Philippians
1:3-6 (NKJV) 3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of
Jesus Christ;
When Paul penned these encouraging words, he was shackled in a prison in Rome. He had been locked away for two years and during that time church leaders in Rome turned against him. They were so jealous of Paul they refused to accept his pastoral care. At times these leaders ignored Paul.
At other times they circulated vicious gossip about him. They even harassed Paul, stooping to the point of intercepting his mail. According to the apostle, these sinful men “preach(ed) Christ of contention” and with “envy and strife”
Yet through all of these trials, Paul maintained a joyful and
forgiving spirit. He was saying to the congregation at Philippi, “Some of these men are so envious of me they are distorting the gospel they preach. They preach
contention and division.
