Jonathan Williams with Word of God, Speak

I want to talk with you today about the glory of God, about unity in the body of Christ, about how God can take terrible circumstances and turn them around for the progress of the Gospel, and about his grace. Are you ready?

Our faith in Christ is unique. Every other religion is about escaping the earth and going off to heavenly realms forever and ever. The Bible has a very different picture.  When God sent Christ into the world it was with this goal in mind – to renew all things.

What is the result of this kind of life, the kind of life where one lives by the physical appetites, the kind of life where one boasts in shameful things, the kind of life where people live only for the moment? Paul says, "their end is destruction."

What kind of God is this who encourages us to give and says the more you give the more you will get back!  It is a generous God and we can never outgive Him! 

The Christian life is not just passing on what we believe but passing on how we live. It is not just orthodoxy, what we believe, but orthopraxy – how we live.

If you have a river constantly overflowing its banks you'll get a swamp. But if you channel that river, focus it, and dam it up at certain places, you'll get power.  What kind of person do you want to be, a swampy person or a powerful person?

Does your personal history propel you to the future or imprison you in the past?

The irony of following Christ is that we ascend by descending. We go up by going down. We become exalted as we humble ourselves. We prepare for kingship by learning to be a servant.

In Paul, we see a man with a mission, a man who lived by priority, a man who did a million things, yet who could say, "I do one thing."

The second part of a 2-part interview with Pastor Doug Brown who talks about living examples of Philippians 3, Christians who suffer for their faith in a closed country.

The first part of a 2-part interview with Pastor Doug Brown who talks about believers in a closed country who are living examples of Philippians 3:7-11.

Paul lived as he did because he knew how to evaluate things. He was like an expert jeweler with a special eyeglass who would look closely at diamonds placed in front of him and say, "this one is a piece of rubbish" but "this one is priceless". 

How could Paul live the way he lived? Did he take pleasure in it? I think not. Paul considered all things loss and did indeed suffer the loss of all things because of two things. Today, we will find out what they are!

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose. Are you a fool or wise?

Do you boast in Christ Jesus? Or do you have a tendency to boast in yourself? It's so easy to slip into self-boasting and to forget that our glory is in the Lord.

From time to time I have people from a certain cult who come knocking on my door offering me literature and a way to find peace through Jehovah.  Do you know how much enticement that is to me? Zero!  None! They have no pull on me because I know who Christ is! You can know who Christ is also!

Paul had a warning for the church in Philippi. Paul had a warning for the church today. Beware of those who corrupt the Gospel. Stand firm for the truth of the gospel of the grace of God for all people equally.

A great man once said, "Paul had enough morality to keep himself out of trouble, but not enough righteousness to get himself into heaven!" What about you?

It's so easy to follow Christ when the crowds are watching and the deeds are noble and heroic. But what about when no one is watching and the works we do are small – like mowing the lawn, setting up the coffee, sweeping the floor, or collecting the offering? Nothing is small or insignificant if it is done for Jesus.

Are you a Philippians 1:21 Christian or a Philippians 2:21 Christian? What's the difference? Listen today and find out. It may change your life!

God wants to show you off to the world.  He wants to say, "look at my children. These are my children that I have purchased."

The one who flung galaxies into existence, the one whose holiness causes angels to cover their faces and prophets to fall on their faces, is the one who is at work within us.

"The Christian life is not a series of ups and downs. Rather it is ins and outs. God works in and we work out."

God loves it when knees bow to Jesus. It brings glory to the Father because it shows his wisdom in leading his son through the darkness of suffering and death. Who would have thought that that would be the path to salvation?

People speak of Chris's death, resurrection, and ascension but they are missing the mark on that last point.  It was not the physical act of "ascending "that was so important. Rather, it was the fact that he was exalted to the place of highest honor.