Philippians: To Live Is Christ

Phil 1:12-26
"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."
Philippians 1:21 NIV
How do we magnify Jesus with our lives?
1. Trust Him.
2. Live for Him.
Gal 2:20; Phil 3:7-10; 1 Cor 10:31
How do we magnify Jesus in death?
1. Love Him more than life itself. Treasure Him more than anything. Phil 1:23

Philippians 1:1-6

Acts 16: Paul's experience in Philippi.
Philippians is a letter of encouragement to the church in Philippi.
Phil 1:1-6. v6 "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."
Confidence- the feeling or belief that someone can rely on someone or something; firm trust.
1. Our confidence must not come from ourselves or others. We can be confident in who we are in Christ, but not in our own flesh. It's not a tag team between me and Christ, but it's Christ in me.
2. Our confidence must not come from our circumstances. If our focus is solely on the external, we will miss what God wants to do in the internal. If we focus on Him, we will be blessed with more fruits of the Spirit (joy, peace)
3. Our confidence must not come from our incomplete perspective. We can't always see what God is doing in our lives. 2 Cor 4:16-18; Heb 4:18
4. Our confidence must come from the finished work of Jesus Christ alone. Where does my confidence lie? Is it in Jesus alone? Ps 62:1

Whole Heart: A Heart to Follow

Our hearts were never designed to be followed, but to be lead by the only heart worth following.
Gen 6:5; Jer 17:9; Prov 28:26 KJV; Mt 15:18-19
David - a man after gods heart. Acts 13:22
1. Fully Dependent on God. Ps 51:5. We are sinful and must depend on God for salvation and forgiveness. Our sin deforms and deceives us. Ps 16:2 The good in me is the God in me. Our dependence on God is directly connected to our understanding of who God is and who we are before Him.
2. Faithfully Obedient to God. Blessing flows out of obedience. Acts 13:22 David followed God in the big and small things, his obedience stemmed from his love for God. Ps 18:1, 103:2-2. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey my commands."
3. Fearfully Repentant before God. Repentance: a change of mind that results in a change of action. Come before God with a heart that wants to change and become more like God. Don't make excuses for my sin. Ps 51:1-10. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. How we feel about our sin is one of the greatest indicators of how near or far our hearts are from God. Ps 139:23-24

Whole Heart: Guard Your Heart

Prov 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
1. The heart is extremely valuable. We guard things that are of great value. It's our responsibility to guard our own heart.
2. Guard against an unchanged heart. Mt 15:18 My heart should continually be changed by the amazing gift of Jesus' sacrifice for me. Cry out to Jesus to change my heart.
3. Guard against an impure heart. Check my heart and make sure it's pure, if there is anything impure, I need to get rid of it. Mt 5:8. Unpure can also mean unfocused. Jas 4:4,8; Ps 24:4. Ask for a pure heart!! Ps 51:10
4. Guard against a hard heart. Don't be closed off to the things of God. Heb 3:8-9. Marinate in the Word of God (don't wait for Him to have to beat your heart to make it soft).
5. Guard against a proud heart. Prov 18:12; Lk 18:10-14.
6. Guard against a wounded heart. There's a difference between guarding your heart and a guarded heart. Don't build a fence around your heart to keep others out, to try to avoid pain - you're just fencing yourself in. You will get hurt, but we can choose to let that make us better. Ps 147:3. Keep your heart open.
7. What's in your heart will flow from you. Prov 4:23; Mt 15:18; Jn 7:37

Whole Heart: Crushed

Prov 17:22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
If you don't get past the things that crush your heart, it weighs you down and continues to crush you. You have to learn to get rid of the baggage that holds you down.
1. You are not alone in your pain. Don't run away from God, run to Him. Ps 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
2. God cares for you in your pain. 1 Pet 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Heb 4:15-16 come before God through confidence in Jesus. Jonah 2:2, 5-6; Ps 34:8; Zeph 3:17. My Father God wants to take me as his child and hold me and let me know it's going to be okay.
3. God never wastes pain. Even as we struggle through pain, God will teach us lesson about Him and ourselves as we walk through that pain. 2 Cor 12:7-9, 1:3-4.
4. We can get past our pain. If you choose to get bitter, you will never get better. You will not be living and you will find your only friends will be other people who are bitter. We have to make a decision. Choose God, choose love, choose forgiveness, choose joy, choose life. Choose to be better with God's help. Ps 55:22; Mt 11:28;
5. Time will not heal all wounds, but all wounds require time to heal. Wounds are healed through time with the Lord. Continue to spend time with Him, and your wounds will continue to heal. Ps 30:10-12 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,  that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.  Lord my God, I will praise you forever.

Be Bold by Brandon Johnson

Mt 26:55-56, 28:19-20; Acts 4:8-13, 18-20, 29-31.
"When a person can't find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure." Viktor Frankl
Solution to fulfill the great commission is boldness: boldness is the opposite of fearfulness, always referenced about sharing the Word of God.
1. Boldness comes from believing in the resurrection of Jesus. Acts 4:10
2. Boldness comes from prayer. Acts 4:29-31. Kneeling before God will help you stand before anyone, prayerlessness will result in powerlessness. Eph 6:19-20
3. Boldness comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 4:31, Eph 5:17-18
4. Boldness comes from receiving Christ's righteousness. Prov 28:1 Be as bold as a lion. Rom 8:1, 5:17.
If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

Strong And Courageous: Who Will You Choose?

Josh 24
v15 But as for me and my house, we are serving ____?
Why does God command us to serve Him? Because it's our purpose.
1. Serving God starts first with fearing God. v14, Prov 1:7. Fear=Reverence, awe, astonishment. If I've lost my healthy fear of God, what has replaced it??
2. Serving God requires complete surrender. v14, throw away your small "g" gods, serve Him wholeheartedly. Come back to the alter and lay down your idols. v15 you have to choose whom you will serve. Remember the faithfulness of God and everything He's done for me.
3. Serving God goes far beyond making a public declaration, it requires wholehearted action! v19  our faith will be shown through our actions. What small "g" gods do I need to throw away? 1 Cor 10:31 Do everything to the glory of God, hang on to this thought every moment of every day.
4. Serving God completes our joy. Acts 17:25. Only God and Jesus were made to complete us. We try to fill the void with other things, but it will never be able to be filled with anything but the Lord. Jn 6:67-69.