Fight Night: Philippians 3:7, 8

The Bible is the story of man's need for redemption and God's gracious provision!

These truths are evident throughout scripture.

Some passages quietly whisper this truth and other passages scream it out over and over and over again.

This week's Fighter Verses scream this truth.  

But whatever gain I had, I counted as lossfor the sake of Christ.Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

In Philippians 3:4 -6, Paul lists all of the reasons he has to be confident in his flesh but then he writes

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ."

The ONE THING we need is Jesus and more of him!

Whatever I have done to try to earn God's gracious gift is a loss. 
Later he writes it is not just a loss it is RUBBISH.

Another Paul, Paul Tripp, uses the following quote in many of his books and videos:  

Don't look horizontally for what can only be found vertically.

In his explanation of this quote Tripp writes, "Don't allow yourself to be seduced into believing that life can be found in the people, possessions, situations, locations and experiences of everyday life.  Remember, the role of created things is not to give you life, but to point you to the One who is the Way, the Truth and Life. Refuse to try to satisfy your heart with things that will never offer you the satisfaction that you seek." (1)

In our Wednesday Fight Night study, we briefly looked at Philippians 3:7 and 8 and then spent the rest of the Bible study time looking at the context of these verses.

Our study was a little different this week because I am preaching a message entitled "Forfeiture" from Philippians 3:7-9 this Sunday night at West Cannon Baptist.

We read Philippians 1 out loud and talked about these questions from One to One Bible Reading. (2)  

Context:  What can you learn about the person or situation to which the letter is written?

Observation:  Are there key connecting words (for, therefore, but, because) that indicate the logical flow of the passage?

Meaning:  How does the passage relate to Jesus?

1. https://www.paultripp.com/articles/posts/dont-make-resolutions-make-commitments
2. For more Bible study questions related to each genre in the Bible go to http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/Samples/otobr/OTOBR-Sheets-for-copying-A4.pdf

For more about the Fighter Verses go to www.drodgersjr.com/p/fighter-verses.html