Today’s devotion highlights the importance of fellowship, similar to the house-to-house services our ancestors practiced. During the Pandemic, even without physical church services, we still get a taste of their dedicated practice of meeting in homes.

Bible Reading of the Day

AM – Nehemiah 4-7

PM – Acts 2:14-47

𝕿𝖎𝖙𝖑𝖊: 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕴𝖒𝖕𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝕱𝖊𝖑𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖕

𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝟐:𝟒𝟔-𝟒𝟕 𝐊𝐉𝐕

𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚, 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆, 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕, ⁴⁷ 𝑷𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑮𝒐𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒉 𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒅.

Satan’s main aim is to ruin God’s work. When God created marriage in the Garden of Eden, Satan tricked the first humans, tempting them to disobey God’s command—and he succeeded. This event marked humanity’s fall, breaking man’s fellowship with God and separating him from His presence. Yet, this isn’t the end of the story. God provided a way to repair the broken relationship and restore fellowship with mankind. As a consequence of that sin, every creature on earth was cursed.

In our discussion, this was a major and celebrated event for the church, where Apostle Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost and led thousands to accept Jesus as their Saviour. However, the devil will not sit idly by as Peter carries out God’s work; he will actively try to hinder any efforts related to God’s mission, a concern that continues to this day.

In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected daily life, causing major changes and halting many activities, including religious gatherings. This situation is more than a challenge; it can be seen as an obstacle intended to hinder our ministry work. Although physical worship has been limited, God has provided alternative ways for us to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Additionally, the early New Testament Church outlined various methods, means, and messages to strengthen the church, protect it from Satan’s attacks, and keep it steadfast—fellowship being one of these key methods.

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖎𝖉𝖊𝖆 𝖔𝖋 “𝖋𝖊𝖑𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖕” 𝖎𝖘 𝖔𝖋𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖈𝖗𝖎𝖇𝖊𝖉 𝖆𝖘 𝖙𝖜𝖔 𝖔𝖗 𝖒𝖔𝖗𝖊 𝖕𝖊𝖔𝖕𝖑𝖊 𝖘𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖘𝖆𝖒𝖊 𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖕, 𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖛𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖘 𝖆 𝖋𝖎𝖙𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖓𝖆𝖑𝖔𝖌𝖞 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖋𝖊𝖑𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖕 𝖙𝖗𝖚𝖑𝖞 𝖒𝖊𝖆𝖓𝖘. It’s important to understand that genuine Christian fellowship cannot be experienced alone. I find it concerning that some individuals who identify as Christians refuse to participate or stay committed to their local church, the community of believers. Such behaviour was unheard of in biblical times; a Christian was expected to be faithful to the church and attend gatherings regularly.

What is more important than the visible expression of Christ’s body in our local church? It is our connection to God’s work, our honouring of Him through worship, and our support for one another. What activities this week take priority over fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ at church? Thankfully, during the COVID-19 pandemic, even with gatherings limited to five people, we could still experience the early church’s example by gathering house to house. As 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝟐:𝟒𝟐 states, “𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒔’ 𝒅𝒐𝒄𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔. ”

“𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔; 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓: 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈.” — 𝐇𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝟏𝟎:𝟐𝟓. Don’t overlook the chance to fellowship when it’s available! Attending church prayer meetings in person should be a priority.