by Edwin Crozier<\/p>\n
Paul had a three-part mission for his work as a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. He did that work so God’s elect would grow in faith, in knowledge of the truth, and in hope of eternal life. What a great rubric for our work as teachers in Christ’s kingdom today. What a great rubric for our relationships with one another in Christ today.<\/p>\n
May we help each other increase in faith. May we help deepen conviction in each other. May we help grow allegiance to Christ in each other. May we encourage one another to overcome doubt and fear-not ignoring doubts and fears, but addressing them and growing past them.<\/p>\n
May we help each other grow in knowledge of the truth. Truth will set us free. Truth accords with godliness and, recall from I Timothy, godliness provides benefit in this life and in the next. Godliness deepens our relationship with God Himself. May our relationships with one another deepen our relationship with God.<\/p>\n
May we help each other keep our hope in eternal life. Hope shift is so easy. Our hope can shift to education, to money, to family, to fame, to popularity, to health, to wealth. It can shift to so many things. But the real hope is eternal life, which God promised.<\/p>\n
May our faith in God and His promise grow as we learn the truth more deeply from one another so that our hope increasingly anchors in eternity instead of this life.<\/p>\n
Do your relationships help you with these things? Do you help others with these things in your relationships?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Edwin Crozier Paul had a three-part mission for his work as a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. He did that work so God’s elect would grow in faith, in knowledge of the truth, and in hope of eternal life. What a great rubric for our work as teachers in Christ’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,383,502,1093],"class_list":["post-96808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith","tag-growth","tag-hope","tag-knowledge"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52775,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/your-website-was-the-first-step-for-me-to-convert-from-atheism-to-christianity\/","url_meta":{"origin":96808,"position":0},"title":"Your website was the first step for me to convert from atheism to Christianity","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello sir, I talked to you around three and a half years ago. I just want to thank you! I grew up an atheist and converted three and a half years ago. Your website was the first step for me to come to faith. I am now training to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35745,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-hope-of-his-calling-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":96808,"position":1},"title":"What is “the hope of His calling”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear brother, Thank you for your web site. It has been most helpful to me as I struggle to share with a person who believes in \"Once Saved Always Saved.\" Can you enlighten me as to what it means in Ephesians: \"the hope of His calling\"? Does it refer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10553,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-hope-of-his-calling\/","url_meta":{"origin":96808,"position":2},"title":"What is “the hope of His calling?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear brother, Thank you for your web site. It has been most helpful to me as I struggle to share with a person who believes in \"Once Saved Always Saved.\" Can you enlighten me as to what it means in Ephesians: \"the hope of His calling\"? Does it refer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21186,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-faith-and-hope-still-exist-in-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":96808,"position":3},"title":"Will faith and hope still exist in heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question from I Corinthians 13 about faith, hope, and love with the greatest of these being love. I have led public prayers in which I prayed something like this \"to bless us with faith, hope, and love. For one day we will close our eyes in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":81853,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-found-help-about-god-healing-in-this-present-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":96808,"position":4},"title":"I found help about God healing in this present day","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings to you all in the blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am a Christian. Recently, I was diagnosed with an illness that shook me to the core as the knowledge of it surely tugged at the very foundation of my faith in our God's ability to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50868,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-have-faith-without-hope-or-hope-without-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":96808,"position":5},"title":"Can a person have faith without hope or hope without faith?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can a person have faith without hope or hope without faith? Answer: Faith is what a person trusts to be true. Hope is what a person expects to happen. The answer to your question then heavily depends on what topics are being believed or hoped for. 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