Philippians 3:1-3

Hello Everyone!

Time for another Chonda Pierce video ~ "My Mother and the Mini-Bar"

(To hear this video, look for the Playlist on the left side of this blog and click on the

"pause" button or the far left top square and turn off the music.)




It seems as though Chonda and her sweet mom have a great relationship!


This week we are talking about Philippians 3:1-3.

Let's do a little review again. At each Chapter "milestone", I like to remind

you of our little outline: (watch for the pattern of "P's"...:O)

I. Rejoicing in Christ as the Principle of Life (Chapter 1:1-11)

II. Rejoicing in Christ as the Pattern of Life (Chapter 2:1-30)

III. Rejoicing in Christ as the Prize of Life (Chapter 3:1-21)

IV. Rejoicing in Christ as the Power of Life (Chapter 4:1-23 )

The Book of Philippians shows us what the true Christianity experience is in our

daily walk with Him.

We just learned about Christ as the Pattern of Life, Someone we need to copy

our life after.

In Chapter Three, we see that we are to rejoice in Christ as the Prize of Life.

When things here on earth seem to be going sour...

we can hold our heads up high and breathe...

we know Who wins in the end...

we know Who will have the final say. Amen!

In order to have Christ as our prize, we must be CONTAGIOUS Christians,

not COUNTERFEIT Christians.

Here is our text for this week:

Philippians 3:1-3

Verse 1 ~ "Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is not trouble for me to write the same things to you again and it is a safeguard for you.

Verse 2 ~ Watch our to those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.

Verse 3 ~ For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh–"

We had 2 "C" words...Contagious, Counterfeit and now...

"Confidence"...

My Bible has as a heading for verses 1-6 ~ "No Confidence in the Flesh"...

There are many different avenues that we could take with these 3 verses.

I am choosing to take the avenue of what the "the flesh"

means in the Bible.

Paul talks about CIRCUMCISION (another "C") in the first 5 verses of Chapter 3

because he is trying to show that we can not have CONFIDENCE in what

we can do on our own, but what CHRIST (another "C"!) did on the CROSS

(you know what I want to say here... another "C"!!)

I have actually thought about circumcision before (!) and thought...

"What an odd thing to do to 'mark' (this is going to leave a mark!)

a covenant ( ahhhemmm...I will go on...) between God and the Jewish people!!!

What a strange way to have a covenant..."

(The first instance of this ritual is in Genesis 17, when God appeared to

Abraham to confirm His covenant with him. Also, see Romans 4.)

It reminds me of the song "Strange Way to Save the World" by 4Him.

I have added a snippet of the song on my Playlist, if you are interested in

listening to it. (I did not have the whole song available to me to

download for free. If you do not see it listed, click on the right arrow to move

the listings.)

Anyway....for anyone needing more information than you ever wanted on

circumcision...here is a link to answer any questions you may have.

How painful it is...

How smothering of pride it is...

How giving over control (depending on his age) it is...

How a process of healing it is...

How keeping out infection it is...


Compare this to our process of cutting away "the flesh" in our

spiritual life. By "the flesh" I mean doing things our way, not God's way.

Abraham (again) in Genesis Chapter 16 walked in "the flesh" and fathered

a child named Ishmael, by his wife's maidservant, because he and Sarai (later named Sarah)

were tired of waiting on God's promises. What a mess they made!!!!!!!!!!!!

We still feel the affect of their decision today because the nations that are enemies

to the Nation of Israel today are descendants of Ishmael....

What a mess

we make when we walk in our own ways....

What a better way it is when we give our control to God and walk in His ways

even though...

It is painful...

It hurts our pride...

It is giving up our control...

It involves a healing time...

But>>>

It keeps the "infection" of the world out...


The GOOD News is that even though...even though...

Abram (later changed to Abraham) walked in "the flesh"...

and he was temporarily counterfeit to his calling...

God STILL confirmed his covenant with him.

God STILL said that he would be the father of many nations.

God STILL called him a father before he became a father.

God STILL said that the generations to come after him would be blessed.

God STILL said that Sarai (later changed to Sarah) would be the mother

of nations and kings of peoples would come from her.

This is a source of JOY for us ~ to know that even when we mess up

and walk in our own ways and we do not "cut the flesh" away...

and we are temporarily counterfeit...

• A fake

• A copy

• A fraud

• A phony

• A "knock off" of the original calling or purpose of our life
  

• A forgery

• A pretender
  

God still sees our heart and still blesses us!

God saw Abraham's blind trust and his blind faith...

(blind trust and faith...most of the time!)

It was if Abraham had blinders on.

(most of the time!)

Not very often did he take those blinders off.

He was not often distracted from his vision and God's calling.

He was a contagious worshiper of God.

This is my prayer for us all,

that even though...even though...

we mess up and walk in our own ways,

we do something and then ask God to bless it,

or we are tired of waiting for the promise of God

and take things into our own hands ~

our Heavenly Father will see our heart.

He will see that we trust Him with our lives.

He will see that we believe.

He will see that we have faith.

He will see that we have joy in midst of our circumstances.

He will see that we are a contagious Christian, not counterfeit.

(most of the time!)

We will win the Prize of Life.

(for eternity!)

Amen.

Until next Friday,

may God keep you in the hollow of His hand.

Debbie Gerstenberger