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Today we continue in our current run through the book of Philippians. We have this weeks message and will finish up next weekend!

There is so much that we have talked about that if I tried to sum it up… it would take 10 minutes out of today’s message!
• What we see through this letter to the church though is Paul's warm greetings and prayer of thankfulness for their partnership. He describes his joy in suffering for and preaching of the gospel. God will use it for His glory! (and he still is!)
• He then really pushes the thought process, “let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel” and in that, he calls the church to be in unity and Christlike. You see, Jesus is our perfect example… shine the light Jesus shined and you can see it’s possible by human examples in Timothy and Epaphroditus.
• So rejoice… BE HAPPY! Chose Joy! whatever it may be… in unity and opposition… it is Jesus, we can stand firm in...

And that is were we pick up today as we are in the last chapter of Philippians.

Big Idea: When times get tough, don’t let stress create a rift between you and God or others.

“If you will show me a Bible Christian living on the Word of God, I will show you a joyful man. He is mounting up all the time. He has got new truths that lift him up over every obstacle, and he mounts over difficulties higher and higher, like a man I once heard of who had a bag of gas fastened on either side, and if he just touched the ground with his foot, over a wall or a hedge he would go; and so these truths make us so light that we bound over every obstacle” -D.L. Moody

Notice who he calls to settle the situation...
Not the courts
Not the Sanhedrin
The Church!

A little theology lesson here:
χαίρω (chairō). vb. rejoice, be glad. Be in a state of gladness, happiness, or well-being.
• The kind of rejoicing the term chairō denotes is not only a feeling and expression of joy but also an action one chooses.
• For instance, Paul exhorts his believers to “rejoice with those who rejoice (χαίρειν μετὰ χαιρόντων, chairein meta chairontōn)” (Rom 12:15).
• Like other verbs for rejoicing, chairō can be used in a positive way (e.g., 1 Cor 13:6) and in a negative way (e.g., Rev 11:10).
• Jesus’ disciples are instructed to rejoice when they are persecuted (Matt 5:12; Luke 5:23) and believers are to rejoice as they share in the sufferings that Christ experienced (1 Pet 4:13).
• While the world may rejoice now, when Jesus returns to the disciples they will rejoice (John 16:20–22).
• Paul exhorts believers to rejoice in the Lord (χαίρετε ἐν κυρίῳ, chairete en kyriō; Phil 3:1).
• This again emphasizes that joy or rejoicing is the appropriate response to what God has done.
• Philippians 4:4 suggests that the believers who are at Philippi need extra encouragement to choose to rejoice, as Paul says it twice: “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, ‘Rejoice.’”
• The stress “that this rejoicing is in the Lord” implies gratitude for what God has done for them.

Thankfulness goes a long way… bitterness is overcome when we see all that we should/can be thankful for.

Application Point: When we meditate on righteous things, it changes our outlook to one of joy.

BE HAPPY!!! CHOSE JOY!!! REJOICE IN THE LORD AND AGAIN I SAY, REJOICE!
Be thankful for what he has accomplished!
You may not know Jesus as your Lord and savior, but let me tell you...
1. Before time began, the plan was for him to come and redeem us.
2. The first Adam sinned and fell, but the second Adam (Jesus) did not!
3. He led a sinless life to be the blameless lamb without spot of the OT requirements
4. He was punished in place of sinners
5. He was born in Bethlehem as foretold in Micah 5:2
6. He was of the line of David as foretold in Jeremiah 23:5.
7. He was born of a virgin as foretold in Isaiah 7:14.
8. He was tempted by Satan as foretold in Psalm 91:10-12.
9. He was rejected as foretold in Isaiah 53:3.
10. He was betrayed by a disciple as foretold in Zechariah 11:12-13.
11. He was tried and condemned to death as foretold in Isaiah 53:8.
12. He rose again as foretold in Psalm 16:10.
a. O death where is your sting? O death, where is your victory!”
13. He ascended to the right hand of God as foretold in Psalm 110:1.
14. And let me tell you that he is coming back as declared in Revelation as all of creation will be reconciled!