I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.  Philippians 1:3-8

When we think about the other members of our Church, what are your first thoughts that come to mind? Often we think about the negative, we mention people that may annoy us, or people we believe may not be living the “Christian” lifestyle. But what was Paul’s attitude towards the Church? Paul said “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you”, isn’t this a beautiful thought, instead of complaining or murmuring about your Church family, why not thank God they are there and pray for them!

The Church is a very complex and living entity, why? Because we have people from all races and backgrounds coming together to fellowship, why? Because we all have the same common interest, Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. The gospel is what pulls us all together, Christ is what makes us a family and partners. We must always remember this, Christ is Head of the Church, Christ is the foundation of our faith, this is why we fellowship with other brothers and sisters.

If you are looking for the perfect Church, you will never find it, why? Because people are not perfect, we are all flawed sinners (Roman 3:23) in need of a Savior. But we strive to be more like Christ through the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. Paul said “Being confident of this very thing, the He (Holy Spirit)  which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” We are all a work in progress, and the Holy Spirit will continue to work on us, until the day of Christs return and we receive our glorified bodies

Paul says “You are all partakers or partners in grace with me” We the Church are all in this together. We are all partners in Jesus Christ, we are all soldiers in Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3) This is not about us or our feelings, this is about fulfilling the Great Commision, (Matthew 28:19) This is about completing the race that has been laid out before us (Hebrews 12:1) The body of Christ is not a single person, it’s the great multitude that are Born Again in Jesus Christ

Instead of condemning your brothers and sisters, pray for them, teach them, lead them by the Holy Spirit as Paul said “I have you in my heart”, love your brothers and sisters as Christ loves us! Amen!