Good morning! And welcome to Harding Street Church of Christ! We’re glad you can join us on this beautiful day that the Lord has made! I hope that all of the students, parents, and teachers have had a great start to the year, and are excited to see what the rest of the school year brings. Today is our monthly Birthday and Anniversary Potluck, to celebrate our members who have birthdays and anniversaries in the month of August. I hope you have made plans to join us for this wonderful fellowship with your Christian brothers and sisters. 1 John 1:7 reads, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we will have fellowship with one another…” It is important for those who call themselves followers of Christ to have fellowship with one another. Not just when the church plans activities, but throughout our daily lives we should strive to be with each other in fellowship so we can build each other up. Jesus did not discriminate against who He had fellowship with, he had relations with the sinners and the religious leaders of the time. If we want to live a life following Jesus, then we must have fellowship with those whom we call our Christian family.
Along with the idea of fellowship, we cannot stop our fellowship at only those who meet at Harding Street, but we have to have relationships with all those who call themselves followers of Christ. We just announced the dates for the Area Wide Gospel Gathering for Conway County. It will be October 13th-16th and the Downtown Church of Christ is hosting this year. More details will be available soon, but I encourage all of you to come and enjoy the singing, teaching, and fellowship with other Christians from our area. We will have the opportunity to hear messages from some young preachers of the area, and from some more seasoned preachers from the area. I hope you all will make plans to join us each night of the meeting so you can be uplifted and hear a portion of God’s word.
Fellowship should not just stop at the doors of the church, however. For those of you still in school, all the way from preschool to college, you know that there are going to be students who don’t have many friends, and who a lot of people call weird or strange. Let us remember that we are not called to avoid people who we think are different from us or who look weird, but we are called to love everyone. If you see someone who you think needs someone to talk to or needs someone to just sit next to them and be there, go help them. We are not to view people as the world views people, but we are to view everyone as some who we can teach and help to understand that they need to look beyond worldly things. I challenge all of us to go out and have fellowship with those who the world may call “weird” or “strange” so we can show our Christian light throughout our whole community.
-Geoffrey Bane
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