Servants, Saints, and a City
from Girls on SermonAudio Hosted by Robert Rohlin
Message one in a study of Philippians. Pastor Robert Rohlin opens Paul's most joyful letter at the words most readers skip - the greeting. Writing from a Roman prison cell around AD 60, chained day and night to a rotating guard, Paul introduces himself not as an apostle pulling rank but as a bondservant: the Old Testament slave who could have walked away free and chose to stay, ear pierced at the doorpost, because he loved his master. He calls the Philippians saints, greets their bishops and deacons, and remembers the unlikely first church in Europe - a businesswoman, a delivered slave girl, and the jailer who had beaten him. Why listen? If joy depended on circumstances, Paul had none left to draw on, and he still wrote the most joyful book in the New Testament. If your own trials have quietly convinced you that gladness has to wait for easier days, this message shows you where Paul actually found his: in belonging to Christ, in gospel progress that mattered more to him than his own comfort, and in a church family whose most painful memories God turned into joyful ones. Begin the series here and find out what it means to serve Christ by choice rather than by force. Please note: about six minutes at the start of the message, including the opening overview of the book of Philippians, are not included in this recording.
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