Philippians Introduction Overview

So so let's look at this kind of map to begin with an overview in terms of where Philippi is in relationship to. some of the other churches that received a letter from Paul, presumably in Rome. We're going to come back to that a little bit because there's a little bit of controversy that this letter may not have been written from the prison in Rome, but I think everything suits that actually as the source of the letter. But anyway, so Paul was imprisoned in Rome and he was there. The dates are a little bit controversial. Some people say 61 to 63 AD, other people say 60 to 62.

I don't think that makes a lot of difference, honestly, but nevertheless, the prison epistles of those that were written to the Church of Colossae and a personal letter to Philemon and then the churches at Ephesus and Philippi. So the locations are indicated by this solid position, of course, boxed in just for the graphics. So Colossae is further east in the land of Turkey. Ephesus is also in the land of Turkey.

And finally, Philippi is really in Greece today. And as we kind of go forward and look at this, here in fact is an aerial view of the ruins around Philippi. And this is the forum in the front. and then in the back is the market and basilica which is presumably where the church at Philippi existed. There are many many other pictures online so if you're interested in kind of the the topography and the geographic layout of Philippi. There are many, many pictures, but I found this one very interesting. This is Kavala, Greek, or Kalava. Anyway, and Philippi is nine miles northwest of this, but look at this place today.

Looks like a place you might want to spend some vacation time, right? So I guess the Churches of Asia is really about a two or three week trip if you want to take them all in. This is really kind of a resort now in Greece that many people find a welcome place to go and visit. If you stay there, obviously you enjoy the sea. Then if you go nine or ten miles northwest, you can see the ruins that I just showed you in the previous slide. Always good to put a picture that's worth a thousand words, right? All right, so what's our task before us?

Well, let me indicate up front that the notes from Tom Constable are those that I use probably for the most part for this talk today. And then secondly, there's a. book called The Introduction, Background, and Outline to Philippians by Greg Harrop in 2009. So those are my two sources of information. I did look at a few other sets of notes and information online about the history of the book to the Philippians.

Some people call this the Epistle of Mental Attitude. What are your thoughts about that? I mean, most of you have been in this book before. the epistle of mental attitude. Come on, mental attitude? It sort of looks at ourselves rather than the Lord. It really does. I don't like it particularly, do you? It's like, get your... Is this a book of psychology? Yeah, exactly. Get the right frame of mind. Any other wisdom here? We are not going to spend a lot of time on that. I just thought it was fun to put that forward and get your thoughts on that.

The original name of the city was called Trinides Ultimately, that's a term called springs, and there's really a lot of springs around this area. In fact, we're going to refer to the river where, in fact, Lydia and the group went to pray periodically outside of Philippi. I think water surrounds this area, and so the name Cronides seems appropriate based on the topography of the land. As I mentioned, this is about nine to 10 miles inland from the Aegean Sea, and at the time was in the Roman province of Macedonia. Now, in 356 BC, Philip II, who at that time was the king of Macedonia and father of Alexander the Great, renamed the town after himself. like the town of Donna, or the town of Roy, right?

I'm not going to name any town, Bob, let me assure you. Anyway, so... There's a bridge named Bob. What's that? There's a bridge named Bob. Yeah, we don't want to go there either, okay? Alright, so Philip, you know, in his self-centered way, named the town after himself, and it's stuck, although Colaba, I guess, is a town that really represents that geographic area at this point in time.

And then in 168 BC, Philippi became part of the Roman Empire when Rome defeated the Persians at the Battle of Pidria. So we've got Rome now taking over this area. And Macedonia is then divided into four districts, and Philippi was the first, including the first district, that was part of this geographic region. Then, more modern times, 42 BC. The Romans, Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus defeated Brutus and Cassius in a battle fought just west of Philippi.

So when you think of Brutus and Cassius, who do you think of? Julius Caesar. Shakespeare, right? Julius Caesar. That's a fun story to read, isn't it? Isn't that the time also of Cleopatra? Cleopatra would have been earlier, I would think, right? More Alexander of the Greek days? A little bit earlier? Octavian Antony, that's what I'm wondering. Is that the same Antony and Cleopatra? I don't know. That's a common name. I didn't look up Cleopatra when I was studying. No, I'm just reading a book on her and it seems like that's during that time. But anyway.

So anyway, this battle occurred just west of Philippi, and Philippi would then become a military colony after this battle. Subsequent battles in the same year, and then about 10 years later, result in Philippi receiving even higher status. This became a prominent area at the time. That included the fact that the citizens enjoyed autonomous government, they were immune from taxes, And they were treated as if they lived in Italy. So this was a really kind of a very Roman kind of place where the kind of the paradigm of Italy and Rome was redeveloped and reformed in the Philippi area. And there's some evidence that the pride the Philippians took in their city is suggested in scripture.

So let's turn to this right now in Acts 16, 20. and 21 in Philippians 3.20. So Ruthie, if you could do the Acts passage, that would be great. And Gail, maybe the Philippians passage, just providing a little evidence that this may have been an area in which the citizens of Philippi were proud of where they existed.

Let's see. They brought them before the magistrate and said, these men are Jews and are throwing our city into an uproar by Advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice. OK. And the Philippians passage? For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So maybe the comparison of heaven to the citizenship of Philippi is a hint of the bond that these people sense in terms of the city.

And then in Acts 16.12, so Ruth are you still on Acts 16?

Yep. Go to 12. It's kind of described as the leading city of the district of Macedonia. From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. Okay. So again, that I think perhaps even describes better the prominence of the city at that time. So again, this is kind of evidence that this is kind of a Roman colony.

The Roman government had presided after the battles that had been taking place there. This was what got Italy afar, if you will, in terms of the oversight of the way the city was founded and operated. So the Via Ignatia was a main highway from Rome to the east and that actually ran through Philippi and made this really a common place of commerce and trade. So many travelers kind of went through Philippi and away from Rome to the Middle East or to Asia Minor. And also nearby was the Gangetes, or modern term is Angetes River, which constituted another ancient thoroughfare. And that's stated.

You still in Acts 16, Ruthie? Yep. Read verse 13. On the Sabbath, we went outside the city gate to the river where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women. who were gathered there. Okay. So that's the river that's called now the Ganges, previously called the Ganges River. Yeah.

I might mention that you say main highway there, in the time of this Philippi that is in the Bible, that was a Roman road, right, that the military guys had made. And a lot of them are preserved even today. Right, and that refers to the multiple online pictures that you can see of the Roman road that still exists. I just didn't want to bore you with pictures, but there's a tremendous, you know, historic line of evidence that the Romans occupied this and it was a military colony at the time.

So, major thoroughfare. Now let's turn to the epistle and that relates obviously to the church that existed at Philippi. So this is the first town in which Paul preached after he crossed the Aegean Sea from Troas and entered what we now call Europe. And that was approximately 49 AD. And again, Acts 16. I'm not going to ask you, Ruthie, to read verses 11 through 40, OK? But that whole history is described in some detail in Acts 16, 11 through 40.

And the religious life of those in Philippi was marked by very syncretistic practices including the worship of the Emperor, Julius Augustus and Claudius, the Egyptian gods, Isis and Serapis, as well as many other deities. So big term, syncretistic, what's that mean? Anybody define syncretistic?

It looks to me like it means that everything was a big hodgepodge. They worshipped it all together. Those are colloquial terms, not as well versed as what Wikipedia would say. Sympathetic is the merging of multiple religions or faiths together and coming up with some kind of kind of halfway religious practice that ultimately represented many of these, or basically non-deities. This in fact is represented by the Egyptian gods and then the emperors themselves from Rome. Can anybody think of any examples today of something like this? Catholic.

I know when I went to a church in Honduras one time and because they were primarily settled by, these were slaves that had been on slave ships but had wrecked and then they inhabited those islands, Roatan and those islands where we were. But they were also the Church of England, because that's where they had come from. But yet, voodoo was also a big part of their services. I mean, it was really a kind of this very interesting mixture of voodoo and Christianity in their services. It was pretty bizarre. But that they brought their voodoo with them and also they had become Christians.

Yeah, and you can think of maybe many cults as representing kind of an emerging of various backgrounds and faiths and histories. Mormonism. Mormonism could be an example. You could even think of it within the body twice a little bit in terms of Paul's description of another gospel in Galatians 1, right? I mean, it's not really, that's not a good example, but I'm just talking about the merging of various doctrines and faiths into this syncretistic view of the world or practice of religion.

In 1850 the city had few Jewish residents, and in fact the first converts were probably Lydia. And by the way, Lydia may be a woman from Lydia, that may not have been her name, but biblically she's called Lydia. And also the Philippian jailer was mentioned here. And we'll get back to that story here in a second. So the church was small, had very few Jews.

And ultimately it appears that Lydia, which is a term that's really Gentile in origin, represented a woman who in fact was a Gentile but then converted to Judaism. That's not proven but suggested by her name. Now Lydia was a dealer in purple cloth and a proselytite in Judaism.

In Acts 16.14, Ruthie? I think you read that one already. If you've got Acts 16 before you, let's read it again. So what was purple? Royalty. Well, here it applies to cloth, but purple was simply a color that I guess was very, very, you know, important at the time and thought highly of. So go ahead. 16, 14.

One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyratia. named Lydia, a dealer of purple cloth. She was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. Okay, so again, Jewish by, I guess, by conversion and then ultimately responded to Paul's message to come to Christianity. And ultimately, she had probably converted to Judaism. Again, her name is Gentile in origin, when she was in Thyatira, and then brought her faith with her to Philippi. So there's some question about whether her conversion to Christianity actually occurred in Philippi. It likely occurred before that time, and then she came to Philippi, ultimately to profess her faith. And apparently, the first church, and I think we won't read it again, Ruthie, you've done it several times, but the first church was actually in her home. And Lydia's home. And again the Acts passage is where you get the depots there.

Now Paul came to Philippi not by himself. He came with Silas and Timothy and Luke. There's some evidence that Luke may have stayed in Philippi to establish the new converts when the other members of Paul's missionary team went on to Thessalonica. And that's evidenced by Lots of places in Acts 17 through Acts 20 where Luke uses the term I instead of we. So he's abandoned the term we as if the group that came there was still there. It's now me, not we. So maybe Luke dwelt there for a period of time. And there are three chapters in Acts repeatedly where Luke is referred to as I, not we.

I think there are two events in the early church that are worth noting. The first is the fact that in Acts 16, 16 and 18, Paul encountered a slave girl with a demonic spirit which could foretell the future and by which she earned for her masters a great deal of money. So here was this soothsayer, if you will, or prophetess of the time, where in fact she was indwelled by a demon And Paul's interactions with her were telling. Now he eventually rebuked the spirit and it left her. At that time, as a result, she lost the ability to foretell the future, which created anger on the part of her master. So this is scripturally recorded in Acts 16, 16 through 18. And Ruthie, still got 16 open? Yup. 16 through 18.

Once they were going to the place of prayer, They were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, ìThese men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.î She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, ìIn the name Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her. At that moment the Spirit left her.

Okay, so that's one event in the church that's recorded for us. And the second is the whole issue of the Philippian jailer. I think it's another significant event that's described in Acts. Paul and Silas were then brought before the magistrates, charging that the missionaries were forcing them, as Roman citizens, to follow customs which were unlawful. So as part of this casting out of this demon, Paul and Silas are being accused by the local government in terms of forcing kind of a new doctrine upon them, which was not part of the customs of the Roman nation. So, they were thrown into prison and after having been stripped they were beaten and severely flogged.

Ruthie, you're doing great. 20 through 24. She's got the Bible back, 16. I'm going to take advantage of this.

They brought them before the magistrate and said, these men are Jews and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice. The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet to the stocks.

Okay, so there's the biblical record of this. And then around midnight there was an earthquake and you know all the prison doors flew open. What did Paul do at that point? Paul and Silas didn't flee and instead stayed behind and shared the gospel of the jailer. Ultimately the jailer and his whole family would be saved.

That's such an incredible story. We've heard that so many times, but I think that really is a significant event. early on in the Church of Philippi. And that's recorded in Acts 16, 25 and 34. We'll not ask Ruthie to read it or Acts 16 right now, but we all know the story and I think it's a significant event at the Church of Philippi early on.

And after that, Paul made a point about the Roman citizenship of the magistrates and he was released. So here, you know, Paul, you know, kind of strategically used his citizenship as a Jew or as a Roman citizen, etc. to advantage him in terms of sharing the gospel. This was all truth. He wasn't, you know, pulling any charades here. Ultimately, this is who Paul was. He was a Roman. He was a Jew. He was, in fact, a rabbi, if you will, and ultimately used all of this at the right time to further the message of the gospel.

Now, we have evidence in Philippians 4, 15-16 that Philippian Christians sent financial support to Paul and Thessalonica. We'll come back to that here in a second in terms of the timing of this epistle and also from whence it was written. In AD 57, Paul may have visited Philippi again during his third missionary journey. That is not clear scripturally, but it's been raised by several people who have studied the history. We know that he traveled from Ephesus to Corinth by land, and then from Corinth back to Meletus, mostly by land. And this would have likely been ultimately the trip that preceded his trip back to Jerusalem, which in fact would have been required by sea. But importantly, the land route that he took on both occasions would have had to lead him through Philippi. And the fact that the Roman roads were developed through Philippi tends to make you think that the third missionary journey included a trip back to Philippi. Again, conjecture, but likely that Paul hit Philippi again on his third missionary journey. Now, is Paul the author of Philippians?

And I think we say yes. There's not really any evidence that it's anybody but Paul. And in Philippians 1.1, which we'll cover next week, Paul claimed to have written the epistle and the references to his acquaintances, events in his life, and his way of thinking all point to him as the writer. I don't think there's any doubt here. So the question is really a redundant one and an unnecessary one. Paul was in fact the author of the epistle of the Philippians. And the fact that he was a prisoner at the time of writing is well documented scripturally in several verses in Philippians.

Philippians 1.7 verse 13 in chapter 1 and verse 16 in chapter 1, all sound evidence that this is a prison epistle. And this is further supported by references to the palace guard, verse 13, and Caesar's household, 422. Most interpreters conclude that Paul actually wrote this from Rome. Now, there is another opinion.

And the opinion is that when he was ultimately a Caesarean prisoner, or when he was an Ephesian prisoner, that ultimately that could have been where these words were actually transcribed and written to the Church at Philippi. The issue that's been raised here is the fact that Paul is in prison for two years in Rome, and yet there's a lot of back and forth between Some people question the time sequence. It was too short of an interval to allow transport to Philippi and back while he was in Rome. Epaphrodite is going to Philippi and then coming back again.

And so some people are questioning whether or not Rome was really the site of this epistle in terms of its penmanship. But I think not to get into that argument in great detail, it's reasonably certain that this is a prison epistle written in Rome. And then in the Marcionite prologue it refers to Paul writing Philippians from Rome. That's written after the fact in AD 170. So there's some additional evidence from this document that in fact this was a prison epistle written by Paul when imprisoned in Rome.

Margaret and I actually had a chance to visit that prison on several occasions and it's an interesting experience. A small dungeon actually is what it is. It's a pretty impressive place. So again, the imprisonment here stayed at AD 60 to 62. Remember on the map it said 61 to 63, so the exact years are not totally clear, but we know it was a two-year period. And this presumably was the site of the epistles also that went to the other churches in Macedonia and in Asia.

Now Gordon Fee really believed that the internal evidence of Philippians puts its writing towards the end of this period. But again, this temporal sequence is a little bit less than perfectly clear. So let's now turn to the rationale for this epistle.

What's Philippians all about? What was the purpose of Paul's letter to the church at Philippi? So the primary purpose was one of reassurance. And many people call this the epistle of joy. an uplifting epistle that is less steeped with doctrine but in fact one mostly of encouragement. whom he had sent a gift for Paul to minister to his niece and present, had recovered from a serious illness and was about to return to Philippi. And Paul built him up in the eyes of his readers.

This is in chapter 2, verses 25 to 30, which suggests that they may not have appreciated him adequately for some reason. So let's have someone turn to Philippians 2, 25-30 and let's take a look at the story related to Epaphroditus because I think this is kind of relevant in terms of the rationale for the epistle. So whoever gets that, please read it. But I thought it necessary to send you to Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier who is also with you who is also your messenger and minister to my need.

Because he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick, for indeed he was sick to the point of death. But God has mercy on him, and not on him only, but also on me, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly, in order that when you see him again, you may rejoice, and I may be less concerned about you. Therefore receive him in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard, because he came close to death for the work of Christ. risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me.

You get the idea that Epaphroditus was a man who was quite ill that had recovered. There was concern in Philippi about him and this was an attempt to reassure them that Epaphroditus was well and that ultimately the relationship between which Paul had established with Philippi was being sustained and this was evidence that that in fact was taking place. So secondary reasons for sending this epistle include the fact that he was expressing, you know, thanks for the Philippians gift to Paul in prison, and that's detailed in Philippians 4, 10-14, and announcing Timothy's approaching visit. So there's a lot of communication here related to other members of the early ministry Warren, in fact, there appeared to be a relationship that was furthering the gospel and that was done both materially in the way of gifts and also in the way of messaging through other people that ultimately accompanied Paul and or were sent by him. So a guy named Robert Lightner suggested that the book might even be called a thank you note to saints in Philippi for their generous gifts and that's alluded to in several places in the book and elsewhere in Acts.

So I think at this point in time we have to believe that his desire to revisit his readers in 224 and deal with the problems of two women in the church also needed to be reconciled and that this was part of kind of an uplifting and encouraging message. that Paul is trying to get across in the epistle. So if we turn to 2.24 we can look at the fact that he's desiring to revisit the readers and to deal with the problems of two women in the church.

So let's turn to Philippians 4.2 to look at this issue with the women in the church. Apparently there are a couple of ladies here who needed some coaching and or reassurance. So it says there, I beseech Euodia and beseech, I'm not sure how to pronounce this, Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. So I think that there may have been some issues that related to the reconciliation of these two women in terms of the faith that was existing and also being purported at the Church of Philippi.

So, another commentator suggested that the general epistle was a letter of friendship and moral exhortation, again, being lifted up and encouraged in the Lord. Without much doubt, of all Paul's epistles, I think this is the most consistently positive and personal. This is really one that kind of creates warm fuzzies when you read it, and you're nothing but encouraged by this epistle. I think it reflects a joyful spirit and it's probably the importance of living joyfully in spite of the circumstances.

We're going to see that evidences by a couple of verses. And this church was one where there's not much rebuke. I mean, if you think about Galatians and you think about Ephesians, you think about the epistles to the church at Corinth, there's a fair amount of doctrinal rebuke of the believers of those churches because of their faith or lack thereof and some of their behavior. But we don't see this in Philippians. This is not something that comes up in this particular epistle. And those warnings, which are few, are really of a precautionary nature.

And I think it relates a lot to what was said up here in terms of maintaining a joyful spirit despite circumstances that may, in fact, not be so favorable. And another thing about the book to the Philippians is the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is referred to frequently.

Of course, Paul does that throughout his epistles. But in this particular book, there are 104 verses and 51 references to the Lord Jesus Christ by name. So there's no question who's central in the message that Paul brings across to this church. And there are also many, many references to the gospel, and those are listed by the verses that are shown here. And also the fellowship that Paul shares with other believers in the church is repeatedly acknowledged in the text. And again, multiple verses are noted there that shows the relationship of one believer to another and the uplifting nature of the body of Christ by the power of the Spirit through the Lord Jesus Christ.

So I think in summary, the book to Philippi is written by Paul. It's a prison epistle likely written from Rome sometime probably between 60 and 63 AD, the exact date's not clear, that ultimately this was appealing to a new church and the letter was one of an uplifting nature and one of encouragement and ultimately a great friendship. So that sets it apart again, I think, from many of the other epistles that Paul has written.

Now what I thought we'd do here in the last part of the introduction or overview of the book is the following. The epitomes of this epistle, and epitomes can be plural because it can represent more than one. So what I've done is kind of pick some verses that looking and reading through the whole book that I think are ones that all of us know, and these are, if you will, some of my favorites, but you may have other ones. So let's kind of glance at what the content is going to be as we're going to spend a year here in this book. Remember when we see these verses and drill down and study them in more detail, we have to put them in context in terms of this overview of the entire book and what it represents. But these are great truths and so let's take a look just FYI.

Philippians 1.6, being confident of this very thing that he who hath begun a good work in you will in the Greek tense, will continue to perform it or complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Great verse, right? We think about this a lot and lay back and rest and have comfort from a verse that makes this particular statement. Probably my favorite, and then you can think of which one might be yours, is for me to live as Christ and die as gain. And the way I summarize this verse is either way you win. Bud, Sonny, and Roland have all won. They're doing well. And his art is too.

Philippians 2, 5-8. I've got four verses linked because they're very much connected. Let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal to God, but made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance once as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." I don't know of anywhere in scripture where it's said quite that way, but it really talks specifically about the incarnation and the ultimate purpose of God becoming man. great verses. 2.13 For as God who works in you, both are willing to do of his good pleasure. What's our response to this? Thanksgiving. Yeah, Thanksgiving. And? Do we believe it, right? Response by faith.

Philippians 3 says, what things were gained to me, these I counted lost for Christ. And Paul lists a whole bunch of them. So our current earthly environment we in fact have a lot to leave behind. And everything that's Christ is gained for us in terms of our human existence and also our eternal existence.

3.10. And by the way, 3.7 and 3.10 are separated by several other verses that are very much related and uplifting. 310, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection being made conformable unto his death, and of course the fellowship of the sufferings. Again, the identification truth is clearly being seen in Philippians, particularly in verses like 310. 314, I press towards the goal for the prize of upward call, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Another verse we all know. That would be a fun one to get into more detail about what this prize of the high calling is. Is this heavenly reward or is this something other than that? I wonder who is teaching that. Jen, maybe it's you.

Philippians 3.20, another one that I like a lot is, For our citizenships in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I think sometimes when we get weary down here, we forget our citizenship, don't we? I mean, we're in foreign turf here, right? This is our business address, not our home.

And I think this verse is only such stated in the Epistle of the Philippians. There's no other place. I mean, Paul alludes to this truth. and really I think cloaks it in many other verses in his other epistles, but here it states it very clearly about our citizenship.

4.6. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Again, trials, tribulations were expected, but we're told to rest and trust, right? 412, I know how to be abased and how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I've learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

I think, welcome to life, right? I think no matter what circumstances the Lord has allowed you to be in through this earthly walk, ultimately we're there to be examples of God's great grace working in our lives. 419, and my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Hmm, okay. We can think of circumstances where we don't think that's been played out in our lives, but Paul states it very clearly as something that we need to accept and rest in. So, question to the class is which verse or another would be your favorite? of the verses I've shared, do you have a favorite there or do you have ones other than the ones I've picked out here that might be your favorite? Anybody can respond. and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Thanks. Very special. Good. And I'm not trying to be exclusive here in my list. Anybody else want to pick a verse from Philippians? I like three. I guess starting in verse 12.

Not that I have already obtained it or already became perfect, I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. I don't regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. One thing I do, forgetting what lies behind, reaching forward to what lies ahead. Pretty familiar, I press on toward the goal, the prize.

A lot of times I think we get bogged down with, oh, I did this. Or we look in our past instead of looking ahead to the future. is a restriction on what we can do for Christ. It takes our focus away from where it needs to be, and that's always encouraging to think of. Something like Paul says, I haven't already attained, then it's encouraging to me that it's not us who even have to attain, it's Christ in us.

Those have always been an encouragement to me, that passage right there. Good. That takes the pressure off, doesn't it? Yeah. Others? Wayne, what one do you like? Do you have a verse? Well, I was thinking of that same thing. We tend to look in the past always, and we dwell in it. Oh, I wish I hadn't have done that, or wish I hadn't have done that. The past is gone. It's over. It's done. Others? Gail?

1-6. 1-6. Read it, please. being confident of this very thing that he which has begun working will perform it until the day he dies. I'm so grateful he's the one doing this. Jim, how about you? That was the same verse that I started off with a few weeks ago. Great, great verse. But I think what I try to do, and others, Doris? I like 8, 4-8. Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise. Think on these things.

Donna? You know, as you're going through these highlights there, it makes you excited to get in the book. There are just incredible encouragement in this book. Ruthie? I think the ones I like have already been stated. What I try to do is simply pull out what's ahead. All scripture is for us.

It's not all about us, but Paul is about us, isn't he? Paul writes to the church. Paul's writing to the church really reflects his roots in the Judaism of the Old Testament. I think Philippians touches on that in several places and some of the verses I've listened actually refer back to Paul's existence in the old life as Saul.

But I think there's so much in this book, and I think we can only be educated and uplifted by what Paul has to share with us here. And again, I just picked what I thought were some that were ones that I like, but others have shared too. And it's obvious that the Lord allows each one of these verses have special application to each and every one of us. So this will be fun going through this in gem. Roger and I and Jeremy at times will be learning a lot as we teach because I think being in this position puts us in a position to grow even further in God's great grace and truth. So why don't we leave that then as the overview and introduction to the book of Philippians and Roy would you close us in prayer please? Christ's Name. Amen.