Knowing God and serving Him

That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death (Philippians 3:10)

• Paul’s letter to the Philippians reveals a heart and purpose that never diminished with time: “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death”.
   
• From the root of Paul’s relationship with Jesus came the fruit of his undiminished fervor that others be guided to faith in Him.
   
• He rejoiced to share the gospel.
   
• He was encouraged that others became bolder because of him.
   
• If our goal is merely service for the Lord, we may burn out somewhere along the line.
   
• But if our purpose, like Paul’s, is to know Christ and love Him, we will find that He will give us the strength to make Him known to others.
   
• Let us joyfully press on in the strength God gives.
   
• Let us learn to know our Father God in all His fullness.
   
• Let us love Him completely.
   
• Our relationship with our Father God is the basis for our service for Him.
   
• Let us not serve Him out of our own strength.
   
• Let us learn from Christ and then make Him known.
  
  

Pray For Our Loved Ones

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, (Matthew 5:44)

• Many of our brothers and sisters around the world suffer persecution.
   
• They live in danger every day simply because they love Jesus and want others to know Him too.
   
• But there is another form of persecution.
   
• It may not be life-threatening, but it is heartbreaking.
   
• It is the persecution from our non-Christian family members.
   
• When our loved ones ridicule our faith and mock us for what we believe and how we express our love for God, we feel rejected and unloved.
   
• “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12).
   
• And rejection will come from those we love too (Matt. 10:34-36).
   
• When the people we love reject the God we love, the rejection feels personal.
   
• Jesus told us to pray for those who persecute us (Matt. 5:44).
   
• That includes more than strangers who hate us.
   
• God is able to give us grace to persevere through persecution, even from our love ones.
   
• They may mock our message.
   
• But they can’t stop our prayers for them.
   
• And we will pray earnestly for them.
  

Far End Of The Earth

You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the end of the earth.
- Acts 1:8 -

This was Jesus’ final message to His disciples.

Every corner of our world, no matter how remote, must be touched by the message of the cross.

The Savior died for the world, and that includes people both near and far.

Each of us has the duty and opportunity to take the gospel to people in our end of the earth.

No matter where we are, we can tell someone about the love of Christ.

People can’t believe in Jesus if they don’t hear the gospel.

So we must proclaim its message to the world, both far and near.

Any place can be the right place to witness for Christ.