Day 2316 – Philippians-2 Confident Enough to be Joyful

Welcome to Day 2315 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom Philippians-2 Confident Enough to be Joyful – Daily Wisdom Putnam Church Message – 11/12/2023 Joy in Living – Confident Enough to be Joyful   Last week, we began a new series in the letter to the Church in Philippi, where our focus for this month will be Joy in Living for this Thanksgiving season. We explored some insights and background into this letter,   This week, we will begin walking through Philippians as we delve into Joy in Living, specifically, how we can be Confident Enough to be Joyful.   Let’s read Philippians 1:1-11, on page 1825 in your Pew Bibles. 1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons[a]: 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanksgiving and Prayer 3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 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. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.   Ours is a frivolous age with lots of shallow, empty laughter … like the laugh tracks on a sitcom… but very little absolute joy.   Most people stumble around in perpetual confusion—darkness, really. As they seek genuine joy, they satisfy themselves with only occasional glimpses of light—artificial light. Occasionally, it’s sad to say, that some of the light they’re attracted to is a consuming fire. It destroys their lives rather than illuminating their minds or warming their hearts.   Paul would have understood this plight as he, too, groped around in darkness until that glorious day when the light of the gospel of Christ shone brightly into his life (Acts 9:1–19). Although he often experienced suffering from that day, he rarely let the darkening fog of discouragement cloud his mind or drive out the light of joy.   His letter to the Philippians, embossed with unfading joy on every page, proves