Starting May 5th we begin a Sunday worship teaching series that will take us through the book of Philippians. This is my favorite book of the Bible, one that I endeavored to memorize while in college. I didn’t make it past chapter one, but if you take a look you’ll see why I tried! As we rejoice with Paul who teaches the church at Philippi some of the most important aspects of life and faith in Christ, we’ll find our lives enriched, challenged, and motivated to do the same. Feel free to get a head start and read the book yourself! And rejoice! Now do it again! Rejoice!

May 3rd - Philippians Session 1

In both the intro and conclusion to Paul's letter, he communicates grace to the people. In the intro he mentions peace. But they missing or severely lacking in the lives of contemporary American Christians. Do you need grace and peace?

May 10th - Philippians Session 2

After the intro, we have three messages in a row on Paul's prayer for the believers at Philippi. This week he shares the cause of his prayer: joy, thanks, partnership and confidence in God's work in their lives. Our church needs to work together for the mission of God, and here Paul teaches us how.

May 17th - Philippians Session 3

Continuing his prayer, Paul pours his heart out to the church. Here we see how the church should love one another deeply. We could call this the motivation of his prayer. Do you have this kind of motivation in your lives?

May 24th - Philippians Session 4

Our student intern, Joe Yu will be preaching. In the conclusion of Paul's prayer, he shares the content of his prayer, and that it has four parts. We’ll see that flows nicely from the motivation of love that we talked about last week. We'll talk about the progression of these things and how we need them in our lives to on the mission God has for us.

June 7th

In the month of June our study in Philippians will take us through three teachings in which Paul talks about his “chains,” which is his house arrest situation. Have you ever been in jail, in trouble with the Law, gotten a speeding ticket? There’s not too many people that enjoy the experience. Especially because most often, we’re in trouble because we are guilty. But what if the situation were changed up just a bit? What if you are in trouble for doing good? What should your response be? This teaching is all about how to handle the trouble in life.

June 14th

In this second installment in which Paul teaches about being in chains, he says a very odd thing, that Christ is exalted in this. In life or in death, he says, Christ is exalted. This passage includes one of Paul's most famous quotes, verse 21, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." It is a theme that Paul will return to numerous times in the letter. We’ll take a look at what he means, and how we can say the same thing in our lives.

June 28th

In the conclusion of his comments on his house arrest, Paul challenges the people of Philippi. They were dealing with suffering in their lives. Many of us have our own forms of suffering as well. Suffering is horrible, and it can ruin us, divide us, break us. But Paul says it is possible to have victory in suffering! Join us as we find out just what Paul means by this.

July 5th - A Wedding Message, But Not For A Wedding!

We made it to chapter 2! Though there is a chapter break, this passage flows from the previous one, yet Paul has moved on to a new thought. I use this passage in weddings all the time. It is a great one to teach about relationships. On this day though we’re going to look at more than just the husband/wife relationship. Do you have the right perspective and behavior about relationships?

July 12th - A Song about Kenosis

These verses comprise one of the earliest Christian hymns. It is likely that Paul just quotes the hymn here. It is a major Christological statement in the NT about Jesus' kenosis when he died for us. What is the kenosis? Only one of the most important biblical teachings in the whole New Testament! So come and join us as we sing a song about kenosis with Paul! It just might change the way you look at life.

July 19th - Who Works?

Paul says that we should work. And he says that God works. In Ephesians 2:8-9 he says that we saved by grace through faith, not by works. James says that faith without works is dead. What in the world is going on with all this talk about work? These two verses are very short, but they’ll go a long way to helping us understand our role and God’s role in “working out our salvation.”

8/2/2009 Shine Like Stars?

What is the behavior that a church should have? Whether we’re interacting with one another or with the community, how should we act? Paul says that the church can shine like stars by living the abundant life of Christ in the face of difficulty, thus leading to rejoicing. But what does that look like, and are we doing it? Or does our behavior get in the way of the mission of God?

8/9/2009 Who Needs Friends?

Paul now moves to the central part of his teaching, two personal examples that demonstrate the concepts that he has been trying to communicate to the Philippians. The examples are well known to the church, their friends Timothy and Epaphroditus. From the lives of these two we can learn some important lessons about how we should live.

8/30/2009 Rejoice!

Because the first and last verses of this section are almost identical, comprising a opening and a closing to the section, we'll look at them together. He has dealt with before in this series, but it is important enough that he comes back to it again: how to deal with hard times, and rejoice!

9/6 Where is the Truth?

Today we’re going to look at how Paul matches two passages in his letter to emphasize a point. In this case, from the larger context of standing firm in the Gospel, he teaches the church how to identify and avoid false teaching. A few years ago we looked at Oprah and some of her friends who had an appearance of truth, but essentially disagreed with the truth of God. What about now?

9/13 A Christian Manifesto Part 1

Today and next week we move into some of the most intense teaching in the book. We could link today’s passage with verses 10-11, but it is such a powerful section we'll take it in two weeks. Paul, who has already made some really bold statements, will now go even further. Some have called this section Paul’s personal manifesto, his life goal. It should be our life goal. Come and see how you match up to Paul.

9/20 A Christian Manifesto Part 2

These two verses are the central teaching of the larger section from 3:1-4:1. As Paul's manifesto it may be the most important thing he says about living for Christ in all his writings. He sets the bar quite high in the Christian life. How about you? Have you set the bar too low? Perhaps by setting the bar too low, we aren’t even Christians. We’ll take a look at what Paul says is actually not setting the bar high, but the norm. Will you be a normal Christian?

10/4/2009 Philippians & Communion Overview of Philippians

As we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we see how there is a close intersection with Paul's teaching in the Philippians and communion. As one man gave his body and body for us, Paul teaches that we should give ours back to Christ in return, "becoming like him in his death, and so somehow to attain to the resurrection of the dead."

10/11/2009 Press On!

We conclude the section from 3:1-4:1, a very tough challenging section, with encouragement! Paul says "Press on!" He has set the bar high. Is it worth it to give yourself to God’s Kingdom? If so (and you can probably guess that we would say it is worth it!), why?

10/18/2009 Name-Calling!

In 4:2-9, Paul returns to some encouraging teaching. The whole section matches his teaching about his imprisonment in ch. 1. In this opening section, he starts name-calling! Not mean names, but real names. Paul was on a first name basis with this church, and he calls two of them out on the carpet! Come hear what he has to say!

10/25/2009 I’m Stressing!

What do you say to people dealing with tough times and anxiety? Have you ever been in that position? Often times we have no idea what to say. We feel really bad that the people we love are struggling, and we want to make it better, but how do we do that? What counsel do we give? Come here the incredible advice Paul has about this!

11/8/2009 Watcha Thinking?

One of the most important biblical teachings of the Evangelical Congregational Church and its Wesleyan predecessors is called sanctification. The process of becoming holy and perfect, like Christ! How is it going for you? When you look at your life, does it look and feel like you are becoming more and more like Christ? Today Paul will teach us how we can pursue holiness.

11/15/2009 Paul’s Secret...

Paul has a secret to share with his friends in the city of Philippi. It is a secret that changed his life, and he knows that it will change theirs. This secret can also change us. In fact this secret has the potential to drop like a bomb in our lives. Join us as John Tornfelt spills the beans on Paul’s secret!

11/22/2009 Who and How Much?

The end is here. This is the last sermon in the Philippians series. What do you think Paul would say at the end of this letter? What is the last thing he would want to teach his good friends? Well, basically he wants to answer two questions (with some help from his letter to another church in the city of Corinth): Who? and How Much? Do you know the answers to those questions? They are vital to life in Christ! Come find out!