Sermon Tone Analysis

Anxiety...

I am not generally an anxious person, but this past week I have had several anxious episodes.

This scripture is such a great reminder:

Rejoice Always!

Pause and find the reasons for joy in your life… We need to base our lives in gratitude...

He goes on to acknowledge that some were preaching out of envy with the hope of causing him more grief, but I love his response to this… Phil 1:18

I have a hard time with this, my default is to make things about myself, my effort, my accomplishment, the way I am treated, respected or disrespected.

Paul fully understood that it wasn’t about him, but rather the advancement of the gospel.

Are we willing to suffer so that others see Christ? (book - unoffendable) Or do we fight for every one of our rights?

Be Reasonable!

Most of us would probably associate gentleness with this verse, but I love the way that the ESV translates it.

Reasonableness… Have you ever tried to reason with someone who is convinced that they are right and you are wrong?

Because Paul was able to get out of the victim mentality (remember, he was falsely imprisoned) he was able to reason the gospel with those around him.

He was able to gently share with those he had every reason to hate.

Phil 1:13-14

Pray about Everything!

Yesterday, Marshall and I were playing Pickleball and I asked him how he was feeling about the Vision conference, mainly because he has seemed so calm the past couple of weeks.

His response was really profound… I can feel the prayers of the brothers and sisters around the world, and I know it is not in my hands.

Some thoughts from Paul’s prayer in Philippians 1:3-11…

Trust the process - this is true for your own life and for the lives of those you interact with.

We are all works in progress and we are all works of God.

Are we confident that God will complete His work, or are we insecure because it’s not done yet?

Our PIGs📷 (Partners In the Gospel) should bring joy to our walk with Christ.

We were not designed to do this alone, it is too hard.

Grace should be a SHARED EXPERIENCE!

We often talk about how Jesus was a man of grace and truth, mainly to justify the dripping of truth bombs… but if we take a closer look at Jesus’ truth bombs most of them came in response to people objecting to Him extending grace.

Some of us take grace for ourselves, but withhold it from others, while other cannot even claim it for themselves.

What has been abundantly given to us, we should generously share with others!

Let’s drop grace bombs in every interaction we have today!

I need to deepen my understanding of God’s love so that I might be a more discerning person, and glorify God with the fruits of righteousness.

Think Right!

Do Good!