WEEK FOUR
Day One
DAILY SCRIPTURE
Philippians 3:1
LEADER GUIDE QUESTIONS
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Know: Read Philippians 3:1
Note: Read slowly, carefully marking keywords.
Rejoice in the Lord
Observation:
What does Paul repeat?
What: What is your “why”?
“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.” Philippians 3:1
Paul, yet again, repeats the call to rejoice. Why so much repetition? Sometimes, when someone repeats something over and over, we have to ask why. Did the Philippians miss the memo? Is Paul being dogmatic? Had the church been complaining?
Have you ever been discouraged? The only cure for disappointment is to change the way you think about it. When that depressing thought wants to rear up and take over your mind, the only way to not let it is to speak the opposite of it to yourself repeatedly. When we speak the opposite of discouragement, it replaces hopelessness with hope, sorrow for joy, and fear for joy.
Did you know that singing and dancing releases endorphins that lower cortisol caused by stress? Singing and dancing rewire our brains to be glad in high-stress situations. In 2 Samuel, King David was made known for his singing and dancing. His rejoicing, when we read in context, reveals that he did so when most stressed: after battles, being pursued by Saul, warring with enemies, and being dethroned by his son. David was a man of war, but he found joy when he rejoiced in God. He wrote Poetry amid depression, “Why are you downcast, O my soul?” (Psalm 42), but he would speak to his soul and tell it to put its hope in God. He did not stay depressed, nor did He allow the suffering he endured to rob His joy.
When we hear Jesus preached repeatedly, our spirit rejoices. The Spirit of Christ that dwells in us cries out, “Abba!” when we hear of His goodness. ("And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God" -Galatians 4:6)
The cure for our weary souls is repeatedly hearing the good news of Jesus.
Paul repeats the call to rejoice because he and the church needed to always keep the truth before them—to remind themselves that rejoicing pushes away fear, discouragement, and pain.
Jesus was their “why.”
I homeschooled each of my children. It was not always easy. I was continually bombarded with people who wanted to share thier ideas, curriculums, and doubts concerning homeschooling. With every idea, I had to fight the desire to quit or stop using what I had chosen to try the latest and greatest curriculum. With every bad day, I had to resist the urge to change course. Every time I faced disappointment or discouragement, I had to remind myself why I chose to homeschool in the first place. My “why” was to be with my children and be the one to invest in them. We were a ministry family- I never wanted my children to feel like I had prioritized others above them. They were my “why.”
We are church planters. The amount of frustration, pain, and heartache sometimes feels like it’s not worth the effort. Ministry- especially church planting, often feels like the pastor’s family gives 100% and receives 10%- sometimes that number drops into the negative. It’s hard, like swimming through mud, and does not give much return. My husband and I often joke that we should have chosen a different career to retire comfortably. We have our “why,” though. We know what God has called us to do. We have a burning desire to see people come into a revelation of the love of God. We desire to see people walk in the freedom of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. The passion to preach Jesus drives us and makes the “hard” of church planting worth it.
I recently read a book about revivalists who lived within the past three hundred years. Their lives spoke to me; lives that were so convinced of the gospel and its power that sharing it became their life mission no matter what life threw at them.
They each had stories of a moment when they awakened to God's love, leading to a burning need to share it with others. They kept the call before them amid pain, trials, and resistance. People like:
Charles Finney, who lived with an overwhelming sense of the presence of God, and always cried out for more. Having responded to the gospel, he encountered freedom in his spirit, followed by a baptism of “liquid love” the same day. This experience transformed him. He immediately quit his job and went into full-time ministry. Because of his desire for others to encounter the same love, he began to have revivals to bring others into encounters with God’s love. His understanding of God grew as his ministry grew, as did his encounters with the Holy Spirit. His emphasis changed as he faced discouragement, but the message never did. His ministry left a lasting legacy that still impacts the church today.
Dwight L. Moody encountered a series of events that caused him to preach a gospel based on the love of God rather than punishment against sinners. Having heard a message by a preacher named Moorhouse, he never went back to preaching a message of sin.
“I used to preach that God was behind the sinner with a double-edged sword ready to hew him down. I have got done with that. I preach now that God is behind him with love, and he is running away from love.”
Even though he had not encountered the same ‘liquid love’ Finny had, his message of grace empowered his church. After a while, two women in his church began to pray earnestly that he encounter the power of God. During this season, the great Chicago fire burned down his church and his home and nearly killed many in his congregation. Soon after this tragedy, he took his family to New York. While walking down the street, he experienced an overwhelming hunger to be filled with more of God’s presence. Unable to bear it, he knocked on the door of a friend and asked for a room to pray. There, he received the power he longed for. After this, people responded to the gospel from Moody’s preaching in a greater way. he still preached the same message, but the power of the Holy Spirit did the work as he responded in faith.
Evan Roberts was a lead revivalist in the Welsh Revival from 1904 to 1905. When he received Christ, he vowed to serve the Lord his entire life and ‘would have the Spirit.’ From that point on, through all weather conditions, no matter what circumstances, he never missed a service because he believed that if the presence of God was in the service, he never wanted to miss it. While he was active in the movement of this revival, people encountered the presence of God in an unhindered way.
Another great inspiration to me is our modern Heidi Baker. After encountering the presence of God with such power that she wept and lay paralyzed for days, her heart for the lost and broken was completely abandoned to God’s heart, intentionally cultivating a heart that stays postured as a temple that God can continually fill with His presence. Her surrender has impacted the entire nation of Mozambique, Africa. As a missionary to the poorest, she has planted over eight thousand churches in twenty-six nations. Iris Global, Heidi’s ministry, is marked by love, mercy, signs, wonders, and miracles. The dead are raised, the blind see, the lame walk, and the poor receive the good news of the kingdom. Over a million believers have come to Christ, and orphans are adopted as children. Over Ten thousand people are fed daily; an entire nation is being transformed.
Heidi has been shot at, beaten, jailed, and persecuted by local militants, slandered, and lied about. She and her husband have been rejected by churches and even close friends. They have had many pastors in thier ministry martyred through persecution. She is a threat to the powers of darkness, but her life displays what one surrendered to God looks like. Amid persecution, her joy is infectious.
What is your why?
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