UNITY

Php 1:1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:

Php 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Php 1:3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,

Php 1:4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,

Php 1:5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.




Today, there is a campaign being waged against the Christian Church in the US that should cause all of us to awaken begin to rattle our Christian Sabers, but it won't! I saw an ad on the TV that promoted open homosexuality and at the same time touted the idea that Christians have always been wrong because God does not care if a man marries a man. And before I even post this message I can already, at 4:41 in the morning hear the tinkling of symbols.




Paul, in the text above, was grateful for the aid he received from the Christians at Philippi. They had joined together with Paul and supported his ministry and had even taken a collection for him while he was in prison and had sent one of their own to deliver the funds and he stayed with Paul until Paul sent him home.




There is a worthy and notable example there that is generally ignored today. We, the Church of today, seem to be good at keeping the promises of our predecessors but we tend not to begin anew. Paul could never have made the change in the world that is attributed to him without the partnering of others into his ministry. The ad I speak of is part of a campaign to neutralize the Christian Church today on the matter of Homosexual Sin. These same people camp out at Focus On The Family's campus and work to intimidate Pastors and Church Families across the nation and totally depend upon our disunity for their success!




Every man or woman that has ever bothered to take the time to, actually, sit down and read their copy of the Bible knows that God has recorded in His revelation of Himself, His condemnation of all sexual sin. But today we allow unmarried couples to join the church without being married, though they live as though they are. Further we know that adulterers are in the membership and we turn our heads to ignore it. Because of these ?small? steps of disobedience and the failure, no, complete lapse, of Church Discipline it is very likely this ungodly movement will see a larger and growing success.




In Hebrews 10:25 we are taught to come together to worship God and there is such a good reason for this to be the norm. When I was in the Army we never had a Wet Stone to sharpen our knives with so we took a line from the scriptures and literally sharpened our blades by rubbing one against the other. This works with people, also. When men and women sit down and talk to one another, they learn from one another. And when a man or a woman is over-whelmed by a multitude, the likely hood of their yielding is great but bring others of a like mind alongside to give support and they will be much more likely to stand their ground. God has called us to live for Him and to do that, there are certain things that the world considers to be normal that we must reject and all forms of sexual sin up there at the top of the list.




If you missed it, this is a call for unity!

[email protected] said:

What nonsense you are writing. Jesus did not break down any divisions among men. In fact, He created more than were resolved. Here are but a few references for you to look up; Luke 12:51, John 7:43, John 9:16 & John 10:19.

In addition, a massive division was created between Jews and Gentiles which resulted in more than polite argument. Much blood has been spilled through the years because of it. The divisions between men BECAUSE OF the gospel are a matter of historic fact. You cannot deny it. Jesus said that he would bring the sword AND DIVISION. His words were true because we see it every day.

The divison that Jesus healed was the division between God and man. That particular division was initiated by Adam's sin and propagated by every one of his descendents. There is, therefore, now no separation between God and man for those who accept Christ as their saviour.

Divisions between men and within the church continue since the reformation.
It began with Martin Luthur and the movement away from the Catholic religious monopoly.

THE IDEA that began to circulate in the reformation was that any man can go directly to God for forgiveness.
THE IDEA that began to circulate in the reformation was that any man can read the Bible and learn from it, since the book is self-interpreting.
THE IDEA was that individual men can seek God and obtain grace from Him on their own.
THE IDEA also propagated into art, literature, science and politics. No longer was art and literature restricted to the Christian religious subjects.
THE IDEA was that no longer were men subject to the arbitrary rule of Kings and princes.
THE IDEA is that a man's rights COME FROM GOD, not the government. Man can rule himself.
THE IDEA of political self-rule is called Democracy.

Many today claim that America was not founded by Christian men under Christian principles. That's wrong! The very idea of Democracy is a Christian idea.
The very idea that men can study the Bible and obtain their own interpretation came from Christians. You don't see this kind of discussion in Islam, do you?

Polite debate and ruthless examination of ideology IS CHRISTIAN. THE IDEA that it isn't...........isn't.

Click to expand...

If you will go back to my OP, the beginning of this string, you will see that Disciple was in perfect alignment with what I am teaching. Now, I read all of your scripture references and I am left with only one comment, you have used them out of the context of the message of our Saviour. In the OP I am calling for people to get over their personal pride/sin and to put aside secondary issues, the issues Satan has used to divided and to weaken he Church, and to be the Guiding Force our LORD meant for us to be when He spoke in Matt. 28:18-20. Jesus/God (John 1:1-3) did not begin the religion, Catholicism, nor did He begin the doctrine of the Baptist Religion and the same is true of the rest of the divisions! Jesus, the Christ, began and opened the door to a personal, moment to moment, relationship, titled by nay sayers as, Christianity. For that reason, even though I teach and preach Baptist Theology, in a Southern Baptist Church, I am a Christian, attending and worshiping at a Southern Baptist Church and that makes me a Baptist, purely by choice, that was baptized a Christian.

All of that being said, there are some Catholics, some Pentecostals, some Baptists and some from many other churches I refuse to be associated with. At the very same time there are Christians in those very same same churches I happily and with joy, break the bread of Christian unity with. I pray this will open your eyes to the ruth in the message, he abd, I have posted in this string.