September 30, 2023
“Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is
September 29, 2023
“And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News” (Philippians 1:12 NLT). The apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church at Philippi from his jail cell in Rome. He wrote to encourage his gospel partners, so that
September 29, 2022
LEARNING TO FOCUS ON WHAT REALLY MATTERS Paul prayed that the Philippians would learn to understand “what really matters.” He prayed that they would begin to view everything from the perspective of Christ’s return and that they would focus on becoming more and more like Jesus until that Day. What are you focused on today?
September 30, 2021
LIVING WORTHY OF THE GOSPEL Paul taught the Philippians that they should live in a “manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” When we live as worldly, our message has no consistency and the gospel comes across hypocritical. Our lives should be consistent with the Good News we profess. Our lifestyle should in fact cause
September 29, 2021
DO YOU HAVE A GOSPEL PERSPECTIVE? The apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church at Philippi from his jail cell in Rome. He wrote to encourage his gospel partners, so that they would see that his chains were actually increasing the “advance of the gospel.” He noted that the gospel had become evident to
September 29, 2020
DO YOU HAVE A GOSPEL PERSPECTIVE? The apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church at Philippi from his jail cell in Rome. He wrote to encourage his gospel partners, so that they would see that his chains were actually increasing the “furtherance of the gospel.” He noted that the gospel had become evident to
September 30, 2019
LIVING WORTHY OF THE GOSPEL Paul taught the Philippians that they should live as “citizens of heaven,” remembering the gospel in their conduct. When we live as worldly, our message has no consistency and the gospel comes across hypocritical. Our lives should be consistent with the Good News we profess. Our lifestyle should in fact
September 29, 2019
DO YOU FOCUS ON WHAT REALLY MATTERS? Paul prayed that the Philippians would understand what “really matters.” He prayed that their priorities would focus on becoming more and more like Jesus until the Day of completion when Christ returns. What are you focused on today? There are many good things that might occupy our
September 29, 2015
Writing while imprisoned in Rome, Paul expressed his readiness to die and be with Christ, while recognizing the need to remain for the sake of sharing the gospel. In chains or not, living or dying, the apostle wanted the believers at Philippi to know that he trusted Christ in all things and wanted Him to be glorified in all ways. The indomitable joy of Christ was his. He may have been in chains, but the gospel was unchained and so was his soul. Paul was not suicidal. He did not have a death wish. He was merely expressing the reality for one whose old life had already died with Christ and whose new life was risen with Christ. What could the Romans do to Paul? They could kill his body. But they couldn’t touch his soul. His life was already hidden in Christ.
September 30, 2014
Paul taught the Philippians that they should live as “citizens of heaven,” remembering the gospel in their conduct. When we live as worldly, our message has no consistency and our gospel comes across hypocritical. Our lives should be consistent with the good news we believe. Our lifestyle should in fact cause people to ask about our faith, so that the gospel comes out easily. One cannot be excluded from the other. We are called to both live and share the Good News.