Hi, ladies, welcome to the Feminid Podcast.

This is Nancy Wilson, and thanks for joining me today.

The topic this week is family and community.

A Christian community is like an extended family with all the aunts and uncles and cousins. But without godly,

faithful, loving, individual families, the Christian community will not be characterized as

godly, faithful, and loving. The whole is always characterized by the parts, obviously.

Consider what Paul says about the Thessalonians in 2nd Thessalonians 1.3.

We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith

grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other.

What a church this must have been. Their faith was not just growing,

but growing exceedingly, and each one of these saints was abounding in love for the others.

It was a visible, tangible love. No wonder Paul was thanking God always for these people.

This description of the saints in Thessalonica is a

model for any church, but it must first be visible in the individual families that make up such a

congregation. This kind of family is growing in their faith. Like many families, when our kids were

little, we kept track of their growth on a corner of a wall where they could see how much they'd grown.

But there are obvious signs of spiritual growth as well as physical growth.

Yes, the kids are growing, but so is their faith.

And not just growing, but growing exceedingly.

And this is the first priority of any Christian family. Is our faith

growing? Secondly, Paul says their love just abounds toward one another. There is a presence of kindness,

loyalty, love and affection. They look out for one another. They keep short accounts. There's an absence of sin and a presence of joy.

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