Precious Lord, guide this dear reader to a deeper understanding of Your love and care for him or her; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Here is our text for today as we being our study of Paul's letter to the Philippians: 1: 1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God every time I remember you, 4 constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, 5 because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight 10 to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, 11 having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. 12 I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ; 14 and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.
If ever there was a passage the urges folks to find a church home and to be active in it, this is it! I know I'm preaching to the choir for some of you and your faithful worship attendance and participation; for others of you it may provide a challenge and opportunity to grow in that which we all know we need. We all need a place where folks gather to pray. Paul was a man of prayer and knew that all of those who had heard him preach and teach, had learned that lesson of praying for themselves, for their church and for him. Paul took comfort and received great strength in knowing people were praying for him. Nellie and I were talking about one of my first associates, a dear friend and pastor, who led our prayer and his favorite saying as he began he would say, "And friends if you pray for one another, you can rest assured someone is praying for you!" That to this day blesses me in knowing that someone is praying for me and I do have that rest and assurance that I need as I go about my daily life. Secondly, we need a place where we know God is glorified and lifted up. That should be happening in your church. And if the church isn't doing it, then you do it in your heart! God is praised because of His grace for us all. Thirdly, the church should be a place where you enjoy one another, the fellowship of believers. Most churches built in this country usually had what was called a "Fellowship Hall." Think about that and its importance at one time and possibly even now; a place to enjoy one another's presence and company. One theologian and pastor said, "All churches should have a Mission Hall as well, where we gather to determine what our mission is and to go out and serve in mission." Amen. Fourth, the church should provide a place where you can share and receive love. It's important to have a place where you can love one another. You begin, of course, with loving God and God's presence and you go to receive God's love and then you share that love not only with those in the pews put in the work place, in your home, in your play, etc.
The church should be the place where you learn that regardless of your situation your call to faithfulness remains the same. Paul found himself in prison and in chains and yet he says, all is well, I'm doing what God would have me do and I'm sharing the Gospel. Paul says the Imperial Guard, the elite of the emperor were now hearing of the good news of Jesus Christ. Would or could you, do the same if you found yourself locked up for being a Christian?
PRAYER: Loving God, help me today to proclaim joyfully that I belong to You. Let me be a person of worship. As I pray I am worshiping you and I pray that as Sunday comes around I would return to my church and do and be the person You would have me be. Let me also be the instrument that gives witness to others to join and be faithful to You in Your church. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
