Others Phil. 2 1-4 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

When Salvation Army founder William Booth was on his death bed, he was visited by one of the managers of the telegraph system of London. The man asked Booth if he had a last message he would like to send to his Salvation Army officers around the world. He said, “If you have, whether it is long or short, we shall be glad to send it free of charge.” Looking up, the General smiled his thanks and said just one word: “Others.”

Having others first does several wonderful things. It provides:

Consolation – Consolation in Christ 1 – consoling, comfort – 2 Cor 4:1-7

Comfort – Comfort of love – 1 – when the love is not based on what I can get out of the relationship but what I can give in the way of comfort to you

Fellowship – Fellowship of the Spirit – 1 – the spirit puts us in a body and the way for the fellowship of the Spirit to abound is for us to allow the work of the Spirit to minister through us to others – it is not about the Spirit ministering to us as a dead end

Mercy – Bowels and mercies – 1 – bowels – the feeling you get from being with others is either warm, neutral, cold – should be warm – mercies – the mercy you extend to others for the mercy you have received

Joy – 2 – ultimately it made Paul very happy that they were getting along

Like-mindedness – 2 – can’t go anywhere together if not agreed – can two walk together except they be agreed Amos 3:3 –

Humility – 3 – keeps down strife [vainglory = boastfulness, deceit, vanity] – always look for the strength in others that is better than yourself – always look for the reason to hold them in higher estimation than you hold yourself – my mother said, “Sometimes you think you are the most important person around, but just hold on because you’ll do something really stupid to show that you aren’t”

Ministry – 4 – gives you a reason to serve because you become more concerned with how you can help meet their needs than how you can meet your own