Philippians 10: All Things Through Christ
Notes
Transcript
Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmarks & Needs:
B: Phil 4:10-23
N:
Welcome
Welcome
Good morning, everyone. Thanks for being here today! I’m Bill Connors, and I’m blessed to be the senior pastor for this wonderful church family of Eastern Hills. If you’re a guest or a visitor this morning, our hope is that you’ve been blessed so far by this church family as well, and we appreciate you being here, whether you’re a believer or are just checking out the Jesus and the church, whether you’re in the room or online. We’d like to be able to send you a note of thanks for your visit this morning, so if you wouldn’t mind getting us a little information, it would mean a lot to us. If you’re online, you can jump over to our I’m New page on the website or the app and fill out the contact card at the bottom. If you’re in the room, you can use that contact form, or you can just fill out the Welcome card that you’ll find in the back of the pew in front of you. At the close of service, you can either drop it in the offering boxes by the doors, or if you would, you can bring it down to me here at the front, so I can say hello if I haven’t had the chance already this morning, and so I can give you a small gift to thank you for your visit. Thanks in advance for taking the time!
I’d also like to take a moment and say thanks to all of our Kids Ministry Shepherds who bless our kids and families through their service in our children’s ministry every week. Obviously, the ones serving in Kids’ Ministry right now won’t hear this: but shepherds, thank you so much for the way you invest in the little ones of Eastern Hills. The work you are doing has eternal meaning. We appreciate you!
Announcements
Announcements
I have one announcement that I need to take care of before we get into the last message from Philippians this morning. This Wednesday night beginning at 5:30, the church will hold our first “wet cement” information and feedback session for our vision framing journey with Auxano. We’ll come together in Miller Hall, have a meal, and then talk and think through the work that the vision framing team has done over the last few months. Our goal is to involve the church family in this vision process, not just inform. Dinner and childcare will be provided. Many of you have already registered to be there, and we appreciate that! We really are only doing registrations because we need to know how much food to order. There are lots of ways to get registered. You can scan the QR code on the screen. The deacons were standing at the doors with clipboards as you came in, and you could put your information down there. They’ll be at the doors as we leave at the end of service again. You probably got an email with the link in it this week, and I posted it to Members in the Loop on the app as well. We want as many as can be here to be a part of this night of fun, fellowship, prayer, and vision. If you are a married couple and feel that family commitments make it so only one of you can be here, that’s fine… we’d rather one than none. The meeting is scheduled to be over at 8:30 that night, but that’s an estimate (it won’t be LONGER than that, but it might be SHORTER than that!).
Opening
Opening
Well, we’ve arrived at our last message from the book of Philippians. Including this morning, we’ve spent 10 weeks on this letter that Paul wrote from prison to the church in Philippi. I’ve really been blessed by hearing from the other pastors as they preached four of the messages from this book. It’s a great blessing to be have three other capable guys on staff with me. So I just want to say thanks to Trevor, Joe, and Rich for their care for this church family and their availability in sharing the Word during this series.
This morning, we’re looking at Paul’s conclusion to this little letter. Before we stand and read our focal passage, I just want to remind us of where Paul’s message to this church started: with joy because of their partnership in the ministry of the Gospel. In chapter 1, Paul opened with Philippians 1:3–5 “3 I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, 4 always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” Joy thus became the main theme of the letter, being mentioned 14 times in the short 104 verses.
And as Paul started the letter with joy over the Philippians’ partnership with him in the Gospel ministry, so he closes this letter as well, coming full circle. So with that in mind, let’s open up our Bibles or our Bible apps, and stand together as we are able in honor of God’s Word, as I read our focal passage this morning:
10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly because once again you renewed your care for me. You were, in fact, concerned about me but lacked the opportunity to show it. 11 I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. 12 I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. 13 I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me. 14 Still, you did well by partnering with me in my hardship. 15 And you Philippians know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone. 16 For even in Thessalonica you sent gifts for my need several times. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the profit that is increasing to your account. 18 But I have received everything in full, and I have an abundance. I am fully supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you provided—a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19 And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. 21 Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send you greetings. 22 All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household. 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
PRAYER ranchers
One of the great blessings of preaching verse-by-verse through books (or extended passages, like our Christmas series will be) of the Bible is that I don’t have to go hunting for “what to preach this week.” I go to the next passage, I read it, I study it, I meditate on it, I write it, and I preach it (it’s way more complicated than that, but you get what I mean). It also means that the Scripture determines what topics we will consider, even if it’s a topic that I’m not necessarily fond of preaching. This is one of those weeks. Don’t get me wrong—I love this passage. It’s that I’m not very big on preaching about money and giving. And I’ll admit that it’s probably from some desire to not turn anyone off from hearing the Gospel because, “the preacher’s talking about money again.” For me, I think I rarely mention it in a sermon, though I do give instructions on how to give each week.
But you can’t escape the fact that nearly our entire passage this morning (with the exception of the greetings and blessing at the end) is primarily concerned with giving: Paul talks about the Philippians’ gift to him, the heart behind the gift, the ability to give the gift, Paul’s contentment with or without the gift, their worship of the Lord through the gift, and the blessing that Paul offers them following the gift.
Let’s face it, folks: the Bible talks about money, and specifically about giving. If the Bible talks about it, so should we. And we can approach this topic not as a drudgery and not as a cliche, because through Christ we can give, we can receive, and we can minister with joy in all things. In fact, giving is a way that we can partner together in Gospel work, which is our first point:
1: Giving is a partnership in Gospel work.
1: Giving is a partnership in Gospel work.
Paul was overcome with joy in the Lord because of the selfless act of giving that the Philippians had undertaken. Apparently, there has been some time since the last time the church at Philippi had been able to help Paul financially, and their doing so now had at least in part been what occasioned this letter to them. Paul expressed his joy in verse 10.
10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly because once again you renewed your care for me. You were, in fact, concerned about me but lacked the opportunity to show it.
We do not know the details of this gap in their support of Paul in his mission. Perhaps they had faced a great financial hardship themselves. Paul wrote about the churches of Macedonia, which included Philippi, in his second letter to the church in Corinth:
1 We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that was given to the churches of Macedonia: 2 During a severe trial brought about by affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 I can testify that, according to their ability and even beyond their ability, of their own accord, 4 they begged us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints, 5 and not just as we had hoped. Instead, they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us by God’s will.
Even in their extreme poverty they had given before, but maybe things had gotten really bad for them, and they were truly destitute for a time. Or perhaps they hadn’t had opportunity to support Paul because he was inaccessible (he was, after all, in prison). Either way, Paul praises the Lord for the gift they had given for his support. He continues this reflection in verses 14-16:
14 Still, you did well by partnering with me in my hardship. 15 And you Philippians know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone. 16 For even in Thessalonica you sent gifts for my need several times.
Paul was a missionary. His first “missions” trip was with Barnabas, when they delivered relief funds from Antioch to Judea in Acts 11. And then, starting with chapter 13, nearly the rest of the book of Acts focuses on Paul, his missionary work, and his imprisonment. In Acts 16, we can read about the founding of the church in Philippi through the conversion of a woman named Lydia. A riot, an arrest, an earthquake, and a release later, Paul was basically forced to leave town, and continued on to Thessalonica.
If we consider what Acts 17 says about Paul’s time in Thessalonica, and if this is the trip he is referring to here in Philippians, they had sent gifts for his needs several times over only three weeks. And now, they had given again to meet his needs during hardship. And he describes this as “partnering.”
The words “partnering” in verse 14 and the word “shared with me” in verse 15 share the same root: the same root as the word usually translated as “fellowship:” koinonia. Theirs was a “Fellowship of the King,” to reference the title of the study our students did for Disciple Now this weekend. The church at Philippi had really “come alongside” Paul in his mission. Through their giving, they had on multiple occasions truly partnered with him in Gospel work.
One last note before we make application to this point. In verse 15, Paul said that they had been the only church in those early days to share with him in “the matter of giving and receiving.” Many churches had received his ministry, but only the Philippians had received it, and then given back so it could continue.
Two years ago now, back in November of 2022, Eastern Hills was in the closing couple of weeks of the Endeavor campaign. If you’ve come to be a part of the church since then, you likely have almost no idea what that is. We did a capital funds campaign to raise funds and pledges to do some much needed repairs (which are now nearly all done) and upgrades for this part of the building. We needed a new roof over the foyer and offices. The lighting controller had gone belly up. And we were heating the sanctuary with a skeleton crew of furnaces, while cooling it with outdated and dying evaporative coolers. And we needed to start thinking about who we are and who we want to be in years to come. That’s why we’re doing the vision framing journey and have the wet cement session this Wednesday. And by the way, if you want to give directly to the Endeavor campaign, you still can designate to it. We’ll give a fuller update on it at the business meeting next Sunday night.
During the Endeavor process, we did a questionnaire as a church, and we interviewed LOTS of you personally. And one thing that came up over and over again in our discussions was that this church takes up a lot of special offerings. We don’t deny it. We take up the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions every December and January, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions every March and April, the one-day Mother’s Day Offering for the New Mexico Baptist Children’s Home each May, the World Hunger/Disaster Relief Offering each July, and the New Mexico State Mission Offering each September. Not only that, but Eastern Hills sends 10.5% of all undesignated offerings to fund the Cooperative Program with the SBC (which funds both things in the state and national/international level), and 3% of undesignated offerings to the Central Baptist Association, which is the coalition of Baptist churches in the Middle Rio Grande Valley here in New Mexico. Add to that the support that we give to missionaries that we have sent out into the field, the missions work that individuals and groups undertake from this church to other places, the ways that we provide things for other churches or for statewide events… And we can say that partnering in the work of the Gospel is VERY important for Eastern Hills! We’re not ashamed to say it!
Eastern Hills is YOU. It’s US. Together in Christ for the sake of the Gospel. And when you (individually) give to your church’s ministry, then you are partnering in Gospel work. When you write a check, or give online, or drop a $20 into the offering boxes, you’re participating in the mission that God has given to Eastern Hills Baptist Church. Some can go. Some can give so others can go. I’m so blessed to have been able to be on both sides of that equation multiple times: The church has sent me out on missions work many times (especially when I was the youth pastor), and I’ve been blessed to be able to give so that others can go and serve as God has given them opportunity to do so.
So we need to see giving the way the Philippians did: we’ve received the blessing of the Gospel, and so we can bless others by giving for the work of the Gospel. But note that there was a time that the Philippians hadn’t been able to give. And that was okay. Paul gave no indictment or criticism against them because of it, because they had always been concerned for him: just unable to show it tangibly. And so he kind of “lets them off the hook” so to speak, by sharing with them the “secret” of being content in whatever circumstances he found himself in.
2: Learn to be content in Christ.
2: Learn to be content in Christ.
We’ve already seen that Paul was overjoyed because the Philippians had been able to tangibly show their care for him through their gift. Unfortunately, some scholars see this passage as being problematic, because Paul never actually says “thank you” to them. And those who find this to be an issue then take verses 11 and 12 and interpret it as if Paul doesn’t actually care that they had sent the gift. But this is not what’s happening here:
11 I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. 12 I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need.
Paul doesn’t need to say thank you to the Philippians for their gift. He already said that he had rejoiced in the Lord for their gift. His thanks is to Jesus, and his thanks to Christ is for the Philippians, not for their gift. We already saw this back in verse 3, when Paul wrote:
3 I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you,
The reality is that for Paul, the gift brings him to a place of rejoicing in the Lord for his brothers and sisters in Christ who gave the gift, because while the gift is great, that’s not his priority. It’s not his primary concern, because he knows that he’s learned this incredible secret called contentment. It doesn’t matter how much he has—the secret to contentment is found in verse 13:
13 I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.
For Paul, he didn’t need to give any worry to how much money he had in the bank. He didn’t need to be anxious about where his next meal was coming from. Look through Acts and some of the descriptions in his epistles: he faced crazy things, but kept his eyes on Jesus. He was whipped, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, in constant danger from many directions, faced difficulties and hardships, went without sleep and food and adequate clothing… and that was just in the list in 2 Corinthians 11. He could do all of that and still be content because he had Jesus.
He told Timothy that he was perfectly content with the barest necessities for survival, if that was what he was to have, as long as he was walking in godliness. In fact, he saw that godly contentedness as “great gain:”
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out. 8 If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.
In their really great and accessible commentary on Philippians called Exalting Jesus in Philippians, Tony Merida and Francis Chan succinctly define what Christian contentment is:
Christian contentment is about believing that Christ is enough.
—Tony Merida & Francis Chan, Exalting Jesus in Philippians
Christ is enough. Do we actually believe that?
Please hear me: I’m not saying that if you have Jesus, you should quit your job and sell everything you have and live a subsistence living. Note that Paul didn’t turn down the Philippians’ gift. He’s saying that if we have Jesus, even if we don’t have anything else, we have enough, and everything else is bonus, because nothing else will last forever, and nothing else will truly satisfy.
Solomon understood this, and wrote in Ecclesiastes 5:10:
10 The one who loves silver is never satisfied with silver, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income. This too is futile.
Instead, the author of Hebrews tells us:
5 Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.
Rather, says Paul, those who have temporal resources should be given instruction to hold loosely to those resources, that they would be available to be used for Kingdom purposes, should that be what God calls for them to be used for:
17 Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy. 18 Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share, 19 storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of what is truly life.
The things of the world aren’t to be relied upon for our ultimate peace and security.
So we have to ask the question: is Jesus enough? If you don’t know Jesus, then you’re going to answer that question with a resounding, “no,” and you might even think I’m crazy for suggesting it. I would have done the same thing before I came to faith. And I’ll confess that even right now, sometimes my heart wants to answer that question in the negative, because I still struggle with contentment. But for those who think Jesus isn’t enough, you need to understand that your biggest problem isn’t how much money you have or don’t have—it’s how much peace you have or don’t have, and I don’t mean calmness in your life. I mean peace in your relationship with God.
If you don’t have Jesus, then the Bible says in Romans 5 that you’re in enmity against God, and it’s only through being justified (made right before God) through faith in Christ that we have peace eternal peace. We are at enmity because of our sin—the ways that we rebel against God through what we choose to do or what we choose not to do. Jesus, the Son of God, came and received our punishment as rebels in our place, so that we could be forgiven and have peace with God again. This peace is received by faith—believing in what Jesus has done so you could be saved, trusting Him as Lord of your life in surrender.
This is why Jesus is enough—because without Him, we have nothing that will last. And with Him, we have everything that we truly need. So come to Christ in faith. To quote the psalmist:
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in him!
Now, let me make one more application to this point for we who are in Christ. This contentment that Paul is talking about here isn’t just about money. We can and should be content in Christ regardless of our circumstances, because He really is enough.
We had an election this week. Is our contentment in Christ defined by who won or lost? If you supported Trump, you likely feel pretty content because it went the way you wanted it to go—but would you have been content in Jesus if Trump had lost? If you supported Harris, are you as content in Christ today as you were on Monday? If you answer “no” to your respective question, then maybe your peace is at least partially found somewhere other than Jesus. I mean, Paul was in prison awaiting trial for his very life, and he could say that he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him. If it’s true for Paul, it should be true for us.
But this contentedness doesn’t just affect how we lose, but also how we win—and sometimes that’s the more difficult! If we’re content in Christ, we can be pleased about outcomes we hope for without gloating, without boasting, without insulting. Godliness with contentment is great gain, regardless of who the president is. Again, this isn’t to say that we should be passive about the privileges that we have to be able to be personally involved in our government through exercising the privilege that we have to vote—I mean, Paul argued his case in order to get out of prison, he didn’t just sit there and wait to die—but it does mean that Jesus hasn’t changed just because things went our way or didn’t, and He is still enough.
The reality is that here in the church, we are united by ties more powerful than politics—we are family because we are brothers and sisters in Christ. And we together get the blessing of coming to worship the Lord Jesus as a unified body. And Paul connects the Philippians’ gift to him to their worship of Jesus, just as Paul connected his worship of Jesus to his receipt of the gift.
3: Worship and giving are connected.
3: Worship and giving are connected.
I said that for Paul, his priority wasn’t the fact that he had received this gift. His priority in his rejoicing at the arrival of Epaphroditus with the gift was that the Lord was working in the lives of the Philippians, and because of that work, the Philippians had come together to make an offering to the Lord that God would use to minister to Paul and to further his ministry.
He was much more concerned with their spiritual well-being that he was his own physical well-being.
17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the profit that is increasing to your account. 18 But I have received everything in full, and I have an abundance. I am fully supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you provided—a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.
The word translated “profit” here in verse 17 I think might be translated “fruit.” The Philippians’ heart to give help Paul in his imprisonment and his ministry there was an evidence of maturing spiritual fruit in their lives. Their worship of God and their willingness to give went together. Paul says that by their gift, he has “an abundance…fully supplied.” So the amount was apparently enough to meet whatever need he had at the moment, but again, that’s not what was important. It was the heart behind the gift that mattered. Paul said that their gift was “a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.”
This reference immediately calls to mind several Old Testament references that speak to burnt offerings as being a “pleasing aroma” to the Lord, such as Exodus 29:18 and Leviticus 1:9, but also Paul’s application of the concept of sacrifice from Romans 12:1-2:
1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Remember how Paul had spoken of the Philippians in his letter to Corinth that we saw earlier? He said that they “gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us by God’s will.” They didn’t just give their money. They gave their very selves. Paul says in Romans that this is our true worship—presenting ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. God, and only God, is worthy of our complete devotion.
And in that devotion, God gives us resources to steward. Some of those resources are monetary. Some aren’t, such as time, energy, and talent. When we offer our bodies to Him as “living sacrifices,” we are saying that whatever aspect of our lives He wants, it’s His whenever He wants it. It’s something we offer to Him because He is worthy. So it isn’t that we have to give. It’s that we get to give. But it’s the heart behind the gift that is most important, not the amount. Paul said to the Corinthians:
6 The point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.
“Generously” and “sparingly” are not based on dollar figure, but on heart position. I honestly have no idea what anyone in this church gives. But I asked Rebecca (the only one who really knows), and she said that there are those in the church who give just a little, every week, faithfully giving to God from what they have. In this way they resemble the faithful widow that Jesus observed in the Temple courts in Mark 12:
41 Sitting across from the temple treasury, he watched how the crowd dropped money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large sums. 42 Then a poor widow came and dropped in two tiny coins worth very little. 43 Summoning his disciples, he said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had—all she had to live on.”
This widow gave from her heart, not from her overage, trusting God to take care of her even as she gave. And we can trust Him as well when we give, which is our last point.
4: We can trust God when we give.
4: We can trust God when we give.
At this moment, you might be a little stressed out. “Bill, you don’t know what I have and what I don’t have.” You’re right, I don’t. And I can tell you that I don’t always walk in complete trust either. Sometimes giving feels scary. But I know that we can trust the Lord to provide us with what we truly need when we give to His purposes and kingdom work out of faith and love for Him. Paul knew this as well, and could confidently say to the Philippians:
19 And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
In the passage that we looked at a moment ago from 2 Corinthians 9, where Paul said that God loves a cheerful giver, he continues along the same lines as he does with the Philippians, but with more detail. Consider verses 8-12:
8 And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work. 9 As it is written: He distributed freely; he gave to the poor; his righteousness endures forever. 10 Now the one who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will also provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
Of course, we can always trust God, because He is absolutely trustworthy, but I think that it’s in this area that we tend to be the most wary of trusting Him. I know that we talked about verses 6-7 last week, but keep in mind that these were just 13 verses ago:
6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
God isn’t stingy. He can and will meet our need, but don’t assume He’s going to meet our greed. He’s got a plan to provide for us as we trust in Him to do so. I mean, we had the greatest need—our spiritual deadness because of our sin—and God provided exactly the One necessary to provide for that need. Paul said it this way in Romans:
32 He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?
God provided extravagantly for our spiritual need when we couldn’t ever have deserved it. Trust Him to provide for your physical needs as well in His will and way.
Closing
Closing
Paul ends his letter to the church at Philippi by giving a couple of closing greetings and a blessing. There’s just one thing I want to point out from these last three verses:
21 Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send you greetings. 22 All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household. 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Since Philippi was known as “little Rome,” it’s possible that there were those who traveled between the two regularly for various reasons, so those in the church in Rome may have known those in the church in Philippi. But particularly interesting is the fact that Paul says, “especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.” This is a direct result of Paul’s ministry, which the Philippians have been partners in since they first heard the Gospel message. These were likely members of the imperial guard, and perhaps other servants of Caesar, who served in his residence, as Paul mentioned at the beginning of the letter in verse 13:
13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard, and to everyone else, that my imprisonment is because I am in Christ.
Paul ends the letter the way he started: with a gracious blessing to those in this church that he loved so deeply:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We should desire this blessing for ourselves, and seek to be this kind of blessing to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
If you are here this morning, and you’ve never trusted in Jesus for your salvation, I call on you this morning to consider the peace of your life. Do you have peace in your life? More importantly: do you have peace with God? It’s only in Christ that we will find true contentment and ultimate peace.
Baptism
Church membership
Prayer
Giving
PRAYER
Closing Remarks
Closing Remarks
Bible reading (Catch up day for Job, Psalm 128. Starting Ecclesiastes tomorrow.)
Pastor’s Study tonight, starting chapter 6
Wet Cement Session for Auxano Vision Framing this Wednesday night
Instructions for guests
Benediction
Benediction
9 For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, 10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 14 In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
