Neighborhood Alliance Church

The thought of the finished work of Jesus Christ has been a great comfort to me during the last few weeks. I find that our thoughts are often upon all that we are doing or not doing to advance the cause of Christ in the world.

In light of all that we are doing or not doing for Christ, I feel that we should be reminded of all that Christ has already done. Do you know that Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection were for you and that his sacrifice is enough to reconcile you to God? Do you have the unshakeable assurance that no matter what, you are safe in the arms of your Father?

Saint Patrick penned words that I believe should mark our lives:

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

Paul’s words to the Philippians are powerful and persuasive: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10-12).

The question we must ask is probably not, “How much am I doing for Christ?” as much as it is, “How much of Christ is in me?” The closer we get to Jesus the more we will be about our Father’s business.

Whatever anyone tells you about faith, know that Jesus is the beginning, middle, and end of salvation. Jesus is enough.

As believers we have been called into a unique community of fellowship called the church. We have the privilege of teaching one another in the process called discipleship. I have been blessed by a book by Bill Hull called The Complete Book of Discipleship in which he says:

The genius of submission in a discipleship relationship is that it’s a two-way street. No one is master. Both are servants of Jesus and both benefit greatly from the relationship.

It reminds me of Ephesians 5:21 which says, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” I don’t know if you are feeling qualified to speak into the lives of your Christian brothers and sisters but the Bible teaches that you are uniquely qualified to do so because of your relationship to the Father through Jesus.

Our Christian lives should have the beautiful quality of giving and receiving. I think this is what we are aiming for in our cell groups and interaction on Sunday. We belong together because of Jesus.