"Un's" Part 2: Unbroken Fellowship & Uncommon Courage

Part 2 of my new series: "Un's"


Un #2: Unbroken Fellowship

The disciples weren’t lone rangers. They didn’t try to change the world by themselves. As a matter of fact they knew that the only way the world could be won to Jesus was if everyone who claimed the Name was on board. So they spent countless hours in prayer, fellowship, worship, teaching, eating, and hanging out with other believers. Their goal? To see them transformed into the image of Jesus and, therefore, transformed into a missionary force (just like Jesus).
The purpose of fellowship is not coffee and doughnuts, not warm fuzzies…the purpose of fellowship is alignment of a group of people around the person of Christ and mobilization toward a global mission. Think of it like a football game. You huddle (AKA "fellowship") so that you can go out right after and execute a play (AKA "evangelism"). Too often today in many Sunday service buildings and youth groups we huddle to huddle. But we never execute the play. We stay locked in a huddle while the Enemy of our souls executes his plays with precision and power.
What’s the solution? See the huddle for what it is, an absolutely crucial element for your team to win the game of evangelism in your community, on your campus or in your workplace.

Un #3: Uncommon Courage

As soon as the Spirit of God descended on the early disciples, uncommon courage was infused into their souls. Peter stood up and boldly proclaimed the gospel to a hostile crowd of thousands. When the religious leaders pushed back later on in Acts they found that these boys were not intimidated in the slightest. Check out Acts 4:13, "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus."
When we spend time with Jesus and yield to His Spirit within, uncommon courage should spring forth from the deepest core of our souls. We need to, like the early followers of Jesus, open our hearts to God and then open our mouths.
This brand of courage doesn’t mean that we don’t have fear in our hearts. We just choose to conquer this menacing fear by charging ahead anyway. It's like my first quarry-jumping experience. I was at a quarry with some buddies. As I was walking toward the platform that hung over the water-filled quarry (from there the 35ft drop looked like a 70 ft drop), fear began to take over. My heart rate was definitely racing. As I pushed myself to jump over the edge to the water down below, my heart was pounding so hard that it could have been the drummer for August Burns Red. I was scared. But my actions weren’t deterred by the fear pounding through my veins.
The same is true with evangelism. Courage doesn’t mean that we don’t feel fear, but that we conquer it in Jesus’ name and push ourselves over the edge. Courage means that we refuse to let our feelings dictate our actions. We do what we know we should do even though all the fear factors are working to tell us "no."
If we want to see true and lasting revival in our nation then we need to swallow our pride, push down our fears and take the plunge into a lifestyle of sharing the Gospel.
Geronimo!