Personal notes from a Sunday morning at Denton Bible Church:

Music:

• For All You’ve Done (a favorite of mine)
• Nothing but the Blood of Jesus
• God You Reign

Text Reading: Philippians 2:17-30

Sermon Notes (Pastor Tommy Nelson):

• After the Industrial Revolution, the growth of the middle class; the migration of rural to urban; an education was learned for pragmatism…for more captial…no longer was life what you were born into, but that of a life of attainment (no longer a worker, but a boss). It was living the typcial graduation message of “anyone can be anything”.
• Bible does not frown on wealth, it recognizes responsibility, but to merely live to acquire what you own and where you live (wealth and status) – unbounded materialism…to buy, display, and receive the approval of men – not so good for being Christian
• Can’t have liberty without law; to have freedom, you’ve got to have order
• “Rags to Riches” is an American phenomenon
• We cannot live for ourselves, we live for something bigger; Psalm 22 / Isaiah 53; the message is the very texture of who you are; it is “the message from our sponsor” (TN); he who gots the gold, makes the rule…aka “the golden rule” – but Paul begs to differ
• Don’t preach what you don’t emulate
• Ghandi: I love the Christian’s Christ, I just don’t like Christ’s Christians.
• ver 17:  love God for heart, mind, soul, and strength; “a drink offering” = my life is poured out/I gave my all for You
• God made man to be a servant; man has to become what man was meant to be
• Paul’s “my boy” is Epaphroditus; the real deal; a faithful servant; a family man (in a much broader Christian sense); servant-hardy
• “Timothy” means “One Who Honors God”; half Jew half Greek; Paul’s co-worker and family man; both like-minded; faithful to the ministry
• John Wooden: “don’t coach basketball players, coach young men”; meaning they’ve (basketball players) got be something more to you than part of your resume; you gotta love ’em, care for them, be a part of them and them of you.
• ver 26: Epaphroditus has no ego; don’t let anyone know I’m sick for they will worry about me;
• Yogi Berra, a phenomenal winner – 13 championship rings; Casey Stengel said “I never start a game without my man” (Yogi); Paul felt the same with Epaphroditus
• C.S. Lewis = you are surprised by joy (“I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy”)
• “temay” = honor/worthiness/to be respected
• The man with no country – poem and song: