Profit And Loss Phil. 3 Series

Funny Video: Michael Jr. (6 min)

Series: Find Joy in the Journey in 2019

Thesis of series: Joy needs to be experienced in the journey of life! But Joy, like any other attitude, can come and go. It is not guaranteed simply because we are born again believers. We must put ourselves in the places where experiencing joy is a possibility. We need to go after and find joy in our journey of life.

Introduction to Series:

Quote from Chuck Swindoll’s book “Laugh Again”: “I know of no greater need today than the need for joy. Unexplainable, contagious joy. Outrageous joy. (Swindoll, page 19).

Studying about joy in Scripture, looking at verses which speak of joy, helps build an understanding of how to put ourselves in places where it is possible to find and maintain an attitude of joy in our journey of life. Scripture reveals it is possible to find laughter and joy in living life in a sin-filled world! The Apostle Paul teaches us this can be done!

Scripture Texts for 2019:

Phil. 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

Romans 15:13: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Summary of Sermon 1: Find joy through friendship and laughter!

Thesis: To find joy in the journey of life means putting our selves in a position to experience joy and laughter. Yes, a good belly laugh! But I have discovered, laughte is found in relationships with others. Your first relationship to unleash joy is found in Jesus and then the second one is with others. Cultivate these two relationships in your life and you will find joy and laughter.

Summary of Sermon 2: Sermon 2: Find joy and laughter in unity and humility!

Thesis: Humility is to be followed because it always follows the path of Jesus and this attitude will lead to a God honoring life which will be praised in Heaven. When we seek to guard unity with humility we will discover that we find joy and laughter in the journey.

Key passages of Scriptures for message:

Philippians 2:1-4: “1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Quote Swindoll from book Laugh Again: “It is an amazing letter, made even more remarkable by its recurring theme -joy. Think of it! Written by a man who had known excruciating hardship and pain, living in a restricted setting chained to a Roman Soldier, the letter to the Philippians resounds with joy!” (Page 23).

Sermon 3: Joy in the Journey - Philippians 3 – “Profit and Loss”

Thesis: We are searching for Joy in the journey this year and positioning ourselves to experience joy this year. Today we need to measure our lives in light of what is profitable for eternity and what is considered a temporary earthly loss.

Scripture Text: Philippians Chapter 3

1Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—4though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. 7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained. 17Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. 18For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.