Fellowship Bible Church - Mullica, Hill N.J.

JOY IN SERVING: trust, live, love....

•Learning to TRUST means God has your best interests in view even when your future is uncertain (1:19-20).

Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spiritof Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.

Learning to Trust:

•None of us are ever beyond the need of the prayers of others (Phil. 3:19).
•All of us are daily-dependent upon the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life (Phil. 3:19; Gal. 5:16, 18, 25).

Paul’s requests for prayer...

•To the church of Thessalonica: pray for us – 1 Th. 5:25.
•To the church of Corinth: you must help us by prayer
– 2 Cor. 1:11.
•To the church of Colossae: pray also for us – Col. 4:3.
•To the church of Rome: strive with me in your prayers
on my behalf – Rom. 15:30.

Paul was never too big a man to remember that he needed the prayers of his friends.

William Barclay

Learning to Trust...

•All of us are daily-dependent upon the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life (Phil. 3:19; Gal. 5:16, 18, 25).

Daily-dependent on the Spirit...

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:16).
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law (5:18).
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit (5:25).

JOY IN SERVING: trust, live, love...

•Learning to LIVE means pursuing a Christ-centered existence while realizing the best is yet to come (1:21).

For me to live is Christ implies a surrendered will, and the body yielded to the Lord who has redeemed it, that it may be used only for his praise.

H.A. Ironside

Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.

For me to live is Christ...

•God-inspired Courage: Am I avoiding, ignoring or numbing myself to my challenges and difficulties?

23 far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;

27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

2 Corinthians 11:23-28

21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

For me to live is Christ...

•Surrendered Expectations: How do I respond when I don’t get what I had hoped for?
•God-inspired Courage: Am I avoiding, ignoring or numbing myself to my challenges and difficulties?
•Others-focused Choices: Am I motivated by the needs of others or my personal desires?

JOY IN SERVING: trust, live, love...

•Learning to LOVE means sacrificing your wants for another’s needs (1:22-26).

21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

Self-sacrifice brought Christ into the world. And self-sacrifice will lead us, His followers, not away from but into the midst of men. Wherever men suffer, there will we be to comfort. Wherever men strive, there will we be to help. Wherever men fail, there will be we to uplift. Wherever men succeed, there will we be to rejoice. Self-sacrifice means not indifference to our times and our fellows: it means absorption in them.
It means forgetfulness of self in others.
B.B. Warfield

Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

Together Time...

None of us are ever beyond the need of the prayer of others.