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

Philippians 2:19-24

Hello Everyone!

As I was researching our Scriptures for this week...

over and over, the theme "Friend" or "Kindred Spirit"

came up from reading verse 20 ~

"I have no one else like him..." ~ New International Version (NIV)

"For I have no (other) man likeminded..." ~ King James Version (KJV)

"For I have no one {else} of kindred spirit..." ~ New American Standard Bible

(NASB)

The word "likeminded" comes from the Greek word

"isopsychos" which means equal in soul.

When I heard "kindred spirit" I immediately thought of the novel,

Anne (spelled with an "e"!) of Green Gables written by

Lucy Maud Montgomery published in 1908.

I was first introduced to this series by my husband's

sweet Aunt Ruthie. She had the whole series on VHS,

and we sat and watched them up into the wee hours of the

morning when we visited her in her home in Avon Park, FL.

Here is a quote from the book:
(Marilla says) "...Matthew is a most ridiculous man." "I think he's lovely," said Anne reproachfully. "He is so very sympathetic. He didn't mind how much I talked--he seemed to like it. I felt that he was a kindred spirit as soon as ever I saw him."

For those of you "Anne of Green Gables" fans,

you can go to http://www.online-literature.com/lucy_montgomery/

and read Ms. Montgomery's bio ~

(she was a pastor's wife...WHO KNEW!!)

You can also read all (I believe) of her works at this website!

So......since we are talking about friends this week,

Here are two ~ read 2 ~ videos I found...

The first one is for you animal lovers out there...

ENJOY!!!








Now this one is about friendship, also...

Even though it is an "oldie, but goodie", hang with it until the end

and then you will see what I mean!!






OK...sniff, sniff...clearing throat...

Man! That Chonda can have you laughing from your toes

and the next thing you know, you are wiping the moisture from the corner

of your eyes from thinking seriously and soberly from your heart!

Now...I wonder who this "kindred spirit" and "likeminded" friend-person

is that we are talking about in verses 19-24?

"I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you.

I have no one else like him, who takes genuine interest in your welfare.

For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father

he has served with me in the work of the gospel.

I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me.

And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon."

None other than Timothy!

This "young fellow" is mentioned 25 times in 25 verses in the NIV,

not to mention that 2 Books of the Bible named after him!

He was designated to the office of an evangelist (1 Tim. 4:14)

and went with Paul in his journey through Phrygia, Galatia, and Mysia;

also to Troas and Philippi and Berea (Acts 17:14).

Then he followed Paul to Athens

and was sent by him with Silas on a mission to Thessaloniki

(Acts 17:15; I Thessalonians 3:2).

We next find him at Corinth (I Thessalonians 1:1; II Thessalonians 1:1) with Paul.

He passes now out of sight for a few years,

and is again noticed as being with Paul at Ephesus (Acts 19:22),

where he is sent on a mission into Macedonia.

He accompanied Paul afterwards into Asia (Acts 20:4)

where he was with him for some time.

When Paul was a prisoner at Rome,

Timothy joined him (Philemon 1:1),

where it appears he also suffered imprisonment (Hebrews 13:23).

During Paul's second imprisonment he wrote to Timothy,

asking him to rejoin him as soon as possible, and to bring with him certain things

which he had left at Troas, his cloak and parchments (II Timothy 4:13).

(Shewww...I don't know about you, but just reading that wore me out!!

He was a busy man!)

According to later tradition, Paul ordained Timothy

as Bishop of Ephesus in the year 65,

where he served for 15 years.

In the year 80, Timothy tried to halt a pagan procession of idols,

ceremonies and songs.

In response to his preaching of the Gospel, the angry pagans beat him, dragged

him through the streets and stoned him to death.

Here are some artist's renditions of what they think Timothy looked like:

He is usually shown holding a big book like the Bible,

or a scroll, because in 2 Timothy 3:15, Paul is talking to Timothy

and says..."and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures,

which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."

Timothy's grandmother Lois and mother Eunice are mentioned in

2 Timothy 1:15. In Acts 16:1, we find that his mother was a Jew,

but his father was a Greek and not mentioned again.

I am sure that Timothy found a "father figure" in Paul

and Paul definitely found a son in Timothy.

Being "likeminded" does not mean Paul and Timothy always agreed,

but it does mean that being alongside each other was easy so that

neither had to work hard at the relationship

and things flowed smoothly between them.

Verse 20 ~ "...who takes a genuine interest in your welfare."

**Timothy was the "Real Deal"...

Timothy's interest in the Philippian church's welfare was a sign of his inner

character of compassion. Timothy was a true shepherd.

He was concerned to the point of being burdened.

**He was "seasoned"...

Verse 22 ~ "But you know that Timothy has proved himself..."

Have you ever seasoned a cast iron frying pan?

You have to wash (baptize) the pan thoroughly with soap and water.

Rinse thoroughly.

Place it on the stove at a low temperature until it is completely dry.

Coat the pan with lard or cooking oil (oil of the Holy Spirit)...

HEAT (trials and testing) the oven to 500 degrees and bake the pan

for one hour ~ upside down!

Timothy was seasoned...he had proven himself...

he could let "things slide off easier and not stick"

better than a new Christian. He knew how to "let go and let God!"

**You get Tim, you get me...

Verse 23 ~ "I hope, therefore, to send him..."

They shared the same passion and the same heartbeat for the church in Philippi.

Though Paul could not be there himself, he felt responsible for their spiritual

welfare. Here again, is an example of self-sacrificing love,

the previous examples in Chapter 2 are the Lord Jesus and Paul himself.

Both were willing to pour out their lives to death as a drink offering.

Now we have Timothy and Epaphroditus. (who we will discuss next week)

Talk about a sacrifice!! Here Paul is in house arrest in Rome and he

is giving up his likeminded son in the Lord to the people of Philippi!

Don't you think that he would like to have him there to visit him

and to care for his needs, if allowed? W.O.W.

What a sacrifice!

Which brings me to these questions...

><>Do we have anything in our lives that we are pouring ourselves out to

that is eternal?

><>Do we have anything in our lives that we show a self-sacrificing love to?

><>Or do we show a self-loving attitude ~ it is all about me?

><>Do we have a friend-making attitude?

><>Do we know that to have a friend is to be a friend?

><>Do we have or have had a kindred spirit with someone?

Let's examine our hearts this week and see if we even have it in us to

do this self-sacrificing love...

and if we do...

what will we end up with?????

J.O.Y.

Until next week,

Debbie G.
(Resources: Wikipedia.org, Orthoxwiki.org and the Online Commentary listed in my left sidebar under "Links".)

Philippians 2:12

Hello Everyone!!

How has your week been?

Mine has been laden with a stress mine field and...

I stepped on a couple of them this week!
So, let's start off with some laughter,

which God has given us to relieve that volcano-erupting-feeling inside.

I promised some more of my favorite comedian,

Chonda Pierce, so may I present Chonda in "Weird Things Happen to Me"...

(plz excuse the "fuzziness")



No...nothing weird like that has happened to me...what about you?

Okayyyyy...now that we have laughed and are stress free, (?)

let's keep digging in our glorious treasure mine of God's Word.

Let's use our "pick" and dig out a precious nugget

this week, that will:

comfort us,

strengthen us

and give us wisdom. Amen.

Philippians 2:12 (New International Version)

(12) "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling..."

≈≈Therefore≈≈in other words,

• because Jesus gave His life for us

• because He humbled Himself

• because He became a Servant
  

• because He became obedient to death (previous posts ~ verses 5-11)...

here is how you should live...

With Integrity...!

"Integrity in the faith is something that is revealed in the hidden times more than in the public times. Bill Hybels had a great title for one of his books, "Who You Are When No One's Looking".

It is the reminder that who we are when no one is looking is who we really are. We can all maintain a certain image when we are in church. But the real test of faith is when we are outside of the church. The goal of the Christian is to live consistently. Will Rogers perhaps summed it up well, "Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." (Bruce Goettsche)

I have been in situations before and thank the good Lord

that I had the presence of mind to ask myself...

"How would you act if you knew a camera was recording

your every move and spoken word ~

and could be REPLAYED back to the person you were talking about? "

Not always...

but more and more the Holy Spirit is prompting me

with this thought.

A good description of "integrity" is:

"The state of being whole and undivided."

Paul goes on to describe exactly what he means,

by listing 3 life principles that all truly appreciative Christians should embrace,

starting with verses 12-18.

For today's post, we will discuss the first principle:

"...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling..."

WORK OUT not WORK FOR...

Many have misinterpreted this Scripture to mean that you have to work FOR

your salvation. Paul was talking to Christians here in Philippians...

(Chapters 1:1 & 3:20)

Martyn Lloyd Jones writes that

"Working out what God has worked in...is the practical exhortation of the New Testament gospel to us today. I must now perfect this thing which has been given to me. The seed has been planted; I have been given it in embryo. My business is to allow and to encourage this gift to grow and develop, until it comes to its final perfection and full maturity. I have got the gift: I need not be worried lest God is not present and not with me. God is working in me and I must develop it all I can."

J. Vernon McGee writes:

"Salvation needs to be worked in before it can be worked out.

After you are saved, God will talk to you about works."


Let's look at the exact meaning of the words, "work out"

and you'll see what Paul is getting at.

This little word is translated from the Greek word "katergazesthe"...

and it was the same word the Roman historian STRABO,

The Greek historian and geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving.

used when he gave an account of the once-famous silver mines of Spain.

Strabo wrote of WORKING OUT these mines,

meaning that the owners were to operate the mines

in a manner that would gather the utmost value from them.

Understand-the mine's owners already had the mines in their possession.

But now they were to derive the full benefit of their ownership by WORKING OUT

all the ore from the various shafts and tunnels.

(Seems like we are talking a lot about mines this time!)

Question: How are practical ways we "work out" our salvation today?

"Fear and trembling..."

The fear of the Lord is ~ reverential trust.

Trembling here expresses profound reverence and respect.

Do you worship God for His attributes?

Don't know them?...look in the back of your Bible

and see if you have a "Subject Index" or "Subject by Topics".

Or you may own a Topical Bible ~ same thing.

(This is not a Concordance which is an alphabetical list of words in the Bible.)

Search for "God" and look under the sub-title of "attributes".

Don't have one? Email me and I will be happy to help you.

Do you trust God with your life, or have reverential trust, no matter what?...

No matter what the doctor says,

No matter what your parents may have said or not said about you,

No matter what your spouse says or doesn't say about you,

No matter that you are having trouble with your children or grandchildren,

No matter that your life has not been the "dream" you thought it would be,

No matter that you are worried about your finances,

No matter that you are worried about your future,

...Do you trust God with your life, no matter what???

Until next week,

Go with God and He will go with you,

Debbie G.


(Resources used: http://www.preceptaustin.org/
blueletterbible.org/commentaries)

Philippians 1:19-26

Chonda Pierce is my favorite Christian comedian!! (More to come from her in the

months ahead!!)


Hello everyone!!!

I am excited to start the next few verses,

because verse 21 is a beloved verse to quote!!

But first, let's look at verses 19-20:

"...for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus

Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect

and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that

now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death."

From David Guzik commentary at blueletterbible.org

• "Through your prayer": How can Paul be so confident? Because he knew the Philippians prayed for him. His deliverance in the present situation was connected to the prayer of the Philippians.
  
  • This is a staggering thought. What if the Philippians didn’t pray for Paul? Could God’s
    
  • 
  • deliverance for Paul be hindered if the Philippians didn’t pray? In Paul’s mind, it certainly seems so. Prayer is a serious matter!

• "Through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ": However, it was not the prayer of the Philippians in and of itself that would meet Paul’s need. It was the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ that came to Paul through the prayer of the Philippians. Paul’s needs were met by the Spirit of God, but that provision to Paul was brought about by the prayers of the Philippians.

Yikessss!!! This is a friendly reminder for all of us that when someone asks us to pray for

them...
WRITE IT DOWN AND PUT IT WHERE YOU CAN SEE IT!!

Not trying to take you on a guilt trip...


Verse 20: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."



We are all really sitting in a waiting room, aren't we?

Sooner or later we will all be called in to see the One with

whom we all have an appointment --whether we know it or not --

whether we want to or not. We will all one day be called to meet our Maker.



As you sit in the waiting room for eternity, will you share the message of the

Messiah with those around you as God brings the opportunity?

(The above from this article at christianpost.com)

I am thinking tonight (Wednesday) of the 58 year old House of Representative

Stephanie Tubbs Jones

age 58, who died today.

She was driving in her home town of Cleveland,Ohio

last night when she suffered an brain aneurysm

and died less than 24 hours later.

We NEVER KNOW...

It also made me think of the Scripture James 4:13 & 14 "Now listen

you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go this or that city, spend a year there,

carry on business and make money'. Why, you do not even know what will happen

tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then

vanishes."

But, back to verse 21:

Some people may read this verse and see the cry of a man who is fed up with life,

who could hardly wait to get to heaven, who had had it. This reflects a very

common attitude that we Christians sometimes have...that we would like to get

away from it all. (I am showing my age...but remember the commercial that said...

"Calgon...take me away!!)


We do not like living life the way we have to live it and

we look longingly to heaven.

There is this story that happened years ago with this well-know gospel singer. He

got up and sang at a Conference the song, "Homesick for Heaven". He sounded as

though he was about to soar right off of the platform. After the service, a group of

them went to a hamburger "joint". The singer ordered a hamburger. After he had

used the ketchup on his hamburger, he noticed that the top of the bottle had

somehow been broken and there was ground-up glass at the top of the bottle. He

had already taken several bites from his hamburger. He hurriedly checked it out

and did not think that he had swallowed any cut glass. But he said, "You know,

for a moment there, I don't think that I was quite as homesick for heaven as

I thought I was!!"


But this is not what Paul is saying at all...by looking closely, (by reading verses

22-24) you will see that he is really saying...

..I don't know which to choose. To me to live is to have Christ and to

die is to gain heaven, but if I had to choose, I don't know which I'd choose. To live

is to experience Christ, Who is my life. Life for me is a continual adventure and

excitement and I can hardly wait to live it!

Paul had found the secret of life.

No life is complete that does not have God in it.

He lived life to the fullest in the knowledge that Jesus Christ is our life.

Verse 25 ~ "Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and I will continue with

all of you for your progress and joy (there's that word again!) in the faith,"

Verse 26 ~ "so that through my being with you again, your joy (again!) in Christ

Jesus will overflow on account of me."

Paul must have sensed in his spirit that his work was not finished here on earth. In

fact, Paul did survive this imprisonment, was set free, and

DID come to see the Philippians again!

Are we looking at our life as an adventure?

I have a 34 year old daughter, her husband and 2 children, ages 11 & 4, going

to India soon for 3 years. She just told me on the phone yesterday, that they

are looking at this as a God-adventure...not something to be upset and sad over!!

When you are in the center of God's will, you will have peace. Just as the eye

of the storm is perfectly calm. Even though everything around you is changing

and swirling, in the center, in your center, you will have peace. Just as the Apostle

Paul did, chained to a Roman guard

and writing about the joy he has in his

God-filled adventure of a life!!

Can we think about our situations this week and recognize the adventure and the

excitement of living for Christ here on the earth? I know it will be a challenge

for me to dwell on the thought of the joy of knowing that my family will be working

for a heavenly cause, an eternal purpose, versus the thought of how long it will

be before I can actually see them again, face to face.

I covet your prayers for me and our family before my next post.

Thank you...

In His Service,

Debbie G.

(Additional references: http://www.raystedman.org/philippians/2005.html
and Ray Stedman commentary at blueletterbible.org)