation, I wondered if it might be good moment to create a space on the forum for fellowship and not debate?

Never give up contending for the Faith. God said judgment starts in the Church (That is to judge sin in the Church), God will judge those outside the Church. If you will notice fellowship is using the Scriptures (The word of God) to lift everyone up by the truth and promises of God. But the visible and self willed are the ones that turn fellowship of the Scriptures into false interpretation...But we must contend for the faith, and that means discussing the signs of the time. We do not spend enough time on the Gospel thou, > Christ came into the world to present the kingdom of Heaven, He was rejected and died for our sins, was buried and rose again on the third day and has promised by faith that He would raise us up with him in the last days to eternal life. But even that is controversial to some on here. Just do as the Spirit leads you and you can't go wrong.

 

[Thunderian]

If it’s not to personal to ask, would you all like to share how you ended up becoming a Christian? I think that would be awesome to hear and encouraging as well.

I am a prodigal son, taken back into fellowship by a loving and merciful God.

The abridged version is that I was raised in a Christian home, the son and grandson of preachers, and even though I accepted Christ at a very young age, I didn’t try and live a very Christ-like life until I was well out of my twenties. I was raised on pre-trib eschatology, including the teaching that this world is headed for a single government, but none of that became real to me, either, until I was much older.

I am nondenominational, evangelical, saved forever by the blood of Jesus Christ, and I can’t wait to get outta here!

 

[Red Sky at Morning]

I feel these words from Ephesians 4 are as relevant today as they were then:-

Walk in Unity

1I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There isone body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Spiritual Gifts
7But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8Therefore He says:

“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”
9(Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

11And He Himself gave some to beapostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

 

[annabanana]

I am a prodigal son, taken back into fellowship by a loving and merciful God.

The abridged version is that I was raised in a Christian home, the son and grandson of preachers, and even though I accepted Christ at a very young age, I didn’t try and live a very Christ-like life until I was well out of my twenties. I was raised on pre-trib eschatology, including the teaching that this world is headed for a single government, but none of that became real to me, either, until I was much older.

I am nondenominational, evangelical, saved forever by the blood of Jesus Christ, and I can’t wait to get outta here!

That’s awesome to hear! Raise up a child in the way they should go
It’s such a blessing to have parents that teach morals and values.
Heaven is going to be worth every single trial that this life can bring. Anyone else?

 

[Red Sky at Morning]

I quoted the above because I had a very clear mental image a couple of days ago about why we have unity on the one hand yet disagree with one another on various ideas and doctrines in the other. I have been watching “the Chosen” (great series btw) and considering the variety of characters who Jesus picked out.

He must surely have had a smile to himself about the differences and quirks each one had. If they had met in ordinary circumstances, they may not have had that much in common, being different ages, social backgrounds and temperaments. But when they became disciples and followers of Jesus, they began to take their eyes off their differences and started to listen to Him instead.

I had a picture in my mind of our journey to maturity and “Christ-like ness” being rather like looking up a mountain and seeing the “high calling” of God at the top, with the Lord waiting to meet us. Imagine people from various spots around that mountain starting off on that journey. Some who perhaps started out near our own village might end up joining us on the journey while others we might only see from a distance. Others might be ascending the other side of the mountain and we may understand much less of their journey as it is so different to our own. Bearing with one another’s differences and encouraging and picking up others as we go is what our Lord might expect of us.

The promise of this journey is that the closer we get to the Lord, the closer we also become to one another. I think that this is one of the goals of fellowship.

It is unrealistic to think everyone will “get along” by reaching some kind of consensus, after all, Christianity is far more about relationship than religion and it is only as we grow in relationship with the Lord that we suddenly notice we have unity in the spirit and the bond of peace.

Hope this is helpful...

 

[Red Sky at Morning]

That’s awesome to hear! Raise up a child in the way they should go
It’s such a blessing to have parents that teach morals and values.
Heaven is going to be worth every single trial that this life can bring. Anyone else?

My experience was a little like @Thunderian ‘s

My early Christian roots...

I became a Christian pretty young (about 9 or 10 years old I think) having seen my parents become Christians as a child and seeing the change in them.

I can still remember when I came to a moment of decision - I had woke up early on a Christmas morning and I had two “big” presents, a Scalextric and a tape recorder. My dad, who was an early riser for work to milk the cows was up about 5am as well and said I could open one of the presents. I chose the cassette player. There were a couple of cassettes lying in the table and this was one of them:-

I think I listened to it a couple of times and by the time my dad had got back in from his work I had given my life to the Lord.

We were very privileged to have come to know the Lord at a time when people prayed and asked for healings and miracles rather than demanded and claimed them. As a result, we saw a good many “impossible” things happen when we prayed in the name of Jesus. All of this was before I had listened to anything other than the Gospel of Luke. I became a Christian because Jesus died for me and deserves my life in return. The reality of the risen Jesus became obvious to me in answered prayer, and over the years, the knowledge of Him that I have gained from reading and studying the Bible has only added to that relationship.

To pinpoint the song which spoke to me all those years ago, it was considering the words of this song that led me to become a Christian.

^ I posted the above up elsewhere earlier, but it’s still true so I guess a bit of cut n’ paste is OK occasionally!

Later on (might expand some time or add a few links)

A long story short, but I have had a number of times where my heart has grown cold and rebellious over the years, but the Lord in his grace has kept drawing this prodigal home.

Another one of my favourite old school songs:-

 

[floss]

If it’s not to personal to ask, would you all like to share how you ended up becoming a Christian? I think that would be awesome to hear and encouraging as well.

I'm an ex-Buddhist, ex-New Age mystic, ex-Witch (unknowingly). Had several occult practices but somewhat mastered Astral Projection (out of body experiences). When I'm in AP mode, I met the god from 2 Corinthians 11:14. I began to worship him for a few years and life was hell on earth. I defiled this temple and had many demons living inside. One night, the chief demon came upon me and trying to devour my soul. JESUS showed up and saved me from going to the dark side. It was an undeniable experiences how real the LORD JESUS is. The feeling of your soul being eating by the devil is not something I wish for my worst enemy.

 

[floss]

I quoted the above because I had a very clear mental image a couple of days ago about why we have unity on the one hand yet disagree with one another on various ideas and doctrines in the other. I have been watching “the Chosen” (great series btw) and considering the variety of characters who Jesus picked out.

He must surely have had a smile to himself about the differences and quirks each one had. If they had met in ordinary circumstances, they may not have had that much in common, being different ages, social backgrounds and temperaments. But when they became disciples and followers of Jesus, they began to take their eyes off their differences and started to listen to Him instead.

I had a picture in my mind of our journey to maturity and “Christ-like ness” being rather like looking up a mountain and seeing the “high calling” of God at the top, with the Lord waiting to meet us. Imagine people from various spots around that mountain starting off on that journey. Some who perhaps started out near our own village might end up joining us on the journey while others we might only see from a distance. Others might be ascending the other side of the mountain and we may understand much less of their journey as it is so different to our own. Bearing with one another’s differences and encouraging and picking up others as we go is what our Lord might expect of us.

The promise of this journey is that the closer we get to the Lord, the closer we also become to one another. I think that this is one of the goals of fellowship.

It is unrealistic to think everyone will “get along” by reaching some kind of consensus, after all, Christianity is far more about relationship than religion and it is only as we grow in relationship with the Lord that we suddenly notice we have unity in the spirit and the bond of peace.

Hope this is helpful...

Wow Red, I think we've been operating on the same wave length or something. The other night I followed Global Citizen on twitter to see what they are up to and 12 hours later you had a thread about it.

Today on the way to my "essential" works, I was just thinking to myself since we're in the end time we should get along despite doctrinal differences. As long as you "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be save", that will be good enough for me moving forward. Either we're going to be swoosh outta here soon or be martyr for Christ. Destination will still be the same.

 

[annabanana]

I'm an ex-Buddhist, ex-New Age mystic, ex-Witch (unknowingly). Had several occult practices but somewhat mastered Astral Projection (out of body experiences). When I'm in AP mode, I met the god from 2 Corinthians 11:14. I began to worship him for a few years and life was hell on earth. I defiled this temple and had many demons living inside. One night, the chief demon came upon me and trying to devour my soul. JESUS showed up and saved me from going to the dark side. It was an undeniable experiences how real the LORD JESUS is. The feeling of your soul being eating by the devil is not something I wish for my worst enemy.

Yes. Something like that is definitely a wake up call. It’s amazing how much God loves each and every person in spite of the activities and lifestyle choices a person might be making at the time. I’m so happy to hear you were delivered from that traumatizing situation.
Thank you for sharing

 

[Red Sky at Morning]

... since we're in the end time we should get along despite doctrinal differences. As long as you "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be save", that will be good enough for me moving forward. Either we're going to be swoosh outta here soon or be martyr for Christ. Destination will still be the same.

That’s exactly how I see it - thanks @floss

 

[annabanana]

Look at us being friendly and getting along in spite of differences. Go us. Thank you everyone that has shared. I always love hearing people’s testimonies of coming to salvation. Each story is beautiful and special and unique.