3 Truths Paul Wants Us To Know

What this episode covers

Philippians 1:12-14 Blank Outline Completed Outline scroll to 38:30 for beginning of sermon Philippians 1:12-14 All right, if you’ll remain standing, we’re going to read a couple verses from Philippians chapter 1. This is verses 12 through 14. The Apostle Paul writing from prison. Here’s what he writes. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it’s become clear throughout the whole palace garden to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. All right, we’re going to jump into the book of Philippians. And it’s the joy epistle. And the theme of the whole book is joy. And the word joy and rejoicing are used 16 times in the book. It’s amazing. Paul’s writing this from prison. He’s actually under house arrest in Rome. And he’s writing this letter, and it just exudes with joy. And it’s Paul’s most personal letter. As you read through the book of Philippians, you can see that there’s a love relationship between Paul and the church there at Philippi. And we looked at the first eight verses a few weeks ago, and Paul basically says, I have you in my thoughts. I thank my God every time I remember you. So, Paul’s reflecting back on his second missionary journey and this group of believers that came to know the Lord. And obviously a church developed from there, because he addresses the overseers and the deacons. So now there’s a functioning church there in Philippi. He says, I have you in my thoughts. And then Paul says, I have you in my prayers. And Paul’s praying for them, and he’s praying for them and thanking them for their partnership in the gospel, that they partner with him through prayers and through finances to advance the gospel in Philippi. And then Paul says in, I think it’s verse 6 or 7, he says, it’s right for me to feel this way about all of you since I have you in my heart. And so, Paul loved these people, and there was a mutual love relationship between the two of them. So now Paul writes this letter as a thank you note, because the church at Philippi has sent a financial gift to Paul in Rome through Epaphroditus. And then last week we looked at Paul’s prayer. Paul says, I’m praying for you. And a very short prayer, it’s recorded in verses 9 through 11. Paul asked prayer for three things. Here’s his first request. I’m praying that your love may abound more and more. So, Paul prayed that their love would grow. He doesn’t say who the love is, who’s the object of that love. He says, is this love for God? Is this love for fellow believers? Is this love for unbelievers? The answer is yes, because we’re supposed to love all of those. So, he says, I pray that your love will grow. But secondly, he asked a prayer request that they would grow in knowledge and depth of insight. I pray that you will get to know God more. And then thirdly, his prayer request was this, that you may be able to discern what is best. I want you to learn discernment. I want you to learn how to make what? Right choices and the best choices. And that’s what we want for our lives. That’s what we want for our kids. That’s what we want for our grandkids, that they will choose what? God’s best for them. That’s Paul’s prayer. And we looked at some application truths. One of the things that challenged me as I looked at this prayer and thought about my own prayer life, one of the points was we need to have a balanced prayer life. And oftentimes our prayer life is all focused on physical needs and people that are sick. And we certainly need to pray for them. I’m not saying don’t pray for them. But the prayers of the Bible are all focused on what? Spiritual development and spiritual growth, that you might know Christ, that you might know Him better, th

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