Skip to main content

Philippians 1:1-11


Hey church! Tonight we're going to start our online small group. We're going to work our way through Philippians.

If you haven't already, go to Udemy.com and sign up for Paul and His Letter to the Philippians: Small Group Edition. The discount code is NTWRIGHT-GIFT-PHIL (this code is valid until midnight on March 19th).

Let's get started with a question: Who are you thankful for?  With so much going on in our world, it's so easy to focus on other feelings--fear, anxiety, worry. But as Christians, we should be people who are characterized as being thankful. I'm thankful for you, my family, and some close friends.

Here are the notes I took on Phil. 1:1-11 



  • Grace sums up the movement of the Gospel. Grace is God's gift.
  • "the day of the Lord" is an Old Testament passage that's divided into two parts: A) the time of Jesus--of his inaugurating God's Kingdom through his death and resurrection--and because of him the world has become a different place B) the coming day--when, through Jesus, God will do what he said he would--put the whole world right at last. This also happens to you, as well as being a look to the future
  • prayer for love to overflow and for wisdom (so often what Paul says he's praying for is what the letter is about)
  • Righteousness = right living that grows out of the covenant relationship with God



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Crossing Lines

Mark 5:25-29 in the Common English Bible (CEB) reads: "A woman was there who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a lot under the care of many doctors, and had spent everything she had without getting any better. In fact, she had gotten worse. Because she had heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothes. She was thinking, If I can just touch his clothes, I'll be healed . Her bleeding stopped immediately, and she sensed in her body that her illness had been healed." This is a story that is sandwiched inside the story of Jesus healing Jairus' daughter. This is one of the characteristics of Mark : He intertwines stories that have a similar theme. In both of these stories, Jesus heals in ways that cross a line, and faith in Jesus is a shared theme. This woman is desperate. She's been bleeding for twelve years. She's spent all her income on doctors, to no avail. They haven't healed her. Her bleeding mak...
Post a Comment
Read more

Philippians 2:19-30

The way many people see Philippians 2:19-30 is that Paul is doing something similar to many preachers who say, "And one more thing . . ." and then preach for another twenty minutes. But I don't see Paul as the typical Baptist preacher. I think this pause is intentional. I don't think it was an early ending and then Paul had more ideas and kept writing. Paul is sending two people to the Philippians, and he's explaining why he's sending them. They are, as Bishop Wright says, "working models" of what Paul has been teaching. They think like Jesus. They understand the gospel, it's meaning, and they're practicing it. They are humble and they are living in this new Jesus way. While these verses may not be the most exciting, they help us to piece together the story of what's going on. Around the year 55 or 56 AD, Paul is in prison--likely in Ephesus. During that time, Paul wrote this letter. Timothy will hand-deliver this letter to the P...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ash Wednesday 2019

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your hearts, with fasting, with weeping, and with sorrow; tear your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, very patient, full of faithful love, and ready to forgive (Joel 2:12-13 CEB) Today is a new beginning. A new season. And anytime we step into something new, we can feel vulnerable. We know our own brokenness. This is a season where we journey through the wilderness of our hearts and souls to the heart of God. This is a time that calls for us to walk carefully and to think deeply. And if we are to make progress on our pilgrim's path, then we must be willing to lay bare all that is hidden, buried, or repressed inside of ourselves. This path is uncomfortable. But if we want to move closer to God, then it is a path we must take. Lent doesn't make sense. It's counter-intuitive. We begin with death and move towards life. Today, many Christians will go to chu...
Post a Comment
Read more