Sunday, January 06, 2008

The Same Spirit

2 Corinthians 12:18
I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?
This is really quite a statement when a person thinks about it. Paul was confident is asking the Corinthians to consider the manner and spirit of Titus and see if it was not the same type of spirit as Paul had.
This is not so much the spirit of God as it refers to the type of heart that Paul had. Church services have a "spirit."
Sometimes there will be a spirit of excitement in the services.
Sometimes the spirit will be one of anticipation.
Sometimes a service will have a depressed spirit.

In the same manner, different people have different types of spirits.
Some are always down
Some are negative
Some are up and excited
Some are intense

Paul's spirit in Corinth was that he would not be burdensome to them. He was not there to take from them but to give. His desire was to be helpful to be like a parent laying up for his children. And Paul was so sure that Titus' spirit was the same that he challenged the Corinthians to examine the two spirits and see if they were not the same.

I desire that in our church. While each member of the church has his or her own personality and I would not want to take that away, still, I would like to see us have
The same spirit of care for souls.
The same spirit of desire to know and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ
The same spirit of love for the church God has placed us in.

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