Old Jerry

I think to “know” Christ means that we have faith and that we have a personal relationship with him. In order to have one we must have the other. I am still working on my quest to know Christ.

Righteousness obtained through law observance is one that you do on your own. It is trying to do what the law says that makes you righteous. But righteousness obtained by faith is trusting in Jesus to forgive you your sins. If you know Him you can put all our problems on Him. A righteousness by law infects the congregation by you knowing that what should be done should be done by everybody in the congregation. Then since they are not doing it you can judge them for not doing the right thing even through you don’t know their circumstance. That is why it is so difficult to grasp that the concept of justification or righteousness by faith so hard to grasp because you have to know that persons heart in order to judge that person. That is why we are told not to judge others.

Paul isn’t merely neutral about his religious pedigree because he know that it isn’t worth anything compared to what Jesus Christ has done for him. He know that he can’t save himself and that it takes Christ to do that. That is the reason that he called it dung or obstacle because it would get in the way of knowing the Savior. We have also been given beliefs that may not save us. If our religion gets in the way of knowing the Savior then we need to get rid of those beliefs as well.

I think a lot of decisions in the church are made by the “confidence in the flesh”. Some of the building projects are because of the “confidence in the flesh”. I have struggled with it also. Some of the decision I make is because I know that I will be able to do it. I don’t think of to many things that have been done because we thought that God was going to provide the resources but as a rule that has been the case.

I think that the Philippians church chief problem is that they didn’t have the heart of Jesus Christ in the church. They must have been bickering, back biting, and had little clicks set up. Paul’s description of Timothy’s character speaks of this problem by telling then all the good qualities of Timothy’s character.

The significance of serving Jesus as a “slave” as opposed to serving him as a preference is that we will do all the things that Jesus wants us to do as a slave. But if we are serving him as a preference we will do the things that we think that he needs. Our quality of service will be much greater as a slave then it would be as a preference.

I have had quite a few people come along side of me to teach me. My family most of all and then the pastors that I have had during the years. I am going to have to look around and see if there is someone that I need to come alongside. I don’t have anybody that I am mentoring.

Timothy’s selfless concern was so rare among church leaders because he had the right heart. There probably weren’t very many leaders then but it would seem like those that were leaders were trying to further their cause and not that of Jesus Christ. Jesus had to deal with my money matters in my life and has helped me to be selfless and focused on the concerns of others. He has given me a genuine interest in the Bible and in doing that he has refined me.

If I were to look at suffering as a “drink offering” poured out to God it honors God in that we can still see the good in what He is doing. We are dedicating the suffering to Him and going to let Him solve His way. This brings value to our struggles by following what He want us to do.

We are to “hold fast” in all that we do. We should not compromise on the things that we are to do for the Lord. So if we follow Jesus commands that we are holding fast to the word. This relates to the purpose of the church by being like a star that shines. People will see that we have God in us if we do the things that the bible leads us to do.

The way that ceasing complaining and arguing enables a church to shine as stars is we can concentrate on the important things instead of the minor things. If we are always having to address the complaints about minor things then we can’t address the importance of following Jesus Christ. We can then shine like stars because we won’t be like everybody else and people will be able to see Jesus in us.

To work out your own salvation is to have the church be together and to help those that are struggling. Instead of having a parting attitude we should have a reverence for God. This is referring to salvation from sin. We are to repent our sins and ask for forgiveness.

We know that God will exalt us when our time comes because Jesus promised that this will be done. We get impatient with this because we want to be exalted right now. We want the world to know how religious we really are. Sometimes our impatience leads to sin.

Jesus was really a human being. He was also God. This verse is teaching us that Jesus humbled himself and became a slave for us. That means that he was a man and he waited on mankind. If Jesus wasn’t a human then he wouldn’t have been able to understand the things that we go through. We wouldn’t have somebody that could sympathize with us. But since he was a man he understands the thing that are happening to us.

Jesus was really a human being. He was also God. This verse is teaching us that Jesus humbled himself and became a slave for us. That means that he was a man and he waited on mankind. If Jesus wasn’t a human then he wouldn’t have been able to understand the things that we go through. We wouldn’t have somebody that could sympathize with us. But since he was a man he understands the thing that are happening to us.

Christ was with God in the beginning and I believe that when people saw God they were seeing Jesus. But when God decided to send Jesus to the earth to die for our sins, Jesus was God that whole time and He was man. He needed to see what man had to go through. This passage teaches that Jesus is divine and that we will never understand what that really means until we get to heaven and then maybe not even then.

I think that humility is necessary to achieve unity in the congregation because we need to recognize others talents. If you don’t have humility then we could never work together because you would think that you are the boss and don’t need to listen to others. By listening to and supporting our pastor is one of the best ways that I know that will bring unity to the church.

The teaching about the state of Christians immediately after death is that when we depart from this body we will be in heaven immediately. This comforts me greatly because I am coming to the end of this life and know what Paul means that he would prefer to be with Jesus than in this old body.

Fear has kept us from being bold by not wanting to talk about the things that are heavenly. We are concerned that we will offend somebody and therefore they will not like us anymore. If we are “losing our life” for Christ’s sake, then we have lost the fear that was keeping us from witnessing for Jesus Christ. By speaking out we have life abundant. The fear of offending someone is the one that is holding me back from being a clear witness.

The ability to rejoice is so dependent upon our faith that God is in control because we have somebody to lay our burdens on. We can talk to Him and know that He hears us and in that we can rejoice. We must believe that in order to be able to rejoice in the midst of problems that God does here us and is helping us through the situation. My basis for believing that this true is that I have seen that happen a lot of times in my walk with Christ.

I think that we are more credible as a witness when we are undergoing personal struggles because we know what it is like to be dependent on God. If it weren’t for this dependence then we would be like others and just complain about our situation. But we have a God to cry to and we know that He listens. Paul’s witness was so powerful because he was always dependent on God and now in his present situation he could see how God working.

I think that we are more credible as a witness when we are undergoing personal struggles because we know what it is like to be dependent on God. If it weren’t for this dependence then we would be like others and just complain about our situation. But we have a God to cry to and we know that He listens. Paul’s witness was so powerful because he was always dependent on God and now in his present situation he could see how God working.

The reason that Paul asks God to give the Philippian Christians discernment is that he wants the best for them. He wants them to get past the good stage and have what is best. The result will be that they will focus more on God then on the things in this world. Selfishness is always looking at what is best for us and therefore can’t see what is needed in other places.

Paul expects God to help the Philippian believers to carry on the good works that they have been doing until Jesus returns again. The basis of Paul’s confidence is in God. We can expect God to do this for us if we remain in Him.

The things that we receive out of the “partners” with a Christian missionary, minister, ministry, or church is the fact that we are involved in what is happen in those ministries. We know that we are supporting the work that God has put us on earth to do. The other support that we can offer beyond financial is our talents.