01 Podcasts
02 Understanding God’s Will in the church

02 Understanding God’s Will in the church

How do we deal with the fact that we serve and work in a local church where some people just seem to get a better deal than we do? Miriam had the same problem with her baby brother Moses. This talk looks at Miriam and how we go wrong when we focus on who gets the glory rather than doing good.

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01 Understanding God’s Will for you

01 Understanding God’s Will for you

Sometimes we act as if finding God’s will is a version of the old 3-shell con game: where a marble is hidden under one shell and the con man moves them rapidly around the table and you have to guess which shell contains the marble. No matter which shell you pick you are always wrong. I would argue that the problem is not God hiding his will. The problem is the way we are looking for it.

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08 Philippians 3:1-11 Count it all loss

08 Philippians 3:1-11 Count it all loss

With chapter 3 of Philippians, Paul begins a new but related topic. While his major concern is still that the Philippians sincerely embrace the gospel and so find eternal life, he now warns them against the false teaching of the Judaizers. While warning against legalism, Paul explains his view of his own “accomplishments” under the law.

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06 Philippians 2:12-13 Work out your salvation

06 Philippians 2:12-13 Work out your salvation

Philippians 2:12-13 is one of Paul’s most famous statements and it’s one we forget to place in the context of the letter. At first reading, it looks like Paul is highlighting a paradox of YOU work out your salvation because GOD is working in you. But in context, I think Paul is still concerned that the Philippians are living their lives in a manner worthy of the gospel (1:27) and are motivated to do so for the right reasons.

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05 Philippians 2:5-11 Have this mindset

05 Philippians 2:5-11 Have this mindset

Philippians 2:5-11 is traditionally associated with the doctrine of the Trinity. However, I think the context suggests that Paul’s main point is not to teach the doctrine of the Trinity. From an interpretative standpoint, I believe the context suggests that Paul intends to teach something about unity and our attitude towards other believers, and he uses Christ as an example to make that point. If we also learn something about the Trinity, that is icing on the cake.

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