Cornerstone

Philippians 1:1-6 (5)

“Jerry Rice, who plays for football’s San Francisco 49ers, is considered by many experts the best receiver in the NFL. Interviewers from Black Entertainment Television once asked Rice, “Why did you attend a small, obscure university like Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, Mississippi?”

“Rice responded, “Out of all the big-time schools (such as UCLA) to recruit me, MVSU was the only school to come to my house and give me a personal visit.” The big-time schools sent cards, letters, and advertisements, but only one showed Rice personal attention.” ( — Edward J. Robinson, Urbana, Illinois. Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 1.

Fellowship – koinonia (koy-nohn-ee’-ah) is the greek term which means partnership, participation, or (social) intercourse, or (pecuniary) benefaction. (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance). We call each other Brother or Sister. We have “Fellowship Meetings,” and “Fellowship Dinners.” Why do we do these things? It is important to each of us to know we are loved and accepted by other Christians. We are part of the family of God and need to be continually reminded of the relationship we have not only with God but with other Christians. And so, we gather to enjoy the company of those that love our Lord in a time of mutual respect and love.

Dr. Gayle Woods

Col 2:6-12 (7)

To be complete in Christ means that we are settled in our Christian experience, we are supported in our endeavor to develop in character, our faith in God is strengthened, we are learning the precepts of Scripture, and we overflow with thanksgiving to our Lord.

Leighton Ford, once said, (Leadership, Vol. 4, no. 1) “God loves us the way we are, but he loves us too much to leave us that way.” We have not always been complete in Christ, and the paradox is that even when we are complete in Christ we are not complete. The Christian life must be maintained. Our feet must not moved from the Rock on which they stand, the development of Christian character must ever continue, our faith must constantly be reinforced, the Scriptures are never total absorbed in their entirety, and unfortunately our thanks is often slow in being manifested. Our Christian life must be maintained and unless it continually grows it cannot be maintained.

Something we must continually remember is that it is not all our work. We are not making ourselves Christians. We are involved in the process of Gods handiwork but the job is not entirely up to us. J Sidlow Baxter expressed it like this:

What God chooses, He cleanses.

What God cleanses, He molds.

What God molds, He fills.

What God fills, He uses.

Dr. Gayle Woods