UNLEASHED DEVOTION to SHARING MEALS

⁴² All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper,.........................met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity,...  Acts 2:42,46b

If there is one thing I love, and I believe many of you enjoy to is having a great meal with great people!   I've come to appreciate the ministry of breaking bread in community, and I'm not talking about just communion.   While I have experienced having communion as a small group (and need to do more often) when I gather over a pot of soup, or pan of party potatoes, or whatever we've chosen to decorate the table with.....there are rich conversations that occur that sometimes wouldn't occur at other times.   

Think about it, when you want to take a lady out (dinner is usually included).  Businesses will take their employees out to meet over meat, or family reunions are steeped in opportunities to fellowship over food, and when we look at scripture with the variety of feasts they had in the Old Testament, and Jesus feeding the 4000 and 5000, and meeting at Mary & Martha's, and having fish frys on the banks of the sea......food plays an important role in the culture of humanity.    So we see clearly here in the early church even, that as they gathered for devotion to the word, fellowship with one another, they also ate together with joy & generosity!

Think about some of the best times you had over a dinner or restaurant table, and ask yourselves would it have been that great, would you have shared as much if it were in a board room, or sitting in an office?   God's design is that we'd take our faith beyond the walls of Sunday morning services and invite people into our homes and bless them with food and fellowship where He meets us under the cover of love, so that we may grow to truly loving one another as we grow in our love relationship with Him.  I'm pretty sure amidst all the miracles that the disciples observed with Jesus, some of their sweetest & most tender times with Him were when they ate together and He shared eternal truths with them.   So my parting questions to you are:

1) When was the last time or have you ever invited some of your neighbors over AS AN OUTREACH ATTEMPT?

2) When will you DO what JESUS would DO if He was your neighbor/co-worker?

3) Do you already enjoy this type of fellowship within a small group, if not....change that.......GOD BLESS YOU!  LOVE GOD, LOVE PEOPLE (LGLP)