Philippians 2:25

Hello Everyone!

I pray that everyone had a great week!

OK...this is what I was doing instead of working on this Bible Study blog:

hehehehe!! We went back to Indiana over the weekend to celebrate two

of our grandsons birthdays!!

The above grandson is Zane, age 5. (it is not his birthday) His big brothers, Chase and Trey (pictured here with their birthday

cup cakes and getting "silly stringed") celebrated their

birthdays. Chase was 12 on October 31 and Trey will be 9 on November 16.

Happy Birthday to our wonderful grandsons!!

My daughter Andrea and her husband Jim, had a blow-out party in their

back yard with many adults and many kids!!

The only regrettable part of this day was that we were missing family members

that could not come because of various reasons, one being that they were in India!!

OK, now onto our purpose here....

I was reading ahead in Philippians last week.

I was reading in the 4th chapter.

I am so excited about the 4th chapter!!

To be transparent here...when I read our Scripture for today,

and 26-30...

I thought...oh my...

what am I going to say...(notice that I said "I"...leaving out the Holy Spirit...)

there did not seem to be much material there.

THEN I read a commentary from www.preceptaustin.org

(link on the sidebar)

The commentary was from John MacArthur on Epaphroditus...

OH MY....

But first, I wanted to tell you of a new website that I found this week.

I know many of us are trying to cut back on our expenses.

This website gives us practical tips on using everyday products to clean, etc.

I have been using my mom's "recipe" for a window/surface cleaner,

which is white vinegar, ammonia and water.

I had to ditch the pricey cleaners in a bottle.

Here is a sample of what you can do yourself.

This website also has a daily tip that comes to your email.

It is called:

http://www.tipnut.com

Floor Cleaning Recipes:

1. All Purpose Floor Cleaner: 1 cup of vinegar in a pail of water


2. For greasy floors: 1/4 cup washing soda and 1 TBS vegetable oil based soap (Murphy's Oil Soap is one type) to every two gallons of hot water


3. Polish linoleum floors with club soda


4. Clean & Deodorize Carpets: Mix two parts cornmeal with one part borax. Sprinkle generously over carpet, allow to sit for one hour then vacuum

Windows & Mirrors: Store these solutions in spray bottles.

1. One part vinegar added to four parts water


2. One cup cold strong black tea with 3 TBS of vinegar (interesting...:>)

Oven Cleaner: (NO this is not my oven!)

1. A paste of baking soda and hot water or sprinkle the soda on a damp sponge and wipe.

Water Spots On Furniture (Removal Tips):

1. Massage white toothpaste on the spot, let dry, and buff with a clean cloth.


2. Scratch or Stains: Rub the meat of a walnut into the scratch.

Homemade Citrus Household Cleaner:

• Fill a large, wide mouth jar with citrus peels (such as lemons, oranges, limes, grapefruits). Cover the peels with white household vinegar. Let brew for four weeks, shaking the jar occasionally (just to mix it up a bit). Strain (I did this twice).


• Use as a laundry booster (I just tossed it in with the whites), window cleaner, floor cleaner, counter tops, appliances (Dilute in water–1/2 cup per gallon of water works well). For a stovetop grease buster I just sprayed it on undiluted. Test surfaces first before using.

Homemade Vegetable and Fruit Wash:

1 cup water

1 cup vinegar
2 TBS baking soda
2 TBS lemon juice

Directions:

• Mix ingredients then pour in clean spray bottle. Spray fresh vegetables & fruit generously. Sit for 5 minutes then rinse off well.


• Note: Make sure to first mix ingredients in deep container since there will be some fizzing from the baking soda & vinegar.

There’s also this Fresh Fruit & Veggies Washing Tip:

• Sprinkle wet fruit and veggies with baking soda then gently scrub and rinse. This cleaning method safely removes dirt and residue off produce. Mentioned previously on this page: 50 Quick Tips For The Kitchen.

Did You Know: You should wash the outsides of melons before cutting through them? If you don’t, the knife will drag the pesticides/dirt/bacteria from the outside rind into the fruit as you cut.

Now...onto our one verse for this week...(I keep getting side-tracked!)

Philippians 2:25

Verse 25 ~ "But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs."

(New International Version)

Last week, we talked about the third out of four examples in Chapter 2 listed as

as sacrificial people. This week, we will look at the fourth ~ Epaphroditus.

For sake of my fingers...we will now refer to him as Ep ~ no disrespect intended.

Ep may be the one most like us out of the four.

The other three, we can readily agree that they are very gifted.

(See last week's blog for the other three ~ sneaky...I know!)

What do we know about Ep?

We really don't know anything directly about him.

>>We don't know anything about his background.

>>We don't know anything about his parents.

>>We don't know how long he had been a Christian.

>>We don't know what his function in the church was.

All we know is what is implied in verses 25-30.

The fact is that the Philippian church sent Ep with money;

staying to be at the service of Paul ~ serving all of his personal needs.

Now that alone would tell us something about Ep in addition to:

~ The Philippian church would never have sent a man to work

in close proximity with the Apostle Paul, who may have been the most

discerning human being that ever lived and who could see through anyone.

So, we can be fairly certain that Ep was a man of genuine spiritual virtue,

a man in depth in terms of his love and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.

~ We can be relatively sure that he was a man with a servant's heart.

The Philippian church to have chosen him to be their ambassador,

means that they knew that this man would literally give his life away in service

to Paul. Because to not do so, would betray the Philippian church's love for

Paul.

~ We can assume that he was a man of great courage because he knew

exactly what he was walking into. There was no question in his mind how the

Roman government felt about Paul. It was possible that Paul could lose his life

at any time. The Roman government would consider taking the lives of those

who served alongside of Paul.

...So here we can introduce Ep as a godly man, a servant and has courage.

And he is willing to do that.

He came out of a pagan background and was converted to Christ.

We don't know where or in what way.

It could very well have been when Paul founded the church at Philippi.

He has become, however, a key Christian in the church, a sacrificial man

who has left his home, his employment, his ministry, his church, his friends...

to go and serve the Apostle Paul...

Paul addresses him with 5 titles:

1.) My brother ~ "my" ~ they both have the common source of life, God the Father

having given them life through Jesus Christ. Also, friendship, camaraderie and

affection.

2.) My fellow worker ~ This phrase is used 13 times in the New Testament; 12

times by Paul. Common effort ~ workers together.

3.) My fellow soldier ~ this is a very,very honorable title. My fellow strategist, my

fellow commander-in-chief, leader in the matter of spiritual warfare.

4.) Your messenger ~ the word messenger in the Greek is "apostolos".

Question: Does this mean that he was an Apostle like the Twelve Apostles or

Twelve Disciples?

5.) "To take care of my needs" ~ many translations have "to minister" instead.

The money he brought is talked about in Chapter 4, verse 18 as and acceptable

sacrifice. Ep was a "priest" doing a sacred service and offering a sacrifice of money

for the needs of Paul.

This reminds me of a story that I read while researching the topic of being

a servant. It seems that there were two men riding on a city bus.

All at once, one of the men, stiffened and fell to the floor where he writhed

in a terrible seizure. The man sitting next to him calmly secured his head and made

sure that he did not swallow his tongue. The second man calmly waited until

the seizure was over and helped his fellow passenger back up to his seat.

A man gawking from across the aisle could not help but ask if this man knew

the man who just had the seizure. The "helping" man said..."Oh, yes. You see

we were in the Vietnam War together. I was being surrounded by enemy fire.

My friend here, carried my wounded body to safety while taking on bullets himself.

I returned back to normal, but my friend has developed these seizures over the

years. When I learned that he was developing more and more seizures each year,

I made the decision to leave my home and my friends to come and take

care of my friend. I am his constant companion, for whenever he has his seizures,

which can be multiple ones a day, I am here to take care of him. I am here for

him, to serve him in whatever way he needs me. Because without him, I would not

be here today."

This is what we can say about our wonderful Lord Jesus,

**who took the punishment that we deserved

**who stepped in and bore our sorrow and our pain on the cross

**who thought more of us, than he did himself

**who paid the price so that we may have eternal life

**who ministered to us

Jesus, may I say, is our Ep...our sacrificial example!

(More on "our Ep" this Friday, verses 26-30.)

Go with God and He will go with you,

Debbie G.