because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,for your partnership in furtherance of the Good News from the first day until now;For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;for your fellowship in furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now;
3 sermons cite this verse
And he says, I thank my God. Every time I remember you in all my prayers for all of you, I pray with joy, say joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Joy. That is a weird word to put in a prison letter. The man is looking at prison walls and he's got four guards on four hour shifts around the clock as he's waiting to go to trial. Here he is looking at his circumstances and he writes a letter. And the first word that comes out of his mouth is joy. Say joy. Paul teaches us a lesson to see it differently. He's looking at his circumstances and realizing my joy does not come from my circumstances, but my joy determines my circumstances. And he sits there and he thinks about this because he will use the word joy or rejoice 16 times in this letter. The letter is only four chapters. It's 104 verses. It's not a long book. About every seven or eight verses, the word joy makes an appearance on the scene. …
… making my prayer with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart for you all are partakers with me of grace, grace both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and with all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent. and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit and the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and the praise of God. This is the word of God for the people of God. …
… There it is, koinonia. You can circle it, that partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And so we share in the gospel of Christ. We have a partnership. We're united together in the gospel of Christ. All these different things that we have in common. One more instance in Philippians. Look over in chapter 3. Look at verse 10. Philippians chapter 3, verse 10. Paul says, I want to know Christ. And I want to know the power of His resurrection and the fellowship, there it is again, you can circle it, that's koinonia, fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, so somehow to attain the resurrection from the dead. So there's that fellowship, a sharing in the sufferings of Christ. That Christ, because of His sufferings that are being played out in our lives, we share together in those. One more instance. 1 John. You go past a bunch of books, Hebrews and James and 1 and 2 Peter. Come to 1 John 1. …