Much of our problem is that we have strong thoughts about the wrong things. The gospel needs to fill our thoughts and desires. It needs to have first place driving our love for Jesus Christ and motivating sacrificial humble worship of him that results in love for his word and obedience to all he has commanded.

Keywords: Gospel, thinking, thoughts, sinner, Savior, identity in Christ, values, priority

What completes your joy? Is it a checklist that has every item checked off? Is it a clean, peaceful home? Or is it getting away from it all for a weekend? What would you tell others would complete your joy? In our passage, Paul reveals to the Philippian church what would make his joy complete. And it isn’t centered on a delightful meal or even a sweet family gathering. We will see that Paul’s joy was not yet complete – he urges the church of Philippi to complete his joy by being unified which had three components – 1. it was based on unifying foundational truths, 2. had unified actions based on those foundational truths and 3. measures to protect that unity.

Keywords: Joy, Unity in Christ, Church life

To possess true biblical love, we need to understand the cost involved. The greater our love for God, the greater our willingness to sacrifice all for Him. Our love for Jesus Christ should grow to such a degree that love for self vanishes as we willingly sacrifice all for the sake of following our Savior.

Keywords: Cost, discipleship, family, self, cross, suffer, sacrifice, love

A comparison is made between the history of Christianity in America and the Israelites from Hosea 4:1-6. As the Israelites forgot God in their prosperity, their knowledge of Him diminished leading to idol worship. We see a similar pattern in American Christian culture and would be wise to heed the warnings given to the Israelites.

Keywords: Knowledge, ignorance, forgetting, idolatry

I want us to envelope our hearts with Scripture like a warm, plush blanket as we fill our minds with loving thoughts of our great God that has sent His Son on our behalf and loves us with such a great love! In our passage, we can draw comfort as Paul encourages the Ephesian church with two different aspects of his prayers to the Father for them – first, the requests in his prayer to the Father and second, the motivation of his prayer to the Father.

Keywords: Love of God, love for God, glory of God

Only by cultivating a vibrant love for God. Will we be motivated to live a life of ongoing obedience to his word.

Keywords: Love, obey, hear, listen, teach, heart, soul, might

To develop a mind that reflects the mind of Jesus, we cannot be the person who looks at scripture or hears a good sermon and promptly walks away, forgetting what we've heard. To have the mind of Christ, we must be like the person who looks intently at scripture, studying it like Ezra so that we can learn to think like Jesus and apply his truth from scripture to our lives.

Keywords: Think, thinking, mind, study, forgetful hearer, effectual doer

Paul encourages the Philippian church as he recounts all that he considers as loss and considers them as less than nothing in the surpassing value of his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Keywords: count all as loss

To truly be able to love God and love others, we must recognize the depth of our sin against God and grasp his love poured out on us when we were his enemies. God loved us when we were his enemies. We must do likewise.

Keywords: Blessings, justification, peace, grace, hope, love, deliverance, reconciliation, Holy Spirit, Christlikeness, inheritance, gospel

Holiness results from abiding in the True Vine, Jesus Christ, through obedience to God's Word. To abide in Christ the believer must stay connected to the Vine through moment by moment obedience to Christ, denying oneself and surrendering to her to God will in everything. Faithfully abiding in Christ produces a holy life that results in fullness of joy.

Keywords: Joy, abide, fruitless, fruitful, obedience, answered prayer, proven faith, assurance