Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Philippians 3:15-16

We are now slightly past the halfway mark of the year 2025. Considering that fact, I would like to reprint some suggested prayer points that I published in a Jym Shorts article in early January of this year (and for the past multiple years) as a challenge to our church family to consider praying throughout 2025. I am praying through this list during my own devotions. Would you consider occasionally adding these to your own prayers for the remainder of 2025, if you have not done so already?

• That the Lord will bring people under the influence of the church’s ministry who need to hear the gospel (Acts 18:9-10).
• That we will teach and preach “the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15). That we will not fear for our reputation nor our advantage in the community, but that we will proclaim, “Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).
• That we will be a unified body of believers. That gossip and slander will be rejected by those who hear it and that we will love and offer grace to one another in truly biblical proportions (John 13:34-35).
• That we will be a sending church, with a heart for gospel missions that is unquenchable (Matt. 28:19-20).
• That we will love and care for our neighbors as we love ourselves (Matt. 22:39).

We are a community church at LifePoint, which means we have many people from diverse theological and denominational backgrounds. That reality makes it vital that we learn how to get along with each other—that we practice Christian unity in a biblical fashion, not giving up on important doctrines and Christian distinctives, but instead doing the hard work of determining, to the best of our ability, the difference between essential and peripheral doctrines. We must think hard on these matters and offer grace and Christian fellowship to one another when it comes to peripheral or secondary matters while bearing down and remaining faithful in areas of primary or essential matters.

John Newton, the renowned British pastor who penned the beloved hymn “Amazing Grace” and went from slave ship captain to anti-slavery crusader, said this to a friend who told him about a fellow believer with whom he had serious theological differences: “Though you may find it necessary to oppose his errors, view him personally as a kindred soul, with whom you are happy to be in Christ forever.”  Such is the manner in which we must consider our own brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we disagree, especially when those disagreements are on disputable or secondary issues related to the faith or on peripheral, temporal matters (see Romans 14:1-15:7 and Phil. 3:12-16). One of the best ways to accomplish this admittedly difficult task of loving one another despite our differences is to pray together—not necessarily in the same room, but over the same matters. I’m asking all of us to consider this challenge and include myself in it. Let us work hard toward unity in the faith, friends, not just for the rest of 2025 (let’s start there), but for the rest of our lives. One suggested way in which we can partner together in this task is to go through the daily Bible readings that have been prepared for the church family. It’s never too late to jump on board if you have not done so yet. Give us a call in the church office (317-881-4010) and someone can help you get started.

Because it is worth repeating, I will also reprint my prayer for our church family that the apostle Paul prayed for his friends in Philippi. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you will be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God (Phil. 1:9-11).

Praying for our love and unity together with you…

Grace and peace,

Pastor Jym

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