Review of What We Have Covered So Far: Last week we looked at how being in Christ gives us joy. Paul begins this section be defending the Gospel from false teachings, because he know that any deviation from the truth can steal our joy away. The particular false teaching that Paul deals with is brought on by the Judiazers who taught that many of the customs and rituals of the Jews had to be followed in order to be saved. Paul’s countered this with the truth that it is only bec

Review: In the first week of this series we looked at Jesus promise that we would be able to have His joy in our lives and that joy could be in such a way that it overflows in our lives. We then looked at how the joy is presented in the book of Philippians, even though it was one of the hardest times in the Apostles Paul’s life, he literally writes the book on joy. In the first section of Philippians we saw how God uses Christian friends in our lives to bring us His joy. Then

Joy: No Matter What! Review: Last week we looked at how we can have joy even in the midst of difficult circumstances. We talked about when we are doing the things that God has called us to do we are tapped in to a source of joy that no situation can take away. We also discovered that they greatest misery that you go through can become your most effective ministry. We also discussed how important our attitude and point of view is when we are going through trying times. When yo

The Joy of Difficult Circumstances – Part 2 - Philippians 1:12-30 Last week we opened our series on Joy by looking at the promise of Jesus that we can have joy and not just have it but have it overflowing in our lives. Then we looked at Paul and his close friendship with the church at Philippi. We looked at how these close friendships brought joy into Paul’s life. Then we looked at the opening verses of Philippians and discovered that friends behave a certain way with each ot

The Joy of Christian Friendships – Part 1 Philippians 1:1-11 Series Introduction: In John 16:33 we have one of the great promises of Jesus. He tells His followers that, “In this world you will have tribulation.” Now I know that this wasn’t one of the promises you were hoping for! But it is SO true! We live in a world that every day we face circumstances or situations that we would rather not have to deal with. Another similar promise of Jesus is found in Matthew 10:22, “And a

Ecclesiastes: Reality and Wisdom in the Midst of the Unrealistic and Foolish Introduction: As we conclude our series of diving into the book of Ecclesiastes I would like to remind us of Pastor Steve’s introduction to our study. By doing this it helps us to set our minds (as well as our hearts) to be in a better position to receive the Wisdom of Solomon and glean insight into how God’s Truth can help us navigate some of the deeper questions we face in this life. So here it is