by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
Years ago, I heard a preacher encourage brethren not to worry so much about who to fellowship with as about what to preach and support from God’s word. He said, “Just focus on preaching the truth of God’s word, and fellowship issues will begin to take care of themselves.” What he meant was that those drawn to truth will come around and support and encourage you, while those with a different agenda will tend to put some distance between you and them.<\/p>\n
As a general rule, I have found that to be true. It would be good if everyone were drawn to Jesus and His truth, and because of that common bond with Christ and His word, we would have fellowship with each other. That was the ideal that Jesus prayed for in John 17:17ff.<\/p>\n
On Pentecost, truth drew together 3,000 (Acts 2:37-47) who had all things in common. The rest of the Jews began to sort themselves. Peter simply preached the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Fellowship began to take care of itself accordingly. That is how it works today! Those who love God and His word sort into His fellowship and those not interested in truth sort themselves away from those who stand with and for the truth (John 17:17).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton Years ago, I heard a preacher encourage brethren not to worry so much about who to fellowship with as about what to preach and support from God’s word. He said, “Just focus on preaching the truth of God’s word, and fellowship issues will begin to take care of themselves.” What he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[253,441],"class_list":["post-83234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-fellowship","tag-truth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15700,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/biblical-fellowship\/","url_meta":{"origin":83234,"position":0},"title":"Biblical Fellowship","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: I John 1:5-2:6 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fellowship has often been the center of controversy \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Part because the word has been misused by both denominationalists and Christians. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But it also has been area of trouble because we don\u2019t always know where to draw the line. II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What is fellowship \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Definitions \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sun\u0113theia - A\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24655,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fellowship-a-word-study\/","url_meta":{"origin":83234,"position":1},"title":"Fellowship: A Word Study","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Becky Rene It is essential at this point that we understand how our spiritual fellowship is expressed. So we will take the time to examine the noun \u201cfellowship\u201d (koinonia) in all the contexts in which it appears. Some of the verses are difficult to understand because the translators have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/fellowship.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1156,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-fellowship-be-denied\/","url_meta":{"origin":83234,"position":2},"title":"Can fellowship be denied?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where is the Bible passage that authorizes you to deny me fellowship as a member of the church when I acknowledge Christ and have been baptized? is there an ugly little secret that only those whose baptismal outlook is baptismal regenerationist are recognized? Apparently, my belief that my sins\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":96072,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/buy-the-truth-and-do-not-sell-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":83234,"position":3},"title":"Buy the Truth and Do Not Sell It","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bill Robinson There Is No Honorable Life Without Truth There is a verse in Proverbs that reads like a command given to a merchant. \"Buy the truth, and do not sell it\" (Proverbs 23:23). The picture is of a man at a market. He will pay whatever it costs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57513,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-fellowship-with-someone-who-left-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":83234,"position":4},"title":"Do you fellowship with someone who left the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If someone leaves the church and you try to encourage them to come back, are you to fellowship with them? Answer: Fellowship describes the state of a relationship between two people. It is like the word \"friendship.\" Friends do things together, but just because you do something with another\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15698,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-you-in-fellowship-with-the-authors-of-the-articles-on-your-web-site\/","url_meta":{"origin":83234,"position":5},"title":"Are you in fellowship with the authors of the articles on your web site?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is Brian A. Yeager, the author of one of the articles on your web site\u00a0a sound teacher? I have looked at\u00a0his web site\u00a0and it does not seem that he or the congregation he is with agrees with anything. They don't fellowship with anybody. 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