Topic:To Live or Die? For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! Phil 1:21-22 The Christian view of death is given in just four words in this passage: with Christ, …
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Topic:Rejoicing in Our Rivals But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. Phil 1:18 It’s evident in this passage that certain Christians were jealous of Paul. These are not Judaizers. These are not false teachers. They are preaching a true …
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Topic:Adversity Means Advance Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. Phil 1:12 Paul is in jail in Rome, writing to his friends far across the sea in Philippi. He manifests a reaction that inevitably makes the world sit up and take notice. He understood that …
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Topic:Love With Knowledge And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight… Phil 1:9 Now if you and I were writing a letter to new Christians, wanting to stir them up to activity, what would we say? Would we not probably urge them to witness, because somehow in our day …
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Topic:In Christ Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi… Phil 1:1a The ancient practice of correspondence had one very distinct advantage over our modern method. They signed their name at the beginning of the letter. Have you ever received a letter, perhaps two or three pages long, and had to …
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Topic:Why Doesn’t God Do Something? The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day …
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Topic:A Love Story …because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. Isaiah 53:12 When I first came to Peninsula Bible Church as a pastor, we had an unusual opportunity to have in our home a Japanese man who had become a Christian evangelist. His name was Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, the commander of the squadron …
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Topic:Silent Witness He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. Isaiah 53:7 Scripture preserves carefully the sinlessness of Jesus himself. He was without sin, but he bore the sins of others. …
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Topic:The Heart of the Gospel We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6 This, of course, is the very heart of the gospel, the good news. Jesus took our place. As Peter puts it, He himself bore our …
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Topic:An Astonishing Impact Behold, my servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. As many were astonished at him — his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the sons of men — so shall he startle many nations… Isaiah 52:13-15a RSV This section, which describes the …
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