Oxford Bible Church - Living in the Last Days (audio)

In our final study in Philippians, the apostle Paul commends the Philippians for consistently partnering with him in the Gospel, through their prayers and giving. They are held forth for us as a classic example for how we should support those who are devoting their lives to preach Gospel and spread God's Word. Paul tells them that their partnership with him involved both giving and receiving (v15), which meant they would receive a great reward for their faithful giving, both eternal fruit that would abound to their account as treasures in Heaven (v17), and the promise that God would supply all their need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus in this life (v19).

We share how God used Philippians 4:13, to rescue Oliver Cromwell from an overwhelming depression at losing his son. We continue to explore the truth that God lives inside us, and wants to strengthen us from within, by infusing and satisfying our souls with His life and peace, this being the secret that Paul discovered for living a life of contentment. This is a life of faith, so we also discuss faith in God and the faith of God and the gift of faith.

In our passage of Scripture, Paul shares how he had learned to secret of being content, independent of his circumstances. This is actually the secret of living in victory over sin, because the opposite of contentment is covetousness, where we are never satisfied. When we do not trust in God's goodness, we easily become discontent, believing the grass is always greener elsewhere. This causes us to move out of God's will, presence and peace to grasp at what we think we are missing, just like Adam and Eve in the Garden. Paul shares his secret in v13 - by allowing the life of Christ within him to satisfy and strengthen his soul, he can be content both in times of lack and in times of abundance.

Jesus said: "Peace I leave with you, My Peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27). We discuss the nature of this peace, that Jesus promised to give us, and how it is different from the peace, which the world gives. In our passage in Philippians, we discover the keys to walking in the Peace of God and enjoying the God of Peace who lives within us.

Come to a special place in the foothills of Mount Hermon called Caesarea Philippi. It is from here that the River Jordan begins its downward journey through the Land of Israel. It was here that Jesus took His disciples to reveal Himself to them as the Messiah and glorious Son of God. It was here that Jesus announced the formation of His Church, which would prevail over the Gates of Hell. It was here that He gave us the Keys of the Kingdom. It was from here that He started to set His face to go to the Cross. This book will open up in a new way the many revelations that Jesus gave us at one of the major turning points in His ministry. He chose to come to this place for a reason. In 'Revelations at Caesarea Philippi' you will find out why. In this book, Derek also reveals what the Bible tells us about the Nephilim, and their connection to Mount Hermon. This book is available from www.oxfordbiblechurch.co.uk and all Amazons internationally. See also Derek's Youtube Series: Revelations at Caesarea Philippi.

After describing the wonderful transformation that we will receive at the resurrection of our bodies, Paul addresses a problem of strife in the Philippian Church, a personality clash between 2 strong women, giving us an example of how to deal with such conflicts, by calling each one to have the attitude of Christ toward the other, and thereby come into harmony with each other, for the sake of Christ and His Gospel. By reminding them of the supreme importance of the propagation of the Gospel and being written in the Book of Life, Paul helps them to humble themselves and put their petty squabbling aside for the sake of what is truly important - the salvation of souls. Then Paul gives 3 keys to a vibrant spiritual life of joy and peace: (1) rejoicing in the Lord (v4), (2) praying about things with thanksgiving, instead of worrying about them (v5-7), and (3) meditating in God's Word (v8-9). Anxiety comes from pride, when we try and handle everything in our own strength. But if we will humble ourselves before God and submit ourselves and our problems to Him in prayer, then we will be able to receive His abundant grace for the situation (1Peter 5:5-7, James 4:6), which includes the Peace of God, which will fill and relax our souls, and also protect them from anxiety and negative thoughts. As we commit all things to God in prayer and meditate on His Word, then the Peace of God and the God of Peace will be with us.

It is important that we walk in the light that we have receive from God, then we will qualify to receive more light and spiritual growth (v16). Paul warns about the dangers of backsliding, and embracing a lifestyle of sin, and becoming an enemy of the Cross, where Christ died to set us free from sin. We should take as our examples and heroes true men and women of God, not those in the unbelieving world, who are heading for destruction. Paul warns against being flesh-ruled, especially those 'whose god is their belly' (the sin of gluttony). We discuss the power and importance of prayerful fasting, God's antidote to this addiction as well as other addictions of the flesh. Our true abiding citizenship is in Heaven, so while we are passing through this world, we should live as loyal citizens of Heaven, looking for when our Saviour, King Jesus, will return and complete our salvation by transforming our lowly mortal bodies into glorious immortal bodies.

Paul compares our pursuit of Christ in this life to an athletic race where the runners give their whole concentration and effort to reaching their goal and receiving their prize. We discuss why the pursuit of Christ to know Him is also necessarily the pursuit of Christ-likeness - the more we are like Him, the more we can be one with Him. Paul refutes the idea that sinless perfection is possible in this life, which means whatever level of spiritual maturity we have reached, we are not to settle on our laurels, and just coast along, but to keep pressing on to know Christ more and lay hold of Him and experience more of His grace, wisdom, life and power. We discuss what it means to forget our past failures and successes, so that we can fully focus on Christ and give our all in the present moment to fulfilling His will and purpose for our lives, so that after completing our race, we may receive His reward, when we are called upward to stand before His Judgment Seat. This is the mature mindset that Paul tells us we need to have (v15).

Christ pursued us in love from Heaven to earth and accomplished our salvation through His death and resurrection (2:5-11), and now we must respond to His offer of salvation. First, we must receive Him and His righteousness as a free-gift, which is the only firm foundation for our salvation and eternal life. Having received Christ's love and assurance, we should now return His love by pursuing Him in order to know and experience Him more. Possessing something legally is not the same as experiencing and enjoying it. Likewise, we possess every spiritual blessing of grace in Christ, but we can only appropriate His grace by drawing close to Him In these verses, Paul describes His personal pursuit of Christ, and how he was willing to forsake all other things, in order to gain more of Christ, because of the surpassing excellence of knowing Him. In particular, Paul desired to continually experience the overcoming resurrection life of Christ empowering Him to overcome sin and walk in victory. This involves rejecting all idols - the covetous lusts of the flesh and eyes, and the self-idolatry of pride (1John 2:15) - an idol is anything we value more than Christ and His Presence in us.

Being a Christian means having a loving relationship with the Lord, rejoicing in Him and trusting in His grace, having no confidence in the flesh. We discuss the dangers of legalism and why it is an evil counterfeit of the true Gospel. Christ alone and His righteousness is the only sure foundation for our salvation, but legalism causes people to look to themselves and trust in themselves and their own law-keeping to establish themselves before God, and in so doing they cut themselves off from the grace of God. Legalism also causes people to focus on outward performance (which we can control to an extent), at the expense of inward Christlike attitudes, which only Christ can produce in us by His grace. Paul shares from his own experience, having come from a life of legalism, how he had a perfect pedigree and performance as a self-righteous law-keeping Pharisee. If any one had a basis to have confidence in the flesh, Paul did, and yet he came to realise that all his self-righteousness had no value before God, in fact it was a big negative.