The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 1 Corinthians 16:19-20,
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
"The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house. All the brothers here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss."
The warmth of fellowship glows as Paul closes his letter to the church in Corinth. In this letter he has had to take this church to task for the fracturing of fellowship they were beginning to experience. As Paul extends personal greetings, though, the intimacy of fellowship is clearly felt. Aquila and Prisca (Priscilla) greet the members of this church "warmly". The church that meets at their home (I think the best place for churches to meet) does so as well. Paul encourages these believers to greet one another "with a holy kiss", something no longer practiced in today's church (although the believers were encouraged to do so no less than five times by both Paul and Peter in the New Testament.)
There is something very special about the fellowship of believers within the church. As believers we share a common excitement concerning what is to come. We also share in a common gratitude for all that our matchless Savior has done for us. We all share in a common purpose of furthering the gospel message as the Lord populates his kingdom. Most of all, however, is that we all share in a mystical experiential reality that no one else on planet earth does: we are all indwelt with God's Holy Spirit. We are told that God is love in 1 John 4, and in Paul's letter to the Galatian churches he tells us that the Holy Spirit bears fruit in our lives, one of which being love. We all share in this love for one another. Paul speaks of the importance of this love in the thirteenth chapter of this letter. In Jesus' own prayer, in John 17, he points to this intimacy of fellowship believers will have for one another and with God, and how this intimacy will demonstrate to the world that God the Father had sent Jesus into the world, that they may believe. Read this wonderful part of Jesus prayer,
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
Only within the fellowship of true believers will this intimacy of love for one another be found. What a wonderful community to belong to!
The warmth of fellowship glows as Paul closes his letter to the church in Corinth. In this letter he has had to take this church to task for the fracturing of fellowship they were beginning to experience. As Paul extends personal greetings, though, the intimacy of fellowship is clearly felt. Aquila and Prisca (Priscilla) greet the members of this church "warmly". The church that meets at their home (I think the best place for churches to meet) does so as well. Paul encourages these believers to greet one another "with a holy kiss", something no longer practiced in today's church (although the believers were encouraged to do so no less than five times by both Paul and Peter in the New Testament.)
There is something very special about the fellowship of believers within the church. As believers we share a common excitement concerning what is to come. We also share in a common gratitude for all that our matchless Savior has done for us. We all share in a common purpose of furthering the gospel message as the Lord populates his kingdom. Most of all, however, is that we all share in a mystical experiential reality that no one else on planet earth does: we are all indwelt with God's Holy Spirit. We are told that God is love in 1 John 4, and in Paul's letter to the Galatian churches he tells us that the Holy Spirit bears fruit in our lives, one of which being love. We all share in this love for one another. Paul speaks of the importance of this love in the thirteenth chapter of this letter. In Jesus' own prayer, in John 17, he points to this intimacy of fellowship believers will have for one another and with God, and how this intimacy will demonstrate to the world that God the Father had sent Jesus into the world, that they may believe. Read this wonderful part of Jesus prayer,
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
Only within the fellowship of true believers will this intimacy of love for one another be found. What a wonderful community to belong to!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment