Last week, I wrote a post entitled, “How Jesus Changed Time: Redeeming the Liturgical Year.” Understanding how Jesus changed time through his life, death, and resurrection is crucial to recognizing the importance of today’s holiday. Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day after Fat Tuesday and the beginning of Lent, a season of reflection and repentance leading up to Easter.

All of life is measured by different increments of time. We all tend to live according to seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. Some of us measure our lives in weather seasons and, if you’re a student, your life is probably measured in semesters. Depending on your background, your life might be measured by the church calendar as well. For those who were raised in the Roman Catholic Church or another high-church culture (e.g., Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian), you are probably familiar with the liturgical calendar. For others, like myself, who grew up as a Baptist and consequently in a low-church culture, the liturgical calendar is a complete mystery.

This week marks the final week in our Shout Joy! blog series. We have looked at several elements to the book of Philippians. Remember, you can find all of the resources for this series, including the sermon video and audio, sermon notes, community group discussion guides, and an introduction to the book of Philippians here. In this final week, we take a look at four themes found in the book of Philippians. Regardless of what Paul was writing about, these four themes were prominent in everything he wrote to the Philippians.

Over the past few weeks as we have walked through our “Shout Joy!” series, we’ve taken a look at a few sections from our Philippians Intro Booklet. Remember, you can find all of the resources for this series, including the sermon video and audio, sermon notes, community group discussion guides, and an introduction to the book of Philippians here. One of the most important parts to understanding any part of the Bible is to understand why it was important. Throughout the book of Philippians, Paul gives his readers some clear reasons why he wrote to the church at Philippi. Here are four reasons why Paul wrote to the church at Philippi.

We’re continuing to dig into the book of Philippians through our “Shout Joy!” series. Over the past two weeks, we’ve taken a look at a few sections from the Philippians Intro Booklet. Remember, you can find all of the resources for this series, including the sermon video and audio, sermon notes, community group discussion guides, and an introduction to the book of Philippians here. Last week we discussed the author and genre of Philippians and can find that post here. This week we continue our discussion on the book of Philippians by unpacking some of the background information on the city of Philippi. 

This past Sunday marked our second week walking through the book of Philippians in our “Shout Joy!” series. Remember, you can find all of the resources for this series, including the sermon video and audio, sermon notes, community group discussion guides, and an introduction to the book of Philippians HERE. Last week we discussed the author and genre of Philippians and can find that post HERE. We continue our introduction to the book of Philippians this week by looking at when and where Paul wrote this letter.

On Sunday, we kicked off our new series, Shout Joy! In this series we are walking through the book of Philippians and seeing how, despite his circumstances, Paul continued to shout joy! As we walk through this book together, we want to provide you with resources to help you better understand the book of Philippians. You can find all of the resources for this series, including the sermon video and audio, sermon notes, community group discussion guides, and an introduction to the book of Philippians here. Over the next four weeks we will be sharing segments of our short introduction to Philippians with you. Feel free to download this booklet on our Shout Joy! page or at the bottom of this post. This week we will be looking at the author and genre of Philippians.