JOY (Living Without Flip Flops) - Philippians 1.12-18

Know

• Who is the person in your life who has suffered the most?

Grow

• 1:12 Why does Paul not get into the details of ‘what has happened’? Compare this verse with 2 Corinthians 11:23-28
• Take some time to look up Joni Earekson Tada’s story on line. You can also buy it on the amazon store. You can watch her share her story here gl/Y6nzWg.
• 1:12 Think of all he could have told the Philippians in this first informational sentence of his letter. Why did he choose to tell them this first?
• What suffering Christians have you been inspired by? How has their story changed your life?
• If you are suffering as a Christian, how can you inspire others to greater faithfulness in advancing the gospel?
• 1:15 Why were some Christians preaching out of rivalry? What does this even look like? How do we know if the preacher is preaching from good motives or not?
• Take some time to meditate on the following stats from the Opendoors USA website:

322 Christians are killed for their faith,

214 churches and Christian properties are destroyed and

772 forms of violence are committed against Christians (including beatings, rapes, abductions, arrests and forced marriages). [i]

Show

• Visit www.opendoorsca.org or persection.org and start praying Phil 1:12 over the people written about in the accounts. Pray this pray for Christians in your life who are going through hard times or feel that they have been side-lined or ‘put out to pasture’.
• Pray this prayer throughout this week: “Lord, show me how what has happened to me can advance the gospel! Redeem this situation. Bring some God-glorifying good out of the terrible circumstance I find myself in”

 

[i] https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/