Ties that Bind

Ties that Bind     Posted  September 23, 2010
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Luke 18: 13, 14b --But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' ..... for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."


In 1772, Dr. John Faw­cett was pastor in a small church and accepted a call to a larger church in London.  After packing up one Saturday, he was ready for his farewell sermon the next day.  As he gave his sermon he realized he had too many ties to his community and that afternoon he unpacked and stayed with his community.

Spiritual Fellowship is the greatest of fellowship in our lives and comes in two forms, our friends and the fellowship we have with our Lord Jesus Christ.  Dr. Facett’s comments in his hymn “Blest Be the Tie that Binds” explains much of our fellowship with friends, but before we can have real Spiritual Fellowship with friends we must be in True Fellowship with God, the Holy Spirit and with our creator Jesus.

Fellowship with our Savior and friends begins with and and how we end with OUR prayers.  Jesus on this earth was bound to our Heavenly Father through prayer.  In Luke, on many occasions Jesus went off by himself to be in prayer (Luke 5:16, 6:12).  But, before we begin our prayers we must have at least one required behavior - a proper attitude.  An attitude addressed and defined by Jesus.  In Luke 18:10-15, Jesus tells us to bring a humble attitude to our prayers.  It is only though our humble prayers, acknowledging our sinfulness to God that we really begin our True Fellowship with Him.  As we end our prayers, we should share the same attitude to God as Jesus did  in Gethsemane Garden just before His betrayal.   As, Jesus ended His prayers before meeting Judas he prayed “not my will but thine be done”, Luke 22:42.  With the desire for Fellowship and with proper attitude, we can most authentically pray daily for friends creating a Spiritual Fellowship with each other resulting in a greater Fellowship with God.  This creates “the ties that bind”, Spiritual Fellowship, the greatest of fellowships with our friends.

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Ties that Bind,   click the link below

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