Philippians 2

Paul exhorts the church in Philippi to stand firm, and explains what it means to do so.

v1. If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, v2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. v3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. v4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

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What is Christmas? Christmas is the greatest news about the greatest person who solved the greatest problem to give the greatest future.

1. The Greatest News

2. The Greatest Person

3. The Greatest Problem

4. The Greatest Future

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Scripture Passage: Matthew 1:18 – 2:23

Joseph’s Journey

1. Joseph’s Dilemma

2. Joseph’s Dream

3. Joseph’s Decision

Lessons

1. Faith Begins When Reason Ends
– We do not know the answers, but we can trust in the One who knows

2. Faith Endures When Others Quit

3. Faith Acts When God Speaks

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Ephesians 6:4 “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

Discipleship begins at home. How? simply stated, we do discipleship at home by employing the “do not… instead” principle — “do not exasperate your children,” this is the negative approach; “instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” is the positive approach.

1. Do not exasperate your children

What does it mean to “exasperate your children”? It means we must not use inappropriate words or actions to provoke your children towards anger, so that lasting resentment is generated their hearts.

There are 7 possibilities: we exasperate our children when we

a. are easily angered
b. speak carelessly
c. are unreasonable
d. are unwilling to listen
e. fail to keep our word
f. say one thing and do another
g. play favorites

2. Raise Them Up

According to the truth in God’s word, we raise our children up through a positive relationship.

a. Connect your child to the Lord by being an authentic role model

b. Teach your child to read God’s Word do they know the will of God

c. Create a positive relationship with your child. The stronger your relationship, the more you can exert a positive influence on them.

– Communicate. Speak less, Listen more.

– Invest time. The more time you spend together, the more you can influence them

As Fathers, we must connect to God and be a true disciple. Only then can our children learn from our example and we can be a strong and positive influence in our children’s lives.

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Discipleship is spiritual parents influencing spiritual children, as the saying goes, like father, like son. Modeling is the most important principle of discipleship.

Today we elect our deacons. We must elect those who have life in them, those whose lives are good examples. From Paul’s exhortation to the elders in the church in Ephesus, we see that a good minister possesses right qualities:

1. Serve the Lord with humility

2. Serve the Lord with tears

3. Serve the Lord with trials

4. Serve the Lord with boldness

5. Serve the Lord with faithfulness

6. Serve the Lord with caution

7. Serve the Lord with a clear conscience

8. Serve the Lord with sacrifice

Scripture passage:

17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. 18 When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. 19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. 20 You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. 21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. 28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

32 “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

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如果你可以向神求一件事， 你會向神求什麽? 你先將你的答案放在心裡，最後我們再拿出來作比較。

大衛在詩篇27:4詋 [有一件事，我曾求耶和華，我仍要尋求 : 就是一生一世住在耶和華的殿中，瞻仰祂的榮美，在祂的殿裡求問.]

詩篇27篇是大衛在危難之中，那個時候他掃羅王追殺，掃羅派出全國最好的勇士去追殺他， 大衛連父母都不敢帶在身邊，他在嚝野逃命，在這個時候他卻冩下了詩篇27篇。他只求一件事，他要與神建立親密的關係，意思就是要認識神。

If you could ask one thing from God, what would that be?

David says in Psalm 27:4, “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.”

David wrote this Psalm when he was in distress. At that time, King Saul was pursuing him and had sent the country’s best warriors to kill him. David couldn’t even bring his parents with him. He had fled into the wilderness.

Despite the gravity of his situation, there was only one thing that David sought, and that is to establish a close relationship with God, meaning he wanted know God.

1. 認識有關神的事 Know about God

2. 認識神 Know God

– 務要認誐祂 Acknowledge Him

– 竭力追求認識祂 Press on to acknowledge Him

The post One Thing That Determines All Things (Psalms 27) appeared first on Christian Bible Church of the Philippines.

Full sermon outline at michaelcarino.com

1. Rest your body

2. Release your frustrations

3. Refocus on God

4. Resume serving others

The post How to Get Up When You’re Down appeared first on Christian Bible Church of the Philippines.

After Andrew recognized Jesus to be the Messiah, the first thing he did was find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah (Christ).”

When Simon was brought to Jesus, Jesus looked at him. This was not an ordinary look; Jesus looked with great attention, and then the Lord said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas, meaning Peter.”

“You are… You will be,” this is life transformation.  Simon means listen, Peter means rock. Jesus sought to transform Pete into a rock.

Galatians 2:9 “James, Cephas, and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me.  They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.”

James, Cephas, and John were known as pillars of the Church.  Peter really became a rock. There was a twenty-year time gap from John chapter one to Galatians chapter two.  Twenty years earlier, the Lord called Simon “Peter”; twenty years later, Peter had become a pillar of the church in Jerusalem. What happened to Peter in those 20 years? The answer is Discipleship.

We have a lot of misconceptions about Discipleship.  Let us examine the five misconceptions of the church regarding Discipleship.

1. Discipleship happens automatically

2. Discipleship happens when we attend church services

3. Discipleship is for new believers

4. Discipleship is for the spiritually mature

5. Discipleship is a curriculum, a kind of meeting

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The post Four Marks of the Lord’s Disciple (4B) – Fruit of the Spirit appeared first on Christian Bible Church of the Philippines.

The main verb in the Great Commission is: make disciples of all nations. However, the blind cannot lead the blind. We must first be disciples of the Lord before we can lead others to become the Lord’s disciples.

From the Bible, we can see the first three marks of the Lord’s disciples:

1. Let the Lord be Lord
2. Obey the Word of God
3. Love one another

Today, we will discuss the fourth mark of a disciple, that is, fruit-bearing.

John 15:8 says “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” Fruit bearing is the fourth mark. Jesus said that if you bear much fruit, you show yourselves to be His disciples.

The fruits we bear are marks of discipleship. What kind of fruits are we to produce?

1. Fruit of repentance (Matt 3:8)

2. Fruit of the Gospel (Matt 4:19)

3. Fruit of Lips (Heb 13:15)

4. Fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22-23)

This week we will explore the first three fruits. Next week, we shall cover the Fruit of the Holy Spirit

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