Mutual Faith

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, 30th of October, 2022, and this is your friend Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy…”
Philippians 1:3-

And then we go to Romans 1:12:

"that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me."

Iron sharpening iron. that’s right:

“As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”
Proverbs 27:17

We need each other, no man is an island. I can know a person for 20 years and not really confide in him because he is not a Christian, but I can meet a fellow believer and within 5 minutes, I can feel like I have known him all my life. Romans 8:11 is one of my favourite scriptures. If the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, that same Spirit that raised Christ shall quicken your mortal body. It is because we have the same Spirit dwelling within us.  

I have a friend. This dear lady is going to be 100 years old on the 1st of February, next year, she has become my friend. I have another friend who is 3 years old, maybe going on 4 and he sends me photographs of himself in his cowboy outfit with his Bible, and he says he loves me! I have been to cathedrals in Europe that are hundreds and hundreds of years old. I have sung hymns where it sounds like angels singing. I have been into a corral, where you keep cattle, with a cowboy church and all the riders on horseback are singing Country Western Gospel songs. We need each other.  

I have been to the land of the Long White Cloud, New Zealand. I have been amongst the Maori people, I really love them. The most aggressive rugby players in the world and yet, off the field, the most gentle and most loving. I have been invited to their meeting houses called a Marae. When you go in there, you sit down and they say to you, “Bring us the Good News of Jesus Christ.” And I stand up, I take my coat off because I can’t preach with a jacket on, it restricts me, and they look at each other and smile. The leader looks at me, he says: “You know our tradition?” I say, “No, what is it?” He says, “When you come into a Morae, you take your coat off to show us that you don’t have any weapons concealed and that you come in peace. Why is it that it doesn’t matter what culture you come from, what colour you are or what age you are but there is a love? It is because the people have decided to follow Jesus.

Do you remember that old hymn?

I have decided to follow Jesus
I have decided to follow Jesus
I have decided to follow Jesus
Oh, no turning back, praise the Lord, no turning back. 

Have a wonderful Sunday and go and love somebody.
Goodbye.