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Showing posts from June, 2019

TRUE JOY IS ONLY FOUND IN CHRIST

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INTRODUCTION How relevant is this letter to the Philippian Church? Let me ask this question before you answer that one!  Is it easy to be a Christian in today’s world?  The answer is no, it’s the opposite; it’s hard and feels sometimes like an uphill battle.  This letter should encourage you to live for Christ despite the opposition with a joy that nothing can steal that joy away.  Where are you going to find true joy?  Because Paul in this letter radiates a infectious joy, though he writes this letter from a Roman’s prison cell.  In this letter Paul helps us to understand that joy isn’t resulting from comfortable circumstances, but from a living, vibrant communion with Christ.  I say that because look what Paul says in chapter two “Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me .” Phil 2:17-18.  Paul’s circumstance doesn’t change hi

A RIGHT AND WRONG VIEW OF GOD IN SUFFERING

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.  Job 16:1-22 Why is it important that we have a right view of who God is and His character?  Why? Because if we have a skewed view of God, the danger we face is creating a God in our image.  Culturally people see their god as someone who is unpredictable and becomes easily angered and displeased by the way we live.  So what does that person do to fix that problem?  They do things to please their god and win favours with their god.  They do things out of fear and uncertainty, because if you do good God will bless you, and if you do bad God will curse you and bad things will happen.  Unfortunately this is a terrible lens to view God through.  John MacArthur said “The tendency to treat God like a wax figure who can be reshaped according to human tastes and fashions is certainly nothing new. It is a form of idolatry that has been around at least since Sinai, when the disobedient Israelites portrayed Jehovah as a golden calf.” He went on to say “Modern Christians seem plag