Life At The Ridge

What do we learn from the lives of Timothy and Epaphroditus? These two men are a great example of Christians who followed the example of Jesus. What about their lives can we learn that will help us be joyful servants? We will finish up Philippians chapter 2 with this second part on "Joyful Servants".

Thanksgiving is a time that our nation has set aside a day that we observe a day of thanksgiving I thought it would be a great time to remind us what God’s Word teaches us about gratitude. Gratitude is a constant theme in the Bible. In fact it is mentioned over 150 times in Scripture and 33 times that we find that word gratitude it is tied with a command to be thankful. Are we a people of gratitude? There are lots of things we can be thankful for and rightly so, but is that what thankfulness is? Are we to be only thankful for the stuff? What is thankfulness? We’re going to look at Colossians 3:1-17. Within this text there are three verses Vs 15-17 and they are the summit of a Christians life who is experiencing the fulness of Christ in their life. Thankfulness is more than just a word but it’s more of a lifestyle. True thankfulness is a way of life for the believer in Christ.

As we have been working through this letter to the Philippians we have seen that Paul stresses this idea of humility and unity to the church. We saw this first when Paul told us about unity in chapter 1 of vs 27. Then again in Ch 2 vs 2. Then we were given the great example of humility by showing us what Christ did for us 2:3-8. The last couple of weeks we looked at how we are to allow that humility and unity to be at work in our life as we are working out our salvation without grumbling or disputing. By doing so we will be blameless, without blemish shinning as lights in this twists and crooked generation. That brings us up to where we are going to looking at this next portion of Scripture Ch 2 vs 17-30. We are given 3 examples of humility and sacrifice in Paul, Timothy and Epaphroditus. What do we learn from these three men? How does their lives help us understand how we should be serving one another in humility and unity?

Speaker Tom Obringer

Are you letting your light shine? This is the emphasis of the next two verses we will be looking at in Philippians 2:15-16. Paul says we are lights in this world. The world that we live in is dark and twisted and it's important that we are living up to our calling and purpose in Christ. How do we know if we're allowing our light to shine? What does having our light shine have to do with complaining?

Whining and complaining seem to be a favorite past time of the world that we live in today. In our text in Philippians 2 Paul commands those who know Christ to "Do all things without grumbling and disputing" Why shouldn't the Christian complain? What does God think of those who complain? Has complaining become a respectable sin? Never have we seen such a society that has so much and yet complain. Dissatisfied and discontent are the hallmarks of a person who complains. When we get to the heart of complaining what really is it? Why do we complain? and how are we to "Do all things without grumbling and disputing"?

As we have been looking at Philippians we have already seen that God calls us to unity within the body of Christ (Philippians 1:27). The only way that we achieve unity is through humility. Paul has given us the greatest example of humility by reminding us about the humiliation of Christ and it is that same attitude that believers are suppose to have (Philippians 2:1-8). Now we come to vs 12-13 and there is a call for us to "work out our salvation". This command is still in the context of unity and humility. What exactly does "work out our salvation" mean? We are all faced with a difficulty because it says for us to "work out.." but also it says that it is "God who works in us..." Vs 13 how do we reconcile both those things? How do we "work out our salvation"? How do we know if God is at work in us? What does this have to with humility and unity?

We’ve been talking about unity and humility within the church and to show us what humility looks like Paul is giving us the greatest example of humility by teaching us who Christ is and what Christ did. It’s important to understand these doctrines because God sets forth the truth and it’s our responsibility to obey it. To know who Jesus is is extremely important because your eternal destiny depends on it. There is only one Jesus that can save and that is the Christ that is revealed to us in Scripture, only He can save. God’s Word assures us that every knee will bow to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord. And yet there are people who go on living thinking that they will never have to bow to Christ as Lord and they do this by staking their eternal destiny against the sure word from God. So what do we learn about humility and unity from Christ being exalted? What can we take away from this doctrinal truth that will help us in our Christian walk?

As Paul stresses the importance of unity to the believers at Philippi his attention turns to promoting humility amongst each other by not allowing selfish ambition or conceit to be part of their lives (Philippians 2:1-4). In Philippians 2:5-11 we see a beautiful and powerful passage about Jesus modeling for us an example of humility. This passage is not only important doctrinally as it shows us who Jesus is and and what He has done, but practically Paul uses the example of Christ for us to learn from to promote humility and unity amongst ourselves. What do we learn about Christ's humility that will help us? Do we have the same mind among ourselves that was found in Christ?

Have you ever found yourself having a hard time getting along with other belivers? Who's right? Who's wrong? How can we learn how to get along? One of the major themes that is throughout the book of Philippians is unity. As we begin to look at chapter 2 it is one of Paul's desires that the believers at Philippi would "complete my (Paul's) joy" by being in unity. Unity within the body of Christ is a mark of spiritual maturity. How exactly though are we suppose to allow unity to be at work in our lives?

As we continue to look at Paul's statement of "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" We find Paul with a hard decision as he thinks about how leaving this world is far better because he will be with Christ, but he also recognizes by staying here in the flesh it would profit the believers at Philippi. What do we learn about our lives living here in the flesh? How can our lives be used to encourage and strengthen others? Most importantly how do you view your life for the purpose of living for Christ?

Does the life you live reflect the worthiness of the Gospel? Think about that. Since Christ saved me and resurrected me from death to life, does my life reflect the Gospel message? Paul's words here to the Philippian believers in 1:27-30 were a reminder to do just that. How do we make our manner of life worthy of the Gospel? What does that mean? What can we expect the outcome of living such a life be?

What does death mean for the believer in Christ? Paul stated in Philippians "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain" What was the gain that Paul was looking at? Do we view death as a gain? How should a believer view death? How can death be used to exalt Christ?

Paul in his letter to the church at Phillipi has just finished telling them about his circumstances in his life and how he knows God is going to use them for the furtherance of the Gospel and now we come to this passage here in Philippians 1:19-26 where Paul makes the statement "To live is Christ" What exactly does that mean? It's a rather interesting phrase, but Paul saw something intrinsic about Christ and his life. What was it? The way Paul lived his life brought him peace and joy in the midst of difficult circumstances. How can we do the same?

Some of the most difficult circumstances Paul faced in life he met them with joy and looked at them as an opportunity for the advancement of the Gospel. How could imprisonment, beatings, hunger, peril, danger etc be used for the Gospel? Paul say's in his letter to the Philippians that what has happened to him was for the "advancement of the Gospel" How so? Furthermore how can we use our circumstances for the advancement of the Gospel? Could we say that God permits us to be in the circumstances so that the Gospel would be advanced? How do we know?

How have you been running the race so far? Tired? Full of energy? About to collapse? Steadily? The writer of Hebrews reminds us that we need to run the race and not loose heart. What will enable us to continue with patience and not get discouraged? How can we practically apply Hebrews 12:1-3 to our lives?

In Paul's letter to the Philippians in 1:12-18 he gives them a testimony of what the Lord has and is doing in his life. It’s interesting that when we read about the life of Paul as it is revealed through Scripture we see that Pauls life was a life that was marked with hardships, difficulties, let downs, depression, being abased, threatenings, danger, and discouragement. To say that Paul’s life was easy would be an understatement. Yet Pauls life was filled with joy even in the midst of his most unpleasant circumstances. Unfortunately there are many who believe that a life without difficulty or disappointment is the mark of a Christian life that is blessed by God or that if they have difficulties or disappointments in their life then God’s love must not be towards them. So the question must be asked where do we find real joy? Where is the happiness? How can we find joy in the circumstances that we find ourselves in? How can we know that the circumstances that I am placed in are of God’s doing and what is th

We’ve been spending some time here in this prominent prayer that Paul prays for this church at Phillipi. Sometimes we think prayers need to be long and formal, yet Paul prays this prayer in about 50 words and only one sentence. The depth, the weight, the doctrine and the truth that drips from this prayer is just absolutely outstanding. The way the prayer is structured is just fantastic as well. There is a progression that begins with a challenge to love more and more with a knowledge of the Gospel, using discernment, then it flows into the reason behind that challenge it’s to help us be ready for the day of Christ and then the prayer reminds us of the result of the challenge “To be filled with the righteousness of Christ” and then it triumphantly ends with these words “to the glory and praise of God.”

As we have been looking at this letter to the Philippian church Paul has just expressed his joy and his love for all the believers at this church in Philippi. On the heels of his greetings, we find his prayer for this church 1:9-11. The prayer only covers three verses but yet it is a tremendous and spirit filled prayer for this church. I believe that the words Paul prays for this church comes from an intense desire for them to grow in their love and fellowship towards each other. What’s awesome though is this prayer is not just for this church at Philippi, this prayer is Holy Spirit inspired Scripture and therefore it is for every church and every believer. In this second part Paul tells us that we are to be abounding in love with discernment.