Starting on Sept 10, 2023 I feel God has been pushing me to create this new series based on my original content and other YouTube content that will push Christians to go From Only Fans To True Followers Of Jesus. From examining myself I realized that I became a follower when I was a teenager but waited 2 decades to be baptized when my son had a dream that we were baptized together so we did. Now another 2 decades later God is pushing me towards the book of Acts and from follower to true follower of Jesus.
This journey started during my tech fast when God put on my heart to study the book of Acts. Then throughout 2023 that kept coming up as a common theme in the videos I was watching and helping others with. Other videos kept coming up and some of those will make it into the playlist as well.
The week of August 20th on Neighborhood someone told me about this church called Life Together in a post. It was like the church in Acts they said. I was intrigued especially since I was aware of the book Life Together and thought how it may be related. It turns out the pastor was inspired by God to create the church from the book of Acts and given the name. He was unaware of the book at the time but later found out about the book and realized God was actually doing similar with him as when he inspired the book author. Just like the early church spent life together not just 20 minutes on a Sunday so does Life Together church. They take care of each other and build each other up, they focus on unity in the body understanding that others have different beliefs but as long as the core beliefs of the gospel as Saved By Grace Alone is there then the other stuff is disputable matters. Sunday August 27 I attended the church and realize it embodied those beliefs. They did service together and then lunch followed then a group went downtown and spoke to the community sharing love and the gospel with those who were interested. Monday nights they do bible study. On Wednesdays they spent from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm preparing things together for the food bank which opened at 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm where they shared food with the community to take home but also shared a hot meal with them for dinner and listened to their struggles and offered prayer and an ear to hear. At 6:00 pm they then had a bible study as a church as well as those who wished to stay that came for the food bank if they wanted. Saturday they had practice for the music worship and then Sunday together again. I only did the Sunday to start getting my feet wet.
The next Sunday I went by the church but remembered they were moving to a new building for service. I saw the sign and glanced to quickly at it. I ended up at the new building and Elim church was holding their service. I stayed to listen and they spoke the same things about unity and the church working together confirming the same message that it is what we do outside the walls of the church that matter most. Interestingly enough back in June God had me stumble over a sign for Hope Bible Church in St Catharines and the message of that service was about unity in the body and the importance of what we do outside the walls of the church that matters that we are being trained inside the church to go out and do the Great Commission.
Now on September 10th at the new building there were 3 churches all attending the same service together in unity: Elim Church, Life Together and Faith One. Each with their own beliefs but now connected in fellowship together. Next week Faith One will be back in Niagara Falls but going forward Elim and Life Together are going to be one church called Life Together. The message was the same about being followers and about unity in the body. This Sunday I took part in the entire process. We did service together, celebrated how Life Together was now 12 years old with lunch and cake and then walked out to Pelham Road and Hwy 81 and carried signs but also spoke to those around about how Jesus loves them, that he love everyone. We were standing in front of a Spanish church that happens to be on that corner. Curious on whether their attendance will increase next week.
Now onto the From Only Fans To True Followers Of Jesus. You can access the full playlist and watch in order. I will explain the videos here as well and you can click the links below to watch each video as well.
- Earlier this week I had met a fellow Christian that introduced me to the Three Circles method of sharing the gospel. I had heard the term before but was not aware how it worked. I found a video on it and this is the first in this playlist. It is short and will be very valuable in sharing for those struggling with that.
- On the way home God inspired me to create a video that was short and simple. God loves you regardless of whether you love him or not.
- When I got home I was relaxing and playing games on my phone and listening to music when the Reunion Church message came up about Only Fans. I just had to watch it intrigued by the title and a big fan of the pastor.
- Next I went to the Wellspring Community Church service as this is one of the service I watch every week. It turns out it too was about True Followers. They have been going through the book of Mark for about a year now and this week aligned to the crucifixion of Jesus and the woman taking him to the tomb to be buried. All the disciples had fallen away and Peter had denied him 3 times but the women stayed at the cross with Jesus at risk of their own personal safety. In fact Rachel Starr Thompson who was preaching mentioned the earliest secular source about Jesus is a letter from Roman soldiers about women they tortured and then they told him about Jesus. It is amazing how God places these things together to make them stand out.
- I was then onto the next service I watch on a Sunday only to find that Hope Church Niagara was starting a new series called The 5G Life. Guess what it is about? Well it is about how as Christians we start off as babies but many never graduate from those early stages to becoming true followers that go out and share to gospel with others.
Note how point 1 is about clarity and how 3 Circles is about clarity in sharing the gospel. Not how point 2 is about unity and that earlier in this post the focus was unity in the body. Consistency is about living it out in our life outside church. Maturity was discussed in Only Fans and in the Wellspring sermon where he talked about being followers but when the pressure was on some stayed and others reverted back. Urgency has to do with the fact that you could die at any moment or Jesus could return and if you didn't accept Jesus gift of salvation you would end up saying What The Hell instead of Praise the Lord. Oh wait I forgot that part. The message on Sept 10th at Life Together by Jonathan Hodgins was entitled "What the Hell or Praise the Lord". The premise was that there was a sense of urgency in spreading the gospel or people would end up after dying saying What the Hell because they would be judged and be surprised by its severity or end up in Heaven by grace not anything we deserved and say Praise the Lord. The Hope Church series will be ongoing so the other parts will appear later in the playlist. - As I went back through some of the retro clips from earlier this year some became very relevant. One example is this one about Catholics. Many Protestant Christians especially on YouTube but not exclusive to that are very critical of Catholics so this question clears up any confusion about the topic. Are Catholics Saved? The answer may surprise many but really it shouldn't.
- This next video is a review of the book Life Together. It is not long and provides a good summary of the concepts at a high level. I recommend reading the book but this will help for now.
- This service further enforces unity and provides lots of verses to support it. Homo(notso)genius
- Now this video provides a truth that we have all known for a long time now but ignore. It is short and to the point and something Non-Christians often comment about. Casual Sinning & Church Attendance. The full service is really good to watch but this short calls it out in one simple short clip.
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