In Luke 18:18 we read of a rich, young, ruler of a synagogue (preacher) that came to Jesus asking what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him to sell all, give it to the poor and follow me. He wasn’t willing for that and left Jesus feeling very sad. Jesus didn’t ask all rich people to do this, but he did ask those that followed him in the ministry to leave all.
How Peter Reacts and What we Can Learn?
Peter immediately afterward said, ‘See, we have left everything we have and followed you.’ Before Jesus sent out the 12 apostles 2 and 2 (Mark 6:7 ‘began to send them out 2 by 2’) he had asked them to leave all behind. And we see in this verse that they had left all, obeying Jesus and following his example. Later we read of Paul (1 Cor 4:11) and Barnabas (Acts 4:36-37) following this same example as they went out and preached the gospel.
So in Luke 18:29-30 in answer to Peter, Jesus made a promise to those that leave all behind, ‘Truly I say to you, there is no one that has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come eternal life.’ (Mark 10:30 says ‘receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions…’). This is a promise that the apostles went on to prove in their time as those that received the message of the gospel became their brothers, sisters, mothers, and children and they opened their homes to them. Like we read in Acts 16:14-15 of Lydia, God opened her heart as she listened to what was said by Paul. Then ‘she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.”’ God opened her heart and she opened her home. One of the hundred mothers/sisters and homes that Paul had.
We’re glad today that this promise is still true today not only in our home country but in other countries where we have been sent – when we leave all behind and follow Jesus, he gives us a hundred homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children… He is still true to his promises.
The purpose of this www.thefellowshipoftruth.com is to provide information about a non-denominational network of home-based churches that can be found in nearly every country of the world. We are imperfect people trying hard to fulfil the plan that God has laid out for each one of us. We do our best to follow the teachings of the Bible at home, work and in the place of worship. The format and structure are Bible based and very similar to what we read about the early church in Acts and I Corinthians (Acts 1:13 and I Cor 16:19.) Each week we meet in homes for fellowship and worship on Sunday mornings and Bible studies on Wednesday nights. From time to time, we also have larger Gospel services where multiple home-based churches meet together. These meetings serve to strengthen the faith of the believers, and also, help to explain our beliefs to those who are being introduced to our faith for the first time.