Philippians 1:
3 I thank my God every time I remember you.
4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy
5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the 1st day until now,
6 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.
7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me.
8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,
10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,
11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
Does partnership in the gospel require maturity before beginning to work for the gospel? Think of a time where a parent took you along to "help." What made the time significant—your help, or something else?
Who starts and complete the good work in us? What is our part to play?
What is necessary for love to grow? Can it happen in a vacuum?
A.B. Simpson says, "Seek the blesser, not the blessing." I say what we usually think of as holiness is the fruit of being sanctified [i.e. set apart] for Christ. How do you do these ideas coming through in these verses?
What will you do with what you have learned tonight?
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