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  • Writer's pictureMatt Beaney

#162 – CITIZENS UNITE (4/8/20)

If you missed Sunday's broadcast, please catch up by following the link below. (For the foreseeable future, we will be running our Sunday morning services digitally. Please go to our website on Sundays at 10:30 to join in)





‘Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel’ (Philippians 1:27)

Our citizenship affects everything. Our attitudes and morality are determined by our nationality and culture. Likewise, as citizens of heaven, a Christian’s life will be transformed by their entry into the Kingdom of God.


Unity in Christ

Citizens of heaven love unity. We are urged to ‘stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one…’. Unity is a key attribute for this whose citizenship is in heaven.

Paul is urging them to remember that the Holy Spirit has united them, and to stand in this. The use of the phrase ‘in the one Spirit’ is a reminder that they must not divide because they share the one Spirit.


He writes elsewhere,

‘For we were all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.’ (1 Corinthians 12:13-14)

RESPONSE

We are united to Christ by the same Holy Spirit, therefore:

Stand firm - Ask the Spirit to give us love for one another.

Stand firm - Ask the Spirit to help us to forgive and have the affection of Jesus for one another.

Stand firm - Remember, and consider, the unity that we have in the Spirit.

 

COMMUNITY GROUP STUDY


Some groups are not meeting in August. However, if you do meet, please use one of the daily studies and the questions below as the basis of your study together.


Discussion questions:

1. What is the Holy Spirit speaking to you about (maybe from Sunday's message or your bible reading this week)?


2. What will you do in response?


3. How can we pray for you?



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