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‘I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’ (Philippians 1:3-4)

Last Week, Tom began our series on Philippians and invited the congregation to join him in being partners in the Gospel. 3 key areas were drawn up to encourage this Christian unity in our church:
Intense Prayer: Paul prayed gratefully and for big things for Philippi. We as a church need to pray for everything to God in prayer. The key prayer Paul used was for ‘God’s abounding love’ for the people of Philippi and we can still pray that prayer for each other now.
Courageous Witness: Paul was in prison but shared the truth of Christ. We may not feel comfortable where we work, with our friends or in our social time sharing the truth of the gospel but we must be courageous and see God work in that. Bonhoeffer said: ‘being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God’s will.’ Are you doing God’s will where you are? Is it time for you to step out courageously for Christ?
Exemplary behaviour: How we conduct ourselves is pivotal to our Christian task. Paul stated that he would see that Christ was still moving in Philippi from how they conduct themselves and the same is true of us as Christians.
Paul and the church of Philippi set an example of how to live according to the Christian task in unity and in partnership in the gospel. We as a church need to follow this example and be united with each other and other Christians in our city to fulfil our Christian task.