The following sermon is by John MacArthur, pastor, author, and Bible teacher with Grace to You.

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Here is Grace to You Bible teacher John MacArthur.

Last Sunday, I began really what is, I think, a two-part series on fellowship, but it could extend a little beyond that,

depending on how much we cover today.

We talked about the fact that the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a living fellowship,

and we were speaking of the most obvious reality that we are not able to enjoy that fellowship in the current

situation. So we are missing what is the essential identity of the church. Yes, we belong

to the Lord Jesus Christ, yes, we are a spiritual body, yes, we are linked by common eternal life.

But the church lives out its life in fellowship with one another.

In fact, the Bible lays down a command to forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is, but much the more as

you see the day approaching.

In other words, don't ever forsake the fellowship.

You need to be together.

That is the way the Lord has designed the church, both to strengthen itself and to lay down in the society its corporate testimony.

The true church, then, of the Lord Jesus Christ is a living fellowship.

Christianity is not a spectator sport.

Church is not an event that you go and watch happen. In fact, perhaps most

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