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Gathering Recap | Downtown | 7/27/14

Songs:

The Solid Rock by The Dispatch

Made Alive by Citizens

10,000 Reasons by Kristian Stanfill

Fix My Eyes by King's Kaleidoscope

 

Sermon Tweets

Sometimes thankfulness comes naturally, and sometimes you have to fight for it.

The less thankfulness you practice, the more discontentment you'll experience.

Discontentment is contagious (Hebrews 12:15).

Discontentment, grumbling and complaining directly inhibit our ability to live lives on mission in our city.

Something is wrong when we are bored with seeing people come to know Jesus.

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Gathering Recap | Downtown | 7/20/14

Songs:

Hail The King by Citizens

Praise To The Lord by Citizens

Fix My Eyes by King's Kaleidoscope

Before The Throne by The Modern Post

In Tenderness by Citizens

 

Sermon Tweets

Spiritual disciplines aren't what make God happy with you. In Christ, God is already supremely happy with you. http://ow.ly/yXmax 

Abiding is not about getting God to enjoy you. It's about you getting to enjoy more of God. http://ow.ly/yXmxq 

Don't assume that feeling sorry about your sin is the same thing as killing it. http://ow.ly/yXlIo 

There are morally neutral things in our lives that can fuel or kill our love for Jesus. http://ow.ly/yXmMr 

Always be asking the question: what are things I can do that cultivate my love for Jesus? http://ow.ly/yXmVf 

You have absolute assurance that God's best for your life is secure, because it's past news–not a future event. http://ow.ly/yXn9u 

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Discussion Questions | What Helps Me Run?

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In this Sunday's sermon, resident and pastor-in-training Ryan Rike discussed the ideas of mortification and vivification. Below you will find questions to help you and your LifeGroup discuss and apply the sermon:

  • How is your relationship with Jesus? What has God been teaching you throughout the Abide series? In what ways are you faithfully implementing these things into your life?
  • Read Hebrews 12:1-2. What are sins in your life that you need to mortify (put to death)? What are neutral things in your life that distract and steal your love for Jesus? How do you need to be careful with these issues? What limits and boundaries should you put on them?
  • What things grow your love for Jesus and you need to vivify them (feed, give life)? How can you carve out time, energy and resources for these things? How do you need to protect against using the idea of vivification as camouflage for selfishness?
  • How can we help each other in this effort?

I Was Uncertain about LifeGroups

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 Sharon Von Fange and her husband Steve are missionary members and LifeGroup leaders in our church family.  Sharon and Steve have been married for 32 years. 

They have three sons who they couldn't be more proud of.  

In her spare time you can find Sharon thrift-shopping or singing a song she has recently written.

LifeGroups do not always include people who share the same interests.  In fact, they may not share much in common at all except for maybe a relationship with Jesus, being human (sinful) and some sort of a commitment to being involved with a LifeGroup.  It’s in this setting of fellowship we get to see and be a part of the relational magic that Jesus makes happen.

The people in our LifeGroup are very different.  I think it looks more like a real live family in that most of us do not get to pick our family or its members. Here are some of the neat things I’ve seen Jesus work through fellowship in our LifeGroup:

  1. A marriage on the brink of divorce healed by Jesus and a husband now having a relationship with Jesus for the first time.  So much healing in this beautiful family.  It started with a wife taking a step of faith to pursue a LifeGroup community alone or so she thought!
  2. An executive at a large company and a homeless man enjoying true friendship.  Did I mention the now formerly homeless man plays beautiful jazz guitar?
  3. Helping people move as a strategy for propelling relationships.  I no longer view this act of service as just a task.  It can even be fun in community!
  4. An evening of music at a concert together creatively breaking the ice on fundraising for a member of our LifeGroup as well as providing an opportunity to serve a nearby church, use our gifts and talents and spend time together outside of our normal group rhythm.  Lots of synergy on this one!  And, Jesus got all the glory in the music at this concert, because it was all about Him.

The verse “but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7 ESV) usually comes to my mind when I hear the word fellowship.  I’ve seen this verse played out especially when we share stories and when we confess in LifeGroup.  We connect with one another on a heart level, we feel less alone in the world and the enemy of our souls no longer has as much of a hold on us as he did when we were keeping these things in the dark.

I wasn’t sold on whether I needed or wanted to be in a LifeGroup, but the results of fellowship in community are convincing me more everyday.

Gathering Recap | Downtown | 6/13/14

Songs:

Just As I Am by The Modern Post

Come And Stand Amazed by Citizens

All I Have Is Christ by Sovereign Grace Music

Fix My Eyes by King's Kaleidoscope

None But Jesus by Hillsong

Come Thou Fount by King's Kaleidoscope

 

Sermon Tweets

Abiding isn't a solo endeavor; it's a group project. http://ow.ly/yXcDm 

You are the preacher you listen to the most. http://ow.ly/yXcZF 

There's a certain power in a brother/sister preaching the gospel to you that isn't there when you preach to yourself. http://ow.ly/yXdlI 

People in your life can frequently see you better than you see yourself. http://ow.ly/yXdU8 

The people you naturally like the least are often the most important to your sanctification. http://ow.ly/yXeq8 

We have a tendency to avoid the people that expose weaknesses in us. http://ow.ly/yXeQT 

Our faith is a deeply personal faith, but it isn't a private faith. http://ow.ly/yXeWD 

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Unlikely Fellowship

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Andrew Stewart is a video wizard who works for the local media company, Dust of the Ground.  More importantly he has been a husband to Megan for nearly 3 years and soon to be father to a little baby girl. Andrew has been a missionary member with us since 2007.  In his spare time Andrew loves a good bike ride.

I love my friends. I love people who get me, know me, and are easy to talk with. I like people who like riding bikes, college football, craft beer, and the Whig. One of my best friends (my wife Megan) and I love to have brunch when we get the chance and throw some records on our record player and relax and talk for hours. It’s awesome to share interests with people and to feel like someone gets you. My wife and I are going to be having a baby girl this fall and I already find myself hoping that my daughter will share some of the same interests that I do when she gets older. What if she doesn’t like brunch? I usually get to pick my friends and that usually comes out of a shared interest pool, but I don’t even know what my daughter will like or dislike.

“Why do I feel this way?” is something I have been thinking about. I have a tendency to want to be around people who are like me and will tell me how great I am because of the similarities we share. But when I stop and think about some of the people who have helped me grow and follow Jesus more deeply over the years, a lot of them are the ones I didn’t seek out on my own based on our common interests. We are not guaranteed a daughter born just like her family, but does that mean she would be any less a part of our family? We see in Galatians that when we join the family of God we are adopted into a family of a lot of people unlike us but ultimately become one despite the things that we do or like.

“In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:26-29)

It has been frustratingly rewarding to have developed relationships in our church with people who I wouldn’t naturally gravitate towards since becoming a part of Midtown back in 2007. One specific relationship that comes to mind is a now dear friend who is drastically different from me. He is proudly conservative, extroverted, prefers wine to beer, and usually thinks the opposite of what I think about sports, theology, and other hotly debated topics. I remember leaving my first few conversations with him thinking “Well, that was painful, he’s convinced I’m crazy”. However, I found that the longer we talked, the more we learned about each other, and the more we were growing in our love of Christ, we gradually developed this understanding that it was ok to disagree about some of the petty things and sometimes even things that seemed to be a big deal to us because of the way that Christ has reconciled us to one another. We have freedom to speak into each others lives and try to point one another towards Christ and away from our sins and shortcomings, rather than let our differences keep us from being family.

I believe being part of church family is more than just sharing the things you have in common. I believe that Jesus loves the Jew and the Gentile alike and that we should follow Him in that way. So what if my daughter doesn’t end up liking brunch? She will be loved by my wife and me simply because she is a part of the family and because we want to love her the way that Jesus loves his family.

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Discussion Questions | Fellowship

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This week's sermon discussed how fellowship–the practice of spending time together with other believers–helps us to abide in and enjoy God. To listen to the sermon, visit our series page. Below are questions to help as you discuss and apply the sermon with your LifeGroup:

  • How has Jesus used community to help you grow and mature in your walk with Him? (Feel free to help each other remember these times.)
  • Have you ever experienced hurt in community in the past?  If so, how does this cause you to struggle with community now?
  • Read Hebrews 10:19-23. How does the gospel unite us at a deeper level than any differences that would normally divide us?
  • What are the advantages to walking through life with people who are different than you in personality, past experiences, interests, etc.?
  • What is uncomfortable about walking with people who are different than you? How does Jesus want to use this discomfort to help you grow?
  • Read Hebrews 10:24-25. When in your life are you most tempted to retreat and neglect meeting together with people who love Jesus and love you?
  • What if any areas of your life are you living and thinking like an “I” instead of like a “we”?  (major life decisions, sin struggles, doubts, aspirations, marriage, parenting, dating, etc.)
  • How can you repent and bring community into these areas?
  • Take some time as a group to take community together. Remember that Jesus’ death in the cross dealt with the sin that comes between us so we can be family together. Take time as a group to confess and/or confront sin that is coming between your relationships and be reconciled before taking communion. 

Gathering Recap | Downtown | 7/6/14

Songs:

How Deep The Father's Love For Us by The Dispatch

10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord) by  Matt Redman

Just As I Am by The Modern Post

Jesus Pait It All by Kristian Stanfil

Hail The King by Citizens

Sermon Tweets

Jesus didn't serve so that people would serve him. He served because he was a servant. http://ow.ly/yHaDg 

Authority is often given to be in charge. For Jesus, authority is given to serve others. http://ow.ly/yHb57 

When we serve, we abide in Jesus, because Jesus himself was a servant. http://ow.ly/yHbeJ 

We often feel most alive when we're serving because we are identifying with Jesus. http://ow.ly/yHbvJ 

The mark of a servant is often how we respond when we're treated like one. http://ow.ly/yHbLu 

If you're serving to get noticed, you're not really serving. http://ow.ly/yHcj4 

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