12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
It is amazing what God can accomplish through us when we are obedient to His word. The disciples were told that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit. They know that the Holy Spirit was going to come to them, they just had to be patient and listen to the Father. Jesus had just ascended to heaven. I am sure the disciples were pretty distraught. I mean think about it. They have spent three years preaching the gospel with Jesus and then they have to watch his die on a cross. That had to be pretty traumatic. Three days later, Jesus is risen from the dead and the disciples were probably extremely relieved and happy to have their Savior back. Jesus is only with them for a short time though and then he leaves once again. We have never experienced actually seeing Jesus face to face, let alone actually ministering throughout the lands with Jesus at the helm. We have always had the Holy Spirit. It is all we have ever known. But think about the situation the disciples are in. They are in a transition time. Jesus has just left them, and the Holy Spirit has not yet arrived. So they leave the Mount of Olives where Jesus has just departed and walk back to the place they are staying. When it says a Sabbath day's journey, this does not mean that it takes the whole day to get back. This means that they walked about the maximum distance that is allowed on the Sabbath day. Back in this time, nothing could really be done on the Sabbath, so they could only walk a certain distance on this day. I love the disciples devotion. Jesus leaves and they feel left alone so what do they do? They do the only thing that they can do, they begin to pray. All the disciples are gathered with all of the women who probably ministered to Jesus' disciples, Mary, and all of Jesus' brothers. Jesus told them to wait on the Holy Spirit. Instead of simply waiting around not doing anything, the disciples begin to pray and complete devote themselves to the task at hand. They were all completely unified and of one mind. This beginning of the disciple's ministry without Jesus is a great example of how we should model our churches. They were confused and were not really sure where to go so they pray. Our churches need that same devotion. There are so many times when churches are lost and confused and don't know where to go. A lot of churches look to worldly things when this occurs. We do have the Holy Spirit, but we still have to pray to receive knowledge from the Holy Spirit. Churches need to pay more attention to the disciples and learn patience and learn the power of prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Acts 1:6-11
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."
I don't know about you, but I feel like the disciples are very brave. Countless times in scripture they pose questions to Jesus that just seem so arrogant and crazy that I have to read them more than once to be sure that they really just asked that question. This is one of those times. This takes place after Jesus' death and resurrection and the disciples are asking Jesus if he is going to restore Israel. They were probably thinking politically and militarily. If Jesus just came back from the grave, I don't think I would be asking him about the state of Israel. I don't even know if I would be able to say anything at all through worshipping Jesus. The disciples had a different perspective than we do though. We are looking at Jesus as a historical figure and often forget that he is very much alive and living through us. The disciples were experiencing Jesus in His glory on earth. They witnessed him perform countless miracles, such as raising Lazarus from the dead, and were probably more focused on things of this world than on Jesus and his glory. I think we should stop looking at the question and focus on Jesus' response. I absolutely love when people ask questions of Jesus, because his responses are never direct. He always either asks another question or goes around the topic to what the person should be asking instead of what they actually ask. This shows the absolute patience of Jesus. He never gets upset about people asking questions. He encourages it, mainly through more questions. It also shows the knowledge of our Lord Jesus. He knows that the disciples are focused on the wrong questions, so he uses their question to bring about the topic that they should be considering. He tells the disciples that it is not important that they know any specific times or dates for the restoration of the church of Israel or any such matters, but he claims that the Holy Spirit is going to grant them power. This is another example of the God never leaving us to our own defenses. Isn't that an amazing fact? Jesus never ever lets us go at it alone. The Spirit is always there to guide us and protect us. Jesus knew that He was about to leave, and he was telling the disciples that they would not be alone, but they they would find power in the Spirit. With that power, however, Jesus also issued a command. Like Uncle Ben on Spiderman says, "With great power comes great responsibilities." Jesus told the disciples (and told us through the disciples) that they (and we) are to be his witnesses in Jerusalem (local) and in all Judea (statewide) and Samaria (national) and to the end of the earth (worldwide). We are to witness to those in all the regions of the world, starting with out homes and working our way out, leaving no one left alone without the gospel. This is the ultimate missionary challenge to the church. Just as the great commission tells us to make disciples of all nations, this passage is telling us that we need to spread the gospel to all the world. This clearly defines the mission of the church.
After Jesus said these things, he was simply (haha) lifted up and carried away by a cloud. That happens right? I can only imagine what the disciples were thinking in this instance. They were probably thinking that if Jesus could come back from the grave, he could come back from the sky as well, and that is why they were looking up, trying to watch for the return of Jesus (they would have been watching for a long span of time). God knew this is what the disciples were watching for, so in his glory and grace, He sent two angels in human form to speak to the disciples. They let the disciples know that Jesus was taken from them and had ascended into heaven. This shows the power and glory of God and Jesus. Just think on it for a second. Jesus (an actual body of flesh and bones) was lifted up on a cloud (a wisp of water vapor) into the sky. That is a pretty radical occurrence. I don't know that I would be able to handle something that extreme. This passage ends with a promise from the angels that were sent by the Father. Jesus is going to return. How glorious is that thought? The throne is not empty. Jesus is alive. Not only is Jesus alive, but He promises to return to restore the true Kingdom of Israel bringing heaven to earth. We do not know when Jesus will return, but we know the manner of his return. He shall return on a cloud just as he ascended into heaven. His entry will be ever more glorious than his exit. This is a hugely important concept for a church. The church is only here to spread the gospel and reach as many people for Christ as possible. We are to prepare for the return of Christ by sharing Him with all the world. Jesus does not really give us an option. It is our job to spread the Word. If we don't do so, when Jesus returns all those souls that we could have helped will be thrust on us. We will know exactly how inadequate our lives were. I don't know about you, but I do not want the number of people I could have reached and didn't to be a very large number. I am forced to reevaluate my life every time I think of all those people who will be sent to hell because of my laziness and lack of commitment.
I don't know about you, but I feel like the disciples are very brave. Countless times in scripture they pose questions to Jesus that just seem so arrogant and crazy that I have to read them more than once to be sure that they really just asked that question. This is one of those times. This takes place after Jesus' death and resurrection and the disciples are asking Jesus if he is going to restore Israel. They were probably thinking politically and militarily. If Jesus just came back from the grave, I don't think I would be asking him about the state of Israel. I don't even know if I would be able to say anything at all through worshipping Jesus. The disciples had a different perspective than we do though. We are looking at Jesus as a historical figure and often forget that he is very much alive and living through us. The disciples were experiencing Jesus in His glory on earth. They witnessed him perform countless miracles, such as raising Lazarus from the dead, and were probably more focused on things of this world than on Jesus and his glory. I think we should stop looking at the question and focus on Jesus' response. I absolutely love when people ask questions of Jesus, because his responses are never direct. He always either asks another question or goes around the topic to what the person should be asking instead of what they actually ask. This shows the absolute patience of Jesus. He never gets upset about people asking questions. He encourages it, mainly through more questions. It also shows the knowledge of our Lord Jesus. He knows that the disciples are focused on the wrong questions, so he uses their question to bring about the topic that they should be considering. He tells the disciples that it is not important that they know any specific times or dates for the restoration of the church of Israel or any such matters, but he claims that the Holy Spirit is going to grant them power. This is another example of the God never leaving us to our own defenses. Isn't that an amazing fact? Jesus never ever lets us go at it alone. The Spirit is always there to guide us and protect us. Jesus knew that He was about to leave, and he was telling the disciples that they would not be alone, but they they would find power in the Spirit. With that power, however, Jesus also issued a command. Like Uncle Ben on Spiderman says, "With great power comes great responsibilities." Jesus told the disciples (and told us through the disciples) that they (and we) are to be his witnesses in Jerusalem (local) and in all Judea (statewide) and Samaria (national) and to the end of the earth (worldwide). We are to witness to those in all the regions of the world, starting with out homes and working our way out, leaving no one left alone without the gospel. This is the ultimate missionary challenge to the church. Just as the great commission tells us to make disciples of all nations, this passage is telling us that we need to spread the gospel to all the world. This clearly defines the mission of the church.
After Jesus said these things, he was simply (haha) lifted up and carried away by a cloud. That happens right? I can only imagine what the disciples were thinking in this instance. They were probably thinking that if Jesus could come back from the grave, he could come back from the sky as well, and that is why they were looking up, trying to watch for the return of Jesus (they would have been watching for a long span of time). God knew this is what the disciples were watching for, so in his glory and grace, He sent two angels in human form to speak to the disciples. They let the disciples know that Jesus was taken from them and had ascended into heaven. This shows the power and glory of God and Jesus. Just think on it for a second. Jesus (an actual body of flesh and bones) was lifted up on a cloud (a wisp of water vapor) into the sky. That is a pretty radical occurrence. I don't know that I would be able to handle something that extreme. This passage ends with a promise from the angels that were sent by the Father. Jesus is going to return. How glorious is that thought? The throne is not empty. Jesus is alive. Not only is Jesus alive, but He promises to return to restore the true Kingdom of Israel bringing heaven to earth. We do not know when Jesus will return, but we know the manner of his return. He shall return on a cloud just as he ascended into heaven. His entry will be ever more glorious than his exit. This is a hugely important concept for a church. The church is only here to spread the gospel and reach as many people for Christ as possible. We are to prepare for the return of Christ by sharing Him with all the world. Jesus does not really give us an option. It is our job to spread the Word. If we don't do so, when Jesus returns all those souls that we could have helped will be thrust on us. We will know exactly how inadequate our lives were. I don't know about you, but I do not want the number of people I could have reached and didn't to be a very large number. I am forced to reevaluate my life every time I think of all those people who will be sent to hell because of my laziness and lack of commitment.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
The Study of Acts: Acts 1:1-5
Study of the Book of Acts
Chapter 1
1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Acts is a book most likely written by Luke, making the “first book” that it mentions in the first verst the book of Luke. The book of Luke was about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Therefore, since this is the second book, we can logically assume that this book is going to talk about the rest of Jesus’ ministry and how to apply his teachings to our lives and to our church. This is why I feel God is calling me to take an in depth look into the book of Acts. I have a very strong desire to start a church one day. Not so that I can get glory, but because there are a lot of people in the world who need the gospel. I really applaud missionaries that go over seas, but I am really feeling called to help people in our country who have heard the Word, but just have not accepted it for any number of reasons. I really love that people are reaching the world for Christ. I just feel like I can’t leave my own country unattended when there are so many on our soil that need Christ. However, I know nothing about what a Biblical church should look like. I have just always assumed that whichever church I was going to at any given time was perfect and that is what a church should look like. But that is not the case at all. In fact, I don’t think there is any one way that a church needs to look. In fact, I firmly believe that church should be contextualized to fit the needs of its given community. However, there is a difference in contextualizing practices and contextualizing beliefs. Practices should be altered to attract any given culture to the church so that you can share Christ with them. Beliefs should come only from Scripture and should never be altered for anyone. That is why I am readying Acts. So that I can get some semblance of an idea about what beliefs my future church should or should not have. So I guess we can just start with the first few verses. First, since I have already mentioned the first couple verses, I just want to point out that the third verse brings proof of the resurrected body of Christ. The resurrection is obviously one of the most important doctrines in the Christian faith because without the resurrection Christians would be worshipping a dead guy, like a lot of other religions do (Buddhism-Buddha, Islam-Mohammad). So the first doctrinal issue brought up by the book of Acts is that Jesus did in fact appear to many people, not just that apostles, after his crucifixion. In fact, Jesus spent more than a month (40 days) roaming the Earth discussing the Kingdom AFTER he had risen from the dead. Jesus told the disciples to stay and Jerusalem to wait for the promise of God that means the Holy Spirit. Why do you think Jesus told them to wait? I am not entirely sure to tell you the truth, however, I think there are some important lessons to learn from listening to Jesus telling us to wait. First of all we learn of God’s provision for us. God made a promise to the disciples that the Holy Spirit was going to come and lead them after Jesus’ ascension (that is Jesus going up to heaven to be with the Father) and God never breaks his promises. He knew that Jesus was going to be leaving soon and that the people would need another force to teach and to guide them in the ways of the Father, so He sent the Holy Spirit. God will never put us in a situation without help. His provision is perfect. The next thing we learn is to listen to Jesus and be obedient. We must be patient. If we are patient God will deliver on His promises sooner. If we disobey we are really just causing the promise to be further away and therefore setting ourselves up for more failure because we will be impatient again and through being impatient we will cause God to postpone even more. We must wait for the promise of the Father. The last thing we learn from this verse (well not the last thing I am sure but the last thing I can think of at the moment) is the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is alive and strong in us and we must utilize the Spirit’s abilities in reaching the world. So in these few short verses, we learn a lot about some things that a church needs to believe to be Biblically accurate. Jesus has been glorified through the resurrection and His Ascension into Heaven. God will provide for absolutely all our needs through His perfect provision. We must be patient in our prayers and our daily walk with the Lord. The Holy Spirit is a force of God and is God living in and throughout our lives working for the good of the world, but for the good of our own souls and lives as well. :) If you have any questions or comments you can either leave them here or feel free to email me at any time. kpsattler@gmail.com Love you! Seriously.
Chapter 1
1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Acts is a book most likely written by Luke, making the “first book” that it mentions in the first verst the book of Luke. The book of Luke was about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Therefore, since this is the second book, we can logically assume that this book is going to talk about the rest of Jesus’ ministry and how to apply his teachings to our lives and to our church. This is why I feel God is calling me to take an in depth look into the book of Acts. I have a very strong desire to start a church one day. Not so that I can get glory, but because there are a lot of people in the world who need the gospel. I really applaud missionaries that go over seas, but I am really feeling called to help people in our country who have heard the Word, but just have not accepted it for any number of reasons. I really love that people are reaching the world for Christ. I just feel like I can’t leave my own country unattended when there are so many on our soil that need Christ. However, I know nothing about what a Biblical church should look like. I have just always assumed that whichever church I was going to at any given time was perfect and that is what a church should look like. But that is not the case at all. In fact, I don’t think there is any one way that a church needs to look. In fact, I firmly believe that church should be contextualized to fit the needs of its given community. However, there is a difference in contextualizing practices and contextualizing beliefs. Practices should be altered to attract any given culture to the church so that you can share Christ with them. Beliefs should come only from Scripture and should never be altered for anyone. That is why I am readying Acts. So that I can get some semblance of an idea about what beliefs my future church should or should not have. So I guess we can just start with the first few verses. First, since I have already mentioned the first couple verses, I just want to point out that the third verse brings proof of the resurrected body of Christ. The resurrection is obviously one of the most important doctrines in the Christian faith because without the resurrection Christians would be worshipping a dead guy, like a lot of other religions do (Buddhism-Buddha, Islam-Mohammad). So the first doctrinal issue brought up by the book of Acts is that Jesus did in fact appear to many people, not just that apostles, after his crucifixion. In fact, Jesus spent more than a month (40 days) roaming the Earth discussing the Kingdom AFTER he had risen from the dead. Jesus told the disciples to stay and Jerusalem to wait for the promise of God that means the Holy Spirit. Why do you think Jesus told them to wait? I am not entirely sure to tell you the truth, however, I think there are some important lessons to learn from listening to Jesus telling us to wait. First of all we learn of God’s provision for us. God made a promise to the disciples that the Holy Spirit was going to come and lead them after Jesus’ ascension (that is Jesus going up to heaven to be with the Father) and God never breaks his promises. He knew that Jesus was going to be leaving soon and that the people would need another force to teach and to guide them in the ways of the Father, so He sent the Holy Spirit. God will never put us in a situation without help. His provision is perfect. The next thing we learn is to listen to Jesus and be obedient. We must be patient. If we are patient God will deliver on His promises sooner. If we disobey we are really just causing the promise to be further away and therefore setting ourselves up for more failure because we will be impatient again and through being impatient we will cause God to postpone even more. We must wait for the promise of the Father. The last thing we learn from this verse (well not the last thing I am sure but the last thing I can think of at the moment) is the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is alive and strong in us and we must utilize the Spirit’s abilities in reaching the world. So in these few short verses, we learn a lot about some things that a church needs to believe to be Biblically accurate. Jesus has been glorified through the resurrection and His Ascension into Heaven. God will provide for absolutely all our needs through His perfect provision. We must be patient in our prayers and our daily walk with the Lord. The Holy Spirit is a force of God and is God living in and throughout our lives working for the good of the world, but for the good of our own souls and lives as well. :) If you have any questions or comments you can either leave them here or feel free to email me at any time. kpsattler@gmail.com Love you! Seriously.
Women and Other Thoughts of Randomness
So I was thinking today. I do a lot of that. And I have decided to talk about something that I very rarely talk to anyone about. And that is women. This is not going to be an advice column. Because I can give no real advice in this area on account of I have not been in a relationship for around five years. Awesome, I know, right? Well not so much. It is something that kills me everyday and something I dwell upon constantly. I don't tell many people that though because I don't like people to know how much I want to be in a relationship. I don't want people to know this because it makes me extremely vulnerable and also kinda makes me look like a nerd. And by kinda, I mean it really makes me look like a nerd. Why haven't I been in a relationship in five years you ask? Well that is a good question and one I often wonder myself. Trust me, it is not from lack of trying. I try a lot. Although I have not tried in New Orleans really yet because I don't know anyone well enough to want to be in a relationship with them. Why is this topic important? Because I am going through exactly what millions of other people are going through. It is a very difficult thing to have to go through. Never knowing if you are ever going to meet a person that you love enough, and that loves you back in the same way. That is my problem. Finding someone to love isn't my problem. Finding those girls has been only all too easy. Finding the ones that feel the same way about me is the extremely difficult part. I am not like most guys I have ever met. I am pretty weird, I'll admit. But I always am very up front about my feelings and maybe that is intimidating to a lot of girls. Not many guys just up and tell girls that they like them a lot. I do. I have had girls that I am not interested in tell me that a guy should always be up front about his feelings, but it has always backfired on me. I have even had girls just stop talking to me for long periods of time because I told them this. That is the worst. When you tell someone you really care for them and they just want to abandon you completely. The other worst feeling is putting on a smile and acting happy for all of your other friends that are getting engaged and married. Sucks doesn't it? That is a rhetorical question because everyone knows the answers is a resounding yes. Lately, though, I have been trying to sort through these thought processes. Why do I want to be married so bad? Well that is an easy question to answer. I want to feel loved. I want to love someone. I want to know what it feels like to have that mutual love between two people that I have never experienced. Also, I want to stop worrying about it. I want to be married so I don't have to wonder if I am going to ever be married or not. Once you are married that isn't really something you think about I don't reckon. I want someone to share my life with. Everyone knows this feeling so I really don't need to go into any more detail. But why do we feel this way? More than once I have asked myself why God would possibly give me such a strong desire without fulfilling it. It just seems cruel to dangle it in front of me like that. Then I came to a realization. Maybe God gave me the desire and made it extremely strong so that I could give up my desire for worldly things and fully put my trust and hope and love in Him. Maybe I have been single for six years because I have not yet learned to really rely on God. I have not made God my everything, obviously, because I am still holding on to this hope of marriage thing stronger than I am holding onto God. Now why would I possibly be that stupid? Because I am a human and a male. I love girls. And sometimes I definitely place that desire above the Lord. My advice? Never do that. Unless you want to be single for six years. In that case, by all means. I realize that I have to give up my desire to be married before I will ever get married. That doesn't really make sense does it? Neither does God sending His perfect son to die on a tree. That one is way more baffling. I am learning patience. I have heard so many pastors say things like, "If you pray for patience, God does not give you patience, but He gives you opportunities to be patient." This is so true and I absolutely love it. If any of you know any single girls that might be interested in me...... Wait. Cut that. That was just my brain getting in the way again. My bad. God is enough. God will always and forever sustain me and I don't need a girl or marriage or a family to get God. I have God without any of those things and it is wonderful. I would rather be single for the rest of my life and have God for eternity, than have the most gorgeous wife and family and be eternally separated from my Creator. Just saying.
On some other notes, I watched a movie about the missionary William Carey today, and it was AWESOME! Not really the movie itself, because the acting was horrible and it was terribly cheesy and parts of it were super depressing. But his perseverance is amazing. He spent seven years in India where his son died of disease and his wife went crazy (and eventually died) before he ever saw anyone led to Christ. Seven years in India without seeing any fruit. Yet he persevered and is now known as one of the greatest missionaries ever. It is just an awesome story and really inspires me even more to learn to be patient with God. My roommate was telling me about another person who just prayed and prayed and prayed that he could have a Bible because they were banned in his area. He just prayed and prayed and prayed for a very long time. He eventually was given a Bible. The story is way cooler than how I just told it I promise. Just the perseverance and patience of these men inspire me to be greater and more pure than I ever thought I could be. I had chills when I was hearing both stories.
One final thing. I have really been struggling and really desiring to start a church in the North. Well I am now going to begin slowly reading through and studying the book of Acts, so that I can get a greater picture of how my future church may look. I am going to start that tonight after church. If any of you few people who actually read this would like to journey along with me in the book of Acts and want me to post my notes and thoughts on here let me know. I am not planning on doing so, but if anyone wants me to, I will find the time to do so, because all I care about it letting people know about Christ. So give me some feedback on this. Thanks!!!
On some other notes, I watched a movie about the missionary William Carey today, and it was AWESOME! Not really the movie itself, because the acting was horrible and it was terribly cheesy and parts of it were super depressing. But his perseverance is amazing. He spent seven years in India where his son died of disease and his wife went crazy (and eventually died) before he ever saw anyone led to Christ. Seven years in India without seeing any fruit. Yet he persevered and is now known as one of the greatest missionaries ever. It is just an awesome story and really inspires me even more to learn to be patient with God. My roommate was telling me about another person who just prayed and prayed and prayed that he could have a Bible because they were banned in his area. He just prayed and prayed and prayed for a very long time. He eventually was given a Bible. The story is way cooler than how I just told it I promise. Just the perseverance and patience of these men inspire me to be greater and more pure than I ever thought I could be. I had chills when I was hearing both stories.
One final thing. I have really been struggling and really desiring to start a church in the North. Well I am now going to begin slowly reading through and studying the book of Acts, so that I can get a greater picture of how my future church may look. I am going to start that tonight after church. If any of you few people who actually read this would like to journey along with me in the book of Acts and want me to post my notes and thoughts on here let me know. I am not planning on doing so, but if anyone wants me to, I will find the time to do so, because all I care about it letting people know about Christ. So give me some feedback on this. Thanks!!!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Life for Me Right Now
Hey! So this blog post is not going to be about any Bible passages (although I am thinking some could be mentioned). It is about my life at the moment. I get so caught up in doing blog posts about my Bible study, that I don't think to really blog just about myself in general. I have made some pretty big decisions lately and am going through some tough times. I am beginning to change my attitude about New Orleans. Up to this point, I have absolutely hated it. It is still not my favorite. But I am trying to work through that and be joyful in the fact that I know God wants me here. My church, Vintage Metairie, is playing a huge impact on this attitude. There are now two campuses to Vintage Church, Vintage Uptown and Vintage Metairie. Vintage Metairie just began at the beginning of January. This sparked a renewal in my commitment. I really struggled to get involved in Uptown. I don't really know why. I think it was my attitude honestly. But now that Vintage Metairie is up, I have really been trying to plug in as much as I can. it is difficult working a full time job and going to school full time, but I am having to make sacrifices. I feel not remorse or bitterness in this fact though. I love that I am finally having to make decisions for Christ that may take away something else I enjoy doing. Now that I am really getting involved with church I have made another huge decision. I was thinking about how I was only going to be down here for another year and a half and I did not think that was enough time to really get involved with this church. So because of that, I have decided to slow down a little bit and really enjoy my time here and my classes and life. I can't change that I am taking 16 hours this semester, so this semester is going to be crazy. But after this semester, I am going to take lighter loads so that I can do more with the church. Because of this, I have decided not to join the Army while I am still in school. I do not really know where this is going to lead. I may still join the Army after I get done with school and I may not. This is a choice that is going to be made by God, not by me. I am going to do whatever He calls me to, whether that is into the Army or to Boston to start a church to try to reach those people My desire right now is really leaning towards starting a church in an area that is completely unchurched, whether that be Boston or elsewhere God calls me. I just want to make a difference in the world. With that desire though, I am struggling with some major pride issues. I want to make a difference, but I want people to know that I made a difference. I want to be a household name. I have always wanted to be famous. It is something I struggle with often. My heart tells me that it doesn't matter. All that matters is that Christ is proclaimed. Christ needs to be famous. Not me.
Psalm 8:3-4
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
I am struggling a lot with my quite time with the Lord and with reading scripture. It is a real struggle for me. I really want to desire God with my entire being. When I do read the Scriptures, I cannot get away from Psalms. I absolutely love it and feel like every verse speaks to me. Who are we that God should care for us? God does not need us. We are insignificant on the grand scheme of the universe and even on the grand scheme of the world. But we are completely significant to God. He knows us by name and personally knows our hearts. I cannot wrap my brain around this. I really want to understand how we gained God's favor. The universe is so majestic. God does not need us. But He loves us all the same.
I don't really know what the meaning of this post is. So I am going to end it and try to impart some knowledge into all of you. Please stop caring about your own personal desires so much. There is a huge world out there that really needs us to make a stand. Show people love. Not just on Sunday morning but absolutely every day of the week at every time during those days. If you are fighting some things know that you are not alone. You have thousands and millions of brothers and sisters in Christ that would love to help and serve you and the Creator of the universe to listen to your cries. Never feel alone. You are loved. :D
Psalm 8:3-4
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
I am struggling a lot with my quite time with the Lord and with reading scripture. It is a real struggle for me. I really want to desire God with my entire being. When I do read the Scriptures, I cannot get away from Psalms. I absolutely love it and feel like every verse speaks to me. Who are we that God should care for us? God does not need us. We are insignificant on the grand scheme of the universe and even on the grand scheme of the world. But we are completely significant to God. He knows us by name and personally knows our hearts. I cannot wrap my brain around this. I really want to understand how we gained God's favor. The universe is so majestic. God does not need us. But He loves us all the same.
I don't really know what the meaning of this post is. So I am going to end it and try to impart some knowledge into all of you. Please stop caring about your own personal desires so much. There is a huge world out there that really needs us to make a stand. Show people love. Not just on Sunday morning but absolutely every day of the week at every time during those days. If you are fighting some things know that you are not alone. You have thousands and millions of brothers and sisters in Christ that would love to help and serve you and the Creator of the universe to listen to your cries. Never feel alone. You are loved. :D
Philippians
Hello people! I am back! I am excited to share with everyone what God has been telling me as I study through the book of Philippians! I am so pumped! So I am not going to waste any more time! I am sharing with you two sections of memorization through Philippians since I have not posted last weeks yet!
Philippians 1:19-26
19 For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will be not at all ashamed, but with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard-pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is much more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to the glory of Christ, because of my coming to you again.
All I can say is WOW!! Literally. That is all I can say. So this blog post is done. Okay, so maybe not really. I may have a tad bit more to say than wow. Although that is a great description of this passage. :) However, I guess I will start dissecting. Paul starts off by claiming that his imprisonment is going to turn out for his deliverance. I don't know about you, but I can't really say that I think everything that happens in my life will help with my deliverance. But Paul immediately takes a horrible situation and claims that it will turn out for his deliverance. However it is clear that Paul wants no glory at all in this situation. He claims that it is only through the prayer of this church and the Spirit of Jesus that this situation will ultimately lead to the deliverance of Paul. He is so happy about it. Paul is excited about death. He wants to die so that he can be with Christ. Being with Christ is more important than anything to Paul. He gives all the glory to the Lord. I am constantly struggling with this. I do something and I want the glory for it. I don't want to accomplish something only to give up the glory for that accomplishment. True humility is gaining absolutely nothing but achieving absolutely everything. Paul had true humility. Paul did not know exactly what was going to happen to him, but he knew that no matter what was done to him, he was going to honor Christ in life and eventually in death. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Stop reading for a second and meditate on that verse.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Keep thinking................................................................................................................................................................................................just a few more seconds................................................... Okay. To live is Christ. What does that even mean? Paul is weighing two options throughout this passage of scripture. On one hand he can stay alive. On the other hand he could give up his life in service to the Lord. To remain alive, and to keep sharing the love of Christ with others is Paul's mission. To live is Christ. To live is to have the opportunity to keep sharing the gospel. To live is to remain in Christ and glorify Christ in every action. But to die is gain. Paul would love nothing more than to give up his life and go live with his Lord. To die is gain. Paul is in a bad place in life. He is in prison. He is persecuted. To die would give him a relief from all the worldly struggles that Paul faces every single day. To die is gain. Nothing in the universe is better than being with God. Paul claims that living simply gives him more options to do good works for Christ. Wouldn't it be amazing if we adopted that attitude?!?!?!? If we stopped worrying about all the struggles of life, if we stopped focusing on all the busy things that we must do. And we really instead focused on why we are on the earth? We are here to serve Christ. That is a grand mission, and we should never be bored by that! How can we ever get bored serving the Creator of the Universe and sharing his love with everyone?????? This perplexes me greatly. I am so lazy it kills me. I need to just get over myself and really focus on the mission at hand. My life is no where near as crappy as Paul's (although I sometimes feel like I am in prison), yet he greatly rejoiced in all that happened to him. Paul at this point in his writing (from what I gather anyway. This is just my opinion) really does not know which to choose at this point. LIfe or death. He is working through this problem, weighing the pros and the cons of each, throughout this passage. He claims that it is an extremely tough choice to make. His true desire and what he truly wants is to simply die and be with Christ because that is infinitely better than anything this world can offer. But, he realizes he has responsibilities. He is completely aware that he has an obligation to lead more people to Christ and to disciple those people. He comes to the realization that the people's need for him is greater than his own desire to be with the Lord. This is true altruism. Complete selflessness. I challenge you (and myself) to begin to change your though process. Begin to think of others first, and put that to action. Thoughts have no consequences if the thinker chooses not to act. Listen to yourself and adopt Paul's attitude. He is giving up his pure desire of being with the Lord to remain on the earth and disciple these people. He is not staying for his own benefit. He explicitly states that he is staying for the church's progress and joy in the faith. He knows that he may be the only chance some people have to hear about Christ. We need to think about this. Think about your coworkers, or people you pass on the street. These encounters may seem extremely insignificant, but the smallest smile or action can change a person's life. You may be the only chance some people have. They will go their entire life before that moment and after that moment never having heard the gospel. That one opportunity is all they get. They will recognize you as they are standing at the gates of heaven. They will be in the line across from you. You will see them again. As God is telling them to depart for He knows them not. They are going to then walk over to you and ask you why you didn't share this information with them when you had the chance.
Philippians 1:27-30
27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may here of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, and of your salvation, and this from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for His sake 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
I struggle with these verses. A lot. They convict me beyond belief. All this week after memorizing verse 27, I cannot get it out of my head. My manner of life is not in any way worthy of the gospel of Christ. I have been thinking about this constantly. Although my life is not worthy of the gospel, God's grace and forgiveness has cleansed me of all my stains. That does not in any way get me off the hook. I can't help but think there are so many more things that I could be doing to serve my Creator and Father. As I am writing this, I am in awe of my own stupidity and unworthiness. All I want to do with my life is live in a way that will honor Christ. Keep in mind that Paul is writing this letter to a church and not to an individual. There is a lot of turmoil in the church at this time period. Paul does not want the church at Philippi to stop serving the Lord. He is encouraging them to remain strong in one another so that they can remain strong in their community and throughout the world. There are many people who will persecute Christians all over the world, even today. It is clear that we are meant to suffer. I am not at all an advocate of preaching the Prosperity gospel that says becoming a Christian will solve all of your problems and make you extremely happy. Happiness is an emotion. Christianity may create situations in which it is impossible for you to be happy. However, Christianity creates joy. Joy is an attitude. Believing in Christ is not enough. We must suffer. This does not necessarily mean physical persecution and death. This could mean any form of persecution. Like not getting a job, or people ignoring you, or people rejecting you when you try to share the gospel or even just mention that you are a Christian. It is comforting to know, however, that you are not alone. This is a message to all Christians from another Christian. Paul was facing these same problems (he was in jail!). Paul remained strong through all of this. Adversity will happen. The sign of a true Christian is not avoiding adversity. A true Christian will be joyful through adversity because they follow a God that can get them through absolutely any eventuality.
Philippians 1:19-26
19 For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will be not at all ashamed, but with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard-pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is much more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to the glory of Christ, because of my coming to you again.
All I can say is WOW!! Literally. That is all I can say. So this blog post is done. Okay, so maybe not really. I may have a tad bit more to say than wow. Although that is a great description of this passage. :) However, I guess I will start dissecting. Paul starts off by claiming that his imprisonment is going to turn out for his deliverance. I don't know about you, but I can't really say that I think everything that happens in my life will help with my deliverance. But Paul immediately takes a horrible situation and claims that it will turn out for his deliverance. However it is clear that Paul wants no glory at all in this situation. He claims that it is only through the prayer of this church and the Spirit of Jesus that this situation will ultimately lead to the deliverance of Paul. He is so happy about it. Paul is excited about death. He wants to die so that he can be with Christ. Being with Christ is more important than anything to Paul. He gives all the glory to the Lord. I am constantly struggling with this. I do something and I want the glory for it. I don't want to accomplish something only to give up the glory for that accomplishment. True humility is gaining absolutely nothing but achieving absolutely everything. Paul had true humility. Paul did not know exactly what was going to happen to him, but he knew that no matter what was done to him, he was going to honor Christ in life and eventually in death. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Stop reading for a second and meditate on that verse.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Keep thinking................................................................................................................................................................................................just a few more seconds................................................... Okay. To live is Christ. What does that even mean? Paul is weighing two options throughout this passage of scripture. On one hand he can stay alive. On the other hand he could give up his life in service to the Lord. To remain alive, and to keep sharing the love of Christ with others is Paul's mission. To live is Christ. To live is to have the opportunity to keep sharing the gospel. To live is to remain in Christ and glorify Christ in every action. But to die is gain. Paul would love nothing more than to give up his life and go live with his Lord. To die is gain. Paul is in a bad place in life. He is in prison. He is persecuted. To die would give him a relief from all the worldly struggles that Paul faces every single day. To die is gain. Nothing in the universe is better than being with God. Paul claims that living simply gives him more options to do good works for Christ. Wouldn't it be amazing if we adopted that attitude?!?!?!? If we stopped worrying about all the struggles of life, if we stopped focusing on all the busy things that we must do. And we really instead focused on why we are on the earth? We are here to serve Christ. That is a grand mission, and we should never be bored by that! How can we ever get bored serving the Creator of the Universe and sharing his love with everyone?????? This perplexes me greatly. I am so lazy it kills me. I need to just get over myself and really focus on the mission at hand. My life is no where near as crappy as Paul's (although I sometimes feel like I am in prison), yet he greatly rejoiced in all that happened to him. Paul at this point in his writing (from what I gather anyway. This is just my opinion) really does not know which to choose at this point. LIfe or death. He is working through this problem, weighing the pros and the cons of each, throughout this passage. He claims that it is an extremely tough choice to make. His true desire and what he truly wants is to simply die and be with Christ because that is infinitely better than anything this world can offer. But, he realizes he has responsibilities. He is completely aware that he has an obligation to lead more people to Christ and to disciple those people. He comes to the realization that the people's need for him is greater than his own desire to be with the Lord. This is true altruism. Complete selflessness. I challenge you (and myself) to begin to change your though process. Begin to think of others first, and put that to action. Thoughts have no consequences if the thinker chooses not to act. Listen to yourself and adopt Paul's attitude. He is giving up his pure desire of being with the Lord to remain on the earth and disciple these people. He is not staying for his own benefit. He explicitly states that he is staying for the church's progress and joy in the faith. He knows that he may be the only chance some people have to hear about Christ. We need to think about this. Think about your coworkers, or people you pass on the street. These encounters may seem extremely insignificant, but the smallest smile or action can change a person's life. You may be the only chance some people have. They will go their entire life before that moment and after that moment never having heard the gospel. That one opportunity is all they get. They will recognize you as they are standing at the gates of heaven. They will be in the line across from you. You will see them again. As God is telling them to depart for He knows them not. They are going to then walk over to you and ask you why you didn't share this information with them when you had the chance.
Philippians 1:27-30
27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may here of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, and of your salvation, and this from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for His sake 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
I struggle with these verses. A lot. They convict me beyond belief. All this week after memorizing verse 27, I cannot get it out of my head. My manner of life is not in any way worthy of the gospel of Christ. I have been thinking about this constantly. Although my life is not worthy of the gospel, God's grace and forgiveness has cleansed me of all my stains. That does not in any way get me off the hook. I can't help but think there are so many more things that I could be doing to serve my Creator and Father. As I am writing this, I am in awe of my own stupidity and unworthiness. All I want to do with my life is live in a way that will honor Christ. Keep in mind that Paul is writing this letter to a church and not to an individual. There is a lot of turmoil in the church at this time period. Paul does not want the church at Philippi to stop serving the Lord. He is encouraging them to remain strong in one another so that they can remain strong in their community and throughout the world. There are many people who will persecute Christians all over the world, even today. It is clear that we are meant to suffer. I am not at all an advocate of preaching the Prosperity gospel that says becoming a Christian will solve all of your problems and make you extremely happy. Happiness is an emotion. Christianity may create situations in which it is impossible for you to be happy. However, Christianity creates joy. Joy is an attitude. Believing in Christ is not enough. We must suffer. This does not necessarily mean physical persecution and death. This could mean any form of persecution. Like not getting a job, or people ignoring you, or people rejecting you when you try to share the gospel or even just mention that you are a Christian. It is comforting to know, however, that you are not alone. This is a message to all Christians from another Christian. Paul was facing these same problems (he was in jail!). Paul remained strong through all of this. Adversity will happen. The sign of a true Christian is not avoiding adversity. A true Christian will be joyful through adversity because they follow a God that can get them through absolutely any eventuality.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Philippians 1:7-18
So. If you are asking yourself why I did not put a post about Philippians 1:7-11 it is because I have been busy but also tired and lazy a lot. So since I did miss that week of posting our weekly Bible study, I am combining that week with this week and I shall post both of them. :) This won't be too overwhelming though because a lot of it happens to be quite self explanatory, but I will do my best to explain what I can.
Philippians 1: 7-11
7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you with the affection of Jesus Christ. 9 And it is my prayer that your love about more and more, with knowledge and all discernment 10 so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
I reckon I will try to dissect each verse like I did with the first six verses. The first thing that comes to mind is just how overwhelmingly in love with the church at Philippi Paul is. Verses 7 and 8 attest to this. Paul loves this church and he explains why. Paul is in prison, but the church at Philippi is standing behind him throughout the whole situation. Being taken to prison in this day was an extremely humiliating thing. It is bad now when a person goes to prison, but back in that day it was a very, very big deal to be taken to prison. Especially for a guy like Paul whose entire life was based on setting an example for those who follow Christ. So for the church to stand behind Paul through all this shows how much the church loves him as well. But it goes beyond this. Paul has a history as a Christian killer. Paul spent a lot of his life persecuting those who did follow Christ. However, after his conversion, Paul completely changed to preaching the gospel. Paul's persecuting Christians, and his imprisonment, show what sacrifice Christians must make during this time period. So the fact that this church is still standing behind Paul is huge. Verse 8 is one of my favorite verses ever. Think about it. Philippians is a book of scripture, which is Divine inspired and God-breathed. Paul says, "For God is my witness," meaning that God ascribes and affirms what Paul says. That shows how much Paul really loves this church. He loves them so much, that he claims that he cares about this church as much as Jesus does. Verse 9 goes beyond just love and shows what Paul really desires for this church. He has a desire for their love to grow so that they may approve what is right. Now I don't know if I am right, but I have a few thoughts about this. Paul was not extremely far from his death at this point. Several years, but I think that he is trying to help this church more into an era where they will not have Paul as a leader anymore. They need to be able to tell for themselves what is right and wrong. They need to grow in love with knowledge and all discernment so that they know what is right and therefore be ready to meet God having lived a pure life. But in verse 11 Paul affirms that it is not possible to gain this blamelessness by any means except for Jesus Christ. And also that the reason to be pure and blameless is to bring glory to God. Being blameless is not for any upright reason to make ourselves feel better, but only to glorify God.
Philippians 1:12-18
12 I want you to know brothers that everything that has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers becoming confident in the Lord by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love knowing that I am put here in the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
Me and my roommates were extremely excited about this set of verses. I absolutely love it. It is a great passage of sacrifice and hope. I know those two words don't really go well together. However, in this passage I am going to leave them together. Paul IS IN PRISON!! AND HE IS HAPPY ABOUT IT!!!! We get upset about the dumbest stuff. Yet Paul is in prison and is rejoicing about it. All Paul cares about is sharing the gospel. God wants Jesus to be known throughout the world. He has been to prison numerous times before this particular letter was written. He has been persecuted but still attests that everything that has happened to him up to this point has served to advance the gospel. Now here is another example where I am not manipulating the gospel at all, but thinking of something that may be out of the box. I think Paul might only be talking about his imprisonment and persecution, but I think that it could apply to his entire life. Paul persecuted Christians and killed many of them, which obviously is not good, but God used that and Paul's testimony and conversion to further the gospel. I like to think about that in our lives as well. We are all sinners. And sin does not glorify God ever, in any way. However, God uses leading us out of our sin to further the gospel If we were perfect, God could not use our redemption as a testimony to his glory. Paul is happy that he is in prison. He is happy because he knows that other people know that he is in prison for the gospel. Even the guards know that he is in prison for Christ. What are we willing to give up for the proclamation of the gospel? If people gained faith through my imprisonment, I think I would gladly go to prison and give up my life. I don't know that for sure. At all. So do not think I am holy or anything like that. I just really love people enough (although not most people's stupidity) that I would be willing to give up my life to give someone the opportunity to have a new life. People became more bold just because Paul was in prison. They saw that he was willing to go to prison for Jesus so they were willing to chance that as well. Paul was happy to be in prison.
Now let's talk about false preachings. Paul loves the God so much, and wants his name proclaimed so badly, that he goes as far to say that even when the gospel is proclaimed under false pretenses, he still rejoices that it is being proclaimed at all. At first this perplexed me a little bit, but then we starting thinking about it. If a person is preaching the gospel in order to gain glory or money, but people still come to salvation through that person's teaching of scripture, shouldn't we still rejoice? If a televangelist sees thousands of people saved even through greed, that person has still led those people to Christ and expanded the kingdom of God. There were people that were preaching the gospel at the time of Paul simply because they saw that Paul was in prison and they thought that they could take his place as leader of thousands. But Paul is still rejoicing because those people are still leading people to Christ. Life lessons? Preach the gospel. Rejoice. Love the Church. Give up everything for Christ.
Philippians 1: 7-11
7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you with the affection of Jesus Christ. 9 And it is my prayer that your love about more and more, with knowledge and all discernment 10 so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
I reckon I will try to dissect each verse like I did with the first six verses. The first thing that comes to mind is just how overwhelmingly in love with the church at Philippi Paul is. Verses 7 and 8 attest to this. Paul loves this church and he explains why. Paul is in prison, but the church at Philippi is standing behind him throughout the whole situation. Being taken to prison in this day was an extremely humiliating thing. It is bad now when a person goes to prison, but back in that day it was a very, very big deal to be taken to prison. Especially for a guy like Paul whose entire life was based on setting an example for those who follow Christ. So for the church to stand behind Paul through all this shows how much the church loves him as well. But it goes beyond this. Paul has a history as a Christian killer. Paul spent a lot of his life persecuting those who did follow Christ. However, after his conversion, Paul completely changed to preaching the gospel. Paul's persecuting Christians, and his imprisonment, show what sacrifice Christians must make during this time period. So the fact that this church is still standing behind Paul is huge. Verse 8 is one of my favorite verses ever. Think about it. Philippians is a book of scripture, which is Divine inspired and God-breathed. Paul says, "For God is my witness," meaning that God ascribes and affirms what Paul says. That shows how much Paul really loves this church. He loves them so much, that he claims that he cares about this church as much as Jesus does. Verse 9 goes beyond just love and shows what Paul really desires for this church. He has a desire for their love to grow so that they may approve what is right. Now I don't know if I am right, but I have a few thoughts about this. Paul was not extremely far from his death at this point. Several years, but I think that he is trying to help this church more into an era where they will not have Paul as a leader anymore. They need to be able to tell for themselves what is right and wrong. They need to grow in love with knowledge and all discernment so that they know what is right and therefore be ready to meet God having lived a pure life. But in verse 11 Paul affirms that it is not possible to gain this blamelessness by any means except for Jesus Christ. And also that the reason to be pure and blameless is to bring glory to God. Being blameless is not for any upright reason to make ourselves feel better, but only to glorify God.
Philippians 1:12-18
12 I want you to know brothers that everything that has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers becoming confident in the Lord by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love knowing that I am put here in the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
Me and my roommates were extremely excited about this set of verses. I absolutely love it. It is a great passage of sacrifice and hope. I know those two words don't really go well together. However, in this passage I am going to leave them together. Paul IS IN PRISON!! AND HE IS HAPPY ABOUT IT!!!! We get upset about the dumbest stuff. Yet Paul is in prison and is rejoicing about it. All Paul cares about is sharing the gospel. God wants Jesus to be known throughout the world. He has been to prison numerous times before this particular letter was written. He has been persecuted but still attests that everything that has happened to him up to this point has served to advance the gospel. Now here is another example where I am not manipulating the gospel at all, but thinking of something that may be out of the box. I think Paul might only be talking about his imprisonment and persecution, but I think that it could apply to his entire life. Paul persecuted Christians and killed many of them, which obviously is not good, but God used that and Paul's testimony and conversion to further the gospel. I like to think about that in our lives as well. We are all sinners. And sin does not glorify God ever, in any way. However, God uses leading us out of our sin to further the gospel If we were perfect, God could not use our redemption as a testimony to his glory. Paul is happy that he is in prison. He is happy because he knows that other people know that he is in prison for the gospel. Even the guards know that he is in prison for Christ. What are we willing to give up for the proclamation of the gospel? If people gained faith through my imprisonment, I think I would gladly go to prison and give up my life. I don't know that for sure. At all. So do not think I am holy or anything like that. I just really love people enough (although not most people's stupidity) that I would be willing to give up my life to give someone the opportunity to have a new life. People became more bold just because Paul was in prison. They saw that he was willing to go to prison for Jesus so they were willing to chance that as well. Paul was happy to be in prison.
Now let's talk about false preachings. Paul loves the God so much, and wants his name proclaimed so badly, that he goes as far to say that even when the gospel is proclaimed under false pretenses, he still rejoices that it is being proclaimed at all. At first this perplexed me a little bit, but then we starting thinking about it. If a person is preaching the gospel in order to gain glory or money, but people still come to salvation through that person's teaching of scripture, shouldn't we still rejoice? If a televangelist sees thousands of people saved even through greed, that person has still led those people to Christ and expanded the kingdom of God. There were people that were preaching the gospel at the time of Paul simply because they saw that Paul was in prison and they thought that they could take his place as leader of thousands. But Paul is still rejoicing because those people are still leading people to Christ. Life lessons? Preach the gospel. Rejoice. Love the Church. Give up everything for Christ.
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