As we've learned, Paul and his team faced a great deal of adversity – not just from unbelieving Jews and Gentiles, but even from professing Christians in the churches they planted. It would have been easy for them to get discouraged and throw in...

Paul certainly believed that freedom is a wonderful thing. The problem is that the way most people define and pursue freedom actually leads to bondage. That's what happens when people teach that Christians needed to submit to the Old Covenant...

Things weren't looking great for Paul - he had been rejected at Corinth, opposed in Ephesus, and was overcome with anxiety in Troas. It certainly didn't seem like his ministry was being blessed by God.

His opponents in Corinth...

Last week, we saw that the Corinthians were upset with Paul because he hadn’t come to visit them after he said he would. Some accused him of vacillating and lacking integrity, especially after he sent them an emotional letter calling them to...

Broken promises make people upset because we were created in God’s image, and God never lies. Hardwired into us is an assumption that people mean what they say, that they’ll do what they promise.

But some of the Corinthians were upset with Paul...

We learn that suffering is not outside of God's control and that there is purpose in our suffering.

We'll see that we must learn the secret of contentment, trusting God to supply every need.

Our lives are marked by anxiety, worry, uncertainty for a variety of reasons. Paul will teach us that if we want to experience the peace of God, we have to exercise obedient faith in the God of peace. That involves pursuing unity with other believers...

This week we take a look at the back half of Philippians 3 and discover that Christians have been made citizens of heaven by God and therefore should live as citizens of heaven on earth.

We learn that God is in process of forming and shaping us into his people and that this process requires humility and action.