| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “The end of anxiety and despair” Our Bible verse for today: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:2 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Laugh again” I love the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians. It might be my favorite book of the Bible. I say that with some hesitation because, seriously, how do you pick a favorite book of the Bible? It’s like trying to pick your favorite Beatles song. They’re all good. But just as for various reasons one song might be more meaningful to you than all the others, one book of the Bible can be special for the same reason. Philippians is known as “The epistle (letter) of joy”. It’s a letter just bursting with joy and gratefulness and positive thinking. It’s chock-full of faith and hope. I love it. The message of Philippians is so needed in our lives today, and it’s such a great “pick me up” when we’re struggling with anxiety or despair. My favorite commentary on the book of Philippians was written decades ago by Pastor Chuck Swindoll. The title of the commentary is “Laugh Again”, and that’s the approach Chuck takes as he helps us to digest the lessons found in this helpful little letter of Paul’s. You can tell what’s coming in Chuck’s book simply by looking at the picture on the back of the dust jacket. There you see Chuck and his wife Cynthia sitting on Chuck’s Harley Davidson motorcycle, dressed in black leather, and both with huge grins on their faces. The personalized license plate reads, “The Sermonator!” The commentary takes off from there and it’s a lot of fun. You can also tell what’s coming in Paul’s letter. In his case the clue is found in the word of greeting he begins with in 1:2, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” That was Paul’s purpose in writing this letter. He wanted to communicate to his readers a sense of grace and peace coming to them from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ – and he succeeded! Philippians is such a joyful and helpful study that we’re going to spend a few days exploring its important lessons. I encourage you to consider using this little letter as your go-to remedy whenever you’re feeling down, anxious, or despairing. Along with the Apostle Paul, Pastor Chuck, and millions upon millions of other readers of Philippians, we can come to the point where we can indeed “laugh again”. God bless, Pastor Jim |
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