When things come crashing down and everything feels broken, how can we possibly think about “joy”? We turn to Paul’s letter to the Philippians to find out.
As we think about joy in dark places, Paul turns to those who are actually preaching the Gospel with the aim of discrediting him. What do we do when people and circumstances seem to want to hurt us?
Sometimes the deck appears to stacked and it’s hard to see how life will do anything but go from bad to worse. How do we have joy then?
As we live as Christians, we face struggles and opposition. Shouldn’t life be easier? Should we find a way to make it easier?
A dashboard warning light can glow long before the engine stops; anxiety, fear and self-protection can signal a similar loss of peace in the heart. Colossians 3:15 calls for the peace of God to “rule” there, while Proverbs 4:23 says the issues of life flow from that same place. When the gauge falls toward empty, who has taken the throne?
When every headline seems to confirm that the world is bending farther from truth, outrage and hopelessness can feel more natural than faithful witness. Philippians 2:12–16 places Christians in the midst of a crooked generation and calls them to shine without murmuring or retreating. How can a believer hold forth the word of life when darkness seems to dominate?
As we continue our series in 2 Corinthians 13 tonight, Pastor Tim considers what it means to be “of one mind” as Paul calls on Christians to be.
We cruise along thinking everything seems worth rejoicing in—until something smacks us over the head and forces the question of what really matters. Paul faces that same reckoning in Philippians 3, listing every credential and mark of status he once counted as gain.
Clear words can still sail right past us when they aren’t the news we want. In Luke 18, Jesus tells the Twelve exactly what’s about to happen to Him, yet they were just like us: they didn’t want to hear.
Grace saves us—we don’t deserve it, can’t earn it, and have no grounds to boast about it, as Paul makes plain in Ephesians 2:8–9—so what does it look like when a community of undeserving people actually lives that out together as the church God is building?