The key to happiness, then, is not money. It’s not better food. It’s not better education. It’s not better healthcare. If not, what is it? How can we be happy? How do we find reasons to rejoice in the midst of the storms and super typhoons of life? The apostle Paul knows how to find joy in the midst of hardships. He wrote his letter to the Philippians while he was suffering in prison.
Our security comes from God. We don’t rely on our family and friends for our ultimate security. We don’t rely on ourselves and our abilities. Our ultimate security comes from the love of our Almighty God. But what exactly is the kind of security that we receive from God? Is it a security that assures us we will be healed from all our sicknesses and live a long life? Is it a security that assures us of eternal life? The next truth that we will learn from this passage will answer this question.
But Paul is not naïve. He knows that not everyone who was preaching Christ as a result of his imprisonment served with pure motives. Some were preaching Christ “out of envy and rivalry.” We might find their hypocrisy distasteful, but how often do we perform our church duties with wrong motives? Do we always have the best intentions when we do our ministries? Whenever we preach, teach, lead worship, and lead Bible studies, do we always check our hearts and ask ourselves why we do what we do? Today’s passage will answer three questions: What does it mean to serve Christ with pure motives? What does it mean to serve Christ with wrong motives? How do our motives affect our ministries?
Paul was well acquainted with persecution. He wrote his letter to the Philippians while he was in chains. In today’s passage, Paul gives encouragement to the Philippian saints who have shown concern for him during his imprisonment. We will learn from this text the two duties that we Christians must fulfill when others persecute us.
We are continuing our series on Philippians this afternoon. In today’s passage, Paul instructs his disciples how they can attain spiritual growth. From this text, we will learn three rules we can apply in our own lives to become spiritually mature in Christ. We will learn how we can grow spiritually to become all that Christ calls us to be.
We are continuing our bi-weekly series on Philippians. Today, we will focus on Philippians 1:6-8. I love how relevant these verses are for us leaders in the church. Paul expresses here his heart as a true disciple maker. His words remind us how we leaders must carry out our ministries. They teach us what must be the attitude of our hearts as we make disciples.
We believe that the best way to disciple followers of Christ is through the weekly worship service. Christians grow in the faith by gathering as a church, worshipping God, hearing his word, and applying his word in our individual lives and as a church. No matter how many attendees we have, nor how much money we receive, if we are not making true disciples, then we are not fulfilling our purpose. Our goal in these worship services is to see true disciples grow in their Christian faith.
Why should we go to church every week? Today, we will begin a sermon series in the Book of Philippians. The apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Christians at Philippi. This letter was read out loud during their church gathering. In the same way that we gather today as a church to hear God’s word, these Christians at Philippi also gathered together to listen to Paul’s divinely inspired letter read out loud for them. From the first two verses, God was already reminding them who they were and what they were called to do as a church. From this text, we will learn three purposes for gathering together as a church.
