When suffering comes into our lives because of our Christian faith, it is easy to feel intimidated by those who oppose us and to back away from the arena of conflict. Paul instead urges believers to stand firm as one man as we contend for the faith of the gospel. How we handle this struggle must be in a way that is worthy of the gospel. Knowing that suffering, no matter by whose hand it comes, is also given from the Father takes the sting out of it. Living in the fullness of love, humility and unity that is ours […]

The title of the message is ‘A Christ exalting life.’ In this passage Paul not only reveals his confidence of the unfettered advance of the gospel in spite of his imprisonment and in site of those who preach Christ from unworthy motives but he also lays his heart bare and reveals the deep motives of his own heart. Whether he lives or dies his deepest longing is that Christ be exalted in his body. This remarkable passage reveals a man who is so gripped by the love of Christ that he is torn between his desire for fruitful labor in […]

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The Teacher looks out upon the world and sees many human illustrations of the meaninglessness that pervades ‘life under the sun’: the suffering of the powerless that have no one to comfort them, the envy and jealousy that drives people in their work and careers, the foolishness of those who destroy themselves by opting out of life altogether, the pointlessness of being materially rich and yet relation-ally poor and the short lived popularity of those who gain political power. If our lives are not redeemed for a larger purpose we are doomed to such futility and pointlessness. The gospel of […]