Verse of The Day For Thursday, May 7, 2009

"I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life" (Philippians 4:2-3 NIV).

Euodia and Syntyche were prominent members of the church at Philippi, and it is believed that they may have been among the women meeting for prayer when the apostle Paul preached the Gospel at Philippi (Acts 16:13). It seems that they were the leaders of two opposing factions in this congregation which may have been over a personal conflict. Paul is encouraging them to resolve the conflict and live in harmony with each other in order to promote spiritual harmony with the other members of the congregation. Factions or "cliques" within a church are a sure way to destroy a church and make it ineffective. This is why Paul spoke against factions in his first epistle to the Corinthian church (1 Cor. 1:10-17). Christians should not be quarreling with one another, and when thy have differences, they should do everything they can to resolve them and be at peace with one another. Satan love nothing more than to get Christians quarreling with each other, especially over petty things because when Christians are fighting amongst themselves, they are not promoting a good witness for Christ and in fact, prevent someone from coming to Christ. A congregation divided is an ineffective congregation, and satan knows this as well and will often plant trouble-makers in congregations in order to bring division, strife, and discord. Genuine Believers need to put aside personal differences they may have with one another and endeavor to work for the common goal of proclaiming the Gospel message to the unsaved.

Pastor Jack Howell
"Some bring God's curse on them by marking off part of the Bible, calling it erroneous, uninspired, less than the very Word of God." - Dr. John R. Rice

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God to salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)

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