Teacher: Pastor Chet Lowe

Main Scriptures: Philippians 3, Romans 7

• Review
  • Paul is
    • Thanking the church
    • Discipling the church
    • Giving the church examples to follow
    • Addressing the doctrinal debates
      • Judaizers were imposing requirements of the Mosaic Law like circumcision, Sabbath and diet and believed salvation rested on obedience to the law.
      • Gnostics believed the spirit was trapped inside of the flesh and that the flesh could do whatever it wanted.
  • Paul wants the church to have a relationship with Christ, not religion
    • Relationship with Christ is based on grace alone, not works
      • Paul counted loss both his resume AND his past sins for the sake of his relationship with Christ
    • Relationship with Christ is characterized by the power of the resurrection
      • The power of the resurrection looks like obedience to His word paired with the power of the Holy Spirit (like the man at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5)
• Paul is giving his new life in Christ everything he’s got
  • Practice makes perfect (v. 13-16)
    • Positionally, we are already perfected (Romans 8:30)
    • Practically, we’ve got to work at this (Matthew 5:48, 2 Corinthians 3:18)
      • Practice forgetting what’s behind and reaching toward what’s ahead
        • Forgetting does not mean we don’t remember. It means that every time we remember, we look at Christ and purpose toward sanctification into His image as our goal (Proverbs 24:16a, Romans 7:24-25)
          • We do this by having an active devotional life, prayer life and serving life
          • Live what you know and as you know more, live more
  • Follow the pattern of Christ—anything else is a forgery (v. 17)
  • Deal with culture shock (v. 18-19)
    • The world believes that feeding the flesh is good for you
    • We have to learn to think and live as citizen’s of heaven and walk by faith not feelings
  • Eagerly wait (v. 20-4:1)
    • Stand fast in the Lord