by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
If we say we have fellowship with HIM…<\/p>\n
Anyone can claim to have fellowship with God, but the proof is in the way they live. If you walk in darkness, doing the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21), you are not <\/strong>in fellowship with God (I John 1:6).<\/p>\n Walking in the light with God requires a repentance that turns from the old way of life. If you are living with someone in sexual relations before and without marriage, you are “walking in darkness<\/em>.” Fornication is sex before marriage (I Corinthians 7:2; Hebrews 13:4), and no fornicator has any inheritance in the kingdom of God. Don’t be deceived! (I Corinthians 6:8f). Saying you have fellowship with God while walking in darkness means only that you are lying to yourself, to God, and to others.<\/p>\n Walking in the light means that you are practicing righteousness and have left the darkness of sin or unrighteousness. You cannot continue in sin that grace may abound (Romans 6:1ff). When we slip up, we confess those sins and get clean again. But, we do not purposely walk in sin as a way of life. If you plan to live together without first marrying, you are planning to sin as a way of life. You cannot claim fellowship with God if those are your plans. Likewise, if you plan to lie, steal, gamble, and drink as a way of life, you are planning not to walk with God in the light. There is no fellowship with God while planning to walk according to the flesh.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton If we say we have fellowship with HIM… Anyone can claim to have fellowship with God, but the proof is in the way they live. If you walk in darkness, doing the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21), you are not in fellowship with God (I John 1:6). Walking in the…<\/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":[494,253],"class_list":["post-89331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-christian","tag-fellowship"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24655,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fellowship-a-word-study\/","url_meta":{"origin":89331,"position":0},"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":70936,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-command-to-seek-forgiveness-of-sin-from-a-brother-before-worshiping-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":89331,"position":1},"title":"Is it a command to seek forgiveness of sin from a brother before worshiping God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, brother Hamilton, I have a question. Does Matthew 5:21-24 always mean or dictate one must go to their brother whom they have sinned against before they can ask God to forgive them? Answer: \"You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder' and\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":18232,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fellowship\/","url_meta":{"origin":89331,"position":2},"title":"Fellowship","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As hard as we try to keep terms pure and free from the influence of denominations, we still sometimes find things creeping into our language. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People wanting to call the minister, \u201cpastor\u201d even though it properly belongs to those who oversee the congregation - the elders. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Similarly, the desire to\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":84204,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/sinless-perfectionism\/","url_meta":{"origin":89331,"position":3},"title":"Sinless Perfectionism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Chappalear via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 4, December 31, 1987 Some brethren are saying today that they believe the \"walk\" of the faithful saint is negated if he commits even a single sin inadvertently (or against his will). This, of course, would include the sin of teaching\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":2561,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-does-a-disfellowshiped-christian-worship-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":89331,"position":4},"title":"How does a disfellowshiped Christian worship God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a person is disfellowshiped at a congregation, then how can that person biblically worship God? How does a person know that they have been disfellowshiped? Today's churches seem to practice no visible discipline, but many are treated as if they have been disfellowshiped. It seems the decision is\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":18293,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-about-the-contribution-mentioned-in-romans-1526-isnt-that-making-fellowship\/","url_meta":{"origin":89331,"position":5},"title":"What about the contribution mentioned in Romans 15:26? Isn’t that making fellowship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What\u00a0you have said\u00a0has been\u00a0very\u00a0helpful and I am growing in my understanding now. This is what you said: \u201cFellowship is\u00a0a description of who they were. They were a people of one heart and one soul. Thus fellowship is\u00a0a description of their state or attitude toward each other. 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