| Phil. 2:1a |
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Lesson # Phil. 2:1a Study Material - Phil. 2:1a You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Phil. 2:1a 1 If there be therefore [oun] any [ei tis] consolation [paraklesis] in [en] Christ [Christos], if any [ei tis] comfort [paramuthion] of love [agape], if any [ei tis] fellowship [koinonia] of the Spirit [pneuma], if any [ei tis] bowels [splagchnon] and [kai] mercies [oiktirmos], KJV-Interlinear 1 If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, NASB The objective and goal of the believer are stated here by Paul. The 'if' statements mean 'if and there is'. If there is any encouragement in Christ, and there is encouragement in Christ. If consolation in love, and there is consolation in love. If fellowship in the Spirit, and there is fellowship in the Spirit. If affection and compassion, and there is affection and compassion. But these 'if' statements are potential not guaranteed, nor automatic. If you make the right decisions then the 'if's' become certainties rather than possibilities, and the result is completeness in ones life, which is spiritual maturity. Being of one mind, Bible doctrine. Being of one love, tolerance of others. Being united in the Spirit, in fellowship with God, and intent on one purpose, following Gods will rather than our own. Encouragement from Christ is two fold. First there is salvation. Believing in Jesus Christ results in being saved from certain eternal separation from God and a life in the lake of fire. Believing in Christ is potential. You may or may not believe in Christ. To believe in Christ is to receive eternal life and a life in heaven with God. To reject Christ is to embrace your own destruction and eternal misery. Misery far, far worse than any misery anyone has ever experienced here on earth. Misery beyond imagination. Misery from excruciating pain, overpowering fear, total lack of control over ones life, insecurities and paranoia's beyond imagination. And darkness so dark that no light is in it. Darkness which prevents one from seeing anything. Total blindness, total lack of ones senses. No hearing, no smell, no taste, but the pain is there and will remain forever. Not a very pretty picture nor a very promising destiny to look forward to, but rejection of Christ gains you all of this and probably more suffering than one can describe. So, first in ones life is the decision of God or not. Christ is the only access gate to God, and He is received merely by believing that He is God, the Savior, the Son of God, the Lord of lords and King of kings, who became man and went to the Cross in our place to save us, or give us a chance for salvation from sin and death, eternal death. Believing in Christ is the encouragement and certainty of having eternal life with God in heaven. This takes but a moment in time to believe in Christ. Father (God the Father), I believe in Jesus Christ. And that is all it takes to be saved. Thinking or saying these words in just a matter of a second or two, and you will be saved. Along with that salvation which occurred in a moment in time, comes many simultaneous blessings. We won't review them here, but the blessings list can be found on the Index page. That list of blessings is quite lengthy and should be reviewed from time to time. Perhaps you should print it out and hang it up on your refrigerator in your kitchen for a constant and daily reminder. After all, who among us does not go to the fridge everyday??? The second encouragement in Christ is the Word of God. Christ is the word. Christ is God, John 1:1. In doctrine is all hope and spiritual growth. Do we find the answers to life's secrets? Well of a sort we do. We will not find the answer to some technological question. What is wrong with the car, when it won't start. How to invent a better fuel when prices are too high. How to get to the moon or mars. How to clean out the plumbing, and the list goes on forever. These are questions for the world to deal with. Everyone of us has intelligence and the tendencies to figure out one thing or another. Some may figure out rocket science. Some may figure out the kids. God gave all an ability at birth, and some are in Australia running and jumping with the best in the world this past week or two, while others are behind the wheel, or behind a desk, or at home doing whatever it is they do in life. This is the daily exercise of life and God placed us in each of our time frames in history because we will contribute to the history of the human race in some specific way with the abilities we have. But doctrine is the encouragement, not human ability. Human ability is temporary. Bible doctrine is permanent. The soul is eternal. The body is temporary. Spending ones life focusing on the body only is a wasted effort. Spending ones life focusing on the health of the soul has eternal repercussions. So as we grow up we learn to balance both aspects of our life. The physical aspect and the spiritual aspect. Giving the spiritual aspect the priority, will contribute to the health of the physical. Giving the physical aspect the priorities in life, will lead to defects in both the physical and the spiritual. Now there is one other alternative to the encouragement's of Christ and that is, if there is no encouragement in Christ, then what other alternative is there? Was mans origin merely an accident? Did we begin from mush? Why didn't all mans DNA come out the same, such that we were all exactly the same and identical, rather than all being different as we are? If God does not exist or if some other god exists, then what is the alternative to the Bible. And the answer is that there is no other documented evidence of any other god. No documented evidence of mans origin being accidental, only theory. The Bible, in all its history has confirmed and proved itself over and over again. It identifies the place man has gotten himself in, and provides the solution for getting out of the problems we have. Christ is that encouragement, and that solution.
End Of Lesson Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth. 
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