Monday, June 19, 2017

So, Let's Be Specific



In Sunday’s sermon we discovered we are to think and act like Jesus. Yet, if we do this, what will this mean?  Let’s be very specific as we provide an answer from Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

1. We will make our main purpose in life to show how great God is (Phil. 1:11), which more specifically will require us to show how great our Savior, Jesus Christ is (Phil 1:20-21).

2. This purpose will be achieved by the following characteristics and activities:

·         We will do the things that please God (1:11; 2:12).

·         We will grow to be content and happy in our Savior (1:18-23; 2:14-15; 3:1; 4:4, 10-13).

·         We will learn to depend upon God in prayer (1:3-11; 4:6).

3.  In order for us to see those characteristics and activities in our lives, we will do the following:

·         We will grow in our knowledge of God and his will through taking in the content of the Bible (1:9; 2:16)

·         We will pray alone and with others often.

·         We will allow others to invest in us and we will invest in others—understanding that we cannot honor God and live on mission without the help of each other (1:5, 7, 27; 2:19-30). In our congregation, this means involvement in a Bible Fellowship and an Iron Man/Woman Team.

·         We will intentionally and prayerfully work to help family and others to know Jesus, grow to be like him, serve him, and share him. To put this in other terms, for all of us, this means we will pray for and invest in unbelievers to help them become believers, in believers to help them become those who win others to Christ, and in those who win others to Christ so they can become multipliers—those who turn around and help others do the same (1:5, 12f.; 2:5-11, 19-30).

·         We will look for the right niche in which God wants us to serve him and others as we use our spiritual gifts (1:1-2).

As we continue on through this letter of Paul to the Philippians, we will unpack each of these points mentioned above and discover how we should carry them out in relation to each of the mission fields in which Jesus Christ as placed us: Family, work, community, friends, neighbors, and church.

Glorifying God With You As A Joyful Follower,

Tom


No comments:

Post a Comment