United In Mind and Voice

We cannot be separated in interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until the end.

Woodrow T. Wilson (1856-1924, American President (28th))

Romans 15:4-6 (HCSB)
For whatever was written before was written for our instruction, so that through our endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we may have hope. Now may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you agreement with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with a united mind and voice.

Before we now leave these two verses that are striving to build us into a single purpose and direction for our lives, let’s look at the two things he speaks of. For one Paul has spoken of the dangers of a doubting mind, but now speaks of the kind of mind that a Christian should have. It is a united mind, a mind that can only come from the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit unites our thoughts and purposes with the Will of God, and allows us to have this stable mind. Ps 133:1, tells us this, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! This unity is not for our own purposes but for the purpose of Christ, so as to stand as against a lost world, and save lost souls.

Christ put it this way in John 17:23 “ I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” So for us today, it is Christ in me and you united in purpose and in love speaking with a united mind and voice. As Jesus said in John 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." God’s Blessings.
Pastor William

Enduring Together

Not in achievement, but in endurance, of the human soul, does it show its divine grandeur and its alliance with the infinite.

Edwin Hubbel Chapin (1814-1880, American author, clergyman)

Romans 15:4-6 (HCSB)
For whatever was written before was written for our instruction, so that through our endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we may have hope. Now may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you agreement with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with a united mind and voice.

These verses must be understood in the light of verses1-3 of yesterday’s devotion on Chapter 15. This gives us a clue of what we will need to be able to endure and hold on to our hope. What is that important ingredient that we will need? It is each other. We need each other and we need God’s Word to be able to successfully traverse this world.

Notice what it is that Paul asks God to grant Christians to enable them to speak with one mind and voice. It is for Christians to be in agreement with one another. This is so important in the church. The saying is of old, “United we stand, divided we fall.” But Paul also tells what to unite around, and that is Christ and the Scriptures.

It is fighting over all the other stuff that divides churches. People have so many preconceived ideas of what is important. Paul is telling us that we are to be in agreement with each other, holding one another up and glorifying God in all that we do. God insists that we be involved in one another’s lives, so as to encourage one another as we each carry our cross for Christ…God’s Blessings.
Pastor William

Always Building

Never insult an alligator until you've crossed the river.

Cordell Hull (1871-1955, American statesman)

Romans 15:1-3 (HCSB)
Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves. Each one of us must please his neighbor for his good, in order to build him up. For even the •Messiah did not please Himself. On the contrary, as it is written, the insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me.

To me this journey that I am taking through Romans has really enlightened to me the importance of others in our journey here. Just when you think that Paul is through sending home the point, he comes back to it again. What is it that he comes back to regularly? Our, and hear the word he uses here, our “obligation to bear.”

Now that isn’t strong enough, so he goes a little farther, he says that obligation is one of “bearing,” which is saying we must help steady those with weaknesses. Moreover even those with no strength at all, we must help for their own good or pleasure, so that they might be able to stand the onslaught of satan. This is what Christ does for us isn’t it?

We are to feel for those whom are insulted and put down and we are to find their weaknesses focus on them and build them up into strong and faithful believers in Christ, now that’s what being a Christian is really all about isn’t it. Not that you are a spiritual guru, but that you are a servant, who feels the insults of others so strongly that you are stricken to help them, just as Jesus was for us…God’s Blessings.
Pastor William