Overcoming The Perils Of The Christian Life
In continuing with our sermon series through Philippians, Pastor Emilio Ramos preached from Philippians 3:1-2, a message entitled “How The Church Can Overcome The Perils Of The Christian Life – Pt 1“.
3 Things To Determine To Overcome The Perils Of The Christian Life
- I. Determining our true source of joy of eternity [Phil. 3:1]
- Vs. 1a
- Joy is serious business in the Bible [2 Cor. 1:24 | John 16:22]
- Is your joy full? Is joy an issue in your Christian life?
- Sin, trials, and the devil all steal our joy.
- Joy is when you have accepted the providence of God in such a way that you can find your delight in the Lord! n
- It’s spiritual, transcendent, and capable of looking past this world. Not produced by the flesh or us. This is how we will be different from the world.
- Vs. 1b
- f. Literally, “Not for me trouble but for you safety”
- g. Safety and comfort in joy
- h. Where is the source of our safety? – in the Lord?
- II. Determine the source of theological danger [Phil. 3:2]
- If they fail in joy they will be susceptible to error
- Lazy Christian thinking will not do
- Snapshot of another church where the same things are going on [Gal. 1:6-9]
- Vs. 2a – gentiles (dogs) were unclean because they were immoral
- Vs. 2b – the wicked/doers of iniquity [Ps. 5:5, 6:8]
- Their ministry is a work of evil [2 Cor. 11:13-15]
- Vs. 2c NASB is not literal saying ‘false circumcision’ but it gives a good interpretation of what’s going on. ESV gets it right when it says “mutilators”
- You add one little thing to faith and you’ve undone the Gospel
- (#3 continued next week)
Listen to or download the sermon: