Category: Thanksgiving

Philippians 1:2-11

11/20/2022

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Philippians

Rusty's Notes

PHILIPPIANS 1
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
THANKSGIVING AND PRAYER
3 I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, 4 always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, 10 so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. [1]

Philippians: Theme is joy
Paul is experience loneliness while sitting in jail and writing his friends.
He is broke… hungry… and by himself.

In a recent national survey of American adults, 36% of respondents reported serious loneliness—feeling lonely “frequently” or “almost all the time or all the time” in the four weeks prior to the survey.
This included 61% of young people aged 18-25 and 51% of mothers with young children.

43% of young adults reported increases in loneliness since the outbreak of the pandemic.
About half of lonely young adults in our survey reported that no one in the past few weeks had “taken more than just a few minutes” to ask how they are doing in a way that made them feel like the person “genuinely cared.”
Young adults suffer high rates of both loneliness and anxiety and depression.
According to a recent CDC survey, 63% of this age group are suffering significant symptoms of anxiety or depression.[2]

Young adults are twice as likely to be lonely than seniors.
79% of adults aged 18 to 24 report feeling lonely compared to 41% of seniors aged 66 and older. This is consistent with earlier research.
More than twice as many younger adults as older adults experience feeling left out.
More than two in five adults (42%) aged 18 to 34 report “always” feeling “left out,” compared to just 16% of people aged 55 or older who say the same.
Men and women have roughly the same likelihood of loneliness.
57% of men and 59% of women reported being lonely.
Loneliness levels were close to equal in 2018 as well, with 53% of men and 54% of women reporting feelings of loneliness.
In 2019, data showed a spike in loneliness among men, with 63% experiencing loneliness compared to 58% of women.[3]

Epidemic in our culture (Bowling Alone… Robert Putnam)

Joining and participating in one group cuts in half your odds of dying next year.
More Americans are bowling more than ever before but they are not bowling in leagues.
Playing cards with friends is down 25% (in last 25 years)
Evening with neighbors is down 33% (how many homes have you been in?)
Family dinners are down 33% (fast food)
Having friends over is down 45%
Readiness to make new friends is down 33%

American Social Review: Social Isolation in America Average American only has 2 close friends (down from 3 in 1985)
25% of Americans have no one to confide in 80% of Americans only confide in family (they drive you nuts the most)

Socially isolated needy people gather together to ignore one another
Lonely people go to the coffee shop and drink their burnt coffee with their headphones in their ears and ignore other people “in community”
Dog Lovers – Move on from people to pets – “my baby”
Fighting to let their “best friend” dine with them
“Your friend licks himself!!”
Church/Religion

People are disconnected and lonely – It is epidemic

“Did God create us because He was lonely?” – Trinity
Created everything good… it is not good for man to be alone.
Genesis 3 – “sin” separates us from God and one another
Loneliness is one of the effects of sin.

Our culture and the church tells you that the answer to loneliness is a “friend” (accountability partners)
Facebook – we had things in common in high school but I don’t know who they are now.

What is the answer: Paul said it is that we become partners for the Gospel.
It is centered on our relationship with Jesus.

Marriage counseling: Focus is on the relationship with Jesus, then choose to be partners.
Gospel Partnership – is like friendship but is much deeper… you know what to do with
sin which typically is what destroys the relationship.

Verse 2 - Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace… understanding grace –
When you receive grace you want to give grace
Grace is given along with repentance
Grace leads to peace (we were objects of wrath… now there is no condemnation)
Peace allows you to be “OK” with others sin and “gooberishness”
Michelle and I experience sin, repentance, grace & peace

Verse 3 - I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, (memories)

Leads to memories… great memories vs very bitter memories
With God… he can help us create new memories (especially inside marriage).

Verse 4 - always praying with joy (14x’s) for all of you in my every prayer,

Joy or derivative is used 14 times in Philippians (how can he?... he knew something)
Joy is a lifestyle… happiness is an emotion
If joy were an emotion, then it would not be present in all circumstances
Joy celebrates the forward Gospel of Jesus Christ despite all the junk that is happening around me.

Verse 5 - because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Gospel Partnership – spiritual perseverance
We are moving forward in the Gospel of Jesus
We have endured rough times… memories
God is going to replace those memories
God is not going to give up on you!
He will bring it to completion.

Verse 7 - Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. (partakers of grace) 8 For God is my witness, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

It changes our heart for people and causes us to pray for others
Paul is compelled to be a compassionate man
Paul was a KILLER
Now he is an encourager
He realizes his life is not about himself but it is about others
Prayer overcomes proximity and affinity
He writes to encourage them (letters are important)

Verse - 9 And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, 10 so that you may approve the things that are superior (excellent) and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ,

I have failed the mercy portion of a Spiritual Gifts analysis.
It is the understanding of the Gospel that allows me to love others.
This based upon discernment and trust of other people.

Verse 11 - filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

Righteousness –
2 Corinthians 5:21- He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.[4]
If you don’t comprehend this… you get trapped in religion
You give Jesus your sin and He gives you righteousness
Your legal standing before God but also your lifestyle!
You are a new creation… you have a new heart.

It is all about Jesus… (mentioned 7 times in the first 11 verses)
This community is only together because of our relationship with Jesus Christ and the moving forward of the Good News of what He has done for us and through us.
Is loneliness a bad thing? No… sometimes God uses lonely times for you us to draw near to Him… Jesus is found many times to be experiencing loneliness
He voluntarily withdrew… in the garden… on the way to the cross (denial).
He was utterly alone on the cross.
He can sympathize with us!

Hebrews 12:1-2 - Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. [5]

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Philippians 1:2–11). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] https://mcc.gse.harvard.edu/reports/loneliness-in-america
[3] https://newsroom.cigna.com/loneliness-epidemic-persists-post-pandemic-look
[4] Christian Standard Bible (2 Corinthians 5:21). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible (Hebrews 12:1–2). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

6/7/2020

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: 1 Thessalonians (Acts)

Rusty's Notes

We left off last week with Paul in Corinth.
Silas and Timothy rejoined him there.
Timothy has given him a direct report of all that has occurred in Thessaloniki since Paul’s departure.
Paul sits down to write this letter to the Church at Thessalonica.
The Church in Thessalonica was close to perfect as you could get in comparison to the other churches Paul writes letters to.
“If you find the perfect church, don’t join it because you will make it imperfect.” Statement based upon behavior.

1 THESSALONIANS
GREETING
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy:

First and Second Thessalonians are the only two of his letters in which Paul did not add some elaboration to his name and/or to the names of his cosenders.[1]

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul uses the word church which is transcribed ekklesia in Greek.
The word church means “a called-out people.”
Whenever you read about a call in the Bible, it indicates divine election—God is calling out a people from this world.[2]
The Jews were God’s chosen people (called out) in the Old Covenant.
Ekklēsia is also a synonym for “synagogue” (synagōgē) and was occasionally used of Jewish assemblies in the Septuagint.[3]
Yes, Paul was intentional in using “ekklesia” because he was making the point of "oneness" in Christ.
There had to be Jews who were upset that he was including the Gentiles.
There had to be Gentiles who didn't want to be associated with the Jews.
But those who were focused on Paul's message of Good News were rejoicing in the "oneness".

Grace to you and peace.

Grace precedes peace, because peace is the result of grace.
When God’s grace comes to you, then grace will come from you and you will have peace.

THANKSGIVING

This “thanksgiving” section is a commendation and exhortation.
It is the “coming attractions” for the body of the letter.

2 We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers.

Paul could not call them, social network, visit them.
He could not be with them.
His only option was to think about them and pray for them.

3 We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Faith, hope and love.
Timothy has shared how they have modeled their faith to Paul.
Works were produced by faith
Labor was motivated by love
Endurance was inspired by hope
All three were based upon “in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Jesus does this through the Church.

4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,

Elect, chosen because they are “in Christ”.

5 because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance.

It was not because we spoke eloquently.
But you could clearly see God working in us and through us.
Power = “dynamite”
The assurance of the converts, if that is what Paul had in mind, might have been demonstrated by their willingness to endure persecution even after Paul was run out of the city[4]

You know how we lived among you for your benefit, 6 and you yourselves became imitators of us and of the Lord

We patterned for you what it was like to live your life by another power.
There was no New Testament at that time.
It was Paul, Silas & Timothy’s spoken word as well as the Spirit living and working through them.
You are talking about Paul, the killer of Christians.
See how the Lord transformed him.
If Paul, the man who killed Christians, can have a heart change, then so can you.

when, in spite of severe persecution,

The Gospel was in opposition of idolatry.
Christians got blamed for everything.

you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit.

You had faith, hope and love from the Holy Spirit.

7 As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

Paul is commending here with also the implication that they should continue on doing these things.
People are talking about you all over the world.

8 For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out.

This is the ripple effect.
It was evident. They couldn’t hold back
It was like this loudspeaker.
Not only in their words but their life actions.

Therefore, we don’t need to say anything, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God

This leads us to believe that the majority of the believers in Thessalonica were Gentiles because they turned from their idols/gods.

10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.[5]

Paul teases them with the resurrection and what is to come.
He will answer their questions in chapters 4-5.

What every church should be is what every Christian should be: elect (born again), exemplary (imitating the right people), enthusiastic (sharing the Gospel with others), and expectant (daily looking for Jesus Christ to return).[6]

[1] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, p. 47). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 159). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[3] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, p. 50). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[4] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, p. 59). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (1 Th). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 163). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Philippians 1:2-11

Rusty's Notes

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Rusty's Notes

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