The full context of Philippians 4 tells us that Christ strengthens us not to accomplish our own goals, but to live out our Christian calling with joy even in the midst of difficult challenges. This is extremely important because the unsaved people in the world will observe how professed Christ followers deal with adversity to discern whether we truly can “do all things through Christ.”
Many people aren’t aware that the often quoted John 3:16 is part of a nighttime conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus – one of the Jewish leaders of that time. During this conversation, Jesus explained the concept of spiritual rebirth through faith in Him.
As Christ followers we must honestly examine our motivations for our service to the Gospel. If we find we are not following the Lord for the right reasons, we must confess this sin before God, and seek His strength and guidance to bring us back into truly godly fellowship.
Living the Christian life often requires us to obey the calling of the LORD, even under difficult circumstances. Although we might believe we are not qualified or able to serve God’s Kingdom in the ways He has led us, we rest assured that God knows what He is doing, and it is He who empowers us by His Spirit to accomplish the works He has ordained for us since before the beginning of creation. Often when we obey God in faith, He will bless us. Sometimes though He does not. But His leading for us is always for our own eternal wellbeing and the benefit of those whom God has called us to serve.
Only Jesus can do the signs and wonders that He has done and still continues to do. But He also uses His children to do our part in accomplishing His works through those things we can do by faith and obedience to His will.
By His sacrifice of His own life on the cross in our place, Jesus has redeemed us out of slavery to sin and the curse of death that sin brings with it. But our justification by the shed blood of Jesus is just the beginning of the process of sanctification through which God is perfecting us into the image of Jesus to make us ready for the culmination of His redemption of us unto eternal life. As we pass through His sanctification we will experience times of great triumph, but we will also go through periods of spiritual drought and outright rebellion against God – possibly even falling back into those same sins out of which Jesus first rescued us. In such times, our great enemy will attack us with lies – even causing us to question our salvation in Christ. But Jesus our Redeemer also stands ready in such times to be our great Restorer – bringing us back into fellowship and continuing His process of sanctification within our hearts by the power of His indwelling Spirit striving against the weaknesses of our fleshly selves.
When we faithfully seek God’s will and obey it, we can expect increasing spiritual attack from our great enemy. Therefore, it is essential that we not only seek God’s will and faithfully obey, but also continually keep ourselves focused upon Him and His Word, and take up His full armor daily to protect us from the enemy’s attacks.
On the night He was betrayed to die on the cross in our place so that we might be forgiven of our sins and restored into fellowship with God, Jesus gave His disciples “a new commandment” that we love one another, saying that people would recognize that we are His disciples through the love we exhibit for one another. But exactly how do we show this love that Jesus has commanded for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul tells us that our love for one another must be genuine, and gives some concise characteristics of this love in Romans 12:9-17.
Paul wants us to recognize how blessed we truly are as believers. Paul provides some foundational truths about our faith and works to help us understand how these truths can help us grow stronger as disciples of Jesus Christ. God has blessed us with our salvation through Jesus Christ. He has blessed us in our relationships. He has blessed us in our families, both at home and in our churches. He has blessed us with a new identity in Christ. He has blessed us with an eternal inheritance. Paul wants us to follow his lead and give praises to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He “has blesses us in Christ with every blessing in the heavenly places”.
This message begins a new series focused on Paul’s epistle to the churches surrounding Ephesus. It’s no secret that Christians are called to be different. We are to be “new” and not hold on to the “old”. In Ephesians Paul teaches what it’s truly like to be different. We live in a world of rapid moral decline. Therefore, as followers of Jesus Christ, we must train ourselves to function differently than the world. We must learn to fully commit to living a surrendered life and allow the power of God’s Spirit to help us walk in God’s ways and not our own.
Sunday School - 9:30 AM
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Sunday Evening - 6:00 PM
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2026
Mt. Freedom Baptist Church
