GRACE

Pastor Brad was speaking from the Book of Phillipians today and I wanted to share it with you. Our Pastor has a very routine way to organize his sermons and I appreciate it. He will read the scripture, bullet points about it, relate that back to the scripture - resite other passages to support the scripture etc. I love that we spend so much time in the Bible.

Today's Service was titled "Grace". Reading throught the Phill 1:1-30 gave us the opportunity to read Paul's letter to the church of Phillipians. He is wrongly imprisioned for some time after Jesus' crucifixon.

vs.3-5

"I thank my God every time I remember you [church of Phillipians]. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,"

1) God put others on this earth so we would not be alone. We must understand that we are in this journey together. As many times that we feel we are alone, alone from God and alone from others... that is not the work of the Lord. We are always surrounded by others on this very same journey.

vs. 6

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. "

2) God will always finish the work that he began. He has never intended to leave a plan go unfinished. Even though there will always be highs and much dreaded lows... it's the end result, the Big Picture that the Lord has his sights set on. He will always see it through and it is up to us to stay steadfast in his plans. Forever believing that his plans are to prosper us and not to harm us.

vs. 9-11

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ - to the glory and praise of God."

3) In order to become more like him, we need to progress in our relationship and journey with Christ. We need to grow more and more in knowledge and in gain a deeper insight to the heart and teachings of God. This is done through study and reading from the Bible and in prayer.

vs. 12-14

"Now I want you to know, brothers that what has happened to me [wrongfully imprisioned] has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly."

4) Turn your scars into trophies. As found in many places throughout scripture - we walk the road we walk for Jesus Christ. Many will ask "Lord, please deliver me from this burden". That may not be in God's plan, rather our prayer should be "Lord, please deliver me through this burden." Many times we find our prayers asking Christ to make things better for us, to take away the hurt and pain.*

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Phillipians 1:21

vs. 27-30

"Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have."

5) God's grace is not only to love us and forgive us, but also to sustain us. God can be clearly seen at our highest points and at our lowest points. *During our times of needing and healing, we turn to God for what he can do for us. But to sustain our lives, we need to look to God for what he did do for us.