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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



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