back to index2019-8-14 Wed Bible Study Lesson 1
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>> Okay. Sorry to interrupt your conversations. 00:00:06.860 |
I hope you guys got through most of those questions there. 00:00:09.820 |
So, before we begin, I'd like to do just a quick, like a intro to the study again. 00:00:18.260 |
For a lot of you, you know, the practice of going through the questions, 00:00:22.840 |
doing observation questions, maybe you've done a lot. 00:00:25.520 |
I just want to make mention of the fact that that really is what we hope to be, 00:00:33.280 |
Meaning, we could run the Bible study where I do the, you know, the bulk of teaching, 00:00:40.160 |
take a solid 50 minutes to go over the passage, give you an outline, 00:00:44.120 |
give you the main points, that kind of thing. 00:00:45.720 |
But as you guys know, it was intentionally done where we wanted to have this format go 00:00:51.000 |
inductively through the scriptures so that a lot of times the benefit of engaging 00:00:58.840 |
with the scriptures comes from your own discovery, your own conviction, 00:01:03.360 |
and essentially having your own eyes see the various convicting truths 00:01:09.060 |
So, that being the case, please do make sure that in the upcoming Bible studies, 00:01:15.480 |
I know some of you guys are running straight from work, so I understand if you're late. 00:01:19.220 |
But please try to show up on time so that when we go into the beginning discussion, 00:01:24.340 |
you take that bulk of time to share your observations, the questions you have 00:01:28.780 |
about the passage, whatever interesting and convicting things you saw. 00:01:32.260 |
Okay? So, if there was a focal point of the Bible study, 00:01:36.060 |
it's not so much the formal teaching time, it would actually be the time 00:01:41.920 |
Okay? So, I wanted to make sure you guys see just the relevance and significance of that time. 00:01:47.780 |
And then, I'm going to try to, in the future, post up the discussion questions and things 00:01:52.860 |
like that in advance so that you can even kind of prepare your heart for that discussion time. 00:01:58.460 |
We know that trying to accomplish everything during one of the Bible studies is tough. 00:02:04.500 |
Trying to share about your convictions, your applications, your week, any prayer requests, 00:02:09.860 |
just trying to do everything is a little bit tough. 00:02:12.100 |
So, the more you have time just to prepare your heart, 00:02:17.740 |
to you that's what we're going to be doing each week. 00:02:20.500 |
We're going to come in, discussion about the passage, 00:02:25.780 |
We'll have formal teaching, and then we'll go into application 00:02:31.240 |
Well, before we jump in, let's take a moment just to pray 00:02:34.680 |
that God will bless our time, and then go from there. 00:02:37.700 |
Lord, we again want to ask God that whenever we open your scripture and your word, 00:02:44.000 |
even if today, Lord, it's overview, God, that your spirit would cause us to see. 00:02:50.360 |
Lord, help us to see what is contained in your word and be desiring, 00:02:57.200 |
both on the level of understanding your truth, but to want to know it 00:03:04.700 |
And I also pray, God, that you would help us by your spirit 00:03:12.160 |
That God, as we see your perfect standard, as we see your perfect will, 00:03:16.600 |
God, that it would automatically cause us to take a good, deep look at ourselves. 00:03:20.980 |
And that, Lord, there would be just an evaluation and a desire to just regularly, 00:03:25.940 |
incrementally, yes, but to regularly change into greater conformity to the image of Christ. 00:03:31.120 |
So we thank you, Lord, it's in Christ we pray. 00:03:35.060 |
So as we think about just beginning a book, I had four questions 00:03:41.360 |
that I asked, and these questions I put into a specific order. 00:03:45.480 |
Because you don't have to do this for every single moment when you begin a new book study. 00:03:51.540 |
But for me, this is the way I like to think about it, and it helps me walk 00:03:58.900 |
To help me to put my mind around, okay, sequentially, if I walk through it like this, 00:04:03.420 |
I will understand different categories of the book. 00:04:06.220 |
Okay? And that is, again, first impression and tone. 00:04:10.460 |
Then, thinking about the recipients and who it is that the author is talking to. 00:04:17.020 |
And then, therefore, what are the repeated themes or emphatic teaching of this book? 00:04:25.040 |
We could talk about historical context, which I trust you know how to look up and you can find. 00:04:30.400 |
You could do a lot more talking about who is Apostle Paul, 00:04:34.020 |
who are the specific people named in verse one and two. 00:04:37.220 |
Why does he address it to both the leaders and the church? 00:04:39.920 |
And you could do all of that, but because we're doing overview today, 00:04:43.180 |
we're going to be talking about these main categories. 00:04:46.600 |
I asked this question, what's your general impression and tone? 00:04:51.000 |
Okay? And for a lot of people, it's pretty clear evidence just straight from the beginning 00:04:57.460 |
that Apostle Paul, as he's writing through this church, 00:05:04.340 |
What's more, he expresses, in terms of just kind of an impression, 00:05:09.420 |
he expresses a ton of love and fondness for this church. 00:05:12.820 |
Okay? And so, just as a heads up, we're going to be reading big chunks of the scripture today, 00:05:19.620 |
big chunks of the book, so that we can get this whole overview. 00:05:23.000 |
Let me read chapter one, verses one through 11 for us. 00:05:26.680 |
And it says, "Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus 00:05:33.240 |
who are in Philippi, including the overseers and the deacons, 00:05:36.380 |
grace to you and peace from God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ." 00:05:40.480 |
Okay? So, that's a very typical introduction that you have there, right? 00:05:44.680 |
And then he says, "I thank God in all my remembrance for you, always offering prayers with joy." 00:05:51.880 |
And what you're going to see is that idea of joy repeat many times. 00:05:55.220 |
He says, "In every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel 00:06:00.580 |
from the first day until now, for I'm confident of this very thing that he 00:06:04.280 |
who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. 00:06:08.780 |
For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart. 00:06:15.780 |
Since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, 00:06:22.880 |
For God is my witness, how I long for you with all affection of Christ Jesus. 00:06:28.360 |
And this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 00:06:34.120 |
so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless 00:06:39.020 |
until the day of Christ, having been filled with the fruit of righteousness, 00:06:42.960 |
which comes through Christ Jesus to the glory and praise of God." 00:06:47.680 |
Okay? As we think about that, man, I just kind of highlighted in green. 00:06:51.740 |
Every time I see lovey stuff, I just highlight in green, okay? 00:06:54.560 |
You see a lot of it here just in this first paragraph. 00:06:58.200 |
And then you're going to see more and more of it as you go. 00:07:01.380 |
And if you take a moment just to pause and think of it, man, He speaks in ways that we normally might not. 00:07:08.560 |
I don't know when the last time I said to somebody, "I have you right here in my heart," right? 00:07:14.440 |
Or something like, "God is my witness. He knows how much I long for you." 00:07:19.940 |
And that idea of longing is actually that desire where I want you. I want to be with you. 00:07:25.020 |
So in many other portions of Scripture, whether it's 1 Timothy, 2 Corinthians, 00:07:29.580 |
when He says that I long for you, He regularly says, "I long to be with you." 00:07:34.080 |
Okay? So just by way of the emphatic way that He speaks, you can tell. 00:07:40.000 |
Man, Apostle Paul is expressing an incredible kind of love for them. 00:07:43.680 |
And one might ask, like, "Well, doesn't He do this with every single group?" 00:07:48.980 |
I mean, He even does it in 1 Corinthians 1. He says, "I'm so thankful to God for you." 00:07:54.360 |
That's how He begins. "You saints who are in Corinth." 00:07:57.620 |
So is that the normal way that He just talks so we shouldn't think much of it? 00:08:01.120 |
Well, we're talking about the overview of the whole book. 00:08:04.720 |
You know from the other chapters in Philippians, He talks about how He's encouraged by them, 00:08:09.920 |
how He is regularly thinking, praying. He's concerned for them just because He wants to protect them. 00:08:15.720 |
Whereas in contrast, Book of 1 Corinthians, yes, chapter 1 starts with, "I'm so thankful to God for you." 00:08:22.420 |
And then chapter 11, He's like, "Should I praise you for this? I will not." Right? 00:08:26.220 |
It gets intense. And you read that and you're like, "Whoa." Right? 00:08:30.620 |
And then in other chapters of that book, He's almost talking as if He wants to literally spank them. 00:08:37.120 |
Other books of the Bible are actually really, really just heavy-handed. 00:08:44.620 |
Opening lines, yes, the same thing. "I'm so very thankful for you. Grace and peace be with you." 00:08:53.720 |
If you in any way digress from the gospel, you turn. Right? 00:09:01.520 |
So a lot of times you have to think about the tone of the book because it says a lot about what Apostle Paul is doing. 00:09:09.020 |
And what I'm going to say is, yeah, it's pretty amazing that this book that we're studying 00:09:13.320 |
happens to be one of the most encouraging letters of the New Testament. 00:09:25.020 |
But this book is very encouraging because he commends them. 00:09:31.420 |
Remember I said, when you start thinking on the general impressions, you start then sequentially thinking, 00:09:37.320 |
"Oh, what about the other categories of this book should I understand?" 00:09:41.620 |
And typically one of the big categories of the book you should understand is who are the recipients. 00:09:51.620 |
If Apostle Paul is really joyous, if he's really fond of them, he's very much encouraged by what he sees. 00:09:59.420 |
If you notice, I'm going to do this in orange because, 00:10:10.420 |
So when I see that, I'm thinking, "Okay, Apostle Paul's saying, 'I'm so thankful, I'm so joyous,' because he sees them." 00:10:22.220 |
And so the question was, "What can we learn about the people that Apostle Paul is speaking to?" 00:10:30.720 |
In question two, we learn that the people that he's talking to in the Church of the Philippines, 00:10:37.720 |
he sees a group of Christians who are engaged in gospel ministry. 00:10:43.820 |
They're absolutely engaged in gospel ministry. 00:10:48.420 |
Well, what you notice is, you can follow along in the text packet, or you can just follow along in your Bibles. 00:10:54.620 |
But if you notice, he starts talking about how, you know, he's praying for them with joy, 00:11:03.120 |
And the first thing he says is, "Participation in the gospel from the first day until now." 00:11:08.120 |
So they've been participating for the long haul of when Apostle Paul was ministering to them, and up until now. 00:11:16.420 |
And then what's more, in verse seven, just a couple of verses down, he says, 00:11:19.820 |
"For it has only arrived for me to feel this way about you, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment." 00:11:25.420 |
So we're talking about his sufferings, right? 00:11:28.320 |
His imprisonment, in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, he says, 00:11:33.320 |
he says, "You are partakers of grace with me." 00:11:36.520 |
That's really interesting, the way he puts that. 00:11:39.620 |
Apostle Paul is talking about his suffering, his persecution, 00:11:45.120 |
and he says, "You are part of this great thing." 00:11:51.820 |
And he gets even more explicit in that kind of teaching when he says, in Philippians chapter one, verse 29 through 30, 00:11:59.520 |
he says, "For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake." 00:12:09.320 |
"Experience the same conflict which you saw in me, and now here to be in me." 00:12:16.220 |
The reason why I say that's huge is because one might think like, 00:12:20.420 |
"Oh, when he says participation in the gospel, he just means they really received it and they believed." 00:12:27.420 |
Like, "You're participating with me in this gospel because you're in it, you're in the game." 00:12:31.920 |
Well, he makes it even more explicitly clear, 00:12:35.020 |
not only are they in the game, they're paying the price to be in the game. 00:12:41.420 |
They're alongside him experiencing the similar kind of persecutions as he went on his journey. 00:12:46.920 |
And then later on in Philippians 4.14, he says, "Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me my affliction." 00:12:55.020 |
These aren't the only passages, there are many more within the book where he talks about, 00:13:08.320 |
you're not sitting there saying, "Yes, I believe." 00:13:10.620 |
You're actually showing it because of your sacrifice. 00:13:13.820 |
Because there is a willingness for you to go there where you know it's going to hurt. 00:13:18.920 |
There's a willingness for you to go there where you know you're going to have your privileges deprived. 00:13:23.520 |
And in many ways, those are some of the things that are sometimes incredibly encouraging to us. 00:13:29.020 |
When we hear and think about people who are in China, 00:13:31.820 |
when we hear and think about those pastors who are in India, 00:13:35.820 |
who don't have much but they straight walk into a village knowing, 00:13:39.420 |
"I can go in there and literally be beaten to death." 00:13:46.120 |
Especially for Apostle Paul, he's sitting there thinking, "Wow, I'm so thankful because I see that we have this partnership, a koinonia, 00:13:56.220 |
a true sense of the fellowship that we're in this together." 00:14:03.120 |
What else is that the people are generous people. 00:14:08.220 |
And this we see because here in Philippians 4, 14 through 16, 00:14:14.120 |
Apostle Paul says, "Nevertheless, you've done well to share with me in my affliction. 00:14:19.020 |
You yourself also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, 00:14:25.620 |
no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone. 00:14:30.520 |
For even in Thessalonica, you sent a gift more than once for my need." 00:14:41.220 |
And as you guys know, the travel that he does, he goes from modern-day Turkey area and he goes this way. 00:14:47.620 |
So, what ends up happening is in the book of Acts chapter 16, it talks about Apostle Paul's ministry there in that area. 00:14:57.020 |
And then later in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, he describes the Macedonians, 00:15:06.020 |
People who are here in this area, as those who are so generous, they're giving beyond even their own means. 00:15:15.020 |
Okay? If you recall this passage in 2 Corinthians 8, 00:15:17.820 |
he describes these people who even in their own need, they gave out of the generosity of their heart. 00:15:26.220 |
So if you, I'm sure maybe you've heard this before, but the book of Philippians, 00:15:30.720 |
this tone and tenor of the book has an incredible attitude of "I'm so grateful for you." 00:15:36.220 |
And as a matter of fact, you can actually even look at the book as a thank you letter to this church. 00:15:42.020 |
Because if you read chapter 4, he describes, "Man, not only did you give me once, 00:15:46.220 |
but you even gave me in another time and I want to thank you." 00:15:49.020 |
Not that I need it at all, not that God's grace isn't sufficient. 00:15:57.520 |
So as we do Bible study, we think about that and we think, "Oh man, wow. 00:16:10.320 |
To think about a church that's not just trying to get by living their lives on earth. 00:16:18.420 |
They're engaged in ministry to the degree that they would give monetarily. 00:16:22.120 |
And they would do that to the degree where later on, Apostle Paul speaks about it, 00:16:25.820 |
like, "Oh my goodness, you're even giving beyond. 00:16:34.720 |
Now, in thinking about the church a little bit more, there's one more thing we have to describe. 00:16:40.420 |
He describes that there is a potential for division. 00:16:55.820 |
Can you have an encouraging church that receives the Word of God, 00:17:10.820 |
Can it be susceptible to the false teachings that happen in lots of different arenas of, you know, spiritual life? 00:17:21.420 |
Here, one of the things that kind of is a giveaway that the church is experiencing that. 00:17:28.320 |
Apostle Paul says, "I urge Jodea and I urge Syntheci to live in harmony." 00:17:33.820 |
So he emphasizes this idea of like, "I urge you, I urge you to live in harmony with the Lord." 00:17:43.220 |
So, you could automatically assume, it's like, "Oh man." 00:17:46.820 |
He wrote this letter clearly to the leadership of the church, 00:17:52.020 |
He wrote this letter to be read to the whole church, 00:17:54.920 |
and then he singles out two ladies in the church who are perhaps in disagreement and discord. 00:18:04.020 |
and it's like, "The apostle who wrote us this letter from," 00:18:15.220 |
He wrote from prison to our church to encourage us of how we're an encouragement, 00:18:25.520 |
I just, sometimes you just gotta imagine if that was you, right? 00:18:35.220 |
But I just wanna think about that for a moment is, 00:18:37.320 |
Apostle Paul is caring for this church because 00:18:41.620 |
we know that that kind of discord in the church can be very problematic. 00:18:48.220 |
I mean, if you have two sisters fighting, someone would be like, 00:18:56.020 |
You know? Like, someone could have that kind of mentality. 00:18:58.520 |
But the reason why he brings this up is because it's so important 00:19:05.720 |
It's so important for the character of the church to be Christ-like. 00:19:12.920 |
And as you guys know, one of the more emphatic teachings of 00:19:15.920 |
the book of Philippians comes in chapter 2 when he talks about, 00:19:19.120 |
he says, "Make my joy complete by being of the," 00:19:23.920 |
"Same mind, same love, same united spirit intent on one purpose." 00:19:37.420 |
and then there's also the danger that you see 00:19:43.120 |
Those who are evil workers, beware of the false circumcision." 00:19:47.920 |
So, we are talking about those individuals who are advocating. 00:19:57.020 |
You know? "When you follow these rituals and when you follow these commands, 00:20:02.520 |
That is the teaching of, you know, like a works-based religion. 00:20:08.720 |
I just wanted to mention that briefly, just to share with you. 00:20:16.420 |
and notice how we didn't have to stretch far and wide to get all the details. 00:20:20.820 |
We just paid closely attention to what was already in the book. 00:20:24.620 |
Now, here is the next question that helps us transition along to the next point. 00:20:37.520 |
these individuals are engaged in the gospel ministry, 00:20:42.320 |
and clearly, they've responded to this gospel, right? 00:20:45.120 |
However, there is still a danger of disunity, 00:20:49.820 |
The next question is, how is he going to address these issues? 00:20:54.820 |
There is a spurring, typically a reason why somebody writes the letter. 00:21:08.220 |
And likewise, typically when Apostle Paul writes, 00:21:20.820 |
And a lot of times those things, the "so that's," 00:21:26.020 |
will kind of tell you, "This is my intention, 00:21:28.320 |
this is the purpose of why I wrote the letter." 00:21:31.020 |
So this is the way I'm going to present it to you. 00:21:41.020 |
when someone says, "What's the purpose of the letter?" 00:21:44.720 |
There can be various things that Apostle Paul writes. 00:21:52.720 |
or even when you're thinking about a paragraph, 00:21:54.920 |
think about how you can summarize that into a purpose statement. 00:22:21.420 |
"What does this author hope to accomplish by writing this?" 00:22:32.120 |
And what does he want to actually speak into?" 00:22:35.020 |
Those are super, super crucial, as you guys know. 00:22:40.220 |
I've got some blanks for you there in this little mini paragraph. 00:22:51.720 |
so that they can continue to fellowship in the gospel of Christ, 00:22:57.020 |
for the sake of Christ's glory and his gospel. 00:23:16.020 |
So what we're going to do now is break it down. 00:23:18.020 |
And I'm going to skip this little paragraph from MacArthur. 00:23:20.520 |
I just pulled it from his study Bible because I liked it. 00:23:26.120 |
And so I just liked it and put it there for you. 00:23:31.320 |
The first element of that was to have joy through faith in Christ. 00:23:44.320 |
that I will remain and continue with you all for 00:23:51.020 |
Remember, in this context, the Apostle Paul says, "You know what? 00:24:00.020 |
if you were to ask me honestly, what do I prefer? 00:24:12.020 |
And what he says is, "I am staying, I am remaining 00:24:24.920 |
Philippians 3, verse 1 says, "Finally, brethren, 00:24:30.120 |
To write the same thing again is no trouble to me and it is a safeguard for you. 00:24:34.820 |
For for rejoicing the Lord always, again, I say, rejoice!" 00:24:40.820 |
Remember that whenever you guys are doing your Bible studies, repetition is key. 00:24:52.120 |
here he's just like, "Rejoice! You know what? I'll say it again!" 00:25:04.520 |
For the Philippians to have that kind of appreciation 00:25:15.820 |
not simply because, "Oh, now I know what I'm doing in life. 00:25:19.320 |
I found some reason and I've got some purpose." 00:25:22.220 |
He desires them to rejoice in the Savior, the person of Jesus Christ. 00:25:29.720 |
he mentions how he desires for them to fellowship with him 00:25:33.820 |
in his suffering for the greater progress of the gospel. 00:25:36.920 |
So if you notice in the previous paragraph, I said 00:25:39.720 |
to have true joy so that they can continue in the fellowship of the gospel. 00:25:50.220 |
you know, there is this greater progress of the gospel and whatnot. 00:25:54.920 |
And he says, "So that," and I'm going to start from verse 13, 00:25:59.320 |
in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole 00:26:05.920 |
and that most of the brethren trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment 00:26:09.620 |
have far more courage to speak the Word of God without fear." 00:26:15.320 |
What's more, I want to highlight for you Philippians 3 00:26:37.220 |
I want you guys to think about that for a moment. 00:26:40.520 |
Apostle Paul commends them for being partners with him in the gospel, 00:26:53.820 |
In this previous paragraph, he talks about how 00:27:03.320 |
We lay the prize ahead of us and we just keep going. 00:27:09.420 |
And if you think about Apostle Paul and his joy, 00:27:18.520 |
when he sees the ministry of Christ having its powerful effect, 00:27:36.920 |
I want to take a moment to mention this idea again. 00:27:40.820 |
He says, "Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, 00:27:48.920 |
any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, 00:28:10.320 |
There was a moment in time when a lot of people were just enamored with the flowery thought 00:28:16.620 |
that if we had a multicultural church with all kinds of nationalities, 00:28:21.920 |
that in of itself would just be a beautiful thing. 00:28:32.520 |
Because that kind of harmony should be for the sake of Christ's glory. 00:28:40.720 |
not because we had the power to make something beautiful, 00:28:43.920 |
but when we join together despite the differences because of the power of Jesus, 00:28:49.020 |
where in Christ there is no longer Jew or Greek, 00:28:54.320 |
in Christ there is no longer woman or man, free or slave, 00:29:01.320 |
When he becomes all in all, he becomes glorified. 00:29:09.720 |
the power that belongs to God to make us one body, 00:29:16.820 |
And so that's why Apostle Paul cares whether two ladies get together in the church. 00:29:23.520 |
And that's why Apostle Paul cares that the church stay united to that cause and purpose. 00:29:32.620 |
"Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, 00:29:36.420 |
so that whether I come to see you or remain absent, 00:29:39.920 |
I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, one mind, 00:29:44.820 |
striving together for the faith of the gospel." 00:30:00.520 |
and then we covered, this is the way he's going to address them. 00:30:04.920 |
He's going to address, yes, their participation, 00:30:08.620 |
yes, their generosity, but also the danger of disunity and bad teaching. 00:30:13.720 |
The last part then is, what is the emphatic teaching that you should take home? 00:30:19.320 |
what is the major theme and teaching that you should draw from this? 00:30:24.220 |
Now, I just want to say again, there isn't just like, 00:30:30.720 |
Okay? You don't have to get overly concerned like, 00:30:34.220 |
Every time, sometimes, I'm not doing any audience participation today, 00:30:40.520 |
I give a really obvious question and they're afraid to answer, you know? 00:30:44.620 |
Because what if I'm looking for a specific answer and I don't get that one thing? 00:30:48.720 |
Well, remember, there's a lot of things Apostle Paul says in this book, 00:30:51.920 |
but one of the main repeated and both emphatic teaching 00:30:57.120 |
is that we who are genuinely in faith should be rejoicing in Christ. 00:31:04.020 |
If we missed that, then yes, we would have missed the repeated and emphatic teaching 00:31:10.020 |
Apostle Paul is talking about having such a joy in Christ 00:31:27.120 |
It's not as though this was the first city he visited. 00:31:30.320 |
He is already long, long into many sufferings. 00:31:48.820 |
He doesn't look at the situation and say, "Well, look at the bright side. 00:31:57.920 |
And when he does that, he uses lots of synonymous or linked ideas 00:32:04.320 |
He talks about not only joy but contentment, right? 00:32:07.820 |
He talks about peace that surpasses everything. 00:32:10.920 |
He talks about a kind of confidence because guess what? 00:32:13.520 |
When you're rejoicing in Christ, you will have confidence. 00:32:20.420 |
He talks about having abundance, having riches, right? 00:32:25.020 |
Those are all the lens of really seeing in faith who you have, 00:32:33.120 |
And so, one of the things I want to highlight for you 00:32:36.420 |
is Philippians chapter 3, verses 20 to 21, where he says, 00:32:40.320 |
"Our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly await 00:32:44.920 |
a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body 00:32:49.520 |
of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory." 00:32:56.820 |
"By the exertion of the power that he has even to subject 00:33:02.120 |
I want to conclude by highlighting that a little bit, okay? 00:33:06.520 |
That Apostle Paul desires these individuals to grow 00:33:11.520 |
in their expansive understanding of faith in Jesus Christ. 00:33:15.720 |
This is the way I would like us to think about it, okay? 00:33:18.720 |
Apostle Paul is talking to a fairly mature church, right? 00:33:25.020 |
Apostle Paul is talking to a fairly mature church, right? 00:33:29.720 |
And he says, "You guys already know how to love each other." 00:33:32.720 |
When I think about that, I'm thinking, you know, my honest 00:33:36.620 |
perspective is that here at this church, we have a lot of people 00:33:40.820 |
who are eager to serve, who are eager to be generous, and they're 00:33:44.320 |
looking for opportunities to engage the ministry of God. 00:33:49.520 |
But Apostle Paul wants them to grow even more, right? 00:33:55.720 |
He's taking a church that's already encouraging and says, 00:34:00.520 |
I want you to have more knowledge, more discernment, more love. 00:34:03.920 |
I want you to have greater faith, a persevering engagement in ministry. 00:34:07.820 |
I want you to take up the suffering that I call grace, right? 00:34:21.520 |
How do you take people who are already at a certain level and 00:34:25.920 |
Do you say, "Okay, guys, we're about ready to get, you know, even 00:34:30.120 |
deeper into our work, so let's first take a break, you know? 00:34:33.820 |
Okay, what we need is more practical training." 00:34:36.520 |
No, he says, "What I would like to see in you is an unmovable, 00:34:42.820 |
standing firm joy in Christ that'll motivate you in no matter what 00:34:49.920 |
You are not going to find joy by looking at your feeble, humble 00:34:57.220 |
You're not going to find joy by looking at this world. 00:35:00.120 |
You're not going to find joy by looking at other people. 00:35:05.220 |
Especially if you are desiring to grow above and beyond where you 00:35:10.620 |
are now, you feel like you've walked your Christian life to a 00:35:13.020 |
certain degree, you've been living the Christian life for many 00:35:20.020 |
You have to look to Christ and eagerly, eagerly desire the Savior 00:35:26.020 |
who is going to exercise His power and share with us His glory." 00:35:33.820 |
And that lens, that spiritual phenomena of having your faith 00:35:39.520 |
not be based on your sight, like, "I can't see, you know, I can't 00:35:48.320 |
When that happens, God is going to radically empower us to go 00:35:53.520 |
above and beyond what we think is even capable. 00:35:56.520 |
So I wanted to challenge you with that because there are a lot 00:36:00.120 |
of other teaching and themes that I'm not going to cover today, 00:36:03.420 |
but all of those things are going to be empowered by a steadfast 00:36:13.020 |
Now, what I'd like to do before I pray is just share with you 00:36:17.020 |
that A, there is some optional further study. 00:36:20.420 |
At the end of each study, because it's a short amount of time, 00:36:23.620 |
I went only for about 30 minutes here, 31 minutes. 00:36:26.220 |
Can't cover everything, but what I'd like to just challenge you 00:36:29.620 |
to do is read Acts 16 and 2 Corinthians 8 to get a feel for 00:36:38.920 |
The other thing I'd like to challenge you to do is as you 00:36:42.720 |
read this book multiple times, yes, you're going to start 00:36:49.020 |
You're going to start sensing like, "Oh, this is what he's 00:36:52.620 |
But also, I want you to be able to follow his flow of thought. 00:36:57.320 |
Apostle Paul is an incredibly methodical, because he's being 00:37:02.320 |
The teacher in the sense that he's leading us from point to 00:37:06.820 |
And a lot of times, outlining will help you actually follow 00:37:09.720 |
his trail, and it'll help you summarize and therefore remember. 00:37:13.420 |
And then, lastly is next week, we're going to be studying 00:37:19.620 |
So please make sure to try to jot down as many observations 00:37:23.420 |
as you can, even if you're like, "But this is obvious. 00:37:27.920 |
Yes, you do, because observation is just that. 00:37:30.620 |
You write down and notice the stuff that's there. 00:37:39.920 |
Then let me take a moment to pray, and then you guys can 00:37:42.620 |
have rest of the evening too, fellowship by discussing about 00:37:50.820 |
Lord, it's pretty incredible because, Lord, you're the one 00:37:56.920 |
who is offering to us this sweet joy, freely. 00:38:01.220 |
And God, this sweet joy is not conditioned upon life 00:38:07.820 |
God, it's not conditioned upon my limitations. 00:38:11.720 |
Father God, the joy that you offer us is tantamount to your 00:38:17.620 |
eternal character, because Lord, the offer you give is to have 00:38:22.020 |
So God, we want to thank you, and we pray that our eyes of 00:38:28.220 |
And what's more, realize, God, that our joy is steadfast 00:38:32.920 |
because we are looking to an external joy given to us by 00:38:37.620 |
And I pray, Father God, if there's people in the room who 00:38:41.820 |
have been living lives of sadness and brokenness because 00:38:46.220 |
they're looking at sin and they're looking at pain and looking 00:38:49.620 |
at all kinds of brokenness in this world, I pray, God, that 00:38:52.920 |
you'd grant to them greater faith in Christ, to look to our 00:38:56.720 |
Savior and to trust his words, that God, you have all that