Today’s Sermon Notes: 6-22-2025
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“How We Grow”
A Sermon Series on Spiritual Disciplines
“The Power of Service in the Lives of Others”
Philippians 2:19-30
Introduction
This morning we will look at two examples that help us to understand how we can be a life changing example for others through our service to Christ, and can look to others who are faithful to encourage us in our walk with the Lord.
Prayer
The Example of Timothy (vv. 19-24)
19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. 20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. 23 I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, 24 and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.
James 4:13-16 “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance.”
Plan and be active in the Lord’s work,
but as the Spirit leads, be willing to change your plans.
The Example of Epaphroditus (vv. 25-30)
25 I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, 26 for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. 27 Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. 29 So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, 30 for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.
https://trotters41.com/2013/09/28/sometimes-missionaries-get-sick/
God has given us the church to be there when those waves of life come.
It is service to Christ in the local church that helps us to grow in our faith and accomplish the mission that God has set before us.
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[1] http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/e/example.htm
[2] Frank Thielman, The NIV Application Commentary, Philippians (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan, 1995) 151.
[4] Dennis E. Johnson, Reformed Expository Commentary, Philippians (Phillipsburg, New Jersey; P&R Publishing, 2013) 175.
[5] George H. Guthrie, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Philippians (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing, 2023) 205.
[6] Johnson, 178.
[7] G. Walter Hansen, The Pillar New Testament Commentary, The Letter to the Philippians (Grand Rapids, Michigan; William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009) 194.
[8] Hansen, 206.
[9] Guthrie, 208.
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