God Is Our Witness - We Are Sincere and Blameless, Filled With Courage and The Fruit of Righteousness To Speak The Word of God Without Fear

Today's Focus Scripture: Philippians 1:8-17

Philippians 1:8-17
8 For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,
10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;
11 having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
12 Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel,
13 so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else,
14 and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. 
15 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will;
16 the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel;
17 the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment.

LAGNIAPPE:


Striking Facts: Philippians 1:6. It is Christ Who begins the good work in us; it is Christ Who carries it on in us—Philippians 2:12-13; it is Christ Who will ultimately complete that work by transforming us into His own likeness—Philippians 3:21.  -- Summarized Bible; Complete Summary of the Bible By KEITH L. BROOKS, Copyright 1919


COMING:  -- Pastor Ben's definition of "Discernment" from his sermon on 5/5/13.

Hebrews 13:6 ~ So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Matthew 10:28 ~ "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

DISCERNMENT, n. The act of discerning; also, the power or faculty of the mind, by which it distinguishes one thing from another, as truth from falsehood, virtue from vice; acuteness of judgment; power of perceiving differences of things or ideas, and their relations and tendencies. 
-- Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary of American English