Philippians 1

The habit of being grateful for the people in your life.

Philippians 1:3, Paul starts off with this, this very first thing: "Every time I think of you," now remember, he's in Rome, they're in a city called Philippi.

"Every time I think of you, I give thanks.

I give thanks to my God." Paul says, "You know what? I remember the good things about you and I focus on the good times we've had." Friends, that simple truth right there i- is, is, is the source of good relationships.

We are by nature discontented people.

We are by nature always wanting more, wanting things to be different.

Philippians 1:5, Paul says it again, "I thank God.

I thank God for the help that you gave me." Now, if you know the story of, of this church that he started there, there was a woman named Lydia, who was a businesswoman, who opened up her home.

Yo, what's going on, Daily Rebels? Here we go.

We're on day three of our Live Worthy week on Philippians 1, verse 27.

We're going to read it all.

We'll be in the second part of that verse.

Here we go.

Philippians 1, verse 27.

Paul says this.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or I'm absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

It doesn't mean that you aren't going to have intrusive thoughts.

remember what we talked about before that the Holy Spirit lives inside of you that you're in a transformational process from the point you are saved till the point you get to heaven God is working in your life he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it Philippians 1 6 and we know that God is continuing to work in us to transform us to become more like his son And so don't let OCD and all of these lies consume you.

Know that the enemy wants you to believe these things.

He wants you to believe there's no hope for you.

You cannot be there blaming yourself consistently, calling yourself all kinds of names that God doesn't know about.

Philippians 1:6.

Look at the, what the Bible is saying.

Philippians 1:6.

The Bible says, "And I am certain that God who has begun the good work within you will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ returns." How can God give you this assurance and you believe something else? God no go shame us o.

God no go shame us.

As we begin, ask God to bring his word to life in you and for you and through you by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our scripture reading today is Philippians 1, verses 27-30.

Listen to God's word.

Only live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, and are in no way intimidated by your opponents.

Come on, right now.

We're in Philippians 1, verse 6.

Let's pray together.

He who began a good work in you will carry it on.

So Holy Spirit, Lord, I want to tell the world I feel that I've lost the sense of purpose.

And Lord, I want to find that purpose again.

Lord, we want to rise on wings as of eagles because we believe that Philippians 1, 6 is for each and every one of us.

He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.

Today's lectionary readings are for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

These come from Exodus chapter 16, Psalm 105, Matthew 20 and Philippians 1.

And we have a number of Awareness Days this week as well.

We're still in the early footsteps of Creation Tide, which will be journeying with us throughout the whole of September and October.

There seems to be some kind of a movement in the political world at the moment that comes with people being forced to confront the horror of where they really are and I think that's the starting point for faith and that's the starting point for hope is facing the mess that we're really in because until now we just haven't done it or at least not done it as a society and it looks like there are growing proportions of society that are facing the horror we're in and are diagnosing it well and are channeling their energy into something that might just work at the moment that looks like hope and it looks like something that christians might have a legitimate allegiance with sorry that was a very long-winded answer

but a real call and invitation that even when we're wrung out with enough we still have an invitation and an agency to lean in and continue to invest for change.

And what does that look like individually? What does that look like for our churches and for our church institutions as well? In the Philippians 1 passage, we're faced with Paul having this kind of characteristic understanding of both his deep humanity, but also his call into that faithful, hope-filled existence.

And I wonder what it means then to imitate Jesus in the face of all this, Alex.