Philippians 1:7-11

Hello everyone!

I hope you had a good week! Hint, hint...be sure to check out the bottom of the blog for some levity and a recipe. ~ (that rhymes!! :O)

Please tell your friends about our Bible study!

Now, we are ready to look at Philippians 1:7-11...

This paragraph is marked in my Bible as:

"Thanksgiving and Prayer"

~ This is one of Paul's 4 great New Testament prayers.

The other 3 are:

>>Ephesians 1:6-19

>>Ephesians 3:14-19

>>Colossians 1:9-12

The last Scripture is one that I was taught to pray many years ago. It contains 10 attributes to pray for. If you would like that list, please email me at debbie@CrossGenerations.org.

Philippians 1:7
"It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me."


Philippians 1:8
"God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus."


From John MacArthur in his sermon "Joy and Godliness" on verses 7 & 8 ~
"Paul responded the same way any godly pastor responds to his people.
He was deeply compelled by what he knew was right before God.
He didn't base his affection on rewards he expected
or because the Philippians had given him a pat on the back. He was not being self-serving or condescending. Paul's gratitude sprang out of a sense of humble obligation. But even though they weren't perfect, Paul's deep love for them covered over all their imperfections."




OUCH!! I know that my deep love for those around me has NOT caused me to look over their imperfections, sometimes...not all the times, but sometimes. My stinking perfectionism is slowly evaporating out of my life as I give it to the Lord over and over and say "Lord, take this and clean this out of me...this perfectionist pride and this not-wanting-to-look-stupid root in this 'tree of pride'". How much JOY have I missed out on because of this??




Philippians 1:9
"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,"

Philippians 1:10

"so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,"

Philippians 1:11

"filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ–to the glory and praise of God."

Here are the attributes that Paul is asking God to give to the Philippians church:

**Their love would abound more and more

**They would have knowledge

**They would have depth of insight

**They would be able to discern what is best

**They would be pure and blameless

**They would be filled with the fruit of righteousness through Jesus


I do not know about you...but I would certainly appreciate someone praying for me with these sincere words!!

Love abound more and more ~ To me, he is saying that their wonderful love
that they possessed would grow even more! I cannot get the picture out of my mind for the word "abound" of a kangaroo jumping ...boing, boing, boing...!


Knowledge ~ Not a head knowledge, but a spiritual knowing in the heart based on observation, experience and a personal relationship with God.

Depth of Insight ~ Judgment, perception, spiritual insight.

Discernment ~ Here is my question...what is the difference between "depth of insight" and "discernment"?

Pure and Blameless ~ Now, I have a little trouble with this one, because being pure means "without any mixture of evil". I think maybe the word "mixture" is the key word here...what do you think?

Filled with the Fruit of Righteousness ~ Fruit...that means that there has to be

a root, a green shoot coming up from the ground, a stem, a twig, a "baby" tree, a

"young" tree, a mature tree and finally a tree that bears fruit...where are you in

this process of coming to a "right standing before God"?
(Left click on picture below to see the illustration of a tree maturing)

Dear Lord,I pray as we "dig out these precious nuggets of truth" in Your Word this week, that You will show us what You would have us to clean out of our life next. Please Lord, just one thing at a time...we don't know if we could handle everything at once...but You know, and with joy and thanksgiving will we give You all the glory, Amen.




Here is a WONDERFUL recipe!! I have given this out to several of you before, so please take this as a reminder to fix this great summer dessert!! It looks like you have slaved over a hot oven, but it uses ice cream sandwiches!! Yum, Yum!!




From kraftfoods.com, may I present the Oreo & Fudge Ice Cream Cake...

(Click on picture if you would like to see a video about how to make this cake)


Prep Time:10 min Total Time: 4 hr 10 min Makes: 12 servings
Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed
* 1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
* 1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
* 8 OREO Cookies, chopped (about 1 cup)
* 12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches, unwrapped

# POUR fudge topping into medium bowl. Add 1 cup of the whipped topping; stir with wire whisk until well blended. Add dry pudding mix; stir 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in chopped cookies; set aside.
# ARRANGE 4 of the ice cream sandwiches, side-by-side, on 24-inch-long piece of foil; top with half of the whipped topping mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining 4 ice cream sandwiches. Frost top and sides of dessert with remaining whipped topping. Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and ends to loosely seal packet.
# FREEZE at least 4 hours before serving. Store leftover dessert in freezer.



My husband showed me this video and I had to share it with you.
Here's to all the dads...


Are you laughing???? ~ Good!

Feeling good to laugh,

Debbie G.