In his sermon 'Fellowship With Christ,' David Green discusses the importance of unity and fellowship within the church, using 1 Corinthians chapter 1 as his primary text. He highlights the divisions within the Corinthian church, emphasizing that true fellowship is only possible when Christ is preeminent. Green explains that divisions often arise from pride and self-interest rather than love of truth. He underscores God's faithfulness as the foundation of our fellowship with Christ, noting that it is not based on human effort or perfection. Green stresses the importance of knowing Christ personally, beyond mere intellectual knowledge, and encourages believers to engage with the Bible, prayer, and active church participation to deepen their relationship with Christ. He also touches on the significance of enduring sufferings with the knowledge that Christ is a constant companion. The sermon concludes with a call to repentance and faith in Jesus, affirming that true fellowship with Him is the greatest blessing.

It is good to be here and I do appreciate the opportunity to be able to be a part of this conference. I've been looking forward to it for a long while. And like Brother Sled mentioned, I saw that hurricane come and I thought, oh no. But we're thankful. I'm certainly praying for those who were in the direct path of it, but we're thankful that we're able to continue on with this meeting and glad you all are here.

I do want to thank Brother Sled and the Jordan Baptist Church for this opportunity to be here And it is a high honor to be able to be a visiting preacher, to stand behind the pulpit of another church. And I don't take that lightly. And I appreciate this very much. I do bring you greetings from Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Hortense, Popwellville, Georgia where I've been since 2021. And so it's good to be here.

As was mentioned, My daughter Leah and my son Josiah with me last minute my wife wasn't able to be with us She wasn't feeling well and my son had to work my other son Isaiah So pray for them, but we're glad to be here. Lord willing we'll be here through the whole meeting. So looking forward to that. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and Open up your copy of God's Word and let's go to 1st Corinthians chapter 1. I realize that I do have a great spot in so much that I am the first preacher on the program.

I want to try to lay a foundation for this conference. Great theme that it is. Great subject that I have, fellowship with Christ and the theme being the right hand of fellowship. But I'm also going to try not to preach anyone else's subject. But if I do get into into your subject any of you brethren you feel free to come up here and lay a $20 bill up here on the corner of the pulpit, and I'll just move right on.

If I get on your subject, just $20, and I'll just move right on. No sometimes there is repetition at Bible conferences and that can't be helped but but these these this is a very important theme and I appreciate your prayers as we begin. 1st Corinthians chapter 1. I want to begin reading at verse 1 But our text will come from verse 9. But I want to read verses 1 through 17.

Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sosthenes our brother, Under the Church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father, from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God, which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall also confirm you unto the end then you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ the y'all speak the same thing and that there Be no divisions among you but That you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment For it hath been declared unto me of you my brethren By them which are of the house of Chloe that there are contentions among you Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were ye baptized in the name of Paul. I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanus, besides I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." of none effect." As I mentioned my text is coming from verse 9, God is faithful by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." From what I understand, this word that Paul chose for fellowship here is the Greek word meaning community or to join together.

And Paul, as he wrote this, we find that God intended for the church to join together because of Christ. However, in Corinth, they were missing the mark. Their focus was not on Christ, but on men. And there was division, there was great division that was going on there. And as we read this, we find a truth, a truth that has passed through many generations and the same truth that existed then exists today.

And that is that where Christ is not preeminent someone else will be and there will be no true fellowship there will only be schisms and divisions and and all of these things And where do we find that divisions come from? Where do we find breaks and fellowships happen? It is most usually pride, self-interest, love of reputation, the desire to have dominion. Far too often it's not really the love of truth or doctrine. James 4 1 he says, from whence come wars and fighting among you come they not hence even your lusts that war in your members.

And so Paul as he's writing this he's writing this to a church that is very much divided in fact he says there he says to them in verse 13 is Christ divided A lot of times we read these things and we just pass right over it. The reason why I read so much is to really kind of, kind of get the context here, rather than jumping in at verse nine and making a sermon out of it, which I could have done. I want us to really get what's going on here. Paul writes this and he says to them, is Christ divided? It's easy to skip over that.

We know what those words are in the English, is Christ divided? But think about what was going on at the church at Corinth. The church was very much divided. It's an interesting question that he asks them, Is Christ divided? And to think about if the church at Corinth is the way that things normally should be, If the way that many of our churches are today, if the way that divisions happen among brethren, if this is norm, then Christ is divided.

What do I mean? What do I mean? Go back into Psalms 133. Psalm 133. The psalmist wrote this text, wrote this Psalm, and he says, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

It's like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his garment, as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord commanded the blessing even life forevermore. In my Bible I have those words down and descended circled Because unity, fellowship, the kind that is the theme of this conference, the kind that's biblical, it can only come from above. Only God can produce it. You and I, we either protect and preserve it, or we spoil and destroy what he gives and It's fitting that the conference begins with fellowship with Christ.

Jesus himself prayed this way in John 17, in John chapter 17. So we've got the picture of the ointment that ran down on the head and came down Aaron's beard and descended on the mountains of Zion and then in the New Testament Jesus prayed this way in in John 17 verses 20 and 21 he says neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, and they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me That they may be made perfect in one That the world may know that thou hast sent me and thou and hast loved them and thou hast loved me." And so Jesus prayed that prayer. Heavenly unity fellowship is our source and example. And before we can have proper fellowship with the brethren, before we can have a proper right hand of fellowship even, there must be this fellowship proper fellowship with Christ so when Paul says is Christ divided when he reminds the church at Corinth of this he's not this is what he means now beloved he's not talking about some ecumenical type monstrosity that the world sometimes brings up.

But legitimately, this is something to consider in the churches that were members of and even amongst like-minded churches. For even Paul wrote to the churches of Galatia in Galatians chapter 3 Galatians chapter 3 and verse 28 something that struck me as I was preaching through this text. He didn't write this to just one church, this was to the churches there and he says, for There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And so there is this bond that we have in Christ, even that goes beyond the bond that we have as individual churches It ought to thrill our souls to see a church in good fellowship with one another but also to see churches in good fellowship with each other in meetings like this that's one of the reasons why I love Bible conferences like this one but how can it happen? What's the only way that it can happen?

Well, right there in our text, In 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verse 9, God is faithful By whom you were called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord There are indeed some things that we may differ on The The first church at Jerusalem and those churches that came after we can see that there were some things that they Had that were going on I mean Jews and Gentiles getting together and getting along and and coming together as churches That was a miracle all in itself, wasn't it? How did that happen? Well, it was because of Christ That was the bond that brought them together That is what brings us together too, isn't it? Mean I'm sure we all we all do love and appreciate Brother Sled, but one of these days Brother Sled's not going to be around. What then?

The work of the Lord continues. The bond that we have, the bond that you have with each other, the bond that we have together is Jesus. But how is that? Let's break this down. God is faithful.

God is faithful. The foundation of our fellowship with Christ is God's faithfulness. With Christ is God's faithfulness. I like to think about these the way that the writers of the inspired text put it but also like to read after other men so I've learned something as I've gotten older and there's people smarter than I am people smarter than I am. The older I get, the more I realize that that's truth.

And Albert Barnes, he was quite the wordsmith, and he said, writing about this, he said, God is faithful. That is, God is true and constant and will adhere to his promises. He will not deceive He will not promise and then fail to perform. He will not commence anything which he will not perfect and finish. The object of Paul introducing the idea of faithfulness and God of God here is to show the reason for believing that the Christians at Corinth would be kept under everlasting life.

The evidence that they will persevere depends on the fidelity of God, and the argument of the apostle is that they'd been called by him into the fellowship of his son. His faithfulness of character would render it certain that they would be kept to eternal life. Praise God. I mean, Chloe's done ratted them out. They've got some things going on Paul sent in this letter Things don't look so good for him, but guess what?

God is faithful God is faithful Your whole world may be crashing around you. Things may not look so good at church and whatever else may be going on, but God is faithful. Your marriage may be all upset and all your finances may be in ruin and whatever else may be going on, but God is faithful. You may not have any friends in this world, but God is faithful. What an honor.

What a joy it is to know that my fellowship with Christ is not based on my faithfulness. Because here's the news flash, The world around you is a mess, but you look in the mirror and you'll find a bigger mess. Your biggest problem and my biggest problem is the one who looks back at you in the mirror every single morning. The sooner we realize that, the better. It's not based on your faithfulness because if it was, you wouldn't have any fellowship with Christ.

And if you could figure out how to get in with It in God's good graces and to get in to have any fellowship with Christ you'd mess it up real quick You wouldn't be I'll stay there God is faithful. What a blessing it is to know it's not based on my faithfulness, perfection or effort. It rests entirely on God's faithfulness and grace. What a blessing it is to know that my fellowship with Christ is not based on whether or not I have two friends or 500 friends or no friends in this world. What a blessing it is to know, to have fellowship with Christ knowing that He'll never leave me nor forsake me.

And once you get your mind wrapped around that, oh what a blessing that is. No one, no one, read Romans chapter 8, meditate on that. Who can separate us from the love of God? Man, what a blessing that is. And then he goes on and he says here, God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord.

God is faithful by whom you were called. We were called. I believe this is talking about that irresistible or that effectual call. Everyone who the Father elected, the Son died for, will assuredly come to Christ and have fellowship with Him. Through the power and the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, when the Spirit draws in the effectual call, the sinner most willingly comes to Christ.

And it's impossible to resist the will and the power of God. God calls certain people unto himself to the fellowship of his dear son. Isn't it a blessing to know that he doesn't just call you to him and say, do your best? No, no. You've got fellowship with his son.

You've got fellowship with God. You've got fellowship with Jesus Christ our Lord. Understand something This doesn't mean That This is just some external blessing that is enjoyed every you know whatever every every now and again look at Colossians chapter 1 maybe I'll be able to better explain what I'm trying to say here. Colossians chapter 1 verse 27 Verse 27. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory.

Anyone can know something about Jesus. You can read about him in the pages of the Bible. You can Learn about him from the pages of history and all that. That's head knowledge. That's not the same as what I'm talking about.

What I'm talking about in this fellowship, I'm talking about, are you, Is Christ in you? Are you in Jesus this very hour? It's not enough to know about Christ intellectually, but do you know him personally? The question isn't so much about When did you profess him, but rather do you possess him? Does he possess you?

Are you in him? Is he in you? When we look at this, you say, well, preacher, sometimes I just don't feel so close to the to the Lord and so I'm not sure understand something there are times in the Christians life when you don't feel as close to the Lord as what you once were. But as my grandfather used to say, who reckon who moved? You know, he if you're saved, he's with you always.

But there are times in your life when you're not where you ought to be. You're not in his word. You're not praying. You're not in church like you ought to be. But there are things that we want to consider about all of this.

And some people have this idea that once you're saved, the things are always going to be so good. You know, this health and wealth kind of a salvation type thing that people preach. I don't believe that. In fact, turn with me to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3.

And verse 8 beginning it says, Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have Suffered the loss of all things and to count them but dung That I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection, in the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead Paul is talking about fellowship of his sufferings As one commentator put it to realize in all of his sufferings that he was walking in the footsteps of his Lord. He didn't desire to know Christ's sufferings, that is to suffer in the same way that Jesus did, but to fellowship of them, the sense of fellowship with Christ in his trials, so that the captain of our salvation, so that as the captain of our salvation, he was made perfect through suffering, He that the disciple might also be and the sufferings of Christ were the salvation of the church So that he might share in that work by filling up the sufferings that remain and so If you think of it this way, a friend, someone you have fellowship with, who is with you, he knows what we're going through.

And certainly Jesus does. Jesus does. We are going to suffer as Christians sometimes oftentimes we do And so we have that fellowship indeed there is that there is a Reality that in the fire in the flood in the trouble in trial a lot of times there's sweeter fellowship there with Jesus than what there is in the sunshine and the great days. And also consider this, the world, the world and all that they have outside of Christ, They have their best life now. You and I, the best is yet to come.

The best is yet to come. I don't want my best life now, because I know we've got something better coming. When the Lord takes us on out of here, Proverbs 18-24, that latter part says, there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Oh yes, it is good to have a multitude of friends.

It is good for us to show ourselves friendly. We ought to. But my, my, we don't. Friends come, friends go in this life. But there is a friend.

There is fellowship that you'll find that is sweeter than any other fellowship. And that is with Jesus. That is with Jesus. Do you know him today, beloved? Do you know him today?

If you are here today, do you know him? And if you do know him, how well do you know him? How well do you know him? Jesus did not die on the cross of Calvary simply To be a fire to be a fire escape to be a fire escape. Are you enjoying full fellowship with Jesus?

Can you imagine being married to someone for 25 years and not knowing a thing more about that person today than what you knew when you first met? That would be a scary situation. That would be a terrible situation. Whether you were saved a month ago, 25 years ago, do you know more about Jesus today than what you did when you first were saved? How can you have fellowship with Jesus?

He speaks to us through His Word, the Bible. We have it. We have it. It is available to us very easily in our language. In fact, it is amazing how easily available it is.

You can buy it at Walmart, you can get it at the dollar store, you can download it on your phone. It's amazing how easily available the Bible is in English language. Read it, study it, don't just have it here at church. You ought to have it at church, but get into it every day. This is God's word.

He has given it to us, and it's been translated into our language. We have to thank God for that. And we have to read it, not just as an intellectual exercise, but in order that we can fellowship with God and that we may know our Lord better. And we respond in worship and in prayer. We need to be in prayer daily and be an active member of one of the Lord's churches and attend regularly.

In 2nd Corinthians chapter 5, sing Corinthians chapter 5 in verse 17. So we begin to bring this to a close. I know my time is just about up. He says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away.

Behold, all things are become new. Those who are in Christ are made new that means a new nature new desires The one who is in fellowship with Jesus loves the brethren He wants to be around God's people wants to be in the word. There is a marked change So that John says in first John 1 6 & 7 if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin. Fellowship in this world is great And I love fellowship with the brethren, but understand something. Fellowship, even with your closest friends in this world, is a fantastic thing.

But without Jesus, oh my friend, even a conference like this is a glimpse of heaven on earth, but without Jesus you'll miss the real thing. Repent and believe. Put your full faith and trust in Jesus this very day. Salvation, fellowship with Jesus. What a what a grand thing it is and how you'll never find a better friend than Jesus.

May God add a blessing to his work.