God is reminding the Philippian church of the importance of maintaining unity by recalling to their mind what He has done. He encourages them to fight to be of one mind and mission and watch out for things that cause division.
In order to live a life worthy of the Gospel, we must have the Gospel. Then we can respond to the world with grace that transforms.
As the Apostle Paul reflects on his current situation, he is reminded of his imprisonment as well as his deliverance. He is filled with confidence as he exclaims that life or death - either works just fine for him because he has Jesus.
We see that the thing that matters most to Paul is that the Gospel is advancing. He’s not bitter about his past, he’s rejoicing that in every way the Gospel is being proclaimed through his current circumstances.
A remembrance of the Philippian church brings prayers of thankfulness and joy to Paul’s lips. What could do that? A gospel partnership! We long to be a part of something bigger and more meaningful than our own lives and goals - Jesus provides that for us with his mission. Great partnerships share the same values and same mission - Gospel partnerships involve people with a shared submission to Christ.
Paul writes to the Philippians from prison, not with shame, but with joy and deep affection, showing us what Jesus-shaped love really looks like. He challenges us to pray for more than comfort—for spiritual growth, discernment, and fruit that lasts. This passage calls us to love like Jesus, pray like it matters, and live lives that actually reflect His transformation in us.
Paul & Timothy are writing to a church that Paul helped to start back 10 years ago. He’s acknowledging their status as saints and we are calling to remembrance the genesis of their relationship together.
God did not create you in his image in order for you to pray a prayer, duck behind a wall and wait for eternity. You were created by God to go into all the world as an ambassador of God - taking on the spiritual forces of the enemy, pushing back the darkness and calling to any and all who will listen to come to God for life. You were made to make a difference.
God designed you to be a member of a local church. We want you to be a member here at Covenant Church.
We are a church that exists to seek & save the lost. We want to have the same heart of the Father to help people come to Know God for the first time and bring our friends to meet Jesus too. We also want to come to Know God more deeply and worship in Spirit & in truth.
Waiting is a part of life. But, there is no reason to wait to accept Jesus’ free offer of salvation. He is inviting everyone to place their faith in him for the forgiveness of sins and receive salvation.
We are all commanded to be witnesses for Christ, and no amount of excuses will change that. God has given you a story to tell - be ready and willing to share about how your life has been changed by Christ.
People aren’t an inconvenience, they are the point! If we are willing to interrupt our day to care for people, like Jesus did, we will demonstrate to people that we care. That care helps us to win them to ourselves, our group, and eventually Christ.
We all need to evangelize, but we don’t know how. When God entrusts a job to us, he empowers us to do that job. Prayer is an integral part of evangelism. If we want to see people come to know Christ we need to start praying for them persistently.
There is a real need for people who are evangelists. The idea of this first sermon in the series will be to impress upon people the need to reach others with the message of the Gospel. There could be opportunity to share your testimony, talk about the needs that you’ve seen through your mission work, etc.
As Joshua nears the end of his life, the author of the book of Joshua focuses on 3 different goodbyes. He says goodbye to the promise keeping clans. He says goodbye to the future elders and leaders who will lead the people and encourages them all to continue to follow God after Joshua is dead.
Progress may be slow and may be hard to see, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t happening. As Israel finds itself 10 years after the conquest begins, it is now time to look at the land before it - subdued and ready to be taken. A new period of transition begins as each tribe begins to receive their inheritance.
God has blessed Israel with his promises, with progress, and now there is the looming prospect of peace as each tribe begins to take their own inheritance. As each tribe is given their allotment of the land, we are reminded of God’s detailed care for his people, and the fact that we must still grab a hold of our inheritance.
Waiting on God's promises can be challenging, especially in a culture that expects instant results, but His timing is always perfect. In Joshua 13-14, we see that while Israel had experienced great victories, the work of possessing the land was not yet complete, requiring patience and faithfulness. Caleb's story teaches us that waiting doesn’t mean passivity; rather, it’s an opportunity to trust God, stay faithful in the present, and be ready to step forward when He calls.
The people of Israel are going to experience the consequences of not following God, they may have been surprised, but God isn’t. God takes their setback and turns it into victory, in miraculous and incredible ways. Joshua prays for God’s intervention, and the sovereign God over creation intervenes in order to destroy the Amorites and glorify his name.
God is granting to Israel, and to us an inheritance. But, we face enemies along the way who will do whatever they can to stop us from living out our inheritance. Those enemies can sometimes be within, like Achan’s greed - or without - the Canaanite kings or the Gibeonites - so we must be vigilant to obey the words and commands of God and live in a right relationship with Him.
In chapter 5 we see that God is more concerned with the Covenant than he is our ability to conquer for him. He wants our hearts more than he needs our hands. And we will talk about how obedience isn’t convenient, but it is a sign that our hearts are in the right place. Israel renews the covenant, remembers God’s redemption, and is reminded of their reliance on God.
As Joshua begins to move into enemy territory he is trusting in the promise keeping God to be with him. Joshua is a wise leader who knows that he will have a fight on his hands. So, he develops a plan, finds an unexpected ally and finds out that the world has been watching what God has done.
We gravitate toward exceptional leaders, orators, charismatic men and women who can inspire. Our belief is often that God creates exceptional men and women, and that real leadership is about THEM. Real leadership isn’t about personal gifts but about total surrender. If we desire to see God move, we need leaders. To lead like Joshua, you must listen for God’s voice, learn to pursue His mission, let go of insecurity, and live a life of obedience.
Joshua, the leader after the leader, is being called by God to be the one to bring the people of Israel into the promised land. Although the promises may seem slow in fulfillment, if God has promised it, God will deliver on it. We too can walk forward into a new season as a church, secure that the one who promised it will see it come to pass.
Joy in the heart of a believer comes from God and spreads through us into the world around us.
The joy of Jesus Christ is meant to be something that overflows. It is meant to be a joy to the world.
We can experience God’s peace even when life gets hard by shifting our focus from our problems to God. God is active, sovereign and personal in our lives.
