When things come crashing down and everything feels broken, how can we possibly think about “joy”? We turn to Paul’s letter to the Philippians to find out.
As we think about joy in dark places, Paul turns to those who are actually preaching the Gospel with the aim of discrediting him. What do we do when people and circumstances seem to want to hurt us?
Sometimes the deck appears to stacked and it’s hard to see how life will do anything but go from bad to worse. How do we have joy then?
As we live as Christians, we face struggles and opposition. Shouldn’t life be easier? Should we find a way to make it easier?
As we continue our series in 2 Corinthians 13 tonight, Pastor Tim considers what it means to be “of one mind” as Paul calls on Christians to be.
We cruise along thinking everything seems worth rejoicing in—until something smacks us over the head and forces the question of what really matters. Paul faces that same reckoning in Philippians 3, listing every credential and mark of status he once counted as gain.
Clear words can still sail right past us when they aren’t the news we want. In Luke 18, Jesus tells the Twelve exactly what’s about to happen to Him, yet they were just like us: they didn’t want to hear.
Grace saves us—we don’t deserve it, can’t earn it, and have no grounds to boast about it, as Paul makes plain in Ephesians 2:8–9—so what does it look like when a community of undeserving people actually lives that out together as the church God is building?
The holidays can bring back the empty chair, the family hurt, the memories of when everything felt joyful—and before long, sorrow and anxiety begin to take over. The words of Romans 8 help us in times when grief feels stronger than truth.
Satan tempted Jesus, yet He did not fall to those temptations. Tonight we consider our temptation to seek shortcuts in faithfulness.