The Fellowship Experiment : 2015

What Is This Fellowship Experiment And Do I Want To Be Experimented On? by Anita Wilson

The Fellowship Experiment (theFX) is a 6 week Bible study, Sunday evenings 6:00 pm, beginning August 16th, 2015 through September 27th, 2015 at______ and ___________ home. The study will focus on the plural Hebrew names of God. The first week we will talk about the great "I Am" , Jehovah". The remaining five weeks we will look at the Old Testament and see how the name of God is used in such a worshipful way by saying WHO he is with WHAT he does. ( For example. Jehovah Jirah Means The LORD who provides.) Names had such deep meaning to ancient Hebrews!

But wait there is more....

The Fellowship Experiment (theFX) came about through a prompting of the Holy Spirit on my heart. A few weeks ago my senior pastor delivered a message entitled "A Holy Ambition". It was about young King Josiah's reign and how he kept making decisions for God as he continued to mature in his role as King. The pastor challenged the congregation to pay attention to what God may be challenging us to do and to take some ambition to do it. And right then and there the Holy Spirit started nudging and poking at my heart. That night I had a dream about a verse in the Bible. When I woke from that dream, it was a very strong call on my heart to do a 6 week Bible study formatted on that verse.

I was thinking ,"wow! I haven't led anything or taught anything for over 6 years......"but I knew I had to be faithful. I've been taking baby steps for the last 2 years since attending Heritage and this was, well, not a baby step.

I didn't know where the verse I dreamed of was until I went to THE GOOGLE. The verse is I Corinthians 14:26. From verse 26 to the end of the chapter Paul is instructing the Corinthians to conduct orderly worship services, but theFX is loosely based on just verse 26. In this verse Paul begins the orderly worship instructions by stating that when you gather together everyone has a hymn, or word of instruction, or revelation, or a tongue with corresponding interpretation to share it for the purpose of strengthening the church (each other).

Here is how The Fellowship Experiment (theFX) will work, and I'm sure you will want to be a part of it.... Each week the format of our time together will be based on what each person brings to the group time to share - a song, poem, scripture, testimony, journal entry, etc. To help engender sharing each person will have 2 assignments every week:

1. Pay attention to how God has revealed himself to you during the week
2. Take efforts to advance the Kingdom Of God in some fashion (share the gospel, spread kindness, joy, service or sacrifice.)

It is my thought if we live the week with these 2 things in mind we will come together on Sunday evenings with an abundance of things to share together.

We will also pray out loud together and in a prayer posture of your choice. This may stretch some people. We aren't used to having our voices heard by others, but this an experiment, remember.

We will also spend time in Scripture, as explained above. My father, a retired pastor, and I will be tag teaming the teaching.

At the end of the 6 weeks. We will evaluate to see if we want the experiment to continue.

I'm excited about theFX. I hope you are too!!!! Feel free to invite someone. If we crowd out Sandy and Brian's house, I'm sure we will figure it out.

Please email me or Facebook me with any questions. You can call me too, but if you know me at all, you know that is the most unreliable way to get in touch with me....

God bless you all
Anita Wilson

What Is This Fellowship Experiment And Do I Want To Be Experimented On? by Anita Wilson

The Fellowship Experiment (theFX) is a 6 week Bible study, Sunday evenings 6:00 pm, beginning August 16th, 2015 through September 27th, 2015 at Brian and Sandy Durnell's home. The study will focus on the plural Hebrew names of God. The first week we will talk about the great "I Am" , Jehovah". The remaining five weeks we will look at the Old Testament and see how the name of God is used in such a worshipful way by saying WHO he is with WHAT he does. ( For example. Jehovah Jirah Means The LORD who provides.) Names had such deep meaning to ancient Hebrews!

But wait there is more....

I Missed The Experiment What Can I Do? What CAN I Do?

Don't despair! You did miss out on the fellowship part BUT All the Bible studies are right here. Following are some suggestions on different ways to utilize these studies. You could take the big dive grab your Bible start at Lesson 1 and go through Lesson 7. But in case you are looking for some other ways here a a few suggestions:

Read "What This Fellowship Experiment Is..." and start a group of your own. Feel free to pirate my concept for your own Fellowship Experiment and use without permission every word of the Bible studies myself and Pastor Sam placed on this blog.
Quick Study

Lesson 2 - "Discovering the Names of God In Psalm 23" provides you with a list of synopsis of 8 names/titles of God that can be found in the famous Psalm. The first, Jehovah Ra'ah - The Lord Is My Shepherd is a direct translation the other 7 are extrapolated and applied by the meaning of the verses as a form of introduction.
Lesson 3 - "Introducing more Names and Titles of our LORD" is a simple listing of 15 titles of God and the scriptures their direct translations are found in.

Targeted Studies:

Jehovah and the tetragrammaton YHWH - Lesson 1
Jehovah Rapha The Lord That Heals - Lesson 4
Jehovah Nissi The Lord Is My Banner - Lesson 5
Jehovah Mekkodishkom I AM the Lord who sanctifies you. - Lesson 6
Jehovah Shalom The Lord Is Peace - Lesson 7

My contact information is on this site. The best way is a text message. You can also comment on this post. God Bless you in this grand experiment of Life in Christ.

Anita

7- Jehovah Shalom (The LORD is peace) by Anita Wilson

Jehovah Shalom

As with each of the names, or titles of God, Jehovah Shalom was ascribed by a human being who had an amazing, life altering experience with the creator. The name of the man who ascribed "Shalom" to Jehovah was Gideon. Most understand that "Shalom" means peace, but in actuality it has a much deeper meaning than just that one word can hold.

6- Jehovah Mekkoddishkom (I am the LORD who sanctifies thee) by Pastor Sam Blakely

Jehovah-Mekkoddishken
Exodus 32:12-13

I am the Lord that sanctifies you.

The names of our God can and should become special friends to us, once we learn them and use them in our prayer time with our Lord Jesus.

5- Jehovah-Nissi (The LORD is my banner) by Anita Wilson

Jehovah-Nissi - The LORD Is My Banner

(A survey of Exodus 17:8-16 by Anita Wilson)

v. 8 Amalek was the _Grandson of _Esau_ which made the

Amalekites natural blood enemies.

Esau and Jacob were twins. Their story is told in Genesis. Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of bean soup. As a result they separated paths. Jacob later became the founding father of Israel. His name was changed to Israel. Each of his 12 sons became the father of a tribe of all the Jewish nation we know now. Jacob and Esau later reconciled but the Amalek must not have shared in his grandfather’s feelings. His nomadic tribe made their living off of raiding settlements and commentaries say they killed for pleasure. When the Israelites became a target, they remained in Amalek’s sites and in Exodus 17:8-16 the Amalekites will be in a battle that changes history.

4- Elohim and Jehovah-Rapha (The LORD who heals thee) by Pastor Sam Blakely

Elohim/Jehovah-Rapha
by: Pastor Sam

Intro: one of the first things you and I ever learn about one another is our first names.

Therefore, I ask -- Does God have a first name?

3- Introducing More Names and Titles of Our LORD by Pastor Sam Blakely

An Introduction To More Names and Titles Our LORD

1. Elohim = The LORD God Our Creator.

A. Genesis 1:1

2. EL-Elyon – The LORD God Most High

A. Genesis 14:22

3. EL-Roi - The LORD God Who Sees

A. Genesis 16:13

2- Discovering Names of God in Psalm 23 by Anita Wilson

The Names of God in Psalm 23

With the exception of Jehovah RA-AH (The LORD is my shepherd) the Jehovah titles are not in the original language of the Psalm rather inferred from the context. This is a good way to practice applying the names and titles of God to everyday life.

A. Jehovah- RA.AH The LORD is my Shepherd

Psalm 23:1

This is the first time we see this particular title of God in scripture. It is expressed by David in one of the most used pieces of scripture used in times of comfort.

1- Introducing YHWH by Anita Wilson

The Names of God

I. Introduction – How names were different in ancient Hebrew culture than modern US culture

Q. Write down the top baby names of the decade you were born?

http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/decades/index.html

Names in our culture shift according to what is popular and most people want to name their children something that is on trend but slightly unique. Unless you are a Celebrity then you might get some very strange names. Like Moon Unit Zappa or North West.

What are some strange Celebrity names you have heard?

What I learned from the Fellowship Experiment FX

- Heather Wilson makes really good scalloped potatoes

- If you are obedient to something God calls you to do He WILL show up and be with you. He WILL give you strength.

- 6 generations (Yes, we had people born in 6 decades) can communicate and share life together. Age barriers break down when Jesus is in the room.

- It's really awkward to pray out loud in a group.

- I'm stronger than I thought I was.

- B. is about to explode. I don't know where or on what, but God is doing something in that man and I'm excited to see what it is.

- Fasting AND praying is important.

- Meeting new people is awesome.

- 7 weeks wasn't long enough

- I could actually see God working in certain individuals and changing them during that time. It was amazing.

- THE BIGGEST THING I really, really miss is preparing, and delivering a teaching, sermon, women's retreat oh all those things.

-SD has the gift of hospitality. I already knew that she's been my friend for 15 years. But this was an experiment and coffee is very important!

Who is Pastor Sam Blakely?

Well he is quite the amazing man. He is a retired Nazarene pastor and has lots of initials after his name. You could call him Doctor Sam Blakely but he is too humble. He would not like it that I said it on the internet, but he doesn't know how to use the internet anyway, so shhhh don't tell him I did it. :-)

Besides his Biblical knowledge and the two doctorates to prove it, Sam Blakely is my daddy. That makes him about the most special man in the whole wide world. I love him dearly and have nothing but good things to say about my childhood memories and the lessons, love for Christ and God's word that he and my mother invested in me.