GRINDIT podcast

Do you knit or know someone that does? You can take a single of strand of yarn that is not very strong, and make something that is superstrong! The person who knits will take yarn, thread it through the hook, and start knitting. When the product is done, like a blanket, it can be used because the single strand of yarn has been knitted together, twisted together, and has become strong. Paul tells t...

When we are traveling to a certain destination, we grab our phone, pull up the Maps app, punch in the address to our destination, and take off in the direction the voice tells us to go; We can even see a picture of a map with a blue line that shows us our future moves. What happens when we don’t follow the directions the app is telling us? It freaks out and starts telling you commands on how to ge...

How many people have prayed and got nothing from God but crickets? They prayed with no response or get the response they didn’t want? They get discouraged and quit praying, reading their bibles, they no longer show up for services, and the next thing you know, they don’t want anything to do with God at all. Why does God not answer our every beckoning call? Doesn’t He know we are in trouble? In a p...

Paul says that Jesus was the exact image of the invisible God. We can't see God, which is why many people choose not to believe in Him. They want someone, something they can see. It goes all the way back to the golden calf Aaron made while Moses was hanging out with God on Mount Sinai. When the angel told Mary she was going to become pregnant miraculously, and that the child would be God's Son, he...

Carnivals have games to play and they put out the biggest prizes that catch your attention only to get your money, have the game rigged where it’s hard to win, and if you do win, you get a much smaller prize than the ones they show. You have to play and win many times to get that big prize! But not with God! God paid the price for you to play the game, He makes winning easy, and you get the best p...

When you tell someone you’re going to pray for them...DO IT! Right then and there...Don’t wait until later because you may forget! My own daughter who is in high school has told me how people would say to her they would pray for her but she knew they wouldn’t, that they were just being nice. Epaphras was a prayer warrior, he was an intercessor on behalf of the church at Colosse as well as other ch...

Did you know Paul didn’t start the church in Colosse? In fact, as far as we know, he never even visited them! So how did they hear the gospel? How did a congregation start filled with Gentiles who love Jesus? More than likely it started with a man named Epaphras who was a coworker of Paul. He had learned from the best and at some point, he went on a mission himself preaching the gospel in Colosse...

Most people completely shut down when the preacher starts talking about needing money or when a missionary asks for support but even Paul knew how important money was to his ministry! He supported himself by selling tents as he traveled around the known world at that time but it wasn’t always enough to make ends meet because he talks about being content, even when he was starving! He points out th...

Paul says he has learned to be content in any situation he finds himself in? What does that mean? The dictionary defines it as being happy and having peace no matter what but is that what Paul means? Not hardly...Happiness depends on outside circumstances. If the outside circumstances are good, then I’m happy but if not, well then, I’m either mad, sad, worried, or some other emotion. Interestingly...

Be anxious for nothing, but pray about everything and tell God what you need. But doesn’t God already know what we need before we ask? That’s what Jesus said! So why pray? Because we can verbalize what we need, which is admitting, “God, I can’t do this (fill in the blank) on my own and I need you.” When we try to take control of things, we make a huge mess of it and it can cause all kinds of anxie...

One of Paul’s big themes in all his letters is unity. He knows if the enemy gets the smallest chance to cause division and break the unity, he will take it and blow it up into something ginormous! There were two women who had some issues between one another and Paul tells them to work it out and get to work for Jesus! He said they worked very hard in the past to spread the gospel with him and othe...

People today online who have a following online are called “Influencers.” They have posted some kind of video, pictures, music, etc online and it has gone viral. They pick up followers who “Like” their content and these followers sometimes send money to support the “Influencer” and they are getting rich! Even if people don’t send money, they tell others about the content they watch and how others...

Rubbernecking. It seems like every time we take a trip and have to use the Interstate, we run into some traffic that has basically come to a stop...if not, it’s crawling! Why? When we finally get up close enough to see what the problem is, it’s on the other side of thew Interstate! People are driving by “Rubbernecking” and it is causing a traffic slow down, a pile up, for miles back! Looking back...

Do you have a lot of trophies sitting around? Do you bask in all your accomplishments over the years? Do you tell the stories when your friends come over of how you got those trophies? Paul gives his resume of how he accomplished a lot of stuff as a Jew, how he was very zealous for God and kept the law faultlessly, yet without Jesus they were nothing but trash. The word literally means “Thrown out...

Paul tells the church at Philippi to “Rejoice in the Lord” so it will “Safeguard” their faith. He wasn’t sure if he would make it out of jail alive so he weas telling them, “Look, man will fail you because we are so fickle and unstable, but Jesus is solid, he is an immovable stone.” The word “safeguard” literally means “never fail.” He is telling them this because he knows the church was depending...

Too many people in the church today want to hide. They would rather hide than get to work and Paul, as well as Jesus, makes it clear, we are to work for the kingdom! Paul even goes to say that God gives us the desire to work and to accomplish His will. Can we say that if a person doesn’t have that desire, then there is a disconnect in their relationship with God? YES! Just like Christmas lights th...

Paul says we are in it to win it and we are in it together! He is in prison for preaching the gospel and the church at Philippi is concerned for him so they sent Epaphroditus to check on him. As the church is facing persecution and suffering for the cause of Christ, Paul says this is a time that we are to be selfless and not selfish, then he points to Jesus as our example. That's when we get those...

Paul is facing a death sentence and will be beheaded soon but at the time he is writing this letter to the church at Philippi, he thinks he may be free some day and get to go see them again. At the end of chapter 1 Paul tells the church they are in this together and they are to remember their home is heaven, not here. Why? Because persecution is from the enemy and it tries to get one to give up th...

Paul is constantly encouraging the church at Philippi by affirmation. He goes on and on about how he appreciates them, their support, hard work, and prayers. Then he talks about how often he prays for them and how he appreciates them praying for him since he has been in jail. We all need to affirmation, which is why it is so important for the church to be involved in one another's life, encouragin...

Paul was being arrested for preaching the gospel and he was giving a plea to the crowd as he walked up the steps. Then he has to go before Felix and others to plead his case and they wanted to send him back to Jerusalem to have his trial. He refused because he knew there were Jews waiting to ambush him and kill him so, in a quick outburst, Paul appeals to Caesar because he knew it would keep him a...

Paul encourages the church at Philippi to grow in two things: knowledge and understanding. Knowledge in the Greek means to know thoroughly, to know accurately. We can grow in knowledge about God by reading His word and Paul actually tells us when we do, we will "accurately" handle the word of truth! Then he says to grow in understanding. I don't know how many times I have been told, "I can't under...

Paul tells the church at Philippi, "God started the work and God will finish the work." Paul, who is arguably the greatest missionary in the history of the church, traveled all around the world at that time starting churches, going back around and revisiting those churches, and led many people to the Lord. He knew exactly who he was and his role and who God was...that Paul didn't do anything becau...

In this episode, we dig into how the church at Philippi got started from Acts 16 and we give some great incite to Paul's letter to the church.

Paul says in vs10 to "Be strong in the Lord." Why does he say this? From the very beginning of the letter, Paul has reminded the church at Ephesus that all our blessings, everything we have, the right standing we have with God the Father, all comes through Jesus. He has been talking about the unity we have and how we should throw off the desires of the flesh and continue to strive for maturity in...

Like it or not, slavery has existed for a long time and it existed when Jesus was walking on the earth. When Paul was traveling around on his missionary journeys, he met many slaves and masters. He includes them in his letter to the church at Ephesus and he encourages them to work towards unity by being obedient. The key for God to be glorified in our lives, whether slave or free, is unity. From h...