Daily Bread 8-28-17

Philippians 1:2,3

2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 I thank God upon every remembrance of you,

4 Always in every prayer of mine making request with joy,

5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;

6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

ref. - Col 1:3 - We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

2Co 8:1 - Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;

Jn 6:29 - Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Paul had confidence in the fact that Christ would stick with his followers. Not only because he was given the message, but because he had experienced it for himself. He knew that if the people followed down the same path that God had led him down since the introduction of Christ's Gospel that they, too, would be blessed. He was pleased to see that they were following that path and he wanted the same peace and blessing that Christ had given him to come upon them. It was not about making friends or becoming a community, it was about fellowship in the gospel. What they had in common that was in line with the teachings of Christ that made them family. Today. we think that becoming family in the Church means marrying into one another carnal families, taking on the same traditions, habits, and worldly beliefs so that we can dwell together in peace and harmony. But that is not what this fellowship is about. What do we have in common with one another that is in parallel with the Gospel? When minds and souls are in line, the traditions and habits become secondary. We are not so concerned about what annual functions that we have or what food we eat, or what cars we drive, etc.. What our last names are and our race or heritage becomes unimportant as we are trying not to become one another or to convince others to become us, but rather trying to become more in line with what the word of God teaches us. These are the brethren that Paul was praying great blessings on and what a pleasure it is to pray the same blessings on those same souls today. What we must know is that as long as we are focused on the gospel that God will take care of us. He will not stop producing fruit on a fertile tree. So, in order to receive these great blessings and to know how fortunate we are to be a part of the family of God, we must believe solely on whom God sent to save us. We must put ourselves in line behind Christ and put a proper effort in staying in line with Christ. We have to believe that where his gospel leads us is to where we belong. Whether we must give up or take on new things in our lives, we must be in line to this gospel and then we will receive all of the promises that god has offered us in Jesus Christ. This is exciting and should prime all of us to have fellowship in the gospel and know that the church is praying that all of God's blessings fall down like rain upon our thirsty souls!! To become one we must follow one, and that one is Jesus Christ!! Have a great day!!!